Dee-lusions of Grandeur

Giving you a vertical smile!

Yup .. I am still alive, though not quite kicking. Still struggling with some things so I'm not flitting about in the TG world too much at all. Hope all my friends are still safe and sound and enjoyed the Thanksgiving / Black Friday weekend.

I promise I will be back at some point .. hopefully soon. I have a few newer captions I haven't posted here yet, and I'll try to post some older ones to make the time gap less than this current one of 10 days or so. I won't mind if people do comment on whichever caption I'm posting in the meantime. I would like to keep some communication open while I deal with other things.

Figured maybe I'd give you a couple old school songs to get a mood going!

Love this version of a great song!

A REALLY old set I made for Alexia in 2008.

I guess I had a bit more of an attention span back then where I could stretch things out over 7 panels. I made 2 followup series, the 2nd with 10 panels and the 3rd with 6. I can't ever imagine making a story play out in 23 panels, no matter how little text was in each one.

I'll try to post the 2nd series on Monday or Tuesday. These things are all "Rudimentary Dementia" so don't expect anything more than me working my way through the process of finding my voice. Figured people might want to see how I've evolved over the past 4+ years.

Part 2 of an early Dementia series. Latex ahead!

This is part 2 of the series. There will be a part 3, though it ended up being much darker than the first two that I made for Alexia.

At least her BRAIN wasn't washed clean!

Made this one for Kaitlyn a little over two years ago (time really flies by!) as she had a 2 for 1 deal going. Not sure if she provided the picture or not (perhaps because she made a return caption for me using the same picture) but the photo gave me the complete plot with little to no adjustments. I tried to dress it up a bit as women's liberation but its just a vibrator joke, plain and simple.

Hopefully by this time next week I will be feeling much better and can start captioning again, I really wanted to make a caption again for the "25 Days of Christmas" event that Terri is running on Rachel's Haven. I owe a few people as well, and I'm glad that most people are pretty lenient when they know that life tends to interfere occasionally in our plans.

"Just a smidgen off" might be the words to use.

Well, I am hoping to slowly get back into the swing of things. Right now I'm swallowing some huge pills of Amoxicillin for a sinus infection, but I think I might be out of the woods with any other health issues. Its nice to see people still stopping in to look around even though my posting has been sporadic to say the least. I will be focusing first on returning captions to those I owe, from trade returns to fantasy football losses. From there, I'll try to visit many of my friend's blogs so I can sort of catch up on what they've been doing. I can't guarantee that I'll be posting every day (or every other day) but I should certainly be posting more than once a week I think.

I think this is the second to last caption I made before taking this slight sabbatical. I want to be able to write more captions like this .. its juicy and delicious .. even though its REALLY vague. I love working in compulsions, and its semi-obvious that some sort of post-hypnotic triggers are causing things to happen which also works wonders for me. Its also playful in a way that makes me think of "vintage Petra" in the way its presented.

I have been pretty heavily medicated a few times in the last month, so it gave me time to think from Dee Dee's POV which doesn't usually happen very often. A dulled awareness and a bit of vulnerability tends to put me in Dee Dee's frame of mind. Unless I want to become Bukowski or Rimbaud, I think I will keep away from those sorts of things and stick to my basic means of writing.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: How do you get yourself into a mindset that isn't your own? As above, I really have to be wasted, overtired, or otherwise baffled to really feel like a submissive bimbo. I can reason it out mentally and craft stories around the ideas, but it doesn't always ring true. For readers, do reading captions bring you mentally to a different place then you usually are? How much can a captioner or story writer immerse you into their situations and plot?

Maybe she should just flip them the bird!

I made this one while sort of coming down off a painkiller high, and my mind really wanders more than usual during those moments. I thought about different conspiracy theories involving Jim Morrison ranging from a lookalike dying so he could wander off in anonymity, a CIA operative placed undercover to keep tabs on the underground movement of the late 1960's, to tales of Voodoo practices and him deciding to shuffle off his mortal coil.

It was there that my mind drifted to when I saw this picture, and the wordplay involved popped right into my head. The story itself took a little while to mold to where I wanted it to be. I thought a bit more atmosphere would work, so I made the location New Orleans, for obvious purposes. Its such a mystical place, and I thought of Lake Pontchartrain because of a song by Ludo.

Looking at it now without the aid of medication, I think the caption is a bit disjointed, but I've made much worse, and I just adore the photo. Overall, I think its a very stylish looking caption, even though I have a few gaps in logic.

A few posts ago, I hit 300, which is a nice round number. I have almost 250 members, and almost 1400 comments. The blog will also top 1.7 million page hits probably in the next week .. all this is for people that are keeping score.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Should I keep trying to come up with discussion topics, or do people just want to talk about whatever caption I am posting? Figured I'd ask since I'm making my way back to posting a few times a week.

Oh how blissful it is to be oblivious .. and Dee-licious too!

Made this one for Chelsea bake in October, and I'm quite a fan of the design, and the picture just begged for me to caption it. Who isn't fond of fondant? Still using the new font since it really pops in the caption style I've been using, though I do have to double up on the text to make sure it stands out.

Here is what I had to say when I posted the caption about how the plot came about:

For some reason, the hurricane has brought out the baking nature of a ton of women I know. My roomie has made corn bread and homemade pizza dough for a kick ass pan pizza, and the GF made like 2 pounds of pasta and homemade tomato sauce. My daughter is at her mom's house and they made cupcakes! SOOO, needless to say, it was definitely on my mind when i found this picture.

As I've mentioned before, I love the whole oblivious angle, where the characters have an inkling of what is going on, then sort of continue to act the same way due to compulsions. Its a vicious cycle of acting/being girly, then having a revelation about it and feeling strange or embarrassed, then plodding onward in girlish delight. If memories are changed too much, and they don't have knowledge of their own past, the characters are just new people leading a new life. While that is OK sometimes, I like captions much better when the person KNOWS what happened and has to deal with it.

I am going to try to post every night through Friday at least, and perhaps through to Christmas Eve, as long as people are interested and commenting. I think I have some holiday captions that I haven't posted yet, plus enough new ones to keep it moving along.

Of course, I can't mention baking without one of the best bands named after dessert:

DISCUSSION QUESTION: I like when people comment on the current caption, but I'd also like to know ... which font do you like better, the one I'd been using for quite a few years, or the one I've been using for a month or two? Should I try more fonts?

Sometimes being cheap isn't the best deal!

Wanted to see what people thought about this idea I had.

Usually we exchange gifts with our loved ones. While I'd LOVE to give everyone out there a personalized caption, its probably not in my best interests to ignore work, family, etc .. so I thought perhaps we can all give each other another gift .. one that is still thoughtful but also pretty cheap.

The gift of blog exposure .. which will help out
both TG Bloggers and those that read them.

Nothing makes me happier when I see someone become a member here. It means they want to follow up and read more of my work. I am sure that most every other Blogger feels the exact same way. I have almost 250 followers, Caitlyn has about 300, Jennifer has over 450, and Kaitlyn only has 36 for examples. Its often not even a case of quality, but of getting people to swing by and check it out.

I don't plan on being home for Christmas Day, as we usually travel 3 hours each way to visit relatives we only see on Christmas. I do know that many people ARE around and are either captive to their families or are far away from loved ones and somewhat lonely on Christmas Day ... not to mention those of different religious faiths.

So what I plan to do is set up a blog post for sometime Christmas morning, probably around 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time, where I will feature (hopefully) a bunch of TG caption sites that agree to do the same in exchange.

I am setting up a deadline of sometime Sunday afternoon on December 23rd. After that, I can't guarantee I'll be able to put up anything significant.

RULES / GUIDELINES

(1) You post below that you wish to be involved in the gift exchange, saying that you want to participate and reciprocate.

(2) I will go to your TG Captions Blog and pick a caption I like, posting a thumbnail copy in the post and a link to that caption below it. Depending on how much time I have and the number of people participating, I might give a sentence or two about why I like the caption or why they should head there to the individual blog.

(3) Y.ou do the same thing for me. You'll have a thumbnail and a link to a caption of mine in your post. It might help that if you have a "TG Pregnancy Blog" that you pick one of mine, but it isn't really necessary.

(4) This step isn't required, but I think it'd be great if you could post this on YOUR blog, looking for others to trade with. I think it'd be a nice gift for people who are just READERS of TG Captions to see how many blogs are out there, and give them exposure to some they might have missed.

(5) Make your post on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

(6) I will not link to sites that ONLY snag other people's work. This is for the actual creators only.

Lets see how this goes .. maybe we can make it an annual tradition!

Holy Fishnets Batman!

This one is hot and fresh off the presses. I just finished making it about 5 minutes ago and figured I would post while I can remember it clearly.

It was made for XxDarrellxX who is a relative newbie to the Haven. He made me a caption for me and I wanted to return the favor as soon as possible. He likes alt/emo/goth women and mentioned quite a few things in his life, things like he was a Royal Marine, and is a batman freak! When I came across that information, I immediately thought about a few pictures I had saved from almost 10 years ago with an exotic looking "goth" type girl .. so I headed into the D'archives to retrieve it. Situations like this are why I tend to save a metric fuckton of photos, as you NEVER know when you are going to need something to complete a caption!

I don't think I'm totally satisfied with the storyline, but I do like the design. I've done multiple photos in one panel before, and I like the effect of them looking like pictures on a surface. Maybe in the new year I will try to learn some more photoshop tricks, since I've seemed to level off lately. It could also be that working with the CS1 version of Photoshop might be holding me back as well.

DISCUSSION QUESTION:How much of an archive do you have for pictures? Do you save them for later, find pictures as needed for an idea you have, or search sites for photos that inspire you to make a caption right away? I tend to do all 3 at some point, but I lean towards the 1st and 3rd options. For readers, when you look at a caption, can you tell if the picture inspires the story, or vice versa? Does it matter which inspired the other?

War is over .. if you want it.

I've been trying to bend my mind around the Newtown tragedy. We have relatives in that area, and it is just heartbreaking to know there are so many presents underneath a tree that will never be opened, and lives that will never be lived the way they were supposed to be lived.

I know people that are big time gun aficionados and some that are extremely anti-gun. I fall somewhere in the middle, but there just HAS to be something done that can satisfy both sides and stop innocent people from being in harm's way. The way violence is ingrained into our society is alarming at best, and I wonder if THIS is the final straw that gets people talking about responsible and TRUE control of our arsenal of weaponry. I thought that "The person with the bigger gun, bomb, etc .. wins" mentality went out with the end of the cold war, but it still persists. The rest of the world must wonder why these things continue to happen ... as do I.

I NEVER want to hear about something like this ever happening again. That is MY Christmas wish.

"War is over .. if you want it." Words of wisdom from a man who had his life taken away from him by a gun. "Nothing to kill or die for ... Imagine all the people living life in peace." It really shouldn't be so fucking hard to imagine that, right?

Its fun once you get into the right frame of mind!

Did some shoe shopping for Christmas footwear with my daughter, and I don't think I've seen more heels in one spot than anywhere else I've ever seen! She got herself a nice pair of dress heels, and also a pair of moccasins for everyday use. Women DO wear sensible shoes sometimes!

I figure that if malls were smart, they'd have some sort of magical trigger to turn every guy walking in into a woman. There would probably be a lot more impulse buys. Hell, at Christmas Time, if they turned you into your spouse/girlfriend, then you'd be able to KNOW what size she is and pick out some clothing for a gift .. for you and for her!

DISCUSSION QUESTION: If you were female, what do you think would be the best (and worst) part about being a woman during the year end holidays? What traditions would stay the same, and what things would be totally different?

It can happen .. right Santa?

I know I'm a tad bit late, but I've been doing things, like playing with a new Nexus 7 I gifted myself. I had about 125 dollars in Staples Rewards I accrued so I sprung the extra money to snag one before Christmas. I LOVE IT!! WOOOO! Android Jelly Bean is SOOO smooth and it beats the stockings off my old "smart" phone which I'll still use, but ONLY for phone and text.

I hope everyone enjoys the sentiment behind the caption. Its one of my favorite traditional Christmas songs, and when I'm shopping, one of the only ones I get made when its over (the other one is whatever the hell Nat King Cole is singing, doesn't matter what!)

A great blues guitar version done by Zakk Wilde.

And a more traditional version by Perry Como.

I was going to post a discussion question, but fuck it! Say whatever you want!

Remember .. I am offering a Links Exchange on Christmas Day, so see the post below for more info!

Read the labels more clearly next time sweetie!

Made this one for Little Miss Suzy, who had vanished from the Haven for a little while, as people tend to do sometimes, but she came back! WOO! I remember making steam punk type captions for her in the past, and found this wonderful photo to caption. Then I headed to her preferences and found out she had changed them all! The good thing though was (1) she still had very flexible requests, (2) my plot still worked, (3) she has such awesome new ideas in there that I am going to try to caption her again hopefully soon.

As I said in the posting to her trading folder:

Its funny how just ONE letter can change a brand so completely! I might have to sell these with the iBod player.

Show of hands .. how many want those headphones underneath their tree? I THOUGHT SO!

Did some late evening shopping last night for shoes of my own since I can't find my dress shoes .. maybe Rachel stole some back from my closet? I only wear a certain kind and it took like 4 stores to find the same ones I had before. Sears, of all places, was the place that had them, and they had some really nice heels too, but they were more classy than wild. The ironic thing is that I didn't want to wear stompy combat boots for Christmas Festivities, but with the weather report this morning, I might NEED to wear them with the snow in our forecast!

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This is the last chance for people to sign up for the Christmas Links Exchange. I will probably take links trades up til about 10-11 PM Eastern Standard Time. I've gotten 6 so far I believe. There is a bonus that a few people doing mine will include on their blog EVERYONE that signed up on my list. That means possibly EVEN MORE exposure for those blogs that could always pick up more viewers.

Here are the rules again:

RULES / GUIDELINES

(1) You post below that you wish to be involved in the gift exchange, saying that you want to participate and reciprocate.

(2) I will go to your TG Captions Blog and pick a caption I like, posting a thumbnail copy in the post and a link to that caption below it. Depending on how much time I have and the number of people participating, I might give a sentence or two about why I like the caption or why they should head there to the individual blog.

(3) Y.ou do the same thing for me. You'll have a thumbnail and a link to a caption of mine in your post. It might help that if you have a "TG Pregnancy Blog" that you pick one of mine, but it isn't really necessary.

(4) This step isn't required, but I think it'd be great if you could post this on YOUR blog, looking for others to trade with. I think it'd be a nice gift for people who are just READERS of TG Captions to see how many blogs are out there, and give them exposure to some they might have missed.

(5) Make your post on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

(6) I will not link to sites that ONLY snag other people's work. This is for the actual creators only.

Lets see how this goes .. maybe we can make it an annual tradition!
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I am not sure I will have a posting tomorrow. Depends on how busy I am at work (and it probably will be busy!) and the family stuff that follows. My plan will be to post the Christmas Links Exchange around 11 AM EST on Christmas Day, which will also include a blog exclusive "holiday" caption I hope everyone enjoys. It is definitely something you'd say, "That is DEFINITELY something that Dee would whip up in the middle of December."

Grab your Christmas Balls .. and head inside for the Caption Link Exchange!

TG CAPTION LINK EXCHANGE!!

These are the people that are taking part in the CHRISTMAS LINK EXCHANGE. You may have visited them before, or they may be new to you. I have picked out a caption/posting that I find interesting, as sort of a bite-size piece of what they post all the time, and hope you'll pop by and see what else they have lurking on their blog. If you like what you see, perhaps becoming a member and following their work might be a great way to make their Christmas even better!

Leeanne's Sissy Musings

I arrived home from work early and accidentally walked in on my mother-in-law, who was visiting my wife and me for a few days, in this state of undress.I quickly turned to leave the room, embarrassed to find her attired as she was."Sissy!" she snapped, causing me to stop in my tracks, frozen at her utterance of that term."That's right sissy.I've been perusing your internet folders today.I think it's time you and I had a little heart-to-heart."

Caitlyn's Masks: We All Wear Masks

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCT7xkKQCqk/UFCpiC1rtpI/AAAAAAAAC2I/Jih-a7n8XjM/s1600/joiningthecoven.jpg

I chose this one because it shows her versatility, not only in writing, but in a collaboration with another reader. Caitlyn posted an original version, and then followed it up with an update, making changes based on what her collaborator thought was best. A ton of insight into caption making and the decisions on WHY certain elements ended up in the panel and what was left out.

Alectra's Playgrounds

This caption pretty much encompasses everything that is Alectra in a nutshell. Many voices, often speaking at the same time, and with a manic energy that can be tiring if you aren't prepared to enter that worldview. Alectra is the TG Blog version of a caffeine IV drip.

Anne Oni Mouse's sTumbles

Anne has a wonderful sense of design, with striking backgrounds that pop right off onto the screen. And unlike most of us, she even gives you a link to the original picture! That's effort!

Jennifer's TG Caps of Defiance

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Hrqunlc7PrE/TTN6zVZPV4I/AAAAAAAAAo8/f9eSvoXizvQ/s1600/do+you+trust+me2.jpg

You didn't think I was going to post a link to Jennifer's site without listing a caption she made for ME, right? I chose this because I think she does hypnosis captions (and RPs) incredibly well. Part of her having a submissive thought process means that when she is running an Role Play, she REALLY knows what can get you all squirmy and gushy. Trust me, I don't get that way too often!

Kaity's Fantabulous Captions

I've known Kaitlyn for quite a while on Rachel's Haven, and she LOVES wordplay and puns. If I have a humorous idea, I know that she'll enjoy it. Her "ABC's of TG" series shows SERIOUS creativity and a great sense of design as well. She has less than 40 followers. Lets improve that!

.. And Now For Something Completely Different

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P16imAynFjM/T48pPDRSMtI/AAAAAAAAAgY/xwfZt-1eby8/s1600/Door+of+fortune.jpg

I supplied the picture and Martha used it in a sequel to a sequel we had been sending back and forth to each other. She specializes in Great Shift captions and MILFy transformations. She's been busy in real life and I hope she has more time to caption in the new year!

Annebelle's Family Tradition

Annebelle tends to make "family" captions, in so much that its often father and son to mom and daughter, though often the whole bunch of men are transformed. Usually one is totally for the swap, and the others end up going along with it somehow. You'd think she'd run out of ideas but she keeps cranking them out with originality. I like this one because, HEY! Its music related, and the bassist on the first page is Melissa Auf Der Maur.

I would like to thank all the people that took part in this, and we'll see if its successful. Hopefully we can do it again and it'll be even bigger! If you didn't get a chance to swap, you can always list your TG blog in the comments, and feel free to talk about the links posted above.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas with lots of great cheer and that you all are safe!

Omigod Becky! Look at that girl's butt! Peta's got back!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. It was nice to see that the Link's Exchange went well from what I could see. I know that Kaitlyn got like 3 new followers. I am not sure about everyone else, since they had a decent amount of followers already, but any exposure is good exposure. I dropped into other peoples postings early Christmas to see what had been done, and it all looked great! Maybe we will do it again next year! Perhaps we'll get the word out TWO weeks before Christmas in 2013!

I had a blast for the first time in many years for Christmas, and I'm glad. I have usually been rundown, tired, and/or sick, and though I have a bit of something, it was still a wonderful holiday!

I wanted to mention more blog sites that didn't quite make it into the actual exchange, but I can at least put them in THIS posting for those people that don't read the comment sections (and shame on you if that is true! Its often better than my actual posts!)

The first is Lexie's Library of TG Captions, which is pretty self explanatory if you ask me! She also writes full length stories. She was kind enough to make up a recommendation in her blog so I wanted to return the favor.

The other one is Sugar and Spice which just started about a month ago and already has 100 posts! You can tell she definitely loves pantyhose and legs, so I plan on stopping in often!

There is a third one that didn't pop on here (At least I don't THINK she did, but I'll highlight her as well since its the holidays!) Actually she participated in Alectra's so that is good enough for me! Its another tights/pantyhose TG caption site from Hailey Pixley called A Tights Spot. Its also new since it just started this month.

Can't wait to see more. Its always great to be exposed to blogs and sites you haven't seen before, so when a blog you follow has a dry spell, you don't feel punished!

On that note, I'm kind of sad that Kelly (SP2000) sounds like she is going to stop captioning. I know there are some good reasons, but I will still miss her. I'm hoping she'll still comment on all our captions, but I'll understand if she doesn't. Her comments (and Kyra Hyde's too!) often gave me the oomph when I needed it most.

For those that are going to stop making doing captions. Please don't remove your TG Blog. There have been "poachers" that are claiming the web name after a blog is abandoned and then putting up other peoples captions AND putting bad links that can exploit other people's computers when they visit. It happened to Amy's and it happened to Realfield. You are better off just leaving it as is, with a note that you are no longer undating but people are free to view what was posted.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: What did you think about the Christmas Links Exchange in general? What do you think we could do to make it better next year? What was the best and worst thing about it? Did you visit all the links that each person provided?

There's always a few cocks at a hen party!

Made this one a few years ago for Candy (One Eyed Pirate) and was looking for a naughty caption to post from my D'archives that I hadn't posted yet. Perhaps I'll have someone catalog my posts so I know which ones I've already done .. I've had 312 posts and made probably 1300 captions so I still have a fair amount left to cover, plus any new ones I make .. but I am finding that it takes more time to make sure I am not posting a duplicate.

We here are in the middle of a winter wonderland. Two polar bears could be outside fucking on our driveway and I probably wouldn't notice. I am guessing many of you are in the same position .. stuck inside .. not fucking on a driveway .. though knowing my readers, I can't discount that possibility! Been trying to work on some captions, but the combination of people lurking and a lack of pictures that really say something to me has made it a complete bust so far.

I have been lurking about on Spotify though and catching up on songs I've not listened to for some time. I'll find a song and let it play, and it will often take me back to when I first heard it ... on my bed as a teen following along with the lyric sheet looking for the meaning of life, listening to a guitar riff that crawls into your head and won't let go, or finding a song with a mood that makes evil sound so seductive ...

Then I fast forward to the present and artists I've discovered in the last few years. Those were found through the internet, sometimes by mere chance, others through friends recommendations, and some through collaborations with artists I've already enjoyed. Though the mode is different, the feeling is still the same ... the chill that goes up my spine when the song connects and makes my head bob and my feet stomp. Its a feeling that I will hopefully continue to have as long as I draw breath.

I've lost my voice many times, often for long stretches that have taken away most of my vocal range. My eyesight has gotten worse through the years, and I wonder how bad it will get with time. I love food, but lately I've not been able to eat meat. But the one thing I need to keep is my hearing. Take that away and I might as well be six feet under. So much of my memory is tied to what I've heard.

Its ironic I guess that so much of my online persona is involved with manipulating images and placing them with words when sounds are often the things that move me the most. There is even something in the silence of nature that can be comforting. So while this caption was all about taste, to me, hearing is the best sense to be able to keep.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: Which sense would you miss the most if you suddenly lost it? Which one is most linked to your memories?

I think you'll love the set I posted inside!

I made the caption above after listening to a bunch of music last night. A few songs gave me ideas for captions, including the one I posted by Scroobius Pup. I chose a song from Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche because it seemed to have elements of TG, and it fit well with a picture I had in my d'archives. Hope it makes sense to everyone. Here's the song it is referring to:

Of course I framed it in the best TG way plot wise. I mean, I left out the murder and such, but there was enough to make it compelling. At least I think it does.

OK, I sort of need a favor from everyone that reads this blog. I have a chance to break 100k hits this month. I've come close twice before, but if I can do 4k views between now and 7 PM EST tomorrow, I will actually hit 100k for the first time. So please drop in during the day multiple times. Yes I would like to do this honestly, but I can be quite shameless too! If I did yesterdays traffic, I would be short by about 300 hits.

What do you get out of coming back again and again? Well, first off, I am posting a really old set I made within the first month of my captioning on the Haven. I don't think I've posted it before and its actually quite good. Its one of the early ones I've thought about redesigning and posting, but its good enough to show you the original. Its back when I was much more deliberate in the story arc. I think its fair to say that I don't often DO captions like this anymore, and I'm not sure if its because I've zeroed in on what I do best, or my ADD kicking in, or what have you, but it would be nice if I COULD whip something up like this occasionally. Click on them to make them larger!

I will probably add a few more captions in this post before the deadline .. hopefully that can motivate you all to keep coming back! Any requests for a TG caption trope you'd like to see? I have over 1500 panels so I MIGHT just have something you are looking for!

(9:30 AM EST) Figured someone might like to see a POV type caption. Well, here you go!

Always good to learn a new skill or two!

Wasn't sure if I had posted this before, but its a good way to end 2012. A few good things happened this year, but a whole lot more was lackluster to craptastic, so I am looking forward to 2013. I cherish all the friends I've made from here and from the Haven, and look forward to getting to know many more of you this year. December has been an invigorating month for me on this blog.

Only 2 hours or so left to hit the blog hard, as I'd LOVE to end the blog year with 100k views for a month. I've got a few more captions posted to the last post for people to view, so if you saw it earlier today, you might have missed a caption or two!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Years with friends and/or family. See you next year!

Sometimes its the innocent ones that get in trouble!

Welcome to 2013 everyone! Seems an awful lot like 2012, though I'm sure it is going to be a great year for everyone I know! I even got new earrings to replace my tarnished old ones. Still the same nipple piercing though, since I'm quite fond of it! Who doesn't love hematite?

This caption is sort of an homage to the captions that Steffimarie used to make. They were usually pretty clean, though there could sometimes be an undercurrent of nasty lying underneath. It even has a redhead photo in it, just liked she used to use. Hell, she could've used this image before for all I know! I just saw the picture, and the story came to me instantly. That whole, "I am NOT wearing this!" and the "so you are going commando underneath?" response echoing from my curious mind.

This caption was posted in a trade folder for Wraithstrike, and one comment I got on it really made me smile. First off, it was from Sarine Davis, aka Belladonna from Fictionmania. Anytime she says something nice, I take note, as she writes some WONDERFUL stories with rich details. Her captions are pretty sweet too, but she is one of those people that can just make long stories interesting. I feel like condensing her ideas is just not doing them justice. Anyway, Sarine posted this in the comment section on the haven:

I loved the dialogue, as always with your work.

That made me gush a bit inside. Its making me gush again as I read it. Other than the fact that most of my captions are hard to define, other than "Dee-like" where when you read it, you just kind of KNOW that it was made by me .. I pride myself on making some of the best dialog in TG captions. I'd like to think its what I am known for when people actually think about my work, since otherwise I am more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" captioner. When someone else reinforces that thinking, and its someone I admire, wooohooo, it really gets the juices flowing!

Speaking of, I was nominated for a "Best Caption Blog" award on Courtney's Clean Caps TG blog! Since I forgot to send in my ballot, I KNOW that *I* didn't nominate myself so THANK you to whoever did so. Not sure if there is any actual voting, but being listed against Rebecca Molay and Smitty, Knight and Evie is quite the honor.

Also, for those like Leeanne who wanted to know if I did hit 100k in December .. YES! I JUST creeped over the threshold, with like 100, 064 hits in that month, beating my previous record by more than 7k. Thanks to everyone that helped push me over the limit!

I think I've posted this video before, but I wanted to put it up again for those that may have missed it the first time. When I first saw it as a child, I was SMITTEN with the whole idea of the video/song. Sometimes I wanted to be the "Rambo" character that was changed, and other times I wanted to be the Bonnie Tyler character doing the changing, after having been changed myself previously. Its gloriously 80's music and video, but who said that was a bad thing? Sometimes over the top is just where you NEED to be! Something tells me that Leeanne will LOVE this video!

DISCUSSION QUESTION: When reading TG stories and captions, what seems to be more intriguing to you .. when a character being changed is innocent of any wrong doing or guilty of something and being punished? Are they equal, or do you enjoy one more than the other? How does the characters previous behavior affect the way you read those captions or stories?

The freaks come out at night!

Made this a few years ago for Jaime, as I was making a caption for Caitlyn. She got an iBod caption with lyrics from Courtney Love, who is a godsend for TG captions with her fractured word stylings, seemingly made for gender fuck play. I was listening to Celebrity Skin while writing yesterday's post, and figured, "I don't THINK I've posted this caption yet. Why not?" Both her and Kurt Cobain seemed to inhabit a relatively gender neutral wavelength, and she often seemed to have the balls of a bull while he had that delicate vulnerability while screaming out RAPE ME! They were definitely an interesting couple ... probably my generations Sid and Nancy.

This caption also led to the discussion in the last post, over whether people like innocent person vs bad jerks getting transformed. This one definitely falls into the innocent bystander, but as I mentioned in the comments section, who's to say that John's life isn't better off now that he isn't so sheltered?

She has another song that I never worked into a caption, but many of the words do fit a TG caption.Its called "Reason to be Beautiful". It most likely has do do with her coping with Kurt's suicide, but when I pull out verses, it does take on a different sort of viewpoint.

Oh, give me a reason to be beautiful
So sick in his body so sick in his soul
Oh give me one reason to be beautiful
Oh and everything I am

Miles and miles of perfect skin
I swear I do, I fit right in
My love burns through everything
I cannot breathe
Miles and miles of perfect skin
I swear, I said, I fit right in
I fit right in your perfect skin
I cannot breathe

Hey, baby, take it all the way...down
Hey baby taste me anyway
Oh you were born
So pretty oh summer babe
We'll never know
And fading like a rose....

Give me a reason to be beautiful
So sick in his body so sick in his soul
I'll give you my body just sell me your soul
Oh and everything I am will be bought and sold
Oh and everything I am will turn hard and cold

And they say in the end
You'll get bitter just like them
And they steal you heart away
When the fire goes out you better learn to fake
It's better to rise then fade away

DISCUSSION QUESTION: I know I've been doing a lot of musical influenced caption posts lately. What would YOU the readers like to see next? Its a new year so I'm pretty much up for anything! I will be working on the next Haven Quarterly on Saturday, so if you have any magazine advertising styled ideas, let me know!

Yup .. I'm still alive!

Wedding at the Beach? Its EVIL!

Wedding at the Beach? Its MORE Evil!

Its Tedious Being a Woman!

Things Are Slightly Off .. Aren't They?

Soul Trapped Canari .. and 300 posts!

The Haven Learning Annex .. Making a Cheesecake!

Please Read ... Christmas Link Exchange?!?

A DARK and Stormy KNIGHT!

So this is Christmas, and what have you done?

Shoe Shopping? Again?!?

... If Only In My Dreams!

Beats by ??? .. and Last Chance Links Exchange!

Merry Christmas .. TG Caption Link Exchange!

TG CAPTION LINK EXCHANGE!!

Thoughts on the Christmas Links Exchange!

The Drink with the Good Mouth Feel!

(Update w/ POV) Drop In a Few Times Before New Years Eve Please!

The Re-education of Ron .. Happy New Year's Eve!

The Fashionable (Fe)Male on Display

Celebrity Skin ... Return of the iBod!