Kittens always surrender!

goddamn thats cute

thanks matt..... who thanked alisha

Eating the memories

I finally had the last of the Thanksgiving turkey. I stuck it in 2 hawaiian role turkey sliders with green onions, provolone cheese and gravy. With two turkey pieces to spare(from the sliders, not my stomach).

A rapport for decor

As Oncley tradition goes, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is reserved for family decorating. This year we stuck with this trend putting aside the fact that my Mother was out of town to visit her sick uncle/my godfather. We want her to come home to a beautiful house that looks like the ghost of Christmas spirit took a dump indoors. I think we all achieved this, and I feel I can know listen to Christmas music and not feel guilty for neglecting the month of November.

Our first xmas decorating the new living room

I might add, after we forced Jack Frost to puke his holiday guts out, we all enjoyed a cake 'n cup. What is cake 'n cup you ask? I guess you've never bought from the school catalogues that kids bring by door to door to raise money to...do something, i don't know. It was good though.

"Oh, this is the best cake in a cup ever. This guy is unbelievable. He ran the old Cup 'o Cake guy out of business. People come from all over to eat this."

What I was thankful for

I was thankful that I got to eat this meal after playing Wii with my cousins, and before watching Where The Wild Things Are for the 3rd time with my family.

Asparagus, stuffing w/ apples, bag baked turkey(dark meat), potatoes au gratin, mushy peas and a hawaiian role.

Yorke

Thom Yorke

'Yorke'

Marker on cardboard

by Mike Oncley

Plagiarism

ORIGINAL

RIP OFF

If you are going to copy someone else's idea, it should be a little more up to par. I mean, it is a good commercial, but it's good because it copied a good idea. Just not as good

Plex under the knife

The life of my scooter is in the hands of a short, bald, Italian man named Fabio.

I dropped off my scooter in Anaheim today to finally get fixed by a professional. My yellow Honda CT90 has been out of commission for months now. First it pooped out on me while riding it and I spent a week+ taking apart the engine on my own. Then I realized I could just upgrade the engine to save me time and I was ordering it on eBay days later. Then when it came in the mail I spent days installing the engine onto the frame of the bike and then weeks staring at the electrical of it. Basically it was an old bike with a brand new engine and they weren't getting along. The Honda was playing with it's phonograph and the new engine was trying to plug in it's iPod into it. It just wasn't going well for me.

Last week I decided to leave this job to the professionals and try not to ruin my engine anymore than I already had(in an attempt to charge the battery I caused the ignition coil to fry and crack open). I called the guy who was the first person to work on my bike but he flaked. So my good friend thought maybe his scooter guy could help me. One problem though, this guy only works on Vespas..... I mean, he is Italian.

Fabio was my last hope and I was nervous bringing my bike down to Anaheim in fear of another brain stumped by the tangled mess of wire in my bike. I was confident with Fabio when I took the bike out and he immediately started  telling me things about the inside of my bike that I didn't even know. I knew I'd brought it to the right place. One thing he said to me that blew my mind was that the only purpose for the battery on my bike was to enable me to have my front and back light on before the engine is on. That's it! I though it would be a little more important than that. He said he can rig it up so the battery is bypassed and i wouldn't need it any more, which is how all Vespas are made. He commented how my exhaust pipe is too narrow for my carb, and also how i had forgot to put the foot pegs back on the bike(I was in a hurry), but then i gave him my number and it was homeward bound for me.

I'll hear from him tomorrow to see the status. Still nervous. Plus I don't want to pay him to tell me that he's stumped as well. We'll see. I hope his Honda mechanics are as good as his modeling skills.


Update 11/25: Fabio has failed. He found there was no spark, meaning a fault in the electrical system, but he doesn't have the tools to fix it. Hopefully Gretchen's in Long Beach can throw some luck my way. Oh and apparently Gretchen's doesn't consider Plex a scooter but a motorcycle. So that's a plus.

It's what they're made of

The sun was high and the ocean was as blue as anyone could imagine. The sand from the nearby beach was a clean, white sand that was populated by happy vacationers. The ship I was standing on was large and I had been employed for only a short period. Suddenly without warning a large number of ship occupants started to swim feverishly towards the shore. This was not allowed, especially without the proper permission so me and my crew got to work.

We hopped on our boards and strapped our pulley cables to our chests and boards in order to be pulled to the beach at a faster rate and as a group. As we rode over waves we could see the escapees reaching the sand and integrating with the crowd. As my team reached the sand we saw a small boy that we needed to send back to the ship. I leaped off of my board but the cable tied to my chest kept me from reaching him in time. Sure enough, two other men on the cable swept up the boy before he could get away. I knew i could not manage to work properly with my chest and board tided into place so I detached from the cord and went alone on foot.

As I rounded the corner of a shear beach hut I saw a large black man who I recognized from the group of those who had escaped from the boat. The people from the boat were on the ship with their families and they needed to stay with them. Although we were a cruise ship, our rules were a little bit stricter than most are used to. They weren't supposed to leave and it was my job to help bring them back. The heavy set man was close by so I went in for the capture.

The large man had fashioned himself a guards uniform, where he got it I don't know, but it didn't help him with blending into his background. I came up behind him unnoticed and latched onto his arms by the elbos. I was fit and prepared where he on the other hand was overweight and easily tip-able, along with being quite nervous. I forced him to the ground and into the sand and called for anyone nearby to help me complete the capture. Two comrades came by and handcuffed him quickly, which was normal. His shirt ripped off from the back since it was never a suitable size for him and we used a nearby towel to put over his shoulders. He didn't say a word but if he did it would have been overpowered by the praise and congratulatory statements by my crew members. The large mans head hung low in defeat.

My crew walked off after patting my back to search for other escaped passengers and I was left to escort my catch alone. His head still down I began to feel what he must have been feeling, being trapped in a place he didn't belong. He wanted to escape from his wife and just get away, if not for a little bit, for a lifetime. He had jumped towards a false paradise and was now in our custody. I wanted him to run, I wanted him to be happy. I wrapped my arms around his large soft body and gave him the biggest hug my short arms could stretch. I held him tight and squeezed hard and I began to weep. We were both there and we were both helpless to fix anything.

Dick

This is how I know my family loves me....

12 hours, 72 miles and $3.15

What started as a night of empowerment and good intentions turned into never ending night out in LA.

A late breakfast

I've had short debates over the name of this dish, but through extensive research (aka Yahoo!Answers) i found that people call it by many names. Bird's Nest, Eggs in a Nest, Hole in One, Egg in the Hole, French Egg, Toad in a Hole. If you haven't had this before it is basically an egg cooked inside a piece of bread with a hole in it. Bottom line is you have to eat them with your shoes off because they make your toes wiggle. I topped mine with Puttanesca sauce and ate the toasted centers as a side.

Yesterday I had a second attempt at white sauce on my spaghetti squash, this time adding some white wine vinegar to make it a bit more tangy.

You can't love yourself, until you can cook for yourself

...and the tree was happy

Gary Oldman

If there is one actor that doesn't get the credit he deserves, it is Gary Oldman.

As I sit here and watch the Fifth Element for the zillionth time I notice what diverse characters he has portrayed thus far in his acting career. In this film he plays the corrupt, money hungry business exec. Zorg who wields a southern accent and a sort of "half" haircut. Which is a bit funny when thinking about his latest big roll in Batman as Commissioner Gordon. Zorg is an evil man who owns most of all the the city, which seems like an evil version of Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises ruling over Gotham.

You may also know Mr. Oldman from his great portrayal of Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films. I found the roles he chooses are always ones that he can carry out better than any person you'd expect to see in his place. One of my favorites, mainly because it is such a stretch from all his other characters in the Pimp Drexl Spivey in True Romance. A golden toothed jackass whose main concern is his women and his money. Eventually he gets his balls shot off but that's a non issue. Over the years he has portrayed characters from Lee Harvey Oswald to the Devil himself and even Dracula.

I recently found out that Gary Oldman not only acts on screen but behind animation. He has lent his voice out to a large number of video games and even shares his gift of speech in Planet 51 and the new Christmas Carol movie with Jim Carrey(one of Oldmans three characters is Tiny Tim!). His voice had graced games from Spyro the Dragon, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor and even True Crime(remeber that GTA ripoff?)

My main man Gary takes his characters and makes them come to life and doesn't leave you second guessing the acting. Im glad that we have a good actor still around and in the bunch of some that are not quite up to par, you know....to even things out.

To all the nerds out there, please enjoy this photo of Milla Jovovich before she got all butch to fight zombies.

Yellow and White

Hand pulled spaghetti squash noodles in home made white sauce with mushrooms and topped with shredded parm

[cue Homer Simpson drooling]

close up

Little Red

'Little Red'

Watercolor, Acrylic, Ink on paper

Mike Oncley

Day of Walk pt. 5

Here are my sketches of interesting people I encountered on my 11.13.09 walk.

Slappin your troubles away with the Slap Chop!

I can't stop watching this:

So after playing this on repeat for an hour I thought to my self, "self" "yes?" "Don't we have a slap chop?" "That's right we do!" So I went up to the pantry and decided to make lunch with it.

Turns out it's not a slap chop but "The Chopper Machine." Oh well, same thing. I chop myself up some carrots, celery, mushrooms and chicken and put it in broth and made myself some GOOOOD soup.

Photos by Me

Lunch

Chicken, mushroom, onion, garlic sandwich with mozzarella cheese and a side of hard b'd egg

Day of Walk pt. 4

Here are my select photos from my day of walking from El Dorado Park to Portfolio coffee house.

Great way to start off my Friday the 13th walk....dead duck

Spring and Woodruff

Sad

Streep sweep ballet

empty

cheaters

I love these things, the guy rides on a tiny unicycle on the back of his mower

truck plus two paramedics following, including sirens

Photo lab? i had no idea

photo: RGK

juice break: poop boost, swine flu immunity boost

toothpicks in olives

2nd street

boat launching crew

Ha

Ocean

Island in the sun

So lonely

aww thanks

museum of WHAT??!

oh.

Honor Vets End War (and suck it?)

half way to hell?

Apparently I was so relieved to make it to portfolio I didn't take any photos once I made it inside. But the bottom line is I DID make it. During my long walk I enjoyed my unique view of the city. The trip wasn't very people oriented since I walked from noon until 4 on a friday, leaving most people at school or their jobs. Next time I'll probably walk on a weekend. Although, walking on a friday let me see where my city is the busiest while most are indoors. The usual group of older men were partaking in a few rounds of El Dorado park disc golf. Street construction continued leisurely. All the moms shopping on bellflower, students walking around CSULB, joggers at the beach, people walking their dogs (and others dogs) down 2nd. Open Sesame was having its lunch rush and two strangers were discussing their ideas at The Market. The day was beautiful and even those less fortunate than most were sitting and enjoying it, holding all of their possessions and appreciating the comfort of a park bench. Some families were having a BBQ at the Bixby Park and their grilled chicken consumed the beach air. Once in Portfolio I noticed the abundance of young people either in good discussions with their friends or knee deep in computer work. As I joined them I shared their satisfaction in sitting and drinking caffeine, but with a little bit more of a feeling of accomplishment.

I'll post some sketches I did of the people I saw later.

Day of Walk part 5