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Lost-N-Beauty

Teresa
66 Watchers26 Deviations
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This past Friday April 4th, I had the cochlear implant put in on my left side. I am still feeling pain a pressure and still don't have all the feeling back in my head. But everyday it gets a little better. I still wont know if it is going to work until the first week of May.
I have to wait 4 weeks before they activate it and attach the sound processor. Then I will know if it is going to work. Even though I have only been deaf for a year, I will have to learn how to hear again. I don't quite understand that but since I wont be hearing through my ear, I suppose that takes some getting used to.
I only have a small amount of hearing in my right ear and thats only with a hearing aid. And most of that is so distorted that I can't really understand much with it. 
I really don't have the skills that most hearing impaired people have. Because I had normal hearing in my left, over time it got worse because of having Lupus. But I could understand speech and enjoy music. Then I went to bed one night and woke up and it was gone. All of it. That was  year ago. We have tried hearing aids and stuff but after a couple months of that the left was so far gone that it could not get sound even with a high powered hearing aid.
It is so sad because there are a lot of people out there whose hearing is not totally gone but they need hearing aids and insurances wont help with the cost. They are not deaf enough for the implant like I just got. So they are stuck trying to pay 5000 dollars for hearing aids so they can hear. Not everyone has cash like that.... I was lucky and was able to get help from my father and was able to borrow the rest. Since I only had the hearing aids for a short time and no longer need 1 for the left, I will be able to return it for a full refund.
And all the pain I am feeling from having my head peeled like a grape... (not so much pain as the itching and pressure that drive me crazy) will soon be forgotten in a few more weeks, when I am hooked up and turned on and hopefully able to hear once again. I probably wont ever really be able to enjoy music like I once did. But just being able to understand what friends and family are saying will make me happy.

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DA doesn't always make sense!!!

For awhile now I have been buying points and using them for a premium membership. Because the only way you could do the 3 month option was with points. I don't want to do a 1 year membership, for one.. I don't have a lot of money and 2. I don't know if I will want a premium membership in a year.
I don't want the 1 month automatic payments either. I have had bad luck with automatic payments in the past. My cable company double billed me. Sure they gave it back, but I had a few things bounce in the meantime. And they told me that they were not responsible for that, they only had to give me the money they took by mistake. And that I needed to work it out with the bank. And that was not the only time something bad happened with auto payments. So they are not for me.
I thought it was dumb that you could not do a 1 time for the 3 month option but I went ahead and bought points. And have been doing it that way for awhile.
The last time I tried to use my points for the 3 month... that option was gone. You could only do a year with points. I didn't have enough for a year and didn't want a year anyway. No 1 month for points and no 3 month. But you could buy a gift of 3 month for someone with points, just not yourself.... DUMB
So I wrote a complaint... and they told me I could do the auto payments, or the one year. Then asked me if they can mark my issue as solved.... UHHH NO! because its not solved!
I wrote back that I bought the points to use for a membership in the first place and told them how stupid it was that you cant used points that DA already got cash for. Told them I could not afford to add more money for a years membership and I didn't want one anyway. Told them no auto payments.
Next reply was that I could find someone I trusted on DA and send them the points and have them gift me a 3 month, or make a 2nd DA account and gift my other account. Or send him the points and he would gift me the 3 month... can he now mark my issue as solved... lol
By the time I got the reply, I had already used an old account that I forgot I had and gifted myself the 3 month. But it makes no sense for them to tell you to do it that way. Why not just have the option so you can do a simple click???? The outcome is the same but they want you to take the long way. What are they expecting too gain???? You trust the wrong person and lose your points and have to buy more? You say screw it and just get the 1 year? Or you do the 1 month because with that option some people just forget to cancel it and it takes awhile to figure out what that small withdrawl is for.
So once I had my 3 month, they wanted to mark my issue solved. I told them that the person helping me was as helpful as he could be. He could not change the way DA did things. I told them not to mark it as solved. They can keep it as a complaint because until they fix it and put that option back... it will never be solved.
The one thing that they never did was offer to give me my money back for the points that I purchased to use for the 3 month.
Am I wrong? To think its really stupid to tell members to take the long way to get to the same outcome, to have a 3 month for points gift option but you cant get it for yourself. I think it is really dumb. It wont be that difficult next time because I remembered the other account. But I should not have to do it that way. I don't really take advantage of the premium stuff anyway. I just like feeling like I am contributing in a small way. But I don't know if I will get another premium, DA is really changing and not for the better.

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If I am watching you or you are watching me and I have not given you a llama... and you want one, please let me know. I have been trying to give everyone a llama.  And of course I give a llama to everyone who has given one to me.  Too tired for a journal rant tonight.
But trust me.... its there.... My next rant was going to be on the abuse that some of DA's very best stockers have to put up with.
However, certain things have come to my attention as of late, and just really bugged the hell out of me. So I have to discuss it..
Besides who really reads the journal stuff??? lol

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DISGUSTED

6 min read


Well I decided it was time for another little rant. First let me say that the stock section has really been looking up, because of the hard work by those working in the stock category. However there is only so much they can do. Some people just keep making more work for them by repeating the same mistakes. They know they are going against the rules and they don't care.
I have decided that maybe I should stay out of the stock section for awhile. I don't want to put my mature filter on. I think artistic nudes ( male and female) are beautiful when done right. Of course thats my opinion, just like for some people, spreading your  private parts and allowing people to have a closer look then your doctor does... well to some I guess that's art.
I thought DA had a rule against sexual body fluids, but I guess that does not cover urination.
Then there is the recent increase in dead animals, they are stuffed, or their skins and body parts, or they are just plain dead. Cat fur! Stuffed bunnies! People commenting on how cute and they want one.
I said buy a fake stuffed animal.. I know I should not comment there or I should not even click on the page. The person with the cat fur was against it too and did not pay for it, but thought it could be useful. So maybe she was right . Because if you are against it, even though its dead already you should not buy it because it gives them reason to kill more or have them killed. If they dont  make money they will stop.(hopefully)
I do know that this may be helpful to some in making art. But for me it just makes me SAD
So I could and should  skip over all of that trash. But when I run into the sad faces of kids. No I just can't act like its not there
I clicked on the image to see what it was about, maybe it was the poster's child or relative. But instead I found a person with the name... ????Boylover and a gallery with nothing but a variety of little boys. They were clothed so they were not breaking the rules. The gallery would have been fine if it belonged to a 12 year old child.
I am sure nothing can be done about that. The only thing maybe is that the photos are in stock. And I doubt the person took those images. The lack of camera info, date taken etc... the fact that they are all around the same small size, usually says that they were ripped off the internet somewhere. So at best he will end up having to move them out of stock.
When discovering his gallery, I could not help but notice the people who had started liking the photos... most of them also have a strong liking to children and not in a good way. There are even groups here on DA for them.
DA is supposed to be about ART. Making Arts and Crafts, learning, admiring and showing off your works. And even making friends with those who share your interests in ART.
Its not about hooking up, stalking, fetishes, being cruel and hurting people in any way. Just because something is online doesn't mean things that you do and say isn't going to have a lasting effect on someone elses day or life. Once you shut down your computer your comment is still there.
Recently I have dealt with a lot of loss. My job (because of Lupus) my mother inlaw, listening to music ( hearing is so distorted), but the worse for me was only 3 months ago I lost my mother and she was not even 70 yet. So it was not only devastating but also very shocking.  When something horrible happens in my life, I always turned to mom for comfort or advice. I also always found music as a comfort. And now my most recent loss is more of my hearing. My right ear  hears nothing. Not even a smoke detector or alarm clock. My left ear is so bad now that I can no longer watch tv, talk on the phone or even talk to family members face to face. I hear vibration, but everything is distorted.
I have to have a hearing aid. I am on medicare because of having lupus. Medicare does not pay for a hearing aid. They wont even pay part of it.  
Anyway the point is, right now I am not in a good place, and this is the time that I need DA to escape.
I could either give up on DA for awhile, or stay out of browsing stock, except people I am watching. Which maybe I will have to start watching a few more people. I think I just found a quick fix for awhile anyway.
Well my complaining for today is done.

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Browsing in DA

6 min read


Ok, time to do some more complaining. After all it is what I do best. Too bad I could not make a living that way. Not too many jobs out their for that line of work. I have yet to see a classified ad that reads... BITCH wanted.
When you are browsing and you slide your cursor over an image, it will give you some info on that image. For instance in Stock images, it will tell you the name and name of the person who uploaded it. I would like it to also give the size of the image. That is not too much to ask of DA, RIGHT?
Because there seems to be a new trend of putting up images that are so small that they can only really be used as an AV. I can't even see someone using them as a painting ref.
Yet they rack up the views because the image is good but useless as stock. Either that or maybe we can block certain people from coming up in our searches. I would love that.
Sure there are people who dont realize the image is too small to use, in fact there was a woman who came back and uploaded larger images because she had not realized they were so small. That was very kind. I am not talking about blurry images, most small images are ok because thats all the person has.
I am talking about people who seem to be trying to get more views, who know their stock really is useless at a size of 125 x200.
Then we have those people who keep putting their art work in stock. When you explain to them about where it should be and the very next time they do it again. Gets more favs in stock then it can in digital art against some damn good artists!
There is someone who keeps putting their work as psd file, only that psd is 1 layer. No better than a jpg or someone elses work. Tons of favs and views. People come back and bitch, but they do it over and over again. He or she knows that most people are not going to use the image as a resource, I have half a mind to use it, as a back ground. It will be worth it just to piss him or her off. I don't care if I end up having to take it down.
You can bet if I fav something like that.. once I find out I have been duped, I will unfav it.
What is with everyone faving things like that??? Faving things that are not in the right category at all. Then you see their entire gallery is in the wrong category.
Could DA please please make a celeb JUNK category. That crap does not belong in resources. An image of a celeb cant be stock. These people are confused as where to post this stuff. Finished work can go in fan art, but the supplies to make the fan art collages need a category of their own. This way they keep it out of the resources/stock section
Ok back to the faving issue, why do people fav stuff that is in the wrong category? If it is really good, explain to them where it goes and how they will get more favs if it is in the right place. Once they repost fav it
Why do we fav images that are clearly too small to use... 125x200??? really and that got 2 favs. Guess their eyesight is alot better than mine. But as a stock image it is USELESS and does not deserve a fav. If it was in photography than... whatever floats your boat. But it is not worthy if it cant be used for what it is supposed to be.
And the worst favs of all... Faving photomanips that do not give proper credits. How can you fav a person's work, when they put things like
1. don't have time for credits, I will come back-----------------don't have time to fav, I may come back later
2. Cant remember where I got the stock ----------- happens to me all the time, find out or delete it. Sucks to delete it but its the right thing to do
3. Credit source google ---so if I am searching on google and their artwork shows up.. do you think they will let me say google gave it to me?
And I have actually seen a couple DDs given out where proper credits were not given. How the hell did that happen? If I could remember where and when... I would provide the links. Hmmm that gives me an idea. Maybe next time I will post the links. Nah

Please DA, let me hover my mouse over the image and see the size of the image. Because that is what sparked this latest bitch session. A filtered search where we could block certain names would be so nice. And then I may as well ask for that celeb art supplies category because it sure would clean up the resources section. I have a feeling that I am not the only one bothered by the non stock in stock section.
I am on a roll but have ran out of time... maybe next time I will complain about all the really good and generous stock providers that we are losing and why I feel like we are losing them. And what we can do to keep it from happening. Some day we may only be left with those little av sized images. And we will have only our selves to blame.

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Featured

Cochlear Implant by Lost-N-Beauty, journal

Points for subscription by Lost-N-Beauty, journal

Devious Journal Entry by Lost-N-Beauty, journal

DISGUSTED by Lost-N-Beauty, journal

Browsing in DA by Lost-N-Beauty, journal