Mobile Video | Generation Unleashed

Best line of the conference: "Don't spend your money on your girl. Go ahead and buy the XBOX guys, it'll be around longer than she will."

"The Sun'll Come Out, To-Morrow!"

Wow. I've had a fantastically productive day! I think the sun really gave me a boost. I went to sleep last night feeling horribly achy all over. I didn't exactly JUMP out of bed this morning, but once I was up, I was more alive than usual. I got a TON of homework finish and started and I even made time to eat. I was able to cross a couple things off my to do list and I even enjoyed my favorite episode of the X-Files. I did all that while nursing a hurt finger. Note to self: Do not play tug of war with both dogs, they have sharp teeth. It's still going to be a long week, but at least today was on the up and up! Thank the Good Lord for all his blessings!

Tons of thanks to my DLF who gave me a lesson in Illustrator! And for fixing my Netflix watching abilities!!! YOU ARE THE GREATEST EVER.

Photo Retouching

I've gotta say, I really enjoyed retouching this old photo of mom! It really helps to have taken a clear shot from the start, but Photoshop can do things my Nikon only dreams of! It's a bit hard to see much at this size, but I reduced wrinkles and slimmed her face and arms a tad... among a few other things.

Kids draw the darnest things...

*This post is a re-post from Normal Rockstar's blog.*


A child drew this picture as part of a homework assignment and took it to school. The teacher received a letter from the child's parent the following day:

"Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.

I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith"

Solomon Mack Henley

Congrats Adam and Cheramie on the arrival of your son!

Brighter Days - Leeland

Time keeps moving on
Through the sunshine and the storm
And my dreams are set in stone
And someday I’ll be who I want to be
For now I’ll wait
For the sun to shine again
And for now I’ll wait
For the rain to pass away

And I’m looking for the brighter days
When all my hurts seem to fade away
I’m looking for the brighter days to come my way

Faces come and faces go
But none seem to look my way
And walls have stood and walls have fallen
But my heart seems to wait
For now I’ll sit at the end of the road
And for now I’ll wait
At the end of the pathway

I’ll see the sun one day shine upon me
I’ll see the sun one day
And watch the nighttime turn to morning
But for now it all comes back around

-------------------------------

I conquered an enemy today. I'm making progress. This was the song that was playing when my tiny battle was over.

Lessons from drawing.

My study of drawing and how to get in the 'right mind' for it has brought many thought from my feeble mind. Science tells us that each hemisphere of our brain has special functions. While not 100% for everyone, most people use their 'left' brain most of the time. This is the part of us where we use logic, rationalism, order, we keep track of time, and break things into parts. Our words and language come from this side of our brain. Lefty is the uptight 'know it all' of the team. Righty, on the other hand (pun intended), is more intuitive, has no sense of time or order, puts things together to create 'wholes', is metaphoric, doesn't need reason, and is non-verbal. You might say Righty is the laid-back 'soak up the moment' of the team.

In theory, you can not draw real life forms using Lefty. Most definitely he will try to take over. He's the know-it-all. Drawing with Lefty, we create scenes that are more cartoon-ish and made up of symbols instead of lifelike pictures. A circle for a head, some ovals for eyes, a half moon for a smile.... you get the idea.

I guess the pre-point to my main point is this: we have to use Righty to 'see' things differently. Righty will show us the whole picture, not just the parts. There's no beginning and no end. When you get in this Zone, you lose track of time and usually can't hear words around you. For most of us, it's a very pleasurable place to be.

Moving right along. I wanted to share how this relates to the Christian walk. I think that when we get saved by the Grace of God, the "right" side of our spirit begins to be awakened. We are able to grasp glimpes of the whole picture. However, we are so used to using the "left" side of our spirit that we let it take over. We see the daily tasks clearly, we see the order of life - childhood, school, career, wedding, kids, grandkids, retirement, etc. We use logic and reason and we are on a deadline!

What would our lives be like if we lived with the "right" side of our spirit leading us? We wouldn't see the timeline, or the To Do List, or try to explain things with logic. Can you imagine seeing something just how it is and not feeling the urge to try to explain it? Seeing a miracle? How would you differ your approach to non-Believers if you could see the big picture of where their life is headed?

Lefty will always be the first to attempt a task. Only if he can't or doesn't want to do the tast will he settle down and let Righty take over. In drawing class, we do exercises to help shut-up Lefty. We draw things that can't be "programmed, categorized or easily referenced" so that Lefty gives up trying. We practice seeing things differently.

I think we could take a lesson from drawing. What kind of exercises can we do to better see things the way the REALLY are? How can we train our spirit to see the world in a way that provokes us to live important lives? I want to live in a way that I can not keep track of time, that I can not hear the outside voices, and that I see things as they truely are.

That's all I have to say about that.

Me

I surprized myself again. I spent about 90 minutes on this self-portrait. Other than the fact that my head is actually more round that it is here, I thought it looked fairly nice. I'm sure I could nit-pic it all day, but I won't. This is art. You don't like it? Get over it! :)

Slushie

I'm feeling like a slushie again, FYI. I probably won't be posting for a bit. Just thought you'd like to know.

In my right mind.

In my drawing class today, I discovered that I can, in fact, draw. I think I'm going to like this class, but only because I've decided to like this class. Usually the thought of drawing makes me stress out. I am a self-proclaimed perfectionist. Art isn't perfection. This class will the be place I will allow myself to be imperfect. Take this drawing to the right. I drew that- upside down while looking at the original sketch upside down. I was sitting right-side up, just to clarify. My homework is to draw for at least an hour. Seems simple enough, but I know it will be a fight every time. Just like New Year's Eve when I learned to not let my fear of inadequacy rule. That's what it is, right? Perfectionism. The fear of not being good enough.

God is an amazing God. It is my imperfection that keeps me humble. If I was perfect, I would be God, and I really don't want that job. I'm excited to see what great things I will learn this quarter.

According to the syllabus, about 95% of my homework is supposed to be 'live' subjects, so don't dash my hopes if I ask you to volunteer to sit still for an hour while I turn you into a drawing. Thanks!

Duo

Alicia and I decided to drive separately for the first month and then see if carpooling will work better after that. Today's class is Photoshop 3. Ironically, there were only 3 students in class today. Out of four. Yup. So much for consolidating classes to help with budget cuts.

Here's what I finished up today:

Anyway, not much else to say I guess. Have I mentioned that I really don't like QL episodes when Sam is a woman? Ugh.










And now for our feature presentation, courtesy of Cory Fisher:

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Keeping Up

Well I've finished my first day back to class. I'm still here though. I forgot that the gal I carpool with, Alicia, is taking a second class from 1-1:50pm every day. So I finished my homework about 40 minutes after class got out which was at 11:30am. I decided to work on my web site some more and keep it up this quarter. It's a site that displays all my assignments in one place.

Here's the assignment I finished today.

I'm real hungry right now. I ran out of the house without any food. I should have gone and got something while waiting, but I decided to save my dough.

Mav has another vet apt. today at 4:30pm. He's going to get his yearly shots and a follow up on his eyes. I think I should take him for a walk before hand.

This just in: The back of my chair just fell off. Thankfully I was the only one in the room. Ssshhhhh, don't tell, but I switched my chair with someone else's. Ironically, as I sat back down a guy came in and actually sat at the computer with the broke chair.

TTFN

Sweat and Tears

I've been busy today. Unfortunately I haven't been busy with what I should have been busy with - getting ready for school. The 'put-it-off-itis' has already hit me. Oh well, it's just the first week. I'll get by.

How do you like the new look :D ? I spent hours on it. I figured - New Year, New Look.

I also spent hours playing Wii with Adam. Thanks to Cherm for letting him come play. And of course she was there too rooting us on! What a great friend - the best!

Couple of tid bits for ya:

• For the month of January I get to see sweaty Micheal Scott on my wall everyday. Gotta love fun calendars.
• If you ever need a good cry, check out ABC on Sundays at 8pm. It always works for me.
• Oh9 is going to be a great year of growth and progress. I can feel it.

Second Quarter, HERE I COME!

Why do we do that?

What this post is about to address, and essentially complain about, is one of my top pet peeves. Why does it seem that Christians can treat complete strangers with more love and respect than we treat each other? I see this practice as quite common among us. We'd rather caution our tongue around a person we just met than offer that same politeness to our brothers and sisters - especially in our families. That custom is so entirely backwards you could mistake it for Kris Kross's pants!

Do you remember the song "They will know we are Christians by our love" ? Well did you know that the love they are known for is referring to our love for each other, not strangers. Non-believers were the ones who dubbed Christian gatherings as "Love Feasts" because of how much they loved each other. Who's gonna be drawn in by our love for strangers and our contempt for our family? Isn't that one of the greatest forms of hypocrisy? Wouldn't you call a person like that 'fake'? It bugs me so much to how poorly we can treat each other and then turn around and serve anybody else.

We do it in simple acts like answering the phone in a cheery voice when we're in the middle of an argument with our spouse. We do it when we show grace to the server who tips a glass all over us, but yell at our child for the same thing. How many of you will make sure the house is all cleaned up and 'presentable' to the neighbor who's stopping by for a moment while letting the mess pile up because it's 'just us' here today. Ladies, how often do you get primped up for a trip outside the house so the grocery store clerk doesn't think you're a slob, but choose to wear sweats at home while your husband is there? Those things are wigity wigity wigity wack!

I know I am guilty of this dishonoring behavior. Sometimes I walk away from a conversation with my parents and I can't believe the way I spoke to them! I'd never address a teacher that way, why do I feel okay speaking that way to my own parents?!

Friends, I love you all very much and if I ever get out of line and treat you with less respect or kindness than you know I ought to be, please have the courage to put me back in line. Please help me 'mend my wicked ways'. It is my intention to begin apologizing for this behavior whenever I realize I need to, and work on loving you all better than I love my mailman.

This post would not be complete without this video:

How I started the new year.

I started 2009 with some pretty wild people. Wild kids that is. Wonderful kids :) I had a blast. When I showed up to babysit at around 8:30pm, the gal who was there had already put the girls to bed. After she left I promptly went up there and told them to "get outta bed!" They were excited. We couldn't be all that loud since baby brother was sleeping upstairs, so we spent time coloring and making up stories.


This drawing was a group effort. I didn't get a photo of the final piece, but we each added to it until it was beauti-mus! I wanted to draw with the girls, but had trouble drawing as freely as they did. They just jumped right in without worrying about figuring out the whole picture first. They inspired me. I like to draw flowers. They are simple and lovely. So I drew one. Then another. Suddenly I had a whole garden! Our faith is like that. Just one step at a time as the Lord leads. We don't have to know the whole picture before we begin, we just have to know that the master artist is in control and even if we spill paint all over, he knows how to turn that spill into a sun rise! And thanks to Ericka L. for reminding me about that.


I am a way cool babysitter, so of course I brought some sweets for the par-tay. 'Liv doesn't look all that excited about it in this picture, but she was pretty thrilled that she got a treat that changed colors as she ate it. Gotta love fruit by the foot!

So we watched the Seattle fireworks on t.v. and then I took the girls out in the rain to watch some of the neighbor's fireworks, too. They're eyes sparkled. We went back in to draw more pictures- this time of the fireworks we saw. For some reason that night, I was totally impressed with both of the girls' creativity. It just ..... touched me. Anyway, they went to bed and I tried to sleep but ended up online for most of the night. Literally. I'll spare you the ugly details, but I had a chance to talk with Ericka in Ireland and my best friend from 6th grade who's in Texas. I was really thankful for those conversations. Needless to say I didn't make it through the day without a 3 hour nap.

This last picture is of a guy I went to high school with. I was watching t.v. this evening and this promo for a new game show (Game Show in My Head) came on and I guess he gets punk'd (or whatever they call it). Anywho, I thought that was awesome. It'd be like seeing someone you know get caught on candid camera. Can't wait to see the whole episode.

HAPPY TWO-THOUSAND NINE!

Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”