Doowahdiddy

Turns out having a modicum of regular activity in my life makes me less inclined to blog. Whereas a LOT of regular activity makes me want to escape, so I blog more! (If that doesn't tell you what fuels this blog - boredom - nothing else will. Unless, of course, I simply told you what said fuel is.)

So here's what's new with me.

• I'm going to see Step Sing tonight, and I'm SUPER PUMPED about this year's show!! :D
• I'm learning to play "Inside Out" by Hillsong on my ukulele. It's one of my favorite worship songs ever, and it pleases me greatly that I can play it with a modicum of skill. Here's their version.
• We get to finally go in the darkroom on Monday for my photography class!! Which means I'll have to actually finish my roll of film and get it developed so I'll have something to make prints with. :/ But, that also means I have a legitimate reason to walk around with my camera and take LOTS OF PICTURES. XD
• I'm on a movie-watching spree. Since Netflix split their streaming and DVD services, so that combining them is more expensive than before, I got a free trial from Blockbuster. I'm trying to watch as many DVDs on my list as possible before it expires.
• I'm slowly making my way through Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan. It's book 6 in the Wheel of Time series. Kind of wish I had an e-reader for it; the entire series consists of massive books. :P
• I'm hanging out with one of my best friends today. We don't see much of each other, even though we live in the same building. (It's my fault; I generally associate with those I see, and not so much the ones I don't. I'm working on it.) Hopefully we'll go get sushi tonight before the Step Sing show! :D
• My Photoshop trial is about to expire. I don't really have anything else to do with it, though, so it'll likely just sit there until it goes away. And then, when I need another photo editing program, I'll go download GIMP! The free imitation of Photoshop. :)

That's about it. Riveting, I know.

There is one more thing, that I'd like for all who read this to pray about. I'm thinking about going on a mission trip this summer. Would you please pray that I will be able to hear God tell me a) whether I should go on a mission trip, b) whether it should be through Samford, and c) which one it should be. I need to make a decision in the next couple weeks, because the form has to be in by March 1 or something. Your prayers are much appreciated, and I thank you.

Peace.

Attitude of Gratitude

As I was praying over my food the other day, I started to wonder, "What does it mean to be thankful?" We say 'thank you' so much and for so many things, that it tends to lose its meaning.

So what does it mean to be thankful?

I think it starts with recognizing that you weren't necessarily going to get whatever is in front of you now. That plate of food, the random gift, the friendly advice - none of those were a given. The first step is not taking them for granted.

So, now that you realize you could've just as easily wound up with no food in front of you, what do you do? You say 'thank you' to whoever gave it to you. When you think about it, that's a very large 'thank you.' It wasn't just the chef or the server responsible for your food. Oh no. Next time you sit down to a meal, look at everything on your plate. A farmer somewhere grew that food and raised the livestock for your meat. Somewhere, those foods were processed and made ready for sale. A driver spent hours on the road bringing that food to your local supermarket. The stocker spent his night helping to unload everything and put it out for you, the consumer. And that's just the food! There's still the plate, the cup, the pots and pans used to cook it, the skills someone had to learn to prepare the food just right.

Realizing that so many hands and hours have gone into providing food (and that's just the example I'm using now), what do we do? Say 'thank you,' yes, but is that all? Not if we're truly thankful. If you're thankful - if you're grateful - that you've received something, then you show it. That food is a gift, and you are responsible for using the energy it gives you wisely. The food could've gone to someone else, but it didn't. It came to you.

This carries over into every facet of our existence. Nothing had to come to you. Be thankful it did!

What blessings in your life do you often overlook? How can you show your gratitude for those things? Think about it.

Schmickle

Couple things going on right now. It's the end of my last first week of spring semester, for one. And I'm going to a training seminar this weekend that should be amazing (I'm sure I'll have something to post about that later). And I'm thinking of going on a mission trip overseas this summer.

1) First Week
     The first week of class is always kind of crazy; you're getting your syllabi, you go through the introduction phase ad nauseum for each class, homework kind of kicks in but not really and what they actually give you feels ridiculous, and you're still getting yourself settled. It usually feels like a pretty long week.
     Luckily, I had two classes cancelled! Both twice-a-week classes, though, which kind of sucks because now we'll have to catch up. Oh well. My other twice-a-week class is a PE class and we didn't have to dress out or do anything both times we met; just went over ground rules and semester objectives. Oh, and I dropped one of my classes, so now I don't have anything at all on Fridays. Woo!! So, really, the second week is going to be my first "normal" week, because my schedule will actually kick in.

2) 2012 Asuncion seminar
     More information on this can be found here.

3) Mission Trip?

     I learned this past Tuesday at a campus worship service that University Ministries is organizing 3 trips overseas this summer. One to South Africa, one to Bangalore, India, and one to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There are informational meetings for each this week; I'm going to 2 out of 3, and I spoke with someone personally about the third already. Hopefully God will speak to my heart for one in particular; I'd really like to go on another mission trip, and I know that doesn't come from myself (because I don't usually care, to be honest). So, updates on that to come, I'm sure.

Alright! Well, I'm off to my Photography class. Peace out!

Photoshop and Other Difficult Things

     I know I'm not very good at drawing and painting and such; writing and photography are more my speed. I downloaded a 30-day free trial of Photoshop the other day to try and add a little something to one of my drawings. After spending several hours toying around, being confused, watching tutorials, and so on, I FINALLY managed to accomplish what I was going for. It wound up looking terrible, but it was my first ever venture in Photoshop, so I didn't let it discourage me.
     Turns out Photoshop is fantastic for manipulating photos (go figure, right?). I've been manipulating a lot of my pictures and I've gotten some great results out of it. But when I try to be artistic with some of them, I'm completely stymied. Bringing out some colors but not touching the rest of the picture and creating effects in one spot but not others are the 2 things that vex me most so far. I should probably go finish watching the tutorials for beginners, but I just need a break from all things Photoshop for a while, haha. So I'm blogging.

     Aside from my Photoshop woes, I'm trying to develop the discipline of writing on command and actually completing what I start. One of my friends randomly gave me a writing prompt (told me to write something fun about the child version of a TV character), and I actually enjoyed writing something that hadn't come from some random, adventurous scene my mind created. So, I'm asking you my readers for prompts! What should I write about?
     That's actually a pretty good question to ask for other things, too. Prompts for photo and drawing subjects  would be appreciated, too. (I draw in abstract, though; actual people and objects don't turn out well.)

     As far as music goes, I'm still going through a bunch of music on my flash drive. It's tiring, going through all that music. (First world pains, I know.) But hopefully once I have everything in my library, I can buckle down and make new playlists. Preferably before my strength training class actually starts working out - it's much more enjoyable if I have music. The teacher's nice, but he talks a lot, and it's usually not important. (I've taken the class before. I'm taking it again because one of my roommates is taking it and it's a good way to tone up.)