The Finished Product

Well, it's 3 am, and I'm finally finished. I'm pretty happy with the finished product. I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.

I really ended up liking the bottom right as well. I saw the photo of the orchid online and thought it would be cool to try and morph someone's face into it.

Photoshop Fun

I'm sitting in the School of Theatre Computer Lab right now, taking a break from my Photoshop homework. I have to say, I'm really loving this class. I can't remember the last time that I spent more than two hours doing homework for one assignment and truly enjoyed it. I'm tired, and my eyes are starting to bug out a little bit, but really, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this point in time. Well, maybe bed, but I wish I was there all the time, so I don't think that counts.

Anyway, I thought since I'm here, and working, I might as well show you what I've been doing.

The writing on the bottom left reads, "I never thought I'd land in pictures with a face like mine". It's a quote by Audrey Hepburn as found on IMDB. It's funny to think that a woman who was considered (and still is) among the most beautiful in the world would have a problem with her self image. But enough waxing philosophical. Here's that frame a little bigger:



Anyway, I think that corner is the one I'm the most proud of. I like all those pictures from various films and stages in her life, and I like how I put them in the sections of her umbrella. It took me about an hour to do that, which is probably a bit much, because it really wasn't that hard, but a good bit of that hour was spent trying to remember how to do stuff, as well as fiddling around with various filters and such.

But now I have a bit of a dilemma, because I have no idea what to do with the fourth picture. They all have to be changed/distorted in some way, and I'm fresh out of ideas. Anyway, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Anyway, I hope you liked looking at my homework. I'm sure I'll post more of my assignments as they come.

A Dream Differed

For a long time I wanted to be a photographer. I pictured myself jetting around the world doing exciting things in dangerous places. Taking pictures of people that the whole world would see. I would flip through the pages of National Geographic, looking at the images of animals, a tribe in the Sahara Desert, a funeral in Bosnia. I wanted to take those pictures someday. I would look at a subject and see an amazing photograph waiting to be taken. When I finally got a camera into my hands, the amazing picture that was in my head somehow got lost in the lens of my Dad's old Canon A-1. No matter how much I wanted those images to make it to the film, it never quite got there. I would be zoomed in too much, or not enough, or it would be only just out of focus.

I realized fairly quickly that photography was not for me. I didn't understand enough about the sunlight, f-stops and apertures. It never looked quite right.

I've been thinking about getting a camera. A point and shoot digital, something I can drop in my pocket and take along for the ride. Then again I want to have control. I want that flower to be out of focus, dang it. I can't do that with a point and shoot. But if I ever got a camera where I had to do more than that, the pictures in my head would never make it to the film, or pixels, however those things work. It's not like I have the money to throw away on a camera anyway.

It would be nice though, to be able to get that image on to film or pixel. If only I had the patience to learn.

Some Thoughts

I was doing laundry at the house today for the first time this semester. I must pause and say that, yes, I have done laundry more than once in the last month, its just that the other time was at home in Orlando, so I am not a completely vile and smelly beast...not because of my clothes at least. Anyway, I switched to liquid detergent from powder, and in the process changed scents. I smell like some type of bubble gum, or perhaps candy. Whatever the case, it's nice, but a little weird. At this point in time, the change to liquid is a good thing. My only fear is that I'll walk into class one day, or perhaps a meeting for Crusade, and someone will brush past me, stop and say, "Wow, you smell like bubble gum, or some kind of candy!"

And now for something completely different...
Within the next week I should begin my foray into the world of Discipleship as a discipler instead of disciplee. The be honest, I'm scared out of my mind. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ."I was reading 1 Corinthians for part of last semester and into the summer, and that one verse in particular stuck in my brain. Imagine the relationship that Paul must have had with God to be able to confidently admonish Christians to follow his example. I can say with equal confidence that I would be a fool to tell someone to follow my example. For one thing, it took me four months to read 1 Corinthians, all sixteen chapters of it. It seems arrogant to try to lead someone when I know that my own walk with Christ is a faint shadow of what it should be. How can I encourage someone to sit in the shadow of my tower of Biblical knowledge and wisdom when the reality is that the tower is leaning, liable to topple at the pressure of a light wind.

So...I'm scared. And I smell like bubble gum.

Greetings from the Blogging Delinquent

I've been a bit of a blogging delinquent lately. But since I am a college student, I will use the all too frequent excuse of: I'm busy and perpetually tired. The problem with that is it is only partially true. This being the weekend, I've found myself being the most sluggish and lazy person for the last two days. I don't have classes on Fridays, see, so I end up doing nothing despite all intentions of getting something done, like the reading I should be doing for Folklore, and the writing I should be doing for Playwriting. So for the last 48 hours or so I have been neither busy nor tired (although I probably should have been busy).

So today, I sat around and played with my guitar and looked up new songs to learn. I rediscovered my love for the Goo Goo Dolls, and found out that Eric Clapton is probably a little out of my league musically. No surprise there. I haven't really touched my guitar that much for the last two or three weeks, only a few moments here and there, and today was the first time I really tried anything new. My fingers hurt because my callouses have peeled off and I spent half the day working on getting them back.

I started a notebook of guitar music. Now that I have my own printer it's finally practical. No paper rationing here. I'll slowly add songs as I look them up, printing them out instead of closing them for another time. Eventually the little folder that I have now will be replaced by something larger and more impressive. Hopefully the binder will be full of things which are difficult, the kind that make people stare at you when you play because it's so amazing. As of right now that is certainly not the case, except for Eric Clapton's "Classical Gas," but I can't play that yet.

Anyway, I'll try to update more. I'm supposed to be writing every day anyway, so why not make some of it public?

The Move

Tonight is a momentous occasion. I've gone through this three times already, and hopefully this will be my last. My brother, however, is doing it for the first time, the move from home to dorm.

It is strange to know that when I go home for the weekends he won't always be here. Sometimes I'll pick him up on my way home, swing through Gainesville, fight the traffic on Archer and spend the next two hours catching up, or maybe sleeping.

We're already planning our first weekend home. Labor Day weekend. The first long weekend of the school year, as well as the weekend of my 21st birthday.

Weird. That's all I can say. The weirdest thing is, it won't effect me that much. I've already been out of the house for three years, and him not being home on the weekends really isn't that odd. He was always busy, or asleep, or I was asleep.

I think about my parents, coming home tomorrow night to an empty nest, their youngest child off to college for this first time. It'll be quiet around the house. The little bro and I are always making noise. Banging out poor improvisations to "Heart and Soul" on the piano, the sound reverberating of the wood floors. Having tickle fights in which I'm squealing and him laughing at me. Stereos playing Jamie Cullum and Metallica (his, not mine). Quiet.

We're leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and I'm not done packing. I've done it so many times that I basically know what needs to go. I'll be back in two weeks anyway, so it's really not that big of a deal if I forget something. Anyway, enough of being philosophical, back to packing.

Back in the USA

My family returned today from our two week excursion in Canada. For once I was thankful for an early arrival at the airport, although I did not realize how thankful until we got home and watched the evening news. We heard on the radio before crossing the border back into the States that there a terrorist plot had been foiled in the UK, and as a result there was heightened security around the globe, and especially in American airports. By the time we reached Buffalo International Airport around 7am the lines at the security check points were already stacking up. Paper signs informed us multiple times that liquids and gels would not be allowed in carry-on luggage. We got through security unscathed. The woman in front of me failed to heed the warnings posted on every wall and looked on as bottle after bottle of nail polish and assorted cosmetics were thrown unceremoniously into the garbage by the TSA man.

When we landed in Atlanta, a glance at the Arrival/Departure boards hinted at the state of things outside our small bubble of care. Delays up and down the boards, and cancellations of flights from the UK. Our flights were not actually effected, and we arrived on time in Orlando. The evening news several hours later gave us a glimpse of what we'd missed.

At the end of this rather strange day--traveling is weird enough without the immediate threat of terrorists with Gatorade bottles--I am exceedingly thankful to be home after two weeks in Canada. I had a good time, but I'm happy to have my own bed again, and a night of sleep uninterrupted by snoring.