Last week held a historical day. That much is certain. No matter what anyone says about it, Barack H Obama officially became the nation's 44th President, and the nation's 1st African-American President. For that I give my applause and my pride. For the next 4 years, he'll have my support. He should have all of our support. For some it'll be a day like 9/11. They'll be able to tell their children's children where they were when his right hand was raised and the oath was taken. I was at a restaurant/pub with everyone in my writing class. All 5 of us plus the professor. We had class there because we're told it's a place where a lot of writer's go and it's sort of like a creative center. The place was crammed full of Obama supporters (most acting like idiots) and then myself, the only non-Obama voter in the place, wearing my "Obamunism" shirt for all to see. The following is a true story. (Haha I feel like I should insert that little Law & Order sound effect. Clink clink!)
So we get there early for class so we can get stuff accomplished before the main ceremony started. As I took my jacket off to display my Obama shirt for everyone, I made sure to turn a full 360 while I got my arms out of the sleeves. Subtle right? I'm sure I got attention. The ceremony began about an hour or so after we arrived. Those who know me know I rarely shy away from my beliefs and will defend them when I feel they're threatened. I'll be 12-years-old and give a little "They started it" line. The first time it shows George W Bush on screen, people started booing. Not only that, the table next to us all stuck out the middle finger to the screen as if we were at some live Nascar race and there was redneck tension. Very sad to witness. It was at that moment I decided I wanted to play this fun game too. So I stand up and start applauding and hollering "I love you George!" This is when I started to make friends there.
The ceremony progresses. All the former presidents were there. Every time the crowd booed, I applauded loudly. And vice versa. Jimmy Carter walked out and I shouted "They wasted the Nobel Prize on him!" Bill Clinton walked out and I said, "Alright! 9/11 happened because of him. What a leader!" George W. Bush and his father walk out and I'm standing up whistling and cheering haha. It was great fun. When Obama's and Biden's wives walked out, someone behind me actually said "Oh that's his wife?" Hahahaha I mean, if you're going to vote for a man at least know about him that much! Unbelievable.
When Rick Warren got up to give the opening prayer everyone booed. Apparently he had a hand in stopping the gay marriage amendment in California. So I started cheering and probably said something along the lines of "Hallelujah Jesus!" It's just unbelievable to me the way people are. Now, sure, I was acting this way in clean fun like a court jester in ancient times. But these people actually hold this malice and injustice in their hearts. It's amazing to me.
The problem I have with people is that no one cares for one another anymore. There could be a serious wreck with people dead in the road, and people in their cars will honk and do everything they can to get where they need to be in a hurry. You get all of these people who say "Oh we need to support our new president; however, these are the same people flicking off our former leader on the television screen. Where was your support for HIM?! Granted people, not just politicians, do things we don't approve of. Does that mean I should flick off the person at the mall who cuts me off? Do I need to stick the bird where the sun don't shine on the people who carry the complete opposite beliefs of mine? No. We've all become pigheaded.
As the ceremony ended, the closing prayer had a cute little 3rd grade rhyme to it, mentioning all of the different races in the world. "For the yellow to me mellow. For the red to get ahead." And then he says "And for the white to always do what's right." Hahaha it was extremely offensive to me. When have I not been doing what's right? Why do the red people need to get ahead and the brown to get around? I mean if they're here as citizens then awesome! Let's all sing koombayah and hold hands. If they're here on illegal terms they need a swift kick out of our borders. They'll get ahead and around real quick!
The main thing I'm tired of is the appearance that slavery and oppression of people is still continuing today. It's extremely discomforting to me. I can name hundreds of African-Americans out there who are better off than me. And I don't mean athletes. I mean the mailman has a job and I don't. That's one right there. Give me a break! I'm thrilled beyond words for the impact of this historical achievement and what it means, but do the wretched whitemen need to have our noses rubbed in it? Was I around when their ancestors we're getting hanged? No! I'm trying to make a difference in this world as much as the next person, no matter the skintone. It's just tiring that the race card is always played to the opponent's advantage. That card should've been filed in the Smithsonian decades ago!
Obama is looking to signing the Freedom of Choice Act. It's going to be remembered as the saddest day in our nation's history. We might as well have him sign the Freedom of Murder Act. There is NO difference. I don't want this baby. I want it taken care of. I know, I'll have it killed by the doctor or just let it lay in a corner by itself with no medical attention so it dies. Now let's say this guy at the grocery store takes the last box of cereal. You motherf---. That was the last box. I don't want to have to deal with you. I don't want you around, sir. I know, I'll take out my gun and shoot you in the head. Great taken care of. That's the exact same principle underlying the abortion issue. Feel free to debate me otherwise. They say abortion is for population control. Well then so is me wanting my box of cereal. I'm taking him out. You're taking the baby out. Same thing! Abortion is murder. If you want to control population, practice abstinence or safe sex. Quit sleeping and dicking around. I'm sorry to sound so heartless on the matter, but is abortion not heartless?
I think people are in for a rude awakening these next 4 years. Obama is NOT our messiah. He is not going to hoist the country above our heads out of the ashes. I must say I respect the man for the tasks ahead of him. I WILL be giving him my support and do my part. Because no matter what disagreements I have with him and his leadership it is true that we are ALL in this TOGETHER. That's right. Everyone. The person you honk at, flick off, curse at, snicker at, laugh at, spit at, are snobby at, the baby you abort or decide to have, etc. We must work together to help ourselves and each other. This is why my dream resonates so much more powerfully in my mind. There is no greater time than now for all of us to achieve the impossible in ourselves.
The problem with politics is the aspect of fear. You need to follow politics yourself. Develop your beliefs and stick to them. Don't let anyone sway you. The more clueless you are, the more you listen to others. The others have a natural ability to inflict fear in our hearts and souls. So we'll look to our politicians instead of realizing we have it in ourselves to make things better. Politicians know we are scared and they thrive on it. It's not only cheesy sounding, but it's as true as the written word of God. We have the tools in our lives already. We have each other. We need to give our talents and knowledge to one another.
I know this whole blog might upset people (as tends to happen when I get hot-headed) and I'm apologizing to those people. However, truth hurts. I'm sorry. I get hurt when truth is brought to my attention. We just have to deal with it. We have to all realize these tasks for ourselves and our country are not solely for those who lead, but for each of us. Chase your dream until you reach that horizon. We're all in a new horizon in each of our lives. Last year taught me that more than anything else. We have the ability to get things done, to work together and support our country...our heritage...our patriotism. Sure this is just my opinion and I have a strict moral character. All of us do. That's what makes us unique. We need to put some differences aside and, as cheesy as it sounds, come to the table and get things done. If we can't work together today, we'll continue to fight together tomorow.
Monday, January 26, 2009
That Word
Hey so I had mentioned in a previous post my writing assignment based off of my non-favorite word, the F word. So here is the final copy of that story. Enjoy!
That Word
Cold showers suck. A non-stop give and take with water temperature. A half turn with the cold knob and a three-second turn with the hot.
Perfect.
The water pressure fades to a drizzle barely besting a water fountain.
Darn neighbor must’ve flushed.
The morning goose bumps diminish as water streaks over my body. Steam builds a light haze on the shower window, and I fight the child-like urge to doodle with my fingers.
Reaching for the loofah, my fingers become captive by strands of rabid, dark hair. Luckily, they aren’t curly.
Ugh, my freaking roommate sheds like dang Sasquatch.
I scrub each sector and toned muscle, spending an extra minute or two on the Man-ganistan region. A vital step. The water temperature plunges.
Shoot! I’m in a hurry! I thought I had the knob angles down to a science.
I speed up the shower checklist, lunging for the shampoo bottle. The loofah lather on my hands causes the bottle to slip from my grip, up and over the shower door. I coincidentally leave a Rose Dawson, Titanic-like handprint on the steamed glass while I rush to retrieve the Pert Plus. The settled goose bumps awaken.
The lack of a bath mat-covered floor sends my callused feet zipping from underneath me and I slam onto the filthy tile. The previous rabid hairs were the least of my worries. It has become an infestation.
God…dangit!! I don’t have motherfriggin’ time for this!
I leap back into the lack-luster warmth of the shower to rescrub myself. New body hair swirls down the drain. Re-working the Pert Plus with both hands, I luckily form a nice lather into my manly locks. Rinse and repeat has no time. A tiny water droplet carrying a deadly dose of suds falls down my face, rests on the corner of my eye and explodes on my cornea.
Ouch! Oh, my God! Piece of s…crap!
I bury my face in the cotton-polyester blend of the towel like a child seeking comfort in their mother’s bosom. The sting refuses to settle. It’s become a taunting irritation, dancing on my eyeball. I decide to “man-up” and try a procedure taught in high school Chemistry, eyewash.
I take a deep breath, hold open my eyelids and creep my face under the nozzle. It’s no wonder we didn’t physically try it in high school. It increases the irritating eye dance to Irish jig level.
Ugh! Motherf…ugh!
I stumble out of the shower door, and stub my pinky toe on the trashcan. My face is steaming with frustration. All the morning shower episodes flood my mind at once. I can’t stop my body from releasing the one word I hate.
F@%&!
There you have it. What did you think? Hahaha I know it's kinda sketch, but I tried to be creative.
That Word
Cold showers suck. A non-stop give and take with water temperature. A half turn with the cold knob and a three-second turn with the hot.
Perfect.
The water pressure fades to a drizzle barely besting a water fountain.
Darn neighbor must’ve flushed.
The morning goose bumps diminish as water streaks over my body. Steam builds a light haze on the shower window, and I fight the child-like urge to doodle with my fingers.
Reaching for the loofah, my fingers become captive by strands of rabid, dark hair. Luckily, they aren’t curly.
Ugh, my freaking roommate sheds like dang Sasquatch.
I scrub each sector and toned muscle, spending an extra minute or two on the Man-ganistan region. A vital step. The water temperature plunges.
Shoot! I’m in a hurry! I thought I had the knob angles down to a science.
I speed up the shower checklist, lunging for the shampoo bottle. The loofah lather on my hands causes the bottle to slip from my grip, up and over the shower door. I coincidentally leave a Rose Dawson, Titanic-like handprint on the steamed glass while I rush to retrieve the Pert Plus. The settled goose bumps awaken.
The lack of a bath mat-covered floor sends my callused feet zipping from underneath me and I slam onto the filthy tile. The previous rabid hairs were the least of my worries. It has become an infestation.
God…dangit!! I don’t have motherfriggin’ time for this!
I leap back into the lack-luster warmth of the shower to rescrub myself. New body hair swirls down the drain. Re-working the Pert Plus with both hands, I luckily form a nice lather into my manly locks. Rinse and repeat has no time. A tiny water droplet carrying a deadly dose of suds falls down my face, rests on the corner of my eye and explodes on my cornea.
Ouch! Oh, my God! Piece of s…crap!
I bury my face in the cotton-polyester blend of the towel like a child seeking comfort in their mother’s bosom. The sting refuses to settle. It’s become a taunting irritation, dancing on my eyeball. I decide to “man-up” and try a procedure taught in high school Chemistry, eyewash.
I take a deep breath, hold open my eyelids and creep my face under the nozzle. It’s no wonder we didn’t physically try it in high school. It increases the irritating eye dance to Irish jig level.
Ugh! Motherf…ugh!
I stumble out of the shower door, and stub my pinky toe on the trashcan. My face is steaming with frustration. All the morning shower episodes flood my mind at once. I can’t stop my body from releasing the one word I hate.
F@%&!
There you have it. What did you think? Hahaha I know it's kinda sketch, but I tried to be creative.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Best Foot Forward
Well the third week of classes is over. It's crazy because I feel like this quarter is flying by. I'll post my new short story this coming week sometime (I know you guys are dying to read it haha). This one we had a choice to write on our favorite word (contribute) or our non-favorite word (F---). As I wrote on my favorite word it was coming out very cheesy, so I decided to experiment with my non-favorite. It came out pretty well. Its this guy in the shower and all of this bad stuff happens to him. He is like me and doesn't cuss, so he uses words like shoot and dangit, etc. By the end something small happens to set him off completely and he says the F-word. But no worries I typed it like F@%&! Hahaha. The class enjoyed it.
For my still life class we had to turn in our "impossible shot" assignment this week. It's basically photographing something that can't be done (i.e. a feather holding up a bowling ball). I decided to shoot a baseball bat holding up a big stack of books. It came out really nice. Take a look.
I have to reshoot it though so that it all relates to one another. The balls will become apples. The bat will become a giant-sized No. 2 pencil and the books will be school text books and dictionaries. The teacher said it was great it just all needs to relate to each other...and I need to blur out the background some too. But not too bad. I'm really enjoying the challenges of the quarter so far. I feel bad for one of my friend's, Erika, who got her camera fried accidentally by the equipment. Her camera started smoking. Scary stuff if that happened to me.
My roommate told me that someone asked in his class who his roommate is. When he said, "Evan" they were like "Oh is that that tall guy that dresses really nice?" Hahaha yup! Sure is, ladies. Tell your friends.
Sunday night will be the first night of Fusion at Buckhead Church. Basically like small groups for people my age. It meets 5 times every three months. We get together a few hours one night and do different things out and about to be together. Sounds like it'll be a great opportunity for me. I'll let you know how it goes.
Not bad for a short little blog entry huh? I'll be posting my experience with one of my classes at the coffeehouse watching the inauguration sometime this weekend. Get excited for that haha. Until then have an awesome weekend and I'll talk to you guys soon.
More to come...
For my still life class we had to turn in our "impossible shot" assignment this week. It's basically photographing something that can't be done (i.e. a feather holding up a bowling ball). I decided to shoot a baseball bat holding up a big stack of books. It came out really nice. Take a look.
I have to reshoot it though so that it all relates to one another. The balls will become apples. The bat will become a giant-sized No. 2 pencil and the books will be school text books and dictionaries. The teacher said it was great it just all needs to relate to each other...and I need to blur out the background some too. But not too bad. I'm really enjoying the challenges of the quarter so far. I feel bad for one of my friend's, Erika, who got her camera fried accidentally by the equipment. Her camera started smoking. Scary stuff if that happened to me.
My roommate told me that someone asked in his class who his roommate is. When he said, "Evan" they were like "Oh is that that tall guy that dresses really nice?" Hahaha yup! Sure is, ladies. Tell your friends.
Sunday night will be the first night of Fusion at Buckhead Church. Basically like small groups for people my age. It meets 5 times every three months. We get together a few hours one night and do different things out and about to be together. Sounds like it'll be a great opportunity for me. I'll let you know how it goes.
Not bad for a short little blog entry huh? I'll be posting my experience with one of my classes at the coffeehouse watching the inauguration sometime this weekend. Get excited for that haha. Until then have an awesome weekend and I'll talk to you guys soon.
More to come...
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Rundown of Thoughts
Hey guys! It's winding down to the end of a freezing weekend! I don't know what the weather has been like where you guys are, but the south can get pretty frigid. I had a great weekend! A few friends, Lauren and Bethany paid me a visit. I went to see the movie Defiance which was so great. And I have some news about church...but first, I mentioned last time that I wrote a piece about "abortion" for my class last week. I thought I would share with you my final copy. (It's edited down short because all of our pieces can be no shorter than 400 words and no longer than 500). Enjoy!
An Empty Silence
Thump thump. Thump thump. The two separate heartbeats pulsated together with rhythmic precision like they were keeping a beat for the Philharmonic. The tone of the ultrasound echoed in her mind constantly since she discovered her pregnancy. Tears flowed from her face, slowly forming a soaked spot on the hospital gown that got bigger with each teardrop. She was alone in the room with all of her nerves and support grasped onto the handle on the side of the surgical chair, while the tissue paper she laid on crinkled with every movement.
Nothing could prepare her for this moment. She tried to recite Bible verses that would calm the tension, but nothing came to mind. She felt even more alone while the ultrasound continued to echo. Thump thump. Her parents didn’t know. Couldn’t know. Their knowledge and resulting disapproval would only make her feel more abandoned. She tried to ignore the fact that abandoning someone is exactly what she is about to do.
The nurse stepped in. The needle punctured her arm. She visualized a stab into the second heartbeat within. Snapping the glove tight against his wrist, the doctor looked her in the eyes with a comforting gaze. Her feet started to slide out of the stirrups. She was struggling to hold on with her hands, and now her feet.
The doctor sat on the stool and rolled towards her to position himself between her legs. Her grip clinched even tighter. The doctor grabbed the curette, and slid it in her cervix. He began to slowly scrape along the wall of her uterus to dislodge the tiny life inside. The shot wasn’t helping her fall asleep. She could feel, and will remember everything. The doctor then slid the forceps into position to collapse the baby’s skull and pull the tiny life out through her cervix. The procedure was finished.
Was it a boy or a girl? Either way, the Philharmonic duo had come to an abrupt end. There was no musical coda that would continue the beautiful harmony into another stanza. The soaked stain on the hospital gown increased in diameter as she lay there burying her face in her hands. The tiny heartbeat echo would resound evermore in her thoughts. It is a lifeless melody, but in reality an empty silence. Thump thump.
So yeah, that's that. This week, our assignment was to take our favorite word and write a similar story around that word. My word is "contribute," and I think I'll be writing about how we all have something to give to each other. Might be cheesy, but I'm going to do my best for it not to be.
A lot has been on my mind lately regarding where I fit in down here in Atlanta. Since moving here in September, it has been a struggle to fit in at a liberal school when the majority of people are not believers in faith like I am. There are maybe a handful of us who try to practice Biblical principles in our lives. It can get very discomforting. I do my best to fit in around the school, but I don't believe personally that I need to abandon my morals and personal judgment to do so. I have made a lot of friends, but on most weekends a lot of them like to go out to bars/restuarants/clubs to drink and let loose. Or parties at other people's apartments. I want to say upfront that I personally don't judge people like this. I have drank a time or two, but I don't personally enjoy it. I think going further by getting drunk is completely immature and confusing. In most cases, not everyone is even getting drunk. Mostly just a hangout with alcohol involved. Even still, I'm not a party kind of guy if all they were drinking is Dr. Pepper. I'm much more of a board game party person than dancing around each other and all of that. Call me crazy, but I find more excitement in a fierce competition of Hungry Hungry Hippos than I do over a game of poker. Granted, that qualifies me to be between the age of 7-12, and also highly illegal and classified as a child molestor if I play with those kids. There lies the hurdle haha. I do try and go hang out more with people from school, and everyone is well aware of my beliefs and personal choices. No one forces me to do anything I don't want to, which is quite a relief. I guess I just enjoy staying in my apartment and watching a movie. But I promised a few people I would socialize more and come t parties. They are aware that the moment I get uncomfortable I'm leaving.
The main thing has been trying to find a group of friends who are believers like I am. It was very easy in college since I attended a flippin' Christian institution. Now it's like that world completely flipped over. And don't get me wrong, everyone at school is a lot of fun. There is not one person at school who I don't get along with and bond with, etc. It's just I really want a group of friends also that I can go to church with and build Christian fellowship. The hard thing is trying not to appear snobbish or that I'm better than everyone at school. I'm not. I DO have a better spiritual life in my heart and soul that I hope everyone sees. I just don't believe I need to sacrifice myself in order to make deep friendships at school and fit in. Success comes to those who are passionate and pursuit it wholeheartedly.
At church this evening...since I missed the morning service (Buckhead Church...a satellite church of North Point with Andy Stanley) I got information on Fusion and GroupLink, which are two outlets of small groups at church for people who want to connect and get more involved. It's definitely something I have been longing to do there. There seem to be a lot of people my age in there. The first gathering I think is this coming Sunday. I should get a call this week with more details. I pray that it works out. Like I said, nothing against school people...zero judgments. I just want to also find other friends who can keep me in my roots at the same time.
In other church news, I have a friend who knows someone who works at the church on the media team who might be able to offer me a chance to take photos every now and then or be a part of the media team. I don't know much more detail than that, but it sounds awesome! I'll keep you posted.
That's all for now. I hope you guys have a wonderful week! God Bless!
More to come...
An Empty Silence
Thump thump. Thump thump. The two separate heartbeats pulsated together with rhythmic precision like they were keeping a beat for the Philharmonic. The tone of the ultrasound echoed in her mind constantly since she discovered her pregnancy. Tears flowed from her face, slowly forming a soaked spot on the hospital gown that got bigger with each teardrop. She was alone in the room with all of her nerves and support grasped onto the handle on the side of the surgical chair, while the tissue paper she laid on crinkled with every movement.
Nothing could prepare her for this moment. She tried to recite Bible verses that would calm the tension, but nothing came to mind. She felt even more alone while the ultrasound continued to echo. Thump thump. Her parents didn’t know. Couldn’t know. Their knowledge and resulting disapproval would only make her feel more abandoned. She tried to ignore the fact that abandoning someone is exactly what she is about to do.
The nurse stepped in. The needle punctured her arm. She visualized a stab into the second heartbeat within. Snapping the glove tight against his wrist, the doctor looked her in the eyes with a comforting gaze. Her feet started to slide out of the stirrups. She was struggling to hold on with her hands, and now her feet.
The doctor sat on the stool and rolled towards her to position himself between her legs. Her grip clinched even tighter. The doctor grabbed the curette, and slid it in her cervix. He began to slowly scrape along the wall of her uterus to dislodge the tiny life inside. The shot wasn’t helping her fall asleep. She could feel, and will remember everything. The doctor then slid the forceps into position to collapse the baby’s skull and pull the tiny life out through her cervix. The procedure was finished.
Was it a boy or a girl? Either way, the Philharmonic duo had come to an abrupt end. There was no musical coda that would continue the beautiful harmony into another stanza. The soaked stain on the hospital gown increased in diameter as she lay there burying her face in her hands. The tiny heartbeat echo would resound evermore in her thoughts. It is a lifeless melody, but in reality an empty silence. Thump thump.
So yeah, that's that. This week, our assignment was to take our favorite word and write a similar story around that word. My word is "contribute," and I think I'll be writing about how we all have something to give to each other. Might be cheesy, but I'm going to do my best for it not to be.
A lot has been on my mind lately regarding where I fit in down here in Atlanta. Since moving here in September, it has been a struggle to fit in at a liberal school when the majority of people are not believers in faith like I am. There are maybe a handful of us who try to practice Biblical principles in our lives. It can get very discomforting. I do my best to fit in around the school, but I don't believe personally that I need to abandon my morals and personal judgment to do so. I have made a lot of friends, but on most weekends a lot of them like to go out to bars/restuarants/clubs to drink and let loose. Or parties at other people's apartments. I want to say upfront that I personally don't judge people like this. I have drank a time or two, but I don't personally enjoy it. I think going further by getting drunk is completely immature and confusing. In most cases, not everyone is even getting drunk. Mostly just a hangout with alcohol involved. Even still, I'm not a party kind of guy if all they were drinking is Dr. Pepper. I'm much more of a board game party person than dancing around each other and all of that. Call me crazy, but I find more excitement in a fierce competition of Hungry Hungry Hippos than I do over a game of poker. Granted, that qualifies me to be between the age of 7-12, and also highly illegal and classified as a child molestor if I play with those kids. There lies the hurdle haha. I do try and go hang out more with people from school, and everyone is well aware of my beliefs and personal choices. No one forces me to do anything I don't want to, which is quite a relief. I guess I just enjoy staying in my apartment and watching a movie. But I promised a few people I would socialize more and come t parties. They are aware that the moment I get uncomfortable I'm leaving.
The main thing has been trying to find a group of friends who are believers like I am. It was very easy in college since I attended a flippin' Christian institution. Now it's like that world completely flipped over. And don't get me wrong, everyone at school is a lot of fun. There is not one person at school who I don't get along with and bond with, etc. It's just I really want a group of friends also that I can go to church with and build Christian fellowship. The hard thing is trying not to appear snobbish or that I'm better than everyone at school. I'm not. I DO have a better spiritual life in my heart and soul that I hope everyone sees. I just don't believe I need to sacrifice myself in order to make deep friendships at school and fit in. Success comes to those who are passionate and pursuit it wholeheartedly.
At church this evening...since I missed the morning service (Buckhead Church...a satellite church of North Point with Andy Stanley) I got information on Fusion and GroupLink, which are two outlets of small groups at church for people who want to connect and get more involved. It's definitely something I have been longing to do there. There seem to be a lot of people my age in there. The first gathering I think is this coming Sunday. I should get a call this week with more details. I pray that it works out. Like I said, nothing against school people...zero judgments. I just want to also find other friends who can keep me in my roots at the same time.
In other church news, I have a friend who knows someone who works at the church on the media team who might be able to offer me a chance to take photos every now and then or be a part of the media team. I don't know much more detail than that, but it sounds awesome! I'll keep you posted.
That's all for now. I hope you guys have a wonderful week! God Bless!
More to come...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Weddings & Change
Well the first wedding of 2009 has come and gone. Reo and Shawn, you guys looked amazing! Thanks so much for letting me be part of your special day. Glad to do it. To those who want to see some photos....too bad! Well, I posted some on Facebook and also my site Red Bulb Photography. So go there and take a look. But I guess out of the kindness of my heart I can post a few of them on here...
Here is the beautiful bride with her girls, and then Reo putting on his Converse for the ceremony
Then of course me with my good friends and a photo of their VERY different shoes haha.
It was awesome to be able to see a lot of my good friends at the wedding from school. It stunk a little cause I have been battling a cold...often losing...so during the wedding I was losing my voice. Giving direction and stuff is not fun when you can't speak. Luckily I'm a craftsman at charades haha. I can't believe how well my Photography business for weddings is taking off. Since this weekend, I've had two additional requests for this year. Making my total number of 2009 weddings at 17 so far. I'm approaching half the weekends of the entire year! Haha, well not quite, but still. Crazy! I'm truly blessed. My next wedding is on V-Day so that should be fun. A friend from college, Slim, is singing at that wedding and we'll be rooming together. A different Valentine's indeed hahaha.
School is still going strong. For my writing class our first assignment was based on the word "Empty." I decided to write about abortion. It starts off with two separate heartbeats and ends with just one. The class thought it was really good and shocking. We all have to make edits and stuff so once the final copy is done I'll be sure to post it. In my design class last night we had to show our 50 logos sketches. My teacher asked me if I had any design background or architectural drawing background at all. I said no and he said my logos were beautiful. So that was pretty shocking and cool. It'll be a fun class that'll definitely help me when it comes time to designing my magazine. Gosh I still can't believe it that I'm here and pursuing this. I feel like such an ecstatic geek hahaha.
Thanks for keeping my sister Rachel in your prayers. She made it to Germany for training and will be departing for her ship to travel around the world in a month or less. I'll give you updates as much as I can or you can go here. For now I need to get ready for my class tonight. I hope everyone is doing well. Keep me updated!
More to come...
Here is the beautiful bride with her girls, and then Reo putting on his Converse for the ceremony
Then of course me with my good friends and a photo of their VERY different shoes haha.
It was awesome to be able to see a lot of my good friends at the wedding from school. It stunk a little cause I have been battling a cold...often losing...so during the wedding I was losing my voice. Giving direction and stuff is not fun when you can't speak. Luckily I'm a craftsman at charades haha. I can't believe how well my Photography business for weddings is taking off. Since this weekend, I've had two additional requests for this year. Making my total number of 2009 weddings at 17 so far. I'm approaching half the weekends of the entire year! Haha, well not quite, but still. Crazy! I'm truly blessed. My next wedding is on V-Day so that should be fun. A friend from college, Slim, is singing at that wedding and we'll be rooming together. A different Valentine's indeed hahaha.
School is still going strong. For my writing class our first assignment was based on the word "Empty." I decided to write about abortion. It starts off with two separate heartbeats and ends with just one. The class thought it was really good and shocking. We all have to make edits and stuff so once the final copy is done I'll be sure to post it. In my design class last night we had to show our 50 logos sketches. My teacher asked me if I had any design background or architectural drawing background at all. I said no and he said my logos were beautiful. So that was pretty shocking and cool. It'll be a fun class that'll definitely help me when it comes time to designing my magazine. Gosh I still can't believe it that I'm here and pursuing this. I feel like such an ecstatic geek hahaha.
Thanks for keeping my sister Rachel in your prayers. She made it to Germany for training and will be departing for her ship to travel around the world in a month or less. I'll give you updates as much as I can or you can go here. For now I need to get ready for my class tonight. I hope everyone is doing well. Keep me updated!
More to come...
Friday, January 9, 2009
First Week, Second Quarter
Well the first week of the new quarter has officially come to a close, and I know you people are dying to know what my classes are like. So...here we go. I'll start with Tuesday since I have no classes Mondays :)
Writing Workshop: I think this class will be very very beneficial to me. It's basically going to be a practice on learning to edit masterfully your own work and others. We will spend class time reading our assignments to each other, editing our pieces and also explaining why it should be changed to this or that for a more powerful story for the reader. It'll be great for me and my writing. Cause quite honestly I dont think Im that great of a writer, I just love to. Our first assignment we were given the word "Empty" and we have to write a story in any form except poetry using this one word as our subject. So I spent some time thinking about it and I kept thinking of cheesy stuff like an empty heart, etc. The dictionary had a definition for the word that said "Absence of signs of life." So it made me think of the topic of "abortion." :) Which should be great since I love controversy haha. So I'm going to work on it this weekend. It'll probably start off with two heartbeats and end with just one. All of our assignments have to have 3 drafts. We have to write, read, edit, repeat all of that and then turn in one final copy. Should be fun.
Digital Design: I thought this computer class was just on the InDesign program like learning how to use it, etc. Which it kind of is, but to a grand extent. Our assignment this quarter is each of us has to design a 12-page brochure for a Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center. Even redesigning their logo. Each of us got a different location. Mine is Bridge House in New Orleans. So I had to research their place and start coming up with ideas. Not only that, but by this next class we have to have 50 rough sketches of logo ideas. Should be a nice change of pace for me to take a design class. The teacher is very cool, but seems like he will be brutal if he has to. I heard he likes to try and make students cry haha.
Wednesday:
Printing/Photoshop: This class I think will be really awesome! The teacher is a former student here and he will be teaching us a little bit about using the printer's at school to our advantage when it comes to making eye-popping prints of our work, but mostly the class is like an Advanced Photoshop class. Our assignment in that class is we have to make 3 or 4 photos into one. It's very hard to explain. You can look at the teacher's website here and look at one photo he has of a few mobsters beating up a guy in a chair. It looks like one shot, but it's actually five I think he said. You basically take a photo of the background, each person individually and do a lot of photoshop work. It's basically something we're going to learn. Interesting.
Thursday:
Art + Commerce: Thursday is going to be a long day. Before these two classes we have seminar. Ugh. This class will be a new course for me personally because it teaches us about Fine Art Photography and the market out there for it. We'll be taking a lot of field trips to museums, print shops, studios, etc to learn all about it as well as take photos ourselves for potential selling in this dept. of Photography. It's basically like all the artwork you see in hotels, building lobbies, you name it. It'll be a stretch for me just because I never really thought about this aspect to Photography before. But the teacher is pretty cool. His website can be found here. He told me I have a good Photojournalistic eye which is nice to hear since that's something I want to keep doing once I start my magazine.
Still Life: I think this has potential to be my favorite class of the quarter. Not only is the teacher really funny (which will keep me awake), he also has a very addictive laugh that makes you want to laugh when you hear it. Like nice and bellowy haha. The class is basically teaching us studio photography but with inanimate objects. Our first assignment we have to shoot the impossible (i.e. a feather holding up a bowling ball). We're allowed to shoot it creatively in the studio, or manipulate it in Photoshop after we shoot all the items for our shot. There is a lot of criteria for the assignment. It has to work for advetisements on billboards, transit ads, be educational and most importantly inspire the imagination. It also has to be something simple so it's understood when looked at. He gave an example of a wire wastebasket being full with balled up paper, but the shadow of it makes it still look empty. Something like that that is catchy and impossible. We took turns giving ideas and for some reason all I could think of was walking on water. Even though the Lord did it, I know we couldn't. He loved the idea but we can't use anything living, so it would have to be a car sitting on top of a lake or something. Ugh. My mind is still stumped. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
But that's pretty much it. Should be an interesting quarter and I'm looking forward to the challenge. It'll also be good practice of balancing school projects with weddings on the weekend. For instance, I'm getting ready to leave in two hours for Spartanburg to shoot my friend's wedding this weekend. That's time I won't have to work on school stuff. So needless to say, Sunday and Monday I'll be busy busy busy with school work. In other wedding news, I picked up two more weddings. One in March and one in August. The makes the total of weddings this year to 15 so far. I'm very pumped and excited about that! Please be praying that my car will hold on and last through these weddings and after.
Keep praying for my sister Rachel who leaves on Monday and will be gone for two years. You can keep track of her life also by visiting her site here. Thanks for the encouragement and prayers you guys. That's all for now. I hope 2009 is off to a bang for all of you! God Bless!
More to come...
Writing Workshop: I think this class will be very very beneficial to me. It's basically going to be a practice on learning to edit masterfully your own work and others. We will spend class time reading our assignments to each other, editing our pieces and also explaining why it should be changed to this or that for a more powerful story for the reader. It'll be great for me and my writing. Cause quite honestly I dont think Im that great of a writer, I just love to. Our first assignment we were given the word "Empty" and we have to write a story in any form except poetry using this one word as our subject. So I spent some time thinking about it and I kept thinking of cheesy stuff like an empty heart, etc. The dictionary had a definition for the word that said "Absence of signs of life." So it made me think of the topic of "abortion." :) Which should be great since I love controversy haha. So I'm going to work on it this weekend. It'll probably start off with two heartbeats and end with just one. All of our assignments have to have 3 drafts. We have to write, read, edit, repeat all of that and then turn in one final copy. Should be fun.
Digital Design: I thought this computer class was just on the InDesign program like learning how to use it, etc. Which it kind of is, but to a grand extent. Our assignment this quarter is each of us has to design a 12-page brochure for a Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center. Even redesigning their logo. Each of us got a different location. Mine is Bridge House in New Orleans. So I had to research their place and start coming up with ideas. Not only that, but by this next class we have to have 50 rough sketches of logo ideas. Should be a nice change of pace for me to take a design class. The teacher is very cool, but seems like he will be brutal if he has to. I heard he likes to try and make students cry haha.
Wednesday:
Printing/Photoshop: This class I think will be really awesome! The teacher is a former student here and he will be teaching us a little bit about using the printer's at school to our advantage when it comes to making eye-popping prints of our work, but mostly the class is like an Advanced Photoshop class. Our assignment in that class is we have to make 3 or 4 photos into one. It's very hard to explain. You can look at the teacher's website here and look at one photo he has of a few mobsters beating up a guy in a chair. It looks like one shot, but it's actually five I think he said. You basically take a photo of the background, each person individually and do a lot of photoshop work. It's basically something we're going to learn. Interesting.
Thursday:
Art + Commerce: Thursday is going to be a long day. Before these two classes we have seminar. Ugh. This class will be a new course for me personally because it teaches us about Fine Art Photography and the market out there for it. We'll be taking a lot of field trips to museums, print shops, studios, etc to learn all about it as well as take photos ourselves for potential selling in this dept. of Photography. It's basically like all the artwork you see in hotels, building lobbies, you name it. It'll be a stretch for me just because I never really thought about this aspect to Photography before. But the teacher is pretty cool. His website can be found here. He told me I have a good Photojournalistic eye which is nice to hear since that's something I want to keep doing once I start my magazine.
Still Life: I think this has potential to be my favorite class of the quarter. Not only is the teacher really funny (which will keep me awake), he also has a very addictive laugh that makes you want to laugh when you hear it. Like nice and bellowy haha. The class is basically teaching us studio photography but with inanimate objects. Our first assignment we have to shoot the impossible (i.e. a feather holding up a bowling ball). We're allowed to shoot it creatively in the studio, or manipulate it in Photoshop after we shoot all the items for our shot. There is a lot of criteria for the assignment. It has to work for advetisements on billboards, transit ads, be educational and most importantly inspire the imagination. It also has to be something simple so it's understood when looked at. He gave an example of a wire wastebasket being full with balled up paper, but the shadow of it makes it still look empty. Something like that that is catchy and impossible. We took turns giving ideas and for some reason all I could think of was walking on water. Even though the Lord did it, I know we couldn't. He loved the idea but we can't use anything living, so it would have to be a car sitting on top of a lake or something. Ugh. My mind is still stumped. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.
But that's pretty much it. Should be an interesting quarter and I'm looking forward to the challenge. It'll also be good practice of balancing school projects with weddings on the weekend. For instance, I'm getting ready to leave in two hours for Spartanburg to shoot my friend's wedding this weekend. That's time I won't have to work on school stuff. So needless to say, Sunday and Monday I'll be busy busy busy with school work. In other wedding news, I picked up two more weddings. One in March and one in August. The makes the total of weddings this year to 15 so far. I'm very pumped and excited about that! Please be praying that my car will hold on and last through these weddings and after.
Keep praying for my sister Rachel who leaves on Monday and will be gone for two years. You can keep track of her life also by visiting her site here. Thanks for the encouragement and prayers you guys. That's all for now. I hope 2009 is off to a bang for all of you! God Bless!
More to come...
Monday, January 5, 2009
New Year, New School Quarter
Kinda long...read when you can :)
I can't believe it's 2009. I don't know why every time the new year rolls around it's something completely hard to fathom. I look back over 2008 and I really am amazed and blessed with God's provision and guidance in my life more than ever before. I went from having no hope in myself to now having endless hope and possibilities for the future road. I'm incredibly thankful! And definitely thankful for friends like you guys who support me and pray for me through each and every hurdle and curve in the road. Thanks so much for staying with me on this journey. :) As Winston Churchill said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
I got back to Atlanta from a terrific break at home in Virginia this past Saturday night. Yesterday was a nice day to just relax and get prepared for another quarter of work. This morning I went to the school to pay my tuition and get my schedule. At first the lady told me I owe $4,200 for the quarter. (Yeah, this school is expensive haha) But she forgot to factor in my financial aid, so luckily I only had to pay a little more than a grand. Talk about dodging a bullet. I then got my schedule for this Winter quarter. Here it is:
Monday: NO CLASSES!!
Tuesday: 1p - 5p Writing Workshop
6p - 10p InDesign
Wednesday: 6:30p - 10p Printing
Thursday: 10a Seminar
1p - 5p Art & Commerce
6p - 10p Still Life Photography
Friday: NO CLASSES!!
There you have it. No morning classes except the usual Seminar on Thursday mornings. So it will be a huge change of pace from last quarter when I had all morning classes. Crazy! I'd tell you about each class, but I honestly have no clue what I'll be doing in any class. Except maybe InDesign, which is the computer software we used in undergrad to put the newspaper together. But rest assured, I'll be keeping you updated on the classes. Feel blessed, it's ok haha.
I also finally got my critique scores for last quarter on all of my work. They give you a grade between 1 and 10. I got the same overall grade for both Photography and Writing. And that score is...... 8.6 out of 10! Not bad at all. It's just where I wanted to be first quarter. Not perfect and not crappy. Just above average and a little under radar so where I can gradually build from there and amaze everyone at the end of my time here at Portfolio Center haha. At least thats the plan. On the critique sheets, each person who was on the presentation panel leaves comments about each photo or writing piece so you know what you have to work on. I got a lot of great feedback. Really encouraging and nothing like "this sucks!" haha. The general notes from each person is that I have very strong work and an eye for photography, great variation on my perspective and all of my concepts have terrific potential and I just need to push them a little bit more. So I'm very pleased. It seems like their favorite photos were the bowling fruit one and the WWII widow shot by the window. (I'm not entirely sure why my shot of my head on the Abercrombie model didn't make the grade, but whatever hahaha). I'm very much looking forward to seeing what I can do this quarter.
Break at home was very great! There is nothing like being at home. My sister Rachel leaves a week from today (Jan 12) for two years, so the holiday break was a little bittersweet. Definitely a tear fest this past weekend when we all had to say goodbye. I was also able to take a few photos for some friends in Greenville on my way home. First here is a few of my friend Whitney's portraits.
The others of Whitney are on my Facebook. Then I got to take Engagement Photos of my friend Brittany and her man.
While I was at home I had a nice time doing nothing productive at all. I went and saw a bunch of movies. Seven Pounds with Will Smith...cried both times I saw it haha. Really really good. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and that was so beautifully amazing and well done. I would love to see it again. Then I went with all the guys in the family to see Valkyrie and that was actually very awesome as well. I had no idea that happened in real life. Movies didn't disappoint this holiday. We didn't get to celebrate Christmas until New Year's Eve because we were waiting on all of my siblings to be in town. So we actually celebrated two holidays in one night. Pretty cool. Our family is too big, so for Christmas we always draw names for gifts. My sister Hannah drew my name and she got me the new Fall Out Boy CD, and a few older movies on DVD which I didn't have copies of. Clear and Present Danger and Mrs. Doubtfire. As well as the first season of Burn Notice which is a show on USA. We got to also set off illegal fireworks (Virginia has stupid rules regarding fireworks so my brother bought some on their way from SC to see us). Here are some photos from New Years.
(It was sparkling cider we drank)
I have more photos from home on Facebook (including our 15ft. tall Christmas tree) I love our big trees every year! I leave you now with a photo of all of us Hampton kids and siblings-in-law and babies. I love my family and miss home already! Real life calls now and I can't wait to see how it turns out in March when this quarter is over. Thanks for the prayers and God Bless!
More to come... (update on school this first week as well as my first wedding of '09 this weekend, Reo Hoots and Shawn Tripam)
I can't believe it's 2009. I don't know why every time the new year rolls around it's something completely hard to fathom. I look back over 2008 and I really am amazed and blessed with God's provision and guidance in my life more than ever before. I went from having no hope in myself to now having endless hope and possibilities for the future road. I'm incredibly thankful! And definitely thankful for friends like you guys who support me and pray for me through each and every hurdle and curve in the road. Thanks so much for staying with me on this journey. :) As Winston Churchill said, "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it."
I got back to Atlanta from a terrific break at home in Virginia this past Saturday night. Yesterday was a nice day to just relax and get prepared for another quarter of work. This morning I went to the school to pay my tuition and get my schedule. At first the lady told me I owe $4,200 for the quarter. (Yeah, this school is expensive haha) But she forgot to factor in my financial aid, so luckily I only had to pay a little more than a grand. Talk about dodging a bullet. I then got my schedule for this Winter quarter. Here it is:
Monday: NO CLASSES!!
Tuesday: 1p - 5p Writing Workshop
6p - 10p InDesign
Wednesday: 6:30p - 10p Printing
Thursday: 10a Seminar
1p - 5p Art & Commerce
6p - 10p Still Life Photography
Friday: NO CLASSES!!
There you have it. No morning classes except the usual Seminar on Thursday mornings. So it will be a huge change of pace from last quarter when I had all morning classes. Crazy! I'd tell you about each class, but I honestly have no clue what I'll be doing in any class. Except maybe InDesign, which is the computer software we used in undergrad to put the newspaper together. But rest assured, I'll be keeping you updated on the classes. Feel blessed, it's ok haha.
I also finally got my critique scores for last quarter on all of my work. They give you a grade between 1 and 10. I got the same overall grade for both Photography and Writing. And that score is...... 8.6 out of 10! Not bad at all. It's just where I wanted to be first quarter. Not perfect and not crappy. Just above average and a little under radar so where I can gradually build from there and amaze everyone at the end of my time here at Portfolio Center haha. At least thats the plan. On the critique sheets, each person who was on the presentation panel leaves comments about each photo or writing piece so you know what you have to work on. I got a lot of great feedback. Really encouraging and nothing like "this sucks!" haha. The general notes from each person is that I have very strong work and an eye for photography, great variation on my perspective and all of my concepts have terrific potential and I just need to push them a little bit more. So I'm very pleased. It seems like their favorite photos were the bowling fruit one and the WWII widow shot by the window. (I'm not entirely sure why my shot of my head on the Abercrombie model didn't make the grade, but whatever hahaha). I'm very much looking forward to seeing what I can do this quarter.
Break at home was very great! There is nothing like being at home. My sister Rachel leaves a week from today (Jan 12) for two years, so the holiday break was a little bittersweet. Definitely a tear fest this past weekend when we all had to say goodbye. I was also able to take a few photos for some friends in Greenville on my way home. First here is a few of my friend Whitney's portraits.
The others of Whitney are on my Facebook. Then I got to take Engagement Photos of my friend Brittany and her man.
While I was at home I had a nice time doing nothing productive at all. I went and saw a bunch of movies. Seven Pounds with Will Smith...cried both times I saw it haha. Really really good. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and that was so beautifully amazing and well done. I would love to see it again. Then I went with all the guys in the family to see Valkyrie and that was actually very awesome as well. I had no idea that happened in real life. Movies didn't disappoint this holiday. We didn't get to celebrate Christmas until New Year's Eve because we were waiting on all of my siblings to be in town. So we actually celebrated two holidays in one night. Pretty cool. Our family is too big, so for Christmas we always draw names for gifts. My sister Hannah drew my name and she got me the new Fall Out Boy CD, and a few older movies on DVD which I didn't have copies of. Clear and Present Danger and Mrs. Doubtfire. As well as the first season of Burn Notice which is a show on USA. We got to also set off illegal fireworks (Virginia has stupid rules regarding fireworks so my brother bought some on their way from SC to see us). Here are some photos from New Years.
(It was sparkling cider we drank)I have more photos from home on Facebook (including our 15ft. tall Christmas tree) I love our big trees every year! I leave you now with a photo of all of us Hampton kids and siblings-in-law and babies. I love my family and miss home already! Real life calls now and I can't wait to see how it turns out in March when this quarter is over. Thanks for the prayers and God Bless!
More to come... (update on school this first week as well as my first wedding of '09 this weekend, Reo Hoots and Shawn Tripam)
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