warm and fuzzy

Just in case, like me, you had kind of a poopy day, here's a story that will warm your heart and make you believe there is hope for humanity.

photography challenge

I realized that I miss photography a lot. Mostly, I miss being a photographer. So to get myself back into the swing of it, I'm giving myself a challenge. How long will it last? Who knows. I think a deadline is really beside the point. But here it is: I am challenging myself to take a picture every single day. Can I do it? Let's find out!
Anyone care to join my challenge? If anyone does, send me your daily pictures! This'll be fun :)

Learning to be faithful

Everyone talks about being faithful in a romantic relationship, but recently I've been learning what it means to be faithful in every relationship. I've learned that being faithful to my friends means treating all of them the same. I can't treat one of them worse than another just because they're not as nice or they don't smell as good or whatever. Every one of them deserves the same opportunity at an equal treatment from me. I've been so frustrated with one of my friends because I feel like she's a total two-face, but I realized that so am I! I have to give every person the same attention because they each deserve it. I can't change just because the people around me change.
Then came an even more intense realization. Being faithful also means being gracious. Being faithful means faithfully giving everyone the same grace. It builds on my first lesson. I can't forgive one person easily because I like her better and hold a grudge against other simply because she has more problems than the other.
It blows my mind that Jesus didn't treat Judas any differently than the rest of the disciples! He even knew that he was going to betray him and he still poured out the same amount of time and wisdom and love into him. Jesus didn't let the brokenness of others break him. Wow, talk about commitment.
To break it down to an even simpler example, here you go: My friend is a teacher and was teaching her kids about consistency. She stood in the front of the class and held up a pencil sharpener and asked her kids what it was. "A pencil sharpener!" She walked to one corner of the room and asked again. "It's still a pencil sharpener!" She walked to the back of the room and asked again. "It's still a pencil sharpener!" It didn't change its identity just because it changed locations, so why should we?

Humans can't walk straight

Another video with awesome animation. But this one is really interesting! Unless given a fixed reference point, humans can't seem to be able to walk in a straight line. Check it out.

upcoming DTB concert

Okay, so this is my second post today about music. I'm on a bit of a kick. There's a concert at Downtown Brew this Friday, all ages, only $8 in advance at Boo Boo's, and it's going to be awesome. The Ragged Jubilee, Adam Pasion Band, and Honey Trees are playing. I've never heard the Ragged Jubilee so I'm excited to hear some new music along with groups I know I like. You should definitely be there! Even if you don't make it, there's still something in it for you. On a soon to be determined date, I'm going to be interviewing Adam Pasion about his music, band, wherever the conversation goes! So be checking in during the next couple weeks to see that interview! For a nice preview, check out his music here.

Awesome animation

In my broadcasting class today, I was talking to some friends about animation ideas. A couple of us are thinking of doing a drawless animation and another guy wants to do a claymation. The talk made me remember a video I just had to share. It's a stop motion video of cooking spaghetti using everyday objects. Watch it and you'll understand.

New music

Recently, I've been really in love with acoustic music. So I got really excited when I found a couple new bands while looking around other band pages. Here's how it went...
It all started when I was looking at a page for Lakes, a local band I heard a few weeks ago. They're a rock group, but more of a softer folksy kind of rock (according to me). Check them out here.

I discovered that one of their members is in another band called Honey Trees, a local group that classify themselves as "dream pop." I think they may have created their own new genre. It's lovely. Listen to the Honey Trees here.

This discovery subsequently led me to my final, and favorite, discovery. I saw the name Civil Wars and decided to give them a try. Oh, my goodness. They're awesome. The Civil Wars, an Americana band, consists of Joy Williams, her piano, John Paul White (a perfect Johnny Depp doppelganger) and John Paul's guitar. And a little foot stomping. Two people, two instruments, one huge sound. Can't get enough of their song, "Barton Hollow." Check it out.

Third time's a charm...

Okay, so I've tried to do a blog a couple times before; my last one actually disappeared into cyberspace when I left it alone for a long time. So I'm going to do everything better this time! Lots of pictures, lots of posts, some interactive stuff...It's going to be great. So thanks for reading :)

To kick things off, I thought I'd put up a couple of my photos showing why winter in California is so pleasant :D Above is a rose from my front yard. Below is a view of Piedras Blancas. Enjoy.