These are my thoughts; though they may be public domain, please have enough respect and understand that they are mine and are not for the use of your own deviant agenda.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Poet Sky is in my living room practicing. Eirik is here with his drums. I must admit its quite loud being out there but sounds really good in my room. :) It's the first time Eirik has set up his drums and played with the boys, usually it's just Foe, Strav and Brian. I sometimes feel like I've stepped back in time since Poet Sky was originally formed back when I was in highschool!
I just got back up the hill from going to see Brandie and her new baby. Alexis Antoinette is sooo beautiful! She was born March 15th @ 12:56am; she weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. She's doing well but still in ICU. She and Brandie both had an infection. I was not able to hold her, but she's absolutely beautiful. They are hoping both Brandie and her will get to go home tomorrow sometime. Brandie seems to be a natural mother. I took some shots with my cell since they wouldn't let me take it with my camera. :( I'm looking forward to the photoshoot with little Alexis and her proud parents. Here's one of the only clear shots I got with my cell...
So when they said it would snow this weekend I kinda of chuckled thinking, yeah maybe in Phelan, but yesterday as I sat in my car in the Stater Brothers parking lot in Victorville, sure enough large flakes were coming right on down! Pretty crazy!
I've been taking more and more random pictures in the last week or so... A friend of mine in Utah has started the Project365 and I've always wanted to do something similar. I'm tempted to start. I am worried that I will get sidetracked and stop shortly after starting. I'd really like to challenge myself to take a picture every day but maybe what I could try is a picture of the week? Or maybe best pics of the week? Because I tend to have a hard time picking just one favorite shot when I'm in the artistic mood. Hmmm... I think I like that idea better then every day. What do you guys think? Should I make a "best of" post every week? Or should I challenge myself to post a new picture every day? I have a livejournal account that I don't use much.
If you don't have myspace you haven't seen a couple of my recent pics... Specifically Rashaell's wedding, the rooftop of my work building and other random stuff... Here are a few...
This picture is completely illogical but I still love it - 2/12/08
Fischer Wedding - 3/2/08
Rooftop of the Alliance building - 3/7/08
Beautiful blooming tree in my front yard - 3/8/08
I have started placing my bonsai tree in the windowsill of my bathroom window so it gets morning light. This particular morning as I was getting ready I noticed a neat shadow of my bonsai tree on my bathroom door. I couldn't help but take a couple shots while getting ready. 3/12/08
This was taken in my neighborhood today - 3/16/08
That's about it for now. :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Bonsai Tree - Well I got my very first bonsai tree in the mail yesterday! I’m so excited! And a bit nervous too… I know they take a lot of care but I’ve wanted to have it as a symbol of what God is doing in my life. I’ll be posting pictures soon!
My Car - So the last time I wrote about my car I believe it was an emotionally driven post about me breaking down on the way home from Irvine in the end of February. Well weeks later, I’m still breaking down on the freeway! Hehe Though these last few times I’ve handled it better emotionally then the original time. Yes, you read that right… few times… plural, meaning it’s happened more then once since!
Last night I was enjoying a conversation with my friend Andie. I had just ignored a call from the Honda dealership about the car I test drove a week or so ago. They’ve been pushing to get me to buy and I’ve been tempted but know financially right now I can’t afford it. Well as soon as I ignored the call I see all sorts of water coming from under my hood. I look at my temperature and see that it’s fine. So I pull over and check under the hood to see a hose from the radiator to the engine completely split down the middle!
Maybe I should explain what work has already been done to my car. Ok so when I broke down at the end of February what was believed to be the problem was the thermostat. So it was taken out down in Corona and drove like a charm back home. I took the next day off and bought a new thermostat and my dad put it in for me. Things seemed to work well but I kept noticing steam. I was losing a lot of water. So my dad took it again and saw that the radiator had a leak. So I bought a new radiator and my dad put it in. Things seemed to be working ok but I did notice a fluctuation in the temperature and as the week went on it kept getting worse. I was told to try buying a new radiator cap which seemed to do the trick.
Then the hose split last night on my drive home. My dad came to my rescue for the 3rd time. Though it’s become so standard it didn’t even faze me. I took my Sony Cybershot and took some pics of the traffic and played with the long exposures again. My dad replaced the hose and decided to drive it up the hill. Sadly putting in the new hose didn’t seem to fix the problem. It still overheats. So now I’m left with two possibilities. The thermostat I bought wasn’t good (crossing fingers and praying hard that this is the case) or it’s a head gasket (which would suck hardcore!). I’ll keep you posted! My dad took out the thermostat today and I’m gonna drive it around for about a week. If there are no issues then we can be pretty sure that I got a bad thermostat and can just buy another one to replace it. If I still have issues with it overheating then it means most likely a head gasket issue and at that point I will have to evaluate the best solution.
*Update 3/19/07*
I had this post ready Friday but never posted it. So here’s an update… It looks like my dad realized that it wasn’t the thermostat but that it was a problem with the head gasket. He put something in the engine that had to set for 24 hours and it’s my last ditch effort to keep my car temporarily running until I can get a newer car. I really wanted a new 2006 honda civic but I don’t believe financially it’s doable at least not at this time. I am going tonight to check it out. Who knows what will happen.
Hello All! I think I have some time to actually write an actual update! Things are busy, but most of you know how I thrive on chaos! It keeps me out of trouble… most of the time. ;) Uh oh… Just reviewed this post and there are a lot of pictures ... I'm sure you won't mind.
So where to begin?
February 18th - I took my best friend Rachel out to dinner and a movie. Our traditional place to go is Red Robin. We’ve done it for years. We went to see "Music and Lyrics", total chick flick but I loved it! Here are some of the pics.
February 19th - I drove down to Pasadena to take my Nikon in to get cleaned. While I was there I just took some pictures up and down Colorado Blvd. with my Sony Cybershot. I was happy with how it turned out and really had a good time taking pictures by myself while listening to my iPod. Below are some of the pics I liked.
February 22nd - Here are some pictures of a dinner with the girls… We are all going to Indio in August so this was a “planning meeting”. It was fun and a good excuse to get out.
Photography - A few posts back I asked my friends to set up times to take me to unique places in California for one: so I could experience new places/things and two: to take pictures along the way. Well for the first three weekends in March I have/had events planned.
March 3rd - Yesterday I went out with Brandie and Drew to Huntington Library. All three of us are passionate about photography and its always fun to take pictures with people who love it as much as I do! And I’ve missed hanging out with Brandie. We have both been so busy. It was also nice to see Drew again… We were acquaintances back in the day and thanks to myspace we’ve been reacquainted. Anyways the Huntington Library was beautiful! We only had a couple hours and I ended up with 250+ pics and only a small percentage that I liked and only a handful I love… But that’s how it always is. Below are some of my favorites!
One thing I have to say about the Huntington Library is that they had amazing bonsai trees! I would have loved to have spent more time there but we were kind of in a rush so I could only take some quick shots and admire them later. I will definitely go back when I have more time and just check out every single one of them! It makes me want to go out and pick up my own bonsai tree.
March 10th - I’m going with my friend Russ up Pacific Coast Highway. And for those of you that keep up with my blog, yes, we had that planned for the last weekend in February but circumstances beyond our control made us decide to postpone two weeks. So I’m looking forward to that.
March 16th to 18th - I’m driving up to Vegas to visit my childhood friend Debbie. She lives in Utah but her parents live in Vegas. I originally was going up to Vegas to go to an Evanescence concert with my friend Armando (and I still am), but since I was making my way up there I decided to see if Debbie was up for a weekend trip out to Vegas and she is! I’m really excited! It’ll be the first time we will have to actually hang out since she found me on myspace last year.
Mission Lesotho - The church is planning another mission trip to Lesotho in September and being part of the leadership group I just found out that I will be responsible for the Benefit Dinner. I was a bit overwhelmed with the thought because last time I only had to worry about the invitations and setting up a photo-op. So… I have a planning committee that I put together for Tuesday and we’ll go from there. But the last benefit dinner took A LOT of work. And I’m not sure if I’m ready to take on such a task. But I do know that I won’t have to do everything and hopefully I will just be more of the person to keep things moving forward, at least if I play my cards right. Hehe
I’m still not sure if I am supposed to go on this mission trip. I have not felt as strong a calling to go as I did the first time. I know I will go back to Lesotho again but every time I’ve prayed about it I have felt that if this trip happens in 2007 (which it looks to be) then I will not go, but if it gets postponed to 2008 I will be going. My dad has told me there is another mission trip in the works for another part of Africa. It will be interesting to see where God takes me.
Free Hugs – We have another free hugs event planned for March 11th. I’m looking forward to getting back out there for that. It was such an awesome feeling and people were so surprised there was no hidden agenda or expectation with it. I am hoping we can take video and do something similar to the original Free Hugs Campaign Video. Speaking of which, I just took a moment to watch it again. It’s such a great inspiration! And even though I posted this video in one of my blogs back in November I am posting it below so you don’t have to search for it. Be inspired!
Well I think this is a good enough update for the time being. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. Let me know what you think of them of course!
Well I wrote this post at work, but I am now home so the following sentence is no longer valid. :)
I'm at work. It's odd working for a place that encourages browsing and utilizing the internet when the last company I worked for frowned on it. I am getting settled into my new job. So far it's going well. I still think the look on people's faces that come over from linkLINE and see me open the door is priceless. One guy dropped off a computer and an invoice and was so eager to tell everyone he saw me that he made me sign and date the invoice! hehehe Too funny.
Depeche Mode: So most of you know I'm a fanatic when it comes to Depeche Mode. Well Monday (the 25th) they had a screening of their "Live in Milan" dvd in selected theaters. I had asked Rachel to go with me a while ago but I had forgotten about it until I went to Bailey's birthday party and one of my sisters friends asked me about it. Apparently newly rekindled fanatics that they were, they missed out on the latest concert and wanted to go see the screening. So we made plans to go together. Rachel ended up being sick all day and couldn't make it. It ended up being my sister and I and her friends Erika, Sondee and Jessica. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never been to anything like this. It was hard to stay seated. But once they got to "Just Can't Get Enough" a few of us (yes, even myself) got up and got into it. Shortly after that song ended and everyone was back in their seats the security came in!!! Until that moment I thought it was just a dead crowd, but then I realized that they actually expected us to watch it like it was a movie! What the heck!? hehehe It was still fun but definitely no comparison to the real thing! I did enjoy seeing David Gahan on the big screen in high definition though. ;)
North Carolina: I am going to North Carolina from October 7th - 16th! I seriously can NOT wait! I have missed my nieces and nephews so much! The last time I was there was in November of 2004 I think. (Here are some links to pictures from that trip. Family Pics, Landscape Pics and Outer Banks Pics.) And with a new camera and a beautiful state I really can't go wrong. :) Unfortunately I will not be paid for this time off so I have to make sure to schedule my finances to work around it. But to me its worth it!
Weight Loss: I had so much turmoil in my life over the last month I'm quite surprised I haven't gained a ton of weight back. This week I'm back on track and extremely motivated! My friend Rachel and I have decided to encourage each other to try to lose weight over the next few months. I lost my initial 20 pounds in about 3 months without putting too much effort into it. I hope to achieve the same. I would like to lose another 20 pounds by Christmas. And honestly I know I can do it. I am still getting used to my schedule at work but I think it should be easy enough to bring some gym clothes with me to work and go to the gym a few nights a week. I do plan on continuing with the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) but I was noticing that the weight was coming off unevenly. I lost so much more weight in my lower half that I know I need to focus on doing things for my upper body as well, and of course the middle. hehe
I'm still amazed at how different clothes are fitting. I have been wearing more of my nicer clothes to my current job. Not because it's required but because I am trying to feel better about myself and looking good is a step in the right direction. Either way, I have a lot of shirts that have hung up in my closet for years! Example: the shirt I'm wearing today has been in my closet for at least a year possibly two and it still had the tags on it. The reason I never wore it was because it was a little snug and I never felt comfortable enough to wear it. I put it on this morning and it's almost TOO big! This shocked me. I hadn't realized I had been so heavy for so long. Its things like this that make me feel motivated to continue. Honestly one more size down in my pants and I'll be as small as I was when I first started working at linkLINE and was feeling pretty good about myself. I have two more sizes to go to get down to my smallest when I felt the best about myself. To put that into perspective, I've already gone down two pant sizes with just 20 pounds! What will another 20 pounds do for me? :) I can't wait to open up the bins in the garage of all my smaller clothes. It will be like having a whole new wardrobe!
Bonsai Tree: I have decided to buy myself a Bonsai tree. My friend Jason wrote a blog and at that moment it was exactly what I needed to hear. It was quite amazing the concept behind his post. He talks of a higher power but I place that higher power as Jesus Christ. It's quite an awesome symbol. For everything that has gone on in my life over the last few months I want the Bonsai tree to be a reminder, a symbol, of what God is doing in my life.
Anyway, scholars, wise men, and such would go up into the hills or somewhere in nature to be at peace, to reconnect, what have you…
Well they would come across these wonderfully gnarled, old trees, ones that you could tell that all that Nature could throw at it, she did, and still twisted and warped, dwarfed, and what have you this tree was still there.
Showing strength. Strength to withstand anything that came its way. To take the winds, that would eventually die down, the drought, anything and still stand and grow.
Those that would go and see this were absolutely fascinated, and fell in love. They wanted the view for themselves everyday. Well you can’t just pull something like that out of the ground and walk it home with you, not back then anyway, just my thoughts.
So what they did instead was take a branch or seedling and plant it in very ‘thin’ soil. Soil that was very course, and didn’t hold nutrients or water very well. In this environment they would add just the right amount of water and nutrients to keep the tree alive and growing. While at the same time trimming and binding the trunk and branches to bring about the look, most of the time on a very small scale.
This process would take years, and a steadfast devotion to the vision of the outcome. If only we had that kind of attention span in America now huh? LOL we’d really be in some trouble, might not be using fossil fuels anymore even… hehehe but that’s another story.
Back to what it made me think of, what if we could be like the tree itself?
No what if we are like the tree itself?
Something greater than us trying so hard with Love and devotion to help shape and prune us into something absolutely stunning and beautiful?
What if?
…
And all that we do, thinking we are in control is nothing more than needless branches that are attempted to be pruned off… But they just grow back…
And if we just let go to this power, this Power that is greater than ourselves in this body? And just grow, let this Power to shape and take care of the ‘big picture’ as it has a whole lot better view than we do.
I bet our lives would be a whole lot different for most. I bet most peoples ‘problems’ would quickly fade with little or no struggle.
Those that are taking who knows how many pills for those emotional problems… Those fretting over HIV, or cancer, or you name it. What would happen there? I believe that if one were to truly let go. That this higher Power would do exactly what it has wanted to do and prune them away…
But we hold these things so close to us when we are told we have any said condition. When you hold it close it’s like the bonzi craftsman trying to prune an ugly branch or trunk that is too close to the root system and will disturb the whole tree, killing it.
We have to no longer choose to give it energy and allow it to fall away from the ‘root system’ to no longer hold it so close. No longer talk/complain about it all the time. If one can’t be thankful for it’s removal before it’s removed at least take all attention away from it… and see how quickly it withers, and gets pruned…
What if you were like the bonzi tree? What could you imagine happening in your life?
The bolded part was the part I needed to hear at that exact moment. A lot of the time I sit there and ask myself "why, why is this all happening at once?" or "ok I can understand but why does it have to be this way or that way?" So this post was impacted my perspective and I want to keep that perspective and I think having the Bonsai tree on my desk would be a reminder to keep the right perspective. If you would like to read the entire post Click Here
Anyways, if you read through this whole thing than thank you for taking the time to read this. I know it's long winded but I felt the need to share.
