Fun With Painting
My recording/graphics computer has been down for the past week...the power supply exploded when I was at Jan Kay ranch. I've been trying to fix it the cheap (free) way..my uncle gave me several of his spare power supply units to see if any of them would work. They didn't. I finally went and bought one from Fry's tonight, so now my PC is back in action.
A few weeks ago I bought a program called Paintshop Pro 9...I love it. The painting components are awesome..you can literally paint oil, watercolor, etc. paintings freehand. It also includes different inking methods and even a palette on which you can mix your paint colors (you use a knife tool that actually behaves and smears like a knife does).
Apart from the painting components of the program, it is very capable of editing the images you make. Lots of image manipulation, lighting and coloring effects, and texture editing are all available to utilize.
I may be describing every new graphics program in the world. Due to my computer-naïveness, I'm not entirely up to date on new stuff. Paintshop Pro, however, really seems to stand apart from lots of other programs I've used. It combines its paiting ability, image editing, and vector layouts to make a pretty sweet and easy to use Image Composer. Props.
I spent the past hour creating a new background for my PC...it's rather basic, and it's only for the 1024x768 resolution setting, but I had fun making it as I strive to learn more about Paintshop. Feel free to take a look at it
HEREIn the words of Bob Ross,
Until next time, Happy Paintings and God bless.
God rest his soul.
When in Rome...
....don't bring a fish bowl with you, and be sure to walk your dog.
This story was found by my buddy Josh, and I found it funny.
The city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, due to their cruelty. Evidently, the animal rights activists behind this new law believe that, although a goldfish's brain is roughly this size:
, the aquatic vertebrates still understand that their rights are being oppressed.
Hmm. I'm guessing that most of the members in that activist group also possess the same size of cerebrum.
Oh, and the dog walking part? The fishbowl law also demands that you "frequently walk your dog". How they plan to enforce this, I have no idea. Can you imagine a little security guard driving around in a golf cart with a clipboard, checking your name off his list as you stroll through the park? "Hey..hey you. This is only your second time out this week...Sparky's gonna have to come with me."
Good find, Josh.
Holy Update, Batman!
Fear not, I've returned. After three weeks of fierce battle in the Appalachians, I've returned unscathed, once again committed to my blog.
Alright, alright...so it's been a while. Sorry...I'll do better...maybe...
Pine Cove was awesome this weekend...the trip was filled with laughs, tears, friends, food, closed-head injuries, and of course, Commando. Which, by the way, although Bent Tree was out-numbered by two other churches by about 4 to 1, the Wildlife students still managed to lose. Kick it up a notch, yall! Hmm..maybe next time yall will have received better training beforehand.......Last place...pfff.
This weekend, Payless (Jason) was our speaker...he talked about living as Above Average Christians. It really challenged me when I thought about it in relation to my school. We have a website group at CCCCD (my college) called Christians at Quad C..there are about 80 members right now...80, out of the 2500 or so students enrolled at my school. Even though I am thankful to have a great group of Christian friends at school, Jason's lesson got me thinking about what my own personal representation of Christ looks likes to others while in class. How, as believers, is it possible to build relationships with fellow peers in ways that demonstrates Christ and His love within us? I think this goes much deeper than actions...Being a "good Christian" doesn't mean just standing up to peer pressure by saying no, or not looking at your neighbor's test. Although as Christians, we strive for this, in order to represent Christ, we must know
why we live this way. Paul clearly outlines in Romans just how important it is to understand the difference between law and grace. If our relationship with Christ is to be based on how well we follow rules, or as the Jews defined as our 'works', then we are missing the point. Romans 3:20 says "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." That last phrase is key...through the law we become conscious of sin. We say no to drugs, cheating, etc. not because those decisions define us, but simply because we recognize those things as sin. We do not abide in the law to live Christian lives...we abide in grace! Romans 6 says that we've died to sin, and since "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us", we are now "slaves to righteousness". Every time I read Romans, I get the chills...I can not comprehend how much God loves us. We have been saved from our sin by Jesus' blood, and now live in his grace, simply because he loves us.
So, how does this apply to my school? The way I see it, simply demonstrating to others that I strive to not break any of the rules isn't good enough. I think that that would make me an "average Christian"--Especially since I often fail miserably. But if I iterate the reason behind my life to my peers--the fact that it's because of God's grace, Christ's death on the cross, and God's eternal love for me--that I have been saved from my sin, then as a Christian, my identity will truly lie in his grace. What does it take to show that? I have to make myself available for God to speak through me...to Live out Loud in the classroom. It's a choice not to settle for simply saying no. By God's grace, he will enable us to demonstrate the reason we follow him. Remember, we are not our own.
Average stinks.
God rest his soul.
