Ninja of Motion

I would like to shout out the two people who have commented on my actual blog. Props to you, Beth and Tillie. However, I'm a bit upset that both of your comments revolved around a certain houseguest we have. Ummm, hey. I'm here too!

MOVING ON.

Today in class my professor called me a Motion ninja (Motion's a program to create motion graphics. To be honest, I don't really know what it is)! I'm going to take that as a compliment even though all I was doing was following the book at my own rate instead of waiting for him to explain everything five times over. I take it as a sign that I clearly enjoy what I'm doing because otherwise I wouldn't even want to work ahead.

I don't even know why, but I have such a passion for editing. I think I like being precise and creative. And editing is pretty much a 50/50 split down the middle. You need to have precision to make each edit hit the exact right frame. And you need creativity to know what frame you want. You have so many options to choose from, but having an image of what you want the scene to play like really helps make every decision.

Guys, I wish I had more people in my life who cared about stuff like Motion and filters and transitions. But, alas... I'm a lone wolf. Theoretically I'm in a class of people who DO care about those things, but the reality is pretty different. I'm not so sure the professor even cares. But at least he called me a Motion ninja. I'll always cherish that moment.

WELL. Now I have the WHOLE DAY---- to apparently read Hayley G. Hoover's articles for The Gloss and peruse through Facebook profile's of former high school classmates! SOLID USE OF MY TIME, I'd say.

Well, our house guest has woken up and I fear it's time to end this shared moment we had. Today's book will be Wicked by Kristen Chenoweth (with Joni Rodgers).

A Conversation

According to Anne I have to blog again, because this morning I was just making up for lost time. I didn't realize that myself.

So, we have a fake fire. And even though it's in the right place (see what I did there?) it doesn't emanate heat. It's pretty useless. But the rotating light and the orange-y glow it gives off are extremely cozy and soothing. It's not even real!

Ugh, how easy it is to be lured into comfort by artificial light in this culture. I hope I always know the one, true Light that can set me free.

Well, this took an unexpected turn.

Can we say that my jaunt into the intellectual deep provided enough content that I can stop now?

We can? Wow, for once we agree on something! What do you mean?! We ALWAYS disagree! Remember? The only thing we agreed on how devastatingly abrupt Selena Gomez and the Scene's career was together! I wonder how The Scene are doing without her...

Tramp for the Lord

Ahhh, already falling short. Oh, well. It happens.

Guess what I'm reading now... Tramp for the Lord. The story of Corrie ten Boom's life after she comes back to Holland. This lady though! She has shaken my faith. If she can find happiness in witnessing in a concentration camp? Who am I to avoid talking with people about Jesus because it might get awkward? Really, Abby? How selfish are you? I'm going to politely refrain from answering that question.

Anyway, today I have to head to ole Century College to make up for the class I missed yesterday. Woo. No, it'll actually be kind of cool! I'm learning how to make my own custom title screens. That's actually pretty awesome, right?

Well, I think I had better get a JumpStart (I don't know why it's spelled like that. Autocorrect believes it deserves it, I guess. Hope it's not copyrighted) on the day. But first to read my Bible. The book which Corrie ten Boom fights for and hides and cherishes her entire time in prison and in the concentration camp.

In Tramp for the Lord, she talks about her house (the Beje) becoming a museum for her and her family. I couldn't imagine what I would do if I got to see it. I thought I would probably cry if blessed with such an opportunity.

The Hiding Place

Okay, if Esther is reading this she would be so proud of me. I'm all about The Hiding Place! It's so good. If you've never heard of Corrie ten Boom don't feel bad because I hadn't either. But she's this awesome lady who helped hide Jews during World War II. Well, her, her family, and their house. Gosh, I can't stop thinking about it! She and her family have this amazing faith in the middle of these amazing horrific circumstances. I just can't believe it! Every time I think about them I ask God to give me such a brave faith. I feel like such a coward in comparison. In so many sense of the word. Like, I don't think I could handle the pressure of hiding people and having to run drills and organizing hundreds of citizens in a secret underground ring of people to help Jewish people flee the town into (relative) safety. And I also don't think I could handle having to trust God that much. I feel like my faith would shatter when faced with such genuine hardships. But maybe I don't give God enough credit. I don't know. A good quote that I've read out loud to my house chums and guests:
Her sister is comforting her after she found a metal shard on her pillow where not an hour before she left her bed to join her sister downstairs to pray during the night as planes fight each other overhead.

"'Betsie, if I hadn't heard you in the kitchen-'
But Betsie put a finger on my mouth. 'Don't say it, Corrie! There are no "if's" in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety- O Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!'"

Ugh, I just admire them so much. It's so crazy! And here's another thing her sister says after Corrie says she's had a vision of her family and townspeople being led away from their town.

"'I don't know,' she said softly. 'But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know- to tell us that this too is in His hands.'"

Okay, I know I have my class tomorrow morning, but I think I might just have to finish this! Ugh, it's so good!

Also, Ashley came over for dinner and we had Jami's homemade pizza for the first time since the fast. Dat dough doe.

Today: A List

Haha, do you guys remember last night when I thought I had to blog super late at like 2 am even though I had already made a completely coherent post earlier in the day? Good times, am I right?

What I did today:
Π Blake (not Shelton. My other friend Blake) and I went to fill my tired with air!
Π I was then gifted with a tire pressure gauge
Π I was taught how to use a tire pressure gauge
Π I watched as someone (probably Blake) filled up my anti-freeze
Π I forced someone to watch two too many YouTube videos about a truly inspirational movie
Π Borrowed ice skates and went skating for the first time in eight years
Π Drank some delicious Nestle hot chocolate which is the best brand of instant hot cocoa and I will no longer drink Swiss Miss the same way.
Π Gently encouraged/guilted some children into listening to me read Dr. Seuss books in celebration of his birthday at the bookstore I work at.
Π Ate bites of several donuts, some homemade cake, and chocolate as a delicious dinner
Π Sat around an empty studio for three hours while scrolling through tumblr.
Π Came home to a German girl in my living room.
Π Remarked about the amazing ability to touch her because for a while I couldn't do that.
Π Ate some delicious German chocolate provided by the German girl.

And now we're pretty much caught up on my day. As you can tell the Seven fast has made a huge impact on my regular diet. I'm pretty much a changed person.

Goodnight!

Party

We had a party. It was fun. Although I had to close at the bookstore I work at so I missed quite a bit, but that's all right. We played this really awesome game that's like Catch Phrase. But it's on a smart phone and you hold it up to your head and it records a video of everyone saying random crap trying to make you guess. I hope I never have to see them because I know that I completely lose myself in those games. I'm completely unaware of how loud or obnoxious I am.

And I think that's a solid post. So let's post it! Motivational speech, done!

Take Three

Back to the grind.

Yesterday was the last day of our fast. It feels weird seeing a box of chocolate, knowing I have the capability of eating it, but not really wanting to! I had two truffles last night and I'm still kind of full. Like, I don't really want to eat any right now because I kind of think that's a little gross. Who am I?

Tomorrow at the bookstore I recently started working at I get to read books out loud to children! It's Dr. Suess' birthday! I'm going to try and find a little costume I can cobble together! My fallback would be my safari hat with the premise that, "when you read you go on an adventure." Why do you think safari hats signify adventure. Why not a baseball hat. Me sitting inside a baseball stadium surrounded by baseball fans is an adventure. Especially if one of them is there with me due to obligation and he knows a lot about baseball so I incessantly ask him questions trying to learn about the game. Then it's an adventure for everyone around us too!

Okay. I know what I need. Striped leggings. Who knew stripes were Suess-y. I'm going to pair them with my black dress with weird tufts that look like truffala trees. It's not really a specific character, more just really wacky. Which I think of when I think Dr. Suess, you know?

If Esther's reading this... I'm finally getting around to reading The Hiding Place! It's really good, but she keeps hinting at the tragedy that's about to unfold. She'll be describing her sister's house and then all of a sudden it's "if only I knew the darkness that would fill the house as I stood outside of it filed with fear." Or something like that. Then she'll go right onto discussing her favorite nephew like nothing happened.

Tonight's our house's birthday for the Han's/break the fast party so I'll let you know how that goes.