Twelve

Okay. So I missed 10 and 11. Since missing that first one, I don't feel as much pressure to post every day. However, I'm not going to get back into the habit of not posting, either. I'm going to be honest here. My lack of previous posts strictly due to laziness. There. I said it. I'm lazy. It's just that when I have free time, the last thing I want to do is to be on my computer. It's not so bad now that I have this new job. I'm spending about 3/4 of my time designing/working on my computer.

I won't have much relief, however from computer stuff. I have another freelance logo design for Old North. I'm designing a logo for their Christmas program this year. I'm going to work on it today. Thanks to Rob for hooking me up! It's been a nice little side job :) Here's the last logo I designed for Old North. It was for a sermon series on giving.



This is the one they didn't go with:



I'll post the current logo project when I'm finished with it.

I've been having a bit of a creative block lately. The work I do for the Mideast Baptist Conference has be designing things constantly. And it's always brochures for their different conferences/retreats, etc. That and newsletters. Tons of newsletters. Anyway, I've been struggling with finding new ways to design brochures. Sometimes I think that all my work is looking the same. Here are a couple of projects I've done recently:

This one is a brochure for Camp Burton, which is a camp in Burton, Ohio where churches can have retreats, youth events, etc. I only had half a day to do this one, so it's not my best work, but I liked the way the front cover and the inside spread turned out. If I'd had more time, I would have worked on the schedule panel and the ebay panel some more.





This is my most recent project. In fact, it hasn't been approved yet, so I still have the lo-res. fpo (that means "for placement only") photos in place. If they approve it, I'll buy the hi-res. photos to use for print. This is a brochure for the MBC's Church Planting Offering campaign they do every year. They send people to conference churches to raise money for church plants. Church planting is an important mission for the MBC, so this campaign is a big deal. My church, The Gate, is a church plant of the MBC, and we wouldn't have been able to get started without the funds from this campaign.

This year's theme is God's Obsession. The idea is that lost people are God's obsession, and as children of God, our obsession, too.





Looks like another Adrienne-length post! I cheated a little, though and used lots of pictures. I've got to run now. My sister is picking me up and we're going to run some errands. A trip to Target and Giant Eagle to pick up some much needed essentials. I'm out of milk, so I wasn't able to have my cereal this morning. Plus, I'm hooked on the Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino at Get Go. I mix it half cap, half coffee, and it is delicious! Plus, you get an extra cent off a gallon of gas with each cup of coffee you buy. It all adds up!

Later, friends!

Nine

I did it again. I forgot to post anything yesterday. I am such a forgetful person. Sometimes my forgetfulness gets me to thinking that I'll probably develop Alzheimer's some day, and how terrible that would be. But then again, how terrible would it be to forget everything and everyone you ever knew, but not realize that you've forgotten? If you don't know that you've forgotten, then you probably don't realize that you've forgotten, so it wouldn't be so bad. It would be bad for the forgotten, though.

That makes absolutely no sense.

Yesterday, being that it was Thursday, was my long martial arts day. I get to the studio at around 5:15 to get ready for the Tae Kwon Do class that I teach. That class goes to 7:00. We gave the students a hard, hard work out tonight - lots of strength and conditioning drills, and then on to kicking and sparring drills.

I like teaching martial arts, but it can be very frustrating at times. There is the issue of collecting payment. It's due the first of the month every month, and yet there are those who consistently don't pay. It's always the same people. Why do you make me hound you every month? Every month, I know that I'm going to have to approach these people and ask for payment. I have no patience for that. You don't "forget" to pay your car payment, your house payment, your utilities. This is no different. Pay up!

Another thing that's frustrating me right now are my two students who are set to test for their black belts. They are sisters, and both have potential to be decent. I've seen moments of brilliance in both of them. Here it is, three weeks before their test, and they've been to once class in the last two weeks. I keep telling them that it's not an automatic pass. You have to earn this belt. They both need the practice. A couple of weeks ago, I put the younger sister (she's 14) in a sparring match with a student from the other school. Not only did she get whipped, she actually turned her back, covered her face with her hands and screamed as she ran out of the ring. What!? And you think you're black belt material? I told her that if she did that at her test, she would automatically fail. I don't expect her to whip everyone she faces, but I do expect her to try and to not give up. After that stellar performance, she misses the next three classes. Brilliant.

So after my TKD class ends at seven, I usually have time to practice on my own. I will work with my bo staff (that's my traditional martial arts weapon of choice), and work on a new form, or work on kicks, sparring, and whatever else I might want to do for an hour. Sometimes, I'll work with other students with their staffs if they need help with something.

At 8:00, have my Aikido class. I don't teach it, I take it. I love Aikido. While TKD is a hard style martial art, using kicking and punching as an aggressive attack, Aikido is a "soft" style that uses your attackers own energy against them. There are a lot of nasty joint locks and what I like to call "limb destruction" techniques. You learn that when you're being attacked, there is always an energy coming at you. Aikido teaches you to use that energy (not to stop it like the "hard" arts do) to your advantage. You can turn it around and an opponents energy becomes your attack and you can get someone to the ground very painfully in two seconds flat! It's very cool. I love Aikido.

By the time I get home at about 10:00, I'm very exhausted. Too exhausted to post. That's why I forgot yesterday :)

Seven

Since I didn't realize there was an "official" blog-writing-every-day thing, and since I didn't sign up for anything of the sort, I guess I'm still in. I was just agreeing to join Kimmy and friends in the challenge so that I could get my mushy brain out of its slumber and do some writing - even if it is all nonsense.

How about a pet update? With photos?

Here is a picture of Babs giving me the "thumbs up":



And here's a picture of Luna at my nephew's flag football game. That's an Ohio State sweater she's wearing.



She is also performing her one and only trick - she claps!

Here's a picture of Babs telling Luna a secret:



That little coat Luna is wearing was made for her by Kevin's mom. It's reversible, and now that it has gotten cold, she doesn't go outside without it. I know that some of you might be wondering how I got to this point - dressing my dog up in clothes. Poor Luna is a tiny little thing, and she has fine hair, so when it's cold outside she doesn't have much to keep her warm. If I send her out without her coat, she stands outside and shivers and she looks so sad.

I currently don't have any new pictures of Marcel-Henri. He is not very photogenic. He closes his eyes in every shot. The big fella just doesn't like the flash.

He has recently discovered that he likes to go outside. He doesn't go anywhere when he's out there - he just rolls around in the driveway while the chipmunks that wreaked havoc on my landscaping this year do their thing.

All in all, the pets are doing well here at the Wild Kingdom. They get along famously with each other and have all now decided that they want to sleep in the bed with me. It doesn't leave much room for me to switch sleeping positions in the middle of the night, but with the thermostat set low to save on the heating bill, their warmth is a very welcome thing.

CRAP!

I forgot to post yesterday!
CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!

Four

This blogging every day is stretching my brain. That's why the titles to all posts will be the day that I'm posting. Tomorrow's post will be five – in title and numerical order.

So I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a horrible allergy attack - multiple sneezes, a stuffed up nose that was runny (how does that happen?) - and three pets in my bed who thought that just because I was awake, it was feeding time. When it's 3 a.m., and you know you have to be up at 6 a.m. to make it to church way before everyone else gets there, well let's just say, the next thing to keep me awake was the sheer frustration of it all.

While I was up, I realized that it was the night to turn the clocks back an hour. That sure was a nice realization. I set my clock to the correct time, and because I knew I had just been given an hour of blessed sleep, was able to fall asleep and dream a strange, but entertaining dream. (I don't remember what it was, I just remember waking up and thinking "that sure was a strange and entertaining dream."). The same three pets who woke me earlier were at it again. I roll over to push Babs off the bed and get glimpse at the clock. I had over slept by almost and hour and a half! When I set the clock back, I must have un-set the alarm. Yay pets for waking me up! I only ended up being 20 minutes late, too.

I'll post about The Gate tomorrow. I will say this, though: We had a sit-in drummer and keyboard player today that were both fabulous! It was Vern Werona and his son, Jeff. They added something new and cool to the sound today.

Later!

Three

The movie was okay. Not stinky, but not as good as I expected. And I was wrong about the Brooklyn accent. He was from Jersey, and his Jersey accent was just okay. He's slip in and out from a cartoon-ish Jersey accent to a "generic American" accent. Not Kevin Costner accent horrible, but not great, either.

I wouldn't spend the money to see it in the theater. It's a good rental, though.

Number 2

I have a lot to write about, but not a lot of time. It's a good thing I have 28 more posts after this to get it all in. This being the second day of November, and my having said I'd post every day this month, brings me to this moment. I'm on my way out the door to have dinner with a friend, then it's off to the movie. I'm either going to see American Gangster or Bee Movie. I'm hoping for Bee Movie. I heard that Russel Crowe does a horrendous Brooklyn accent in the movie, and I don't know if I could sit through something that irritating. Here's a guy who gets paid millions of dollars to make a movie. Supposedly, he's an actor worthy of an Academy Award, and he can't get an accent? What else does he have to do? Okay, so he has to memorize some lines, can't he memorize and perfect the accent at the same time? And how does a take with a bad accent make the cut? Doesn't the director say "Russel! What's with your accent? You sound like an Australian trying to do a Brooklyn accent! Do it over!" Apparently not.

If, in fact, I do go see American Gangster (in my head, it sounds like "gangsta"), I'll let you all know how the accent is.

The end

I wanted to conclude my last post with something sane that would let you all know that I don't dislike the people with the butts, just the warmth that comes from those butts.

However, that doesn't sound sane AT ALL.

I'm going to quit now.

Post, the first.

Whew!I just made it! Kimmy has thrown out the challenge, and I have agreed to meet that challenge. I am going to post every day in the month of November. You may just be sick of my rambling by the time I'm finished with this month. Shoot, since I'll be posting every day, and since I'm sure I'll run out of interesting things to write about, I'll probably start digging into that twisted part of my brain that not many people get to see. Maybe I won't have any friends left when this is all over.

Here it goes. I might as well start off with one of those quirky things about me that make people laugh when they hear it...

I can't stand sitting on a warm seat. Not like the leather seats in my V-dub when they've been warmed ELECTRONICALLY by the heater in the seat. It would be like the seats in my V-dub when they've been warmed BODILY by someone else sitting there right before me. For instance, this weekend, I went to a wedding in Mansfield, which is about a two-hour drive from here. My dear friend, John, went with me. We took my car, but he drove. He lives in Mineral Ridge, so I picked him up on my way west. So, on the return trip, I dropped him off at his house on my way home. He got out of the car, and because the seat was warm, I had to wait for it to cool off before I could sit there for the drive home. I don't like a seat that has been warmed by someone else's butt. I'm grossed out by it. It's not that I'm grossed out by the person who left it there, just by the warmth itself.

When I go to an amusement park, I wait until the last possible minute to take my seat on the ride so that it can cool off adequately before I have to sit down. Sometimes, it's not long enough. In that case, I have to endure, but I don't like it.

In keeping with the bodily warmth thing as well, I don't like to use my mouse after someone else has used it and it's still warm. I like a cool seat, and a cool mouse. Usually, if someone has been using my mouse, they've also been sitting in my seat, so I have a double cool-down to wait on.

Toilet seats. That goes without saying. They MUST be cool. No exceptions.

By the way, I can sit on a seat that I have warmed myself.