Rabbit Trail Galore

So the thinking process for this little project (which wasn't planned) may be a bit unusual. Who am I kidding, every thinking process that went into my projects are unusual.

It starts off with a text from a friend of mine, wishing me a Merry Christmas. That reminded me of my roommate, who is engaged. Unfortunately, after showing her the previous project with the outline of my old roommate, made her change the theme to her wedding. I told her the necklace that I had matched her theme. After returning from college, I asked what the name for the type of necklace I had was. It was a cameo necklace, and then I tried to make a cameo necklace in photoshop using the picture of my old roommate. After 6 hours (without the help of any tutorial), I made a somewhat decent cameo necklace. However, I will show respect and not show the picture of my old roommate (even in a necklace).

With that roadblock in the way, I decided to use a different picture for my necklace. However it didn't turn out the way I wanted with my previous try at cameos. While finishing up the project I chose to make it look like some ad for a jewelry store. Thus introduces my sister to this process. When I was thinking up a name, my sister brought up the Shy Guy. I added how he could be a psychopath and we laughed at the idea of a Shy Guy wearing a hockey-mask.

So there you have it: text from friend -> roommate -> cameo necklace -> Shy Guy -> psychopath. All I did to the Shy Guy was remove his mouth and add holes.

Whaddya lookin' at?!

God's Been Good In My Life pt. 4

He always is.

I think God likes to show that He loves me in small ways. That even the smallest detail could bring a smile to my face. It may not mean much to some people, but it means a lot to me. For instance, after evening church service on Christmas, I went to spend time with my extended family at my grandmother's house. To my surprise the ice cream truck came by, and my cousins and I bought some food.  It brought some memories back even though I looked silly ordering a triple cone while wearing my Sunday best. Later, I was feeding my little sister her food while she was playing Mortal Kombat 9 (but Mortal Kombat Trilogy will always be the family favorite). Then when we went back home, I got to see my other favorite movie, Behind Enemy Lines, playing on TV. I forgot to mention while driving back my favorite Christmas song was playing on the radio, Last Christmas by Wham! That song always makes me feel happy.

By the way, I'll post something tomorrow. Something that took more than an hour to make.

Whoa! Drive-by Inspiration!

Whoa! No really it was. I got inspiration last night and stayed up, along with my sister, to finish this up. It wasn't originally meant to be Kind Lady from DDR. But my sister looked at it and thought it had some similarities to Kind Lady. Maybe it was just the sunglasses our model wore.

I used the font Andes with a small pink drop shadow. And then I used a lot of brushes that looked like bubbles and sparkles/stars. For the model, I used a layer mask to get rid of the background and used the Threshold adjustment layer. Copied the same layers and finally merged the four layers into one for the model. I used a background that looked like city lights and changed the blending mode to Hard Light to bring out the pink in the background.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I changed the banner and background into an extended version of Kind Lady with more sparkles. Yay... Might as well end with the original song from DDR.

Mah Skillz in College

Yeah, I didn't have time to post yesterday. I was too busy watching funny videos and Toy Story 2. But enough about that! Here's one of two of the best projects I've done (which means these were the only ones that were graded the highest, a B). Yeah its pathetic but at least I tried.

Yep, this one actually got me the highest grade I've ever gotten in this class. I did some changes that the teacher wrote down to make it better. I changed some of the kerning and made "Includes" in smaller font. Another change was removing my name, for obvious reasons. Who would want to buy a hymnbook from a mental frog?

The theme of our hymnbook had to be from a particular hymn that we chose as our main song. I chose "I Believe In Miracles", my favorite hymn, and then include three other hymns. Since the theme was Miracles, I chose the aurora borealis as my background. I still can't understand how people don't realize God's hand in nature and everything else. The font I used was Noir-et-Blanc for the title and I forgot which font I used in the subheading. I'm not sure if I'll post the next project that I did in college since I would have to censor a lot of things. Not that it has bad content, but for privacy reasons. This mental frog needs to be secluded from the rest of the world.

Randomness At Its Least

Man, today was random and still surreal. Attending my home church felt weird, and meeting the folks there was worse. I'll be honest, everyone looked older, and I'm scared that I look older too. It shouldn't surprise me but it still does every time I come back from college. Oh well, that shouldn't matter. What does matter is the time I spent with my little sister.

We are pretty weird, but that's normal. No really, it is. We had fun watching Bollywood music videos, and looked up Bollywood actors, since we thought the Bollywood actresses were pretty. I'll be very honest again, it's not the same the other way around. So we just kept making fun of the actors. Then we looked up Japanese actors and had a fun time asking if the person was a boy or girl. It really is scary how feminine the guys were. Logically we transitioned from looking at Japanese actors to mullets. When were those ever popular? So how did we get on the subject of Bollywood? Well it was this video we saw from =3, and from then on we just went loose.

SWEET TEA!

I can't wait 'til I graduate. With mai skillz, I'll be able to make videos like this. Oh and I'll post a project I did in college tomorrow.

God's Been Good In My Life pt. 3

I should probably tell of how God had shown a great amount of mercy and grace yesterday. First off, I realized I left my actual photo ID in one of my storage bins before assembly. Not only that, I had to leave almost immediately after the assembly in order to catch my flight in time. But the Lord was so kind and I was able to get my ID in time to leave, and I was able to catch an early ride to the airport. This time, my flights weren't delayed (a wonderful blessing), my luggage could fit, and actually got to each of my gates early. On my last flight home, I got to watch my favorite movie on the plane (courtesy of the airline). It's no surprise that my favorite movie I got to watch was The Matrix. I was so happy, although a little nauseated. You see, in the midst of trying to get ready to leave college, I missed breakfast and drank only coke, drank bad coffee for lunch, and ate a sandwich on the plane. I guess eating on a plane and staying in the air for 4 hours isn't good for your stomach. Oh well, competing with watching The Matrix, the other best part of the day was coming home from a very busy semester of college.

But even that is a blessing. God has opened a lot of opportunities for me to work on my skills. In addition, God allowed me to meet a lot of new people, the majority of them were wonderful blessings to me. I'll be honest, some of them were thorns to my sides and they kept hurting me and brought me trouble without even knowing it. However, God allowed them in my life so I can learn. And I have learned. So at least this experience won't be in vain. Anyway, more blessings!

I think irony is one of God's many jokes. Why am I saying this? Well after leaving the airport to go back home, my family and I watched Con Air. The actor playing the inmate Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom later plays Pascal Sauvage, the owner of many prisons, in Johnny English. I just find that hilarious. A side note about irony, my sister and I were watching Day of the Dead (1985), and pondered over Steel. We thought, he probably is a really nice guy in real life. Probably teaches Sunday school to children and feeds the homeless, but is out in a role that makes him look like a really bad mean guy. Again, we were laughing at the thought and how it could be true. Oh well, I'll post up some projects soon.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

You can count on me...

Okay, now that bad singing is out of the way, I gotta say this "I'm back". And boy does it feel gewd. All I can say in a nutshell how this semester has been is this: BUSY. And that means I might show you guys some of the work I've done. Bear in mind that only a few are actually good. Oh well, I'm sleepy and tired, but oddly kind of hyper. It's kind of surreal. One of the things about leaving to and from college is that it numbs you a bit. Maybe tomorrow I'll bring some new work and news.

Time to pay the Piper

Summer's over, and now I have to go back to school. Only a few hours 'til I fly to college. This is what I've been dreading the whole summer. No more music, no more videos, no internet, basically no fun.

That makes two of us.

My goodbyes this summer weren't as tearful as last year's. But I feel it's worse, since I know what I'm coming back to. "It'll only be a few months", a fact that I desperately say to myself over and over. It wasn't only the internet that brought me smiles and laughs, I'll also miss my family, my best friend, and my church. I really want to stay home, but I know that this is a trial God wants me to go through.

My only regret is that I didn't spend enough time with my loved ones. I'll miss you....

It's only goodbye for a short while...

Losing In Style

Where's mah money? (I've always wanted to say that)

Okay not really.

It's impossible with the way things are going. Another temptation was brought home that would hinder my weight loss goal. Chocolate. And not just any chocolate, French truffles. O woe is me!

Which brings me to this: http://enchocolat.com/
I've only seen a bit of it but I really like it, especially the background and logo. But aside from that, I was genuinely upset at how I was gaining back the weight at an alarming rate. And that my mother was bringing unhealthy (but delicious) foods knowing that I'm trying to lose weight. However, she said somethings to help comfort me. One of them is that I'm leaving and that I should appreciate the time I have left. One of the many pleasures of being away from college is eating good food, knowing that you don't have to do homework after, and taking your time eating and talking with your family. She's right, I'm not going to let my vanity get in the way of my family and fun.

Now the harder news. I've known this for quite a while now and paid the consequences for it. I need to take responsibility and take my commitments seriously. Recently, I did a shoddy job for someone and now I need to apologize to him. Technically I have another problem of accepting jobs that I know I can't fulfill. His was one of them. The reason for that is because I didn't have my inspiration back and it shows. This isn't a very good reason and a scene from Daria made that clear.

Trent: I just couldn't get the music together.

Daria: Yeah?

Trent: That's it.

Daria: Why didn't you tell us you were having a problem? We could've made a back-up plan.

Trent: I figured I'd get inspired eventually. I still think I will.

Daria: Trent, it was a school assignment. We had a deadline.

Trent: I don't believe in deadlines, Daria. They stifle creativity.

Daria: Yeah, but agreeing to help us meant you were committing to our deadline.

So yeah, add that and a lecture from my mother and now I have to apologize. With this realization in mind, I fear college will be worse than I expected. I don't like deadlines, I don't like teachers telling me what to make, and I don't like that my school limits me from what I can make. But I made the commitment long ago to go to college, and now I have to stick by it. But for now, I think I'll take my time to smell the roses and enjoy the freedom God has given me.

Me too, after I'm done with college. ;_;

Although I love the entire soundtrack of Sonic R, this one somewhat relates to the picture above:

Fighting a Losing Battle

Bad news (funny for you) is that losing a significant amount of weight within a small of time is looking bleak. I'm really trying, but things just keep going downhill. My DDR pad is now officially broken, which means I'm stuck with just running. Normally I'd be okay with that, however everyday seems to be getting hotter than the day before. But I'll have to toughen up if I'm serious about this. Another problem that keeps getting in the way is my mother's cooking. Tempting me with bread, fresh out of the oven. That and corn, which makes me want to watch Secret Window.

Aside from that I've decided to post The Roost flyer, and hopefully I'll start/finish the other projects in college. When I was able to get back my camera, I was on a roll and worked all night on this project. You might recognize that I used the same technique from a previous logo back in high school. The hardest part was making the handle, and as you can see it's not perfect. But I'm happy with the result and I think it looks similar to my source. The font I used for the name is Betty Noir and I did some tweaking with the greeting's leading and kerning.

For just 200 Bells, you can have a nice, hot, refreshing cup of coffee.

I love watching Secret Window, the main character reminds me of a lot of myself. Especially the ending, that's how I am and look when working on some graphic design idea. (Maybe not the hair) Okay now I have to quote the movie. [Spoilers!] "'I know I can do it', Todd Downy said. Helping himself to another ear of corn from the steamy bowl. I'm sure that in time, every bit of her will be gone. And her death will be a mystery, even to me". Nom!

Drawings, Failings, and Blessings

Okay, so here are the drawings from college and their original pictures. Our class was assigned to draw a human (a portrait), and to be honest, I hated being in that class. Keep in mind that graphic design doesn't really involve drawing aside from quick sketches to perfect on a computer. Of course, this isn't as good as the original, but I really did try and never got it right. And remember that I can't scan these since they're too large for my scanner and I can only take bad uneven photos of them.

I couldn't find the original photo from deviantart, so I had to take a picture of the one I printed out. You can see the measurements I made on it. Another thing that leads to my distaste of the rules is the limited access to internet. Which means not being able to see images and thus making it VERY difficult to find sources to draw from. Luckily, my suitemate was able to provide a picture since she's taken a similar class before. I should probably stock up on pictures before I go back.

I'm very proud of this drawing, even though I got a lower grade than the one above. I really was heart-broken when I got my grade back since I honestly did try and actually liked the source. Oh well, no use crying over spilt milk.

The original is from National Geographic.



Weight Challenge Progress: A losing battle. And I mostly blame my mother, the audacity of the her to bring my favorite pizza and Brazilian chocolates when I should be exercising like crazy and watching what I eat. So far I fear I may never lose weight before I leave if things continue like this. But I shouldn't complain, my mother knows I can't have good pizza at college and the chocolates were a gift from someone who came back from Brazil. Okay, this will be the last time to indulge.

I thought the box and chocolate wrappings were pretty, so I took some pictures to show one of the many blessings God has shown upon me. God is still good to me.

Simplicity is a sign of perfection. I like to keep to that principle.

Try explaining the importance of font to non-art students. 

I love pink ^_~ 

Holy smokes! A frog with a human hand!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my share of the chocolates. Oh snap! More inspiration!

Inspiration?

Well because of my recent viewing of the business card scene in American Psycho, I've become curious as to what's so special about this Dorsia restaurant. Apparently this restaurant is high class and is always booked, which makes it hard to get a reservation. I don't think they ever show the restaurant in the movie, and that it doesn't exist. However there are at least two restaurants with that name (in two different countries) and some people have made a logo or flyer for the restaurant. And I was thinking of making a logo for Dorsia, but then I thought about going that extra mile. Why don't I make an identity suite for Dorsia? I think it'll be a good idea. And this got me thinking about making an identity suite for The Roost instead of just a flyer. I'll be considering this change for my half finished project.


However there is always a problem. I really do want to lose weight (although many people believe my challenge to be impossible). And I'm dedicating these last days for exercising (and the Lord, of course). So I most likely will not make/finish the identity suite(s) before I leave, and if that's the case I'll just upload the finished poster and the drawings. Maybe they'll be done when I come back for winter break.


Anyway, more Animal Crossing: City Folk screenshots!

I heard that Dorsia has great sea urchin ceviche.

Another Rabbit Trail

Well its happened again. One idea leads to another, then to another, then to another. Earlier last night, I was watching a video about some guy praising his own business card, which looks like a haughty greeting card. After that I decided to watch the business card scenes from American Psycho, and can not understand why they are so adamant on showing off minor changes in a card. I cried out, "Dude, its just a business card. Who cares if it has a watermark!". Oh well, guess I'll learn more about this when I have to take my advertising classes.

As I was saying this led to more American Psycho clips, which left me a little disturbed. Ironically, it wasn't the blood that got to me, but the faces of the characters, specifically Patrick Bateman. It looked a bit pasty but with a tan, or like wax. Not very human. The best way I can describe it is like those male dummies (or mannequins), even down to the lips. And where does this lead to? My weight loss challenge. After American Psycho, I was watching a video on Hollywood's top ten weight loss and gains. If these guys could do it, then so can I.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to return some video tapes. Don't worry, I only watch good movies (which are very few).

Two Weeks

That's basically all I got left 'til I go back to college. I'll be leaving my family, my best friend, my games, and most of all, internet access. Yeah, so no more blog 'til winter break. And during this whole summer, I haven't done much... Don't judge me.

But I'm going to challenge myself. A little backstory for this. As everyone knows, college students in their freshman year gain weight, the typical Freshman 15. However, this was not the case for me. In fact I lost 30 pounds my first semester. That's great and all seeing how I was/still am overweight. But what really surprises people is when I told them I lost 12 pounds my first week and how everyday I would lose about two pounds. Now what? Well, since then I have lost more weight but not as fast as my first semester. However, since summer started I have gained back the weight I lost from my second semester, almost back to square one.

Now I'm challenging myself to lose weight before I go back. My goal: lose 50 pounds in two weeks. Yep, this frog is going to be thin. Now before I have people placing bets, I wanna say that I'm going to try, the keyword there.

Progress so far is little, The Roost flyer project is taking a while. I'm resisting posting The Roost poster without the flyer. But aside from that, since I got back my camera I'll take pictures of the only good drawings I did in college.

I think some music would be appropriate for this challenge.

News and More Seriousness

First the news: I'm halfway finished with The Roost project. In fact, I've been working all night for the first half of the project. The other half needs more time, and if takes too long then I'll scrap the idea and just post the one I finished. And I decided not to do the GracieGrace project because I have little to no inspiration and I believe that GracieGrace already has a great logo and doesn't need a poster. You can stop reading here if you want. It gets personal here, but I'm not gonna hide anything.

Oh, but I love that shirt on you (^_^)

Lately I've been thinking about how people perceive me and how different each view of myself is. I understand that it doesn't matter what people think about me, but I don't want people to get the wrong impression of me. All the ideas people get about me are very conflicting and kind of make me confused about myself. My old roommates and family believe I'm a lazy bum that hasn't worked a day in her life, while strangers get the impression that I'm a hardworking ambitious girl. The same roommates think I'm a laid-back person with a somewhat rebellious attitude whilst others think I'm militant and disciplined. Another common one that almost everybody believes of me is that I'm smart, even my own family thought of this.

This should be a postcard that says "Wish You Were Here!"

I would like to clear up some things and tell the truth as best as I can. All of those views except the last are true, however conflicting they may be. I am extremely lazy and haven't known the true experience of a hard day's work. But I am ambitious, with mostly academic goals set in mind. Along with my laziness is my being very laid-back, often procrastinating 'til the day before a deadline. A previous post of mine ranting about my school's rules is a great example of my rebellious side, but not without good reason. Again, I clash these previous perceptions with a long record of good behavior throughout all the schools I've attended.

I'm also no longer tanned!

The last one takes a bit more to explain. I am not in the least bit smart. Some have complimented me on my vocabulary, however I'm just throwing a couple of big words in the middle of my sentences and often use gobbledygook. Look that up and you'll understand. The next part in my explanation is rather disheartening. As I previously stated, I procrastinate yet I turn in my home/classwork on time. And when I say classwork, I mean papers and a speech. The same goes for studying; wait and study ten minutes before a test or quiz. The sad part (for everyone else) is that I still pass my classes. In fact, I usually score higher than those who study way longer than me or do their work ahead of time. An example is a History test that I took. One girl that I knew has to study for more than an hour in order to get a C on her test. I, on the other hand, studied for five minutes and received a B (and my teacher gave out harder tests too). I'm not smart in the least, only shown a great amount mercy and grace by God. This is where I got yelled at by an old roommate. She said I could be an A student if I actually worked, to which my other roommates looked in a combination of awe and disapproval at me.

It had to be this day when a joke backfired (;_;)

Hate me enough? Well there are some redeeming aspects about me. That scolding was from my first semester. Since then I have changed noticeably. I am working harder and will be taking classes that I actually love, so no more half-hearted attempts of work. In a nutshell, there are two sides of me that people see. There is the steely, quiet, shy exterior that everyone sees, but there is also the fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, loud jokester that only a few are able to see. You know that as me, the Mental Frog.

A Little More Serious

Lately I've been watching a lot of Let's Plays of scary games. Amnesia (Dark Descent and Justine), White Day (a Korean horror game), and Penumbra just to name a few. I've noticed that in all those games and a lot of other scary games too, is that light plays a vital role in the gameplay. Whether it is to help the player see, or more importantly, keep the player from panicking. (By the way, I didn't make the picture, I just found it).

But we also use light mainly for these reasons. I don't know about you, but I know I can't survive long in complete darkness and its usually because I'm scared. Not because I'm scared of the dark, but of something that could be there that I can't see. Waiting for me when I'm unable to defend myself. You know, fear of the unknown. Yes, this frog can be scared too.

My point is: Light is needed. And I'm glad to be called by God to be the light in this world of darkness. I always knew that light was needed to see, but I never realized it was also needed for our mental and emotional needs. It gives us hope, comfort, and chases away our fears. That is what God does for us, all we need to do is ask.

[SPOILERS If you haven't played Amnesia: The Dark Descent]
I know that after the player is done hiding in the shadows, he/she quickly goes to a light source to help give the character some relief from the fear overwhelming him. One particular moment in Amnesia that really affected me was entering the back hall after going through the water part. After going through a terrible experience: having to be careful trudging through the water, an invisible enemy on your heels, and with only a little bit of oil left in the lantern. And then running for your life, jumping over boxes, and opening every door with trembling hands. Once you reach the final door into the back hall, you are greeted by a stairway that leads to a wide (peaceful) area with the most light throughout the castle (from what I remember). To be honest, I teared up a bit when I heard the music.

This is an extended version of the music:

Mental Frog's Folly

I don't mind that I'm silly, and a lot of the times stupid. I still have fun and get to laugh a lot (except at college). I believe that you have to (sometimes) lower your intelligence level in order to get a laugh out of something. Whether it be laughing at someone hurting themselves or tripping, or drawing a unibrow on someone you don't like. It's immature, but funny. And I happen to have a lot of immature moments.

Now you might say, "Ankoru, shame on you. That is very mean". But hear me out. While talking to my younger not-mental-frog sister, the topic switched to Stephen Hawking. I pointed out that if he wasn't using his legs, he should just get rid of them. After laughing for quite a while on how stupid that comment was, my mind wandered onto the movie Doom. And after five minutes, this was the result of my comment and imagination. We ended up laughing even more from the sheer stupidity of it.

Here's something that always brings me a smile:

Waiting for My Camera

I can't do The Roost project without my camera, so instead I quickly made something that will give people an idea of how I am in college. These are just pictures I found and are not from my school. All I did was add me (the Mental Frog from The Ricky Gervais Show).

This is how I look and feel in a lot of my classes that are different from the classes involving my majors. It's basically English and Bible where I have that look. The "I have no idea what's going on" stare and everyone else in class has the answers. You know, the "odd one out" look. And don't get me started on Speech *shudders*

Oh no... I have to finish Speech this year. Why me?!

Aside from how I am in class, this is how I truly feel just being at college. Yep, the Mental Frog shows its face again. I feel overwhelmed, stressed, and about to lose it. And it's not just about classwork. It's all related to the school and its strict rules. I understand rules are needed, but they go way out of hand. Yeah, its time for a RANT!!! 

The dress code, punishment for minor mistakes, their "reasons" for the rules, a lot of the rules, lack of privacy, guilty 'til proven innocent attitude, and their inability to show grace. For crying out loud, Jesus showed us grace, why can't they also show it?! A lot of the times I've compared the school to a lot of things. Said they were reverting back to Amish times. That prison is more lenient than the school, and that North Korea is less strict in comparison.

Okay, gotta calm down. Now after all that, why am I still going back? Because I know it's God's Will for me to go there. And this is a very big trial that I must go through. I won't let them defeat me, God is on my side. Just three more years...

Finally I Can Sleep Again!

Well I did as I promised. I finished the banner, albeit very poorly and rushed. I really did try, but I really wanted to finish it tonight that I rushed trying to change the size. Now a lot of it looks blurry and I'm only satisfied that I finished it.

This was inspired by Ghost In The Shell (of course), and I tried to make it look like I was turning into the mental frog. Why? Because my own family has commented that I was starting to look like that mental frog. I personally think that was the best compliment I've had about my appearance. The font I used for my name is called 'stereolab', which I think is pretty cool. Later, I might upload my drawings from college if I'm able to get my camera back. Not only that, maybe I will draw a certain person and mail it to him. It's a guy that does commentary on Minecraft, and I hope I get enough confidence to do something that bold.

Now I have to finish those other projects, and I'm including a job my mother gave me for a co-worker. Hope I don't disappoint this time.

And now for my favorite song. I love the lyrics, how strong-willed the singer sounds, and how both versions sound great.

Worries Galore

Earlier last night something was brought to my attention, which then transitioned into another compilation of thoughts. Much like the work I do.

I'll have to be leaving soon for college, which I fear and have been dreading this whole summer. People keep saying that after a week I'll get used to things again at college, but I don't think they know how much I enjoy the freedom I have here. But there are more worries other than the loss of my freedom. The biggest would have to be money. Of course, every college student also has this worry, some worse than mine. In the case of my best friend of sixteen years, whose birthday is in a couple of days. She's also a college student, but is striving for medical school and needs money for her own food. I already know what to get for her but my situation hinders me from being of any help. Which really saddens me, because she's been such a blessing to me and has been there when no one else (aside from my mother) celebrated my birthday. I pray that God will find a way to be able to give her what she needs and what I need.

I fear losing my inspiration, losing the love I have for one or both of my majors, not having enough money for books or to even get back to college, buying the ticket to fly back, how am I going to buy and even get the supplies I need to live in my dorm, what kind of roommates will I get, if I get to continue with my major, new shoes and clothes, will my teeth be okay, can I get a job, will I be able to balance my schedule, will I almost go insane again, or will I just break down...

But I shouldn't worry. Easier said than done, but I know I have to trust God. He brought me to that college to do His Will, and He will find a way to keep me there. I know I've just said more than a mouthful and I haven't even finished my long list of worries and fears. But I must go on, I pray that God helps me through this very difficult trial.

The next project will instead be inspired by The Roost from Animal Crossing. The banner is taking way longer than expected.

God's Been Good In My Life pt. 2

Hey, I'm not done praising God, and I'll continue 'til my last breath.

Yesterday was such a great day. I spent it with two very special people to me who have seen me grow throughout all these years.  One is my mother, of course, who's been there for me these past twenty years. And the other is my best friend who's been there for me for sixteen years, yeah that's a lot. I am glad that God has blessed me with such a great friend who I'm not worthy of. She's such a good friend and person. She's honest, humble and a much stronger person than I am. God is so good to me.

I spent most of my birthday with her; eating lunch, going to the mall, making a cake and watching a movie that reminded me of what God took me out of. I am so glad that I'm out of there and now have a new life. Later, my mom and I went to a really nice (and expensive) restaurant. I was already full before but I couldn't help but continue eating. It was really delicious and the waiter was so nice; I really hope I gave him a good tip (I'm not good at math). There was also this cute baby waving at us from across our table. My mother said, "I can't believe its been twenty years since you were like that". I hope the parents understand that time will fly by before they know it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We made a Portal cake but the inside was a rainbow cake. Yeah, I'm weird like that. Problem is, now we have too much cake at home. One huge carrot from my mother's birthday, the big Portal cake, and the small (but delicious) cake from the fancy restaurant. Actually, I've made three birthday wishes: one at lunch, the other from the Portal cake, and one from the fancy restaurant. God is good.

As a twenty year old, I'll start off the week reading more of the Bible, playing DDR (hoping that'll help as exercise), and watching my favorite movies that are not animated. First, Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), the remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990), and I'll try to find Land of the Dead (2005). After that, Return of the Dragon starring my heroes: Bruce Lee and the awesome Chuck Norris. I'll continue with all three Matrix movies (also try to find the third one) and end with Behind Enemy Lines*. Yep, God is good to this lowly geek.

*yes I have more movies that I also like, but these are the ones that make me look particularly geeky.

God's Been Good In My Life

It's one of the songs that always makes me cry. And today is a special day, not joking this time. It's my birthday. But I'm not here to celebrate the day I was born, instead all the glory and honor goes to God.

He's more than my creator, He's also my Lord, Savior, Protector, Comforter, and Father. I thank God for being who He is, and showing mercy and grace to a dirty rotten sinner. Because that is what I am, and I know I don't deserve anything good. I know I deserve Hell, I've sinned and done wrong against Him and people around me. I've hurt others, myself and most of all, I've hurt God. But God's been good to me.

He took me from that dark, lonely place and gave me a new life. He has blessed me, and has and will always love me. I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for Him, and I'm so thankful that He loves me so much to have given up His Son for my sins, so that I can be with Him. He took me from a life of pain, agony, sorrow, anger and hatred. And gave me a life of joy and peace where I won't be hurt again. He loves me and always takes care of me. He has always provided, one way or another and never left me or forsaken me. He hears my cries and always answers, never leaving my side. And He shows He loves me, even in the littlest of things.

I am just a college student from a small family that's gone through pain in the past, but we are now a happy family relying on God for every minute of our lives.

God's been good.

Banner Turned Movie

I was originally planning on making a banner, but unfortunately it turned into an unrelated composition of inspirations. It first started with listening to the main theme from L.A. Noire, which made me wanted to use 1940s women as my inspiration again. You might recognize the same three girls used in a previous project. But then I was listening to ELO's "Evil Woman" and it started tumbling downhill with an idea for a movie.

This took a lot longer to make than my recent projects, but not from actually making it. Instead my problem was how to execute my idea. The inspiration was there but I didn't know how it should look. I had to move the elements repeatedly to figure out if it looked good or not. After many attempts, tonight I was on a roll.

The font I used was named NiteClub and I know the title and rating are more risque than what I'm used to. My excuse was that I couldn't think up of another name and I was too lazy to thoroughly search for a PG-13 logo that I wouldn't have to change. Why not PG or G? Well look at it, it doesn't exactly scream kid-friendly. Oh well, overall I really like it but I really wish that I had made the banner like I had wanted to. Maybe I'll just change the text if I can't make a banner by my deadline.

Meh...

Meh, I won't explain how trying to make silhouettes turned into this.  I also did a shoddy job with the warp tool.  Oh well, my main concern now is to make a banner.  I kind of have an idea for it and some inspirations for other projects.  These next ones will turn up better.

Jumbled Inspirations

After finishing the project for my church earlier this weekend, I decided to do the norm. Sit in front of my computer 'til late or early morning. Yeah, I don't go out often. But I had inspiration hit me after listening to my favorite game's soundtrack.  This is the song that gave me an idea.

Yeah, I love DDR's dance/house, disco-style music. It's just so fun. I love how the cover art for the songs are bright and colorful with an awesome silhouette. Simple but effective.  And that's what I thought I should try to replicate.  However, it kind of got out of hand.

I also wanted to use pictures of 1940s women since I like how they used little makeup, and simple but beautiful hairstyles.  Too much of LA Noire this past month. I tried using the same colors that I thought about whenever I listened to the soundtrack. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make the same silhouettes without taking too much time.  This project was on a whim and I wanted to make it fast in fear of losing my inspiration.  Instead I opted for the same method I used with my roommate's picture. I didn't get the original feel of disco/dance/house music and instead I got a 1940s Charlie's Angels-esque perfume ad.

Oh well, I still like it. It's not perfect, and I should've corrected the outlines to be more curvy and less jagged. This took me about an hour to do, and I used a font named 'betty noir'. Honestly, would you buy a perfume like this?

Downhill While Going Uphill

Forget about the other weekend. This weekend was ruined.

Today started out great. Last night until nine in the morning I have been working non-stop on a project for my church. I was worried that I wouldn't finish by the deadline, but actually finished earlier than expected. Afterwards, I went to sleep (when others would be waking up) and woke up at three in the afternoon for a long drive to Chick-fil-A, which isn't very well-known where I live. After a fun time eating and talking with my family, we drove back home and that's where the horror began. While driving uphill on the freeway, the car made noises and beeps, and didn't pick up speed when shifting gears. And the fear spiked up when we saw smoke from the engine. It was night when we stopped and called 911 for someone to help us.

We got back home in time for me to write what happened and finally get a picture of what embodies me for my profile. While watching The Ricky Gervais Show before starting the project, I paused at the the frog about to go mental. Both my sister and I laughed for a long time just looking at the frog, which I described as "looking like a deranged hick". I decided to take a screenshot of it for later laughs. However, now the frog looks like how I feel now.

One Heck of a Weekend

Crashed a wedding, did someone a favor, attended a gathering for fellowship, asked for forgiveness, forgave a bunch of people, made new acquaintances, and got back my inspiration.  All in the span of this weekend.

Wow, and people think I don't go outside often.

At this certain gathering I met a person who reminded me of a joke my old roommate (not my previous model) made from an incident that happened in her biology class.  I'll get back on that later.  This of course reminded me of another joke she made while doing her famous impersonations.

She made a prank phone-call to one of her friends while acting like a Chinese woman taking an order from a restaurant.  This restaurant was named The Golden Chopstick Society.  So I, being silly, decided to quickly make this in honor of my old roommate.  It's not perfect, but I had fun making this.  Now this is only for fun, and I already know that there are restaurants named Golden Chopstick(s).  But this is a fake restaurant with no malice or offense intended.  This is just one of the many precious memories I have of my roommates, and I hope to continue making things like this.

Still Alive

To the dismay of many around me. Yes I'm not dead, just back from college.

Actually, I've been home since mid-May but a lot has happened since then. I was very depressed and had constant nightmares of going back to college. The thing is: my college is on the other side of the country. And I always feared that I would never do all the things I wanted to do before going back. Why is that important? Because my college is also VERY strict, and I'm scared of losing the freedom I have here. But a friend has helped calmed down those fears.

I also feel bad for never emailing my old teachers and acquaintances. The blame belongs to the very same college I'm fearful of. As said before, the school is strict and I have limited access to internet. Not being able to use my own email and not being able to update my blog. But wait there's more!

First semester was terrible, I've had to start all over with Graphic Design (learning just the basics), lose inspiration, and even lose the love I had for Graphic Design. I really want to bring that back into my life. This is something I have to pray about.

But all is not lost. Second semester was when I finally smiled during school. That may seem unimportant, but keep in mind: first semester was REALLY BAD. I won't give all the details except for the fact that I smiled more often.

Might as well show the only graphic design projects I've done in college (aside from class projects).

My mother sent me a picture of my younger self. My job was to get rid of the glue marks (evil popsicle-stick frame), pen scribbles, and marker... marks. Of course I covered my ugly mug with the Laughing Man logo to save everyone from the horror that is me. But my mom was very pleased from the restoration. Wish I could show you how bad the original was.

I can't believe how many years have gone by since this picture was taken. And now I'm no longer the happy-go-lucky kid I used to be. After watching over pre-schoolers in Bible Vacation School, I wish I could tell them to never take this time for granted. But they probably wouldn't understand, and it might be best that they don't know what's ahead of them.

Come on, don't start getting sentimental now.

This entry was for a contest all Graphic Design majors had to participate in. A lot of things went wrong during this project. Lack of inspiration, upcoming deadline, and an overexposed photograph. I took the picture of my lovely model the night before the deadline and worked on it the day of the actual deadline. Not my fault for a lack of inspiration.

Since the photo was over-exposed to the point where I couldn't fix it in time, I decided to just outline my model's face. By the way, that lovely outline belongs to my old roommate who took the time to put her hair up and have many pictures taken of her. I messed up the outline by trying to make the lines sharper and less blurry. But instead they became pixelated. It only took me twenty minutes in total to make the outline, the background, it's gradient, and the oval pearl necklace. Yeah, not much.