Monthly Archive for January, 2005

A C.S. Lewis Poem

Published on January 26, 2005 in Inspired. 4 Comments

Satan Speaks
By C.S. Lewis

I am Nature, the Mighty Mother,
I am the law: ye have none other.

I am the flower and the dewdrop fresh,
I am the lust in your itching flesh.

I am the battle’s filth and strain,
I am the widow’s empty pain.

I am the sea to smother your breath,
I am the bomb, the falling death.

I am the fact and the crushing reason
To thwart your fantasy’s new-born treason.

I am the spider making her net,
I am the beast with jaws blood-wet.

I am a wolf that follows the sun
And I will catch him ere day be done.

Interesting reading this after watching The Devil’s Advocate. Pacino did an incredible job playing the fallen angel. His seductive promises, his deceptive smile, and of course his revealed fury encapsulated the essence of Satan, at least in my eyes. It’s strange how the Enemy works. He taps into my desires, promising bliss at every corner when my track record proves time after time that it’s never a fulfilling experience. I find ways to fill voids that only the Lord can satisfy, seeking another self-centered momentary button to push. I’ll say a cute lie here, brag a bit over there, whisper an insult once in a while, seeking praise from those around me.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
[James 3:9-12]

There’s much room for improvement. I was reminded on Sunday that that’s what we’re all about. Improvement towards the Mind of Christ. It’s definitely more difficult to improve when I’m walk apart from the Word. Laziness kicks in, more excuses come, but of course in my mind they’re all justified.

Thanks be to God for his Word and the guidance of my family in Him. These days would be darker without them.

Too Fast

Published on January 26, 2005 in Bummer and Recentisms. Closed

Don’t know what’s happening these days. Everything seems to be zooming by and I feel like I’ve been left behind, trying to catch up. The day-to-day seems to be a series of moments of me sitting down trying to figure things out. Don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s definitely a struggle. Feeling weary.

Gotta finish up some projects. Peace, y’all.

Computers and TVs Gone Crazy

Published on January 16, 2005 in Recentisms. Closed

As of yesterday my computer has been completely unusable. In an attempt to un-partition my computer (or whatever the process is called) there was an error in naming the final hard drive with a letter. The result: can’t open my files. Well Tony and I took the computer to Best Buy today to see if they could take a stab at fixing this technical problem but alas they were unsuccessful. So we took another route. Tony installed my hard drive into his own computer and it was able to automatically assign the drive a letter. Seeing the opportunity I immediately began to back up the important files I treasured so dearly and now we are making an effort to repair the hard drive once again on my own computer. Don’t know how it’s going to end up, but either way it will be pleasant to get a fresh start.

Some other recent installation issues at home: we have switched from DSL to Cable. I don’t know all the details, but it appears we will save more money with this move at no real sacrifice to the quality of our internet and phone services. We’re all about saving money these days. Which brings me to the next installation. We switched over from DirecTV to Dish Network, apparently saving a lot of money as well, with a bit of sacrifice in … convenience. Can’t really know what’s playing on a channel ahead of time like we could with DTV, but far be it from me to complain. I barely watch tv as it is. I’m pretty sick of it lately. Every meal my family has is accompanied by the sounds of some annoying spanish commentator on the news or a series of loud commercials. I treasure silence more than ever these days. I would rather hear how my family is doing, but that becomes an excercise in patience as well, gotta really force it out of them. Dad takes a while to get warmed up, yet he eventually begins to tell me a fascinating story about his childhood in Colombia. This is what I’m longing for. There’s a missing element of intimacy in this house which I’m striving to revive. Feels like I’m the only one that is making an effort, but it’s cool. It’s a nice little challenge for the moment which I’m going to try and make a weekly habit of introducing. I want to know how Mom is doing, what Dad’s been up to, how Tony’s days have been. The four of us rarely spend time together, so I’m curious to know what’s been going on this whole time.

Anyways, with all this reinstalling I think I’m going to need to get contact information all over again from all my acquaintances. I’ve lost most birthdays and addresses and telephones. There’s an opportunity to do it all more effeciently now, I just have to figure out which way that is.

Alright I’m out. Gnite.

Oh and here’s a little scientific discovery I made this weekend. Getting punched in the face with boxing gloves not only produces pain, but also acne. Reflect on that.

A Good Start

Published on January 12, 2005 in Recentisms. 1 Comment

Started my classes last week. Hard to believe I’m already halfway through my sophomore year in college. How the time flies. Looks like I’ll be well off this semester. I’m taking two design classes with the same professor every day: Communication Arts 2 and Typography. It will be good to have a better understanding of type. For me it’s easier to spot out bad type because there’s so much of it (see Comic Sans & Impact) used for everything. So whenever I finally see a good ad with good use of type it’s always refreshing. Designers have peculiar appetites, of which type is a delicate subject.

And then I have two online academic classes. My goal this time around: don’t drop the online classes.

I’ve been drawing a lot more lately in my sketchbook, adding portraits and stickers and notes that get my attention. I’ve already begun a new layout for sketchism but it’s not quite there yet. I know the feel I’m looking for, but so far the results of my layout experiments haven’t been doing it for me just yet. I might even consider doing some flash elements this time around. Whatever I choose it will be a while before it gets up. Programming and coding can be a major headache and I’m all about avoiding headaches.

Speaking of headaches, I’d better get ready for traffic.

So This is the New Year

Published on January 2, 2005 in Recentisms. 5 Comments

Holidays are over. I’m proud to say I ended 2004 with a great time. Went to Glennis’ house party and played some board games with her and Krystel and Frank. When midnight came we were all trivia’d out. At least I was, but it’s always fun times to be around a good board game with friends. An hour after all the celebrating I met up with Claire and her friends Vanessa and Adam at Club Tsunami. Looked like it was going to be a small party since most people were out celebrating with elsewhere with family. A half hour into the club I got a ring from Glennis & Co. saying they were going to join us. A few minutes they were there with us.

Apparently Tsunami gets some pretty big turn-outs on regular Friday nights, but as for New Years Eve, it was probably their first and last time hosting it. It ended up being just my friends and two other curious people. Total amount: about 15. (Mind you I’m just throwing a number out there).

My vacation is now over. Tomorrow I head back to work and the day after I begin the second half of my sophomore year. Classes this time around include: Communication Design 2, Typography, Biology, and Psychology of Personal Effectiveness (again. I dropped it mid-semester a few weeks ago). Looks like this will be my last semester of peace. The next two years will demand 5 full time design classes per semester. Don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’ll worry about that in the time to come.

Work schedule is going to look about the same. Gotta print out my schedule this week and show it to the boss team. I doubt there will be any complaints. Other than that things are running pretty smooth. Youth group starts up again this week after it’s 2 week hiatus, as will my friday discussion groups. I’m going to be getting some hard-core learning done in the next few months and most of it will surround the writings of C.S. Lewis. My current new project: Surprised By Joy, his autobiography. Went through the book a year ago and enjoyed it very much. Now I get to go through it again with the possibility of discussing it with others. Excited excited.

In case you haven’t checked it out yet, I have added an art section to sketchism. It’s still in the baby stages but I’ll be fine-tuning it soon. With this new semester I’m going to have to re-adjust my weekly/daily schedules with more sketchism things in consideration this time around. It’s going to be great.

Alright, I’d better get some rest. I work tomorrow. Peace y’all.