Pumpkin Carving 101 (part 1)

The Real Jack O Lantern

Spider (by: my aunt) & the rest by me!

The Most Talented Pumpkin Carving Artists

Trick O Treat

Eyes are the greatest treats!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day; the perfect day to go to the pumpkin patch especially!  I had the joy of going pumpkin hunting with my 3 little cousins today!  I think in total we got about 8 pumpkins and we’re probably going back to get some more .  I always have a awesome time hanging out with them and today was most special as we all attempted to try something new in terms of designing pumpkins this year.  I ended up gutting most of the pumpkins since most of the kids didn’t like doing that part (well neither do I) but in this case I don’t mind doing it for them! =)  Did you know pumpkin carving actually takes a fair amount of time?  I think I spent about a total of 3 or 4 hours gutting, cleaning and cutting the darn things!  But I had a blast doing it!  I hope to have a couple more to post later on this week but well see!

So for Halloween, I still don’t have a costume yet, hahaha and Halloween is tomorrow!  I’ll think of something I’m sure.  I don’t really need to buy one since I don’t plan on going out or anything but I didn’t want to look lame when the kids come to our place and ask…”what are you for halloween?”  Uh…Steve!  Lame costume! hahahah  Anyways, I’m trying to think of something quick, easy and inexpensive! 

On a more serious note…these past couple of weeks I feel like God has been speaking into my life a lot lately through other people, experiences and through life’s challenges.  Sunday morning at church I was listening to our pastor who was delivering a sermon about the crippled man who sat in the temple for thirty eight years unable to do what most of us take for granted everyday, our ability to walk and see!  The most profound part that struck me was Jesus’ question…”Do you want to get well?”  Well, duh!  Of course!  Why wouldn’t I want to get well?  Seems like a no brainier question right?  But Jesus always has something deeper with his words that dig deeper beyond what many of us fail to initially see.  Interestingly, Pastor Jamie asked the question again that Jesus’ stated…”Do we REALLY want to get well?”  Surprisingly, not all of us would say yes!  Jesus’ is obviously acknowledges its more than a physical thing but it involves the not only our bodies but our mind and soul.  So I guess I have to ask myself the question once again….”Do I really want to get well?”  Yes and No!  Why No you ask?  Because a lot of us don’t let Jesus into areas of our lives where we need welness so yes we want to get well but we often say yeah but maybe later!  We keep giving God the reign check for welness for a later date!  Pastor Jamie pointed out that so many of us are convinced that with all the junk we have in our lives this is just the way we are and we can’t change, can’t be healed or transformed but it’s those little voices of lies that seek to destroy us and make us believe we are trash, garbage and a disgrace.  We often believe this, I know I do a lot of times and I don’t realize it!  God wants us to become well again.  The question doesn’t seem so straightforward as before does it?  Do you want to get well?  I do, but I need to be willing, because the doctor is there to heal us; we just need have faith to believe He can make us well again!  Even if we have piles of junk in our lives, He doesn’t forsake us!  That’s Love no one in this world can fully comprehend! 

I’m Happy Just To Be…


…That’s exactly how she probably feels right now! 

Life just
seem to get more and more complex each passing day!  Knowing where to
go and what to do is a daunting mystery each day!  My only sense of
direction and peace seem to be in a small moment of solitude in the
Word of God.  Through these past few months or so I see more and more
of why Jesus tells us to grasp onto the things that are really
important for our lives and spiritual wellbeing.  “Do not let this book
depart from your mouth” Jesus says.  Humans are forgetful beings and
with our lack there of to remember Gods word, no wonder He tells us to
be in the Word so much because without it, this world we live in will
consume us. 

Job hunting pressures weigh a lot and pressures
to financial stability linger over my head while trying to work and
finish my education.  Bills, living cost, jobs, family drama, looking
for a new community to invest in (aka finding a church) and many things
that cloud my mind but the one thing that takes me past all this is
having faith and trust in God (which most of the time I have very
little of).  Why do I worry about thing that really don’t matter in the
end.  What life do I really want for myself or what life does God
intend for me?  No one said transition would be easy.  Do you believe
there is something great out there for you?  Honesty, I do but this
world, people, even the experienced tell me that you got to do what you
got to do to survive.  Many people I run into seem to just file into a
job that is dry; in my opinion mindless and noncontributory to
society.  It’s the kind of job you put your 9 to 5 in and call it the
day and my work is done without really knowing what your job really
does to make things better.  I’m sure it does something or else it
wouldn’t be any sort of job.  Don’t get me wrong a 9 to 5 is fine but
it’s what you do between that period of time that matters. Where is
that degree of satisfaction or the feeling you are really contributing
to this world?  Does this exist?  Or am I just in fantasy land?  Or am
I just a pawn for some something I don’t really understand?  We only
have one life to live right?  Why not live it?  Do most people just
settle or is it actually because they can’t find it?  I don’t really
know for sure!  The truth of things are so distorted by people and
everyone’s experience are different so it’s difficult to say how things
really are!

Well, back to the photo I took.  I spend my Sunday
evening with my five girls over dinner! =) 2 of whom are my aunts; one
who has 3 adorable little girls.  I always have a lot of fun with them
and they are such a joy to be around.  I see how simple life is through
her eyes and more and more I see the child like faith within her.  This
world does wonders to you as you grow up but we have the Lord to thank
to bring us peace and joy in no particular order. 

Another
issue on the rise is North Korea!  I almost felt like crying today
after reading and watching what is going on to my people!

Pimp My Ride – The Remix

Pace Car


The Red Violet Car with all the balloons is the car I helped decorate  

So our assignment was to decorate our car with any materials we wanted that wouldn’t damage car paint with our assigned color (red violet).  Our them was “romantic” so we did a Just Married theme which was pretty creative I thought!  We used streamers, balloons, flowers, heart cut outs, tissue paper and a lot of colored plastic wrap!  We had 2 hours to make it, drive it around the campus quad parading around for everyone to see and then get back to take it apart! And NO this is NOT the gay pride parade!

Postcards & Beyond!

Postcard 1

Postcard 2

The above postcards are another project for my
design class.  The objective was to create two postcards based on a letter
written describing a fantastic land I went to where strange things
existed.  For each postcard I am to create a collage of cars I saw in my
fantastic land while away from Davis.  Postcard 1 is based on a horse
chassis (haha) with converse shoes for its source of locomotion and R2-D2
hybrid!  Postcard 2 is based on a this postcard I found at a stationary
store where a dog and cat are actually sitting in a antique car.  In this
postcard the car has a face, the motor is mounted on top of the car (haha), the
dog now has a smile face head and the cat shifts gears while the dog steers

All in all, I had a blast doing all these activities!  I’m finally doing something I enjoy for once in college!

Down Memory Road

Landscape architecture is pretty awesome stuff.  I’ve been having a blast so far doing much of the work involved.  The lectures however are a complete waste of my time =) I find myself sleeping most of the time or zoning out with one of my sketches while listening to my ipod.  Above is one of my first assignments for this course I had a  lot of fun taking pictures, writing about it and sharing my environmental values.  The pictures on the left are pictures of my childhood memory place.  I spent a lot of my childhood around this park with family and friends.  It’s such a beautiful time of the year to take pictures there however the sad part is the bridge you see there isn’t the original bridge that used to be there when I was a kid.  It was a lot bigger and cooler looking.  For some reason I always envisioned this place to be BIG but when I went back to see it; it seemed so small.  The photos on the right are my ideal environments.  I love wide open spaces with just endless amounts of road and landscape.  Some of the photos you see there are from a road trip through Oregon which are absolutely breath taking.  I love the idea of just you, the road, open road that disappears in the horizon.  There is something about being in open spaces that make life seem free with no boundaries that give a sense of peace from all the chaos and pressures of this world.

Color Wheel

Above is one small and simple assignment I had to make for my design class!  I have to say so far I am having fun but I’m still thinking about how I am going to write a research paper on toy robots from a design perspective!  This should be interesting!  What’s different about my color wheel is that it is not colored in with colored pencils, paint or any art tools but instead it is made from magazine cutouts!  Just as there are constraints in photography there are also constraints within design that bring out creativity of its own.  Cosmopolitan magazines do wonders for mag. cutout color wheels! haha

To Infinity and Beyond

Today was a bit overcast here in good old Davis but never the less things are still beautiful in what some people would call somber weather.  The air was cool as it brushed against my face on my walk to church this morning with the morning dew still lingering across the horizon.  I was really struck by pastor Jamie’s message this morning about in all of life we always run out of wine without God in our lives.  By this pastor Jamie introduced life as a party with God and life in a party of our own.  In Jesus’ party, the wine never runs out but in our “own” party we always seem to run out of wine and when we do we continue to seek another party and another and soon we find ourselves diverting from God.  We do so by filling our lives with other things to fill a void or an emptiness inside.  I was really encouraged today when Jamie said…”You can accomplish the highest of education, a fulfilling career, family, house, car, travel the world, do things to make this world a better place but in the end we ask ourselves is there more to this life?”  For the longest time, I had forgotten all this and more so our purpose in life.  Just a few words from God this morning can speak wonders and power into our lives and it made me wonder what I do to fill my life with stuff instead of God.  In our lives we always want to achieve what Jamie would say, “Better,Better,Better Better, etc“  It goes on and on and on, we want to achieve better, better and better but mostly in a material sense in our world we live in.  Better may NOT always be better yah?  Again, when it all comes down to it…we always run out of wine and we need Jesus!  I think sometimes I get tired of looking for another party!  It finally occurred to me that maybe I should hit up Jesus’ party and see how He holds it down.  If you want to hit up JC’s party let me know

Today is also cool because I decided to take some time finally to spend it reading some truth!  I like these words…
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger – Proverbs 15:1

Cheers, Thanks For Reading

Bullet

If there is one thing about me you should know, I am a automotive junkie!  I enjoy reading about the automotive competition when I have spare time.  It’s quite an interesting and competitive market you should know.  Most of my orientation of locomotives go from race inspired vehicles to classics and all the way to cool looking golf carts you can drive around your neighborhood without even knowing how to golf haha!  I don’t usually name my car but in this case I’ll call her Bullet since most people I have encountered tell me that my car looks like a bullet.  I know there are things I wish I could do like build my own track car in my very own garage but I also know that it can be an expensive and sometimes not so practical hobby.  However, I can’t seem to get away from the idea hahaha!  Well with what this world calls economic constraints or in individual terms (budget constraints) I probably wont get to do this until I’m further along in life.  By then, I probably wont be considering this idea in the long run. =)  It would be fun though!  If you support it…then help me make a car junkie club! =)  Which in most cases will result in no one since most people I know could careless hahah! 
FYI:  I actually like the idea of building a homemade track car so if anyone has an great project ideas let me know and we can start a plan hahaha and finance it!

Q: Does anyone know how well a Tokina 12-24mm f/4.0 Pro Lens is?  I’m thinking of buying one in the near future.

Q2: Anyone have an suggestions for a car body to use for a stock car or race car.  Mind you it must be a car that has some sort of race heritage or potential (meaning it needs to be light)

Abandonment

You said hold on
But I feel like I’m slipping away

You said hold on
But it feels like I’m slipping away
I won’t let You down
The Words you said to me
It’s echoing the sound
I’m standing here alone
The memories remain
The same familiar home
But nothing looks the same
Can’t tell if I’m awake

Reality is gone
In a dream I will escape