Uh oh

1) 50 push-ups, check.
2) 60 sit-ups, check.
3) 1 1/2 miles in 12 minutes? No check. 1 1/2 miles in 15 minutes?! Uh oh, this isn't good, especially because boot camp is less than a month away. I need a treadmill...

A few things I have or do or want to do that make me happy

To see justice served: the guilty punished and the innocent freed
To see a smile when someone opens my gift to them
To have friends who care
To hear "you really made my day"
To meet a kindred spirit and fight for a cause alongside them
To behold breathtaking beauty
To have a loving Father who's with me always
To protect the innocent - to save those ready to be slain
To tell an amazing story with words or images
To make a difference for good in the lives of others
To change to world...

What are some things that make you happy?

More free music

Anna Gilbert has more free music on Noisetrade right now (including one of my favorites of her songs, Don't Say Goodnight); get them at http://Noisetrade.com/annagilbert
Enjoy! :)

A New Year Has Dawned

Happy New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Have a very merry Christmas, everyone! May we remember to give of ourselves for others this Christmas just as one has gave everything to become the Ultimate Gift to the world. My mom and I picked up a tree at Home Depot the other day for free, so I finally got to take a Christmasy photo. :)

Free Christmas music

One of my favorite singers, Anna Gilbert has a Christmas album for free today at Noisetrade.com/annagilbert!
If you like mellow, acoustic/folk-sounding music sung by a singer with a pretty voice, give her music a listen.
You can also find quite a few other Christmas albums (as well as a bunch in many other genres) on Noisetrade, and it's all free (and legal). Enjoy! :)

Christmas music playlist

Here's a Christmas music playlist I complied (it will probably expand as I look through my music and discover more); perhaps you'll find some songs and or artists you like in it. Feel free to offer some suggestions of your own in the comments. :)

Christmas music playlist

I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day - Casting Crowns
While You Were Sleeping - Casting Crowns

Veni Veni Emmanuel - Hayley Westenra
Silent Night - Hayley Westenra

O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Aliqua

A Snowflake Fell and It Felt Like a Kiss - Glasvegas

Silent Night - Sixpence None the Richer

Wishing for This - Leigh Nash

Christmas This Year - TobyMac Feat. Leigh Nash

Snow - Loreena McKennitt
Our King - Loreena McKennitt

Snow - Sleepthief

Emmanuel - Blackmore's Night
We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Blackmore's Night

O Holy Night - Josh Groban

Carol of The Bells, Sing We Now Of Christmas - BarlowGirl
Hallelujah (Light Has Come) - BarlowGirl

Winter Night - Little & Ashley

Carol of the Bells - August Burns Red

Wizards In Winter - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Carol of the Bells - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Dream Child - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

In Which I Look Quite Silly...

but have some fun at the same time. :)
Mini bull-riding! :D

The most successful attempt yet:

 

An other-than-successful attempt (trying to ride Mini Moo backwards can be tricky):



 

 

 

Mist In the Morning

Happily, although I'd missed it recently, there was mist at my house this morning! I forgot to take iPhone HDRs, but I still think I got some decent shots.More (better) photos from this morning to follow soon...

 

Pieces of Autumn

Once again, I'm out of a job and looking for a new one...
Check out 1saleaday.com for lots of good deals - I've gotten quite a few presents for my family from there. :)

Forest

Green and more green.

Forgiven

Can you see past the things that I have done
And the blood on my hands?

This was inspired in part by Relient K's song, Forgiven.

Give me the strength to face the wrong that I have done
Now that I know the darkest side of me...

Forgive me for what I have been
Forgive me my sins (taken from The Truth Beneath the Rose, by Within Temptation)

 

Dream

Everyone needs to dream sometimes...

Nature and Harmony

I took some nature photos on a morning recently...here are a couple. Aren't you glad God placed such beauty in this world?

The dewdrops sparkled like diamonds in the morning sun
But our eyes were looking ahead and we trod them underfoot, not realizing what treasures lay beneath our feet... 

                       I often like harmony in music...some of my favorite artists, such as BarlowGirl, do harmony very well. Recently while searching for songs by Michelle Tumes on YouTube, I discovered someone who is great at singing harmony; here's the video I first saw/heard her in (it's one of my favorites of hers - perhaps you'll think it's very pretty as well): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anvfr6JgVoM&feature=plcp

Sleepthief is another who features some great harmonies (mainly by layering a single female vocalist's voice many times); here's one Sleepthief song (a duet) in which you can hear some amazing vocals that sounds great together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYDtUYtGc5I&list=UULM3uDRM-SGaiBe5hLUno9w&index=8&feature=plcp  

Musing

Yes, this isn't particularly interesting and doesn't have any real meaning behind it...it's just a regular self-portrait. Did you know that taking selfies without a wireless remote is quite difficult? It can be really hard to get the focus where you're going to be... Anyway, I enlisted in the Navy recently and I'll be going to boot camp next February...so now I have to get in better shape (mainly be able to run a mile-and-a-half in 12 minutes or less) and memorize some things. I also got a job a bit ago - I'm working at a pharmacy called Super D. Unhelpfully, the compnay was bought by Walgreens recently and there's a Walgreens store down the street from where I work, so my location is closing soon...and when it does I'll have to find a new job. :P Anyway, other than the Chick-Fil-A 5k run in Memphis I did on Labor Day (I got an incredibly slow time of 29:40), there's not much else that's happened to me recently that's worth mentioning. Oh, and there was some clouds and lightning from a storm recently. Expect more pictures soon.

Apathy

Save me from myself
Take from me this apathy
Wake from from my slumber
This waking sleep is dragging me down
So give me your passion
And set me on fire again...

I hope to be able to create a better image for this concept sometime. The description was inspired in part by Hannah Martin, whose words you really should read; perhaps you'll find them as beautiful and moving as I do.

Unrelated: today was my first day on the job at a drugstore called Super D's; it might only last a month since Walgreens bought the company and the location might close down, but even if so, a month of work is better than none. Also, the people who work at the store are nice, which I'm happy about. :)

Beach

I went to a lake some time ago and forgot my camera. I had my iPhone though...I just had to find something to rest or brace my iPhone on for HDRs, which could make things difficult at times.

SOOC (except for straightening) HDR:After editing and cropping:And another of the clouds (SOOC):There is way too much noise in the clouds in all of these. :P

Dark Days of Uncertainty

This post won't have many photos; I'll try to have a post with more when I'm somewhere with WiFi.



I'm sad to say that my adorable calf died recently of unknown causes (she may have strangled herself on the tether line, but I don't know for sure)...she was a sweet little creature and I still miss her. :-( I wonder if it's strange that I dreamed she had come back to life or something like that the other day.

Recently I've been considering joining the Navy to be a CTN (kind of like a computer hacker), which would be great in many ways since the job is probably interesting, it can help get a good job in the civilian world after the military, it doesn't require deployments overseas except to Hawaii, which doesn't really count, etc. It seemed great, but there's one hitch: I really do not want to get the required vaccinations, mainly because I've found that there are many big risks involved with vaccinations (and they haven't been proven effective either), and since I don't have a shot record I'd have to get many in a short time, which might overload my system and do further damage. While there have been vaccination waivers given out, I haven't been having success with being able to get one...
So I either have to continue to try to get a waiver (although there seem to be few options left with that), join the military and get all the vaccinations and possibly get very sick or worse, or simply try to get any kind of minimum-wage job that probably won't help much with my future.

So currently I'm basically "stuck between a rock and a hard place," as the old saying goes...I would sincerely appreciate prayers for guidance and for doors to open so I will be able to move forward with my life.

On a more lighthearted note, here's Santa with two of my favourite fortunes:

Micro Moo (again)

This may be the first photo I've taken of just her with my camera.



Please pray for me, friends; I may be joining the military soon... :O

Molleigh in the country

Here's an HDR edit of an old photo...

And here's the iPhone edit (the more dramatic one is the one further edited with my iPhone)