Just what goes through everyone's mind at the gas station: "You know what would make my experience dealing with highly flammable fuel sources even more enjoyable: going into the convince store and buying products which are designed to purposely set on fire. At only $3.33 how can I say no?" At least the emergency shut off is well marked. That's pretty thoughtful of them.
A very familiar voice has been silenced. You may not recognize the name Wayne Allwine, but for over 30 years he’s been the voice and heart behind Walt Disney’s most famous creation, Mickey Mouse. On May 18th, he passed away at the age of 62 with his wife, who is coincidentally the current voice of Minnie Mouse, by his side. His voice can be heard in such beloved films as "Mickey's Christmas Carol" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and has recently reached out to the next generation of Mickey fans through the Disney Channel preschool show "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and the "Kingdom Hearts" video games, not to mention his presence in the various Disney theme parks and traveling shows. For more information about his life, click here.
Here's a picture I took last week during a quick visit to Busch Gardens that I used as a break between writing papers. I decided to pass on the rides this time and just focus on wandering around a couple the animal exhibits and taking a few pictures. It turned out to be a good call since some of my favorite animals (including several fairly young ones like the baby zebra on the right side of the above picture) were pretty active and hanging out close to the viewing areas. Since I wasn't trying to do any rides I could really slow down and observe the various animals and what they were up to (which is one of my favorite things to do at the park anyway). It also made for some pretty nice pictures as well (which is another favorite activity of mine as well). All and all, it was very enjoyable yet all too brief way to break up a day of paper writing and research.
This past weekend was also art-intensive as my brother and I made a trip to The Ringling Museum down in Sarasota for a class of mine. One perk of an art history class is that sometimes museums will give you a free admission into museums for the purpose of research if you have a relevant assignment. The only downside is that you actually have to write the paper you research for, but since this particular one’s only two pages that won’t be due until the last week of class the benefit far outweighs the cost. I had been to Ringling once at least a decade ago, but it was even cooler now having gone through so many art history courses to get a good look at works created by some of the artists or students of artists who I’ve since learned about over the years. However, there’s so much art in the museum that by about halfway through I know I started to get overwhelmed and even artistically fatigued to the point actually had to force myself to finish going through the galleries (which I’m glad I did because I would have missed some great stuff). I still don’t know how Ringling could have made so much money off the circus to afford all that art or his opulent mansion that is also located on the museum’s ground, but apparently he did. There was also a Circus museum there too. I only went to the circus once as a young kid and over the years had forgotten how creepy I though the circus was. However, the museum served as a pretty good reminder of that. If it’s any indication, I spent much more time in the art museum than the circus one.
Overall, both Arthouse and my field trip to the Ringling Museum were a a lot of fun, but I think after the experience of seeing all that art coupled all my art-related finals I could use a little break from the art scene. At least for a weekend or two.
With St. Patrick's Day being celebrated this week and all, I thought I might celebrate the Irish side of my heritage by posting a favorite Irish tune performed as only the Muppets can. Enjoy.
Lately I've been working on a couple for projects for my Advanced Photography class the have to do with photographing toys (mostly frogs like the one above) in natural environments. The combination of nature and these artificial objects made to mimic nature as seen from their point-of-view has interested me in a number of ways. One, of course, is the fact that I get to play with toys as part of a class. Here's a photo that I liked but for various reasons didn't make it into either of the frog-related series I've turned in this semester.
This past week or so has been a busy one especially in terms of my involvement in Intervasity Christian Fellowship at USF. Last weekend we had our Spring Leadership Conference, and it was an enjoyably laid back experience. It was good to once again get away from campus, hang out with friends, and spend time really seeking God together. I have to say that I didn’t feel the type of “mountaintop experience” that I experience from time to time at such conferences but I do feel like I received a word from God. I feel he was trying to tell me that while I've been going through the motions of Christianity lately I’ve started neglecting the most important part of being a Christian: my personal relationship with Jesus. Like Martha, I’ve been running around (planning Bible studies and attending various meeting) but haven’t taken the time to just be with Jesus for myself.
In addition to things like praying and reading His Word with greater regularity, one of the ways that I felt Jesus was leading me to strengthen that relationship was to be more open with my faith. It was good timing too since the next week Intervarsity was doing our Proxie Station displays (God always has such good timing, doesn’t he?). Through these stations, I got to talk about the Gospel of Jesus and how it intersects the injustice and brokenness of the world one-on-one with over half a dozen people. While nothing miraculous happened in those conversations, it felt right to share the hope of Jesus with others in an open, honest, and loving way. This wasn't the first time I had done these stations, but I'm still pretty new to doing one-on-one witnessing so I was definitely still outside my comfort zone. One of the aspects of the stations that stuck out for me was the first board where the person going through it puts a dot of paint next to injustices they or someone they know have experienced. Just recognizing the degree of injustice and brokenness that goes on among the people or in the friends or families of people we see everyday is a major reminder of why we all need Jesus. It’s funny how we all feel at times that God is so distant (at least I know I have), but sometimes when we take the time to slow down and listen He shows up in all sorts of places whether it’s at someplace like Spring Leadership Conference, or in a quiet moment of prayer by yourself, or in a chance conversation with a complete stranger.
