Creativity

I downloaded a Photoshop program today. Ok, so that's only half true. Dad did most of the work, and I just sat by him and tried to learn how he did it. Anyways, I got the newest version of GIMP, which is the editing program I use, and I'm very happy with it. The new version is so much easier to use. I was so ready to get GIMP back, because I would take a picture and think, "Oh, that would be perfect if I could only just do _______ to it!" It's been way too long since I've done any editing. You can expect to see a new header soon, since I can "mess with a picture" and make it all pretty. :) I have one ready that I may put up tonight, or tomorrow, or the day after... or whenever I'm totally happy with it. As of right now, it's almost ready, but the words are a little off center, so I may just have to start from scratch to get it perfect.

The Middle East?

If things don't work out so that I can go to England, then I may be spending the bulk of my summer in the Middle East. Excited? Yes! Nervous? Just a little... I've never been to the Middle East before and it's a bigger deal than England. Hopefully I'll be able to spend some time in England on the way, and then I may get to stop in the Netherlands on the way back. I'm not sure about going to Wales at this point, and if I can go there too, that will be an added bonus. It's all up in the air, but it's pretty promising at this point. I'm getting more and more excited, and I can't wait for June. So for now, I'm just praying that I'll be able to go.

Claymation, Cremation, Animation, and the Human Blender

At life group on Friday night my friend came up to me and said: "I have something to tell you. Did you know that cremation isn't a human blender?"

Earlier that day at school she had been sitting in class and turned around to whisper to her friend, "Please don't cremate me when I die."

Her friend nodded. After a pause, she turned around again. "How does cremation work? Do they cut off your arms and legs before they throw you into the blender, or do they just throw you in whole?"

Her friend stared at her, then asked "You don't want me to burn you and scatter your ashes, right? Did you think cremation was a human blender?"

My friend stared back at her. "Ohhh, cremation isn't a human blender? I thought that they ground you up, then you dried out and they scattered you."

At that point, they both started laughing really hard.

On Sunday night after youth group a few of the students and one of the youth pastors were hanging out in one of the offices. My friend started to tell her story, and asked one of our other friends if she knew what cremation was. She did, but couldn't think of the right word for it. "Isn't it like animation? What's the other word for it? It's like animation, except it's not real people, it's like the people who made the movie made them."

No one could figure out what she meant, until our youth pastor asked her if she meant claymation. "Yes! Isn't that the same thing as cremation?"

Everyone started to laugh, then our pastor explained that claymation is a type of animation using figures made out of clay.

I still think that a human blender is a good idea.

Disappointed

I'm not gonna get to go to England for the whole summer. Basically, our friends I was going go stay with are really busy, so I won't get to go for as long as we thought. I may still be able to go to England for a little bit, and I'm really excited about that. I'm so happy that we have friends who are willing to let me come and stay with them. On the bright side, we've already thought of about five different countries I could go instead. Hopefully we can make new plans and it'll work out to go somewhere else in addition to a short while in England. On the not-bright side, I'm disappointed. I was looking forward to going to my town and seeing my house, and my old friends. I couldn't wait to see the old castle that we used to go to often, and to visit my favorite park. That may still work out, it just won't be for as long as I planned. I guess God's got different plans though, and hopefully this summer will work out.

Using the "New" Laptop

Yesterday I got my laptop back, and it's really weird. The hard drive I have now belonged to one of my dad's friends, and so I feel like I'm intruding on someone else's computer; which, basically, I am. There is a lot of music on my "new" computer's iTunes, and I was looking through it last night. Last night, I listened to my first Beatles song ever. Hey Jude is about four minutes longer than it needs to be. My attention span can only take so many "Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude's". I liked the rest of the song though. I was talking to my friend last night and I told her that I had just listen to my first full Beatles song, and she asked me if I was American. Yes, Ali, I am American, but just so you know, the Beatles were British. I was actually going to stop the song halfway through because I was so bored with all the "Na na na na na ,na na na, hey Jude's" but I continued playing it so I could say that I have heard the Beatles.

It snowed a lot this weekend. I love it. There's seven inches of snow all over the place and it's beautiful.

Back in Action

Last time I wrote I killed my computer. I had just typed up the post, published it, read it over again to make sure there wasn't something I needed to edit, and set my laptop down on my desk. I then stood up, tripped on my boot, fell forward, and caught myself on my desk. When I caught myself, I knocked my elbow against my laptop, and it fell on the ground. It hasn't worked since. My dad put a new hard drive in it, because we thought that's what the problem was, but it still wasn't working. Today my mom did something to it, and ta-da! It works! And that is my explanation for why I haven't been blogging.