Alirghty, so like I said earlier, I was soooo ready to go
back to the Berg. Rexburg doesn’t have much to do, but at the same time there
is so much going on!! There is never a dull day here, let me tell you! Being at
BYU-Idaho is the most amazing and greatest thing that has happened in my life.
As Uncle Iroh wisely said, “It’s time to look inward and start asking yourself
the big question: ‘Who are you and what do YOU
want?’” (yes I have been re-watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, my roomates
were a disgrace and had never seen it…*sigh*) But Uncle Iroh has a point. When
you hit college you really have to think about those types of questions…and for
me choosing an out of state college has helped me to really understand myself
and what I want out of life. I can’t say I have figured out what I want to do exactly, but being up here I know I
am who I want to be.
Well at the beginning of the semester my roommates and I hit
a rough patch and things got really emotional and complex. My first roommate
from first semester, Melanie, had reestablished a very bad habit again, and the
rest of us were scared – not for ourselves, but for her. Last year, when we realized she was hurting
herself, we tried to gently push her in the right direction, but the reoccurrence
this semester told us that it hadn’t worked. This time we confronted the
problem head-on. I know it was hard for her at first, because she wasn’t happy with
what she was doing, but her hiding it was making it harder for her to quit. So
this time, I had Julie call the Bishop and counsel with him while I talked with
Melanie and tried to understand why she was doing that to herself. I consoled her
for a very long time and reminded her that she is a divine daughter of a king,
our Heavenly Father, who loved her and wept for her. I remember telling her to
trust us and her Heavenly Father, to let fear and doubt go. I said a great deal
of other thing, knowing that Heavenly Father would help me to know what to say
to get through to her. I can’t remember most of it, but I know that my words
were the words Melanie needed to hear to push her to break the habit and
understand our genuine worry for her. After speaking to her and kneeling down
in prayer, Julie informed us that Bishop wanted us to take her to the hospital.
We did so, and then the following afternoon Bishop came over to talk with Mel.
I know that he and his counselor who came with gave her a Priesthood blessing,
but Bishop also warned Melanie that he may have to send her home. That was a
shock back to reality for her, and she became completely distraught, not
meaning for any of this to happen. She wanted nothing more than to stay and
have a second chance.
I think that’s the beauty of the gospel. We always have
another chance if we confess our wrong-doings and sincerely and humbly commit
to do better, there is always hope. It’s been about a month since that inane
week and Melanie is doing amazing! I am so proud of her; she is truly a
wonderful girl with great desire to do good. She has counseling every Thursday
and so far she is still our roommate at BYU-I, and I don’t think that’s going
to change. I don’t know how Melanie is dealing with the somewhat violent and
sudden course change in her life, but I feel she’s been much more positive and cheerful.
I hope she continues to progress and grow in confidence and strength. All I can
say is thank you Heavenly Father for my other amazing roommates who were there
as support and back up, because I couldn’t have handled this the way I did
without them.
…
O.K. now that that’s out, I think it’s time for some
positive and fun stories! Well as explained in the previous post I am currently
exploring the career of photography. Last semester I realized I had a true love
for cultures, travel, and history of places – mainly from my Chinese Cultural class
and Mandarin class. I know I love Asia in particular, but I would love to be
able to learn and experience cultures from all over the world. Well I could
always go into something similar to International Studies and have an option of
various occupations afterwards, but I also discovered from my experience in the
Interior Design Department, that I also have a deep love for the arts… but my
lack of natural talent has been pushing me away from that niche. I realize that
I do have some artistic ability, when it comes to color, texture, composition,
and the basic principles of design and such, but don’t expect me to paint you a
masterpiece or play an instrument.
Well I took a “Career Explorations” class last semester and
discovered that I can play on both of these interests and talents through
photography! I read about photojournalism – gave it some thought- and then read
about being a travel photographer! Jobs as a travel photographer can range from
snapping pictures for a travel agencies brochure to shooting for National
Geographic! This is something that appeals to me so much at the moment, that I
am willing to learn and develop the talents of a photographer.
I don’t know how I’m doing so far, personally I think I’m
not too shabby, but I want your opinions too. These are the pictures I like
most and was curious what you had to say about them. My photography class is
all black and white photography, and I am really beginning to appreciate and
love the style. Well what do you think??
This really isn't for my class, but I had to put it in because Ash is just too darn cute :P
OH! I also forgot to mention that my 6th roommate
is a girl Julie roomed with last semester named Brittany Johns….err well until
December. She’s engaged and off track at the moment, so she kinda goes MIA for
long periods of time, but Brittany is a return missionary who served in
Argentina, a hilarious and uplifting person so she contribute to our Apartment
of Amazingness.
And also my Family Home Evening brothers are amazing! My
first and second semester I had maybe a few guys in the group that I loved and
thought awesome, but never the entire apartment! O.K. well first let me just
say that my apartment got lucky and ended up being the only girls apartment
paired with our FHE brothers… Why is that lucky? Well you see the Rexburg guy
to girl ratio is a pretty sad 1:3 (although I hear the ratio is closer to 2:3
now) Anywho, it’s just cool ‘cause that means my apartment doesn’t have to deal
with any freaky boy-hungry and competitive girls. Our FHE group is just going
to stay simple brothers and sisters…we’re like the Brady Bunch… except nearer
in age ranges. :P So basically what I am saying is I actually look forward to Mondays now!!
My next post will probably be all about the OCTOBER 8 2011 weekend. Yeah baby!!! :D Byebye for now!
11 comments:
I'm assuming that when you said you wanted opinions you were talking about me. Or at least my ego thinks that.
I think its stupid that your class is B&W digital. What's the point? I hate digital photography.
Anyhow, I like the picture of the fire as it has good range of value. I think you could push your values more in the other pictures and they have good composition but are a little flat. You also have good depth of field if selective focus is what you're going for which it probably is, but I think you should experiment more with smaller apertures. Unless your assignment was to shoot wide open, then forget what I said.
Anyhow, yeah. That's pretty much the same advice I give myself all the time.
also, I'm sure you're using autofocus so sometimes its hard, but the picture of the dog would be MUCH improved if it was his face in focus and not his butt.
and no, I was not saying that to be funny...though it is funny when you read it
hey they look way better than mine. i guess the photo gene skipped me :)
I like the plants and the leaves. They look super cool :) and the one where the house is in the background but out of focus. Niiiice. my faves are the two with the grass and the water dripping off them. Something about water on plants makes me want to write poetry :P
Thanks Jessie~ Yesh mainly I did mean you :P And I haven't been using Auto focus, but I am still trying to get used to balancing the Shutter and Aperture...
The asignment due This friday was just an open one. He just wanted us so go out and shoot, just keeping in mind the elements of photography we briefly covered. I have to turn it two...which ones do you think have the best composition, follow the rule of 3rds, etc...?? I was going to do the last fire one and choose one of the plants with water ones... (I should name my pictures next post)
And thanks Aubs and Court-court :)
I also kinda like the house and field picture too......hmmm...Maybe I can find something intersting to shoot before Thurs (I said FRI earlier but its due THURS)
Its hard to take pictures that don't look like campus....when campus is kinda all I have to shoot, unless I take a road trip to some random place - but that requires planing. =_= dumbah school!!
well if I was going to turn in 2, I'd go with the fire for sure, and then probably the maple leafy one or the second apple picture (once you dial up the contrast a little in photoshop...if that's allowed...if its not then forget everything I'm saying and don't submit it)
I like the water on the plants...but the top one kind of goes right out of the picture and so it gets lots amongst the background if that makes sense. The other one, the water is out of focus.
The field is a nice concept but I feel like the background kinda clashes with the foreground. The field has a "prairie" feel that would go well if the house in the back were a rustic old barn, but you can see enough to know its a modern structure.
That's just my opinion though. On a side note, the maple leaf one has REALLY good bokeh (which is the shapes in the out of focus background...took me AGES to figure that one out) it gives the picture a (for lack of a better word) sparkly feel to it.
lost....not lots -_-
the doggie looks mad at you. my opinion is find a happier doggie
Yes I can edit in photoshop or lightroom :P thanks Jessie! I will take your opinion and improve me work :)
Haha and mom that dog was just crazy!
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