Near-death Experiences

Today, Callee and I were on our way to my work when we almost collided with another vehicle. We were in the left turn lane awaiting for our turn to go when a car going near 50 mph coming perpendicular to us tore through the intersection and nearly collided with the car next to us. In other words, we were headed east, waiting for cars to pass by us going west. A car going south nearly hit us all. Callee told me to not go but to wait. I am glad I listen to my wife. The interesting part of it is that we had just prayed that we would be ok and that no harm or danger would befall either of us while we were out and about today. It was a small thing for Callee to say "Wait, don't go yet." As the scriptures read, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."

In other news, I have begun to draw more and more, though at times there is a lot of work in it and when I look at more skilled artists, I get depressed. But I have accepted it will take years for me to become the hardened and resolved artist I see so often around me. I am currently reading Bert Dobson's "Keys to Drawing" book. This book has been the greatest drawing book I have ever purchased. There are other books in my collection but nothing as fundamental and instructive as Mr. Dobson's book. Other books merely talk about how to draw body proportions as if it is something simple. The problems lie in the fact that only by observation and shutting off all that you know about something can you begin to observe everything. My problem has been that I have often drawn what I thought something looked like and often it was only from memory. Our brains can hold a lot of information yet it cannot store the information necessary for every single detail of every person, animal, natural habitat, etc; it just doesn't work that way. Instead, by learning to draw what we observe we begin to draw what is actually there.

In bookstores I have seen many books on the topic of drawing where there are generic situational faces in different ages and ethnicities, such as a Hispanic boy laughing, crying, getting angry; an older African American woman about to sneeze, laugh, smirk, etc. Other books have pose, comic artwork, manga artwork, or "traditional" books like figure and scenery drawing. I bought a lot of anatomy and figure drawing books but nothing like this book. I'm going to keep you posted.

Timing and other issues

In other news, I've been dong karate now for a few weeks and have found that I'm getting to my old level again but still there is much much to do. My legs a still a bit wobbly, timing is still a bit off, and my form still needs some improvement. I really don't know if I will be able to reach black belt in a year. We'll see though, we'll see.

Callee and I are looking for a new place to live. We'll need another car and with the distance, I don't know if I'll be able to do karate as much. I am really excited for a new place to live, I don't quite feel like we belong where we are right now. I mean, it feels like we don't quite fit in. It's a nice place to live but still I feel out of place. Anyhow, we are looking in a lot of different places and a lot of different kinds of living arrangements. I want to stay in a complex but they are just so much money. We are still looking, I guess it's about timing; it's always about timing. Well, gotta go to bed.

I love SNL skits, especially when they are funny. So I have included it in this entry.