3rd week of August

Check them out man!!! These were designed (by me) for my school ccn day when a couple of visual communications students had a stall and they were selling 1inch buttons. I heard that they were SOLD OUT *phew hot stuff*. How encouraging. Those that you see in the pictures are those reserved for me. After those are gone, they are out of print. They are the Very Limited Editions.
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I just finished and handed up my thesis. Two projects down, two more to go. How cool is that, I can finally see the light. For those who wanna read, its 2500words on "A study on Identity". You can get it here. There is two parts to the word “change”, the first part is to identify the need and the other part is to fulfill the need. The combination of those two will trigger "change". Critical theory, to me is a lot more then just formal writing. It helps me in as an instrument to better identify and communicate the need for change.
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Actually I'm already very tired. Two more weeks till my two other project's deadlines. One of them is my major project. Failing which, I'll be kicked out of school. How nice is the sound of that.
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The cover art for September's bulletin needs to be out by next Sunday and I'm so busy and so tired. How now brown cow? How now?

Loving one another

Mahatma Gandhi said "I like their Christ, I don't like their Christians."
Friedrich Nietzhe said "I'll believe in the redeemer when the Christians look a little more redeemed."

Criticisms of Christians are often true. If truth is not undergired by love, it makes the possessor of that truth obnoxious and truth repulsive. Jesus said to "Love one another as ourselves". I figured that there is two sides to this. Its one thing to love another person but its another thing for the other person to feel loved. What people usually percieve as fulfilment of the commandment is that when the two sides harmonise. So what happenes if its being achieved partially? An omission of either side of the coin is highly possible. 1- If you love the another person but the other person doesn't feel loved, you are not being sensitive enough. 2- If you feel loved by the other party but he or she did nothing to make you feel loved, you being over sensitive. In other words you are dreaming.

So what if its being achieved partially? Issit still being considered as "loving one another" then? If things were measured by intention then I say it is still considered as "loving one another" for number 1 but not for number 2. BUT it is important to note that excluding either side doesn't gives one the excuse for staying that way for the commandment of loving one another is still best fulfilled when the two sides harmonise.

Its important to note that the "telling truth with love' thing does not only apply to Christians or Christianity but it applys across the board when anyone makes a truth claim. I used to wonder if it is correct to "sell" Christianity as life transforming since religion in general are all selling moral standards and that moral standard transforms people too. I later figured that moral standards transforms people outside-in and is habitual while the Holy Spirit transforms people inside-out thus rendering the transformation more effective and more evident. Probly this is the big difference.

I have no doubt that there is so much more to this world that the physical eye can see. And I even took the extra caution when approaching the "spiritual" because I want to make sure that a higher entity does exists and that its not just some man-made emotional atmosphere. So much for creating a conducive environment for services. I believe that we can still encounter God if the place is not conducive. It is not about God meeting us but rather about us meeting God. We are the ones that need to change and prepare ourselves to meet "the one who is always there". Hence, there's no such thing as comfortable worship. Ok I'm starting to write out of point, shall stop here.

Theatrical Expressions

These are six pictures from Cebu. They really reminded me how much I love photography and of course, they also reminded me of my lazyness. "No time" and "No money" are my over-used excuses. Hahs.

I figured that there are two kinds of photographers. One is graphic inspired, the other is emotion inspired. The graphic one's paradigm is that the composition is paramount while for the emotion photographer, capturing emotion is paramount.

A good photographer needs to be fluent in both languages. Both elements contributes to the time a person's eye will spend a photo. A cripple in either side does not deserve to call themselves a photographer. Oh yes photography is fun, everybody can do photography but not everyone can be photographers. If anyone who thinks that they are just because they have a camera and a copy of photoshop, then they are grossly wrong. They are the ones that pulls down the stardard. The same thing for design. I really hate people who calls themselves graphic designers just because they know photoshop and can manipulate stuff. They are the ones that pulls down the stardard. Thats why designers and photographers work their ass off for some bread and butter.

I am the graphic one. Although I really love photography (as in how moments are freezed to be remembered), I don't aspire to be a photographer because I find that my pictures somehow lack the emotional standard. I find it easy to composite elements for a good photograph but somehow I find it difficult to capture emotion in my compositions.

I don't consider myself to be a photographer. I'm a graphic designer.

Top and Bottom

It has been a hard two weeks for me ever since my last entry, as hard as it seems for me, God helped me realised quite a number of things. (call them revelation or whatever for all I care.)

In the past few years, I have been through alot. I have experienced what issit like to feel God's blessing and what issit like to be in perpetual dryness of inspiration. I have known what issit like to be feeling good and what issit like to be suicidal. I have understood the meaning of being forgiven and the pleasure of communion. I have tasted what it feels like to be at the top and I have also experienced what it is like to be a nobody and being pushed around by everybody.

Someone need to tell everyone that there is nothing at the top. Really. We try so hard to get what we thought was everything but when we got there we still find the same emptiness. It is at that point of meaninglessness that we are forced to acknowledge (or even assume the concept of) a God. For without the acknowledgement (or assumption) of the infinite, its impossible for Man to have an infinite purpose thus worthy and fulfilling.

Someone need to tell everyone that there is nothing unfair and wrong for being at the bottom. Being at the bottom is not the end. It is when we are in a pit hole where there seem to be no way out of, that we will be forced also to acknowledge (or even assume the concept of) a God. I wonder why we always try so hard to stay on top and shun the bottom and we blame ourselves if we fail to stay on top. We forget that it is only natural and that it is the will of God.

And now I tell you this that there is nothing special in either of them. In fact, I feel that its better to be at the bottom most of the time. It is when I'm cornered in a situation that I grow the most. It is at the bottom that my knowledge of God is being perpetually challenged. The only special experience that one can get from being at at either point is the opportunity to acknowledge (or even assume the concept of) a God. That no matter where or who you are born to and what situation anybody is in, we are all given the same opportunity to acknowledge God. So the question that everybody should is asking should not be "God, where are you?" but rather "God, who are You?".

It is when we ask the right questions that we realize that the answers has all along been staring at us in the face. It is when we ask the correct questions that our blindfolds are removed and that we will begin to discover the bigger picture and gain wisdom. That God is indeed the faithful one and that He is faithful because He loves. That He is indeed what He said Himself to be and worshiping Him would be the pleasure that surpasses all emotion.