Beijing Delight

Seeing that one of my roommates got hitched over the Christmas break (thereby breaking the "Bachelor-to-the-Rapture" covenant), it only makes sense that he had to leave his bunk bed behind and get a place of his own for he and the lady. To fill this vacancy and keep our maximum capacity level satisfied, we adopted another sixth. Sidenote, sorry: I just realized (as I typed that last sentence) the lingual stuff behind the word "another." It means "an"-"other"! Wow, k, back on track. So, our replacement man ended up being a Chinese student getting his Ph.D. in quantum physics. Yea...humbling, I know. He is the "conversation partner" (a church ministry outreach thing) of one of my other roommates. Now this new guy can cook Chinese food like none other! These are a couple shots of a Sunday lunch he threw together for us boys. It was delightful! Up top are the ingredients of what would become a catfish stew. The bottom photo is a lovely array of pork balls. These babies would be dropped into a rice noodle dish (after being cooked, mind you) to become Chinese-like meatballs. How I wish you could have experienced this, but then again I enjoyed making your portion my seconds and thirds. Fay-ton-hoew!

Perfect Adoption. Perfect Father.

...jazzed up using Photoshop's Hue/Saturation tool.

I share with you another wonderful passage from J.I. Packer's Knowing God. As a preface, the "secret" to which Packer refers is the understanding that being a Christian is more than justification. Rather, the highest privilege and the highest blessing of the gospel is adoption. He writes, "To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater." Now, without further ado...

"Do I, as a Christian, understand myself? Do I know my own real identity? My own real destiny? I am a child of God. God is my Father; heaven is my home; every day is one day nearer. My Savior is my brother; every Christian is my brother too. Say it over and over to yourself first thing in the morning, last thing at night, as you wait for the bus, any time when your mind is free, and ask that you may be enabled to live as one who knows it is all utterly and completely true. For this is the Christian's secret of - a happy life? - yes, certainly, but we have something both higher and profounder to say. This is the Christian's secret of a Christian life, and of a God-honoring life, and these are the aspects of the situation that really matter. May this secret become fully yours, and fully mine."

Poor Baby

This is a bittersweet picture for two reason. Let me first explain the photo. This is one of my roommates. I took this shot at approx. 4a.m. one morning last week. He was up all night because he couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep because his body itched, bad. He body itched because...well, that still remains a mystery (we guess it was some food allergy). As you can see, his nose and the right side of the face (his left) is swollen pretty nicely. To add to the misery, he had to take the first Finance test of the semester in this condition. After two days of swollen, itchy redness, we took him to the hospital minutes after this photo was taken. So all that's the bitter side of the story. Now for the sweet half. This whole ordeal was answered prayer. He had asked the Lord to teach him brokenness and humility, and that's exactly what God taught Him. Also sweet, but far more shallow, is that I got to practice two areas of photography where I've been longing to get more more experience: portraits and b&w's. Don't fear, he's all better now and back to his skinny-faced self.

Downtown Bryan

I went for a stroll this past weekend through the historic district of Bryan. With a flannel shirt on my back (thanks Second-Hand Rose), a pocket ESV New Testament in my pocket (thanks Garrett), and a Nikon D50 around my neck (thanks Santa), I was ready to roll. A couple hours later, I headed back home with jam-packed memory card. Of the 60-70 shots, 8 or so were worthy of residence in my "My Pictures" folder. Out of those, I share with you 4 of my favorites.

V-Day Eve

Here is a lily (I think), and my roommate Travis (the blurred face). He has a fiancee, which is why he bought flowers. He also bought a card, and a cake, and a dinner for two. I don't have a fiancee, or a girlfriend, or even a cute girl in my Social Studies class who distracts my attention from learning and makes me giggle with my friends at recess. But don't cry for me. I'm fine. I think this is the first year that singleness on Valentine's Day has more +'s than -'s. Granite, I would love to have lovely night on the town with a lovely girl. But not having to worry about any of this lovey-dovey stuff is lovely as well. Happy V-Day to all, and to all a g'day!

Old Brick Bldg. (Parts I - II)

When my brother came up this past weekend, we went for a Saturday stroll around campus. We stopped here at what I consider one of the most photogenic buildings at A&M, the University Utilities (northside of campus).

Scribble Time

Sometimes unreserved scribbling produces the greatest works of art. I believe this is one of those instances. "How did you possibly create such a masterful masterpiece of a photo?" you ask. Well, let me tell you. I sat on the side of Harvey Rd with my baby's shutter speed set for 2 seconds, an aperture of f/8, and a focal length of 50mm. As the cars' headlights zoomed by, I performed a little dance/shake/swirl with the camera. After some "Difference Clouds" filter action by Photoshop, one of my favorite pieces to date was born.

There's A New D50 In Town

...jazzed up using Photoshop's radial blur filter.

My first ever photo with my first ever digital SLR. I expect some great shots to come out of this baby, so get excited. I sure am.

"You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly,
to borrow it." - Unknown