Sometimes, even when you mean well, things happen to blow up in your face. Sometimes, when you act out of compassion, people misunderstand it as pride. Sometimes, you just can't help but look like a snob. This happened to me the other day. I don't exactly blame them for accusing me of just rubbing their nose in it, but that's only because we've never had the best rapport. I guess I do tend to look a little bit (or a lot) arrogant sometimes, but I really do mean well. May be it's my method of delivery. (this particular instance could have been the case, but I felt like it was more of a personal bias that incited the backlash.)
I think you run the risk of being labeled a hypocrite when you endeavor to point out an individual's short-comings. It's obvious sometimes, of course, when you happen to be elevating yourself above them in the process, but I find hypocrisy tends to rear it's ugly head even when you mean well. The saddest part is sometimes the individual in need of correction will use scripture against you. I have encountered this a couple times, and most often I find it is the same verse straight of the mouth of Christ: "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, 'let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye." Matthew 7:1-5
That verse has always been a little scary to me, and I feel like people often use this verse to justify their actions and to get people off their backs. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this passage isn't about avoiding the threat of hypocrisy by allowing people to do as they please. I believe this passage was meant to give people perspective. We should yearn to correct our brothers and sisters out of compassion and not some misguided idea that we are the ones who will in fact be saving them. To be honest, we are no better than they are. We are no less capable to save any one than they are. Ultimately, final judgment belongs to God. This does not mean we should be deathly afraid of being labeled a hypocrite. We're all a little hypocritical in our own way. Don't let this stop you from correcting a fellow believer, but let it be out of compassion.
And if that was hard to swallow, maybe verse 6 will be even more so:
"Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you." Matthew 7:6
I'm not sure if I have plumbed the depths of this particular verse (I guess that could be my silent disclaimer for all of my scriptural interpretations) but I understand this to mean you can't force correction on some people. Some people just don't want help. Some people just don't want God to change them, or they just aren't ready. I've struggled with that personally. Sometimes I wonder why the things I do aren't inspiring people to have a better relationship with their Creator, and I wonder if I'm just really bad at the whole being a good, Christ-like example thing. May be. But may be it's them too. May be it's not up to me to do the work, and it's God who does the changing. And sometimes, people just don't want to change.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
What to do with mountains?
It's the new year, and I'd be remiss if I didn't do a New Year's post of some sort. This past year really shook me up more than any other, and I've been struggling to change things up in my life. I feel like I've been running away from my problems, and that's not something a man of God should do. So this year, I've decided to put on my big boy pants and face these problems of mine. I just came off a gaming binge in which I finished an awesome game that helped me out: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It's encouraged me to approach things more heroically, I guess. So I guess I'm buckling my scabbard and shining my shield then. It's time to re-evaluate things and get them sorted out, Link style!
I have spent a lot of my time discussing (mainly with myself) Theodicy, and this whole idea of God being good in light of all of the stuff we would call bad. I feel like there is merit to the whole discussion and that it usually gets glossed over by most people. "God is good, and well, bad stuff happens, but God is good still;" and that's about it. May be there is this perceived boundary among believers, that we dare not cross lest we be smote by the very power and glory of God that we dare to question. As believers, we shouldn't question God because we couldn't begin to fathom the complexities of his being and his plan. Personally, I don't believe that. If I've learned anything from Job, it's that even God can be held accountable for his actions and it isn't wrong for us to ever question the workings of "his plan." At least, that's what I think. Call me sacrilegious, but as I understand it, gone are the days where we die instantly when we encounter the Ark. God is flesh now, and there is no separation between us and his glory. And since he understands the flesh, he would certainly understand why we couldn't comprehend certain aspects of the life he's given us.
I certainly hear a lot about people claiming they would believe in God, if it weren't for all of the suffering they and others have had to endure in life. If God certainly existed, and he were all good, he couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to his beloved creation, right? Or so the argument goes. If God cared about us, things would tend to go the way we want them to, right? Sadly, that's not how things are. You're bound to have a bad day. Bad things are bound to happen. So what are we, as Christians to do about it?
When I envision my life, I usually envision it as a journey, a quest, actually. (I'm a romantic, what can I say?) I'm walking a path through the country. It's straight and flat because that's the easiest path to walk, right? That's the path we want to walk. That's the life we want. Who wants to go through hard times, right? But they do happen, and I usually see that as a hill, or maybe even a mountain, depending on how bad it is. Of course I didn't expect this thing to be there, but it's there. Nobody does. So what are we to do about it? Most folks would stare up at this mountain and whine about how unfair it is that this thing "got placed" in front of them. "God, how could you just drop a mountain right in front of me?" If you're a smart person, you'd know that's totally unreasonable because, last time I checked, mountains don't just fall from the sky. Even God doesn't do that. So You could usually see these things on the horizon. But here we are, staring up at it wondering what to do with it.
So there's this mountain in the way of us and forward progress. What are we to do about it? Well, certainly the easiest thing to do would be to walk around the mountain, not bothering to see it for what it is. The other option, of course is to climb it. But that's dangerous. What do we know about climbing mountains? And why risk our lives when we can so easily ignore it? The mountain will still be there, of course, but it will be influencing us more than we influence it. So the big question is, why do we bother to climb mountains? (And have I totally lost my train of thought in this discussion?)
So our problems, our pain, become mountains, and they're the biggest thing to us from the bottom. So I imagine they may appear to us at times to be as tall as Everest. Who in their right mind would dare to climb Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet though? Apparently quite a few people. I recently became interested in Everest and it's history, and here's what I learned. Everest's peak sits roughly at around 29,000 feet. It depends on who you ask, but they came up with the approximate height around 1856. Since then, people have been wanting to get up there.
Everest isn't the hardest mountain to climb...along the standard route. Most of the danger from the mountain comes from the insane altitude and weather conditions up there. Once you hit 26,000 feet, you encounter what they call the "death zone," which is where it becomes impossible for your body alone to adjust. This is why people usually use Oxygen tanks and bundle up tight. Apparently, there is a mentality in the climbing community that climbing a mountain with the assistance of supplementary oxygen is unsportsman-like. Who knew breathing regular was unsporting sometimes?
So you find people trying to climb this inhospitable mountain without the use of oxygen. Some people even decide to climb the doggone thing alone! There have been around 219 confirmed deaths on the mountain. May be that number isn't that daunting to you, but if you're climbing the mountain, you do become distinctly aware of the death on the mountain. I say this because the inhospitable climate preserves the dead so well that they stay up there. Frozen in place. The death zone is so bad that people fall over dead and are left in that same spot. You can see them from the standard route. Heck, some landmarks along the trail are named after corpses that are still there! So this is no easy thing even when it's supposed to be.
So why are people doing this? They must be insane, right? George Mallory put it best:
"The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest ?' and my answer must at once be, 'It is no use'. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."
This is the right mentality. This is the mentality I wish I had everyday. Mallory would be unsuccessful in his attempt to reach the summit (though some argue that his doomed expedition did reach the peak more than 29 years before Hillary, he just hasn't made it off the mountain yet...) But it has been done! Reaching the top of the tallest mountain on the planet is not impossible for man.
That's nice and all, but why risk your life? As Sir George Mallory put it, "What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for." Joy through struggle. Who'd have thought, right? If you know anything about scripture, you may have figured out by now that big things tend to go down on mountains. Moses encountered God and received his commandments on a mountain. He saw the promised land of his people from a mountain top. I could go on of course, but the point is the view from the top is unforgettable. Everything that is before you. To Moses, it was worth the journey.
If you've conquered something so great, it's hard to think that anything else in life can stop you. And that's the mentality that we as Christians should have. There is nothing too big for us to handle. These mountains we encounter have no power over us. They are ours to conquer. These problems: the pain, the suffering are only obstacles if we allow them to be. Some may argue that we shouldn't have to experience any of that to begin with, but without the pain, we wouldn't experience the joy at the top. The joy of knowing that we are unstoppable. Honestly, the view from the top is better than the view from the flat lands at the bottom. Without pain, we could not appreciate the great strength that resides within us. Without pain, we would be painfully oblivious of our greater potential.
May be that doesn't matter at all to some people. I don't need to climb the mountain. I'd much rather go around. But even if you do, the mountain will still be there, and it will still be in your way if you allow it to be. I hear so often that sin is always getting in our way. It's not a part of God's plan. It's just something we have to live with. But I wonder if in God's great wisdom, he even accounted for the possibility of sin when he created us. "So he knew there'd be sin but created us anyway and allowed it to ruin us?" No. Sin doesn't ruin us. Christ stands in the way of that, if we allow him to.
So we've all got these sinful tendencies of ours, these things that get in our way, but really, it's only if we allow them to. Christ's power can make these weakness of ours, our strengths. Strengths to overcome the problems of this world. I never understood what Paul was talking about here until now: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
It seems so simple, yet it's so hard for us to understand that God's power, his strength becomes our strength when we are at our weakest, When we are at our lowest, God reaches out to bring us to our highest point, to the peak. This is something I pray I can better understand from here on out. This is the kind of life I wish I was living. Instead of lamenting the mountains before me, I was running out to conquer them, so that nothing else can stand in my way. But not only that, becoming a messenger of change; God's transformation that he intends for his creation.
I have spent a lot of my time discussing (mainly with myself) Theodicy, and this whole idea of God being good in light of all of the stuff we would call bad. I feel like there is merit to the whole discussion and that it usually gets glossed over by most people. "God is good, and well, bad stuff happens, but God is good still;" and that's about it. May be there is this perceived boundary among believers, that we dare not cross lest we be smote by the very power and glory of God that we dare to question. As believers, we shouldn't question God because we couldn't begin to fathom the complexities of his being and his plan. Personally, I don't believe that. If I've learned anything from Job, it's that even God can be held accountable for his actions and it isn't wrong for us to ever question the workings of "his plan." At least, that's what I think. Call me sacrilegious, but as I understand it, gone are the days where we die instantly when we encounter the Ark. God is flesh now, and there is no separation between us and his glory. And since he understands the flesh, he would certainly understand why we couldn't comprehend certain aspects of the life he's given us.
I certainly hear a lot about people claiming they would believe in God, if it weren't for all of the suffering they and others have had to endure in life. If God certainly existed, and he were all good, he couldn't bear to see anything bad happen to his beloved creation, right? Or so the argument goes. If God cared about us, things would tend to go the way we want them to, right? Sadly, that's not how things are. You're bound to have a bad day. Bad things are bound to happen. So what are we, as Christians to do about it?
When I envision my life, I usually envision it as a journey, a quest, actually. (I'm a romantic, what can I say?) I'm walking a path through the country. It's straight and flat because that's the easiest path to walk, right? That's the path we want to walk. That's the life we want. Who wants to go through hard times, right? But they do happen, and I usually see that as a hill, or maybe even a mountain, depending on how bad it is. Of course I didn't expect this thing to be there, but it's there. Nobody does. So what are we to do about it? Most folks would stare up at this mountain and whine about how unfair it is that this thing "got placed" in front of them. "God, how could you just drop a mountain right in front of me?" If you're a smart person, you'd know that's totally unreasonable because, last time I checked, mountains don't just fall from the sky. Even God doesn't do that. So You could usually see these things on the horizon. But here we are, staring up at it wondering what to do with it.
So there's this mountain in the way of us and forward progress. What are we to do about it? Well, certainly the easiest thing to do would be to walk around the mountain, not bothering to see it for what it is. The other option, of course is to climb it. But that's dangerous. What do we know about climbing mountains? And why risk our lives when we can so easily ignore it? The mountain will still be there, of course, but it will be influencing us more than we influence it. So the big question is, why do we bother to climb mountains? (And have I totally lost my train of thought in this discussion?)
So our problems, our pain, become mountains, and they're the biggest thing to us from the bottom. So I imagine they may appear to us at times to be as tall as Everest. Who in their right mind would dare to climb Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet though? Apparently quite a few people. I recently became interested in Everest and it's history, and here's what I learned. Everest's peak sits roughly at around 29,000 feet. It depends on who you ask, but they came up with the approximate height around 1856. Since then, people have been wanting to get up there.
Everest isn't the hardest mountain to climb...along the standard route. Most of the danger from the mountain comes from the insane altitude and weather conditions up there. Once you hit 26,000 feet, you encounter what they call the "death zone," which is where it becomes impossible for your body alone to adjust. This is why people usually use Oxygen tanks and bundle up tight. Apparently, there is a mentality in the climbing community that climbing a mountain with the assistance of supplementary oxygen is unsportsman-like. Who knew breathing regular was unsporting sometimes?
So you find people trying to climb this inhospitable mountain without the use of oxygen. Some people even decide to climb the doggone thing alone! There have been around 219 confirmed deaths on the mountain. May be that number isn't that daunting to you, but if you're climbing the mountain, you do become distinctly aware of the death on the mountain. I say this because the inhospitable climate preserves the dead so well that they stay up there. Frozen in place. The death zone is so bad that people fall over dead and are left in that same spot. You can see them from the standard route. Heck, some landmarks along the trail are named after corpses that are still there! So this is no easy thing even when it's supposed to be.
So why are people doing this? They must be insane, right? George Mallory put it best:
"The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, 'What is the use of climbing Mount Everest ?' and my answer must at once be, 'It is no use'. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."
This is the right mentality. This is the mentality I wish I had everyday. Mallory would be unsuccessful in his attempt to reach the summit (though some argue that his doomed expedition did reach the peak more than 29 years before Hillary, he just hasn't made it off the mountain yet...) But it has been done! Reaching the top of the tallest mountain on the planet is not impossible for man.
That's nice and all, but why risk your life? As Sir George Mallory put it, "What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for." Joy through struggle. Who'd have thought, right? If you know anything about scripture, you may have figured out by now that big things tend to go down on mountains. Moses encountered God and received his commandments on a mountain. He saw the promised land of his people from a mountain top. I could go on of course, but the point is the view from the top is unforgettable. Everything that is before you. To Moses, it was worth the journey.
If you've conquered something so great, it's hard to think that anything else in life can stop you. And that's the mentality that we as Christians should have. There is nothing too big for us to handle. These mountains we encounter have no power over us. They are ours to conquer. These problems: the pain, the suffering are only obstacles if we allow them to be. Some may argue that we shouldn't have to experience any of that to begin with, but without the pain, we wouldn't experience the joy at the top. The joy of knowing that we are unstoppable. Honestly, the view from the top is better than the view from the flat lands at the bottom. Without pain, we could not appreciate the great strength that resides within us. Without pain, we would be painfully oblivious of our greater potential.
May be that doesn't matter at all to some people. I don't need to climb the mountain. I'd much rather go around. But even if you do, the mountain will still be there, and it will still be in your way if you allow it to be. I hear so often that sin is always getting in our way. It's not a part of God's plan. It's just something we have to live with. But I wonder if in God's great wisdom, he even accounted for the possibility of sin when he created us. "So he knew there'd be sin but created us anyway and allowed it to ruin us?" No. Sin doesn't ruin us. Christ stands in the way of that, if we allow him to.
So we've all got these sinful tendencies of ours, these things that get in our way, but really, it's only if we allow them to. Christ's power can make these weakness of ours, our strengths. Strengths to overcome the problems of this world. I never understood what Paul was talking about here until now: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
It seems so simple, yet it's so hard for us to understand that God's power, his strength becomes our strength when we are at our weakest, When we are at our lowest, God reaches out to bring us to our highest point, to the peak. This is something I pray I can better understand from here on out. This is the kind of life I wish I was living. Instead of lamenting the mountains before me, I was running out to conquer them, so that nothing else can stand in my way. But not only that, becoming a messenger of change; God's transformation that he intends for his creation.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Nerd Project Pt. 3: A Hero is born.
This post is long over due. I've neglected my blog since October which I hate. Our blogosphere seems to be wasting away, but such is life. In any case, I'm posting now, and that's what's important.
This project turned out to be one of my favorite costume projects ever. I love this costume. There are things I could've done better, but I can fix it in the years to come. That's how much I like how it turned out.
I'm really happy with how my Hylian shield turned out. I wanted the Triforce to be above the eagle to finish that traditional look, but I don't mind having it below. Some the paint flaked off due to some fooling around, but it's still pretty enough to hang on the wall. I decided I would get a little more elaborate and make the wings out of some poster board. Not as nice as Polycarbonate, but it got the job done.
I'm really happy with the Master Sword. I mixed up what I thought was the perfect shade of blue for it. Added some detail work and then glossed it. The glossing messed up a little bit and I had to go over it a couple of times, but you have to look real close to notice that. The details could've been done better, but I'm still happy with it.
The Scabbard came out better than I expected, thankfully. I wasn't too sure how the paint would affect the paper mache, but it worked out pretty well. I think I would do it differently if I ever did it again, but it wasn't too bad. It was beefy, so it really added to the look where a paper of foam scabbard wouldn't have. The gloss really finished it though. It turned out to be a must. All in all, not the best, but it got the job done. Couldn't ask for more from a shot in the dark.
The actual outfit came out pretty good. Had some help with from my mom with the sewing. (she pretty much did all of it.) Picked up two large V neck shirts at Target, took in the sides of the shirt and put belt loops around a quarter of the way up. I looped my belt through those and the actual loops on my pants. It turned out pretty well. The other shirt was used to make the hat. I had to stuff the end of it to give it the look, but that wasn't too bad. I was pretty happy with it. I took some old soccer shin guards, spray painted them brown, attached them to some old black socks and used them as bracers. I didn't have any leather boots that reached up to my knees, so I had to buy some fake boot tops. IT got the job done. Not the best, but not the worst either. I wouldn't mind wearing this to Comic con or some cosplay thing to complete this nerdy quest!
Showed off my awesome costume at the Trunk or Treat at church. My truck is supposed to be Link's horse Epona from Ocarina of Time. I originally had my candy in the wooden chest, but the kids didn't know I was passing out candy, so they kept walking right by. I needed to put more time into the car. I Wanted it to look like a weapons shop. I don't think anyone got it. Oh well. I was too happy about being the Hero of Time anyway!
Pretty much my best Halloween costume ever! I think the only way I can out do myself is by making my self a set of Halo ODST armor and weapons for next year! That's something I've always wanted to do too....
This project turned out to be one of my favorite costume projects ever. I love this costume. There are things I could've done better, but I can fix it in the years to come. That's how much I like how it turned out.
I'm really happy with how my Hylian shield turned out. I wanted the Triforce to be above the eagle to finish that traditional look, but I don't mind having it below. Some the paint flaked off due to some fooling around, but it's still pretty enough to hang on the wall. I decided I would get a little more elaborate and make the wings out of some poster board. Not as nice as Polycarbonate, but it got the job done.
I'm really happy with the Master Sword. I mixed up what I thought was the perfect shade of blue for it. Added some detail work and then glossed it. The glossing messed up a little bit and I had to go over it a couple of times, but you have to look real close to notice that. The details could've been done better, but I'm still happy with it.
The Scabbard came out better than I expected, thankfully. I wasn't too sure how the paint would affect the paper mache, but it worked out pretty well. I think I would do it differently if I ever did it again, but it wasn't too bad. It was beefy, so it really added to the look where a paper of foam scabbard wouldn't have. The gloss really finished it though. It turned out to be a must. All in all, not the best, but it got the job done. Couldn't ask for more from a shot in the dark.
The actual outfit came out pretty good. Had some help with from my mom with the sewing. (she pretty much did all of it.) Picked up two large V neck shirts at Target, took in the sides of the shirt and put belt loops around a quarter of the way up. I looped my belt through those and the actual loops on my pants. It turned out pretty well. The other shirt was used to make the hat. I had to stuff the end of it to give it the look, but that wasn't too bad. I was pretty happy with it. I took some old soccer shin guards, spray painted them brown, attached them to some old black socks and used them as bracers. I didn't have any leather boots that reached up to my knees, so I had to buy some fake boot tops. IT got the job done. Not the best, but not the worst either. I wouldn't mind wearing this to Comic con or some cosplay thing to complete this nerdy quest!
Showed off my awesome costume at the Trunk or Treat at church. My truck is supposed to be Link's horse Epona from Ocarina of Time. I originally had my candy in the wooden chest, but the kids didn't know I was passing out candy, so they kept walking right by. I needed to put more time into the car. I Wanted it to look like a weapons shop. I don't think anyone got it. Oh well. I was too happy about being the Hero of Time anyway!
Pretty much my best Halloween costume ever! I think the only way I can out do myself is by making my self a set of Halo ODST armor and weapons for next year! That's something I've always wanted to do too....
Monday, October 10, 2011
Nerd project Pt. 2: The scabbard, the shield, the sword, and the Mask!?
So I've been hard at work on my Halloween project....well the props. I haven't done any work on the props for my truck or even the costume itself. Just the props I'll have on me. In any case, I've been productive!
I did some more work on the scabbard. Forgot to take pictures of the details I put in with cardboard, but I did take pictures of the next step! I decided to paper mache the whole thing to get rid of those pesky ridges in the cardboard. I think I succeeded. The problem is, since it's not painted, it's hard to see all the details.
I might lightly sand over it with some really fine sand paper, but other than the loops for the belt, it's done till I paint it.
I started work on the Hylian shield. It's pretty much the most iconic shield that Link carries. It has some variations, but the scheme is usually the same. Blue, silver, red and yellow. It's got the triforce and the crest of the royal family (the eagle.)
I've replicated my own personal version of this shield before though. It's currently in the possession of our resident Eagle scout. (I don't have pictures.) I don't intend to replicate that design because I don't have the time to make cut some polycarbonate pieces for it by hand. If I had some serious equipment in my garage then it'd be a different story. But basically, I took a nerf shield and used a base coat of blue first. Pretty much the same deal as before.
I didn't want to cut into the foam in the center of a shield, which was how I solved the problem with the triforce and the eagle. I left a triangle of foam at the bottom to act as the eagle's head and transformed the two outer edges of the shield into the wings. I liked how it turned out. I think I'm going to make the eagle smaller this time around. I can't do the same thing every time, right?
As for the sword, I didn't really do much to it besides put some more coats on it with a new shade of blue, and add a darker blue details in the handle. Added some more yellow to it too!
Then we've got the mask. Mask? What Mask? Majora's Mask!
So this isn't for me, it's for a student of mine who volunteered to dress up as a character in the Zelda universe. He better help me pass out candy...
So I started out with some plates. I need to get a heart shape.
Before:
After:
Add some paper mache and you've got a heart shape!
Most masks I've seen on the internet just make the mask flat. They don't make the eyes bulge. I didn't want to do that. Here's where I left off. No horns and no paint yet.
So I've made pretty good progress. Next up is the costume itself. I'm hoping to start on that and start painting some of this stuff this week. Here's hoping I get something done.
I did some more work on the scabbard. Forgot to take pictures of the details I put in with cardboard, but I did take pictures of the next step! I decided to paper mache the whole thing to get rid of those pesky ridges in the cardboard. I think I succeeded. The problem is, since it's not painted, it's hard to see all the details.
I might lightly sand over it with some really fine sand paper, but other than the loops for the belt, it's done till I paint it.
I started work on the Hylian shield. It's pretty much the most iconic shield that Link carries. It has some variations, but the scheme is usually the same. Blue, silver, red and yellow. It's got the triforce and the crest of the royal family (the eagle.)
I've replicated my own personal version of this shield before though. It's currently in the possession of our resident Eagle scout. (I don't have pictures.) I don't intend to replicate that design because I don't have the time to make cut some polycarbonate pieces for it by hand. If I had some serious equipment in my garage then it'd be a different story. But basically, I took a nerf shield and used a base coat of blue first. Pretty much the same deal as before.
I didn't want to cut into the foam in the center of a shield, which was how I solved the problem with the triforce and the eagle. I left a triangle of foam at the bottom to act as the eagle's head and transformed the two outer edges of the shield into the wings. I liked how it turned out. I think I'm going to make the eagle smaller this time around. I can't do the same thing every time, right?
As for the sword, I didn't really do much to it besides put some more coats on it with a new shade of blue, and add a darker blue details in the handle. Added some more yellow to it too!
Then we've got the mask. Mask? What Mask? Majora's Mask!
So this isn't for me, it's for a student of mine who volunteered to dress up as a character in the Zelda universe. He better help me pass out candy...
So I started out with some plates. I need to get a heart shape.
Before:
After:
Add some paper mache and you've got a heart shape!
Most masks I've seen on the internet just make the mask flat. They don't make the eyes bulge. I didn't want to do that. Here's where I left off. No horns and no paint yet.
So I've made pretty good progress. Next up is the costume itself. I'm hoping to start on that and start painting some of this stuff this week. Here's hoping I get something done.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Back in crutches
If you haven't seen me around lately, which is no surprise, you'd know that I'm wearing a boot and using crutches again. Ya, it's no fun. Last Wednesday I went in to have surgery on a bone spur on the end of my middle left toe. Basically, it's when the bone on the end of your toe decides to grow straight up on it's own. It usually starts after some kind of injury. So I probably stubbed my toe super hard and injured the bone, which made the stupid thing decide to jack up my toe and make it look ugly. Needless to say, I won't be doing any feet modeling any time soon. I guess I'll just have to get by on my rapier wit and dashing good looks from the ankles up.
I have had this procedure before though. When I was in high school, I had the surgery, which involved two doctors numbing my toe, slicing it open, and clipping off the protrusion of bone. It honestly didn't seem that difficult. I walked in, sat down, popped in my headphones, and let the doctors do their thing. Apparently it didn't work though, because it grew back. So I had to have the surgery again. Well, I didn't have to. The bone doesn't cause me any discomfort outside of stubbing that toe. That's actually extremely painful since the bone is so close to the surface of the skin. Other than that, it didn't bug me at all.
So I went in this past Wednesday. I must've been at the hospital for something like 3-4 hours. No fun. This time, the process was a little more elaborate. I got hooked up to an IV and drugged and all that. They were going to put me under completely, but I had a bottle of water before hand, so that was out of the question. I opted for local anesthesia though since the last time lasted something like 15-20 minutes. Not so easy this time around. I got wheeled in to a full on operating room with staff on hand to keep an eye on the monitors and to assist in the procedure. It was actually pretty hardcore. I never experienced anything like that to my recollection. Apparently I have received a spinal tap before though, but I think that was so traumatic that I forgot completely. Not sure I'd like to remember that anyway.
The procedure must've lasted an hour. I had to get strapped down, and numbed up, and monitored. That took a while to set up. The staff was pretty nice. They said they'd chat me up to make sure I didn't pass out, but they did a terrible job of that. They mostly talked about their personal lives to each other, and I got to chime in occasionally, but they could barely hear me from the other side of the screen they had erected to separate my upper half from the "sterile zone." At one point, they were talking about being a mom and dealing with kids, and I told them I had one too. (who doesn't have a mom, right?) They assumed I was married and had children then, to their shock and horror. I had to explain to them then that I had a mom. How unusual, right? The conversation waned after that.
The procedure was actually pretty intense. The doctor informed me that she would have to remove the whole toe nail in order to get at the bone. She said she would remove extra bone in order to decrease the chance of the spur growing back again. Good riddance. I got stitched up and bandaged and sent on my way. Due to the nature of the procedure, I was ordered to stay off my feet as much as possible and to keep my foot elevated at all times to prevent my foot from swelling up. For some reason they decided not to give me crutches though. They said I could walk around by putting all my weight on my heel. Stupidest thing I've ever heard. I do that to get around short distances, but that's extremely painful. Luckily, I had the foresight to pull my old set of crutches down from the attic before I went to the hospital.
In any case, I've been spending most of my time sitting on the couch with my foot up in the air, propped up by a tower of pillows. It's really boring. At least I've been able to spend my time watching some good shows on netflix. The problem is our internet has been so crappy lately that my shows start and stop at least ten times before they finish.
I have been able to go out on the occasion for a short time. I got to visit church on Sunday and explain ten thousand times the details of my procedure. People have found it hard to understand though. Things I've heard include: "Wow, that's the worst ingrown toe nail I've heard of.", "they numbed you. did it hurt?", "so you'll never walk again?", and my personal favorite: "So you're like missing a toe now? that sucks!" I responded to that one by saying I still had my normal 11 toes. They, being the gifted individual they are, thought that I need correcting. Apparently I've never counted my fingers or toes before. I decided to convince them I had an extra toe on my left foot, which is bandaged up, and that it was actually pretty common. No big deal.
In any case, crutches have been my main mode of transportation for the past week. I actually got a bit of a work out one day from it. Not too much since I get carried away by the freak gust of wind. You do take for granted the ability to walk and function normally though. Being attached to the couch (not by choice) has really kept me from doing the things I want to do. I can't even drive any where. It's really no fun, and I'm going to be a very happy camper when I'm allowed to walk and run again. May be I'll start hitting the track again. Who's in?
I have had this procedure before though. When I was in high school, I had the surgery, which involved two doctors numbing my toe, slicing it open, and clipping off the protrusion of bone. It honestly didn't seem that difficult. I walked in, sat down, popped in my headphones, and let the doctors do their thing. Apparently it didn't work though, because it grew back. So I had to have the surgery again. Well, I didn't have to. The bone doesn't cause me any discomfort outside of stubbing that toe. That's actually extremely painful since the bone is so close to the surface of the skin. Other than that, it didn't bug me at all.
So I went in this past Wednesday. I must've been at the hospital for something like 3-4 hours. No fun. This time, the process was a little more elaborate. I got hooked up to an IV and drugged and all that. They were going to put me under completely, but I had a bottle of water before hand, so that was out of the question. I opted for local anesthesia though since the last time lasted something like 15-20 minutes. Not so easy this time around. I got wheeled in to a full on operating room with staff on hand to keep an eye on the monitors and to assist in the procedure. It was actually pretty hardcore. I never experienced anything like that to my recollection. Apparently I have received a spinal tap before though, but I think that was so traumatic that I forgot completely. Not sure I'd like to remember that anyway.
The procedure must've lasted an hour. I had to get strapped down, and numbed up, and monitored. That took a while to set up. The staff was pretty nice. They said they'd chat me up to make sure I didn't pass out, but they did a terrible job of that. They mostly talked about their personal lives to each other, and I got to chime in occasionally, but they could barely hear me from the other side of the screen they had erected to separate my upper half from the "sterile zone." At one point, they were talking about being a mom and dealing with kids, and I told them I had one too. (who doesn't have a mom, right?) They assumed I was married and had children then, to their shock and horror. I had to explain to them then that I had a mom. How unusual, right? The conversation waned after that.
The procedure was actually pretty intense. The doctor informed me that she would have to remove the whole toe nail in order to get at the bone. She said she would remove extra bone in order to decrease the chance of the spur growing back again. Good riddance. I got stitched up and bandaged and sent on my way. Due to the nature of the procedure, I was ordered to stay off my feet as much as possible and to keep my foot elevated at all times to prevent my foot from swelling up. For some reason they decided not to give me crutches though. They said I could walk around by putting all my weight on my heel. Stupidest thing I've ever heard. I do that to get around short distances, but that's extremely painful. Luckily, I had the foresight to pull my old set of crutches down from the attic before I went to the hospital.
In any case, I've been spending most of my time sitting on the couch with my foot up in the air, propped up by a tower of pillows. It's really boring. At least I've been able to spend my time watching some good shows on netflix. The problem is our internet has been so crappy lately that my shows start and stop at least ten times before they finish.
I have been able to go out on the occasion for a short time. I got to visit church on Sunday and explain ten thousand times the details of my procedure. People have found it hard to understand though. Things I've heard include: "Wow, that's the worst ingrown toe nail I've heard of.", "they numbed you. did it hurt?", "so you'll never walk again?", and my personal favorite: "So you're like missing a toe now? that sucks!" I responded to that one by saying I still had my normal 11 toes. They, being the gifted individual they are, thought that I need correcting. Apparently I've never counted my fingers or toes before. I decided to convince them I had an extra toe on my left foot, which is bandaged up, and that it was actually pretty common. No big deal.
In any case, crutches have been my main mode of transportation for the past week. I actually got a bit of a work out one day from it. Not too much since I get carried away by the freak gust of wind. You do take for granted the ability to walk and function normally though. Being attached to the couch (not by choice) has really kept me from doing the things I want to do. I can't even drive any where. It's really no fun, and I'm going to be a very happy camper when I'm allowed to walk and run again. May be I'll start hitting the track again. Who's in?
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Nerd project time: The Scabbard.
My blog has been rotting away for a while. It's time to put a stop to that! I'm back, baby, with a project series!
It's September, which means October is a month away. That means now is the time to get on top of all of those elaborate Halloween costume projects I have rattling around in my brain. Last year I told myself I would go all out this year, so I'm going to do just that. I also said I was going to make it way nerdier than ever. Probably the nerdiest ever!
This year, I decided I would dress up as one of my all time favorite video game characters, and arguably one of the greatest heroes of our time: Link. I grew up playing the original Legend of Zelda for the NES, so Link is like the first hero I ever got to know.
This isn't the first Nerdy, Zelda project I've done though. Actually, it's the 3rd. Before this, I made my good buddy Paddy his own Master Sword and Shield. (pics later.)
I plan to put way more time into this project though. Not to make a mockery of my other work, but because I have nothing better to do.
Here's the first Master Sword I started working on. I really didn't like how this one was coming out, so I bought a new one and painted that one, which I gave to Kevin. Depending on how this project turns out, I may have to redo Kevin's. For now, I'll be working with this failed attempt here.
I didn't feel like painting tonight, so I decided I'd make the scabbard. I need to carry the Master Sword in style, right? so here's what I did.
First I outlined my Sword's blade on some cheap cardboard generously donated to me by a school teacher friend.
I cut out two of those and lined them up.
Next I attached them via some painter's tape.
From here it's tricky because I had to figure out how tight I wanted the fit, then I had to wrap the ends. In retrospect, I didn't really need to cut out two halves, I could've just rolled it up in one sheet. The benefit to the two halves though, was it wasn't as difficult in forming the tip of the scabbard, so I guess it worked out.
Not as easy as I thought. In any case, I decided I ought to make another scabbard for the other Master Sword.
I'm happy with them so far, but I'm not done. I plan on experimenting with Paper mache to smooth them out so they don't get that ugly texture. That'd just look dumb, and I'd rather be a respectable looking geek on Halloween night.
It's September, which means October is a month away. That means now is the time to get on top of all of those elaborate Halloween costume projects I have rattling around in my brain. Last year I told myself I would go all out this year, so I'm going to do just that. I also said I was going to make it way nerdier than ever. Probably the nerdiest ever!
This year, I decided I would dress up as one of my all time favorite video game characters, and arguably one of the greatest heroes of our time: Link. I grew up playing the original Legend of Zelda for the NES, so Link is like the first hero I ever got to know.
This isn't the first Nerdy, Zelda project I've done though. Actually, it's the 3rd. Before this, I made my good buddy Paddy his own Master Sword and Shield. (pics later.)
I plan to put way more time into this project though. Not to make a mockery of my other work, but because I have nothing better to do.
Here's the first Master Sword I started working on. I really didn't like how this one was coming out, so I bought a new one and painted that one, which I gave to Kevin. Depending on how this project turns out, I may have to redo Kevin's. For now, I'll be working with this failed attempt here.
I didn't feel like painting tonight, so I decided I'd make the scabbard. I need to carry the Master Sword in style, right? so here's what I did.
First I outlined my Sword's blade on some cheap cardboard generously donated to me by a school teacher friend.
I cut out two of those and lined them up.
Next I attached them via some painter's tape.
From here it's tricky because I had to figure out how tight I wanted the fit, then I had to wrap the ends. In retrospect, I didn't really need to cut out two halves, I could've just rolled it up in one sheet. The benefit to the two halves though, was it wasn't as difficult in forming the tip of the scabbard, so I guess it worked out.
Not as easy as I thought. In any case, I decided I ought to make another scabbard for the other Master Sword.
I'm happy with them so far, but I'm not done. I plan on experimenting with Paper mache to smooth them out so they don't get that ugly texture. That'd just look dumb, and I'd rather be a respectable looking geek on Halloween night.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I'm not dead, I swear!
So School and life has been a real drag. It's just made it super hard for me to blog. I usually have this problem. I get busy and have a blog dry spell. It's lame, I know. May be I have this problem because I have such grandiose intentions for each blog post. May be I just need to go back to making random and ridiculous blog posts of no consequence.
Anyway, now that school is coming to an end, maybe I'll have more time to breathe life back into this zombie blog. I can't believe I let it come to this.
Anyway, now that school is coming to an end, maybe I'll have more time to breathe life back into this zombie blog. I can't believe I let it come to this.
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