So come with me, and read my words, and decide if you agree.

______________________________________________

Birth

You were born. You will be born. You are born. And since then, you’ve grown up in a fashion of YOU. What you did when you were born, you did for you. Call it “basic survival”. Call it “sin nature”. Call it whatever makes you feel comfortable. Because if that is how you are still living, you should NOT feel comfortable. Although the very word “comfort” has its own list, perhaps. More on that later. Well, now you’ve been born, no thanks to your mom and dad, and hopefully being kept alive- still no thanks to mom and dad- until you are able to sustain your own life (meaning mom and dad will continue to keep you alive until you are between the ages of 18 and 45). If you have lost mom and/or dad, please substitute with “foster care” or your relevant situation.

Childhood

You are now growing up very quickly. Every day, you learn something new. Every other time you open your mouth, a question is asked. You outgrow your clothes, your toys, and your parent’s unconditional love for you. What you learn at home is carried with you for the rest of your life, and yet you have no idea. Choices are made to pursue what is usually deemed “right”, or what is mostly considered “wrong”. Instilled from the beginning are phrases, understandings, moral and physical standards, goals, and religions. However, Facts are what the main focus is on, and so memory must serve to impart, at will, the square root of 16, the pronouns of a sentence, the location of Germany, the number of battles fought during the Civil War, who wrote “The Old Man and the Sea”, and what happens when an acid base reacts with a bicarbonate.

Young Adulthood

My my, what a trip that was. Looking back over your life (all 25 years of it), one seems to have grown by leaps and bounds. What’s foggy and unclear will reveal itself presently…but until then, you’re gonna have FUN. All those facts and figures you learned and labored over for so long turned out to be merely preparation for the rest of life, which, incidentally, became infinitely harder the second you walked out the door. College is/was difficult, but now the end of learning is in sight, and you’re living life on the edge, and you got/are getting married and you started travelling the world. There’s nothing that can stop you. Jobs are of no consequence. Loans and life insurance mean nothing. Responsibility is only dealt with when necessary. Plan for the future, live in the present: That’s your motto, and you’re sticking by it. Maybe you could start settling down in a while…

Adulthood

Well, would you look at that! There was something sturdy to cling to after all. Houses come and go, and friends do the same, but a family…well, unless you’re in the fifty percent that got a divorce. I mean, it happens, right? Something you messed up before doesn’t have to be carried over now. Anyway, you’ve got your three kids and your minivan and your nine-to-five and your dog Bouncer and one of those cool little revolving corner cabinets in your kitchen. Sometimes work is hard, and sometimes you come home and throw the football out back with your sons. Wife makes dinner and reads to the kids, and you put your feet up, pet the dog, and watch the game.

Or maybe your kids have grown up and left the house. Maybe all who’s left is little Susie, who isn’t very little anymore, and she’s threatening to run off with Dennis unless you promise to invite him to dinner this weekend. Your husband can’t stop muttering about how Susie should go ahead and start paying her own bills sometime, and you tell him to shush because he’s just grumpy that he couldn’t get the boat he’d been talking about. “Maybe next year”, and you know it won’t be next year because his AARP card arrived in the mail ten years ago and yours was right after and that retirement check is still nowhere in sight. Struggling wasn’t ever part of the plan. Surviving was always taken for granted. Never questioning the ability to live well, to live gratified. And now, you’re just living, and barely that.

Seniority

You couldn’t have fathomed, not in your darkest nightmares, how hard it would be to get old. Every other week, it’s your arm, or your eyes, or your butt that needs checking, that needs examination, that needs to be poked and scanned and photographed and sent away for testing. It was fun at first, after the kids all left you both alone for so long, and you could get around to visiting the people you missed, and seeing the rest of the world, and slow dance at the weddings. Being Grandma and Grandpa and telling stories and showing off photos and learning new technology and not understanding what anybody is saying. But it was short-lived, and now, everything is going wrong. What’s that? No, wrong. Wrong. W-r-o…never mind.

Death

And now it’s time to leave this world. You’ve known it was coming for a while. You felt it, felt Death, looming behind the staircase every time you looked up it. Felt him breathing down your neck when you entered your car, or the bus. You even shook his hand once or twice as your wife had a run-in with him, felt the same thing, and then left for good. Death took her away, and all you could do was ask him, nice and politely, not to hurt her too much. So here you are again-only Death has come for you- and you ask him once more. Your two sons are here, outside, talking in low voices. Susie is on her way, but it will take some time to get here, and Dennis is a slow driver. You wish you could see her again, tell her that you still think Dennis is a no-good trucker, but you love her anyway and you’ll say hi to mommy for her. Then you remember she’s not nineteen anymore, and the boys are grown men, and will want to split your property up with everyone equally because they’re good boys and you raised them right. Your family will cry for a few days, and your friends will miss you when they find out, and Frank from bingo will hear and be sorry he hadn’t paid you that five-dollar bet he still owes. Then Death leans forward and takes you by the hand and leads you away from here, to some other place, and all you wished you knew or understood is now revealed, only to vanish along with the rest of your life.

But then, you haven’t been living with the right goals. Your goals seem to have been very selfish. The way you were born continued, and you wound up in the same place you started: Naked, going towards a bright light. You’ve lived as a good person, and you loved your family and saved your money and worked your job and raised your kids and never regretted anything. Until now. You regret not listening to the men who came to your door and shared about a God so big, he could love everyone at the same time. You regret not hearing the Pastor talk about God’s son’s sacrifice, which saved humanity. You regret not having a relationship with this God, because now he sounds like the sort of thing you’d have needed. And when all is said and done, never knowing what you need is a scary realization, and usually one realized far too late.

The post How to Do Life appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

In this post, we will explore the wonders of driving on the roads of Florida. There is no better way to experience sheer terror, dread, and horrific insights into your own doom than to drive in Florida. I am personally under the impression than there is a circle of hell itself devoted entirely to this ideal.

Nevertheless, in order to fully appreciate the experience, it helps to enable yourself with a good understanding of who you’re up against. No one ever went into battle and won without knowing something about their enemy. And that’s exactly who every other driver is in Florida. The ENEMY. So to bolster you with what you need, we will begin by breaking each driver down into a category, a GENUS, if you will.

The first pairing is between GOOD DRIVERS and BAD DRIVERS. I think you will agree with me that those are rather broad terms, and so I shall categorize further. But first, we will start with a simple statement: There are more BAD drivers than there are GOOD drivers.

After the broad classifications “Good” and “Bad”, we will further break the list down into lesser categories, or “SPECIES”. These lesser names are given to the individuals who are considered “Good Drivers”. Since I will not dwell at length upon each, a brief description will be assigned instead.

—

The “Speedy Gonzalez”

Knows what he wants, where he’s going, and is going to get there, no matter how many times he changes lanes, cuts someone off, or flips the bird at a six-year-old. He is considered a “good driver”, not because he is necessarily a likable person, but because his skills as a driver are extraordinarily heightened to nearly supernatural. Please get out of his way.

The “Steady As She Goes”

This sort of person could leave their house feeling murderous, suicidal rage. But as soon as they begin driving, an aura of sainthood appears to glow around and emanate from them. They float lazily across the roads, never going more than a mile over the speed limit, slowing to a stop a good distance from the light or sign, so as not to put unwelcome wear on their brakes. They wave happily when merging into traffic, smile as you pass them, laugh at funny bumper stickers, and generally have a good time. While splendid drivers, do not depend on them to get somewhere on time, unless you leave fifteen minutes before Mapquest tells you to.

“The Frustrated One”

These poor folks. While not as good a driver as a “Speedy Gonzalez” or “Steady As She Goes”, this person will be a passable replacement of the below. They cannot keep up with “Speedy”, but are too fast for “Steady”, so they languish in a prison of good and bad drivers, alternating between lanes because of poor luck or faulty decision-making. They bang the wheel in hopeless chagrin, bound to their fate behind “Slowpoke” in Priuses. They probably have better driving skills; they just may never have the opportunity to show them off.

—

The following is a horrifying vision of what hell will be if any are foolish enough to go there. Be warned. This list is not for the faint or fool of heart. Or anyone living in New England.

—

The “Speed Monkey”

A dangerous, volatile version of a “Speedy Gonzalez”. This person believes they are good drivers, when, in fact, they possess the eye- and foot-coordination of a drunken ape. This person will swerve, cut off, tailgate, blow through red lights, and generally endanger the entire world with their existence. To them, every car is a moving, annoying cone in between them and a gigantic mound of cash. Which is ironic, because they are usually only going to the clothes store or the law firm. When you see one pulled over by a policeman, smile to yourself and gloat in the sweet, sweet hand of justice.

The “Slowpoke”

This is a molasses-like copy of the “Steady As She Goes”. Also known as “Old Person” or “Floridian”. This person refuses to drive anything but 15 miles under the speed limit. They turn their blinker on sometimes, and leave it on for a solid twenty minutes after. When merging onto the highway, they go no less than 3o miles per hour until the final fifty feet, in which they suddenly speed up to 50 and immediately switch to cruise control. They rarely check their mirrors, sometimes changing lanes into the side of your vehicle. Staring straight ahead, with no perception of depth or road signs, they trickle onwards towards their destination, which we can only assume is a heart attack. Arguably the worst drivers on the face of the planet, next to folks from Massachusetts.

The “Wimp”

This person is only seen on highways. Also known as a “Leech” or “Parasite”. This sort of person will tailgate your vehicle as you pass slower drivers on the right, and yet, when you pull over in a clear stretch, they will refuse to pass you, instead changing lanes to tailgate you some more. Whenever you speed up past the speed limit, they gleefully follow you too closely, yet refuse to pass you when you slow down. The only way to be rid of this pest is to allow a faster driver to pass you, whereupon the “Wimp” will latch onto them for another speedy ride.

The “Passive Aggressive Dirtbag”

This is a species you will only glimpse on an interstate. Upon merging onto a freeway (normally behind you), they will gradually creep up until they are legitimately tailgating your vehicle. Though, upon your moving to the right lane, they will stay, matching your speed, in the same position they were before, but now in your blind spot. Here they will continue to linger, bothering the living daylights out of you, until you show signs of wanting to pass someone or pull back into the left lane. When they recognize these signs, they will pull up beside your vehicle, and then match your speed, making it impossible to pass the car in front of you or get over in order to turn. This person is a horrendous driver, and the only way to possibly get anywhere around them is to speed as far away from them as quickly as you dare. God help these people in the end times.

—

You will notice I have left off an important category. Besides “Good Drivers” and “Bad Drivers”, a complete anomaly stands apart. We classify this driver as “Women”. Studies have been done, and while we cannot, in good conscience, say that “Women” are “Good Drivers”, we cannot immediately classify this person as a “Bad Driver”. So they stand apart, forever haunting the roads, causing “Speed Monkey”s and “Steady”s alike to turn their heads and comically run into firetrucks. Because that’s how we do.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to remember these classifications and deal appropriately with the drivers. Not everyone is out to get you, you know. Just the “Passive Aggressive Dirtbags.” And they’re going to hell, anyway.

The post A Guide to Driving || Drivers appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

However, I failed to mention the influence of entertainment media not only in our culture, but as part of our makeup from our very creation.

Human beings were made for the Garden of Eden. Genesis, chapter 2: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (verse 15)  So God made man to work! But oh, where he worked! He worked in the brand new, spotless, untouched, perfect and holy Eden, a place we can only dream up for bad Star Trek episodes and videogame sequels. The beauty and glory of that place, before sin became known, was probably heaven. No, literally…Heaven. (That’s what I think, anyway. It doesn’t matter.) What I’m trying to say is, the “work” Adam and Eve did probably wasn’t work at all. They got to hang out in this gorgeous wonderland, completely naked, with no one else but God and the animals. And the animals were all chill, too. That’s just plain awesome.

So man, made for garden. Sins, and leaves. Works, makes babies, dies, repeat. For centuries. But throughout the centuries, the only major contributions to humanity besides devices of war are the humanities themselves! The Lascaux Cave paintings show off ancient artistry. The ancient Greeks still influence our culture through their standards of art and philosophy. The Romans, when they weren’t brutally slaying everybody, combined the arts of hundreds of cultures and established a fundamental architectural design, still used today. Heck, even the nation of France is all about artistry. And what is art? Art is beauty, and therefore, it is entertaining.

Does that make any sense? I’ll re-phrase: Humans thrive on entertainment, because we were created to enjoy what is beautiful. When learning, wouldn’t we rather learn from a book with pictures than a book with just text? As students, don’t we find ourselves zoning when a professor drones and mumbles about nothing interesting? Even Jesus knew this, so he spoke in parables to people who didn’t easily grasp abstract concepts. So while entertainment can also play the “bad-guy” role, we can’t forget how we’re wired.

Moderation is never easy, is it? Good luck to you on your quest for a balance of AWESOME.

The post Rome, Pt. 2 appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

I love that quote from “Gladiator“. It’s a fantastic reminder of the incredible empire that Rome was, and how hard and desperately it fell from its peak.

For those who don’t know, Rome is the capital of Italy, and was once the largest empire in the world, controlling countries as far north as Great Britain and as far east as Mesopotamia. They were innovative, fierce, and historically undefeatable in battle for hundreds of years. Yet, at the “climax” of its civilization, they wiped themselves out, and the known world fell into the dark ages.

Why is this? Well, the Fall of Rome has been attributed to the inability to control their own citizens. In reality, the above quote is probably completely true. Rome’s civilization eventually swiveled from their powerful republic government and onto the Games. The gladiatorial fights, races, hunts, and “mock” battles (staged battles with actual slaughter) kept the citizens entertained. But only for so long.

* * *

It’s been in well-known studies for a long time: The more graphic violence people are exposed to, the more numb they become to it. Studies performed on children with violent video games, films, and RPGs show evidence of it in frightening amounts. And if we look at our own history books, we can see the sort of entertainment progression, just in America. From the beginning of motion pictures, just having a close-up moving footage of an approaching locomotive caused people to flee from theaters. Nowadays, even movies with excessive gore and intense action sequences bore audiences too easily unless they also hold original storylines and/or headlining actors and actresses.

In fact, entertainment is what seems to drive Americans these days. Magazines devoted to celebrities and television shows; award shows honoring the same celebrities who host them; films about the actors who act in the films; videogames mimicking movies in order to attract larger customer bases; violence and sex becoming more and more common in everyday culture; even our president is voted in purely on his status as a celebrity figure. We’ve progressed beyond just an entertainment-driven society: We are now a society driven by necessity to be entertained.

If tomorrow, all cinemas shut down, and theatres across the globe went out of business, and the music industry left town, and every celebrity died of lung cancer- as a society, mass panic and chaos would ensue. America would go the way of ancient Rome: Take an epic dive as President Obama played the cello from the deck of the Capital Building, watching all of surrounding Washington D.C. burn around him to the sound of the lamenting strings. (Actually, that would be pretty stinkin’ epic.)

See where this is going? The more incredible, the more more shocking, the more risqué, the more outrageous- the more entertaining. Until we’ve numbed ourselves beyond movement, and we can’t stand up for anything that isn’t presented as a form of entertainment. Will we pull ourselves out of the rut of history, and force our flabby, selfish, fun-driven forms into a stronger lifestyle? Can we escape the inevitable?

Either way, that D.C. scene up there would make a rockin’ ending. I’d watch that movie.

The post Rome appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

1 a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1) : fidelity to one’s promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
2 a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust
3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

In other words, it is almost a purely-Theological term. Religion. God. TRUST. It’s a strong word that has admittedly been thrown around far too much these days. It has begun to be used in place of the word “belief”, which means, in Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary:

1 : a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing
2 : something believed; especially : a tenet or body of tenets held by a group
3 : conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence

While the differences are subtle, we see a lack of religion mentioned for this word. Beliefs can be held, according to this dictionary, by any individual or group of individuals, from governments, to schools, to companies, to organizations, to churches, to John Shluck down in the water treatment plant off Rte. 4 in Nowhere Springs. “Complete confidence is placed in some person of thing” and when that happens, we believe something to be true. Maybe John believes he will get a raise next week, depending on his work performance and the amount of krill he’s filtered from the tanks by then. Maybe the United States Congress believes the economy will begin to turn around in the next three years, thanks to evidence by experts and some very nice-looking Powerpoint chart presentations. Perhaps scientists believe that humans evolved from specks of inorganic matter floating in space, because of carbon dating procedures and some sweet bribes. But everyone believes something, for some reason.

I therefore wish to raise a second question: Can you believe in something without actually having Faith in it?

It’s been said that the only thing we can be sure of is that we can’t be sure of anything. If this is true, then is that what belief is? Belief that there are things we can’t be completely sure of, but need to hold onto and understand as solid, immovable truths?

If that is not true, and we CAN be sure of certain Truths in this world, then does that eliminate the need for belief? Besides religion (which needs to be forgotten about for the sake of this argument), couldn’t we cling to the truths we know to be true, and not need to believe in anything else? Is that a natural human tendancy?

It’s necessary to exclude religion – namely Christianity – from this line of questioning, because it satisfies the human need for stability. Even if we don’t understand it, we can believe in it; we can have Faith in what is bigger than us. But for those who ignore existence of something else to live for, what is their life like? Do they merely cling to what they think they already know to be truth? Do they believe only what science has proved to be “true”? Is there any meaning to existence in this mindset?

I’m still defining my own beliefs. Having Faith in God, in Christ, and in His will and plan for my life is good. But there’s so much more I need to fathom, formulate, and solidify as my own beliefs. It’s a good example of how lists play a big part in living.

I also encourage you to investigate your own faith. What do you believe? What will you stand for? What will you not let be shaken in your life?

The post The Redemption of Belief appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

To be clear, I use the Adobe Creative Suite 4– Master Collection, and almost everything on it.

Let’s get started.

Premiere Pro

So. I am, first and foremost, a film editor. I sit down, with footage that ranges between 5 minutes and 6 hours, and sort it, import it, review it, cut it, layer it, add to it, and finally export it as a finished product. (If you’re a fan of “The Marvelous Failures of Stephen Priest” on Facebook, you’ll get to see me in action when the time comes! In fact, you’ll get to see most of what I will talk about below in future videos there.) In an earlier post, I talked about some of the many projects I have worked on in the past, both professionally and as a pastime. I also have experience with programs like Apple’s Final Cut Studio Pro, Pinnacle Studio, and some Sony Vegas. And out of all of them, Adobe still rocks the party.

Here’s why (and I’ll use Final Cut for comparison, because it is the closest to me liking the others):

Adobe has made good use of its suites. It has successfully managed to allow all its programs to work seamlessly together when necessary. I can create documents in Photoshop or Illustrator, and drag them to an After Effects compilation, and drag that to Premiere, and drag THAT to Encore…it’s really nice. Final Cut has been ahead of this game for a while, but the difference between the programs are the features. In order to get all the looks and styles and effects you want in Final Cut, you must be well-versed in ALL its suite’s programs. This means learning Motion inside and out (which is the equivalent to learning After Effects…it’s hard) and the font program and the DVD program for more features. Adobe Premiere lets me create incredible amounts of effects on my own without having to know After Effects or Flash. This is helpful because 1: I don’t know After Effects; and 2: It saves time if simplicity is your thing.

There isn’t much more about it. Final Cut is so similar…it’s only flaw in my book is it’s an Apple experience, and I dislike the Apple experience. I’ll have to get used to it in the future, I suppose…oh wait…ADOBE IS APPLE-COMPATIBLE NOW. Oh yeah.

Encore

Not having much time to fiddle around with Final Cut’s DVD creation software, I only have cheap freeware programs and some of Vegas’ capabilities to compare it to. And lemme tell you…after they get all the bugs fixed, this program is flawless.

DVD creation is a rather vague concept to some people. For the most part, it implies taking video clips and throwing them onto an abstract idea that represents a DVD. Then, when they put it in the player, a picture comes up with little boxes that they navigate to on their over-sized remote, and then they watch stuff.

In reality, a lot of work must go into the menus, because no matter how you look at it, the DVD menu is that first impression. The customer is usually able to judge the work quality by the title screen. This is sometimes helpful to the creator, because very little work can go into it just to make it look nice. However, making it work correctly is another story, and an often-overlooked one. Several of my DVD projects wound up getting calls back on them, saying it looked wonderful, but the menus didn’t work right, and it skipped sequences, and so on. After all the work the editor puts into making a masterpiece of the random video clips they possess, wouldn’t it just be awful to have that overlooked by a flawed DVD menu?

Encore eliminates much of the hassle of reiteration that bores creators, and also allows insane amounts of interconnecting transitions, audio clips, and now Flash animations. Incredible. While still as unstable as its previous versions, this program is a keeper and a USER.

Soundbooth

I don’t understand why they got rid of Audition. They had a wonderfully-fitted piece of programming, complete with every available option in the music and sound-recording industry, and they dumbed it down to the equivalent of a converter tool and called it Soundbooth. I don’t really care- if I need better features, I still have Audition 1.5, or I can download Audacity for FREE and get a million more features. But I’m disappointed at Adobe for this one.

After Effects

Like I said before, I have almost no knowledge of this sophisticated tool. I wish I did, and hopefully will have time to sit down and learn it with some relevant project, but for now, I have to stick with Photoshop, or leave it to the pros.

Alright, so that was the video part. Onto…

Photoshop

After the video editing part, my next strong point is graphic design. I became well-acquainted with Adobe Photoshop two years ago, after doing all my design work solely in Macromedia Fireworks. Because I had no idea what I was missing.

To be honest, I don’t know of a single competitor to this program. It’s such a cultural byword now that it’s as common, if not more so, than the existence of Microsoft Word and Spider Solitaire on the average nerd’s computer. Most technical dabblers have at least several hour’s worth of experience on it, and the rest are so well-versed in its complexities that they can literally sell their bodies into the service of Adobe’s Support Teams. Since I am by no means that experienced in the program, this review might be very basic.

I love it! It can do anything, as long as the hands that guide it and the mind that peruses it are sharp and wise. The recent integration of easily-accessible video manipulations are helpful to the non-AE-users who prefer frame-by-frame drawing to flawless special effects. I do most of my work in Photoshop, including simple vector drawing, gratuitous surface painting, re-touching, and DVD cover designs for all the videos I edit. The WYSIWYG interface and smart panel layouts just make my day, and I breathe out a sign of contentment each time I double-click the blue, squared-off icon on my desktop.

It’s the little things that just feel RIGHT.

Illustrator

That marvelous name. It brings tears of joy to the poor artist lacking his beloved pad and stylus combo, grunting with effort and discouragement as his mouse slips again and again off the implied path he wished to follow. No more regret that you weren’t born into billions. No more wishing that points were somewhat easier to select. Oh, heavens! The sheer beauty of Adobe Illustrator, in all its vector glory!

To be honest, I don’t use it that much. I’m not a really gifted artist, because I’ve seen what some people can do with just this one program, and it blows my mind. However, for simple edge creation, tracing, manual posterization, and the countless other little chores I perform on it, the work level is minimal. Really an incredible program. Five thumbs up.

InDesign

The best, most extensive document designer known to mankind. I can’t believe people prefer Quark over this program…

Okay, I just downloaded the newest version of Quark XPressand tried it out for fairness’ sake and for my own amusement. And while a lot of features have been upgraded since I last used it, InDesign still stands a good head and shoulders taller. I guess the simplicity of Quark is a turn-on for industries, and the ease of diving into a new project makes for better timetables. I’ll have to experiment with it some more. But after getting used to InDesign, and knowing what I can and can’t do easily on it, and the seamless compatibility between it and Photoshop and Illustrator makes it my go-to document designer for the moment. I’ve used it for brochures, books, booklets, and tri-folds, and so far haven’t had any problems with the interface, the outputs, or anything else. Overall good program for designers.

My print media and video experience far outweighs my time spent in web design, so the following programs come from mostly a video usage or a first-year web design student. To start, I’ll dive into

Flash

…which is my favorite program in the Web Design suite and second-favorite program in the entire Master Collection suite (first is Photoshop). Not only is it an animation program capable of cartoon animation, an entire genre of games, and a breakthrough style of websites, which are quickly becoming the professional artist’s #1 choice for design. (My favorite site is this one. It’s the most unique use of Flash and video I’ve ever come across.)

Flash is the most versatile program I can immediately bring to mind. It has its claws in video, vector imaging, web, raster graphics, animation, and audio integration, to name a few. The programming language associated with it, ActionScript, is Adobe’s very own programming language, and stretches into its other web application programs. The first sort of experience I had with it was video animation effects. I drew over frames of my videos to create cartoon special effects and even designed some animations to “interact” with filmed characters. It was a brief period of time, and then I abandoned it for green screens, Photoshop, and other, more interesting pursuits.

I recently ran headlong into it as a form of web designer, trying to re-create the interactive beasts that roam the web nowadays, with little reward. A few brief online tutorials were not enough to teach me what I need to know, and the past year I’ve been learning the ActionScript 3.0 language at UCF. It’s extremely difficult, to say the least. (My final score in that class is a C. Yeah.) However, if I can master this program, and all its capabilities, it’s safe to say I’ll be pressing myself to go the extra mile for each project I do with it.

Dreamweaver

The web designer’s necessity. Almost as popular with HTML pros as Photoshop is with artists, Dreamweaver is the magical culmination of every web design freeware program known to mankind. It can handle JavaScript, CSS, PHP, XML, ActionScript, ASP, ColdFusion, XSLT, and every single variation of HTML on or off the face of planet Earth. Basically, it is the Chuck Norris of web design programs. Since all I know is how to peck out a simple web page in HTML, and write different font colors in CSS, and make a button click with JavaScript, this program is 99.98 times more than I’ll need for anything I do now. But for those of you (me) who want photos they edit dragged straight in from Photoshop or Illustrator, and seamlessly need stuff to work right, it’s a good investment.

Also, the new CS4 interface is genius.

Fireworks

For the most part, my artist’s weight tumbles my technical, computer-language-knowing girth, and therefore I’ll find myself gripping both sides of my head and going cross-eyes at the simplest of code, just to make the button go “CLICK” and send the oblivious site user to a different page. So the last few websites I made for myself were fabricated in Fireworks, linked together through the use of drop-down menus, and the code automatically-generated for me by Mr. Handy-Dandy Fireworks himself. It was cheating. It was ugly. But it worked, and now I know better.

Fireworks is primarily a drafting program. I can draw up a website visually, drag and drop buttons and logos and background images, and then slice it up however I want for easy downloading by browsers. It is then supposed to be imported into Dreamweaver and properly coded for the resulting good website. Haha. Shortcuts are awesome.

A wonderful little program. Just don’t start playing with 200-400MB files…terrible things can happen. Trust me.

Acrobat

Ahhh…Acrobat. We’re not talking about web design anymore…this is real, business-y discussion happening now. I will say it, and you don’t have to listen or anything. But it’s what I strongly push on new business owners.

Invest in Adobe Acrobat. It’s pretty expensive (the Extended version is $700 for a single license), but the payoff is enormous. Placing this program on each employee’s computer makes everyone’s life a million times easier. Collaboration on documents…any document you can create the Adobe products, and many more that Adobe doesn’t own. Changes and notes, video conferencing and presentations, form creation and sharing, web updates…I can go on. Check it out for yourself. And for designers like myself, who sometimes have to work at a distance from the company that hires them, it is invaluable as a collaboration tool. In effect, long-distance editorial notes and suggestions no longer have to be vague. It’s a gorgeous thing.

Other, Smaller Programs Featured

Adobe OnLocation is a fantastic video recording tool that, when hooked up to a recording camera and tuned correctly, records video in a legitimately awesome way, sorting and creating lists for the editor to dance about joyfully to. I have yet to use it professionally…perhaps I’ll experiment with it on “Stephen Priest.”

Contribute is a web program that a company could install on any of their employee’s computers, no matter what their experience with web design is. That person can then update web sites with information, blog posts, anything (as long as the site is programmed correctly from the start). It’s useful for people who don’t know web languages, but need to update sites with ease and speed and peace of mind. I’ve never used it, but I hear it’s fantastic.

Media Encoder is a lovely little program that Adobe began bundling with its suites, oh, about three years ago. Before this little wonder, whenever a program like After Effects or Premiere would export a video, the entire computer would lock up, and the choices were few and far between, and in no way could you customize how you wanted the final output to be. With Encoder, the editing programs now remain unlocked, and this baby take all the grunt-work, allowing nearly endless amounts of customizing. Exporting features for iPods and PSPs to Blu-Ray disks and cinema screens. Still pretty buggy, but each update stabilizes the thing.

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So yes, I’m a gigantic geek. But in my opinion, geeking out about Adobe products is about as cool as a nerdy guy like me can get. Now you know my story, and my many opinions. There’s so much they offer, and I’ve only breached upon the surface use of each program. Get down and dirty, into the nuts and bolts of each program, and the possibilities become boundless.

Adobe is a strong company, and their priorities are in the right place. Each product they release is of excellence, extolling the effort placed into the little things. Keyboard shortcuts speed up your life, and they know it full well, and employ them every chance they get. Regular updates, for the most part, keep their programs fresh and glitch-free. They are a company that stands for excellence. And for that, I applaud them.

Congratulations, Adobe.

You rock.

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Ahh…updates. No, I’m not talking about me writing a blog post to say how much work I’m not doing, nor to ramble on about things happening in my life. I’m talking about technical updates for programs, hardware, software, and most importantly…operating systems. Because this is a tech post. And unless you’re a nerd, it will be boring. Go read something else.

Okay, so I’ve been beta-testing the new Microsoft Office 2010 programs for the past week. I have two words: HOLY CRAP. Microsoft, since they’ve fallen sadly behind Apple on the popularity chart, has to begin ramping up the actual quality of its products, because people don’t just buy Windows stuff without thinking anymore. And I’ve heard so much whining about the interfaces on the 2007 products in my own circles, I can’t imagine how many whiny, spoiled people complained to Microsoft about it themselves. (Personally, I really liked the 2007 change. It was new, well-thought-out, and gave a fresh rejuvenation to a very old and firmly-established product line.)

But when people got wise to the design flaws (tabs were sometimes confusing, buttons were placed oddly, less customization was possible, etc.) and began having Windows ME-like daymares with Vista, talk began to circulate of a savior to the common man oppressed by poor programmers: CollabNet’s OpenOffice!

OpenOffice is a free, community-driven suite of programs that run the MS Office files, Mac files, Linux files, and basically any other file you can possibly find on any computer since 1985. The suite contains equivalents for Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, and Publisher, is compatible with almost every operating system, has peer-created content by the gigabyte, and is laid out just like the good ol’ days of MS Office 2003. Wow. What a great find. And best of all, it’s FREE. Yeah. Check it out here.

I’ll admit: I tried it. I already have Office ’07 installed, and I already really like it, but I thought, “Why not?” Thirty minutes later, I realized why not.

(In my opinion:) It’s terrible. I don’t really know why. But it bugs me the heck out. Everything seems so…Linux. Which is correct, I guess, because it is. What else would be compatible with everything? The interface is old and decaying, the file extension process is confusing and not for surface users, and the running programs are hefty and awkward. Seriously, see for yourself. (If you like it, more power to you. If not, maybe you’ll agree with me on the next few paragraphs.)

I don’t think Microsoft will quickly release its hold on the word processing business. I know Apple is developing new software, and that Adobe is getting in on the cloud-processing, but Microsoft loves its money. And the Office programs can reach $680 for its “Ultimate” package. Huge business will buy thousands of licenses for these programs, and that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit for the Gates kingdom. And now, with the server technologies developing into multi-billion-dollar revenue-generators, they’ve kept ahead of the game with their OneNote and SharePoint programs, their Office Live online suite and collaboration, and the release of betas for testing by the general public. It’s really incredible business.

Now, for a review of the Office 2010 beta:

Beyond satisfactory. Microsoft is beginning to impress me with their innovation. The new big thing is user themes (the user can create their own theme by selecting pictures, colors, module positions, etc. for their programs), and ’10 now caters to that idea. The modules, very similar to 2007, are now much more user-maneuverable, and the options everything on the interface now offers are tremendously helpful. Searches have been streamlined to work better for less-experienced users, and return a wide variety of inputted results. Programs like Outlook now offer email string collapsibles, much like advanced coding programs. Contacts have the ability to be connected to and from popular social networking sites via developer kits and smart people. The tabular layouts have been kept, but dumbed-down for the more-confused user who can’t just look at pretty pictures. Word provides easy access to much-used properties; Excel looks excatly the same, but better; PowerPoint won’t confuse anybody anymore, ever; and Access is full of brand new awesomeness that I never actually compared to 2007. It’s probably exactly the same, too. But everything has the look of a cleaner, polished, “this isn’t a test anymore” program, and it’s about time, since Apple has made more headway in the last three years than probably expected.

If Microsoft wants to stay on top of the game in the upcoming battle for customers, they need to quit thinking like they own everything forever. Because even if they do, it’s not an excuse for lukewarm quality. And there’s plenty more companies willing to get in on the action when something bad happens.

A note to consumers: Don’t settle. Don’t ever settle. Look around for programs that fill your needs, and do so with the least amount of discomfort to your and your hard drive. OpenOffice is a great example of teamwork and Linux programming. Adobe’s Acrobat.com is good example of web-based word processing. I’ve been using it for over two years, and it hasn’t failed me yet. And there’s tons more freeware programs to check out. But personally, until I either have no money for Office, or someone designs the most beautiful alternative, I’m sticking with Mr. Gates on this one.

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…there are a few concerns I have with Disney reaching out and touching other companies in the entertainment business.

First of all, I have a real problem with Disney’s morals and messages. Ever hear, “Dreams come true”? Yeah, I’m not really down with that. Dreams come true if you work for them…not randomly, and to people who feel oppressed by evil stepmothers/sisters. Also, that whole implied “Children are the most important people in the world” feeling they throw over all their “family products”…I don’t like that either. To me, a family that focuses all its time, money, and energy on the kids is an unbalanced household. Sure, in secular culture, a “good, grounded family” will give the kids priority over the parent’s selfish desires, but in Christian households, the center of a family is ALWAYS God, no matter what the kids’ involvement is.

The constant repetition of single-parent families…of kids entertainment that revolve around the kids and don’t involve the parents…of bratty, selfish children getting what they want in the end…of the non-stop, sappy, soggy, dead-and-dying “romance is the answer to everything” message…Disney lost me years ago. And now we’re gonna have a whole bunch of Mickey-influenced superheroes who have parent issues and need a significant other to accomplish their goals. I can’t wait.

You know what? Who am I kidding? Marvel movies have followed the same pattern for the last ten years. Disney and Marvel will make a great team, and cater to all the little boys and girls in the world. And I’ll wave goodbye to some of the best stories that never were, because a giant mouse bought everything yesterday.

Goodbye, Peter Parker. Goodbye, Bruce Banner. So long, Professor Xavier. It was nice knowing you when you were cool. I’ll see you again when my kids are old enough to see all your movies. Say hi to Minnie and Pluto for me?

But not Hannah. Don’t even mention my name to her. She’s got that restraining order out on me, and it’ll just look bad.

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Sin is a horrible thing. It lives in our hearts, and our minds, and our lifestyles. It invades everything we do, and warps everything we understand, and twists what we long for. It keeps us from the presence of God, and hinders our marriage to Him, and prevents us from imagining Him as who He could be. We must endure it until the day we die, and we must revoke it for the same amount of time. We do our best to shy from it, and at times we fall prey to it, and even indulge in when we are weak or careless. Our mouths speak it, our eyes see it, our ears hear it, our minds think it, and our actions distribute it. It is repulsive, disgusting, ugly, horrid, frightening, loathsome, terrible, and wretched. Sin is in the world, and of the world, just as the world is of sin. And yet, there is hope.

For when the Son of Man returns, and we are caught up into His Glory, and the world is made new again, there will be a time eternal, without sin. We can look forward to this time, because of the Hope that is given to us while on this sinful earth. Hope and Grace.

Now, here’s a misconception I’d like to address: The Grace that is given to us. Grace is almighty, all-loving, and all-powerful. However, it is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, or a do-what-I-want pass, or even a I’m-fine-because-I-believe-in-Jesus ticket. Grace is something we don’t deserve, and never will deserve while on here, and therefore cannot be taken for granted, because it is not given without a price!

When a Brother or Sister (in Christ) falls to sin, us Christians rally around that person and hoist them back to their feet! We must hate the sin with a passion, and do everything we can to help our sibling stand up and walk straight and true once more. But we must also keep in mind the heart of the Brother or Sister. If they do not first admit their sin and REPENT, we as Brothers and Sisters must let them crawl around until they can crawl no more. A heart that no longer seeks Christ is a heart no longer belonging to Him. And even a longtime Christian, with a former steadfast relationship with God, can fall this far, and they can only be helped so much before enough is enough.

As humans, sin is an everyday occurrence. But, as Christians, sin is a constant struggle. For a Brother or Sister to engage in sin, live IN sin, and not REPENT OF THEIR SIN, and then expect Grace to step in and cover them and everything to be just dandy- they are living a deceived life, and most likely know it, which is even worse.

To take it a step further, when that Brother or Sister causes a fellow Brother or Sister to sin, and engages in sin for an extended period of time, hurting not only themselves and the involved party, but also may others in many different and destructive ways, and that Brother or Sister then refuses to repent and seek forgiveness from his fellow Brothers and Sisters in the Church, that man or woman is no longer a Brother or Sister of that Church. I think all I have to do is point to 1 Corinthians 5 for the backing for this statement, as well as the understood context. All men fall prey to sin, and ALL MEN must act accordingly. Therefore ALL MEN must be treated the same, and repentance is NOT a request, or a thing that can wait until later. It is an OBLIGATION; it is MANDATORY; and it is REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY. If repentance is not present, no further growth or forward movement can take place, no rebuilding can happen, and NOTHING is CHANGED. This goes for Brothers and Sisters of ALL STATUSES, DUTIES, JOBS, RESPONSIBILITIES, and LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.

Also, on a personal note: Anybody who knowingly hurts my friends in ways that will forever change their lives…AND REFUSES TO REPENT…is not only an unrepentant sinner, but also an enemy of peace and love in my eyes, and will not have anything to do with me or my house as long as the sinfulness continues.

I mentioned Love, and I’m also prepared to talk about this screwy relationship it has with Grace and Mercy. I still haven’t totally figured this one out yet, at least not enough to talk about for long, but my take on it goes like this: Mercy is a choice I can make to offer someone. Grace is something God gives us. Love connects both of these Spiritual ideals, and brings both about through a bond. Since I can Love each and every man and woman, and not necessarily their actions or the sin they constantly live in, I currently have the choice to offer Mercy, because Grace is not mine to give. I do not want to confuse my Love for people as an acceptance of their sin, nor a tolerance of it in this high a degree. Perhaps I’ll think about it differently when I’m older, but for now, you can count on my completely immovable stance on this point.

Before I end this note, I would like to bring up a few examples of affectation resulting from this and previous related events:

1. My relationships with a large number of people have been damaged because of a series of lies I received. Granted, my immaturity and haste cause much of this problem. Unfortunately, my trust in this person was severely misplaced.
2. My friends, many of whom were already struggling with numerous overwhelming and discouraging problems of their own, were suddenly dragged into a pit of lies and deceit, covered from head to toe in a filth they had no part in creating, and dragged to the ground by an enormous load they did not deserve and hurt in so many ways. This is despicable. I will not stand for it.
3. I have personally poured many hours of my life into an obviously-unappreciated cause: the teaching of the untaught, and the loving of the unloved. This is taken for granted, because despite the hundreds of hours people gave to fight what they thought was a worthy cause, they were betrayed in an incredible way, and now must try to scrape together some optimism from the knife imbedded in their backs.

I will do everything I can to help pick up the pieces. I will love my friends with a fierce love, and be there when they need it. They don’t have to worry about being betrayed by me, because I am nothing but honest with them, and show my true colors as often as I can.

In order to not condemn, I will end this note. I have included a few verses below…I’m sure you can find the rest. I don’t know how many people disagree with me about this, but it’d be nice to get some feedback in the comments. I don’t want to be the only one who’s willing to talk about this. Anything overly personal will be moved to a discrete, one-on-one message. Good night.

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1 Cor. 5:1-13 – Immoral Brother
2 Cor. 2:1-11 – Forgiveness for the repentant sinner
Col. 3:5 – Put Sin to Death
1 John 3:4-6 (especially 6) – Sin and Spiritual Relationships

The post An Address to the Sins of the World appeared first on Of Psychology and Psychosomatics.

In my opinion, the Christian church has broken from its original purpose – the fellowship and uplifting of believers – and become another tool for outreach. I don’t know when it changed, or who decided to make it that way, but ever since, almost every organized church has followed suit. So you’ll see them, often standing just off the street, with cross roof ornaments and electric signs, announcing their presence and looking as inviting as possible. The front has been scrubbed white, the signs dance and change and flash news updates, the parking lot always has at least two or three cars for the wandering week-visitor, and sometimes that Sunday’s sermon title and service times. They go by all kinds of names – First Baptist of ____, or Our Lady of Saints, or some other cool name, doubly informing the passerby of its denomination and its location. And with each denomination comes a different approach to teaching and fellowship. Some are quieter, some are fiercer, some have your beliefs, some are just friendly. So people go “church-shopping” until they find one they prefer, and attend there until…whenever. Some visitors stay, some leave. The church who attracts many people grows, and builds larger structures to host its congregation, and each time the offering plate is passed, the tax-deductible funds collected are sent straight into growing the church.

Did I get it? Let me know. Anyway, that’s how I’ve seen it. There’s a lot more involved, but I’m describing the physical growth of a church in “attending members.”

So what’s my problem with all this? Because it’s focused on physical growth. Because it’s outreach-oriented; intent on attracting, and keeping, as many people as possible. I’ll list the reasons:

1. The more who come, the more ministry can occur.
2. Each time an attendee is converted to Christianity, it adds to the church body members.
3. The money donated can go into the structures, leader payrolls, and outreach programs.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but only one of the parts of one of those reasons had to do with outreach. Ministry, a huge factor in supposed church doctrine, is adopted in order to draw members. We weren’t told to bring more members in to our individual groups…we were commissioned to draw people to Christ, and His church. And buildings—! Christians met in households, and not ONLY because of persecution. They met in households in Corinth, where they weren’t pursued, and in Galatia, where it was free to do so. Payrolls were never an issue, because the leaders had jobs in the community. (Those are other huge topics for later.)

The ultimate result of constant outreach using the church group is a stagnant community. Sure, the physical attendance has grown to large amounts, but the ones who suffer are the Christians who come for true fellowship and to learn and grow themselves. When a church focuses on bringing visitors in, it must make the visitors #1 above all else. That means Sunday morning teachings by the pastor must be written for the new or young believer, and the older and more mature Christians cannot grow deeper in God with surface material. Stagnation is from nothing moving, and even physical growth is unable to awaken a soundly-beaten dead horse for very long. Even if the church is non-denominational.

Just try to think of the problems associated with an outgrown church that isn’t paying attention to needy Christians anymore.

• Less attention on internal problems and more on outer situations.
• A drive to be trendy in order to attract more visitors – leading to often unBiblical and sinful practices.
• Adaptation of worldly leadership roles and structures, turning it into a business.
• Division over doctrine, and trying to please everyone, splits and disfigures people for a long time after.
• Christ often forgotten as power struggles, arguing doctrine, and financial burdens overpower all else.

…Just to name a few.

The church shouldn’t be used as an outreach tool, plain and simple. Outreach is for individuals to do all day, every day, for anyone. Each of our lives should be examples of Christ, and our windows are opened every time we open our mouths on the streets. People see us as individual Christians…not as a group of nameless, faceless people. Really, if you were a non-believer, would you rather be introduced to Christianity through a person, or a huge group of people you don’t know? Which do you think is more effective at spreading the Word…a person sharing his beliefs in a Spirit-led way, or a bunch of people standing and singing a hymn? Think about it before going on.

Obviously, I’ve presented a flaw in the modern Christian church (and I think I can safely say In Most Cases) that I believe has been the cause of many flaws we see apparent today. I’ll record some Bible verses after I’m all done that I feel back my claim. But I won’t leave this alone just yet.  I’ve been accused of being judgmental and critical before, and “not helping the church by criticizing it”. Well, I am of the belief that criticism is just another way to perfection, and being humble enough to accept honest, Godly criticism is beneficial to everyone. However, I’ll also present my view of how a church fellowships that is strengthening and uplifting for Christians, God-centered and Christ-focused, and lacking some rudimentary problems that invade and destroy the first two.

Can we all agree that the Church of Christ is the most important thing we have on this earth? Can we all agree that without it, we will be susceptible to the enemy’s attacks, and that there is strength in numbers? Can we agree that fellowship with one another, with our BROTHERS and SISTERS IN CHRIST!…and the building up and bonding is what we long for, after Christ? Can we agree that our wisdom and knowledge comes from God, and we should share it with all who ask for it?

If so, then it’s not hard to change.

Here’s what I’d like to see: A Church that didn’t focus on Bringing People In.

If this happens, here’s what could arise:

• A church that was perfectly fine with abandoning funds, donations, buildings, programs, 501c3’s, pastors, praise teams, sermons, offering plates, youth groups, sound boards, pews, denominational functions, monthly communions, discipleship groups, parking lots, playgrounds, private schools, pizza night, leadership training, resumes, budgets, secretaries, lawn care, annual audits, and sound guys.
• A church that is perfectly fine with: Meeting in a home; having no structured meetings; having a small group of people; making it up as you go along; having one or two musical instruments; reading from the Bible; talking whenever you feel like it; having rabbit trails; praying randomly; worshiping God with all your heart; hearing teachings from non-elders; keeping your kids with you; sitting on the floor; being filled with the Holy Spirit; singing whatever you want; learning from more mature Christians; building relationships; dancing; giving prophetic words when prompted by God; asking questions; getting involved; hearing from God; and finally, growing and maturing as an adult Christian, constantly moving forward in His will for you.

I’d like to close with something I’ve wanted to say for a long time. I MISS THE CHURCH. I miss meeting and being a part of you. I miss fellowship and relationships with you on a weekly basis. But I cannot meet on Sundays, supposedly for God, and deal with everything else instead. So I’m searching. I’m seeking God, and hopefully I will find a body of believers who earnestly long for the fellowship I do. This is not a hateful statement, or a judgment. Only a personal belief and leading.

Some Bible verses for your perusal. Read the chapters for context.

Church Growth___
Acts 9:31
Acts 11:26

House Church Meetings___
Romans 16:5
Philemon 1:2

Church Division___
1 Cor 11:16-18
1 Cor 11:22

Church Strengthening___
1 Cor 14:5-12

Church Purpose___
Eph 3:10
Col 1:18

May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you forever.

Amen.

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