On this Date...
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Kevvo Live!
Happy 2012!
What's a good way to ring in the new year? Attending the theatre (French spelling intentional - this is culture after
all), of course!
For Christmas, Steve bought tickets for us to see Cirque Dreams Holidaze at the Broward Center - and he planned it for New
Years Day*! It was an amazing show featuring Christmas music and singers, tumblers, contortionists, dancers, gymnasts, and more that left us breathless (as ...
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The Ride
In my previous post I outlined a bike ride I'll be focusing on for the next 100 Days, so allow me to elaborate a little more about what the ride really is (as I post a paragraph from the web site):
"(It) began as a dream to create a bicycle event where 100% of pledges raised could go back to the communities to be used for direct services. That was over eight years ago, and so far $2.6 million dollars have been raised. 100% has been given back to the communities we serve to assist with direct services for individuals infected or affected by HIV/AIDS."
Welcome to The SMART Ride.
As I mentioned in my previous post, it's a two-day ride that covers 165 miles from Miami to Key West and I will be responsible for raising $1250 in donations.
Anyone who has known me and the work I've done for the last few years knows that HIV/AIDS is a disease close to my heart. I have countless friends living with it and I've known a few who have succumbed to it. I believe a cure is possible but it will take time and money to find it, and there are many who need help during the waiting process... that's what this ride offers.
I'm asking all of my friends and family to join with me in this important pursuit. Whether financial, physical, emotional or spiritual, I welcome all the help you can provide. I'll use this space to update you on my progress up to and including the ride itself, and I thank you all in advance for the support I know will be provided.
If you're interested in sponsoring my ride, you can visit this site to do so: DONATE
100 Days
100 Days to get myself in shape to make the most exciting ride of my life so far.
100 Days to raise $1250 to support local AIDS service organizations in South Florida.
As I consider what I hope to accomplish in just 100 Days, I'm overwhelmed and awed and nervous and optimistic. It will be a challenge to me physically and mentally as I work to get my body in shape and overcome the hurdles of doubt and fear that are creeping around the edges. I've never made a ride like this before and I know that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
100 Days.
And so the adventure begins.
I Got a Fit!
A 2010 Honda Fit, that is...
Part of getting a new job means that now I have to be able to get myself to that job. Since I've moved here, Steve and I have been able to share his car without too much trouble... sure, there have been some days when he needed to have the car and I was stuck walking or staying home, but mostly I've been able to use the car a day or two every week and that's worked fine for the errands I've needed to run.
Not anymore.
Now I'm going to need to have a car every day, and since I don't know what the hours of my new job are going to be, I'll have to have flexible transportation... so I bought a Fit!
I have to admit that I don't like buying cars. The last two cars I've purchased were blessings from people I knew and I was able to get reliable vehicles from people I trusted for a price I could afford. This time I had no such luck and I was left to figure out the best deal by myself*. What kind of car did I want? Would I get a new or used car? Would I buy or lease? How would I pay for it?
*Steve was also IMMENSELY helpful to the process.
We spent all day yesterday looking at and test driving cars so that by the end of the day I had a better idea of what the options were and no idea what I was going to choose. I went to bed last night with my head spinning and my stomach churning, knowing that I had two weeks to figure all the details out.
This morning I woke up and prayed about it. Then I found a car online that was newer than I expected and considerably cheaper than it should be. We went to check it out, we test drove it right away, talked the price even lower, paid for it, and drove away with it just a few hours later...
And now I have a car.
I'll post pictures soon, but I'm feeling very blessed at the way everything fell into place today... and this whole week. And tonight my head's not spinning and my stomach's not churning... I think it's going to be a good night.
Good night!
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho...
It's off to work I go.
I haven't posted anything about this before now because I didn't want to jinx the process, but I've been looking for work outside the house off and on since I moved to Florida. While I've been staying busy doing freelance illustration and design, it's been hard to make local friends or even learn the area all that well since my work usually keeps me at home. Now I hope to make some changes in those areas.
I was offered a job today - and I accepted.
My new job will involve working with gay and bi-sexual men ages 18-30, helping to educate and empower them to make positive life choices. I will be facilitating meetings and planning events, building relationships with other organizations in the community and hopefully developing some lifelong relationships with the guys I meet.
What does this mean for my current work and clients? Hopefully nothing. I plan to continue to working on a freelance basis during my free time, but now I'll be able to be more selective about the projects I take on. It will also give me the chance to work on personal projects as this job will provide a steady income that's been lacking for the last nine months.
I believe this is an answer to prayer, and assuming my background check and drug test clear, I'll be starting on February 1. I look forward to the new chapter and I'll continue to keep this blog updated, as well.
Peace of Christ.
Atlas Jesus
"One has a picture of a strong man trying to lift a very big, complicated burden. He stoops down and gets himself under it so that he himself disappears; and then he straightens his back and moves off with the whole thing swaying on his shoulders." --The Grand Miracle
This is taken from a reading about the Incarnation of Jesus that was written by C.S. Lewis, and it was the inspiration for the illustration I put together this week. It's a powerful idea that God would enter into humanity as a tiny human baby and that He would grow into a man who would be killed in his young adult life... and on whose death hung the weight of the world.
It's an idea that's too grand for me to try to represent it with my drawing, but it's an idea that's too important for me not to try...
God bless!
January Painting is Coming Along
It's been a busy day with a few different projects going on but I managed to find time to get some color on the illustration I posted yesterday. Here it is:
It's a new technique for me and I'm pleased with how it's coming along, but I hope ink doesn't mess it up... I'll keep you posted.
Okay, back to work...
January painting
It's not really a resolution for 2011 because it's a goal I set in November, but during every month of this year (and beyond) I'd like to complete a minimum of one painting. The reason is simple: I want to exhibit my work, but I need to have work to exhibit.
To get the ball rolling, I've decided to paint an image that came to me while I was reading something a couple of weeks ago:
I'm going to be revisiting my acrylic paints for this one, but I'm planning to water them down and treat them like watercolors. I also want to add ink outlines and I think I'll apply the inks after the paint - if it doesn't work very well I'll know for next time.
I'll post the finished art as soon as it's done - hopefully by the end of the week!
Happy 2011!
December was a whirlwind month (as Decembers often are) and while I was having a wonderful time seeing friends and family, celebrating birthdays, Christmas and taking a trip to Phoenix, I was also feeling guilty about the lack of attention I was giving my blog.
Then I happened upon a new (to me) blog by an artist I admire and I happened to notice that during 2010 he'd only posted about a dozen entries... total! I didn't feel so bad.
Then I watched Julie & Julia. For those that don't know the story, it's about a woman (Julie) who decided to cook every recipe in Julia Childs' cook book within a year*... and she blogged about her progress. With that kind of task, she was blogging almost every day. I feel bad.
*At over 500 recipes that's more than one a day!
This brings me to my own blog...
It's The first day of 2011, and keeping with tradition I've decided to make New Years Resolutions. I choose to make these every year in an attempt to better myself through discipline... and this year I resolve to post at least two blog entries a week. It doesn't seem like very much at the moment, but I have a feeling it's gonna catch up to me before long.
In order to start things on the right foot, I'm posting this entry on the first day of the year, and I'll refrain from telling you anything about the rest of my resolutions so I'll have something to write about when I run out of interesting things to share.
So here's to a great new year and lots of posts to come. Cheers!
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in Hollywood
Tuesday afternoon I got out my Christmas boxes,* unwrapped my ornaments, and tested my lights.** It was annoying to find out they didn't light up, and they were my only string of twinkling lights so I would need to replace them.
*Yes, there are boxes - perhaps more than makes sense for such a small apartment, but I've been accumulating them for years and I expect that at some point I'll be living someplace with a little more room.**Well, one string anyway - my tree comes with the lights already strung and it's only three feet tall so there's not much need for too many additional lights.
For those who don't know, twinkling lights look like a regular string of Christmas lights, but instead of keeping a steady glow, various lights will flicker (or "twinkle") at different intervals. They look spontaneous and when seen from a distance they make it look like there's movement .*** I saw them for the first time when I was in high school and I've put them on my Christmas trees ever since.
***Movement like a slight breeze - not like the tree's alive... unless the tree really is alive but not like it's going to get up and walk away.
Anyway, I figured replacing this string would be a quick job. I had to stop at KMart anyway, so I planned to pick them up there. No go. They had steady and blinking lights in various colors and sizes, but no twinklers. Okay, Michael's was across the street. No go again. I had the same result when I went to Home Depot next door.
After wasting half of my afternoon, I returned home to get some work done and consider my options. I'd seen billboards around town for a place called Christmas Palace (yes, it's real name) so when dinner was over I looked up their web site to find out where they're located. The site didn't tell me where to find them, but it did tell me they closed at 7:00pm... which was in about 45 minutes. It was a quick drive, but they had my lights!
Here's what the tree looks like - it's not a picture of the ornament I wanted to focus on, but it's the best picture I was able to take... maybe there will be another later.
