foolishnotions.net

i just received my very first ever custom gobos. (mom - those are the things that you put in the lights to make patterns on the walls.)

they are so cool! i can’t wait to put them in. i was shocked at how tiny they were. i tried to find a quarter in my pocket book to put beside it but couldn’t find one. it’s the plight of living in a town filled with parking meters. i did however have a guitar pick in there.

do i play the guitar?

um, no.

welcome to my world.

it’s here!!!!

step 1: get ernie to understand that we NEED [a-hem] he NEEDS a mac to complete our family ['er-- i mean...] to get his school work done - COMPLETE

step 2: orchestrate adoption process and procure the new family member - COMPLETE

step 3: negotiate a joint custody agreement - IN PROGRESS ( edit: SUCCESS!!! )

it’s beautiful!!!
welcome to the family mac mejia!!!

…for my honey, the student.

[sigh]

i’m so happy for him.

so, this is my thursday creative chaos contribution.
go pay the ragamuffin a visit to see even more chaos!

for those of you who know me from a distance, my references to the work i do at glory academy of fine arts may be a little confusing. i work for the rock, right? yes. well, i also work for glory academy of fine arts. here you go - - in a nutshell…

• glory academy of fine arts (gafa) is a non-profit fine arts academy.
• gafa is an outreach of the rock. we share the same building and we share the same core vision, but we are technically separate…. it’s a fine line, really. basically, we have a fully functioning school in our church complete with it’s own staff (some of which also work for the rock).
• i work for the rock and for gafa, doing pretty much the same thing… graphic design, web, sound, lights, video - basically if it has a button or a chord i’m in charge of making sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to. i get two different paychecks… but if you look at my weekly task list it’s pretty much a mishmash of the two jobs.
• gafa’s largest division is dance, but they also provide instruction in music, creative writing and drama and have plans to expand into other divisions such as art, graphic design and so on.

so, does that make more sense?

ok - - it’s may. and every may is the glory academy of fine arts annual production. this is no dance recital. it is an original full length production complete with lights, haze, set design, costumes, make-up and bobby-pins. lots and lots of bobby-pins! it is the fruit of an entire season of praying, brainstorming, planning, rehearsing, meeting, writing, communicating with parents, coordinating volunteers, creating sets, choosing costumes, make-up and crazy eye-lashes [gasp]. our goal each year is to communicate God’s love for humanity through the arts. our goal each year is to reach the lost with God’s creative genius. it all starts in august and after the 3rd week in may, we all collapse in a heap of physically spent creative bliss. and on june 1st we all can’t resist thinking about what next year’s theme will be.

last year our theme was ’seasons’. it was a powerful depiction of the season’s we go through in life and in our pursuit of God set against a backdrop of spring, summer, fall, winter…. and then spring again. leaving everyone expectant of another year of growth, excitement, harvest and strengthening. it was absolutely amazing.

this year our theme is ‘creation’. i have been feverishly cutting music, pulling together video elements and learning our new lighting system. the costumes have been coming in and alterations are underway. the backdrop was delivered early - so we get a little extra time to experiment.

i am excited every year but this year is different for me. i really think this one is going to be my favorite ever. i love the creativity of God. and nothing illustrates it better than this beautiful earth he fashioned out of the love of His heart in just 7 days. and this year God has blessed us with a brand new lights of our very own. no more renting!!!!

the rock and glory academy have a deep desire to redeem excellence in art back to the Creator and to equip people, young and old, physically and spiritually to use the talents God has blessed them with as a tool to spread God’s love. the installation of our new lights has been a difficult transition for some in our church. there has been concern about where we are headed with all of this new technology. are we trying to put on a show each sunday? are we exalting technology over worship? no, the heart and vision of the rock is the same as it has been for years… to make a difference in wilmington. to be effective in reaching this community teaming with such rich creativity, we need first and foremost to know our Father’s heart for his people; to reach this community of artists we need to speak their language; and, to be truly effective in our efforts we must add to our genuine worship - excellence. this is why, for us, these new lights are not only important - - but absolutely essential to accomplishing what God has set us here to do in wilmington. i am so excited to be right in the middle of it.

if you live within driving distance of the rock, don’t miss ‘creation’. friday, may 16th at 7pm, or saturday, may 17th at 3pm. go get your tickets today.

my brain is mush from learning all this light stuff. and, 20 minutes ago i pulled out our super duper new portable recorder to hook up. that should be easy enough, right?

holy smokes! i think this thing could get up, lead us in worship and then preach our sunday message for us! it has a ton of really fun features. i know. i know. just hook the thing up and get it recording. learn the fun stuff later. but, what fun is that? i mean this thing even has p-h-a-n-t-o-m p-o-w-e-r.

oh, alright… just the basics.

you know the funny thing i have found out about myself while on this little learning binge? i have found that the rest of my brain goes into moron mode. seriously. i have asked some of the most obvious, easy questions e-ver. people have been looking at me like, did you seriously just ask that question?

lol. the path to humility is humbling.

i am sooooo excited.  the transformation starts… tomorrow.  8:30am.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

i thought the popular questions about my trip seemed a little strange at first. then i remembered i wrote this post in close proximity to my trip and figured i should probably answer some of these questions here.

1. Q: (from twitter) “have fun, learn lots…. come home.” (ok, not really a question unless you know the source… just trust me there was a question in there.)
   A: i think my literal response to this was, “come home? are you really serious? no way you can get rid of me that easily!”
2. Q: did they offer you a job?
   A: this is a hilarious question. i was like a tadpole in the middle of lake erie down there. ummmm, no. they did not offer me a job.
3. Q: will i ever be as poplular as carlos? (not me - someone asked if they could be as popular)
   A: you know? i don’t think anyone is as popular as carlos. i don’t think carlos is as popular as carlos. it’s all just a figment of everyone’s imagination. i’m kidding. carlos wants to make a difference. if that means unabashedly promoting the fool out of his website… then so be it. he’s using it for god’s glory. so, if you dare be so brave… go for it.
4. Q: are you trying to learn how to become a mega church?
   A: i am trying to learn what i can from others who are making a big impact in their communities because i want to make an impact in mine. i have learned a lot of things that can be applied in my life and my job and i have seen things that work great in other places but would not work at all for me. i have no desire, whatsoever, to become just like anything or anyone but what god desires in his heart for me to be. that goes for my church too. i can tell you, very certainly, we are very different church. we have unique purpose in our community. i have no idea to what numeric number the rock will grow. but i want to reach as many as we possibly can. only god knows what that really looks like.
5. Q: (quoted directly from my website) “I don’t want to point out the obivious but Ernie is bald with a goatee and so is Los…. Is there a pattern developing. Just asking… Glad you are home.”
   A: yes, there is an pattern. an epidemic, actually. it’s called male pattern baldness. wikipedia says, “researchers suspect that several genes inherited from both parents play a role in androgenetic alopecia. paternal hair loss has been shown to correlate with chances of alopecia in sons, while variations in the androgen receptor gene (AR), which can also correlate with baldness, are X linked and thus inherited from one’s maternal grandfather or grandmother.” there is more. so, if you are not regretting asking this question yet, and would like to learn more… you can read all about it here.
6. Q: is your blog holding up under the ragamuffin effect?
   A: bluehost.com handled it quite nicely, actually. and most of my 300 or so new visitors left. so, i don’t think my blog is in danger of crashing this week.
7. Q: did you learn lots?
   A: yes. i got to see first hand a lot of things, technological and otherwise, that i had never seen up close before. they had some phenomenal ideas about children’s and small group ministries. but all of this, though impressive, was not my greatest take away. i was challenged the most by the obvious quality of their management and leadership. their team was unified, well organized and had a common goal fueled by a clear vision. it was glaringly obvious. and since i am, by my artistic nature, a little organizationally challenged, i think this is what i learned the most from.
8. Q: are you looking for a job?
   A: no. i am exactly where god wants me. i posted this post a few weeks ago to share something in my life that i believe many people go through but keep buried inside. but at the time of it’s writing i was pretty much over it. god had dealt with the issue quite handily. you see, i have quit before. i said, no more, to ministry life and went and pursued a vocation that had nothing to do with the church (or, so i thought). you know what i figured out through that experience? i can’t run away from the calling god has put on my life. quitting turned out to be little more than a detour. i landed right back on the course god had plotted in the first place. so, frankly, i realized quitting is futile. god has seared the vision of this house on my heart. i love my church. i love the leadership in this house. i love my city. yes, it gets hard… it’s demanding and draining sometimes. i feel inadequate constantly. but none of that really matters. because it’s not about me. and my god is more than enough.
9. Q: was it hard to come home?
   A: no. i could not wait to get home. atlanta is beautiful but the traffic was horrendous and i missed my family and my church. i was anxious to put into practice all the information i have filled my head with over the past few months. i talked to pastor b on the way home. i was telling him how going all these places and seeing how god is using others has been awesome. but i have been more amazed by how these experiences have worked together to make my heart beat harder and stronger for the vision of the rock. he quoted someone he recently heard say, “they are my people, but this is my tribe.” that could not hit it more squarely on the head. i hold my new friends dear. they are my people. but here is where my family is.. here is where god’s work is for me.
10. oops. i only have nine. so the last question is for you.
    Q: what do you want to know? do you have questions about technology in the church and what it means specifically for us at the rock? do you question why i and others have traveled all over to see other churches? is there anything you have been wanting to ask someone on staff but never have? ask.
    A: (this is you… comment below.)

well, lets see, catalyst ended last week - wow. that’s all i can say. check out what went on here, or here, here or here. typically, we have somewhere the neighborhood of 250 adults in the main auditorium. Sunday we had 428. eight filled out a connection card saying they made a decision to follow christ. i saw a few more hands than that during the service. it was a truly amazing day.

what else? oh, yeah…

• myles munroe is coming this weekend
• our new series, alpha, starts next weekend
• gafa production, creation, is in full swing - lots of music to cut
• our new lights are being installed in 2.5 weeks
• and, i dare try to go out of town next week for 5 days including a sunday.

weeeee… here we go!!!!!!

i just finished the series graphic for alpha. i am very excited about this three week series. pastor ron will be talking about our true source… the alpha. i have been a little obsessed with typography lately and was looking forward to doing a piece that lent itself to cool uses of text. i was a little sad, though, when i got done and realized that there is another expression of alpha in this graphic that most really won’t get.

so, for you rockers who read my blog, your reward for diligently stopping by is you get a little extra inside information on the word alpha. in graphic design we use special channels called “alpha channels”. ok, if that link spooked you, here’s my super simple explanation. alpha channels are grayscale and are used to define specific areas in order to make the process of image correction, enhancement and transparency adjustment much easier and more precise.  now, that would preach. … but i don’t do that - not in my skill set i’m afraid.

ok, so pastor ron’s message will include absolutely no information about alpha channels. his version will be much, much better. but, at least now you can make someone you are standing next to in church think you are super smart and spiritual with your own insight into the word alpha. you’re welcome.

the only thing i’ll miss about the cold
weather is cranking the heat up full blast
in my car and driving with the windows down.

yay! spring is almost here!!!

So, over the past few months i have watched my mac g4 dual processing dynamo age dramatically. first, my iphone won’t sync with itunes because my os is too old. then, flock won’t work at all. then, it comes down with something and needs reformatting (1 time in 8 years isn’t bad). then, this more recent post from the folks at flock…

Posted January 7, 2008 - 6:41pm by Mike Dosik (ok, this has been sitting in my drafts folder for a while… like, you don’t have any?)

Hi Folks,

We’ve recently released a patch to Flock 1.0 that allows Flock to run on Mac OS 10.3.9.

yay!

While we’re happy to be able to make this fix available, Mac OS X 10.3.9 is no longer supported by Apple.

boo! :-[

In fact Mozilla’s Firefox, the code that Flock is built upon, will no longer support Mac OS 10.3.9 in their upcoming release of Firefox 3.0 this spring.

boo. hiss. :-C

If you are a Mac OS 10.3.9 user, you will continue to receive Flock security patches and enhancements for the next couple of months.

yay.

Please note that at some point in the near future we will no longer be able to provide ongoing support for Flock on this version of Mac OS.

boo. [sniff]

Keep on Flocking. Love to the Macs.

aaaw. ;-b

[sigh] what a roller coaster ride… i AM TOO content!

how did i not know this existed until now????

i keep thinking that flock would be the perfect browser if it only had an ftp thingy… well guess what??? my life just got one click easier.

works in firefox too, for you non-flockers. if you are still using explorer… oy-vey.  for the love of pete, set yourself free and go download flock or firefox… right now - GO!