oh brother

My brother bid this ballad to me before I decided to abandon the life I once knew. From the book of Acts chapter 7, it reads, "Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you."
Ain't that the truth.

Nothing to lose.

What would you do if you lost everything?

What if all your close friends have moved away? What if your family is too far to reach? What if the internet stops working and you cannot skype and your phone has run out of minutes? What if the television stops working so you cannot receive cable, and your DVD's will not play correctly. What if your computer conks out, or just doesn't work as good as it use to? What if the amount of money you use to make is cut in half and you have little hope of getting that other half back? What if you get caught in a rain storm with no umbrella and when you go home to take a hot shower, the electricity goes out, so now you have no hot water? What would you do?

Believe it or not, people used to live with no electricity, no hot water, no cable, no iphone or iMac, no Adobe Creative Suite or Wacom tablets. In the modern world we designers have become so accustomed to these things. When technology does begin to break down, we tend to do the same. It slows down our productivity. Clients don't want to see a sketch, they want to see smooth crystal clear gradients, shiny computer graphics, the "slick" design. What happened to drawing with pencil and reading from a book? What happened to lithographers, wood cut printers, and sign painters? When everything is stripped away, breaks down, or stops working we'll have to result to this anyway to get the job done. So why not continue using these skills?

Perhaps we're scared that we'll actually have to use our hands. Maybe we're afraid of being labeled amateur (Is this a French word?) But, if everything is gone, broken down and cut off, what else can you rely on?

Only your God given creativity, and God Himself.

speechless. . .

I've had a share of crazy situations and heard some crazy stories, but this by far out weighs them all:

"Lord help these people. So, I was at a birthday party for my friend here from Texas. She is here as a missionary and her clique of Texans are all here with their church doing mission work in secret, cause you can't be too open in communist land. I was on the couch chatting with another lady who is from Arizona originally, and she has the cutest little girl and adorable little plump face boy who is maybe 1 or 2. He's soo plump I can't tell how old he really is, lol. 


Well, the lady from Arizona, told me about how the Vietnamese were "checking" little foreign babies to see if they were a boy or a girl. . . She said it happened to a friend of hers and the friend's child hates Vietnamese now because of it, gee wonder why? So Sarah says it happened to her baby boy one day, out in public, broad day light, they were near the big Notre Dame Cathedral, and this woman reaches toward the boy to reach in his diaper to "check" if he is a boy or girl, Sarah catches her and slaps her hand and says "NO!" really loud of of course. . . but I'm sitting on this couch like WTF, THAT'S MOLESTATION!!! She just molested your child in front of you. The woman wouldn't have a hand left if I caught her doing that to my child, What in tha world is wrong with these people???!?! And it's not a Vietnamese thing because she asked around, and Vietnamese people told her it's not common. I commend this woman for being fairly calm, but I would NOT have my children in this part of the world, Especially if I was white! You are a moving target, and they will kidnap your child and sell them into slavery. People say I'm brave for riding a motorbike? No YOU'RE brave, to #1 have your toddler child playing with these crazy children, and letting every Thuy, Thu, and Ngan touch your child's skin and hair, and . . . #2 withstanding the heat while pregnant AND #3 Actually trusting ANY Doctor over here foreign or Vietnamese to birth your baby properly. . ugh.

Second crazy thing. I didn't see it, but our Brazilian co-worker comes into the office one afternoon, I guess he went out for coffee, comes back and says he just saw a naked woman walking down the middle of the street, in the middle of traffic. He says she was completely naked, just frolicking down the street. Passed the police directing traffic nobody stopped her, no one pulled her to the side to put clothes on her. . . . . what is going on here??!?"