NEVER! GIVE! UP! - When God Answers Prayer

I am back in school, this time for Graphic Art. I asked God to make it clear I am on the right path this time.

The grant money for my books has not come in the mail, and this is the second week of classes. I was thinking I might be getting my signal that this was not it. That was scary because otherwise I had no clue what "it" was! I found I had just enough to get what I needed for class tomorrow so that I would not get in trouble with my teacher. I still needed one more book, the one for Z-Brush, a 3D graphic art program.

A WORD ON Z-BRUSH: My teacher says that the way trends and demand in graphic art go, new things take off on the East and West Coast and then move inland until it is just expected and required everywhere. 3D, especially Z-Brush, is as important as Photoshop on both of the coasts already.

I am right smack in the center of the country, so for me to know Z-Brush is going to put me ahead. I am very thankful to be learning it my first semester here. Even the community college in Champaign, one of the best in the nation for graphic art, only emphasizes photoshop and the 2D industry standards like that. That gives me a lot more hope for employment when I finish here! 

Well, as far as an answered prayer, a dear friend came over and asked me how much I needed for my last book. I told him and he said he felt like God wanted him to help me get it now. He said not to stress about paying him back,do it when I am comfortable enough to do so. He was asking me questions and making sure I was on the right track before he helped me carry on with it. I said, "I asked God to stop me if this was not what I should be doing. So if you feel anything weird, do not help me. This could be my sign to stop." He said, "I had a green light all the way here. I was called to do this. Is this really all you need?"

Yep. Now there is absolutely nothing left that can stop me. The last day to drop without owing fees is this Friday. My friend coming to help me put an end to the very last possible obstacle. My sign for what I should be doing is set in stone now. 

I am thankful that I am studying this right before Z-Brush starts to become the standard and the bigger art school is still focusing on 2D only. I will be more desirable to hire if I can focus on Z-Brush for my portfolio, evidently. Good to know I am at the right place and on the right track.

Hopefully I can be sharing some screenshots of my 3D work pretty soon.

I also hope some of this info has helped someone else figure out what they need to do in the world of Graphic Art.

Godspeed.

~ Mother Star

NEVER! GIVE! UP! - My Miracle Baby is Now Working Again!

My car was down for over a month. I thought it was junk. It is now working again. I took it to go get gas. and it rides better than it did. When the temperature is above freezing, the suspension work right on all four wheels.

An idiot drilled out one of the ends on the battery cables, and I planned to replace them.
Replacing battery cables on this car is the first job on it I have ever balked at. When I got a look at what was going on int here, they run into the main wiring harness for the whole car and are stuffed inside conduit containing many major wires and cables for important functions. I dared not try it with my novice skills. That wiring system looked like a mess and I would have had to take all the conduit off and replace it... Not happening right now.
After replacing the old and badly damaged positive battery terminal, I found that the end on the positive cable would not fit over it. Someone had drilled the negative side out and made it too big,then the positive side had a cable connector that was too small. There was not enough slack to cut the old ends of and still make new ones reach. We measured the terminal bolts and the cable-end holes and found that switching them and repainting the terminals would work. Then I realized the battery posts were different sizes and that would not work. The old terminal that I replaced fell apart, literally, and could not be used again by any means.
Replacing the cables was not an option, changing the terminals would not work, reversing the existing terminals would not work either. No going back to the old terminal. At my wits end,and I hate to say I did this, I ended up drilling out the other cable-end and making it fit on the positive side.
The car started and I took it to a gas station for some fuel and gave it some injector cleaner.
I went by St. Mary's where I used to be part of the Perpetual Adoration project there, and would go to pray.
I did not stop there to pray, but soon I will. I look forward to getting that going again.

Praise God for little steps, and big ones.

Godspeed.

~Mother Star

NEVER! GIVE! UP! - Entering 2015: Things I Am Thankful For

2014 has had its ups and downs, as we all have probably experienced.
Last year ended in a much worse state for me than this one, despite the setbacks of these past four months.
The last three months of last year were worse, and the first three of this year almost unspeakable.
One year ago, I was feeling like I was back where I started, except I had to keep reminding myself a couple of things were better and different, There was more of a beginning going on and more hope. I had an online job, editing video for a Doctor in MA who  was trying to help people get off of drugs. He was trying to get his message out, and I was one of the people trying to help him do it.
I/have more to be hopeful about now then I did then. Some of the progress I was pursing late last year, that was interrupted by sheer hell, is now being resumed in a different place, with a better support system. I was enrolled in Black Hawk College for graphic art, but had to drop the week before classes started. I could be returning to RCC on the 12th. I need to see if it will impact RCIA, hopefully not, and verify how I will get home from school if I take that fourth class that would put me at full time. and whether it is an option to go part-time if needed. If not,I will do it online, through Ashworth College.
I was going to do RCIA last year, but missed the first class and thought I had to be there for it to do it at all. Now I am doing RCIA which I had been wanting to get done for about two years.
The thing I am most thankful for is having people who love me,
I also have access to therapy.
It is almost certain I am going to buy this house. I have wanted a house of my own desperately since I was little. I have wanted this house since I started working on it in 2010. I'm just a few steps away from that, now.
I have found more direction for what to do with my writing, and am waiting to hear about whether or not I will be published. THAT has never happened before ever.
I have a piano in my house now, so when I can resume lessons and such, I have something adequate to work with. That was a huge obstacle that stood in my path for a long time.
Since about 2004 or 2005 I have been interested in doing real estate.
I have the know how to get started from nothing, although it will possibly take time to get that off the ground. I at least know how to do it and have the tools needed to succeed - except a respectable vehicle. That part is coming soon if I can get into RCC this year, which I most likely can.

If we do get the vehicle, it has to be a truck, so Matt and myself can do scrap metal as well. I am not against helping people move either, for some compensation.