The Law of the Garbage Truck

Happy Mommy Day to all mothers, grandmothers and future mothers, or even if you have a mother's heart.  A good friend of mine has reminded me that choosing a good attitude is what we have to do to be happy in this world.  I received the below in an email I got a long time ago....I feel inspired to share it with you today!

How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive colleague ruin your day? Unless you're a robot, you are bound to blow your top off. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly he or she can get back his or her focus on what's important. 
  
Some time ago, I learned this lesson. I learn it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened.
 
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
 
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.
 
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So, I said, 'Why did you do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
 
And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now called, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.
 
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. If they happen to dump it on you, don't take it personally.
 
You just smile, wave, wish them well, and moved on. You'll be happier if you did that rather than fight them.
 
So this was it: 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'.
 
I started thinking, how often do I let garbage trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the street? It was that day I said, 'I'm not going to do it anymore.' I see garbage trucks everywhere and everyday. I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
 
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know they have to welcome their kids home from school with hugs and kisses. Teachers and parents know that they have to be fully present and at their best for the people they care about.
 
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
 
Here's my bet. You'll be happier.
 
So...love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe that every thing happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, TAKE IT!
If it changes your life, LET IT!
Nobody said it would be easy...
They just promised it would be WORTH IT
   
'Life is short. Enjoy the journey.'

Let the Summer Begin!!!

Went to my summer classes yesterday....not bad.  Archaeology 1000 seems interesting, the hard part is listenting to "we all came from Apes and lived in Africa" crap!  But one must jump through the hoops to get the grades!

However, the History of Rock n' Roll (70's and 80's) class was extremely interesting.  We started with Blues British Bands, like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, then we moved onto American Southern Blues Bands, like Santana, The Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels Band, and finished off with ZZ Top.  These songs or groups I have never been interested or liked, however, I could really appreciate where they were coming from and especially Black Sabbath laying the blue prints for Heavy Metal.  I was impressed.

My online course, Childrens' Literature....so much reading!!!  But extremely interesting!  I'll keep you posted!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Videos from my Video Sketchbook Class

Hello All....as promised I have all of my video assignments from my video sketchbook class this past semester (Spring 2012).  We had MAC computers using Final Cut Express to edit, alter and create our video projects.

In this class there were certain rules that we had to follow:
    1.  No music whatsoever!
    2.  Each video could only be 90 seconds long, no more no less - 1:30 exactly!
    3.  You had to find or create your own audio sounds.  You couldn't get them from the internet, you  had to create and alter the sounds yourself. (we used Audacity...Free Software you can download)
    4.  You couldn't use any vacation videos that you took of your family - had to be fresh and unrelated to leisure time with family or friends.
    5.  We couldn't film anything in or around the University.  My professor had seen way too many of the same staircases and hallways for years - it had to be filmed in a space that he hadn't seen before!

I LOVED this class, and I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I enjoyed making them!  There were 9 video projects that were assigned during the semester. 

You can view them on YouTube... just click on ZiptoDaloo and it will take you to my channel so you can see all of them.  Tell me what you think!!

Spring 2012 Final Marks

I have finished my semester for Spring 2012 and here are the final marks:

Art History:  B-
Neuroscience:Brain & Behavoir:  B
Painting I:  A
Video Sketchbook:  A-
Overall GPA:  3.23

I will try to bump up my GPA this summer when I start my summer semester this Monday (May 7th).  I will be taking:

ONLINE COURSE:  Children's Literature (manitory for my Minor in Language Arts)
Archology 1000 (my last Science GLER)
History of Rock & Roll from 1968 to 1990 (one of my electives)

Wish me luck everyone!

Painting is Finished

It is finally finished......to recap.....I had to take 3 historical works of art and combine an element from each of them together. (Renior - the Umberellas, Jack Vettriano - woman with the sunglasses, and another female artist, but can't remember her name, but her piece is called "The Burial" - the crouching man).  I also had to take modern images (like the pig, fish, girl holding the rod, and the tree) into the picture somehow.....this is what I came up with and I LOVE it. 

I used bubble rap, collaged assorted paper (background), white paper roses, stamps, wax crayon (umbrellas and melting colors), and scrapbooking paper...oh, yes and my imagination!  Tell me what you think!!

Close-Up #1

Close-Up #2

Close-Up #3

Close-Up #4

Close-Up #5

Close-Up #6

Close-Up #7

Phase #2 - Painting Final

Here is more of my Final painting...as it has progressed!  The umbrellas are wax crayon melted...like melting colors onto the umbrellas.  Hope you like.....more to come!

Close - Up