Nationally 1 in 12 persons age 12 to 15 are vulnerable to violence, approximately 80% of adult smokers started smoking before the age of 18 and the dropout rates of high school students is 9 percent.  Norfolk, Va is no exception to these statistics.  In keeping with enVizion’s mission to mentor our youth and also the City of Norfolk’s commitment to revive our community, enVizion is proposing the 1st Annual Teen Summit; Envision Success.

The Summit will be tentatively held April 3, 2010 at the recently opened Norview Community Center located at:

6380 Sewells Point Road

Norfolk, VA 23513

Teens attending this Summit will be given the important tools needed to encourage success and the training concept will be based around life skills.  Local volunteer organizations will be facilitating this event.   Teens from the ages of 13-18, will be given presentations on a variety of topics.  They are currently compiling lists of resources to better define this program.

They plan to not only supply the teens with life skills but also invite local after school organizations, ie. YMCA, Yes America, Defy, Community Athletics, 4-H and more.  This will give teens and alternative to going straight home from school into the local community and possibly being captured by the negative influences that pollute our local communities.

Registration for this event will be online via envision website.  Additionally, registration will be available at the Norview Community Center, including the day of the Teen Summit.

These are the other two miniatures I recently finished painting of Lake Whitehurst in Norfolk.   I’ve enjoyed doing these so much I’ve decided keep painting in this size for a while.

01 Lil Wayne – Hustle (Feat. Gudda Gudda, Birdman)
02 Drake – When We Come Around (Feat. Nickelus F)
03 Lil Wayne – Drop It Low (Remix) (Feat. Chris Brown, Ester Dean)
04 Juelz Santana – Swimming In My Money (Feat. Smokey)
05 Lil Wayne – Real As They Come (Feat. Dre, Tity Boy)
06 Kanye West – Whatever You Want (Remix) (Feat. Kid Cudi, John Legend, Common,
Consequence, Big Sean)
07 Rick Ross – I Dare You (Feat. Lil Jon, Kevin Cossom)
08 Birdman – 4 My Town (Feat. Drake, Lil Wayne) [Extended Version]
09 Gucci Mane – Ball Til Ya Fall (Feat. Birdman)
10 The Dream – Pregnant (Remix) (Feat. Robin Thicke, R Kelly, Tyrese)
11 Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind [Part 2]
12 Sheek Louch – Give It Up
13 Birdman – Mo Milly (Feat. Drake, Bun B) [CD Version]
14 Chamillionaire – Send Me An Angel
15 T.I. – In My Bag (Feat. Usher)
16 Drake – Money
17 Rick Ross – Angels (Remix) (Feat. Dirty Money)
18 Kevin Rudolf – I Want It All (Feat. Lil Wayne, Birdman)
19 Game – Buy You A Round (Remix) (Feat. Jim Jones, OJ Da Juiceman, Juvenile,
Jermaine Dupri, Verse Simmonds)
20 Kevin Cossom – U Know What U Doin (Feat. Pusha T)
21 Jim Jones – Hit Em Up (Feat. Byrdgang)
22 Young Jeezy – So Sad (Feat. Plies, JW)
23 Drake – Do What You Do
24 Birdman – Bring It Back (Feat. Lil Wayne)
25 Game – American Dream (Remix) (Feat. Slyhook)
26 Jim Jones – Love Come Down (Remix) (Feat. Fabolous, Red Cafe, Dirty Money)
27 J Holiday – My Bed
28 Snoop Dogg – Rollin’n A Drop Top (Feat. Tha Dogg Pound, A-Dubb)
29 Plies – Daddy’s Home (Feat. Usher)
30 Jay Rock – King Of My City (Feat. Juice, LV, Crooked I)
31 Currency – Jets Over Everything
32 Rihanna – Hole In My Head (Feat. Justin Timberlake)
33 T.I. – Let Em Talk (Feat. Big Kuntry, Brandon)
34 Kanye West – I’m So Apalled
35 Ludacris – Turnt Up
36 Nicki Minaj – Grindin Making Money (Feat. Birdman, Lil Kim)
37 Gucci Mane – G-Spot (Remix) (Feat. Wyld Money)
38 Drake – Invented Sex (Remix) (Feat. Trey Songz, Grafh)
39 Slym Hustle – Nobody Can’t Do It Like Me (Feat. L’Jai)
40 R Kelly – Elsewhere
41 J Holiday – You Don’t Know
42 Joe Budden – Russian Roulette (Remix)
43 Lloyd – Fly Away
44 Ne-Yo – Pictures
45 Jay Sean – War
46 Ne-Yo – Heartbreakers
47 Common – Strang Fruit (Feat. John Legend)
48 Gucci Mane – Trap Or Die 2 (Remix) (Feat. Young Jeezy)

Vezi: Biggy Jiggy .

Follow: @BiggyJiggy .

Via: TIS .

Opps it’s been some time since my last post and unfortunately I won’t be too elaborate today either And that is because I have to still finish a lot of things at work, and then I have to run home to pack for my secret birthday getaway!

Yes my husband is taking me somewhere and I don’t know where We’re going away tomorrow and are back on Monday night.

But I can already promise that I will tell you all about last night’s design event at Victoria & Albert Museum in London with Alice Rawsthorn and Konstantin Grcic about the Design Real exhibition he curates at the Serpentine Gallery right now and man, was it good! So stay tuned and you’ll hear more after I’m back!

ps. UPDATE: 5 min ago I found a letter in my office inbox, and guess what that was – a ticket to PARIS!!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!

———

Tak wiem juz duzo czasu minelo od mojego ostatniego wpisu i niestety dzis za duzo tez nie napisze A to dlatego ze musze skonczyc jeszcze sporo rzeczy w pracy a potem lece do domku pakowac sie na sekretna podroz urodzinowa!

Tak, moj maz zabiera mnie gdzies ale caly czas nie wiem gdzie, i wracamy w nocy w poniedzialek.

Ale juz teraz moge zapowiedziec ze po powrocie opowiem Wam wszystko o ‘pogadance’ (no naprawde czasem czuje sie jak analfabetka – jak odpowiednio po polsku powiedziec ‘talk’, ale taki mniej formalny niz wyklad?) miedzy Alice Rawsthorn i Konstantinem Grcic o wystawie Design Real w Serpentine Gallery ktorej jest kuratorem, a byla to bardzo ciekawa… pogadanka… (naprawde czasem mam ochote zostac tylko przy angielskim )

ps. UWAGA: 5 minut temu znalazlam list w skrzynce biurowej, i zgadniijcie co bylo w srodku – bilet do PARYZA!!! Super co nie

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going out to see my sister’s soccer team make it to the semi-finals of their league’s playoffs. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it to the championship game, but they did put up quite a fight.

The game was so close that they had to go to a shoot out to determine the winner.

Click the link below to view the photos from the game.

Gallery: SOCCER IN THE FALL

Happy Thanksgiving! – I’m thankful for so so much, but mostly for the true freedom I have in Jesus Christ. Laus Deo – Praise be to God!

outtake – I shot this group of grandkids with their Papa this morning. And let me tell you it’s tough to get 8 kids between 1 and 11 to be happy and look at the camera (all at the same time). But this pic just cracks me up! And we did get some good ones out of the shoot.

Tuesday’s That Ain’t Right Comedy Night at Fallout wasn’t as well attended by comedians (down to six from around 12 the first time out) but there was a larger audience and they were more responsive. My set was a mix of new and older material. I got some laughs from jokes which previously hadn’t done as well. I just wish I could remember which ones they were. Comedians who showed up included host Dave Hamrick, Ray Bullock, Marc Cooper, Kelly Henderson and Leo. The next shows are on December 15 and 29, which means I may get out a diaper for a New Year’s baby bit. I’ve got one more set in which I’m going to use this material, the December 7 Comedy Night at Cafe Diem.

Comedy at the Camel, another project of Dave Hamrick’s, debuted to a full house, with Ray Bullock headlining and Jesse Jarvis MCing. Sets by Roy Rogers, Dave Hamrick and Bill Metzger of Charlottesville, among others. Blake Midgette stopped by. He was just back from two weeks in New York where he did an open mic at a hole-in-the-wall club in the East Village.

I’m trying to catch up on my backlog of video material. Right now, I’ve stripped the audio from the October 4, 2009 set at the Last Stag Standing competition at Europa Cafe. The next step is to listen to the set or look at the script and get tags for when I upload to Taltopia, Punchline magazine, Gcast and Soundcloud. Unfortunately, I decided to scan the disk with those files on it for errors so I’m temporarily locked out and unable to work with them. The next step is to edit the video file in Pinnacle, which basically consists of slapping titles on the front and back end.

One decision coming down the road is my next step in terms of improving output. I’m still getting feedback that the sound quality of the video output of the Canon PowerShot is not that great, the latest comment coming from Virginia Production Alliance  on YouTube. I don’t have that much of a problem hearing what’s said certainly the sound could be improved. This would take the form of buying a Kodak Zi8, which mean an improvement in video quality as well, going from 20 fps to 30 and 60 fps, as well as going from 640×480 to 780p and 1080p.  This would also mean getting a wireless lavalier mic for what should be a big boost in audio quality. Another advantage: the Zi8 has has a remote control which means I wouldn’t have to be standing at the camera to start filming my sets and those of other people.

Other possibilities for improvements: Brother’s $50 personal laser printer so I don’t have to shell out an arm and a leg for ink jet cartridges any more; Serif’s movie editor so I can overcome the limitations of Pinnacle and one minimalist possibility, getting some business cards from VistaPrint so I can do some more publicity with Salty Tongue Records.

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*First one is charcoal; second is acrylic that I only used blue color, white and black;and in the third one I used main colors (acrylic) mixed.

*İlk resim karakalem; ikincisinde yalnızca mavi, siyah ve beyaz akrilik boya kullandım ve sonuncusunu da ana renkli karıştırarak boyadım.

Location: Terminal Highway, Norfolk, VA

Spotted: Large white van boasting ” We move seniors”

Mechanicsville Mechanics Concentrate on the Competition

The Flexicell-sponsored Tobor Fanatics won the Norfolk Regional competition of the FIRST Robotics Lego League, taking the titles of:

• Division 1 Championship
• 1st Place in Robot Design

The regional competition was held Saturday, November 22, 2009 in Norfolk, Virginia.  For the Division 1 Championship, the Tobor Fanatics scored 280 in the practice round, 1,270 in competition Round One, 1,270 in Round Two, and 280 in Round Three out of a possible 400 points per round. The next closest competitor scored their highest round at 165 points.

The team is also an alternate to compete in the Commonwealth of Virginia’s statewide event to be held December 5 and 6, 2009 in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The Tobor Fanatics
The Tobor Fanatics is a team of four fourth-graders from Watkins Elementary School and one third grader from another school who reported he found this experience “extremely worthwhile and rewarding.”  The team met twice a week for the three months leading up to this year’s challenge.

Mechanicsville Mechanics Show Off their Awards

Mechanicsville Mechanics FIRST Robotics Lego League Team Also Advances
The Flexicell-sponsored Mechanicsville Mechanics will also advance to the statewide competition in Harrisonburg, VA. Their regional competition was held Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the Maggie Walker School in Richmond, Virginia. The Mechanics placed among the top five teams and took two awards:

• 2nd Place in Robot Design
• 2nd Place in Robot Performance

Flexicell-Sponsored Teams
In 2009, for the first time, Flexicell sponsored teams in the FIRST Robotics Lego League division, including the Tobor Fanatics and the Mechanicsville Mechanics.  These teams are comprised of elementary and/or middle school students grades four through eight (ages 9-14).  The LEGO League is an introduction contest to the more intricate FIRST Robotics competitions held by high school teams around the globe.   Flexicell has been a long-time sponsor of FIRST Robotics champion teams in the high school level.

Flexicell, Inc.
Flexicell, Inc. is a leading robotic system integrator, providing custom packing, palletizing, and material handling solutions such as case packing, assembly, feeding of product to other machinery, vision inspecting, collating, machine loading and unloading, conveying, palletizing/depalletizing, and automatic guided vehicles (AGVs).  Since its founding in 1992, Flexicell has created automation systems for companies located throughout North America in diverse markets such as food & beverage, pharmaceutical & medical, manufacturing, electronics, automotive, and household.  Flexicell is headquartered in Ashland, Virginia.

Visit us at www.flexicell.com.

TNAU3E4A4F5V

Banda: V/A
Gênero: GrindCore/ PowerViolence
Download: VA – Tributo ao Nasum

Tracklist:

1. Coldworker – Den Mörka Tiden
2. Misery Index – Digging In
3. Leng Tch’e – No Sign of Improvement
4. Deathbound – Hog
5. Total Fucking Destruction – Blinded
6. The Arson Project – Corrosion
7. Rotten Sound – Resistance
8. Afgrund – Shadows
9. Mumakil – Gargoyles and Grotesques
10. Japanische Kampfh÷rspiele – Reasons
11. Dead Infection – Think
12. Kill The Client – The Rest is Over
13. Krush – This Is…
14. Infanticide – Lot Inte Asen Styra Ditt Liv
15. Rompeprop – Dissapointed
16. Nashgul – The Dream
17. Putrescence – The Black Swarm
18. Sanity’s Dawn – Corrosion
19. Splitter – Nõr Dagarna…
20. Blockheads – Going Nowhere
21. Accion Mutante – Tested
22. Embalming Theatre – Cut to Fit
23. Obligatorisk Tortyr – I Helvetet
24. Who’s My Saviour – Worst Case Scenario
25. Mastic Scum – The Masked Face
26. Keitzer – A Welcome Breete of Stinking Air
27. Depression – Fantasibilder
28. Collision – Closer To The End
29. Goregast – Stealth Politics
30. My Cold Embrace – Silent Sanguinary Soil
31. Magnicide – Spiral Goes Down
32. Poostew – Doombringer
33. Skatat – Fullmated
34. Utopium – My Philosophy
35. Rottencold – The Idiot Parade
36. White Eyes – Warfuck
37. Nyctophobic – Detonator
38. Infest – The Everlasting Shame
39. Black Hole of Calcutta – Information is Free
40. Drudgery – Words to Die For
41. Ablach – Too Naked to Distort
42. K.S.K. – Medley
43. Masochist – A Request for Guidance
44. Methadone Abortion Clinic – Sixteen
45. Expose Your Hate – Shapeshifter
46. Treason Grind – Fantasi Nesten
47. Sound of Detestation – Ditt Oede
48. Trepan’dead – Distortion & Disinformation
49. Horrificia – It’s Never Too Late
50. Grind Crusher – Black Visions
51. Venocide – Disforest
52. Creative Waste – Can De Lach
53. Bathtub Shitter – Rens

Que os deuses do GRINDCORE me perdoem, mas eu precisava postar esse play!  Simplemente destruidor!

Some times life can get crazy. Unfortunately, that craziness can also wear us down and keep us from doing what we really want to do.

The problem with getting worn down isn’t always that it physically keeps us from doing what we like to do, but rather that it can take your passion and make it feel like a chore.

When you continuously get tired you start to wonder why you’re feeling that way all the time. When you realize that it’s because you’re throwing all your energy into continuing your passion it can make you start to associate your passion with being tired.

Granted, these sort of times usually come around when you’re in a rut and are having a hard time thinking of ways to motivate yourself, but that’s when you need to remind yourself why you’re following your dream. Even if you’re not “following your dreams” it’s still a good time to take a step back and remind yourself why you enjoy your hobby.

If that means taking a couple days off to rest and get motivated, then do that. But do that with the expectation of getting right back into the swing of things when you’re done with your break.

I know all too well how easy it is to take a break and then decide to make that break last just a little bit longer. The only problem with doing this is that when I don’t make up my mind to continue pursuing my photography and blogging beforehand, I end up using any excuse in the book to push it off one more day.

Then there are the times when I don’t want to take time off because I want to push through the slump and continue to be productive.

To be honest, this is one of those times for me right now. I have been so worn out by everything else going on in my life that the last thing I want to do is to sit down and write another blog post.

Surprisingly, I’m also finding myself reluctant to push myself to do things as fun as a photo shoot. I mean, I absolutely love taking photos for crying out loud.

So for everyone else out there who is having a hard time staying motivated, let this be an encouragement to you. Don’t lose sight of why you enjoy what you like doing. Don’t stop pushing yourself. Don’t let yourself become complacent with where things are in your life.

Keep at it.

busy day – Today was incredibly busy so I grabbed a pic of the ceiling at First Pres after the Thanksgiving service tonight. Check out my awesome flare, over-exposed, grainy and contrasty pic of the day. Woot!

Scars To Freedom, founded by Guadalupe Ponte, is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization committed to free scar removal for our nation’s veterans wounded in combat.

For more information visit their web site or watch the report below.