Flash class starts

I'm taking two classes, Adobe Flash, and a one-credit class called Online Success. The latter is just learning how to do classy stuff. I can do that!
http://janelwashere.weebly.com/
I'm SO relieved to be back in fun graphics classes again. Math is fun too, or would be if it was a more leisurely pace, but they pile so much into math class! This last one that was causing me to go all freak-out, was having us do four sections a week, and each section contains six to ten new concepts. I'm not exactly a slug at all this, but my distraction level with five kids around is huge. You need a little quiet to understand new things in math.
With graphics class it's basically just tutorials, nothing you really have to "get", it's just another crafts project that can be set aside and later picked up at exactly the same place. And the workload is just a lot less. I don't know why, maybe they think math is supposed to be a serious class, and you're supposed to be grim and desperate all the time?

Gardenscapes

This is a really fun, calm, soothing "find the object" game. Give it a try if you're stressed. Here's a free online preview, good to play at lunch :-)
There's a lot more to the real game!

http://playrix.com/online/gardenscapes.html

for the darker days...

December 23 - Evening

“The night also is Thine.”–Psalm 74:16

Yes, Lord, Thou dost not abdicate Thy throne when the sun goeth down, nor dost Thou leave the world all through these long wintry nights to be the prey of evil; Thine eyes watch us as the stars, and Thine arms surround us as the zodiac belts the sky. The dews of kindly sleep and all the influences of the moon are in Thy hand, and the alarms and solemnities of night are equally with Thee. This is very sweet to me when watching through the midnight hours, or tossing to and fro in anguish. There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun: may my Lord make me to be a favoured partaker in them.

The night of affliction is as much under the arrangement and control of the Lord of Love as the bright summer days when all is bliss. Jesus is in the tempest. His love wraps the night about itself as a mantle, but to the eye of faith the sable robe is scarce a disguise. From the first watch of the night even unto the break of day the eternal Watcher observes His saints, and overrules the shades and dews of midnight for His people’s highest good. We believe in no rival deities of good and evil contending for the mastery, but we hear the voice of Jehovah saying, “I create light and I create darkness; I, the Lord, do all these things.”

Gloomy seasons of religious indifference and social sin are not exempted from the divine purpose. When the altars of truth are defiled, and the ways of God forsaken, the Lord’s servants weep with bitter sorrow, but they may not despair, for the darkest eras are governed by the Lord, and shall come to their end at His bidding. What may seem defeat to us may be victory to Him.

Frozen water droplets on a leaf

Just one pic at 1280x960 for wallpaper purposes. Pretty, isn't it?

String quilting!!!!

Oh boy I've wanted to do this for, like, ever. I just took a moment tonight. It was so much fun! I'm the kind who loves scrounging AND loves jigsaw puzzles, and this is both. I used an old dress that was practically threadbare for the foundation pieces. I was going to use 12"x12" squares, but that was impractical because the strings would have to be too long, so I cut that in half. I love the lack of planning and I love the way they look! This is a project that can be kept somewhere and gradually added to until one day there's enough for a quilt.

Snapshots from Capitol Lake

Math class

It's week three in math class. We have an exam every Tuesday. There's usually four sections in the math book, so I try to do the test first thing Tuesday, then a section each day. Saturday's available for spillover (which I haven't not needed yet) and then I do review on Monday. I've been having a real problem with attitude the last couple weeks, I just feel so frantic and panicky, "I can't possibly do this". Not that the math itself is so hard, but there's so many distractions around here, and my mind itself is the worst distraction. I daydream! I learned that word in second grade. The teacher accused me of doing it, and I didn't know what the word meant, so she enlightened me. If I had the luxury of a quiet white-painted room to study in, the daydreaming would be worse. I know I'm daydreaming, actually obsessing or fretting is more like it, and that causes me to expect even less success. Depressing thoughts multiply, you know. A few days ago I was in complete despair, just could not get my brain to settle on the problem and actually think. I took the math book outside in the sun, and got through a bunch of pages with no problem. So the key is a little distraction...

The KEY is to keep a few of my senses busy, so that a narrower section of my thoughts are free. If I sit outside in the breeze, or treadmill or knit while looking at the math book, it soaks right in, no problem. The other key is to read the section through first. It's usually eight or ten pages, and it doesn't take long to read that while knitting, and it's usually less terrifying than it looks. I get a basic grasp of what it's talking about, then I have a feeling of success-- after all, I did just get through a whole section! Then go back and do all the exercises in a better frame of mind, and they go quickly.

I'm practically the only one to post on the message board in this class. It's very puzzling. It's a full class, and it's an online class, so where is everybody? The last two classes always had lots of people posting questions and comments. There's only one other lady who's posted more than one question. The teacher's very good about answering questions, better if they're specific. He reminded me to watch the videos. I'm letting two of them load right now. After reading the section and writing this message, one video is half loaded and the other, oh hey, it's almost done. Dialup!! I remember when we chose among 14.4 and 28.8 modems and 56k was lightning fast. Yes, I'm an old bat. I'm the old person in class now. Always there's been one old bat to make the rest of us feel comfortable, but now I'm the old bat and everybody else is twenty. Sigh.