Friendly Feature: Steph Parker

Meet my good friend in Tasmania, Stephanie Parker.  Here she is with her (slightly hyper-active, yet cute) dog, Chloe.

Some things you should know about Steph:  She is a very loyal friend, is laid back, loves to laugh, and has the cutest sneeze.

We've known each other a few years now and really hit it off when we decided to take a trip together to Melbourne. We had a lot of fun learning to drive our rental car (a very new model with automatic transmission, and very sensitive brakes, which neither of us were used to!), as well as doing lots of sight-seeing and shopping.  And to top it off,  while we were there a volcano erupted in Iceland, preventing us from returning home for yet another several days.  Go figure.

Since I moved to Japan, Steph and I have been sending good old snail-mail letters to each other.  In fact, the first letter I received here was from Steph!  I love reading her letters because they are always interesting and funny.

Recently, for a bit of fun, I sent a list of 10 questions for Steph to answer about herself.  And for a bit more fun, I've decided to post her answers on my blog for your reading pleasure.  

So, here they are!

1.  My favourite colour is pink, which is kind of obvious, hehe!

2.  My favourite movie is "Raise Your Voice", it is a singing, but sad, movie.

3.  In my spare time I like to watch my favourite TV shows, do puzzles, sing, scrapbook, hang out with friends, play with my dogs, and pretty much just enjoy my life.

4.  My favourite Disney movie is "The Lion King".

5.  My favourite food is lasagne.  Yummy!!

6.  If I could learn any language, it would have to be Spanish.

7.  My least favourite food is pumpkin.

8.  My dream job would be an event organiser.

9.  I prefer winter, as when it is cold you can snuggle up & put on more layers, whereas with summer there is only so much you can do to get cool.

10.  My favourite ice-cream flavour is strawberry.

And there you have it, ten facts about Steph Parker.  Love it.  An Event Organiser would be such a fun job!

If you'd like to be my next Friendly Feature then contact me and I'll send you 10 questions :)

Have a great week everyone!

You Know You're Living In Japan If...

You eat your soup with chopsticks

Everything comes individually wrapped

The word "seafood" has taken on a WHOLE new meaning

The mayonnaise tastes AMAZING!

Hair scrunchies are back in fashion (with a vengeance)

"Ee?!" has become a permanent part of your vocabulary

Your first thought in the morning is 
"Which garbage day is it today?"

You own a bike and not a car 

You're surprised when you walk past a mirror
 and realise you don't look Asian

You're a little disappointed if you haven't had
 an earthquake in a week

You have no idea what the pizza delivery guy just said, because he was speaking too politely

Your definition of "personal space" has gotten a lot smaller 

You wonder how you ever lived without heated toilet seats

The cockroaches look like something 
from a sci-fi horror movie

You feel like a pig for eating your 120ml icecream tub in one go

It's 4 degrees outside and the school windows are still open.

Create A Meme? Challenge Accepted.

An Internet meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/ meem) is a concept that spreads from person to person via the Internet.

I recently started to enjoy the current meme culture on social media.  You know, pictures which resurface again and again with various funny captions.  Someone I know even got "memed" by his friends, using one of his photos as a joke.  And it was about then that I thought, "Heeeeeey, maybe I can make a meme!"

And so my project began.  I'll admit, the juices didn't flow immediately.  But I was determined I would create a meme, and it would go down in history!  

I downloaded a free meme app on my iPod touch, called "MemeCreator", and looked through the various photos and their usage style.  Eventually, I decided to go with the "Grumpy Cat" one, as that would probably be the easiest.  So for a few days I thought and I thought and finally...I got it!  The light-bulb moment.  

And thus, my first meme was born:

Okay, a little mean.  But hey!  It's grumpy cat!  He's always mean.

Well, I got such a buzz from creating my first meme, I decided to make another, and soon found myself on a roll.  One of my favourite memes is a "Condescending Willy Wonka" saying "Oh, you wear a Northface jacket?  You must go on so many adventures."  Not sure why, but I find it really funny!  You know, people who buy that expensive pro-bushwalker jacket, just to wear around town.  Touché, Willy Wonka!  

So here's my own Willy Wonka meme:

Yeah, I know.  Mean again!  So I decided to try something more neutral, and went with Philosoraptor:

Discovering this new medium for creativity has been really fun, and I will probably make some more in the future.  There's many great templates to choose from, such as "Success Kid", "Koala Can't Believe It", "First World Problems", or "One Does Not Simply".  

(These examples are from the internet and not me...but I like them!)

Now I'm excited to pin my memes to Pinterest and see if they go viral ;)

Oh, and in trying to find a good example of "Challenge Accepted" I ended up coming up with my own just now:

Creativity

I'm always inspired by this clip about our divine ability to create.  Even if we don't consider ourselves to be artistic, as President Uchtdorf says, we can all create in some way.  We can all contribute something to make life even more beautiful.

As I was reflecting on this recently, I came to realise that although we can create, we are somewhat limited in this.  Think of some of the greatest artistic masterpieces you've seen.  Chances are they are based on someone else's genius - that of the Great Creator.  For example, someone may create a beautiful painting of a field of flowers.  No matter how well the detail of each petal is captured, its true beauty comes from the original creation of our Maker.  

The same can be said for portraits, landscapes, and many sculptures and figures.  Even abstract art is often revered for the familiar things which it portrays.  When a piece of art does not reflect a familiar shape or pattern, it is often rejected by many as "nothing" or "pointless".  Being imperfect and inexperienced, we are limited largely to creating something based on the beauty that is already around us.

While we should still continue to develop the qualities we have inherited from our Heavenly Father, we can also be humble as we recognise and be inspired by Him as the Great Creative Being, and admire the 'art' he has created all around us in this beautiful world.