The Stripling Warriors

Ok, so maybe this post doesn't have that much to do with being in Florida. More on that later! But my cousin just posted this picture on his facebook, since he's leaving to be a missionary for my church this week, and it is fantastic. I just finished reading about the Stripling Warriors in the Book of Mormon. This is one of my all-time favorite stories from the scriptures. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a story about 2060 brave young warriors. Most of the Book of Mormon tells the story of the descendants of a family that came over to the Americas  in 600 B.C. Two of the sons were named Nephi and Laman. Nephi was a righteous man, and Laman was his older brother who didn't make the best decisions. Their descendents were called Nephites and Lamanites, respectively. So much, much later on, there was a man named Ammon who went to the Lamanites, on a mission, much like the one my cousin is about embark on, and converted a whole city of Lamanites. Because these Lamanites wanted to never again offend God, they took an oath that they would never shed blood again. Then the other Lamanites and some wicked Nephites began to attack them. These wonderfully righteous and penitent people would have rather allowed themselves to be massacred than to break their covenant with God. But what about their children? The Nephites were trying to protect them, but they needed more help. So two thousand of their sons volunteered to go to war for them. Alma 56:47 says: "Now they had never fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yeah, they had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." I love that. I love their faith, and I love that they had been taught by their mothers. I want that kind of faith. I want to be that kind of mother some day. As the war goes on, their captain, Helaman, tries everything he can to use them as a strategic tool, like using them as a decoy, so that they don't ever actually have to fight. Unfortunately, it finally comes time for the Stripling Warriors to join the actual battle. They fight, and after the battle is over, Helaman, with heavy heart, asks how many of his "sons" has fallen. None. Not a single boy died. The next battle rolls around. Every single boy is spared. At the time Helaman writes his letter to Moroni, in which he relates this story, all of the Stripling Warriors are still living. This account is so inspiring to me. Sometimes, you may think it's hard to trust in God, but if you keep your promises, God will keep His promises. It takes courage, and sometimes you have to take chances when you don't know all the answers. There are so many things I don't know, and I feel inadequate in so many situations, but I have to just keep moving forward with faith. 

Adventure is the Best Way to Procrastinate

Hello, blog world. I am still here! Actually, I just started another blog for my artwork, which can be found here: http://angelaisdoodlinginclass.blogspot.com/ although there's not much on it at the moment, but it's a good start.
Anyway, I had a great day so far today! I met with a lady at Hollywood Studios who works in the Ink and Paint department there for the Animation Gallery store. Once upon a time, there was a feature animation studio here at Hollywood Studios, where guests could see films actually being animated. When I came with my family in 2000, they were animating The Emperor's New Groove, and I remember that being one of the highlights I can remember from that trip. Unfortunately, Disney decided that they wanted all their animators in one spot, and closed the studio here. With the advent of new technology, much of 2D animation is becoming a lost art, and one of the first things to go was Ink and Paint. Back in the day, each frame of animation used to be traced onto celluloid (or animators call them cels for short), which are transparent sheets like the ones your fourth grade teacher used on her overhead projector. This was done using a technique called inking, which requires a very steady hand and a good sense of line. After they were inked, the painter would turn them over and paint on the back side to give the animation color. Now this is just for one subject that's moving. For example, if Mickey Mouse was having a nice little chat with Donald Duck on a windy day next to a palm tree, then Mickey, Donald, and the palm tree would all have their own cel. All the cels in the scene would then be stacked over the painted background and photographed. Remember, all of this is for one frame, and there's 24 frames for every second of animation. The woman I spoke with today told me there were millions of cels used in The Little Mermaid--which is incidentally my favorite Disney movie, and also one she happened to work on in the Ink and Paint department.
These days, all of that is done digitally, and there are only two mills in the entire world that still make celluloid (although now they make them a little less combustible than they used to--apparently people used to die!). So they try to keep this dying art alive in the humble little shop in Hollywood Studios by inking and painting cels, and framing them to sell to guests in Disney World. And, they let me paint a little bit of pirate Mickey! It was so fun!
I learned all of that today! Isn't that something? After that, I went over to the Animation drawing class (as usual, I've been there so many times already) and sat through 3 classes learning how to draw Disney characters. I love it!
Then I popped on over to Animal Kingdom, where I found some kangaroos and drew them. Kangaroos are my favorite animal, and are now also my favorite animal to draw. They have the coolest action lines. And they stay still a lot longer than most animals. Not like tigers. You expect the tigers to be all lazy, because when you walk up, they're sleeping. Then all of a sudden they jump up and they pace back and forth, and you can't get a good drawing. One cool thing that happened though, is that one of the tigers suddenly saw all the people gawking at him in the window, and he walked right up to the window, placed one paw on the window and gawked back. I could literally see condensation from his breath on the glass.
On my way back from Animal Kingdom, as the College Program bus was pulling out, I finally saw a wild alligator. It was running away from the bus. Have you ever seen an alligator run? It was pretty comical. Wow, look at my amazing photography skills, especially through a dirty bus window! Ha, just kidding, I found this one on the internet, but this is pretty much what it looked like, except I'm pretty sure its legs were flailing about in its attempt to escape the bus.
Anyway, I have to say that I am the master of procrastination, because I did all of this, knowing full well that I have so much work to do for my online classes, since they end this week, and finals are next week. But really, I have an A and a B so far, and for someone who is pretty much living in Disney World right now, I think that's pretty good.