BenjaminDBailey
Where art comes to life!
A Family Moved
Jul 15th
Last week I helped a family move from Berea, about 15 miles out of Cleveland, Ohio. It was a pleasant trip that lasted about three days. I went with Reverend Robert O. Morey and three friends, and we helped by packing boxes and loading the truck.
The moving crew 
Just this last Saturday, some friends helped move the family into their new home in lovely West Virginia.
We left on Tuesday morning, and traveled to Berea. We helped them pack boxes, move furniture, and, decidedly the heaviest of all, carry the piano to the truck.
Robert and I stayed at a very kind couple’s home, who lived near a pleasant little shopping area, which was set within restored historic buildings, complete with brick walkways and an old steam engine, which was on display.
The conversations with the townspeople were very interesting, complete with opinions on immigration and the government’s move to sue Arizona. Breakfast was a lovely thing at the Odd Fella’s cafe, where Mr. Morey and I had a late start one sunny morning.
One evening Robert and I went to the University Circle area of CIM (Cleveland Institute of Music) to visit a friend of ours, Mingli Sun, who is pianist working on his masters degree at CASE Western and CIM. We had a very enjoyable talk and then headed back to our lodging.
Robert, Me, and Mingli
Long story short, the organization of the moving was great, and we worked together to make it happen.
On our last day in Ohio, the day we were to head back to West Virginia, we decided to visit the Cleveland bay and see some historic replicas of tall ships.
Our trip home was uneventful, save some more McDonalds smoothies and interesting conversations on haircuts, men’s style, and my future career.
Well, that’s about it. I really appreciate the good morale of my friends and pastor as we helped our friends move to West Virginia, and the great time we had, which I hope we will always remember.
And tomorrow evening starts another journey: my participation as part of a team creating an animated short film as our entry to the Richmond 48 Hour Film Festival, led by Jason Van Gumster. But more on that later.
For now, good tidings and fair sailing.
This is Benjamin Bailey, signing out.
The open sea... er, bay :}
Travel, Blender, Writing… Oh my!
Nov 20th
I’m back at last*, and ready start posting again! Life has been interesting, to say the least. In this past month and a half I’ve visited Cleveland to check out the Cleveland Institute of Art, started NaNoWriMo halfway through November, been requested to do an article for BlenderArt Magazine, and helped a family move to a new house. Crazee, eh?
Let’s start from the end and move back – so, let’s begin with today.
Today I took the Humanities CLEP pretest, and got 13 wrong out of 61. Not too shabby, right? Well, that means it’s still partly shabby. 
So, I not only need to study the questions I got wrong, but study the questions I guessed on (which adds another 12, not including the questions I guessed and got wrong.)
Last night I started an art project for the BlenderArt Magazine, issue #25. Sandra Gilbert (managing editor of BlenderArt) contacted me via Facebook, asking if I would do an article, and I agreed. 
So, I am working on a little snowy (and hopefully creepy) scene, and plan to write an accompanying “making-of” for the upcoming e-magazine issue.
Snow scene – Note: it’s currently a work in progress
Recently I also did a little project (for myself,) called Wings of Tribute. It’s in honor of each nation’s Airforce – to their passion, skill, and sacrifice.
Wings of Tribute
Also, this month is November, and you know what that means! Yep, NaNoWriMo 2009! The National Novel Writing Month, where you have to chuck out 50k in 30 days. Not too bad – if you don’t start late. I’ve still only got under 6k words, with about 10 days to go! Here’s to hoping I pull through (perhaps with Write or Die!)
Recently I got back into preparing articles for BlenderNation.com, which has been very rewarding. See some of my articles here.
And then there’s Cleveland. I went there for a week and stayed with some friends, and got to shop at a Chinese market, taste bubble tea, check out the Cleveland Museum of Art and learn who Gauguin is, be captivated by a botanical garden, audit some classes, met professors, learn how to navigate a city by myself, and most of all, meet a bunch of neat people I hope I will never forget! I may give a more in-depth report on my opinion of CIA, but until then, let’s just finish this post with a few pictures from my trip.
Crazy night lights on the way to a restaurant
Rehearsal in Mixen Hall, CIM
Me drinking hot chocolate and trying to look cool
The Cleveland Botanical Garden glass room
All images Copyright © 2009 Benjamin Bailey
I used DBP Batch Processor plugin for GIMP to resize these images. Though of course, I could have resized them with imageshack.us.
And of course, I’m learning how to drive. Yes, I know, I’m “late”, but hey, I’m learning it now.
And for all of you duckies who want to succeed: work, listen, love.
Cheerio! (No, I’m not Brittish 
)
-Ben
P.S. Now that I’ve been so prideful, pray that I do not fall!
*Sorry, it’s taken me some time to get around to writing a post. Also, I was not being able to find out how to login to Wordpress.org app that is installed on the host (if you have trouble with this, try: www.examplesite.com/wp-login.php (emphasis added for clarity.))
