favour

What the deuce is up with my blog? I keep posting blanks!!

Anyways, basically last night I wrote and asked for prayers because I was getting super sick, and I had to start my new job today and also work at my old one in the afternoon/evening.

Well I got up this morning, got ready for work, and caught the bus...but only made it about 20 minutes of the way. I had to get off because I was about to lose my lunchables...the guy next looked pretty freaked out. But I called up both employers and it looks like things are going to work out! Lets just hope I feel better soon.

Mark

A life lesson

ok well thats odd, looks like a shot a blank in the posting world. I'll see if I can recap my post.

Thursday night I went to see "Persuit of Happyness" with Will Smith and his son. I was actually a really good movie, except for one link they associated happiness with. But overall good. At one point the son is talking to the dad, and the boy tells this story he creates:

"Once there was a man in a lake. He was drowning. A big boat came up, and the men asked if he needed any help. He replied 'No thanks, God will save me!' So the boat drove a way.

He struggled for a bit more, and another boat drove up. They again asked 'Do you need any help?', and he again replied 'No thanks, God will save me!' So the boat drove away. After that, he drowned.

He woke up and found himself at the pearly gates, standing in front of God.

'Why didnt you save me!??' He asks, to which God replies 'I sent you 2 big boats you Dummy!"

Coming from a 5 year old, this was pretty funny. But the moral of the story is take advantage of every opportunity you can.

Anti-Valentines Day

Valentines day sucks when your single. Of course I dont know how great it is when you arent single, but I'm assuming its better, because you get presents. I worked all day, and then went to a church service with another single male friend(the only other single guy in our group of friends), then came home and was annoyed by my roommate and his girlfriend, but amuzed by the card my other roommates girlfriend wrote him. Kudos to Nola for writing this:



The Littlest Cupid:

This is the story of the littlest Cupid
He is small, he is cute,
And also quite stupid.

His first day on the job,
He saw me looking at you,
Like some love sick knob.

So with a smile he drew from his quiver,
Loaded his bow, took aim,
and then with a shiver,

He closed his eyes,
He drew and he fired,
His shot was perfect but to his surprise...













It ricocheted of a tree
Him him and he died!!!

(followed by a drawing of the face of cupid with an arrow in his forehead:))

And then I drank a Mike's Hard lemonade to compensate for the lack of other gifts.

God's sacrifice...a 3rd grade example

Thanks to Justine VanderGrift for this sweet story(I borrowed it from her blog)

Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.
The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat."
He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.
As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.
The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.
She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!"
Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."

Wouldn't life be awesome if we all did things like that for other people?

In other news, it seems as though God is once again playing tug-of-war with me. I really feel like he is calling me to go to Africa and use my photo/video talents to tell the stories of people there, and to help out organizations that help them. But on the other hand, it also seems he is finally working out my life here in Calgary too. I have been looking around for new jobs, and I had an offer to work for a directory company, but I turned it down. Friday I am meeting with a man who works for another company that does basically the same thing, but is much larger. I also applied for a job at a SWEET stock photo company, which I really hope to get. Either way, it looks like I will be saying goodbye to fulltime hours at No Deal Saneal(the camera store, its not actually called that though). Seriously its been super boring lately, basically all we have done lately (aside from passport photo's) is play with cameras a bit, but more so, play with bouncy balls. We buy them from a vending machine for a dollar, and they provide hours of entertainment. Here's a link to a video I made of a game I made up with the balls. See if you can figure out the rules, and post them as a comment.

http://members.shaw.ca/mrkwkkrn/work.3g2

Also, some friends of mine from Calgary asked me to photograph their wedding. Talk about stressful!!! Not only do I have to worry about getting great shots, but I also have to get about $3000 worth of equipment, learn how to properly use it, and then do my first wedding!! Under normal circumstances, I totally wouldnt do it, but it's gonna be a really nice wedding. All the guys are wearing kilts, and they are a super cool couple. I'm nervous already though, and its a year away!!! AHHH!!

Well I should go to bed, thankfully I have a day off tomorrow, or else I definetly wouldn't be up this late! I pray that you are all well, and that I can see all of you who are my close friends again one day.
Mark

Hey

So Im still alive and kicking now that Im 23. I'm looking for a new job, my current isnt so hot. I live selling camera's, but the company has WAY too many bad deals. The owners lie to us, screw over customers, all sorts of things. It really blows, and I dont wanna be around there much longer. So I spent the day looking for new jobs, hopefully one comes up soon. I found a place I REALLY want to work. It's called Veer, they are a stock photography company. It would be awesome. Please pray that I get this job as it would really be amazing!

Hope you all have a good week,
Mark

Tomorrow

Wow. In less than 17 minutes, I turn 23. Thats right, 23 years of age. HOLY CRAP!! Where has the time gone!?? I vividly remember the days of making forts out of boxes as a wee pup, playing games on the playground in elementary, playing sports in high school, and having the time of my life in college. But I realize there are a lot of things that I have yet to do and experience. Here are my thoughts on the upcoming year(feel free to comment based on your experiences)

-I am about to be 23, and I have never been kissed (sorry I know that's lame). While I feel this is kind of a bad thing, other's have told me it isnt. So I want to work on my relationships with girls, and learn to like/love them as sisters in Christ, not as potential dates.

-I want to travel the world and share Christ's message through media. But how can I, when I can barely survive financially here in Canada, one of the richest nations in the world? I know God will provide for me to do his work, but I feel really bad asking for money from others so that they can pay off my loans and I can go abroad. Thoughts?

-Another one of my goals is to be able to maintain the great friendships I have gained while at Dordt. THe last few nights I havent been able to sleep well because I miss a certain set of twins (and others) so much! We have free long distance here, so I know who I have been trying to keep in touch with over the past few months, but if you want to talk to me, I would love to talk with you!!! There are lotsa people I really want to talk with, but I feel like I dont know you well enough, so I dont have the guts to call you lol.

Well I think that's enough for now, I will post more if I think of anything later.

Hey
Just a quick update here before I head off to church. Work is going well, I am trying to save up for a nice camera now, the Canon 30D:):) Then I can start a business and make some money. This morning my roommate and his girlfriend, as well as her mom, came to church with me(usually they go to an Anglican church). They said they liked it, but it was very different. But different in a good way. I like it there:)
Mark

At home...

Hey y'all

A big hello from beautiful Duncan, British Columbia. It's been a really fun holiday here. I flew into Vancouver on thursday morning(the 28th), and we spent the day in Vancouver. We went out for lunch, and my aunt gave us a little tour of the Supreme Court of BC-cool stuff. They have a bombproof jail there. We took the ferry back, ate an extremely good buffet, and had some good conversations. Friday we went to a place called the Knoll retreat, a cabin out in the woods with some family friends. I took some sweet pics there(I think), and we played games and had some good food. Saturday we went to my cousins wedding, which also had amazing food, and had a good time chatting with teh fam and some of my favorite cousins who I dont get to see a lot anymore. Tonight we do the new years thing, and then tomorrow Tracey and Luke(my sister and her husband) leave, then tuesday I leave. I think it will be the start of a good year...

Christmas is nearly here!!!!

Where have all my blogging friends gone? So far my blog has had 1 hit this month, it makes me sad...:(
But on the upnotes, Christmas is nearly here!! I am probably going to my roommates grandma's for the big day, unless I get an invite from a single girl or something...;) Then on the 28th I am heading home, my family is picking me up in Vancouver and we are going to spend the day there, then off to the island for more celebrations. I am really excited about it, it should be fun!

Anyone remember this?

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=589204180&n=2

I liked it...

But why does Northwestern think we are the enemy all the time? Seriously...

A joke about photographers...

The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a
surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was
to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye and said, "Well, I'm off
now. The man should be here soon."

Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer
happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale. "Good morning,
Ma'am", he said, "I've come to..."

"Oh, no need to explain," Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, "I've been
expecting you."

"Have you really?" said the photographer. "Well, that's good Did
you know babies are my specialty?"

"Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have
a seat"

After a moment she asked, blushing, "Well, where do we start?"

"Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the
couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room
floor is fun. You can really spread out there."

"Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry
and me!"

"Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But
if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven
angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results."

"My, that's a lot!" gasped Mrs. Smith.

"Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be
in and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with
that."

"Don't I know it," said Mrs. Smith quietly.

The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his
baby pictures. "This was done on the top of a bus," he said.

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.

"And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider
their mother was so difficult to work with."

"She was difficult?" asked Mrs. Smith.

"Yes, I'm afraid so I finally had to take her to the park to get the
job done right. Peop le were crowding around four and five deep to get
a good look"

"Four and five deep?" said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement.

"Yes", the photographer replied. "And for more than three hours, too.
The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly
concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots.
Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had
to pack it all in."

Mrs. Smith leaned forward. "Do you mean they actually chewed on your,
uh...equipment?"

"It's true, Ma'am, yes.. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod
and we can get to work right away."

"Tripod?"

"Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's
much too big to be held in the hand very long."

Mrs. Smith fainted.

I am still alive...

Hey ya'll
Dont worry, Im still around. Life has been going well, I have been having fun at work, and sales are rolling in:) I like December. I think this is the first job I have had that after 3 months, I still look forward to going to work:) I am also super excited about going home for new years, I am flying into Vancouver on the 28th and my family is picking me up, and we are spending the day in the city. Then on the 29th we are going to a retreat house out in the boonies with some friends, I am going to go fishing:) My cousin's wedding is on the 30th, as well as a volleyball tourney, hopefully I can do both. And Im sure you all now about New YEars eve, my Sis and brother in law are leaving on the 1st, and then I am coming back to Calgary on the 2nd. Its gonna be busy, but super fun!
Mark

brrrr

Its really cold here...supposed to go down to -30 degrees celsuis tonight, with a -42 windchill... I bought a scarf today, but then I realized that, being a tropical Canadian, I lack the knowledge on how to use it! Can someone who was raised in an igloo enlighten me?
That is a picture of our bathroom window... yes, that is ice around our window! Its pretty cold in there all the time, because there is no heat duct in that lil area of our abode. I have to run the hot water for a few minutes before I shower in the morning for a few so that I can get into my birthday suit without catching pnuemonia...and then some.
Mark

A good day

Today was a good day:) Although I worked ALL day (9:30 to 8), it was pretty good. I am doing really well at sales, although I'm not really sure why, its not like I am a super good salesman or anything. But today I guy came in, basically said that he had a point and shoot, and wanted me to convince him why are SLR's better, and why should he buy one. So I convinced him to buy one. But not only did I convince him to buy any one, I convinced him to buy the $2000 one:) We joke around at the store a lot about how we are going to "ninja" (steal) other peoples sales, so that they dont get commission/incentives on it, and I get the feeling that I am doing so well just because I am lucky. I am lucky, I will admit that, but its not pure luck. And today I got to prove it:) It made me happy inside.
After work, I got to hang out with Nathan Johnson, a guy I went to elementary school, high school, and college with. It was good to see a familiar face again. We went to a bar called Loco Loui's, and had some beer, it was a good time. There was a good band, but there was also one particularily roudy drunk guy. He made things pretty awkward, especially when he was talking to the waitress and basically grabbed her chest. She was pretty pissed off, and she walked away almost crying after telling him off. I was surprised she didnt slap him silly, I know I would have if I was in that situation. Nate and I felt really bad, we told her that she doesnt have to take that. It was also a wierd bar though, at a normal place that guy would have been gone in a second. So the moral of the story is, if you are a waitress and guys are doing innappropriate things, tell them off. Get pissed. You dont have to take it - but Im sure you already knew that;)

A new opportunity

Hey
So Sunday I am meeting with a wedding photographer here Gabe Mcclintock, from www.perspectiveye.com to see if I can be his second shooter for weddings this summer. I just edited a bunch and printed them today at work. When this shot came out, I was like "WOW"!!! I love the look in her eyes, and the way she is holding the flowers. Just so innocent....

My new website...

Woohoo!! Website revamping is complete! check it out at:

http://members.shaw.ca/mrkwkkrn

Unfortunetly I cant put any of the wedding stuff I did this summer on there, as the photographer I worked for doesnt want it on the web. But oh well.

Let me know what you think!

Mark

woah

So I just realized that it has been a crazy long time since I've posted! Well thats for a reason, there really is nothing to post about! Work is going well ( I am leading the store in sales:)), and I am getting together some other job options. And now I go to bed!

So today I got my first bad taste of the city. I was invited to come to a movie night for Christian students studying at U of Calgary, by the campus pastor ( a dordt grad:)) So I decided to go. So I got transit directions, planned my route, and set out.

However, the journey was destined to fail from the beginning. I realized that I had forgotten to write down the house number, or the phone number. So I got to the destination, and I hoped I remembered the right address, but I failed. So I went home, got some groceries(including chocolate cake), and had a night to myself. But it was ok.

Other than that, not much else is new. I sold a nice digital SLR to a couple who turned out to be a Christian couple who do a lot of ministry work overseas. And today I talked to a lady at church who spent time in Africa, serving there, and I was encouraged to look deeper into using my photo and design skills to produce material for organizations that work over there. A few days ago I got a message from Jim at Africa Inland Missions that there is possibly a position like that over in africa with them, so hopefully that will develop for me:) Cool huh?

I am going to bed now, my eyes hurt. But before I do, here is a recent photo I have been playing around with. It is of my Cousins daughter, Brianna. She is very friggin cute. Kinda shy, but that makes her even cuter. I do a lot of work for them in the summer, so I know them pretty well.

Mall thinking

When working in a shopping mall, one begins to ponder lifes meaningful questions. Today, for instance, when walking by one such womens undergarment store, this question popped into my mind: Does underwear fall under the category of form or function? Does this depend on gender? Or physical attributes? Share with me your opinions, friends, I want to hear some underwear thinking

God Answers Prayer

Anyone else been experiencing this lately? Have any cool stories? If you do, let me know, I want to hear about it!
A while ago I found this pretty cool church that I have been debating about attending more often or not. The reason I said debating is because the church seemed a little over the top at first, for me anyways. I have always gone to conservative CRC churches, and this one well isnt. But its good. Its a CRC church plant, called New Hope, and it meets in a commmunity center gym. Its pretty upbeat, and very visual. THe pastor preaches on real-world, current events topics. One such Sunday there was a new childrens hospital opening, so he talked about finding God in hard situations, and showed clips from the TV show House as examples. Its pretty cool.
Another reason why I have been debating is because the people arent terribly friendly, at first anyways. The first 2 times I was there, no one said a word to me, only 1 girl because the toaster was broken(they have bagels:)). Anyways this Sunday I was there early, and so I was in the washroom, and I asked God that he would let me make some friends today, so I would know if I am supposed to be a part of this church or not. Well I was browsing around the information booth, and the lady working there started talking to me, and I told hee there wasnt a whole lot of college-age kids around. So she ended up intoducing me to 2 sisters (Josiah and Sancha- crazy names, I know), who I talked to and sat with in the service. After the service, I met some of their friends, and the one friend, Sarah, invited me over for Thanksgiving Dinner! So I went to her house for the day(along with 3 exchange students they had over, another guy, Jon, and of course her family), and basically sat around, ate, and played games all day! Then we went to another church at night were she was playing piano for worship, and ended talking to other people around our table and sharing times such as our most vivid memory of God, and when he felt closest to us. Good stories I had, but I wont share them now, this is gonna be too long already.
I was also talking to her friend Jon, and he mentioned something about the past, and basically said the past is great, there is no reason to forget it, but dont dwell on it. Well that is something I have been doing for a while now, and I realized I needed to stop. I loved my time at Dordt, and I miss all my friends there terribly, but I also need to look ahead and get excited about the future! Who knows what God has in store for me?
Also I got transfered to another camera store(same company), but this one in another mall, and apparently it is busier to I can sell more and have better hours, which will be nice.
Dont forget to tell me your stories, and share whats going on in your life! Jon Schmidt this means you! I havent talked to you in AGES!
Mark