FRACTALS!

I went to Arts Adventures tonight and we saw the fractal show at the Natural History Museum, and it was AWESOME!  The fractals were amazing and I learned a ton about how you can minutely change the formulas causing the fractal turns out completely different, it's amazing.  My favorite one was the fractal that he made that he changed the exponent from 2 to 2.001  It changed the whole composition.  I absolutely loved it, and the music was awesome.  We were in the first row leaning back and looking up, and the music had so much bass that it vibrated all the seats.  When you were in there it was like you were actually moving, it was really cool!  Afterward I felt drained, and I had a headache. I got to meet the man who did it, and he is a PhD that owns the Fractal organization.  He’s a nerd, but a very, very smart one, and surprisingly he has good social skills.  I talked to him and saw his fractal tie and asked him where he got it, and he told me he designed it.  I told him my dad would love one, because he loves Gerry Garcia ties, and that's all he buys.  He told me they were $30 each, so I'm getting dad one or two for Christmas, and maybe for one other person too (I'm not saying who). 

Now I want to go to the website to download the software to make the fractals because it's free!

Fractal Foundation

http://vimeo.com/15133198

OH MAN - COOL STUFF! 

DINGBAT OUT!

The Strength of the LDS Youth

Where do the youth of the church get their strength from?  Where do they receive the courage and will to push through all the crud of the world, and repel the fiery darts of Satan?  How do they do it? Where does this extreme amount of spiritual strength, commitment, and courage come from?  For young women, it comes through the personal progress program.  The personal progress program is a part of the young women's program, in fact, it is the structure.  The personal progress program strengthens us and our testimonies by providing hundreds of experiences that bring us closer to Heavenly Father.  The Personal Progress Program consists of 8 values.  They are faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue.  For each value experience there is a project that needs ten hours at the VERY LEAST!  The Personal Progress Program takes at least 180 hours to complete if you do it fast.  It usually takes at least 300-600 hours. The Personal Progress program is the equivalent of an Eagle Scout project for a young man.  These activities increase our relationship with God, and this increases our strength in the Gospel so much. Through our strength, we can be strong enough to resist all temptation.  For example, sex before marriage, drugs, smoking, drinking, etc.  These things are an abomination in my sight. 

Another thing that helps us be strong is a pamphlet released by the church titled For The Strength Of Youth. This book lists many of our values and lists why it is important to stay strong and steadfast to these principals. We are instructed to carry it with us at all times.

That's What I'm Talkin' 'bout!!! 

Then there's stuff for the strength of young men, like duty to God. I don't know very much at all about the Young Men Program, so I'll just put some pictures in:

DINGBAT OUT!!!!

STORM..CELTIC THUNDER!

We were at the Celtic Thunder concert in Salt Lake City where we purchased the Storm DVD and CD.  I watched it on my laptop and found it to be amazing.  Storm is a little story about Irish Settlers and they have a big chest of gold and jewels.  There is a Gypsy King (Ryan Kelly) and he tries to steal the Settler's stuff.  He is the opposing person.  Damian McGinty is the Young Buck, George Donaldson is the Chief, Keith Harkin is the Highwayman, Paul Byrom is the Land Owner's son.  I like that it is choreographed and everything in the story is musical so it is sung.  The dialog is in notes and music.  It is pretty much music.  I love it when Neil plays the Mandolin.  Even though is not very good looking, to me that is, he plays like 15 different instruments.  It is a story of honor, pride, vengeance, romance and lust.  My favorite song is "Hail the Hero, Shadows, and Look at Me." 

I love the percussion and the enthusiasm of the performers, the choreography, dancing, singing, flipping, acrobatics.  The Gypsy men are very ahtletic and are amazing.  The Gypsy men dance very athletically.  I love Damian's deep bass voice!

In the Heritage DVD, Emmett sings Kindred Spirits and I love him more than Damian (which is hard to believe)!  Emmett is my very, very, very, very favorite member of Celtic Thunder ever!  He is hot too!  He sings Opera too which is very sexy if you ask me.


That is all for now! 
DINGBAT OUT! 

Flutes, Flutes The Magical Sound!!!!

I brought my flutes to school today so that I could play them at lunch.  (If you don't know already, I LLLLOOOOVVVVVEEEEE NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTES!)  I brought my flutes to school on Friday because it's not a school day.  I showed up early so I could play for The Shimmy Dude before his meetings started.  He loves to hear people play the Native American flute.  Unfortunately, he doesn't own any, and I don't think he can play, but the Short Man's wife plays, and so does the Quack, and his wife too I think.  Anyway, I showed it to him, and he loved it and asked me if I would walk around at events such as the COL (Celebration Of Learning) and play to set the mood with music.  I brought them again today to show the Quack, and it's amazing, because anything he picks up, he can play, literally.  He's a prodigy.  Anyway, he was super interested, and asked me to play each one for him.  I own three, so I played them all.  Then, and this is so cool, he picked one up, wiped it off, and started playing it. That was cool; to see my teacher play MY flutes right in front of me.  Neato!  Then, in math class, it's funny because The Shimmy Dude plays Native American flute music on his computer, and I just kind of sink when I hear it.  I relax immediately.  But today I didn't notice it.  He loves it when I do that, and I think that's why he plays it.  He was like, "oh, come on!  Sarah."  Then he got my attention, smiled and turned the music up.  Then I was like "ah," and slumped down.  He laughed softly and lovingly.  I love The Shimmy Dude.  We have a special friend relationship and we talk about religion a lot too.  I will post my persuasive essay that I wrote in parts, so you can read it.  It’s based on religion. 

Anyway, this was a great day.  Of course every day is great, but this was a GREAT day!  I love my teachers, and my school!  The only thing is I didn't get to play my flutes at lunch because I forgot I had other requirements, boohoo, but I will play tomorrow.

So long,

DINGBAT OUT!!!!