Well, folks I have reached that stage in my life where I get the dreaded ‘Perimenopausal Migraines’. I am two days into recovery which has meant that I have had to be off those things which exacerbates the symptoms and – you’ve guessed it – being in front of a computer screen does not help things at all.

This article highlights the fact that for some women in their late 40’s, experiencing migraines is the added inconvenience of entering menopause. Triggers such as hormonal changes in the month, a lack of sleep, stress, coffee/other substances with high caffeine, plus certain foods can bring on the migraines.

So of course, during this Half Term break from my day job and in celebration of not being in the classroom, I decided earlier this week to go on my drink coca cola/coffee/stay up late watching DVDs binge. Oh silly, silly child……by Tuesday I was begging my kids to not shout/argue/scream/yell while I wallowed in self pity with the mother of all headaches as my very close buddy.

End result – two days left of Half Term and only one entry on this blog.

So what have I learnt from all this?

To make sure I cram all my blog entries earlier in the week and BEFORE I go crazy with the coffee..

Something tells me this may not work….

Things haven’t been too brilliant in terms of my little one. He’s been such a tough guy recovering from an operation which didn’t go as well but praise God he is much much better and back to his wrecking things routine again.

I’ve had to take a week off work due to a bereavement taking mum overseas but in a way things have worked out well.

While my little precious was asleep a couple of days ago, I was able to check out some of the Blender tutorials on You Tube. One is by a channel called Tutor4U. It is an easy to follow set of tutorials and as a result I was able to produce a quick intro for anything that I get the chance to showcase on here and on my You tube Channel.

The music for the intro was courtesy of “Music by Longzijun” who has made some of his compositions available for people to use on their YouTube channels. I’m hoping to acknowledge his website and You Tube channel when I get to upload some videos.

So the video was made using Blender 2.71. Originally I had created the full “Showshannahs Little Space” text to dissolve on screen but it resulted in my CPU overheating and the laptop crashing whenever I rendered the footage. Soooo, plan B was to use an acronym of my channel name – S.L.S. In order to edit the movie I had to download VLC Media Player which has the facility to convert OGG files into an MP4 format. This in turn allowed me to import the said animation into any video editing software. I used Magic Movie Edit Pro 15 to put the animation together

I finally reversed the footage and placed it back to back with a copied file and voila! We have my intro. Look out for my intro when I upload videos to my YouTube Channel!

So my six weeks are now over and I am glad that I was able to do more this year than in previous years. I was able to get some very much needed DIY done, as well as increase my twitter following significantly. Plus I was able to update this blog – I reckon I’ve broken a world record by having at least more than one entry for just one month! 🙂

The biggest highlight this month was discovering just how talented our young people are especially in the more modern methods of marketing such as Social Media.

I cannot put into words just how impressed I am with the following video made by a fellow You Tuber, whose channel is known as Bumblebee Broadcasts. This channel is made by a talented young person who makes use of video special effects in her videos as well as sharing what it’s like to be a young person in the UK, sharing things such as professional beauty tips days out etc.

The purpose of my post however is a video that was made by this channel, where she simultaneously makes use of splitting her screen so that it looks as though her alter-ego is fighting and then dancing with herself.

I have seen this done in Blender but to actually witness it in such an artistic way was impressive.

So a big thumbsup from this humble little Computing Mum for a well made video

So to coin a phrase from a well known supermarket, I woke up this morning to this phrase.

After a little quiet time with my Heavenly Father I went through the usual routine of reading my daily devotional. For this year I’m following Joyce Meyers’ Promises for Your Everyday Life – A Daily Devotional. It’s a year long devotional and I must say is really spot on for those things to meditate and think on during one’s hectic day.

To be truthful after the way I felt yesterday morning I was beating myself up at my lack of action concerning how others are suffering in the world. But I still did my little bit not really appreciating that by doing something I have actually done something.

This was what bascially the above devotional reading was about this morning.

I don’t think we have been placed on this planet to carry on and not consider others at some point. Even if it’s a small thing that we do for that person on the bus or something bigger, we are making a difference in another person’s life…. in our own little way.

It has been troubling me that I am witnessing the slaughter of people in one part of the world while we in the West are sitting comfortably day to day. Now some people – thanks to our media – would automatically think of what’s going on in Gaza which is very sad indeed.

But no.

The slaughter currently taking place is in Syria and Iraq and concerns indigenous Christians (can I say that?) who have existed in the region since Christianity pretty much began.

Since being on Summer holiday I’ve been able to follow this slaughter and to be truthful, I was expecting my UK media to be as appalled as I was that in the last week of July a piece of history was destroyed. That Mosul was now devoid of Christians for the first time in history went by our media without even a mention on national TV news.

It takes a group of people being trapped on a mountainside before the US send airstrikes onto ISIS and ONLY yesterday, did my government decide to send aid. The resultant tirade of ISIS social media propaganda threatening our troops has stirred a feeling not felt since our dear soldier Lee Rigby lost his life our a UK street.

So, it has not left me feeling that brill tbh.

I was reminded of the following poem written by a German called Martin Niemoller as I got up this morning which kicked me up the backside to try to do just one small thing:

So, I’ve taken to signing a petition found here calling for our government to take further action, but I still feel like I’m sitting on my hands. I had a chat with a very dear friend of mine who suggested that I pray and right now that is what I’m doing. That is the only thing I can do, aside from raising awareness of what’s going on to my friends and family online.

However, it still hurts to witness this.

I DO NOT want any of our troops to be in harms way but at the same time I want this group wiped off the face of the planet (if I am truthful).

I can only pray that things will begin to change…. 😦

In the meantime perhaps I can again be focused on working on some animation before I return to work in 3 weeks.

My heart thoughts and prayers goes out to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are being killed in the Middle East. 😦

One of my biggest ‘fears’ evolves around the minefield which is Copyright and You Tube videos. It is my desire to really get moving with posting more videos online but of course the difficulty stems when I haven’t got the orchestra or band sitting in my back yard ready to record an exclusive sample to use on my videos. I have gone down the route of downloading LMMS in the hope that I would casually have a couple of hours to create my own musical arrangement. But that went out the window when little man began to walk, talk and destroy.

So like most You tubers I have to rely on acknowledging other artists’ work when I upload a video together with a link to iTunes etc so that the listener can download the artists’ song and it is clear that I do not own the song at all. I have always been under the understanding that one cannot obtain revenue from advertising on your uploaded video if whatever you upload is not completely your own.

Interestingly, I do occasionally view videos on You tube where some users do link (quite rightly) to a third party’s song but…. they have generated an income from placing ads on their video (even though some of the content is not their own).

Well it would seem that this bubble has burst with the following lawsuit:

Michelle Phan – a fantastic young entrepreneur and fellow You Tuber has been sued by Ultra records under what the record company have described as alleged copyright infringements in her videos. I’ve linked to the news article here.

I really do hope that an agreement can be reached as this case would have implications to ordinary folk who want to showcase their talents but who do not have the revenue to hire/pay for copyrighted material to add a musical emphasis on their videos.

I will be watching this closely to see what the outcome is….

Praise God I am so happy about entering a New Year. I can only give Him the glory because I feel at long last as though things are coming together for our little family unit.

One limitation with this blog is that I am back at work. I’m trying to find a medium where I can update all the accounts I have online without losing any sleep but thus far, I’ve not yet found it.

Plans for this year:

– To get moving with some tutorial videos. I’ve recorded a few to do with some blips I’ve found using Adobe CS6 Fireworks when creating a navigation bar. I’m sure others have pulled their hair out as many times as I have and so I’m hoping these videos will help the beginner user.

– Remember to use this blog to log all that I can even if it is once a week. The storybook (whilst on a back burner) is still on my mind to do. The animation series based upon the story is very much heavy on my mind to do. Patience is the key thing here and I need to continue to set things up to allow for it all to come together.

So, this is my first blog entry for 2014 – may it be the first of many.

I was dreading today but in a kind of nice way as opposed to really dreading it.

Not because it was the day that my youngest turned two but just the fact that I had to turn into a hostess and entertain family members who came over to celebrate with us. Now you give me a challenge such as deliver a lesson on an introduction into HTML coding with minimal notice and I can get right down to it without any trouble what so ever. But host a toddler celebration with family where I’d be simultaneously cooking, laying out food, chatting and serving drinks – well that’s a whole kettle of fish all together. The last time I hosted a family do, my food ended up half cooked or over done and I had to order a Chinese as a plan B.

But….

It turned out to be fantastic and I could have eaten my hat! Everyone had a fab time just hanging out and it was very relaxed. “A” enjoyed being the centre of attention and if you could have seen his face when we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him, it would have been difficult to have not smiled.

So my little man, was beyond tired when he went to bed earlier this evening. Praise the Lord!

I’ve been a bit “coy” about what’s been placed on my heart since giving birth two years ago but it seems as though things are moving forward. So let me back track a little.

Around the time that I started this blog, I was talking with my daughter about how much of a shame it is to not see any children’s shows which were not about vampires, witches and warlocks. She loves the anime style cartoons but gets tired of seeing the same old storyline. So what was birthed was the idea that while I was off work I would create an animated series called, “Children of God”. Since that time, I’ve been picking it up, putting it down, giving up on it, then going full circle and picking it up again.

Fast forward to now, and I pretty much have all that I need to build this project. I’m currently learning how to use some open source software called “Synfig Studio” and I am writing the story. The only thing I haven’t got is non-contact-with-the-kids’ time. My youngest wakes up when I get up and my daughter wants to stay up as long as I do. Being a single mom means that come the evening when things finally become quiet, it’s usually when both kids are asleep and then I find myself knocked out too!

When I go back to my university days I remember learning software in the computer labs on campus with nothing but my headphones and a supply of crisps. I would have a solid 3 hours of undisturbed immersion into the functions of the software. Alas, those days are in the past now and it’s those little 15 mins here and there to catch some time writing and learning.

It’s a challenge but it is also exciting to see things beginning to come together.