It's Time to Be Brave

As we enter a new month, I've been going through some changes that I personally consider positive and a turn in the right direction. Some of those changes have been documented in my posts this past month. But here's what I've done in the past few weeks:

• After 11 years, I officially stepped down as the webmaster of Immanuel First Lutheran Church in West Covina, California. Sue Beckenham, the choir director and a technology teacher at Providence High School in Burbank, California, is the new webmaster, and only the second one in the church's history. I strongly believe she will faitfully carry the torch for the congregation online as I now fully commit myself to my new church home, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Severing my final tie to my old church is not easy, but I am now free and clear to be all in for the Calvary Chapel family.
• Originally started as a stress and creative release from a very high-pressure temporary agency job, I have been on a roll creating a steady series of fan art, comics and stories based on The Smurfs, the familiar little blue creatures of television and film. As I have been sharing them online and in person with family, friends and co-workers, I've been getting nothing but positive feedback. A few have even said the fan art is better than the recent film The Smurfs 2, which they had to walk out on with their kids in tow because the humor was unacceptably crude and raunchy. Better yet, I now have a small online following on social media that looks forward to every new Smurf toon I upload.
• I have reorganized the website, splitting the cartoons from my portfolio and giving it a new category called Cartoons and Fan Art. In addition to the aforementioned Smurfs fan art, there is also fan art for the Christian animated series Jot the Dot and for my original cartoons Ricki Lee & Tony, Alpha Girl and Javier the Sloth.

(Yes, a sloth. I animated a sloth. Sloths move very slowly, but then again nothing moves that much in a Newport Muse cartoon. So it was a perfect match.)

And finally, I am looking at going back to college for a master's degree in creative writing, possibly applying to Chapman University (my alma mater) or the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I have no idea how I would fund a two to three-year education should I be accepted, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

2013 so far has been a year of risks and changes in my life. After the very emotional and agonizing decision to change churches after 12 years with one congregation, things have just been changing for me in ways I could not imagine. Just one month after switching to Calvary Chapel, I flew out with a mission relief team to Philadelphia, then drove on to New Jersey to help victims affected by Hurricane Sandy. I also tried my hand in the men's choir, got connected with various ministries on the Costa Mesa campus, began developing a web app for Bible study and reading called Maranappta, and just taking leaps of faith.

It's time to be brave. I'm tired of being scared of the unknown. It seems that starting with the switch to Calvary Chapel, a wave of confidence has been slowly unleashed in my life. Just like Princess Merida of the Disney/Pixar film Brave and her little fellow Scotsman Gutsy Smurf, it's time to finally play for my own hand rather than for someone else's wishes.

It's time to be brave.

Phone Apps, a Disco Dancing Smurfette and Release

This past week, in addition to continuing to build Maranappta, I've dusted off my traditional animation skills by creating an original short clip called "So You Think You Can Smurf", which stars Smurfette from the Smurfs shyly tiptoeing onto the dance floor and finally succumbing to "Boogie Fever" by The Sylvers. It was inspired by a visit on Monday to the McDonald's at Main and MacArthur in Irvine, CA next to John Wayne Airport, where "Smurfs 2" Happy Meals are being promoted and clips from "Despicable Me 2" were playing on the in-house TV channel. "Boogie Fever" is a running gag in the original minions movie, and I had a goofy idea to mash up the two, developing and promoting my animation skills in the process.

Smurfette was an easy choice because she's not only the first female Smurf, but also the most popular one of all based on merchandising and overall fan appeal. This isn't the saucy seductress as reimagined by Katy Perry in the recent movies but the original innocent, girly and spunky Smurfette from the original Hanna-Barbera TV series as established by her original voice actor Lucille Bliss, which became the defining role of her decades-long career and her all-time personal favorite.

It's been an interesting past few weeks. As I wrote in my last post, I got a temp job at a real estate software company in part because I've been a lot more open about my technical skills in web development, coding and creating apps. I've been getting a lot of smiles at church and with my friends about the above Smurf video with the new movie on everyone's mind. And at church the pastors have been teaching us to stop making excuses to God for not obeying His call on our lives to serve Him with the gifts He's given us, and to learn to release (let go) of controlling everyone and everything, entrusting it all to His loving hands. Very timely messages if you ask me.

Animators are often actors through their pencils or software as they bring their characters to life, infusing their personalities into their creations. Smurfette's dance moves in the above clip are my own choreography, acting out each step when I'm sure nobody else is looking (or doesn't care), draw the movements onto paper and translate them into the computer. So yeah, that's basically me in her poses. But don't get any pupule (crazy) ideas about me, even though I live in hopelessly weird California.

Now Beta Testing My First Mobile App

Okay, here's my first official post on Newport Muse Live. First, I need to explain why it's called Newport Muse Live and not just Newport Muse. The Newport Muse subdomain was already taken by a Blogger squatter who is a money-hungry nincompoop and a silly moo. I didn't want to give up the name, so I added Live to the name, and it's a lot more appropriate given the live nature of blogging.

Why's it called Newport Muse anyway, you ask? Well, click the About tab and see for yourself.

I am now beta testing (or just plain testing) my first mobile app, Maranappta, on my personal website as of last week. Three of my friends at church have tested it on their cell phones in my presence and it works, as long as you have Flash Player downloaded and enabled on your device for the live streaming links. If you want to try out Maranappta, click on the tab of the same name to learn more about it.