Samurai, Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. The word samurai is derived from the archaic Japanese verb samorau, changed to saburau, meaning "to serve"; thus, a samurai is a servant, i.e. the servant of a lord. The samurai was dedicated to the wills of his master and the code of honor called Bushido, in which he lived by. He would never stray nor leave his master. To the ends of everything a samurai would go for his master. If his master deemed it, he would take his own life. A samurai could not live with the disgrace of failing his master for anything and thus many a samurai would commit Seppuku. Seppuku has been used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who have committed serious offenses, and for reasons that shamed them. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of one's master, known as oibara ( I don't know how to pronounce it either). Now I'm not suggesting anyone of us do that. It's a little too extreme but the point is, A samurai is a powerful and great historical person. He lived for his master and in all things he did to the fullest for his master. And as great and powerful a samurai was, his title meant "servant" and that's food for thought.
Irony -A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Lee adores and loves the samurai customs and nature but yet, hasn't really served his Lord. How ironic…"
July 13, 2008 finds me getting out and getting ready for a church that I had almost seemed to lose hope in. I get up, wash my face, brush me teeth and get my clothes in a rush just to be 30mins late for church like I always am. I can't really say why but if society has taught me anything, the reason why would be hereditary and thus clearing me off all charges. Luckily, as late as I am, I almost ALWAYS get there just in time for PT to preach so that should count for something. Every Sunday I think, I should leave…I'm not doing anything and no one would know the difference. Every time I think that, I hear something that keeps me there. I get in and find a place to sit just as PT begins to do exactly the opposite. He gets up and the next thing I know, a baseball comes flying, excuse my cliché, "out of left field". Literally. He begins to talk about baseball and how it relates to the church. The short and sweet version is this, some people come to play and get in the game to win. Others just sit and watch the team they are one win. I thought for a minute and said to myself, "well maybe the players just suck." Maybe the team they are on doesn't work for them. Now when I say that, I mean, team equals church and work for them equals the involvement with the church. Maybe they aren't a catcher or a pitcher or a shortstop. Maybe they can't be a lead hitter or bat clean up. Some people may in fact be bat boys. Now I'm not giving and excuse not to serve, I'm just saying. Maybe the things they can do are not what the game requires. Those people could quite possibly be excellent backgammon players. Who know? But that's exactly the right question. Who DOES know? Yeah…that's rhetorical but if you don't get that joke or know what rhetorical is, the answer is God. I for one, love baseball, and can play pretty good. I love the out field but I hate right field. I can do second base but for some reason, suck at shortstop. I Love the Cubs( who at this very moment is 1 in the MLB leading by one game. Red Soxs are turds, I mean third and the Yankees….well…what about them?) That last statement is placed for comedic value. But I digress, Some people seriously want to serve and serve well but don't know where and how. Sometimes is a personal reason like some people have been burned by others using them. Maybe they feel like they can't fit in with the already pre-established team of players already playing and they feel awkward towards that group that to them seems "clique-ish." They may have all the reasons in the world for not serving and quite legit ones at that but it still doesn't refute that fact that servitude is a necessity. Matthew 20:25-28 goes like this…
"Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
If I was to read into this black people would be the on the apex of that mountain of greatness but I'm not and that was another joke. Serving the church is serving the Lord. I know its kinda hypocritical of me to say and not always do but if I was a broke clock, I'd eventually get it right twice a day. I'll say to myself, well, I did try once or twice. I tried to play the drums and somehow that slipped from me. I was approached to help with the kids. I do funny but I can't do crazy so I backed down from that. I tried my hand at drawing but I don't think it was noticed. But maybe I was doing it for the wrong reason. Maybe I was doing it to hear someone acknowledge me and give me my pat on the back not realizing that God was doing that and I never even noticed. I think I was doing it for earthly rewards…MAYBE. Hah! That's harsh of me to say that about myself but maybe there is truth to that. Again, its very hard for me to write and say this considering who I am and what I have done but I'm a writer. It's what I like to do outside of art…Albeit not a good one but I do okay. So maybe, if I can be that honest about myself, then maybe, there is still hope for me to change. Maybe I can do something what the sweet skills I have. Maybe I can draw for the church or design things. Maybe I can write up stuff for them…I dunno. I do know that there is no use for an African-american-japanese swordsman in training unless there is some underground network of Gideons that are really responsible for placing bibles on the desktops by stealthy sneaking into hotels and hospital cause that would be awesome.
In a quest to re-invent myself and push my skill and pencil to the proverbial limit, I decided to do something that I never did before...Anime. I love the stuff but nevere really wanted to do thatr style. I'd infuse a bit here and there but never really do I go all the way...I left that to the "Judas" known as Tanto ( Torrance). So I started drawing the usual for me. And angry man witha ball cap. Its kinda my shtick if you will. Well I looked around for a refernce of style and eventually found it in some manga video still. The style of coloring was dramatic and I didn't really want to bring that much into it. I mean, yes I wanted to do an anime style piece but it was hard for me to fully commit to it. I started drawing and kept drawing till I came up with a rough sketch that I liked. I took that sketch and placed it on a light table and re-drew it to clean it up a bit. It didn't need to be to clean because I really wasn't going to use the pencil drawing but for a guide. Here's is what that came out to be...Check side bar. So that was done and know I had to figure out HOW exactly I was going to color this piece. I was pretty decent in Illustrator so I felt confident I could pull something of in there. I can't tell you how long it took because I pretty much busted my butt on it and kept at it till my base was set. I don't even know what time it was when I started...All I know is that I was finished. Well....sort of. So there was that and
I have to admit, I was pretty proud of that. I showed around and flashed it about, receiving mulitple compliments on it. I even had a guy wanting to put it on a shirt. I don't think he did though although that would be awesome. So for the final test, I showed the art to my good and best friend in the world, Adam Meyer a.k.a Shard. I send it in an e-mail he looks at it and within 5mins, I revised version somewhere along the lines of this... He took it and defined it in a matter of minutes. And here I thought I was done with the whole piece. Just when you think you got it all said and done, someone comes and and pulls the rug from underneath you. Since then, I've tried this layer method and with decent results. Some of which are not as good the first but the people who I do them of seem to like 'em so I call it "Done." Now I'm on t
o the next sheet paper...c-ya, folks!
