|
Hello fellow Dragons!
I have created this update page to keep returning visitors advised of the latest updates. Thank you for visiting Dragon's Breath!
January 20, 2008
Well,
the holidays have passed by and it's another new year.
I've taken a look back at what all I've accomplished and
haven't and am pretty happy with what I've done last
year. You should always be happy with what you've
accomplished no matter how small. This year, I've
been rewarded by being named the new math department
head at my school. At first my principal was
concerned because I don't go talking my head off to
everyone. Then, he said, he realized that I do
talk when business needs to be done and that I'm very
well organized, etc. This wasn't a revelation that
surprised me. Most people tend to think that
people who are quiet are snobby or too scared to be able
to get the work done. But who says you have to
talk all the time?????! I'm an observer. I
don't just jump feet first into a situation. I
watch. Evaluate. This is why I'm so good at
teaching math. You ask me about a student, and I
can tell you from his or her mannerisms whether or not
they understand or don't. So those math-shy
students don't get lost in the system, in my class.
Home life has been great, too. My son made
it to his 18th birthday without me skinning him alive!
lol And my daughter has survived also. I'm
happier at home. I don't mind coming home to the
house work and chores -- Tommy makes me want to come
home.
One of
the changes I've decided to work on is my health.
I suffer from hypoglycemia (low blood sugar),
hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, and sinus
problems. I've been working on my stess levels
lately. This includes more exercise and watching
what I eat. Just this past week, a friend Patty
pointed me to this site -- SparkPeople -- a support site
for people trying to live healthier through eating
right, exercise, and diet. It is not a diet
program. It is a support site. Come check it
out:
Get a Free Online
Diet
Another way
to reduce stress has been to monitor my activities on
the Internet. I enjoy graphics and enjoy helping
others learn graphics, but sometimes it's almost to an
obsession that deprives me of relaxation and down time.
Tommy has helped with this. He helps to point out
when I seem to be getting agitated. The first step
into changing a habit is to learn to recognize when that
habit is recurring. So I'm learning to "Let Go"
and to relax.
This is why
you will notice a change in the structure of my learning
groups. They have all been moved out of
yahoogroups and into my Resource Forum. This helps
reduce the stress alot. The emails are not in my
mail box-- making me feel like I HAVE to reply
immediately. Others are available to help.
And this has freed my time allowing me to return more
into playing with graphics than just commenting on
others.
I can't take
all the credit for this change in my group. I have
to thank the jerks in my groups that pushed me to this
situation. Yes, you know there are always some
jerks in a group. Well, this last one thought he
could tell me THE OWNER how to run my group, and then
when I told him otherwise he would not address me
directly on the matter. Instead, had to go behind
my back and try to turn the other group members against
my group. Well, it's caused a wedge in the
group. Only about half the members have moved to
the forums, but that lets me know who was serious about
learning to use PSP and Photoshop and who was just there
as a deadbeat.
So, you can
understand why I am no longer accepting new members at
my yahoogroups. However, if you want to learn PSP
and Photoshop, you can still participate in the same
group format at my Resource forum. Come join us!
I'll be working on changing my Terms of Service over the
next few days, too. My tubes and tutorials will
still be free to use as they are now. I will just
be changing the wording of it. I do NOT require a
link back or a copyright statement on my tubes or on
graphics made from my tuts. I never have and
never will. ALL poser tubes created by me and all
tubes created from photographs that I have taken and ALL
photographs that I have taken -- that I share on my site
and allow you to download-- they are FREE TO USE with
out any linkback or copyright statement. I
consider my free-to-use graphics as public domain and as
such they don't need a copyright statement. AND
FOR ALL YOU "know-it-alls" -- FREE TO USE /PUBLIC DOMAIN
GRAPHICS DO NOT REQUIRE A COPYRIGHT STATEMENT EVER!
Why the change in my TOS? Because there are some
idiots out there trying to tell you that you have to
have them on free-to-use graphics. You DO NOT.
And these idiots who are misinforming new graphics
makers really tick me off. Now, remember, I'm
talking about public domain graphics, not limited usage
graphics. My visit to this site:
http://www.thezonegroups.com/index.php?board=180.0
has recently
fueled my passion on this matter. They are holding
this contest for the ultimate graphics sites that are
copyright -compliant. In their rules a site
like mine who posts graphics made from my OWN
photographs or my OWN creations cannot qualify unless
these graphics have a statement of copyright on it.
They are telling me that I cannot decide to give my own
creations out to public domain. Since when can
someone else tell ME what I can do on my own website.
Now I have no beef with their requirement that you have
copyright statements on graphics made by other artists
than yourself. But if I make a graphic and I want
to give it to you for free use -- they can't change
that. I am so SICK of these
busy-bodies. By the way, ever wonder why you have
to join the ZONE GROUPs forum to be able to read about
the contest. What are they trying to hide? I
even noticed that they have several download pages of
tubes. Yet they put this disclaimer that they are
not providing access to those tubes, only the tubers
are. Hello!!!!! Who put the tubes on your
site--the point of access to download these tubes?
I've been working on updating my site. As you can
see in the last post. I finished updating all the
tut pages. So now I am working on the literature
pages. Check out my progress
Poems and Stories (Scribe)
http://byudragon.com/Scribe/Scribe.html
New tutorials have been added for PSP and Photoshop
PSP
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/PSPTuts.html
Photoshop
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/PSTuts.html
November 25, 2007
I have
completed fixing all of the old tutorial links!
Please let me know if you find one that still goes to
the old bravepages site. Again, The reason
why I moved away from bravepages--- the ads became
pornographic. Next job: put up my
poetry pages.
I
created a new page-- Tommy's Flower Garden-- to show off
the flowers that he has given me.
http://byudragon.com/Dedications/Flowers/Flowers.html
My
Photoshop and PSP groups helped me to create a
Thanksgiving Quilt for soldiers
http://byudragon.com/Dedications/Vets/Soldiers5.html
I've added some new tuts to my Photoshop and PSP tut
lists. Check them out:
Photoshop:
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/PSTuts.html
PSP:
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/PSPTuts.html
August
18, 2007
Well,
It's been a long summer. I got a lot of work done
on my site, and had a lot of fun. We visited my
sister in Shreveport. Her daughter is such a
cutie. Of course, most children are when they are
only 4. I remember mine being so cute and fun to
play with. Now they are typical teenagers -- don't
want to be around mom. We also went vacationing in
Hot Springs, Arkansas. We visited Tommy's sister
as well has going sight-seeing. Tommy took me up 2
mountains. You have to realize that Louisiana is
basically all flatland with farming. I'm a little
afraid of heights, so those mountain climbs were an
adventure in trusting Tommy's driving. lol
We also visited President Clinton's Presidential Library
in Little Rock. Tommy's a former social studies
teacher, so he lives for all of that.
I've
have been continuing my work on updating the tutorial
links on my site. I have updated all of them
except for the PSP 8 tuts. I'll work on them when
I can. I didn't think I'd be so busy this summer.
But I decided to open a beginners class in PSP and it
has been continuously busy. Then I thought my
Photoshop beginners would benefit from a beginners
class, too. So that has kept me busy --
writing very detailed tuts for their class and
evaluating/approving the beginners' results.
I have
also been working on a resource forum. My forum
from a few years ago was just sitting there. I
thought it would be handy to use it to post links to
goodies and tutorials for PSP, Photoshop, and DAZ/Poser.
I've been placing links in there as I find the time.
I opened it to my group members and they seem to enjoy
the organization. I'm now opening it up to you.
If you would like the benefit of the links resource or
if you would like to add to my list, you may join the
forum:
http://dragonbreath.freeforums.org
I
have been doing some scrapbooking work, and making
some kits and frames. Soon I will have that up
on my site to share (but you can join my always
list, and get them through there.)
I
have had a problem with one of my Photoshop group
members, and I am aware that she is bad-mouthing me
in some other groups because I removed her from my
group and told her "you're too stupid to know that
you've been removed from my group." Thanks for
letting me know about her posts, but she and I both
know what really happened and she's only confirming
what I removed her for from the beginning --- the
lies she was posting in my group. She
continued to harass me in my private email after I
removed her and finally I told her I was wasting my
time on her and said that famous quote. lol
Now I have a few of her friends emailing me
privately and trying to bully me, and one has told
me that she will pray for me, but will not accept my
prayers because of my screen name (Dragon
Lord/Dragon Breath); my prayers will not go up to
heaven. Well, if that's the case then I
appreciate her prayers. However, I may have
lost that one member, but I gained 24 within the
next 4 days. So thanks for the prayers!
They're working!
School has started for me again. We started
August 8, right smack in the middle of the biggest
heat wave this summer. Baton Rouge has been
having heat indices of 105 - 115 over the last week.
It has been very hot in school-- the old a/c just
can't keep up. My students for the most part
seem really decent, hard workers. Much better
than last year. But all this heat, and the
running around that a teacher does during the first
week of school, is making me tired. So I
hope you all understand that over the next few
weeks, updates to my site will be slow. We
have had over 1000 students enroll, when we were
expecting to barely make 900. I am short desks,
short student rights books, short geometry text
books and workbooks, and short lockers. And you
know how teenagers can be -- they are not exactly
understanding. It's been a stressful week trying to
decide who is not going to get what, and then to
teach at the same time. Then to top it off, we were
all planning on block schedule again this year, but
2 weeks before school started the school board ruled
that all high schools must be on a 7 - period day.
So that meant our student schedules had to be
quickly changed from 8 periods to 7 periods --
messing up quite a few schedules that did not get
fixed before school started. But hey, a typical
week in school I guess.
I
have begun uploading my poser tubes so that you can
download them. You can access my poser tube
pages here:
http://byudragon.com/Poser/PoserTubes.html
I have begun offering some free files for use with
DAZ and Poser. You can access these textures,
poses and other files here:
http://byudragon.com/Poser/DAZFreebies.html
Of course I have been working on tutorials as well.
I've remade my Tutorial Index. This way you
can see what all tutorials are available.
PSP XI tutorials:
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/Tutorials.html#PSP_Tuts
Photoshop CS 2 tutorials:
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/Tutorials.html#Photoshop_Tutorials_
June
8, 2007
It's
been a while since my last update, but I've been
gradually working on some of my site. Mainly,
school has been a hindrance. The last month is
always a mad rush to get makeup work graded, regular
work graded, final exams completed, and closing up my
classroom for the summer. My school is having a
big turnover of teachers, just like many in the parish.
Teachers are leaving the parish system for nearby
parishes that offer more pay. Right now, the extra
pay is not worth having to drive more than 30 minutes
one way each day, so I am staying at my school another
year. We are only keeping 3 teachers out of 8 in
the math department. But school is closed now for
the summer and I am slowly organizing files on my
computer getting them up on my site.
I have
initiated a beginners' PSP group-- PSP Hatchlings.
It is a
beginner's group for learning Paint Shop Pro. As a
member of the group, you get valuable input from the
experienced teachers in the group as you complete 15
lessons. At the end of each lesson, your assignment is
reviewed and approved, so a student will not be pushed
forward until we fill you are ready for the next
lesson. Each lesson is a complete tutorial. Not only
do you learn along the way, but you start creating tags
and frames from the first lesson on. If
you
have just opened up your PSP, or would like to learn
introductory lessons to the tools of PSP, please
check us out:
April
7, 2007
I've
corrected more tutorial links from my old site.
Again, thanks to all you visitors who have pointed out
the broken links. I mainly updated Easter-related
tutorials. I'm working on more DAZ Poser renders,
too. I'll upload them when I am done.
I've
uploaded a guestbook -- several of you have complained.
So, Ok, I'll try the guest book once again. The
link to my guest book is on my home page.
Don't
forget the Easter egg hunt:
http://byudragon.com/Holiday/EasterHunt.html
I've
also entered a topsite, Loyal Friends. The vote
button is on my home page, too. I'd appreciate if
you vote for my site. Thanks!
April
1, 2007
I'm
continuing to correct links on my pages. Thanks to
all you visitors who have pointed out some broken links
in my tutorials!
I have
started a Easter Egg hunt game for graphics programs
users. You must use some graphics program like PSP
or Photoshop. To participate, please go here:
http://byudragon.com/Holiday/EasterHunt.html
March
27, 2007
Well,
it's been a busy month. In school we have been
gearing up for state assessment tests. I was
ordered to drop everything and stop teaching the
curriculum and start reviewing skills tested by
the GEE. Naturally, I had to be a test
administrator too. Security is a big deal, and can
mean my job if it's compromised. I don't think my
new school does a good job of training its teacher in
the security aspects. My last school spent more
time. Last week the students took the test.
They think they did good. I hope they are right.
For my high school students, it could mean they don't
graduate if they never pass it before graduation time.
My son had to take the 11th grade part of the test.
My daughter starts it next year.
I just
buried my Aunt Mickey. She was also my godmother
-- like a second mother to me. She had a very
loving family -- 5 children. Her husband said she
was a perfect wife and the least he could do for her
would be to give her the best funeral he could.
And he spared no expense. She had lots of friends
and family, too. She had four brothers and 3
sisters. My aunt died from a blood clot that was
found in her lungs. During the treatment of the
blood clot, her body functions gave out. She had
diabetes and had fallen maybe a week before. They
think the blood clot came from this fall. Both my
parents have diabetes, so in the back of my mind now I
worry about them. My mom had fallen about 3 weeks
ago and broke her collar bone.
It's
just been a very introspective week.
I have
manage to add some pages to my website. There's a
whole new Poser section. I've uploaded some poser
tubes that you are free to use in your graphic
creations. There are also some renders I have
created using my poser models. I've also uploaded
my old and my new Easter page. A couple new
tutorials as well. I have lots more ideas, but
just not been feeling well or energetic lately.
Easter break is coming. Hopefully, I can do
something then.
Poser
Section:
http://byudragon.com/Poser/Poser.html
Easter
Pages:
http://byudragon.com/Holiday/Easter2007.html
Photoshop Tutorials
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/Tutorials3.html
PSP
Tutorials
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/Tutorials6.html
DAZ
Tutorials
http://byudragon.com/Tutorials/Tutorials7.html
February 12, 2007
Well,
I've been sick quite a bit, but I've managed to do a
little graphics work. I'm having fun playing in
DAZ and becoming familiar with it. Soon I'll be
opening a Poser section.
That's it for now, but I will be updating more soon.
Thank you for visiting Dragon's Breath.
Pam
Do Not take any of the graphics. I make no claim to the artwork used in
the webset. The artist is Larry Elmore. Credit is
given where credit is known.
|