Going Buff to Celebrate 100

I've passed the threshold of ONE HUNDRED drawings on the YouDraw website!!! I am totally elated!!!!!!!!! I had to make a drawing that would represent everything that I have taken in and learned while drawing on this miniscule drawing pad. I chose two represent myself but to take aspects from two other artists that I admire. In this piece I have become Adam from Michelangelo's The creation of Adam. The left panels of the piece are left semi-unfinished as if I'm still in the process of creating or drawing my own self. This idea was taken from a charcoal drawing by Kathé Kollwitz entitled Self Portrait.

Obviously I'm in the buff in this piece. I have already received a few comments by unscrupulous idiots on this drawing that don't understand the message of my piece. A drawing with nudity is simply a drawing of God's greatest image, that of man. Nudity isn't the focus of my piece and that should be obvious since it does not have a very significant position. I will not ruin art by plastering a barrier over anything anyone considers cliche. Michelangelo didn't do it nor will I. As with any artwork depicting nudity it's the beauty of the human figure that is on display and nothing else. Clothing often becomes distracting and in a few years time will become obsolete. Imagine if Michelangelo was forced by the leaders of his day to put loin cloths over his figures because they deemed his figures as unholy and pagan. It strikes me as funny that today we still view nudity with the same attitude as in Michelangelo's day. Why? Haven't we progressed as a culture yet? There is as much a difference between nudity and pornography as an apple and orange. But I'd like to know your opinions. Even though I have lead you to the correct way of thinking I imagine there must be someone that would challenge it. So bring it on tightie whitie.

A few drawings before I reached my one hundreth mark.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Blogging

This is a long and philosophical post. Let me apologize now.

Life Changing

So I've been blogging for quite some time now. It has taken over a large chunk of my life and I give all the credit to my friends CJ and Nathaniel for getting me started. I always thought keeping a journal would be an extraordinary thing, but something I would never have time for. Now here I am keeping one and exposing it to the world.

Exposing is the key word. People really show themselves in blogs, they can't help but do so. They tell us about themselves, both in what they write, and what they don't write.

Wondering if someone is listening...

Sometimes I write stuff that seems inconsequential to me and I am pleasantly surprised by the quantity of comments I get. Sometimes I write stuff I believe is rather good, that I value and I get... nothing back. That's quite painful, though I may not show it.

It has lead me to believe how important it is to leave comments on other blogs. Just that little extra effort to respond to another blog has introduced me to some really great people and from their blogs I have discovered many exciting new things such as getting inspired to take pictures and signing up for Flickr to finding a nifty free 3D animation software called Blender.

An unfinished book

One definition of love is: to be willing to educate the other about who you really are. Deliberately or not, that's what's happening in blogs. And no, I'm not saying all we need is love. I am standing up for the extraordinary value of people sharing their experiences. I really enjoy reading about other peoples' lives. For me reading about someone I don't even know is like reading a story, but in this case they are real people and it's a collection of stories from their lives that will take you on a never ending rollercoaster of climaxes. Some bloggers don't reveal their personal lives, but through their writing style and of what they post about you still get to know them far better than you ever would know them in the flesh. Take for example my friend CJ. From his blog he seems like a very knowledgable person but in real life:

Haha :-) I'm just kidding CJ! Maybe that's Mr. Mosty!?! I can never distinguish between the two of you.

My true nature

I reveal a lot about myself at the Sea of Steve and it has taken me a while to find out what I'm actually all about and how much of me I will reveal (Which is a lot considering any stalker can look at my google map and find where my hometown is :-O). This blog reveals so much about me that it often scares me.

In the real world I'm not so revealing. I'm a quiet person that many don't really know because I'm not the typical college student that parties, drinks, or takes part in the R rated sorts of things. It's always been my sort of nature. So be glad that you get to know me here and for those of you that I know outside of this blog, you must be a wonderful person because I choose my friends carefully.

There's something to be said for vulnerability

Please don't read this as an admonishment to post more comments to my blog or anyone else's (though don't let me stop you). For me, there is great value in recording my thoughts for myself, whether or not anyone else reads them. I'd just like to share that though this blogging may look easy, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes I worry myself with what people might think about me when I write a post or even when I leave a comment on someone else's blog. I could worry myself right now with what you may think of this entry. ("Good gracious, what's gotten into Steve? Why can't he get back to good, solid, unphilosophical posts with more pictures?")

If that angst is the "agony" part of being vulnerable, there is also the "ecstasy" side. I've been emailing a fellow blogger for quite some time now. From the moment we started emailing it was a great, touching conversation that I look forward to each day. And in those moments I realise the huge value of taking risks and saying what I think in here - because we only met because of our blogs, and we only connected with the openness that we did because of it. (You know who you are and I thank you)

Next week, I'm off to college and I hope that I will be able to continue this blog there. If my posts become shorter and come further apart, let me know! Give me a swift kick in the butt by commenting and tell me you want to hear from me. I may not have much of anything interesting to post about but surely I can find something.

Take a look back at the history of my blogging career:
My first blog on MSN Spaces. I didn't like MSN Spaces. Everything was too concrete, nothing could be changed. I eventually moved to Blogger

A look at the old www.seaofsteve.blogspot.com Back then this site was entitled "No Answers.......Just Better Questions" until I realized that title had nothing to do with my posting style and I reverted back to "Sea of Steve." (Look at how bland my site used to be before I learned how to change things using HTML)

And voilà you're now looking at the current "Sea of Steve" with much better graphics. I hope you enjoy and.....

Thanks to all my readers!

Puget Sound Vacation Vol. IV

Throughout my vacation in Puget Sound, I kayaked. There is nothing that amounts to the emotions taken in while out on the waters paddling in a place touched by the hand of God. The colors from the setting sun and Mt. Rainier hovering nearby were absolutely stunning. I loved listening to the sounds of nature, the birds and splashes from seals.

I really enjoyed kayaking with the seals. They would pop their heads up to see what I was doing, some would grunt to get my attention. I would look them in the eye and they would stare back. Then another one starved of my attention would make a splash and I'd have to look at him. They followed me kayaking as if I knew where a great source of food lie. I tried to get a picture of them but the second I held out my camera they all ducked beneath the waves. I tried having my camera ready for when they would pop their heads up again but not one would ever come up until I put my camera away. The very moment my camera was off and inside my kayak they splashed up and grunted, as if saying ah ah ah you can't get a picture of us. I think they were playing with me.

I did get the better of one seal though. I was kayaking up along the beach early in the morning when I saw what I thought was a sparkling white rock. It glittered in the sun. As I came closer I was amazed to find out it wasn't a rock at all but a seal. I quickly pulled out my camera and snapped a picture. The seal didn't move, it was asleep. I silently paddled closer inching my way towards this seal. I was now within 15 feet from her, she was still asleep, when I took this picture. I sat in my kayak just admiring my luck when one of her eyes opened. She closed it lazily as if still in a slight dream when suddenly both eyes rolled open. She let out a shriek so piercing that I almost fell out of my boat. When I looked again she was gone beneath the rippling waves.

One of my most favorite memories of going to Martha's Cabin is visiting the ocean. We decided to drive to the coast again on this trip. We left early and arrived only to find the Pacific blanketed in a white fog. I could barely even see my hand in front of my face. We waited nearly all day for the fog to lift by stopping in a little town nearby to eat lunch and buying a sweatshirt because it was very cold. When we went back the fog had dissipated a bit but the full glory of peering out to the ocean seeing the slight curve of the horizon was still shielded by the fog. I was slightly disapointed but nothing could dampen my excitement of standing in the Pacific Ocean.

Thus ends my Puget Sound Vacation.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

Phew! I'm finally home. What an experience it was, let me tell you: I went to my cousin Erin's beautiful wedding in Minnesota. Oh the wedding was glorious, just stunning, beyond words! Anyway more on that later... see because I have to tell you a funny little story that happened to me, that is not at all funny for me.

My whole family decided to drive to Minnesota (a two day drive) because we're crazy I guess. I thought we should fly but my mom believes she would die on a plane. So anyway on our return drive home we again had to make the worst trip through Nebraska. (Think of the most boring thing you can and then stare at it for hours and that is Nebraska) Then we drove nearly the whole way across Wyoming and finally after 11 excruciating hours of driving...driving...driving, our beloved town of Green River came into view. I've had to go to the bathroom for quite some time now and was glad that I soon would be able to. Ahhhh home sweet home.

I was driving and after taking the exit to Green River I noticed that all the stop lights were out. Hmmmm... that's strange.... It took longer to get through the city because without stop lights traffic becomes a gnarly mess. We all want to get home, we're sick of the car. We've been sitting in the car for 11 hours and on top of this the order to go pee is imminent! After getting through the mess of all the stop lights, I turn down the street that winds its way to our house. The home stretch... almost there... almost there. OH NO! I'm stopped dead in the road when I see all these flashing lights. The whole street is blocked off by police vehicles. I have no clue what is going on. All the electricity in our half of town is out, our very own street is blocked off by ten police cars, what the crap??? At this point I really have to go to the bathroom. A police officer motions for me to turn around.

OH GREAT!!! I have to take the long way home and finally pull into our drive-way. Yip-PEE I'm so ready to go to the bathroom but without electricity our garage door doesn't open. HOW WONDERFUL! It even begins to rain, a drenching rain. This doesn't help my situation. Not to worry my mom has a key to the front door. I'm right beside her dancing the best I-Have-To-Go-Pee-Performance of the world. She turns the key and opens the first lock then puts it into the dead-bolt and turns.....Nothing. It doesn't budge! I'm about to explode! I have my legs crossed and I'm squeezing with every ounce of strength in me. My mom tears through her bag and tries every single key but nothing turns the dead-bolt!!! AHHH!!

I REALLY HAVE TO GO and NOW!!! In a semi-run half waddle I lurched my way to our backyard. (NOTICE: The following is not PG) I ran to the side of the house and at the very last sliver of a moment before explosion I found a secluded area and let the flood waters out. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Ahhhhhhhhh..... Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. How GLORIOUS! If you've ever heard Adam Sandler's The Longest Pee it was quite similar. That was my agony and the ecstasy.

After that I ran around the house but there was still absolutely no way into our house. We tried the keys again to no avail, the windows were all locked shut too. It was continuing to pour down rain. My family thought I was hilarious having to go pee in our backyard when we all sat dripping in our car. We were all anxious to get home only to find out we're locked out of our very own home for who knows how long! We sat in the car another hour as I read a couple more chapters from The Agony and the Ecstasy, the title of the book literally how I felt at the time, until the rain started to let up.

The thunder roared and split the sky. There was still no power, no way to get into our house. We took a walk down the street to where all the police vehicles were and discovered a crowd of people. It looked like a disaster scene from War of the Worlds. With sparks flying, police lights flashing, and a crowd of people jabbing each other for a better view. I saw two power poles in the middle of the street and across from that there were still power lines dangling and sparking. The power company was working at getting everything under control and to restore power. They told us it would be another 7 hours at the earliest until there would be any power. We all groaned. I heard rumors from the crowd that a big truck had caught a power line and dragged down the other two poles.

Seven more hours!!! It was already getting dark. Luckily we own a camping trailer. At least we wouldn't have to spend the night in a car. I slept well in the trailer despite being so frustrated with everything that had happened. I guess it was an adventure and now I have a story to tell. :-) That's my agony and the ecstasy story.

Nooooooooooooo

I was going to try and get a post up of my last couple of days at Martha's Cabin in Puget Sound but when I hit publish button everything disappeared!!?! Ohhhh ARRRGGGH AHHH!!! It was so lovely too, the photographs, the nice beautiful post... everything.....g.o.n.e.... Ohhh well... Anyway I've let bygones be bygones and will post again sometime soon but tomorrow morning our family is leaving for my cousin Erin's wedding in Minnesota. I'll be back next Thursday. Maybe if I feel up to it or have nothing else to do while I'm at the hotel, I'll retry the post but don't expect anything.

The above is a scanned image of my face (something rather strange and fun to do) that I changed with Photoshop.


Just so this isn't a complete post waste I've added a new feature to my blog. I found it on this blog. I am pretty excited about the new Guest Map (the link is also on the right column) please check it out and leave your mark!! I am always interested where readers of this humble blog are located, so "Guest Map" was a bit of geekiness I couldn't resist implementing.

The guestmap has a satellite, map view feature or hybrid. You can scroll about the globe and leave comments and links to your own blog/website.

Just find your spot on the map (you can move the map with your mouse or use the sliders on the left of the map), zoom way in, click on your location, a message box will pop-up, enter all the fields and leave an icon marker (if you don't select a marker the message will not appear). Finally, click the button Place! and voila you're done! Nifty eh?

Puget Sound Vacation Vol. III Canadian Edition

Early in the morning my mom incessantly said, "Steeeeeve honey time to wake up."
"Ummm....arrggg....It must be 6 AM mom."
"Actually here it is 5 AM we're in the Pacific Time Zone. I wanted to leave early to beat the rush hour traffic."
"Arrgggggg." THUD! I rolled out of bed. "Alright I'll get ready."

After appearing that I was awake by taking a shower and dragging a comb through my hair, we got in the car and headed for Port Angeles, Washington. Here there is a ferry that takes mainly tourists across to Canada. None of this was on my mind as I lulled off to sleep again. I finally awoke again when the car changed speeds and my mom told me she was getting gas. Already the sun decided to greet the day and my eyes by glinting off of anything remotely reflective. "Only one more hour and we'll be in Port Angeles," my mom said as I finished tapping off the gas tank.

We arrived in Port Angeles and started looking for the place to buy tickets to get across to Canada. I thought we drove around forever. Turning around once we even made a trip down a one way street! After receiving evil glares from passing cars we finally stumbled upon a sign, 'Ferry Parking $5.' "Go here mom!" We parked in a nice spot and my mom read the instructions on how to pay.
"Steve you don't have $5 do you?"
"No why?"
"You have to pay this metal container thing and there is no way to receive change back because there is no assistant or anything. I only have a $20. Let's go buy tickets and then I'll have change."

The ticket office was just off of the dock and I stopped to take pictures while my mom purchased the tickets.

She came back with one of those looks that you just know something wasn't right. "Guess what?....We'll have to bum around for three hours because we missed the ferry by 15 minutes."
"What!!!"
"It left at 7:00 and the next one doesn't leave until 10:00."
We're going to miss our whale watching tour now, I thought. This really stuck a stake through my heart. Anyone that truly knows me knows that I absolutely adore dolphins. My mom could see on my face how crushed I was and quickly pulled me out of it.
"I called the whale place and they changed the time to 11:15 for us, so don't worry okay? Let's just go eat I'm starving."

We found a little cafe and sat down. It took them forever to hand us a menu let alone prepare our food but luckily we didn't care because we had to waste time. After eating we strolled along the streets looking at all the nick nack shops. My mom found a post card of Mt. Rainier in one and filled it out until finally it was time to board the ferry.

"Please have your customs sheet ready before getting into line," bellowed a speaker every few minutes. A sign said, 'Prepare for random searches of all backpacks and bags.' We got into line, inching our way up to the end. A young customs agent waved us over to him and asked us a few questions before we could board the ferry. He sounded like a recording too I thought.
He quickly said, "Do you have any firearms, drugs, illegal plants, animals, or have a warrant for your arrest?" We both said no and he eyed our driver's licenses and then said, "enjoy Canada then!"

The ferry across takes about an hour. The last time I was on it I remember staring out into the sea hoping to see dolphins. The ferry was overpacked back then and there wasn't a place to sit for my parents but I didn't care because I was hanging over the ledge hoping to see some dolphins. (Orcas more commonly referred to as Killer Whales are actually dolphins) When I finally saw some I screamed, "Whale!" You could feel the whole ferry tip to one side as nearly everyone rushed over to where I was looking. This opened up a lot of seats and my parents and brother could finally sit down.
My mom reminded me of this and said, "If we can't find seats this time I want you to yell whale again," but there were lots of empty seats this time. I didn't see any whales this trip. Instead everyone watched two US Coast Guard boats on either side of our ferry esccort our ship out of the harbor. I thought they would just follow us a short distance but they followed us until we reached the Canadian border. Look at those machine guns! Scary how in ten years, since I was last on the ferry, our world has changed.

Like I said I didn't see any whales but I did find a seagull below me gazing at all the tourists dropping crumbs and snapped this picture.


We arrived in the Canadian port of Victoria City as I was taking pictures of all the ships and buildings. We had to go through Canadian Customs now. They just wanted to see our driver's licenses and quickly let us through. After that we had to rush over to the whale watching tour place. This would be about all we would have time for. The whale watching tour was four hours long and the last ferry back to the United States was at 4:00 giving us only about an hour to stroll around Canada once we got back from the whale watch.

My mom and I adorn our whale watching suits.


The whale watching expedition was incredible!!!!!!!!! I could write another 5 pages just about that experience but I'll save my blog audience from that and just tell you about one amazing encounter.

We were next to a pod of about 5 orcas. One came to the surface, sprayed her spray and then turned straight towards our zodiak. She was right under the surface. I could reach out and touch her if I wanted to and then she swam underneath our boat. Everyone including me screamed in excitement. This was so incredible that I forgot to take pictures but thinking back on it now I'm glad I didn't because I'd rather have this memory then to have looked through a view finder losing the experience.

Another zodiak next to us ooos and awws over an orca next to their boat. This is how close we got to the whales.














Look Whale!

The whale watching tour was definitely a huge highlight of my entire trip. Our whale watching tour guide was a great guy. He was Canadian and would launch our zodiak over huge waves making me bounce out of my seat. Oh it was great! He had his commentary too, explaining the blah blah blah of blah blah about everything whale. I especially liked the speaker that he turned on so we could hear the orcas clicking away, eh.

Once the whale watching tour was finished my mom and I picked up a few Canadian shirts and then boarded the ferry back to Port Angeles.

Coming up in Puget Sound Vacation Vol. IV, Sea Kayaking and going to the Pacific Ocean!

Puget Sound Vacation Vol. II

The First Night

The sun sets on Mt. Rainier our first night at Martha's Cabin. I remember watching the colors dancing across the sky.

Sea Shells

The next morning the tide was out. This is the best time to beach comb and both my mom and I were out collecting sea shells.



A boat is stranded in the sand by the outgoing tide.

Look at all the sand dollars!

This is my favorite photo. Look at all the colors in the water. These are all living sand dollars. They turn white when they die. Sand dollars are very interesting. They have little tiny hairs that trap food particles and slowly move them towards their mouths in the center.

My sandal leaves an impression in the sand. That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.















We set out our findings on the picnic table to dry. Does anyone want any sand dollars? I'm currently a millionaire with all of them. My mom and I both enjoyed collecting sea shells nearly everyday. Every crevice of my car was stuffed with sea shells when we made the journey back home.

The next day we head to Canada, in Puget Sound Vacation Vol. III

Puget Sound Vacation Vol. I

The Drive

You have no idea of the meaning of eternity until you have driven across endless brown dirt dirt and more dirt of Wyoming and Idaho at 65 miles per hour. The miles upon miles of dirt were only broken up by my white Toyota with two colorful kayaks on top. My mom and I both shared driving chores. Along the way I read the Harry Potter book Prisoner of Azkaban and my mom was reading The Notebook. Every once in a while my mom would look up from reading and tell me, "Steven the guy in this book is exactly like you. I can't believe how much this guy reminds me of you. He even kayaks Steven. When I'm done reading it you really need to read it." I told her I would read it but I doubt he is like me.

Boise was our resting stop to split the drive in half. We stayed the night in a nice Hampton Inn which my cousin got us really good rates at because he works for one in New Mexico.

We had a fabulous breakfast there with eggs, ham, and all the other nice stuff the Hampton gives you. Then we started out for the trip to Martha's Cabin in Puget Sound near Gig Harbor. I had finished the Harry Potter book and started The Notebook. Mothers know a lot and she was right, Noah is a lot like me. All I need is an Allie and I need to read some poetry. I recommend this novel. I was immediately captivated by the story, reliving it, feeling it and savoring each and every emotion. I especially thought that the way love will endure all is a great message and the way it endures towards the end of the book is amazing. I won't give anything away. Tears are sure to be shed, and you will long for a love like the one Noah and Allie share.

Slow Up

I started driving again after Portland, Oregon and when we got near Tacoma, Washington it was bumper to bumper traffic. Traffic even stopped at times. We were so anxious to get there and being stuck in traffic was killing us both. Up a few feet...stop.... Pull up an inch....screech stop.. Read this a few hundred times and you will know what I went through. Finally! we got through and the slow up was caused by an accident but it was entirely in the other lanes going South and our lanes were only slowing down because of people goggling at the accident. Once over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge we were on the final stretch to the cabin. This is a challenge. Nothing is marked, and it would be almost impossible to find at night.

We reached the tunnel of trees which is my favorite road ending at Martha's Cabin.

The road to Martha's Cabin

Now picture the most beautiful setting. Martha's cabin sits on the Puget Sound facing Mt. Rainier. It is so beautiful that words can't describe. This is why I took fabulous pictures.

The backside of the cabin


The view from the window


Martha's Cabin

Trees frame the view across Puget Sound towards the floating Mt. Rainier

Next on the shelves of the Sea of Steve, Puget Sound Vacation Vol. II.