I was going to say farewell, bon voyage, hasta la vista—but I know myself better than that. It’s likely I’ll post a bit over the next week or two, while I’m getting acclimated. I need to wean myself off slowly, to avoid that weird separation anxiety. I don’t know. That sounds a little neurotic, but it’s how I’m wired. C’est la vie.
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Over the past two days I’ve been going through the first year of posts on my blog, reorganizing information, and fixing things that were out of whack. Although the old stuff doesn’t get looked at much, or maybe even at all, I still feel better. It’s sort of like moving your couch to vacuum behind it. Nobody knows, but YOU. Yet it’s still gratifying. Regardless, I’ve made a pact with myself that changing themes will no longer be allowed beyond this point; too much tweaking can be required.
Anyway, I shot this image in photography class and it made me think of “respite.” It seemed perfect for the moment, as I’m taking a little respite myself right now. After forty-eight hours of working on the blog, I’m barely into 2017 and it appears that I may have posted at least once per day for the entire year!
At first I was a little upset with myself, thinking about how carried away I had gotten, but I quickly realized that during that time I was living sober and loved doing my art. It was a great season! I still love doing my art, of course. But, I have to be honest and say that taking graphic design classes was a bit like taking a cold shower. Creativity doesn’t come on command. At least not for me.
What’s funny is that one of my professors—who taught Type & Typography—said we could do extra credit and watch a program called “Do schools kill creativity?” I was like, ummm, uh–huh—yeah… you’re killing it right now! I’m kidding, but you know what I mean. Basically, we had to spend a lot of time learning “the rules.” Once I finally had them figured out, I learned that the only reason I had to know them was so that I could BREAK them. Huh?! Needless to say, my old mind had a hard time comprehending.
Nonetheless, it’s a journey. Everything happens for a reason. I’m kind of relieved that the upcoming semester is for general ed, and my creativity is now unchained. Art is whatever, whenever.
Just as it should be.
Art is a spiritual, immaterial respite from the hardships of life. Fernando Botero
Peace and Love!
It’s been tough for me to post lately. Considering the old saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” I’ve come to a new and quite similar saying of my own – about myself and my writing – and I’m trying to live by it now.
“If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Actually, I thought about this while taking an English class over winter. Writing essays about emerging technologies and bullying on the internet, I found myself really questioning why it is I’m interested in writing, and why I found it so hard (or perhaps tedious is a better word) to write those essays. To make matters more confusing, I had also been pondering why graphic design was becoming less appealing to me after some of the projects I did for class.
It was the answer that came to me that I actually got excited about… in order for these things to work, they have to come from my heart.
That being said, I guess right now I don’t have much on my heart – well, except for complete joy and overflowing gratitude for this new sober life. And the fact that I still can’t believe I have this opportunity to go to school and experience the things I missed out on when I was young and confused. Sometimes I pinch myself to make sure it’s real!
Anyway, the good news is that I managed to get an “A” in the English class. I’m glad it’s over though! I also changed my major from Graphic Design to Psychology. Kind of a strange move, but for those of you who know me, it probably doesn’t come as a shock. I love to think and I love learning why we do what we do.
Graphic design is now my secondary field of study and I’m three classes away from getting a certificate. And I just started working for the Sports Department at the college, doing graphics for the sporting events through an internship, so it seems that everything is slowly falling into place!
That’s about all for now. I’ve got all sorts of new thoughts and ideas about life – and the future… so I hope to share more as time goes on. In the meantime, I feel a little like that bird in my picture – flying solo and feeling free.
Life is good and God is great! And the journey continues…
A Sprinkle of Faith 