What else is going on with me:
…well, winter just won’t die, if that’s anything new. Looking back over the past, oh, 24 winters of my life, I’m fairly confident in making a self-diagnosis of SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder. Every year, when spring rolls around, I get this blast of Happy and I feel like I can do anything—this is partly due to spring, yes, and partly due to the fact that the prior season left me feeling like I can do nothing, and that’s perfectly fine, I’ll just curl up on the couch and stare at a screen and turn into a spud, thanks.
To revel in the negative for a moment: I’m sick of being cold, I’m sick of wearing layers, I’m sick of frost-heaving back roads, I’m sick of dry skin and of small cuts never healing, I’m sick of wet socks and pant hems, I’m sick of hat-tangled hair, and I’m sick of having to deal with all off it whenever I want to leave the house. SICK. OF ALL OF IT. DONE.
*Ahem*
On a positive note, I actually have been more physically active in the past month and a half than in a long time. The day after Christmas, with Christmas money, I went out and bought a Wii Fit Plus. Ryan and I currently have Justin’s Wii on semi-permanent loan, so all I had to buy was the game and board, yay!
It’s been a slow, stuttering start, but I’ve been using the thing more days of the week than not. When I first recorded my information, the game gave me a BMI reading in the lower ends of overweight. In the past two weeks, measuring almost every day, I’ve been hitting normal more and more often (weight can fluctuate two pounds from day to day, just due to food intake or other factors). My current goal is to lose a very modest five pounds by March 10th, and I’m making slow but sure progress.
The best part is the fact that I’m changing. My body shape is slowly but surely changing, my waist and belly getting subtly smaller. My muscles are growing, both in size and number, most notably in my thighs and calves. Exercises that used to knock me out don’t hurt quite as much as they used to—they still do, trust me, but less so!
I am getting stronger and healthier, and it feels fantastic.
On a geekier note: I’ve become even more of a WoW nerd. I hit 80 with my Blood Elf Mage, and I’ve spent the past two weeks gearing up, getting my rotation down, creating macros, fine-tuning my stats, and learning raids. I’ve also been making friends in the guild, since I can actually run dungeons and raids with them without it being a welfare-run to get me desperately needed gear or badges.
…to translate: I hit the cool part of the game, and it’s meant being geekier and more social. Yay!
Still, even with that, and the working out, this season has been getting me down. I have been in a pretty annoying funk for most of this month. For a small while, I was having really annoying and upsetting mood swings—I’d go from pleasant to enraged at the drop of hat. Literally, I’d go to place a hat, and it’d fall, and I’d get spitting-mad-frustrated. Or something wouldn’t close or open properly, or I’d bump into something, or any number of small, stupid things that would set me off for no reason other than You’re Not Doing What I Asked Of You, Stupid Object.
Fortunately, that seems to have scaled down by a large amount, so I’m in a much calmer funk. Hooray.
Overall, I’d love to blame the weather and the season entirely for the rut, but that wouldn’t be entirely fair. Part of it has just been me.
Last Thursday, I had work from 10 to 2 while the boss had a business meeting. I had a few hours to myself, just me and the computer, in the slowest part of the day. The funk had been deepening as the week went on, so I was feeling pretty crappy. In a rare moment of I don’t even know what, I opened up a notepad and started yelling at myself. I gave myself a damned good talking to about feeling sorry for myself, and not doing anything about it, and sitting on my butt, and so on.
This has again grown long, so tomorrow I’ll post the aftermath: my new set of rules for Getting Off My Butt, Literally & Figuratively.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What's Goin' On, 2/23/10 Edition
I started writing this last month, before the current semester had even started. Opened it again today, and had to edit it a bit. At any rate, this is my life right now:
WORK
Work is…the same. I’m not working Monday nights anymore, my schedule is just Fridays from 11-12-1ish to closing (when I start depends on the day), and Saturday from open to close. I find that I actually really miss working on Monday nights. In theory, the same regulars that work out that night work out on Friday night, so it should be the same. Except for two things: first, I work a longer day on Friday, so by the time they come in I’m ready to go home; second, it’s the end of the week, and they’re feeling the same way. I’m seeing way less of my favorite regulars, and I’m just feeling…apathetic toward work in general.
Although: last week and this week, I’ve gotten some more hours, due to my boss having outside obligations. There’s a chance I may start working on a weekday again, at least for a few hours before class. I’m kinda hoping—both for money, and for Time Out Of The House That’s Not Class.
I’ve also been doing housecleaning for my mom, who has big back problems and can’t do as much as she used to. Of course, I say I’ve been doing it, but I’ve only done one day of it. Weather, school, and lack of energy have made it rather difficult to get over there with enough time to be actually useful. But I’m trying!
SCHOOL
The reason I’m no longer working Monday nights is because of my classes: only available times for the two classes I need* are at night, MW from 6 to 9, TR from 7 to 10. Shoot me now.
*I actually have three classes left in the program, but Graphic Design filled up insanely quickly (I blame the way the computer set up the registration, but that’s a rant I won’t start).
Which leads me to the next school sub-topic: The Next Step. This has been a bit of a saga the past month.
I was looking at the colleges in the area (namely UConn and ECSU), focusing on the availability of three areas: Marketing, Editing, and Graphic Design. UConn has an official Marketing degree, enough classes for me to throw together an Editing degree through an Individualized Major, and the same deal for Graphic Design (there is a “Communications Design” major, but (a) it’s less graphic and more all-around design, and (b) the admission requirements are out of my reach). ECSU has a Visual Design minor, and enough classes for me to make a Marketing Individualized Major, but that’s it. So UConn looked to be winning.
Then this semester started, with the Advanced Computer Graphics class. Very first class period, we watched a short movie on a digital artist named Bert Monroy. This short blew my mind, and had me scraping my jaw off the floor. The digital paintings this man does are ridiculous, in terms of beauty, detail, and staggering talent. That picture on the front page of the web site? That’s not a photograph, that’s a painting, made entirely in Illustrator and Photoshop. Ridiculous.
That short got my mind working, and I did another poke at UConn and ECSU for anything involving digital media. Somehow, on my first search, I had missed the Digital Art and Design concentration at ECSU; reading it over, I fell in love. With the classes, with the program as a whole, and, thanks to alumnus Ryan, with the college.
Just this morning, not half an hour ago, I pulled together enough energy to do the Online Application - Transfer on the ECSU Online Services page. Thought I’d fill out as much as I could, and find out what else would needed to be done to actually apply.
Next thing I know, it’s saying I’m all done and hit this button to send it off. So I did. Surprisingly fast and easy, and I’m actually feeling a little dizzy because of it. It appears that all I have left to do is fetch my high school and MCC transcripts and send them off, and I’m set.
I’ve applied to college. … Eek!
Funny side note: There was a College Transfer Fair at MCC two weeks ago, and I popped by it to grab some material off the ECSU table. One of these materials was a postcard to send in asking for more information on a given major. One of the blanks to fill in on the postcard, along with name and address and college and what-have-you, was credits earned thus far. I went to my online MCC transcript to find out.
I have 84 credits. After this semester, I will have 90. 90 mothereffing credits. Every one earned at Manchester Community College.
I NEED TO MOVE ON ALREADY.
This has gotten a bit long, so I shall save the rest of the post (What Else Is Goin’ On, 2/24/10 Edition) for tomorrow.
WORK
Work is…the same. I’m not working Monday nights anymore, my schedule is just Fridays from 11-12-1ish to closing (when I start depends on the day), and Saturday from open to close. I find that I actually really miss working on Monday nights. In theory, the same regulars that work out that night work out on Friday night, so it should be the same. Except for two things: first, I work a longer day on Friday, so by the time they come in I’m ready to go home; second, it’s the end of the week, and they’re feeling the same way. I’m seeing way less of my favorite regulars, and I’m just feeling…apathetic toward work in general.
Although: last week and this week, I’ve gotten some more hours, due to my boss having outside obligations. There’s a chance I may start working on a weekday again, at least for a few hours before class. I’m kinda hoping—both for money, and for Time Out Of The House That’s Not Class.
I’ve also been doing housecleaning for my mom, who has big back problems and can’t do as much as she used to. Of course, I say I’ve been doing it, but I’ve only done one day of it. Weather, school, and lack of energy have made it rather difficult to get over there with enough time to be actually useful. But I’m trying!
SCHOOL
The reason I’m no longer working Monday nights is because of my classes: only available times for the two classes I need* are at night, MW from 6 to 9, TR from 7 to 10. Shoot me now.
*I actually have three classes left in the program, but Graphic Design filled up insanely quickly (I blame the way the computer set up the registration, but that’s a rant I won’t start).
Which leads me to the next school sub-topic: The Next Step. This has been a bit of a saga the past month.
I was looking at the colleges in the area (namely UConn and ECSU), focusing on the availability of three areas: Marketing, Editing, and Graphic Design. UConn has an official Marketing degree, enough classes for me to throw together an Editing degree through an Individualized Major, and the same deal for Graphic Design (there is a “Communications Design” major, but (a) it’s less graphic and more all-around design, and (b) the admission requirements are out of my reach). ECSU has a Visual Design minor, and enough classes for me to make a Marketing Individualized Major, but that’s it. So UConn looked to be winning.
Then this semester started, with the Advanced Computer Graphics class. Very first class period, we watched a short movie on a digital artist named Bert Monroy. This short blew my mind, and had me scraping my jaw off the floor. The digital paintings this man does are ridiculous, in terms of beauty, detail, and staggering talent. That picture on the front page of the web site? That’s not a photograph, that’s a painting, made entirely in Illustrator and Photoshop. Ridiculous.
That short got my mind working, and I did another poke at UConn and ECSU for anything involving digital media. Somehow, on my first search, I had missed the Digital Art and Design concentration at ECSU; reading it over, I fell in love. With the classes, with the program as a whole, and, thanks to alumnus Ryan, with the college.
Just this morning, not half an hour ago, I pulled together enough energy to do the Online Application - Transfer on the ECSU Online Services page. Thought I’d fill out as much as I could, and find out what else would needed to be done to actually apply.
Next thing I know, it’s saying I’m all done and hit this button to send it off. So I did. Surprisingly fast and easy, and I’m actually feeling a little dizzy because of it. It appears that all I have left to do is fetch my high school and MCC transcripts and send them off, and I’m set.
I’ve applied to college. … Eek!
Funny side note: There was a College Transfer Fair at MCC two weeks ago, and I popped by it to grab some material off the ECSU table. One of these materials was a postcard to send in asking for more information on a given major. One of the blanks to fill in on the postcard, along with name and address and college and what-have-you, was credits earned thus far. I went to my online MCC transcript to find out.
I have 84 credits. After this semester, I will have 90. 90 mothereffing credits. Every one earned at Manchester Community College.
I NEED TO MOVE ON ALREADY.
This has gotten a bit long, so I shall save the rest of the post (What Else Is Goin’ On, 2/24/10 Edition) for tomorrow.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Let's See How I Do.
I’ve been sitting here for the past hour, tapping away at my laptop, trying to put together a New Year’s Resolutions post.
I’ve also been metabolizing the 12 ounces of energy drink I managed to down in just over 20 minutes on a half-empty stomach.
The post is a bit all over the place. So let me try and sum it up:
This year, I want to improve my follow-through. There have been many, many instances in my life of having Super Awesome Idea that never gets played out. Either I bog myself down with second-guessing or dreaming up possible obstacles, or I get distracted and forget about it until I’ve lost the initial energy that accompanied the idea in the first place. All of these things are bad, and all of them need to stop.
This Follow-Through Program would encompass the following list of things I’ve wanted to do:
[o] Putting together something to self-publish, either on lulu.com or magcloud.com or something similar. The “something” would include my photography, Dad’s photography, or my writing, or any combination thereof.
[o] Finally kick-starting the motor on the “Dad project,” which would put his music (and photography?) online to be listened to, spread around, and purchased. How fast this moves depends on what the upcoming semester looks like, but I am feeling hopeful and optimistic.
[o] Commit to writing. Fiction, private journalling, public journalling, blogging on interesting subjects, anything. I have been having an outrageously hard time setting aside a chunk of time wherein I will force myself to go someplace with nothing but my laptop, a notebook, and my cell phone. Buckling down is required, and I am enlisting Ryan’s help in this.
[o] Seriously think out all the half-baked business ideas floating around in my head. I plan on posting at least a few of them here, whether or not they ever come to fruition. Admittedly, most of them involve excuses to do things I like with friends. Hey, whatever works.
There is also a Decision Making Program that is currently underway, and basically is just me picking a damned school and a double-damned major already. I don’t count this as a New Year’s Resolution thing because I’ve been fussing over the decisions for the past few months, so it’s neither new nor restricted to 2010. I’ve thrown in the bonus monkey wrench of considering Graphic Design as a major, which has both narrowed down the college decision and complicated the “major decision” (hur hur).
I’d say that I’d keep this blog updated with this, but I think I’d be rehashing a lot of what I’ve already ranted about in the as-of-yet-unfinished Achtung! series of posts. Most likely, I will do at least one more rehashing, so you’ll have that to look forward to!
So, there you go. My post on New Year’s Resolutions. All one and a half of them. Wish me luck?
I’ve also been metabolizing the 12 ounces of energy drink I managed to down in just over 20 minutes on a half-empty stomach.
The post is a bit all over the place. So let me try and sum it up:
This year, I want to improve my follow-through. There have been many, many instances in my life of having Super Awesome Idea that never gets played out. Either I bog myself down with second-guessing or dreaming up possible obstacles, or I get distracted and forget about it until I’ve lost the initial energy that accompanied the idea in the first place. All of these things are bad, and all of them need to stop.
This Follow-Through Program would encompass the following list of things I’ve wanted to do:
[o] Putting together something to self-publish, either on lulu.com or magcloud.com or something similar. The “something” would include my photography, Dad’s photography, or my writing, or any combination thereof.
[o] Finally kick-starting the motor on the “Dad project,” which would put his music (and photography?) online to be listened to, spread around, and purchased. How fast this moves depends on what the upcoming semester looks like, but I am feeling hopeful and optimistic.
[o] Commit to writing. Fiction, private journalling, public journalling, blogging on interesting subjects, anything. I have been having an outrageously hard time setting aside a chunk of time wherein I will force myself to go someplace with nothing but my laptop, a notebook, and my cell phone. Buckling down is required, and I am enlisting Ryan’s help in this.
[o] Seriously think out all the half-baked business ideas floating around in my head. I plan on posting at least a few of them here, whether or not they ever come to fruition. Admittedly, most of them involve excuses to do things I like with friends. Hey, whatever works.
There is also a Decision Making Program that is currently underway, and basically is just me picking a damned school and a double-damned major already. I don’t count this as a New Year’s Resolution thing because I’ve been fussing over the decisions for the past few months, so it’s neither new nor restricted to 2010. I’ve thrown in the bonus monkey wrench of considering Graphic Design as a major, which has both narrowed down the college decision and complicated the “major decision” (hur hur).
I’d say that I’d keep this blog updated with this, but I think I’d be rehashing a lot of what I’ve already ranted about in the as-of-yet-unfinished Achtung! series of posts. Most likely, I will do at least one more rehashing, so you’ll have that to look forward to!
So, there you go. My post on New Year’s Resolutions. All one and a half of them. Wish me luck?
Sunday, December 27, 2009
This Ruth in 2009.
I’m going to start this off on a bad note, for two reasons: so I can end it on a good note, and because I hated this year with fiery passion and I need to get it off my chest.
This. Year. Sucked.
The winter went on for eons and was bitter cold. The spring was cold and damp and unpleasant. Summer started off with an ocean’s worth of rain, then petered out in a humid misery. I will admit that fall and this current winter have not been too bad (knock on wood), but the first two and a half seasons of this year straight-up blew.
The people we lost, dear god. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Brittany Murphy, Ed McMahon, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, Frank McCourt, Les Paul, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite. Icons, idols, heroes, many taken too soon.
Closer to home, a dear friend of mine lost his father this year, only a few months ago, and my dad lost an employer and close friend, as well as had many friends diagnosed with various illnesses, mostly cancers. My boss lost her mother-in-law.
The worst death for me this year was my Uncle Bill, technically my great uncle, who passed away in February. Bad enough that this was my first experience with losing someone close to me, Uncle Bill was essentially my grandfather, something I never realized the magnitude of until it was almost too late. That alone is all I need to say that this year sucked.
The cherry on top, though, was my cousin Zach. In June, he was diagnosed with bile duct and liver cancer, and was given only a few months to live. He is in his early 30s, and is happily married with two small daughters, one 5 and one turning 2 in just a couple of days. Prime of his life, and a horrible diagnosis.
This is where I will start to climb back up.
Zach is still alive, and is getting well. Next month he will be celebrating the sixth month mark of his diagnosis, and the fact that he has so far beaten the diagnosis. The chemo is working, and his attitude is fantastic--he refuses to see that the odds or statistics relate to him, and has been 99% positive throughout. His tumors are shrinking at a fantastic rate, and his upcoming surgery, while scary, will be a huge step towards recovery.
Due to being sick both days, I missed both Uncle Bill’s funeral, and his ashes ceremony. But I got to say goodbye. I visited him a few days before the end, I got to thank him and tell him I loved him, we had one last embrace. I wish I could have made those ceremonies, but I would never trade one for the other. Beyond that, he had a wonderful, full, long life, with loving children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, with a loving wife he was married to for over sixty years. The church was filled to the brim at his funeral, over 300 people came to show their respects. If that’s not a sign of a good man, I don’t know what is.
There were beginnings this year as well as endings. My cousin Aliza was married in April, with a beautiful ceremony and an awesome, fun-filled reception. My childhood best friend, Lindsay, was also married this year, in September.
Many women at Curves were blessed with grandchildren this year, including my boss, whose stepdaughter had twin boys the day after Easter.
I made a lot of progress on many personal levels—I started another program at MCC, made great progress in therapy and with inner revelations, and made huge strides in getting healthier and more fit. I also made my first “big” purchase (a Queen-sized bed) and moved in with my wonderful boyfriend (who is also making big strides in his own life). Even at work, I’ve gotten closer to some of the members (to the point of friending a few on Facebook), and I’m enjoying the projects I work on and what I do there in general.
And, while he is currently acting as a disappointment to many of those who voted for him, I still count Obama’s inauguration as a big plus to the year; I’ve even been joking that we used up all the good karma on January 20th.
So, this year wasn’t a total bust. I still think it sucked, though. And I can’t wait for 2010.
Next post: Resolutions, and where I want to go in the new year!
This. Year. Sucked.
The winter went on for eons and was bitter cold. The spring was cold and damp and unpleasant. Summer started off with an ocean’s worth of rain, then petered out in a humid misery. I will admit that fall and this current winter have not been too bad (knock on wood), but the first two and a half seasons of this year straight-up blew.
The people we lost, dear god. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Brittany Murphy, Ed McMahon, Bea Arthur, Dom DeLuise, Ted Kennedy, Frank McCourt, Les Paul, Patrick Swayze, Walter Cronkite. Icons, idols, heroes, many taken too soon.
Closer to home, a dear friend of mine lost his father this year, only a few months ago, and my dad lost an employer and close friend, as well as had many friends diagnosed with various illnesses, mostly cancers. My boss lost her mother-in-law.
The worst death for me this year was my Uncle Bill, technically my great uncle, who passed away in February. Bad enough that this was my first experience with losing someone close to me, Uncle Bill was essentially my grandfather, something I never realized the magnitude of until it was almost too late. That alone is all I need to say that this year sucked.
The cherry on top, though, was my cousin Zach. In June, he was diagnosed with bile duct and liver cancer, and was given only a few months to live. He is in his early 30s, and is happily married with two small daughters, one 5 and one turning 2 in just a couple of days. Prime of his life, and a horrible diagnosis.
This is where I will start to climb back up.
Zach is still alive, and is getting well. Next month he will be celebrating the sixth month mark of his diagnosis, and the fact that he has so far beaten the diagnosis. The chemo is working, and his attitude is fantastic--he refuses to see that the odds or statistics relate to him, and has been 99% positive throughout. His tumors are shrinking at a fantastic rate, and his upcoming surgery, while scary, will be a huge step towards recovery.
Due to being sick both days, I missed both Uncle Bill’s funeral, and his ashes ceremony. But I got to say goodbye. I visited him a few days before the end, I got to thank him and tell him I loved him, we had one last embrace. I wish I could have made those ceremonies, but I would never trade one for the other. Beyond that, he had a wonderful, full, long life, with loving children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, with a loving wife he was married to for over sixty years. The church was filled to the brim at his funeral, over 300 people came to show their respects. If that’s not a sign of a good man, I don’t know what is.
There were beginnings this year as well as endings. My cousin Aliza was married in April, with a beautiful ceremony and an awesome, fun-filled reception. My childhood best friend, Lindsay, was also married this year, in September.
Many women at Curves were blessed with grandchildren this year, including my boss, whose stepdaughter had twin boys the day after Easter.
I made a lot of progress on many personal levels—I started another program at MCC, made great progress in therapy and with inner revelations, and made huge strides in getting healthier and more fit. I also made my first “big” purchase (a Queen-sized bed) and moved in with my wonderful boyfriend (who is also making big strides in his own life). Even at work, I’ve gotten closer to some of the members (to the point of friending a few on Facebook), and I’m enjoying the projects I work on and what I do there in general.
And, while he is currently acting as a disappointment to many of those who voted for him, I still count Obama’s inauguration as a big plus to the year; I’ve even been joking that we used up all the good karma on January 20th.
So, this year wasn’t a total bust. I still think it sucked, though. And I can’t wait for 2010.
Next post: Resolutions, and where I want to go in the new year!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Oy to the Vey.
I haven’t updated really anywhere in a long while (unless you count Facebook, which I don't). There’s a lot going on, and it would take a long entry just to describe it all.
I have quite a few half-baked blog posts that need to be finished up, including a state-of-the-Ruth one that I’m hoping to post for the new year—either New Year’s Eve, or New Year’s Day. Plan is for that post to talk about what happened in 2009, and what I’m thinking of for 2010 (and beyond!). Since I’m all done with classes now, I have some more time to actually finish my thoughts and finally post them!
Here’s the quickest recap I can do:
[o] Finished classes, did pretty well all-around
[o] Am trying to piece together my next steps, education-wise. This is a blog post in itself, seriously, so I’ll just say this: TOO MANY GODDAMN OPTIONS.
[o] Work is going well, home life going well, health going well (besides a minor cold (yes Dad I’m taking vitamin C and drowning myself in juice)), school is done and is therefore going VERY well ~.^
[o] …ta da?
ETA: Combination thank you to those who read and comment, and apology for never responding to comments! I won't make excuses...I'll just apologize and run away ~.^
I have quite a few half-baked blog posts that need to be finished up, including a state-of-the-Ruth one that I’m hoping to post for the new year—either New Year’s Eve, or New Year’s Day. Plan is for that post to talk about what happened in 2009, and what I’m thinking of for 2010 (and beyond!). Since I’m all done with classes now, I have some more time to actually finish my thoughts and finally post them!
Here’s the quickest recap I can do:
[o] Finished classes, did pretty well all-around
[o] Am trying to piece together my next steps, education-wise. This is a blog post in itself, seriously, so I’ll just say this: TOO MANY GODDAMN OPTIONS.
[o] Work is going well, home life going well, health going well (besides a minor cold (yes Dad I’m taking vitamin C and drowning myself in juice)), school is done and is therefore going VERY well ~.^
[o] …ta da?
ETA: Combination thank you to those who read and comment, and apology for never responding to comments! I won't make excuses...I'll just apologize and run away ~.^
Friday, December 4, 2009
Achtung! Again!
This post led to this post, where I answered the first of these three questions:
1. What is the quality of experience I want to have as I earn a living?
2. What gifts do I want to give to life as I toil at challenging tasks that are interesting to me?
3. What capacities do I want to develop in myself while doing my work?
In this post, I’ll answer the second question.
What gifts do I want to give to life as I toil at challenging tasks that are interesting to me?
I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to give the world a Coke…
Okay, no, not really.
Seeing as my top priority for a job that I covered in the last post was creativity, it seems fairly obvious what I want to put out into life, the world, and the universe in general. I want to create.
I’m not a musician, and I’m not a physical artist—I don’t want to add sound to the world, or a painting or sculpture. As much as my father might want it, that’s just not what I want to do. I do love to write, and I love to be creative with concepts and ideas.
I’d like to give originality. I’d like to make someone stop and think—wether it’s about a product or about a concept. I’d like to make people react in pleasant surprise, laughing or smiling or even just glazing over as they’re startled into rethinking something.
I’d like to give stories. I love stories, I’ll read just about anything with a plot, and I would love to put more stories into the world. This ties into wanting people to think—the biggest story on my plate right now is about how one man deals with his Christian identity while in a relationship with another man, and a project that’s been on my mind for years is the story of a guy who falls in love with someone online, with no clue as to their gender. I’m not writing them as GLBT stories—they’re just stories about people. In one, the main characters happen to be bi or gay; in the other, while the main character does struggle with what it means for his orientation that he’s fallen for someone who he can’t identify as female, it’s more about his struggle than it is about the possibility of a same-sex relationship. If I do it right, I could really make people think about the messages behind my stories, and even see things from a new perspective.
And both of those things are interesting to me—taking old concepts and turning them on their heads; creating new concepts; developing characters and plots that people can identify with even as they’re scratching their head and saying “Huh, what would I do in that situation?”
There is another answer to the question, if looked at from a different perspective: I want to have kids, and have them also be my gift to life and the world. I want to raise them with good hearts and good values, so there are more good people in the world. Doing so will be interesting, challenging, and, from what I hear, the most fun and awesome experience in the universe. And it will also be work, which I think qualifies it for that question.
To sum up this whole thing: What do I want to give to life? The things I love in it. Originality, good stories, and good people. Easy.
Next question.
1. What is the quality of experience I want to have as I earn a living?
2. What gifts do I want to give to life as I toil at challenging tasks that are interesting to me?
3. What capacities do I want to develop in myself while doing my work?
In this post, I’ll answer the second question.
What gifts do I want to give to life as I toil at challenging tasks that are interesting to me?
I’d like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I’d like to give the world a Coke…
Okay, no, not really.
Seeing as my top priority for a job that I covered in the last post was creativity, it seems fairly obvious what I want to put out into life, the world, and the universe in general. I want to create.
I’m not a musician, and I’m not a physical artist—I don’t want to add sound to the world, or a painting or sculpture. As much as my father might want it, that’s just not what I want to do. I do love to write, and I love to be creative with concepts and ideas.
I’d like to give originality. I’d like to make someone stop and think—wether it’s about a product or about a concept. I’d like to make people react in pleasant surprise, laughing or smiling or even just glazing over as they’re startled into rethinking something.
I’d like to give stories. I love stories, I’ll read just about anything with a plot, and I would love to put more stories into the world. This ties into wanting people to think—the biggest story on my plate right now is about how one man deals with his Christian identity while in a relationship with another man, and a project that’s been on my mind for years is the story of a guy who falls in love with someone online, with no clue as to their gender. I’m not writing them as GLBT stories—they’re just stories about people. In one, the main characters happen to be bi or gay; in the other, while the main character does struggle with what it means for his orientation that he’s fallen for someone who he can’t identify as female, it’s more about his struggle than it is about the possibility of a same-sex relationship. If I do it right, I could really make people think about the messages behind my stories, and even see things from a new perspective.
And both of those things are interesting to me—taking old concepts and turning them on their heads; creating new concepts; developing characters and plots that people can identify with even as they’re scratching their head and saying “Huh, what would I do in that situation?”
There is another answer to the question, if looked at from a different perspective: I want to have kids, and have them also be my gift to life and the world. I want to raise them with good hearts and good values, so there are more good people in the world. Doing so will be interesting, challenging, and, from what I hear, the most fun and awesome experience in the universe. And it will also be work, which I think qualifies it for that question.
To sum up this whole thing: What do I want to give to life? The things I love in it. Originality, good stories, and good people. Easy.
Next question.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
