better living through living better. part 4

try.

i’ve been on this earth a while now, and it still amazes me when i meet people that aren’t sure of themselves and what they can do. but it seems that a lot of people just don’t try to do things. sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of previous failure, and whatever other million reasons there might be. we all have limitations, but life is not about living up to those limitations, it’s about going past them and getting better. well, not all lives i suppose, maybe just the worthwhile ones. being afraid is no reason to not try. fear is good, it keeps us safe, especially beneficial when we were hunting mammoths and sabertooth tigers were in the world. But what is it keeping us safe from now? our feelings being hurt? our pride? chins up people! if that is the worst of it, then please bring it my way.

so much of this entire blog was written about one girl. i wanted her. i still do if you’d like a present tense update. there are a lot of dynamics involved in this thing with her and i, maybe it was all conjured in my brain and not in hers, but the fact is that it exists for me so therefore it is real. but a lot of reasons to hide the things i felt. a lot of reasons to not go after her. but she was the world to me, and i wanted to be happy with her. she was worth going after no matter what the risk was, for her i was willing to start all over. i had to try to give her all that i had.

nothing ever came of that romantic pursuit except distance and a bruised heart. maybe a bit of delusion mixed in as well.

but i had to try. i had to find out, and no matter what the outcome was or would have been, i think i’m better off. i’m a better person now than i was then. and i think that is important, the risk exists to be hurt after any failure, but you need to be willing to take that same attempt again. you can’t close yourself off to it if it doesn’t work out the first time. fall off the horse, dust yourself off, and climb back on that horse. you can’t retreat from the pain, and you shouldn’t try to hide from it by not putting yourself back in it’s domain. maybe it’s not romantic (although i’m pretty sure everybody feels this way about somebody), maybe you wanted to jump off a cliff, or hang-glide, or buy a house, or take a road trip, or ask a girl to dance, or whatever. make your life better.

just try.

better living through living better. part 3

how to pack for moving.



i have a huge family. and it seems that every summer someone or other has moved to a new house or apartment or something. from the time that i was about 10, i have helped move. maybe i wasn’t so effective early on, what with being 10 and pretty weak compared to adults, but i grew into it and was pretty strong and hardworking. so for the longest time i was just the physical labor, just the guy that would pick stuff up and put it where you told me to. sort of banal and sheep like. but it’s moving, there really isn’t anything sublime about it.


but having helped move as much as i have, i paid attention and picked up the know how of how to move in the best way possible. i’m a pretty awesome mover, both as the person in charge and organizing things, but also packing stuff up. here are some helpful hints.


1. go to STAPLES and buy a bunch of the 6pack staples brand file boxes for 9 dollars a pack. these boxes are the best because they are super sturdy and strong, and they don’t need tape, and they are white which makes it easier to read the writing. plus buying a bunch of the same sized box makes loading a van that much easier. if you have a bunch of odd mismatched boxes, it will really be like tetris trying to make everything fit, and since you already have to do that with furniture, why not make some part of this easy.


2. BEFORE THE DAY OF THE MOVE. box stuff up according to room. then according to item. so box up all the books and dvds that belong in one room, and not mix them up with another room’s books and dvds. then write down what’s inside and what room it goes to. try to maximize your packing. all of the books together in one box, all the dvds, all the cds, all the pictures and knick knacks.


3.stack the boxes up with the heaviest on the bottom and the fragile stuff on top. then cart it out to the truck. this should be easy because the boxes are all the same size so there isn’t a balancing act.


4. all your clothes? throw them in heavy duty trash bags. all your shirts in one. pants in the other. underwear in another, coats yet another. shoes in another if you can. if you have boxes of shoes, this is a good time to use a big box from somewhere, maybe the mall or a target or some big store. same thing for linens and towels.


5. keep an overnight bag with at least 3 days worth of clothes and a towel and bathroom stuff. put it in your car.


6.bring out your furniture.


7. load the truck up. start by putting in the boxes, heavy ones on the bottom, fragile on top. try to use as little space as possible.


8. once you have your boxes in there, use your mattress to lock it all into place. then tie it off using a big x to secure everything. those bags of clothes, use them to fill any gaps. if there are fragile boxes floating above your mattress, take them down.


9.then load in your furniture tetris style. try to fill every crevice as efficiently as possible. so flip chairs over couches, turn tables upside down (taking care not to scratch or damage anything. shelves on their sides. while your at it, throw the TV on the couch to help avoid damage. remember heavy things on the bottom.


10. drive to where you are needing to be. take a break and eat lunch.


11. unpack the furniture and bring it to the room it should be in. start to arrange it loosely where you want it to be.


12. bring in the boxes to the designated rooms.


13. rip open the bags of clothes and towels and put those away first. then go through the boxes as you see fit.




anyway i hope that this helps at some point in your life. i wrote this down for my sister to follow it when she moved, and i thought that it would be perfect for this section, so i apologize for any weird language, i tried to fix it with a rewrite. i have things coming up that i’ll talk about here shortly.

better living through living better. part 2

I don’t claim to be a photographer of any real merit, of any high caliber, but i have taken thousands upon thousands of terrible photographs. As an artist, i tend to lack interest in photos unless they are really good, and the fact that i can’t eloquently figure out what it is that makes them good or bad means that my understanding of what is happening in the photo is rudimentary at best, and not at all developed. But i try to figure out what it is that’s working.


When i was in school, i was in a class that required photos for each project. this was not a photo class per se, it was a 2D design class that just happen to use photos as the medium. At the time it was a bit of a pain, and i struggled the whole way through, but now looking back it was infinitely educational. This was the time before digital cameras were as ubiquitous as they are now. They were low megapixel high price ordeals, and the quality was questionably at best. So everything was done on actual rolls of film. And since this was not the proper photo class, we didn’t have darkroom access, not that i even knew how to do it. So i would get the film developed at wallgreens or whatever 1hour place was around. Each project required me to shoot at least a whole roll of film, if not two. We had 10 projects and i had a box of 36exp. film. Then if we didn’t do it right we would have to reshoot in order to improve the grade. So i easily ended up with 500 photos in that 10 week period. and not only that but my girlfriend at the time was in the class as well so we would help each other and that probably counts to increase the number.


I quickly learned that taking a good picture was a pretty lucky endeavor. out of all those photos all of them are terrible. but there were some less bad than others, some that were worth turning in. but so few and so far between. it was so frustrating, knowing that the things i shot might be crap, but that i’m going to have to pay to see them anyway. it made me very aware of what i was doing with the camera very quickly. it made taking pictures a bit nerve racking.


Then on top of that, as i was ending undergrad i was beginning to apply to grad school and slides were needed. shooting slides is a completely different thing from just taking normal pictures outside. there is special film, special lights, special ways to position everything, special ways to take the picture, special settings , everything about the whole process is special. and that means it’s hard. oh and the developing process is even more special than regular photos(read expensive). the first forrays were disasters, but i was able to figure things out well enough to start to take good slides of my work, good enough to get into grad school i suppose. and now i have some understanding of studio photography that i’ve kept in my head.


And then digital cameras became affordable and of worthy quality. digital photography now is almost as good as film, and the differences are negligible unless you are a photo snob, which i am not. and i’m really only talking of the consumer level camera, not pro quality because the high end shoots better than film, and each year we get higher def for lower prices, so this will only be true for a little while longer. And with my digital camera i’ve been able to just hold it out and shoot at things with no remorse, with no worries that i’m wasting a photo, or wasting my money be having to develop them just to see them. It has allowed me to shoot thousands and thousands of pictures that i can just sort of throw away, they only take up space on my harddrive. right now i have 1400 photos on my computer and that is just from the last 5 months. I’m to a point now where i take good photos, so maybe i can offer some advice.



HOW TO TAKE BETTER PHOTOS


1. get a digital camera with a large (4gig) memory card

2. take photos of everything all the time (this is the main step). live your life with your camera in your hand.

3. turn off the time and date stamp.

better living through living better. part 1

beyond everything we do as we struggle in todays slippery economy and workplace, there are still the finer things in life. I will be the first to admit that i was never rich, nor was i really ever poor. My mother struggled and worked to give us all a life that was worthwhile no matter how hard things were. She raised me and my siblings to understand the importance of working for the things that you wanted and not to go out searching for an easy dollar. i remember getting a pair of shoes at the start of the new school year, and that they were supposed to last me through the year, and that last years pair were this years PE shoes. and the moment i started making money, the first thing i bought were shoes. and that was followed by more and more shoes. and this is still sort of happening in my life, buying a new pair of shoes is always a satisfying thing for me. i don’t often spend too much on shoes, in fact i don’t like the idea of getting really expensive shoes because i beat them up pretty badly, paint spills, sawdust, sparks from welding, general tomfoolery. But it doesn’t mean i’m cheap either. in fact it is quite the opposite. i like having nice things, i like getting quality goods. and i know that i am not mr moneybags, but i like to spend my money, and i like the things i spend my money on. and i think at the end of it all, that is what matters most, that you enjoy the things that you get.


in my younger days, and even now, i suffered often from buyers remorse. and that was more often than not from spending a bit to far out of my range. so i’m going to try and give you some insight as to how i have made do and still have been able to get the things i get. i sort of assume that this will be a multipart thing, so i’ll try to cover the things i need to cover. and again, this is not about the basic needs we all have, more about the icing on the cake, and hopefully that will make more sense as the list grows.

ART- I think that art is sort of the ultimate in luxury. i watch cribs and laugh at how bad these stars’ homes are decorated, really generically and usually centered around the TV. If there is art it is usually a movie poster or gold records or pictures of themselves, and that is all well and good for that slice of life, but what about the rest of us. Then i think about DIY home design shows like design star (which i am thinking of trying out for) or trading spaces etcetera etcetera ad nauseum. I like the idea that they can make some ‘abstract art’ to hang on the wall at their most creative, or head over to pier 1 for something. And maybe it might end up nice, but usually it doesn’t. And as for the art you get at pier 1 or at ikea or target or the poster store, i’m sure it looks nice, the only problem is that it is generic and so common that it doesn’t say anything interesting about you.


And i think that art can be that powerful, that it can describe you through your tastes and your aesthetic values. In fact good art can be as powerful an entertainment as the TV, if not more so. But maybe the idea of art sounds expensive. Maybe you think about how expensive art sounds in a museum or a gallery or in auction houses. or maybe you’ve gone to the kincaid store in the mall, or one of those stands that sells paintings at fairs or on the street, and have been put off by the price tag. a thousand dollars does seem like a lot. And in the back of magazines like dwell and ready made, there are ads for printed paintings for 300-500 dollars, and while that seems reasonable, it still is in the same vein as the art you pick up at ikea.


So here’s the trick. go to a university. go take a look at the art classes that are going on. usually there will be kids sitting around burning the midnight oil working on a project that will be due the next day. take a look at what they’re doing. if you see something you like, ask them if they’d be interested in selling it. usually undergraduates are more than happy to sell their work, or maybe they’d be a little coy about the whole thing, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Also, at the end of the year, schools usually put on shows that feature student work, and that is a great time to see lots of work.


Whatever you do, don’t ask them to paint or draw or photograph something for you. Don’t try to commission them to do work for you, i always think that that practice is a bit unfair, having been on the one end and seeing friends in the same boat. Just ask them to see their work, more often then not they have lots of work sitting around and they can easily send you pictures of it. Get interested in what they are doing, not in what they could do for you.


What about pricing? Prices are always a fuzzy thing. Be willing to spend some money. Don’t try to cheat these people out of what they are doing. Think about it like this, you are not just paying for the physical material cost of what goes into a piece of art, you are paying for their education to get to the point where they are making work that you like. It doesn’t just happen naturally, no matter how much talent anyone has, it takes lots and lots of work and effort. it is a constant struggle. so you are paying for that. These are people that will be pursuing art in a serious way, and you aren’t paying for a generic print that everyone on your street can have. This is real artwork. And while they aren’t ‘real artists’ (like in museums and stuff) they are probably better than a majority of people. As for a specific price range 200-600 is reasonable, i wouldn’t pay more unless they were in grad school receiving a degree in art. a framed print or poster can run around 200-300 dollars, so that price isn’t too crazy.


So how do you pick work? Well it’s basically this. take a look at different things and if you like it, then that’s probably the one you like. it sounds kind of dumb to say it out loud. it’s actually a very obvious and intuitive thing to choose. Don’t get caught up in art speak mumbo jumbo. you don’t need to know about the context or about what the artist thinks or about how it is historically referencing the futurist manifesto but using the visual vocabulary of mid 20th century modernist painters. you just need to like it. Also don’t think that you are discovering some hidden talent that will emerge and become so famous that you can turn around and sell your art that you bought for millions, it isn’t like buying baseball cards to try and make money. you should be enjoying it not trying to bankroll your unborn’s college tuition. and don’t let the room you have in mind dictate your choice either, just find the most compelling looking thing.



hopefully this will be useful to someone at some point, and if not that i’ll get to something that is for whatever you need.

and i’m not done with the other stuff, i’m just trying to broaden my topics that i talk about on here.