So much for consistency

Well, I told myself I would be a persistent blogger when I initiated this thing, but obviously that did not turn out so well. I suppose the best thing to do now is to return to whence I came and kick off this 2012 blogging adventure.

What's New:

I graduated college. I am a college graduate, with a college degree. I got a job straight out of school, at a tattoo shop. I took it with no other options on my horizons, affected undoubtedly by the fallacy of what working in a tattoo shop would be like. I liked my coworkers, who encouraged me to pursue art and constantly employ my talents to better my skills. However, I hated my boss, who made frequent after-hour phone calls, failed to pay my wages in a timely manner, and worst of all, sexually harassed one of my coworkers. He gave me the creeps like none other, but I continued to toy with the concept that things would improve. Long story short, it did not, and I have since started another job. I am now (and have been for the last couple months) working at Softcom (an Internet Service Provider) as their web and graphic designer. I like what I do, and they are professional, so I suppose I couldn't ask for more. When I am not in the back of the office next to the tech guys, I also work partially doing customer service here, with two other girls in the front of the office. The days are long, with an hour-long commute roundtrip, but worthwhile so far as I am establishing a pretty impressive portfolio with all my work here.

I have moved to Sacramento from Davis, which I miss dearly but still visit from time to time. I love my apartment, this old Victorian with excess vintage charm. Even better is I have a remarkable roommate named Rita who (shockingly!) pays her bills on time and enjoys similar things as me. She is from London, which I will never grow tired of bragging about because let's face it, all things foreign are exciting. Even if only marginally foreign, she's still European, which teaches me things about other cultures that I would not otherwise be aware. We have a cat (this is recent) and her name is Snickers, she's a Maine Coon whose moods fluctuate between extreme affection and rabid rage. My boyfriend Troy is still as amazing as ever, possibly the only thing that has changed between us is driving distance.

I have gained a lot in the past months, but unfortunately have lost as well. A great and unique friend of mine, Tim, another Brit who I met through Rita, has recently passed and I am still learning how to deal with it. I am sure I will continue to talk and even blog about Tim for years to come, he was a guy who taught me so much in such a short time. I could type thousands of words about Tim Barraud, but I have already resolved to save that for a lengthy post where I can explain all these life lessons he left behind for us to examine.

Although my life as an "adult" is finally here, I still have so much to live and learn. Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's day, and Rita's boyfriend Roy (yes, her boyfriend is named Roy, mine is named Troy) will arrive in America. He is going to stay with us until Rita has to leave in the Summer when her visa expires. I am excited to make another connection with someone new, and excited for Rita to have something so familiar here with her in the states. Everything right now is running smoothly with my job, friends, and love life. I could ask for more, but that would just be greedy. In case you are reading this and it hadn't yet become apparent: Life is pretty good.

Depressing, but...

Another one of my Dad's close friends passed away today. My dad knows a lot of people, many of which I do not know and who he likes to pretend I do by saying things like "Oh, you remember so-and-so, yadayads." But this year alone, 3 of his close friends who I knew and grew up around passed away. That's 3 men, no older than 65 years old, passing away from natural causes. Not only is it terribly sad because I knew these men, but I feel pretty terrible that once you get to that age, that's just what happens. Once you start getting older and you establish those life-long friendships, you start having to say goodbye to all the people that mean a lot to you. That's sad and terrifying all at once. One more reason to dread getting old, really.
I hate when I get into these modes of thinking, but it's hard to avoid when you see something like that happening.

Excited

Although I should be working on my paper right now, inspiration suddenly struck me. I have been working in frustration on my next screen print, and I think I finally figured out how to make it look good after some time spent tinkering with the wolf here.
I just added this branch motif in there, which I think is just what that block of empty blandess on the figure's body needed. I am still playing with what kind of branches or even roots I want to use there, but I am getting excited about printing these.

I am going to make some T-shirts and even some pillowcases for my bed out of this one.

If anyone wanted a print, I would be willing to screen it for them!

Saturday Sittin

This Saturday I will spending my day indoors; thinking, reading, and writing about this Ancient Chinese Bell:

While initially I thought it would be pretty drab concept, I have already learned more than I thought possible about Chinese music and and ritual bronzes from this period. I am not too happy about having to spend my Saturday writing a 10 page art history paper, but to be honest I don't think I would have anything else valuable to do with my time.

Osama Bin Laden killed yesterday

I found out last night while I was at the Fox Theater in Oakland watching Explosions in the Sky. For some reason it seems important to remember who I was with and what I was doing when this thing happened. But, in all actuality this will probably blow by with the rest of history, with only vague memories of its real relevance. It is strange how Hitler's murder occurred on the same day so many decades prior to Osama's, however.
What I do know is frustrating is how I keep seeing that Martin Luther King quote reblogged on tumblr.

After seeing this same thing posted so many times, it's like damn, stop junkin up my dashboaarrdd.
I do, however agree with the quote. I think people are merely rejoicing because they have made Osama the target of all of their hatred and frustration over everything that occurred on 9/11. I don't know if people actually feel happy about something like that, but I think they got some false comfort in knowing this man is dead. I'm rather impartial to the whole thing-I do find it pretty insane that they finally found him after all this time, and proud that something was actually done, but it doesn't make me want to rejoice because someone so hated is now dead. Eh.

Maybe I am just too impartial about everything.

Easter

Today was Easter. I am currently writing this in a word document because my internet is down, which reminded me there are other things in this world with which to occupy my time.

Soon I will round up these thoughts of mine and read some before I get to sleep, as I am already lying in bed right now. I think the whole reason why I am writing this is because I initially had the urge to read because I had some free time before retiring to bed prior to my 8 am class. But I suppose what I would say is the generator of this reading idea would be the concept of Easter. Well, perhaps less the concept of Easter and more about people’s reactions to the holiday.

Like any other holiday, the scheme no longer seems to be to project the true nature of the day; it is as we all have noticed by now, for commercial profit. So if this is the case, it bothers me to no extent how everyone uses these holidays as platforms for their preaching. Today, of course was ridden with status updates and tweets about our Lord & Savior, even though he actually only happens to be the “Lord and Savior” for some of us. It is not that I am opposed to folks expressing faith via their social networking or media sites, because as I write this I realize that by claiming the antithesis of faith I am also expressing my credo. What I am constantly faced with that frustrates me to no end and that escalated to an unbearable crescendo today is people getting preachy about their faith. I do not try to push my lack of belief on you, kiddo so do not get all “to the depths of hell with thee” with me because you find yourself to be more righteous than I.

So when I casually browse the updates which are to undoubtedly contain something about the resurrection of Jesus on the supposed anniversary of such an occurrence, the last thing I want to see is someone pretending they are better than me because it is some Sunday in April. I respect your beliefs, yes, so I am not going to go around commenting “hail satan” and “f*@# this jesus guy” to stir the ever-boiling religious pot (granted, I am sure some did exactly that). So why exactly do these religious folk find it suitable to assume themselves better than me because on Easter they (actual quote from an update today) “remember that today isn’t about bunny and eggs, it’s about our Savior Jesus Christ dying for our sins and resurrecting!” In response I merely thought to myself that today basically is only about bunny and eggs to me, a non-believer.

I know that religious zealots have always been forthright and very outgoing with their message of God, but when it invades my realm of thought I am apt to feel a little offended. This is what led me to post the status “Don’t use this holiday to shove religion down my throat, I need to save room for peeps.”

Sure, call it sacrilegious, whatever but that was not my attempt. What I said was simply a statement out of frustration for people who cannot appreciate a day such as Easter as simply an excuse for any type of person to celebrate, no matter their belief system. Do not try to make me feel bad because I am celebrating this holiday with the exact same intentions as you—yes, that is right, do not try to mask it, you and your kids and your whole goddamn family loves the shit out of the candy and the food. Stop forcing your beliefs on me, especially in casually situations, and quit it with the guilt tactics, it’s not going to make me believe the miracle of immaculate conception, resurrection or the number of your other supposed infallible fantasies. Do it in your own space and your own time, do not be ignorant and at least be respectful to those who are not in alignment with your own faith.

After discussing the topic with my boyfriend further, bless his soul (meant as an idiom here, of course) we agreed completely with one another. What our discussion made me realize is how this kind of speech is aimed at a believer-non believer polarity, but actually offends a very wide spectrum of individuals. For those who are religious, but not in the vein of Christian belief, how are they not to feel at least a little indifferent to such advances? Not only are these kinds of statements rude, but they are ignorant to the whole populace who does not share the same belief  system as them.

Let me just narrow this discussion down a bit and depart from my rant to just say that people take religion very seriously and I am beginning to understand why. My lack of faith in any religion has begun to make me feel the same sense of passion that these religious folk do, and I understand why. If they feel as strongly as I do about their belief as I do my disbelief, then any statement to the contrary can be extremely offensive. Stating anything to the contrary is basically telling a person that something is false, something that an individual centers a large part of their life around believing is fact. In doing so, you disrupt the very foundations of their life as it is built upon their belief. Having just begun to really embrace atheism, I am beginning to understand the essence of religiosity (or lack thereof) and the powers it contains.

On that note, I wanted to conclude that I am going to end this day with some reading, and am going to get back to where I last stopped in Richard Dawkins The God Delusion. Although I have heard bad reviews from some intellectual friends of mine on this book, I will be the first to admit that I am essentially ignorant and need a stepping-stone to greater things in my atheism. Allow me to have some evidence to think this book is anything less than genius before it gets tossed. What a terribly long day. Siighhh.

This

Yesterday, as I sought inspiration for an artist's statement for my UWP Writing in the Fine Arts class, I read through Stefan Sagmeister's "Things I have Learned in my Life So Far." As I read, one bit really got to me, where Sagmeister mentioned how he had kept a diary of some sort since he was twelve. This diary consequently served as a source for his artistic inspiration for years, frequently reading his old thoughts to help him through a new project. It made me think about how my mom would sit down each day to write in her journal, and how I constantly admired her perseverance and dedication to that journal of hers.
I have, too many times than I would like to recount, tried to start a journal of some type, but have always failed because of all those things in life that make you fail at whatever habit you are trying to make for yourself. However, I think this blog will help me in some way to achieve what I want from a diary. I hope I can keep up on updating this, because I am constantly burdened with thoughts that I want to write dow but never give myself the time to just do.
On that note, I will be posting whatever the hell I damn well please about what I am thinking or feeling at any given moment. Instead of constantly writing down what I think in a draft on my phone and saving it for some unknown amount of time until I delete it in a moment of "when will I ever use this?"
This blog will allow me those moments. Even though this information does not need to be published for everyone else to see, I feel like the nature of it will cause me to be more motivated, like I have some other purpose when it is available for public appreciation. This is essentially me vowing to keep up on this blog or my writing in general, and my slight fear for my ability to do so.
Here we go.