Celebrate with a Bracelet

I have been an art teacher this summer and while the work can be tiring and challenging at times, it is incredibly fulfilling at the end of the day. You would be surprised how refreshing being around kids (and kids-at-heart) can be for the creative soul.

Our summer workshops for the year are about to end, so to relax after a hard day’s work, I cut, rolled, glued, varnished, and assembled my first officially complete paper bead bracelet in the colors of Young Artists’ Studio. You could say this was one way of celebrating the joy of what we do. I plan to make more for my co-teachers, too. Spread the love, spread the good vibes. Happy teachers, happy students. :)

I believe our love of the arts and our belief in our students’ abilities keeps us alive. <3

- Mel

Encouraging Words of Advice for Creatives

This video covers things most of us pursuing a career in the creative fields probably already know, but the way Ze Frank talks about it here, it feels like having a good chat over coffee with a good friend.

Thank you for the kind and encouraging words, sir.

I want to be a writer and an artist, so I’m going to write, and I’m going to draw.

I’m going to do both of those things, right now. Maybe a silly doodle, maybe a 100 word drabble… I will make progress as long as I don’t stop.

The Lists of Like and Have

What I Would Like:

- Just Dance 3 for the Nintendo Wii

- Sparkly giletter nail polish

- A new shirt

- A WACOM Cintiq

- A beginner’s make-up kit

- A new set of pajamas

- Therapy

 

What I Would Sort of Like:

- A Nintendo 3DS

- A super computer

 

What I Already Have:

- My mom

- A loving boyfriend

- Supportive, inspiring friends

-  A roof over my head

- Art and writing to express myself

- Hope

To Endure

My Day 037 entry for Doodle a Day.

Sometimes, I wish there were a small award for people who are able to persevere despite all the rough times that come their way. It is its own kind of strength: being able to hang in there (even if you’re hurting, even if it takes all your willpower to get up from your bed), being able to take care of yourself (little by little), being able to endure, and being able to climb back up no matter how many times you fall.

Often I struggle to have enough energy just to live, but if there is anything I have learned from the people who care about me and have helped me through the years, it’s this: that no matter what the circumstances are, no matter how deep in the abyss I seem to be, I will always have a tiny flame fiercely burning in my heart.

I will do anything and everything to keep that light alive, and I will let it shine as bright as I can to help others find their way.

Someone Who Makes Learning Fun

For the past couple of days, I have been studying for my upcoming exam in my Critical Theory class. I came from a Visual Arts background, so readings laced with heavy words fly past my head. While I could probably comprehend them if I reread them enough, I honestly can’t do it without a guideline or a more knowledgeable person’s help.

This is why I am grateful that Sir Aureus offers his self-published book and audio lectures online for all of us students to access. He is the first professor I have ever had who provided us with electronic versions of his own published book. This lets us students save both money and paper. I can’t help but look forward to learning something new when I listen to him talk excitedly about Plato’s Republic, or Aristotle’s poetics, or even how the romance of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra came into play. He makes it easy for even those of us who aren’t that good at theory to understand the basic principles and lessons.

When Should I Get Up?

Let me admit that I have trouble sleeping and waking up on time. It’s frustrating, especially when I want to get up early and have enough energy to finish all my projects.

Enter Sleepyti.me, a bedtime calculator that has been helping me a lot in figuring out the best time for me to sleep and wake up on my desired times. It uses sleep cycles to tell you what exact time is when you’re most energized so that waking up won’t feel like a chore. It’s a welcome nudge in the right direction since I usually get up feeling groggy and bitin.

It’s been working for me for the past week. I feel refreshed when the alarm goes off. My eyes open almost instantly as soon as I hear my cellphone chirp at me to start the day. The extra challenge on my part, however, is to actually get up from my bed and not laze around staying in the cozy covers even after my alarm has gone off… I’m guilty of having done this a number of times. :(

Would self-incentives work, I wonder? I’ve been wanting to indulge myself in a new pair of pajamas for years, now… Any of you have tips on how to make yourself jump out of bed to greet the morning enthusiastically? ;)

On Receiving Gifts in the Mail

I was just thinking about a package I was expecting from a user on the holiday_wishes Livejournal community, sulking about the possibility that someone in the post office has yet again stolen a gift intended for me. It’s happened a lot in the past, usually for internationally shipped items, hence why I told everyone I knew online not to send me anything in the meantime. I felt so bad and guilty about it each time it happened, even though it wasn’t my or the sender’s fault.

On the plus side, it made me want things less, and I got so used to not receiving any gifts that I didn’t mind at all anymore. I also didn’t make any more impulse online purchases, since my lost packages included paid merchandise.

It wasn’t so bad. At least it meant less things that I wouldn’t be able to give a proper place in my home while I tried to get my possessions under control. Still, I do miss the excitement of waiting for a package to arrive, and the thrill of opening an envelope or a box to reveal the wonderful gifts from my sweet friends and, occasionally, kind strangers who wanted to grant a wish of mine in the spirit of giving.

Something New: A Personal Self-Improvement Toolbox for 2013

A great artist I follow, Djinni, posted a list of tips and techniques that he was going to try to help him become more productive with art and writing. I thought it was a great idea, and decided to try it for myself. After a bit of looking around, I’ve put together a rough draft of what I like to call my Self-Improvement Toolbox.

Throughout the year, I’ll be trying new stuff and figuring out what methods work for me. Eventually, I’ll make specific posts about each technique when I’ve maintained it long enough, and let you all know if it worked for me or not. I’ll outline the pros and cons in case any of you would like to try them out, too. Most of them will be general productivity tips that can apply to anyone. I may have a few that are specific to artists or writers, but I’m sure they can be modified to apply to any profession or area of life. :)

Without further ado, my current toolbox includes:

• The Pomodoro Technique
• Schrödinger Smart Inbox
• Impending Doom Engine (for articles I accumulate in my reading list)
• Keep Your Goals to Yourself

Other methods and resources I am thinking of implementing are:

• The Walnut, Pebble, and Sand Tasks
• (A Take on) Benjamin Franklin’s Schedule
• Artist Dates
• Superbetter
• Unf*%& Your Habitat

I suppose it’s ironic that I’m declaring this when I have “keep your goals a secret” in my toolbox, but I think all of these tools are relative. What may work for me may not work for you. While you may have a trusty tool in hand, one single tool cannot always match every single problem that arises. Adapt and adjust your toolbox to suit the situation at hand. After all, we’re not machines that follow hard and fast rules. We are humans, each with a unique way of thinking and working. Who knows, you might come up with a new method by tweaking and better understanding how you best work. :D

Another Year, Another Chance to Stand Back Up

This is not the post for me to apologize for the lack of updates. The only person I have to apologize to is myself. Not because I haven’t posted here a lot. It’s because I owe it to myself to take better care of my well-being: physically, emotionally, and mentally. I have to, environment and circumstances be damned. If I can’t change some of the external factors, then, by golly, I’ll make the most of what I can change now.

Long and personal story short: I made strides but I tripped, fell, got dragged back a couple of meters, and now I feel like I’m back where I started.

Control, Alt, Delete.

Our work is never over.

Lately I’ve been trying to get rid of as many attachments as I possibly can. My digital files are not exempt from that. They are much easier to sort and search through than real, tangible objects, but the ease in which we can create or download files makes it much easier for junk on our computers to accumulate.

I was a digital hoarder, once. With the advent of technology, it’s so effortless to collect stuff online. The moment we got a stable cable internet connection was the moment I started saving a lot of accessible books, shows, songs, pictures, programs, desktop wallpapers, tutorials, games – you name it, I’ve probably downloaded it at one point in time. Because our net was so fast (anything after dial-up was a miracle!) I was saving more than I could actually use. I ended up burning spiels of CDs and DVDs and perusing only about 10% of all the data I had!