Day 9: When Do You Put Up Your Tree?

Well, we've always had an artificial tree (I was allergic when I was a kid and we never really re-evaluated) so the timing isn't necessarily important. We usually wait until everyone is home, then we sort the tiers and put it all together. We put up the lights (alternating color and white) and tinsel, then dad disappears and us ladies put on all the ornaments.

 

Actually, we just got a new tree! Our old one was nine feet tall and too big for the new house. So it's going to be quite different this year--it's pre-lit, and so I assume it stays assembled. It's probably already up, but we'll wait until Nora and I are home for Christmas to decorate.

And, behold! This is my final photo project--I printed pictures of foliage in crazy, whacked out colors. I'm so proud of it!

Printmaking, To a T

"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through." -Ira Glass

Day 17: An Art Piece

This is a sculptural piece done by my ceramics professor, Shida Kuo. He's pretty amazing.

Also, let's talk about what my day's been like so far. First, I got into work & felt half dead so I went out to get another cup of coffee. I came back to find my intern reimbursement check sitting on the intern desk. AND I had made an error and got an extra $4.50! This check is almost $180! And THEN I logged into my e-mail and saw that my payment had been processed on StubHub, so I have anther $119 that I didn't have before! Well, I guess it's technically only $29 I didn't have before, but this whole "being too nice" thing just paid off. BUT then I saw an e-mail from my agent that basically said, I'm not coming in tomorrow, you don't have to if you don't want to! Here are just a couple things I'd like you to do. And that's about today. Damn not checking my e-mail!

So now I'm sitting at work with a giant coffee and procrastinating the few things I have to do. Since I'm already here, it would be a waste to just leave. Half day it is! Huzzah!

Sam Brown, you will never fail to make the most simple yet absolutely perfect art. Thank you for saving me from the Monday-afternoon-I-was-up-past-4AM-it's-so-humid-2-exams-will-kill-me-why-does-everything-have-to-suck-all-at-once mindset. You've given me the it'll-get-better-I-promise mindset.


Just breathe.