Thursday, October 29, 2009

Noticed



Sometimes I find myself looking at something I see everyday and noticing for the first time. It's a strange phenomenon to say the least. Usually it makes me want to take a picture of it, as if I'll never be able to notice that certain characteristic of that object/place again. It makes me think we're all mostly unnoticed... and it also reminds me of that other strange phenomenon when people start looking really strange when you look at them for too long.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Paper Purge

I have a sickness. I have this uncanny love of paper. It nears obsession. I just have a really hard time letting go of paper. When it's unused it has so much potential. I want so much to use every single square inch of that paper. I want to fulfill the paper's desire to be useful. (I imagine that that's what would make paper happy if paper had feelings.) Maybe it's a kind of vicarious satisfaction. I know I want to be useful to my utmost extent, and I wish God would make me feel as useful as I think I'm making paper "feel." I dunno how to really explain it.

So when paper still has the potential to be useful - a blank side, an interesting graphic, etc. - I can't let it go. It's crazy, I know. An paper that holds specific information becomes like a keepsake, and everyone knows a keepsake is meant to be kept. I swear, I have every single piece of school work since I started school. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I've been feeling recently that really all that paper is a physical manifestation of emotional baggage. It's as if I can't move on with my life because the stuff from my past is weighing me down, literally. And so I've decided to really organize all that paper. It's a daunting task. I don't know when or if I'll finish. I'm hoping that by performing this paper purge I can feel a little less tied down. Of course, it is utterly time consuming. I don't think I'll have the time to think about anything else besides ridding myself of irrational attachments and unnecessary stuff.

I'm beginning to find more and more truth in Goethe's quote, "We are the slaves of the objects around us."

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Minimalism Re-thought



I did a total redesign of my space, and now it's very minimalistic. I guess I'd say I don't naturally tend towards this aesthetic, but I'm growing to like it immensely.

I first got rid of everything on the walls and basically stored everything in boxes and out of the way. One good thing about this arrangement is that it really prompts me to clean and keep tidy because anything that's not in it's place is immediately noticeable.

Oh, and my mom got me a new plant. It's a seven leaf schefflera. It sits next to the spider plant which I've done a fine job at not killing. Hopefully the schefflera will do just as well at not dying.

The Monsters in Your Head - Tentacle Eye Patches



So here's the scoop: new creative eyewear from j-han!

This time I've got eye patches with a twist of course. They've got these crazy tentacles busting out of them. I hand sculpted the tentacles out of polymer clay and painted them gold. Then hand cut and hand finished each eye patch from leather. I am quite proud of these little puppies.