Monday, August 13, 2012

Creative Slacker

A third post in one month? Has someone hijacked Full of Earth & Dirt???

Though no one is seriously asking this question, the answer is: No. I'm just incredibly bored at at work. I've been temping here for a few months and was officially hired today, but since the company needs to reconfigure all of my settings, I literally can't do anything useful today. Putting together another blog entry seems a good way to go. Especially since the entry about my internet wanderings is probably not that interesting, looking back at it. I feel like I have to explain myself whenever I express a wariness of uber-social media. I just don't want Mark Zuckerberg taking over the world by integrating Facebook into every aspect of our lives, which I'm half convinced he's aimed to do -- kind of like Google.

I'm also slightly wary of smart technologies (like Nest, the learning thermostat or the iPod for your home), while simultaneously finding them totally awesome and brilliant. I jump back and forth over a line between "paranoid" and "geek-out." I've watched too many sci-fi movies that explore artificial intelligence's relationship to humans.

Anyway.

I've been in a sort of art-slump for the whole summer, at least in the way of major drawings or paintings. It's been a blazing hot summer, and the room that acts as my studio (slash dining room) is just an uncomfortable place to be (so we've been eating in the living room a lot, too). I have been able to figure out some fun crafts, though, which helped me do my first craft fair ever on July 29th! It was a lot of fun and I hope to do another one someday. Scott keeps saying I should just give up my day job and start doing crafts... thankfully, he is joking.

More after the jump.. click to read on!


Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Bucket List Revisited

In my resolve to try and do more blogging, I decided to revisit my 30 before 30 Bucket List, considering it was pretty much a year ago since I last took a look at it. There isn't a lot to cross out, and there are things I'd like to change, but let's see what we have here...


1. Live in a place with free laundry

2. Have a grown-up bed, and not a loft bed We put the mattress on our old futon frame. Not a "grown-up bed" but not a loft anymore! That's half the battle. I'm counting this one, since it might be the closest we get to a "grown up" bed!

3. Have an art studio again

4. Seriously pursue having kids

5. Have a consistent exercise/yoga routine - So I was doing yoga consistently last summer, but with the winter and then no longer having a membership through work, I have fallen out of any kind of routine. If I did it once, does it count?
6. Take a self-defense class

7. Take an art course in SOMEthing again -- Although I'd be happy to take a class in anything, what I really want to learn is encaustic painting.

8. Be more at peace with myself and have more joy. - This is not a super solid goal, and really I'm not sure it has a place on a list like this since it's really something I should always be striving for throughout life. I'll have to think of something else that can go here...

9. Go somewhere outside of the US (even just Canada or Mexico)

10. Write at least a draft for the book I've been thinking about. - This needs more structure. I may later change it to something else, since I haven't even begun writing anything.

11. Do a professional photo shoot with hubby. Thanks, Katie Harnish!! I'll share your website as soon as it's finished. :)

12. Own a professional digital camera

13. Find a way to make art & make money in a consistent way - This one is looking promising, since I very recently did my first craft fair and I would really like to do another one!

14. Take Spanish classes that will actually be useful in the real world
15. Join an art collective with friends

16. Cook for others, and with others, more.
17. Volunteer. - I've got some volunteering done, but I'd like to do more. I was helping on and off with an afterschool arts-and-crafts group, and I'd really like to do it again more consistently when it starts again!

18. Ideally, live in a house instead of an apartment.
19. Have a healthier diet / eat less processed foods - I could probably be doing better, but we're much much better than before!
20. Go to a taping of Conan. - No, I didn't go to a taping of Conan, and as much as I adore that strange, lanky red head, this is a goal that is not something I can control. Instead, I think I'd like to Learn Archery, or at least something like it. I've always been fascinated with bows & arrows, and used to make toy ones out of saplings when I was little. Wouldn't mind fiddling with that again.

21. Ride a bike in the city - no, really. I'm terrified to do this. - Seriously considering removing this, because I'm that tense about it.

22. Have better posture or work on my posture.

23. Be less cynical.  - I *think* I'm better at this? Life changes have made me more optimistic about the future, however tumultuous it appears to be!
24. Get a professional massage, or have Scott take a massage class. I'm thinking the former is cheaper. Okay, really, I just want to go get a pro massage.

25. Visit my brother more. - This had some momentum and then suddenly fell off while I was unemployed.

26. Go camping again (it's been a long time!)

27. Have a mini-garden... or be a part of a co-op. ** Part of this would be to learn HOW to garden. -- I have some herbs growing on the window-sill?? -- The herbs growing on my window-sill died. The cactus that was sunning on the window-sill also died. But I have a spider plant that seems to be doing well there... I can't eat it, but it's something? Is that cheating?
28. Go on a Philadelphia Tour, because I don't know jack about the city I live in.

29. Go on a legit picnic, basket and all.

30. Go to the Empire State Building.





Thursday, August 02, 2012

The Internet: My Web Wanderings and Present Precautions

One day I might find a good rhythm of writing blog entries. In the meantime, expect the next post to be 4-6 months from now. Actually, maybe sooner; I have too many thoughts swirling in my head, and too much time on my hands at work while waiting for something to do.



As a side note, I decided to see my blog stats, just for fun. No surprise, I don't have many visitors. Definite surprise, I have visitors from Russia, Poland, and Latvia. See, check it out:




So... hello Russia, Poland, and Latvia!
This is a great segue to what I've been wanting to write about for nearly two months. The Internet. It's a pretty amazing technology, really, that lets you connect to anyone anywhere in the world. I've been able to watch evolve over, I don't know, the past 22 years. Although it's not uncommon for a 28 year old to be very familiar with the internet in the US -- or other countries for that matter, as the Olympic opening ceremonies artistically demonstrated, and young activists have proven through Twitter and other social media outlets -- I think the only thing that makes me somewhat more like the generation behind me is that I grew up with a computer in the house. Not many friends of mine have had quite the same experience, having acquired a family computer in their pre-teen to teenage years. I was introduced through a Commodore 64 and whatever came immediately after it (I know it was some Apple product). As much as a child can manage, I became familiar with Microsoft DOS before computers even had a picture based interface and you had to use some fancy combination of keys to do anything at all; and games required multiple floppy disks and were extremely simplistic. I was fascinated, whereas a youngster the same age today would be bored out of his/her skull and unimpressed. If you read on, you get to see how involved this all became.