What is Your Style?

I was reading a description of an Artists' Retreat when I came across this line, "We would like every participant to share a technique with the others that shows his or her style..." and I was totally stumped. What in the world would I show to the others? What is my style? I like graphic art and collages, robots and computers, hiking and biking, reading and going to movies - but that's an eclectic personality, not a "style." My art is fairly structured with excellent balance (that's the engineer in me), but it's also rather simple and lacking depth. I like a little whimsy without being cute. I'm getting fairly good at assembling compositions from handmade papers, sometimes adding a touch of watercolor, pencil, or oil pastel to the backgrounds. But it's time to take it to the next level. The problem is trying to figure out what the next level is???

Project Runway

Having been out of the country, I missed the final three episodes of Project Runway. Drama. Drama. Drama. This has been the whiniest, high-maintenance, teary-eyed group of designers in the history of the show. Their low self-esteem and lack of confidence just left me drained. I am tired of hearing, "I want to win this for my mom... or my sister... or my dad... or my neighbor... or my dog..." (I exaggerate on the latter.) Did no one want to win it for themselves??? In their defense, I can't imagine living so intimately with people knowing every time you walked out the door, one of you wouldn't be coming back. And having to withstand public ridicule from a group of judges whose own taste is at times questionable (come on Michael Kors - now that you've won a lifetime achievement award, isn't it a little "costumy" to wear sunglasses indoors?).

Ancient Civilizations

I recently got to visit Ephesus, an ancient Greek city in Turkey. It was the 2nd largest city during the Roman Empire and housed the Temple of Artemis (one of the non-surviving Seven Wonders of the World destroyed in an earthquake). It was absolutely amazing to me how much has been excavated and restored, and how incredibly sophisticated the infrastructure of the city was, especially the buildings and the water distribution system. The picture shown above is the Library of Celsus.

Bugs

Having spent the last 3 months in the northwest, I totally forgot what late summer is like in hot, humid weather - bugs everywhere. I went hiking this weekend in Kentucky and was pretty much attacked from all sides, and that was after dousing myself in tick spray and wearing one of those Off fan repellents. I'm not sure this bodes well for taking up camping as a retirement hobby.

Office Politics

Office politics - every place has them. We have a man in our office who is retiring... IN APRIL. But he's decided to start packing now. The down side of this is that he constantly tries to pass down many years of accumulated junk to the rest of us. "I'm not sure if this will ever come in handy, but you might be able to use it." You know the drill. Unfortunately, I work in a tech company, so anything that is more than 10 minutes old is worthless. The other thing he's decided to do is give up his corner office early and magnanimously move to a cubicle. Trouble is, he's moving to MY cubicle and I'm not in the chain of those who are progressing to a better office space (I'm only a consultant). So I found a free conference table and squeezed myself in amongst the other four temporary consultants. We're only here for another two weeks. You think he could have waited to make his move?????

Vlogs & Blogs

I used to love watching David's Vlog after an episode of Design Star. And then they added Dooce's Recaps to the mix. Who could resist? Two diss's for the price of one. But lately they both seem so incredibly watered down. Armstong's seems to be taking her title literally - a recap of the show we all just watched. I think she gave a better description of the four course meal than chef Aaron Sanchez did (notice I got the name right?). What a great opportunity to throw in a little of that droll humor she is known for. And David, David, David... Guess it's a good thing that Courtland is gone so that we will stop hearing comments about his looks. So here is my response to the comments of the "pro's". Michael's mirror - loved it. Instead of asking, "why did you paint it black?", I would have asked, "why in the world did you paint the ceiling green????" Everyone knows if he would have painted that mirror yellow or red or please, not that same Girl Scout uniform green, it would have looked like the worst kindergarten arts and crafts project. Those poor little broken angels would have looked like macaroni glued around the mirror (remember those days????). And while we're on the subject of arts and crafts gone bad, let's throw in the fake flowers glued onto a cardboard box (would anyone seriously hang that in their basement let alone over their dining room table?) and the rug hot glued onto an end table (the foam circle wasn't even as large as the table!). Didn't anyone bring any skills to this competition? Oh, I forgot - Emily doesn't do drawings.

Design Star

I admit to being a huge fan of HGTV; but like so many other fans these days, I keep wondering what are the producers of Design Star thinking???? What happened to fun and laughter (don't even get me started on talent)? They've put some of the most vivacious HGTV stars as judges for this show, but I have yet to see them crack a smile. Every time they come into the elimination studio (which takes up half the show time these days), they are so stern and somber. Hey Vern, Genevieve, and Candace, how about a little mentoring and encouragement and for goodness sakes laugh once in a while? And here's another suggestion - how about kicking off those mediocre people who constantly fly under the radar? They aren't good, they aren't bad, but they are definitely BLAH! This format of a designer being the best one week and the worst the next shows someone who is willing to take a risk!!! True, not every design can be a homerun out of the park, but by giving them the ax so quickly, you end up losing all your talent before the season is over. How about putting the design back into Design Star and get rid of the drama?

Racial Profiling

The last thing I want to do is turn this blog into a political statement. I'm the person who doesn't read the paper, doesn't watch the news, and walks away from conversations on coffee breaks that turn political. But the recent situation in Arizona is so sad. I have seen the effects of this first-hand. One of my students had to leave her home in the middle of the night to travel to meet her father who had been deported. True, he was an illegal immigrant, but he'd been living in this country for years, held a job, and raised a family. Is it wrong that he wants a better life for his family? Isn't this the main thing we, as parents, want for our children. I think back on that little girl who was getting ready to start high school. She was so bright, hard working, and respectful (how many adolescents can you say that about these days?). Her education is probably over, because she said young girls often do not go on to high school in Mexico. Why is it we are so quick to send money to Haiti, but we can't help the people who are in our own back yard?

Donuts vs M&Ms

Today a co-worker offered me a donut. "Take that away from me," I said. "It's brown." To which he gave me an extremely puzzled look. So I explained the mechanics of the brown diet - glazed donuts definitely being on the list. Later on someone left a bag of M&Ms on the community snack table. I'd never seen a bag this big before. It looked like one of those giant size bags you might get at Costco. There were vibes coming from this bag begging people to grab a handful. Did I cave? No, but I figure it's time to head home where my only temptation is a bag of spinach.

Sitting

I've been a teacher of one sort or another for the last 20 years, but in the summer I work for a technology company. I love keeping up with all the new innovations out there, but I HATE sitting for 8 hours at a desk. During the school year, I often feel trapped in the classroom, but at least I'm up and moving - either at the SmartBoard or roaming the room to assist a student. How do people do this who have to sit all day long every day with only a 2 week reprieve each year??? No wonder Americans are getting wide in the butt.

Day 1

12,000 steps. Not bad for the first day's walking. BUT... didn't go nearly as well for the Brown Diet. Within 12 hours I was dying (have you ever noticed how many things are brown?). I ate a salad for lunch with an ibuprofin chaser (luckily it's red). I'm sure this is that initial de-tox stage we all go through every time we start a new diet. Luckily this blog is keeping me from caving and heading for the nearest soda machine.

Ten Toes

This is Day 1 of the Ten Toes fitness program. Goal: Walk 10,000 steps a day. In an effort to get back in shape and lose weight, I'm also going on a diet. No South Beach or Atkins or Weight Watchers (been there, done that). I'm calling this the "Brown Diet." My plan is to avoid all foods that are brown. Brilliant idea! Have you ever realized how many bad, but tasty and definitely high calorie foods are brown? Obviously all colas top the list along with french fries, cookies, pancakes (and the maple syrup you slather on them), brownies, beer (I'm talking microbrews, not Bud Light), chocolate, fried chicken, ... Starting to get the picture? So this is my goal. The walking will be a snap, especially since I have such gorgeous parks to walk through. But giving up Dr Pepper??????