I like...

I've written before about the importance of knowing who I am and being able to clearly answer questions about what I like and what I do. It's an ever evolving process, but the changes that came in 2010 helped me to gather this bit of information.

I seek 

leading with a whole heart that I often fail to protect.

I stumble.

I drink cloudy beer.

I love dancing freely til 4am.

I'm ¼ Guatemalan and can barely spell Guatemalan.

I like family vacations and reliable friends.

I wear glasses.

I like laid back people with wit and flexible calendars.

I try to be everywhere.

I like brass bands, second lines and happy hours with free stuff. I like dark hair, interesting eyes and a smile that catches you off guard.

I like kissing and telling. 

I organize, prioritize and plan. 

I cherish moments of seclusion in a tiny corner of my world.

I like Jack Johnson on Sundays and the smell of Star Jasmine. I like to drive home in the sun from a distant place.

I like good witches, shoes, bright colors and feathers in my hair. 

I love costumes.

I like booty shakin beats and chick anthems with scorned lyrics. I like documentaries, mocumenteries and non-fiction. I like using unlikely thoughts to connect unlikely dots. I’ll take it smooth with a crunch.

I love improv.

I like self awareness and helping people. I like stretching my body and mind. 

I want to be wanted.

I like people who don’t talk too much. I loathe flakes.

I like fixing problems and timing things just right. I accept mistakes and won’t let others force me to sweat the small stuff.

I am over perfectionists.

I leave the engineering stuff to the engineers and the numbers to the mathematicians. I like to watch while you calculate.

I like organized chaos and simplicity in form. I like delicate details of true craftsmen. I like clever solutions and punch lines and games that I’m good at.

I. 

can. 

be. 

abrupt.

I like variety. 

I like expensive linens and breaking the ice. I like well seasoned creatures of the sea and soft smooth melted chocolate.

I accept payment in sincere laughs and back rubs. Jeff Buckley is my lullaby.

I like sensational productions and being in front of a crowd. I like walking in New York, grooving in Austin and holding hands in California. 

My heart is in New Orleans.

I change my mind.

You're Not Hungry

 

Sign from Etsy.

If you aren't hungry enough to eat grits, you aren't hungry.

When I was in college and lived alone, I lost weight by not keeping food in my apartment. I did keep grits around. I felt like if I wasn't hungry enough to eat grits, I wasn't hungry.

I was reminded of this when I came across this insightful blog that a guy created to list 1001 rules for his unborn son. I bet he's a chick magnet these days.

the blog - 1001 Rules for My Unborn Son See #402





 

Artist Goes Under

 At a point in my life when a day devoted to discovering artists and musicians on the internet is a rare and cherished occasion, I am happy to find small gems worthy of sharing with you. I stumbled upon Jason deCaires Taylor's sculptures on an interesting blog called The Jealous Curator. The great thing about blogs is that you can browse previously weeded through material that is handed to you, well formatted, on a click-able silver platter.

What I find interesting about Jason's work is the concrete sculptures themselves, life-like emotional representations of the human form and the obvious part of dropping these sculptures at the bottom of the ocean. This is where nature takes over; the sea creatures become the artists and 

magic happens. 

 I view the work, I read the history, and I figure out how it relates to me. How will it inspire me? In this case, it's the artist biography. An excerpt:

"Much of his childhood was spent on the coral reefs of Malaysia where he developed a profound love of the sea and a fascination with the natural world. This would later lead him to spend several years working as a scuba diving instructor in various parts of the globe, developing a strong interest in conservation, underwater naturalism and photography. His bond with the sea remains a constant throughout Taylor's life though other key influences are found far from the oceans. During his teenage years, work as a graffiti artist fired his interest in the relationship between art and the environment, fostering an ambition to produce art in public spaces and directing the focus of his formal art training. He graduated in 1998 from the London Institute of Arts, with a B.A. Honours in Sculpture and Ceramics. Later, experience in Canterbury Cathedral taught him traditional stone carving techniques whilst five years working in set design and concert installations exposed him to cranes, lifting, logistics and completing projects on a grand scale."

Ideas worth anything do not come from thin air. Most of the time great things come from passion and experience. A job as a scuba diving instructor doesn't commonly lead to large scale, sculptural artistry. I am invigorated as I look forward to the future. What part of my background will spring board into my prolific future? I suspect it's the part of my background that is the least likely influence. It won't be my design accreditation or degrees, it'll be the time I spent being dragged from antique shop to antique shop or the time I spent as a child around 18-wheelers and cement mixers. 

You never know.

What is appreciation?

A poem found on the Writer's Almanac

a great source for poetry daily 

Mammogram

by Jo McDougall

"They're benign," the radiologist says,
pointing to specks on the x ray
that look like dust motes
stopped cold in their dance.
His words take my spine like flame.
I suddenly love
the radiologist, the nurse, my paper gown,
the vapid print on the dressing room wall.
I pull on my radiant clothes.
I step out into the Hanging Gardens, the Taj Mahal,
the Niagara Falls of the parking lot. 

"Mammogram" by Jo McDougall, from Satisfied with Havoc. © Autumn House Press, 2004.