The origins of the Bird-Squirrel.
I got inspired by the most random thing. A friend had posted a picture of a spill which she aptly described, “I spilled in lab… Looks like a bird-squirrel going poo o.O” I scrolled past it like many other things on the news feed. It wasn’t until later, when it came up on screen again that I thought to myself, “Holy shit, it does look like a Bird-Squirrel.” There you have it. That sums up my Friday pretty well.
Tags: bird-squirrel
Spoiler Alert.
A Thai gardener manages to steal 200 pounds of jewels from a Saudi prince. He airmails his loot to his home in northern Thailand and makes the getaway. He gets arrested, but not before he manages to sell some of the jewels. That same evening two different Saudi diplomats were murdered. Execution style. Days later, a Saudi businessman gets kidnapped and is never found. Thailand manages to round up the unsold jewels and return it to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia isn’t pleased to find out that they were imitations! They then find rumored press photos of the wives of Thai bureaucrats wearing new diamond necklaces strikingly similar to those that were stolen. Cases remained unsolved. Jewels remain missing.
This was a surprisingly refreshing and entertaining read. It feels wrong for me to read an article that isn’t fiction and find it entertaining. It’s not too current. In fact, it refers to a case that took place twenty years ago. However, this event still has dire implications on relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand to this very day.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1969920,00.html
Tags: jewels, Saudia Arabia, Thailand, theft
The year of natural disasters. Is it an effect of global warming? Is it just random unpredictable weather? Tragic earthquakes in Haiti, an 8.8 earthquake earlier this week in Chile, followed by tsunamis, then you have a monstrous storm “storming” across Europe. In Southern California, millions of people were complaining earlier this month about driving in the rain for one straight week. Massive never-ending blizzards in the Eastern United States. I wouldn’t consider the latter two natural disasters… but it was definitely not the norm.
Edit: I totally forgot it’s an El Nino year. That explains so much.
I still have a poster to raise proceeds for Haiti in the works still. I think a lot of people were motivated to do what they can to help. They applied their time and talents. I unfortunately don’t have any singing abilities like my friends do, who have put on charity concerts this past month. Design for a good cause. The deadline is March 15th and you are responsible for submitting a small number of print pieces for sale. I encourage everyone to submit. Please check out http://thehaitiposterproject.com/ for more details!
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/01/europe.storms/
Tags: haiti, natural disaster, storms, weather
Everyone wants to be passionate about their work. They want to be passionate about their life. They want to be passionate about their relationships. We really all crave passion; whereas balance is about boundaries. Balance is about pulling back. Balance is about protecting yourself.
Now there’s another side to this, which is to say, Why would you not embrace things you did? Why would you not approach them with gusto? Why would you not try to relish every moment? I think you don’t because you’re afraid. We’re all afraid right? It’s really scary. What happens if you really try something and you really want something and it doesn’t turn out the way that you want it to? It’s hard right? Really. That sucks. It’s awful.
But, it’s okay. If you don’t try it, then you’ll never know. It’s okay to be bad at something. It’s okay to be mediocre. I mean, we have these Olympian standards. We all think we should be remarkable at absolutely everything because we look around and everything is so medium and we see the best of the best. The reality is no; No, most people aren’t really good at stuff.
You find out what you care about and if you care about something and you keep doing it over and over and over again you’ll get a little bit better each time. And when you do something not very well, then you discard it and you move on. So it becomes a trial and error scenario. Which is to say, that you do fail. You fail along the way. But you have to start somewhere. So just start. Just jump in. Just see where you go naturally and you’ll move toward the things you’re likely be passionate about. Just stick with them. And when you fail, then pick yourself up and move on. It won’t bother you so much next time or the time after that. Then you won’t even notice that you did something that didn’t work well.
This comes by way of Sunny Bates. I don’t know what it is about this woman but she has this charisma and charm. You are drawn to what she says and the way she says them… and you listen. It’s no wonder, she’s so successful at what she does. Connecting people.
I digress. I don’t completely agree with everything she says. Embracing mediocrity totally challenges and goes against who I am so deeply – it just feels wrong doesn’t it? However, I keep reading it over and over and suddenly I feel less pressure. It is this pressure that sometimes becomes the biggest resistance to getting actual work done or creating meaningful relationships with people.
Tags: balance, fear, motivation, passion
Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a Happy Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day! It’s been a very fun-filled weekend making memories out in Texas but now I’m back home in sunny Southern California. I’m emotionally quenched and physically drained. I’m still settling back into things, so it’s going to be a bit of a show-and-tell day and I hope you guys don’t mind!
First on the list, redesigning Valentine’s Day! Definitely a bold challenge to take! I am a firm believer in the creative process. I don’t know any other method that solves problems in a systematic logical way but also allows for creative spontaneity. So it is not surprising that like the scientific process, objectives are defined, research is done, hypotheses are made, you experiment and you test for results. I LOVE IT!
Anyway, I love one of the goals that Studio 360 set in their effort to redesign Valentine’s Day.
“Goal No. 1: Clarify expectations
Sorry single people, this day is not for you. Father’s Day isn’t for mothers and Mother’s Day isn’t for fathers… you have Spring Break, what else do you want?
Applies only to romantic love between two people, so if you want to celebrate friendship you will need to find another day.
Responsibility for displays of affection falls on both parties. Men screw up enough throughout the year to put the weight of a holiday on their shoulders.
On January 1st discuss with your partner whether you will celebrate Valentine’s Day. Sign a piece of paper if needed.”
I am really torn about the design solution presented but I love their creative process! Check out how in depth it is! Studio 360 Challenge: Redesign Valentine’s Day
“It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. And, regardless of what you do or don’t do on Valentine’s, a simple “I love you” might be enough.” Perfectly said.
Numero dos. I don’t think anyone really sets off to be a knife maker as a career profession. In fact, it seems like life doesn’t work out the way you planned or expect for most people (more on that later). I respect people who become experts in their trade and/or field of work due to their own perseverance and diligence. This was a short interview about a man who decided one day to make knives that I found refreshing and definitely inspiring. Again, a brief look inside at the process. Cut Brooklyn: On the Inside
Third is just a story I want to share. I’ll leave it open to you all for interpretation on how you feel about it after the end of the story. It’s definitely put me in a very reflective mood today. On my flight back from home from Texas, I was fortunate to make a new friend that helped make my flight home a little bit more enjoyable. He was bit older than me. He revealed he was born on the year of the rooster in our brief talk about Chinese new year weekend, so I guess I’d peg him being born in 1969. We talked about goals, life and aspirations. It was general small talk with strangers I suppose. “Do you love what you do?” he asked me after I went on and on about design and what I hope or wanted to accomplish. I replied, “Absolutely.” He was a doctor, so I felt inclined to ask him the same; and to my astonishment, he didn’t reply anything. He gave it deep and considerate thought for what seemed like an awkwardly lengthy period of time. I asked him again in an uncharacteristically blunt and probably crass tone, “I mean, you have to love it for all the hard work you have to put in to get to where you are at. You save lives. You make a lot of money. How do you feel when you wake up every morning?” Finally he just says to me, “I studied to become a doctor for very altruistic reasons. I’m sure many others do. After all that student debt and years of being broke during my residency, there is only one thing on mind after nearly a decade of hard work. Make a shit ton of money.” I grimaced and I think he noticed. We degrade back to small talk and we eventually get around to exchanging business cards.
Number Four. After a long weekend in Texas, I came home and briefly saw my mom that evening before I went out again. She’s noticed me gone a lot this past year – meeting new people, forming new relationships, pursuing new goals, striving towards different things that are harder to define and much more intangible. She gave me money for Chinese new year. I wished her long life, good health, prosperity, everlasting beauty, love and wealth. In return, she just says to me, “I hope you find all the answers you are searching for.” I don’t tell her everything about the happenings of my life and love, but it’s amazing how on the dot she is when she says something. Chalk it up to mother’s intuition. I love her.
And finally. Here’s a headline from last week that I haven’t been able to post up. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/07/connecticut.explosion/index.html
