29 January 2010

the heart of the matter

so let's get down to the nitty-gritty. here's the whole reason I fucks with this blog business anyway - this is the third hat I've painted, but by far the best. it was for my friend chris, who's also from the ATL. (click here to see more hat pictures on my flickr.) the front is the atlanta skyline at night (viewed from the north-ish, if I'm not mistaken), with the highways on the bill and a peach as the moon. if you know atlanta at all the buildings are actually recognizable, I was much more detailed on this one than on the first ATL hat I painted. the back says "listening to you I get the music," which is a line from chris's favorite song by the who. and, to top it off, it SPARKLES. I used gold and silver paint pens for accents in a few strategic places and it came out very nicely, that will definitely be a regular thing. I love thparkleth. all in all it actually turned out really really well, even better than I expected. I started using a matte sealant, too, which I was kinda worried about...thought it might give it a weird sheen, but it didn't make any difference visually and will help people take better care of them. so yup, thar ya go. the first of many more to come, I hope...in fact I have two hats that I'm about to start working on for my friends jackson and patrick, they just came in the mail yesterday. both should be pretty sick, they're the first non-city-related ones I've ever done, which is kinda cool. and I'm about to order more off lids.com (two thumbs up for birthday discounts) - gonna try to start stocking up, I have a couple in mind. they'll be the first that weren't customized for particular people, too, which gives me a little more free reign. wish me luck!

28 January 2010

cheating

I've never been a big believer in new year's resolutions. although they seem sensible, they're so cliche at this point that I forget them within a week. but 2009 was a very...interesting year in my life, and for me personally 2010 is a perfect time to start some things which could fall into the category of said resolutions. so, I've decided to start a new tradition for myself - I will now give myself all of january to think over the past year and what I want to do in the new one, and start my new year's resolutions the day after my birthday (I turned 20 last friday, 22 january). this may be cheating, but it's still my birthday week and I can do whatever the fuck I want. I'm also going to try and make them more specific - I think we all know that "I'm gonna be healthier this year" is pretty much bullshit. 20 seems like a good age to start something like this, right? I think so.

unfortunately I'm already a bit late getting started on them...I planned to start monday, figured it was a logical day, but I ended up being a bum that day. and then I ended up being a bum tuesday. and then I ended up being a bum wednesday. my class schedule is dangerously conducive to being a bum. therefore, I gotta hustle and gon head an get ma shit togetha.

so, on that note, my resolutions for 2010 are as follows:

1. eat on a more regular schedule. I want to eat better too, but WHAT I eat isn't so big of a deal as the fact that sometimes I just forget to eat and then end up eating a lot of bad things. I think I was accidentally anorexic-bulimic for the first two weeks of school (actually had a couple kate moss moments too. skinny did feel good...but then something always ended up tasting better). I've actually already started this one and I'm doing pretty good.

2. stretch every day, even if it's just for five minutes. I'm trying to stay physically active too (hopefully starting yoga classes but I've been saying that for two semesters), but realistically it won't happen every day so I need to at least stay loose since I don't have a chiropractor here.

3. meditate every day, also if it's just for five minutes. keeps me grounded and helps me not lose my shit all the time.

4. okay this one is more generic than I wanted it to be but I don't know how else to put it...I gotta stay on top of my shit in school. checking my planner every day, not deciding to go hang out with jake or the girls instead of doing my homework, etc. I just want every class to be like my english classes, where I just have to write a bunch of essays and that's it...but they aren't. so I have to actually do things.

5. have the balls to get my hats out there. I just really really hate confrontation and asking people to do things for me - like I'm that kid that if they bring me the wrong thing at a restaurant half the time I'll just eat it rather than deal with the person. I don't really have business instincts...God only knows why I ever thought I would enjoy an entrepreneurship major. way too much of a bum for that bullshit. but, I have a few ideas of how to start getting them noticed, so this semester and summer I just have to really stick my neck out and start making people want them. gah.

6. try to be positive about the semester. I'm just so over this whole RA bullshit, and since I know I'm gonna be done with it in a couple months it's really easy to complain and bitch about it, which is totally useless and brings me and other people down. gotta quit whining and try to do my girls justice for the rest of the year.

so yeah. I'm also trying to do a few other little things, like actually go and get and read the books on my reading list, but those are the big assignments I'm giving myself for the year. cross your fingers

18 January 2010

inauguration

I don't really know what I'm doing with this. mostly I've been trying to create a website for these hats that I paint and it's just really complicated so I think I'm just going to put them on a blog. and as an added bonus I will just have a blog. kill two birds with one stone type thing - not that I had any desire to kill two birds in the first place, really just one, but the second flew in the way and I figured it wasn't a bad idea. so - for the moment I guess that's it. hats to come. and other musings.