Originally written early 2009, never published until now...
"Fuck him. Really, I think the guy's a twat."
Just a few words from someone I really don't know, someone who doesn't really even know me except for whatever impression their mind conjured from the persona I put out on the internet.
i never imagined when i took this job at DBH and TF that i would become such a public figure, well, actually, i presumed that being part of this position would help me earn clout by being much more visible on the internet and being associated with an entity greater than myself. its just wild how massively i failed to anticipate the negatives of being a semi public figure in a major role of decision making. its quite disconcerting how much hate there is behind the scenes, i do not know who to trust anymore. but it is a sacrifice i have to be willing to make i think... greater good for my artist career and for others. or i hope so. i suppose it remains to be proven if it's helpful or not. i thought i was doing well, helping alot of art friends get printed, and helping new artists get noticed, but i suppose there are those who might start to feel disenfranchised if i do not grace them with the same attention or more of someone deserving. who knows.
im not becoming a prick or anything, but i think over the next few years, i will become a little more stout i suppose. i know that my candor/straightforwardness can sometimes can come off as abrasive and uncaring, so how could i become more poignant in expression than now?
I've driven across the US several times. Here's a map of all the places I've been. On at least 5 occasions, I have driven for long extended periods in excess of 20 hours (3 time 25+ hours) without stopping except for a few 15 minute catnaps at various rest stops because I was near hallucinating and near falling asleep.
**** I do not recommend that anyone do drive more than 500 miles a day. Even 500 miles is pretty strenuous.
I did it solo in my little manual transmission Suzuki Aerio.
"Christopher McCandless: It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west. "
For the most part, I have found that this is true yet at the same time it totally SUCKS.
Long drives can be grueling. Here's some tips to ease the pain.
1. Take alot of music. Even audio books, talks, etc. You'll get bored of music. You'll get bored of sound. You might want to just zoink out to nothingness.
2. Take a roll of paper towels and kleenex.
2a. Fill up on the window washer fluid. Check your tires. ETC ETC. Car stuff.
3. It's a pain, but clean your windows on the inside before you leave. Smudges on windows are so annoying especially at night.
4. Sunglasses. It's bright out there. Squinting will ease your eye strain.
5. I wear glasses. Take glasses cleaning clothes. Several.
6. Even if you have a navigation system, take a large map, and review it before hand. TomTom and Garmin Nuvi have both lead me astray. Make sure to have a general idea of where they are taking you. The Shortest distance, might not necessarily mean the most sensible. I've been taken through back roads, and winding stressful country roads. Sometimes its easier to input town to town directions.
7. Dont wait til you are super low to fill up. If you stop to pee at a gas station, you might as well fill up.
8. Dont wait til you are super full about to pee yourself to stop. Many times I thought I could make it to the next stop, but there have been many close calls. This is in all seriousness, but even if you dont feel like taking a leak, go for it if it's an available choice.
9. Try to time your long trek to avoid big cities during rush hour traffic. Or try to map it out to take a detour AROUND the major cities if you are just Thru Traffic. After a long trek of driving and fatigued, the last thing you want to do is to have be put in tense stress mode of city traffic drivers.
10. You can talk to yourself. Or talk about silly stuff. I made up Fing and Meow episodes during long drives.
11. Take an insulated food container. Take snacks, take drinks, ice. It's not to save money, it's just nice to have food without having to stop. ALTHOUGH, if you have food and drink, you might need to pee and poo more often. Just sayin.
12. If it is a super long drive, I found that eating a nice dinner/lunch at a restaurant will give you alot of energy, better energy than fast food/snacks.
13. If driving through the night, although unhealthy, a steady stream of caffeine administered through an IV will keep you up. OK not really, but having a constant sip of a caffeinated drink can keep you up for a while. I've tried the 5 hour energy drinks. I can guarantee they worked, but they are full of caffeine and other crap so you know it has to have SOME affect.
14. I think mentally, the brain is ok to run 20-36 hours on just a few 15 minute catnaps. I have taken a catnap when I was near collapse, only to wake up without alarm 15-30 minutes later totally refreshed to go for another 3-6 hours. It seems that the hardest part about driving long distances is the eye muscles just get too tired. Sleep isnt mandatory, but the eye muscles want to chill for a while.
15. Also, I found that driving for long distances, my hands get calloused. Maybe its because my steering wheel isnt padded and I get white knuckled when driving at night, but I think some sort of driving gloves or steering wheel cover could really help. I think some lotion or something could help in this instance.
16. Take a trash bag or a few grocery bags you can dump every time you stop at the gas station.
17. I just use debit, but a credit card for gas that has cash back, would be very useful for miles or cash back.
18. Have a camera ready. You might see some crazy stuff while on the road.
Instead of going to Lenscrafters or a similar company to order glasses, I decided to dig up my prescription, and order online.
I had read about ordering prescription glasses online a few years ago with mixed reviews, and I checked the thread over at Fatwallet, and today the support seems to be generally positive. Thank you child labor in China! :D
The only thing that gave me concern was not knowing my pupillary distance. It is required along with the basic prescription information.
I didn't feel comfortable holding a ruler to my face and eyeballing the millimeters.
SO I just took a photo of myself, and used some photoshopping to measure the distance between my pupils. I know, I'm a smart one! :D
The many uses of Photoshop!
I also read that, before PD was required, averages were used. 63 is the average so I felt comfortable with my 61-62 measurement.
I ended up ordering four glasses for around $120. Considering I've paid $150-$300 for just one pair before, I feel like even if half the frames don't fit, not such a big loss relative to routine costs.
I'm excited to get my frames. I'll post a review once I get them.
So a few weeks back I posted a blog (which is now very rare) about my custom homepage I created to help me become more efficient with my daily work tasks.
For more information read here: http://jimiyo.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-homepage.html http://jimiyo.blogspot.com/2010/04/addition-to-my-homepage-experiment-in.html http://jimiyo.blogspot.com/2010/04/updated-hompage-revision-three.html
I have a new revision!
I am eliminating the check boxes altogether, and then changing the code to change the followed links to the background color, which in effect makes them invisible.
I've been using my homepage since I created it, and I seem to be going to the same links regardless of if I've completed the tasks.
I am hoping that with them being invisible, I will be less likely to click since subconsciously it gives the visual links more priority.
Also in the past few weeks, I've tested and eliminated various websites I no longer feel are worthwhile visiting/investing time in. I used to post on various art sites to try to promote my work but after seeing the lack of traffic and low response rate, I'm dedicating my time in different sites that produce more results in traffic and exposure.
BTW, checking a sites traffic by using compete.com or alexa.com is a worthwhile 1 minute of your time to see if entering/participating in a community will be worth your time. Why promote your art to 5 people, when you can go elsewhere and promote it to 1000? With Facebook/Twitter/Etc it's almost to a point where an artist themselves can become a bigger traffic generator than some fly by night blog/community/etc.
There are a couple news ones that seem promising. RedBubble, Society6, BlueCanvas, and tried and true DeviantArt. Twitter in general seems to be waning in effectiveness so I've jumped on the Facebook wagon... Obviously on the back end since... literally everyone, and THEIR MOTHERS, UNCLES, GRANDMOTHERS, ETC are on Facebook.
1. Build a vector/vexel business. 2. Legitimate gallery shows. 3. Build online community. 4. Mentor young artists. 5. Teach artists. Maybe teach classes, or tutor. 6. Get teeth whitened. 6a. Lasik surgery. 7. Write an educational book or ebook. 8. Paint 5-10 acrylic/oil paintings. 9. Build business that provides for family. 10. Write articles for major publications. 11. Get printed in major publications. 12. Visit Europe or where ever all the Master art is.
So previously, I updated my homepage with an eggtimer. I've gone a step further. Since I have several tasks and websites to interact on daily, without a to do list to check off, sometimes I repeatedly check one site or ten over and over throughout the day.
I created a simple secondary homepage to maybe reduce the inefficiency.
The page is a list of the sites (with links to new windows) I have to visit, a check box for each, and that's pretty much it.
I have a tendency to close windows alot, so I added a script that asks me if I finished all my tasks before I close the tab.
I think it will at least stream line the workflow into a specific order.
This is my homepage. It's a simple custom homepage that resides on my computer with outgoing links to my most frequented sites.
I've become ADHD over the years.
Since I work primarily through the internet and on my computer, I have found with Twitter, email, another email, website, etc, I cannot maintain focus on one task longer than a few minutes.
Although it seems I still get work done, it just seems as if I am a Chinese Juggler, and I can only accomplish things while multitasking.
So enter, the EGG TIMER! They are the first new links I have inserted in several months.
It's still in experimental phase, but once I start the timer, I try to focus on work for that amount of time.
Along with the timer, I have created a set of ONE A DAY links. Often times, building a network online is just about communicating, posting your work, interacting, noticing others.
So ONE A DAY are links to different communities in which I interact, but for the purposes of ensuring that I maintain some presence in those communities, I set the egg timer off and go communicate and interact.
Imagine, if EVERYDAY, you called a friend or family member, and communicated with them for 15 minutes... That would most likely build a great relationship.
They say quality, not quantity, but my theory is, doing something in quantity will result in quality. Nothing becomes quality without the repetitive instances that allow things to improve. One caveat of this theory is that you have to work smart, and always strive to improve.
