out of the loop

a good space for a workplace

 

I swear to God there is nobody on earth who actually lives in a perfect IKEA bedroom.

So I accidentally jumped on the whole "spring cleaning" bandwagon when I started going through my bookshelves. Filled up a donation box (yay for Goodwill) with books... and then clothes... and then weird little knick-knacks I kept for some reason...

The aftermath resulted in my desk being piled with camera gear, a broken wall clock (which I keep telling myself I'll fix but never will), some random papers (banking information, passport, etc.) and a big toolbox.

My work table looks just as wonderful. 

And instead of being proactive and dutifully finding a place for all the nonsense on my desk, I take my workstation to the only clean space in my little bedroom.

The floor.

Conclusion?

Tidying up has never been one of my strong suits. Or my weak suits. More of a casual jeans and t-shirt skill. As much as I would love a hipster little space with a DIY desk I built myself and a giant inspiration wall and hard-to-kill plants on the bookshelf and exposed brick and wood floors and all that jazz...

...my reality today is that I have a perfectly clean and flat space to work on our god-knows-how-old carpet. So I settle down and I read and research and scroll scroll scroll through Pinterest until my back starts to hurt.

Believe it or not, I actually have creative intentions for my blog (and my life, really). Big, scary, please-don't-laugh-at-me ideas. Which I write down in... I would say a neat little notebook, but I'd be lying.

I write them down on program inserts, those completely unnecsary lap mats from In-N-Out, paper menus and napkins. Which I then stuff into a master binder to decipher and clean up at a later date.

I'm trying to implement a vision here, people. Slowly and quietly and without much hurrah.

And I do most of it on the floor of my room.

Because I'm too lazy to clean off the surface of my desk.

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P.S. You know those trendy little quotes you read and see all the time on tote bags and coffee cups and other gifty nonsense? It comes to a point where they seem to lose their power and pizazz. I wandered into World Market on my lunch break and saw this. And just stared at it for awhile.

Because, like, you know, it's so totally starting to make sense. Like for reals. Yo.

Scholarship Invite

Angels for the Arts Scholarship Reception invitation - Adobe Photoshop CS5

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For two stock images and some text, it ain't shabby...

...but it ain't gorgeous neither. I do like how the text is laid out into a little pyramid composition. I thought it was a good solution in the face of how much text is on there. And if I'm being totally honest, I think that's the only thing I really really like about it. Shh.

The gal I job share with requested this invite. We're doing a big hurrah for the fine arts scholarship recipients on May 7th. Red carpet, paparazzi and everything. I'll be done working retail by then (thank goodness) so I actually get to attend.

Hashtag quick-n-dirty!

Below is the modified portrait version for the front of the cover...

How To Have A Secret Boyfriend

Balboa Pier ~ March 22nd 2013

Step One: Keep it a secret.

Step Two: Ignore step one.

Bri Emery of Designlovefest - CreativeMornings

via creativemornings.com

This lady.
This lady right here.
This is Bri Emery.
She's such a role model and inspiration.
Blogger, creative director, fashion designer; she's the ultimate Renaissance woman of everything beautiful.
I've been trying less and less to compare my beginnings to other people's middles...
This girl makes my dreams seem tangible on a good day.

- a reminder that you can't predict the future and it doesn't matter what the naysayers think.

Adulthood.

And one day I will tell my children how I spent my wild nights in my early 20s... eating leftover cake in the kitchen, wearing a Muppets shirt and petting my cat with my foot.

Adults are liars.

And I mean that nicely.

Curiously enough, there's no how-to book on "here's what it's like to turn 20 and here are the things you'll be feeling on a daily basis." There's no survival kit.

Instead of perusing class schedules, I'm looking at the price of rent in Southern California and slamming my head on the desk, wondering if I'll ever move out of my parent's house.

Instead of spending money on taco tuesday, I'm wondering if I can even afford to apply for a credit card.

Okay, that's a lie. I'll never give up my taco tuesdays.

See? Adults are liars.

I'm realizing more and more that this whole "adulthood" thing is not so much of a sudden transition into reality and responsibilities. It's really more of a "fake it 'til you make it" game. And I wish there were more adults who would be honest about that.

It is so hard for me to believe that every non-teenager in the workforce knew that they would end up exactly as the person they are today in the job they are in today.

Even more unbelievable: that they predicted this future when they were a 20-something. I mean, kudos to them, but I don't even know what my work schedule is for next week.

You know what else I don't know?

I don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up.

But I keep that to myself. It's frowned upon. Lemme tell you why.

I work at a community college. Which, I'm realizing, is the wrong place to be working when you're taking time off of school. All my coworkers (hard-working, career-oriented, no-nonsense adults with higher educations) encourage me (often. very often.) to go back to school.

"People with degrees make more money and receive more benefits."

"Good luck finding a career without at least an Associate's Degree."

"It's okay if you don't know what you want to do. Just get the piece of paper."

Putting statistics aside (to the corner... preferably facing the wall, away from the important grownup conversation): we're not going to talk about underemployed (or unemployed) college graduates. And we're certainly not going to talk about individuals who "got the piece of paper" who aren't even working in the field they majored in. Oh, and student debt is a conversation for another time.

What I would like to talk about is the assumption that I will not succeed without investing 4+ years in college.

I don't mean to be seditious...

But what if that's not the case?

What if I could get an education without college?

What if I could pursue my interests and land a job doing what I love?

What if I could work from home?

You can throw all the statistics you want at me. I'm coming from the clichéd homeschooled perspective that not all humans are the same. We don't behave the same, we don't learn the same, and we don't work the same.

So who's to say we all succeed the same?

Anyone?

Anyone?

...Bueller?

I just sent my résumé to a marketing agency. I'm going to sleep in my Batman sweatshirt and I will finish watching these next two episodes of Fringe, curled up with my cat and a bowl of popcorn. Don't bother looking for the last box of Thin Mints. I finished them. Because I'm an ADULT.

Best Little Whorehouse - Poster

Best Little Whorehouse In Texas poster - Adobe Photoshop CS5

Best Little Whorehouse In Texas postcard - Adobe InDesign CS5.5

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It's times like these when I wish I had more time and resources to create exactly what I see in my brain.

Below are some thumbnail sketches I presented to the scene designer. Having never seen or heard of this musical before, I did some quick research. With a basic synopsis and some feedback from the director... these are the ideas I came up with:

   I was playing with the lipstick on the collar concept for a long time, but I didn't have the resources to make it look good and meet the deadline. Went with the neon concept instead. Again, with more time I may have been able to make it look more... neon-y.

But it gets the point across.

I'd love to take an advanced Adobe Suite class over the summer. I wonder if any of the local art schools are offering an intensive.

Might be a nice summer tradition!

Big Band Swing Thing - Thank You Board

Thank You Supporters Poster - Photoshop CS5

DISCLAIMER: I did not create the Big Band Artwork. Just the text/logo layout and execution. Saddleback Graphics Dept. is responsible for the former. ;-)

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This Saturday, March 8th, is our biggest fundraiser of the year. The Angels for the Arts is the Fine Arts scholarship organization of Saddleback College. I was selected over the summer to participate as the student representative on the Board of Directors.

While on the Board, I'm supposed to be the voice of the students in the Fine Arts Department, coordinate student events, and encourage my peers to apply for the Angels scholarship.

Supposed to be.

I have a lot of ideas about how to reach out to the Saddleback Campus. Contacting the Associated Student Government to collaborate on raising scholarship awareness, keeping the faculty informed of my events so they can keep the Fine Arts website up to date, creating a Facebook page, a Twitter account, maintaining a blog (through blogspot.com, probably) of what's happening in each of the Music, Theatre, Cinema/Radio/Television, Arts departments (respectively), writing student profiles about the scholarship applicants and submitting them for publication to The Lariat (our on-campus newspaper)... and the list goes on.

I have only created a twitter account just last week (@TheStudentRep). Tweets: 0.

The Open Mic and the Costume Karaoke events were the only two events that were created in my name on behalf of the Angels for the Arts. After the poor outcome for both these events, the staff (who helped me to coordinate the darn thing) discouraged me from even using a microphone and a speaker system. So I wouldn't distract the current classes.

Because... at noon... that's where all the students are.

In classes.

Originally, I suggested a Rocky Horror Night in the black box theatre.

When that didn't fly, I suggested an evening event to showcase the music, theatre, art, dance, and cinema students (followed by an open mic). An artists' party. Complete with cheap pizzas.

Again, highly discouraged.

It's not that I'm pouting about how my ideas get shot down because of expenses, safety/noise issues, or doubt of attendance...

But it's hard for me to put motivated effort into something I feel won't be appreciated.

I feel like the college is stuck in a place and either refuses to move forward because "this is how it's always been," or they can't move forward because there's too much red tape and legal stuff that it's just not even worth the time.

Maybe I'm not seeing the full picture. After all, I'm just a student representative.

And only for another three months. Then I'll be passing off my baton to someone else.

Would it really be worth it to put all my talents into something I may or may not be cut out for in the first place?

Ah, the cliché joys of being 20 and feeling like nobody understands you.

Mozart, Mendelssohn and More: Choir Concert - Poster

Mozart, Mendelssohn and More: Choir Concert - Adobe Photoshop CS5

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I want the large one up on my wall fo' sho'. I'm really, really, really happy with it.

Possibly in love.

I did this design in about three hours. I've always been looking for excuses to use stampy looking fonts. I thought this project was a good one to spend them on.

The music conductor of this particular event (who gets final say on the design) insisted on the following:

• No music notes.
• No sheet music.
• No treble clef.
• No fancy fonts.

All of these bullet points are traps that the graphics department usually fall for. Music means music. End of story.

Not necessarily. But I repeatedly am learning to catch myself before I sign up for the obvious.

"Make it hip and young and edgy and trendy."

So I gave them glasses.

I'm realizing more and more that "if I like it, they'll like it." I'm learning, slowly but surely, to stop apologizing for the good stuff I make.

#learning

Starla Hibler-Raley Piano Recital - Poster

Starla Hibler-Raley Piano Recital - Adobe Photoshop CS5

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Always on board for brushing up on my masking skills in Photoshop. Probably one of the simplest designs I've done for Saddleback College. A few vector lace elements, a curvy banner and some Victorian wallpaper. It doesn't scream "old woman."

More of a feeble whisper.

Hey, whatever makes 'em happy.

Also! Important things! This particular assignment marks my first ever graphics request received (and completed) as an administrative assistant. Details to follow.

Saddleback Star Competition - Performance Notice

Star Competition Performance Notice Poster - Adobe Photoshop CS5

Star Competition Performance Notice Postcard - Adobe InDesign CS5

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Kept with the theme and general design of the audition notice. And since the school colors are burgundy and gold...

Voila. Have some gold.