creatively draining?

Okay, so yesterday was by far a productive day. In one day I got a final draft of a calling card, webcard, flyer, poster, and promotional postcard done. Today they are merely looking it over for any tiny errors (we all are human, after all) and then I need to finalize it tomorrow and send it to print. Yikes! However, today felt highly unproductive. Why? Because I didn't create anything new. It was simple research today. Which, as the com/design department, means that I'm just looking at brochures, pictures, etc and hoping that something clicks. It's like artist's block. I tried everything, even distracting myself by reading and it didn't work. I'm worried cause I have no idea how to counter this. I think I'll try reading or something.



On another note...I just got my first paycheck! Yes! My first official real paycheck from my first job! oh my gulay! So awesome. Can you guess what is the first thing I'm going to buy? Yup! You guessed it: a good ol' comic. But the rest of it goes into savings and SHOULD not be touched. We'll see if I can live off of 1/4th of it and not touch the rest. Because I have to save up my money for two things - Flying back to NYC and an Xbox 360!



Well, that's all for now. There you go, a simple, short, blog. Cha-ching! Time to listen to Dane Cook!

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Mess-eye-ah wallpaper

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So i was just sitting and thinking of a fun wallpaper to have on my computer screen and I decided to do one based around eyes. It is so cool looking at everyone's eyes from TKC and just seeing the differences between everybody...and the similarities also. Okay, this was just a quick update. I'll probably be posting random essays, thoughts, and images I come up with over the week as today is my first day of work.

Silently Closing the Past

A wise woman once said, "This is gonna start being so different..." Indeed I need to work on closing off the past and begin laying the foundation for a new life. It's not that everything came crashing down - it was just the opposite. I flew. "You're flying, superman." I flew. This past semester was probably the best semester I have ever had and ever will have. I made so many friends and got to grow closer to older ones. I got to be a true friend to so many people. I got to just show love to everyone at King's. It was a blast - no doubt. Yet, college is over. School is done. It's closing time.

My mom was talking to me this morning. She told me that it is important that I begin looking for areas where I can make friends here. She knows me too well. My mom knows that in my sadness and heart that hurts and longs for all my friends in the US that I will bury myself in work, not even caring to look up or ask people how they are doing. If this were a movie, it would be the moment of caressing everything before leaving, as the lights slowly turn off. A slow build up of a ballad begins to linger in the background. I need to move on. I don't want to. My wallpaper right now is a picture of all the TKC peeps. Dang. I miss everyone so much. Everyone. I miss the Herald Towers, just walking the halls and stopping by rooms to see how my sisters are doing. Or coming home to the Erin, Matt, and Alex - Erin with his headphones on (one ear is always kept naked, though), Alex sprawled on the couch playing the economics rat race game, Matt just coming in with that slight bounce in his step and a bag of cookies in his hand. I miss Aliza's hugs. I miss Ashley and Mark's hellos and truly genuine questions of, "How are you doing?" and Mark's, "Hi, Mark" voice. I miss seeing Lechliter walk the halls with his distinct step. I miss Jon Hummel's constantly entertaining tricks. I miss Mike Toscano's hand snap. I miss the way Ricky looks when he gets so excited. I miss Emily's ever constant encouraging hug of a smile. I miss the way Alisa would come and sit with me in the lab for talks and our chipotle together times. I miss Kate's big smiling eyes. I miss Jarin's phone calls. I miss seeing Dilawar stalk the halls. I miss Jenny and Kristen and Tori and the way they would just be there for you no matter what. I miss Stephanie and Matt and their absolutely magnetic interaction with whoever is with them. I miss Lydia eating. I could go on and on...but like Dane Cook said, I just felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around and "it's the world." And I'm about to cry already. Okay, fine, tears are welling up right now. "I did my best," - Dane Cook. Lol. Always good for a laugh, that DC.





Keep on smiling.







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RIP - Buddy Baker aka Animal Man

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Everything that is old is new again...

Everything that is old is new again...or so the saying goes. I have heard this quote many times and never found it fitting for anything in life until today. Indeed, the world of the Philippines that I grew up in has become my new home. Thus, the old is new. It's been two weeks since I've left my home in Metropolis. No, this isn't Smallville. It's more like...like...Central City. The city is characterized by speeding cars and scarlet speedsters rather than huge buildings and a man of steel. Manila is a city bustling with car horns and jeepney horns - not much different than the police sirens of NYC.

What I am finding I am missing is the sense of community. It is still here, but it will take awhile. The ground is fertile, so to speak for friendships. I just have to begin planting seeds and watch them grow. The office is almost completely fixed up. I'm excited by how much it converted to almost feeling like home. It still isn't there yet, but what home ever is on the first go around? I hope to have pictures of the office fully "markified" by Valentines day. After all, I'm going to be spending every day all day in this cubicle and thus I must make it be creative central. The walls are still blank, but they can be decorated in due time. As of right now, I have a small figurine of Stich from Lilo and Stitch playign guitar under the shade ofa wire coconut tree that I bought in NYC with Aliza on one of our nightly walks through Times Square. I am going to bring the Green Lantern statuette over here (the one Liz gave me) to display on my desk once the place is in its final stages. I have so many plans for this place. It should be a place that inspires. Like I want people to walk in and know that it is a place of mental stimulation.

On another note, I'm still going to have to print and frame some pictures of all the TKC friends I have so that I can decorate the walls somehow with them. Either that or I'll have everyone on my screensaver.

All in all, it's a quite start. It's a new beginning. And I am finding that this new book of my life is not starting in medias res, but rather, is starting like a story. It has a beginning. And it will take awhile for the characters to all be introduced, fleshed out, goals and adventures to be lived, etc. It will take time.

I think my biggest issue is knowing that I'm no longer a part of King's life no matter how much I still want to be. I feel like I'm the person who played football everyday and now has to only hear about the game from random blogs. At the same time, just ask any Buckeye or Longhorn about sports and they can tell you that you don't need to be in the game or at the game to be a part of the game. I just need to stay in touch as best as I can and be excited with all the fervor that I had when I was there. For all of you reading this, remember that I'm always here, just an email, text message, or IM away. Don't hesitate, please, to drop me a line.



Always around,

Mark

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