Merry Christmas!

Despite my fondness for Grinich nature (see previous post!), a quick merry christmas to all.

Hope yours will be a rowdy, drunken event filled with people who’ll witness your nasty drunken habits!

Like the grandparents :)

The Grinch Position

I hate christmas.

I don’t object to other people having fun at christmas.

Does that make me semi-Grinch? Or quasi-Grinch? Or maybe a moderate Grinch-ite (-ski)? I’ll be happy to rattle off a list of reasons I have for hating christmas, so I guess that makes me a Grinch apologist as well.

I, however, am not fond of Jim Carrey.

Semi-apologist then.

Why Design?

1. That thought occurred to me just today. Just why did I decide on Design as a career? It certainly wasn’t my first love, nor was it something that I foresaw myself ‘falling into’. I primary school I thought being an archeologist was cool, only because the word was rather long and I could pronounce it, making me smarter than the other kids in class (I was smarter than most of the kids in class. They explained that to me, in detail, during many lunchtimes). I had no idea archeology involved patiently unearthing stuff from the past, and working out what happened to what ever it was being dug up (it turns out I still don’t know what archeology is).

2. No, my first real love was music. Between the last day of primary school and the first day of high school I was offered the chance to learn guitar. My parents thought that was a great idea — it was through church, so they could keep an eye on me, and they used to play, so it was a ‘passing of tradition’ for them. I just thought it might be fun. Little did they realise the noise I was going to produce in the years to come!

3. We started with folk songs, my teacher and I. I think his name was Eddie. So, folk songs, some basic chords, not much finger work, but it was a light start. The teaching part didn’t last very long, only a few months I think. I took over my own education from there, buying some guitar magazines and having a go. I discovered Hendrix, the blues, and met some guys at school that played as well. We started jamming, and I started soloing.

4. Collectively, we discovered metal.

5. In a mad panic our parents ran for cover.

6. There is nothing quite so noisy as a bunch of angst-ridden teenage boys playing metal. Badly. Still, the ear splitting noise was slowly replaced with ear splitting music, and we actually got alright. Which proved to be a problem, ’cause that meant I now had to choose between two things I liked doing — music, and Air Force Cadets. Now how different was that?

7. On one hand, there’s the artsy-fartsy hippie lovie muso, and the other strict disciplinarian future military recruit. The shitty thing was, I really liked doing both. I always thought I was gonna join the Air Force. I still think every so often that if all else fails, it’s off to the military I go. In the end, I went with the music, because… well I don’t know. Just because. So that narrowed the focus a bit, and it sent me on a creative course.

8. I might add at this point that I didn’t do art at high school. The closest thing to design I did at school as Design and Technology, which was more industrial design than graphic. And in addition to playing guitar I was also playing the trombone. Please, save the fart jokes.

9. Towards the latter end of my high school career I got more and more involved with music. With the school bad we performed everywhere from local festivities, the odd function, to the Opera House and the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Man, that was awesome! I learnt how to deal with nerves, how to perform in front of people. I broke out of the geeky kid shell from primary school, glasses and braces and all.

10. Wemberly, I hear ya baby!

11. At the end of year 12, I was at the top of my musical game. I was good. But my confidence overtook my real skills, and cockiness can only get you so far — after that you’re just full of shit. My musical skills was pretty good, certainly better than a lot of people, but it wasn’t nearly good enough. That realisation hurt, and it left me drifting. I didn’t think I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t think what I might do if I wasn’t. So I spent a year working, full time, in a supermarket.

12. (If you ever need motivation to better yourself, work full time at a supermarket.)

13. Five years after the supermarket incident, I graduate with a design degree. I can’t find that definitive point where I transitioned towards design, I suspect it was the result of a few blind missteps that led me down that path. Still, I can’t be complaining, I’m actually a bit alright with this design business, so all’s well.

14. I’ll rock Wemberly yet!

Saddam under US custody

Just watching the press conference now. It was bizarre, a lot of the media were cheering, there were chants and lots of yelling — it seemed much more like a sports match than a military press conference. When video of Saddam was shown, the room when nuts. Watching the man, unshaved, unkempt, looking very much like a man running for his life for some months, it was extraordinary. As much as I hate Bush Jnr (aka Walker Texas Ranger), gotta hand it to the US military — it took them ages to do it, but they got him!

Showtime, Huey and Ralph, and the future

What’s more fun than doing the Rainbow Warrior in a Maccas bathroom? Not doing it at all perhaps. I’m such a party pooper…

Anyway, despite my over-enthusiastic approach to the consumption of certain controlled substances*, last night went smashingly. The show went reasonably smoothly, the various technical and personal fuck ups notwithstanding. Like me turning up on thursday morning to help set up the show, and conveniently forgetting to bring my work with me. The day was entertaining, to say the least.

It was also stiflingly hot, I haven’t sweated that much for a very long time.

It was good to see so many people turning up to the show, the place was packed from 4.30 right through to 9.30. I saw heaps of old students there as well, a lot of people in my original year, as well as friends I haven’t see for a long time. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the show, I overheard lots of praise for the standard of work displayed. I didn’t get the chance to gauge the crowd’s response to my project, which was a shame, it would’ve been nice to hear how people are responding to it. Now I just have to organise a meeting with them and show them my campaign. Hopefully the posters will get plastered around the city in the next few months.

Note to self: go find a job!

Now that uni is completely over, it’s time to concentrate on my personal projects. Like writing a resume. And the Museum of Sydney project. And designing my identity. And portfolio. And doing those t-shirts I’ve been promising people for ages.

Hopefully I’ll have time for a shower or two as well.

* it’s only alcohol mum