working on work

What do i want the world to know about itself from my perspective? What new can I bring to the table in materials and thier uses?

I am super excited about turning my dining room into my new studio space!! I am not excited about however, moving all the furniture.

a couple of things

Balance. With the Ying comes the Yang. So when the best thing in your life that has ever happened to you happens, remember that there is another side that comes with it. Relax, try to embrace it all.

I am thinking about exploring balance as a subject. So many things in this world are out of balance. How can I say something meaningful about this? How can I bring attention to it?

Back to School

So the winter semester has begun with inclement weather that makes me want to absolutely refuse to leave the house. After the misery that was last semester, my motivation factor is back up. That is mostly thanks to Mark who helped me to see the importance of getting to the finish line and the possibilities ahead. To those of you who don't know, I am work out enthusiast. Sometimes over enthusiast. Nutrition, the body, exercise all of it fascinates me. I also find it very important in a country with a growing obesity epidemic. I want to do an independent study this semester translating the body to artistic design. I am thinking about calling it just that. Body by Design. We live in such a visual culture. I want to explore how images we surround ourselves with affect our psyche. I have ordered a book on color theory entitled Contemporary Color. It explores how color effects us but is not limited to painting as many color theory books are, the book explores the colors in graphic design and computer imagery. It is my plan while reading to work on some preliminary sketches focusing on shapes and design related to the body. I then want to take some of those sketches and translate them digitally, applying what I have learned about color theory. My goal is to design a logo or a theme for my upcoming business venture. I am currently studying as well to get my ACE personal trainer certificate. I want to think about colors on walls and images in a gym and how they may affect a person working out. Kind of how music can up your pump factor, or the smell of peppermint can energize you, can art do the same thing? I am thinking about a set of fitness photos too. Real people in black and white. People who fall in a healthy range of body fat. No air brushing, no photo shop, no help. I wonder how that would affect people's perception of how they are supposed to look? Not model perfect, just healthy. Pending time and direction I may also want to re-open my Body Fuel project from Social Design last semester, working purely through rhino, maybe enough to get a prototype. Time to get organized

letter to my younger self

I hate it when my mom picks out books for me for Christmas. Every year I tell her not to and every year she does it anyway, this year was no different. One of the books was called What I Know Now, Letters To My Younger Self. The title intrigued me. So I read it. I loved it. Weird. My upcoming turning of decades has me thinking alot about the past. I also spent the afternoon with my ailing grandfather at the hospice. Over and over I keep thinking what would I say in a letter to my previous self and at what age, knowing what I know now. I would write to myself at age twenty on the brink of twenty-one. Fresh off of a big break up and about to plunge into a disaster of a relationship and a string of uncertanity once that was over.
Dear Annalea,
I know things have been rough lately, but hang in there. That little voice inside of you is telling you that this is the right choice. Your life is changing now, embrace it, but don't ever stop listening to that little voice. When from the begining of your next relationship that little voice says not to take this one too seriously listen to it. But you won't because listening isn't one of your strong points. When you get in this relationship and that little voice tells you to leave. Do it, the first time and don't look back, because your gonna miss out. This is the time to be wild and free and do the things you want to do and have the experiences later in life you will regret not taking. Had you had taken that time you might had learned some lessons about people you wished you had learned before thirty. Learn to let go of the people who don't tell you how wonderful you are and make you feel it all the time. Don't hold on to the wrong people for wrong reasons. Learn what the right reasons are. The thing about this relationship is that it's gonna make you a fighter and not a smart one. You are strong but, your just throwing fists blind because you feel like you have defend yourself against everyone. Your gonna come out of this. After this relationship is done your still not gonna get it right until you learn to trust yourself. That voice is gonna be askew because you ignored it for so long. Your will have regrets about the one you let go and more regerets about the one you choose to keep around. Either way your instinct will get you where you are supposed to go. You will find the soul mate you've been looking for, in the place you least expect it. So I say to you, listen to that little voice, and getting to a happy place in life would be a much smoother ride.
With Love,
Anna

A Fat Tax

New York Governor David Paterson wants to pass an "obesity tax" on sweetened soft drinks to help close the state's $15 billion budget gap, The Daily News reports. Diet drinks would be exempt, so a Diet Coke could end up costing 15 cents less than a regular Coke. Milk and bottled water would also be exempt.- New York Times

Soda drinkers are probably going to hate me but I think this is a great idea. I think it should be extended to candy bars as well. There are addtional taxes on alchol and cigarettes because they have been proven to be bad for us. Especially when consumed in excess. The same is true for sugar. So why not add an extra taxes to these sweet treats? Hopefully it would help people to think more about consuming them in moderation, the same way raising the price of cigarettes helped some people quit.

Why Women Work and Wash

It seems there has been an unequal shift in society. A woman's job used to be solely in the home. Cook, clean and keep everybody comfortable. June Cleaver was everything a woman was supposed to be. With more income needed to support a family and a certain lifestyle women have become and integral part of the work force. Mom's are now almost always working outside of the home. What's odd is that with this shift in responsibility for income, the role of the woman around the house doesn't seemed to have changed. If the responsibility for income is now become a mutual responsibility why have household chores not become the same? The rate of women with heart conditions is on the rise and a major contributing factor is stress. What makes guys think that half of these household chores aren't their responsibility??? My boyfriend sometimes tries to opt out of chores by saying I have higher standards of cleanliness than he does. Therefore because of my higher standards the cleaning becomes my responsibility because I am the one that wants it that way. Given the chance he would probably live in a barn and be just fine with that. I think all women need to stand up and make a statement about this. Time has changed things like racism and women's rights but it does not happen if you stand quietly by. Maybe we all boycott homemaking duties for a week. Maybe longer. Rest our poor little hearts from trying to keep everybody happy all at once.

Draining the life from me

A sure sign that you have taken on too much in life? You fall asleep sitting up in front of your computer. The good news? You eventually slump sideways onto your boyfriend who is sitting next to you on the couch and very kindly proceed to drool all over him. Even the pit bull sitting on the other side of him was nice enough not to drool. I believe though that the pit bull's life is a lot less stressful than mine. This semester has been like a vampire slowing draining the life blood from me and turning me into something I don't recognize. Through my many experiences in life from bartending to business, art has been the one thing I enjoyed consistently. This semester has changed my mind. In looking for a new career I wanted to do something I enjoyed and I looked to art for the answer. With five classes this past semester I discovered that art under pressure isn't enjoyable for me. When forced to create under time constraints I find it to be like test anxiety, my mind just goes blank. I have never experience it until this semester when I have been under pressure to create so much in such a limited time frame. The frustration levels when art is so much work has me thinking that maybe this isn't for me. When your job is to create your mind can't go blank. Nothing is set in stone so I will see what tomorrow brings. All I know for sure is next week will bring me time to sleep. Hopefully for several hours while laying down, in my bed.