Deliciousness that I look forward to each New Years, courtesy of Aunt Heather. Mmm… 
The Sloanies got to spend some good times with Jeffe over the holidays, as he was visiting from Maui. This was New Years Day, after watching “Yes Man”, and prior to heading out to Italian Village for dinner later on. (I enjoyed “Yes Man”– both the comedy and the certain level of personal truth in the movie. This means I think of myself to some degree as a “No Man”, haha.)So the Holidays have come and gone, and I find myself once again facing a new year. I started back at school today, after an eight month break. (Last semester I procrastinated signing up for classes and ended up not being able to get into the one or two classes offered that I still needed to take.)
My initial impression is that the semester I’m facing is bit daunting. Perhaps not because of the difficulty of the coursework, or the volume, though it’ll certainly consume most of my time outside of work. I think it’s because I haven’t done anything with design for a couple years now– the classes I’ve been taking to fulfill requirements for my major (Graphic Design) have mostly been electives in other areas, like digital painting, 3d modeling, 3d texturing / lighting, and senior seminar– none of which required any traditional design work. On top of that, I put what creative energy I did expend in 2008 into photography– and that’s more expressive than anything. I haven’t really had to stretch my brain to be creative and come up with ideas for some time now. It’s kinda like being out of shape creatively and realizing that not only do you need to go back to the gym, but certain levels of performance will be expected of you in very little time.
So here I am in a class that’s geared towards helping students prepare to find jobs– preparing a physical portfolio, refining and adding to the work in that portfolio, doing a digital portfolio, creating / designing a resume. And I find myself asking whether I see myself as a professional graphic designer. Above that, I ask whether I see myself as professional anything, haha. I feel as if I don’t take life seriously enough most of the time. I’ve always been a jack of all trades and master of none.
I’m along for the ride, though. I think I’ll enjoy the opportunities to learn and grow in these classes, something that can’t be avoided when I have to leave my comfort zone.
Happy New Year 😉
Comments
2 responses to “So this is the new year.”
Thank you for reminding me why the answer is always a loud, “YES!!” when Aunt Heather invites us to her house. I want to eat that picture.
Hopefully the semester turns out better than you think. And also, it’s far better to be a jack of all trades rather than good at just one little thing. You got it in the bag.
I have to say, I have all kinds of respect for people who are able to discipline themselves to focus on one talent and really hone it. I don’t think anyone is really good at only one thing– rather they may have one skill that they bring various other attributes to the table to make them unique at that skill, which is awesome.
I think the problem with the “jack of all trades” thing, which really I mean to say I have a lot of potential and various interests, is getting a little a.d.d. about it and not putting enough time for long enough into one skill, nor not keeping it up (unless you can find a way to do them all all the time). Like I mentioned about design– I’ve kinda stagnated in that relm for a bit. Hopefully it comes back quickly 🙂 The other challenge is deciding whether there’s a combination of talents that you can pursue for some productive means, or whether you really do need to zero in on something more specific.
We’ll see– I also believe in the ideal of the renaissance man– that it is possible to do a number of things and be exceptional at more than one. Perhaps it simply takes a lot more dedication 🙂