"Bible" Dipping

Reused is the word we were assigned to create around in class. What the hell do I do with something reused?  First off here is the definition of reuse according to Google:

re·use

verb

rēˈyo͞oz/

1. 1.

   use again or more than once.

   "the tape could be magnetically erased and reused"

noun

rēˈyo͞os/

1. 1.

   the action of using something again.

   "the ballast was cleaned and ready for reuse"

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of reused is trash and recycling.  I mean generally we reuse things that we would normally throw away, don't we?  So, yeah, trash.  But I got to thinking early this morning.  Air is something we reuse everyday.  We reuse blood cells until they die after about seven to eight days.  I'm going to do a rough sketch of of the pulmonary system (that's the heart and lungs kids). So the picture above is the larynx, trachea, lungs, and heart.  

It looked too boring and it still kind of does now, but I wanted it to be a little different.  I saw an ashtray that belongs to my roommate and it was full of ashes and cigarette butts.  I dug out all of the butts and dumped the ash into a bowl and added water to make a really watery paint.  I took that watery nastiness and painted in the lungs, larynx, trachea, and heart. 

So yeah, I made a point that we reuse all the air around us AND I actually reused something.  Go me.

Takeaway 5

The drawing activity we did at the beginning of the class was interesting.  While most people that spoke up agreed that the activity was stressful, I found that the activity was pretty relaxing.  Don't get me wrong, it was full of uncertainty and it was slightly uncomfortable, but ultimately I found it to be relaxing.

Which is weird if I really think about it because all this time I've felt solace in controlling everything I do.  Normally being in control is comforting, but this activity where I didn't have any control kind of opened my eyes to a whole new side of things that I can explore.

Control doesn't have to be everything.  We were talking today in class about how some of the best work people have created was when they had let go of everything and just let it be what it was meant to be.  I think there is a lot of truth in that thinking.  For me, having control is something I enjoy, but at the same time a massive amount of stress normally comes with it.  But on the other side of the coin, not having control was uplifting and really enjoyable actually.  I feel like I need to relinquish control of things more often and let things be and if it turns out in my favor then great, I'll keep it; if it doesn't turn out in my favor, I'll go back and retry it with minimal control added and see if I can receive a different outcome.

Breaking the Rules

Normally I don't break any rules except for when I'm driving, but for this assignment I am required to break the rules of something.  So I have decided to break the unspoken rules of designing professional looking websites.  You know what I'm talking about.  Professional websites don't have those garish, clashing colors and mismatching content sections, or break the flow of information presented in a sensible fashion.  Having no other ideas, I went with it.

Here's a screen shot of it in all it's ugly glory:

Takeaway 4

Something that really stuck with me during class was when we were talking about how we (Americas) are pretty sheltered from the outside world.  We really are.  And I would wager most of us don't even know it.  None of our news stations that talk about anything of importance concerning our own country, let alone foreign affairs, are extremely biased.  Nothing is unbiased, true news anymore.  To get any real information about what's going on in the world you need to tune in to a foreign news station.  I think it's ridiculous.

I feel like being a sheltered nation is hurting us.  All we know about the world is what our news channels tell us.  Most of us are too lazy to go ahead and look up this information from a reputable news source so we take everything at face value and don't question it, and I find this is extremely frustrating to me.  With better informed citizens I feel like we could become even a greater nation and be able to make better decisions as a whole, but until then I don't believe we will stay on top for much longer.

50 "What ifs..." with the Grapes of Wrath

After much thought and deliberation I have finally come up with a book that I hate enough to do this project with.  At first I couldn't think of anything.  I'm not much of a book hater. In fact, I love books, all kinds of books, even course textbooks to some extent.  Books are an invaluable resource.  If there were to be some horrible disaster where we were reduced to caveman times and no technology worked, we would be left with non-technological things to figure out how we as a society could get back to where we were and that's where books come in. Ha ha.

But anyways, back to the topic at hand.  The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.  God, what a boring book.  I understand it has importance in regards to a look into an ordinary family during the Great Depression, but it is so ungodly boring it doesn't make sense.

The 50 "What if..." questions:

1. What if it wasn't so boring?
2. What if the reason I hate the book so much is because I can't relate to it?
3. What if I could relate to the content and the story?
4. What if I can't relate to it is because I have an irrational fear of living in poverty?
5. What if I have an irrational fear of living in poverty because society puts such a large emphasis on monetary value?
6. What if I can't find anything to do with this for the final project?
7. What if I worry too much about everything and life?
8. What if I can relate to this ungodly boring book on a subconscious level?
9. What if I will never know?
10. What if this not knowing will drive me crazy?
11. What if I go to an insane asylum because of some weird psychological problem caused by some sort of cognitive dissonance because of this stupid book?
12. What if I'm already crazy?
13. What if this is all stupid and I'm making a big deal about irrational thoughts?
14. What if the reason I feel so uncreative is because I don't embrace the irrational tendencies of my personality because irrationalism is frowned upon by today's society?
15. What if I'm so caught up with being a product of today's society that it's driving me crazy?
16. What if this is all just stupid and I should stop worrying?
17. What if I can never stop worrying about all of this?
18. What if I can take all of this worry about being driven crazy and turn it into something positive?
19. What if I just had an epiphany about the final project for class?
20. What if I could finally figure my life out because of this book I hate so much?
21. What if this stupid book changes my life?
22. What if my life changes for the worse because of this book?
23. What if it changes for the better?
24. What if I will never know?
25. What if what drives me as a person is knowing things?
26. What if I'm just making shit up by now?
27. What if the key to life is being an awesome bullshitter?
28. What if that question above is just horse shit and it will never lead to anything?
29. What if I could understand this all in a different context?
30. What if I'm making a big deal out of nothing?
31. What if the key to creativity is making a big deal out of nothing?
32. What if I'm doing this assignment completely wrong?
33. What if the point of this assignment is to get yourself into a state of mind for personal reflection; to understand yourself better?
34. What if I'm completely wrong in my assumptions?
35. What if I fail this assignment?
36. What if I stop caring?
37. What if the reason I put so much importance on everything I do because I care too much about everything?
38. What if this doesn't mean anything?
39. What if nothing means anything?
40. What if things not meaning anything ruins my outlook on life?
41. What if this whole ruining my outlook on life situation actually doesn't ruin my outlook on life but improves it?
42. What if I can't incorporate these thoughts into my Altered Book?
43. What if I accidentally destroy my outlook on life?
44. What if this destroys me as a person?
45. What if I can't rebuild myself as a person if I somehow destroy it unintentionally and I'm left as a shell?
46. What if I have to live my life as a shell of my former self?
47. What if all of my fears stem from question number 46?
48. What if life is pointless?
49. What if life really is pointless and I will never know?
50. What if I can use all of these 'what if's' to make myself a better person for myself because questioning this book has given me a higher understanding, all because I hated a book?

Now I just want to take a moment and figure out how the heck all of that happened and where it came from.  This has taken an interesting turn and I feel like it really needs to be investigated and understood.  Maybe this whole exercise is supposed to be a learning experience about yourself. Or maybe I completely did things wrong and screwed up the whole assignment.  But, you know what?  Who really cares?  This is a very different class and is meant to turn your current perspective and flip it around so you can see the world in a new light. So maybe this is exactly what I was supposed to do.  Maybe I'll find out sometime soon what all of this means.

Takeaway 3

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to class today because of car troubles, but I had an interesting conversation with a friend about balance.

I believe we need balance in our everyday lives.  Without it we, or at least I, get either extremely stressed out with my responsibilities or get depressed because I put too much focus on a few things and completely disregard others (homework is a great example here).  Balance, or lack thereof, can create some pretty awesome things like art, a great project at work, or a happy social life; but the beauty of life stands in the balance of yourself, your social life, and your professional life.

The thing is, how do we figure out this beautiful balance?  If we tip the scales more towards ourselves we can find out what really makes us tick but we will lack in social and professional areas.  The same goes for focusing more on social and professional areas that we will lack in the other two areas respectively.  But, there also lies beauty in the unbalanced life.  These unbalances can lead to growth which will lead to an eventual, better balance if one can keep moving forward.  Say you focus on yourself more than the other areas.  Once you have reached a pinnacle of acceptance for yourself it will improve both your social life and your professional life and I believe this is still true if you focus on being social and excelling in your professional life.

Polly Wolly doodle all day?

To be honest I didn't even think about the four s's while I was doodling.  All I did was choose an easy listening Pandora station, plug in my headphones, and start doodling.  Not a whole lot of thought went into anything, really.  While I wasn't contemplating the four s's while I was drawing I could interpret their meaning from the doodle right now.

Of course there could have been things going on in my subconscious, but I'm not entirely sure.  I guess I did surrender to the music and just focused on that while I let myself draw whatever came to mind which did have some lovely and some not so lovely results.  I've never been much of a doodler but it did kind of help that I was in the zone to do some doodles.