#10 Why don't we do what we love?

First off, a little about me. I plan on pursuing a career in Graphic Design and I love drawing even though I haven't been doing it long. 

This sad attempt at colored pencil was my first use of them since I was a child at school, after watching a few videos I followed it up with. 

This reasoning makes me believe that the skill is there and that is it a career I hope to pursue successfully.  

Oddly though I run into a problem where I am spending very little time drawing anything lately. I'm hoping this has to do with the unfortunate fact that I have no art classes this semester and my self derived inspiration to draw is lacking. I love to draw, I just find myself spending my time playing games, hanging out with friends and the girlfriend or unfortunately doing homework. I hope I'm not the only one who is running into this issue with their career of choice. 

Why is it we seem to put off the things that can benefit us/we enjoy the most in life? is there a fear to fail at the things we love? Has anyone else run into this with their hobbies or career of choice? 

Below I decided to include two my first charcoal drawings done off pictures just because I'm proud of them and I can!

Wukong, from League of Legends

Kylo Ren, from Star Wars

#9 Media is taking over

Wanna know what to think? What to worry about? How to feel about it? Of course you do and if you're a sheep all those answers await you in the media. Now don't get me wrong I'm not a crazy conspiracy theory guy, but if you can't tell the media is trying to distract you from the things that matter you aren't paying much attention. The power of media lies in that alone, the ability to distract the masses and I'm not actually talking strictly about the news media. For example, Facebook tells you whats trending and the radio tells you what songs are hot now. 

If you haven't seen these things yet, simply look around you as you walk around daily. Everyones eyes are trapped in their phones, your friends posts are all predictable, the news you watch doesn't tell you anything you really need to know about. 

With my attention drawn to the power of media more and more through my college classes I haven't seen first hand everything I have previously claimed. It is easy to see once you look for it, so please do me and yourself a favor and start looking round at whats going on and stop believing everything you are told. 

#8 Support a bad thing?

I'm gonna talk about a topic that effected the last few months, although its not really a bad thing, at least I don't think. First though I have to give some back story details. During the end of the last semester I laid my motorcycle down, it wasn't totaled but definitely wasn't running again without some serious repairs.

Shortly after laying my bike down I began a relationship that ended up allowing me utilize her car while she was at work. This allowed me to get to and from school without any problems. Unfortunately thats where the problem lies, relying on her without question led me to constantly procrastinate fixing my bike. Luckily, I was able to take my bike to my buddies house and have him help me fix it.
Knowing that if I didn't have her to rely on I would have fixed my bike within a week or two without question. Thinking back on it now, I realize that although she wanted to support me and help me get around while I was repairing my bike that level of comfort led me to become lazy.

I know there have been similar situations in my life, not to this extreme but they are there. Have you experienced anything like this? let me know below!

Hashtag 7: Number sign Hashtag? What?

The ever growing popular Hashtag, a way to link literally whatever significant or meaningless action you happen to be taking at any point in your day. Going to breakfast? #breakfast #pancakes? #eggs! #breakfastisyummy #awaketooearly #whyamiup? ...yeah you get the point, but lets not forget the picture of the event to go alongside it. Having never gotten into the fad of hash tagging everything I see both its purpose and how pointless it is. Lets start the purpose, having already given a general description of it lets delve deeper into its purpose. Looking to make a name for yourself in a profession as an artist or model? Utilizing hash tags allows your images to be seen all around the world by people looking for similar things (although mislabeling is an easy way to abuse the system).

thats just a few examples of the many, many hashtags you could label on your picture for fitness. 

Now instead of going on about all the other purposes of the hashtag lets talk about how its gotten out of hand and is being abused by so many. 

It would seem with the development of the hashtag and its quick rise of overuse everyone believes everyone needs to see everything they are doing. Lets be real 90% of the shit you do throughout your day is nothing worth sharing, yes that includes you Kardashian family. So why is everyone hash tagging everything they are doing? Well the answer seems pretty simple to me, everyone want to be recognized or famous for something so why not get your name out as often as possible? I can't blame the desire to build a name for yourself, but people are forgetting that "no publicity is bad publicity" isn't always true... 

#So #please #hashtag #responsibly #because #people #dont #always #care #about #what #you #say #see #or #do #. 

#6 Money or Happiness?

Can you buy happiness? Does the pursuit of happiness always lead to money? So to share a little why I'm gonna talk about it, I actually had a similar discussion with my brother awhile back. Having finished his degree and an internship as an accountant my brother realized he cannot stand the job at all, he totally hates it. The problem lies here, it's great money. Unsure what he's going to do now, he has a degree in a field that he hates but he is a fan of the finer things in life so the money is hard to turn down. During our conversation I asked him if the money is really important if you're miserable all day at work and come home carrying that misery with you, possibly taking it out on your family or friends. I asked him why he doesn't do something he loves, to which he replied, "what I love can't make the money I need to live the way I want."

This brings me to the great question, can't he buy happiness? Why can't you find a way to make your passion into a career and be happy. How much money is the minimum you are willing to take to do your dream job? Are you willing to sacrifice a bigger house, a nicer car, fancier clothes to be happy in your daily job?

These are all questions I had to ask myself because school is finishing much faster than expected. Two years into school now, I like the idea of my field but can I really make it a career and earn the living I would like with it? Is there a middle ground, can I earn decent or good money doing a job I don't either hate or love? This conversation inspired lots of questions I still think about everyday. Unable to answer most right now, but interested in finding my answers as I continue through school and a job hunt, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions no matter where you are in life.

#5 Less college but not?

ASU to offer more short classes

The link above is an article about ASU's plan to include more shorter classes during the year, allowing greater flexibility for students who have busy life. Having taken an accelerated class last semester at Glendale Community College I am personally a fan of them. If GCC offered every class as an accelerated or full length class, I certainly would be enrolling in them right now. If that doesn't make it apparent where I stand on the subject I am definitely all for these accelerated classes.

The article goes in more detail about some of the pros and cons that the staff has seen in these courses, If you haven't decided to read the article yet I would go ahead and do that now.

I already gave my opinion on the subject but that's speaking simply for myself, I know lots of students who don't like a larger work load in less time that the accelerated classes force on you. Which is why although I'm all for the accelerated courses, a change to strictly that, down the line could hurt as many students as it helps. I believe as ASU plans to increase the number of accelerated classes to help the students who like them and can find a good use of them but not take anything away from the students who enjoy full time classes is the best way to about it as it's still a relatively new concept.

What do you think? Have you ever tried accelerated classes? How has it worked out? The good and bad? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

#4 A generation of zombies

We have the collected data of pretty much the entire world accessible in our hands with the use of smart phones. We use smart phones to do homework, talk across the world, navigate where you're going, among countless other things, but guess what we mainly use it for? Tap Titan

The entire purpose of the game in summary is to tap your phone... ALOT. Now don't get me wrong I'm guilty, I've downloaded and played it, it's strangely addicting I get it. The problem comes in when I noticed that I was at food truck Friday down the road from my house with a gathering of about eight friends, including my brother and girlfriend. While at food truck Friday, talking and having fun my hand was on my phone just tapping away while I did all this. Although I was engaged in the conversation and actively talking, half my concentration was on my phone, rudely glancing down at my phone every 15-30 seconds to update the game. This is when I noticed I was the same zombie as all those people I see in my classes or walking staring into their phones ignoring what's going on around them.

My Tap Titan was no different than the guy texting or the girl taking a snapchat every 15 steps to let her followers know how her walk is going between class or to her car. We unfortunately are a generation of zombies and it's only getting worse. Realizing I have been awaiting the zombie apocalypse since I first saw Dawn of the Dead, I am severely disappointed in the one we got. It is my plan to ensure that I am no longer one of these zombies and I ask you all to look at yourselves and ensure you're not a zombie and if you are, is it healthy? Is it worth it to watch your life through your phone camera or through Instagram and Facebook instead of living it in the moment?