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Mine:
2007 began with the fulfillment of a near life-long dream to work my way
across the ocean on a ship. I would arrive in South Africa in early
February having worked two months of consecutive 12-14 hour days and
progressed to 180 push-ups per day, in great physical condition and with
a nice pile of "extra" money in my pocket. I began a semi-forced social
isolation the second of those two months and during that time occupied
my mind with art and discipline and dreams of seeing my wife. Those 30
days were perfect, the longest amount of time since I had been homeless
in which the only people offended or inconvenienced by my discipline and
mores were those I wished to be offended and inconvenienced. And all of
this while "sailing" across the Atlantic! And all of this while knowing
that a beautiful wife and city were waiting for me at the end of my
trip! And all of this while getting "rich"! And all of this while
working with my hands!
I took an unfortunate detour on the way home. I didn't want to arrive
after two months to an empty house, so I went through New Orleans to
pass a few hours at Mardi Gras. I was very very VERY nearly arrested and
still shudder when I think about it. I was so close and so worried that
I had already decided to run away if the police so much as asked for an
ID while shouting at me. I believe I only came away clean by playing an
ignorant (and very contrite) foreigner with a terrible fake, "foreign"
accent of no particular origin.
My homecoming was not disappointing. The three weeks I spent at home
after the trip were as wonderful as I could ever expect or hope them to be.
The time since, however, has been mixed.
POV-Ray: Did a lot. 2007 may have been my most prolific year and the
year in which I created my second most well-received image to date. Two
massive projects planned for sometime in the future, but can't say for
sure that either will happen in 2008.
Writing: Almost nothing. No songs. No poems. No anything except some
pieces of songs I intend for publication. Can't get focused on finishing
those pieces. One the one hand, it would be fun and possibly profitable
to publish a catchy song, on the other, I listen to "...Ziggy
Stardust..." and question the "cost" vs. reward of creating what I know
are sh*tty, if clever, lyrics. Wrote several songs in 2006, including my
biggest "hit." I suppose my mood has changed.
Bicycling: My new joy. I have broken two mountain bikes this year. A
third is in the shop being assembled from surviving pieces.
Work: Had a boss for most of the year who hated me. I am not
exaggerating. Just when I though our relationship was on the verge of
degenerating into a physical confrontation, he left. New boss is an
idiot. Most people in my profession are idiots. Still love the work and
environment. I could go on about that for pages and pages.
Fitness: Lots of biking and swimming (still suck at swimming). Lots of
push-ups. I made a resolution to stay away from weights in 2007. I am
about to be released from that resolution and "need" (according to my
wife) to put some weight back on. I've lost about 30 lbs since becoming
a laborer. I like being skinny, but at 160 I admit that I may be a bit
too skinny.
Direction: I think I've been thinking too long term. I ask myself often,
"In a year, what will I wish I had done today." The answer is always
easy: Do push-ups, go swimming, ride my bike, enjoy the weather. "Do the
laundry" or "shop for Christmas" never make the list. This year, I had
to hand out pictures of what I ordered for people last-minute. I could
use some work on the short term.
Money: My wife and I live very well on $65k a year, which is great,
because we make $95k. Been paying off her student loans for a while, but
that is almost finished. I'm about to be ghetto rich (low income,
[relatively] high cash). Don't know exactly how I feel about that. Money
has already spoiled a lot of things for me. The extra will go towards my
4-5 year goal of buying a coffee shop.
-Shay
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.... decline to give full answer on grounds that this group is now a little
easier to find due to its being on the web interface, potentially more
googlable. I don't want to antagonize anyone further.
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> Mine:
> 2007 began with
a very organized routine of working long hours driving cab. A rate
increase we got starting Dec 1 2006 lent some optimism to the whole
enterprize and with business firm through the first part of the year it
was possible to break $1000, net, on a 66-hour week. This was
accomplished in part by pre-purchasing 'blocks' of six shifts a week
which meant a lower price per shift. Many of those weeks I also taught
on the day following the one night I didn't drive. So it was pretty
intense but there was a rhythm and determination to the thing which kept
me going.
Meanwhile my boss at the taxi school was anxious to give me more
teaching time. At first we fell into an arrangement whereby I
pre-purchased blocks of six shifts on alternate weeks and he tried to
load up the 'off' week with teaching. But this became untenable.
Meanwhile the rate increase also meant that even paying higher dollar, I
could still make an excellent return per hour when buying individual,
but lucrative, weekend shifts. The last six-block I bought was in May.
Since then we have fallen into a rhythm where I pre-purchase
Fri-Sat-Sun for each week and can expect to get 2-3 full days teaching
sometime Monday thru Thursday. This gives me 1-2 days off a week, and a
daytime schedule for part of the week, and so I now have something
resembling a reasonble life.
It helped too that in May I was able to start teaching the full-fledged
'initial-training' classes. This turned the classroom teaching into a
significant occupation, both as dependable income, and as an engaging
mental challenge. Previously I'd specialized in the four-hour
'refresher' course and the six-hour Defensive Driving course. Initial
training modules are eight hour days and include teaching NY geography.
All of this has served to strengthen my momentum along a shallow but
rising trajectory away from the mental, emotional, and spiritual squalor
I inhabited five years ago when I lost my job as a IT instructor.
With the recent departure of the taxi school's longest 'tenured' and
most capable instructor there is the promise of even more work and
challenge in the near future. Through '07 I developed my skills on an
abbreviated 3-day version of the initial training course. Now I will be
exposed to modules from the more thoroughly-taught, full-fledged, 9-day
version of the course.
As recently as a week ago I had to dig down. I was scheduled to do a
brace of three, totally new, 8-hour, geography modules. I had zero prep
time. For eighteen days previous I'd not had a single day off, (I was
either driving or teaching,) during which I could develop new material.
So overnight, for each of the three nights, I memorized how to draw
maps of first Brooklyn, then Queens, then the Bronx, along with their
several dozen streets, parks, and neighbourhoods, then reproduced them
the following day, hand-drawn, standing at the chalk-board. The trick is
to be able to lay in the features with smooth-drawn lines, and without
erasures. Students are usually exposed to several instructors and are
quick to make comparisons, are critical, and not shy about verbalizing
their thoughts. Whatever you may or may not think about all this, it
was a personal benchmark for me that puts me significantly beyond what I
would have been capable of the previous year.
So I am in a relatively positive place after these developments through
2007. I can calmly accept that right now I am the least experienced and
least capable of the instructors, but the school director also pointed
out that I am his most flexible instructor with the broadest range of
courses that he can put in the classroom for. As long as I don't try to
'do too much', and I stay methodical and focused, I hope to grow my
repertoire of lesson modules while polishing my teaching/presentation
skills. I take some pride in it now, as you can see.
> POV-Ray:
Have not published much on the ng's but through the early to middle of
the year I enjoyed an extended collaboration, off-ng, with another POV
artist. It gave me a certain stick-to-it-ness, over an extended period,
which had been lacking for a long time.
>
> Writing:
During conversations with customers in the cab I often wish I could
refer them to my blog as I was once able to do. But I am mostly glad I
let go of that.
>
> Work:
Currently have a great relationship with my boss, the school director.
>
> Fitness:
Bad scene, but again, the mental health is improving so that might lead
to improvements down the road.
>
> Direction:
Have the problem of seeing only short-term and blinding myself to
long-term.
>
> Money:
Nice to be earning some again. Gives confidence. Self-respect.
-Jim
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Hm. It's an interesting idea to wrap up the successes and
disappointments of the year 2007, to retrospect and reflect upon what to
do for the next year...
And maybe I'd join in and state my year, if it hadn't been so full of
disappointments that I rather not think about it. I already thought that
it couldn't get much worse than 2006, but obviously (at least to me),
that wasn't true.
So, what do I expect for 2008, now that 2007 is coming to an end?
That's another thing I might venture into explaining and reflecting
upon, if the last few weeks hadn't been the way they where. Right now,
I'm not sure what I'll be celebrating on New Year's, because although
I'm happy that this year will be over and a whole new year with tons of
surprises (hopefully good ones this time), I'm not sure if the new year
holds that much more in store for me...
To wrap it up: Obviously, I'm in a bad mood, due to various reasons, and
that's not the best time to reflect upon the year (bad moods tend to
bring out the worst in us), nor the best time to think about the next
year (bad moods tend to put a negative spin on everything).
So maybe I'll get back to you in a few days, with my goals for 2008,
when I've got a more positive outlook. Cause that's what I'm trying to
do, now: Just let the bad moods pass and do the useful stuff on better
moods. It's much more productive. :-)
Regards,
Tim
--
aka "Tim Nikias"
Homepage: <http://www.nolights.de>
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Major developments:
1. No new movies were released this year, but it was still pretty darn busy.
Break Time battled blizzards and tight deadlines to show off at the 2007 Omaha
Film Festival and 2007 South Dakota Film Festival, to much acclaim and applause
and whatnot. And for a brief time, I had an actual movie groupie stalk me at OFF
2. We moved from the scary gun-toting neighborhood to the peaceful gun-toting
country, trading in police standoffs for evil owls hunting us. I can safely say
selling a house is as enjoyable as shoving a burning cactus through my colon. On
the positive side, I finally got a room for myself and my studio toys. No more
Other than that, life was pretty normal these past twelve months. Now that the
earth has stopped shaking (or at least slowed down enough to let me stagger
most: drawing silly pictures and making silly animations.
Have a GREAT New Year!
--
Dan
GoofyGraffix.com
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I continued raising my two boys. They will be men before long. I
skied, I hiked, I flew, and flew and flew.
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Tom Galvin wrote:
> I continued raising my two boys. They will be men before long. I
> skied, I hiked, I flew, and flew and flew.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
I'm rhymin' seven with heaven
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The younger of my nephews gave me a boxador (boxer/Lab mix) puppy for
Christmas 2006. 2007 inevitably and irresistibly became The Year Of
Amelia. The elderly Chow/German shepherd mix and I have found it
increasingly difficult to be grouchy old geezers. ;)
I have a few (rather out-of-date) pictures at:
http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/tenmoons/
--and will upload more as opportunities occur...
--Sherry Shaw
--
#macro T(E,N)sphere{x,.4rotate z*E*60translate y*N pigment{wrinkles scale
.3}finish{ambient 1}}#end#local I=0;#while(I<5)T(I,1)T(1-I,-1)#local I=I+
1;#end camera{location-5*z}plane{z,37 pigment{granite color_map{[.7rgb 0]
[1rgb 1]}}finish{ambient 2}}// TenMoons
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