12.20.2006

early retirement

i've been telling people that i'm going into freelance retirement at the start of the new year, but maybe "sabbatical" is a better term for it. i'm taking some time off, planning on 6 months beginning february 1... i have a couple of projects to finish off in january before i can make a totally clean break.

this will be a shock for a few people who know that design consumes me in a way that few things do, but there are a couple of reasons this is the right thing for 2007:

- i have a job that pays well enough that i no longer have to supplement my income AND can start putting money away each month. cash i don't EVEN NEED TO TOUCH. unreal.

- i've gone and gotten myself hooked into the Glue Network, which may or may not lead to me spearheading a mural project in our very own windy city. i will keep everyone updated, there might be news in january...

- there's a health complication that isn't dire, but does require attention and now that i've got some new friends at Northwestern Memorial's Wellness Institute, the attention is on its way. Hence the Feb. start date to my sabbatical.

- lastly. i'm looking forward to reading more. getting more done. often, as with the recent Braddigan CD project, things can go quickly and be totally satisfying, but that's the exception and not the rule. it can be really hard to work 10 hours, come home and put in 2-4 more, then "maybe" hit the gym but more likely hit up some dinner, some TV, some bed. i have such a massive body of work that i love to show off, but it was all to prepare me for what i do now. i don't need to work that way any more.

anyway. last night - perfect example. i should have been working on an identity system for a landscape architect, but there was a documentary about photographers in Cuba and their memories of the revolution, and how they think it impacted how they work today. it was stunning and made me ache for those days in 2002 when i was wandering Havana.

then this morning i got an email from AIGA that had to do with a US/Cuba designers collaboration and it's a great program. so being me,
i emailed and said tell me more.

maybe God's putting ideas in my head that will take me back to Cuba?
i hope so.

12.15.2006

the cat's out of the bag

let's just get this over with: the fisheye camera is a little lump of coal in my stocking. you get what you pay for, it's a silly toy, it puts out useless pictures. [sheds single, disappointed tear]

that being said, i'm still bringing it to my cousin's rehersal dinner tonight and wedding tomorrow. GAME ON.

{interlude}

so i have this new idea and no idea how to shape it. there's something new going on. i've decided to give up all freelance after the new year. there are a couple of things motivating this decision.
• i haven't read a book for fun in YEARS
• i've never just gone to work and gone home. i would like to try it.
• suddenly there's a dependable, consistent source of income
• and a health thing that i won't get into but it involves insulin (i am not diabetic, thankfully) and it involves me wanting to work out five or six times a week instead of three.

so really, i don't see the need for a portfolio site that i never finished anyway. and now my registerfly account is due, and i'm like, what for?? and then i was like, your customer service is so lame. i'm going over to GoDaddy. so i did.

i have a new site. it's not built, it's not even well thought out, but it's my new idea and it's where i'll be posting articles. not like a blog, at all, not daily nonsense but researched ideas that i have about propaganda and marketing. almost no one knows that i actually have a legit fascination with propaganda, like i've actually put time into learning about it and am slowly building a little propaganda library. that i PLAN TO READ IN JANUARY. totally.

and i think it's a product of my generation and of design in general that i keep feeling a desperate need to include everything, to make public my body of work and artist statement and eighteen ways to contact me. that's so dumb. all i need to have is what i want to focus on, right? right.

"plus a links page."
(damn)

ProgressiveConspiracy.com, coming soon to a monitor near you.

12.07.2006

REASONS TO PARTY

ah, the endless perks of selling out and going corporate. today is the office party, and that means two things: 1. lots of tipsy thirty-somethings i have grown to love and 2. minature golf. that's right, we're golfing around the office today. i brought in the fisheye, so we'll bust a move with that tiger and by God, WE WILL STILL HAVE PHOTOS ON THIS BLOG.

even our office party invites are designed and lovely :)

the other reason to party: FIXMAS and The Glue Network. yesterday the fine folks over at Glue sent me a care package with a press kit, tee shirts, stickers, and an amazing poster of their first mural project that i'm going to drop at kinkos and get mounted. more on that later. check out the links for now -

Fixmas
The Glue Network

12.06.2006

withdrawl

the last photos i took the saturday after thanksgiving
(just before my camera poquito up and died).

jimy and kristy's engagement photos

austin and jeff at wise fool's pub.
if you've never heard how unbelievably hot one guitar + one cello is, educate yourself. [austin and jeff] or [matt nathanson and matt fish] are two such examples. discuss.

i drew up a budget yesterday to find out how i get actually get this new camera. it's gonna take some work, but i've been promised some help from Santa and my birthday is in february... until then i'll make some good use of another new camera that's a ton of fun. photos to come.