Author: Chetara

On resoluting

| Chetara

It’s 2011. One resolution: to blog more often. I completely skipped December. That won’t happen in 2011. (I mean it.)

(No really, I do.)

I’ll prove it. I’m getting started right now:

My X-Mas presents from one half of my family are always wrapped like this.

Via My Modern Met:

A sweet idea that’s good for the environment and super chic! Reusable fabric gift wraps, by Chewing the Cud, are coming in June. Measuring 28″ x28″, these hand-printed creations are printed with soy-based ink on organic cotton. They’ll be a beautiful way to dress up any present.

Expect another post soon about my other resolutions (of which there will be many).

| Chetara

Took a major break from the blog. Have lots to do on here: a bajillion bookmarked cool things to talk about, a comic to review, job/school decisions to discuss…

Let’s start with what I’ve been up to since I was last on here. I started a part-time job, which takes about 30 hours per week. (Actually this week I’m working 47. Oy.) I’m a Customer Service Representative at CVS, which is a fancy way of saying I’m a cashier. But the manager thinks that if I stay there for a couple of years, I  could be a manager. In the meantime, however, I make $6.80/hour after taxes. Hmmph.

Also, I am apparently really bad at counting change.

I work with some nice people, I like most of the supervisors. They’re all pretty young.

Some notes:

I started making bread again. I don’t have a manual for my machine, but I looked one up online. The problem with me baking bread is that I eat bread. Especially when no one else in my apartment eats it. I’ll go through a loaf in 2 days. Not good.

I also made a swamp in the plant in my room. It took me a while to figure out where the smell was coming from. The plant is next to my door, so as soon as I walked in the smell smacked me over the head. It was sour, like vinegar. A really unpleasant smell to have in my bedroom. Eventually I realized the plant was sitting in a 7-inch puddle of water, for who knows how long. I dumped it out, rinsed out the pot and the smell has mostly gone away.

My phone is being weird. It doesn’t always let me make calls- it’ll say ‘Network Busy.’ With certain numbers, it’ll say that 5 out of 6 times. Other numbers it rarely does it. Might be time for a replacement soon.

I dyed my hair about a week ago. I don’t like it. It’s dark brown. I prefer it with red, I think.

Aaaaand that’s all for tonight, methinks.

-C

Where good ideas come from

| Chetara

Interesting video.

Creative people (whether they be authors, painters, poets, carvers, composers, etc. etc.) are always asked where their ideas come from.

I think everyone has the capacity to be creative, if they want to be. If they are open to new ideas, and looking at old ideas from a new point of view, there are endless possibilities for the creative. And there are so many creative outlets possible for exploration.

This is the full, original text from Apple’s ‘Think Different’ campaign:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

And like Apple and the above video mention, fields that don’t fall under the ‘creative’ category still require imagination, and curiosity, and passion. Creative comes from create; I think ‘creativity’ intimidates people who don’t actively strive for it because it is placed on such a high pedestal. When you look at it as a verb, create, it becomes less daunting and abstract.

People who are willing to be a little crazy are the ones who are willing to explore, to suggest a solution that sounds silly, who eager to look past what is the norm or what has already been done. And they are the ones who create change.

Sorry for the rambling web of thoughts.

-C