January 10, 2012

Day 9

Today's desk: No desk because I'm lazy :(


Today's completed challenge:


Today's challenge was to make something out of my breakfast before I eat it. Well, I didn't eat breakfast today and the first thing I ate was a candy cane left over from Christmas. There's a few reason's why I decided to spell out love. One is for my childish love for candy canes. I will eat anything with candy canes on them, in them, made out of them, anything. They're delicious. It's one of my favorite candies ever.

I also love Christmas and the idea that candy canes bring me. They remind me of one of my favorite times of the year. It doesn't really feel like Christmas without candy canes....

Today's entry is bullshit. I can't focus on it. I've been lazy about my writing and trying to fill  my life with creativity and now I'm allowing myself to fall into my usual routines of sitting around the house doing nothing. I don't know what to do. I can feel the creativity slipping. How do I keep myself engaged? How do I keep myself interested? Hopefully I can find something soon.

To make up for not having a picture of my desk from today, here's a picture of my first idea of the candy canes and a funny picture of my roommate's dog wearing a bow tie.

January 9, 2012

Day 8

Today's desk:

Today's completed challenge:



Today my prompts told me to take an old book and change it by cutting, gluing, taping, etc. Anyone that knows me that there's NO WAY I could do that. I considered turning a book into a hide-away-box but 1) that takes forever to do. Trust me, I know, I've looked. And 2) HOW COULD I CHOOSE WHICH ONE OF MY BOOKS TO MAIM!? So ridiculous and yet, so true. I really could not choose. I don't even think if I went out and bought a book just for today's project, I could sit down and destroy it. I mean seriously, I'd rather read Twilight than destroy it. I just can't do it, I'm sorry.

So, I took an oath. In front of all of you and on my desk to forever remind me that I....will never destroy a book. It's cheesy and lame and silly and written at 1:30 AM but it's true. I will never destroy a book to the point that the story can  no longer be read.


Now, don't get me wrong. I was pretty close to buying a copy of Pride and Prejudice and hiding some dog treats in it so my dogs would destroy it for me. But then I thought, "No....because no matter how much my enemy hates me, I'd never want my books destroyed." I'm so fucking benevolent sometimes.

January 7, 2012

Day 7

Today's desk:


Today's completed challenge:


Today I had to make a stencil for my inspiration. So, I thought about all of my favorite graffiti artists and what they used for their stencils. It all kind of came to me at once. I realized that they all say what they've always wanted to say in the clearest, most concise manner possible. So I thought: "What is it that I've wanted to say to everyone for a long time.....be a hipster."

And honestly? Why not. Just do it. Seriously. It's fun! You don't have to care about anything or worry about being uncool because you just pretend like everyone else around you is the most uncool, thus making you the cool one. You can like strange things and no one cares. Everything you find is art, a photoshoot or some sort of lost treasure. It's amazing to be a hipster. I really think that "hipster" is just secret code for "just act like yourself."


Well, maybe it's not. I mean, it's entirely possible that I am just a hipster at heart. So I embrace my hipsterhood. I pick out clothes based on hipsterness and how many times I've seen it before. I decorate my universe with a hodgepodge of things that don't really make sense but it doesn't really matter because all of it is "soooo me." At least according to my Heathers, it is.

Day 6ish

Today's desk:

Today's completed challenge:


Soo...I was busy yesterday. It may or may not have anything to do with X, the boy I went on a date with. Anyway, so today I had to go into the kitchen and do something with the first fruit I saw. In all honesty, a lemon was the first fruit I saw and I knew it would be. Before I went in there, I tried my best of things to spell out with a lemon but I couldn't think of anything that would matter. So I looked around. Yeah, that's right. I cheated. But you know what? It's my project so step off.

So I saw the orange and again, I was at a loss for words. I couldn't think of anything for an orange besides, "Orange you glad I didn't pick up a banana?" And that's how we got to today. It's not the most glamorous of completed challenges and it's not even the most creative but I've got about 359 more of these soo...there are bound to be a few that I'm just not proud of.


You know, the funny thing is, I AM proud of this. I like the way it turned out! Sure, it's cheesy but look at the picture! You have to admit that the orange rind, the knife, the cutting board, sure the lighting could be better but we're not all perfect. I'm quite happy with my challenge today....less inspired by my desk but that's alright.

January 5, 2012

Day 5

Today's desk: 



Today's completed challenge:


I cleaned my desk today! Hurray! Still reeling from my date last night, I'm doing my best to be productive, starting with my desk. My goals are to clean the kitchen, vacuum, clean the tub, clean my room, change my sheets and spray my room with frebreeze because for some reason it smells in there. Does anyone else's room get like that? Why does it do that? How do I keep it from happening? I think I just need to change my sheets more often.

One of my postcards made it to the destination! Did I tell you guys about that? I'm writing postcards to strangers via a website: postcrossing.com. It's pretty nifty. You send out postcards to strangers and you get postcards back from other strangers. So yeah, since one of mine arrived (you can have up to 5 'traveling,') I can send out another one! So I need to add that to my list too.

Today's challenge was about collections and it's not unknown that I collect copies of Wuthering Heights. Sooo...I used my collection to spell out, what else, book! It took me a couple of tries. Stacking books is a lot harder than you think and I had to work with books that are ridiculous shapes. And yes, that's the stacks of books I used to spell BOOK sitting on my desk. I've already put them away haha. I'm really liking these daily challenges. I've never felt more creative and I love it! This is what I'm born to do: create something all the time and stress the side of my brain that I used to use constantly. It makes me feel like I'm doing something with my life and I feel accomplished...even after just 5 days. With 360 more days to go, I have a feeling I can totally do this. :)

Day 4ish

Today's desk:



Today's completed challenge:


So I know that this is a day late but I have an excuse. There's a guy. His name is X. And I told X abut my 365 day project and yesterday he asked me what my challenge was: take a five minute walk and make something out of whatever you find there. Document it and leave it for someone else to find. So he told me that my walk should end at his apartment (because he lives about five minutes away.) So I asked what would be waiting for me at the end of my walk. His response?
"Maybe some wine. A good movie. Some cuddling maybe. I might fall asleep."
"You're going to fall asleep on our date?"
"Great. Now I'm nervous."

So that's how my challenge turned into a date. And I have to say, the date was a dream. I've never been on a more romantic date in my life. Half way through the night, I asked him if I could borrow his shoe laces and his bed. He gave me an odd look but relinquished the materials and that's how we got to our picture today: my bow tie, a cat toy and both sets of our shoe laces. A perfect document of our night.

January 3, 2012

Day 3

Today's desk:


Today's completed challenge:



So today we had to make something out of paper. On my first try, I thought about making a bow tie out of a paper bag. After a few attempts and lots of tape, I got frustrated and ripped it to shreds. It was just nearly impossible to tie without tearing. Also, I don't know if you know this, but paper does not slide against itself. It does not bounce back, it does not fold easily. So yeah. I got frustrated and gave up for a few hours.

I came back and was talking with S about paying rent. We were trying to schedule our day so that we could both get everything done that we needed to get done. She asked me, "Well, what do you have to do today?" and I responded, "I have to write in my blog, read for two more hours, go for a walk, pay rent and make something out of paper....wait, MONEY! It's paper!" and I ran off to make my money origami. I can't really remember when I learned how to do this...or why. But I remember that I was a child around the age of 11. I remember thinking that it was the coolest thing I had ever learned and pretty much folded all of the paper money in the house into little bow ties. My parents were not impressed. I'm certain my mother had half a mind to make me iron all of the money in the house after I had "wrinkled and crinkled all of them," as she put it.

I'm not really sure what it is about bow ties that have suddenly drawn my eye. But I've found that I think they're cute and rarely worn, hence why I've decided to start a trend of bow ties and t-shirts. I don't care what anyone says, I'm doing it. I think it's cute. I'm wearing a bow tie presently. Anyway, so I took my little bow tie money and taped it to my monitor so now, my desk is dressed for ever occasion.

January 2, 2012

Day 2

Today's desk:




Today's completed challenge:



I'm not really sure what it is that I love the most about giraffes. I feel like they're under appreciated. Also, they're incredibly tall and I kind of wish that I was that tall. I'd love to see that far. I love their black tongues and their spots and the fact that they only eat leaves and grass.

So my challenge today was inspired by two things: WordWorld which is a show that my nephew watches constantly and I find very intrigued by and, of course, my favorite animal the giraffe. First let's talk about this show. So basically it's a show full of cartoon animals where everything is made up of the letters from it's name, like my giraffe up there. It's pretty cool. I'd show you a picture of the show but I don't want you guys to be any more disappointed with my drawing than you already are soo....yeah. Screw you. I AM AN ARTIST! But yeah, it's a pretty interesting show. Things no longer hold their shape when you separate the letters. It makes me wonder what would happen if you separate the letters of the characters...would they die or just be temporarily not there? I feel like there was a show or two where a character's letters fell apart but I'm not really sure what happened. I should record that show on my DVR to see if I can find an episode where that happens. I really shouldn't record it, actually. 1) Our DVR is already full of everything and 2) my roommate already thinks I'm the weirdest person alive. She doesn't need any more reasons.

Potential memoir title? My Roommate S. I feel like I'll end up writing several books about various parts of my life...at least I hope so. Is it painfully clear that I want to be David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs? I try not to be obnoxious about it but it's true. Does any other writer sit around and think of book titles? Sometimes it's just something I see or something I hear. Sometimes it's just a thought that comes into my head. And I just imagine the book cover with my pen name...the font. My picture on the inside of the jacket. I see it all. I see myself as a published author. I just need the book to come out. You know what hinders the book coming out? When I get thrown off of my groove. Nothing drives me more crazy that being in the flow and thinking that I'm funny and I have so much to say and words are flying onto the page, and someone asks me a question or demands my attention and then all of the sudden...everything is silent. My brain shuts down and stops allowing thoughts and ideas to flow freely from my brain to my fingers. Oh man, that drives me nuts. I don't get frustrated when they interrupt me. They can't help it. They're unaware that it stops me completely. No, I get frustrated with myself because I should be able to get right back to where I was, pick up where I left off and continue on in whatever I was doing. And sometimes I can and sometimes I can't. It's those times that I can't that frustrate me.

So giraffes....what the hell? No one likes giraffes...I mean, they are cute. And I do have this awesome giraffe mug that has this cartoon giraffe that's friends with a monkey and they're both just so happy to be there. It's great. You can see it on my desk in the picture. By the chair. Left. Up. There it is. Giraffe mug! Yeah! But I feel like no one else likes giraffes. That shouldn't be a reason to name an animal as your favorite. I mean, what if someone said cockroaches were their favorite animal? You'd think they were a lunatic and never talk to them again. You'd imagine their home, covered in fake cockroaches. Cockroaches on the bedding, on the towels in the guest bathroom, imprinted on ever cup, plate and bowl, fake ones sitting out, dancing with each other. But how would you know which one's were real and which one's were fake?! What if the cockroaches in her house got really smart and figured out that if they're seen and they just stand really, really still, they would survive. You would never know when you're sitting on her couch and look over to the bookshelf and see a picture frame and you think, "Aw, what a sweet picture frame! It's her holding her pet cockroach and there's a cockroach on the frame! It's so life like. Is it real? No. It's not moving...wait, did it just move? Oh god, I'm not sure if it's real or not."

Anyway, can you spot the giraffe drawing on my desk? I'm thinking I'm going to try and do more of my challenges on my desk. I kind of regret not putting my hand on the desk. I think that'd be cool. And I think I have an even better idea for it...Maybe tomorrow I'll post a bonus picture of my hand on my desk.

January 1, 2012

Day 1

Today's desk:



Today's completed challenge:


The thing about fitting something into the palm of your hand is that I feel like your palm doesn't have dimensions. I feel like the palm of my hand can hold so much and yet so little. It can hold all of my hopes, dreams, the names of all of my family members, names of friends I see on a daily basis, pens, pencils, money, you...the world. I feel like the palm of my hand is both immensely infinite as well as immensely finite. Within my physical world, it can only hold something about the same size as my heart. (I mean grip. I can definitely hold things larger than my heart depending on weight and how it's proportioned.) But I feel like in the idiomatic sense, the palm of my hand could hold anything and everything. I feel like I'm ill-equipped to imagine things that could fit into the palm of my hand. When I was thinking about this challenge, my first thought was to write a word in the middle of my actual hand and take a picture of that but then I wondered, "What word? Why that word? What does it say about me? What will others think about it?" So I decided to put several words in the palm of my hand. Part of me wishes I had drawn it on my desk...and who knows? Maybe I will later today but I'm just afraid of messing up and paper I can just throw away but I can't throw away my desk.

Speaking of, it's a mess now, isn't it? It's kind of stressing me out. I love to have lots of clean space when I work. That way I'm not compulsively straightening things like I do with the rest of the house. Which is in a rather annoyingly state of shit show right now. Since it was New Year's last night, everyone just left their drinks where they were and went to bed. If I didn't have to be up at 5:00 AM this morning, I would have cleaned while everyone slept but I really needed to be asleep. Sheesh, it's already 5:00 PM! I hate when the day gets away from you.