This Is A Continuation Of My First Pattern. Here Is An Anecdote That I Was Thinking About While Working

This is a continuation of my first pattern. Here is an anecdote that I was thinking about while working on it.

I had a professor who never let us use a straight edge on any projects. Her reasoning was that the imperfections of our lines gave our work an element that was intrinsically human, that the imperfections were what made the work beautiful. I really like that idea.

That is not my way of saying that I think this pattern is beautiful. No, I only mention it because all of the patterns I am drawing are done by hand and are therefore greatly flawed. But I am okay with that.

Why I Don't Care About the Super Bowl

A very subjective take on things:

I live in the Boston area. I was born here and have spent the subsequent years of my life here. I don't have a Boston accent (at least not a distinctive one and I even went through years of speech therapy to correct the non-rhotic tendencies I had which were unrelated to my regional surroundings), I'm not Irish (not any more Irish than Welsh, German, Polish, or English, as I my heritage truly is a melting pot), and I really really really don't care about how well Boston's sports team perform in their respective competitions. My happiness at any given time is not affected by the job performance of strangers, and for that I feel free. But I also have nothing to contribute to the conversations centered around these strangers and their adversaries, and for that I feel, not left out, per say, but uninitiated. But I learned to accept that feeling around the same time that I learned it was okay to not care about sports.

I like stories. I like a captivating beginning, strong characters that I can sympathize with, interesting conflict, and satisfying resolution. The ending doesn't have to be happy, it just has to make sense. I have learned that this is very hard to find in sports. Yes, aspects of some games can be twisted into my interests. You could tell me about the long-standing rivalry between certain teams and provide interesting facts about specific players that make them seem more than just random players. But where is the true conflict? Conflict is created by rules being broken. In sport, the referees are there in part to both stop that from happening and make examples of the players who choose to ignore these rules of engagement. Imagine, instead, a game where one player, let's call him Player X, has been given permission to ignore the rules of the sport and do whatever they desire to make sure their team wins. Already you have more intrigue. Especially if Player X's role cannot be transferred to another player were they to be injured or taken out of play. That is a game I would watch, maybe. But the rules are there for a reason, apparently. And while I am not saying that rules universally stifle creativity, the explicitness and thoroughness of the rules can certainly make it very hard to express that creativity. So, the lack of true conflict negatively affects my ability to enjoy sports (And please don't mix up conflict and controversy. One adds dimension and incentive to a story, the other just creates argument. Controversy can cause interesting conflict, like the 2002 Winter Olympics pairs figure skating gold medal controversy. But more often than not, it just seams to create pettiness and disappointment, like the reveal of Lance Armstrong's doping).

I also mentioned my love of strong, sympathetic characters, by which I mean well-developed and multidimensional characters whose actions and responses make sense. I have to care about the character(s) and understand why I'm rooting for them other than the fact that they have been presented as the protagonist. I want to know why they are in conflict with the antagonist, their relationship to the antagonist, etc. I was going to write about my love of Joss Whedon and how awesome he is at character development while citing examples from his work, but I kept getting distracted by Buffy-tangents, which I have learned hold little interest for those unfamiliar with the series. So I have reigned myself in. Your welcome. Instead I will state this: the members of sports teams are not characters, they are people employed by the team. Their motivation is money and glory. They don't necessarily have any ties to the city they represent. They may have great friendships with players on the opposing team. All they want is the claim the greatness that winning ascribes along with more money than they would have made were their group efforts not so coordinated. There is nothing poetic about that.

Give me a hero, or better yet, an anti-hero. Give me a villain who might not be an villainous as they seem. Give me grand stories full of imagination. In short, I need a reason the stay interested as my attention span is constantly shifting. So no, I didn't/won't be watching the game or rooting for the home team. They have not earned my attention or my affection and I am long since over pretending otherwise.

In the interest of full disclosure, I tend to enjoy the Olympics and Bob Costas.

*Consider this my general disclaimer of the subjective nature of this rant*

blah blah blah

I'm graduating from college this saturday.

so insert some sentimental dribble about these last four years being incredible and all the people that I met are amazing and I'll never forget anyone and blah blah blah.

one great thing about graduating with a degree in art: first major to receive diplomas/empty folder. I will be the 8th name called.

one not so great thing about graduating with a degree in art: what am I going to do?

transitions

I hate transitional periods. I haven't experienced one like this before. at the end of every school year I knew that a new year would begin at the end of the summer. but now it is summer again and I know that no new semester is waiting for me at the end of august. the buzzword is uncertain. I have never felt this uncertain before. at the end of the month my lease is up and I have to move home. for how long? I don't know.

ever since I began college, maybe even before, whenever I was at home for an extended period of time I felt like I was in limbo. not doing anything, just waiting. but now the only thing that I am waiting for is for me to make a decision.

I HATE making decisions.

I have a hard enough time deciding what type of toothpaste I should buy. I don't know what I'm going to do. I've been avoiding the decision so far. that hasn't exactly been productive. but right now I don't even know how to start. I'm stuck in a cycle of denial, waiting for someone to tell what comes next.

so what comes next?

today was the opening for my show! it went wonderfully! now I have a lot of sleep to catch up on.

don't talk on your cell phone while you are shopping

stores are not appropriate places to have personal conversations. a quick conversation is okay, but other than that, just don't. please.

a customer today was talking on her phone while she was walking towards the fitting rooms, hoping to try on her selected apparel. she did not stop talking to politely ask me if she could try on said items. instead, with hardly a look in my direction, she pointed towards me and then towards the fitting rooms, ordering me to tend to her needs. there was already a room unlocked. I just pointed her towards the open door. 

another customer was on her phone for the entire length of her visit to my little place of employment. she did not interact with any of the employees, she continued to talk while trying on things (I don't know how this is done. I need to hands to get dressed. maybe she was hiding a third and that's why she avoided human interaction), and even continued her conversation while returning one shirt and purchasing another (while talking to her phone companion about said returned shirt). even at the register she didn't pause once in her conversation to address us employees. there were four of us just looking at her while she avoided eye contact. then she left, still on the phone. the whole experience lasted at least a half an hour. and I can tell you, based on the one side of the conversation that I did hear, it did not sound urgent.

both of these women left messes in the fitting rooms for me to clean up, but that is another point that I may or may not address at another time.

is it too much to ask, as a retail employee, to be treated like a human being? before I was one of these under-appreciated and hard-working individuals I would have said no. but now my opinion has changed. you may have noticed that I just wrote that retail employees are hard-working. don't ever let anyone tell you anything different. we are on our feet all day. those of us who do not ring walk back and forth (always at a brisk pace) countless times throughout the day. some of us do things like set up shelving, put together visual displays, unpack shipment, etc. it can get pretty labor intensive. and for me at least, this is all done in work appropriate clothing.

so please, respect the employees when you shop.