Liquid Air 18 – Acrylic on Board – Erick Veil 2008It's that time again. 2008 is gone.
I'd have to say that was the best year of my life. I got off my ass in 2007 and put into motion a plan that let me live a dream that I had since I was a very small child. That picture you draw when the project is, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" For all of my existing memory, I had wanted to be an artist. I used to look at clerks working in art supply stores as the luckiest people in the world when I was a kid. This past year, I owned a gallery. I sold close to twenty pieces of my own art, plus the art of others. My days were filled to their bursting seams with creative activities that required every aspect of who I am.
Like last year, I insist that I need no New Year Resolution. I have nothing to prove. Of course, there's always room for improvement and change, but I certainly don't need to impose it on myself. It happens without effort for me once again, whether I like it or not. I chose the wrong time to start a business. The "worst economy in 60 years, " has shut me down. What little hindsight I can apply from this acute angle tells me that was my only mistake. I performed miracles this year and miracles weren't enough to keep me going for another one. So even though I am going out of business, please hold the pity party: I feel awesome.
I've been changed on a fundamental level this year. I interact with my world differently than before out of the habits I developed. I have built up a momentum that will allow me to navigate life with greater deft. If I were to force a resolution on myself this year, it would be to take full advantage of this momentum and propel myself forward, business or no.
I have no fear of the future. When everyone and their stagnant lives are looking into the abyss and worrying about what's to come, I welcome it as my favored territory. Most people fear being forced from their fat, comfortable, sleep-like lives. I've already been there. I've already been a homeless man- can your failed economy hand me anything worse? I know how far we can fall, and the absence of ignorance leaves me without the fear that the cubicle jockeys feel in the face of grand layoffs and minor difficulty.
My only concern is that this year, I might have to get a job again. That in itself is no problem. What I worry about is that a job sinks me into the midst of morons. I worry that the exhaustion of working with ignorant monkeys again will drain the momentum and energy I've built up. I'm not worried about stability or my car; I'm worried about having to interact with the extremely mentally handicapped that make up a gross majority of the world's population, and the dampening effect it might have on me.
Enough of that bleak talk.
I will lament on the unthinking automatons that ape a human existence more for you later. For now, you should know about change relative to this space. This blog will "disappear" from the front page in 2009. You can continue reading by bookmarking it directly via this link. I'm hiding it from the newcomer and casual observer though. You may consider yourself the inner circle, privy to my public thoughts.
The front page of my website will instead be transformed into a dynamic version of a resume. Human resources, in a brief moment of actual insight, have sometimes gotten into the habit of performing internet searches on potential employees. God knows, I did when I was conducting interviews. We can see your MySpace photos of you acting like an ass, or the YouTube video of your sophomoric pranks at the party. Are you in control of your image on the internet? I am in complete control. You can Google me and the first thing a busy HR rep will find is this space. I can make it so that there is no need to dig further.
Nevermind the bullshit. You know better.
