Incomplete

I created this one today primary to add a splash of color to the walls. I am not finished with it and it is too boring for me. My thinking is that what I have currently painted will serve as the background to something a bit more detailed. Whenever I purchase more white paint to mix, I'll show you the completed work.

Another painting

Painted this one last night. Inspired by a greeting card, as with the last. The greeting card company is called Papyrus. Nothing spectacular, but it is fun for me. Thought I would share part of my wishes with you.

Art enthusiasts need to lighten up

If art enthusiasts let go of their tight egos they would discover they possess a greater type of ego capable of opening up their minds, creativity and happiness underneath.

I recently attended a lecture on Caravaggio at the Nelsen Atkins Museum of Art. Anyway, the lecture was scheduled at such a time that I could attend that and then visit the Young Friends of the Arts Second Fridays event held at the museum afterwards. It would be a complete understatement to admit that I've been going through a lengthy period of reevaluation, but I applied a bit of what I taught myself to these two events. Instead of dressing in an expensive sleek, black number, I instead went bold (even in my own standards) and mixed multiple layers, patterns, and colors in an ensemble that was sure to get whispers of arrogant ignorance.

I pulled into the parking garage, looked down at my attire, felt fortunate that it was cool outside so that I could reveal my outfit at my own convenience with the removal of my near floor-length coat-- and I--I chickened out! A pickup truck drove by at that exact moment with a No Fear sticker in the window, and apparantly that was all the boost I needed to walk in, because I attended the events alone.

I interestingly found myself not drawn to the topic so much but rather to the presentation of the material. Having a somewhat dry delivery myself, I can appreciate the sounds of amusment to the speaker's wit. As I listened to the material, I took notes of what I saw around me.

Enthusiasts dressed nicely, mostly in dark colors like black, and I could tell that they probably spent a pretty benjamin on their attire. But how--BORING. What I'm trying to say is that the event was at a museum, full of expression, full of opinion, full of everything but boring. What I don't understand is if these enthusiasts enjoy art as much as they say they do, is it because they feel that they themselves are constricted in speech and originality on a normal basis? Do they long to free themselves by making opinions to the world no matter how many feathers they ruffle because they live in a world where unoriginal people shun originality? It seems to me that certain types of people are allowed to be original, like artists and rock stars, but they are also unfairly, and WRONGLY I might add, looked down upon when in fact, their ability to show their originality demonstrates the STRENGTH that most people lack.

When it comes down to becoming original, you should look for things you like and admire, but you should also pay attention to what you dislike and why. You can copy what you like and then make your own ammendments as you go. This is your own testing period until you start to see a pattern that you like. That pattern starts to become your style and is unique to you.

My hunch is that at home, most people already know what they like. The difficult part is showing that side of themselves in public where the unoriginal people can be very cruel. There are ways to combat this, too.

In applying this information with the Nelson Atkins Museum, I suggest that the Young Friends of the Arts create their own unique niche in the social scene by suggesting that participants come to their events with a splash of originality, or even a whole ensemble dripping of personal voice. Not only would this be personally freeing, but it would also give others deeply insightful talking points. Afterall, the museum IS a place of expression. If you can't express yourself there, then where can you?

And she paints, too

I haven't yet named this one, though I began painting it initially to teach myself how to blend colors in acrylic with nothing but the paint. Found a photo I liked, possibly taken by a famous photographer and I superapologize for forgetting that person's name. Midway, I lost the photo (which was on a greeting card), so I had to improvise, hence the blooms within the bloom.

Time to reinvent the wheel of non-tedious jobs

Disappointingly enough, at this point in United States history, the more boring a job or political topic is, the more important they are. Everything boring is deception. All jobs and topics can be made fun and interesting, and some jobs and topics are purposefully made boring, like taxes and contracts, to distract too many people from paying too close attention. This is exactly why Americans seemingly do not care about some of the important things that ultimately do matter. Yes, family matters, but so does your job. Your job matters more than you think. More than money, even. Everyone wants and NEEDS to enjoy how they spend 1/3 of their adult lives. Jobs do not and should not be created to be extremely tedious. I once WATCHED someone sit at a computer hitting the zero key and the enter key for four hours straight over five days in one week. I'm going to watch the second hand on a clock right now as I determine the number of times she must have hit the zero key and the enter key in 10 seconds. Heck, I'll even type it here:
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0
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0
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0
0
0
0
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0
0
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0
That's nearly 50 in 10 seconds.
Or 300 in one minute.
Or 18,000 in one hour.
Or 72,000 in a four-hour shift.
Or 360,000 in one week's worth of four-hour shifts.

Whoever gave this poor woman this job should be imprisoned for torturing this woman with a job that they themselves would never do.

Solution? Because I am a Problem-Fixer in addition to a mere Problem-Solver, I would not eliminate the column of zeros altogether, because I have learned that oftentimes what is not being said is just as important to know as what is being said. Instead, I would make each person responsible for filling out the row of information responsible for typing in the zero, or (smart idea, Mr. Idiot Boss!), I would teach my employees how to correctly use Excel so that the zero, surprise surprise, AUTOMATICALLY appears!

Now, if the company is creating these types of useless positions just to help people make a minimum wage paycheck, I applaude the generosity, but there is an even better way. I suggest that the positions of the whole entire company be restructured to create positions where EVERYONE has multiple roles at various levels in the company (obviously each role would be distributed differently depending on the hierarchy of the company), including typing in their own zeros. As you can see, with the time it took to type in 360,000 zeros -- one week -- that time would instead be redistributed to everyone, including the new employee aka initial zero-typer, so that the zero-typer can someday move past that crappy position and not have to be forced to live uncomfortably off of the government AND YOUR TAX DOLLARS. Because afterall, give me the name of a company who would value the job Zero-Typer on a resume? At an interview, IF the zero-typer got one for heaven's sake, if asked what other activities zero-typer did at her position--what does zero-typer say? Should she say that she also hit the enter key, too? When asked, "What did you like about your position as zero-typer," should she say, "I enjoyed it because I could press the zero and enter keys with two different fingers on my right hand and take a drink out of my QT cup with my left hand?" That's what I would say! These people deserve respect, too, and perhaps more respect than the boss who gave them that position. It is of my opinion that a boss who is doing this type of thing deep down sincerely wants to help but hasn't been prepared or taught how to help. What comes off as a gesture of generosity most times ends up being thought of as a "charity case" because the Zero-Typer is absolutely miserable zero-typing, and the Boss begins seeing his idea of helping this person not being appreciated (even though he wasn't taught how to help in the best way).

Unfortunately, I have witnessed more zero-typers, and disappointed good-hearted bosses for that matter, too many times in my 29 years and I'd like to fix this problem. Happy to say it--Time to Reinvent The Wheel. The old wheel's flat, losing traction, had so many patches that it is tough to find the original tire, and on top of that it is missing a hubcap (which is probably being used by the zero-typer as a bucket to collect donations on the plaza).

Too much History Channel

They could find Atlantis if they created more above sea-level icebergs to decrease the depth of the ocean floor.