So I Guess I’m Blogging
Who is this guy?
I’m not much of a writer, and I’m not always one for words. I’m more of a visual communicator and thankfully, you can’t see the faces I make as I hammer out a few paragraphs. But I was encouraged by a colleague and my girlfriend to put down a few thoughts in hopes that others may get something out of it. I’m not trying to change the world through a blog, but if you enjoy it, that’s pretty sweet.
I guess I should start with who I am so that you get a better picture of the weirdo behind the keyboard. I grew up in various parts of the country with a single mother who was a bit of a gypsy (in the non-ethnical sense) and an older sister. We traveled around from place to place without much thought to what tomorrow will bring. Through our travels, I found myself in isolation many times, being too awkward to make new friends or too disinterested in others to make the effort. So I turned to art and comic books.
The idea that I could bring whole worlds to life on a piece of paper and create heroes and villains to populate them was a lot of fun. I honed my skills hunched over a sketchbook for hours a day without a care in the world; because I was in my own world. I never thought too much about how to use this skill or where it could take me, but one day it did. It took me away from my family and helped me to find my group of nerds.
Now to say I was an intellectual would be an overstatement. I am intelligent, but I never applied that energy to academics. I was also distracted with sports, basketball in particular. I wasn’t anything amazing on the court in high school, but I did okay for a tall skinny kid from a small town. But basketball didn’t seem to be my path, although I found it later. Instead, I made my way to a design school to learn more about this art stuff. While there, I learned more about myself and the world around me along with all of the technical and academic things to help me in my artistic pursuits.
After graduating with a totally legit Associate’s Degree and some student loan debt, I found out I was actually pretty good at that basketball thing too. So off to another college I went to get more education and play a silly sport. It allowed me to travel and discover more about myself as well as meet some new friends. After 4 years of that, I decided I should probably graduate so I could get one of those big kid jobs. That didn’t sound like much fun, but not everything in life is.
I managed to land an entry level job after graduation doing some basic design work, buy a house, and start being a grown up. It turns out that some of these design jobs don’t pay much, so I ended up chasing a paycheck working for the state prison system as a corrections officer. There were some good times doing that, but it was never a forever job. I lasted about two and a half years before the depressing nature of the job got to me and I had to move on. So I quit, cashed out my retirement funds, and 6 months later I moved to Las Vegas.
Why I’m Doing All of This
After nearly 14 years of living in Las Vegas and nearly 12 years teaching, I’ve picked up a few life lessons. Currently my only audience is the captive students trapped in a classroom squiggling in blue plastic chairs. I thought maybe someone else might get something out of what I’m doing here and help them along their path. I learn something every day. I won’t be posting about it every day. It’s not Instagram after all. No one needs to see my Stories or fill their empty minutes of the day listening to me. But perhaps a few things I talk about will resonate with you, and you’ll pass those along to someone else as well. That whole “pay it forward” thing.
Over the years, I’ve tried to learn to be more open, compassionate, and to listen to others instead of just waiting for my turn to speak. One thing that hasn’t changed much over the years is my childlike wonder of the world and my oddities. I try to fit in, but being 6’10” with the feverish imagination of Calvin and the boundless energy of Hobbes, doesn’t leave much room inside the box we’re expected to live. I think I do a pretty good job of acting like a mature adult, but any time someone says “duty/doody”, I lose it. There’s no hiding behind the immature giggles that uncontrollably exit my body when I hear things like that.
As adults and even teenagers today, many of us have lost that lust for life. While working with “creative students”, I have to spur them along to actually use their imagination. We all have learned to accept the world the way it is instead of how we would like to see it. Steve Jobs once said that “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” People have forgotten that. When is the last time you built a pillow fort or played “the floor is lava”?
What’s Next?
Well, hopefully through our conversations, we can all grow as people. And then those people can “be the change you want to see in the world”. There are a lot of smart people out there. I don’t claim to be one, but I try to listen and learn from them. Kids are smart too. You just need to give them a voice and genuinely listen to what they are saying. What they say isn’t always in words though. As I stated before, I’m not always one for the words. Being observant of kids and the public in general (people watching is almost a hobby of mine), you’ll learn a lot about how we’re all doing and where we’re all going.
I challenge you to sit and watch the people around you. They could be people at their jobs, patrons in a business, your own children around the house, or even people on the street going about their day. See what you can glean from their actions. Why are they there? What are they thinking about? How is their mental health today? You’d be surprised what you already know if you just focus on what’s happening around you. So often nowadays we’re buried in our phones. Look up, actively watch the world, and try to understand what’s happening. I dare you ;-)
