The Real World: Not a fun place for the Unprepared

I have a hard time understanding the unmotivated and careless. It frustrates me to no end. I myself am very motivated, almost to the point of being cutthroat at times (I have to restrain myself). I also care about what I'm interested in. The same can't be said of some. They stumble through life, not bothering to assess whether what they are doing is working or not. They're quick to blame others for their own mistakes, and as a result, learn nothing.

Then there's the other extreme, the ones who are so focused on their own thing, that they won't follow simple instructions. You're bothering them with your instructions. Did I mention that I teach college? I'm just a part-time adjunct, but I love teaching, it's really a fun exercise (on occasion it may seem in futility). There are always students who I just want to take by the shoulders and shake them like they do in the old movies and ask them if they understand how the decisions they are making now are going to wind up ruining the rest of their lives. Or maybe not ruining per se, but rather making their futures limited and incredibly difficult. I couldn't do that though. It's no longer socially acceptable to tell people the truth.

At any rate, if you desire to be an artist, you should avoid student loans. They are a burden. "The borrower is slave to the lender," which coincidentally, wasn't coined yesterday despite the looming student loan debt crisis in this country. It's from the Bible (Prov. 22:7). Even people from thousands of years ago understood that debt was bad, even if they did think the earth was quite flat. You have a whole generation of people now who don't understand the correlation between their situation and their outstanding debts. They wonder where all their money goes (to the banks), and they wonder why the can't get ahead (quit making stupid decisions). It's easy to be a starving artist when you don't have Sallie Mae breathing down your neck. But try waiting tables with private art school debt hanging over your head (or any other kind of debt for that matter). If you have no debt, the conversation becomes completely different.

Speaking of the Bible, I think some of my student are offended at the religion that makes up the majority of traditional art. I wonder if they understand that for painters a long time ago, it was the church paying the artists' bills and putting food on the table. I don't know what they're doing in high schools nowadays, but most of my students have never heard of many of the old artists whose work hangs in museums around the world. In the twelve years that they spend in grade school funded by the taxpayer, their education didn't even include bothering to mention Degas, Renoir or Monet or anyone else of note. They've only heard of Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo because of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. How can one aspire to be an artist without having studied art? Some are obviously not even interested in the field they're supposedly trying to enter. I suppose I could understand that if there was money involved, however, the stereotype of the starving artist is a stereotype for a reason. Either you love art, or what are you doing in it?

It's okay to not know what you want to do with your life. It's an entire other thing to go into thousands of dollars in debt and not know why you're doing it. If you need to find yourself, it's much cheaper to backpack in Europe than pay for college. You might also see the paintings of some famous artists while you're there.

Life in the early 21st century

Once when I was backpacking in Europe (which doesn't happen often enough because I'm not rich), while in Venice, Italy, a fellow traveler at the hostel we were staying at, saw me writing in a journal.  She asked me if I kept a journal as a matter of course. I looked at her as though she had three heads, and I told her, 'no.' She asked me why not, and I replied that I was only keeping a journal during my trip because honestly, nothing interesting ever happened at home that was worth making note of.

As of late, I've rather changed my mind on the matter.

I'm an artist, specifically a medical animator. I work freelance from home, I like writing, and am trying to finish a novel that I'd like to see published. I'm married (he's an artist too) and we have a black lab named Sammy who likes to lay right behind my desk chair (which is where he is right now).

We're trying to get out of debt. Private art college will put you fairly deep in the hole (ask me another time about how stupid that was). I'm not much of the gambling sort, but I suppose we might have beat the house for once. We'll see how our hand plays out in the long run.

I'm allergic to dairy and to soy. It really kinda sucks. I can't eat regular chocolate, and pastries are off limits. As is cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, etc., and a whole host of other food stuffs. My husband is gluten intolerant, it causes him digestive problems and his excema to break out. We're quite a pair when we go out to eat (which doesn't happen often since we're trying to get out of debt). If I ever get back to France, it will be a sad day when I peer into the Patisserie and can't buy anything except a plain baguette.

I've tried to learn Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese. I'm very good at English, but not so much at any other language. A smile and a hand gesture will go a long way though.  I'm planning on going backpacking in Scotland in a couple of years, and at least most of them speak English there. Well, sorta. 

I despise liars (and therefore most politicians) and do not belong to any political party. If you're a Democrat, I'll probably make you mad at some point. If you're a Republican, the same applies to you. It's my blog though, so if you don't like it, get over it or move along.

I have this insane notion that all people are created equal, that you determine the outcome of your life, that we should all mind our own business, and that we have plenty of laws on the books as it is and we don't need any more.

Here it is, The Life of (and if you're wondering, my initials look like 'pi' when written quickly). Honestly, it fits, as I can be fairly irrational sometimes.