Thanks for a great month, everyone!

I want to thank everyone for sharing their creativity with me! This has been really inspirational and fun 29 days! I hope to see everyone again next year! Peace out!

Phew!

and here is my thing for today:

and today’s theater shot:

Following on yesterday’s theme, Russian poster style mashup with aquatic life…

One thing I’ve definitely learned is that I don’t want to waste another year until I decide to be creative again, so what I’m doing right now, for my final T-A-D is setting up my very own WordPress blog, in which I will document work projects (I’m a website designer), personal projects, or, heck, just use to talk about my day and how I’m feeling.

But I’m gonna keep this one much less personal than what I do on MySpace. I’ve gotten way too personal with MySpace since I started that horrid habit in January of 2006. So personal that I really have no choice but to keep my profile private, either that or go back through each of the hundreds of blogs I’ve posted and set private ones to Friends Only. And I seriously do not have the time to devote to that.

So I’m starting fresh on WordPress. I may not necessarily quit posting MySpace blogs, but I really want to shift my blogging habit to a more mature, more customizable, more blog-focused, less profile-focused format. And I’ve heard many people in my industry sing WordPress’s praises for a while now, and since Thing-A-Day, I’ve gotten to know and love the inner workings.

So here I am, to stay! On WordPress.

Now, the only problem is…. my entire blog audience resides on MySpace. Which means, I’m going to have to finagle some readers over to this direction somehow. And, while I’m at it, I’d love to make some new friends who are already on the WordPress train. So if you blog via WordPress, will you connect with me in whatever way WordPress does that? (So far, I only know how to post blogs.)

Now, I absolutely HATE to complete my Thing-A-Day journey with a post that doesn’t even have a picture!!!! So here’s a screenshot of my blog:

Yes, I know I’m a web designer using a default WordPress theme. I just started, K? I’ll design my own theme soon as I figure out where to go to insert custom CSS. (And soon as I have a few free hours to spend in Photoshop & Dreamweaver.)

So won’t you go read my first post? It’s about a website I’ll be working on this weekend. *Sigh.*

amandathomas.wordpress.com

well, a work day in the life.

actual life got in the way and I couldn’t finish the full day.

http://sh1ft.org/adayinthelife/

this project, chronicling leap day, seemed like the perfect way to end thing-a-day

thanks for the fun!

Finally! Figured out how to print nicely and cut in a straight line

Not-so-shameless plug (hey, you’ve been asking!): These are freshly posted in my etsy, if you’re interested.
(molliefabric.etsy.com)

I can’t believe this is the last day! I’ll post one more thing tonight (this post is for yesterday).
Thing-a-day really got me goin! I’m feeling so… useful haha

Seriously though, is there a year round community for this? I want to keep going. I guess I could start my own blog, but having a community to interact with would be way better! Does anyone know? I cant find any info about it on the thing-a-day site.

A lot of people are expressing sadness that the month is over. It has indeed been an incredibly exhilarating experience. But I slowly came to realize the following over the last days:

The thing is actually just training wheels for truly living and creating and noticing and sharing. That is why it has to end today!

Thanks everyone!

Julius Caesar figures out that those extra hours have added up, and he reforms the Roman calendar by adding an extra day every four years.

Enter the leap year.

Fini TAD.

i like russian poster style, and lately i’ve been wanting to draw a giant squid, because someone at work had a cool sweatshirt with some on it. but i opted for an octopus, and decided to mash it up with the russian poster thing. i’m not sure if the green takes away from the russian feeling, but i like the result anyway. long live the sharpie! i also like that octopusses have so many legs, and the russian text on the drawing translates into “Our strengths are uncountable.”

and so they are…

From left to right: a picture I got just in time before Beatriz ate the last bite; the required elements for the trip and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; two photos crossing the bay bridge on the greyhound heading North, two hours later. Adios California!

This is a quickly made card for Michelle, who just sent me the Amy Sedaris book. Whoo hoo!  Another good use for my contact sheets. I’m glad I was “all vertical” for that roll!

 

today i was super-busy. work was long and very active, and then i went to see Hairspray, which was kind of unexpectedly a breath of fresh air. the subway took a while to get me home and now i present my montage. enjoy!

I made a decoration for my car! I found this clear cd packaged with a bunch of recordable/rewriteable cds I bought. I’m not sure why they felt compelled to include a clear cd, but I decided I might as well do something creative with it. I used sharpies, elastic wire, stickers, and a quote from On the Road< by Jack Kerouac.

Dangling against my wall.

So you can see it better, against paper.

“…because the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yearn or say a commonplace thing… but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night.” - Jack Kerouac

all by itself. i decided to document it as it lay there, stranded and alone.

This card was ALMOST done before Kristin’s going away happy hour. Then the eye-dilating Dr. appt put the embroidering on hold…also I didn’t think they’d let me take needles and scissors on the flight, so the poor kitten didn’t get a face until I got home.

Quickly turned to this:

And then petered out. Ah well.

It’s a performance piece called “American Woman Begrudgingly Ventures into the Next Highest Bracket of Debt by Purchase of Very Red Very Fast Car That Runs out of Gas during the Test Drive then Small Part Slips Off a Pedal Rendering Car Brakeless Several Hours After Purchase.”

And now I am exhausted. Who knew purchasing a used car was an all-day task? So this, alas, is my Thing today.

Yes, my husband fixed whatever slipped off the brake pedal. (Or whatever happened. I’m a girl, so I don’t know.) And he says it’s OK, it’s not going to be a big deal, the car is still worth what we’re paying for it.

Here’s to the next five years! No more fast food diet, Fox Hollow Coffee, Hobby Lobby excursions, Ocean Springs road trips, new outfits, bottled wine (hello, Franzia)… unless we get raises. COME ON BOSS!

The things you do to make the one you love smile.

Next big purchase with money we don’t have is MIIIIIIINE.

Anyway, yesterday my creative thing was issuing myself a personal challenge for March, since this particular challenge I’m doing right now will be over Saturday.

I wrote a blog about it on MySpace, so I’m just gonna copy and paste. It’s long, so you don’t have to read it, but it basically boils down to me giving up all alcohol and drugs for the month of March. And, no, I’m not an alcoholic or a drug addict. But this is still a big deal to me. And I am going to actually TALK to people more, not type to people, which is all my normal social interaction consists of. Very sad, I know.

Here is the blog, if for some reason you’d like to know more details on this experiment:

Thing-A-Day was a great way to challenge myself, and put back a piece of me into my life that’d been missing since I transitioned from college to the “real world”: art. I highly recommend participating in TAD ‘09, if you missed this go round.

In a week, T.A.D. will officially be over, but I don’t want the personal challenges to stop there. I want something pushing me forward at all times.

Before September, it was escaping my crappy hometown. Practically everything I did was so I wouldn’t have to fester into the rotting pile of redneck corpses. Now that I’ve avoided that, I can’t help but sometimes feel stagnant. Like, what am I supposed to overcome next?

*Gulp* Here goes…. For the month of March, I am swearing off alcohol and any other substance that is mind-altering.  (This doesn’t include caffeine. I can’t afford to not WORK.)

Exceptions: My birthday (3/25) and anniversary (3/31) - not necessarily those dates, but whatever date I choose to observe & celebrate those days.

Maybe I’m huge loser to consider going without drinking & stuff for a month a big deal, but it is to me. Kudos to all of you who think it IS stupid that I’m so worried about not being able to drink or pop a pill for a month, because you obviously have such an awesome life that you have better ways to have fun and/or relax, and for that I applaud (and seriously envy) you.

I don’t consider myself alcoholic or addict (anymore), but for me, ever since pretty much high school, a good time has been synonymous with alcohol (or less legal stuff).

In all my experiences post-childhood, if you went and had a good time with friends, you were getting your mind altered in one way or another, or you were the D.D. I cannot remember the last really fun thing I ever did that did not in some way involve alcohol and/or drugs.  Even a walk to the beach isn’t the same without a cooler full of beer or a mixed drink hidden in a giant sippy mug.

Now, on the other side, for those of you who like to drink and/or use, and never intend to quit, I’m not putting you down. I’m right there with you. I don’t think drinking or even playing with drugs is morally wrong. It’s certainly risky and unhealthy, but so is eating fast food and going skydiving. But both of those are legal.

But, anyway, I’m not here to discuss my political beliefs. If you want those, I’ll do it for you later. (See below, “another part of March Challenge”) I just want to take several weeks to clear toxic things out of my body and KNOW that I can have a fun time without something intoxicating me. I’m kind of ashamed that I’ve always relied on that to enhance my good times and to add sparkle and polish to my often wallflower personality.

So now, I’m setting out to no longer need personality enhancement.

And I definitely need moral support on this. I mean, hell, you can tell I’m weak, because I’ve already set aside my birthday and anniversary as exceptions. If I really “meant it” I wouldn’t have had to. I would plan to find another way to celebrate. And maybe, if everything goes right with this challenge, I will. Both of those events are at the end of the month. So I have plenty of time to learn to have fun without “stuff”.

Pray, hope, cross your fingers, give me a pat on the back, do a rain dance for me. Because I am very fucking determined to find a way to end these stupid phases I go through where I can’t stand myself. And I think the things I put into my body sometimes have something to do with those phases.

Oh, and another part of March Challenge:

I want to actually TALK to people. I am growing tired of this fucking MySpace Facebook computer bullshit social interaction. Even if that means using a phone for something besides texting. So seriously, if you’re bored one night and want someone to chat with, please consider me one of those people. My number is (removed from public view) if you don’t got it. Don’t even send me a “warning text”, like I often used to make people do. If I’ve never talked to you much before (or at all), let me warn you, I’m very often shy away from the written word, and suck at starting conversations. (Especially if I don’t know you well. But that doesn’t mean you’re excluded from my experiment.) I get nervous as hell on the phone sometimes and you may think I’m a person of special needs if you catch me at a bad time. But at this point, I am willing to try. And fail, if it’s necessary to get me really, really talking.

And I’m assuming anyone who read this far into this very long-winded blog does feel at least some sort of a connection with me, and if you read this far, you’re welcome to be a caller. Even if you’re a guy friend, whatever. My husband is very trusting and supportive of me trying to get rid of my social anxieties, so just don’t try any funny stuff, mister.

If I don’t answer, leave me a voice mail. I really do wanna talk to people, but the truth is, I have a two-story apartment and sometimes my phone is somewhere else and I just don’t hear it. And I do work, often at odd hours, so sometimes I’m just simply preoccupied. But I really wanna do this.

So in March, instead of getting high on drugs and alcohol, I will attempt to get high on conversations.

There you have it. Let the games begin.