3L: January 2008

This was an assignment for my creative thinking class... We had to read this book and answer these questions... blah blah blah check it out... its long... very long. Brought back a lot of memories... and Hey! Many may think I am a lame for doing this, they are mistaken because the last words are "white TE37s."

1. What is the first creative moment you remember?

For Christmas a long time ago I got my first stuffed TY animal named Buckshot, he was a Beagle. My brother and closest sister got one also, Jamie had a Dalmatian named Sparky and Kathryn had a Bear named Buddy. We all would imagine elaborate scenes and stories containing action and adventure every day.

2. Was anyone there to witness or appreciate it?

We were there, I will never forget those stuffed animals. As a child I would never let that dog out of my site, I still have Buckshot to this day. If you saw him you would definitely see how much I played with him, with rips everywhere, stained, and all the beads from his paws missing. You would probably deny the fact that it’s the same dog, but I can see it.

3. What is the best idea you've ever had?

The best idea I have ever had was to get rid of hard drives for computers and replace them with RAM of the same size.

4. What made it great in your mind?

If you do not know computers, hard drives store data that is loaded through RAM via a processor. Usually RAM now-a-days can store up to 2 gigs worth of data and hard drives are the muscle, holding about 100gigs. What I am trying to get at is, upgrade the RAM’s memory capacity to the same size of the hard drive, to about 100gigs of memory. You then would have no need for hard drives which would make loading time extremely fast. RAM is hardwired to your computer making its loading time crazy fast as apposed to a hard drive loading the program to the RAM and so on. This all in turn gets rid of mostly all mechanical components, saves energy, saves the environment, and greatest of all saves money.

Little did I know this idea was already being tested by IBM. I opened my mouth too soon.

5. What is the dumbest idea?

When I was young my family and I went to a cabin near some great lakes camping areas. When we all arrived my sister, her friend Sam, and I went swinging and I came up with the brilliant idea of swinging side to side rather than front to back.

6. What made it stupid?

It was going along smoothly until I somehow started to tussle around. My leg swung out and around, and rocketed straight toward a razor sharp piece of exposed metal under Sam’s swing. All I remember after that was lots of blood and running and screaming for my Mom. Thanks to that brilliant idea I now have a 2”x1” scar running up my leg.

7. Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea?

I honestly cannot. I was a child that did countless childish things. When I say countless I mean countless.

8. What is your creative ambition?

To put the pedal to the metal and never lift, never giving in to defeat.

9. What are the obstacles to this ambition?

Everything that gets in my way and or slows me down. I will find it hard but necessary getting over the people that do not believe that I can reach my goals. In a way, it can be considered getting persecuted for what I believe in.

10. What are the vital steps to achieving this ambition?

Commitment and trial and error. I feel that if I want to do something great I should not just marvel at the thought of it, I should just do it.

11. How do you begin your day?

I usually am pulled into awareness at 6:30 in the morning by the loud roar of my TV. Soon thereafter I fall out of bed and drag myself into the shower.

12. What are your habits? what patterns do you repeat?

Getting up, showering, running late for my train, rushing down stairs, just barely catching my train, catching the 126, 156, x28, 7, or 129 bus to Wabash, class, eating, class, going home, eating, homework, playing, eating, and then sleep.

An everyday habit that I cannot control and often at times find myself doing is staring at my food. If it is a sandwich I will, just before taking a bite tilt it in different directions, observing what is about to be eaten. The same with a chip, I look the entire thing over before ingesting. The whole thing is completely involuntary and kind of annoying.

13. Describe your first successful creative act.

As far as I can remember I was very young, could not have been older than 5 or 6. My dad, my brother, and I went to Wisconsin dells for summer vacation. We did that sort of thing every year since I can remember. We had ridden many rides and every ride had pamphlets you can take containing information about them such as; when they were built, how long they are, and how fast they go, that sort of thing. I remember there was a ride called Pegasus that we rode and on that pamphlet was a picture of the mystical beast. As we were leaving I remember drawing the Pegasus from the pamphlet in my sketchbook that my dad had given me not too long before the trip. It is so weird because I can not remember actually drawing it, but I know I drew it because who else would have? I would never let anyone near it. Still to this day I think it is a pretty good drawing even though it is one of my very first. Funny thing is, is that I vaguely remember when I drew it thinking that it was good, but it was when I showed my Dad and my brother was when I saw there reaction to it I realized that it was good. Now that I think about it, that horse probably played a large role in me becoming an illustrator.

14. Describe your second successful creative act.

Using Microsoft paint for the first time, I cannot remember what I made. All I remember was one computer sitting on a desk in an empty room. When I clicked the delete button an exploding bomb appeared and erased the entire screen.

15. Compare them.

I created things using a given media. I could not remember actually drawing, I know that I did.

16. What are your attitudes toward: money, power, praise, rivals, work, play?

Money: I need it, so it is very important to me. I have things that I want to do in my life that require money. Money can be a very evil thing, it can cause people to do horrible things. This world revolves around money, it is sad but true.

Power: I have never had the drive to rule over something. Just like money, I have seen that it causes people to do horrible things.

Praise: I remember the first critique that I did not get praised for, it hurt, a lot, I cannot describe the way it hurt. I would like to say that praise is not important to me, that I am steadfast and ready for all bad things said and or bad things done to me. As long as I am doing what I dream. I cannot say that though, I need praise. I have a lot of self-confidence but I still need praise. I do not think that anyone deserves getting constant mental beat downs.

Rivals: I love rivalry, and I believe that they are totally necessary to have. I am friends with almost all of my rivals, whether they know they are my rivals or not. I do not believe that matters though. It is the whole, who will do better than the other? I am able to push harder and longer thanks to my rivals, I am able to grow faster because of them.

Work: I hate working. I know that if I do not work now I will not be able to do what I want later. I absolutely hate the fact that I have to work hard for what I want. I will do it because that is who I am as an individual. I do not let obstacles get in my way. If they do get in my way I figure and or “work” my way around them.

Play: I guess this is the ultimate goal in my life, but I guess as an artist drawing is a sort of playing. I know there will be assignments that I will not like, therefore, I will not consider it playing.

17. Which artists do you admire most?

All artists that I admire are artists that I strive to be, and not all these artists are creators of master works. They are people that create things that I like, want, and strive to rival. I admire the artist that made the Sydney Opera House. The creator of the series Dragon Ball Akira Toriyama, the creator of Naruto Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Full Metal Alchemist Hiromu Arakawa, the creator of Bleach Tite Kubo, and a local artist named Sheldon Vella. Musical Artists that I admire Madvillian, DJ Shadow, Tycho, Logistics, and Tribe Called Quest. These Are the Artists I admire MOST.

18. Why are they your role models?

Because they have “made it”, they are doing what I want to do, professionally. I love their style, beats, breaks, lines, and all they are my favorites. They inspire me to be great and to be the best.

19. What do you and your role models have in common?

We create, with our minds, mouths, hands, and souls.

20. Does anyone in your life regularly inspire you?

See 17, everyone on that list inspires me on the daily. They inspire me to be great at what I think is important.

21. Who is your muse?

My muse is not a person or object. Sense is my muse. Things that I see, touch, hear, eat, or smell that I can use in my creativity. I believe I can transfer anything and everything that I sense into some sort of thing that I can create. It will never leave me and is present every second of every day, it is a never ending fuel for my creativity.

22. Define muse.

If I could sum muse up into one word it would be, inspiration.

23. When confronted with superior intelligence or talent, how do you respond?

At first surprise and jealousy fallowed by intrigue if they are not a jerk. When I say intrigue I mean I usually want to see how it is they do what the do. It is easier for me to learn how someone does something if I can see it first hand. I love seeing things that are done better than mine than seeing how they were done, because I catch on quick and I am able to absorb it and add it to my own abilities.

24. When faced with stupidity, hostility, intransigence, laziness, or indifference in others,

how do you respond?

Well stupidity, hostility, and intransigence I react all the same way, I just try to shut it out but if that does not work I react stupidly, hostile, and stubborn, I cannot help it. When faced with laziness in others I do not react at all I could not care less. Indifference I find the most interesting, I usually ask my self why they act different and sometimes if I feel brave enough I ask. I like to know why people act the way they do. Often at times I find myself in a way psychologically analyzing people and their attitudes attributes.

25. When faced with impending success or the threat of failure, how do you respond?

If it is success I usually am excited and once the success is reached I use the abilities used in the success in other things I do. Success is a great thing to go through because of the feelings you get and the reactions you get from others. It is what I like to call an outward experience because you usually get more response from other things outside of yourself.

If it is failure I usually hit rock bottom, hard. But I believe it is more fun, the loud noises scream, sparks fly, metal grinds, and things break. I can take way more away from failures than I ever could with success. I call failure and inward experience because things out side of you usually react all the same, they hate it. I can see what, where, when, how, and why I failed. Therefore, I would be the one learning, experiencing, and making the most of the situation rather than others outside of me.

26. When you work, do you love the process or the result?

Result, I love seeing the end product of what I work at in every aspect of my life. Whether it be at work, school, or even walking to my destination. Oh look! I’m here. Awesome! This does not mean I hate process, Often at times it can be a wonderful experience.

27. At what moments do you feel your reach exceeds your grasp?

This happens to me at restaurants most of the time. I often at times find myself with larger eyes than my stomach.

28. What is your ideal creative activity?

The perfect thing in the future for me would be designing cars for a big name car brand Honda, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, and or Toyota.

29. What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear would be getting stuck in a pitch black cave all by myself. First off, did you know the human mind is the only mind on this earth that can create fear? I would not want to be with my mind all by my lonesome, it could probably get very dangerous. I once visited a cave with my Dad and my brother on another one of those vacations during my summer break. We visited a cave in… called ruby falls. There is a portion of the tour where they turn off the lights and tell everyone to be quiet. If you can imagine being completely def and completely blind, that was the experience I had gone through. It was probably one of the scariest moments in my life.

30. What is the likelihood of either of the answers to the previous two questions happening?

Very likely, I absolutely refuse to believe that I cannot do what I want in my future and my greatest fear is more probable than I would like, my Dad likes to visit caves.

31. Which of your answers would you most like to change?

My greatest fear, I will probably try to wean my dad off caves.

32. What is your idea of mastery?

Mastery is the ability to create perfection. I believe there will always be flaws in everything we do, but knowing that fact will never stop me from striving for perfection, I am stubborn.

33. What is your greatest dream?

I am 25 and just getting off work where I am designing the new concept car for any respectable car manufacturer. I get home to where I have my combined garage slash apartment and throw myself into my comfortable computer chair in my strictly dedicate to my music making space and look forward to my off days where I get to play with my fully built blue-ish-silver Nissan 240sx coupe tucking some bronze and or white TE37s.