Another Step in This Direction

So, here we are. Ever closer to going back to the States. Ever closer to finishing up school. Ever closer to having to do interviews for that job. It seems like a lot of life is coming up on me pretty quick, and despite the potential for that all being so much work I am ready for it. This experience in Italy (and soon Belgium for some more European experience, not to mention cycling swag, beer, and some food that Italy just doesn't offer) has been great, but it has really been a vacation. Work here does happen, yet it seems to me at least to be less focused that when I was at school. More spread out. I look forward to having things sort of back into order. Which reminds me that I'll need to move into that new place sometime when I get back into Washington. Fun... Oh well, I plan to reduce what I own so that it isn't so much moving.

Not a lot to report here. Saw some really cool art yesterday when we went to a Bruno Munari exhibit (cool Italian Industrial Design guy). Listened to former UW graduate artist Tim Roda talk about what you need to do to be a successful professional artist (insightful). Finally listened to UW professor Ellen Garvens talk about her work as an artist and where it has led her. That is sort of something I've been thinking about lately too. How my life is leading me. Sort of scary to think about, but at the same time you realize that things build up. So, I guess what I mean is that sure right now things sort of seem rough ahead, but things will snowball up and before you know it you've got things rolling along. It isn't common for avalanches of progress, but even glaciers started out as small blocks of ice; mountains built from a single grain of sand. You just need to keep that chin up and move forward without worrying about every little thing.

And now for a first with my blog, links to stuff! First off, I was reading this blog and I loved the comment following the Obama bike. http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/11/gender-politics-sex-bikes-and.html
And then following on I was intrigued by this silly genderalizer tool that someone created to determine the genders of blog writers. http://www.genderanalyzer.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnew006.blogspot.com%2F
Apparently I am gender neutral with a shift toward feminine when I am writing. Interesting, given that a lot of people find me to be quite crude and masculine in real life (until they get to know me, I'm actually a pretty nice guy, seriously). I guess I can give off a bad first impression (especially at parties, but I can't help that most of my friends are also guys and that I used to work in an auto-shop [otherwise known as the land of the most foul language you'll ever enter]).
Finally, reading around on Rapha I found myself in the middle of the Continental Series write-up about the Snoqualmie falls ride they attempted. http://www.rapha.cc/continental/index.php?page=627
I like the falls, and was intrigued to see their ride plan, which I guess starts in Seattle. Looks like a possible ride for next year when I live in the city. Anyway, fun read and reminded me of home, which was nice. I also glanced back over the sister ride, the Stevens pass affair. http://www.rapha.cc/continental/index.php?page=600
I had read this one just before leaving Washington, and enjoyed their story about the ride that bit back. I can't wait to get back to cycling and hope I can get my friends to actually motivate themselves into riding some of these more grandiose journeys with me over the coming year. Alright. I guess I will leave you with the reading, and leave myself with the working. Ciao

Time Flies

Today, while setting up a rough list of what I need to do today (since I felt I didn't accomplish much yesterday), I realized that my actual time to work on the final project here is quickly running down. Surprising to think that just the other day we were celebrating All-Saints, and now here I am with less than 12 days of work-time before the final show. I guess it doesn't help that this weekend I am losing almost 3 days running up to Venice to wander around and take photos and whatnot, and that just a few days after that I am flying up to Brussels for the long Thanksgiving break! Any way you look at it, days just keep flying by here and my only option is to really start cracking down on this project. Looks like I need to start bringing things home where I can work with a bit more concentration (rather than all the distracting videos and pictures and conversations everyone throws around in studio). I am looking forward to the trips though. It seems important to soak up as much as I can because it may be quite awhile before I find myself in Europe again. The fact that I am seeing so little of Europe as a whole is also sort of disheartening, but then again I am studying in Italy, not vacationing on the continent.

This leads me to also realize that I will be coming home in barely any time at all. Wow. I mean there are still 3 weeks or whatever until the program ends, but especially with the travel and the build-up of work as this project needs to be finished, I realize that these days will just continue to fly by. I hope that much like some of my friends I will be able to resolve my project with enough advance time so that I can relax a bit and fix little things before the show. I am pretty happy with my idea, and I think that especially as the piece comes together it will really be a good project to wrap up my time here. I know that it will definitely have a feeling of Italy in it, which is something that I really wanted to do while I was here. Hope that I can get it close to the image I see in my head. Alright, time for me to actually work on this. Ciao

Plodding Along & Feeling the Need

So, this weekend was long and enjoyable because we were down to a skeleton crew of housemates, luckily the ones who seem to be responsible adults. However, at the same time it was a little frustrating because I was ready to start working on my project but since I had made it through the last talk with just ideas, I felt I needed to get permission (if you will) to actually start making hard progress. So, instead of working in the studio for hours and making progress like some of my classmates, I instead was forced to continually re-draw my little idea diagram and explain things to myself about what I wanted to do. I know this is indeed progress, but not quite the solid evidence I wanted. Oh well, today during my meeting I was given the green-light so now the floods of creativity and work can flow out. I guess.

The other side of my current progression here is that I am more and more feeling the desire to be on my bike. I think most of this is probably my fault since I have been reading about the cycling world and blogs about cycling much more now than in the early part of the program. I also find myself window-shopping websites for things that I want (partly because the holiday season is approaching). I only have a month to go until I could begin riding again at home, but it will be the middle of December, so we will see how much actually gets done. It is unfortunate that I missed some wonderful riding time, but I feel good knowing that I am doing a good job staying in shape so that I should be able to jump back into the game much quicker than even entering last year. I also feel happy that I now have this outlet from which I can let others know what I see and experience once I actually get back to the real world. "The Real World", funny that I heard one of my classmates refer to life back in Seattle as that this morning. It is true that we feel distanced and not quite ourselves here in Rome. Still, I am excited to return to the normal life that I have at home, even though I will lose the grandeur of this city, this place of so much history. Ok, that's enough of my mind getting lost. Hope you all are enjoying your lives, and I look forward to seeing everyone in a month.