Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Chinese Stereotypes

So I work in the Starbucks in Chinatown so I have become more inclined to point out and rail upon Chinese stereotypes...but it's okay because I'm Chinese and if you had to serve the people I do, then you'd want to shoot them all too!!!!

It really peeves me off, the whole what constitutes a typical Chinese beauty.
Maybe this is because I don't look typically Chinese and everyone always thinks I'm mixed.
Then again, all the elderly Chinese customers at my store frequently tell me that I look Chinese and then I lie to them and tell them I'm Trinidadian because they bitch at my for not knowing how to speak the language. Ugh. If I had a penny...

Excuse ME for not looking typically Chinese.
I don't know about my face but I know my body is not stereotypically Chinese.
I grew up in Canada...so my diet is different...my mother's diet was different!
Leave me alone!!!
Stop asking me if my breasts are fake or if I stuff or something...I don't f.y.i.
I'm not rail thin....I like food. So sue me!
I find that people are prone to categorizing based on ignorance...
not all Chinese girls are a size zero w/ no breasts or ass!

I suppose I'm just sick and tired of the comments.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Eureka! I've found it! Oh..there it goes...

I believe that one of the best feelings in the world is finding inspiration.
Being inspired and finding inspiration is probably the reason I live my life the way I do.
I like that inspiration is non-exclusive but is agreeably inclusive.
A person doesn't have to be a genius to find inspiration.
You don't necessarily have to travel the world, climb to the top of the highest mountain to see a perfect sunset to feel inspired. Everyone has the potential to find and be inspiration.
One of the greatest compliments a person can give me is to tell me that something I did, whether it be through words, art, actions....anything, inspired them.

I'm a thrill seeker.
I don't mean I like to go bungee jumping, or cliff diving or anything (though I am not averse to those activities) but I've devoted myself to seeking to the thrills in feeling.
That's sounds hokey. I don't know how else to phrase it.
I guess you could achieve that feeling of accomplishment and success from any profession or activity...but for me, I've done it all (my mother made sure of it when I was a child and had no choice) and I like to think I'm open to different experiences but I think I get the most satisfaction from the feeling of being inspired creatively.

Gah! Four years of not sleeping properly, not eating properly, ripping out my hair, burning my hands w/ a glue gun and almost slicing my fingers off w/ exacto knives (and what do I get for my troubles except crooked boards) and I actually miss it now that it's done! And it was all worth it because of those rare times I would find inspiration. I'd be working on a project (every project felt like life or death) and wracking my brains for a good idea and I'd come up with a bunch of decent ideas but none of them felt right (and you know when an idea feels right). When you find the perfect solution, it's more than relief that you're actually going to meet your deadline and not look like an idiot in front of a critical class. It's like sleeping after a grueling week-long of insomnia (and it sometimes is). It's like you've become the person you've always hoped you'd one day be.

That 'Eureka!' moment is thrilling. Euphoric.
And much more brief than I would like.
But there is always the hopeful prospect of it coming back.

F**k.
I really need it back.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Cogito Ergo Sum

Something to know about me.
I write more than I sketch.
When I brainstorm, I brainstorm in words and writing it out rather than drawing it out. I'll write out what I want it to look like, use adjective, etc...
So when I am particularly frustrated, I write...a lot.
Here is an excerpt from my quarter-life identity crisis:

"I think I lucked out when I picked graphic design as my path. It didn’t require too much thinking on my part really. I’ve always loved being creative. I did just about everything a creative person could do. I painted, I sketched, I sang, I danced, I wrote, I photographed, I played musical instruments, etc…I just picked graphic design because I figured it combined as many creative activities that I enjoyed. It was either OCAD for graphic design or U of T for creative writing so I applied and I decided that if I didn’t get into OCAD that I wasn’t good enough to pursue design. Either way, I was still going to be doing both years down the line, and I am. The choice did not require much self-reflection or introspection on my part. It was clear the general topics that I enjoyed because it came easier to me and it was something I loved to do. Sure, I could do math and science and I got respectable marks but I wasn’t particularly interested in doing it. Pursuing the arts was a natural path so I didn’t go through the whole angsty who am I and who do I want to be experience. And now I am. Stupid identity crisis.
........."

"..........I am a passionate person. My whole life is about passion. It’s always been about doing what I love. I never once contemplated following a life path where what I loved to do was not dominant. I do what I love and I’m good at it because I love it (or at least I like to think I'm good at it). I’m curious and adaptable so this combined with passion makes me really intense when I really want/care about something. When I do something, I throw myself into it with enthusiasm and single-minded determinedness. I strongly believe that when you do something, you should do it the best you can, otherwise, what’s the point of doing it. I’m very emotionally volatile so when I experience an emotion, I really feel it and I become consumed by it and ergo, express it, whether through my art, words or in any way I can. This is the reason I do what I do, because through my various creative outlets, I can communicate what I feel and think; I can share who I am and understand who I am based on what I produce. Our actions define us. What I do, defines me. Creativity allows me to understand who I am.

Huh. Isn’t that a kicker.
I seriously didn’t understand completely the full depth of why I do the things I do (like photography, design and writing) until I wrote it out and in this act have proved my point."



Sorry if the conclusion seemed very predictable and obvious to those of you who have yourselves all figured out, but it was quite the revelation to me and I feel better that was the point of the entry.

Escapist Act 154

I have a focus problem. Surprise! Yea, that wasn't very surprising was it.
I feel so a.d.d. most of the times. There are so many things I want to do and I never get around to it. I know it's not real but I read horoscopes. I don't rely on them or put very much store in them but sometimes they're scarily dead-on. As a Pisces, it says that I am an escapists and because of my successful escapist tendencies, I often don't reach my goals and objectives.

Maybe it's a fear of failing.
Yes, I know. How can you fail at something if you've never tried.
I think that with me, when I've left to my own devices and there are no concrete deadlines, I am an escapist and I am the most motivated when I feel like I have accomplished something and I feel pride in something I have done. Strike when the iron is hot.

No matter how many times I tell myself I have to focus on something then move on to the next thing, I seem to keep doing what I always do. I think I have a problem with authority. I also think I have too many interests and my 'to-do' list is getting hideously long.

For example, I'm trying to organize a photoshoot for sometime soon to fill my photography portfolio to go alongside my design portfolio but it's taking me much longer than it should. I've found several locations and I know a couple of make-up artists but now I need wardrobe stylists, hair stylists and models. I really wanted to work with real models because though I can give direction to get what I want, I would like to work with someone who knows what they're doing and who can move fluidly into different poses.

Anyways, you see what I'm doing?
My escapist tendencies has led me to write in this blog instead of doing all the things I should be doing.

TY

Monday, July 7, 2008

Work in Progress

I am so unbalanced.
I can't seem to get myself upright.
I know the things that I want; the goals I want to reach and I generally know the step I need to take to get there but the problem is balance. I think it's my nature to focus; fixate on one area of interest at a time and I tend to devote all my time and attention to that one area but in the process, I forget to balance and neglect other areas. I do the same thing with books and it has the same results. I'll compile about 5 books that I want to read and I'm so impatient and a.d.d. that I'll start one book and then before finishing it, I'll move on to another and this way, nothing really gets accomplished.

This is a pattern it seems.
During the school year, I focussed on school and neglected my health.
I didn't work out regularly, eat properly, sleep normally.
I obsessed and stressed over school and getting my portfolio together and doing all the things I thought I should do before I graduated. I didn't do any photoshoots or other hobbies that I enjoy. Now I'm trying to eat properly (not working...I love pasta too much!) but at least I'm exercising every day, faithfully not because I have some clichee desire to be model skinny (because I have accepted the fact that I have a Spanish body and I love it) but because I want to feel comfortable in my body and not let it get to me when my parents leave various 'weight loss' books on my desk. During this process, I have neglected my job search and the exercising and expansion of my mind and creativity. Ugh.

Neither way works. Both methods of fixation are frustrating and result in me feeling restless. I'm happy with who I am and what I have accomplished but I find it frustrating that I can seem to balance it all and be entirely satisfied. I have yet to master this part of being an adult I suppose. I'm working on discipline. I guess I'm a work in progress. I hate waiting. Damn consumer society conditioning me to expect and demand instant gratification.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

I can fly.

Ugh, last night I had the worst night sleep in a long time.
This includes the nights I only got 2 hours of sleep because of thesis.
I just kept tossing and turning and having mini-dreams that were all creepy, disgusting or both.
Several involved worms...bleh. I won't be able to eat apples for awhile.
I've had one of the dreams where I find a hidden door with a friend and we go in because we're supposed to find something; some information, but then the friend is caught.
The other recurring dream I suppose most people have...that is of flying.

"Why do I have them? Am I weird to have them? Or not to have them?

Are you especially creative? Do you have an imaginative personality? People with these characteristics (poets, writers, musicians, painters, graphic designers, etc.) are more likely to have flying dreams than the average population. People who do public speaking are prone to have them, too. Not surprisingly, folks who fly planes and hang gliders have flying dreams, although they tend to fly without their vehicles, like Superman."



It's always the same way of flying. It's not smooth the way I'd assume but rather I'm using my legs to propel myself higher and higher. Lately my flying dreams have been around home. Maybe the meaning is as simple as I'm trying to become independent from my home....but I have more pressing problems than that, let me assure you. Besides, my Dad has created a home menu designed to feed me so well that I never want to leave.



Maybe it just means that I want to get somewhere that I can't.

Somewhere that is only a plan ride away.