Reflecting back on this year seems to be futile, since it was maybe the most lived one I've ever had and how can I really distill that into words, you know man. Still though, I've turned 24, and 23 was pretty incredible; I went through some of the best highs, leading me to this astounding position professionally that I couldn't have foreseen a year ago, and I've also gone through a pretty indomitable personal hardship that has left me for months thinking.
All in all though, I have some health, I have some friends and I have some blind ambition and layers of honesty. My parents didn't raise me to be one that fretted over such things as age, but considering how spread out are those that would celebrate this with me, I figure it in my best interest to just keep you all posted that I have indeed lived another year, and I'm looking forward to Michael Jordan (or Kobe, considering the jersey) dunking through the next.
Being young is wonderful. There's an inherent ability in youth to extrapolate problems to a degree that undermines everything else in your life, but those problems are easily washed away with mistakes, frivolity and / or contemplation that only youth can give. I'm focused on this because, really, I'm still incredibly young and I'm cycling through this all the time. Problem to other problem to solution to fun to problem to contemplation to solution to problem to not giving a shit to giving too much of a shit to fun again; what isn't there to love about that? Not being ensconced in the bigger problems that age and experience brings makes you do some really remarkable and beautiful things. Youth wasted on the youth is such a misnomer, because being young IS being wasteful, but in a way that means nothing is precious, but that everything is adaptable, and you can live in no set pattern or reason.
I'm barreling down on age 24 with nothing but open arms for what could be amazing and what will be awful. It's all going to shape the dynamic of how I act, relate and treat people and places. As a designer, I'm mindful of all of that already. Communication is key, honesty is invaluable and willing to fail is necessary. If I didn't tend to all of those things daily, I'd go insane. I might even feel old. The eye rolling term "young at heart" comes to mind, but maybe there's something there. Heart not being your organ — that will age and develop problems accordingly — but that ethereal "heart" that can break, mend, and represent emotional resonance, which I think is more, "young in thought and feeling," a phrase I which I wish was adopted more openly.
I'm young because it's the best thing for me, and probably a lot of other people. I'm young because what else would I want to be? Young is mistakes and truth. Think young, feel young, fail, succeed, and be kind. I'm going to get all of that tattooed on my knuckles, which will be a huge mistake.
Sometimes I just draw for hours. Mostly none of that stuff ever gets seen by anyone, even myself after I've drawn it; I feel there's a redundancy to drawing this stuff that maybe only I can appreciate. This is mostly a destressing exercise rather than an attempt at executing something beautiful. Still though, I can appreciate some half-way constructed pages of type when I flip back through a sketchbook, and maybe you want to appreciate them too.
This weekend, while working on Longshot magazine, Will went out and bought us some new ping pong balls for our resurrected office table. This helped alleviate the stress of completing an entire magazine in 48 hours. The packaging was so nice, I had to scan it in. Full size version can be found here.
The experience of working on Longshot deserves a much more in-depth write up, but sadly, my brainball is totally deflated after this weekend. It was amazing though, and I couldn't be more proud of the product, which you can buy here. Big thanks to the entire Longshot team, and extra large thanks to Keith Scharwath for letting me participate. Would happily do it again, if not just for the free Pop Chips and beer.
Here is the poster that will greet people for the upcoming series of talks about education being held here at the GOOD offices. Pretty excited about these discussions, especially with the tumultuous nature of contemporary education right now. Apparently tonight's offering will potentially be pretty combative.
Here is the program I also designed. It's kind of fun when all of this stuff pulls together in a few hours the day before an event.
I finally made it out to Galco's Soda Pop Stop in Highland Park yesterday. Galco's is a long standing, independent grocer that specializes in small market sodas. If you have 12 minutes, you should watch the video above. Going to Galco's has been something I've been intending to do for a couple of months now, but for whatever reason I just hadn't accomplished the task. I think maybe my personal affinity for soda makes it almost seem seedy to go there, rather than an enjoyable excursion for fun. My struggles with sugar water is well documented, so I won't bore anyone with the exposition.
What got me there was my friend Theo bringing up his own personal desire to try a wide variety of root beers and cream sodas, primarily to break it all down bracket style, like his own personal March Madness. I'm hoping he wasn't joking, because that would be something to really behold. Irregardless, we both decided it was due time for us to pay a visit.
First off, Galco's is great. It has a real family feel that is not at all forced. It almost felt like I was stepping back into days of my youth, hanging out in my grandfather's auto parts store in Cheyenne; the staff are all kind, informed, but not clinical in how they talk to you. There's a real passion for independence here, and in a way, sustainability. You can tell that Galco's doesn't approach the subject in a ham-handed way, but rather was the logical reason for what goes on the shelves. Glass, and only glass is what you see. There is evidence of reuse, both in strict recycling, and in the way in which they box up your final purchase. I don't think these are political considerations, but just they way things should be done.
Theo and I were lost amongst two aisles of cascading colors and graphics. The selection is daunting, which is weird considering how little of the actual aisle space it takes up in the store. There were other items sold here, primarily alcohol (looks like the beer selection is also pretty great), candy and other snacks. I found everything I could have ever wanted though, soda wise. I grabbed some Sprecher's Root Beer, which I had missed greatly since my departure from the midwest. Also got some Bubble Up, RC Cola, Dog n Suds, Frosties, and a few others. The bounty was rich, as you can see.
This is what I'm drinking today. Cheerwine, a cherry soft drink from North Carolina. It is crisp and refreshing, with a pretty nice and understated label. Check out that "C" extending as an underline, and the weird half-ligature overlap going on with the "r" and "w". I'm sure I'll review others as I go along. I have to limit myself though, because this could get bad fast if they all taste this good.
It's tough not to wear it on your shoulder. I don't know how many inches to dish out regarding the personal upheaval, but rest assured I'm ardently working on turning this ship around. It's just tough. No one has ever accused me of being able to side step these emotional landmines, because that's obviously not my nature. I'm a composed mass of exposed senses, heightened and aware at all times. I react swiftly and in a prolonged timetable. I just have to work through it through work, I guess.
