Words to Live By

Okay, so I'm right in the middle of watching Scott McCloud giving a speech. First of all, he is an amazing public speaker. Phenomenal. I would be okay in a life outside comics if I could give academic presentations as well as he does. Here's the main point, however...a slide pops up during his talk on looking to the future, and it says this:

Learn From Everyone
Follow No One
Watch For Patterns
Work Like Hell

For anyone who doesn't know me, or even those who don't know me as well as they like, I can tell you that these words are how I've lived the entirety of my life so far. Without trying to sound contrary to the idea behind it, it is important to express that this is how EVERYBODY should live their life.

Aside from any arguments about morality and ethics, this is quite possibly the best model for a successful society. Yes, people should continue to be and do good, but aside from that, they should not continue to be sheep to the shepherd. Stand up and take responsibility for life, don't let other people live it for you. Walk out your front door and make a discovery. Stake you claim in history. This is what is needed for humanity to regain its humanity.

...and now, I will return to Mr. McCloud's speech.

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Winter Fox

I'm Still Here...

Huh...over a month since I last wrote.

Not a good sign, aye?

I'm not going to make false promises and say things like "I promise to post more often". The whole attempt at frequency was what this blog was about to begin with. In the end, this was pretty much an experiment. Not a failed experiment. No, not failure at all. This was meant to gauge my limits, and now I know what those are.

Or, what they are for the moment, anyways.

A friend asked me about my resolutions for the New Year. Coyly, I told her I resolved to not make any resolutions. The entire idea is based around how long it will be before you fail, making every resolution a self-fulfilling failure prophecy. Granted, there are actually a few people who stick with their resolutions. To them, I say congratulations. You are paradigms of self-control and endurance.

That said, I'm already going to break my New Year's resolution and make a resolution.

Hmm...

That was confusing for me as well. But, let us continue...

For the year of 2009, I hereby resolve to publish a book with my name under both writer AND illustrator, increase my in-line skate speed AND endurance, and find a way to finance grad school should I get accepted.

Those shouldn't be too difficult, right? I mean, for the first one, all I really have to do is overcome my ADD long enough to finish something I start. And once it is published, I could feasibly make enough $$$ to accomplish the third. The middle one is by far the easiest, but could turn out to be the most time consuming, as my skating endurance is already taking me on 5-6 hour tours of the city. I guess the speed should be the thing to focus on there, as an increased speed would allow me to qualify for inline marathons. Should I do well enough in these marathons, I can also tie resolution two into resolution three, as many marathons award prize money for the top participants.

Oh, if not for the interconnectivity of life...

With that said, I should go to bed. Happy (belated?) New Year, everyone!

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Project 90114 - HEYO