20121105: TMBG in Princeton last April was going to be mind-numbingly awesome.
So it was around this time last year that I got approached to do a promotional design for the April 2012 visit by They Might Be Giants to Princeton. I was really excited about it, and as it turns out, I was terribly sick at the time of the visit. I was so sick, in fact, I had to miss it. Instead, though, during my downtime and the months after, I ended up re-evaluating my life, giving up drinking, starting a nutritional revitalization, and changing a lot of other bad habits. I was sad to miss TMBG at PPL, but as it turns out, I ended up seeing something much more important: myself.
So, I celebrated my son’s birthday with him last week, and we discussed all the gifts, delights, and successes of his last year. It was a great opportunity to share all the things that I thought he was doing right, and all the new opportunities this year holds for him and for us.
This is the first of a set of posts in which I am experimenting with using grand concepts of design as a basis for sketches. In this case, the big idea is the book. Books carry a thematic idea through a series of pages, are portable, generally, and did so very much for the forward movement in learning, information distribution, and ideological archivism. I have my own feelings about its paper form and how it may not survive our movement to digital, socially, but for now, here is a small celebration of the idea.
So, about a year ago, in November of 2011, I stopped posting to 365 sketches, a project with most of two years in its history, and some success. It was simply that I was tired, depressed, and in a very chaotic state. Now, exactly one year later, I have stopped drinking for over 6 months, lost about 90 pounds, exited and entered different, more positive relationships, and repaired many of the bridges that I had burned. In the interest of completing this project, I am going to restart the project for the final two months of 2012 to complete the 2nd series that was originally intended for 2011. I consider abandoning this project one of the most public and private signs that I was in trouble, and I’m happy to say that it will finish strong, here. now.
Of course, this sketch is in reference to the hilarious series of spoofs on life in Portland, Oregon, done in Portlandia.
Crapt fattie fattie by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org
I don’t take part in Hallowe’en, I don’t feel guilty, and I don’t support giving out handfuls of candy to anyone for any reason. Our focus, socially, is off. I have a few other reasons to dislike the holiday, including the passing of my mother, lots of lost childhood popularity contests, and a dislike for the faux, but this post is about giving, identity, and food.
I am a socialist, if you need to know, on the political scale, but I’d rather give someone money or help or some other support than candy. I refuse. We should all be giving things away to those who need them, and not recollecting in different forms. I suggest Goodwill, or freecycling. But the idea of us all buying the same candy from the same distributors in droves to exchange with each other out of some wacky societal pressure to take part is, in a word, odd.
Have a party if you like, dress up for kicks if that’s what you’re into. For me, I think there is enough wonder, mystery, and surprise in who we actually are, and that we should focus on that. You should get to know me, and in reading this post you are, much more so than if I came to your door or party dressed as Heisenberg from Breaking Bad. I support getting to know others, though I’ve never done it on Hallowe’en in a 30 second exchange at the door, often with people I have only ever seen at my door for that purpose. I have gotten to know people better at gatherings, but no one needs to wait until the 31st of October to have a gathering. You can even wear costumes if you like, but I’d prefer to see you dressed to explain who you are, not how well you can emulate someone else’s creation. Make your own character, and have it be a bit about you. Or, just be you.
No one needs to eat a bag of candy. No one. This blog is nothing if not about health, and I would be dishonest if I said that it was fine and okay to excite anyone about eating thousands of calories in some gluttonous orgy of chocolate. Have some delicious, extraordinary chocolate, be aware of how much you had, and enjoy it. I had a bagel today, a treat, with some dark chocolate in it. The warm, toasted chocolate met and mingled with the salt in the bagel. It was delicious, and special, and no one ever handed one to me at their door on Hallowe’en.
In much the same way that other American holidays are about purchases, discounts, fear, escaping identity, excess, comparison and guilt, I think this one leads the pack. I’m not participating.
On April 19th, 2012, I stopped drinking. I also began paying attention to my health in other ways. The urge to change came with a debilitating four-day downtime, in which I was hardly able to walk, had lots of time to think and process my life as it was, and decided that I was going to either change or die.
Today, exactly six months later, I’ve learned a lot. Here are some of the things that I’ve learned.
A clear mind is better than a clouded mind. Absent of alcohol, I am provided the ability to process situations, needs, and priorities more clearly. I was essentially using alcohol as a way to escape the realities of guilt, shame and failure, while also ignoring all the potential joy, sensation, and life of reality. For me, getting past the guilt, and engaging life, was easier while clear-minded. People treat and respect you differently when you are sober.
Life is easier when you are fit. To date, I have lost over 80 pounds. I am within 10 pounds of my final goal weight. I am within 2 percentage points of my target body fat percentage. I lost the weight by recording and knowing what I eat (about 1500 calories a day), and exercising lightly (10,000 steps a day) every day. I expect to reach my goal in November. People treat and respect you differently when you are fit.
Happiness is a matter of a lack of want and expectations. It is important for me to remember that when I do not have expectations or wants about outcomes from situations, people, or things, I can’t possibly be disappointed. When I expect or want, I often have a result of disappointment, and disappointment is specifically not happiness. People treat and respect you differently when you are happy.
The most important thing in life are people. Interacting with, helping, and sharing the joy of life with people is everything.
So, I just wanted to leave this note to say thank you to all the wonderful people who have helped me to celebrate these last six months, and that it has been a genuinely great start to the rest of my life, whatever that may bring.
