The past year or so has been an adventure in planning the rest of my life. Aside from freaking out, near breakdowns, and, of course, the good times, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with myself, what to pursue, what not to, how I want to live and how I will afford to eat.
This year has witnessed big changes and it doesn’t look like things will slow down anytime soon. I’ve graduated, left everything behind and moved countries, and will graduate from grad school soon. I’ve moved in with my boyfriend into a tiny little room and we’re working on getting money together to move. We’re working on being happy with each other.
I’ve always felt that I wanted to be idealistic, because why not? Why be ‘realistic’ and have no hope of utopia? I’ve always wanted to pursue what I love and I’ve always wanted my life to be my job, not the other way around. Life’s too short to spend five out of seven days a week miserable. The only question has been what and how.
As part of my degree and, perhaps, despite my degree, I’ve been writing for theHub, an online magazine. It never occurred to me to write about art before. To reflect on my own insights, coherently form them in words, and share it with others is so satisfying. I do hope I can continue to write and pursue ideas to share. Maybe I have a writing career ahead!
So much of what I do, though, involves art, but passively. I’ve studied it in its historical context. I write about art and live with the most creative person I’ve ever known. So unsurprisingly, I’ve been rediscovering my artistic roots. I’ve re-discovered my passion for art after being one of the many souls that got talked out of a career in the arts in favour of a scientific one. (Thank goodness I changed my major to art history before the end!)
My skills in art are sadly lacking, and I am not pretentious enough to take what I make seriously enough. Also, no matter how good things look they lack an important je ne sais pas if they cannot be used.
Kate on her blog Needled wrote a post about how the repetitious things in life seem to also be the ones that are the most endearing, the most missed when they’re gone. I think that when you use things, actually use them to the point of leather shoes conforming to your feet or gloves conforming to your fingers, they become meaningful in a way that just looking cannot achieve.
Kate’s wonderful blog and the other amazing knitters that I’ve been reading about and talking with have really inspired me, as trite as that sounds. It’s made it okay to myself that I’m a knitter not as artist per se and it’s made me want to combine the two for myself, in my own way.
I’m knitting a chess set and designing my own patterns. I’ve decided that my career path is knitting and World, you’d better watch out.
Owl Knit You 