amywutoo

How you do anything is how you do everything.

[everyoneisgay]

Anonymous Asks:

“How can I come to terms with the fact that I can’t do it all?”

Kate Scelsa Says:

Okay, I am going to give both of us this advice at the same time because I am guessing that you and I have a lot in common. I’m going to go ahead and assume that you are an overachiever who is excited about many things and is overloading your schedule and making lists and giving yourself a really specific timeline for when you want to have reached certain achievements.

It’s like I’m talking to myself already.

I’m a writer, but I also have a podcast with my DJ dad (see, you’re talking to the right multi-tasker here). We recently had the cool task of listening to an old interview that my dad got to do with David Bowie (!) in which Bowie said something that I found to be so helpful. He was talking about how, when he was young, he felt all of this urgency to get as much work out as he could as quickly as possible. And that, as he got older, he realized that life was long. “You realize that you have all the time in the world,” said David Bowie.

David Bowie was right! Not everything has to happen RIGHT NOW. Some things can wait. They’ll still be there if you want to come back to them later. The most important thing is to fully commit yourself to what you’re doing in the moment. Maybe even try to (gasp) enjoy it! If you’re doing one thing, but thinking about getting to another thing, or wondering if you’re missing out on a third, you’re not bringing your full self to the beautiful moment of the thing that you’re actually doing!

A really important part of this is actually honoring the fact that you are a person that has a lot of interests and things that you’re enthusiastic about. That is awesome! Some people don’t want to do ANYTHING! And you want to do ALL THE THINGS! It is a beautiful thing to have enthusiasm, to care about things, and to want to experience life in a lot of different ways.

But (and now I’m going to get a little mystical on you here) everything you do isn’t actually about the things you’re doing at all. It’s about you. It’s about the You that you are bringing to it. The experience that you make of it. WHAT you do is less important than THE YOU that’s doing it.

We live in a world of choice, and this can be overwhelming to ALL of us. And it can be paralyzing. It’s not your job to make The Best Choice—because there is no Best Choice to make. It’s your job to stay curious, and to learn about yourself and what makes you tick and how you can best serve that thing. And, if you’re paying attention and bringing your whole heart to the moment, then you are going to learn something about yourself no matter what you’re doing.

If we honor each thing as it comes, and the people who come into our lives and the opportunities that we are given, we can exist in the kind of flow that will bring us to exactly where we’re supposed to be in each moment, where things can happen that we actually couldn’t have even planned. And I promise you that that’s when life gets really interesting.

***

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[amywutoo]

Good advice to take in when I feel behind on my perpetual to do lists:

We can exist in the kind of flow that will bring us to exactly where we’re supposed to be in each moment, where things can happen that we actually couldn’t have even planned.

[amywutoo]

SF vs. NY #2

[setting: supermarket]

Me: “Excuse me, are you on line?”

“No I’m not, but thank you for asking”

[3 minutes later]

“Are you from New York? Only people in New York say on line. We say in line. We only say ‘on line’ when we are talking about the internet”

[amywutoo]

SF vs. NY #1

"Do you always walk with a sense of urgency?" 

Me: “I'm from New York...”

“Well honey, you’re in San Francisco now, you don’t have to walk that fast”

[amywutoo]

Eduardo Garcia on The Great Discontent

Montana-based chef, Eduardo Garcia, discusses the accident that changed everything, how his passion for feeding others guides his craft, and what it means to truly open yourself up to the world around you.

Recently, Governor Schweitzer gave the commencement speech at my brother’s college graduation ceremony and told the graduates, “I want every one of you to leave Montana.” Everyone looked confused, but then he said, “I want you to explore, understand, discover, and be enriched by the world, and then I want you to bring your experiences and inspiration home to Montana.” That’s how I feel. I become inspired by crushed bottle caps in the hot asphalt roads of Antigua, sheep herders in the Southern French Alps, Chinatown in New York, and LAX at sunset. Those experiences and opportunities become a part of my palate. When I come home, I start dissecting what spoke to me and how I can share it with my community here in Montana.

[amywutoo]

Design machines

A dystopian view of an internet designed by machines, and the mushy, emotional weapons we can use to fight back.

We now have seemingly god-like access to the ways people use our products. It’s like having an all-seeing eye gazing directly into the hearts and minds of our audience. We tool up our products with analytics and trackers, A/B test up the rectum, and scour the data for any patterns that emerge—always hunting for the skeleton key to increased engagement, conversion, and usability.

The best and worst thing about the information age is the ability and our penchant for sharing every damn thought that enters our minds. When designing, testing, and marketing our digital products, we feel compelled to blog our findings, tweet our opinions, and speak about the shit that works and doesn’t work. It doesn’t take long for opinions to morph from one organization’s experience, to industry-wide opinion, to black and white standards and best practices.

[amywutoo]

Wanderlust: Rebecca Solnit on How Walking Vitalizes the Meanderings of the Mind

One aspect of the history of walking is the history of thinking made concrete—for the motions of the mind cannot be traced, but those of the feet can.

New timesaving technologies make most workers more productive, not more free, in a world that seems to be accelerating around them. Too, the rhetoric of efficiency around these technologies suggests that what cannot be quantified cannot be valued—that that vast array of pleasures which fall into the category of doing nothing in particular, of woolgathering, cloud-gazing, wandering, window-shopping, are nothing but voids to be filled by something more definite, more productive, or faster paced... As a member of the self-employed whose time saved by technology can be lavished on daydreams and meanders, I know these things have their uses, and use them—a truck, a computer, a modem—myself, but I fear their false urgency, their call to speed, their insistence that travel is less important than arrival.

Thanks @snehapai for the share.

[amywutoo]

You know a city is a fragile thing, it’s sort of a fragile alliance, a fragile pact that people make with each other to live together, people from all different walks of life.  That’s what makes a great city. If the current trends continue, where the wealth gap is exploding at a much quicker rate than any other city in America, the artists and the writers, the musician, the people who made this city the kind of attractive magnet that it is, that’s all gonna go away. And San Francisco will become a bland monotonous, tech-oriented city.

David Talbot, San Francisco 2.0

[amywutoo]

Back then, I didn’t understand the meaning of purpose in my work. I volunteered to find meaning in worthy causes, Habitat for Humanity, New York Cares. But I never felt satisfied because purpose driven work isn’t about finding a cause; it’s about day to day moments and the direction of my work as well as aligning my career with where I feel the most alive and engaged.

Susan Peret

[amywutoo]

Shame makes people abandon their children and drink themselves to death. Anastasia gave me a huge gift. That e-mail changed me. It rearranged my molecules. She has lived a life of struggle and decided not to pick up the armor. She teaches me about compassion. She makes her journey about open hearts.

Amy Poehler, from Yes Please

[amywutoo]

The Mind of a Chef Season 3 Episode 11 Creation

Chef Magnus Nilsson: For any creative person, whatever you produce is going to be sum of everything that you have with you, what you experience and what you have around you. For me, nature is a very clear part of many of my dishes at Fäviken. I might not know how it will end up on the menu, but chances are good that one day it just fits. It sort of seamlessly merges into the concept of a dish. There is no clear train of thought because that is the whole point of creating things like this. What’s important is that it’s a reflection of the place, where the restaurant is run.

Development for the sake of development is pointless. Development for the sake of improvement is good.

[amywutoo]

People don't realize even by just by making a snarky offhanded comment they are contributing to the cesspool of the internet... And so I feel like if I have a responsibility at all it’s to remind people that you have a choice you can live a life of outrage and constantly look around the internet for people to be pissed off at or you can not.

[amywutoo]

Moving (on)

Her approach to writing came from her time on Roseanne, where the motto was “make the small big, make the big small.” She explained, “It’s in the small moments that life changes, and the big, giant headlines have got to be there to serve the small ones.”

“The right boyfriend came at the right time. They each brought something out in Rory that she needed at that time.”

—Amy Sherman-Palladino at the Gilmore Girls reunion via Flavorwire

We always think of these big pivotal moments in our lives. Epiphanies that made us change direction completely. But really it’s never that simple. It doesn’t actually happen like that. Our mind tricks us into thinking that in hindsight. I forgot when and where I read it, but the gist was how the human brain remembers things nostalgically and how it tends to buff the rough edges. 

It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve moved out to San Francisco. Many different factors brought me out here—some more apparent then others, but ultimately I’ve always been the type of person that jumps first. I won’t lie, it’s been tough, some nights I want to drop everything and run back home. I notice all the things I try to do to extinguish my many emotions. When I am aware of it I try to break out of it and take a moment for myself.

Everyone hopes they are doing the right thing, but we never really know. Right now I just know that I need to give it a chance—let the soup simmer on the stove (even though I’m hangry). 

…tomorrow the internet will get installed. Tomorrow night I will get to sleep in a real bed. And Sunday my things will arrive. I’ve realized how little I need, but at the same time those little things carry huge weight. So here’s to the small things. And to the people who come in and out of your life. Cherish it.

[amywutoo]

Procrastination by Anna Deavere Smith

I just finished Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up advice on making a life in the arts and I loved the entire book, end to end, but the letter on Procrastination  (pg. 47-48) was particularly good timing as I squander away time on everything other than working on my thesis, including reading this book... Below is an excerpt, but I practically retyped the entire letter:

We think of procrastinators as lazy and inactive, but procrastination is active. I am in awe of the power of procrastination. I am in awe of it that if I have something I have to do, I try to program myself to do it so quickly that procrastination cannot possibly set in. At one point I was so afraid of not fulfilling my commitment to swim every day that I slept in my bathing suit! The main fuel of procrastination is thought. Sometimes procrastination abounds because you really don't have a clear idea of what you are trying to do, and where it's going. Then the exercise of visualizing what you are trying to do, what you want, what your goal is, can be helpful.

If you are basically a motivated person, without too many deep, dark reasons why are you conflicted about success, then procrastination can be met head-on by "just doing it." Give yourself an image of what you are trying to do, and just start. The doing gives you energy and ideas. If I swim a mile, the first half hour might be drudgery, but somewhere in the middle it catches fire. Some great writer, when asked if he liked to write, said: "I like to have written." We all like to be finished, so we can look back. There's no way out of procrastination, or active avoidance, but to move. Some people say they work best under pressure, but working under pressure is a bit of a fallacy. It's not waiting till the last minute that gives you the good work; it's the focus that is required when you wait till the last minute that brings about the good work. So think of it this way: Your focus is the center of your brilliance; why not avail yourself of that brilliance on a regular basis? Everyone has her own rhythm, but if you don’t like the fact that you procrastinate, one way to get out of it is to think of what the alternative is. The alternative is, instead of trying to do a month’s work in a few intense days in the studio, to give yourself the pleasure of yourself in flow, in focus, on a regular basis.

[amywutoo]

One of the best things about being an artist, BZ, is that solving problems always comes down to sharing vulnerabilities, sharing the things that make us human.

Anna Deavere Smith

[amywutoo]

[amywutoo]

Freelancing: Deciding when it's worth it

I am going to take two pages out of Josh and Datrianna's books as I reflect about taking on freelance jobs. I am currently finishing up what was suppose to be a small gig and I'm really glad it is almost over (as I write this I just got two emails asking for changes. It is 12:31 am on a Tuesday...). After this repeated experience, I want to take the time to reflect because it seems like I do this to myself time and time again. And all I hear in my head is Missy Elliott's voice asking me "Is it worth it?" 

So I studied graphic design in my undergraduate at the School of Visual Arts back in 2008. And my first job as a graphic design was at an office that organizes art fairs around the world. I taught myself Indesign on the job. Then I became an intern at my SVA professor's NYC design studio that specialized in hospitality, restaurants, branding, and print design. I was an intern through junior and senior year and upon graduating was offered a full-time gig there. It was a dream. I even got to take a month off backpacking around Europe between graduation and the position. They said the job would be there when I came back... From there I went to become the only in-house designer at a yarn company, which ended before I knew where the paper clips were stored. And finally became a book designer at a big publishing house for 3 years before going back to school for my graduate degree. So I would say I have the credentials on paper to call myself a designer, but the impostor syndrome never goes away. 

Since my time here at graduate school, I've taken on freelance jobs doing graphic design to make pocket money. I feel comfortable doing it. I've never tried to gun for interaction design, UX, or UI freelance jobs. One because I didn't want it to suck the energy out of my school work and two because I am just plain scared (big-time impostor syndrome), but that's another blog post...

Jumping right back. Just some rules of thumb when it comes to considering taking on a freelance job. 

When it sounds like the client doesn't trust you, be very wary. 

After many versions, when they ask rhetorical questions along the lines of "This is what you do, right? You are a book designer. That is your expertise, no?" run far, far, away. 

When they email and call you at all hours of the day/night asking for tweaks, from an 8:23 am email to an 10 am call, to voicemails telling you they are landing and want to speak at a particular time in the evening. Never take on another job from that client ever again because it doesn't get better. Not even with time. I've learned this the hard way. And I always think to myself, oh you can handle it. It wasn't so bad. And the extra cash is worth it. It's really NOT worth it. They don't respect your time.

So when the next time rolls around I'm going to ask myself 'What would Missy do?' because she doesn't take any bullshit. She knows who she is and what she has to offer.

[amywutoo]

Quirky: (2012) Sumikkogurashi is a new character and touches upon how shy Japanese people can be. It's a little negative and points out that Japanese people like to hide in corners since they are usually extremely shy... Sitting in the corner of a cafe or on the train makes them feel relaxed. So all of our new character friends all have some issue in their personality which makes them like hiding in the corner. 

Tonkatsu / Pork Cutlet: Tonkatsu is an accident. He is 1% meat and 99% ambition. He is greasy and oily... The Tonkatsu character of Sumikkogurashi comes from the crumbs leftover from the tonkatsu meal and only his pink nose is the 1% meat.

Sumikko Gurashi: 'Sumikko' in Japanese means 'corner', and 'Gurashi' (kurashi) means 'living'. They are the living beings of the corners, which loves... corners.

And the little friend that came with my tonkatsu is a shrimp tempura (tail). So these are the leftover pieces—throwaways that most people don't think twice about discarding.

Though this collection of San-X plush toys can be seen as just kawaii, I think what Japanese culture does really well is attach layered meanings into their products (ie: Spirited Away). They make these adorable characters that indirectly speak to their society and culture. They take an issue like being introverted and make it accessible. They are talking about Japanese identity through these precious and cute objects.

I am beginning to think about this idea more after having a really great chat with Christina about my thesis, who introduced me to The Harry Potter Alliance and Beware the Valkyries both organizations which have done great things IRL for their causes, but in a really informal and digestible manner. 

My friend who is a science fiction writer talks about how sci-fi comments on real life issues and about the human condition without actually talking about it. This plan of attack is successful because it's unexpected and goes under the radar. Just as with interviewing/research, you can't directly ask people what's wrong, they will never tell you (they'll just give you the answer they think you want to hear), but by talking around the matter as well as inquiring about different aspects of their life, will you really get at the heart of their worries and needs.

Science fiction, fantasy, video games, kawaii things all elude to the human condition. This is something I want to capture in my thesis. I want to try to indirectly affect how a teenager thinks about themselves and about the type of opportunities they think are open to them. To invisibly guide by showing them everything they can do, as well as showing them that they can carve their own path(s) and how in spite of the winding roads that everything will be okay.