This is probably one of the most difficult entries that I have had to write. There was so much I wanted to say explaining my decision, but I decided to keep it simple for the sake of clarity.

Dear all, I have decided not to pursue my Bachelor’s degree in Production animation at Digipen.

There are hundreds of reasons that I can give to justify my decision.

Alas I won’t do that, the decision has been made and I am moving forward.

Even though I spent the last four years of my life looking forward to a university degree, I had an epiphany that I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons and that I am truly an autodidact.

All I know is that to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

And I would to take this opportunity to thank all who have shown me support and cold shoulders. Without you guys and gals I would never have grown.

There are 12 hard disks in this house. 12. As I type this, I glance at the one; 1TB. It keeps company with my old guards, the one and only, the inspirer of dreams and hope. Above them my passion slumbers.

But I digress.

12 freaking Hard disks.

1 TB. The new master, the one and only, the inspirer of dreams and hope. Will we go there? It’s a short trip, isn’t it? Once our hard disks and brains are married into one entity? And that will happen, you know. Sooner than later.

At what point will we begin to have conversations with our data?

I comfort myself by reminding me that all of the hard disks aren’t for education. Some are strictly for games or movies. The One is for tutorials that are too many.

I walked this week, enough to sweat. I need to run. I miss running. But walking fast, in cool air…is no substitute. Who am I kidding? Still, it’s better than not moving.

If anybody would like me to feel deep, visceral envy of them, they should read; alot and daily.

Even if you don’t care if I feel deep, visceral envy of you, you should read, because it’s likely to be a phenomenal thing.

It’s so rare that I agree with lists of the best books of the year that I’m astounded to see Amazon.com picked two books I’m quite fond of as its top two science fiction/fantasy titles of the year: Brian Slattery’s Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America and Jeff Ford’s The Drowned Life. I may even like more than those top two, but I haven’t had time to read any of the others.

And if you really interested in a good argument, pick up Alfe Kohn’s What Does It Mean to be Well Educated?

It’s pretty frightening to see just how much money we spend on things we like. $900 is a lot of money to be spending on books and I don’t think I can stop.

What I needed wasn’t time, but balance; balancing inspiration and obligation, long term goals vs. short term, want to vs. Have to. Which idea to act on? Which to write? Which might be lost? What’s the right choice? So many decisions…so little….wait. Maybe this is about time. Work? life? friends? family? play, love or art? The choices, the juggling, the running, the guilt ….the wheel and the tsunami of minutiae.

Here’s something I struggle with as an artist and a human being. I get out of balance and my inner gyroscope starts to wobble. Sometimes the wobble is mild, sometimes it can knock me right out of orbit.

So many reasons to drink sparkling wine:
One, when a baby is finally born
or also when a family is torn
apart and the woman, alone, is fine.

Perhaps with the meal on which you dine
even if it’s just crawfish and corn.
Maybe after a graduation gown is worn
or when his assignment is finished in time.

And it doesn’t have to be Champagne,
made in that region of France
miles below Europe’s northern coast…
because the French overcharge and feign
perfection. Give Cava or Prosecco a chance,
Mister Bond, before raising it in toast

Sonnet - abba, cddc efgefg

I grew up in the 1980s, supposedly the heyday of conformity, but there was much more freedom of opinion back then. And as a result, you knew that your neighbors might hold different views from you. Today, the notion that men of good principals can disagree has disappeared. Can you imagine! Today, if I disagree with you, you conclude there is something wrong with me. This is a childish, parochial view. And of course stupefyingly intolerant.

Yesterday is all a bit of a blur. This is, I suspect, mostly because I set my alarm for an hour too early this morning and didn’t notice until I went out into the kitchen to stumble out into the day and realized that it was only a quarter to seven, not a quarter to eight, which meant I’d had about four hours sleep, not five.

Great movies, nice chats, and lots of assignments afterwards.