People I Admire

Over the past six years, I have begun to realize how important it is to have people you admire. I find that it helps you to define who you are and who you strive to be. These are a few of the people I admire:

My father
My father was an intelligent, witty, and caring person. He battled cancer for years with incredible strength and nobility. He advocated ongoing learning and personal growth, which led him to do some gorgeous photography late in life. He was an incredibly supportive and understanding parent. My parents say that my siblings and I inherited the best from both of them. I can only hope to live up to that.

My mentor, Ann
Ann has been there for me since I was 15. She is strong, funny, and very supportive. She chose not to have kids (something I admire very much in this overpopulated world) and opted to channel her energy into helping other people instead. She goes to schools and talks with underpriviledged kids over lunch, does all kinds of volunteer work, and just generally helps people out whenever she can. I wish there were more people in the world like her.

My professor, Lope
Lope was my professor during my final semester in college. He helped me push my work to the next level by seeing clearly what it was I wanted to do and helping me to see the best way of achieving it. If I ever decide to become a professor, he will be my model for teaching.

My aunt, Meredith
Another strong and giving woman who chose not to have kids. She's very talented at what she does, and choses to work on her own for less money and more happiness. Gotta admire that. She also has a great sense of humor and is never afraid to speak her mind.

My favorite art stars, Carolee Schneemann and Annie Sprinkle
Two fabulous and talented women. They are both strong voices for sex-positive feminism and I adore them for that. They both create very powerful and thought-provoking work. I am so glad that they are out there sharing their unique voices with the world.

My favorite feminists, Betty Dodson and Carol Queen
One wrote Sex for One, the other made Bend Over Boyfriend. Need I say more?

My fellow artists
Too many to name. When I am at a show and I see all the work that people can put into their art, all the passion they can feel for it, I am amazed. I love art kids. I love the way they see everything in their own way, the way they give commentary on the world around them. I love their passion and their drive and their unrelenting need to make and do and see and share. I even have a piece in the works about it. I feel that strongly about it.

Moving at Low Speed

I recently moved back to my hometown. Even though I cleaned out loads of stuff, I moved about 5 times more than I can possibly bring with my to NY, all the while in the middle of the Hangover from Hell (it involved lots of bile and required hospitalization, really, it was that bad... but that's what I get for losing my alcohol tolerance and getting tanked at my birthday/ moving away party). Now that the hangover is gone, I'm still left with the problem of what to do with all this STUFF. (I feel like such an American. Ugh.)

Plan of Action:
1. Sort through clothes for consignment, pass-downs to friends, donation, and trash. I own more clothing than anyone I know except my mentor, Ann, who used to own a clothing store. Yeah, it's bad. I have a lot of work to do in this department. The up side is that once I get it done, I will have about twice as much space and a little more cash.

2. Go through my file cabinet, 3 cardboard boxes, and huge bin full of papers. Recycle what I don't need, file what I do. This will be a slow process, but it is essential, as I can't go about storing my Social Security card in with my fourth grade drawings anymore. That's just part of being a grown up, I guess.

3. Take care of the books. If I've been "meaning to read it" for more than a year and haven't gotten around to it OR if I've already read it and don't consider it to be something I'll read or loan out AT LEAST three more times, I'll sell it. I can always get it from the library later. (Thank you, Benjamin Franklin.)

4. Sell all my CDs. I only ever use a CD player in my car and I'll be selling that when I move. All my music is on my computer. No need for the actual CDs anymore.

5. In a reasonable and rational way, clean out all my art and craft supplies. This may be the most challenging yet. I have fabric I bought ten years ago that I "might need someday." I won't. Ever. I just need to convince myself of that... then give it to someone else who probably won't use it, but will really appreciate the gift anyway. (That last part is easy. I can name about ten friends right off the top of my head who would love to have more art/ craft stuff they may or may not use.)

6. Go through everything else. This includes throwing out all the spices that are more than a year old, storing all the random things my mother insists on keeping around for the children of whichever of my siblings is daft enough to become a parent, giving my old computer away, and possibly e-baying some things. We'll see.

7. Mentally arrange all the stuff I have left in a tiny New York apartment. Start over at step 1 when I realize that it will NEVER work with the amount of stuff I have left.


I'm glad I have about four months to do this. Otherwise I'd be effed in the a, G.

On a completely unrelated side note, I made a bunch of new necklaces. You can see them all at www.vuokkodesigns.com/new.html. Here are a few:

Work

I would say that I love to work and I am a workaholic, but that's not entirely accurate. It' really that love the feeling of having accomplished something and will go to great lengths to get that feeling. When I start a new job, I always do the whole, "I will reform this place! I will get everything done in no time flat!" thing, but unless my responsibilities increase over time that fades after a while (months, a year, it depends). One of the nice things about working for a temp agency is that everything is so, well, temporary. There's rarely enough time to get bored with it. (For an exaggeration of the one exemption, see www.vuokkodesigns.com/officelady.html) To an extrent, this works with my catering job, too, as each event poses different challenges. (How can I fit all of this beer into this tiny corner and still have room to serve it? I have 3 limes and 100 guests that want gin and tonics... What do I do? I don't like caffiene or speed and have a 16 hour shift. How long can I last by sniffing citrus peel before I drink a Coke? Etc.) But I am getting bored with it, too, as I have been there over a year and a half now without stepping up to the bar manager or party coordinator plates. Last week, I started another temporary job, but it's not through the agency. It's through a friend and it involves taking inventory of lots of things crammed into a small space. The pay is half what I make at the temp agency, but I like the co-workers and the boss, make my own hours, and it's just for a week or so, so I'm fine with it. (It's not like I'd be earning anything otherwise.) Most of all, though, I enjoy making art. If I calculate the pay, it's well below minimum wage, but I don't really care. As long as I can earn enough at other jobs to make my bills and continue to make art, I am content for now. (Everyone says they want to be self-employed, or at least everyone I would want to associate with. So few people do it, though. Am I just a young idealist or too stubborn for my own good or not so much about the cash as the quality of life? Or, as some would say, a fool? We soon shall see...) Yes, this will mean moving somewhere cheaper soon so I can save up a bit, and maybe it won't be sustainable when I move to NYC, but I am going to try my damnedest. I am an incredibly stubborn person and when I set my sights on something, it generally happens. As for this, well, maybe it's a stretch, but it's something I need to try. Strangely, I make more money doing music shows with my audio work (a side project more than anything) than I make doing art shows (my main focus). Maybe that's just the scene where I live. "Yeah, I'll pay to hear live music, but I can buy a scarf at Wal-Mart for $10 instead of getting one from you for $60, or go to a movie for $7 instead of supporting your performance art by buying one of the props for it's original cost." Whatev. I do what I love and, when I can't, I do what I like. I guess it's fortunate that I like accomplishing things, then, or I'd be in a lot of trouble. For now I'm happy and that's the part that really matters to me.

xoxo,
~Vuokko