Walls

Walls: 

They are ugly.

Description of said walls: 

They are covered in a shade of yellow paint, with a band of one foot tacky wallpaper spanning the entire upper perimeter of the room.

Solution:

Will not eat my moneys, make use of plentiful material I have access to, and can easily be disassembled. 

Description of said Solution:

I shall research and design a modular paper folded tessellation that fits within the size of 8.5 x 11 printer paper, that I will then assemble in mass quantities. 

:))

The items I own. Part III - Borders and Corners

10 bags was the magical number of bags.

I pushed all my furniture inwards slightly, and now I can see all borders and corners of my space. If you don't get an elated feeling upon visualizing the borders and corners, clearly you have never experienced the borders and corners (and in the same breath, I nudge you to try it).

Because my desk, storage locker, desk cabinet and bed are not resting against a wall, it feels like they are floating entities, not in the spacey sense, I mean like non-rasterized objects in Photoshop. They have selection marquees around them. :)

Henceforth, I make the following conclusions:

- Furniture that sits closely to walls encloses a space, masking the overall form and shape of the room. i.e, the outer perimeter is not clearly understood at first glance, therefore the space becomes focused primarily on the floor space that is visible.

- Furniture that sits arbitrarily inside of a space, away from the walls, actually accentuates the room's form and shape. i.e, the frame of the space is understood at first glance, making the objects obstructing the space less of a focus.

 

The items I own. Part II

Today consisted of waking up at a reasonably hour after 12 and eating a variety of cereals of my choosing, with milk from the back of the fridge. The very back.*

And so, after this lofty process of waking was complete, I proceeded to my room where eight (8) large industrial-strength garbage bags were filled with items I possess. But no longer possess, of coarse. 

After a grueling 48 minutes, I was mentally tired from repetitively recalling the questions outlined in my previous post: Does this item enable me? and Does this item contain knowledges?

Might I add that I was also physically tired from lifting the mere "eight (8) large industrial-str.... bags" and felt that I deserved a shower and the rest of the day off catching up on design blogs and peer flickr photostreams.

This is definitely not over though. Perhaps tomorrow I will buy more milk**, but then proceed diligently with the rest of the junk that I am still, sadly, staring at at this moment. In my peripheral and focal vision. 

*dodge city

**a banal activity that will simulate 'normal living'.

The items I own.

So, first day home!

I slept in my own bed last night, and crawled around the house all day.

It's hard to pay attention to at school, but now that I'm forced to be around it, I realize now how much stuff I own.

I own sooo many items.

The thing is, I must not need these items because clearly school has proven that there is only a set number of tools that I need to function, and to design things. And for me to have lived successfully over the last 6 months without needing to take any of the things sitting in my closet, desk cabinet, or elsewhere, makes me think that the items I own have more sentimental value then functional value.

Why do I own these things if I don't use them, and will it pain me to throw them out? 

The reason why I own them is because they connect me, in some way or another, to past happenings. And they define or express who I am. 

Hence why I feel a sense of self in my personal space. There might as well be a connection to feeling self and feeling comfortable. i.e, sentimental objects in relationship to feeling belonging in the world, etc etc.

So first I consider what will happen if everything, save the things I need, are thrown away:

- My past becomes treated as insignificant, and eventually forgotten to an extent that is only remembered via memory, which, btw is shoddy at best.

- My living space becomes more of a utility, rather than a place to ponder old things.

- My thought process may become more involved in future rather than past.

- A space based around utility may have a positive effect on productivity.

- If it is true that I feel a certain sense of self, or at least the self that is projected through the things I own, then I may adopt a new idea of self.

- If there is a connection between feeling like myself and feeling comfort, then a space without personal items may be less comfortable to be in.

- However, a space with less items may prove to be more relaxing. (Chaos of physical space = Chaos of mental space)

What do I hope to gain by loosing these items?

- A space that enables me to work on projects: free space.

- An uncluttered, uncomplex physical space that will hopefully reflect an uncluttered, uncomplex mental space.

- An outlook on the coming 20 years that isn't contaminated or seasoned by the previous 20 years. (Which obviously isn't purely possible, but in terms of my stuff hindering this in any way)

How will I define a 'needed' item?

- it must enable me relative to my design practice, personal health, or personal hobbies.

- If it does not serve any of these three outlets, then it must contain knowledge for me to extract. i.e. books, documents, past written or image-based process, etc.

"..., I make lists. constantly."

Right, so like some people who walk their dog, smoke cigarettes, eat chocolate mousse cake, and/or chat on telephones, I make lists. constantly. I mean to say that people find comfort in some things, and I find comfort in other things*. 

So, lists. It's not that I just like writing them (although I do), but something about the way I tend to process information in my head is very similar. Which makes me think that the physical act of writing a list is actually an effective method of organizing my thoughts. 

I think the problem lies in the fact that the lists being formulated in my head don't tend to follow a linear format, and the many lists that happen through the course of a day become a mashed up heap of thought-items that do not follow any hierarchy. 

Hence why tangible lists become organizational and comforting.

Titles of lists I made today:

- To Do list as of 12.36 pm

- List of criteria for desk, year 3

- List of items that must not remain at home tomorrow

- List of costs for Core design item

- List of possible design strategies for desk 

- Revised To Do list as of 7.12 pm

- List of people I would like to (still) know at age 35-45**

- List of people I enjoy in my life at this moment (non hierarchical)**

and

- List of things to happen this summer**

- Go to alaska, and hurry back.

- Gain many knowledges on the following subjects (a sublist, no doubt)

- Bookbinding

- 3d CAD software

- Origami Tessellations, paper forms

- Veneer/Ply mold making

- Biology

- inDesign (beyond surface knowledge)

- Beach + Tan

- Documentation and Design of an online portfolio

- Find a new place to live

- Spend time with people I like

(Non Hierarchical) 

*not to say I haven't sampled other people's 'things'.

**novelty lists that proved the function of avoiding many homework items on cue.

I'm still alive!

such good news

die happy(?)

When I was younger, I felt that in order to die happy, I had to live under a model of thinking in which I would only do things that pleased me, negating all negative and positive values of right and wrong in terms of human norms and family expectations. My reasoning being that no aspect of the world around me should force me into a mode of living that was not satisfying to me personally.

Later, I realized that doing only what would please me did not always intersect or run parallel with all the infinite experiences that the world around me had to offer me. My new idea of a satisfying life worked to come as close as possible to 'do everything, see everything, and know everything'. Don't laugh. :)

As of right now, this model holds true, but probably not with as much intent. I realize now that my goal isn't to be satisfied when I die, just satisfied throughout my life. I feel I might become a depressed senior citizen if I don't accomplish or at least experience many things. Essentially, it would be redundant to exit life without fully indulging in everything that humans are capable of; experiance, knowledge,  relations, etc.

On this topic, I tend to make recurring lists, idealizing and simplifying where possible.

These will happen before I die. 

- 2nd language

- A system of living that I will design for myself personally, all aspects considered

- Handwrite in a serif typeface of my choosing (Bold uppercase included)

- A lover

- Fantasie Impromptu on the piano

- Travel

- Design processes over and over again :)