Present Stacking Competition

I’m sure you’re wondering, “Mary, why are your Christmas gifts stacked like that?”  Well, there is a good reason why they are stacked like that:  sibling rivalry.

Two Christmas Eve’s ago, I saw my brother stacking his gifts in a nice pyramid.  I obviously could not be shown up.  I go to a tech school and have many engineering friends, I could not be shown up like this!  How would it look if I lost to a lawyer who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science?  I would look insanely terrible!!!

I told him that we should have a gift stacking contest, whoever has the taller stack and/or does not fall down (without intentional knocking) is the winner of this challenge.  With my brother being older, he obviously took the challenge quite quickly. 

I waited until he left the room later that night, so there was less of a chance of destruction of passers-by.  I meticulously placed each piece and even got up and did an “earthquake” test every so often to know that what I was building higher was still on stable footing. 

When I woke up on Christmas day and went to our living room, I took this picture because I was the winner.  My brother’s pile was not as high and one part of it fell.  I made my engineering friends proud.  

The year of the concerts

Rarely do I go to concerts.  First of all, most artists I want to see have outrageous ticket prices that I refuse to pay.  Secondly, I live in the middle of nowhere.  When you live around the corner from Hicks Road, you know you are definitely way off the beaten path.  Most of the places where semi-big acts actually come to are at least 40 minutes away.  If you want to see the extreme A-listers, we have to travel to either Albany or Syracuse, which is about an hour and a half away to either place.  During the winters, it is usually not the best idea to drop money on tickets when you are not sure you will be able to travel with weather conditions.

But in 2011, I went against all my rules for deciding whether or not to go to a concert.  Although not a major feat for others, I set a record by going to two different concerts in the same year!  There were artists I liked enough to pay for the concert.  They even turned into a family event, since my parents and brother liked the artists as well.

The first one we went to was in March at MVCC to see The Band Perry.  What an amazing concert it was!  They played almost an hour and a half straight.  They would switch off from rockier covers like “Fat Bottomed Girls” (which I will probably never ever see the guitar solo played perfectly on a violin again), to a very stripped down version of Amazing Grace.  Of course, they played their hits like “If I Die Young,” “Hip to My Heart,” and “You Lie.”  

After the concert, they even met as many people that were willing to wait.  We were at the end of the line, and it took an hour and a half, but they did stay and sign autographs and take pictures with everyone.  This was literally the week before Lauren Alaina performed their hit “If I Die Young” on American Idol that pushed them from trying to break in, to country stars.  There is no way they will ever come back to a place like MVCC for the price we paid.  Although I want to see them again, I know I will not have the same experience that I had at MVCC.

The second concert I saw was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, again my family and I went to the concert together.  It was to see Gloriana at the Turning Stone Casino Showroom.  Again, the price was definitely worth seeing the group, especially since two of the band members are from New Hartford, and this was their first concert “home” since making it big.  Once again, we were blown away by the great music, and we were even treated to hearing quite a few songs on their upcoming CD that is going to be released.  

One new song included the "Soldier Song" that they wrote about their time when they did a USO tour in Iraq.  They even brought some people on stage that they knew were stationed at the neighboring Fort Drum, which was great.  They did sign autographs after the show, but they were only going to stay for a bit because they had to be at the next city.  We decided when we looked at our spot in the line that it was not worth the wait.

So far, I have yet to find a concert worth the money, but I am definitely hopeful that I find opportunities like I did last year.

Maybe I was supposed to be born Hawaiian?

Over the years, I have gotten quite a few Hawaiian leis.  One would assume, at some point, I must have gone to Hawaii, but I have not.

The first lei I ever got was from when I went to Disney World.  We stayed at the Polynesian Resort, and because it is a Hawaiian themed resort, each member of my family got a lei when we checked in.  It was cool, since I figured it would be (and still will be) a while before I ever go to Hawaii.  Some of the housekeepers actually made decorative art pieces (like a hammock or a boat) with our leis and bath towels with some of the Disney stuffed animals we bought, which was always a nice surprise when we came back to our room. 

The next one I received was at my school's 8^th grade banquet, which is our form of middle school graduation before starting high school.  For this, the theme was Hawaiian Delight!  So again, I got a lei, but it was the kind just made out of the cheap plastic (I came from the poor school).  Still, it is a reminder of that night and all the dancing! 

Thankfully, Hawaii was not the theme of my prom, although that did not go without its problems.   Our original theme was “A Night in Paris” but then Paris Hilton’s sex tape with the same name was leaked on the Internet, so our theme just became “Paris.”

Moving on to my sophomore year of college, I started to get into the activities on campus.  At the end of the year, SUNYIT has a semi-formal awards banquet for the clubs and organizations.  So, for the first awards banquet I went to, its theme was….HAWAIIAN PARADISE!!  Which meant I got another plastic lei. 

Now at this point, I’m thinking, there is no other way that I will run into another Hawaiian themed party for a while.  Well, I was wrong.  I got a pink plastic lei at the first annual Wildcat Friday my senior year.  Again, it was a tropical theme, although I think they were just using up everything from the semi-formal in storage. 

So as you can see, I have quite the collection of different types of leis.  I hope to not have a party with the Hawaiian theme for a while, but knowing my luck, I’ll probably be at one within the next year or so.

Marketing at its best

My mother "suggested" I go shopping with her since I needed a few things from the store and taking one car would save gas. I think my mom soon figured out her mistake of inviting me along with her. After taking how many design and marketing courses, I am not the usual shopper. I critique packaging designs, promotion placement and where something is located in the store. Or, more simply, I take the fun out of shopping. I will point out when companies are actually tricking you into buying their product.

I do have my moments of weakness in some cases, where even I am duped into buying something I don't need. And this is where this little Orangemen cheerleading outfit comes into play. I am a huge SU fan, and I plan on making my kids fans as well (in a nice way, and they can choose a different team when they are older as long as it is not Georgetown or UCONN) I argued with my mom that I wanted to buy it for my future daughter, because who knows if I will be able to find one whenever I do have kids. We debated back and forth for about five minutes, until my mom brought up the point that I might not have a daughter. And the $20 no longer seemed reasonable to put the outfit away for a later date.

Moral of the story: even those who know that they are resiliant to being duped sometimes fall for great marketing.

Test before you post

This is from a website I like, located at http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com. They usually have great graphs and info graphics that make you think. With this one though, I am not exactly sure what they are trying to tell me. Ok, I know I am supposed to get some sort of conclusion about median income and the price of college tuition. Beyond that, I am not really sure what I need to know.

To me, this is a perfect representation of why you need another set of eyes to look over something. A lot of times I will take something I design to my mom and ask her what it is trying to tell her. She becomes my in-home prototype tester. If she gets what I am trying to say, I know I am heading in the right direction. If what she sees is not even close, I know I have to regroup and try again.

Nature's artwork

Images can help make that experience more powerful because they help us connect better with our audience."  (Reynolds)

There was a batch of storms that hit where I lived yesterday.  Although not completely destructive, the wind and hail was enough for a person to take notice.  My brother said it was horrible out when he came home from work and about how he had a hard time seeing to drive home.

After the storms were over, I had to go pick something up at the store, and noticed this on my driver side backseat door of my car.  It was not attached to anything, just stuck by the force of the wind.  Obviously, my brother could have said how bad the wind was until he was blue in the face, but until I saw this twig/leaves attached to my car, just from the power of the wind I took notice. 

As the quote states, images always help explain something that others may not know the severity of because of not being there.  A lot of times on fan forums I visit, someone will claim something about an actor or an actress, and the first comment is usually, "picture or it didn't happen."  It was somewhat the case with my brother.  Yes, I heard the thunderstorm, but it seemed like every other normal summer storm.  Even though it was not the worse storm damage I have seen (I vacationed through a hurricane in Cape Cod) the twig on the side of my car got my attention.

My Love of Knitting/Crocheting

 

"Design is not an art, although there is art in it.  Artists can, more or less, follow their creative impulses and create whatever it is they want to express."  (Reynolds)

It is an interesting story about how I got into knitting and then crocheting.  During a gym class in my Junior year of high school, I hurt my finger.  It was "let's learn how to catch a football day!"  About five minutes into the class, my friend threw the football at me, and I caught it wrong.  It took my pinkie and pushed it so it was flat against the back of my hand.  My ring finger was also pushed back, but not as much.  I obviously failed that lesson.  Somehow I did not break any bones, but it swelled quite bad.

Because it was swollen for so long, I slowly lost strength in my whole left hand because I never used it.  I was suggested OT/PT to gain strength back into the hand.  Although I never completely gained control of my pinkie again, they did "trick" my brain to have it move with my ring finger so both collectively work together to help pick up things.  My physical therapist suggested getting into hobbies that will keep my fingers working and exercised.

That's where my love first knitting, then crocheting, started.  It is a great way to be productive while sitting around.  I used to bring needles/hooks to our student newspaper meetings and work on a project as we discussed ideas.  It is a great way to feel productive while watching your favorite TV shows.  

I love the aspect of taking yarn, which is linear, and making something out of it that is useful/fun.  Most people see yarn, I see scarves, or hats, or jewelry pouches.  It has saved me when I have not had time to buy gifts for people (especially thanks to a book of simple and quick gift patterns).  Although I design for classes/career, I will always feel like my favorite way of showing my creativity is through knitting/crocheting.