Most people think thanks 'round the end of November, but for me it's the New Years that causes me to put on my Janus face.
In the work I've got to do to keep us in house and The Wife™ supplied with diabetes meds, I tend to work holidays. Holidays, as I like to say, are for other people; when most of you who deign read my small ramblings are looking forward to a party of time off, I have get read to go off to do the drudge.
In a way, this is liberating. We celebrate our holidays our way. We had our home Christmas two days after most of the rest of you, and I use New Years not to make resolutions but to look back on the year before and think thanks and kindness about those who've helped smooth my way and those who have done what they could to remove obstacles thoughtlessly thrown in my way by others.
Thanks, then, to the following:
Pariah S. Burke. I've written about him before. He has the site I Am Pariah, where you can see his work; he's had nearly 20 years experience as a creative and has done many of the things I wish I could do. He has been my accidental mentor, and I am in his debt to be able to say that. He's given me the chance to write professionally through QuarkVsInDesign and Designorati. Indeed, if it weren't for him, there would be no such sites and at this point, it's enough to say that I've helped. Thanks to Pariah, I've done actual editing work on an actual book, and my name's in the credits. That alone is more than I've ever done before and it was a hell of a lot of fun.
We are now building Designorati (and I'm thankful for the Team there; you all know who you are) and are steadily gaining altitude. I got in on the beginning and am using it to push my own envelope.
I am doing about as well as I can as a designer without actually having a steady design job (got some irons in the fire though) and that keeps my hopes up and keeps me honing my own craft. And Pariah isn't the only one who's helped, but if it weren't for him, I would be a lot more desparate and discouraged. As it is, I stay hungry. And it's thanks to this unique individual. Thanks, Pariah.
The Wife™ We have about the number of bickerings you'd expect out of marrieds but we get along famously and no matter how we feel about each other we can't imagine life without the other. You can't have the good without the bad, but when you have the bad you always remember that after working through the bad the good's coming.
She's looking for work so I can spend more time looking for design employ. Send her good wishes, will you?
My other friends There are a few friends, especially from my SCA days, that I don't mention enough. Latterly there are two, Leslie and Friday, who have shot me emails and I have yet to answer them (If you're reading this, guys, I know I owe you email replies). Particulary Friday, who I appreciate not nearly enough, keeps an eye out for job openings (thanks for the ref to Columbia Sportwear, Friday!).
Team:Designorati Go to this link, will you, and look at who I get to hobnob with. This is why I'm luckier than most of you.
People who have linked to me Is it a popularity test? Maybe. If so, I'm not playing it well, but I have some pretty special people linking to me, including a couple of heroes. Stan springs to mind because he always is very nice to me and sometimes includes me in some neat things, like Zrharc!. Jeff Fisher is also another person I'd like to grow up to be. He was one of my inspirations to go into design and now that I'm here, he linked to me (defn:nifty). Homopoliticogeek was the first person to link to me, and he comes and goes, but I'll always be grateful for that link because he just did it, didn't tell me or beg for reciprocation, and that's flattering. Stumptown Confidential, pril, Mover Mike have always been extraspecialnice to me and I appreciate that. It makes me feel like I'm liked around here.
There are many others who've pulled for me in their own special ways. If I forget to mention you, it's 'cos it's late in my day, and I'm a bit cotton-brained.
Gerry Rafferty, in the dedication to his landmark album City to City (you know, it's the one with "Baker Street" on it), remarked thanks to all those who helped, and curses to those who hindered.
I'd like to echo that. I'll try to remember everyone I can, as I make my way forward.
By Samuel John Klein of Portland, Oregon - Graphic Designer without Portfolio, aspiring artist who dawdled too long.
4 comments:
hey thanks for the mention ;) One of these days i'll manage to get my art up somewhere around. I have had people tell me i should be designing logos, but i've never been able to work on demand. thats much harder than playing a cheap old bass. hehe.
You are very very welcome, pril.
Take your experience and turn it round; I can design a logo (I am as a matter of fact, begging people for the chance), but I've had a bass guitar for years now and the farthest I've ever gotten on is to learn open strings.
Now, I'll learn to play that axe someday. I love bass. But to me, that's hard.
Where you stand depends on where you sit, you see.
Thank you for all the kind words, Sam. If I weren't so thoroughly swamped working on the redesign/redefinition of Designorati and QuarkVSInDesign.com, I might be inclined to write my own thanksgiving post. If I did, you would be thanked at least as thoroughly as you mentioned me above.
To be candid, I can't imagine Designorati or QuarkVSInDesign.com without you. Although I CAN imagine what it would have been like to write the book without you as my ever vigilant and supportive Tech Editor--and that makes me all the more grateful that it was you.
Christy is fond of saying that relationships and life are a series of peaks and valleys; you cannot appreciate the peaks without the valleys. In marriage especially this is true, but it also applies to starting a new career.
Design work... For what it's worth, every designer has had to pay his dues. Everyone has to figuratively play to the drunken crowd in smoke-filled, dive bars on their way to the record deal. But you do it, every Friday and Saturday night. You load your guitar and amp into the van, drop a demo into the mail on the way to the dive gig, and hope that, at the end of the night, your pay check is more than your bar tab.
You've got talent, skill, and passion, Sam. The only ingredient missing is opportunity, which comes of its own will, in its own good time. Take heart, though: With everything else you're doing, you've cast a broad net with which to ensnare opportunity when it swims close.
Thank you for being my friend and collaborator on so many projects.
Do you people see what postive influence I have to put up with day in and day out?
Good Lord, it's enough to keep me insipired.
Thank you right back, Pariah.
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