A Resolute 2010: The New Year's Resolutions

Everyone has that special set of typical and identifiable New Year's resolutions that can be shared and equally agreed upon. From losing those necessary few inches to climbing the corporate ladder; from getting straight A's to passing the semester-we all have that little list we tell the world; sometimes we manage to pull it off but more often that not, we fail, forget and deny the simple fact that we broke a promise. Not just any promise, mind you. We end up breaking the holy grail of promises-promises made to yourselves.

The New Decade

It has been ten years since we hit that millennium mark and we're standing on the precipice of ten more years, that's three-thousand-six-hundred-fifty days! 3650! Amazing how many days can pass by and we never stumble across its potential. We focus on taking things day by day-a smart decision, mind you-forgetting that every day adds on to a week, month, year, years and further. I would like to say that this last decade has made me wiser like no other. It might just be my age, my time and attempt at serving the United States Army(I failed), and the consequent changes in my life.

Somehow, somewhere, new knowledge sparked through and here I stand, a different, better woman.

The change in my outlook has had an impact on my typical set of resolutions. I want more out of life, I want to do more in life and I would like to be known for doing something-something good.

1^st of The New Resolutions

I had a dream, long ago, to take something as simple as a domain name to show the world what little doodles I managed on pencil and paper. The subject matter then revolved along the simplest line-art, things I saw on the television such as Japanese Animation(Anime) or cartoons. I was self-taught. Now, that art has evolved into a mixture of my love for classical pin-up drawings to comic book style illustrations. I am by no means great at this and I envy others with a better handle of a pencil or pen, with the talent to manipulate a brush or work on an easel-half of which are things I never had the patience to dabble in.

That domain name has been sitting in dust for sometime. It has served no real purpose thus far and I never had the confidence that something like showing my scribbles would eventually lead to a career. I still have the same doubt. You might think that I'm looking for encouragement from readers. Fortunately, my vision is on a grander scale.

After traveling by bus, train and plane, from south coast to east, from Chicago to South Carolina and all the way back to Washington D.C., I witnessed some amazing talents. Talents that are always around us, untapped, ignored or simply didn't have the means to be exposed to a wider audience.

That's it. Right there. Talented, diamonds in the ruff that are trying hard to get somewhere with their work but doesn't have the sponsorship, or even the funds to promote their work. Eventually you see these same people falling into the tedium of a low-paying, hourly job that never let them realize their dreams. Or worse, unemployment.

I sat there and contemplated for a long while on how I could accomplish it. It may take months or years, but it could be done. The idea was there: help those low-income talents get the exposure they deserve around the world.

Not just every artist would get in the website. They will have to meet special criteria such as through an application process with a phone number to be later contacted for validation, a look at their talents and an idea of what my organization can do for them. A process that has a lot of steps to be taken care of on my end than the artist to encourage them than to hand them paperwork that may or may not get filled in.

Finally, the artist will get posted up on the website, featured on the front page with his work available to be viewed or purchased if the artist so wishes to have us marketing his work in purchasable formats. Now he has the exposure he needs, the ability to be contacted by companies interested in hiring him or perhaps something as simple as a small, but additional income to help manage things. Every cent count these days, doesn't it?

In order to get to that final step, I would need one major ingredient: Sponsorship. Sponsors from companies to schools, to personal investors to local encouragement aimed towards particular artists. Funding is something I'll have to look into, as well as website creation, processing and others to help me make this happen.

So look for it in years to come at DrawingWall.com. Perhaps I'll make it into something full blown, incorporating other talents such as vocal and musical acts.

I consider this a resolution to work towards.

2^nd of The New Resolutions

This one isn't big, or life changing. I want to honestly put out an effort to make friends. This might not sound like a resolution worth remembering but I have lived most of my life avoiding something as simple as friendships because of my own fear of facing disappointments. I set my expectations too high and find myself often disappointed.

It took me a long time to realize that life is indeed full of disappointments. Disappointments, in turn, help us grow. To mature.

I would like to declare one thing to any friend I make or pull into my extended family-disappoint away! Or better yet, I welcome you to be a pleasant surprise in my life.

3^rd of The New Resolutions

A list has to have more than two, so dare I say that I may just have a third, perhaps even a fourth, resolution.

I would like to get out more. To travel and experience this country may be a dream shared by just about anyone, but it is a dream I never thought possible. Coming from someone who hates simply going outside the apartment, it's a big, even huge, thing.

I hope to make this possible. I hope to find reason every day to walk outside, even if it's to go carouse the isles at the local grocery store instead of catching the Greyhound across the state to go to the newest Chinese restaurant that opened up. Or maybe it will be an aimless drive with the love of my life from one scenic road to the other.

Time to make it happen!

Life in The Years

Time always propels us forward. Yet, we are the fools that often stop that motion, preventing the future by lingering too much and often too long in the past. We either let it consume us-regretting all the wrong decisions, wondering the What-Ifs and contemplating if the grass is really greener on the other side-instead of cherishing the good memories for that occasional bout of nostalgia on a rainy day.

Life is short. Live. And if time allows, squeeze in a resolution to fit into those size 6 jeans again.

Have a Happy New Year!