Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/wp-content/themes/petrostudio-llc/divi-children-engine/functions/divi-mod-functions.php on line 75
petrostudio LLC https://petrostudio.com/ A multi-disciplinary design studio. Wed, 10 Feb 2021 15:25:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://petrostudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/cropped-ps_square_512-32x32.png petrostudio LLC https://petrostudio.com/ 32 32 Let’s have a chat. https://petrostudio.com/2021/02/10/lets-have-a-chat/ Wed, 10 Feb 2021 15:21:46 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/2020/04/21/support-your-local-designer-2/ Through most of 2020, we have been in upheaval and lockdown at the same time. Staying home more, probably wearing sweatpants more, and fretting less about work/life balance and more about life/work balance. It is why I spent a bunch of time last year thinking of how best to re(introduce) myself to the world. I […]

The post Let’s have a chat. appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Through most of 2020, we have been in upheaval and lockdown at the same time. Staying home more, probably wearing sweatpants more, and fretting less about work/life balance and more about life/work balance. It is why I spent a bunch of time last year thinking of how best to re(introduce) myself to the world.

I was a Design major in college many moons ago (Communications Design, to be precise) with a painting “concentration”, since there was no “minor” available in the art program at Syracuse. I always loved to just create stuff, and over the years I have been an actor, director, filmmaker, writer, improvisor and more. And during all that time I always told myself I would get back to drawing at some point.

You get rusty, though.

In late 2019 I stumbled upon Bardot Brush. Lisa Bardot is an artist and mother that has built a business designing brushes and creating tutorials for Procreate, one of the best drawing apps for iPad. Specifically, I found her Making Art Everyday program, which essentially is just a set of prompts for… making art, you know, every day.

So, starting January 1, 2020, I did start doing just that. Not all the prompts are fabulous (sorry Lisa) and not all the drawings that come out of my brain and hands are, either… but some of them, not awful.

Sometimes I draw from my dumb brain, and sometimes from reference. Sometimes I trace an image and stylize it. Sometimes I just make up a creative interpretation of the prompt. Some take an hour or more, some 10 minutes. But none of that is the point. The point is, I have nearly 400 different images to date that I created… that weren’t there the day before.

So what to do with this crap? Er, stuff. Art. Yeah, what to do with this art?

Let’s back up. Mid-2020 I decided to create some promotional materials for myself and my business. After a bunch of hifalutin ideas, I settled on some core principals that I always apply to branding and marketing work. First, it’s gotta be useful – can’t just create something that is neat but that people may not necessarily keep. Second, it has to reflect my (or the client’s) personality – it must be in the right voice. And third, it has to be fun – the most clever marketing/commercials, for the most part, are memorable not because they make you think (nobody really likes to do that) but because they bring you joy.

Oh, and that’s been part of my 2020 and beyond, too. Joy. Just finding it every day and promoting it to others (in life, in relationships and especially on social media… ugh.)

So, what do you do? This.

I can’t tell you what this is without giving away the baby with the bathwater, but needless to say, if you ask I might send you one. It’s useful, it’s full of my personality, and it is fun.

Oh right, and then you create a little sizzle reel in a day that you watch later and go, “Hey, that’s not half-bad” to yourself. Which is huge because an artist usually hates all his own stuff.

I am so incredibly inspired by the work that my former classmates, work colleagues, family and friends do – and often incredibly jealous as well. I doubt my own self-worth and talents as an artist when I see their work, which is, I think, the best thing to be. After all, how do you get better if you don’t look to people that are way better than you are?

Just out of Syracuse alone in the mid-nineties, I can name many classmates that have gone on to create their own agencies, develop their own art or contribute to major brands like Apple, Fitbit, Facebook and more. I work with people regularly that create branding, events and more that are awe-inspiring. And I see friends and family that have their own amazing personal projects – from taking street photographs to making candles.

It all makes me jealous, oh so jealous, of their talent and creativity.

And so 2020 was the (re)start of my own. And 2021 is hopefully the growth of that. Let’s have a chat, see what we can do to make stuff – useful stuff, fun stuff – together.

The post Let’s have a chat. appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Support your local designer https://petrostudio.com/2020/04/21/support-your-local-designer/ Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:04:32 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=3463 The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is impacting people everywhere. Some are out of jobs, others furloughed or reduced in hours. Thank goodness for people working in healthcare, public service, delivery and grocery at this time. But hit, and hit hard, is a group of folks we don’t hear much about – freelance artists. Depending on the […]

The post Support your local designer appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is impacting people everywhere. Some are out of jobs, others furloughed or reduced in hours. Thank goodness for people working in healthcare, public service, delivery and grocery at this time. But hit, and hit hard, is a group of folks we don’t hear much about – freelance artists.

Depending on the source and day, current US unemployment seems to be anywhere from 13 – 18%, and likely rising. But here’s a more shocking number: reported at Fast Company from a survey conducted by the Freelancers’ Union, 85% of freelancers at the time of writing were getting work cancellations, and 91% expected a reduction in income.

Now, work cancellation doesn’t necessarily mean ALL work is cancelled, but many freelancers are contracted almost entirely by single companies, or a few companies in an industry. When that industry shuts down, so does all that work. The events industry, from which most of my work derives, is decimated at this time. I know personally of at least two large event companies that are expecting a massive percentage of their income to go away, and therefore have furloughed hundreds if not thousands of people – some of which I have known to be at their respective companies for 20+ years.

And the freelancers that these companies normally hire per project? They are the first to go.

Now, some good news… unfortunately bookended by some bad – the CARES act, and other stimulus plans in the works, for the first time help self-employed people more easily file for unemployment. That’s great, and a big help for a lot of people. Unfortunately, many states don’t have the infrastructure in place to support those filings as of yet. I know personally, in Arkansas, you simply get put on a mailing list, and they will inform you when they are ready for you to file. And who knows, at that time, how the filing process will work. I know a few folks who either had a great deal of trouble trying to file in their states, or did so weeks ago and still haven’t seen anything.

There’s an increasing call on social media and in local news to support local businesses. Order food, buy goods, etc., from those small businesses in your area that are impacted by the shutdowns. That’s a great idea. Supporting folks in your communities will help build trust, a support network and often allow you to get to know new people in your towns and cities you would not otherwise.

But freelance artists are also local businesses. You just may not know about them.

See, freelancers take the work where they can get it and, often, that’s not from around the corner. The freelance world is largely word-of-mouth, and since we can work from “anywhere,” we often get work from everywhere. My biggest clients are in Indiana, New York and California. My team of freelancers that I regularly hire are in Florida, Minnesota, Virginia and Michigan. You find good people and you stick with them.

And when they lose their jobs, they lose everything. They pay for their own health insurance. They pay double the taxes taken out of your checks every week. They buy their equipment and office supplies out of their own pockets. They aren’t furloughed, with a promise to be hired back after the lull. They are, simply, draining the coffers.

So what’s the point? The point is… you have freelancers in your cities and states, right now, who are out of work. Or, perhaps, they have a much reduced workload. Find them. Support them. Hire them. They will take the work. And pay them what they ask for. No, you aren’t going to get a logo done for your new business idea for $50 like “that site online” says you can. I know. And that’s a subject for another time, but for now, know that $50 doesn’t pay for that designer’s experience, expertise and personal touch.

It is a relationship. Two way. Find the local folks and use them. Because these people usually do work all over the world, for companies big and small, companies you know. And you might be shocked to learn about your new designer friend’s contributions on that global scale.

Google them. It is easy, search “MYCITY freelance graphic designer” or “MYTOWN freelance design” or “i need a logo who can design it in MYTOWN” or ANYTHING. Ask your friends for references. Check out Facebook and LinkedIn. Find the folks, many sitting at computers next door banging their heads against keyboards and waiting for something, anything to hit their inboxes.

And frankly, that extends to designers of all ilks – landscape, interior, graphic, video… all these people are experts, and all of them are hurting, too.

You need them, they need you. Yes, we aren’t doctors or nurses or first responders or essential workers, but we could use the help and we can help you, too.

So buy local.

The post Support your local designer appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
good/cheap/fast… pick two https://petrostudio.com/2020/01/10/good-cheap-fast-pick-two/ Fri, 10 Jan 2020 12:00:50 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=3426 The post good/cheap/fast… pick two appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>

I don’t know where the phrase first originated, but this has been one of a few mantra (mantras, mantri?) I feel like I am always saying over and over to anyone that will listen. It is of paramount importance to designers.

My grandfather had a Rolex watch. At least, that’s what he told everyone. If I remember correctly, however, a Rolex’s second hand turns smoothly. His ticked. That was a sign of a knockoff. But he would wink and tell you it wasn’t a “Rolecks”, it was the real deal.

The work of designers, and even more so of photographers, has been devalued in the last ten years or more. With so many avenues available on the internet for people to “create your own logo” and other tools, including motion graphics, collateral design and stock photography, people have multiple ways to create marketing materials for their companies.

But an old adage is “you get what you pay for.” This is apparent in the clothes we buy, the appliances we have, the computers we use. You can get cheap stuff these days, but is it “made like it used to be?” Nope.

Don’t be surprised when that “Apppple” computer starts puffing black smoke in the middle of a render.

Google the concept and you get a laundry list of pictures like the above and articles from a variety of industries on the subject. This one at Medium does a great job of breaking down the concept, and (albeit from a tech project perspective, but it applies to anything) discussing how to deal with the third spoke of the triangle that you deem less important). A great idea in the article speaks to agile processes:

…with an agile process you’re not choosing a fixed end point, you’re choosing a process to solve a problem.

This is a fundamental part of design that is missing a lot, in my experience, these days as well. Designers are experts in their field, and are brought to bear, supposedly, for that expertise. You would never go to a doctor, get a diagnoses and treatment regimen and say, “You know what, I think you are going to do this instead, Doc.” Unless you are a crazy person (you aren’t a crazy person, are you) you are going to defer to the expert. Not that there aren’t “good” experts and “not-so-good” experts, but hop in the boat with me while I make my point.

Most people want fast + cheap. They want it now, and they want it to not cost them a lot. We are all guilty of it. I think about this whenever I hire a plumber or landscaper. “Boy, that seems like a lot of money for that” always crosses my mind. But then I try to think about my own work, and what I charge for my services. And then I pay that contractor for good and fast, sacrificing cheap. Because that is what I want.

And remember, design is a service, believe it or not. It is not a product – a logo or video or whatever – it is the service of creating that thing. It is not the pretty thing you create. You can tell yourself that, and get a kick out of doing great work. But if you want to do good work and get paid well to do it, you need to stick to your guns on cost. And if your client wants it good, they have to sacrifice time or money. Otherwise they are getting a knockoff product. And you aren’t a knockoff, are you?

So, agile. Say a client wants a huge marketing push for their biz, but doesn’t have the budget to support it all at once. Parse it out, in stages. We’re good at that. Or the client has a huge budget and needs an event planned in three weeks. Rely on simple ideas and executions that achieve the goals quickly, but maybe aren’t going to grace the pages of Graphis.

So, if I client needs something good, and cheap, and fast, they are going to have to de-prioritize something. And they are going to have to trust their designer’s expertise to help them do that (I drew a diagram for you at the top, if you need a reference). That is the agile process. “I know you said you want A, B and C, but let’s think about A, B and X. That’s going to get you closer to what you need.” Replace the variables with actual words that make sense.

But for lots of people, they want to drive. They don’t want to use their experts and defer to their expertise. I once had a colleague ask me to quote him a logo/letterhead package for his multi-million dollar business. In the end, he went to an online service that would charge him $50 for it. Later, when showing me what he got, he shrugged and said, “It’s ok.” That’s right, it is “ok.” It was fast and cheap and that was what he valued more than good. But it was not good.

So, don’t sell yourselves short. Your time is valuable. Your skills are valuable. Your costs are valuable. And potential clients need to decide what two of those things they value as well. And it is ok to turn down work if it doesn’t meet those requirements.

Some people are ok with “Gukki” bags, after all.

The post good/cheap/fast… pick two appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
evolution https://petrostudio.com/2018/08/05/evolution/ Sun, 05 Aug 2018 18:54:38 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2915 Since about this time last year I’ve been keeping a diary of sorts. So high school. It has been a collection of thoughts about the evolution of my life in my 40s. It is not all good, but not all bad, either. It is mostly embarrassing. My “Train of Thought,” as I call it, is […]

The post evolution appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Since about this time last year I’ve been keeping a diary of sorts. So high school. It has been a collection of thoughts about the evolution of my life in my 40s. It is not all good, but not all bad, either. It is mostly embarrassing.

My “Train of Thought,” as I call it, is mostly a collection of realizations about myself. It was also a way of processing through the stages of grief as my relationship deteriorated around me. It was a way for me to look at myself and examine what brought me to this point in my life and where to go from here.

I looked at my personal life, how I dealt with family and friends and strangers, and tried to get to the root cause of why I behaved the way I did. A lot of things came up, like bottling emotions (some clever references to Spock and The Incredible Hulk seemed appropriate), examining personality types (INTJ) and what it means to be a father to children on the autism spectrum. I thought about my marriage, my childhood, my career and a lot of other things. I spoke (to myself?) about my body image, my wants and desires and where I wish to go in life.

It is ongoing, and reassuring. I’m not sure, if anything, will ever be made of it, but it is enlightening.

I’ve come to realize that I get very lonely the first couple days without my kids. I get restless. I am never sure of what to do with myself. It is simply because I have been a big part of taking care of them, every day, for a very long time. I’m also a lot more involved than the “traditional” dad. That being said, it is also, I am loathe to admit, nice to have a little “break” now and again. Not from the kids themselves, but from the personal responsibility for all of their needs – it is simply nice to wake up a little later in the morning than usual.

I also used to think I was a curmudgeon that perhaps shouldn’t be in a relationship at all. I was perfectly comfortable by myself, and didn’t need constant socialization to thrive. I also hated traveling and would do anything I could to get back home as early as possible from a work trip. Since examining myself, I learned that those assumptions weren’t always true. Yes, I do just fine alone, but also really like to connect to people, especially when working. I actually have come to enjoy the travel, particularly when I get to socialize with friends, and realize the reason for the opposite feeling was from external pressure. Finally, giving myself permission to be lazy was something I was wanting to do while always active with work, kids and errands, and now that I have more “me” time, I find I want to instead fill it with other things, like taking care of the house or reading more.

One of the main things I have thought about is transition. Life is a constant transition, but typically very slowly. Growing up, you have these tentpoles of change – 16, 18, 21, etc. But then, in your adult life, it slows down. 30, 40, 50… life is slower, and unless you force or are forced to really make a change, you often just let life slip by you without thought. I guess that is why, in one’s forties, people are often said to be having mid-life crises. Losing weight (did that), exercising more (yep) and buying sports cars (avoided that one) are some of the hallmarks. I’ve learned that “itch” at this age is, for me, due to that realization, for the first time in my life, that life is not necessarily all ahead. At this stage, statistically, we are closer to the end than the beginning. A sobering thought, and where some may just shrug their shoulders and carry on, many of us look at it as a wake-up call to move. Get out, do something, anything, to enjoy life.

So, that’s where I am now. Trying to enjoy life. Trying to stop avoiding conflict or stress or emotions, and instead trying to learn about myself more and more. There are still chores to be done (laundry doesn’t do itself) and boys to take care of (put on your shoes) but taking care of this boy should be my job, not anyone else’s.

I guess I’m growing up. Took long enough.

 

The post evolution appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
forty-four https://petrostudio.com/2018/03/18/forty-four/ Sun, 18 Mar 2018 04:33:03 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2903 I posted about this on Facebook recently, the significance of the number 44 at my alma mater, Syracuse. Today, I am 44 years old and, since this year has been full of significant changes, I thought I’d explore why my college days (and more) have little importance to me now. Many player have worn the […]

The post forty-four appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
I posted about this on Facebook recently, the significance of the number 44 at my alma mater, Syracuse. Today, I am 44 years old and, since this year has been full of significant changes, I thought I’d explore why my college days (and more) have little importance to me now.

Many player have worn the number 44, but the most well known are three African-American running backs – Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, and Floyd Little. It is significant to the school for many reasons, and the number 44 adorns stores, sports paraphernalia and stadiums. When I attended Syracuse from 1992 to 1996, I loved going to football, basketball and lacrosse games, and immersed myself in the history of the school and the culture of a diverse University.

I lived in South Bend, Indiana from 3 to 13 years old. Notre Dame was an important part of my life, and how I saw the “college” experience. I spent many days in the stadium, looking at Touchdown Jesus, drinking in the lore and emotion of ND football. I walked the campus many times, and marveled at how large and beautiful it was. I wanted to attend ND, but they did not have a graphic design program in undergrad at the time, by my recollection. And so, I looked elsewhere, at big Universities that would have beautiful campuses, sports teams and yet a fantastic art program.

And so I entered Syracuse as a Communications Design major – widely reputed as the second-hardest major at the school behind architecture. And the it lived up to the reputation. I spent late nights in the studio and computer lab (and often in the common areas with friends), and got season tickets to SU games. And though I had some fantasies of life on campus that I never fully realized, mostly due to the amount of free time I seemed to NOT have, I believe I had the college experience I dreamed of as a child.

At least, I think I did. Time does funny things to you as you get older, especially in the digital age. I remember my grandparents, who could not remember where they put their glasses any given morning, recalling with perfect detail a moment from their childhood. It was uncanny how the story would be picture-perfect at every telling. And yet, I find that for myself, memories get locked away sometimes, only to emerge (sometimes) with a prompt from an old friend.

I believe this is due mainly to the amount of knowledge and information available today, all trying to find purchase in a brain that used to have input a fraction of the density. My generation, Generation X, grew up as the technology today did. We know what it was like seeing the dawn of the internet as we were in college. We saw the rise of computing power in our first jobs mid-twenties. And we saw the advent of the smartphone during a time in our careers, our mid-thirties, where we were rising up the ranks. So we have memory of a time before information, where you had to remember three phone numbers, to an overabundance, where we have hundreds of passwords.

For me, the demarcation line is 9/11. September of 2001 does strange things to my space-time continuum. I often mistake events that occurred before for after and vice-versa. And that date also corresponded with things like the iPod, devices that at the time were revolutionary, but highly resemble the things we take for granted today – thousands of things (songs, articles, whatever) at your literal fingertips.

And so, I think back to college. I can remember a lot of fond details. But there are others, I’m sure, that are locked behind a paywall in my brain, waiting for a friend like Al or Becky to jog them loose. It bothers me, as I love knowledge, and I love information, and want to cram as much into my brain as possible. But I suppose my mind just does a little compress-and-archive at times, which I can’t help. Like Sherlock Holmes, I guess the pertinent information remains, the rest can fall by the wayside.

And so now I’m 44. A number of great significance to my alma mater. And like many things that were once important to me that have been forgotten or cast aside, I am trying to regain some of what I once was, rediscover “Peter” again. And I can add that to the list – my days at Syracuse, and the memories archived in my mind.

Anyone out there have a Zip Drive that can help a brother out?

Image from syr.edu

The post forty-four appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
remix https://petrostudio.com/2018/03/12/remix/ Mon, 12 Mar 2018 19:15:40 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2893 I get a wild hair across my backside from time to time in regards to my website and branding, thinking, “I should just burn it all to the ground and start again.” But then the prospect of doing all that work sets in. “Maybe just a controlled burn,” sounds a bit more comforting. DaVinci is […]

The post remix appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
I get a wild hair across my backside from time to time in regards to my website and branding, thinking, “I should just burn it all to the ground and start again.” But then the prospect of doing all that work sets in. “Maybe just a controlled burn,” sounds a bit more comforting.

DaVinci is credited as saying, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” It cannot be more true for the artist’s brand itself. I have never finished a new logo, business card, letterhead, website and whatnot for myself and NOT thought, “I don’t like any of that.” I immediately want to start again.

And I typically do, just throwing the baby out with the bathwater and beginning again. Certain technologies made this an easy decision – once Flash was a huge draw to the web, with the (at times very limited) ability to do animation and movement effects for a site. I used Flash a lot in those days, from websites to interactive projects, and to some success. But updating a Flash site was a pain. Enter Dreamweaver!

Now you could design whatever you wanted with these software platforms – Dreamweaver, Frontpage, iWeb, etc. But the code was a mess, and since load times were important (pre-broadband), this was a sloppy way to create sites. I was not a programmer, so these were the only options. Enter WordPress!

CMS systems and the advent of high-speed internet (can’t we drop the “high-speed” moniker now?) changed the landscape again. Then there was social media and beyond. Now, a web presence is easier to have then it ever was. And yet, I find myself still lagging behind.

A website is a job, really, in and of itself. Putting out content, making sure portfolios and service pages are up-to-date and accurate, keeping fresh on social media – it is daunting, still. And yet, here we are, once again starting to rebrand the site and my whole online presence.

But this time, I think the bathwater is the thing to go. The baby is good. The baby is smart. She doesn’t need to go. But the blanket I’ve been wrapping her in for some time, maybe that could use an update. Enter … !

The post remix appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
What the eff were you thinking? https://petrostudio.com/2017/12/25/what-the-eff-were-you-thinking/ Mon, 25 Dec 2017 15:25:14 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2869 I recently started a bathroom remodel. Actually, I started a bathroom remodel, what I am currently working on is a bathroom gut and replace. Cut and paste. Remove and redo. Whatever, it is broken and I must fix it. It is kind of a parallel to life right now I guess. A while ago I […]

The post What the eff were you thinking? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
I recently started a bathroom remodel. Actually, I started a bathroom remodel, what I am currently working on is a bathroom gut and replace. Cut and paste. Remove and redo. Whatever, it is broken and I must fix it. It is kind of a parallel to life right now I guess.

A while ago I started examining my life and personality. I was wondering why I was so down, so bitter, so curmudgeonly. I figured that was just the way I was for so long, and kind of relished in those facts. I looked at the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and justified a lot of what I thought about myself within that INTJ profile. I rationalized my own brand of Introversion as anti-social and judgmental, and just accepted that it was truth. I was an old fart.

So this bathroom has a built-in vanity. Like they built it there, into the wall, rather than building it as its own piece and setting it in place. It actually was the item holding up a half-wall between it and the toilet – there was nothing securing that barrier to the floor and wall except this vanity. When I ripped it out, I found that the floor and wall had an extra layer around it. The subfloor had an added layer in places, and a second layer of drywall had been added as well. To say I was perplexed would be an understatement.

Part of examining yourself is trying to take an objective look at who you are, from the outside. It is difficult, to say the least, as you are often mired in your everything, which really helps define you and hold you in place. I’ve said for years that, once you reach adulthood, you have a responsibility to look back and figure out what makes you do what you do and make changes as necessary. Too often, we meet people and wonder why they just don’t do that. Do they realize they are being jerks? Do they know they have issues with women/men? Do they know they need to shower? But not everyone has the skills or abilities to do this, to look at themselves. And even those of us with it often don’t turn that critical eye on ourselves as needed. Sometimes what we find is not all that pleasant.

Two of the walls in the bathroom have an extra layer of sheetrock on them. This was to cover up lousy wallpaper. I guess the geniuses that did it had no idea where was such a thing as a wallpaper steamer. No cement board in the shower. Poor sealant all around. It became very clear what was called for was a total gut job, back to the original state.

I learned that I had lost all my creative spark over the last decade or so. I wasn’t writing. I wasn’t creating art. I wasn’t drawing, or shooting, or anything. I wasn’t creating and I wasn’t sure how to start again. A gut-job was required.

And so I’m in the process of gutting it all out. Finding the original construction and building from there. It’s not easy. There are fits and starts, and times of stagnation. The holidays are a tough time, as there is so much “I’ll get to that after all this” is just part and parcel with the season. But once the new year hits, it is back to the bricks. And the sheetrock. And the tub. That toilet must go, too. And a lot more.

I have started writing again. Slowly. Drawing. Dressing like a person. Looking at old work and figuring out what I like to do, what I am good at, what I’m not. A lot of what I find I don’t like, so I’m trying to get back to the original construction.

Too bad there’s not a steamer for that.

Photo by banjipark

The post What the eff were you thinking? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
summahtime https://petrostudio.com/2017/08/11/summahtime/ Fri, 11 Aug 2017 19:44:10 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2857 Until this summer, my kids went to school year-round. They never had a “summer vacation”. And, additionally, neither did their parents. This has severely messed me up. I work for myself, largely from home. This means that during the school year, I am up at 5:30, out at 7 and to the office by 8. […]

The post summahtime appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Until this summer, my kids went to school year-round. They never had a “summer vacation”. And, additionally, neither did their parents. This has severely messed me up.

I work for myself, largely from home. This means that during the school year, I am up at 5:30, out at 7 and to the office by 8. Typically I work through lunch and the day ends around 3 or 4 to get everyone home, do the dinner and homework thing, and collapse into beds around 9. The days are condensed and concentrated, much as they are when working at a full-time job.

I always thought that the main difference between freelance and a full-time job (besides the healthcare, retirement, benefits, paid vacation… boy, this sucks when I think about it), was that you were mainly paid to be in a particular place from 9 to 5. Thinking back to when I was working full-time, often much of the day was spent talking, meeting, even goofing off. Sure, there were times we were solid busy, and even working very late, but the vast majority of time was spent just being in a particular place, little more. We used to joke that our timesheets did not have a job code for “tomfoolery”.

But that seems amplified this summer for me. Kids are home for the most part, with me, and hours of the day, typically spent driving somewhere, are unnecessary. Errands are lighter, and overall the time spent “doing stuff” is much less than during the school year. For me, this makes me uneasy.

Uneasy because much of the day feels “wasted”. Sure, I could fold that laundry over there, but shouldn’t I be here at my desk? I mean, I am here at my desk, working, but it feels like there is a lot more “air” in the day. And the fact is, that’s because there is. There are articles about this phenomenon, from a number of angles, which some call the “summer slump”. And it impacts students as well, obviously. I’ve heard teachers tell me that, once school starts, it takes until October to get kids back to where they were academically when they left school in June. That means, depending on when the school year lands, every year of school is really only about 8 months long at best.

But the summer weather does seem to have an impact. Personally, I think the longer days make them literally “feel” longer, which means that 16 hours of sunlight makes you perceive you need to be doing something at all times. The heat does it to me, too. I am way more productive, focused and impactful when it isn’t so dern hot. As Marie Konnikova writes for the New Yorker:

Summer weather—especially the muggy kind—may also reduce both our attention and our energy levels. In one study, high humidity lowered concentration and increased sleepiness among participants. The weather also hurt their ability to think critically: the hotter it got, the less likely they were to question what they were told.

Well that’s Arkansas in a nutshell. Muggy? Yesterday it was 86% humidity and 96°. Ick. Makes me want to do absolutely nothing. And nighttime is a nightmare. Head to bed around 10 or 11? I’m up until 2 just sitting there, reading, watching, doing anything to make my brain just shut off already. During the school year, that problem is heavily mitigated. Simultaneously, those “big projects” that “I’ve been meaning to do”, they are still there, as well. Summer days are longer, but the malaise of the heat seems to still allow time to just slip by, perhaps even faster.

However, I’ve found myself trying to make inroads on things I have been “meaning to” more. I’ve started researching work, reaching out to people and making contacts. I’ve started writing here and other places more. I’ve started drawing a bit more, something I’ve wanted to “get back to” for a long time. I’ve even started, preliminarily, working on a second language. Good luck with that.

What I find I didn’t do was really appreciate the time I had, home, with the kids. I mean, I enjoy having them around, but the annoyance factor has hidden the joy, at times. Kids need (or think they need) something every 5 minutes. From “I’m hungry”, to “Dad, did you know that cats are furry”, interruptions come in all shapes and sizes. But seeing as this is the first summer hope, with the kids out of school, the whole time, it has taken some time and concentration to try to enjoy it.

And now, the school year starts again. The boys return to school in less than a week, and I imagine work will feel “busy” again shortly thereafter. And, I know, it won’t be long before I am pining for some “downtime”. But, in the end, I think the one thing I learned this summer is that I really don’t want it this way. Those Saturdays at the movies, or Christmas trip to see family… those are real vacation, because they are lovely, calm bookends to “normal life”.

Photo by flequi

The post summahtime appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Hey Siri, where are my shoes? https://petrostudio.com/2017/07/19/hey-siri-shoes/ Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:45:32 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2848 I’m fascinated by people that don’t know anything. Ok, perhaps not anything, but simple things. Like, “How do you get there?” I don’t know about you, but there’s this nifty new invention they call a map. “Where do I get one?” I taught college-aged kids for a short time, and I was fascinated by one particular […]

The post Hey Siri, where are my shoes? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
I’m fascinated by people that don’t know anything. Ok, perhaps not anything, but simple things. Like, “How do you get there?” I don’t know about you, but there’s this nifty new invention they call a map. “Where do I get one?”

I taught college-aged kids for a short time, and I was fascinated by one particular fact – none of them knew how to find out any information on their own. This boggled me, as they all had phones in their pockets and computers on their desks, two items they grew up with all around them. And yet, they didn’t know that you could use them for anything else than Facebook or Snapchat.

I’m from the generation in which computers became prevalent during my young adulthood. I think that puts me in a unique position that people my age and no others have; we know how to look stuff up.

When I was young, and you didn’t know how to change a tire, you asked your dad. Or you looked in one of those Time/Life books. Or you went to the library (which was tough, since you had a flat). But you reached out to others to learn things. Maybe you called the theater to learn the movie times (“Welcome to MovieFone!“) or you opened the paper. You asked a friend how they drew that doodle. You raised your hand in class when you didn’t understand a word. But you asked, you looked for the answers, and sometimes those answers took you a while to find. But you found them.

Today, we have access to information on a colossal scale. And it is information shared by not only professional sources, but amateur as well. People know stuff, and they want to share it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a shaky phone video of a guy explaining how to get some part installed on a vehicle – on not just any vehicle, but my specific year, make and model. In my youth, that was never even dreamable.

But there’s a drawback to this. Several, in fact. For one, some people just don’t know how to find anything. I’ve been asked innumerable times, “How do you find info on <subject>?” It never occurs to many that you can just Google <subject> and find a treasure-trove of information. Secondarily, information itself is at risk. Why learn anything if you can just look it up at a moment’s notice? Why read? Why watch? Why experience things? But the biggest drawback, I think, is that the wealth of information, news and data, complicates life for people, even as it is supposed to simplify and educate them.

I recently had a conversation with a man in his seventies, and he was lamenting the (in his mind) fact that life was much simpler when he was a kid. Things that happen today weren’t happening. We didn’t see all this news about people protesting, and refugees, and terror and whatnot. It was a simpler time.

Except that it wasn’t. But the perception of simplicity was there. Why? Because today, with this wealth of information, you can know what a single person in Cairo is thinking right now, or what is happening in Bangladesh, or how many fisherman are out of work in Alaska. All that stuff was happening “back then”, but you didn’t know about it, because your information resource was a local daily paper 30 pages thick.

So how could you not know anything today? Or be bored? Bored!? It seems to me that, with the preponderance of information and entertainment, there is so much “on” that, at times, it seems like there’s nothing of interest. The bar has been raised. Instead of four channels, we have thousands. Instead of a VHS tape of Annie, we have hundreds of movies streaming RIGHT NOW. Instead of a map, we have fifteen different apps that all tell me the same way to get to the same place.

Google maps, person in the first example.

But unless we embrace the information, and become involved with it, we’ll feel the same way. USE the info, don’t let it use you. Don’t let it suck you in and pull you away from learning a wealth of fascinating info about your street, your town, your world. It’s there, you just have to look for it.

Now excuse me, I must get back to cat videos.

The post Hey Siri, where are my shoes? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
All over again? https://petrostudio.com/2017/07/14/all-over-again/ Fri, 14 Jul 2017 01:39:06 +0000 https://petrostudio.com/?p=2820 Diablo III was released in May of 2012. I played it a bit after launch, but lost interest. Reaper of Souls, the expansion, was released nearly two years later. It vastly improved the game, and I played a bunch more, including the Crusader class. But I fell out with it – it just didn’t hold […]

The post All over again? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>
Diablo III was released in May of 2012. I played it a bit after launch, but lost interest. Reaper of Souls, the expansion, was released nearly two years later. It vastly improved the game, and I played a bunch more, including the Crusader class. But I fell out with it – it just didn’t hold my interest. Then I didn’t play it again for 3 years. I’m playing in again, now. Why?

When a new song comes out that I like, I seem to play it on loop. I have watched the M*A*S*H TV show, fully, several times. Same with 30 Rock. I’ve seen Star WarsThe Princess BrideHot Fuzz and plenty of other movies dozens of times. I’ve read The Lord of the Rings series, Dune, Vonnegut’s books and many others over and over again. According to Neel Burton, in his book “Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions” (which I have not read but sounds interesting) this is because it triggers nostalgic comfort.

And it makes sense, really. I can listen to Dave Matthews Band’s Before These Crowded Streets and I am transported to the Staten Island Ferry, traveling from work in Manhattan in 1998. For some reason, this is a comforting experience, even though I was miserable at the time – having gone through a breakup, working long hours, and not yet having the cash to get my own apartment.

Merriam-Webster defines nostalgia secondarily as:

a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

Which seems about right. But, interestingly, the first definition is “the state of being homesick”, which is strange, because much of my personal nostalgia doesn’t involve “home”, per se, but a draw to the past. Perhaps that past, which is familiar but, if you think about it, remembered more fondly than in the moment, is “home” in a way. Derek Thompson of The Atlantic writes that “…we like something more merely because we’ve been previously exposed to it”. Lucy Collins notes some brief but important points about idealizing the past for The Observer. I’ll come back to this in a different post, I think.

And yes, I’ve come back to games I’ve played before over and over again. But something different seems to happen here. I recently replayed most of Skyrim and Fallout 4. Both of these games (incidentally, both made by Bethesda) were critically acclaimed. I played them all the way through, but was never really “hooked” by them. I enjoyed my time, but they were quite a slog. But, recently, I went back and started replaying both of these games, for some reason. And I put in quite some time with both. And I still didn’t really “enjoy” my time with them. But I didn’t stop.

And so now, D3. It never hooked me, and I didn’t see the value in continuing to play, continuing to level, continuing to get “new loot”, but here I am again, putting time into it. But why? Why does this happen. It’s not nostalgia – I have no euphoric memory triggering happening when I replay these games. Granted, they aren’t terribly old, but then again the video game industry as it exists now isn’t either.

So I’m playing Diablo III. Again. I’m enjoying the Necromancer, but I really don’t see the point. I’m not sure I’m accomplishing anything, or even enjoying it. It’s strange. Oh, well, maybe I’ll just go watch Rogue One. Again.

The post All over again? appeared first on petrostudio LLC.

]]>