Fear of failure

Insightful words from the legendary graphic designer, Milton Glaser. This doesn't only apply to graphic designers but to all of us. Embrace failure.

Words to consider

Some phrases I live by and chose to stylize:

As a designer I think these phrases are vital. You truly must create and create often to challenge yourself and grow. You must also remain authentic and set goals as well as reach those goals. If you are not authentic you are not harnessing your full potential. Without goals, where is your work going? It's one thing to make something that just looks cool or aesthetically pleasing but if you don't have a goal in mind or a reason for what you're doing then it has no real value. These phrases apply to any number of disciplines, not just art or design, they can benefit all of us.

Things I'm enjoying at the moment

Spring break is 1 week away which means I have a plethora of things to accomplish this weekend (studying for 2 exams, finalizing 2 design projects, and preparing a presentation). To prevent stress overload, I have been taking some time this afternoon to entertain myself. Let me share with you what I am enjoying right this moment.

Tame Impala - Why Don't You Make Up Your Mind (Erol Alkan Rework).
Great song, really loving the nice balance of indie and dance vibes going on here. The guitar distortion reminds me of songs by Ratatat.

Gucci Vump - Shashtilism.
This is a funky tech house song that makes me feel like I'm back in Europe catching a train through Switzerland or rubbing elbows with locals in Amsterdam. I have been really getting into these minimal techy songs lately.

Let the Children Techno (Compiled and mixed by Busy P and DJ Mehdi)
My favorite French electronic label, Ed Banger Records, just released a compilation. If you have been reading my blog over the years you know how much I love Ed Banger and all of the associated artists. This compilation is fantastic and offers contributions from a lot of DJs/producers outside of the Ed Banger collective as well. Plenty of funky weirdness going on here.

Rubber, a film by Quentin Dupieux (Mr. Oizo from Ed Banger Records).

I have been covering this film for over a year just waiting with anticipation and it's finally available on-demand tonight. Quentin Dupieux is one of my favorite Ed Banger artists. He's a visionary and has a very unique style of music and film. This movie is about a tire that gains powers and goes on a murderous rampage. It may sound ridiculous to most but the film is really more of a commentary about the whole movie-going experience.

Aside from the above, I'm enjoying the adage.com re-design, my new obsession with Tumblr, browsing friendsoftype.com for inspiration, and scratching things off of my to-do list. I have also been extremely entertained by listening to music while looking at dancing .gif images like this one:

How are you enjoying your Friday afternoon/evening? Anything exciting going on in your world at the moment? Any cool finds? Let me know. I hope you enjoyed the randomness of this post. I often have moments where I'm so entertained by a number of things that I just have to share them with people.

Ciao

Quick update

I have been blogging pretty minimally lately for a few reasons.

a) I am dabbling in the tumblr blogosphere. So far I like it a lot. It's to the point, easy, and often quite inspiring. I still can't decide if I want to switch over to tumblr exclusively or just add it to the list of social networking mediums I use.

b) It's the end of the semester. I have been pretty overwhelmed with school projects lately i.e. group work, designs, presentations, huge papers, more designs, more stress, etc. etc. etc. Things are wrapping up though. This week is the last week of classes then it's finals week (yay).

c) Various other jargon. I have been taking care of business for my internship, organizing other aspects of my life, and trying to live a little on top of everything going on. I went to a Skrillex concert on Friday. The venue was trash and the crowd was annoying but Skrillex was awesome once again. This was followed by  a massive DJ set I performed on Saturday, it was truly massive.

In other news, my friend comes home tomorrow from his four month study abroad experience in England! I went on the same program last Fall so I'm eager to see him and talk about the experience. I'm sure the posts will pick up on here over the next few weeks but until then, feel free to kill time by listening to my November mix ;)

Field Report: Madison, WI

I am on a mini-vacation in Wisconsin visiting a friend in Madison and soon heading to Milwaukee. Conveniently, I forgot to bring my camera so I have no pictures to show (yet) but I do have some words to share. I arrived yesterday evening and after settling in we took a walk around the city. We stopped for dinner at Great Dane, a pub downtown, where I feasted on a portobello mushroom sandwhich that reminded me of the one I ate at The Villager in Edinburgh, Scotland a year ago. It was delicious and the pub was nice.

Later in the evening, we roamed around the capitol a bit where I was grabbed by a random man who asked me to take a picture with him. It was one of the most awkward situations I have ever been in. This guy came out of nowhere and looked nice enough but still had a massive creeper vibe going on. I had no idea how to respond to him and before I could say anything he was pulling me over to a fountain for the photo. All I could think of was "what website will my face end up on?" and "am I going to die?" I ended up turning away completely ruining the photo in an effort to conceal my identity and he was absolutely fine with that. It was beyond bizarre.

The evening ended in a very nice pub serving a massive quantity of worldly ales and lagers that brought me back to England. I spent most of today down by the lake reading The Onion and listening to a DJ who was playing in the park (which I thought was random but it was pretty cool nonetheless). It's been a very refreshing escape from the realities of my hectic life even though I am only five hours from home. Tonight we will be heading to Milwaukee so expect another field report soon.

CONTINUED...
Milwaukee was a blast. It was my second time there and the evening included some great company, good laughs, German lager, nice weather and of course, some hammerschlagen. The following morning I feasted on a Canadian favorite... poutine. For those of you who haven't heard of it, poutine consists of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds piled on a plate. Trust me, it's quite amazing. The remainder of Saturday included a walk near lake Michigan during some phenomenal weather and a trip through a haunted forrest back near Madison later that night (where I screamed like a baby). All together, it was a great weekend and a much needed break. As with most fun outings, I wish it lasted longer buts it's nice to be home and I am looking forward to the Deadmau5 show on Wednesday.

Movin' on up

I just landed an internship with AD2 as a brand ambassador for the Student Advertising Summit.  Pretty excited about it since it is directly related to my field and will offer some amazing networking opportunities. I find out more info soon. Our first meeting is Saturday morning over at Periscope in Minneapolis.

All moved in with training under way

It's back to school season again and my final year of college is about to begin. I moved into my house back at school yesterday and aside from general adjusting among a few other things, it's turning out pretty descent.  This is my first time living in a house on my own rather than a dorm or apartment so it's going to be a pretty different year in that regard. My room is the smallest one in the house but I am totally fine with that since my rent is cheaper than what I was paying for my lackluster apartment last year.

My room is in the basement and already my allergies are running rampent because of it. Hopefully it's just a result of moving in and kicking up dust but I wouldn't be surprised if there is mold in the walls... My bathroom/shower area is awkward down here because it shares the laundry room so I spent a few hours deep cleaning/bleaching it all. I have a few other things in mind to make it more comfortable but overall the house is really not bad at all and I actually have cable and internet in my room unlike in my apartment.

The reason I moved in this week is because I have internship training until Thursday, but classes don't start until next Monday. I talked about my internship a bit in this post if you want to take a look. Training began bright an early at 8am this morning with some general welcoming chats followed by the Fall 2010 Convocation presented by the President of SCSU and other staff. This was my first time attending Convocation, although it is open to everyone. It was actually really interesting to hear what has been and will be going on behind the scenes with SCSU.

After Convocation, we (the interns, graduate assistants, and CSOLD leadership) went over some more logistics and specifics of the department and ended the day with plenty of team building activities. For it being a 9 hour day with minimal sleep the night before and tons of ice breakers/team builders that I have played time and time again while working for parks and recreation and SCSU residential life, it was actually pretty fun. The other interns and the rest of the CSOLD team seem very nice and I see myself really enjoying this internship. One day of training down, two to go. I plan on posting various updates throughout the semester regarding my progress and experiences with this internship so stay tuned.

In other life news: Heading to my first Twins game at the new field on Friday night!

Memories of Paris

The strengths of Robert James

Personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, values, etc. all make up who we are and even if we think we know exactly what we're all about it's still cool to learn more or have it reinforced.  In preparation for an upcoming internship with my university's Center for Student Life and Leadership Development, I was asked to complete a strengths quest.  This was an online assessment which asked a series of questions to which I would answer on a scale ranging from "neutral" to "strongly describes me".  It wasn't too different from most personality/skills assessments out there but the results were pretty spot on and in depth. Based on my responses I was assigned 5 of 34 themes. Check em out:

RELATOR

People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.


Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

RESPONSIBILITY

People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.


Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

INTELLECTION

People who are especially talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.


You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the “muscles” of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person’s feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.

RESTORATIVE

People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.


You love to solve problems. Whereas some are dismayed when they encounter yet another breakdown, you can be energized by it. You enjoy the challenge of analyzing the symptoms, identifying what is wrong, and finding the solution. You may prefer practical problems or conceptual ones or personal ones. You may seek out specific kinds of problems that you have met many times before and that you are confident you can fix. Or you may feel the greatest push when faced with complex and unfamiliar problems. Your exact preferences are determined by your other themes and experiences. But what is certain is that you enjoy bringing things back to life. It is a wonderful feeling to identify the undermining factor(s), eradicate them, and restore something to its true glory. Intuitively, you know that without your intervention, this thing—this machine, this technique, this person, this company—might have ceased to function. You fixed it, resuscitated it, rekindled its vitality. Phrasing it the way you might, you saved it.

EMPATHY

People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.


You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament—this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings—to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

I think these themes are pretty accurate and aside from the brief summaries above, each theme also listed numerous action items or terms that define the themes even further.  All of this was pretty darn interesting.  I needed an access code from my university in order to take this assessment but if you want to learn more about yourself there are a lot of free variations.

Recently...

My 4th year of college is behind me, Summer is half over, I have been jobless since I moved back home (regardless of applying for countless positions since February) and life in general has been uneventful.  I have been spending my days hanging around or working out and improving my DJing skills among other things.  For the past month or so I have been preparing for a fashion show that I will be co-hosting and DJing.  As of right now it is scheduled for a tentative date of July 16th, you should all come and help out if you happen to be near Northbranch, MN (it is a fundraiser fashion show put on by Maurice's clothing store).  The remainder of the summer will fly by as it always does and I will be back in St. Cloud for my final (finally) year of school.

It's funny how things pan out each summer.  I always have full intentions of doing fun things, taking trips, meeting up with friends from all over, etc. etc.  I haven't accomplished much of that at all this year.  I did manage to make it out to a concert to see none other than Dj Mehdi, one of my favorite acts on the Ed Banger Label from Paris, alongside Henry Riton.  Together they put on a show under the name of their current collaboration project, Carte Blanche.  It was phenomenal and I was able to shake Dj Mehdi's hand!  I felt like a little school girl meeting Justin Bieber.  It was a highlight to say the least as I am unhealthily obsessed with the entire Ed Banger Records crew.  Maybe you are too, but if you're not you should at least check them out.

One week until I leave the country!

I cannot believe I only have one week left here in the states before heading off to England for 4 months. This summer has been so hectic that I have just wanted my departure to get here ASAP so I can leave this place but now I am wishing I had more time ahead of me! I am not even taking extra time off from work, I will be working this whole week and then busy all day Saturday so that only leaves me with two free days before leaving! It's so crazy how fast the summer went and how much has happened in the past 3 months. I feel like I am so beyond out of time right now, there are so many people I want to make sure to hang out with during this next week... It is going to be really hard being that I work until 9pm everyday but I'll be trying my hardest. I also have plenty of preparing and such to do, what a week it will be! Anyway, I have another blog fired up at http://eurorobosphere.blogspot.com/ for my trip abroad. It is very bare right now but I will be updating it with a new template and posts as soon as I get overseas. I will still blog on this blog but most, if not all, of my Europe related happenings will be discussed at the new blog. Stay tuned!

Where are you Robert?

I haven't blogged in a bit thanks to recent events and personal happenings that I would rather not share via the Internet, at least not for now. Let's just keep it simple and say I have a ton to do and a ton to figure out within the next month before leaving for England. Until then I will be trying to accumulate as much money as possible from work. This also means I will most likely be blogging a lot less for the next few weeks as I try to keep my priorities straight. I don't expect to give it up for good since it is a good release/time waster/outlet to keep my mind off things bothering me. Also, if things go as planned I will be launching my next blog shortly before leaving the U.S. and it will be dedicated solely to my experiences abroad. Thanks gang, and if you have nobody else to pray for, pray for me :)