The Submarine.

Music brought to you by Whitley.


When I first thought of doing this project, I almost labeled it something with 'agape' in the title. I wanted to focus on love for myself and in turn, love for others. Somehow, that's gotten lost in the past few months. Somehow I've started focusing on the tiny aspects of this project, not the overarching theme of improvement. In the past month, I've regressed into biting my nails, I've become less patient with people, and I've stopped trying to find enlightening songs/quotes for the week. This needs to change. If I want to look at myself in the mirror on June 30th, 2014 and see a changed person, only I can make it happen. There's no room for self-pity or destructive thoughts- only positivity. I don't even remember the last time I reviewed my commandments...


Okay, no more whining. Here are some pictures from the past week. I'm having a blast with this part of the project at least. And I got to spend some time at home with my favorite guitar so I think new songs are on the horizon.

22nd - Flew away for typhoon avoidance. View out the window.

24th - Boring day, but enjoyed the fall weather.

25th - More rain rain rain.

That's all I've got for this week. Be a better human... That's what I need to do.

-Jamie

Buzzcut season.

Music brought to you by Lorde.


I feel like I'm barely doing this project anymore. I can hardly breathe because of work- it's all eat, work, workout, sleep, repeat.


At least meditation has continued and I've kept playing my ukulele or guitar every day. Also, it's been quite helpful listening to Lorde's new album as far as getting ideas for songs to write. She's so young! At 16, it's inspirational that she's found her style and voice. If I listen to her music for an extended amount of time, I just want to get an instrument out and put some words down.



What I need though, is inspiration for this project. It originally started because I needed to find things to make me happy. I've found tons of things. Now I don't know how to keep this going without it being a burden.

Bleh.
-Jamie

Tiderays.

Music by Volcano Choir (a Bon Iver side project).


My iPod is jam-packed with new music. Lately, it just seems to be coming at me from everywhere. Every new person I meet or talk to seems to have a suggestion of things to listen to. Fine by me. Music is inspirational.

One such new artist is 16 year old Lorde. I didn't realize she was the one that sang 'Royals,' but she did and I even like that one. The point is, she's 16 and her lyrics catch my attention. To be so young and full of things to say, with a voice to say them... that's worth watching out for.


I have yet to complete a song that I've started writing all month. I've got about three with music or at least ideas of where to take them, but nothing is really sticking. Maybe I should take the writing outside my room and find somewhere inspirational to finish those up. The major hesitation for me seems to be that I feel like everyone has already said what I want to say. Therefore, why muck up the music world with more words of personal experience? Which leads me to want to say something about the human experience. Which leads to an overwhelming... sadness? I don't have anything to contribute, is what it comes down to in my brain.


Anyway, here are some picture from the past week:

10th - Busy all day, tried to spend some time writing though.

11th - Crew BBQ at midnight.

13th - This is how some people stay awake on night flights at work.

The picture taking continues to be a source of fun for this month. Maybe I'll keep it up throughout the coming months.

Side note- I've decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. It won't happen for about two to three years because I need to get out of the Navy first. But it's going to happen.

Have a lovely week, all.

-Jamie

Pause.

Sorry! The project had to take a little break due to weather- wow, sounds like a cop-out.
But really, there was a typhoon here, so we had to move north for avoidance. Because we only expected to be there a few days, I didn't bring my computer or anything. Then we had to push back the return date because a second typhoon formed.

However, that didn't stop me from working on creativity. In fact, I was able to return to my actual house where all my nice guitars live. So I spent hours and hours playing the guitar and writing music. I also got back into reading. So overall, it was a win for creativity.

I've also been diligent about my picture-a-day project. It's actually been fun thinking about what I could photograph to summarize my day or relay some kind of emotion for that day. I'll include a sample or two below. Maybe I should post all of these pictures collectively somewhere... Yeah, I should do that.


So for my birthday, my sister decided that every month for the next year, she'll send me a book via kindle that we can both read. It's our Sister Fun-Time Book Club. Last month's was a book by Jennifer Davis called Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail. I've always kind of played with the idea of doing this hike. I have a giant book in my living room with the history of the AT laid out with pictures, and this will be the second book I've read about someone hiking it.

I'm toying with the idea even now that I should really do it... The more I think about it, the more possible it really becomes in my mind. I get out of the Navy in two years, what better way to sum up this huge life event than by marking it with another huge life event? Well, I'll keep thinking about it...


Here are some snaps from the past eight days:

10/1 - Ran the sea wall outside base. Neat scuba shack.

10/3 - For weather avoidance, got to go back home. It's autumn weather there.

10/5 - Delicious pumpkin shots from my favorite hookah bar up north, Karma('s).

10/7 - Adorable shoe lockers at a Japanese restaurant.

So there's just a sample of the pictures I've taken in the past week. I love this part of my project.
-Jamie

October: Get creative.

October

Get creative.

- Stay positive at all costs.

- Snap a photo every day.

- Listen to music that inspires.

- Spend at least four hours a week writing in some capacity.

- Play a musical instrument every day.

- Branch out of the norm; go somewhere new to write or play.

- Spend time on stumbleupon and the interwebz looking for inspiration.

Some say creativity is a skill that can be learned. I think that’s crazy talk. I would posit that creativity is not a learnable skill, but rather a thing inside each of us individually that can be stoked and brought to the surface. Every individual human being is born with a bulb of creativity in some form; they recognize it early in life, later in life, or never. But it’s there, regardless of their acting on it.

My whole life, I’ve leaned towards professions that rely on creativity as a necessity. However, I joined the military because I was aware that those kinds of career pursuits didn’t lead me to a comfortable financial life. And in all honesty, I didn’t believe in my own abilities.
Luckily, I ended up with a job in the military that allows my creative juices to flow if I let them, though I hadn’t thought of it that way until just recently. That’s okay though, because I realized it at all. I’ve realized that I don’t have to work with cameras or writing to be creative. I have the opportunity to be creative in how we get the job done, and I can work on creative solutions to problems that literally pop up daily.

While I enjoy the new prospect of getting creative at work, this month I’d like to focus on being creative in more facets of my life. I’ll work on playing my instruments daily, writing more of my ‘book,’ getting back into photography, etc.

When I was in high school, I did a 365 project where I took a picture every day from my 17^th to 18^th birthday. Some days it felt like a burden, but more often than not, it felt good to snap a shot of something that summed up my entire day. I remember taking a picture outside a girl’s house representing something significant that had just happened. It was the day of our first kiss and subsequently the day we considered our anniversary. That’s just one example that popped into my head, but that whole stack of photos holds memories for me that I couldn’t conjure on my own. My sister took that project a step further later on and created a scrapbook of short stories that she wrote based on a selection of photos I took that year. She gave that to me as a birthday present. Now that’s creativity hard at work. Taking a picture every day for this month will hopefully not turn into a burden, but will get me back into that creative flow with photography.

Writing is another story…. heh, get it? Uh, anyway. Yes, I’m not the best at writing. My sister’s world is writing; that’s definitely her forte. But it’s harder for me to get into that flow and come up with ideas to write about. I started a book a while back, so this month I will attempt to continue working on that project.

Music is a powerful outlet and I intend on getting back into that heavily this month as well. Generally, I write the best when I’m not happy. But I’ll go against the grain here and work on writing while I’m happy. Who knows what I’ll get by the end of this month. Could all be garbage, but that’s really not the point of creativity, now is it?

Again, the goal of this whole ‘happiness/self-improvement project’ is to build up my happiness capital so that when I really need it, I’ve got plenty to pull from. Cultivating my creativity adds to that bank so that I have outlets with which to release my stress, anxiety, unhappiness, etc.

Check out these articles if you’re looking for ways to unleash the creativity within you, or at least to get a few ideas on starting that process: the science of creativity, creativity in the workplace, and this indie/electronica mix on youtube.


Here’s to a month of singing loudly while playing my guitar badly, writing run-on sentences with poor grammar, and snapping obnoxious photos of random things.
-Jamie