#corny things

She's grace,

We're coming to the close of another year, so what better thing to post up than the beautifully animated/directed music video for "New Years" by Ohbijou?? This year has been largely a shitty one for me, unfortunately. Partly because of my naivety, and partly because of the selfishness and thoughtlessness of others, and I don't feel particularly ready to say that I'm stronger after having gotten through the year, despite feeling like I couldn't, but I'm definitely smarter. I'm definitely more aware of the fact that I'm not immune to mental fatigue and sadness, because prior to this year, I did actually feel pretty indestructible, but I've found some weaknesses of mine, and hopefully I can work past them and truly become stronger, and more compassionate, and be a source of inspiration and love for others who may need it.

I'd also really just like to take a moment to really thank the lil' art community I've become a part of here on Tumblr. This was actually my intention upon leaving my 'personal blog' for a while; to come here and concentrate on my art, and only follow art blogs, but that quickly dissipated as I started to (as always -__-) share more of my life and thoughts than my art, and trying to reach out to people who I care about. I can't even truly express how much it means to me to have people who actually enjoy the art that I put out, or who appreciate the silly things that I have to say throughout the day. It really makes my life that much more sweet. The very end of this year (though it did have some hiccups) has been particularly great. The end of the Avatar series (yeah, I know, I know. I'm obsessed) has definitely meant a lot to me, and definitely helped me power through the weeks. Mostly though, it's been the accumulation of a few new friends. It probably seems like nothing to a lot of people, but I recently started joining in on Google Hangout drawing sessions with a few people, and that really really has been a great thing for me. At the very start of the year, I was in the depths of an art block. I absolutely could NOT create anything that felt of worth to me. Then, going into the year, I started having a lot of my abilities exploited, among other things, and it really crushed my artistic motivation, but I really didn't want to see that part of me die, so as soon as I could, I started pushing and pushing as much art as I could, partly in spite of the people who'd crushed it for half the year, but also because I just felt this surge of energy to create something by myself, and FOR MYSELF. And that's when I started to feel a little more of myself coming through. Now, with these Google Hangouts, and friends like calvinloveinternet, I feel more motivated to create, and that feels really really good.

me: people on the internet are ridiculous... endoplasmic reticulus...

him: ...really?

I have a theory that most corny things are true, considering that they only earn their corniness through repetition in describing human experience.

I think that's sort of beautiful: that we all, generation to generation, have those moments where we feel something similar, and we naturally try to reiterate the words that have been used to describe this last time around.

Maybe we shouldn't be so ashamed of that; shouldn't stop up the flow of our feelings because someone else might label us trite or lame. Actually, I think hindering your expression in the name of avoiding criticism from others cripples you, thus actually making you lame by the indirect kick of their feet. It's incredibly empowering to say how you feel, even if you say it in a cliche.

Technically, "I love you" fits the criteria of being corny. And I'll tell you from experience that I have never felt more alive, whole, and human in the best way then when I was sending off my tongue or taking it into my gracious ears. 

So if that's corny, then I am a walking corn husk; peel me down and butter me up and I'll share a kernel or two with you, just like the Indians did with the Pilgrims. No shame in stepping in the footprints of those that came before.

I just cross my fingers and hope that we carry all the good, caring cliches forward and bury the hurtful ones in the ground; so that the malleable-minded children learn a different phrase than one our provincial minds have branded in close-minded discrimination. I'm tired of "that's gay"; how about, "that's ignorant" instead.

Fresh Lawn, Fresh Idea

'Twas a boring day this 29th of June, 2012, one which brought with it many frustrations.