Riding Busses in Finland

 

The Helsinki Bus Station

Arno Minkkinen is a Finnish photographer who uses an illustration called The Helsinki Bus Station to describe the creative process over time. The way someone finds distinctiveness in their art form is like buses leaving a station.

When the buses initially embark, they all follow the same route and it’s likely that some even make the same stops. After several stops the buses then begin to diverge as they follow different roads the further away they get from the departure point.

Stay on the Bus

A creative person who may be pursuing an endeavor like drawing, may initially determine his work is rather common and unoriginal, so he may decide to return to the “bus station” and start all over again only to discover the process repeats itself. The solution is to stay on the bus. It eventually follows a different course from the others.

Pursue an art (or other endeavor) that looks much the same as everyone else’s initially but, soon, you’ll develop your own style.

Something Good to Read

Nothing New

 Now-a-days many profess to have discovered journaling; a "new" trend, a vouge way of "manifesting" and it's the rage of news segments, talk shows, books, memes, social media personalities and self-improvement gurus. The fact is journaling or keeping a diary has been a common practice of people for thousands of years by the famous, infamous, successful and the not-so-successful.

• People have documented their lives on clay tablets in the bronze age.
• Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in 167 A.D. wrote his thoughts in a 12-book journal collection called Things to One's Self. 
• One of the most famous and widely Read diaries was kept by Ann Frank and became a famous work of literature.

I not only keep a journal myself (actually several) but have been doing so since I was in my 20's.  As a Marine I found it quite useful as a way to record the many adventures I experienced on deployments and a few other escapades were thrown in as well. My first go at it was written on a paper plate in the high desert of California while training for desert warfare and the practice stuck with me for the last 40 or so years. There is hardly a period in my life when I didn’t keep a diary.

An alter ego

One reason is because it’s intensely therapeutic. It’s like talking not to myself but to someone who really listens and understands what I’m going through whether good or bad. Often, I have a tangle of ideas and thoughts in my head, much like a cluttered desk, and getting those deliberations out of my head and onto paper cleans things up and helps organize my notions. It’s as if while I’m writing, a second, unseen person appears and joins in to respond in the discussion and helps me determine if what I’m thinking is suitable and if not, I find other solutions.

Crystal Clear

Whenever I write it helps me clarify my thinking or emotions and crystallizes my imagination. They become no longer just a vague impulse but genuine visuals I can see in the form of words.

Writing helps me to reason my way through decision making by allowing me to see more clearly the possible results of my actions.

Of course, keeping a journal is good practice as a writer as long as I seek to improve and be better at it.

                           I Can’t Write Just One

I have several journals of all kinds and sizes, each for a different application including handwritten ones, a digital journal, a bullet journal and of course a slew of sketch journals. Each one of my drawings has the date on them and they help remind me about the time I drew, why and what I was thinking. It’s a funny thing about a sketch or drawing; it helps me remember the smallest details of an event and can take me on a voyage revisiting the experience. Remember the old saying, "one picture is worth a thousand words".

I have a small pocket size notebook and pen I almost always have in my possession for those unexpected moments of inspiration. I also have a very large journal I use for long term drawing and writing.

Know Me Better, Boy!

Another important reason for journaling, at least important to me, is for posterity; a legacy. I have members of my family who are today very young and may not have a chance to know me well and if they are so inclined in the future, they can get to know me better even if I'm not around.

I Write Because I always want something good to read

I sometimes, well, often, I find conversations with others regularly leave me aloof and sometimes outright bored, but the journal is always stimulating and thought-provoking. It hearkens back to the feeling of having a conversation with a second person. I talk about what’s on my mind and the listening page always answers back.

I'm Not Deranged. I'm an Introvert.

 

I don't need to see a psychiatrist to cure my introversion. People tend to say to introverts, 

      "Why don't you talk more? Why are you so quiet?" 

and many times, I hear,

                      "You need to come out of your shell."

I find those remarks rather off-putting and even insulting because it's an indirect way of saying, "your personality sucks and you need to change". 

It would be no different than me telling an extrovert "Why don't you shut up? You talk too much." and- 

"You need to crawl into a shell".

The fact is, being an introvert isn't a personality flaw for which I need to seek therapy any more than an extrovert needs to seek mental treatment for his or her personality (though sometimes I think some should). 

Extroverts talk to think, and introverts think to talk. 

I've always been a reflective person and most often through my life, from childhood till now, I've been the quietest one in the room. I tend more to listen to the others in the group and get amused about how so many think their input is more valuable than anyone else's. People often say dumb things, and it makes great material for my cartoons. 

A better question might be, are cartoonists great introverts or are introverts great cartoonists?

Bill is Spying on me!

 I've been spending time over the last couple of years with a group of men for coffee immediately following a meeting of the Katy Business Connection. This group of us turned into a type loosely based on the mastermind group originated by Napolean Hill long ago. It was a discussion of our recent ventures into business and a discussion of our projects. A type of group that inspired us to stay focused on our respective visions.

Sadly, it has of late, drifted away from those intentions I just mentioned and has become more of a social group and the dominating topics are politics and conspiracy theories. Recently another member has been added to the group and now, our group texts have descended into a hodgepodge of sophomoric memes usually denigrating the democratic party and elevating Trump to a god-like status. 

All fine and good but I'm not one who likes to participate in such things, but it was tolerable just to spend some time talking to others about writing, drawing, marketing, creativity and other things of applicable interest. Even the few jokes and other diversions were fine, but it seems the substance of meaningful discussions seems to have diverged and taken a back seat to useless information such the hidden fortunes in a shovel full of dirt that will change the world or the thrust-to-weight ratio of the F-111. 

About two weeks ago, the scales really tipped for me when a member of the discussion group said the reason, he doesn't drink Coca-Cola products was because they contain nano-bots.

"Why do you think they contain nano-bots?" I asked.

"Because" he said, "Bill Gates is paying Coca-Cola to put nano-bots into their products."

"Why would he do that?" 

"So, we can be kept track of."

"Do you mean there are tiny little robots in Coke?" I asked.

"Yes, and all Coca-Cola products." He answered.

I stared at him with astonishment at his answer and it was just then when another member of the group, who was listening unbeknownst, chimed in and said, "in the same way they put them in the covid vaccine". Again, I was bewildered at this.

I was compelled to then ask, "Tell me something, do you believe the world is flat?" He replied in the affirmative. 

"And the moon landing, it was a hoax?" Again, yes, to him it was a hoax. 

I inquired a little into the belief system of the others and they shared the same opinions and without making suspicious inquests, and with a few other observations, some which have gone unnoticed over the preceding weeks and months, I've come to a decision: I need to cool my participation with this group. 

Here are some of the other interesting behavior traits:

• Donald Trump is a genius
• fasting cures cancer
• "I refuse to pay $7 for a cup of coffee"
• Purple shirts will change your life
• The US government flew planes into the World Trade Center

Topics of discussions such as these are a waste of not only my time but also of my mental energy. I have much more urgent matters on my mind which have to do mostly with my professional wellbeing, not the perceived prowess of Bill Gates' connivances.

Maybe my friends have all reached a point in their life where they can freely discuss such matters without guilt or fear of losing valuable time and maybe they're right about everything, but it's not where I am for now. 

I'm smarter than that. I'm not saying these men whom I've come to know aren't smart, because they are. But their ways are not my ways, and their thoughts are not my thoughts. It's risky for me to make such a decision because I need all the help I can get and I've made poor decisions and choices in the past, but this one can't be denied. If they are right about everything then that's fine too because if they are, I've not lost a thing. But for now, I can't waste my intellect on what I perceive to be an ineffectual squandering of mental effort. 

What am I to replace it with?

Rites of Passage

 I don't know when or how it happened, but I've been keeping some sort of record of things since I was a youngster. It seems it has always been a natural tendency of mine to jot down things in words, drawings or both and in these latter years I've discovered that it's become a kind of vouge thing to do either in an attempt at lay people indulging in more creative habits or as a type of  popular, therapeutic self-care. It's become more prominent in the mainstream, in no small part, since the advent of social media because so many "gurus" of mindfulness suddenly appear out of nowhere as "experts" on ways to release one's demons through journaling , to use a popular term. 

It brings to mind the Barbara Mandrell hit from 1981, I was Country when Country wasn't Cool because all the newly discovered ingenious methods of healthful practices are things I've been doing for decades. Stopping just short of saying I was bullied for it, I took much kidding and razing throughout the years for doing such things. The harassments continued even well into adulthood. Now, with a nod toward Ms. Mandrell,

Look at everybody trying to be what I was then.

I confess my pride about how It gives me sense of victorious satisfaction to know that the things that the undesirable people in my past who often tyrannized my preferences by chasing me down hallways after school to rip up my collections of drawings and notes or who took the books I was reading and ripped the pages out of its binding, are the ones now trying to mimic me, even though they would never admit it. Okay, so maybe it could be described as bullying but it was at a time when bullying was seen as more of a rite of passage.

Who am I to Argue

 There was once a prospector of long ago who had set up camp for the night after a hard day of prospecting. He was frying bacon and brewing coffee over his campfire, anticipating a lovely dinner under the open, star filled sky among the soothing sounds of crickets when he heard a rustling in the brush getting closer and closer.

By and by, a sizable, thickly bearded man dressed all in leather emerged riding a grizzly bear which he was controlling by a tight grip on his furry neck with his strong, large hands. He rode right up to the camp and said in a gravelly voice, "I'd be obliged for a swallow of coffee".

Not being one to turn away people in need and taking into consideration the riders imposing size and roughness, the prospector agreed and the stranger, without getting down from the grizzly, reached for the scalding hot coffee pot, grasped it with his bare hands and poured half of its scalding contents down his throat without a wince. He wiped his mouth with his leather sleeved arm, replace the coffee pot onto the fire and said,

 "Many thanks. I hate to run off so rudely but there's a man chasing me and he's one bad son-of-a-bitch."

Talent ot Passion, Which is it?

 In the book The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway, the author suggests we follow our talent, not our passion. I, for one, tend to agree with this philosophy because typically, those who advise us to pursue our passions are already rich. The author wisely states it's important to have a primary source of income and have a side gig we are building in the process. We have to pay our bills while building a side hustle and not only that, it provides diversified income. 

I must confess that most of the time over the last decade, I have relied on income from my window washing business to get me from month to month while building (and continuing to build) my graphics business which is, for now, drawing caricatures at live events. 

In fact my "passion" does not even rest with drawing caricatures, logo design or illustrating and it certainly isn't window washing or any other labor for that matter.  If I were to "follow my passion" as they say, it would probably be related to cooking 

but don't expect to see me behind 

anyone's counter as a short order cook. 

My passion for cooking can be better described as a hobby and would be more outdoor cooking with a fishing rod in one hand and a cigar in the other. Nearly everything else I do, including commercial art, is a means to an end and that is financial security. 

Once that end is realized then I may 

be free to pursue that passion abundantly.

When it comes to creativity I most love drawing what I want to draw and then maybe try to sell it but this method has a slim chance for financial success. In fact, that's where the expression "starving artist" originated and the galleries and art shows are full of them. My modus operandi is to draw what people ask me to, then draw it, and they buy it. This formula has a 100% rate of success for me and while I'm at it I can still pitch my other works of art and merchandise.