The Column
Motto: Hamburgers are Fun on a Bun
File this Column under “Aaron tells other people what they should be doing”, which I realize is too common of a theme.
You know what’s fun? You know what’s rewarding? Honing a skill. Creating something new. Doing a craft. Working on something just because you want to. It’s a lot more fun than enjoying someone else’s work. It’s a lot more lasting fun than enjoying someone else’s work.
Creating things brings a sort of whole-brain engagement that only happens with the absolute best of storytelling. I wrote this Life Tracker thing to keep track of all sorts of different aspects of my life so I might be able to read through the data what makes me most happy… what I found out was that what made me most happy was actually BUILDING the thing. Doing the data work. I was more than just coding - I was creating. I was generating a thing that had never existed before and the possibilities were endless. That’s really exciting. More exciting than figuring out who killed the person in the first act and how the CSI team solved the case.
I hate those shows.
I loved the show “Making It”. It was a short, brisk series that was hosted by two people that seemed like genuine friends. They had a simple message - things made by hand are more meaningful than things that aren’t. It was a genuine blast watching the creators in that show take a simple idea & some supplies and turn them into works of art - very different works of art.
Anyway, I’m not advocating changing everything wholesale in life. I think that my most pervasive real-world motto is “keep everything in moderation.” Another person might have a different way of phrasing that… I’ll give you a hint about the person - he’s very crappily drawn right below this text.
Top 5: Favorite Stuff I’ve Made
5. This Thanos drawing - my best digital work work for now
4. This drawing - not my best pencil & paper drawing, but my favorite
3. This shield - made from a sled
2. This desk modification - I also added a drawer to the other side.
1. The Life Tracker is pretty cool. So is The Column. The Second-A-Day Videos are neat. You know, the stuff I’ve been doing consistently for years.
Quote:
“You cannot be prissy and eat tater tots at the same time.”
- Stacey B -