I turn 28 tomorrow, which, technically, is only an hour away. I don't really know what that means, being 28. Hell, I'm not sure I ever really figured out what it meant to be 27, but I guess I better hurry up and settle the matter before I have to start over again with a new number. I can't quantify the last year of my life into something meaningful; something I'm transitioning away from and moving on toward something else new and separate and different. I keep bouncing back and forth between being glad that I got so much done with 27 and and being sad that I'm 28 and feeling a need to somehow improve upon all of that. How does one go about topping a personal best? What does it look like? Where does the motivation come from?
It reminds me of the day I turned seven and got a new Pee Wee Herman t-shirt. I went to school and wore it with pride and announced to the cafeteria monitor during lunch, very loudly, (and with a high degree of confidence) that it was my birthday and I had gotten a new Pee Wee Herman t-shirt. She stared at me, bewildered at my interruption, and cautioned me to attend to the Cheetos dust I carelessly gotten on my new shirt. I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with being 28, except to say that it was anti-climactic and a concrete reminder that having a birthday is like taking a poop: everybody does it and nobody takes much interest in it unless it's their own.
I guess, if birthdays are good for any one thing, it's a time of reflection to consider what you've invested in over the last year and what you intend to invest in over the next one. If birthdays are good for two things, it's that and making up an excuse to buy stuff for yourself. I've done a little of both and ended up getting a book on Banksy. It's an interesting read (although there isn't much text) and I really like his artwork. It's got me thinking about things, of which I'll share a few with you.
You didn't know it, but I almost quit 'blogging for good this week. I was gonna use the excuse of taking the week off to work on a job application to turn into taking an extended break, promising to return after I got a new job and then "get super-busy" (as I assume I probably will) once I did. One of the purposes of this 'blog is to showcase my writing ability, which I feel like I've done to a satisfactory degree, and I felt like I was running out of steam. Don't take it personal, but I just didn't have anything I wanted to say to you anymore. I had started wallowing around in my self-pity too much and, honestly, who wants to read that?
But yesterday's 'blog got me thinking. First of all, the idea of being consistent and disciplined at something (anything, really) appeals to me and this is one of the few areas of my life where I feel like it's at least somewhat attainable. Second, I really needed to write about that experience to organize my thoughts on it. I haven't really thought much about Real Estate Lady today because I was able to resolve a lot of my ideas and emotions last night. All of this to say, it's good for me to keep doing this.
But the big reason I decided to pick up where I left off came from this new book I got. I can't really explain it to you if you don't understand the correlation, I can only share the thing that got me thinking. Here you go. Hope it does as much for you as it did for me.
I'm going to speak my mind, so this
won't take very long.
Despite what they say graffiti is not the
lowest form of art. Although you might
have to creep about at night and lie to
your mum it's actually one of the more
honest art forms available. There is no
elitism or hype, it exhibits on the best
walls a town has to offer and nobody
is put off by the price of admission.
A wall has always been the best
place to publish your work.
The people who run our cities don't
understand graffiti because they think
nothing has the right to exist unless it
makes a profit, which makes their
opinion worthless.
They say graffiti frightens people and
is symbolic of the decline in society,
but graffiti is only dangerous in the
mind of three types of people;
politicians, advertising executives
and graffiti writers.
The people who truly deface our
neighbourhoods are the companies
that scrawl giant slogans across
buildings and buses trying to make us
feel inadequate unless we buy their
stuff. They expect to be able to shout
their message in your face from every
available surface but you're never
allowed to answer back. Well, they
started the fight and the wall is the
weapon of choice to hit them back.
Some people become cops because
they want to make the world a better
place. Some people become vandals
because they want to make the world
a better looking place.
- Banksy -
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