Monday, November 28, 2005

Bohemian Lifestyle

You Should Get a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts)

You're a blooming artistic talent, even if you aren't quite convinced.
You'd make an incredible artist, photographer, or film maker.



Today I:

  • had two pieces of toast with cream cheese and nutritional yeast and the usual cup of coffee
  • ordered a catalog from a local art school
  • am having terribly attractive fantasies about career and school change
  • am terrified by these terribly attractive fantasies
  • desperately want a fairie godmother

So here we are, once again, teeter-tottering over the issue of art vs. architecture. (This is what a long weekend does.)

I showed my boyfriend/partner/whatnot my high school art portfolio a couple weeks back and he had a fit. He'd never seen any artwork from me produced at a time when I had, well, lots of time. When I have the time, I actually have an imagination, and don't just replicate what's in front of me. This was a big shock to him. He said I should have gone the art school way instead.

Well, I say that every four months or so myself. He usually just takes a neutral stance when that happens. (His main concern is, of course, that I don't suddenly quit my job, unbalancing us both. Anything other than that is perfectly acceptable.)

It is not that I draw very often. I rarely draw. I paint maybe once every two years. (I have the unfinished canvases to prove it.) But some of that is because I don't have the time, or I should be reading about architecture or building a model instead. The problem is that I've always had a knack for it, no matter how long the break, and I especially have a knack for the Bohemian lifestyle.

Oh, do I miss my Bohemian lifestyle. I was very, very, very poor and unambitious, but I could do a Bohemian lifestyle extremely well. It was my element. I am adapting to the office lifestyle, but still, little things creep up, such as my hatred for all authority, my disdain for convention and unimaginativeness, and my desire to, I don't know, build things out of cardboard rather than verify fire egress routes. The aspects of work that I excel at are Lunch, Coffee Break, and Calculations (oddly enough). Mainly the things that have little to do with productivity. (I am currently the only person in the office who is capable, at the drop of a hat, of making any kind of espresso drink that strikes my fancy, and we don't even have an espresso maker.)

Maybe if I take the ambitiousness that got me into this pickle and applied it toward Art, I can stop filing, and get my Bohemian lifestyle back? Maybe then I could:

  • wear my pajamas for three days straight, because I am too busy to get dressed (this does happen with architecture school, I must admit)
  • take a day off, because I want to
  • read all day, because I want to
  • rise at dusk and go to bed at dawn, like a vampire, if I so choose
  • see a matinee during the work week
  • sit in a cafe all day and still technically be working
  • have such a good time that I make other people jealous of my Bohemian lifestyle

3 comments:

Jeanette said...

I am jealous that you artistic talent. Any time I try to draw something, it looks like a 5 year old drew it.

Unknown said...
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Jeanette said...

Actually, while no one told me to turn back as an intern, while I was still an undergrad and worked in a law firm I was told not to go to law school. Obviously though, who can trust a lawyer's opinion? ;)