First project: Photoshop!

First and foremost, thank you so much for the comments and suggestions for projects. As the title suggests, I am following Kim's recommendation that I teach myself Photoshop. Here's the blow by blow of my first day on my first project...

I have no idea if any of the computers in my house (I think there are five, total, including two laptops that were obsolete when God was a boy) actually have functional Photoshop software. I am so abysmally disconnected with my computer reality that I use my lovely new MacBook as a glorified typewriter. When a friend spent an evening noodling around on it, making a song in Garage Band and then played the result for me, I looked at him as if he had just farted dubloons. Magic.

In order to find some kind of Photoshop workspace, I turned to the internet and searched for "Free Photoshop" only to be directed to the world's most obvious source: photoshop.com. Duh. The free tools on the website are basic, but I played around with them on a photo I took of my husband. The original:

This was taken with my Pentax K100 film camera on St. Simon's Island. I liked it a lot. Then, I started screwing around with Photoshop and I came up with this:




NOW he looks like an album cover! Well, granted, an album cover circa 1993. But still! I DID something!







I will be continuing to piddle around with Photoshop because I saw what people can do with the program on the link Kim recommended (http://www.worth1000.com/) and it's WAY better than early grunge era album cover art. And I do not discount the other suggestions that have been proffered because they sound pretty cool. Especially substitute teaching. Once upon a time, I ran a youth literacy program and loved it. One of the perks of the job was asking the kids to call me "Miss Amy," which I thought made me sound a lot like a character from "Pee Wee's Playhouse." I'll have to wait until after I get a better handle on Photoshop and after I finish packing up my apartment, though!


So, guys, what do you think?

Beginning, request and the rules...

Hello.  I hesitate to begin this blog because I'm pretty sure parts of it will ring with hubris, self-absorption, or a certain whiny pleading.  If it does, please ignore it and just know that I pursue this venture with nothing but the best intentions.  Mostly, the best intentions for me, but hopefully someone else will get some enjoyment out of it.

Here's what I am proposing with this blog: dare me to do something.  Challenge me.  Throw down the proverbial gauntlet.  If it's not illegal, amoral, cost-prohibitive or life-threatening, I will probably attempt to do it.  I will write about my endeavors, upload pictures and promise to cop to any failure as much as I do any success.

Why am I doing this, exactly?  Because of two basic components of my personality, the first being that I have been told (by ex-boyfriends, mostly) that I have an oppositional/defiant personality.  I prefer to do things I have been told I couldn't do to things I think of myself.  It's a dumb way to live, I realize that, but it seems to be hard-wired into my system and no amount of purchases from the Barnes and Noble self-help section is going to help me get over it.  So, I am resolutely living in the world of "Oh YEAH?  Just WATCH me!"  The second part of my personality that spurred me to think of this project seems to be in direct opposition with the oppositional/defiant side of me...I take direction really well.  In fact, in certain cases, I NEED direction in order to get anything done.  I write well, but rarely complete anything that I'm not being required to write.  I have three or four half-finished baby sweaters that I abandoned because the babies for which they were intended all outgrew them before I even finished.  I take pretty good pictures, but beyond having the film developed or the digital print made, I have yet to do anything about those pretty good pictures.  I need goals, but I prefer it when other people set them for me.  I like challenges, but I'm lousy at choosing appropriate challenges for myself. 

A little about me...  I just finished grad school and a summer job.  For three years, I had direction and purpose and a job to do.  Now that it's done, I find myself unmoored and a little afraid.  I have spent far too many days idly waiting for something to happen.  I've spent far too much of my dwindling cash on accessories to MAKE something happen (watercolors? REALLY?).  I joined the YMCA to have something to do during the day, but have found that I can only tolerate working out for about two hours and there's so much DAY left over after that.  I don't currently have a job, though as soon as my husband and I move into our new place in our new city, I will likely step back into my casual career separates and begin temping again, but I have found that -- shockingly enough -- temping is just not enough.  What I'm afraid of is that, after three years of pursuing higher education, I will never again be asked to work as hard as I did in grad school.  I feel a little bit like a border collie with no flock to herd.  

So, here's where you come in...  Give me ideas for stuff to do.  It can be something like "Finish one of those damn baby sweaters you have" or something less practical and more daring like "hike the Appalachian Trail."  I promise to accept challenges, regardless of whether or not they sound "fun" to me, but I do reserve the right of refusal.  Also, as I'm sure I will receive many creative suggestions, I may not be able to accept all challenges, so don't be offended if I don't pick yours.  I realize it's not anyone's responsibility to make my life interesting, but I would hope that reading about someone doing something odd or challenging that you suggested might at least be fun.  Hell, I get all wide-eyed and excited when I hear about my friends doing cool shit.

So, I throw down the gauntlet to you so that you may throw it down to me.  Remember, I won't do anything illegal, amoral, cost-prohibitive (unless you're willing to foot the bill...I'm broke), life-threatening or involving wheat (allergic).  Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to your challenges!