Motion and Inspiration

The word "motion" has so many meanings. In a court setting, one could be referring to a "motion to suppress." On the other hand, a passenger on a cruise ship would most likely be referring to the "motion" of the ocean or "motion" sickness, if they had developed that while vacationing. "Motion" can also refer to dancing, moving one's body, or using motion to express oneself.

I found a very interesting website, which I posted below. On this website, one is asked to type in a word. There is a button with "Inspire me!" written on it to the left. Once the button is clicked, a plethora of images, colors, and videos show up on the page that are all representative of the word that one just typed in. I typed in the word "Motion" due to the fact that I was just dancing around my room to Michael Jackson's hit song "Thriller." Embarrassing to admit... I know.

I was intrigued by the sentence directly above the search box that said, "Inspiration is fleeting... this page will be different later." I found this fascinating, because I have found this to be true in my life. The thing that gets one going one day will not necessarily do the same thing the next day. Below the search box was a quote relevant to the word that I typed in.

I clicked on the color palette that I felt expressed how I am feeling this morning (shown above). This seemed rather ironic to me... right after choosing the colors, the title of the color scheme popped up and it was called "Motion of the Ocean." I think that this website is very interesting and would be fun to explore on different days when I am looking for inspiration in a different way.

Websites:

http://ideas.bighugelabs.com/?q=motion

What have I not thought of... yet?

I found myself thinking of a good idea for a blog post and was coming up with ideas that were really not that great. I started to look back at previous posts that I have made and when I looked at my post of "my invention," I began to wonder what others had thought of that I would never in wildest dreams imagine to create. I stumbled upon an interesting brand of knick knacks by "fredflare."

The first item that struck me by surprise was a sponge microphone that doubled for singing in the shower and for bathing. Although rather pointless, I have to admit that it is quite creative as well as humorous. I then went to the official website for purchasing these items and discovered even more unique surprises.

I thought that the different types of ice cube trays for purchase were very funny and creative. First of all, there is the "Gin and Titonic" tray, which molds water into ice cubes shaped like the Titanic as well as ice cubes shaped like icebergs. The pun on the name of the drink really tied the whole concept together. Another interesting item is the "Cool Jazz" ice cube tray. It seems funny that one would be able to stir their beverage with a frozen guitar, but... hey it definitely sells!

craigslist and ebay

I have never used either craigslist or eBay, but I do know many people that have and even use it quite frequently. To me, the thought of purchasing something that has already been used has never been desirable. I feel that my discomfort with the process comes from the unknown. First of all, who did it first belong to? Second of all, why are they selling or re-selling the item? Maybe my disinterest comes from seeing the store Plato's Closet. For those that are unaware, Plato's closet is a clothing, shoes, and accessories resale shop. However, they also offer new merchandise. In Dallas, there is another store on Greenville that has the same concept, called the Buffalo Exchange.

I think what "weirds me out" is the fact that I have NO IDEA who was wearing the article of clothing, where it has been, or what is has been through. I feel that this same concept has caused me to fear using both craigslist and eBay. Although one can buy new merchandise on these websites, it still strikes me as peculiar that someone would buy something, such as an article of clothing or an accessory, in order to resell it. I understand that there are various items that attain value over time, such as collectors items, but that is not typically how clothing sales work.

When I studied in Europe, I had a friend that purchased a ton of her clothing at both resale shops and at flea markets. It was sort of a hobby of hers to dig through the goods and see what "treasures" she could find. Although I never took part in this with her, I witnessed her finding some really unique things and "rocking" them. I am not sure if I could pull off her style, but it definitely was fabulous on her. She now attends Parsons in New York City for fashion design. I guess as the saying goes "one person's garbage is another person's treasure" can hold true in this case. After all, one never knows what one might find or be missing out on if one does not look.

What is creativity?

I know that we have discussed creativity quite in depth in our Advertising: Intro to Creativity class. As I was studying for the midterm exam, I started to wonder what specifically inspires me to be creative. I am really not sure what it is at this moment. I think it may be the people around me or the way I choose to spend my leisure time, but how can I be certain? Sometimes I get motivation to do certain things by spending time outside and appreciating nature. I know that I think best when I am in a quiet place, but sometimes it can be too quiet, and the silence can cause me to be unable to think of anything creative at all.

I believe that I gain energy from the people around me, and I love making others smile. I am not sure how this would relate to creativity other than the fact that it reinforces the thought that I have of being inspired by others. I think I can see myself mostly agreeing with Teresa Amabile and Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi with the Social-Personality Tradition. I feel that I fit in this perspective, because I gain energy and motivation from others (personality variables and motivational variables components), as well as the fact that I excel in certain environments more than others (sociocultural environment).

Tradition

What makes tradition so powerful? Many people see tradition as a way to guide there life and a set of customs to live by. If not viewed as being this substantial in one's life, it is common that tradition is still a key factor in one's decision-making process. Then there are people that are very against tradition, let's call them radicals or rebels. What causes people to behave in one manner or another. Particularly, what causes extreme cases on one end of the spectrum versus people that are more moderate and fall relatively in the middle of the two?

In my family, tradition is definitely seen as something of value. Although my family has encouraged me to make decisions for myself and venture onto my own path, I have been raised with a set of core values that my family believes in strongly.

Tradition can be interpreted in many ways, and there really is no wrong or right answer to the question of what is tradition. Tradition can be whatever one makes of it, and it can even be one's tradition to be non-traditional, as complex as that may sound. Although we see depicted in many Christmas movies, the traditional Christmas dinner of Turkey and related fixings, that could be entirely opposite of a family's traditions. One could think what another believes is tradition to be crazy, because they have their own unique traditions.

One tradition that I think is very unique is to have heirloom jewelry in one's family. My family does not really do this as much, but I think a really cool tradition is to pass down a wedding ring from one generation to the next. Traditions such as one's like these could cause individuals to behave in a certain manner. For example in the movie The Blind Side (and in reality) the Touhy family all attended Ole Miss for college. Although not born into the family, Michael Oher (the adopted son) decided to go to Ole Miss, because he said "that is where my family goes to school."

There are so many traditions and ways to interpret them... it really is really interesting to think about!

A Close Call

My friends father is a lawyer and has been in Dallas this past week working on a court case, however, each night he has been finished with his work in time to take his daughter to dinner. Last night my friend invited my roomate and me along. We are all living together next year, and she was eager to have us finally meet her dad. Her dad's business friend recommended that we try a restaurant on Lower Greenville, called Terilli's. I love all kinds of food, especially Italian, so I was excited to try a restaurant I had not been to before. Dinner was lovely.

This morning, I was awakened by a text from my friend, which said, "Terilli's burned down." I first thought that she was kidding, because it did not make any sense to me how that could have happened. I mean we were just there.

I got up and searched The Dallas Morning News website for "Greenville Avenue Fire." I was shocked and was in utter disbelieve that this event had occurred. After all, we were there last night and we began dinner at 8 o'clock, so we were there well until 10 o'clock. The following thoughts immediately rushed through my mind: How could this disaster have happened in such a short amount of time? How we were lucky enough to miss being part of it?

I know that it is often said that one learns lessons best from experience. That I believe to be true, because it has happened to me in the past. On the other hand, missing an experience like this one and having it be such a close call in retrospect I believe reinforced a very important life lesson to me. Do not take things for granted, because you never know what could happen.

It is ironic to me that this happened when it did, because my previous blog post from yesterday touched on the same idea, but in a different light.

Link to the article in The Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/030210dnmetgreenvillefire.16a353d7a.html

You don't realize how lucky you are until it is gone...

As I was walking to Tom Thumb this afternoon to purchase a snack in the cold rain, I realized I was really lucky to have a car. If you have read my previous post "Lovers Lane and Greenville Avenue," then you already know why I do not currently have a car that is able to be driven. It has not even been four days, and I am already feeling restricted. There really is no reason for me to feel this way, because I did not have a car at any point during my freshman year at SMU. I think once I had a car here this summer, I grew accustomed to the thought of always being able to go wherever it may be that I desired. As of now, I can only go where I can walk.

I feel that this situation is common amongst people that are very blessed with many things. Not having a car when I have gotten used to having one is an example of this, but this happens on many greater levels as well.

It is really something to look at when you begin to take blessings or privileges in your life for granted. When you get into a regular routine, it can be easy to forget to appreciate things in life, which is very unfortunate. I hope that you take away from this that it is important to be aware of how blessed we all are and not to take things that we have for granted, because you never know when they could be gone.