Is it always this way with youngins’?  Do they just pick up a new task and run with it?  In the past few months, Izzy’s capabilities for learning new things has dramatically increased.  She learned clapping in moments along with what “ouch” means.  Not only does she learn through repetition and teaching, but she now shows that she can absorb via osmosis.

If music is playing in the office, she comes by and turns the volume knob (she won’t do it if music isn’t playing.).  She does the same to my beloved Yamaha Receiver downstairs, she enjoys listening to the music in “Jazz Mode,” I know this because the next time I turn it on it is set to this mode.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, peeps.  The little friggin’ twerp is walking.  Yes.  It’s a brave new world for all that dwell under this roof.  No longer are we in the baby stages (at least until Jonas graces us with his presence) and we are now well into the Toddler era. It wasn’t something that she gradually learned, either.  Two days ago, she decided to take her first four steps from the receiver to the coffee table.  Today, nothing is safe.  She still prefers crawling just because she’s quicker and more experienced at it, but if she’s standing, she’ll walk to her destination without fear or hesitation.

Ciri says this is a good thing. Ha. Ha, I say.  When Jonas is born, Izzy will be able to move on her own without help from Mom.  That’s helpful when you have a little baby blob that needs food every few hours.  But I can see that whole deal getting really old when Izzy demands the attention she feels is deserved.  Hmm.  We’ll see if it’s still a good thing then!

Oh. Hai.

Another great behavior she’s learned in the recent weeks is climbing into things.  Boxes, buckets, drawers, and bins oh my.  Seriously, she climbs into things and sits in them or stands in them or dances in them.  That last one has me a bit worried.  I’m sitting on the couch watching her climb into the drawer and I can’t help but wonder what goes on in that cute little brain of hers.

“Let’s see, if the drawer’s volume is X and my volume is also X, than I should be able to fit in the drawer. Volume is a measurement mainly used for liquids, but for arguments sake, we’ll go with that statement.  Now, if I take into account that my bone structure is mostly comprised of cartilage, then I should… uh oh.  He’s staring at me.  I should do something cute.”

And there she goes dancing again… seriously. Should I be worried?

My sister, Tanya, has been drawing since she was a little kid.  Her and my brother are part of the reason why I didn’t push myself to sketch and draw more when I was younger.  They are much more talented and gifted than I am with the pencil and brush.

Speaking of creativity in the family, many of our uncles and aunts are VERY good artists.  My uncle Miguel has art all over my grandparents house using the Pointillism (or is it Divisionism?) technique.  They’re amazing and beautiful paintings.  On my mom’s side, a few of my uncles used to draw a lot of caricatures and other cartoon stuff.  The creativity genes exist from both sides of our family so it’s no surprise that the four siblings are all creative in one way or another.

Anyway, so, Tanya posted a video on her Facebook profile that I wanted to share just to prove my point and to show off how good she is.

UPDATE: Changed the video. This one has her coloring in the drawing.  Much  more interesting to me since I have trouble with color theory and stuff. You can see the rest on her You Tube page and on the website I set up for her at MoiNoir.com.

She is starting her own web-comic soon and I am sure she will do well with it.  I put a link somewhere around here when she starts posting her comics.

It was my brother’s birthday a few days ago and I didn’t get him anything. I have a good reason though! This year, I am trying to give everyone art – I need the practice . For Ciri, you can see the inspiration comes somewhat easily. The last time I spent time with Bobby was probably about 6 or so years ago. The two of us have our little families and only visiting California twice in the past 5 years doesn’t help either. It is understandable that inspiration for his gift was scarce. Until last Thursday night, that is.

Brian, the sole writer/choreographer/designer at MorningToast.com, was hosting his weekly radio show, Cave Radio Thursday night.  When the conversation turned to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he played the original theme song from the cartoon. After the show I started reminiscing about all the times Bobby and I sat in front of the TV; following along the adventures of the Ninja Turtles. Those were simpler times – beautiful and simple times.   They were beautiful because Bobby and I don’t share too many interests, but the turtles on Saturday mornings were the richest memories I have of Bobby.  So that was it, I decided that I would make something that related to those memories of our childhood.

Bobby’s favorite turtle was and always will be, Leo – the strong and honorable leader.  Naturally I would have to center my art around Leo, and that’s when the image formed in my mind. I sketched for a few hours and finally got something good enough to scan into photoshop and start coloring in.

While I was doing this, I thought it would be a cool idea to broadcast myself on UStream. So, I set up my computer and announced it to my friends and family on Facebook. I experienced a few problems (bad audio was the biggest issue) but I got a good forty-somewhat minutes of video in there. Next event coming up is Mother’s day, so maybe I’ll do this again.  It was good geeky fun.

The final drawing came out really cool.  I’m still learning drawing techniques and skills but the end product came out pretty good.  It’s a simple image and yet I know Bobby will appreciate it a lot.

Leo - Final

Bobby doesn’t read my journal, by the way, just in case you were wondering. Ciri questioned my unsecretiveness after she noticed that I was publishing this post.

One.  12 months.  Wow.

I’ve watched her grow from a little blob to the crawling, babbling, smiling little kid that she is today.  I’m amazed at how much she grew, mentally and physically, in the last year.  Months ago I was holding a this little infant that really lived only to eat and poop.  No smiles, no giggles, nothing except excrement.  She was still the cutest little baby I ever laid eyes on, but today… wow.  Today she is an energetic little talker.  I gotta say, I am completely taken in by this whole miracle of life thing.

So, we celebrated her birthday last Friday night with dinner and a couple of gifts.  Saturday we had Grandpa and Grandma over to celebrate again.  They also came to build us a vegetable garden in our back yard.  I had plans to build one, but my research wasn’t complete the day Grandpa asked if he could build it for us.  The garden is awesome and I can’t wait to start harvesting some herbs and vegetables from it.

Izzy and Ciri spent some time together in the sun while Grandpa and I built the garden.  It was a real fun day.  Here’s a bunch of photos and a video of the weekend.

I am at odds with my creativity on pretty much a daily basis. Growing up I would have spurts of creativity, like I said before it comes in waves. As a child, these waves of creativity would garner “oohs” and “aahs” from my parents and the rest of my family. I think this left me with a horrible complex of meeting these high expectations. I live in a constant fear that I am not that creative, or worse, not creative at ALL. I see other people devising creative solutions to problems that I feel are almost acts of genius. The more I meet more of these truly creative people, the more intense my fear becomes.

Here’s the thing, though, one creative solution is not better or worse than another, only different. I’ve slowly come to this realization and grown more and more comfortable with whatever creative endeavors I take. I also realized that in order to genuinely be a good creative, I must possess many skills of self expression. Painting, drawing, writing, photography, and music are just a few subjects that I feel all creatives should have at least some experience with.

Above all, any creative should have an obsession. That’s something I’ve always known and believed. I felt I had so many, that it was hard to focus my thoughts until I finally narrowed down the selection. So, with this confirmed obsession, I’ve gone out and searched for inspiration. I’ve found tons of podcasts and blogs that write about design, games, and more. But one place that stands above the rest is TED.com – nothing beats listening to the big innovators of the world talk about the calmness you get when you’ve created something.

The most recent talk I’ve seen that really stands out was given by Adam Savage from Mythbusters. Mythbusters is the only TV show that left me with an ache in my heart when I canceled our satellite service – it is the only show that I consider “must watch.” I like other programs, but shows like Heroes or CSI don’t really do it for me like Mythbusters does. So when I saw that Adam Savage was on TED.com, I gave it every ounce of attention I could muster after days of building Ikea furniture.

I bring up my battle with creativity and self-esteem because I felt the lesson I learned was relevant after watching the video. Listening to Adam’s creative process and his obsessions are exactly what goes on in my head, only he doesn’t have the fear. I previously felt unsure about my own creative process, but after listening to an established and famous creative’s rant, I now feel more comfortable in the way I create or find reasons to create.

The past few weeks have gone well, so much that I actually feel good about having so many projects on my table. Before I felt like I was spreading myself between too many different thoughts. Now, I feel like all my projects are just that, projects. Fun and creative vents. I’m still learning to ration my time, but I still feel real good on how things are going.

So, watch the video and enjoy it. Adam Savage is definitely one of my favorite artists/creatives and has been for a long time. He doesn’t disappoint and I don’t think you have to be in the predicament I was in to appreciate the video.