Saturday, July 31, 2010

What?

There are roughly three things I think I want to write about here; music, motorcycles, and graphic design. That's pretty much what I spend my time doing. Graphic Design should probably be first in that list as it's what I do to get paid mostly — teaching it and 'doing' it, so you could say my interests in graphic design are both academic and professional. There's obviously a reason it's last in the list.

Perhaps music shouldn't be first either, because if I'm honest (and this obviously won't work if I'm not honest), all I've thought about lately is motorcycles. Out of the three things I'm mentioning here this is the one that I am least qualified to talk about. I've been riding motorbikes on and off for years, but in the last couple have become quite obsessed by that whole thing... not just riding them, but modifying them, mechanically and aesthetically. Music then... music.

I'm actually thinking a lot more about music again right now. I've recently left full-time employment at a design studio in Auckland, and have come back to the South Island to teach design part-time. Obviously this has given me more time, and I am just finding myself thinking about music more again. Feeling the urge to play more again too. It was really bugging me the last couple of years that this part of what I do had begun to diminish... maybe replaced by the motorbikes (one bike in particular). Maybe it's something about being back down here too (currently in Christchurch, although all my friends live in Lyttelton and we'll be looking for somewhere over there as soon as possible).

I might have to write something about Christchurch too? About why I've always been so much more productive down here. Everyone thinks it's a terrible place, and by all accounts it is. I completely agree. But I have always been more productive down here and even though I've only been here 3 weeks now, I already feel that stuff kicking back in again. What's wrong with Auckland in that respect? It's not like I went out much, or socialised a lot. Where'd the time go up there? Very strange.

Why?

Why am I doing this? A few reasons (to make myself feel more comfortable about doing this I suppose) — firstly, I guess, because I've done it before. I had a blog when I was working on my Masters. I was doing it through RMIT in Melbourne, but I was based in Lyttelton, New Zealand, and so it was a good way to stay in touch with my supervisor and other students. But I've no one specifically to stay in touch with now. Do I even care if anyone reads any of what I put here? I suppose I do, otherwise I wouldn't need it to be public or online or whatever you call what this is. So why do I care? And, do I have anything important to say?

My first answer is that if this wasn't somehow 'public' I wouldn't care so much about what I was going to put/write here... and that then maybe I wouldn't sort of 'get anywhere' if you know what I mean. There needs to be some kind of seriousness or responsibility, and knowing someone else might read what I'm writing helps that to happen. I'm definitely not doing this because I think I have anything important to say. That's not the point. The point is more to sort of capture thoughts, problems and various projects 'on the move' you might say.

I've called this blog 'Head Full of Snakes'. It's a title I stole from and old 1970s horror comic. I've also been thinking about using it as a band name, and I probably will at some point. I also wanted to make a sort of 'portfolio' type website under the same name. That may yet happen too... although my biggest problem is that I always do too much. And that's sort of why I like that title too. I think I spread myself too thin, across too many things, and as a result I don't ever do anything really well. I know this, but I can't seem to change, and so what I'm trying to do here is to put all those things in one place... and see perhaps if they can't be just one thing? One thing that is more manageable, but also maybe more easy to articulate. It's the overlaps between the different things I do that I want to focus on here.