Mason44

Today I actually had one of my students (a HS senior) ask me what steps she'd need to take to become an art teacher. Now I don't believe at all that I was the inspiration for this decision or anything but I'd like to believe that she enjoyed her experience in my class enough to help her realize that art was something she'd like to do for the rest of her life. She's quite talented and I'm really excited that art is something she's pursuing. This just kind of made my day so I thought I'd share.

So after looking through some of my work to submit to a group I realized that a lot of the stuff I have in my gallery is crap! Not so much that the work is poor, though there are certainly some of those as well, it's more the presentation of them. I've noticed a few poory scanned, poorly photographed and/or poorly cropped pieces and a number of ill-advised borders around my work. So barring any laziness (and there's a very strong chance that will present itself... often.) over the next few days I'm going to move some of my older work to the scrap book and submit some better versions of those works. So for those of you who faved, collected and/or commented on those works chosen for dismissal I thank you and I hope that you will enjoy their improved versions just as much, if not more. Before I get to that though, I believe some lunch is in order.

So it's pretty rare that I get to brag about something so I'm going to take this opportunity. This week on RPGAMER.com I was the featured artist in the Fan Art section for my "Heirs of Zeal" drawing. I've been visiting that page for years and finally decided to submit something and I'm pretty pleased I got to be the featured artist. Here is the link if you want to see it... www.rpgamer.com/fanart/2008/fa…

This is an article sent to me by one of my buddies. A lot of our conversations involve bitching about the girls in our lives or the lack there of (more commonly the latter). We both consider ourselves nice guys so he thought I would enjoy this and hopefully you do too.

Ode to the Nice Guys
This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl's every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they're at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don't end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn't worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you'd ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn't have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing "serious" between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: "oh, but we're just friends!" And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you're nice like that.

The nice guys don't often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don't seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can't. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as "oh, he's too nice to date" or "he would be a good boyfriend but he's not for me" or "he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn't possibly ask him out!" or the most frustrating of all: "no, it would ruin our friendship." Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can't figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I'm going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn't last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you're sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgment, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

- Somehow I doubt that vindication will ever come but hey, it's a nice thought. Right?

So this is my first journal and I'm writing about another first, my first art trade. Kazy86 and I both did Self Portraits as Hogwarts students so after seeing those we decided to do our own take on the others portrait. I think the results were fantastic. Here is a link to her version of me kazy86.deviantart.com/art/Stud…