It's freezing in here, but at least this apple is good.

It's been such a long time since I have had an apple this delicious. I can't even write a full sentence without taking a bite.... ok I finished. Now I can write.

So this is the first blog I have ever done. I've never really been that interested in them. I begin reading other peoples, but always forget about them and never go back. (whoops).

The hard part is deciding what to put in a blog (what do other people want to read about me?) but I guess that doesn't really matter much because the point of a blog is to put out into the public what you think is important right? Just write whatever you are feeling and if someone wants to read it, great if not who cares.

And so I begin.... Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking about who I am and why. Why do I like the things I do, listen to the music on my playlists, create the artwork that comes out of my hands? The mind is such and interesting place to me. How does each individual process the knowledge that everyday life provides them and what will they do with that knowledge. I believe that so much of who we are is dependent on who our family is and the personalities of the people that are around you constantly. We all notice how easily children are influenced by what they hear, see, and encounter in everyday lives... we hear all these sayings about being careful about what you say or do around children, "they are very easily influenced." Yet so are adults. I don't think we ever stop being influenced by our environments. One month I may be interested in doing work based on food, the next month it may be work based on education. I tend to direct my art work and derive inspiration from those I am constantly around but at the same time I feel like I always have this initial basis of who I am that doesn't change so drastically. I am pulled to certain interests because of who I am, but why am I who I am?

This brings me to my intrigue with memories. We all have them and they can be so powerful... like directional stepping stones that provoke us to stay away from certain things or be drawn to others. Yet memories change. I wrote this paper last year about how childhood memories are derived. So many of us have these vivid memories from our childhood that have influenced us in some way or another, but what are these memories. Are they truly what happened from our point of view, or are they composed stories based off the recollections of others, pictures, videos, etc. Do we even have memories that are truly our own? And the best, most vivid memories are usually accompanied by a specific smell, sound, color, or whatever. We have these mnemonic devices that transport us back to the past, allow us to relive past experiences, but just as it is improbable to recollect a story to someone exactly the same way twice, we really never go back to the exact same experience. Our memories are constantly altered by such things as time and memories of others. I would like to do a project about this... the altering of memories as we live our present/future. My project now is deciding how to represent this idea through art, and possibly relating it to my interest in education and teaching (how we tend to remember certain aspects of the school curriculum and forget others.

Well that's all i got for now... more to come soon.