Skillup

Hmm... where should I start... I can make up some lame excuses saying I was busy and I can't type, but no one is that busy who can't type a blog post for a month. I can also be bluntly honest and say I was lazy, but that was not entirely the truth either. The thing is, I just haven't been too enthusiastic to do anything lately. I haven't been doing any running training which I was supposed to do; I didn't take photos of my new place, like I said I would; I haven't even call my grandmother, for goodness sake, a few months now. I would like to blame it all on my video game addicted personality, but let's just be simple and blame it on the weather, shall we? And now, since the clouds are no longer covering up the sky and I have no more excuses for sitting infront of the couch staring at my TV, I can now walk two feet, grab my laptop, sit back down and type again. You gotta love Spring!

Seriousness aside (like I always am), I'm doing a little bit of thinking lately, specifically where I should go with my life. I think it's just time for me to make some moves in my career path again.

It has been a while since I had some deep thoughts about this, but lately, after looking at a lot of portfolios and meeting up with some talented graphic people on twitter, I am considering to narrow down my career to graphic design. When I left school, I got an economic degree minor in publishing. Back then, I showed quite interests to graphic designs and was (and have been) doing some freelance job for people here and there. The problem was I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do that as my full-time job. So, given I needed a job desperately back then, I went for a more "broader" choice and stay with marketing, which served the purpose and I had much fun since then. What got me thinking was when I start to ask myself the question "if there's one skill set I want to be the best and to be known as, what would it be?" and there's only one answer to that question: "graphic design". Not surprisingly, this whole conversation in my head generated from playing video game. See, my Dark Knight has been focusing on his accuracy gear instead of strength because I think hitting the mob should take priority than how hard I hit it. I knew Mom bought that Nintendo for me when I was 5 for a reason: I have made her proud.

I am currently working as a half graphic designer at work anyway, but everything I know about the graphic world is self-taught. I think if I want to persue something more, I should consider taking at least some formal trainings, then the question is: where and what?

I think I have a few options here. I can take part-time courses at a community college and get some skillup (or what I like to call it Graphic Skill +1), take full-time courses at an art institue like Emily Carr (Graphic Upgrade: new amours and weapons avaiable upon finish), or I can look into the Master of publishing program at where I graudated (End Game Battle: fame and reputation +10). What I'm afraid of the most is finding out that I am not creative or good enough, but without seeing what's out there I will never know.

There are much to research for and maybe none of these options are viable with my current financial situation, but something I am thinking about more and more the past month. I guess it's still not too late to make a change like this, I just wish there's a quick answer. Maybe my Dark Knight will encounter someone tonight and send me off to a quest to find a treasure chest and if I find the right tools to open it it will tell me where I should apply for...

Comments

[miniv]

ok
im NOT stalking ur blog loool!! i just all of a sudden realized that i haven't been on here for a while..and u updated today!!! hehehe

go to sfu!:) school of interactive arts and design...!! its more graphics design based? whereas emily carr is more artsy? like paintings etc?

[Long Story Longer]

This was fun to read, and it's inspiring to hear your thoughts about going for your dreams. I hope you'll keep us posted. : ) I love your tweets, but it's fun to read something longer and more in-depth, too.

[Greg]

I'm waiting until I grow up to decide what I should do. I'm thinking I ought to specialise in sleeping late - that seems to be my major skill. Oh, and if you need someone to day-dream, I'm the guy to call. Seriously, you're actually very good at investing in yourself (hello, Mr Monk), so I'm sure you'll find the right path. Nice to hear from you.

[Steve and Warren]

We're still around, we decided to do a photobloggy... ;-)

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