What A Long Strange Year It’s Been
I’m sitting here channeling my inner Jerry Garcia as I pen this mindless waltz down memory lane while the final festive days of 2023 serenade and entertain us. It’s been a wild and remarkable year without parallel, not only for the world but for me too. This was the big one for me as I kicked the year off right by hitting that “oh-ohh” milestone, the dreaded 50th birthday in late January. Lots of people get the heebie-jeebies about turning fifty but honestly I was looking forward to it and glad to finally turn a new page in my life. The forties were well and good but time moves on and I’m itching to turn a page and move on to better things. So it’s nice to get the chance to begin a new decade and a new chapter in my life’s story.
I think I’m going to like the fifties.
Getting older has its share of surprises, one of which is the discovery that there are certain things I can do now which would’ve been difficult when I was younger. Who would’ve guessed? Take entrepreneurship for example. Despite all my many charms and talents I’ve never been a great entrepreneur. That’s no surprise as there’s lots of things I’ve never been great at. I can’t sing. I sure can’t dance. And Lordy knows I couldn’t sell hot chili and cocoa to a pack of starving Eskimos. I’m not even too good at spelling either and have yet to successfully spell the word ‘entrepreneur’ without having to resort to Google for help. But I’ve long admired anyone with the chutzpah to even try their hand (and luck) at running a little sideline. I’ll even admit that I’ve long fantasized about doing the same. Over the years I’ve made various attempts at different sidelines only to discover, again and again, that I’m hopelessly inept at running any kind of business. Thank the stars for art because I’d be a total bum without it. My only regret is that it’s a real pity I can’t pay the bills being a bum. Just as well as I’m much too young to retire anyway.
But that may be changing.
I love the art life as much as anything but it’s common knowledge that a life and career as an artist means taking a vow of poverty unless you happen to be a Picasso or an exceptional promoter. Needless to say that has made my life’s existence fairly dicey and, at times, quite difficult. I’ve vowed I would never, ever ask anyone for a buck under any circumstances and I’m pleased as punch to say that I’ve never cratered on that vow. But it sure hasn’t been easy. How I’ve managed to get this far and last this long on so little boggles my mind. I guess what has kept me going is my eternally optimistic hope that better days really are coming if I can only hold on and continue working on my skills and my business. That’s certainly doable since art really isn’t any different from any other business in the sense that your career lives or dies depending on how good you are at promoting himself, your product, and building a reputation. It’s a number’s game really and I like to joke with others that succeeding in art is easy. All you have to do is become famous! The more people who know you the more opportunities you have to sell stuff to your many adoring fans and earn some moola. Once you have acquired that critical mass of fans who rave over everything you produce then making a living from your art is relatively easy and self-sustaining. But until you get to that magic number, whatever it is, then the struggle is real. After all these years of doing art I’m still not there yet but boy have I learned some things. And I’m confident that I will get there one day.
I just gotta hustle. How hard can that be?
We all have our banner years. I think 2023 is the year where I finally (FINALLY!) learned to hustle. Which is pretty remarkable given that my high school class voted me as the quietest guy among them. My ability to hustle has always been about on par with a constipated slug. But hustling and selling are essential skills to know in today’s dog-eat-dog world, even if you have no plans of earning money from it. Skills which, until recently, I seemed to have little aptitude for and couldn’t seem to master if my life depended on it. But sometimes life will leave you no choice but to rise to the challenge and force you to become a stronger and more creative person than you ever dreamed possible. 2023 was that year for me. 2023 was the year I finally found the confidence in myself to look people in the eye and tell them about myself and what I can do for them without feeling like a cad or money grabber. And I’ve got to say it’s been pretty darn liberating to say the least. How I wish I could have found that years ago but I’ll take it.
And guess what? I can actually write (something good)!
Writing is another pet passion of mine which has in equal turns possessed me, frustrated me and deflated me like some jilted lover over the course of this year. Maybe I’m nuts but I like to think I have some aptitude for writing but you wouldn’t have known it this year as I haven’t been terribly prodigous. Finding my voice while figuring out what exactly I want to write about has been a hit-and-miss affair all year long. And being overworked, stressed out, and distracted doesn’t exactly help grease the wheels when I could even be bothered to do any writing. No question, writing well is harder than hard and very tempermental depending on the whims of the author and the circumstances in their life. But to my credit I’ve kept pushing and I’m glad I did as I’ve learned a thing or two about the craft. Mostly I’ve learned just to be myself and take comfort in my own iconoclastic thought process. After all that’s where all writing begins. As a man thinks, so he writes.
Ok Bryan, now that you’re writing again what about this darn blog of yours?
Great question and I’ve been giving that a lot of thought this year. Blogging is an art too and as an artist I appreciate it and find blogging to be a lot of fun. At least it is when I’ve got something of merit to say. If blogging has taught me anything at all it has taught me to write spontaneously and follow my spirit wherever it may go which is definitely NOT how I typically write. My usual form is to give a lot of thought and planning to my writing assignments which has worked well for me in the past. But this year I’ve come to see that blogging is an entirely different beast and a more breezy and conversational style of writing is needed. Easy for a lot of people but tough for me because I am not a very chatty kind of person most days, either in person or on my computer. But I think I’m finding my feet and I hope, from here on, I will be blogging more regularly. At least I aim to be a regular poster by putting out a weekly blog post at the minimum if not more often. On those days in which I don’t blog I will simply share a funny cartoon to help you get through the day. Cartoons are quick and fun to draw. And they are always a welcome distraction so I will do a daily cartoon just for kicks which means that you should be getting something from me on a daily basis now. There may still be a few hiccups as I get myself on a regular schedule but that’s the game plan.
As if I don’t already have enough to do………
This year I became a moderator for the Bonsai Beginners Facebook group and that’s been another neat opportunity that fell right into my lap out of the clear blue sky. I never saw it coming and I certainly didn’t ask for it but I must have made some kind of an impression on the powers in charge for I soon got an invite to become a moderator for Bonsai Beginners, a group that was sorely in need of moderating at the time. I’ve never been a moderator before and I had no idea what I was getting myself into but it hasn’t been too bad for the most part. As the moderator I have the task of going through all the posts submitted to the group and making the decision whether to approve them to go live before the group or decline them if I consider the content irrelevant or inappropriate. As the moderator you see it all which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the state of the world. I also spend a lot of my time ridding the group of scammers, spammers, and trolls that sneak in and start making trouble. Occasionally I have to play the peacekeeper and policeman when someone gets out of line. And I spend as much time as I can answering questions and commenting where needed. Every day is a new experience and moderating a group as large as Bonsai Beginners does keep a fella on his toes. Thankfully it isn’t overwhelming even though the group is a large one and growing rapidly. If the current rate of growth continues I anticipate the group’s membership to pass 500,000 early next year which is pretty remarkable. Just goes to show that bonsai is more popular than ever which bodes well for its future.
Anyway that’s been my year in a nutshell. Been a strange and busy one that has really pushed me to grow as a person and as an artist for which I am grateful. I’m not sure if I’m going to get another post written before Christmas or not. So I’ll wrap this up with a Merry Christmas for you and yours and hope you don’t eat too much. Catch you soon.
