jeffrey + upstairsloft

I think I’ve seen “Yours, Mine and Ours” more than four times this week. And this week’s been quite hectic. Dennis Quaid is awesome. When life gets tough, just remember that we have Dennis Quaid. He brings out the inner peace in us all. He also knows how to rock out. Dennis Quaid and the sharks.

Kate said one key-phrase and the blocks of inspiration connected—I had an “aha!” moment—an epiphany almost. The jumbled mess in my head that I call thoughts, well, they connected and I made connections with all the thinking I do in terms of what do I want to do? Who do I want to be? Where do I want to go? Where do I want to live? How much do I want to contribute to graphic design and visual culture?

What did Kate say? She said “Curatorial Studies.” I am strongly thinking and exciting myself about this concept of getting my masters in Curatorial Studies. When I got hired at School of the Arts, I started my first project designing literature for the gallery exhibits. That triggered another set of new thoughts like “Who designs the gallery exhibitions themselves. Then I started wanting to design gallery exhibits, meeting and corresponding with artists, designers and photographers. I started thinking about how I want to design space, atmosphere and connect the audience to the art (or disconnect).

The way I see it, I want to be a multi-disciplined graphic designer who specializes in designing for gallery exhibits. I don’t mean specialty graphic design as a graphic designer who relies on style and thematic schemes to communicate a message.

I want to specialize in the application of designing the strength of pushing forward or pulling back on delivering people’s art’s message. I want to design interior (or exterior) space. I want to design atmosphere. This would also allow me to focus on a specific type of design without hindering creativity, which is also open to millions of possibilities. I want to design visual narratives to enhance the display, interaction or accessibility of the work of artists, designers, and photographers. I want to design that whole package.

Michael Vanderbyl, a prominent design figure based out of San Francisco, designs 2-d and 3-d surfaces. He integrates his education and application of graphic design in a way that is not limited to print. Mgmt. Design in Brooklyn also does wonderful work for galleries and informational graphics. These are two of many people and studios I highly look up to and appreciate. I think receiving training in curatorial studies will prepare me to take on this ambition. Charles and Ray Eames are multi-disciplinary.

I am excited.

I have to think on and think about other stuff to move along but I can’t help not letting my memories in New York distract me from what I have going on here. I love it all—the food, the atmosphere, the attractions, the liveliness, the food, the walks, the trains, the design, meddled nature, bricks, food… I’ll move there for several years to get it out of my system. Then again, there might be that cold turkey, withdrawal part. NYC is crack.

Somehow I squeezed in the time to fit in this workflow. And somehow these are ready for public viewing so soon.

>>> NYC Lomographs [12 sets]

And somehow Kate and I managed to loiter at a bunch of New York spots. She Yelped them here:

>>> Kate’s “Nueva York” Yelp

There are those few times where I have outbreaks of impatience. While exchanging speakers at Fry’s, a lady kept bumping up against me with her laptop bag while we were in line. It wasn’t like we were on a Hong kong bus but she kept nestling herself on my back. If she wasn’t doing that, she was incessantly bumping me with her laptop case. I elbowed her case twice to send off warnings that she was getting too close, making me feel extremely uncomfortable and violating my space.

Now, before New York, I was quite vocal when my impatience meets its climactic point. But after being in New York, a fast-paced world, where things just go-go-go-go, well, let’s just say it amplified my outbreaks of sheer impatience. I shouted “Fuck! Could you please get out of my space.” The lady directing the line ask if everything was okay. Almost instantly, I became very diplomatic and explained myself like an aggravated yet punctual 4-year.

This was quite a different approach to calling attention to myself when A guy was practically rubbing his junk against my back when we were inline to get Swedish meatballs at Ikea. I remember June and Kate cracking up in embarrassment at that situation. I’m so immature; I love it.

Dammit!!!!

Did I mention that Avatar of is one of two shows I really care to watch. Avatar and Foster’s. Damn you!

The day I want to watch TV and the cable is out because some moron snipped a wire and cut into the fiber optic cable. And Avatar the movie is on! There hasn’t been a new episode in a month! Damn you!

I haven’t been able to play guitar in a month because my damn wrist and it’s making me violent. I want to crush baby squirrels with my right hand.

New York has, by far, been the coolest vacation I’ve been on. It was ideal. It was part vacation and part city-living. It was an adventure. Technically I am still in New York but airports are such rough transitions from their counterparts. I noticed airports look and feel the same—whether I’m at SFO, LAX, JFK or Manila.

The food was just great. Even dogs from the stands, the infamous Serendipity, Grimaldi’s. Just everything. The food is just great. I will shamelessly hype up the food because you will not be let down. White Castle—ha! I think White Castle is one of those joints you appreciate because it’s there. It’s like hyping up Wendy’s in Montana because they don’t have one (???). So we didn’t even bother with White Castle. Magnolia’s cupcakes are so-so but they are great a day or two later.

Nonetheless, I had a blast and I would love to live there. ADHD kids love it there. There’s so much happening that it’s more than okay, hell, it’s fun to just let it distract you. I was distracted so much. I brought my digital SLR and used it for 4th of July fireworks. That’s all. By my first full day, I had already finished 5 rolls of film. I have 12 rolls to develop, scan and scrapbook.

Back to the ADHD spew. So, range-finder, or in my case, my LC-A and Kate’s XA-2 definitely did the job. With so much around a person in New York, you can’t help but to absorb the scenery, so there’s no interest for me to premeditate on a photograph. My photographs were taken strictly through intuition. I only had a 6 days and a million things to eat, see, hear, smell and feel. It was sensory overload. I was damn inspired.

All I want to do is travel. I’d rather have little money than little time to travel. If there was some sort of graphic designer freelance traveling guild, I would join it and live all over the world doing stable freelance for reputable studios. If I won the lottery, I would fly my family with me so they wouldn’t have to work—they can just travel; and I would still design because it’s just too much fun. Oh how I wish.