Paths.

Paths are meant to lead you, they can also lead you astray, further away from your original destination. Perhaps you didn’t know where you were going, or why you were going there in the first place. I like to keep my aspirations grand, my goals clear. One thing I am trying to clear up is my desire, my intent. I am passionate about my trade, it has never lead me astray, my work is always representative of it’s context, which is all that is left. But getting caught up in the work can have you forget about the path, the ground can vanish from under your feet. When this happens, it can take some time to find another better path towards your destination. And so I seek the desire to assume charge of my own affairs, stop letting others make choices in my behalf. Seems like I’ve done this before, but never so clearly. It’s a process, a slow process of comprehension and projection, meanwhile doing as much work as I can handle on my own.

Which leads me to the next great step in my life. The name is so good, I don’t want to reveal it yet. But soon. I know however what I want it to be, which is the best thing to know. I also know I can take my time and act on my own decisions, that is the biggest relief. This new project and hopefully the best project I have undertaken is a web company, with multiple specific focus areas and objectives, nothing big, but ultimately something that is mine, where the goals are clear, the ideas are my own and work with professional dedicated people. I will also never give up on the possibility of forming a small T-Shirt/Poster shop once again, one I can use as a hobby, with none of the pressures of making it big.

Well. that’s enough for now. I wanted to give my readers (I think it went up to 2.8 readers. Yay!) the heads-up. Over the next few days I will be posting excerpts from an ongoing writing project titled “Life Vest Under Your Seat” a collection of short stories I want to finish and publish.

Identity.

Many things were challenged this week, stirring up emotions that I like to let lay dormant. A new path is forming which seems to bring comfort and motivation. I can feel a new me being born and shedding behind the skin of the past years here in Miami. It is a strange air I breath, purer and different than anything before. I sense I’m about to really be challenged in my professional life.

There has been a new balance forming in my mind, that of my personal and professional life coexisting, something I want dearly happen. Indeed it has proven to be difficult in some cases, and really easy in others. So I must trust in the decisions I make, they will not lead me astray.

Braggin rights.

So, after careful deliberation, and some serious bonehead moves from your gracious host, I took on a T-shirt design job involving the legendary latin music monster FANIA. Which I have come to enjoy and listen to on many an instance. Well, much to my happiness as well, the job was to design for two great musical icons, Hector Lavoe (r.i.p.) and Tito Puente (r.i.p.). The designs were put together in a day and i met my deadline without a glitch and they should be somewhere lost in the world of “production” at this point. I have not yet heard if they will be available to for sale at a larger scale, or even a small scale. But I will let you know. Personally, I just did a search for Fania T-Shirts and found nada. So, I believe there is a good market out there.

Well. That’s all. I just wanted to put these up and get some people to take a look, maybe broaden their musical horizons by digging into the world of the Fania All Stars.

Here are larger versions of the images for your perusal.
Tito Puente
Hector Lavoe

Much thanks to Genevieve Varela for her reco.

Killing with kindness.

I have an instinct to be complementary, to be helpful (most of the time) and to give without expecting anything in return. This instinct more often then not gets me into situations, be it doing work for free or getting stuck with unwanted responsibilities. The little devil on my shoulder is just not very persuasive I guess, but I do think about the rewards that being helpful and giving bring, they make me content, productive and far beyond that I understand that putting that energy out into the universe will only create more positive things. So it’s never a negative thing to give, or to work for free, what is negative is if that help is taken for granted or abused. Which you learn to avoid or deal with quite sternly.

However most of the work I do, paid or unpaid is rewarding, and I learn from it, even if I had a very bad time doing it.