I've been marinating over this the last few weeks as my reprieve from teaching is coming to an end soon. In only a few days, I'll be heading back into the classroom; back to my "day job," which means that the hours I've spent pouring over reference books, watching tutorials, and scrolling through artist TikTok videos will become few and far between, giving way to conference calls, papers needing to be graded, and one-on-one tutoring sessions over Zoom. However, the impending loss of that down time has made me more reflective on how invaluable that time has been; how much it has changed in my life. And, again, I am struck with the thought that this is not where I thought I...
I launched my shop "officially" on Aug. 1, 2020 with a handful of designs and sort of a vague idea of what alaala.ko could become. But, if I'm honest, I didn't really have many expectations other than it maybe becoming a platform where I get to exercise my drawing skills, grow into my own style, and possibly sell a few stickers here and there.
What I didn't expect was to spend the next 8 weeks running to catch up with how quickly things took off.
It doesn't have to always be a profound moment. It can be a moment that made you laugh, that made you roll your eyes, that made you listen, that made you stop and think. They are all important because they make up our narratives and push forward our stories.
I believe that there is power in story and that we live in an age where entertainment is easy to come by, but real, authentic, and genuine experience is still so much more fun to take part in, especially when you get to share it.
