http://the99percent.com/articles/6152/15-books-for-creative-domination
This was originally posted about a year ago, but I recently discovered it as I was trying to create a list of books I want to read in 2011. I downloaded a few Kindle samples.
http://wefeelfine.org/book/
This book claims to be an almanac of human emotion. Basically, they took Twitter, Facebook, and blogs to determine the social climate. It’s full of infographics and beautiful layouts.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183_2037185,00.html
A few weeks ago, Time Magazine labeled Mark Zuckerberg (creater of Facebook) person of the year. I finally got around to reading the whole article yesterday. I felt like most of it was a PR piece to correct the movie The Social Network.. I definitely have mixed feelings about Mark Zuckerberg, but regardless of what I think, I’m fascinated by what he’s been able to accomplish and the influence that Facebook has had on our society over the past 7 years. — Needless to say, I’ll probably end up reading Accidental Billionaires before too long.
http://www.adiosla.com/
I saw this a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still worthy of being shared. A designer that’s spent most of his life in LA, just took a job in NYC. As a good bye to the city, he desigend billboards and had them posted around the city. I love art when it’s for art’s sake.
http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer?view=raceethnicity&lat=40.6311&lng=-73.994&l=12
This is a fascinating infographic. It maps out the distribution of racial and ethnic groups.
A lot has happened over the past year. — In fact, a lot has happened since I turned 25, a year and a half ago. The day after I turned 25, my grandmother passed away. It’s the first time that my sisters and I have ever really experienced death.
This time last year? I had spent my last Christmas with my grandfather (other side of the family). He passed away January 5.
Two funerals in three months. Not fun. A good friend told me, “You never get over it. You just get used to it.” Even though it’s been a year, it still will hit me unexpectedly. Each Christmas, before we leave, we all hold hands and sing the old hymn, Bless Be the Tie That Binds. The last time we sang that song, we stood in the funeral home.
Other things that have happened: two of my best friends moved to Texas. Laura followed her boyfriend.
Liz decided to change her career path: graphic designer to girls’ minister.
…This is about the time that I blogged about change being inevitable. 
My sister got engaged. For the first time in my life, she gets to experience something before me.
I’ve started my own LLC. I’ve taken the legal and financial steps to make it a reality. My friends keep telling me this qualifies me as an adult. I like to argue. I’m still posing.
Within the next week, I’ll launch a project that has consumed much of my free time for the past 2 years! Honestly, I don’t know whether it will fly or flop, but the important thing is that I did it!
As much as I mourn change, I wonder what life would be like without it. There would be no growth. No movement. No momentum. Nothing to push us forward to become the best version of ourselves. We’d be stuck.
One of my (wise) friends told me, “It’s easier to embrace change than to fight it.” As I’ve thought about it, I’ve given myself a word picture to hang onto: the tide. When I fight the waves, that’s when it pushes me under. However, if I ride it in…well, that’s where the fun is. I wish I was better at riding it in life and could see it for the adventure that it is instead of dreading it. Is it really change I hate or just the unknown?
2011 has so much potential. That’s how most things start off, I guess. The thing is whether that potential is ever reached (or exceeded). I keep getting glimpses that when I look back on my life, this will be the most pivotal time. I truly believe that the decisions that I make now, will determine the course the rest of my life takes. For whatever reason, that doesn’t scare, I’m just aware of the magnitude of it. Yeah, there’s a lot of change, a lot of junk, and a lot of growing pains, but there’s also a lot of opportunities. I don’t want to miss out. As my Mom has told me, “The old must go in order to make room for the new.” So, 2011, with as much change that happened in 2010, I have room for you. Bring it.
