The Aspiring Crackpot

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, things are a little different around here. I’ve redesigned my site to be a showcase of my painting and illustration. Since Gallery2 is such a b*tch to migrate from one server to another, I decided to simply reinstall the whole thing.

www.duanemathes.com is the fruit of my labor. Please check it out at your convinience.

You might be wondering: why go through all this effort? The answer is simple: I’m damn near 30. As such, I realize that, being almost an old man,  I’ve got about one more shot to really follow my dreams. Of course, those dreams have fishtailed a bit as I’ve grown up, butI’m pretty sure I know what I want. I’m an awesome artist. I want to do awesome art.

The plan is, tentatively, to return to America and focus hard on creating great, sellable fine art, perhaps Alaskan art, moose, salmon, bear, etc. ala Bev Doolittle. I love that style of work, and i think I could be really good at it.

In any case, if this plan moves forward, I will be joining with the masonic lodge up in Alaska, so that should be interesting. Does anyone know what tests I’d have to go through to do that? In my lodge, we’re only required to memorize the obligation and the grip sequence. I know there is a LOT more, do other lodges require this? If so, I’d better get studying!!

Despite the naysaying of my colleagues here at ili Design, I have begun participating in Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment. For the highest good of all, I hope some people are still doing this.

Basically, it’s a public experiment on the effectiveness of intention, and how it can (and does) manifest in our daily lives. Just sit in silence for a moment, and put forth the following intention, whether by meditation, prayer, or however you feel most comfortable:

In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.

All you need to do is spend a few minutes each day thinking about it, focusing on your intention. Obviously the more you focus on it, the clearer your intention is going to be to the universe. Think of it as shooting a flare up in the darkness. The universe will provide for you, especially if you tell it what you want.

I personally believe wholeheartedly that reality is a personal and subjective experience based on one’s perception. Alter your perception, and you alter your reality. You could live a happy life or a sad one, simply on your perceptions. Take my current situation for example: I haven’t received a full paycheck in as long as I can remember. When I do get a little cash, it goes to rent, personal education, and food. Money trickles in in $30 clumps.

Seems bleak, right? Well, here’s the flipside: I live in Taiwan, so I don’t NEED a whole lot of money to cover my bottom line. I co-own my own business, and am watching it grow every day. The money that I’m not taking home today is building in not only equity, but in cash that the company will dump on me when we have our next windfall (see my upcoming post When it Rains, it Freaking Pours!) I have a wonderful girlfriend and a nice place to live, and as I’m self-employed, I can take vacations whenever I want. My family is coming in a few weeks, and I’m taking 3 weeks off to travel around the island with them.

So you see, although things may look dismal on a day-to-day basis, a simple shift of perception reveals that actually, things are going my way more than ever before.

Please consider joining this experiment. It won’t cost you anything more than a minute or two a day, and you don’t even have to tell anyone you’re doing it (although I wouldn’t mind a comment or two to know someone’s doing it with me :))

Best of luck to you! I will post any results that come my way.