So the other site is up and running. As I mentioned in the last post it was almost done. The same can be said now, it’s basically done except for shaking it down for errors and finding areas that I need to refine. I’ve found a few but for now I’m not sure how bad they actually are. I’m going to hang back and see if they’re actually problems or not.

The first actual interview is up. I asked an old friend if I could interview him for the site and he graciously said yes. I’ve never actually done an interview before, so the process was kind of messy. In fact it was difficult on all levels, from asking the questions to formatting the post. It seemed that everything was harder.

The interview is up and you can read it at www.kennethcurtis.com. Greg Senn is a metal worker and ceramicist, and professor working in New Mexico. I’ve known him for about twenty years and I thought it would be best to start with someone who would be forgiving if I stumbled a little. He was great and answered the questions I posed as well a wrote a little himself. Thanks Greg!

The last couple of weeks I’ve been watching php programming videos. I’ve been kind of programming with php for years, but I’ve never formally took any courses. So I decided that it was time to actually learn. Damn, it’s hard to remember. The best way to describe how difficult it is, is to use the examples that others have said. It is a language, maybe not a spoken language like German or Mandarin, but learning it has got some of the same issues. Syntax and placement of items matter, just like masculine and feminine attributes in some languages. I’m muddling through it, but it’s not easy.

So I think I’m done with my new site. That is kind of a misleading statement because although I may be done with much of the coding and layout, the hard part is yet to come. I will be spending the next few weeks populating the site with data. Then I’ll be able to call it done… again still a little misleading. I’ll never be technically done with it, since I’ll have to update it regularly.

If you’re in the mood to check it out, it’s https://www.kennethcurtis.com. The idea behind the site is somewhat difficult to articulate, but stick with me here. The site is technically for artists. I plan to incorporate information for all types, from sculptors and painters to web designers and emerging media. If it’s a form of art, I want to include it. The other part is that it is for technology and how it affects the creative process for the artists that come to the site. Basically, technology to help the artist, but it could be technology as art too. That’s where it starts to get a little confusing to explain. So, why not head over and maybe take a look around. If you’re in the mood maybe join in.

It’s been a while since I updated this blog. It hasn’t been like I’m not working on the web or not writing, because I have. I’ve started another site at kennethcurtis.com where I’m spending the majority of my time working. I’ve written about three or four crappy posts there in the last week. I’m not trying to be funny or self deprecating; the truth is that they are written poorly. There’s a reason for it and it comes from the need to change my writing style. This style, like the one I’m writing in this blog is what I tend to call freestyle. It’s what I consider to be the type of writing that I think I’m good at. I get the name because I don’t have to research anything, I just sit down in front of the computer and start writing. The other style, the one at kennethcurtis.com is supposed to be a more thoughtful and informative similar to what you would find at a tech site. The type of web site that you may go to to read a review or to view a tutorial.

I’ve been having problems getting my ‘head’ into the game though. I’ve got a dozen things that I need to take care of and all I seem to be doing, is nothing. The place I’m staying moved me late last week and the new room has really spotty internet. For about the last five days I’ve been lucky to get connected a quarter of the time. Up until this morning for the last two days I had no internet at all. This morning though I tried moving my computer to some strange places and I finally connected. The space that seems to be working is on top of the microwave that is sitting on top of the refrigerator. I won’t get the luxury of sitting while I work, but hey, I’ve got internet.

I’m not sure if I’m weird, but if I don’t have internet I can’t seem to work at all. I sit down to do something and the first thing I want to do is surf for information. An example that happed yesterday was that I decided that I could practice my motion graphics on AE, so I sat down and thought that I should see something I like to get me set in the right direction, but no internet. So I ended up watching tv. I also spent about two hours going through some footage to start a new video. I found what I think will be my next video, but for some reason I couldn’t get started. It’s like without the internet I kind of sputter. Anyway, I’ve got it now so hopefully I’ll get back on track.

No word and no idea of what I’m going to do in regards to my personal life either. Since I didn’t get the job I was counting on, I have to decide where I’m going to live and what I’m going to do. I’m not going to get into details but after I learned I didn’t get the job I applied to as many universities that I could find and decided that I’d wait to hear back from them. I gave myself to the end of last week to be notified if any were interested. I heard from one, but not any others, so now I’ve got to find a new ‘permanent’ place to live. I’m thinking Lubbock, but for now it’s just a guess.

I think this is the first time that I mentioned it to anyone online so far. I remember telling a friend about it, but he really wasn’t too interested in seeing it… oh well. So I’ll do the next best thing and share it with the thousa…, uh, hundre…well maybe dozens… okay, let’s just say that I’m going to share it with the bots that come to this site. :) It’s becoming kind of fun to make jokes about how desolate my sites and videos are. I think that if I keep laughing at it, it doesn’t really bother me that much.

So, yeah. I’m building or should I say, I’m redesigning my old Kennethcurtis.com site. After it was hacked for the third time I have kind of shelved it and just basically did a redirect to the kencurtis.in site. That worked for a while, but in the back of my mind I’ve always consider myself to be a web designer and for my personal site just sitting there kind of bothered me. Especially since I’ve been applying for jobs and need as many portfolio pieces as I can get.

I’m kind of taking the site in a new direction since I have the kencurtis.in site as a personal site, I figured that it would be a waste to just do a new personal site. If I’m being honest, that’s been the problem all along, I could never really figure out what to do with it. So I decided to use the site as a more ‘professional’ site. Initially what I was going to do was just post my images, portfolios, and related information. As I was building it though, I realized that I could use the opportunity to do something that I’ve wanted to do for some time. I’m guessing maybe ten years ago I got the urge to start writing about graphic design, web design, and technology in general. I have literally spent most of my life using and studying computers and the applications for web, video, and graphic design. Not only that I’ve got three related degrees in the arts, two in computer arts, and one in graphic design. I think I’m in the position to try to write about it.

So that’s the new site I’m building, Kennethcurtis.com. The site will be based on the idea of exploring arts and the technology that is used to create it. For now it’s going slow and I’m not really proud of where the site is now. I see some potential there and I’m hoping that as I move along, I’ll be inspired to create something really great.

As for the structure, it will be very similar to kencurtis.in. I’m using static pages for the main pages and blog for articles about different subjects. I thought that this would be the best way for me to write without worrying too much about the design. It also allows me the very intriguing idea of inviting people to write for the site. This would be the best outcome to create a site that has regular and freelance writers that post consistently. I get chills just imagining having a team of writers, maybe a team of people monitoring the site too, all while I’m away hob-nobbing with all the other tech entrepreneurs.

The last thing is something that I want to do, but I’m having problems convincing myself to actually do it. That is be real. Let me explain. A friend told me that I needed to not worry about what others thought and just be myself. It makes sense and I know that I hold myself back all the time in whatever I’m doing, video, design, or writing. The problem is, is that I don’t like the idea of offending anyone. So, although I can’t predict the outcome, I’m going to try hard to say what I actually want to say. In the last article I wrote I used, “ass” and “turd.” I’m such a rebel! :)

Before I start on the main topic of this post, I thought that I’d mention that my latest youtube video has been uploaded. As always, I’m the first to say that I wish it was better, but for the footage that I had and my change in making videos (using voice overs) I think it’s pretty okay. You can watch it at my youtube channel which the link is below, unless you’re reading this after it’s left the front page, then it’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWkyPWJeR2I If there is anyone that watches it and wants to let me know what they think, leave a comment or contact me. Any guidance is appreciated.

Now to the subject of this post… bad news. I want to be careful not to disclose too much information, at least in this post where the news is hitting me kind of personally. The last thing that I want to do is give too much information that could come back to haunt me later.

If you’ve been following this blog you know that about a month ago I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That I was working on videos, and if you were in my circle of friends you knew that I was applying for a job in the US. That whole process started back in November when I first applied. I went through two interviews and then was invited for an interview on campus. So I left KL to come back to the US for the final interview. I had the final interview last week. Tonight I found out that I didn’t get the job.

Right now I’m kind of numb. I’m not sure why I wasn’t given the position, and I will probably never find out, but right now I’m hurting. I kind of threw away a pretty good life in KL to come to the US and now I am not sure what I’m going to do.

That’s about all I think I should write about. To summarize, I left a good life to go to an interview, and now I don’t know what I’m going to do. I mean I’ve considered the possibility that I wouldn’t get the job, but there are so many variables that I couldn’t choose until I actually knew that I wasn’t offered the position.

And… to be completely honest, I’m feeling pretty sorry for myself right now.