Chasing dreams…

As you are probably aware, this is my first blog post, , and as you know, first blog posts always suck. Still, let’s give it a go anyway.

I’ve been thinking for a while about what kind of blog posts I might write. It’s difficult to imagine that anyone would be interested in what I have to say – I live a completely average, boring, middle-of-the-road life. I grew up in the suburbs of a city where I no longer live. I went to college and I got a white-collar job that suits me fine. I have an office with a window and a favorite coffee mug. My middle school friends and I share a Discord server where we talk every day. I come home every evening to my partner, my best friend, and our thirteen pet fish. Sometimes I write, sometimes I stitch, sometimes I do a whole lot of scrolling. The days pass, one by one. Every day is a little different, every day has its own small joys and its own disappointments. Same old soup, warmed up. 

So, what is it that I could possibly have to offer that hasn’t been said by someone else — someone more articulate, someone more talented, someone more hardworking or cool or funny?

Well, here’s the truth: nothing.

I don’t have anything novel or exciting or earth-shattering to offer, but what I do have to offer are the joy and passion and perspective that are all my own. 

First: I love counted cross stitch. It’s so relaxing and meditative, and at the end you’re left with something beautiful and unique – a physical representation of the time and effort you’ve stitched into it. I’ve never been much of a visual artist, but I imagine it must be a similar feeling to finishing any type of artistic work: the satisfaction of bringing something out of the realm of your mind and into the physical world; the satisfaction of holding in your hands something that never would have it existed if you hadn’t made it exist. 

Counted cross stitch in particular lends itself well to those of us who never put in the time to develop skills like drawing or painting. There’s something about the confinement of those squares that feels safe and comfortable. They’re like a safe

Second: I am endlessly delighted by how easily 8 and 16-bit video games translate to this medium. If you stick around, you’ll discover right away that my favorite guys to work with are Pokemon. I could probably keep cross-stitching until the end of time and only stitch Pokemon if I wanted. But there are plenty of other friends I’d love to stitch: Yoshi, Kirby, villagers from Animal Crossing, old Zelda assets, Sans Undertale… The possibilities could fill a lifetime of stitching.

This is where I’ll start. I’ll follow the trail of stitches and cuties before me and see where it leads. Who can say where we might end up?

In the afterword to Children of Dune, Frank Herbert says, “You don’t write for success. That takes part of your attention away from the writing. If you’re really doing it, that’s all you’re doing: writing.”

I’m going to try taking his advice.