Author: 32ericliu

Fireworks

The fourth of July is undeniably a time for the country to just kick back and relax. In a typical year, I would be basking in those same comforts: friends, sunshine, pools, lakes, beaches, BBQ, etc. Now, I’m not saying I haven’t been enjoying some of those great things because I have. The mindset for me right now is much different than the normal me. I called a close co-worker of mine yesterday to check in with him. It was sort of a ‘state of the world’ type call where I gave my perspective of the things that are happening, what I think about them, how I will be responding to them, and what I would suggest a normal person also do. “This is unlike you” are the words he used to describe my state of mind. While I agree with him that I normally don’t get this riled up about things at work, I can’t completely agree with this mindset being besides me.

There’s two sides to this coin for me. First is that this is totally unlike me to voice my concerns in such an open and brutally honest way. Second, I’ve always been this way and it’s now that I cannot hold back the things I see wrong and feel the universally-correct thing is to speak up. In fact, I feel like a firework here. Scratch that, I feel like a boat-load of fireworks. I’ve been just hanging out, calm, cool, collected. Things have lit my daisy-chained wicks. It’s now time to break from the shell and fight for what is right and not hold back. You might be thinking – is there a compromise? Is there such as thing as a half-lit firework? Assuming the wick works, I don’t think this is possible. So… Eric, does this mean things are blowing up and things will get bad?

Things do not have to get bad. In fact, they can be just fine or even better. We’re talking about fireworks here, not dynamites or other explosives. The point is to create something beautiful, maybe even perfect. My goal on this fourth of July and moving forward is to take full advantage of all the things on fire, string together a few wicks, then finally sit back, relax, and enjoy my show.

To get this rolling.

The process of film photography has given me many of the images below. I think life has done the same. It’s either the end or the beginning. My money is always on a new beginning.

I am starting this process to maintain my thoughts in an orderly fashion and convey it to the world. Too often I am overwhelmed with feelings, thoughts, accidents, flickers of moments, inspiration, etc. that I don’t often articulate correctly when it comes time to share. I am a huge believer in sharing ideas and have found myself at fault too many times not sharing thoughts perfectly. My goal is to get better at telling stories of all topics. I’ve always done it in another medium — photography, but my thought process is that if I want to get better at doing it in the real world, I must also get better with the simple pen and paper (or keyboard and screen). Here’s to get new roll of film popped in and ready to shoot.