GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #169

Today is Halloween! Poor little kids... around here it was cold and rainy. I remember how that felt. Huge BUMMER! I think there have been years when they've allowed the trick-or-treating happen on the day after, but maybe I'm dreaming that up. I don't leave the porch light on anyway, so I wouldn't get to see the kids in their costumes if the weather had cooperated. Why, you ask? Well, our dog, Silvio, gets mighty upset about trick-or-treaters. It's just not worth the stress for him. Plus, over the last decade or so, there have been fewer and fewer kids out in our neighborhood. Finally, if there is leftover candy, I'll just eat it. So there's that.

In thinking about what kind of phrase I wanted to create for today, I decided to search for inspiration on Morguefile.com. I found several cool photos that would have worked, but the one I chose is absolutely perfect. At least I think it is. It's just so dark. You can imagine walking in the dark night and coming upon this house... totally scary!!! There's nothing you can see, but that's what makes it scary. It allows the imagination to run wild. I love this photo and the particular processing the artist, "Driscoll," used for effect.

Then, what phrase to use...

I remembered that last year, my friend Kelli designed the Halloween T-shirts for Weiskamp Printing. She drew an amazingly elaborate skull (her drawings are absolutely stunning... all ink on paper with tiny ornate detail. I could go on... Anyway, she decided to place a phrase on the T-shirt that was in Latin. It was something about death, but I can't remember what the phrase was. Still, it was so intriguing and beautiful in its creepiness! This inspired me to look up some Latin phrases, and I chose this one. It means "Say Nothing But Good Of the Dead."

For Halloween, I'm pretty happy with this phrase. The lettering took awhile, and there's nothing all that special about it, but it works, I think.

Happy Halloween!!!

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #168

As I work, I like to listen to music. Sometimes I listen to music on Spotify or Pandora, which is fun because I'm introduced to things I haven't heard before. Other times I listen to my Itunes, and I have a ton of music on there—somewhere between seven and eight thousand songs! Today I listened to a large playlist that I had created for driving in the car to pick up dogs in Covington, Indiana when I was heavily into rescue transport a few years ago. I needed music that was fun and uplifting in some way. I usually played it on the way there, but on the way back, with dogs in the car, I didn't play music. Instead I talked to the dogs. :) And while listening tonight, a couple of Bowie songs made their way into the mix.

So anyway, on that playlist is this song, which makes me feel nostalgic for the time in my life when this was a hit. I was in my 20s and did quite a little bit of going out to bars with my girlfriends. I had a Ford Pinto. You know... the light blue one that had rust on the doors... the one that apparently had a defect (and might have been recalled) that would cause the car to blow up if hit from the rear... But crappy hand-me-down first car it may have been for me—I enjoyed that car a lot. I liked driving a manual transmission, and it got me from A to B. But the best thing about it was the custom stereo that I had installed. It kicked ASS. It was worth more money than the car! So most of the time, when my friends and I went out to hit the bars, we took my car because of the great tunes. We cranked it way up and drove around campus and other parts of town, hitting bars like The White Horse Inn, Studio One, Mabel's, and more. "Let's Dance" was probably on one of my mix tapes (yes, cassette tapes). And, I remember hearing it a lot in bars where there wasn't live music.

Ah, sometimes it was a misspent youth, but I still miss those days at times. And listening to music from a particular time period is one great way to go back there.

Gloria Roubal's Daily Hand Generated Type Phrase #167

This phrase was just a spontaneous thought. No particular reason, at least on a conscious level. Maybe I'm resisting something, and I don't even know what!

While I didn't feel like it was particularly creative as I was designing it, as I added detail (like the squares and triangles) and tweaked things here and there, I felt it start to come together and feel like a more cohesive piece. I also have fun adding effects from Adobe Illustrator to give letters or backgrounds a little extra shine or texture.

I guess I kinda do like this one. But what am I resisting? Maybe I'll figure it out.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #166

If we can get good at not resisting what is... just let things be as they are... we will suffer SO much less! And it really does take a LOT of practice. We have to practice with little difficulties so that when the really big challenges of life arise, we will have some tools with which to work.

We, especially those of us in western cultures, spend a great deal of time and energy resisting. We resist when we get what we don't want and when we don't get what we do want. We resist, mentally, so many things over which we have no control. We develop the mental habit of resistance, and then we just keep strengthening that habit if we aren't aware.

So, my tip for the day is to try to notice when you are mentally resisting anything in your day. Just make a note of it and see how much you resist things. Only by first being aware of our patterns of resistance can we start to practice not resisting. Accepting what is can lead to great joy and inner peace.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #165

My search for a quote about surfing was inspired by this photograph by Ralph Leão which I found on Unsplash.com.

William Shatner's quote was just what I was looking for.

That is all.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #164

I thought this was some kind of proverb—or the beginning of one—or something... so I Googled it, and it's found in many things. It's in the Bible. It's the title of several songs. It's the name of a non-profit organization (probably more than one). It's the name of a board game. It's probably been used in stories, poetry, verses, etc.

I just like the way it's stated. It has been stated many ways, such as, "Don't be afraid," "Don't be scared," "Fear not," "Be brave," and so on. But here, there's such an emphasis on the word, "not," to me (which is why I made it visually so). I don't know why I like it, but I just like what I like, and sometimes that's all that need be said. :)

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #163

Somewhere I saw the phrase, "Life is short. Buy the dress." Hell yes, I say! (I don't know if it's an actual quote by someone in particular...)

However, I decided that I wanted to direct this little piece of wisdom to people who may not wear dresses because of gender or preference... just about everyone in our society wears shoes, so I did. Then, I wanted to find a good photo on Morguefile.com or Unsplash.com for the background. This one just begged to be used, so here ya go. Thank you, "rosevita!"

And, life is short... do something nice for yourself once in awhile!