Well hello there 2018!

I read a thing on Facebook recently (which naturally, I cannot find again) that said something along the lines that 2017 was a year full of problems of all sorts, and dealing with them stifled the creativity of many people.  It went on to offer a wish of renewed creativity to all in 2018.  I really couldn’t agree more!  You may or may not know that in addition to following the career of Richard Armitage, I am also a long time fan of SpongeBob Squarepants – in fact, I find that there are few occasions in life that can’t be connected to a SpongeBob episode.

Case in point:  Looking for the 2018 return to creativity this morning, I ran into the little image above…fellow SpongeBob fans will know that the the rainbow over his head appears when SpongeBob arcs his hands and says,

“Imaginaaaaation!!!” 

Works for me.  I don’t usually set minimums for myself, because I find that they are far too easily broken as goals, but in terms of blogging, I think I’ll look at it as a challenge to ease myself back into regular posting.  So here’s my thought:  in the first quarter of 2018, I’ll post at least once per month.  In the second, at least twice, and so on.  I think setting some reasonable goals for myself might be just the ticket to unlocking my creativity vault..

In other news, the upper midwest has been a deep freeze over the Christmas/New Year’s holiday – can you say, “Cabin Fever?!”  Since we’ve been cooped up, we’ve been experimenting with our new favorite kitchen gadget, the SodaStream Fizzi that I got as a gift from my parents.  I’m hopeful that the omnipresence of fizzy water will help me break my soda swilling ways in 2018!  I’ve also been assembling ingredients to try out several TASTY recipes that I’ve been binge watching lately (I’ve also made a pledge to myself to stop eating so much junk in favor of cooking and carrying.)

Last but not least (I rushed Super Glam Daughter to get ready to leave, so I dare not dally…) is a very exciting announcement of travel in 2018.

As with the 2016 trip, if anyone in Armitageworld is interested in joining the group, you are most welcome.  (If you are from outside of the US and interested in joining the tour, email me and I’ll send you the price for Greece only.)  

Here’s to 2018 – a year of renewed creativity and expression!

Happy New Year Armitageworld!!

et alia: Forgotten Treasures

Today while I was in my office excavating through the remains of January – May, I “unearthed” visual proof of why, despite all my angst, I love my job…

Best Student Labeled Map of Roman Italy EVER!!!

I’ve had this for at least five years, and ever time it re-emerges it makes me smile and remember why I do what I do.  May we all have these little reminders more often!!  (I especially love the rivers…a different kind of vessel for each…who says geography and history stifle creativity?)

Sing to me, O Muse! : Richard Armitage and InspiRAtion

For those who don’t know, I live in Wisconsin.  In addition to a reputation for cheese and beer, Wisconsin is a state prone to wild swings in weather.  Subzero temperatures and snow falling by the foot in the winter, extreme heat and humidity in the summer.

This never seems to get old to me…

Today is one of those “dog days of summer” that makes me remember the icy winds of January fondly – there’s no pleasing some people is there?  To make things even better, the A/C is out in my car, and now the passenger window had decided not to open.  Suffice it to say that today’s fifty minute commute in 90+ degree heat left me feeling more than a little wilted.  I arrived at my office in need of some serious inspiration!

I walked into the office and this is what I see:

Magnetic wall in my office:  make special note of circled area…

Ahhh,  I’m feeling better already!  I love the 1st birthday cake pic of my daughter and the collage of Greece, but Richard Armitage seems to act as some sort of balm for me from time to time.  Suddenly, I was feeling inspired, so I mapped out another section of Recovery.

When it comes to inspiRAtion for me (and a whole lot of others in the fandom from the looks of it) Richard Armitage certainly functions as a personal Muse.  The Greek Muses were a collection of goddesses who functioned as the personification and “patron” divinities of arts, literature and science.  The earliest references name three, but by the classical period their number was firmly set at nine.  They are most often identified as the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (the personification of memory).  The Greeks believed that The Muses epitomized the arts and inspired creativity through their own artistic and literary works.  By the later Hellenistic period, each Muse became associated with a particular genre of creativity and could be identified visually by an emblem or attribute.

Even earlier than this it became customary for writers to call upon the Muses for inspiration at the beginning of a literary work.  Below are the first lines of three famous poems:

Homer is “writing” very early in the Greek literary tradition, so it is in no way surprising that he does not refer to a particular Muse by name (in this case Calliope, since The Iliad and The Odyssey are epic poems), but simply refers to her as “Goddess” or “Muse”.  The Latin poet Vergil, writing in the 1st century BC, would have been well aware that Calliope was the Muse specific to epic poetry, but rather than name her, he also simply invokes the “Muse”.  This is almost certainly a deliberate homage to Homer.  Regardless, this tradition of calling upon a Muse for inspiration was one started by the Greeks that is still in use today.

I think it might be rather difficult to associate Richard Armitage with a specific area of inspiration…he seems to inspire many different people in a variety of different ways.  Some are inspired to create original artworks based on him or one of the characters he brought to life, others write stories or poems while still others create fan vids or write and record original songs.  Everytime I think I’ve seen it all, something new emerges.

One thing though seems to be timeless… “Sing to me O Muse, a song of…..SQUEEEE!!”

Look…even the interviewer is doing it!!
Source: http://www.richardarmitagenet.com

Given his immense and, seemingly, effortless ability to inspire, perhaps we really should inaugurate a new Muse:

Armitage bumps out Sappho as the 10th Muse…
Source: Wikimedia with a little help from richardarmitagenet.com