"One in a million"

Currently there are 6,817,535,863 people in the world total (6,817,536,121 now at 11:28pm) and there are always more popping up every minute. Out of this huge number of people, 309,154,062 are in the US alone. Out of that number, nearly 50,000,000 are students in all forms of schooling from K-Ph.Ds.

Now enough of number crunching.

The "one in a million" phenomenon has always got me thinking ever since I started high school. The ultimate goal of high school is to get into the college or university you want. But thats in the minds of millions of other high schoolers. So how many of us actually get into the school of our choice? Ever since you are born you are taught that hard work and a college education will get you to achieve your dreams. But how logical is that? According to statistics you, a single guy/girl are up against 49,999,999. Now you might say that all 49,999,999 people are not in your particular field of study, but at least a good 6-7 digit number are in your same field. Theres millions of aspiring designers, filmmakers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers, writers, journalists, etc etc etc. So what are the chances that you, the one person will beat out 999,999 others for that single dream to come true? One in a million. If your dream is to be the next Steven Spielberg or Michael Jackson, how hard to you have to work to beat out 999,999 others? If your dream is to work at a certain position at a certain company and they only offer limited positions, how much do you have to stand out to beat 999,999 and snag an interview? 

Its discouraging that the higher you go in life, the more minuscule your chances get to go further. Only a select number of players max can be chosen to play for the high school basketball team. Only a couple will get college play time in a D-I school. Only 1% will be drafted to the NBA and only 26 will be considered an "all-star" for the season. 

Why is that Justin Bieber and the recent Taiwanese sensation Lin Yu Chun get to stardom and live out their dreams out of the millions of other youtube artists? Why is that only James Cameron (the d-bag) gets to express his creativity while the other 999,999 have to work under him and kill their own dreams to realize his? But I guess if your life long dream was to work under Cameron then your dreams have come true, but what about the 500,000 others who have "actual" dreams? Guess he had a "better education" then the rest. That would be the case if he wasn't a drop out.

Its also ironic that our society places so much emphasis on a good "higher education" to succeed. If good education can get you to the highest of heights, how do you explain the following:

Jane Austin never attended college.

Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard.

Woodrow Wilson dropped out of Davidson College.

Frank Lloyd Wright never graduated.

The Wright Brothers dropped out of high school.

Andrew Carnegie dropped out of elementary school.....

Walt Disney dropped out of high school.

Albert Einstein dropped out of school at age 15.

Queen Elizabeth II never went to school. Period.

F. Scott, Fitzgerald dropped out of Princeton.

Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College.

JFK dropped out of Princeton.

Donald Newhouse dropped out of Syracuse, yet ironically our com school is named after him.

George Orwell never went to college.

JK Rowling never went to college.

Colonel Harlan Sanders (KFC guy) dropped out of elementary school......

Mark Twain never got past 5th grade.

and the list is pretty damn long...

In no way, shape, or form is this a rant to crush your dreams, kill your plans, offend anyone, poke fun at universities (partially...), or attract haters. Yes you all probably have a different outlook on life then I do so I don't mind any criticism at all, I never do. 

But what I want to ask after this long rant is: 

Are you that one in a million?

Because...

I know I am. I feel bad for all the other 999,999 I am going against to "succeed" in this worldly sense because I already have and will be successful. After all, if He already conquered the world, won the battle already, have plans to prosper me and not harm me, and plans to give me a hope and a bright future, how can I NOT succeed?

Credits: Jeremiah 29:11 ;)

Creative vs "Creative"

What is visual art? Visual art in my opinion is literally ideas on paper (or whatever medium you use). Each creative mind has their own style of work. My style? Simplicity. I love simplicity. The ones that can truly express an idea, thought, or opinion in the fewest methods possible: my respect goes out to you all. I have pretty much adapted this minimalist idea and most of my work has been done in that sense. Im the type of person who cannot draw for more than 15-30 min tops. I just cant. The longer I take the more limiting it is for my mind. The only reason it takes so long to perfect a piece is because you try to "perfect" it. Yea right. You cannot "perfect" a piece ever. Because of my careless attitude towards my work I got my fair share of criticisms as well as compliments. I really dont care about the criticisms though. Yes some have been very constructive especially from some professors and peers. However, some people just need to accept the fact that im not a perfectionist. Im not one to make anything look "real". There are cameras for that. Im the type of person that will finish a drawing in less that 10 min and say im done. Why? Its my form of expression: simple, straight to the point, yet intriguing. No one will ever draw anything more realistic than a camera. You just cant. Camera = machine. You = human prone to numerous mistakes. While some ppl spend countless hours and days trying to "perfect" their work, ill point, snap, shoot, print out at CVS for $.49 all in less than 15 min time. Do you really need every single detail of your subject to get your point across? Sucks for you if thats the case. In the time you finish one drawing, ill probably done with an album. This has been just a plain rant about some of the complexities of the creative minds vs the "creative" minds who look towards perfection as their goal. My goal? Freedom of expression best describes it. 

PS: Sorry professor. This is my "real life" portrait that I did. 

Not exactly the most "realistic" drawing is it? Sorry for being creative and not "creative".