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After graduation, I went to SOSC and got my Bachelor of Science degree in Art. After a brief dabbling in a ceramic sculpture series which was exhibited at some local galleries and one in Eugene, I worked for a while at the Medford Post Office in processing, as a temporary employee from 1988-1992. After a year of job searching for a job in an art or design-related field, I became a sub-contracted artist for a local company that produced advertising for telephone directories across the nation. My illustrations were published and seen by millions in Yellow Pages everywhere. With the arrival of inexpensive clip art on CD, and photo-to-line-art conversion programs, my field of pen & ink illustrations slowly diminished to nothing, so I put away my lightbox after six years, from 1993-1999.
It was in 1997 that I enrolled at the brand new Rogue Community College campus in Medford, and started taking the graphic design courses that I could find nowhere else. With a professional designer as an instructor, and a few talented classmates around me, this was one of the best times of my life. Finally learning the Photoshop and Illustrator computer programs, I excelled in the assignments and my brain was as active as it ever has been, especially as I still had some assignments coming in from my freelance business! It was an amazing time. After taking all of the computer graphic design classes I could, plus some HTML web page creation classes, I put my resume out to be considered again.
In spite of my stellar performance at RCC, and a recommendation from my instructor, I had no takers, except for Pronto Print right next door to the college, where I worked for five months. The people there were great. The work was, of course, not nearly as fun as the creative assignments we had at RCC, and consisted mainly of rearranging text on business forms. At the same time, I heard about at least a couple local print shops and advertising agencies collapsing, turning dozens of experienced designers into the street. It was then that I got a notice from USPS for a career postion there. I decided that with the instability of the design market, and the pay and benefits of a job with the postal service, that I shouldn't let this offer pass by. I left Pronto Print in January of 2001.
I admire the letter carrier profession, but it wasn't for me. I went back to a non-career mail processing position for the remainder of the year, and then got notice for a career mail handler position in February of 2002, and have been in that position since.
I work swing shift at the mail processing center on Sage Road, helping move the mail that comes in from all over the Rogue Valley and beyond, and send it out to go across the country and around the world. It is a mammoth enterprise, with transportation and processing timetables, high technology and machine noise and plenty of physical activity to keep one in shape. I have interesting co-workers who have become the best of friends.
As I work evenings, I often feel I don't have a personal life like many, but I do enjoy having the day free, and I was never much of a morning person anyway!
My personal enjoyment comes from seeing my long-time friends, keeping in touch with others who are distant in miles but close by on Facebook, spending too much time exploring the worldwide web, and playing computer games online with said friends. I enjoy driving around the Rogue Valley to explore new vistas and favorite restaurants. The people are as important as the food.
My creative outlet now seems to be involved in digital photography, after many years of dabbling in stereoscopic (3D) slide photography in the late '80s and early '90s, then venturing into 35mm print film with a basic Pentax K1000, then ultimately a 1980's era Nikon F3 HP professional film camera before moving to digital snapshots with a Sony DSC-V3, and my smaller gadget camera, the Sony HX5V. Never satisfied with one feature or another, I always say "Wait until my NEXT camera!"
I still enjoy the occasional personal design project using my old versions of Photoshop and Illustrator, for friends or for myself, which is so much more fun than commercial art. My love of my friends, imagination, photography and motion pictures, music and reading is what keeps me going.
