HELLO FELLOW STEEMIANS! 

My name is Joyce, and as sweet and simple as it reads, people actually have an incredibly difficult time discerning the way it sounds. At Starbucks, I often receive a drink labeled "Josie", "Doris", or even "José" instead of Joyce. Yes, it seems unlikely, but try saying it out loud yourself. 

Joyce. 

Joyce. 

Joyce.

See what I mean? No? Perhaps Starbucks just has a problem with my name. Anyway, silly pronunciations aside, allow me to introduce myself, as I learn to embrace this new routine of writing.. In a place.. Where other humans might actually read my posts. 

First Off, Thank You STEEMIT:

I had always wondered if there would ever exist a new media source (in this day and age) that would give me the opportunity to express my everything and anything without the worry of having no viewers at all, or having too many viewers who would critique my every detail. I am so grateful that I have been introduced to this emerging creative platform that is still a developing experience for everyone. Therefore, we, the new users, the new community will (hopefully) make it a great experience for everyone who joins! Cheers! 

I wanted to join this platform, especially because the Steemit community did not seem intimidating. While I am known to be very social and outgoing, I am secretly extremely introverted and self-conscious. 

I've always drawn things, taken pictures, and written notes about my experiences, yet I have never had the balls to share most of them. Why? Because I have never come upon something as new and efficient as Steemit. It's like when I first discovered Youtube when I was in junior high school, it was great. However, I was nothing but a viewer unless I had access to the resources. People weren't interested in watching your videos unless you were ridiculously talented, rich, funny, or made a fool of yourself. No one wants to watch a mediocre video with crappy quality. Perhaps Youtube is not the greatest comparison, but basically, this is when I realized that the views received through social media is a commodity. So thank you Steemit for providing a way to express myself (because I want to and should be able to) while learning who might be interested in who I am without having to be so extravagant, all the while actually having a chance to earn something as well. 

I am an art student, but I'd like to embrace a life of creativity; not just express it through sensual concepts. 

Like most, I have an extremely broad range of interests. I am currently a student studying graphic design at a university, and I must say, the program itself terrifies me. Drawing, painting, and making things were all side hobbies I've had since I was a child. Never would I have thought to apply to change my actual major to art or anything related to it.. And so last minute at that. It meant an extra year of university, as well as starting classes with students a year below me. I was too prideful for all of that. Yet, the impulsive side of me began to gain ahold of the road to my career, and that is when I decided, I wanted to do what I loved even if I'd go broke. 

I am not particularly talented.. 

at anything really. I'm not sure what part of my instincts convinced me that I was talented enough to apply to the fine arts program at my school, but I did, (2 weeks the semester had started, and nearly 2 months after the deadline to apply had ended.. I had to meet with the director, and it was under very tight circumstances that I actually got to apply at all.) and somehow, I was accepted immediately. 

THATS WHEN I KNEW..

Art was totally for me.

NOT. 

I am a terrible procrastinator and can nearly only work on projects under pressure. The underclassmen were surpassing me at every possible criteria, and I could hardly meet project deadlines on time. There were projects being thrown at me left and right; I literally had no room to breathe. 

I had not prepared myself for this at all. I am terrible at studying for exams, guessing multiple choices, reading with my eyes open, and calculating anything at all. So I thought drawing would be all fun and expressive. BULLSH!!!!!!!!! Everything was so time-consuming and attendance was so strict. Each class was like 3-4 hours long, and if you missed a meal or didn't get much sleep the night before, well good luck. Projects had guidelines, and if you didn't satisfy even one of the criteria, your project would lose an entire letter grade. 

Haha, all exaggerations aside, a huge factor that affected me throughout all this was my insomnia. I had terrible sleeping issues that I didn't know were considered serious at all. This year, I finally met with my physician who got me started on sleeping pills. If you are like me and cannot function at all without a good night's sleep, let me know! I'd like to tell people how I've been coping with it. 

Anyway.. 

The reason why I mentioned that I am a student graphic designer is so that I can post some ideas and see what you all think! It's really late, and I'll be quite frank with you, I didn't feel like cleaning this up or coming up with a final draft. But here's a rough sketch of a Steem idea I came up with.

I feel like people associate the idea of Steem so much with steam.. like Coffee steam. When I first heard about Steem, however, the first thing I thought of was a train, and how it requires steam in order to function. We need our own steam to function.. We need Steem! Hahaha. I don't know, perhaps I took it too far. I personally thought the train idea was kind of cute, but let me know what you guys think about trains for a Steem theme! 

YOU'RE** Whoever created this meme. 

Back to Introducing Myself

Yes! So, basically I am a student from the Illinois suburbs, still trying to figure out what to do with my life. I thought that choosing art was "following my heart", but now that I am actually working in the graphic design field, I realize that it's quite boring. There's nothing really creative about it, unless you work for those  firms that give you as much elbow room as you need. Then you're basically just an illustrator or freelance artist, which is what I'm slowly leaning towards. I'm also really into cooking.. And tattoos.. And fashion.. And traveling the world! But I mean, to what extent? Like do I want to pursue a career in those kind of things? How difficult will it be to get to a solid point if I really just go after my interests only? How can an introvert like myself make connections with others in those fields? LIKE ACTUALLY TALK TO THEM?! 

Worst comes to worst, I'll just become a tattoo artist and set up shop somewhere near a coast. Any coast. That's my dream job to be honest. 

But we'll see. 

For now, STEEMIT. 

Future Posts

Now I'm sure you're all wondering what I'll actually be posting about in the future.. (It won't just be artsy fartsy stuff, I promise.) Like I said, I long to embrace a lifestyle of creativity, not just on paper. I absolutely love to cook, so will definitely be posting recipes and instructions on how to create different dishes and how I tweak them to my preference (and perhaps some shots of enjoying them myself.). Along with diet, I am also very into fitness and working out. I began playing baseball on an all-male league this year, so we'll see how that goes. I'll be traveling a lot, and I would love to share my photos with you. Basically, I've got so much to contribute with you all, and I hope that it is appealing to some!

Thank you once more.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post, and thank you Steem, especially! Excuse me for any typos and grammatical errors I may have made, but I am so excited to finally open up about myself publically! I hope that I am able to provide decent entertainment with my stories and photos! I'd like to see this community and myself grow, as I continue to follow this road of life-discovery. 

Thank you.