I Want To Be an Artist/Scientist

…how do I do that?

Reading this article made me feel better.
I think that is the question that I always come back to. How do I do these things that seem to be so unprecedented? Why is that always what I end up wanting to do? Does that make me a dreamer, or a visionary?

Because of reading Shopgirl, I wikipedia'ed Steve Martin. I was surprised to find that not only was this man a comedian, and apparently a real writer (not the I wanted to write a book so here you go writer. But the, I have critical acclaim and emmys for my writing kind of writer) but that he is also a musician. He plays the banjo, for real, and has won grammys for it. And I thought, how awesome that this guy is not just an entertainer, but that he is also an artist. Cause after you are done entertraining, it is the art that will live on. I want that.

I don’t know exactly what my art is (maybe writing?) but I know that I have this desire to be an artist. To have art to show to the world. And yet, when I had the chance to change my major to creative writing, I scoffed at the prospect. Cause I am much more than a poet dreaming a dream. I am a scientist. Its in me, always has been. I love to learn. I read books about space and time (for fun), I think that the best kind of work is fieldwork. I can’t escape it.

So how do I do both? I think that is the question of my lifetime. I think that for the first time, I am close. If nothing else, I am experimenting with my career and finding that it can be fun to just do the things that make me happy (and make money). But the question still plagues me….how do I do both? I wonder if those that have come before me have found a good reply. In the meantime, I split my time between the two worlds; working to draw them together as one.