I’m 100% sure that this is overthinking, but I’m going to allow myself to enjoy the seriousness of a good bit and why I love doing them. Why creatively they satisfy me through execution and enjoyment. Why I think that’s a form of self-discovery in front of an audience. Why I think it’s a great form of art for me. From that I can derive purpose and a better life.
A ‘bit’ as top defined on Urban Dictionary today is ‘..an inside joke between a group of people’. Starting an essay with a definition is a big bit. At first it may have been innovative, but now it’s a trope that a generation of sixth graders learned. I love a good bit. The bit is the yeast to a dough of community.
They’re incredibly fun to think of and create. All of the bits on this website have given me something valuable that has incredibly enriched my life collectively. I would argue that through 1) learning new things to execute on bits and 2) from watching the evolution of what I enjoy to do, I have been on a journey of self-discovery. That, paired with the community that is built from being brought into the bit, fulfills my belief in art being an act of self-discovery in-front of an audience. That sentence feels over-hyphenated.
I’ve logged 13 bits on this website so far and that’s not counting one’s that I’ve done through school or something else that remain unlogged. Some unlogged:
In college: spoonbeams, heartbeat synthesizer, music from a face, college itself, the DCP
Jobs: Cracker Barrel, Babies “R” Us, Balloon, SeaWorld— I single these out as bit jobs since I didn’t get them out of necessity for income. I got them to do the job because it would be interesting or fun.
Out of the logged bits, some have low value. Chicken art in chicken places isn’t exactly the most valuable thing in the world, but I think that it’s fun so that is value in and of itself.
Woodworking has been incredibly high value. I’ve made things and enjoyed the process of making them. They aren’t the best, but it’s a physical piece that I can play with and enjoy. Making things that might not last, but impact someone’s life. Wouldn’t it be so sick in like, 25 years, someone says ‘Oh yeah, I remember that roomba dog house!’ Isn’t that great?