My part in the MSL TweetUp.
I follow a lot of people on twitter: a few friends that use it, a few celebraties with witty things to say, but also a few designers and artists so I can keep up with what others are doing. One such artist I follow is Lar deSouza of Least I Could Do. I really admire his work, his art and how he uses social media to be involved with his fan-base. Following him is how I learned about #NASATweetUp.
He was lucky enough to attend STS-135: The last shuttle launch. Even though I wasn’t in Florida to see it for myself, I was still able to experience a taste of what was happening because of Twitter. It was because of that I decided to enter the next NASATweetUp lottery as soon as one came up. When I entered and won a spot, I was ecstatic! I tweeted at @Lartist mentioning I won, and if he had any advice. He replied saying to look up the TweetUp info sites and to get involved with the facebook group that will inevitably be created for it.
For the past year and a half I had really become a hermit. I was on break from grad school, I didn’t have a job, and most of my friends had moved away. I was stuck in Rochester. I was freelancing a bit but it was no where enough to support myself. I had some crumby self esteem. Locked up in the apartment, I was suddenly an introvert – the complete opposite of myself from high school. This sucked! Winning the spot at the MSL TweetUp was finally a way to break out of this hole I placed myself in. I wanted to get involved and make this a great experience!
Turns out that part of the experience was to create a shirt design that people could wear to feel part of the group. Another part was to have a “Thank you” poster to sign and give to NASA and JPL to show our appreciation! To make it a lot more fun there were also patches and pins. I wanted to be a part of it. @Lartist created the poster for STS-135 TweetUp and I wanted to make one, too! As a group we submitted ideas and designs then voted to the designs we liked the most.
To have my designs selected by my peers and then to see them worn and printed felt really good. I no longer feel stuck at the bottom of the hole. I’m not completely free of said hole but I feel hopeful that I can get out of it. Thank you for liking what I had to offer and allowing me to be part of the TweetUp.
And thank you NASA for one of the greatest experiences of my life! I hope you keep this going.
My store is still open for whose who still want a TweetUp shirt. I am in the process of trying to design a TweetUnion MSL shirt for when she lands in August. Maybe design a few shirts that are completely random. who knows…
MSL Curiosity Poster