Choosing a concept knowing my limitations....

I've been ruminating on how I want to spend my time and make the most of the opportunity to really take something and run with it that this class offers.  And, not so surprisingly, I'm having the hardest time with the concept.  There are a lot of ideas out there.  There are lot of brilliant ideas out there.  Deciding is really hard to do.  I was in a meeting this week that reminded us attendees that to decide comes from the latin root "cide" which is to kill.  So to me that explains why I am being so dramatic in picking a concept...I have to kill all the other ideas.

My other struggle right now is coming to terms with my only limitations. I actually just read this random NPR article about David Duchovny and his up and down career and this thought of his really resonating with idea of owning/optimizing your strengths we are talking about.

"To go from this idea of limitless potential that you have as a young person — 'Oh, I can do anything! Just give me the chance!' — and then realizing, well, maybe you can't do anything.

"But then what do you do? What do you do after that happens? What do you do after you realize that? Do you give up? Or do you try and make your art out of your own limitations? I think that's my biggest break."

So this brings me to my new concept.  My old concept with Class Pass in Pittsburgh still totally is interesting to me and plays to all my strength, but it isn't quite socially inclined enough. 

Meanwhile, a close friend of mine's father has been regaling us a dinner parties for years now of a possible new way to stop and actually reverse the aging process in pets. This article explains it best: http://www.post-gazette.com/pets/pet-reports/2015/02/02/Spectragenetics-Pittsburgh-researcher-needs-crowdfunding-to-make-pets-live-longer/stories/201501290117

They have been trying and failing at the crowdfunding route.  They are sure they want to keep all equity, so they are trying to rase private funding.  I think I want to help them.  I'm trying to figure out the best way.  The ways this could impact the world are really interesting to think about.

My limitations are palpable. I'm not hard science backgrounded, I'm not sure I speak the language of scientific funding well enough and I don't I think I'd continue my involvement with the project after graduation...unless I can do it from NYC.  I think this is a fascinating concept for this class, and I'll be critically thinking about this over the next few days and possibly pursuing this concept for my elevator pitch.