Why Q?

I get this question alot. what is this love affair with the letter 'Q'?
First, a little background...

I started Eye Q Design several years ago as a catch-all business name for the many areas of design I was working in; custom invitations, graphic design, free-lance design and of course my card designs for Paper Crafts Magazine.

Eye Q is a play on I.Q. It's your creative quotient instead of your intelligence quotient.

I have never taken an I.Q. test, nor do I want to. It'll either be better than I think and then I'll be full of myself for weeks or It'll be lower and I'll be disappointed and sad and start reading the encylopedia.

There is no test for Eye Q, which is it's beauty. Everyone's Eye Q is perfect. I've been teaching some form of creative/craft classes for 20 years now and have learned to truly appreciate each creative perspective.

I believe that our desire to create is a trait inherited from God, our Father, our Creator. If you don't draw, you write, if you don't write, you play music, or garden, or build, or engineer, or invent. Sometimes, you do many of those things. Sometimes you don't think you do any of them. Sometimes no one knows how creative you are, sometimes they do.

So, now for the rest of the story...

Me and Q go way back. I'll share a few more associations I have with this graphically pleasing letter.

One of my husbands nick-names for me has always been 'Susie-Q' or 'Q'. We're both fond of CCR and of course, the song, Susie Q. Steve's boss even started calling me 'THE Q'...ohhh, I like that.

I've always been a big Star Trek fan, thanks to my oldest brother who ruled our little black and white TV growing up and we watched what he wanted, end of story.
No, I'm not a trekkie, I don't go to conventions and I don't dress up...just someone who loves the series, from the original all the way through to the sad (but I still enjoyed it, because that's what fans do) last series 'Enterprise'.

One of my favorite Star Trek characters is Q (originally from the 'Next Generation' series). John de Lancie brilliantly played a childish, dangerous, albeit omnipotent being from another race.

Lastly, and it's a little embarrassing, even after all these years. I picked up the nick-name 'Queen of Canada' during a border crossing probably a good 20 years ago. We were heading to a convention in Chicago and I had a car full of women on their way to meet up with the husbands who were working there.

I was driving. We were chatting, as women are wont to do. I was pre-occupied and didn't notice the "stop here" line and instead followed the car before me who was already at the border guard's post.

Well he didn't much like that and said as much. I apologized. Humbly. Really. I think at this point I should have taken off my sunglasses, but I was young and didn't do it. He proceeded to ask everyone for their passports and I was caught off guard. I had never been asked for my passport before, just my license. And I stupidly said as much. And to quote, "well, I suppose when you're the Queeeeeeeen of Canada, you don't have to show your passport!". After he was done looking at all our drivers' lisences he threw mine into my lap. No kidding. Wow, I was so humiliated. I fumed for a good 20 miles.

As a side note, but one I can't leave out, later that night as we were walking to the restaurant for dinner, I was talking to my Dad about what had happened. My Dad was the sort to not say much, but when he did you listened. He quietly said to me that I was mad because of my pride. I didn't love that observation, but I've never forgotten it because he was right.

So, there you have it. My loooong story of Q. What do you think? Enough good reasons?

P.S. I'm also a big fan of alliteration, so naturally, when I started teaching classes at Roberts in 2008, I called them Q's Creative Card Classes!