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As I sit here downloading music from my favourite music site, it suddenly dawned on me: If I could dream up a crazy life for myself, you know what I’d love to do?
I’d love to be that person who matches songs to commercials, or to movie & tv scenes. Not sure what that job title is called (any ideas, anyone?), but I’m sure it’s something cool and important, like “Executive Song Matcher”.
When it’s well-done, a scene and its associated music can be brilliant. Take this example:
Or these commercials:
Or this scene from the West Wing:
Freaking brilliant.
What’s your crazy dream job?
I’ve been reflecting on a theme that’s been recurring in my life for the past several months. I’m sure you’ve heard of this exercise before: At the start of the new year, you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself during the year. It could be a word such as love, discover, create, or something along a similar vein. But although I’ve always loved the idea of this exercise, I’ve never been able to pick a single word I could commit to for a whole year.
I’ve come to the conclusion that for 2009, the following word chose me instead: RECONNECT
Once I started paying close attention, I discovered that the theme of “reconnecting” has been coming up over and over again in my life, mainly in the form of old friends.
In the past several months, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting up with countless friends that I’d either lost touch with, or hadn’t seen in way too many years. I estimate that since January, I’ve reconnected with at least 15 friends!
And you know what? It’s been damn good for my soul to hang out with people who have known me since forever.
Sure, there was often apprehension at first: Will they have changed? Will I have changed? Will we still have anything in common? Will we have anything to say to each other? Will it be awkward?
And in every case, I’ve come away thinking “We should have done this a long time ago. I never realized how much I missed {insert name here}.”
And so I’m trying to make a conscious effort to reach out to long-time friends and spend time with them. Not always an easy thing for a solitary person.
But for the first time in a long, long time, I feel really good – physically, mentally and emotionally. I’m convinced my friends have lots to do with this.
And it shows – in the past week, I’ve have no less than three people tell me that I look really good and seem really happy. Wow.
Reading… Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Listening to… I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
Watching… Dexter (season 2 on DVD)
Discovering… This blog (it’s hilarious – watch the SNL skit with Beyonce and Justin Timberlake found within this post)
Learning… To speak Greek (at least, trying to without much success)
Loving… The sun finally making an appearance more than once in a blue moon
Hating… The freakin’ cold (will this winter never end? What’s up with -27C windchills in March, forgodssake!)
Feeling… Creative (got some ideas brewing, just gotta find the time…)
Wishing… I can really afford a trip to Greece for an old friend’s wedding…sigh.
What have you been up to lately?
Since arriving in Ottawa on Saturday I’ve been having a grand time – taking in Winterlude festivities, (almost) seeing Obama, reconnecting with old friends…it’s all good.
Once upon a time when I lived in Ottawa, I was coordinator of the Canada Snow Sculpture Competition (since renamed the National Snow Sculpture Competition). We had teams of sculptors from every province and territory (13 in all) spending a week in the capital, competing for the national championship. It was hard work and long days spent outside in the cold, but I relished the time spent with such a motley, creative group comprised of musicians, jewellers, potters, ceramicists, wood carvers, painters, welders, cartographers, and chefs (to name but a few).
On Saturday I arrived in Ottawa just in time for the awards ceremony for this year’s competition – Team Alberta won first prize with their carving:
Way to go Brian and team!!!
Keep in mind that these sculptures are 16 feet high and weigh 40 tons – scary and impressive at the same time. I was honoured to be invited to join the sculptors at their closing dinner and was thrilled to reconnect with several old, familiar faces. I always feel deeply nostalgic when I remember the competition and sculptors – I can’t believe it’s been over 5 years since I last coordinated this event…
I’ve been spending lots of time meeting up with old friends, reminiscing about good times (and not so good ones too!). It’s been a nice break from the constant frenzy of the pesky day job, although I did spend two days this week actually working (hence the reason I travelled to Ottawa in the first place). Tomorrow I plan to visit the Bernini exhibit at the National Gallery, and Saturday I hope to go back and take some better photos of the snow and ice sculptures at Winterlude. Saturday night I’m looking forward to spending time with dear, dear friends from a former job.
Today was President Obama’s visit in Ottawa, and everyone was abuzz with excitement. After a long lunch with a friend, I drove over to the ByWard Market to hang out for a few hours (and to stock up on beads and paper). I was walking around, when I noticed that police had blocked off several streets in the area, and 3 or 4 helicopters were hovering low. I figured they must be getting ready for Obama’s departure toward the airport, so I didn’t really make much of it.
Until two ladies walked into the store where I was browsing, telling everyone that they had just seen Obama buying a cookie in the market! By the time I ran outside, the President and his entourage were gone. Only later did I find out that he had bought the cookie at the Moulin de Provence, which is where I had parked my car! Obama stood right beside my car and must have seen it – sigh… This is just too much excitement (and disappointment) to handle in one week.
More later…
It’s hard to believe that today is already Day 4 of 2009… Time continues to tick away, when there is still so much to do. I’ve spent the past several days just vegging out and thinking about what I want to accomplish this coming year. Although I haven’t posted on this blog in several months, I’ve been very busy creating in other areas of my life. In December alone, I:
· Took part in a craft fair (while recovering from a nasty bout of food poisoning)
· Made no less than 6 custom books and 3 boxes for special commissions
· Taught 3 bookbinding workshops
· Wrapped up a weekly web design course I was taking
· Made a bracelet as a Christmas gift for my mom and started a second one for myself (Found a new hobby – oh, joy!)
· Made a painting (18”X24”) of Jim Morrison as a Christmas gift for my brother
· Organized and delivered three events in three different cities for my pesky day job
I think I really overextended myself this time…no wonder I’m feeling so burnt out. For months I’ve been working long and stressful hours at my pesky day job, and on my crafty endeavours every evening and weekend.
Despite the current economic downturn, it is my greatest hope to start working for myself. Being a realistic person, I know it won’t be possible just yet. But in the meantime I have decided to set the wheels in motion so that when the timing is right, I’ll be ready. One example of this is the web design course I recently took – I started with the intention of learning to design my own website, but I can now see myself selling my services to others one day. With this in mind, I’ve signed up for a course to learn Adobe Photoshop, which will in turn help me to design better websites. I also signed up for a full-day workshop on Starting Your Own Business, so that when the timing is right, I’ll have the tools and skills in place to get things done quickly and correctly.
When I came back from my Christmas trip in Switzerland a year ago, I had decided I wanted to learn a new language (meeting so many Europeans who could speak several languages really inspired me) but I never did anything about it… Now one of my closest friends, Neil, is getting married in Greece this coming May, so I registered for a Greek-language course to keep me focussed on my goal of saving enough money to attend the wedding (and impress my friends by speaking Greek!). Living in the Greektown area of Toronto will no doubt help me learn the language more easily. I can’t wait until next week, when the course starts…should be fun!
Part of me feels that I’m again overextending myself by registering for all these course during my busiest time of year at my pesky day job (I will be organizing and delivering 5 events in January and 6 in February), but the other part of me feels that I really need to do this for myself if I want to improve my life in the long run. If I can get through the next two months, I can get through anything! I just need to stay focussed on my goals, get lots of sleep, and enjoy every free moment I have.
Here are a few photos of some recent projects:
A notebook I made for a swap that never took place…
A wedding album & box commission (I made 5 albums and 3 boxes for this couple)
Another commission – a large journal for a Bluenose aficionado (like me!)
The Jim Morrison painting I made for my brother
The half-finished silver & teal bracelet I am making for myself (I made a similar one in gold & cream for my mom)
So tell me, what do you have planned for 2009?
…moving out of the old place and into the new loft. Although I’m very excited about the new place, I’ve completely lost momentum when it comes to painting and cleaning… I now figure if I’m living in the middle of the chaos, I’ll find the motivation to just get everything done. Moving out this weekend – yay!
…somehow finding the time to make books. Made three LP books on Thursday night – they are now at the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik, Northwest Territories (in the Arctic Circle!). Hoping they will sell there – otherwise I may be able to trade them for artwork.
…making new connections. Last week, B. and I had a few brand new aquaintances over for dinner – two ladies from Findland and one gentleman from Guatemala. Although I was reluctant to have them over at first, I had the most fantastic time that evening, connecting with the most fascinating people from the most extraordinary cultures! It made me realize that I really need to push myself out of my comfort zone and meet new people (I am very much an introvert and painfully shy with strangers).
…making additional connections at work. I have offered to present a basic bookbinding class to my colleagues at the pesky day job, and 6 people have signed up already! I’m very excited about launching this new “Lunch & Learn” initiative and hope other colleagues will offer to share their special skills and knowledge as well. I’m thrilled so many people are interested in learning about bookbinding!
…pushing more boundaries. As I mentioned earlier, connecting with strangers made me open my eyes to new possibilities and made me realize that I need to push myself more out of my comfort zone. One way I can do this is by reading books that I would never normally touch. I have a certain style of books that I tend to gravitate to (Canadian or British literature), and I now realize that it wouldn’t do harm to try a genre that I would never typically be interested in (i.e. mysteries, science fiction, etc.). Do you have any books to recommend? Please share – anything goes!
…developing new workshop projects. I have one project that I desperately want to develop but am struggling to turn it into reality. I have the general gist of what I want to do, but I have no idea what the final project looks like! Argh – so frustrating! But I know that I need to push myself until I finish putting this idea on paper because I truly believe it’s worthwhile…more to follow!
I am looking forward to moving into the new loft this weekend – hopefully the new environment will inspire me to make more art and handmade books, without the many distractions I’ve had to deal with in the past several months. Wish me luck!
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that the past few months have been extremely busy and stressful for me at work. Since mid-November, I’ve travelled on business no less than 23 days, planning and implementing events as well as conducting site visits for upcoming events. I’m tired, bitchy and frazzled. I feel fat and gross from all the restaurant food I’ve been eating while on the road. I don’t sleep well in hotels, which means I’m seriously sleep deprived. Although I want to create in my down time, I don’t have the mental or physical energy to put into projects, which makes me bitchier because I’m so frustrated at my lack of creativity/productivity.
Because I have been travelling so much and working so intensely during the week, I have tried to unwind as much as possible on the weekends. Unfortunately, this means I’ve been vegging out in front of the tv or spending countless hours on the internet, not making art or books or anything else productive.
Then last night I watched “A Good Year” starring Russell Crowe. And it got me thinking about living a much simpler, more pleasurable existence. Although living in Provence would certainly be conducive to such an existence, I started thinking about small things I could do to live “a good year”, despite the challenges I’m facing at the moment. Firstly, I need to be more mindful of the food I eat and make my meals a happier daily ritual. And so tonight, instead of ordering takeout as I would normally do, I went to the grocery store and bought a myriad of vegetables, fruit, cheese, dips and breads/crackers. I figured I’d have my own version of a Provençal meal, complete with a glass of red wine. It was wonderful to savour the small bits and pieces of food, instead of scarfing down the usual heavy, super-sized meal.
Reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert has also got me thinking about slowing down and taking care of myself more. So I won’t be taking off for Italy, India or Indonesia anytime soon, but I can certainly be more aware of what I eat (and only eat what brings me pleasure), take better care of my body (I think taking up yoga would be good to help ease my back pain), and just be more mindful about loving and enjoying my surroundings more.
Even though I can’t change the nature of my job (working as an events planner will always mean a crazy and hectic lifestyle, no matter how organized I try to be), I know that I need to utilize the slower periods of the year to plan, plan, plan in order to minimize the upcoming craziness and to recharge my batteries. And during the crazy periods, I need to take care of myself as best I can (by living the Provençal, or Italian, or Indian, or Indonesian way…).
I know the craziness at work will slow down considerably in about a month, at which time I’ll be able to take some much-needed vacation days, so until then I simply need to take small steps to preserve my (and B’s) sanity.
Baby steps. That’s what it’s all about.
While showing off my chunky advent book a few posts back, I mentioned that on each of the tags I planned to include a self-reflective question. Although I haven’t decided upon each and every question yet, this end-of-year survey will give you a good idea of what I’m planning to use:
1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
5. What countries did you visit?
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
9. What was your biggest failure?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
11. What was the best thing you bought?
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
14. Where did most of your money go?
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
16. What songs will always remind you of 2006?
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i) …happier or sadder?
ii) thinner or fatter?
iii) richer or poorer?
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?
23. How many one night stands?
24. What were your favourite TV program?
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
26. What was the best book you read?
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
28. What did you want and get?
29. What did you want and not get?
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
34. What kept you sane?
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
37. Who did you miss?
38. Who was the best new person you met?
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I’ll pick and choose from this list, and add some questions specific to personal goal-setting for 2008. My plan is to answer one question each day and keep a record of the process in a new journal used just for this purpose. This seems manageable to me, considering my lack of spare time and low energy level these days…
It’s your turn to share…
- Do you go into a self-reflective period at the end of the year?
- Do you set new goals/resolutions for yourself?
- Do you record this process in a journal?
- Do you have any other special end-of-year rituals?
I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since my last post. Although I’ve been busy with bookbinding projects and work, I’ve mostly been busy dealing with stuff. Un-fun stuff. Tough stuff. Some days are good, some not so great. Like today. But I’m trying to plug through, keep busy and productive, and hopefully things will get better soon.
I’ve been doing fun stuff, too. Just over two weeks ago, B and I visited my brother in Ottawa for a few days. We went to the Ottawa Bluesfest and caught Van Morrison and Bob Dylan in concert. How could that not be good? And I had lunch with one of my favourite people in the world, a former boss who is more like an over-protective big brother to me. Good times.
B was back home for barely more than two weeks (after two months away). Just as I was getting used to having him around again, he took off to participate in an arts festival. Gone for another three weeks. This is certainly part of the un-fun stuff I’ve been dealing with.
Work has been a challenge too, for the past few weeks. Although I love my new job, during the course of the summer I’m in the planning process for all the events that will take place in the fall and winter. As much as I love organizing events, to me the planning stage is the not-so-fun-and-exciting part. It’s the boring and mundane part of the process, unlike the implementation stage when you’re actually in the middle of the event and your adrenaline is rushing and you can see the concrete results of your hard work.
So to help me get through all this, I decided I needed a goal of some sort. And I decided that reading through (and implementing) Getting Things Done by David Allen was going to be my goal. You see, I’m a very organized person at work. And at home, to a certain extent. Where I struggle is in synchronizing the two together. I’m hoping to develop a system that will help me better keep track of my home and work stuff better.
Aside from reading the book, I’ve also been surfing the web for related websites. Here are a few I’ve been enjoying:
- Lifehacker
- 43 Folders
There are too many more to list here, but these two are the best sites. Just getting through the book and the websites has given me more energy, and I already feel my creative juices starting to stir. This system greatly appeals to the anal-retentive side of me that loves lists, order, time management, and organization.
Not done reading the book yet. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Sunday afternoon I went to see the new movie Waitress with my friend C. I had never heard of the film, but she really wanted to see it because a) it looked good and b) the director gained cult status due to her tragic death before the film came out.
It seems that Adrienne Shelly, who not only directed the film, but also wrote the screenplay and played a part in the movie, was murdered by a construction worker when she complained about the noise he was making in the apartment below her. If that wasn’t bad enough, he (an illegal immigrant) then hung her body from a shower rod to make it look like a suicide.
Not knowing that Adrienne was also in the movie before I saw it, I was able to enjoy it (and her performance) for what it was. Otherwise I would have been so fixated on the fact that she is no longer here, I’m not sure I could have appreciated it as much.
I highly recommend this film – it’s certainly a chick flick, but I think even a few guys will enjoy it…
***
C, the friend with whom I saw the movie, has had her own tragedy to deal with recently. Her brother passed away last week at the age of 33. It was a senseless death, really, the result of a freak accident during an epilepsy seizure.
When I received her email on Friday night telling of her brother’s death, it unleashed a flood of memories – of my own brother’s death. Although my friend C and I now live in Toronto, we were actually roomates in Ottawa when I got the news of my brother’s death, and she was there to help me deal with everything. It’s sad and ironic that we now share something else in common.
My brother’s death was also senseless and preventable; he was a schizophrenic who chose not to take his medications. Unfortunately his personal demons continued to harass him and when he couldn’t deal with the strange voices talking to him anymore, he took his own life. May 20 will be the third anniversary of his death.
This post is dedicated to the memory of Mario, Dan and Adrienne.
