Monday, May 14, 2007

i finally caved in...

... after all my ranting about Facebook, I finally caved in. That partly explains the lack of action on the blog now (the rest can be explained by my addiction to being busy with work and travels). Sorry. I can't keep up with all the inboxes nowadays (voice mail, email, snail mail, Facebook mail, blog comments...) so I'll be mainly on Facebook. My main hope and purpose of the blog was to stay in touch with people, and it seems Facebook is a better way to do that (even better than email for some Crack-book addicts!)

Saturday, January 27, 2007

racing to read

Ahhh! I'm swimming in all kinds of fun stuff to read right now... I received two shipments from Amazon this week (a total of five new books), my friend who is writing a book e-mailed me some new chapters, and I picked up two books I put on hold (and five magazines) at the library.

I saw a deal where you get a free subscription to a Canadian magazine if you buy two other Canadian subscriptions... For a minute I entertained the idea, but realized quickly I can barely keep up with what I already have from the library and books and old magazines that are already on my shelves.

I'm thankful that I've been given the gift and ability to read, but I can't help but wish I could read faster! It always made reading in school painfully slow. I'm only recently rediscovering reading for pleasure since I've been out of university. Part of it is that I never learned very well how to approach different kinds of reading (newspapers vs. fiction vs. research studies, etc.) Good thing one of my new Amazon books is the classic How to Read a Book. But I am quite glad to be returning to a bout of reading while I'm at the gym and on public transit (which equals about 8-10 hours every week!).

I love how reading opens up new worlds, knowledge, perspectives, understanding, ideas, possibilities and dreams.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

a tale of two scarves

Random short post:
  • Yay! I found the scarf my mom made me that I thought was lost!
  • Yay! I finished my scarf on the weekend. Thanks Dilys for showing me how to cast off!

Hmmm... now I have to think of what I'm going to do for our arts and crafts night as I thought I'd be still working on my scarf then... Maybe I'll make my own version of the Daring Dice of Transformation that I've been wanting to create for some time now. Or begin one of my off-the-wall sample wedding invitation ideas.

Friday, January 19, 2007

art as procrastination

So yesterday I had a full day ahead of me with potential to... get lots of work done! But no... creative procrastination got the better of me.

It all started with a quick consultation in the morning with Rock on his business cards (who has done a fabulous job of designing his own!). After he left, I was just revving up creatively and Dilys was in the living room making greeting cards... so I decided to give myself permission to not work (I'll be making it up shortly with 20 hour work days in March, or so my conscience tells me).

Just as I was beginning to get a taste of not being stuck on the productivity treadmill, I discovered that you can be addicted to productivity even in artistic endeavours (I thought, and was hoping, that art would help slow me down!) But still, I couldn't help but get a buzz from all the tick marks on my creative to-do list that I got done all in a day!

  • Finished up the letterhead set for Lubna, the final step after logo development and business card designs we started over half a year ago...Patient woman and gracious friend for the unacceptably long wait!
  • Drafted some initial wedding invitation ideas for Andrew and Maggie.
  • Knit a few rows on my scarf while talking to my friend on the phone.
  • Finished a calligraphy piece I've been thinking about for a month on the theme of "finding home" just in time for the Arts in the City, Arts in the Sanctuary call for submissions. There's nothing quite like a deadline to get me moving! Now there's art on demand for ya...
All in all, (putting procrastination and productivity-addiction issues aside), it was just a great spontaneous day of wrapping up, beginning and making progress on random creative projects.
My new book Living Out Loud had a good point in it about how creative people surround themselves with other creative people as one of many ways they foster creativity in their lives. I can see the truth of that, even in yesterday's inspiration being instigated by Rock and Dilys... It should be great to get together with other creative folk next week for our arts and crafts night at our place.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

diving in again

The year has just begun and I'm craving a beach holiday, already.

After coming back to my apartment with the goal of some serious hibernation time to recharge my mental, emotional and spiritual batteries, I procrastinated for two days by cleaning house. Plus I consistently haven't been sleeping well since I've been back... barely enough energy to make it through my greeting duties at church on Sunday and then through the New Year's Eve party. A little drink helped with enough energy to ring in the new year.

Enough procrastination already. January 1 and 2 finally settled down in spirit enough to have some chill time with God to try starting the year off right. The day was pensive and somewhat sobering as I reflected on 2006 and looked ahead to 2007.

Last year was an amazing year by all kinds of standards. According to my productivity standard (which often is out of whack and unreasonably high), a lot was accomplished -- both work wise and personally speaking. My task-driven side should be satisfied, yet all these big giant tick marks on my to-do list left me profoundly dissatisfied. But I am thankful, because I think my productivity-work idol is finally showing its true colours and leaving me dry enough that I actually want to give it up. I've always known in my head that relationships are the important thing in life, but I think this new year I actually believe that in my heart and want to make relationships a bigger priority than my task projects this year.

January 3. The calls and emails start coming. I'm overwhelmed already. I want to hide on a beach somewhere before the avalanche of a year starts. I look at the waves and start to sink. I need to fix my gaze on Jesus. There is promise to do the impossible as I follow in his steps. I hope it's a year of walking on water. Hold on tight -- it's going to be a wild ride.