Er... ahem...
*sneaks this one in, a wee bit late*
• Last week, I started my new job. Well, not exactly new, but rather a renewed commitment to my writing. I subscribed to my friend Don's method, and hit a cafe every day, and wrote. Drank too much coffee. And discovered a startling correlation between Tylenol-3 and creative output. Zoinks! Rest assured, I am not a prescription druggie in the making - just enjoying what little temporary benefit comes from the constant discomfort in my upper right abdomen.
Is it okay to bullet one point? Because I have no other points to reference from last week. That really was the big accomplishment, and I feel great about it. Aside from baking a birthday cake for Dad from scratch (the first cake I've made from scratch in a very long time, I might add).
Woo.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Belly News, And Belated Friday "Go Me!"
In the midst of a busy week, I forgot about my Go Me. So here we be:
• In the never ending quest for the functional domicile, I polished off our place so that it is a functional, mostly clutter-free environment for creating, retreating and living. There's still a few boxes to go through, and more things to go to the wildlife store, but all in all it's shaping up to be not such a bad little apartment. All it needed was a little love.
• I got out of the house! Several nights, in fact, and hit the comedy festival. Good stuff.
• I started cooking and baking again, something I love doing but haven't had the chance to do much of due to work and lack of tidy space.
***
I met my surgeon today. He seemed very nice, and friendly, and understanding, and compassionate. All the things I was scared he might not be.
We discussed my situation, and he was concerned that I hadn't opted for surgery sooner, given the amount of pain and discomfort I've been experiencing over the past four years. I guess I have a high tolerance for discomfort? Or perhaps I'm just a masochist, I'm not sure. At any rate, it sounds like it should be fairly straightforward, as long as my gall bladder maintains it's current state and doesn't get much worse.
I told him I'm a bellydancer, and it's bad for business to have great big scars across my stomach. He laughed, and assured me that unless there are complications, that it can all be done via lapriscopy, and will only result in four small incisions.
I'm waiting on a final date, but the surgery will take place sometime in the first two weeks of January, unless I have another major attack between now and then.
Whew.
• In the never ending quest for the functional domicile, I polished off our place so that it is a functional, mostly clutter-free environment for creating, retreating and living. There's still a few boxes to go through, and more things to go to the wildlife store, but all in all it's shaping up to be not such a bad little apartment. All it needed was a little love.
• I got out of the house! Several nights, in fact, and hit the comedy festival. Good stuff.
• I started cooking and baking again, something I love doing but haven't had the chance to do much of due to work and lack of tidy space.
***
I met my surgeon today. He seemed very nice, and friendly, and understanding, and compassionate. All the things I was scared he might not be.
We discussed my situation, and he was concerned that I hadn't opted for surgery sooner, given the amount of pain and discomfort I've been experiencing over the past four years. I guess I have a high tolerance for discomfort? Or perhaps I'm just a masochist, I'm not sure. At any rate, it sounds like it should be fairly straightforward, as long as my gall bladder maintains it's current state and doesn't get much worse.
I told him I'm a bellydancer, and it's bad for business to have great big scars across my stomach. He laughed, and assured me that unless there are complications, that it can all be done via lapriscopy, and will only result in four small incisions.
I'm waiting on a final date, but the surgery will take place sometime in the first two weeks of January, unless I have another major attack between now and then.
Whew.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I Has A Floor. A Floor! I Has One.
When we returned from vacation, I was confused. Had we gone away to visit family and have a restful, relaxing vacation? Or were we hurricane refugees. Because let me tell you: our apartment was definitely hit by some violent force of nature.
Problem is, the violent force of nature was US.
At some point last Spring, when I was working monstrous amounts of overtime, I gave up. I stopped cleaning - laundry day became random, dishes and used appliances piled up, and clutter and mess took over the living room, leaving it totally unlivable. Which was really depressing and frustrating, because deep down I am a clean and tidy type of person. I don't like mess, I don't like chaos. My Mum kept a very clean home, and had a very specific sort of cleaning schedule, and granted she was a full-time homemaker so she had the time to make things 'just so', but I still feel compelled to maintain at least a degree of order in my home.
So when I lost my job, one of the first things I decided to do was tackle the mess monster. And as of around 11am this morning, I was finally victorious - five full bags of trash, four full bags of donations to the Wildlife Thrift store, several litres of Windex, many dust rags, and some paper towels later our home has returned to some sense of order. There's still boxes and bags of items that need to be sorted through and either chucked out, or donated, but it's a whale of an improvement over where it was two weeks ago.
Phil was a big help too, despite that fact that he's working lots of overtime right now. I think he's starting to see what a difference a clean and clutter free home can make.
Whew.
Problem is, the violent force of nature was US.
At some point last Spring, when I was working monstrous amounts of overtime, I gave up. I stopped cleaning - laundry day became random, dishes and used appliances piled up, and clutter and mess took over the living room, leaving it totally unlivable. Which was really depressing and frustrating, because deep down I am a clean and tidy type of person. I don't like mess, I don't like chaos. My Mum kept a very clean home, and had a very specific sort of cleaning schedule, and granted she was a full-time homemaker so she had the time to make things 'just so', but I still feel compelled to maintain at least a degree of order in my home.
So when I lost my job, one of the first things I decided to do was tackle the mess monster. And as of around 11am this morning, I was finally victorious - five full bags of trash, four full bags of donations to the Wildlife Thrift store, several litres of Windex, many dust rags, and some paper towels later our home has returned to some sense of order. There's still boxes and bags of items that need to be sorted through and either chucked out, or donated, but it's a whale of an improvement over where it was two weeks ago.
Phil was a big help too, despite that fact that he's working lots of overtime right now. I think he's starting to see what a difference a clean and clutter free home can make.
Whew.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Friday "Go Me!"
Bending on Monkeypants' Friday Confessions, I've decided to start a Friday "Go Me!" to document things I've done during the week that I can feel proud of. I think, right now, I need to remind myself of the positive a bit more.
This week:
• I reached out to someone when I needed to.
• I went after jobs that, normally, I would have assumed were out of my league.
• I did a tremendous amount of cleaning, organizing, sorting, and tossing things out.
Go Me!
This week:
• I reached out to someone when I needed to.
• I went after jobs that, normally, I would have assumed were out of my league.
• I did a tremendous amount of cleaning, organizing, sorting, and tossing things out.
Go Me!
So Now What.
The great thing about being laid off, is that life becomes one giant opportunity.
However, I often find myself confused by choices. Where do I go next? What do I want to do? What do I like to do? I like to do too many things, and that can be a problem. Picking one thing, and staying focused and on task can be an issue. I think that's a Gemini trait.
Over the past week, I have thought about (and applied for) various positions in the games and 3d industry. I've also thought about how much I'd love to go to University and study language and literature (how very practical), and how I'd love to start acting again (yes, still attempting to resuscitate that part of my psyche), and how maybe I really could just be a professional belly dancer and make a living at it (not in this city, honey - the market is well past it's saturation point with full-time, professional belly dancers). Most of all, I return to my writing and how much I'd like to make a full-time career of that.
I've been writing my third feature film for, essentially, seven years.
The worst part is, when I pitched it last year for the first time, I got a small nibble. I had a fish on the hook, and that fish had money, and I told the fish that I would finish it off and get back to him as soon as possible. I let the fish go, and now I worry that fish is so far out in the ocean and my little story is long forgotten. Even if it's not, there's still the matter of finishing it, and despite shackling my creative ADD to formulas and structures and systems, I'm still waffling at around 45 pages. Mostly because I keep changing things on the fly.
I'm obsessive/compulsive when it comes to editing. Editing, for me, is like the icing on a cake for a four year old. Sure, when you're that age, the cake is good - but it's really just an oddly shaped serving utensil for the natural high that comes with creamed butter, sugar, and chocolate. Granted, I am the first one to admit that a spelling and grammar goddess, I ain't. But there's something about cleaning up and refining and fine tuning that gets me really stoked.
When I was in my late teens, and still building pottery, I found there was a similar relation between the experiences (clay building and writing). So recently I've been toying with the idea of rejoining a potting community at the local rec centre, to see if I can manufacture some of that energy needed to haul ass down the backstretch, around the final turn and towards the finish line.
Wanted: Increased creative output, satisfaction, more various creative stimuli.
Needed: Organization, discipline, inspiration, and more self exploration.
Well then.
However, I often find myself confused by choices. Where do I go next? What do I want to do? What do I like to do? I like to do too many things, and that can be a problem. Picking one thing, and staying focused and on task can be an issue. I think that's a Gemini trait.
Over the past week, I have thought about (and applied for) various positions in the games and 3d industry. I've also thought about how much I'd love to go to University and study language and literature (how very practical), and how I'd love to start acting again (yes, still attempting to resuscitate that part of my psyche), and how maybe I really could just be a professional belly dancer and make a living at it (not in this city, honey - the market is well past it's saturation point with full-time, professional belly dancers). Most of all, I return to my writing and how much I'd like to make a full-time career of that.
I've been writing my third feature film for, essentially, seven years.
The worst part is, when I pitched it last year for the first time, I got a small nibble. I had a fish on the hook, and that fish had money, and I told the fish that I would finish it off and get back to him as soon as possible. I let the fish go, and now I worry that fish is so far out in the ocean and my little story is long forgotten. Even if it's not, there's still the matter of finishing it, and despite shackling my creative ADD to formulas and structures and systems, I'm still waffling at around 45 pages. Mostly because I keep changing things on the fly.
I'm obsessive/compulsive when it comes to editing. Editing, for me, is like the icing on a cake for a four year old. Sure, when you're that age, the cake is good - but it's really just an oddly shaped serving utensil for the natural high that comes with creamed butter, sugar, and chocolate. Granted, I am the first one to admit that a spelling and grammar goddess, I ain't. But there's something about cleaning up and refining and fine tuning that gets me really stoked.
When I was in my late teens, and still building pottery, I found there was a similar relation between the experiences (clay building and writing). So recently I've been toying with the idea of rejoining a potting community at the local rec centre, to see if I can manufacture some of that energy needed to haul ass down the backstretch, around the final turn and towards the finish line.
Wanted: Increased creative output, satisfaction, more various creative stimuli.
Needed: Organization, discipline, inspiration, and more self exploration.
Well then.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The only thing I'm still unsure about...
Is orange links. And maybe the stark white background. But I really dug the little stock photo guy at the top, so it called for change. In honour of change.
Mmkay.
Mmkay.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tequila at Twenty after Five.
Well. Well, well, well.
I returned from vacation in Ontario on the 30th to find out that my job with RM was no more. This wasn't a shock, though it was a disappointment. Every thing's on the upheaval there, so it was only a matter of time. It was a great almost-year, and I'm glad to have met and worked with so many awesome people. Ironically it was the best and most stable part of this past year, despite it's shaky ending.
Saturn is stirring up dust left, right and centre. Every day is new - every day things are shifting in a seismic fashion, unpredictable and anything but stable. Life, it is a-changing! But I refuse to let this blog become nothing but a list of complaints and gripes. So to Saturn, I say: bring it!
For the first time in a long time, I have a little money saved in my pocket. It's really not much, but it makes me feel safe to know it's there, just in case. I have a better sense of my own value and worth, both monetary and universally. Friends ABOUND - I have never had so many people come out of the woodwork and go to bat for me as I have over the past week. Crazy! I am loved, and blessed.
And tequila. Oh, tequila.
So where's the party?
I returned from vacation in Ontario on the 30th to find out that my job with RM was no more. This wasn't a shock, though it was a disappointment. Every thing's on the upheaval there, so it was only a matter of time. It was a great almost-year, and I'm glad to have met and worked with so many awesome people. Ironically it was the best and most stable part of this past year, despite it's shaky ending.
Saturn is stirring up dust left, right and centre. Every day is new - every day things are shifting in a seismic fashion, unpredictable and anything but stable. Life, it is a-changing! But I refuse to let this blog become nothing but a list of complaints and gripes. So to Saturn, I say: bring it!
For the first time in a long time, I have a little money saved in my pocket. It's really not much, but it makes me feel safe to know it's there, just in case. I have a better sense of my own value and worth, both monetary and universally. Friends ABOUND - I have never had so many people come out of the woodwork and go to bat for me as I have over the past week. Crazy! I am loved, and blessed.
And tequila. Oh, tequila.
So where's the party?
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