Burford Designs

NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 1

Today, November 1st is the beginning of National Novel Writing Month also known as NaNoWriMo.  What is NaNoWriMo you ask?  Well, according to Wikipedia NaNoWriMo "is an annual internet-based creative writing project which challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and 30."  Basically it's a way for some of us to get off our duff and actually write something.  Breaking down the 50,000 word goal means writing approximately 1,667 words a day and that may seem daunting to a lot of people but it really is doable. 

I signed up with the official site years ago and every year I’ve had good intentions to actually write during the month of November, but I never really wrote during the month.  This year, however, is a very different story (no pun intended).  You might be asking me, “How so?”  I’ll tell you how so… this year I've actually already written and exceeded my first day’s writing goal and it’s only a few hours into the day.  I was good and didn’t write anything until the clock turned over, actually it was a about an hour or so into the day and I couldn’t sleep so I figured that I would at least open up a word document and see what came out. 

Just a bit of trivia for you, while looking at the Wikipedia site, I realized that two novels that I really enjoyed were written during previous NaNoWriMo runs.  The first is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and the second is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  As much as I love books and the written word I would highly recommend listening to The Night Circus as an audio book.  It's narrated by the wonderful Jim Dale (who apparently also narrated the Harry Potter books).  Although I remember Jim Dale from his part in the 1977 Disney film Pete's Dragon I know him best as the narrator of the television show Pushing Daisies (a beloved and much missed television show – IMHO).

So, what about you?  Will you be joining me for NaNoWriMo? 

I hope you do and I'll keep you undated on my progress throughout the month.

Cheers!

And Much More

“And much more” is one of those phrases that I laugh at every time I hear it or see it.  It doesn’t just come in that one form either, for most infomercials or television ads it can be the “but wait” or “hold on” anything of that sort (that makes you wait to see the “great deal” they are going to offer you) although, I tend to see “and much more” or “much, much more” more often. 

Every time I see it I think of the original lyrics to Gilligan’s Island when the line is sung “and the rest” as if there were a slew of other people on the island when, in fact, it was just the Professor and Mary Ann left out.  (Here’s a bit of trivia… Bob Denver (Gilligan) went to the producers and told them that they needed to change the lyrics of the theme song to include all of the characters not just those that the producers believed to be top billing actors.)

 

What exactly does “and much more” mean to these copy writers?  Usually I find that it means that you get another item or two and nowadays that is typically followed by “pay just separate shipping and handling”. Paying separate shipping and handling is a somewhat new trend, but it is popping up everywhere.  It makes me think of the dialogue in Dinner For Schmucks when Zach Galifianakis’ character Therman tells Tim (Paul Rudd) the price of his book:

 

Tim: "Wow, this is fascinating. I can't wait to read it."
Thurman: "It's $14.99, on my website, plus shipping and handling."
Tim: "Even if I buy it here?"
Thurman: "Well it shipped from somewhere else, didn't it? And I've been handling it."

 

I love it! 

 

Why am I writing about “and much more” I guess simply because I am having an A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney moment and thought I’d share.

Couch Cushion Architecture

As with many children I am sure, Baby Boy and I used to love to create forts in our house (specifically in our living room or our bedrooms) out of whatever we had around.  Typical forts would consist of the main structure (couch for the living room, a bed in the bedroom) and any number of other items our little hands could make off with: sheets, blankets, dining room chairs, boxes; basically anything that wasn’t nailed down could and probably would end up a part of our construction. 

All photos courtesy of Build Blog

We would build elaborate multi-roomed and multi-level structures that very few others were allowed to see let alone enter.  There were times when these structures would become our homes for living and sleeping for several days and nights, usually those times were when we had the structure solely located in my bedroom.

 

I was overjoyed when Baby Boy sent me these links to Build Blog’s Couch Cushion Architecture where they offer a grading system and decisive take on what they consider an “Unrepresented and ignored for too long in the architectural industry, today’s post pays respect to the wonders of couch cushion architecture. We’ve rounded up a (mostly) admirable collection of projects, taken from a randomly conducted search on the internet. Join us as we take a critical analysis of the architecture, methods and design philosophies of living room furniture re-appropriation.”  

 

Very cute idea and I love the commentary.  Have fun reminiscing.

Mr Fix It... Ticket

Last night I was issued a fix-it ticket. 

No this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, how I wish it was. 

It’s not too big of a deal and it is totally my fault but now I have to go to the county courthouse (which is 30 miles away) to take care of it.  I was pulled over because one of my headlights was out.  I have the bulb to replace it but not the time (during good weather/ daylight hours) and it was at the top of my spring break to do list.  However, that’s not why I got the ticket… somehow I failed to put my current proof of insurance in my car (it just renewed last month).  I usually put in it my little insurance pouch the day I get it in the mail and somehow I didn’t.  I do have every other one in there from the past four years though.  The sheriff told me last night that I just had to call in and get the info to send in my proof of insurance and the ticket will be voided.  When I called today the lady I spoke with was shocked that I was handling it so quick and said that they won’t even have a copy of the ticket for a few more days and that I would have to come over and bring my copy of the ticket and proof of insurance. Luckily I am off next week for our spring break and will hopefully get off work early tomorrow (so I’ll take care of it then).

 

I guess I have another thing to add to my spring break to do list.

A Late Winter Christmas

Today is March 1^st.  I’m not writing that for your sake but for mine because I simply cannot believe that it is already March.  Looking outside my window it does look like March and there are signs that we are approaching spring (for me it is blue sky and the temperature is in the low to mid fifties today).

 

Baby Boy was here just under a month ago and since we decided to wait until his visit to celebrate Christmas (at least with one another) it is only fitting that I have waited this long to share what we gave each other.

 

Sometimes it is difficult to figure out what to give Baby Boy because he doesn’t want a lot of tchotchkes (since he really only has a room in a small apartment in San Francisco).  He really likes phrenology so I decided to sew him this phrenology head

I also made this appliqué face, which is of him

See

I left both of them as appliqués (not attached to anything) that way he could choose if he wanted them as pillows, part of a quilt, a wall hanging, or whatever else he decided, he made up his mind to have them made into pillows.

 

And for me, well I got the most fabulous book and one on my Amazon wish list, the fifth edition of Fashion Sketchbook by Bina Abling.

Of course, I prefer this edition because I like the cover art, versus the fourth edition.

Either way I am so happy with this present.  It is very comprehensive and will greatly improve my drawing.  Now I just need to pull out the folding chairs, a sketchpad, and enjoy this spring like weather.

A Convenient Learning Lesson

What are you passing along?

 

Growing up in California, Mendocino County to be exact, I was inundated with a very liberal ideology at school that was a direct contrast to my home life where my father was (and is) a staunch Republican (and Mommy can be, depending on the issue).  This lead to three very different stances amongst us children… other brother is very much to the right, Baby Boy is on the other side pretty far on the left and I fall a little more in between.  I’m not highly political, I take a stand when I need to, but I also allow other’s to have their viewpoints and I enjoy listening to someone else’s beliefs and having discussions, sometimes lively discussions.  (That’s one thing I loved about college.)  And I have never minded playing devil’s advocate in order to get others to think.

 

When I taught that was one of the things I would do… I would throw out a controversial idea and see what the students came up with.  I didn’t put my own views out there, being impartial is paramount to this form of teaching, and allowed the students to figure things out for themselves.  My rules were always the same (and they still are) if it’s your opinion state so, if you’re going to label it as fact then have the proof and never go into an argument without something to back you up… things aren’t what they are just because “they just are”.

This past weekend I spoke with my nephew Boo Boo.  He was telling me that his class (he’s in sixth grade) is studying the Earth and that his teacher showed Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in one class and brought in “the hippie mayor” to talk to the class.  I asked what he thought about all of it and he stated that “it’s all lies and why should I care about it, I let future generations deal with it.”  I could hear other brother ideas and words coming out of Boo Boo’s mouth (well, minus the foul language and expletives normally uttered every few words when other brother talks).  I asked Boo Boo if that’s what he really thought or if that was just his father talking… he thought a moment and said that it was what he heard his dad say.  Knowing his love of hunting, camping and just being outdoors I asked him if he thought that the places where he participates in those activities would still be as nice as they are without someone taking care of them?  If he knew how there is still land around today where you can hike, hunt and camp?   And since he really enjoys history I asked if he knew that Teddy Roosevelt was a major land conservationist?

 

Boo Boo was very interested in the questions I brought up and I just finished with telling him that he needs to start getting the facts and listening to all sides with an open mind and not merely parrot what he hears from others.  And there is no need to be disrespectful simply because you don’t agree with their ideology.

There's No Crying At The Onion

Apparently my computer is trying to tell me something… I think it is trying to remind me that today is a holiday and I need to take time off to recuperate and rest and do something other than be near it.

 

Avenue Q was hilarious, and definitely not suitable for everyone, I still have many of the songs stuck in my head.  After the show yesterday Mommy and I decided to walk around the downtown area including the mall for a bit (the theater is down the street from one of the malls in Spokane) instead of hurrying to the van and trying to race out of the parking lot like everyone else was doing.

 

We went into a couple of art galleries and Auntie’s bookstore and had a good time just looking around.  I was amazed at how many couples were in the mall for Valentine’s Day (dressed up and all) and the paint your own pottery place was packed with couples.  After the walk we decided that the parking lot would be cleared out and we would go out to dinner. 

Of course being Valentine’s Day and a Sunday evening most of the restaurants we drove past were busy but we had already determined that we were going to a particular restaurant… one that we drove by all the time but had never eaten at, and that was The Onion, a local restaurant with two locations.

The entire lobby and bar/ lounge area were filled with people waiting for a table.  We asked how long the wait was and the gal at the desk said about thirty-five minutes, so we decided to wait, standing.  After a few minutes a group was called and we were able to sit down and wait.  Luckily the wait flew by and we were seated and attended to quickly.  All I have to say was the wait was worth it… absolutely great.  Once our food arrived we realized that we easily could have shared a meal and that’s what we did, we shared Mommy’s meal and I got a to-go box for mine.

 

All around it was a lovely day yesterday, now I’m just trying to get some things done around the house and a few projects completed before heading back to work tomorrow.

 

Happy President’s Day!

Baby Boy is Finally Here

Mommy and I picked Baby Boy up at the airport this morning and we spent the day running around Spokane, going to various stores and taking lots of pictures.  It’s really nice having him visit and it’s even more fun because he brought his Muppets along.

 

Yep, he has two full sized Muppet puppets and they are adorable.  So Tulita and Drew (the Muppets) posed all over Spokane (there were tons of photos taken at Riverfront park, unfortunately the carousel was closed because it was down for maintenance (for the entire month of February!) but there were still plenty of other opportunities.  Baby Boy recently purchased a new camera and I hope to snag a few of those pictures he took and share them with all of you.

 

We decided, back in December, that we would wait to give each other Christmas gifts until now and I will share what I gave and what I received in another post.  Baby Boy did give me a sneak peek at what he made Mommy and it’s adorable.  At least waiting to give gifts until now gives Mommy a good reason to still have the Christmas up. (Yes, it is still up and decorated in the living room.  At least it is an artificial tree and a small three and a half to four foot tree.)

 

It ended up being a long and tiring day and so much fun, lots more to share later.

Begin Your Day

Here’s another great post by Christine Kane.

“I’m going to begin this post with a Really Lame Metaphor. (RLM, for short.) When you wake up each morning, you’re in a vulnerable place. You’ve been sleeping, you’ve been dreaming, you’re wide open. You’re receptive. You’re a vessel. In my RLM, I’m going to call you a big bowl. AND, since it’s your life and you’re creating it, you are also the potter, the creator of the big bowl. When a potter makes a bowl, she designs it, sits with it, shapes it, makes it beautiful, and then she sends it out into the world to contain whatever it will contain. Someone could put a plant in it, or soup, or cigarette butts. The bowl is still beautiful. The artist created the bowl to be beautiful no matter what other people decide to put in it.

So, my RLM actually brings me to a Really Important Point. (RIP?) One of the best things you can do, as the artist of your day, is to start it by consciously designing who you choose to be, by setting intent, by praying, by reminding yourself of your dreams and goals. Any practice that works for you, that connects you to something deeper than, say, Fox News. I don’t think it matters how you do it. I think it matters that you do it.

Reaction and Pro-action

I’ve written about the onslaught of unconscious emotions and thoughts, and some of the ways I’ve learned to respond to and become more conscious of such onslaughts. This is a good practice, and is always going to come in handy. But in my own experience, a more proactive approach was eventually necessary, too. At some point, I realized that living in a constant state of reactivity wasn’t healthy. “Oh no! Here comes another emotion! Quick! Do something!” It left me feeling panicky whenever I woke up in the morning. So I began a morning practice a few years ago that has been invaluable. It’s how I shift from that feeling of always being “on guard” to knowing that my life is my choice, my own work of art. It’s how I start my day. The difference is palpable.

The potter in the aforementioned RLM doesn’t sit with a big root ball or a bunch of soup trying to shape the bowl around some pre-determined contents and try to figure out a way to make the bowl beautiful with all this crap she has to put into it. Likewise, if you’re the artist and the big bowl, and you start your day without shaping or refining or defining what you are or want to be (setting your intent) then it’s like allowing the world and all its drama to decide how to shape you. (Okay, I TOLD you it wasn’t the best metaphor – but you do get the idea, no?)

Begin your day with some kind of practice — renewing your commitment to your dreams, setting intent to be peaceful, remembering who you want to be. Eventually, you create yourself so that no matter what comes in, you’re able to remain centered and focused throughout the day.

This isn’t to say that we’re not meant to have compassion or sadness or grief. This IS to say that the average person is somewhat addicted to negative emotions and fear — otherwise, Fox News wouldn’t be nearly as successful. When you have a morning practice you return to again and again, then you find the grounded and centered part of you becomes much stronger and stays with you for longer periods throughout the day. Does it guarantee a perfect day with no depression or ups or downs? Not at all. But do it a few days, and then don’t do it a few days, and you’ll see why I’m sitting here making up pottery metaphors to prove my point. It’s cumulative and it works.

What To Do

Morning Pages: My personal favorite for about 10 years now. I had a writing teacher who was into The Artist’s Way from the day it was published. She assigned us Morning Pages, and I’ve been doing them ever since. This is three pages of long-hand unedited bad writing. You’re allowed to write anything. The idea is to get it all out and just keep writing.

Prayer and Meditation: Don’t let the fundamentalists scare you away from your own definition of the word “prayer,” okay? I was having lunch recently with two of the coolest women you could ever know. Both of them work for the Dogwood Alliance, my favorite environmental group, and we were discussing despair and burn out in the world of saving forests. I asked them how they continued on in spite of so many challenges and obstacles. Without hesitation, both of them said, almost in unison, “Prayer.” Daily prayer. They each talked about their own practice and we all agreed in the power of that daily connection the divine, meditation, whatever. When I first graduated from college, I used to write daily letters in my journal to God. I was crazy unhappy in my PR job, and I wanted to be a writer or songwriter, and I filled page after page admitting this dream to my angels and myself. Eventually, my soul had to stop ignoring my words!

Vision journal: When I facilitate retreats we do this as an activity. You cut up magazines, pull out pictures, paste them into your journal, onto a poster, anywhere that allows you to see visual ideas of your idea of beauty, peace, a bigger you. There aren’t any rules to this one, but people just love it.

Dreams and Goals: Remind yourself of your dreams and goals. Write them on postcards. Write them in the present, in the affirmative. Read them aloud to remind yourself that you get to decide what’s going to happen in your life. (In my previous blogs on bulimia, I talked about setting intent to heal — this is the time to do that as well.)

There’s also yoga, there’s visualization, there’s much to say about meditation. You will find your own practice once you get started. I change routines depending on what’s happening in my life at the time.

Choosing

Living clearly and consciously takes work. I don’t mean struggle. I mean that it takes choosing. And choosing again. And then again. As I get clearer in my own daily life, I am less tolerant of my own whining and my own unhealthy patterns. With daily practices, these old patterns don’t stick around as long anymore. And that has taken work. It’s easy to be someone who gets up, grabs the paper, turns on a TV, and gulps down a few pots of Starbucks. It’s easy to let the world shape you, piss you off, make you self-righteous about all the wrongs to which you have fallen victim. It’s easy to rush, to fill your every minute with to-do lists, and to live a distracted life so full of “stuff” that you never ask yourself who you want to be. It takes courage to make a choice daily to be bigger, to get clearer, and to recognize when you are reacting. It takes daily practice. Begin your day. Now. And begin it again tomorrow. And the day after that. And in the meantime, I’ll try to find a better metaphor!”

___________

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 12,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

No Love for Paris This Time Around, I’d Rather be in Austin

Have you ever seen something and had a very strong reaction to it, but didn’t know why?  I had that happen the other day.  A preview for an upcoming movie aired during a commercial break and I had such a negative reaction that my face snarled up in disgust and I let out a rather loud “UGH”.  I realized that it was one movie I that knew I would not be seeing any time soon (or really any time for that matter) and it is the new John Travolta/ Jonathan Rhys Meyers film From Paris with Love. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I like both John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers and I enjoy Luc Besson’s films like The Transporter movies.  Action movies are a favorite, as are spy thrillers, so the premise to this movie (a play off of the James Bond motion picture From Russia with Love) seemed like a winner (and I like movie poster).  But something was still bothering me.

 

As I wrote above, at first I didn’t know what caused my reaction, I thought that maybe it was just the fact that I hadn’t been enjoying John Travolta films as of late.  The last movie I saw, The Talking of, oops I mean The Taking of Pelham 123 was lacking and John’s character Ryder seemed to continually yell for no reason.  And then I saw the preview for From Paris with Love and he’s yelling again.  I would chalk this up to overacting, but then I realized there are people out there like that, that are just angry people and I grew up with just such a person.  The real reason I don’t want to see this movie is because John’s character Charlie Wax (who seems very similar to his character Ryder) is a lot like my older brother, they even kind of look alike.  And that’s why I won’t be seeing this film.

 

Nevertheless, on a more pleasant note, one movie that I am really looking forward to seeing is the HBO original film Temple Grandin (airing February 6, 2010).  This biopic is based on the life of Dr. Temple Grandin an author, speaker and livestock behaviorist who became very successful in her field, not necessarily despite her autism but a great deal because of it.  This film will cover her life during the 60’s and 70’s and stars Claire Danes as Temple Grandin with a supporting cast that includes such notable actors as Julia Ormond, Catherine O’Hara, and David Strathairn.  I just watched the preview on HBO and am very excited; I really like how the equations pop up on the screen to help us “see” what’s going on in her mind (very Numb3rs). 

 

With films such as these I’m always concerned with the actor’s portrayal of a real life person and especially when it is someone with a disability, I fear that the depiction will tend to be over the top so I was happy to read that when Dr. Grandin’s assistant went to the set to watch some of the filming and he reported back to Dr. Grandin that Dane’s portrayal was "so convincing, it sent shivers down my spine."  You can check out a couple of teaser previews from HBO here.

Of course, I wouldn’t be me without a little more research so I found this biography I thought I’d share and here’s an excerpt from an interesting article/ interview with Dr. Grandin from Beef Magazine.

 

“Some fictionalization occurs in the script, she adds, owing to the fact that two decades had to be condensed into a two-hour movie. Thus, at least one character depicted in the movie is a composite.

 

Throughout the process, however, she has insisted that “the cattle have to be right. I don’t want Holstein calves or a situation like in the movie ‘City Slickers’ where the cattle weren’t right.” She says the producers even bought a parcel of Angus calves for the production in order to ensure authenticity.”

 

No matter what you choose to see, here’s to happy viewing!