Blog Archive

WARNING: this is a spelling and grammer free zone


June 21st, 2015.

I think I live in Toronto..?

I think I live live in Toronto now?! I did move to Etobicoke in September BUT I’m here for the summer! This is a big deal to me, when I was working on my degree at Guelph I headed back to Orillia every spring, this is my first summer away. I have enjoyed each of my summers in Orillia, from the long, lazy childhood summers dotted with family trips, to the more recent quick, hectic summers working at the Orillia Museum of Art & History. Orillia summers have been good to me. And while I have enjoyed all of those Orillia summers, more recently returning home has felt like a small failure. I have felt I should be supporting myself and doing my own thing while exploring summer in a new city. I want to treat Orillia as a place to get away too, and this summer is my chance to do that.

So update time: April was a storm of uncertainty as I negotiated the end of the semester, summer work, and apartment hunting. I managed to wrap up the semester with strong projects despite an insane schedule. I continued my work at Humber’s Career Centre, apartment hunted and found summer work.

(Side note for summer student employers: I had always thought it was my lack of organization that lead me to last minute summer job hunting. But this year I started looking for summer work in February, thinking I was on schedule. But student jobs I applied to in February, March and April didn’t start to contact me for interviews until early May! Student life is hard enough without the added stress of not knowing where you’ll be living and working in less than a month! If a student applied to a job in March chances are they want this stuff sorted and will have accepted a job elsewhere by the time you call. Rant over.)

All that being said the last month has been excellent! When I’m not working my two amazing jobs I’ve been taking advantage of living in this massive city. This afternoon I biked from my place in South Etobicoke to the Distillery District, last weekend I biked to the St. Lawrence Market! There is always something to do, I feel like I’m constantly happening upon interesting events or finding new places I’ve never been!

The podcast is still going strong despite the change of location and the change in our schedule. This week we’re about the film episode #42! I still can’t believe we’re coming up on a year of podasting! Here’s Episode #41:

I’ve been doing some cool work for Humber’s Career Centre as well. I’ve been redesigning career related informational handouts with the goal of making them more fun and engaging. Here’s the Resume Handout:

You can check out more on my Portfolio page.

I’ve also been making promotional videos for the Career Centre:

So you’re all up to speed. I hope your summer is going as well as mine!

March 16th, 2015.

Spring is here!

I hope you're enjoying spring as much as I am. I’ve felt myself coming alive again as I walk the puddle-y sidewalks.

Since my last post I’ve started a new job! I’m working for the Career Centre at Humber. I’ve been busy creating displays and posters as the Marketing and Promotions Assistant. Here’s a time lapse video I made of the instillation of one of my first projects, Creative Resumes Display:

This weekend I headed to Hamilton to see my friend Lauren so we could cover JunoFest in Episode #30 of The Arts District Podcast. Here’s Episode #30:

I still can’t believe it’s already March. I’m already half way through my second semester at Humber! I’ve really enjoyed my first year in this program and have a feeling I’ll enjoy second year even more.

February 2nd, 2015.

Snow Day!!

I didn’t think at this point in my life I’d still be having snow days but today happens to be one. All of Humber College’s campus’s are shut down. Just my luck that it happened on a Monday when I don’t have class anyway. But not missing classes is good, I don’t want my course schedule to get off track and to have catch up at the end of the semester. It really does look nuts outside, I don’t blame them for closing the school. I have no intentions of leaving my apartment today.

My last blog post was about looking back, today I’m looking forward. Trying to figure out where I’ll be for the summer, and further down the line. Toronto? Orillia? Hamilton? Who knows? (Europe, please!)

I think I’ve mentioned before that college and university are vastly different. What I’ve realized it that all through university I tended to focus on what I was currently working on, after university was something to worry about later. College is 100% driven by getting you ready to work. This has changed the way I think about what I’m working on and forced me to think about where I’ll end up next. Conclusion: I’m still uncertain of my future, but I’m definitely thinking about it. I’m thinking about it literally all of the time!

Anyway here’s one of my first projects of second semester:

banana-typography

(you can check out more of my stuff in the portfolio section of my site if you’re interested.)

I’ve also been working on a videography project for Patti Agapi and Meg Leslie. They did a collaborative painting for the Orillia Museum of Art & History’s 19th International Women's Day Art Show and I got tocreate a video document. Here’s the trailer:

Both the painting and the full video will be on display at OMAH February 14th - May 2nd, 2015.

January 4th, 2015.

It’s 2015?!

Yesterday I was remembering my first year of university in 2010, back then it seemed weird to think about graduating in 2014 but that’s come and gone! Now I’m looking forward to finishing my program at Humber in the spring of 2016! This semester flew by and I’m already a quarter of the way through!

Highlights of 2014 include:

    Graduating from my 4 years at the University of Guelph with my Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Studio Art and an Art History Minor (!!!!!!)
    Starting The Arts District Podcast with my friend Lauren (and doing 1 episode a week for 20 weeks!!)
    Applying and getting into Humber’s Advertising & Graphic Design program (Didn't start seriously considering this until the spring but now I'm really glad I did)
    Moving to Toronto (at last!!)
    Doing the NHS “Couch to 5km” running program in the summer (I am a terrible runner and this made me marginally better at running as well as made me hate running slightly less)
    My first solo exhibition was at the Orillia Museum of Art & History (!!!!!!!)
    Making more videos through doing Vlogmas (videos every day for 24 days was challenging but really really fun!)

I think it’s been a good year, and I’m looking forward to what 2015 brings!

Here’s Episode #20 of The Arts District Podcast:

Oh, gotta say, I’m super proud of this little bit of animating I did for Episode #20, check it out in slomo:

That’s all for this post, guess I’ll post again in another few months, I'm not very good at regular blogging, haha!

September 28th, 2014.

Update Time Once Again!

Hi ya! And welcome back to the Georgia Show, i.e. my blog where I (less and less frequently) share thoughts, and what’s going on in my life. I’m not going to apologize for the fact that it’s been over a month since I wrote here, a) because I do this for fun so I shouldn’t have to and, b) who cares? So lets get right into it…

I moved cities!!! I live in Toronto now, ok Etobicoke but that’s the GTA right? Late August was terrible, I was sick with worry that I wouldn’t find a place in time to start my program at the Humber Lakeshore campus, but I did find a place! And all that worry is nearly forgotten. I’m settling into a mildly sketchy apartment in a safe neighbourhood close to campus. A couple police officers were on their way into my building yesterday afternoon as I was leaving but that’s the first time anything like that has happened in the close to a month I’ve lived here so I shouldn’t be worried right? Right.

My program is going well so far! I’m finding college very different from university. I have homework these days, it’s so weird! Over four years I got so used to essays, projects and exams scattered throughout the semester but now I have homework that’s due each class, and it’s taken a little adjusting. How weird is it making friends from scratch? The answer you are looking for is “so weird”. I’m trying to remember the last time I made a new friend and it seems so long ago. I’ve been hanging with the same friends and acquaintances for years and now I have to start making friends with people I have never met before. But things seem to be going well thus far as I navigate social situations with classmates.

In other big news, prepare yourself for this; I am in an exhibition! OMAH’s Graphic Language show is now GEORGIA GRIEVE: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE. Here’s the description:

Georgia Grieve presents three series of digital and print–based works that explore the role of the Internet in understanding images. The Internet's “language” is inflected with animations, variable loading times, pixelation, etc. Grieve uses that language to re-create familiar imagery. While the resulting images retain the bulk of their identifying features, they no longer fit the categories we use to understand them. Animated line drawings of stock IKEA catalogue photos make sense as a community of living (doomed) creatures as much as a lineup of commodities; an agonizingly slow–loading Ansel Adams photograph speaks as much to early 90’s dial-up internet experiences as it does to the effects of light on a landscape.

Through deceptively simple alterations, Grieve capitalizes on the internet’s sometimes useful, sometimes confusing propensity to blur the lines we use to divide and classify imagery. Grieve is interested in the discussion of what ought to be included within the sphere of “fine” art, and why, from the perspective of one trained in both art and design. Her project takes up the history of both and operates within the more holistic enterprise of “images.”

And this is a worthwhile enterprise. More than at any other point in history we use images to make sense of the world around us. Grieve’s wry interventions allow us some insight into how we go about the activity of “making–sense” when images shift and move at increasingly rapid speeds.

You can check it out on the OMAH website if you like.

The Arts District Podcast is still going strong. We’re filming episode #9 this week, hard to believe we’ve been at this for 10 weeks now! It’s neat, it’s giving Lauren and I a reason to keep seeing each other regularly even though we live in different cities now. And it’s helping us stay in touch with art, music and culture. I’m still really enjoying working on this project, and each episode I edit I see us improving which is really cool! Here’s episode #8:

So that is where I’m at these days; doing school stuff, working on the podcast, being in an exhibition! That’s all I’ve got to say for now, I’ll catch ya in the next blog post… whenever that is.

While writing I was listening to Ray LaMontagne “Gossip in the Rain”, cool album, check it out

August 16th, 2014.

A blog about epic productivity and new projects!!

Oh hey! It’s been a while and SHOCKER I have some news to report! My friend Lauren of Lauren Campbell music fame and I started a podcast! It’s called The Arts District Podcast and we talk about music, art and culture. Here’s a teaser to get you hooked:

We’ve already released 2 episodes each packed with band recommendations, arts news and other fun stuff. It’s been really exciting so far and I can’t see where this podcast goes!

Funny how fast things can come together sometimes. Lauren and I decided to start the podcast while hanging out at the Brownstone Cafe after dinner one evening and the next day we had filmed our first episode and started promoting the project. I’m so happy to be collaborating with someone, working on your own can get lonely and it’s so cool to have a teammate on a project. It helps that Lauren and I are already great friends so working on the podcast has been nothing but fun!

You can find the podcast on Facebook.

And subscribe on YouTube.

July 21st, 2014.

I know, I know, another Blog about summer-lack-of-productivity, but there’s also a book review!

Sometimes you just have to take a day to tidy your room - especially your desk, it’s covered in sewing machines (yes, multiple), fabric scraps, spools of thread and last week’s work outfits - then you spend the rest of the day recharging. Today has been one of those days. I need to get back to creative work, but I also need to give my brain a break (from work, and a busy weekend). Sometimes it is OK to read an entire Rainbow Rowell novel in a day and a half, especially in the summer on those days that seem to go on and on.

I have nearly no work hours left on my summer contract and I’m staring into an abyss of over a month of nothing-ness. Summer nothing-ness which is almost worse than regular time of year nothing-ness which may actually yield some productivity. I’ve mentioned it before, frequently, summer simultaneously goes by wildly fast but at the same time feels like forever. For example; today is a forever day, lagging on and on while at the same time July is nearly over, HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!) On top of the forever-factor summer destroys productivity. I do not have enough determination to stick to any creative (or not creative) project when the weather is so lovely and I could be sitting on the deck drinking homemade iced tea and reading.

I comfort myself with the old concept of bamboo growth; I’ve heard it said that bamboo can go years with very little appearing to happen until finally after so much nothing it shoots up to insane heights almost overnight. That’s what I do in summer, I am quietly readying myself for a huge exertion of creative outpouring. I do this every summer, this is a result of four years as a university student where summers are a time to recharge, recover slightly financially and spend time with my family and old friends. This summer recharge phase has become ingrained, and I don’t know what I’ll do when I finally have to continue a regular work habit through the summers.

Blah, did any of that even make sense? Were those thoughts new or valuable in any way? Probably not. Here have a book review I just wrote:

"Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell, 2012

I sped through this book so fast and enjoyed every page. The story takes place in the late 1990s at a local newspaper office and is told from two perspectives, the daily life of Lincoln and the email chains between Beth and Jennifer. Lincoln has taken a job as an internet security officer at the newspaper Beth and Jen work at, his primary task is reading emails that get flagged for inappropriate content. He comes across Beth and Jen’s funny and deeply personal emails and gets hooked. Lincoln knows his email eavesdropping is weird but he can’t help it, before too long he’s fallen for Beth and doesn’t know how to go about telling her.

Rowell writes witty, smart back and forth between Beth and Jen. I got really attached to these character’s friendship because it seemed so close to conversations I’ve had with good friends. Lincoln is a super sweet character who you can’t help but root for even though you know his situation is kinda creepy. The character’s in this book are all in their late 20’s and each in different parts of their lives but each trying to figure out some large element of their life, I am no stranger to this 20-something figuring life out thing so that’s probably a large part of why I connected to this book. So I give it 8 of 10 salsa-dancer-lady emojis.

July 8th, 2014.

Apartment Hunting & Other Things

Wow, no blog in over a month, whoops! I’ve been working, and enjoying the summer, but today is grey and I’m off work so time for a update.

Now that it’s July apartments are starting to become available for September so the hunt is on! I start my Advertising and Graphic Design program at Humber’s Lakeshore Campus in the fall so I need to sort out a place to live. This morning I’ve been searching the web for places close to both the campus AND the nearest CrossFit gym, I’d say those two things are equally important. I keep looking at interior design blogs and seeing lovely white-walled, parquet-floored, exquisitely designed apartment interiors and thinking “WANT!” But all that wonderful comes along with careful budgeting and intense furniture/decor curation that perhaps I am not ready for as I enter another post-secondary program living off summer savings and OSAP. That being said I do still aspire to great interior decor, and shall preserver.

So far this summer my creative output has been less than desirable. I think being back in your childhood home allows you to revert to your teenage-self. My teenage-self keeps their room messier than my adult-self and is far more prone to procrastination and avoiding routine/regularity. My Infinite Ikea project soared while I was in my last semester of uni when I was working within an extremely regular and rigorous schedule. I think something about summer kills all attempts at routine, because you have to take advantage of the nice weather. All of this may be true but I do hope to do some small projects in my time off. Lately I’ve done a few illustrated cards for friends and family, I’ve always enjoyed card making all the time that goes into something so disposable is really beautiful in a way. I’d also like to work on some more animation this summer, as much as I enjoy making my Ikea GIFs I would like to do a Flash animated video at some point.

June 3rd, 2014.

Stuff and Things

Welp I guess it’s time for an update… I have been working away at OMAH, I was really busy for a while helping out with the World War history exhibition. The last couple weeks of prep up to the opening I was working on a few video projects for the exhibition, I got to spend a lot of time getting to know Adobe Premier which was awesome! Now I’m working on design and admin for OMAH’s annual Juried Carmichael Canadian Landscape exhibition (Apply here). I really enjoy the work I’m doing as well as the staff at OMAH, so far it’s been really great to be back this summer!

Along with this summery weather comes construction, a pretty major road by my parent’s house is being overhauled this summer and with that comes ALL THE NOISE!! Yesterday I was nearly driven mad by the sounds of large trucks beep beep backing up our street, so today I’ve been out of the house as much as possible. I’m trying to look at it positively, I’m alway from the noise while I’m at work and when I’m not working I’ll be forced to be out and about rather than hanging around at home.

Collage status: Since my last post I have been accepted to all of my college choices and I’ve made a decision as to where I’m headed. After visiting the lovely Humber Lakeshore campus for my portfolio viewing I have accepted their offer for the Advertising & Graphic Design program. I’m really excited to start school again AND to be moving to Toronto for the first time. I’ve always known at some point in my life I’d live in Toronto, I just hadn’t realized that time would be so soon!

Next week is my graduation from the University of Guelph and a couple weeks after than my sister will be graduating from high school. Amazing how quickly four years goes by! Though I’ve been finished all the coursework for my undergrad for two months going to the ceremony is really the end, it still doesn’t feel real.

May 15th, 2014.

Life Update:

I’m back in the workforce! This week I started back at the Orillia Museum of Art & History as their summer Graphic Design Student. I’m working on design stuff for exhibition and event promotion, it’s pretty pretty cool! That leads my to my next announcement (*drum roll*): I have applied to college for Graphic Design! I guess I just couldn’t handle the thought of being finished with school, well that and I’ve had this in the back of my mind for the past year and a bit. I think college is a good next step for me.

April 29th, 2014.

Finished!

Big News!! (Not just my website redesign) I have finished the “Bathroom Accessories” section of my Infinite Ikea project! This project has been so fun this far and I am excited to continue it and move on to a different section of the online Ikea catalog. At this point I’m still trying to catch my animations up to my drawings - the project initially started as drawing every item and evolved to animation.

In other news, I have now finished my undergrad at the University of Guelph! It’s been an excellent four years and I am happy I stuck it out. I noticed a big change moving from first and second year into third and fourth, everything seemed to click and I started to really enjoy the things I was working on. I’m looking forward to making art on my own now, pursuing things I am interested in with no deadlines or guidelines other than those set by myself.

Since finishing school I have been thinking a lot about my future as all post-grads tend to do. I have been working on this redesign of my website, I have been job hunting, talking to lots of different people and contemplating more schooling. I want to lead a creative life, working on lots of different and interesting projects, constantly challenging myself, but how do you go about that? I guess I’ve got the rest of my life to figure it out…

March 16th, 2014.

I've been busy...

Hard to believe I’m nearly done the last semester of my undergrad! Here’s what I have been up to in the last few months. My winter semester has been really excellent so far, I have fewer classes and I have been able to really focus on what I’m doing.

My Photography IV class is putting together an exhibition called phōs. We will be installing at both Boarding House and Ed Video a week from today! It's going to be a really interesting show, I'm excited to see it come together next weekend. We have spent the entire semester working toward this show and we each have a different approach to the medium. My work has been focused on bringing the history of photography and internet culture together.

In Interactive Multimedia (check out our course blog here) I've been studying The Shallows by Nicholas Carr looking at what the internet is doing to our brains as well as learning Adobe Flash. I have brought these elements together in an animation project surrounding Ikea. My Ikea animations will eventually have their own space on the web, I'm really excited about the possibilities for this project to continue to grow long after my graduation this spring. Check back in a few weeks for Ikea animation updates.

December 16th, 2013.

Home for the Holidays!

Finally finished my Fall13 semester, those last couple weeks were a challenge, I think I’m just starting to get over my stress dreams. My journal from those exam/final project weeks is pretty much just To Do lists and notes on what I have finished and what I still need to finish - thrilling stuff. But all that’s done now and I’m back in Orillia recharging for my final semester.

I have been home for just over a week and and have gotten back into my families routine pretty easily. Having some time off has been lovely, I have been reading for fun rather than to write essays! Last week I finished both Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” as well as Mark Haddon’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”. Both interesting reads though I started the Calvino in September and only just finished it while I read the Haddon in about three days so entirely different reading experiences, both worth reading though.

I have been keeping my days pretty simple, reading, knitting, watching movies but now it’s time to get back to the creative stuff I don’t often have time for during school. I have been working on a new animation, featuring my friend Celia, I started it during midterms and am only just finishing it now so that should be out at some point this week.

So there’s my little life update, other than that I have just been getting back to the gym, CrossFit Orillia and yesterday we picked up a Christmas tree. Nice to have a super low key winter break. Bye for now!

December 3rd, 2013.

Nearly There!

Less than a week until I’m finished my second least semester of my undergrad! Hard to believe I’ll be finished in April, fall 2010 feels simultaneously like ages ago as well as only just yesterday. But back to the present, I have just finished my take home exam for a first year Media Studies course which is due tomorrow morning. But I can’t enjoy the success of finishing the take home for long because tomorrow night I have a Geography exam. I tend to get really stressed out during exam time, I’m constantly jittery but I’ve learned to manage it pretty well in past exams. Here are some tips for stress management:

    stop drinking caffein
    close your eyes and take deep breaths
    write in a journal multiple times per day
    meditate
    take short breaks and do something you enjoy
    go for walks

These tricks have helped me in the past. This year I have been preparing to see the new Hunger Games movie Catching Fire with my younger sister when I get home so in my study breaks I have been listening to the Catching First audiobook… I don’t recommend this for stress relief, as listening to those books can be rather stressful in itself. If you are into audiobooks check out Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants or Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? they are hilarious and will distract you from whatever is stressing you out.

But alas, my break is up and I better get to my Geography studying. I hope the stress tips help you, and that if you too are in exam season that things are going well. Cheers!

November 21st, 2013.

Almost Finished

This semester will be over in a matter of weeks but things just keep getting more hectic. I submitted my art history final project today, a small series of animations based on Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, you can check them our under ‘video’ on my Portfolio Page. I have spent the last few days animating like crazy, it’s been exhausting but it’s better than essay writing by a long shot. It’s assignments like my art history one which remind me that I made a great choice in choosing my program.

Next week is my Digital, Non-Silver Photography final critique. We had a framing demo so this will be the first of my projects which I actually frame. I’m looking forward to being capable to framing more of my work in the future, it’s another one of those things - like using the large formate camera - that makes me feel like a real artist.

Must be back to work, so much to do before the end of classes. Hard to believe I’ll be home December 8th, there’s so much to do before then!

September 18th, 2013.

I'm 23!?

Strange being back to full-time studies. Entering fourth year felt odd when I had spent the summer feeling as if I had a real grown up job, it still feels odd to be doing readings and thinking about projects that are assigned purely to make me better, I feel as if I should be working on projects for other people - like my continued design work for my summer employer the Orillia Museum of Art and History. But I soldier on determined to finish my degree this year, therefor today was a day of reading. Every semester the same thing seems to happen, the first week and a half there is very little to do as far as coursework goes, then all of a sudden there is so much it is almost overwhelming, and you have to start one by one ticking things off a list.

In other news, I recently had a birthday. I am now in my yearly-mid-twenties. I have left early-twenties behind just like I left behind late-teens, early-teens, tweens, and childhood. Time passes and we have no control over what speed. Seems to me it gets faster and faster as the years go by. I think 23 will be a good year and I look forward to what it brings. I am especially excited to see what direction I go after finishing my degree, as of yet I have only inklings, no defined plans - and there is something very exciting there indeed.

September 2nd, 2013.

Back in Guelph

Back in Guelph. This is always a nice time in the semester, the few days between moving in and starting classes, even the first few weeks of classes. Not too much to do, lots of time to explore the city and do the things you are interested in. Today one of my housemates and I went on a 3 hour walk with a stop at a local cafe. The weather is still nice this time of year so it's not hard to get yourself outside for a little tour around small funky neighbourhoods. Of course there are little things to do here and there through out these few days before class but as today is Labour Day I have decided to truly treat it as a holiday and leave my tasks for a little later in the week.

Still struggling to believe this is my last year of university. I can not wrap my head around how time seems to fly by faster and faster the older I get. Speaking of the older I get, I'm coming up on 23 and worrying about it. Not worrying that I'm getting older just that I'm not really in my early 20s anymore, I've entered the mid 20's and somehow that feels weird. I'm a firm believer that life is never sorted and that if you are working toward your life being perfect you will never get there but somehow mid 20's is seems profoundly grown up and I am struggling with that.

I think that's all for now. Back to my holiday relaxing/preparing my mind for a new semester. Stay tuned as I attempt to maintain a regular blogging habit through the school year, lots of exciting adventures to come!

August 25th, 2013.

Camp is done!

Friday was my last day of camp. I think I mentioned in my last post that I have been running the art day camps for the Orillia Museum of Art and History. Now camp is finished for the summer and I have a week to tidy up and assess how the summer went as a whole. Funny how we adjust to things, at the beginning of summer I dreaded the arrival of children. Days were slow in the beginning and I'm sure my instruction was shaky. Now camp has come to an end and I feel a distinct difference between my instruction and attitude in my last few weeks as compared to the first. It's time to get ready to move back to Guelph to finish up my degree and it's going to take time to reorient my brain to a more adult centred world. Strange to have spent all summer so focused on camp and now for it to be over, an enormous section of my brain is now free to work away at new things!

With this post-camp-brain-space I have been dressmaking! Earlier in the week I made a dress based on one I bought a while ago and today I made a dress based on a skirt and top I own. I love sewing things for myself, and it's only recently that my creations have been wearable. It's thrilling to be able to create clothes in styles that are sometimes hard to find in shops. I have been thinking of fall in my dressmaking, both heavy warm coloured knits. Fun, fun, fun!

My preparations for my move back to Guelph have hardly begun. I haven't started packing yet but all of my things are rather well contained in the guest bedroom of my parents house this summer rather than spread about the place so packing should be a breeze. In an attempt to make our student house a little more homey this year I convinced my parents to take a trip to Ikea with me for some lamps. I got what I had intended to buy and my parents came away with new inspiration to help them renovate their upstairs bathroom.

I saw something on Tumblr the other day, someone mentioned looking forward to being old and having grandchildren to tell stories of their youth too. This generation has something new that previous generations haven't had - blogging and social media. When I'm old it's possible I'll be recounting stories of my past and remember that I wrote a blog post about what was going on, or that there are photos embedded in the Internet. Previous generations have had letters and photographs but those are easily lost and difficult to wade through in search of what you are looking for. I'm keen to see how the use of social media and the Internet now affects our future. Maybe somewhere down the line I'll have long forgotten writing this and stumble upon it during a digital wander through a lost time.

August 17th, 2013.

Summer Highlights

Well, I have relaunched my website! It had been about a year since the last time I updated my site and that was before I had any knowledge of Adobe Illustrator or Dreamweaver. My Dreamweaver knowledge is still pretty limited but I hope to remedy that this fall in a web design course I'm taking at university. This whole redesign has been brought on by my need for personal business cards in order to promote my design and creative services. Knowing that my website should be on the business cards I figured I needed an update so I wouldn't be embarrassed sending people to my site.

It's been a while since my last blog post. At one time my posts were fairly regular but over the past year or so I have really slipped. Here is a life update:

After a busy 6 course semester I moved back into my parents house for the summer. I started the summer working in a summer camp kitchen doing prep work, I did that for about a month when an excellent career opportunity appeared. The Orillia Museum of Art and History was hiring summer students so I applied… several times. The museum finished major renovations June so they were rather busy with that stuff and summer hiring took a backseat. I ended up having an interview and being hired as the Programs Assistant. I spent June planning the summer day camps and the rest of the summer I have been running them. I have gained loads of experience planning programming as well as hiring an assistant and executing programs with kids (drawing, painting, sculpture, comics, paper making, flip books, weaving and stop motion videos). In edition I have been helping with the day to day function of the museum, I have had the opportunity to do some design work for events and programs. Working has taken up most of my time though I have been able to catch up with friends, hang out with my family and get in lots of CrossFit workouts.

Summer highlights:

    -Stepping up at the UG Wasaga Beach CrossFit Competition. When a team member from CrossFit Orillia was injured I took her place and helped finish the competition - My body and mind were not ready to step in like I did but I was happy to help and I had personal bests in both my clean and jerk as well as my kipping pull-ups.
    -Running the photo booth at Coldwater's Steampunk Festival. This was my first steampunk event and though I didn't have a chance to wonder much I had fun helping people get costumed and posed for photos which I took and printed on site. All proceeds went back to the festival for next year. This was only the 3rd year but I hope this festival takes off!
    -Participating in Orillia's Cardboard Boat Race. This event happens every year in Orillia but I'd never been or participated. One of my fellow museum students spent a few days making a cardboard boat for the museum and I helped paddle it from the start point about half way across the race area before we sank. The rules stipulate that boaters have to haul the wreckage of their boats out of the water, let me tell you swimming water logged cardboard back to a dock is exhausting! We won the Judge's Choice Award!
    -This summer I passed my G drivers test after failing the first time. My initial failure was an alignment of a bunch of factors out of my control, failing was a pretty big blow but a few weeks later I retested and everything went splendidly. I look forward to not having another drivers test for over 50 years!

Hard to believe the summer is almost over. I have already run five weeks of camp and just have one week left! Labour Day weekend I'll be moving back to Guelph. The thought of starting my last year of university gives me an odd nostalgic feeling for something that hasn't even finished yet. This has been an amazing summer of family, friends and great coworkers and I'm sad to see the end come but at the same time I look forward to going back to my Guelph life for a final eight months.

February 22nd, 2013.

Resolution Update

As February comes to a close I think it's time to have a little New Years Resolution update. That's right I haven't completely forgotten the promises I made to myself and shared here on January 6th! It's time to dish on how I have managed. Let's jump right in:

First off, my new Paleo lifestyle. Things have been going remarkably well. My initial strict paleo 30 days went swimmingly. I have done the 30 day challenge before but it has always been when I have been at home with the support of my family. This time I was at school and the only one of my housemates eating like this. Initially it was hard, especially coming down from the winter break which had been a colossal festival of very non-plaeo foods. Gradually things got easier, I was experimenting with different ingredients, and spending time looking for new recipes. I was also doing a lot of cooking - which is an excellent way to avoid homework and not feel too guilty since you need to eat anyway. When I finished my 30 days, I did a little unpaleo celebrating but then got back to being strict again because it was what I had gotten used to and I feel so good when I eat that way.

I should mention that this week is reading week so I'm home with my family and… lets just say I have taken a break. Not only have I been on vacation from most of my school work, but also from paleo. I'm still eating great meals and going to the gym regularly but life is too short not to enjoy a brownie and a mocha once in a while. Once I'm back in Guelph I'll be right back on track.

My second goal for the year was to work on my career stuff while I'm in school. This has been a struggle since I have an overloaded schedule this semesters. I have been trying to keep up with blogging, but like I said, I am really busy with school. On the website side of things it turns out one of the assignments in my Drawing on Computer course is to design a web page, so I can use the skills I gain there to improve my website. I think it's important to remember that I made these goals for the year, I don't want to stress myself out over them while I'm already swamped with course work. I have also been doing some planning for after I graduate, slowly trying to figure out my next step. All of this is defiantly progress on the post-grad career front.

Finally, I wanted to be less passive socially. I feel like I have made small gains here, I have been speaking to some people I never used to talk to, and generally more open to conversation. I haven't been organizing all kinds of meet ups or outings, but I'm also not doing that with the friends I already have because as previously mentioned, 6 courses is keeping my busy. I have still made some small advancements here though.

I didn't think I had been working much on these goals, but now that I look back I see that I haven't entirely forgotten them. Throughout the year I'll try to look back frequently to keep my January plans in mind. I'll also try to keep you up to date on how things are going. I realize it's still early in the year, but I think if I can manage to keep this up for the rest of 2013 I will make a lot of progress. Did you make new years resolutions, if so how are they going?

January 31st, 2013.

Between Classes

Do you ever get those intense sense memories? A smell or a sound can take you to an entirely different place and time. Today I am sitting in a cafe between classes and the playlist I put on to tune out the buzz of students has taken me to summer. No summer in particular just summer. The weather today in Guelph snowy and windy and yet I can feel a cool summer breeze on my warm skin gently pulling at my clothes and hair. It's late evening and the sun starting to go down. Nowhere to be, and nothing to worry about. This is all such a stark contrast to my present, its almost startling when I look out the nearest window to see a grey day, people walking by in boots, scarves and coats. But all the while I have known this sort of memory wasn't real, more of a melancholy dream.

I'm sure there are lots of people longing for summer this time of year. Living in this Canadian climate creates a strange sense of a year. Summers feel somehow disconnected from the rest. Maybe this also has to do with being a student. I am not in school for the summer, but I am working. I think in generally people live differently in the summer, they live slower, take more breaks and appreciate the weather.

Maybe I can feel the summer coming. I always find the winter semester flies by, so summer must be rapidly approaching. My summers are a glimpse into my future outside of school. This summer especially, my last before I graduate means my undergrad is coming to a close. As much as I have enjoyed my time here, I have always struggled with bring tied to a place for four years. So summers approach brings me closer to a less stationary lifestyle.

That is where I'm at as I sit between classes today. I don’t like to wish my life away but I have been dreaming of summer more and more frequently. What are your thoughts on summer? Do people behave differently? Is it somehow disconnected from the rest of the year?

Artists in my summer playlist:

    The Tallest Man on Earth
    Bon Iver
    Blitzen Trapper
    Department of Eagles
    Grizzly Bear
    Born Ruffians
    The National
    Fleet Foxes
    Alexis Murdoch
    Sufjan Stevens
    José González
    The Decemberists
    Blind Pilot

January 3rd, 2013.

Resolutions

‘Tis the season for resolution making and the Internet is a buzz with people’s self improvement hopes. Especially this time of year in Canada, with the weather grey and snowy it’s important to have something to focus on and look forward to. I think it’s worth while to share resolutions with people, there is a little more commitment there when you feel you have to live up to what you told someone at the beginning of the year. This concept of sharing feels similar to writing down a list of things you have to do tomorrow so you will be more likely to do those things than trying to complete the tasks by memory. With this is mind I am going to share my 2013 resolutions here with you. And here we go:

    - Starting this year I intend to begin a Paleo lifestyle. If you aren’t aware the Paleo diet means eating only meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds as well as some fruit – no grains, no dairy, no legumes. You can get some more info at Whole9Life. For the past few years I have been slowly getting better at eating this way but it’s time to go for it for real. Eating better makes me feel much better and affects my performance at the gym as well as improves my energy level and keeps my mind sharp. I know how important diet is to overall well being and it’s time that I act on that and feel great all the time.
    - I am in my third year of university and I want to set up a few things which will help me once I graduate. I want my personal website to look and function really well to act as a resume for people interested in my work. Students have a tendency to feel as if they are in some “student world” and feel that things will change once they graduate and enter the “real world” when the truth is everyone lives in the real world all the time. I want to be working on building my career before I am finished university.
    - This year I would also like to be more social. I tend to be rather shy and introverted. There are people I meet and think are really interesting but I never approach them to hangout and chat outside of where I know them from. I want to be more proactive in my social life rather than waiting around for people to invite me to things.

There you have it. Now that my goals for the year are out there for you to see I will be even more driven to follow through. I feel as if each of these resolutions is achievable and will improve my life greatly. I am looking forward to an excellent 2013 and I hope you are as well! Bye for now.

November 26, 2012.

Learnin' about myself

Once in a while there are these really cool moments that come along and teach you something about yourself. Moments when you do something without thinking about it, and when you do stop, and think about it you notice something about who you are or who you have become. In the past week I have had a couple of these moments.

I tend to be a very shy person but earlier this week I learned that there are situations when I will go beyond that social anxiety to help someone out. One of my classes had this big paper due on Tuesday. I went to class a little early to be sure I could hand in my paper on time. After waiting around a while there were only a couple of minutes before class but there were only two other students waiting. I decided to check my email and sure enough there was a message from the professor saying class had to be cancelled. Without any hesitation I spoke to the two students who had been waiting as well. And it wasn’t until we had each gone our own ways I realized I had just spoken to total strangers, something I wouldn’t ordinarily do. But in this instance I had felt it right to let them know. I think I’ve mentioned before my introversion so this was kind of a big deal when I had realized what I had done. I felt great!

Yesterday I had a similar moment. Often my fear of how I am perceived gets in the way of things. For example, if I request the wrong stop on the bus and the bus pulls over, I will get off even if I am still far from my actual destination. So yesterday, after grabbing a coffee for my wait for the bus I accidentally took two lids and didn’t realize until the top one blew off in the wind. This happened right in front of a hip cafe, but I without thinking swooped down and picked up the spare lid. If I had been thinking about being all cool and impressing the people inside I would have just kept walking but my inner anti-litter environmentalist prevailed. Again I was rather impressed with myself.

These moments might seem really insignificant, but when you do something without thinking there is an opportunity to learn about who you are. And in this week I learned I really like the person I have become, which is an excellent realization. So have you realized anything about yourself lately?

November 20th, 2012.

Are women in danger?

I’m back! For a little while at least. The end of this semester has slammed me with assignments like no other, but for a moment I have a chance to write about something I have been thinking about a lately in the moments my brain is allowed to stray from my studies.

Recently I bumped into my landlord on my way out for a run on a sunny Sunday morning around 11AM. He mentioned a trail I should check out because it’s nice and open and well lit, making it a good place for women to go running. I didn’t take his advice because I have a route of my own and I was also taken aback by his comment about it being safe for women. I know he means well but he brought my attention back to a thought I have been having for a while now.

My landlord’s comment was an example of how prevalent the notion that it is note safe to be a woman in this society is. Women are 50% of the population and being made to feel as if it isn’t safe for us to go anywhere is 100% wrong. There are many women who are taught from a early age that they are in constant danger because of their sex, which is crazy. This belief that women are not safe in our society is perpetuated by people who have been taught it and this notion only empowers those who do wish to put women in danger.

Yes there is always a chance that something may happen and you may someday be in a situation where you are victimized. But by living differently and taking a supposedly constant risk into account in every decision of your life you are only allowing this mode of thought to continue.

So what are your thoughts? Is it there an actually constant threat to women in our society? And how do we go about changing this? I look forward to getting some responses! And hopefully now I’ll be back on a more regular blogging schedule.

October 29th, 2012.

Concert, Toronto, Alone.

In my last post I mentioned being a weirdo who really enjoys traveling alone. Tonight I am doing just that. At the moment I am sitting in a Starbucks in Toronto on my own. I know Toronto may not be that exciting for many people but to a girl who grew up in a small city and doesn’t get here that often (hardly ever alone) it feels pretty good. Yes, getting out of the country for a little while would be a better fix for the travel bug (I hate the phrase “travel bug” but don’t know how else to express this feeling) I have had for that past while, but this feels pretty good.

So why am I here? Through a series of events I ended up with tickets to a small concert and no one to go with. And being the independent person I am, I decided to go it alone. The band is Milo Greene, I saw them open last fall for The Civil Wars and they were both excellent. I bought the Milo Greene 3 song EP at that concert and have been listening to it all year long. Now I get to see them as well as pick up the full album they’ve got out now!

I enjoy traveling on my own, but I tend to be a bit keen. The doors at the concert don’t open until 8:30 but I took a bus that left Guelph at 5:30 to account for delays, especially with this crazy hurricane-induced weather we are having. As expected I arrived painfully early, it’s 7:15 and I am typing in a Starbucks. I may venture out to find the venue soon, then do a little exploring in the area if I can muster the courage to brave this wind.

So thats my news for the moment. I hope you have enjoyed this live-blog of my life! And pray for me that my bus back to Guelph doesn’t get cancelled and leave me stranded here!

October 25th, 2012.

Wondering Thoughts.

There must be people out there, people like me who have similar moments of internal struggle when a train goes by. People like me who genuinely for a couple of minutes consider hopping on the passing train. Sometimes they are passenger trains and sometimes cargo trains. I like the idea of taking to the rails like in the hard times of the great depression in search of new places to start fresh.

Then my mind comes back to reality and I have to remind myself to think rationally. Trains are such cool things, it’s a shame we don’t have more of them in North America, and that they are so expensive! Though if you go the cargo train route it’s free, fairly dangerous, but maybe worth it for the story you would have to tell your grandchildren once you are old and grey.

It’s been too long since I have traveled. Apparently your university career is supposed to be a four year adventure, but I am longing to get myself to a new place and do some wandering on my own. Maybe that is a part of my problem, I like to feel totally alone, to escape the places where people know me for a little while.

I mention all of this because this morning as I sat on my bus to campus, a train went by and I longed to be riding it to wherever it was going. And with that I’ll end today’s thoughts-while-I-wait-for-History-of-Canadian-Art-to-begin post. Thanks and enjoy your evening.

October 11th, 2012.

Annual Thanksgiving Meltdown

I am sitting in the hallway waiting to head into my Canadian Art History midterm. My parents reminded me over the Thanksgiving long weekend that around this time every year, I have the sudden urge to drop out of university. Every year there is a week I don’t think I can make it through in the first half of my fall semester. This has been that week.

But now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Soon I will be done this midterm and will have submitted my photography assignment. Tomorrow I will be gallery hopping in Toronto with a bunch of studio art students. And soon enough it will the the weekend and things will slow down a little again.

I have been thinking lately about organization. Normally organizing my time is something I am exceptional at, but lately I haven’t been organizing we well as usual. But I think I have found the problem. My plan this year was to do some volunteer work in my field rather than getting a part time job and thus far I haven’t had enough to do. Part of organizing my time is linked to not having very much time. I actually think I have better results in my school work when I have less time of my own. Kind of an odd concept, I know.

So what I am wondering is, is it possible to have too much time to get anything done?

October 6th, 2012.

Productivity

I wrote this a while ago, but it got trapped in a mind space where I thought it wasn’t worth posting. And this may be a copout but I haven’t posted in a while so this came to the surface. So, here you go:

This post is about productivity. Maybe less about the productivity so much as the time surrounding productivity. I tend to refer to this time as “decompression time”. And I am positive people have done studies and written in great length about this subject, I thought that as I am in my decompression mode at the moment I would take a moment to reflect upon it and here are those reflections:

I’m decompressing. I am sure a large percentage to people need time to decompress after their work/school/whatever they do all day. But I don’t need a statistic to tell me, I know there are people like me out there. Similar to the way introverted people (myself included) need to spend time alone before or after highly social situations, I need time to decompress after work or school or anything I do with intense focus.

I wish there was a way to use this decompression time to continue my work, but I find that during my working time I am more successful if I have had a little time spent zoning out. Whether it is scrolling tumblr, or twitter, reading a novel, watching TV or listening to music – I need something along these lines to help my brain recharge.

There are evenings when I am not capable of getting anything of value done. Take yesterday for example, I went to the gym, class, worked on time sensitive school projects, made appointments and attended meetings. I’d say I spent about 85% of the day absorbing information so from the time I got home (approximately 7:30) to the time I went to bed (about 11) I was incapable of spending any time on academic or career related things.

This is not to say that my decompression time is not valuable, I need that time in order to function properly when needed. And the things I do while I decompress are generally positive. Over the summer I started reading more fiction, which means while decompressing I have been checking books off my “to read” list. During my time spent online I often stumble across interesting images, articles, quotes and ideas while on tumblr and twitter – these things often inspire new projects.

So ultimately I have come to the conclusion that this decompression time is really useful. What do you do to decompress?

September 20th, 2012.

Nerd Alert

There are times when I find myself feeling like a colossal nerd. I do consider myself a rather socially awkward person – and perhaps it is because of this that I am one. But there are days when I feel more nerdy than others and about half and hour ago I had an epic nerd moment.

This semester I am considering not working but instead volunteering in a career related field to get some relevant work experience. So I chose an on campus organization that is closely related to what I am interested in doing with my life. During club days I walked up to their booth, signed myself up to volunteer and was informed of what they were looking for, and when they hold their meetings.

So today was the day. I had been thinking about the meeting all day and had received several reminders from my phone. I worried because the buses had been behind all day and that I might be late and make a bad first impression. When I arrived on campus, it took me a few minutes to find the correct room. I knocked on the door to find no more than two people in the small office. When asked I told them I was there for the meeting and was told that the meeting wouldn’t take place for another week! Apparently they planned on emailing the people who signed up and arranging to have the first meeting next week! I made an awkward joke about being super keen and left.

Despite this being something that happens to everyone, I can’t help but get flustered and nervious. Even now, over half an hour later I am still feeling selfconcious. The guys in the office were nice, and hopefully we will be able to laugh about it at next weeks meeting, yet my gittery nerves remain.

Moments like this only reinforce how nerdy I feel most of the time. This afternoon, before the wrong meeting incident I was sitting on my bed retyping lecture notes on my laptop while sinking my iPad and texting from my iPhone – I really don’t need more awkward incounters in my life to keep me humble!

September 18th, 2012.

Gettin' Older

Yesterday I turned 22. The classic question on Birthdays is often “do you feel any older?” and the stock answer is “no”. But yesterday before going to sleep I thought about my life since I stated university in the fall of 2010. I looked back over all the things I have dond since starting school, looking at how hard I have worked for the grades I have gotten, at how much knowledge I have gained from my studies as well as looked at what I have done out side of school. I have simultaneously worked and kept up with coursework, run my own business and launched a couple websites and this blog. Looking back I have done so much in the past two years that yes I do feel older and wiser.

There are people who are sceptical of birthdays, those who wonder why we celebrate someone living another year but I think birthdays are important in order to see how far we have come. They are a chance to look back and celebrate all we have done, all we have achieved in the years we have been here.

I am someone who puts pressure on myself to accomplish things with self imposed deadlines and I sometimes find it disappointing when I cannot meet my own expectations but on my birthday this year I was able to be immensely proud of my achievements. And that is what I think birthdays are all about.

September 9th, 2012.

Third Year

Does anyone else get crazy stressed out about tiny things when they are starting off in a new place? I never remember until I’m starting fresh either travels or moving to a new city. My first week, I always seem to choose little things and get into a panic over them. They are often things that are not pressing, I just feel I should get them dome sooner rather than later and I end up getting caught up in the sooner part.

If you haven’t already guessed I have moved back to Guelph and started my third year of university. Clearly have successfully self identified myself stressing over a couple little things. I guess with a big move like that there are loads of things to get set up and I just feel a need to have everything ready right from the get go, but this isn’t always possible.

Everyone seems to know that life is easier when you “don’t sweat the small stuff” and focus on “the big picture” but it is so easy to forget! So take this as a reminded, so step back and look to your life for a moment, are the things you are currently freaking out over really worth it?

September 1st, 2012.

Moving

Change is hard. As I type that hear Zooey Deschanel singing it in the song by She and Him run through my head. The rest of the lyrics aren’t so relevant to my life at the moment, but the title sure is.

In the next few days I will be moving out of my parents house and back to Guelph where I go to University. This year is different than previous though because this may turn out the be the last time I move out of my parents house. With this is mind, and the fact that when I am here it is only for short amount of time my parents have decided to move my younger sister into what has always been my room. And as much as I am on board with this decision it feels strange, not good or bad, just strange. I’ll no longer have that space which was always waiting for me. Not having that room makes it seem more real that I don’t live here any more.

I feel as though I am now truly an adult. Now it’s time for me to start making all of my own decisions, without the little guidance my parents had previously still been providing as I started getting closer and closer to this true independence. I am not trying to say that as of Sunday evening when I am totally moved out that I will be entirely on my own because I know my family will always be there for me, it’s just different now. And change is hard.

With change comes growth. I am looking forward to this year and the challenges, triumphs and failures it brings. I look forward to failing – in this society I don’t think we fail enough. Failing is an excellent opportunity to learn and if you are not failing I don’t think you are taking enough risks. So this year I am excited to fail and grow from all that I learn from those failures!

August 23rd, 2012.

More Flyin' Time!

Oh dear! Another post about how time flies. At the end of April I was staring into the summer wondering what I was going to do with myself and how strange it was going to feel living at my parents house in my home town for four months. Now I am staring at another year of university and wondering how four months could have gone by in what has felt like the blink of an eye.

As I begin to think about moving and furniture shopping I am struck with a strange feeling, I feel both as if I am truly becoming an adult and at the same time as though I have no idea what I am doing. Growing up is a peculiar thing, as children we constantly develop through doing new things, but as we get older new becomes more and more foreign. I have written on the topic of living outside your comfort zone before, I guess today I thought I would update you and say; today, I felt outside my comfort zone, and it felt great!

I think in everyone’s life there are times of year that are more significant, chances to get excited about starting fresh and improving yourself. As a student, fall is extremely important, it’s hard for most students not to start thinking about their plans and evaluating their life as the evenings get cooler and leaves begin to turn. Other times of year have similar effect, new years is another classic example, people seize the opportunity to get excited about the possibility of the new year. But these regenerations of our lives can happen at any point in the year, not just at conventional turning points. The more I think about it the more I see patterns in life, like rolling waves we ride from one opportunity to the next reconfiguring our lives then settling in once again. While it is important to live in the moment I think it is also important to be aware of what stage of the wave cycle you are in.

There was a time last year when I was considering not returning to university this fall. I felt at that particular time in my life I wasn’t living how I would like too. But after looking more into my life I realized that ultimately finishing my degree would be more significant than what I had in mind for when I left school. I like thinking that as I finish my formal education I am in mid-wave with exciting things waiting for me on the other side of my graduation. As much as there are large waves there are small ones happening simultaneously and it’s those that it’s important to focus on while finishing things you know are important like my degree.

Examining your life is a strange and exciting thing, it’s something I’d like to do more often.

Comment or email me to let me know what you think. Are these thoughts interesting or entirely garbage? I’d love to start a discussion!

August 15th, 2012.

Childish Forever-Summers

Often as I begin an entry in my journal I will begin here by saying it has been too long since my last entry. However it is not as if I haven’t been writing, I have tried with little success to post something, but nothing has been sufficient.

As summer often does, it has stripped any sort of routine from me, leaving me feeling as though I haven’t accomplished anything in quite some time. This is not altogether true though, I have accomplished small things but feel as though not enough tasks have been crossed off my list in the past few weeks – blogging one of them.

Summer is a strange time of year. My recollections of it as a child lead me to believe that it lasts forever while my experiences of it more recently tell me my childhood remembrances are no longer true. While it whizzes, the mentality of 6 year-old me remains – believing it will never end that all tasks which do not involve reading in the sun or sitting by the lake can wait till a rainy day and that all of the rainy days a for more reading or watching movies – this mind set does not lend itself to productivity.

I suppose now that I must work during the summers in order to continue my university career, work does eat into the summer time I have. This summer I have been lucky. Working at a family resort means most of my work interactions are with people who are the most relaxed they will be all year – like me they want to enjoy the summer and move through days slowly, basking in lovely weather.

And that is a rather long explanation as to why it has been so long since my last entry. Perhaps more sharing that you were looking for and maybe it is really about nothing of consequence but I like to think someone will relate. I recently ready “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, so I hope that to someone my writing will be a boa constrictor from the outside rather than just a hat.

July 28th, 2012.

Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues

As I am early to work this morning, I have had time to think a little - time like this is sparse in the summer with the mad work hours in efforts to afford university in the fall. But as I quietly sit outdoors watching staff move from place to place, I am astounded at how clock-like this place it, each person a cog with a specific function. I am reminded of the lyrics to Fleet Foxes' "Helplessness Blues";

    I was raised up believing
    I was somehow unique
    Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
    Unique in each way you can see

    And now after some thinking
    I'd say I'd rather be
    A functioning cog in some great machinery
    Serving something beyond me

    But I don't, I don't know what that will be
    I'll get back to you someday soon you will see

    What's my name, what's my station
    Oh just tell me what I should do
    I don't need to be kind to the armies of night
    That will do such injustice to you

All of these people have chosen to be a part of this place, to be pieces in this small machine - and I feel as though I would rather function in a larger one. I don't mean to belittle anyone's efforts, the dedication and teamwork with which these people do their jobs is noble. It maybe a little selfish of me to feel as though I could never be happy spending the rest of my life working a place such as this one.

Part of the song asks someone to tell them what they should be a part of - I too don't know where I will fit. In a way this freedom we have in Western society is a luxury and a curse, people have many options there are so many ways to be unhappy among all the potentially fulfilling options.

What I'm saying is, I don't have it all "figured out", I don't think anyone does or if they do they shouldn't. People talk about having their life "together" as if it will magically be sorted at some point, all neat and tidy but doesn't this mean they have settled into a comfortable pattern? I would rather be figuring out what works and constantly discovering for the rest of my life, rather than just at the beginning of it. Maybe I will forever be relating to this song while others hope it is only relatable in their youth.

If you are interested you can check out this video I made of a wonder I took through a local wood. I feel as though this blog and the video work well hand in hand. Enjoy!

July 20th, 2012.

2012 Ladies Survey!!

I'm starting a vlog youtube channel in an attempt to get more feedback on the ideas I send out into the interwebs. For my first video I have completed the Ladies Survey. For a long time I have wanted to jump into the world that it online video both for getting thoughts and ideas out there as well as using it as a creative outlet. And with this Survey going around I feel like it is an excellent opportunity to begin.

Feminism is something I have been interested in since I could construct thought. I have always admired my mum for being the strong woman that she is. One of the earliest things I remember really appreciating about her was how she kept her maiden name when she got married, I've always loved that retention of individual identity. I recently discovered this Ellen Page quote that seems to fit my childhood exactly: "As a girl, you're supposed to love Sleeping Beauty. I mean, who wants to love Sleeping Beauty when you can be Aladdin?"

More recently I have gotten into the academic side of Feminist thought by studying it in University. This study has pushed my understanding as well as made me more aware in my day to day life, something I hope the Ladies Survey will achieve as well as devising solutions to make the internet a better place for everyone.

Here are the questions and my answers for the Ladies Survey:

1. Who are your favourite female YouTubers?

booksandquills - because her videos make up about half of my reading list, she makes me want to read everything she reads.

communitychannel - because she is hilarious! and created videos that stick in my head - not a day goes by that I don't think "CURSE YOU PAST NATALIE!"

ItsWayPastMyBedTime - because she "dares to suck" and inspires me to do so as well.

marionhoney - because she makes some incredibly beautiful videos.

missxrojas - because she is intelligent, makes great videos and because she created this survey.

2. Who are your favourite female athletes?

Venus and Serena Williams because they are incredibly strong women, I have looked up to both of them since I was little, watching tennis with my grandfather.

Camille Leblanc-Bazinet who is representing Canada East at the 2012 CrossFit games, along with all of the women competing at the games - they amaze and inspire me.

3. What is your favourite book written by a female with a female protagonist?

"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen - Elizabeth Bennet is an amazing character, who lived in a time of many rules and chose to live as she liked. I believe that had Mr Darcy never come along she wouldn't have married because she wanted to marry for love rather than money much like the author did.

4. What is your favourite film written by a female with a female protagonist?

"Marie Antoinette" - because of the amazing vision of writer/director Sophia Coppola. It is a visually brilliant film.

5. Who is your favourite female fictional character?

Madeline - because despite being surrounded by order (12 little girls in 2 straights lines) she challenged the status quo.

6. What is the biggest problem facing female creators today (and any solutions)?

Misunderstanding - I particularly like an anecdote Tina Fey shares in her book "Bossy Pants". She said a few women were pitching an idea and male producers kept rejecting it with vague reasoning. It turned out that the men just didn't understand the concept because they hadn't experienced it. I think this is a reason lots of women in mainstream media don't have the opportunities men do, because their ideas are pushed aside early on when the men who need to approve the idea don't understand because it is outside their experience.

7. Do you think youtube and online video in general are better or worse suited than television for tackling the problems and prejudices women face in the workplace?

Online video is better for tackling the prejudices women face in the workplace. Online content has the ability to go viral or be promoted everywhere while television's reach is becoming more and more limited. Not to mention all the potentially prejudice people an idea has to go through before making it to peoples televisions, while online an idea can be broadcasted immediately.

8. What do you pledge to do to make the internet a better environment for all creators?

I pledge to encourage others to express themselves online, for a long time I was too scared to put myself out there, the internet doesn't have to be a scary place!

9. Tell us a story/secret whatever featuring women!

Not really a story or secret, I just wanted to say that this survey has been great! I have really enjoyed checking out the responses and am really happy to say that it has introduced me to loads of great female youtubers!

10. TAG PEOPLE!

I would like to tag:

    booksandquills
    communitychannel
    ItsWayPastMyBedTime
    marionhoney
    spiffinglycino

That is it for my Ladies Survey answers! You can check out the video here. And I would love to hear from you about the survey or anything else you want to chat about!

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