A Funny Thing Happened on the Road to Success & Happiness…I Failed, I think?

I haven’t been on here for awhile, I know.

If you’ve followed this blog of mine, you’ll know I began writing it the day after I had a heart procedure.

The plan…practice writing daily and become a better writer!

And I must say, I did succeed in that endeavour.  I wrote my very first book, a memoir, and self-published it three years later.

I went through cancer and three jobs.   I gained a massive amount of weight due to the cancer treatment and just as I began to take control a vehicle accident occurred leaving a back injury that has pretty much shut down much of my physical activities.

And it seemed for a time that the rains of hell had found me. At the end of this,  depression ensued and engulfed me.  Much of what I was writing had a victim / poor me mentality to it…and I loathe this attitude in myself.

Thus I did not share and my posts on this forum began to dwindle.  Why should I post that which I despise about myself?

I have notebooks full of my pain.  Pages are lovely things, are they not?  They do not a question and you can express anything you want.  It is your choice to share, and I just could not.

I have people tell me how remarkable I am, what a lovely person I am. And you know, it is strange to hear this and impossible at times to believe this as I look in the mirror decidedly disgusted with who I am at the moment.

Yet it is the love of my friends and family that has allowed me to develop this patchwork heart of mine.  They can’t be wrong I insist to myself.  I must live up to whatever it is that they see that I don’t.

I get that the last five years or so have been tough. And I could well wax poetic on the injustice of it all.

I won’t.

Physical pain has become a daily thing that I manage. And yet I still get to enjoy the sunrise and the turning of the seasons.  I still have this wild imagination that is begging me to write the stories working through the passages of my mind.

I am blessed with the people that I call friends.  And it for them and my family who encourage and insist that somehow I matter that I push on, that I will work to honour not only myself but all those who’ve given me their love to hold always and forever in my heart that I must respect and nurture.

This is what I need to get me through the day.  All the mistakes and bad choices I’ve made recede.   I’ll get through this.

And yes, at times I feel like I’ve failed yet again.  But then I’m not even certain what it is I’m seeking other than some peace of my being.

To just say, I’m happy with who I am. I am complete.  How good would that be?!

I’ve come close at times, or at least I thought I did.   I work at being my authentic self, which I must say continues to reveal parts of me like that of an onion being revealed one thin layer at a time.

Still, gotta be honest to myself first and foremost.  At times it is hard as I take in the world today.  I remind myself that all I can do is walk through this world with the thoughts and ideas that may benefit who we are as a people and hope the love and appreciation I feel will spread.

I’m back.  Coming out of the dark recesses of depression.  Accepting once again that yes, I am a smart and genuine woman.  Accepting that I am a loving and giving individual.

Yup.  Well Namaste my friends.

Thanks for checking in, for following my ramblings. There will be more to come.  Have no doubt. And always I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!

 

 

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A St. Patrick’s Day Poem…Inspired by Dr. Suess

March 17, 2017 – St. Patrick’s Day                                                         Nancy Pilling

Inspired by the master…Dr. Suess!!!

I am Sam…Sam I am!

I do not like green beer and lamb,

No, no…I do not like green beer and lamb,

Even if my name is Sam!

I like my beer with a golden hue,

A full body with a malted flavor,

That delights the palate but adds  a wee kick too!

Green beer began,

With that damed Leprechan!

‘Fiddle dee dee!  Fi Fie Fo Fum!

He shouted gleefully as he twiddled his thumbs.

He wore a tattered green top hat,

Boots and britches that did not fit well,

Ah! But his top coat of green velvet did look mighty swell!

The fiend had a face ugly as sin,

With a loud cackle he held up his glass,

And with a devilish grin,

He challenged the folk with a passionate cry,

‘Drink yee a toast to the Emerald Isle,

No potatoes – for sure,

But plenty o’ ale!’

Drink to the Saints

Who are long since dead!

Drink to the poor bastards,

Who…through their own stupidity…lost their head.’

‘You’ll never catch me. Oh no, you won’t!’

Me pot o’ Gold remains a mystery,

Secured in and riddled in history,  But its is on this day that I taunt,

Chase those rainbows, high and low,

Catch ‘em and a 1,000 gold pieces to you will go!

Be swift now, if you dare,

But have a care.’

Roast a lamb in good faith.

And raise a glass,

St. Patty’s day will soon pass,

Your memory of green beer and lamb,

Will leave you with queasy disgust,

Yet a year from now…on this date,

Even though you may protest,

You’ll drink green beer and dine on lamb,

Even if your name is Sam,

You’ll scream in sickly delight as you play,

“My name is Sam…Sam I am!”

I do not like green beer and lamb!

But what the fuck,

I’ll raise a glass of green beer and with leg o’ lamb in hand,

And say to all my friends oh so dear,

I’ll say it is loud, I’ll say it in good cheer,

Oh what?

What will I say?

Why I’ll shout

Have a HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!!

On a Lighter Note…Problem Solving 101

So much strife exists these days.  And me?  Well I get on my blog and rant about the state of this world.

Then the latest incident hit regarding Apple vs. FBI.

Now I could go on a rant here as well but I will simply say that I’m on Apple’s side in all this and I don’t even own an iPhone.

I’ve got a Smartphone Android that likes to show me just how incompetent I am on a daily basis.

Technology is moving at an unbelievably fast pace.  A documentary I viewed the other evening spoke of computer chips being injected into us humans and correcting all of our ailments.  This is to happen by 2030 which really is the not so distant future.

During my drive to work the other morning I witnessed a beautiful sunrise. Frost had kissed blades of grass and trees during the midnight hours.

And while I was pondering the fate of this world and taking in the beauty of a new day, I glanced in the rear-view mirror.

Horrified at my image with this hair…

‘

Now I’ve not complained about my hair in a good long while.  Indeed, after chemo left me bald I swore I would never complain again.  Even when my hair threatened to come in as curly do giving me the appearance of a cherub that scared me more than you’ll ever know.

And as I thought about the FBI wanting technology to unlock a terrorist’s phone and Donald Trump wanting to build higher walls to keep out the ‘bad guys’ along the border should he become President, I also pondered concerns about global warming and how the price of everything is crazy.

What would make me really happy at the moment I considered?

Well, all I want is wash and wear hair.  Just to look lovely from sun up to sundown.

Oh, I’ve met those tortuous beauties so kind and gentle with locks that bounce and glisten in the sun.

Even when the rains have come, their hair defies the dampness and takes on a life of its own.

And here I am, so petty in my wanting, that I covet the hair of my betters while this world sinks even further into despair.

How sad.  It would seem I am not the prolific and profound suffragette that I thought I was.

Then it struck me!

I phoned and made the appointment with my hairdresser at the end of March!

If I can find solace and peace with my hair, a truce perhaps, just maybe there will be hope for the rest of this world!

I believe! I believe! I believe!

 

Not Your Average Bear!

I’m not too certain what made me thing about Yogi, but the smile that curled my lips when I did was immediate.

Saturday morning cartoons.

It was a ritual growing up.  Two hours of nonsense where I could get lost in an animated world.

Characters got blown up, had humongous rocks fall on them and fell from cliffs regularly.

But they never died.

If a cat has nine lives then animated characters are indeed immortal.

Silly pranks were played.  Scheming villains tried in vain to execute their various brands of treachery.

Every week their debauched visions were crushed by sly intellectual bunnies or awkward buffoonish bears.

Yogi and Boo Boo ruled ‘Yellow Stone National Park’ much to the chagrin of Ranger Smith.

This was and still is a sweet innocence for me.  There was no hard sell.

It was always a simple formula, one that I came to expect and it was offered week after week, year after year, and it worked.

A capricious bunny, an enamored skunk, a witty road runner, a southern rooster or a hero of a mouse…just to mention a few.

We were blessed with so many lovely characters.

Back in the 1990’s though, we were all grown up and adult animation became a demand and began to move to the forefront.

Some of the creations were a delight.  Pinky and the Brain, Future Cat & Friends are a few faves.

“The Simpsons” truly changed the landscape or animation.

Some very dark characters emerged during this time.  Then gaming exploded.

I got to thinking of cartoon from the Merry Melody collection called ‘One Froggy Evening’ done in genuine black and white.  It was likely produced in the 1950’s.

A man finds a frog who can sing like  Pavarotti.  Elated he thinks he’s struck gold.  He advertises this and fills a concert house.  The frog, however, will sing only for him…alone.

This has been a favorite of mine for a lifetime it seems.  There is a joy in its simplicity that is so endearing to me.

These days its hard to find a cinematic production that is just plain old fun.  Making movies is first and foremost a big business.

Last weekend as I was curled up suffering from a dreadful cold and convinced I would never smell the sweetness of a rose again.  I watched ‘Guardians of Galaxy’.   I enjoyed it.  Now perhaps it was the fever but hell, there was a quirky innocence to each of the characters.

This doesn’t happen often in movies such as this for me.

It was silly, goofy and totally predictable, but what sold me was the depth of the characters.  I liked them and wanted to get to know them better.  When this happens I’m hooked.

I read an article about a year ago that stated that movies follow just twelve various formats.  That’s it!  And as I pondered this I likened it to be true.

Why is it that some movies just blow us away?  Certain catch phrases are adopted or personality traits are adopted and emulated.

Others movies are forgotten before we leave the theatre.

Why did one leave an imprint and the other fade away?

This principle applies to the written word a well.  Those books that capture our imagination and allow it to expand.

In a nutshell, it is character development and plot execution.

How do you take something that has been told a million times or more before and tell it again…originally?

What I’ve learned may sound simple but can really be the toughest thing you’ll ever do.

Tell your story as only you see it.  That is what makes it unique  because none of sees or feels the same about anything really.  Individually we all have variations.

This perhaps, is the most endearing factor in the human equation to me.

Perfection is a myth.

Forgiveness is the key to freedom.

Love is absolute.

…and how each of sees the rise and set of each day is as infinite as the sky we gaze into each day and each night.

 

50 Shades of….Orange?

 

Secret Garden

The marathon painting session left me rather delirious.  Each coat of burnt orange applied to the chocolate wall seemed to simply melt into it.  So began the test of wills.  I would defeat this wall!  Conquer it completely.  It would become my firewall.

The colour, when first applied, appeared to be pumpkin.

Fear ran through me.  What if I’d made a mistake with my choice of colour?  What if, upon completion, it looked so horrible that I ran screaming from the room tearing the newly grown hair from my head?

I smiled at the dramatic scenario’s I was entertaining as I pondered all the written works that would be produced from my orange room.

I like tasks such as painting a room. For me there is always a reason for the transformation and the colour of choice that reaches out to me.  I also like that it’s my energy that is going into the transformation.

Mind you some seven hours to paint one room had the imagination becoming quite derelict.  I stopped for yet another bathroom break near the end of this lunacy.  Food had been consumed sporadically.  Yogurt, apple, grapes, crackers….

Just the basic sustenance.

My secret garden

A great deal of water had been consumed. On this hot summer day the temperature rose to about 30 degree Celsius.  Luckily, I face north and have the benefit of my secret garden that provides major cooling to my unit.  Still, the sight that greeted me in the bathroom mirror made me chuckle.

I was a complete puddle covered in fifty shades of orange. It was on my face, in my hair, paint was everywhere.

And oh, the decadent thoughts that sprang to mind that would in fact parody the unmentionable ‘grey’ version of said title.

Oh my!

This is not an X-rated blog though.  So I will keep it clean.

Still, the thought that sprang to mind was of our heroine showing up not to interview the mysterious Mr. Grey but paint his rooms….orange.

“What shade of orange do you prefer, Mr. Grey?” she asks him provocatively.

He smiles seductively at her. “I like it burnt, baby.  I like it so hot, it scorches.”

Oh my!

She pulls out a swatch or two and slaps them dramatically on the wall.  (This action was of course dictated by her inner Goddess).

“Are these hot enough for you, Mr. Grey?” she inquires enticingly.

He zeros in on a shade…it’s called Cinnamon Spice.

“I used to know a stripper by that name.” he reminisces fondly.  “Come, I’ll show you the room to be painted.”

Our heroine follows him down the hall and he leads her into a chamber designed for sexual play.

Glancing about she takes note of the additional work it will require to remove all the pullies, chains and the like from the walls

“I’ll have to charge you double, if not more, Mr. Grey.”  she advises him.

“I’m a rich man.  I’ll draw up the contract and do take as much time as you need.” he assures her.

They smile at one another.

Oh my!

Yes, I made the mistake a couple of years ago in reading this book.  It became quite a contentious issue with my writing group.  We would find ourselves yelling at each other over how poorly it was written.  why we yelled at each other, we don’t know. Finally we banished it from all future conversations.

If we did refer to it  at all, it was ‘the book that we were not supposed to talk about’.

So this is the first bit of written work produced from the orange room.  I am having giggle or two.

Interestingly enough I found a pamphlet tucked away yesterday regarding colour energy.

Orange is the spleen chakra that connects us to our emotional self.  It inspires happiness, confidence and resourcefulness.  The energy infused brings joy to the work day and strengthens our appreciation for life.  The colour orange also helps us remove our inhibitions.

Oh My!

All parody and playfulness aside, I love the result.

Equine publishing in it’s infancy

Interestingly enough I did my bedroom in a sage green.  Green is the heart chakra and this relax muscles, nerves and thoughts.  Little Grass Horses

As I look around this room now I am envisioning some of the photographs that I’ve taken that I plan to mount.  I’ve a few visuals I still need to find but this is now the home of Equine Publishing.

The dream is transforming into life.  Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

The Firewall…Creating a Creative Space

This is a selfie…oh, I know…I just booed about this…but I’d just gone for an interview that resulted in a new job!

I am starting my own company as you may well know. Equine Publishing is very close to becoming operational.  All the furnishings are in place.  Most of the legalities are taken care of.  I am getting close.  Exciting!

What has been bothering me lately is the colour of the room.  I’ve never really liked it.  In fact, when I purchased the place, both bedrooms were done in chocolate and tan.  The colours made the rooms cavernous and rather blah as far as I was concerned.

My home office at about 10:00 AM today.

I painted my bedroom a lovely sage green. It is a restful colour, a soothing colour.  My daughter, however,  liked the colour of the room so I left it.

Now that she’s moved out and I ‘ve transformed it into my office, a space that I want to be creative in, the colour had to change.  I pondered my choices.

The idea of a burnt orange, a deep autumn colour held a great deal of appeal.  So it was off to explore and I brought home swatches and taped them to the wall.

I wanted vibrant.  I wanted heat.

The home office at 10:00 PM this evening

At first I considered doing the entire room in the chosen colour  Lunch with the girls on Sunday convinced me otherwise.  It would be too much for a space that wasn’t very big.  So I would keep the feature wall, that was currently chocolate and paint it Caribbean Spice ( a deep orange). The other three walls would be painted Salmonberry which has a peachy tinge to it.

I’ve never had an orange room before.

Last night I hit the hardware store and got them to concoct my colour schemes.  I felt that curl of excitement race through me.  I love to paint a room for a particular purpose.

Trust me when I tell you some of my choices in years past have become legendary and not for all the right reasons either.  Still they are remembered by friends fondly and sarcastically.  And you know, I’m fine with that.  If there is one thing I’ve always done it’s take chances with room colours.

Approximately twenty years ago I had been living in the basement suite of a house and had the opportunity to move upstairs.

The walls were a dull beige in colour, the kitchen had brown tiles and the rest of the house had glorious hardwood!

It was an old house built back in the 1930’s.  One of the owners had developed the attic into a loft.

I had been in a year long depression around that time and I was emerging from it.

I found the rooms drab and depressing so I asked the landlord if I could paint the place.  Affirmative and I could submit the cost of the paint and they would reimburse me.

The attic, which was my daughter’s bedroom and space, was done in a dusty rose.

My bedroom and the spare bedroom were done in a light lavender.  The kitchen was done in white and baby blue.  The floor tiles replaced with white and nave tiles and the living room was done in white and pink.

And the bathroom…well, it has become something of a legend.

This I did in florescent lime green.

Even with the lights off I swear it glowed in the dark.  Some will tell you they needed sunglasses on to enter.  Some will say it burnt out their retinas.  Of course, they are being a little mellow dramatic.  Still, I do admit that it was extraordinarily bright.

I like vibrant colours though, particularly in living spaces.  A bedroom for sure needs to be done in muted and calming colours.  I do like warmth in my choices though.

Today was an adventure in a new product I’d never tried before.  I opted to try the combination of paint and primer for the chocolate wall that I was transforming into a deep, burnt orange.  I figured I could save myself some time.

At 10:20 AM my saga began.  At 7:30 PM it had more or less ended.  I still have a bit of trim to do.

The chocolate wall required six coats and close to a gallon of paint.  The other three walls in Salmonberry required two coats of paint with a bit left over for trim.

The time frame noted above includes prep and clean up.

My body is stupidly tired and stiff.  I’ve a feeling that waking on the morrow might well be a painful experience.

Ahhhh! What we do for our art!

Still, its important if this is to be the space where I am to create masterfully crafted stories.

I need the insanity of colour. I need the rich heat.  I need to feel like the walls will burn me if touched.

And I would love to hear from my fellow wordsmiths what colours inspire them.

As stated I’ve never had an orange room before.  After six coats of paint I’m delighted with my choice of colour on the feature wall.

A hot shower, pain relief spray and some Tylenol will hopefully make waking tomorrow tolerable.

It has never taken me this long to paint one room before.

And this was an important choice as noted.

And please I would love to know what colour schemes inspire and entice you.  Let me know. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trailers……You Lost Me at Please!

It has been absolutely beautiful weather wise here in Vancouver!  Summer has settled in quite nicely and the temperature is rising.

Nights are spent with a sheet covering me at most.  Even then it is often too hot.  I have one fan that is a good size that I lug from room to room.  I think I will head out this weekend and get a smaller one for my bedroom.

Last year I had taken the fan apart and cleaned it. (They can get quite dusty)

I put it together forgetting to screw the butterfly nut onto the propeller.  Propped it up in my room, turned it on and went to sleep.

A thunderous crash about an hour later had me leaping scared as hell from my bed.

You guessed it.  The propellor inside its cage had come off because someone we know (and love) (hey, I’m gonna milk it, okay?) forgot to put the screw on to hold it in place!

 

I can assure you it took quite some time to fall back into a blissful slumber after that little incident.

I am babbling though.  Gee. Haven’t done that in while, now have I?

So, yes, I need a smaller fan.  Not one that if it fell apart could potentially kill me.  That fan has never graced my bedroom since this occurrence. I have a far too active an imagination.  Visions of propellers flying through the night air slicing and dicing me like a kitchen chopper doesn’t induce one into the realm of relaxing nirvana.

As I drove into the office today I greeted the morning and cranked the radio up and rocked out to a few good tunes.

Lately the radio has been running ads for up coming TV summer series.  One is for ‘Extant’ that features Halle Berry.

The premise of the show is that she is an astronaught and goes out into space….alone…for a year. She is doing a bunch of strange experiments and somehow she manages to get knocked up though she has no memory of this.

(What did they put in her Tang?)

A line from the trailer played on the radio has Halle asking this question. Not too certain who she is talking to either.

“Please, just tell me what you did to me?”  Halle beseeches. 

And I couldn’t help myself and just burst into laughter.  it just had such a strange connotation to it.

Truth be told, I really don’t know if I’ll check it out.  The premise for it sounds ‘odd’?

Thing is I like Spielberg’s body of work, so it may be worth a gander.  There are a few things though that don’t add up right off.  First, I don’t think they would ever send just one person out into space.

Too expensive. 

The craft that she’s on appears to be quite big too.  That’s alot of work for one gal.

It seems to have the premise of the creepy old abanodoned house feel to it  that we see in horror flicks but it’s a few hundred thousand miles away floating about in space.  Hmmm.

(Halle… just don’t go into the ‘basement’ of the ship, ‘kay?)

Then of course she does go into the ‘basement’ and wakes up not knowing what the hell happened and pregnant to boot. 

I wonder why they always make aliens look so creepy in Sci-Fi movies?  Quite often their appearance is lizard-like. I’ve always liked the aliens in Star Trek and Star Wars.  They were what we affectionatley refer to as ‘humanoid’.  They resembled us but had distinctive attributes that dictated what area of the galaxy they were from.  Better not be from the Eastside of intergalactic hood.

The wise ones and Cap. Kirk’s battle buddy.

As we well know, life forms can take on a multitude of images and they might well not be in a state that we would recognize.  

Still something to be said for our collective imagination.  

Careful, ET, my friend. An Alien dude from the Eastside is stirring up shit.  Ate the teacher and left the apple.

If I were to put together a sci-fi outer space series, I would want to explore the big picture.  Really get into the meat of other ‘civilizations’.  Whether they are civilized by our definition of this term, well, that would be a shrouded mystery, now wouldn’t it? 

Next Generation was my favorite in the Star Trek series.  They explored a lot of psychological aspects that were really cool.  

I would want to put together a series that took it even deeper than that.  One thing I would explore is the idea of ownership in space.  

Kind of like how we, as humans, section off not only the land we thrive upon but the deep blue sea that surrounds us as well.  A portion  ‘belongs’ to Canada, to the USA, to Europe, to Africa, to Asia, etc.  The thing is, what one country does to their ‘piece of the ocean’ affects us all.  Just as what happens in another country on the other side of world does have an impact. It always will  Yet we have this NIMBY attitude.  Outta sight, outta mind as long as it doesn’t appear in my neck of the woods…I’m cool. 

We are kind of like an ostrich with our head in the proverbial sand at times.  

I would also want to explore the idea of intelligence.  The concept of it.  This really fascinates me. How we actually measure intelligence and decide who and what are bestowed with this gift of sorts. 

I recently watched a documentary on ‘The Nature of Things’.  The show followed the migration of the Monarch butterfly and how its migration was discovered and mapped.  

Such delicate creatures that undertake an amazing journey!  Why?  Don’t know. And they are equipped with sensors that are just incredible!   Is all that they do based upon instinct alone? 

I would want to explore the crop circles as a language and turn them into 3D images.  (And yes, I do believe they are a language)

And maybe one day I will have the opportunity to develop such a show.  

I wonder sometimes what would result if shows were created theoretically.  If ratings and advertising dollars weren’t an issue. 

What would it be like to create…just because.

What would it be like to live….just because. 

What would it be like to have no borders?

What would it be like to collaborate collectively on a global scale just because we are human.

The good of the people.  The respect and earnest interest in our well being…everywhere.  The desire to share knowledge freely.

We’ve put a price tag on so many things in this life.  Lebron James, for example plays basketball.  Yet the dude is worth multiple millions of dollars. Why?

I played basketball in high school.

Okay, I wasn’t very good and I’m a girl but I had fun! And I’m nice dammit! 

My point being that what if the challenge wasn’t monetary?

What if the challenge wasn’t power and control?

What if the challenge was…just because.   Hmmmm.

In any case, I will toddle off now.  Enjoy your day and as Mr. Spock so fondly states,

“Live long and prosper.”

 

What’s Goin’ On?

 

All the pretty flowers!

The sleep thing is beginning to square off.  I am making it a point to not look at the clock should I waken and to just keep my eyes closed unless of course I need to use the facilities or take a sip of water.

Perhaps I should stop the water thing.  I went for a very long time without having water at my bedside.  I don’t even recall why I began this ritual again.

A wild rose…how wild?  Didn’t say but it is a West End Rose!

I am babbling.

It’s Friday!  I am happy its Friday.  This has been an odd week of imagined negotiations with myself.  And I will explain this when I am not feeling quite as discombobulated as is my current state.

I have one functioning neuron…the rest have gone on strike or something. So I am going to share a few pictures with you.

This is a red-winged blackbird though I didn’t quite get the red in there. 

 

I went for bit of walk at lunch yesterday to clear my head of the eleven cent discrepancy on my bank reconcilation and to calm the sense of righteous indignation I was feeling having gotten a ridiculously high bill for my sister’s cell phone after just switching providers to make it more affordable.

The fact too that sleep has been sporadic at best over the last few weeks, I may well have looked like I was auditioning for the ‘Walking Dead’.

 

This is the one neuron look.  What’s scary is that I look eerily similar to the animation….oooooooooooooo!

The great thing about getting out and actually smelling the roses is that I feel that much needed connection to everything around me.

Upon return to the office I found and corrected the discrepancy on the bank reconciliation and negotiated a suitable resolution regarding the phone issue.

I was tying up loose ends yesterday it seemed.  It occurred to me, and I don’t know why, that Mercury is retrograde.

I laughed at this thought.  Isn’t Mercury always retrograde?

Bird of a very different feather.  See what happens if you sit around all day?  You get a little bottom heavy and the next thing you know Sir Mix-a-Lot appears and sings ‘Baby Got Back’ to you! Oye!

In any case I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the pics I posted today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace.

 

Five Hundred…But Who’s Counting?

Hey mista!  Yeah, you.  Hey buddy!  Get over here!  I said, get on over here!  Got somethin’ I gotta tell ya!  Yeah, you!  Don’t make me hurt you!

(Insert sound effects from an old black and white B-movie of the gangster variety where they get into a little of the fisty cuff stuff)

Now that I have your attention I’ve got this to say.

THIS IS MY 500TH POST!

Not that I’m counting or anything.  But I wonder if WordPress will send me some kind of acknowledgement.  When I first started writing on here they used to send me a little ‘Congratulations!’ icon with every 10 posts I completed.  It has been a long time since they’ve offered up anything.

So let’s do a brief recap.

First I would like to thank all of you who’ve signed onto my blog and followed me over the last 2 1/2 years during this little journey of mine.

As you all know, I can be a little long-winded at times.  I’ve started projects on here that didn’t seem to get much in the way of response so I tucked the idea away and carried on with it in another manner.

We first met the day after I had a heart procedure done.  A stent was inserted for a blockage I wasn’t aware that I had.  We kind of just happened on it in a backward kind of way.

Things seem to go like that for me at times.

For the next year I pounded out my first book, a memoir.  I joined a few writing groups and took photography classes.  I finally dealt with some of the most painful and darkest issues that have plagued this life of mine.

I had gotten into running would carry on and commit to it.  During 2012 I was on blood thinners so that the stent could become properly embedded into the walls of my aorta.  I was told to be careful as being on blood thinners would lead to easy bruising.

I don’t think there is a year that I’ve fallen down, tripped, bashed into doors, walls, corners, etc. more often than 2012.  I was, it seemed, something of Georgia peach….a bruised one at that.

As 2012 closed out I said ‘good-bye’ to the blood thinners. In celebration I signed on to do the 2013 BMO 1/2 Marathon.

I decided to write about the experience and the series was called ‘In Training’.  Fifteen weeks were recorded and about half way through my training….I began having health issues.  My energy had begun to do a vanishing act.

Still, I muscled through.  My fear was that some other heart ailment had come up but the heart was doing fabulously.  The cardiologist couldn’t even stress it out to the max.

More tests.

Four days after I completed the BMO 1/2 Marathon I was diagnosed with Uterine Cancer.

And so began a year battle.  I have, as you well know, shared my experiences regarding this on here as well.

I am still kickin’ it.  My hair is growing back…oddly.  I’ve gained 42 lbs. as a result of treatment.  I am easing back into my fitness regime.  Still, its been tough.  The weight is sitting on me in an odd manner.  I don’t know how else to describe it other than when I do run I feel like I have a lifeless belt strapped on.  I have begun to refer quite affectionately to this portion of my anatomy as the Dead Zone.

I am checking out a few varieties of exercise now.  One is Tabata training.  It may be able to kick-start a few things.

It is my understanding that it takes time for all the toxins to be cleared from the body and for me, it has not yet been 6 months.  Am I expecting too much?

In any case, I’ve found a series of foods that should assist in cleansing the body of the toxins and help to restore the good bacteria that was killed off along with the bad during chemo and radiation.

And between these health issues that I’ve really tried to treat as just a minor inconvenience, I’ve written about any number of topics that have popped into this head of mine.

I finished the memoir which will be released soon.  In the mix I decided to start my own publishing company.  I’ve got six other books of various genres on the go.  I want to make a go of this and write on a full-time basis. I want to publish other writers as well.

If all goes as planned, and I’m sure it will, I will be quite successful.

In the meantime I will carry on posting on this blog of mine.  This began as a writing exercise.  I’ve had my moments where I’ve questioned why I am doing this.  I’ve questioned why I’ve never been featured on anything.  I’ve questioned a lot of things.

At the end of the day, it comes down to marketing.  Admittedly, when it comes to this blog of mine I am woefully bad at trying to market the thing.  I decided to stay true to the original intent which was to use this forum to write regularly and hopefully improve my skills as a wordsmith.

If I had more time then perhaps I could devote a bit more of this commodity to marketing.

As it is I’m stretching it.  Perhaps that’s why my sleep as of late has been off.

I’ve shared my heart with all of you along with some of my photography which is another love of mine.  I hope you’ve been able to take a little piece here and there and been able to either relate to a situation or given pause and been touched by something I’ve written.

What matters the most and is the highest of compliments, is that you, the reader, can walk away after reading one my posts and feel that the message conveyed is understood, heartfelt and honest in its diction.

And always I am humbled by those of you who do follow my ramblings.  This isn’t a popularity contest…at least not for this gal.

What this is and always has been is my deep love of the written word and wanting to become better at it with each passing day.

Many blessings to all of you.  Thanks for checking in.

 

 

Hero Worship…A Godzilla Story

Artwork from the Godzilla website of our hero monster in the 2014 version

Close to a year ago I woke to a beautiful Saturday morning and my daughter and I decided to go for breakfast.

We dressed and decided to walk down to the New West Quay for a nibble.

We left the house only to find our neighborhood had become quite literally a disaster zone.  Debris was all over the roadways and vehicles were crushed with huge blocks of concrete on them.

And I had slept through this?  Oh my goodness!

These are images I took of the scene that existed for about a week in New Westminster, BC

Well, it seemed that Godzilla had come to town.  That big guy always makes such a mess, doesn’t he?

Yes, a year ago they were filming some of the final scenes of the movie in downtown New Westminster.

Images that I took.  They change street signs, parkade signs, the detail was quite remarkable.

Last evening my daughter and I went to see the movie.  It didn’t disappoint.  It’s what I expected from a monster movie.

And I’ve always liked the big guy.

The special effects were grand.  Mind you the monster make-out scene was kind of creepy between our two bad guy monsters.

From the Godzilla website…Muto…one of the bad guy monsters

Godzilla had to rise up from the deep to get rid of the bastards and unfortunately a few cities were flattened as a result.  Can’t be helped.  I like that we tried to shoot the monsters with guns.

These baddies feed on radiation.  The more crap they can consume the better.

And I have to wonder if the military would really be marching in trying to ‘contain’ the situation and not just telling everyone to run for the hills.  Evacuate!

I’m not supposed to think about these things, however, and I know that. What I liked is that this movie showed just how ineffectual we humans would be if in fact this really happened.

Godzilla is such a misunderstood monster too.

He comes out to in effect to save our sorry ass in a round about way and what do we do?  We shoot him, throw bombs at him and try to blow him up.

He looks at us and screams.  I would imagine his breath is a little skanky.

Art work of the big guy from the Godzilla website

But he doesn’t try to kill us.  Just swats at us like bothersome flies because that is likely what we are to him.

I picked out the scenes that were shot in Vancouver and in New Westminster quite easily.

These shots were taken by the film crew and taken from the Godzilla website.  They are setting up for the final disaster scene in downtown New Westminster

I loved the CNN news feeds that they had in the film on the TV screens.  ‘Godzilla…Savior of our City!’

And the fact that live news crews were broadcasting the fight between the radioactive pair that looked like a monster-sized hybrid of a cockroach and our boy, Godzilla was impressive.

The news anchor was perfectly coiffed as well.

Vegas got flat-lined.  I stayed at Treasure Island when I was there and as one of creepy bad guys (the female one) made her way to San Francisco to hook up with her boy toy she took a big portion of the hotel out.

Image I took to show the detail they went into.  Note the plaque of New Westminster with the San Fran Police Dept sign in the background

Considering that I now know that it is on the monster highway, don’t know that I’ll stay there again.

All in all, Godzilla was a fun monster movie.

I can recall watching some of the first Godzilla movies at the Haida Theatre on Kingsway during the Saturday matinees as a child. I loved him then and I still do.

Images I took of the scene setup

If you like monster movies, you’ll enjoy this classic Godzilla adventure.

It is a beautiful Sunday morning.  I’m going to get out there and enjoy.

Peace out.