This preoccupation with naming entries with titles of Raymond Carver stories will probably end at some point, but for now they seem fitting, so what the hell.
Hey, a new post! See, I haven’t given up on you, BeatnikPad - I just needed to go out for a long walk in the woods and stare at the raccoons for a while. I’m working on ideas for some new posts, started carrying a journal and camera to help feed the muse, and even kicked around some concepts for a redesign.
I wouldn’t call this the beginning of a renaissance, but I’m feeling more inspired lately than I have in months, so I suppose it’s the start of something. Only time will tell if it’s sustainable and not the blogging equivalent of the dead cat bounce, but who knows (or cares, really).
Renée is going to kill me for using that expression.
I recently had the pleasure of seeing (and meeting) Dave Grey (head honcho at XPLANE) at his workshop on Visual Thinking held at MaRS last week. Both the workshop and meeting Dave kicked all kinds of ass, and were great reminders that getting the opportunity to meet cool people like Dave is as good a reason as any to continue maintaining this site.
Dave talked a lot about giving yourself the tools so that you can quickly capture visual ideas - tools like index cards, journals, and small digital cameras. At one point Dave remarked, “I’m no longer buying a product, I’m buying a process.” I love that.
So I went out the next day and picked myself up a brand new process - the Canon SD700. Ever since I bought my Nikon D50 I’ve been carrying around my camera less and less, and the irony that having a really nice camera meant that I’d take less photos seemed ridiculous. But, having to lug my laptop to work every day didn’t really make me want to add my SLR to the pile. So now I have a nice and light point and shoot to carry with me during the week, and my SLR for the heavy lifting on the weekends.
Expect more photos to appear on my flickr page posthaste.
Besides meeting Dave, it’s been mostly business as usual. I’m fighting off yet another cold, which leads me to believe that my immunity to germs that I built up as a teacher has fled. That, or germs are starting to take lessons from the hardcore viruses that hang out by the garbage bin behind the 7-11.
A movie was shooting in our area last week, which screwed up transit and made me rather exasperated. It didn’t help that they were shooting a remake of John Water’s Hairspray that featured John Travolta as Edna Turnblad. That means John Travolta was acting in drag. <shudder>.
Now I will recommend a very good book that you should read right away: Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children. And that’s enough rambling for one post, methinks.
