I went to my first yoga class in nearly three years today. I bought a Groupon for one month of unlimited classes at Mula Yoga, the studio near my office. I went after work for a foundations class and it was really great. It felt amazing to stretch/use muscles I haven’t used in a while (especially since I’ve been going insane slouching at my desk lately). I was scared I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the other people in the class, but luckily there were only three other women and the instructor was very helpful. It felt nice that poses that used to tire me out (like chaturanga dandasana) are pretty easy now. But I was surprised that I was sweating a lot harder than I expected! Need to bring water next time.
Category: Personal (Page 2 of 2)
Why everything that’s supposed to be bad make me feel so good? Everything they told me not to is exactly what I would.
Once, I read an Uberfact that listed the top foods that give people cancer. It was basically a list of (junk) food that I love most in life. Sigh.
I’ve been too distracted and/or unmotivated to do the junk I set out to do at the beginning of the year. I find I’m most productive when I’m happy, which is rarely, which in turn sucks (I did do the food icons above in a short-lived moment of quasi-contentment).
Though in this past week, despite living in a shitstorm of personal drama (much of which I brought on myself), I’ve come to terms that things in my life need to change, including Getting Things Done (GTD), because damn it, it’s almost June and I can’t live like this anymore (GTFO).
Work it bitch! (goals, due prior to September 2014)
- Illustration portfolio: update website to feature projects that I could submit to magazines, websites, for (small) freelance spot illustrations
- Stationery illustration: design and illustrate a few cards for my friend Sam’s business, Have & Hold Design
- Design portfolio: eventually update my design portfolio to include recent projects, in case I need to find a new job at some point
I’ll write a post about my actionable items later. I think just writing these things down and prioritizing them is a good step. I decided this after a coffee with my friend Ed on Sunday. He made me realize I need to figure out how to present my work better. At first I just wanted to curl into a ball and cry about how I’m a shit designer/illustrator, but I know I just gotta put in the work and be better. I just have to figure out how to take a step back and actually do this.
(Disclaimer: I’m sick so this post is going to pretty lazily written and probably not even spell-checked)
Saturdays are pretty awesome. I got to sleep in a bit, had a Dough by Rachelle brown butter glazed donut and a macchiato from Sam James, and bought a bunch of junk.
Dave and I were in The Junction on a failed secret mission. We ran out our parking meter time at a used book store that reminded me of an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive. We didn’t buy any books but we did enough pack-ratting at the Value Village on Bloor.
Above is part of our haul. In the housewares department I picked up: a weird “Good Morning FATHER” mug ($0.69), a Dynaware brown floral dish ($2.99), a patterned milk creamer ($3.99) that I’m going to use as a planter for a small jade plant, four small plates with a blue wheat field pattern ($2.49 for four), a beige mug with blue rim ($0.69) and a little yellow glass pitcher thing ($2.49) that I find adorable.
Not pictured: 24 books from the 28 book Time-Life Good Cook series. Dave will probably do a post over on his blog, but each book was $2.99 with every 5th book free (though the cashier forgot to account for this, so we’re gonna go back next week and get our $12 back). The books we’re missing are Candy, Dried Beans and Grains, Preserving, and Wine.
Dave and I mulled over whether or not to buy all the available books for about 20 minutes (mostly because we weren’t sure where to put them in our tiny apartment). We obviously bought them anyway, but whenever I buy things like books I can’t help feeling a little weird inside. There’s something about buying more stuff that gives me a tiny existential crisis—I can’t help feeling bad for whoever has to clear out all my stuff after I die.
I don’t like being attached to stuff (but I am) and hoarding stuff (but I do). It’s an icky combination of feeling bad about my attachment to mortal things and being scared of dying. Oddly enough, buying housewares doesn’t phase me!
On a lighter note, I think I figured out the Hoarding Life Cycle: Hoarder buys junk from Value Village, hoarder dies amongst their junk, relatives find hoarder’s body weeks later and then donate all the junk to Value Village, cycle repeats.
An old coworker from my first real job used to take home dummy books we’d get as paper samples for his kids. I started doing this too, for my niece(s). Tonight the older one was colouring in one of the blank hardbound books. She looked up at me and said “I want to draw something, but I don’t know what to draw!” which was funny because that’s exactly how I feel most days. Being creative is hard! I never really know what to draw. I told her to draw her favourite things, which is sorta what I do myself. I kinda wonder what other people do to get over creative block.
I didn’t go to illustration school. I’ve just always loved drawing (thanks to my sister, mother of the munchkins AKA the nieces). But now with my “goal” of doing “real” illustration work, I’m wondering if I should do something to be more legit? Should I take classes? Or at least read a book? Do I need this, or can I just send out my website when I’m ready? Advice?
Above is a work in progress from this past weekend. It’s very meta, as you can see.
I saw this in a book at Working Title in Yorkville. Our boss had taken me and B to some artsy book stores in January this year to get inspiration for the art books we’d be working on in the upcoming months. I’m usually not crazy about inspirational quotes but I think these are some pretty good tenets for living a good life.
While we were on vacation over the Christmas holidays last year, Dave and I decided to explore the less touristy / expected parts of Hong Kong. We went on a few “hikes” (in quotes because they weren’t very strenuous). One of these hikes was on our penultimate day of the trip, to Dragon’s Back in Shek O. Named ‘Best Urban Hiking Trail in Asia’ by Time Asia, Dragon’s Back is part of the 50 km Hong Kong Trail that connects five country parks.
The weather was gorgeous that day, and the path is pretty popular. There were lots of folks walking the paths with us. Dave and I had hiking boots on, which came in handy as some of the paths were surprisingly steep and rugged, considering there were children and old Chinese grannies hiking along with us. At the first peak we snapped a whole bunch of photos, because the weather was nice and the view was even better. We made our way to Shek O Peak and then back down to the bus route (less scenic than the way up) because we’d only left for the hike late in the day and the sun was starting to set. We didn’t make it all the way to Tai Long Wan (Big Wave Bay) so maybe the next time we’re back in Hong Kong we’ll get to explore more.
This winter has been dragging on, but Dave and I have been taking advantage of the weekend winter sun and going on adventures anyway. One of my favourite things to do is to go down to the lake and feed the ducks all our freezer bread.
One of the things I want to work on this year is to be more positive.
I’m going to try to stop thinking negative thoughts about myself and others. Once in a while I get into a crummy mood, and I need a reminder to shake myself out of the Depression Spiral (haha) I’ve thrown myself into.
Note to self: Don’t let negative thoughts escalate!
- Turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts
- Do something that makes me happy (listening to music, being with friends, exercising)
- Be grateful for what I have
- Remember that everything is temporary, both good and bad
I know it’s kind of morbid, but I think about death quite a lot. But it reminds me that life is short and it’s better to spend that time being happy. I watched a Youtube video on mindfulness, where the dude points out that though we spend so much time worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, the only moment that we actually live in is now. Remembering that we never know when our time will end reminds me to be more aware and present in the present.
At the end of 2013, my husband Dave and I were in Hong Kong visiting my family. I was having a lot of anxiety about the new year and my upcoming thirtieth birthday. Now it’s February and birthdays have come and gone, and I did not spend the last day of my twenties clinging to the guardrail of my condo balcony crying. Instead I spent it like a grown-up: wearing a leopard print Snuggie at work and later eating Japanese food with my closest friends.
So I guess the first part of this year hasn’t been as scary horrible as I feared. But I still think 2014 will be a year of big change.
I was going to review my 2013, but I’d stopped writing—the longest I’ve gone since I first started keeping a blog when I was thirteen and had discovered what the internet was—so maybe that says enough about how I felt about last year. But as part of my 2014 resolutions (see next post), I plan to be more positive and make healthy choices for myself.
Here were the highlights of my 2013:
- I’m still at the graphic design studio I’ve been at since November 2011. The book I’d been working on since I started here finally went to print in December! It is exciting to hold a book you worked on in your hands
- I started exercising in earnest for the first time in my life (sadly, not exaggerating). This was in preparation for a trip to Peru where my childhood friend GY, his friend LK, LK’s sister, Dave and I hiked the four-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. And I did not die. In fact, we hiked the trail in three days, and got to see the Machu Picchu ruins at sunset and sunrise. Also not exaggerating when I say the sights were stunning(!) and the whole thing was a trip of a lifetime
- Also spent a few days in May in Chicago (Hi Janice!), August in Montreal, and December in New York City. We spent Christmas in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Other notes:
- As you might have noticed with our jet-set lifestyle, we spent a bit too much money last year. 2013 was the year of YOLO-ing too hard. Will need to be more responsible in 2014. Though our financial advisor tells us that we are doing pretty good in the liquid assets department
- I started off the year with my hair down to my midriff. Now it’s above my chin. Snip snip, chop chop!
- In April, I won a free ticket to FITC from RGD. I vowed to step outside my comfort zone and talk to at least one person. Now I have a new friend
- My obsession with donuts
- Went to dozens of Jays games
- My ex-boyfriend and I are buds again (which makes me happy)
- I can do one pull-up
- My coworker and I started a side project, though we have yet to finish anything
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