[ Reverb10 : Day 20 : Beyond Avoidance ] AND [ Reverb10 : Day 21 : Future Self ]

These two pieces were written in January 2011.
Day 20. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing?

I smile wryly at this prompt. First because I've been told - how many times? - that the word 'should' is unhelpful and to eliminate it from my thinking. Secondly, because all I really need to do if refer to my blog post 2010 in Review.
I rest my case.


######################Day 21. Future Self. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?)


Dear Me aged 34,

Hi! It's me! You, that is! Aged 39. I know that you're just crazy enough to believe me, so let's skip right past all the pondering how this could possibly have happened and get on with it. Now, I know it's obvious, but I need to point out first that I can't actually tell you anything, because it would interfere with the space-time continuum. So you may wonder why I'm even bothering to write to you.

I remember you had a feeling that a lot would happen in 2011. It was going to be a big year, with a lot of changes. Well, you were right. But don't worry. Remember what Wayne always says? "Things never turn out how you think they're going to - but they always turn out better."

I want to tell you that everything's going to be all right. Not just all right. All Right. Honestly. It really is. Take a deep breath and let that warm feeling of peace spread inside you.

And,

I love you.

See you in five years!
Love from,
Me/You, aged 39.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Dear Me, aged 24,

Hi! It's me! You, that is! Aged 34. I know that you're just crazy enough to believe me, so let's skip right past all the pondering how this could possibly have happened and get on with it.

I know you'll laugh when you see this letter. We're always having fantasies about going back in time. When the people there ask what the future is like, we always get mad and tell them that we can't interfere with the space-time continuum! I'm going to make an exception today because you're so special.

Dearest, so much is going to happen to you that's wonderful. Even though you don't realise it now, you really are the luckiest person. Life won't be perfect. Bad things will still happen to you. But they won't be very bad things, and you'll bounce back from all of them. In fact, you'll learn some valuable lessons. You won't believe me at the time they happen, but from 10 years' distance, you'll realise it's true. Trust me, I know.

For example, I could tell you not to take that job. It's true, you'll be treated badly and you'll be miserable. You'll be underpaid and overworked and so tired and confused. But it will make you strong. You'll learn so much about the professional world, about people and what they'll put up with when they're too scared or not confident enough to ask for what they're entitled to. You'll stand up for yourself. You'll be brave and quit. Far from jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, as you're always so scared of doing, you'll fall on your feet. And you'll learn so much about yourself in the process. I can't say yet how the whole thing will pan out in the long run (I'm only 10 years older than you, after all!), but it'll be worth it.

There's so much more that I can't go into now, but let me tell you this: the most important thing to remember is that everything's going to be OK. You're strong. I know you and I often don't feel that way. That's only because we are unbelievably lucky that our strength isn't tested that often. But believe me - you can handle anything.

And,

I love you.

Love from,
Me/You, aged 34.

Pinterest

I was home sick today with a cold, which isn't too nice. But on the bright side, it gave me time to take advantage of my invitation to Pinterest, which I was emailed earlier this week, after a wait of about 2 weeks. It's a site for collecting and commenting on images, a sort of virtual pinboard. So now I have a place to catalogue all the images that make me go, "that's a great idea!", "that's beautiful!", or simply just "awwwww".

Here's a screenshot of one of my pinboards (the craft one, of course!):

Click on image to be magically whisked to pinboard.
I'm still getting the hang of this thing, but I have a feeling it could become a bit of an obsession.

Conclusions for February / Actions for March

THEMES FOR 2011
CREATE....................MEDITATE....................MOVE....................DE-CLUTTER

I always forget how short February really is, don't you? It's only a couple of days shorter than normal, but it feels like it makes so much difference. I didn't do so well this month in the things I wanted to do, but I was quite run down, I developed an eye infection and the second half of the month was pretty crazy with Boy doing night shifts. If I'd known all that beforehand, I may have chosen goals that weren't as ambitious. I'm still working this thing out!

So - no, I didn't unpack a box every day, but I did unpack 18 in total. Which is quite a lot when I think about it. I didn't manage to do my interval training twice a week - more like once a week. But I did make progress and I'm happy with that. As for the other things, I don't want to make excuses. I'll just say that I didn't do them because of circumstances and not being in the mood, and leave it at that.

So what do I want to do in March? Part of me wants to say - nothing! So perhaps this month I might focus more on relaxing and reducing stress:

* Go and see a live show; create something inspired by it. (CREATE)
* Read a book on Mindfulness Meditation and give it a go. (MEDITATE)
* Do my yoga DVD every week. (MOVE)
* Spend time every weekend on organising the hobby room. (DE-CLUTTER)

Finally, I'm excited to say that there's going to be some craft content very soon!

[ Reverb10 : Day 19 : Healing ]

This piece was written on 2nd January 2011.
Day 19. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip revelation? How would you like to be healed in 2011?

I'm confused by this prompt. I don't feel healed at all. In fact, I feel quite the opposite right now. My back is stiff from sitting too long, my stomach is roiling because I forgot to take my Colitis medication until lunchtime, and the eczema on my hand itches and flakes. Or does the prompt mean healed psychologically? Cos I'm pretty crazy...

But no, there is something I can think of. When I got back from Europe in October, I stopped waking up at 5am. The negativity in my head lessened. I was excited about things again. I saw more. When I tried to relax, it worked. When I ventured out into the company of others, the anxiety was less. I felt centred. I hate that word, but I can't think of any other way to describe how I felt - like I was in the middle of my life.

I beg the Universe every day not to let this feeling slip back into the oblivion of my ingrained habits.

Quick Art Journalling Update

All of my art journalling supplies are still packed up in boxes. But I wasn't silly enough to pack my art journal itself away! I need to know where that baby is! In the last week I've been desperate to express myself. So I went out and bought a glue stick and grabbed some of the magazines and junk mail that have been lying around. Obviously these pages are still very much works in progress, but it felt so good just to do a bit of cutting and pasting!

I took these pictures on my balcony, and the wind kept blowing the pages over, so excuse my foot keeping them open!

The one on the top right I did after I bought a mis-colour paint pot from Bunnings. This page is a response to watching reports of the cyclones and floods on the news. The words I wrote with a whiteboard marker that I found. Phrases like "torrential rain", "severe flooding", "emergency evacuation shelters" keep appearing. I couldn't find any paint brushes so I used my finger.

In The Kitchen, Special Edition: SPAM!

Recently, I've started receiving spam comments on my blog. They're mostly ads for what seem to be dating sites or online training courses. I'm not 100% sure, because they're in Russian. Google translate is good, but you can never be completely sure. [Note: this passage refers to my Livejournal blog, where this post was originally hosted.]

I don't know if I've been bestowed this honour because I've reached a certain number of readers, or just because my blog has been around a long time. Either way, I've decided to take the bull by the horns and make lemonade. Or Spam, to be more precise.

I declared a Weekend of Spam! A Spam-aganza!

I went out and bought 3 cans of Spam for 3 meals. All varieties just happened to be on sale at my local supermarket. The only varieties I could get were these ones:

But they were more than suitable for my needs.
On Friday night, Boy and I made Pita Pizzas with sticks of Hot & Spicy Spam for the meat. Sometimes when a food is advertised as 'hot' and/or 'spicy', it ends up tasting fairly lame. But this really had some kick to it. We used half of the can. The pizzas also had capsicum, red onion and a scattering of brie:

On Saturday morning, I made Eggs Spam-edict. I used the Spam with Real Bacon. It tasted quite bacony and had a certain, slightly chewy texture. I cut the slab of meat (or should that be 'meat'?) up into 4 large slices. Here it is sizzling away nicely in the pan. I used garlic butter to give it some extra flavour.

Here is the Spam with Real Bacon assembled on the muffins with the eggs. Boy and I like our hollandaise sauce! Needless to say, we didn't really eat much for the rest of the day.

On Sunday, Boy and I had Spam Lite for lunch. See how it glistens appealingly on the board after it has slid with an satisfying slurp from the can?

I wanted to make Spam Musubi (the Hawai'ian favourite). I've never made shaped rice by hand before, so I think I did pretty well. Boy made some handrolls as well with Spam cut into sticks, and eggroll that he had made. We had a couple of rounds of rice paper in the cupboard, so I turned the meal into a smorgasbord by cooking up some noodles and making Spam Paper Rolls. I'm glad I reserved the Spam Lite for this meal, as it gave the food a fresher feel. We used up about 3/4 of the can making this Asio-Pacific Spam-tacular for Two.

Even the cat loves Spam! (We made sure only to give her some of the Lite version). Actually, I think we've created an addict. She wouldn't leave us alone the whole time we were in the kitchen. Oops.

Tonight we'll be having the left-over Hot & Spicy Spam on another round of Pita Pizzas, as we wave goodbye to our 3-day Exploration of Spam. One thing is for sure, I won't be eating Spam again for a long, long time.

[ Reverb10 : Day 18 : Try ]

Written on 2nd January 2011.
Day 18. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did/didn't go for it?

Try? I wrote about my dislike of the word 'try' just recently. To me, it smacks of failure. Perhaps it just needs a shift of perspective - to try something new, without the expectation of success or failure. Now it sounds almost exciting.

What did I try in 2010? What was new? The first thing that comes to mind is - I tried writing knitting patterns. Well, I was kind of forced into it really, due to a technical mix-up that I wrote about in this post. I found it fun and refreshing.

I often make up projects on the spot, and always regret not writing down how I made them. Recording them gave me a sense of satisfaction. I felt relieved that I had something I could refer back to easily later on. And I figured - why not clean them up and share them with other people while I'm at it? Ravelry provides a free and easy way of doing it. I just wonder if other people understand them....

I have no idea if I actually wrote them well as I have no feedback. Although a few users said they were looking forward to knitting my dishcloths, which was scarily exciting. (Or excitingly scary?)

The part I liked best was creating the PDF - editing the text, placing the photos, choosing the fonts, etc. I remember this being an enjoyable part of writing essays when I was at Uni, too. Perhaps its something I could look into finding out more about in 2011.