School again?

I've got this whole thing about going back to school. I really want to do it and at the same time I don't want to do it at all. I tested the waters last fall by taking a bookkeeping course at Langara and well, I only lasted 3 weeks. I liked being back in school and everything that went with it - I didn't even mind doing the homework - but it turned out that I wasn't too fond of the subject matter.

Numbers - ugh! Why can't there be such a thing as word accounting. I would love to keep track of words...lists and lists of words....not dumb old numbers!

So here, I am again, a year later looking into going back to school...again. There are a couple ways of doing this and they each have their pros and cons. I could take classes locally somewhere through continuing education and pick and choose the things that I would really love to learn. Or, I could do this more formally and actually go back and get my degree in something (English, Psychology, Visual Arts, Media - these are all areas that interest me).

With the first option, I wouldn't get any credit toward a degree but it might be more enjoyable. With the second option I would end up with a degree but it would be more demanding and stressful. I guess what I need to decide is if the stress of getting a degree is worth the degree.

I also need to figure out what my goal is around education. Is my goal to get the degree or to just learn things that I want to learn and have some fun. These are some big questions and I am going to have to do some soul searching to find the answers.

Subterfuge

One of the jobs I have this semester is working in a self paced class. The interpreting I am doing in this class is in shorts bursts and so I have to be ready to interpret at a moment's notice and I have to always have one eye on the student to know if they need me. I like to use the eye I have in the back of my head for that job.

I have found that if I sit with the student at their table then I just become a distraction to them. They get sick of doing their work and then they want to chat. Two days ago I got bombarded with personal questions like "Are you married?" "Why not?" "Do you have a partner?" "Why not?" "Don't you want someone in your life?" "Don't you want to have children?" "Don't you have any responsibilities?" "Why do you always wear black?" "What's wrong with you?"

I avoided answered these questions and tried to guide the student back to their work. The moment there was a pause in the interrogation, I excused myself to the washroom and when I came back I sat down at the computers and then when I made my way back over to the table I claimed that it was too crowded and that I would sit at the next table over.

Subterfuge has just become a part of my job description.

In other news, I got an email from the publishing company about the missing Cooptown books and they are on their way! They shipped the batch in 2 boxes - so one of the boxes arrived and the other is taking a totally different journey to get to me.

The Weekend to End Breast Cancer

I am so far behind on posting. I have logged in a few times to write something but then sat staring at a blank computer screen without a thought in my head of what to write about. Usually when that happens, I can start with a stream of consciousness (much as I am doing now) and then form it into something postable. Those few times I logged on and stared at a blank screen though, I wasn't feeling inspired to write at all. So instead of writing, I took a month off.

Alright, explanation out of the way (and I know that I really didn't need to give you one - but that's where my stream of consciousness took me) now I can get on with telling you what's going on with me right now.

I registered yesterday to do the Weekend to End Breast Cancer next year. It is a 60km walk over two days in August and it is to raise money for breast cancer research. To even be able to do the walk you need to commit to raising $2000.00 for the event. So I have one year to raise $2000.00. A year ago that would have completely intimidated me but since the wine drive last fall, I have realized that I am totally capable of coming up with creative fundraisers. By the way - the wine drive will be happening again this fall (I will probably make the official announcement in the next couple of weeks) and the money collected will go towards my $2000 entry into the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.

What inspired me to do the event was seeing J-Dub's sister K-Dub do it this year. We went down to see her at the finish line for the speeches and closing ceremony stuff and it was so incredibly inspiring. Plus, you know, I've got that whole charitable million dollar goal thing going on too. I love the idea of being a part of something like that - it's a movement, it's a community, it's life-changing.

My other news of the day is that the Cooptown books have arrived on my doorstep. There was a small problem with the order and I am missing 15 books. I have been in touch with the publishing company and they are trying to figure out what happened. Hopefully it will get worked out without too much trouble and I will have the rest of the books soon.

It was a pretty fun moment opening up the box and finding stacks of Cooptown books inside. I actually googled "Cooptown" today just to see if it would show up and it did! Granted it was on the 3rd page of the google search but still...it was there!

So if you are one of the people who ordered a Cooptown book from me, they are here and ready for pick up or delivery. Send me an email and we can arrange the exchange. I am going to donate a part of the proceeds of the book to my entry fee for the The Walk to End Breast Cancer - from here on out to affectionately be shortened to TWTEBC.

If you haven't ordered a Cooptown book yet but would like to - they are $15 and worth every penny! Let me know if you'd like one.

Chilling like ice cream filling...

So here I am sitting in a computer lab, at a computer, with nothing particular on my mind to write about. Em and I are at work (if you can call this work today) and the students are in groups writing papers based on finding info on the computer - hence being in the computer lab.

They have 3 hours to complete their papers and so Em and I have 3 hours to do...whatever. I have already perused facebook, perez hilton, IMDb, my email and checked out the Olympics opening ceremonies online and I still have 2 hours and 10 minutes to spare.

I am leaving work early today because I am going away for the weekend. Dad, Stef and I are going to Kelowna for a couple of days and I am so looking forward to it. We are flying up this evening to avoid the 5 hour drive and staying late on Sunday to really milk the most time out of this trip.

My intention for the weekend is to lay in the shade by the pool, swim, play crib and yahtzee, eat well, drink well, and relax. Since we are flying up and staying in a pretty nice hotel, I feel like this is an actual vacation. I don't really get many of those you know.

I go on a road trip up to the Okanagan every summer and that is generally it for me and traveling. I did get to Vegas this past December but that was my first trip since going to Hawaii in 1999. I would love to go away more often and travel and vacation all over the world but that costs money and right now it doesn't fit in the budget. So as you can imagine with flying there and staying in a luxury villa, I am super happy about this weekend.

In other news...

I have received more orders for the Cooptown book than I ever expected. It's flying off the shelves. Ok, well not really, since there are no shelves but it is selling better than I thought it would. My original plan was to print 12 copies, cross my fingers and hope they sold. I thought maybe 10 people will want Cooptown and they'll all be family members who feel like they should buy it to support me.

This is where I explain though, that this was how I felt before I had the finished product in my hand. Once the book was delivered to me and I got to see it and I mean really SEE it, I realized that Cooptown is great. And sweet, and fun and a real cartoon. Now I am wondering how on earth the orders have slowed down - jk jk. It is really exciting though and I want to thank all of you who have supported me. Either by buying a copy or by being a Cooptown follower and enthusiast.

Alright, so I still have nearly 2 hours of hanging out in a computer lab but I think I'll go check out Pink is the new blog now. I'll write more if I get bored or find more to say.
Cheers

A list for fun

I'm in a listing mood. If you've ever read my bio on the right side of your screen then you know I love lists.
So I am going to write a list.

Things I love;

Orange juice
avocados
laughing til I cry
when my cat runs sideways
songs that make my heart sing/soar/ache
boots
drummers
musicals
any shade of green
writing
my family
listing
the smell of rain after a dry spell
going out for breakfast
cool summer mornings before it heats up
limes
dictionary.com
God
the smell of rosemary
being in the middle of a good book that I don't want to end
Wii boxing (bowling and tennis too)
painting
a good cup of tea
ceviche
my friends
clean sheets
my cat's breath
making someone laugh
figuring out the answer to any yellow card in Cranium
blueberries
going to movies
how absolutely silent it gets when it snows
bacon
the smell of bacon

What I did with my summer vacation...so far.

As you may or may not know, I have been writing a cartoon about my cat for just over 4 years now. I have had a lot of encouragement over the years to DO something with it and I have always resisted.

Resisted, for a number of reasons but maybe the main one being, I had doubts about it being good enough. Good enough for what? Well, I don't quite know. Why does it have to good enough? And good enough for who? And what is good enough anyways? Why do I have a hard time looking at Cooptown and claiming it's greatness. I am proud of it, but when someone new sees it, I get a little embarrassed. Which is ridiculous, because usually when someone new sees it they ask to be put on the mailout list.

Not everyone is going to enjoy it. That is the nature of the world. But I get feedback every week from (dare I say it) fans, who LOVE Cooptown and LOVE getting it every Tuesday. So when am I going to get on board and embrace it and be outwardly proud of it (instead of in secret)?

I believe that happened this week!

During my 6 weeks off work, I made a goal for myself to self publish a Cooptown book. I started by researching online self-publishing companies and after careful consideration chose Lulu. I then spent a couple of hours every day, picking out my favourites, redrawing them, scanning, uploading, converting, arranging, fixing, cropping, straightening, etc, etc, etc. Until I had 64 of my best all ready to go.

I had intended on putting 65 in the book and when it came down to my last week of holidays and I had done 64, I did what I do and just stopped all production. I took a couple of days off but in the back of my mind I just kept saying to myself "One more left, don't stop now! Finish it! Follow through!"

Finally one night, I stayed in and had every intention of picking one more, redrawing it, scanning, cropping, converting, uploading etc, etc, etc. And at 8:30 that night, I hadn't even picked up a pencil. I finally realized that I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to follow though and finish it. I had one moment of complete self annoyance "What the hell is wrong with me!?" and then I realized that there is absolutely nothing wrong with me.

Instead of struggling to not be me, why not give in to being me and leave the book as it was - at 64. That way IT WAS ALREADY FINISHED. As soon as I realized that I was making up the rules and that I could change them to suit me, my heart lept into my throat and I got a little teary and a lot dancy. (I danced around my apartment for a full 5 minutes - rejoicing that I finished my Cooptown project). I went onto the website and hit 'complete'. It did it's thing and 3 minutes later, I got an email saying my book was ready for printing.

OMG - my book. My BOOK. MY BOOK!
I HAVE A BOOK!

I clicked on 'buy' and ordered one copy to be mailed to me. I wanted to see it before going crazy and ordering stacks of them. I wanted to hold it in my hands and flip through it. I'll be honest here - I wasn't expecting much from it. On the website, it looks a little grainy and pixelated so I was preparing myself for it to look only ok. Plus you know, I still felt a little sheepish about the whole thing - who would want a Cooptown book?

It came in the mail on Friday. I got home from work and had a notice in my mailbox that there was a package for me to pick up. I went and got it and then walked up the street to meet Stef. It was in a box all sealed up and I grinned like the Cheshire cat and giggled all the way to meet Stef. We got to her car and I tore it open.

Cooptown by kt

I have a book. A self published one but a book nonetheless.
We got in the car and drove downtown (we were meeting LT, Jdub and 4 year-old Lizzie for WALL-E) and I spent the whole drive kind of in awe. I flipped through it quickly and then again more slowly, I smelled it and held it up to the window as we drove past people mouthing to them "I wrote this" "This is my book."

I re-read each comic and for the first time I thought to myself "This is really good." Seeing it in this format finally made me see what everyone else sees.

I am so excited about my Cooptown book. It is beautiful.

It is also for sale! It's the perfect coffee table book! You can order it off of the website or you can order it from me. The price is the same either way ($15) but if you order it from me and live in my city or are going to see me soon, then you don't have to pay any shipping fees - and they are spendy. If you want to order it and you live in a different city than me, then I can probably ship it to you for cheaper than Lulu will.

Here is the link to Cooptown online.

Oh, and did I mention, I have a book!

My life's purpose!

If you found out that you were dying, what would you do with your time left on earth?

And why aren't you doing that anyways?


These two thoughts ran through my head last Sunday. The first thought came to me and as I was frantically listing what I might do with my limited time left, the second thought came to me.
Why aren't I doing that anyways?
Why aren't I?

Why? Well, I've got a load of reasons and excuses but they are all incredibly lame. I wrote a list about a year ago about all the things I wanted to do, be and have before I die. And then, because I'm not dying, I tucked the list away and got on with doing nothing.

So here is just one thing that I want to do with my life. I want to support and inspire other people to live their best lives. I want all of us to be making the most out of what we've got.

A year ago I went through a process to figure out and define my life's purpose. I am sure there are as many different ways to do that as there are people in the world but I followed Jack Canfield's system of figuring out your life's purpose. It is in his book The Success Principles.

What I came up with is this;

My life's purpose is to use my creativity and enthusiasm to support and inspire others to live their best lives in authentic and harmonious ways.

So now, I am going to make this happen. I have a plan brewing in my mind and I am working on making it a reality.