Technology and Creativity

Given I’m technologically challenged and irreverent when it comes to reading instructions, I think I’m doing pretty good.

In catching up to technology that is. Although from what I hear, as soon as I do - it will change.
Which makes me laugh.

But given once you know it, in most cases it’s transferable. Here’s hoping I’ll be OK.

Frequently, I’ve been heard to say in the middle of class, “That is so cool!”

We’re shown something on a screen on the wall. In front of us our very own computer.

Yet, when it comes to trying it by myself – well, I’m still learning.

Today I set out to finish my lamp-post banner design in Illustrator. A program completely new to me. The images floated around in my head. A colour palette came alive. Then I made my first, then second, then third, then fourth of which I later lost track of – attempts to formulate said design in my head.

No where. I was lost.

Back over to Google. The Idea Refinery. Seeking out tutorials. A classmate offered to assist. Yeah!

Then someone sent me and email and it was time to leave the school.

Technology and creative – yes they do go hand in hand. Just seems one is slightly easier then the other.

Been Around

Age gaps sure are noticeable when it comes to the “I” generation.

Every conversation gets interrupted with, “Oh I did this or I did that.”

Bragging rights or a big ego? A bit of both perhaps.

I keep quiet.

A past family member I recalled today used to make conversations circle around her with her constant inappropriate anecdotal reminiscing.

Which made me think. Years ago after reading Eckart Tolle’s, A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose I realized “I” don’t need to be “I’ing all that me, me, me, stuff anymore.

The time is now. Time now for the listening. 

I've already been around.

#YVR 20 Years Later

Under the Cambie Street bridge.

Birthdays come and go. Seasons change.

Can’t believe it’s been 20 years since I last called Vancouver home.

Thought about what has changed since 1991. In no particular order I’m pretty sure I can come up with 20:

1. Way more people ride bikes.
2. There are many official bicycle lanes (convenient).
3. There’s a Canada Line.
4. Bikes are allowed on the Canada Line (way cool).
5. Buses have bike racks (downside there’s only two).
6. Cyclists share pathways and sidewalks with pedestrians and runners - very well.
7. Design is hip and seen all around.
8. Lots of cool public art (where you’d least expect it).
9. Car co-ops are everywhere.
10. Transit and bikes is the easiest way to get around.
11. Lululemon is idolized.
12. It’s nearly impossible to find live aboard moorage for a boat.
13. Sophie’s Cosmic Café in Kitsilano has outdoor seating.
14. Naam makes better coffee.
15. Vegan choices are widely available.
16. Capers is now Whole Foods.
17. Video stores are hard to find.
18. 604 isn’t the only area code.
19. Bridge Studios (I worked on MacGyver) has doubled in size.
20. Being fit is so in!

 

Super Woman Needs Super Man

I’d like to wave my magic wand and he’ll be there.

You’ve heard Super Woman. You know the one that does three jobs everyday but still manages to act positive and smile.

Underneath there’s not a shred of fear or signs of weakness on her sleeve. No choice but to carry on. Daily.

Suppose though. You’re done with being Super Woman.

You’d like the old school version of relationships where the man, takes care of the woman. Like taking out the garbage, fixing things that are broken. You know. That kinda stuff.

No more Super Woman watching “how to” You Tube videos or Google searches. Challenged to fix something broken when truly, she doesn’t even know how to read a volt meter.

Yup, you heard me a volt meter.

When I came home tonight with a list of things I needed to get done, boiling over batteries wasn’t on it. I admit. I had a meltdown.

I am done. So done. With being the man, me and the fixer.

Going to sleep tonight with a hot water bottle.

Look for Super Man in the morning.

The Art of Type

Then there’s the history of art. Or so it goes.

I’m eager to absorb every opportunity.

Friday night I tootle off to Making Faces. A generation gone. Hidden now by the digital means.

In Helvetica of course...

Shapes, sizes, form. Italics, bold, condensed.

The sheen or the glow.

Everything takes a shape. When the type meets the words.

When the words meet the type. When the design talks to the type.

The movie Helvetica points out – it’s not where the type is laid out – rather the spaces left behind or in between.

Ironically today, I read on. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design.

More history seeps in. My love for art endures.

Truly where it all began and to where it is now. Press replay?

Given no assumptions, readily only the truth.

History does repeat itself.

There is art in type.

Sad But Glad

The usual happy smiling face got sad this morning.

As I approached my trusty steed, rain and all – I wasn’t prepared for where my eyes would land.

She wasn't all in tact. 
Missing was her stem and seat.

“I loved that seat!” rolled through my mind instantaneously.

Me and that seat, we’ve gone a lot of places together. Through country roads. Busy highways. Urban centres. Sidewalks. Bike lanes. Over bridges, sometimes boulevards. Into all kinds of weather.
In Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.

Carrying my son when he was a babe. Commuting.  
We’d spent many an hour together. Even training for BC Bike Race (road).

You see, me and my Rocky Mountain Fusion, well, we’ve been partners a long time. 
Two decades in fact.

Thankfully there were two Kryptonite locks keeping her safe. One for the front wheel, and the other the back.

I rode what I could to school this morning. Locked her up as usual. She’ll have to stay parked till I can make it to a bike store for the stem and seat replacement.

For the rest of the day I was twanged with sad but then I felt the glad.

At least I still have my two wheels. 

The stem and seat were stolen at Stamps Landing outside Monks in False Creek.

Extreme Gratitude

We never know what a day will bring. Although a great barometer is what your attitude feels like when you jump out of bed in the morning.

For whatever reason, I bounded out of bed today with glee. Not a dance, with glee.

It was a solid warm sleep with sweet dreams, I didn’t hear raindrops on the coach house roof. I wasn’t running late.

I had time.

To savour the morning. 

I packed in the usual routine. When I opened the door I was greeted with a soft oasis of glimmering morning colours on the reflective light grey ocean.

Again, I had the time. To stop and pull the iPhone out and take a picture.

The morning row to shore reasoned peace with each dip of the oar. 

I was so grateful.

The stage was set. For a beautiful day.

Tonight I nestle in with the words extreme gratitude.

Exam Cram

575 Pages Total

First mid-term exam today.

Multiple choice on Meggs' History of Graphic Design (to Chapter 12 - 243 pages).

You know when you know. At least you think you do. Like when you’re reading it. 
But then you get to the test and you hesitate.

What is right and what is wrong?

True or false.
Didn’t I study that part? Was so sure.
I know I know that name. What was it he did again?
Easy or not. Multiple choice still means you have to know.

There’s more to prepping for an exam then cramming.

Reading, rehearsing, re-reading, writing it out, reading it again and then swallowing some memorizing pills.

Think I maybe misplaced mine.

Writing Destiny

Imagine.

Of course you can.

Then you know.

What is.

The why, the who. 

And then the what.

Free-will.

Take it.

Elevated risks.

Spoken harmony.

Contemplate.

Short lived.

Delight for the now.

It is the knowing.

Of what should be.

Interesting Vancouver

A plethora of colours greeted us.

My first visit to the Museum of Vancouver. Fitting venue for an Interesting Vancouver event I later muse.

I’ve been to a few TEDx events, many Pecha Kuchas and thought since my migration to the big city, Interesting Vancouver was due to capture my brain cells.

So I sat back to savour.

“Listen to yourself and hear your thoughts,” an appropriate opener I affirm.

Which had me reflecting.

Life is like a bath in essential oils. Knowledge nourishes you when and where you need it.

Providing the mind is open.

If you listen you can hear something. Then twang off goes the light bulb. You don't yet know where it will lead. 

I sit and marvel in the swirl of truncated thoughts growing in my mind.

There was a lot of sensitivity and compassion to each speaker. Life’s lessons. Their life’s lessons. Sharing, giving. Spreading.

“You can't build something that is unbroken,” I heard.
Jokes on cancer. He’s held hands with it. Reminisced with humour. Made me feel the opposite of what seems to be true. The doom and gloom of the diagnosis.
“Find meaning, make a mark and then we leave.”
“Fight the shame.”
“Wisdom comes from pain.”
“Remove fear it is irrational.”
The evaluation of the evening contemplated my mind to circulate the notion of a value compass. Not a mind map.

Putting your passions first. Tumbled on by what you're most compassionate about.
The last speaker’s parting words were, “Everyday do something creative, crafty and of your own.”

This was most certainly an Interesting Vancouver.