Recommendation

Both Sides Now (Cover)

Nearly two years after her death, another unreleased Mindy McCready song has surfaced – this beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now:

BOTH SIDES NOW
Lyrics and Music by Joni Mitchell

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere,
I’ve looked at clouds that way.

But now they only block the sun,
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done,
But clouds got in my way.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It’s cloud’s illusions that I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels,
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real,
I’ve looked at love that way.

But now it’s just another show,
You leave ’em laughing when you go
And if you care, don’t let them know,
Don’t give yourself away.

I’ve looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It’s love’s illusions that I recall
I really don’t know love at all
Really don’t know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud,
To say “I love you” right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds,
I’ve looked at life that way.

But now old friends they’re acting strange,
They shake their heads, they tell me that I’ve changed
Well something’s lost, but something’s gained
In living every day.

I’ve looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It’s life’s illusions that I recall
I really don’t know life, really don’t know life at all
Really don’t know life at all…

Cups and Companions

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two people.”
—Aristotle

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Friendships – where would we be without them?

Dear Reader, I am writing this not from my usual desk but from the house of a good friend – one who has featured here on my page several times. Lately, there’s been a lot going on with me and even more going on with those close to me. Things are changing. Without going into specifics, so far this year there have been transitions, deaths, relocations, family issues, misunderstandings and breakdowns going on all around me. This week, it all kind of caught up with me and I crashed.

So here I am, having been offered shelter and care at a friend’s for a few days.

Staying with her has been a most welcome break from my normal routine – life has slowed down and I’m getting more done, focusing. Most of all it has just been good having company and being cared for. It does feel a bit strange, though. Usually I’m the one taking care of others, not being taken care of, but it’s nice being on the other side of it.

Friends are so much more than just support when we are down, though.

They are company and kinship and belonging, an extended family making life into something worth living. You can get by with only a few close friends, of course – sometimes just one well-chosen friend may be more valuable than scores of more superficial acquaintances.

Friendship is one of the most valuable things you can have. Treasure it.

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Photo & Tattoos by Ninni Norrmosse

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

“With every book you buy, you should buy the time to read it.”
—Karl Lagerfeld

Hello Dear Reader – the past week has been more about organizing things, catching up with myself and planning for the future than actually getting anything done. So naturally – as expected – I’m terribly behind on my promised word count. Although, I have started writing two new stories, so I guess that’s something.

Life keeps throwing me curve balls, keeping me on my toes and rearranging my social circles – but it keeps things interesting.

In addition to my previous pledge in regard to creating things, I have also taken on the Popsugar 2015 Reading Challenge (though heaven only knows how I will find the time for that on top of everything else!):

In short, I am setting myself up for failure in multiple areas of my life before year’s end! But hey, the more ambitious I am the more I’ll get done, right?

…right?

Absolutions and Resolutions

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want and all that is left is compromise.”
—Anaïs Nin

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And so another year has come to greet us, Dear Reader.

Two years ago I made the decision to devote more time to my art – words as well as images – and try to make some form of living off of it. Then life happened. The struggle to live up to my own expectations and goals repeatedly took the back seat to balancing the rest of my life. Things have been rough and chaotic; my life has changed in ways I never expected and wasn’t prepared for, and as a result I have neglected my creative pursuits. But no more.

Things are about to change.

There’s little point in regretting the past or feeling bad about opportunities I did not take. The past is gone and it has made us who we are today, after all. But it is never too late to change. I’m not usually one for New Year’s resolutions – any day is a good day to start changing for the better. But considering that today is already the 7th of January I guess these aren’t really New Year’s resolutions anyway.

So, Dear Reader, my resolutions for this year are as follows:

– I will make it my goal to write a minimum of 300 words a day, on average.
– I will make it my goal to produce a minimum of one piece of art a week, on average.
– I will make it my goal to finish a minimum of one project a month, professionally.

On the chance that I can live up to this schedule, I should end the year with 12 professional projects, 52 new pieces of art, and nearly 100,000 words worth of story. I shall count this week as the starting point, counting from January 4th to January 4th 2016.

Now, let’s hope that this year is more cooperative than its predecessor!

 

Happy New Year

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
―Theodore Roosevelt

ClockSketchHappy last day of the year, Dear Reader! 2014 was a pretty good year for me.

Artistically, I have branched out, improved, and taken a few steps further toward something resembling an actual career. I haven’t been as productive as I would have liked because I kept myself busier with personal issues than I had expected, but we all struggle to manage the limited time we have each day.

Professionally, both my writing and my visual art has been well received, though it has not yet led to many paying gigs. I have made new contact, though, and my followers on her and twitter have grown from zero to over a thousand. As I ease toward 2015 I feel I have a stable platform to stand on and that I am on my way in the right direction, at least.

Personally, I’ve made a number of new acquaintances, a few new valuable friendships, and I have grown incredible close to an already very valuable friend – a friend who has been invaluable for my personal growth this year. I’ve done a lot of work on myself, dealing with life and personal issues, and I’ve slowly begun sculpting myself into a new and improved me. 2014 has also been the first year of this millenium that I’ve been completely single – something that has been good for me, I think.

Not everything has been all sunshine and roses, of course. It never is.

The year has seen me struggling with my sense of self worth, my self confidence, and my self image – there’s been a lot to deal with on many levels and many of my friends have suffered this year. It has been no small feat to avoid slipping into my old behaviours and patterns, but for the most part I’ve done well.

All in all, though, I can’t really complain.

The good outweighs the bad by a fair measure, which is pretty darn amazing when you think about the state of this world.

I’ll leave you with a little insignificance I penned recently, after an idea I had years ago: In Passing

Happy New Year, Dear Reader – thank you immensely for this year, and I hope to see you in 2015!

Happiness and Holidays

“One woman can make you fly like an eagle, another can give you the strength of a lion, but only one in the cycle of life can fill your heart with wonder and the wisdom that you have known a singular joy.”
―Deputy Hawk

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“If I didn’t love you so much I’d probably let myself fall in love with you.”

Those words were told to me by one of my closest friends earlier this week, and it is just about the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. It made me genuinely happy, because I feel the exact same way about her – she’s amazing, and I feel very lucky to have her in my life.

My week has been filled with small joys – little surprises and blessings among the every day grime and grind – and as of writing this I feel more content and at ease than I have in a long time. I do not normally care much for the holiday season – I don’t celebrate much at all and last year I did absolutely nothing over christmas beyond the traditional family dinner and a visit with my aforementioned friend at her work place. This year, however, I have no less than seven outings planned in as many days. It feels a bit daunting, but at least I’m off from my day job until well after new years’.

My apologies, Dear Reader, for neglecting the blog during this week – truth be told I have had the time and I’ve sat several times attempting to write, unsuccessfully. This time of year I always exist in a sort of limbo, you see, caught as I am between the end of my birth year and the start of the next calendar year. For me, December is a month of contemplation and transition. I put my life on hold, in a way – waiting for the holidays and the solstice to pass.

It slows me down.

In honour of the season, my recommendations for this week are all connected to friends or relatives of mine:

 

Rebuilding

“Everybody needs a place. It shouldn’t be inside someone else.”
—Richard Siken

Maze

There comes a time in most of our lives when we have to rebuild ourselves.

Regaining stability and finding secure footing after our foundations have been torn apart, flooded and ruined isn’t an easy process.  We spend all our lives patching and building new platforms on top of the old broken ones, but sooner or later everything comes crashing down like a house of cards and we find ourselves half-buried in the rubble. Once free and on the path to healing and recovery we start sifting through the debris for salvageable pieces of us and our lives, realizing that there is no easy fix this time around.

We need to start over.

So we clear the rubble down to the still intact lower levels and try to use only the strongest stones for our new foundations. There might be a place for the smaller, more fragile pieces we have gathered later on, but putting them in now will only undermine everything. Build too fast, use the wrong pieces, or try to patch things together by including the pieces of someone else and it will all just break apart again. Sooner or later.

I’ve been trying to rebuild for a couple of years now.

However, I’ve been so blinded by the task at hand that I’ve used all the wrong materials and ignored the blueprints, only to tear the walls down again when they won’t hold up. And lately I have kept myself so busy with other things that I’ve almost entirely neglected the most important project – myself.

But I’m getting there.

The world around us has a tendency to supply most of the things we need (if not all) if we only keep our eyes and minds open to it and are willing to put in the work. These past few days I’ve come across people, writings and resources which not only inspire me to get back on track, but come with the added bonus of new ideas on how to build myself up.

All too often we incorporate other people and other people’s wishes into the foundations of the life we build for ourselves, instead of first making a strong and durable foundation in the person we are, on our own.