I don't normally air ideas that I am simply musing about on the internet, but in this case I am making an exception because I need some feedback. I'm thinking about starting up an Etsy shop to sell some prints of my photographs. Is this a good idea? Would any of you buy prints? Do you know anyone who might buy prints? What kind of images would you like to see available for purchase? What kind of price bracket would you like to see them in? Let me know in the comments here, or, if you know me personally, you can contact me whatever way your heart desires.
...then I might as well make good use of the fact that I am awake in the middle of the night.
I've been a bit stressed out this week. That's a wild understatement. I've been stressed out this week. It's been like a consistent hum in the back of my brain. Of course, this means that sleep tends to elude me no matter how physically exhausted I am. And trust me, I've tried; the other night I went for an hour long walk after being at the pub in an effort to tire myself out. So tonight I just decided that if I am going to be awake anyway, then I might as well do useful things. So I did some laundry, made a card to send to my friend, washed my dishes, and went on a night photo excursion on the dykes. I spent probably 30-45 minutes out there taking shots, and I came away with a couple of pretty good ones, including this one. I also had a random conversation with a guy who was out there (there are other people who wander around the dykes at midnight?). After a while though, the consistency of distant lightning flashes was starting to increase and I was getting a little concerned that I would be blindsided by a thunderstorm out there, so I packed myself up and headed home.
I am not feeling very eloquent lately. Perhaps I only get a certain allotted amount of eloquence per month, and I used it all up on that maid of honour speech.
It's been a couple of days since I got home from a jaunt to Edmonton, and I am still struggling to get going. It has left me feeling profoundly unlike myself.
As much stress and constant running around was involved with the wedding last weekend, I kind of miss having one single thing to worry about. It was a nice change of pace.
Taking photos out of plane windows has possibly become one of my new favourite things.
Or, Happy Dominion Day!
Yes, I am aware that this is not the Canadian flag. See, for the past few years I've spent Canada Day at places like Fort Edmonton and the Ukrainian Heritage Village, where they put on Dominion Day events. I therefore don't really have a time-period appropriate picture to post today. Oh well. I have history-buff friends who will appreciate this.
I'm off to spend the day in Halifax with some friends. I hope you are having a lovely long weekend.
I've recently become addicted to Instagram. I just joined the world of Twitter. I've been on Facebook for a few years now. I run two blogs. I have a Tumblr. I enjoy Pinterest. I am well-versed in the world of social media.
I text my friends pretty consistently. I use Skype to stay in touch with loved ones who are far away. I am almost always connected to my email in some form. My computer is on for most of the day. I am not technologically illiterate by any means.
And yet.
Sometimes I have an overwhelming urge to unplug everything, just turn it all off and walk away. I call it my "hermit urge." Sometimes I just don't want to be accessible 24-7.
I've been placed in a couple of situations lately where I was reminded of how nice it is to disconnect from time to time. I recently got back from a quick trip to Toronto, and it was kind of lovely to turn my phone and computer off for a couple of hours, to have no obligation to speak to anyone at all (aside from the precocious six-year-old who proposed to me on my flight home).
The flight from Toronto to Halifax is about 2 hours, and as soon as I landed I had 5 text messages. One was from the person picking me up at the airport. One was from a friend in Edmonton who I had been texting while I was waiting in the airport. Three were from someone trying to schedule a meeting this week. These were the ones that really got me. They were sent in quick succession. The first was a question about what times worked well for me. The second was a variation on "I need to know now." And the third was simply three question marks: ???. As soon as I read these messages I could feel stress settling itself back on my shoulders. I wanted to turn my phone back off and pretend I hadn't read them. In fact, I ignored them for a while. Eventually though, I had to respond. I sent an apologetic text explaining that I hadn't responded because I had been on a plane, all the while thinking that it was ridiculous that I had to excuse myself for taking a couple of hours to get back to someone about something.
I love that I can stay connected with people so easily and in so many ways. But sometimes it's nice to walk away from the constant stream of information, and to remove myself from the frantic race to respond to everyone whenever they decide they need me.
Of course, this works the other way around as well. I killed my phone a couple of days ago, and not having it was fun at first, but has rapidly just become frustrating.
Flying for the First Time
Elenowen
Can't put out the fire with my bare hands,
not even I need to understand how
I'm getting there.
Said a prayer with broken wings,
hoping to move toward greater things now
and face the fear.
I'm drifting
closer toward the skyline,
looking down on my life,
trying to get just one thing right.
The second I stop second-guessing,
let go like a confession,
seeing what I was born to find.
Flying for the first time.
I was the kind who played it safe,
wouldn't take a risk or leap of faith,
not before the leap.
Fear has a way of playing games,
go a little, go your separate ways,
but as for me:
I'm drifting
closer toward the skyline,
looking down on my life,
trying to get just one thing right.
The second I stop second-guessing,
let go like a confession,
seeing what I was born to find.
Flying for the first time
Ran through the open flame,
barely escaped,
now I'll never be the same.
I'm drifting
closer toward the skyline,
looking down on my life,
trying to get just one thing right.
The second I stop second-guessing,
let go like a confession,
seeing what I was born
I'm drifting
closer toward the skyline,
looking down on my life,
trying to get just one thing right.
The second I stop second-guessing,
let go like a confession,
seeing what I was born to find.
Flying for the first time
Flying for the first time.
I put out the fire with my bare hands.
I mentioned yesterday that I spent my whole day listening to the new Elenowen EP on repeat. I am seriously obsessed. I knew I needed to post a song on here, but couldn't decide which one to pick. Seriously. The album is that good. But since I'm rather obsessed with these airplane window pictures (watch for another one tomorrow) lately, I felt like the first track, Flying for the First Time, was a good choice. Plus starting at the beginning seems like a logical choice. I mean, if I am probably going to end up posting all of them, I might as well work my way through in order so I can keep track, no?
My life: brought to you by water.
Last night I killed my phone by managing to get it into a sink full of water. See, I was texting someone while walking through my apartment, I tripped on one of my shoes that was sitting by the door, launched the phone across the kitchen/entryway, and got it into the sink full of soapy dishwater. Impressive in its own way I suppose. If I had been playing basketball it would have been a great shot. Anyway. The phone is deader than dead and I am currently waiting for a rather important call. Cue panic.
It poured today. And I mean POURED. Which was actually okay with me. It meant that I didn't want to go outside so I stayed home, cleaned the whole apartment, did some work, had a wonderful Skype date with Audrey, and listened to Elenowen's new EP on repeat all day (currently available for a free download at Noise Trade).
The rain came to a stop for a while around dinner, so I popped outside to take some post-rain photos. Sunlight + Water = SPARKLE. It was rather lovely.
So aside from the whole phone fiasco, things are pretty good here right now.
