Ordinary Day – Great Big Sea

I’m done. Done with winter. After pushing myself to go out and do stuff for #24, I have gotten pretty sick. What was supposed to be a mini getaway with Brian, turned into me being in bed for half of our trip. So I’m crossing this off of my list and hibernating for the remainder of winter.

So, with that, I have successfully completed four of my goals:

# 14. Get a new piercing with Meagan Bond
# 20. Go to a party where I don’t know anyone and make a new friend
# 23. Quit smoking, for good.
# 24. Do more activities during the winter

Some are still on going so I can’t cross them out completely yet. I am, however, crossing out quitting smoking. Tomorrow will be 60 days since I have kicked the habit, and aside from the little weight gain I think that I have successfully quit.

I have 6 on going goals, which means I have 15 more goals to complete all before I turn 26! 8 months to complete 15 goals. Boy do I feel some pressure!

I think it can happen though! I’m starting to slowly get back into the swing of things, and have some things lined up for March.

I’ve joined LinkedIn to market my business better! http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrea-gray/48/bbb/b1a

I’ve also been told to join Twitter, but am still wishy-washy about that idea. Thoughts?

Volunteering at Art Souterrain

Hey! Have you seen the underground art exhibit in Montreal yet? If not, I will suggest that you do.

On Saturday, I spent about ten hours as a volunteer mediator for a pretty unique and interactive piece of art. I got to interact with all kinds of people, all ages, and in all stages of sobriety and drunkenness. I made new friends, some old friends came by to visit or I bumped into them accidentally, and in general I had a great time seeing people interact with the work!

It’ll be up all over the underground until March 11. I was at Complexe Guy-Favreau, near Place d’Armes metro.

So that’s 10/100 hours, which means I have another 90 to go. I’ll be starting another volunteer gig from home. This is some web-based work for Immigrant Quebec, a non-profit that helps people seeking to immigrate to Quebec or who have just recently landed and want to immigrate. They provide all kinds of resources and help get newly landed people sorted out. The lady I’ll be working with has some new mandates for the website, and she seems like a good partner so far.

So, not too bad? I had fun with one job and I hope I will rise to the occasion for the other!

Three for three

So the chess tournament is actually a round-robin situation, so I’ll have to continue to be humiliated for another three weeks. It was fun though, and I got to meet some more people at the office. In that respect it’s been nice. I did lose, and first, as I expected. But not as quickly as I expected, so we’ll see if I can’t improve over the next while! I’m also the only lady/girl/woman (side note: are any other females unsure of which descriptor to use to describe themselves?) to sign up for this thing. The rest are all guys who seem to be programmers and analysts… I was a bit too shy to hang around and watch the other matches, but maybe next time.

As for the volunteering, I think those of you in Montreal should check out some awesome local artists, and hang with me as I explain the work of this awesome lady. I’ll write about her more, but you can also meet her on Nuit Blanche! How cool is that?!

Also, I aced my volunteering interview and it will be a challenge, but it’s an interesting project with a worthwhile group. I’ll probably have loads more to say soon, but I did have an interesting experience. Basically, I will work with a French woman from France, and I’m the first Anglophone (native English speaker) she has met so far. From my understanding, she’s been in Montreal or at least Quebec for several years now, so I find that pretty bizarre. I guess we truly are the minority within the minority.

Hmm more things to consider, and plenty more to do! And my favourite: more research! 8)

Sitting on the dock of the bay – Otis Redding

Where has this year gone so far? I can’t believe that it’s the end of February already. It really is true, when you are busy time just flies!

 Since my last post I have attended the “Everything to do with Fred show”, and have befriended not only Fred Kennedy himself but the illustrator of Teuton, Adam Gorham. I love meeting new people, and being able to be a proper geek in front of total strangers. Fred told me that I had to watch Deep Space Nine, I laughed. He told me that the last three seasons were the best of that series, and since I never do anything half-ass I got the complete series from a friend. It’s on my next “to watch” list once I have completed Season 2 of “Life Unexpected”.

Adam and I have started an e-mail correspondence where we get to talk about our entire nerdy-ness. It has kept me sane this past little while!

 I have had two successful SFX classes from school, which I have been posting all over Facebook about. If you’re not a fan of my page, click here

I have been on top of keeping everything updated, marketing myself better, and getting more gigs. I don’t want to cross #4 off of my list just yet, but it’s definitely getting there! My march is slowly filling up with gigs, and I just purchased all of my SFX makeup over this crazy thing called the internet, so now I’m just waiting for it to arrive!

I just finished working on a calendar of Rave Girls in the scene today, and am very excited to see the finished project next year!

 I’ve also been keeping in much better contact with people; I’ve seen Ian, Angela, Alia, Manny, Dave, Kelly, Anthony and Valerie. What’s remarkable is that this is on top of seeing my best friends Meagan, Aileen and Ilana (plus my two jobs)

I do have to admit though; if I keep on the road that I’m going I will definitely burn out quickly! I feel like I haven’t had a proper break in over a month. Luckily my photo shoot on Monday got cancelled, so I just sat around, watched movies with Brian and did nothing all day. It was perfect. That’s exactly what this upcoming weekend will be like, and am definitely looking forward to it. I have a feeling March will be the same as this month, so having a little getaway this weekend will be perfect.

Working and volunteering

I won’t lie, I am getting myself in too deep, but that’s the only way I know how to function anyway. So while I learn a new job, I’m also learning about an artist who I will need to present to various visitors on Nuit Blanche.

I’m volunteering as part of Art Souterrain, and you can read all about this cultural initiative on their website.

I also have an interview for a bit more of a regular volunteering gig, tomorrow evening.

Also, I signed up to play in a chess tournament at work tomorrow. I’m awful, and even though I signed up in the beginners tournament, I’m sure I’ll still end up in last place. But it will be nice not to play against the computer.

Wish me luck on all three counts?

Moving right along

Well, well. I have started a new job, and have managed not to slow down on my commitments either!

I’ve gone to yoga once this week, I have successfully signed up for one volunteering event, and have an interview for a longer-term commitment. I have even signed up for a chess tournament so that I can play against people who seem to know what they are doing! I have even recruited a friend who is excellent at knife-throwing to teach me how (he doesn’t seem afraid).

I’ve mentioned before that I downloaded a Spanish app, but I haven’t practiced since Saturday. I won’t lie, it’s tough to motivate myself on weeknights after work to do something more.

However, I believe I have figured out where I should travel, to go somewhere new. I just need to renew my passport first. It expires in two weeks!

Under Pressure – Queen

As I see people scramble around today for last minute flowers and chocolate I just kind of laugh to myself. After years of being told that Valentines Day is a day to show the person you love how much you care, I can happily say that I have stopped celebrating this “Holiday” for about five years now.

It is my belief that if you love someone, you do not need one day to show them how much you care and appreciate them. You should show them as often as you can, and you do NOT need to buy them flowers every single time. Small things count, especially to us women.

Like coming home to your apartment and noticing that someone vacuumed before they left. Or, spending about an hour helping out an artistically challenged person doing stencils.  THAT to me is showing me that you care. I do not need chocolates that will make me fat, or flowers that will eventually wither away. I want something substantial, something meaningful. And I definitely want it more than one time a year.

I have come across people that feel the same way as I, but still celebrate the “Holiday”. Of course to each their own, not every woman feels the way that I do. In fact some women would be upset today if they didn’t get something from their significant other. I on the other hand told mine that If I got anything I would be upset.

So to those who celebrate today, I wish it’s filled with the love that you deserve. But I also wish that you get it year round, because you deserve that more.

#14 now complete!

I’m a big baby

Figuring it out

So far I haven’t got a whole lot done, but I am progressing.

I’ve sent out three applications for volunteering, and gone to yoga three times in the last week. I’m re-opening my gym membership tonight so that I can start training for my 6-minute mile again, and I’ve spoken to a friend about learning to throw knives. He’s promised to teach me — for real this time!

I’ve also downloaded an app to learn Spanish, which maybe I can do on my new commute. I won’t do that today, as I’m just gonna learn the ropes and figure my stuff out today, but perhaps next week. In the meantime I’ve been studying a little anyway.

I still need to email my grandma this month though!

Why I’m doing this in the first place

One of the main reasons why I signed up for this project is because I think I’m kind of boring. I want always this way, but I think a lot of my passions ended up being stripped away or rendered to some forgotten area of my mind and I can’t remember what they were anymore. It’s sad, and frustrating, because I am always jealous of people who can yammer away endlessly about something they enjoy doing.

I on the other hand, enjoy seeing, and hearing, more passive activities like reading. With the exception of eating, and writing (and earlier in my life drawing and painting) I enjoy less active things and rather have it all come to me. Which in my limited experience is not conducive to a fulfilled life.

Part of 25 on 25 for me is about finding my passions and interests again. About trying new things and seeing if I’ll enjoy it. I think this experiment is helping in lots of different ways, because I am noticing I am more engaged and want to do more. It’s rather energizing, which is new and refreshing. From a sleepy girl, so far I feel as though I am evolving into an energetic individual. And I hope it keeps up.