Recap of January 2010 Goals

Is it February already? I'd say that I had a pretty successful month. hehe

On the art/entrepreneurial front, I had a goal of making at least one piece of pyrogaphy to sell on my etsy shop and I ended up with three! I'll be submitting them to my shop by the end of this week. I'm very excited!

On the writing front, I accomplished my goal of writing one short story each week. I ended up submitting one of them to be published on an online sci-fi magazine. *fingers crossed that it gets accepted.*

I also wrote one blog entry every week to this blog with the exception of last week. I initially planned my blog entry to be about my art but the pieces aren't done yet, so keep looking out for that post. It's coming soon!

The only goal which I had to completely change was writing the first draft to either my movie script or to my play. The reason for this being, is that I completely changed the method of writing them. I've decided I'm going to write a fictional narrative (much like a novelization, only only as descriptive as what I can put into their final format of screenplay/play). This way I can flesh out the scenes, perspectives, motivations, dialogue, etc. when my mind is more open to possibilities. Usually, my mind is too scrambled and worried about putting everything into the right format while I'm writing a screenplay or play that I can never see a through-line of everything. I've experimented it with my screenplay and it's worked out so far. I'm hoping that in about two weeks, I'll have a complete fictional narrative to this screenplay which I've been writing for four years. XD

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Writing With Fire

The first idea I had about wanting to do pyrography came from picking up the V-shaped stubs which fall from the palm trees here in Florida. I thought maybe I could recycle them and pyrograph them, hence I bought myself a pyrography kit.

To put it plainly, Pyrography is pen-like tool which you plug into an electrical outlet and when it heats up, you can burn shapes, lettering, portraits, etc into a piece of wood.

But as I quickly learned, these V-shaped stubs start to become brittle with time. You really can't do anything but let them break apart and mingle with the earth.

I was a little bummed out but it was around the holidays when I got the idea that I could make something for each of my friends with this kit. I always try to make at least one thing for each of my friends around the holidays and birthdays.

For my best friend I pyrographed a Celtic Knot symbol for "Friendship" in the top of a small wooden box. Then I painted the box a sea green around the knot and glued some felt into the bottom to provide some cushioning (these photos are provided by my account I have at Deviantart.com):


Celtic Friendship Box: Back by ~ange-etrange on deviantART

That was my "beginner" project.

Then I decided to pyrograph a James Dean Portrait into a wooden plaque for another friend of mine.


James Dean Portrait by ~ange-etrange on deviantART

That was my "intermediate" project.

I also took another wooden plaque and took a "Little Prince" illustration from the book and burned it along with her favorite passage from the book.




I call that gift my "advanced" project.

And I'm finishing up a fourth project for another friend of mine. I will post it as soon as I finish and take pictures of it.

All of the projects took about a month to finish. And I've received a few compliments on my work including the suggestion that I should make and sell some work. I'm making it one of my goals this month to finish a piece which I can sell on Etsy and see how it goes. I took to this craft faster than I ever had with any other craft. In short, I'm obsessed! hehe

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Up In The Air: Review

"Up In The Air" is about "Ryan Bingham" (George Clooney) who is a man hired to travel around the country to failing businesses and fire their employees when the bosses and CEOs are afraid to do it themselves. "Natalie Keener" (Anna Kendrick) is a fresh-out-of-school twenty-something who believes in pie-charts, graphs and is assigned to tag along on Bingham's travels in order to understand the business better. "Alex Goan" (Vera Fermiga) is a woman who Bingham meets and makes him think in terms of whether or not relationships really mean anything at all.

When I first saw the preview for "Up In The Air" was when I went to see "Precious" a few months ago. I had some reservations about it. I'm familiar with Jason Reitman's work - I loved "Thank You For Smoking" but I didn't catch onto the "Juno" craze as everybody else seemed to do. Lastly, I thought it looked kind of boring.

However, "Up In The Air" really surprised me. I thought it was going to be Hollywood preachy about The New Depression but it wasn't. I can see why it's getting the buzz it deserves because I don't think even Hollywood could escape from making this film real and topical. In fact, I do believe somewhere I read they had to change the some of the film's material from being satirical to being more truthful because the economy crashed in the middle of production.

I loved how George Clooney's character was an archtype and a metaphor at the same time. He represents so many people people who's lives are based on their "points" whether it be their credit score or frequent flier miles. He's never grounded only for more than a few days otherwise, he's up in the air and leads a very isolated and sad life. It was sad to see him in his apartment and think that if he would die to tomorrow, it would be as if he didn't exist at all because of how nondescript and empty his apartment was - no trinkets, no photo albums, no collections, not even a favorite food (except for the hotel bottles of alcohol in the refrigerator).

Every character was unique and where they could have fallen into stereotypes and cliches, Jason Reitman's writing and direction revealed human truths about every one of them. I think a lot of young people who watch this film will relate to Anna Kendrick's character. I'm twenty-one and while I couldn't relate to some of the things she thought or did, I did relate to her strict discipline of deadlines and goals she has to set now while she's young.

This film has many layers. It's a film about The New Depression and in regards to how business has turned into something that isn't strictly personal but the contradictions it implies when taking away a person's lively hood. It's a film about the worth of relationships and how we conduct them moreover technology than we ever have before. It shows how we're constantly removing ourselves from each other and the question is, what is it for? What do we get from removing ourselves from each other? And I thought it was interesting in way it lead to how we've responded to technology so far. We use technology as a pathetic excuse in order to avoid face-to-face contact and what does this result to? The only redeemable quality we can have is in hoping that we realize what we're doing before it's too late. We also don't have any sense of etiquette to how to handle technology either. For instance, should being dumped or quitting a job over a text message be considered just as insensitive and inconsiderate as laying someone off over an I-Chat? I think we lack the recognition that with technology brings a lot more work and consideration than we ever thought it could.

It is a great film. One of the most topical and definitive films I've seen in a long time.

My Verdict: See it!

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It's 2010!

Happy 2010 Everyone!

I know it's a little late to be wishing everyone a happy new year, but I'll say it nonetheless. With a new year, comes a little sense of rebirth when everyone can begin anew and have the chance to change things they didn't get the chance to change the previous year. People make resolutions; I make goals.

Last year, I made specific list of goals for each month adding up to the larger group of goals I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. I succeeded in half the goals I wanted to accomplish, an accomplishment I never reached in the previous years when I only set "resolutions." However, the un-achieved goals weren't so lucky. Instead, I transferred them over to this year and I'm making it my responsibility to see that they get done!

And to make it even more complicated for myself, I've made up two lists of goals, one for General/Life Goals and one for Writing Goals. I've amounted to have at least 4-6 goals on each list that I must accomplish by the end of the month. Here's to hoping it works! XD

A few goals for my writing goals for January are to:

• Write one short story a week.
• Submit at least one story to a publication.
• Finish the last 27 of the first 100 pages of my novel.
• Finish the rough draft to my play.
• Finish the rough draft to my screenplay.
• Post at least one entry to my blog each week.
  

Yes, you read correctly, one of my goals this year is to pay more attention to my seriously neglected blog. I've made it a goal to make at least one blog post each week which will up my yearly blog postings from 0 per month to at the very least, 52 posts a year (since there is 52 weeks in a year). So hopefully, you'll be seeing me around here a lot more often!

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What Decade Fits Your Personality Best?

My Result was the 1920s

You are classy, not afraid to go against the norm, and love to celebrate the joys of life. You love to be in the "right now" of society's latest "new thing"; and because of that you exert the latest fashions and put a high priority on having a great time. After all, you deserve it after all the struggles you have gone through in life thus far. You have a little rebel in you, although you don't overtly show it because you keep yourself and your standards classy, sophisticated, and elegant. And chances are, you have a thing for jazz music. You are a perfect combination of lady-like and party animal.

I thought I would get 1930s or 1940s. I'm not quite sure if this decade fits me or not. hehe XD

What Decade Fits Your Personality Best? - ROFLquiz.com

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Read or Skim: The Wounded Woman By Linda Schierse-Leonard

Title: The Wounded Woman: Healing The Father-Daughter Relationship
Author: Linda Schierse-Leonard

Without going into too much detail, I will say that I am one of those women who didn't have the normal father-daughter relationships the lucky little girls grew up to have. "The Wounded Woman: Healing The Father-Daughter Relationship by Linda Schierse-Leonard" is a self-help book for women in a similar situation, whether their fathers were physically uninvolved or were emotionally or psychologically absent in their development as women.

For start, Leonard's book provides the different personality types the daughters may turn into as they grow up. Nothing is black or white in the descriptions of these types and none of it places the blame on either the daughter or the father. Instead, Leonard provides description and illustration through fables, fairy tales and her own personal experience for these personality types and throughout the book. It provides a gentle overview of embracing both the feminine and masculine side of the female figure and what can benefit from embracing both sides.

It is not made to look or read like a "quick fix" self-help book. It is not one of those books who claim they can fix any disorder or dysfunctional relationship between their book covers. Leonard's book allows the reader to forgive herself fore she did nothing wrong to create his absence. Leonard's book is a "step in the right direction" book for women who want to find their "inner father" and trust it without making men the enemy because of their father's absence.

I Say: READ IT.

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this review with a borrowed copy of the book from my local library. I was not endorsed by any of the peoples or companies involved with this product.

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New Magnet Design!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade swelldameinc.etsy.com

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