Welcome to February. February 3rd, in fact.
How did that happen already?
I was reflecting earlier today that I was blogging every single day in December, and then in January I stopped cold turkey, for no other reason than I was no longer making it a priority. I was no longer making time for my blog. That’s the secret to blogging right there: making time for blogging.
So here we are, again, now in February, and I’m hoping to liven up my blog with some personal banter intermixed with my usual blogging topics: Vancouver identity, craft beer, and random ephemera.
2013’s been a good year so far. The highlights thus far:
I began advanced life drawing classes at Britannia Community Centre two weeks ago, where I’m reacquainting myself with drawing, something I used to do religiously as a preteen in the late 80s, early 90s. Looking back, I stopped drawing once I picked up the guitar when I was 12. And then the Internet happened at the age of 14, and that was the end of my drawing, until I took first year Visual Arts classes at UBC a decade later, which was now practically a decade ago. So far so good.
I’ve picked up the guitar, again. Shawn and I are having “band practice” most evenings. Back in December I jumped on stage and sang a song during the Guided by Robots gig at the ANZA Club, and it reawakened my teenage desire to be a rock star. So we’re playing through a variety of Guided by Voices songs, with the occasional Elvis Costello or Steely Dan tunes. I know, random! But it’s fun. My left hand fingers finally have calluses again and guitar-playing is becoming second nature once more. In fact, I’m remembering how much I enjoy playing guitar. I really missed it. The only thing that’s a bit unusual is singing infront of others, but I’m trying to get over my inherent shyness and embarrassment.
I watched Searching for Sugarman the other day and it reminded me that my mystery song (ie: the infamous song I recorded off the radio in March of 1993 that sounds uncannily like U2 but isn’t U2) is now 20 years unsolved. I need to start that quest in March – a 20th anniversary Unsolved Mystery, if you will.
I went to Whistler 3 weeks ago with my friend Lorra and we went ziptrekking for the first time. We also went to Scandinave Spa, which is amazing, especially white moonlit on January night when you have the place to yourself.
I also went snowshoeing for the first time in 5 years with a group of friend on Mount Seymour 2 weeks ago. Tons of fun, and I can’t wait to go snowshoeing with my dad soon – something I promised him we’d do for his birthday back in September.
Dine Out Vancouver has come and gone – tonight was the last night, actually. I won a dinner for two (plus craft beer pairings) last week at Dockside Restaurant, and it was rather wonderful. Afterward we went to the Performance Works Theatre on Granville Island for Winnipeg Babysitter (for the PuSh Festival) – yet another memorable night.
These are all future blog posts, you see, but it’s almost too late to be writing about them. Ack!
Work is crazy busy in the best way possible. I’m working on a lot of projects right now with Tourism British Columbia, Tourism Richmond, Tourism Western Australia, and the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. It’s exciting, it’s fun, and it doesn’t feel like work, which almost makes me feel guilty for saying so, but isn’t that what we all want?
Also, I may (or may not) be going to Primavera in Barcelona this May. Even if I don’t end up going, I think I finally got the travel bug. Budget be damned – it’s time to go travelling abroad whether it puts me in the hole or not. If I do go to Barcelona in May, my plan is to spend some time in Amsterdam and Belgium afterward.
And finally, next weekend I’ll be joining my sister and a bunch of her friends on Galiano Island. My little sister turns 30 years old. Sheesh.
That is all, world. I’m back blogging. You’ll see. I promise you.
