Happy New Year to all! Welcome 2012!

I wish for you (and me) a happy and safe New Year's Eve and New Year.  I welcome 2012 with all its lessons and joys.  I hope the lessons are gentle and the joys many.

Thank you to any of you who stop by here to visit. I hope you will continue to do so. I'm looking forward to another year of WildRumpusing with you.

2011 On the Way Out

It is hard to believe the year is drawing to a close...time is such a weird thing. In so many ways, the year has gone by very slowly and in other ways, it has whizzed past me.  I feel a pull to look back, but as I have said, when I do look back, I'm not finding anything too remarkable.  So, the last few days of the year are really looking ahead to what is coming up in 2012.

I will have to go back and read the end of 2010 to verify, but I feel very happy that 2012 is almost here.  I have some plans for myself, large and small and I'm excited to start. Obviously, I don't have to wait until then, but sometimes, having a clear starting point, starting off with a clean slate and an easy date to remember for something new is a good thing.

I hope I'm not ultimately disappointed in myself. I'm trying to just go into this with some excitement and also the knowledge that I will make mistakes and I will not succeed the first time (or the second or the third) sometimes. That's okay. For me, the trying is important. The imperfection is important.  I have a lot of lessons I need to learn and I'm trying to just be open to learning them and taking it all in.

Okay. I'm just going around in circles...I do that sometimes.  I'm going to sign off for now. I will be back again for the last day of 2011...Crazy, huh?

Visitor in Town

I have a friend visiting town this weekend. Very fun. Lots of movies and lots of talking and hanging out and hopefully, some art. :)

I'm keeping this one short.

Endings

I know that we are coming up on the end of the year in a few days. Last year, I participated in the Reverb10 but I was left somewhat uninspired. I worked on Reverb11 a little this year, but wasn't consistent.  When I read other bloggers reflections back on the year, I realized that I didn't share that experience of learning something, having a most memorable moment, etc.  This year was a year of work and some play, some travel, little vacation.  I didn't see many movies, I didn't read many books. If something spectacular happened, I usually wrote about it here. I had some strange adventures in performance interpreting, experienced some of the usual frustrations and joys most people experience in a year. 

This year, 2012, I'm going to try to see if I can't up the ante a bit and give myself some reasons and methods for remembering. I haven't got it all figured out, but I do have some classes and things coming up that I think will be good for me to start figuring it all out.

As 2011 ends, I feel at a bit of a loss. This was a strange year for me. Pretty mellow in many ways. I think that's okay, too.

Goal for 2012

One of my goals for 2012 should be to hear WHAT people are saying and not HOW they are saying it. Sometimes, the how overwhelms the words.  I usually hear the words, but what I remember is the tone of voice, the presentation.  I need to just hear the words and not react or feel that the tone represents what the person is feeling towards me.  The older I get, the more I realize that most often, their stuff has little to nothing to do with me on the outset. How I react may determine if it BECOMES about me and I would like that to happen less and less.

We'll see how it goes.

Winter Cleanse

I literally started cleaning and going through stuff about 30 minutes after I got up today and I didn't stop until about 9:00pm.  So, in lieu of a thoughtful or humorous post, I offer this video from a slam poet about teachers.  Love it.

Tis the Season to Be Jolly...Fa La la la la.

Well, another Christmas come and gone. What a relief.

I tried really hard to be in the spirit, to enjoy what I could and try to let go of the other stuff. I had moderate success.  There are just so many things I don't understand about people's behavior and the choices they make.  I don't understand why we have this maniacal drive to force everyone to come together in a short span of time and pretend like everything is "JUST GREAT".  Honestly, it would be more fun and more enjoyable if we could stop pretending that everything is perfect and go for normal.

Through it all, I have decided that I should take up meditation in 2012 and work harder to make myself happy so that it doesn't matter when these little things happen.

I took some first steps that I mentioned a few posts ago. Second step taken today - I'm going to partake in the 37Days Book Club.  Patti Digh is having a special year-long "charter membership" for half price. I'm already signed up and ready to go. Join us!  I can't wait!

I hope everyone had a good holiday, stress and all. I know everyone tries hard and sometimes we have more success than others. I feel like I missed the mark in some ways this year, but I was trying.

"Home is Where the Heart Is"

I was reminded of this song tonight as I was watching the "Peter, Paul and Mary Holiday Concert". I heard this song for the first time when they were singing it.  This is a lovely version.

Merry Christmas.

Sparkle Goes Christmas Shopping

First of all, yes, I am getting as much mileage out of *Sparkle* as I can because I know it will go away soon and I am enjoying it too much. :)

So, I finished my Christmas shopping today (I kept putting it off on the way home from work).  Overall, it wasn't too bad because I had decided that whatever got done was going to be as good as it gets. The traffic was pretty bad around town, but I was listening to "West Side Story" as prep for my show, so I didn't really care about that.

The one thing that was the most challenging and really put a damper on my whole experience was the number of shoppers who were on their cell phones in the store, standing in the center of the aisle with their carts just gabbing on the phone.  Really?  It's amazing we ever lived a day without being on the phone 24/7!

In particular, one woman in the toy section with her poor husband.  He stood dutifully by watching as his wife, clearly dulled from all the electronic signals zapping her brain, stood in the middle of the toy aisle talking on the phone. Even when I said, "Excuse me" for the third time, she didn't move. Every time I went down an aisle, there she was. There he was. Looking apologetic, but not apologetic enough to MOVE THE CART.  Mostly, I just walked away and tried another approach to get where I was going. Finally, after the fourth or fifth encounter, I just pushed on by.  I did see them in another area later, so I went out of my way to walk through the book section so that I wouldn't have to deal with them.

I will never understand the need to be on the phone every waking moment.  I will never understand constantly being on the phone in stores (or anywhere else).  I can feel my feet fossilizing as I type. I don't care. I still don't get it.

"Sparkle" Part Deux

Ha!  I have had several addresses of "Hi, Sparkle" on Facebook and a couple of people at work who were game. I don't know why this is cracking me up so much, but I'm just going to bask in it.

Sometimes, you just have to let loose, ya know?

I'm eager to do some art but I have to finish shopping and wrap some gifts before I can dive in.  My Secret Santa at work brought me a big bag full of collage bits and I can't wait to use them. I think I will use some of it to make my 2012 calendar art pages. Can't wait!

*Sparkle* Holidays

I have not mastered the art of taking a digital picture of myself - my head is always half out of the photo and my arm isn't long enough to get the shirt AND my head in it...so this is a photo of my "Sparkle" shirt - I get to wear it a couple of times a year. I don't know why it cracks me up. Maybe because I don't consider myself sparkly.

So I wore Sparkle to work today and one of my co-workers immediately said, "Well, hello Sparkle."  It cracked me up. All. day. long.

Then I went out to dinner with some friends and they, too, commented on sparkle.  Again, I think because I'm not really sparkly.  A few minutes ago, I posted this photo on my FaceBook page and said something to the effect of "I am considering the wisdom of being called "Sparkle" through the remainder of the holiday season unless a more formal address is required. Discuss."  I'm eager to see what people say to this silly request which is somewhat unlike me these days.

Shopping Interrupted

So, I left work a little early today. I thought I would hit a couple of stores (very specific stores) on the way home. That was before the accident on I-5 south and the bad drivers and the back ups all over town, even on exits where there were not malls.  It took an hour and a half to drive home and then when I tried to stop at one of the stores I wanted to go to, there was no place to park and I had to go to the bathroom. I drove home with the intention of using the restroom and going right back out again. But I didn't. I got home and changed my clothes and didn't go anywhere.

And I'm not sad about it. I will finish shopping on Thursday or Friday. I don't have much left to do. And I have a plan. That's always good.

Plus - good news!  My new Kelly Kilmer art journal class is up and running a couple of days early! Yay!

Reading Time!

I have been searching for something *anything* to read that would hold my interest. Apparently, I have the attention span of a flea now, so it is a lot harder for me to get into a book these days.  I started reading "The Help" and I was enjoying it but I got distracted and just never made it back.  I think that having books in a Kindle makes it a lot easier to forget what I was reading - I don't have the book cover calling to me from where ever I placed it.

I started reading "The Hunger Games" this weekend and I'm very intrigued. i selected it because it is a series and lots of people seem to be enjoying it or at least talking about it.  I'm pretty sure it is a Young Adult (YA) novel, but that's okay.  Next series will probably be the Tiger series by Colleen Houck. I know her from work - she was an interpreter I worked with until she became an author and started literally touring the country.

Anyway, I'm happy to be an active reader again. It has been a long while.

Holiday Spirit

At work, we are having a potluck tomorrow. I normally don't partake much as I generally don't like most of the things that are brought to a potluck and I often just pick up something from the store. Yes, I'm one of "those" people - I bring chips and dip, beverages, store bought fruit/veggie trays. This year, I thought I would do something different. I'm still going to being some fruit and veggies, but I decided to make some "Muddy Buddies" as I found the recipe on Pinterest. :)  Mine isn't going to be as fancy as the presentation I found online, but they will taste good.

Here are pictures of round one:

All the fixins.

Ready for round two.

Next?

 Tray #1

Tray #2

Revisiting RENT

I missed the off-Broadway cast of the "Rent" revival this morning on the CBS Early Show (it was on at 6:45am, so I'm not surprised that I missed it). I couldn't get the video that was posted on Facebook to play so I went back to YouTube and ended up finding one of my favorite actors who played Roger singing "One Song Glory" on "The Jenny Jones" show. Now, I've never watched that show, but I have seen this video - it is Manley Pope as Roger. I saw him perform 2 times on Broadway.

Photos and Books

I'm thinking I need to take some photos or do something with my camera and post some photos. It has been a while.

I'm going to skimp on the blog post tonight and actually go read a book. I have been thinking about it all week (reading) and now I have time. :) Yay!  More tomorrow, but for tonight, adieu.

New Year's A-Coming

I can't wait for the new year to start. I have big plans at work, big plans in my life, big plans for the blog...

Right now, I'm signed up for several classes. The blogging one (see the button on the right hand side of the blog), a lettering workshop with Joanne Sharpe, a Kelly Kilmer art journaling class and a storytelling class from Ali Edwards. None of the start yet and I am ITCHING to start.  I'm just feeling full of energy and excitement for moving forward.

Good clean fun.

Cutting it Close

Normally, I don't like to leave things to the last minute.  For interpreters, we have continuing education units that we have to earn to maintain our certification. We have to earn 80 hours of workshop/class/training time every 4 years. My cycle ends on Dec. 31 and I just completed the final .125 hours of my requirements. I'm a little bit over the amount required, but I like it that way in case someone drops the ball out there.

This is the first time I have been so close to the deadline - I blame it on having a full-time job. And, I took some workshops in the past couple of years that I didn't get the proper paperwork turned in ahead of time, so I didn't earn the CEUs for it, even though I did attend. Dumb.

So, I have already started on my next cycle - paying for it anyway. I am going to TerpExpo in January where I will be able to earn at least a couple of CEUs.  I have found several good on-line places to do some work and I am working on some projects.  My goal is to do 30 hours a year so that by the last year, even if I don't have to do anything, I will be a little bit over and will have continued to develop my skills and learning.  I actually can't wait to get started!

Now, wish me luck that all the people who are responsible for reporting these things does their job so that I'm not fighting to keep my certification.  On second thought, I may be doing another short one this weekend, just to be sure...

All I Want for Christmas

I really just want a week off at the beach with a good book and some music.  And my reading glasses. I want to read until my eyes fall out. It will happen. Not yet, but it will. I am taking some time off around the holidays, but it isn't a "go to the beach and relax" kind of time off.  That's okay. Maybe I will get to read for a while. I hope so.

Headache - Go Away!

I had one of those days today - I started with a headache - maybe sinus, I'm not sure. The kind of headache where you have to pinch the bridge of your nose to make the pain bearable.  Then, I did payroll all day which required me to look up and down from paper to computer screen for about 4 hours.  Usually, I can either just look at a paper or look at the monitor, but not back and forth that way.  One of the programs I use for payroll changed and I couldn't figure it out, so I had to use the manual paperwork this time.  This made my head hurt more and that went down into my neck and shoulders.

In the late afternoon, the sun moves around (this is new for me in my new office space) so that the glare on my monitor is such that I can't see much of anything. I tried moving the monitor, I tried tipping the angle up and down. I tried moving the blinds - no go.  We are in a high-ish building and on the 6th floor so the blinds do not close all the way. Someone once told me that if the blinds close all the way, they create air pressure that can cause the windows to burst. I guess that would be bad, but I can't see my computer for 2-3 hours in the afternoon...I'm going to request some film or something because it is driving me crazy.

Luckily, I came home, took some ibuprofen, had some dinner, used my massage pad on my chair and it felt much better. I hope it doesn't come back tomorrow.