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Take me there!

Things have been a little strange at home, and I’m not sure how to take it, really. My friend is becoming less of a companion, and I’ve somehow gotten dragged into a breakup that was supposed to be over a month and a half ago. There is still an upright couch in my kitchen, and my bed is starting to become a place where I’d rather not be. Maybe it’s because I have an addiction to movies and that’s the only place to sit comfortably. Too much time in one place gets you jittery.

It seems that my weekends are being spent in my house, cooped up because I can’t be bothered to do anything else. Sure I get out to buy groceries and mini-walks and it sounds like time well spent, but I feel unfulfilled.

Anyway, enough of my moping. I thought I would share a little more inspiration this week, in hopes of it curing this grumpiness.

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Throughout the past couple of years, I have really started missing going to school and learning. I have looked up courses at schools nearby countless times, and even went through with even registering for a few of them. Although, as soon as I found a single thing to use as an excuse I took it. I didn’t end up going to any of the classes I was enrolled in, and it eventually slipped my mind.

But, with my recent love of photography, I started weighing out my pros and cons of starting classes this year. I started really concentrating on it, and found that all of the cons on my list were things that I had mysteriously created. Excuses like, “The classes end at 10pm, that’s so late!” or “I’m saving up for a trip to see my dearest friend, and this will be cutting into that” or “The last time I made an impromptu decision to go to school I was $10,000 in debt and still am.”

The pros on my list made me start feeling really, really good about it. I’d be able to actually properly learn how to use the $600 camera I just bought. I’d get a chance to be motivated to continue creating with assignments and feedback from a professional. I would get a chance to meet some great people, and get an introductory to the field. And, even though I’d be cutting into vacation money, at least this would give me a chance to be in tune with my inner creativity on a daily basis, rather than a yearly trip.

Then, with the help of a friend finding the class at the perfect time, I leapt and landed in one solid movement. I went into the school on Monday,registered and paid tuition for a Beginner DSLR class starting today!!! It’s a 10 week course (once a week) that will explore the basics on how to use my camera technically and creatively. Talk about perfect timing! I’m excited for what the course has in store for me, and am excited to share what I learn! I will be giving you guys an update as soon as I can, but for now, it’s off to class I go!

{Via Google}

After a week of living with only the necessities unpacked, I found that I actually enjoyed having less around. With 20 boxes and an upright couch in my kitchen, I’ve pretty much been spending all of my time in my room avoiding it all. I managed to unpack my clothes and the essentials and am enjoying the big window that fills the space with natural light.

It’s felt so liberating to be free from all of the things I’ve happened to collect over the years. Having all of my things packed up, and the house completely cluttered has given me a chance to explore the new area we live in, and get back into reading. I rediscovered my love for the Vancouver Public Library (side note: Do you have any book recommendations?). I’ve found that I’m taking my time coming home from work, and taking different routes to see which ones are the most enjoyable. I’ve gotten to try new restaurants like The Roundel Cafe and found where to buy groceries. Heck, this week I even mapped out the terrain for exquisite summer bike riding.

But with having no kitchen, things have started to become problematic. I’ve spent an obscene amount of money eating out for every single meal in the past 2 weeks, and feel gross from not eating right. So this weekend my roommate and I decided that it was time to start unpacking. And with my unpacking came my love of getting rid of things.

I started thinking about things that I have and what I don’t need, and there is a lot of it. I started with books. I’m the type of person that likes the look of a full bookshelf. I’ll buy a book rather than borrowing one, read it, then never pick it up again. The thing with that is, I don’t even have a bookshelf anymore (it was my previous roommate’s). So I managed to put aside the majority of 4 boxes of books aside to sell/donate back to our local used bookstores. I also managed to get rid of the stuff in my costume trunk, and I’m sure there will be more!

Have you been doing any Spring cleaning lately?

That being said, preparing for the move this past week, you can expect how I was handling it. Not good. Between phone calls, tears and anything that would aid my in my procrastination, I managed to get a few solid days of packing in. I spent a few hours cleaning, as did my roommates. Then, when it came time to actually move, it seemed that there was a convoy of friends that had come to our rescue. In total, we had 8 people, a 17 foot U-Haul truck, 6 turkey club sandwiches, 2 vegan wraps and a lot of willpower that got us through the day.

Although the move went smoothly, we did run into a slight complication during this process. The couch wouldn’t fit through the doorway of the living room, no matter how hard we tried! We even tried taking the door off of the frame, but the hallway makes putting it in the room a very difficult job. Currently, it’s standing sideways in our kitchen full of boxes, and we’re still trying to come up with ideas on how to make it work. Our next bet is borrowing a drill to get the legs off of it, and squeezing it in somehow (TWSS?). Or buying a stick of dynamite and lighting the damn thing on fire.

I must say, though, after living here a whole 2 and a half days, I can say that it’s not as bad as I expected it to be. My transition is hopefully going to be a small one. I’ve got the setup of our Arts and Crafts room to look forward to, and I’ve been distracting myself with my new goodies.

Oh, did I not mention that I bought myself a present for all of these efforts? That’s right, I did. I saved for 3 months, and was finally able to purchase my brand new Pentax K-x! It arrived yesterday, and I think it’s official. I’ve fallen in love. I’m definitely a novice at this stuff, but expect to see lots of Flickr updates!

What were you up to while I was away? I missed you!

It’s official! I’m moving next Sunday! It’s weird how March is always one of the hardest months for me, yet it still always catches me off guard. This month I’ve dealt with a break in, the first major fight I’ve ever had with my best friend, my boss’ boss’ boss confronting me and possible landlord conflicts. After all of the troubles March has brought me, I’m looking forward to moving on, and moving out into a new place.

Some specs: 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, garden level, back yard, and big windows in the bedrooms. It’s really close to the area we live in now, but it’s a little quieter. So I’m hoping that will give me more motivation to ride my bike everywhere when I’m bored. And there will only be two of us in the new place, so we’ve decided to make the 3rd bedroom the arts and crafts room! I can’t wait! What I’m not excited about is the fact that I have to paint my current room before the new tenants get here. Why don’t these people like bright green, you ask? I don’t know. I think they’re absolutely crazy. Maybe they’re not human. I think that’s it.

Is it just me, or is it hard for everyone to pack their stuff? I am seriously having a hard time to find the motivation to get started on things the last couple of days, and am using every little excuse not to. ‘Oh! There’s something new in my Reader! I’m hungry! I want to go for a bike ride. I want to look at pictures of tattoos for 2 hours.’ These are not good ways to pack! Yet, it’s incredibly addicting and gets my mind off of stressing about all of the things I have to do. But today I brought my friend over to keep me on track, and it worked quite well. I’d say that I’m about 1/3rd of the way finished, which is great

What was your last moving experience like? How did you stay focused?

If I could be a month, I’d be September.

If I could be a day of the week, I’d be Saturday.

If I could be a time of day, I’d be 10 am.

If I could be a planet, I’d be pluto (I know this isn’t a planet anymore, but just give me this one).

If I could be a sea animal, I’d be an orca.

If I could be a direction, I’d be up.

If I could be a piece of furniture, I’d be a vintage chesterfield.

If I could be a liquid, I’d be apple juice.

If I could be a gemstone, I’d be  jade.

If I could be a tree, I’d be a birch.

If I could be a tool, I’d be a needlenose plyers.

If I could be a flower, I’d be a sunflower .

If I could be a kind of weather, I’d be a thunderstorm.

If I could be a musical instrument, I’d be a tambourine.

If I could be a color, I’d be seafoam green.

If I could be an emotion, I’d be hopeful.

If I could be a fruit, I’d be a nectarine.

If I could be a sound, I’d be a contagious laugh.

If I could be an element, I’d be air.

If I could be a car, I’d be a ’57 Chevrolet BelAir.

If I could be a taste, I’d be cheesy and delicious.

If I could be an object, I’d be an old suitcase.

If I could be a pair of shoes, I’d be a pretty pair of moccassins.

{All images from We Heart It or Google Images}

What would you be?