Making a Difference that is Greater than the Sum
The Myopic Sheep is a new upcoming book review site that features a fair number of reviewers, each typically reviewing a book per month. This has been a project that I have been nudging along for the past few months. www.myopicsheep.com Coming soon!
The first three books I will be reviewing are:
1. Gordon Korman’s Born to Rock
2. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Reader’s Digest edition)
3. Banana Boys by Terry Woo.
Looking forward to sharing my opinion of these books soon!
I’m back! Experienced an inredible two trips this summer. This amounted to over 21 gigs worth of photographs taken. It will take me a while to process them for your enjoyment. Please stand by…
Okay.. so while you’re waiting for that … some sorta scary developments at work. Although I should note that scary really isn’t the word. More so, different I guess since people I am used to working with are all leaving. What is exciting is that new people are coming in. I will miss my old friends and colleagues at work. September 30th will be decision day, we shall see what happens!
More to come soon!
Back from my Manitoulin Island trip which was — greeeeeeeeat!
Now on to California! Okay… so i’m busy. But there’s lots of good news coming soon. I shouldn’t say “good” per se, but it is big news!
See you all in a week or so!
So … I am finally near to completely recovering from whatever bug i got. I’m not sure what I had, but it sure was a pain. Now it’s time to get back on track. However, I am a little lost. Once again, I am hit with the same road block that I have faced … where am I? where do I want to go? what do I want to do?
Obstacle #1: Long-term planning - what a damn annoying pain. Because of good old long-term planning, I am constantly reminded of the fact that I have to make sure that I will have a roof over my head in a couple years. What a bugger…
Obstacle #2: Freedom vs. Career-building. Perhaps I can consider this one of my weaknesses or strengths? Some say you must pay your dues before actually being able to do what you truly want to do. Others say its how you build and gain experience. Is it impatience that is causing some of my frustration and need to break free? Is it simply the way of an inexperienced 20-something-year-old? Or is it truly an internal demand for the freedom to achieve a goal or objective?
Obstacle #3: Generalist or Specialist? I guess it is one of my greatest accomplishments and downfalls, both at the same time. My ability to be flexible and adaptive makes me a great generalist, I find unconventional ways to do things and utilize a combination of different skills to attain my objective. I have to learn on the spot on how to do some things but once I figure it out, everything is quick and easy. However, a specialist could probably do that from the start with no problems. There are a lot of things I am interested in and I just never stop learning. However, should I be focusing on one thing?
So despite these obstacles, I continue to putter along. I don’t know what will happen, but I do know that in the future, I need to focus my attention on Wandering Enterprises. Perhaps this 25-year-old is young, very likely inexperienced and naive about the world … but if there’s three things I definitely have on my side, it is a dream, a belief and the people who support me. Already… the foundation is set, now we just have to see how much time it takes to lay the bricks.
yup… i’m sick… ugh…again! This is the second summer I’ve been sick! Phooey…
Well… this is a little late…but yes…yesterday was Canada’s 139th birthday! It is a little odd to me that Confederation took place in 1867 a mere few days before Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. I wonder if that was purposeful or was there every intention of doing that? Regardless, it is fascinating to review the past of Canada. Perhaps to the many unfortunate people under the obsession over European history (and of course I don’t mean that in any disrespect…), the fact that we are a very young country makes studying our history so exciting. The fact that we technically free from the bonds of thousands of years of nation-like history means we have the freedom and flexibility to set our own course. Sure, all Canadians have a different background and have family roots drawing upon a great history, however it is not too frequent that Canadians (hyphenated or non-hyphenated) can define their own identity.
Every part of our country continues to push for a permanent piece of that overall Canadian identity, but is there a rush? Not really … the running joke is that Canada’s got snow, beavers and maple syrup (and any other Canadian-ism you can think of…) but beyond that are a people who are thriving in different regions of the country and have an amazing capacity for growth. The only thing that holds us back, continues to be our lack of identity which is an insecurity of our own, but more importantly … the unwillingness to truly understand other regions and our own fear of taking a chance in truly collaborating to create better policies for all Canadians. Of course since we’re all in an uproar over the fact that we either are giving too much money to another region or we’re not receiving enough … we forget the bigger picture. At the same time, politicians end up following our example in order to appease the electorate. While I don’t speak much about my previous work, my brief stint at the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs and my continual study of intergovernmental relations in Canada (despite the fact that i’m no longer working in government) continues to indicate to me why there is a strong federal government in Canada. The Council of the Federation proposed and created by Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec, in 2003 has yet to really form a collaborative front versus the federal government. Perhaps once we can figure out our own identity, provinces and its peoples may truly work together for one another’s benefit. Then again, I am an optimist and idealist…
So where am I going with this exactly? Well, I am doing a little soul-searching of my own. I am not sure where i’m going, but that never really bothered me. What has been bothering me is my understanding of myself … I am still unsure of who I am or rather who I should be, if that is even possible. I guess I am fascinated with Canadian history because it is literally a reflection of myself, living contradictions to the extreme, nation-wide misunderstandings and constant internal conflicts. And thus continues my identity crisis!
What keeps me an optimist? an idealist? … ideas … freedom … nature … and travelling !
I stayed inside most of this weekend because it was just too damn gosh darn hot. So I decided to watch a number of movies and television episodes on DVD ranging from The Apartment with Jack Lemmon to my favourite television series Quantum Leap. I watched a few episodes of Kids of Degrassi as well. I absolutely love seeing Toronto back in the 70s and 80s and I get a kick out of seeing the old ugly yellow police cars that Toronto used to have. I also decided to order Tommy Boy - Holy Schnike Edition on DVD because oddly enough, I really enjoy seeing that movie over and over again. It really gives me a sense of “warm freedom”. What is “warm freedom”? Well … it is simply the feeling of being free and adventurous. You may ask … “okay fine. Then what is ’cool or cold freedom’?” … my response: I’ll get back to you on that because I haven’t thought it through!
So I have finally changed www.wanderingaround.ca to the official website for Wandering Enterprises. Which will becoming the official holding company for all the projects and ventures that my friends and I have been and will be initiating. What an exciting era!
I am also sitting down to focus on designing a website for a couple of fashion designers behind the label: Fashion Psychology. It definitely will be a challenge since I am still working on the Myopic Sheep - Book Review website, other projects as well as daytime work at Dundurn. Which reminds me that I am happy to report that things are good at Dundurn (or at least I think they are…) tomorrow things’ll begin to roll. I set out a marketing plan for Dundurn but at the same time, marketing plans take time to take effect so we shall see what happens. Maybe this will influence the final decision on whether or not I stay at the end of September? Who knows!? Oh well, regardless of what happens … my time at Dundurn has been a great experience and I have enjoyed it greatly. Its been one of my best experiences in terms of working for a company.
[ON ANOTHER NOTE: This entry was supposed to be published yesterday but in the middle of typing, my keyboard of 6 years passed away. May it rest in peace. My old keyboard served me very well throughout the good and bad times from 2000 - 2006. I hope you go to keyboard heaven. *sniff*]
oops… i forgot C. So aside from that… i have not a whole lot of time today. In fact, not a whole lot of time this weekend! Tomorrow is Book Expo Canada and Dundurn has a booth there showcasing all our many different books. There is a growing discontent among publishers with the effectiveness of Book Expo Canada serving as a purely industry oriented trade show. It is true I guess that a lot of money is spent on showcasing a publisher’s books and everything is merely for booksellers to view the latest books and meet the authors. While I can see how a personable approach is important to the industry, I think ultimately the money spent on Book Expo Canada just does not provide enough return to justify the expense. Since I have entered the industry only recently, I can see a lot of the business is oriented around booksellers and I can see how it is vital to the industry. That being said, I believe publishers also need the freedom to decide upon alternative methods of reaching the customer. Being restricted to an industry event is unhealthy, perhaps the book publishers and sellers can reach the compromise of splitting up the days for industry people and days that would be open to the public. There is a lot more work, but ultimately … it may be beneficial for all stakeholders and the end consumer is looked after. Okay … that is enough of talk about that!
Projects are coming along. No progress reports today! Too busy!
There is however something with me. At times, I feel introverted and at others, extroverted. This flipflopping is rather odd, especially when working. I know who I am, but I guess trying to configure the appropriate introvert-extrovert setting for the work environment takes some experimentation. Better ponder some more on this thought…
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