Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Other things I’ve been doing


Technically a lot of this has been things I have been watching.

I think taking the online classes has helped me get better about finding ways to work in things I want to watch. The first two MOOCs I took had introductory videos, and then some interviews, but most of the material was reading comics and articles, and then writing on discussion boards. The other classes have been a lot more video lecture style, with less reading.

As I have found ways to fit the class videos into my day, I have also found it easier to incorporate other things I have been meaning to watch. That has included documentaries about school re-segregation, the Italian American immigrant experience, the lost stories of early black settlers in Canada, pollution in Detroit, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the MOVE bombing in West Philly, and even a collaboration between David Byrne and Bryan Eno.

There are a lot of thoughts and feelings about most of those, and so they may come into other writing. Right now they are just expanding my background understanding of how everything fits together. I still feel like there is this process of coiling up for a launch, but if it never becomes something dramatic, and is just me learning more and growing more over time, that has merit.

I do see how things are going in different phases. A lot of these things have been on my list for a long time, but I had to finish the month of reading screenplays first, or I had to finish the classes.

There is some relief in seeing old items checked off, but then new items join them. For example, I finally wrote out a card to my friend in Poland, and have it stamped and addressed. I have been meaning to do that since she sent me a Christmas card in 2013. I have finally written my letter to University of Oregon telling them how disappointed I am with them for going after a rape victim’s therapy records to use in their defense against mishandling the rape case. I got the information on upcoming activities out to two single adults I’d been meaning to write to. At the same time, now I find that I really need to write to people involved with “Grimm” and express my feelings about how they are losing their way. I have some notes.

I have written to the two people whom I know have read my un-reviewed books and asked them to post reviews on Amazon. (The Family Blood one just went up!) I still need to go over the ideas that KDP itself provides, which will probably at least mean posting previews on Goodreads.

I have sent a link to the Out of Step screenplay to Derek Hough after feeling like I should do that. I sent it via both Facebook and Twitter, neither of which will necessarily be effective, but I didn’t know how else to do it. (http://studios.amazon.com/projects/59569, by the way.)

Sometimes it’s exhilarating, and sometimes it’s discouraging, but in general I feel like there is forward momentum. Some things need to wait, and that can be okay assuming you are setting the right calls when you prioritize. I hope I am.

Things I am still working on:
  • Contacting all of the single adults in the ward. There are 44 left out of 115, and all the easy ones have already been done. This is one where you just have to do a few at a time.
  • Learn more about the anti-inflammatory diet, but coconut oil has already been incorporated for dementia. There are some other anti-dementia tasks I need to look at, but there is a bigger issue there that I am not ready to write about yet.
  • Learn more about chakras.
  • Read the full version of Ta-Nehisi Coates “The Case For Reparations” (I have read a shorter version.)
  • Write to my Plan kids.
  • Go through this list of accounts that haven’t been active for a while and check on them. That will be another “Pace yourself” one.
  • Organize the temple names.
  • Create a vision board. I feel it will help.

There are some other documentaries that I have on my list to watch, but I think I will save them for a lead-in to my Native American Heritage reading, which I think I will start in about six weeks.

What is magical about that six weeks? And what about writing new stuff? Good questions! I shall answer them on the blog Monday, but first, there will be music reviews of Hammy Havoc and Loose Logic (apparently this week is unusually alliterative), then Padova on the travel blog, and I am not sure about the Provident Living blog yet, but I think I might start some posts about living as a disciple.

For now, if you would like some videos to watch….

The Bombing of West Philly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eHpRjxk7N4

Coming up:
http://news.nationalpost.com/silent-no-more

No comments:

Post a Comment