If You Don't Keep Your Feet

It's been a while. So what's the point in coming back?

1.Going full circle.
2. New perspectives of the beginning and where you are now.
3. Never leave something incomplete.

Really, that's three ways of saying nearly the same thing.

Returning to the beginning always brings fresh perspectives which, when you're deep in an adventure, whether it's physical travel, a mental goal post or something else entirely, it's very easy to forget about where you are going. Your feet get swept off.

In other words; sometimes you are so close to a particular situation (your life) that you cannot see where the road is going, or where you actually want it to go, or where you had originally intended it to go.

Since I last wrote I've had a bit of that. Loosing my feet, getting some perspective, going back to the beginning (when I went home for a visit) and loosing my feet some more, getting more perspective and currently still existing in a state of slightly lost feet as the clock ticks on this particular experience.

I've been calling myself a writer and a photographer for a long time now. People give me envious looks. They cheer me on for being a creative individual. (As if it's some sort of select cult that only those with an intrinsic gene can enter. Ha. I'm creative because I like expressing myself differently and I've done it long enough I've had oodles of practice). 

Yesterday I just told someone I am an imaginist. As in, my job, my career, my life. All in one. They looked at me oddly but with envy again.

The ability to freely choose your identity, your time, your life. That's the ultimate for all people (dictated by society to keep us unsatisfied), and yet, very few ever step onto the road and let themselves get lost in the imagination, the wonder, the "who knows what will happen next week or next month."

Letting go of your feet is one of the most frightening things you can do. And this is coming from someone who has only done that halfway. To fully let go of your feet, letting go of friends, family, home and belongings for a time or longer would be more true to that way of life but, despite the ultimate (dictated by society to keep us unsatisfied) belief of freedom to choose your identity, time and life, you really don't, and don't want to, because certain things exist, such as cars, buses, trains, airplanes, theatres, restaurants, parks, pools, books, films, chocolate and computers, that most would not give up.

Thus one must play into ladder of employment, of government documented identity and a life rotated around mental misery because "freedom" and "happiness" are untangible and definitely individual ideals but also, ones which, if you've been born into society, you'll inevitably be influenced by the definitions which society formulates. Even if you scoff at the current ideal of "high-paying job, marriage, car, house, kids" thing which has been around since the early 20th century.

Oh please. All of that is desperately passé. Also, it's the 21st century. 'Bout time we made our own ideal. And it's there. A bit. Struggling along with most of us millenials who saw the lives of older generations and put our feet down. With a stomp.

Thing is, all that stomp is still very much just the moon rune riddle on a map. Not even the map itself, let alone a decent trail.

The first step is solving that riddle.

Start by testing your limits. How far can you give things up? What can you give up? How much control do you want over your freedom, identity and life?

Freedom being defined here as: The ability to create a living.
Identity being defined here as: The overall image you associate yourself with. (Yes we all wear different hats, but ultimately, everyone can boil their identity down to one word which encompasses all the hats. Try thinking of emotive language, of active language; a maker, an inventor, a saver, a helper, a planner etc).
Life being defined here as: The event you choose to make up each day, week, month and year.

Spend an hour this week making a list of all the things you could give up and all the things you could not. Give a reason for each.

Think too about what single word defines you. This is your job. This is what you are here to do and be. Not a chef, not a manager, not a lawyer, not a archivist, not a customer service agent or an artist. No, you are more than that.

You are also your feet. Take a look at where they have taken you this past year. It's autumn and nearing the best time of the year to curl up in a chair with a cup of tea. This time to reflect on where you have been and where you are going.

Don't let your doer feet get wild, don't let your inventor feet get distracted. Focus next on your freedom and life.
Can you create living with at least some of the events you fill your time with?
Do the other events support this living by expanding a part of your identity and freedom through knowledge, connections or other faucets?
Does frustration play into any of your answers? If so, why?
How will you cope with the frustration?
Where will you go from here?

Everything out there means something if you look at it hard enough but also, sometimes a leaf is just a leaf and the wind just blew it in a direction which made it hit your face.

When you step out your door today, don't be afraid to look away from your feet, but know that they will sweep you off toward directions you might never have planned for.

When you step into your door today, look down at your feet. Thank them and then get yourself a cup of tea, a writing implement and get on with drawing that map.

Moony

Liveliness: Visiting Inverness

I'm rather lagging with these "Visting" posts but I'll delve into the epic saga of recent days when it is relevant to general interest. In short form, it basically means I'll soon have a distinctive London theme to my topics.

For now, I do somewhat miss the northern skies of Inverness. It feels very much like it is on the edge of the world, mostly due to the fact it's quite flat and very spread out, despite most of the centre trundling alongside the River Ness.

Inverness Castle

If I had to describe Inverness in one word, I would say Inverness is a city of petrichor. It is both old and new, small and lanky. Dark and bright in its northern colours.

Three Reasons Why You Should Visit Inverness

1. The River Ness.

I stayed at a hostel which was more like a bed and breakfast it was so large, including new and expensive bathrooms and a kitchen. It was quite cheap per night and though it was half-term holiday, it was near empty. It also sat a half hours walk outside of the city. However, this half hours walk was my favourite part to every day, whether in the evening or the morning. The River Ness is one of the few which is actually quite fast running and thus it lives up to the oft used adverb in novels, "lively" when a river is being described. Furthermore it has some neat bridges which are lit up in the evenings making them look like rainbows arcing from one end to the other.

The Ness Islands, which also part of the River Ness walk are full of a Victorian feel, thanks to decorative footbridges which link the islands to mainlands and the gardens of planted greenery. Had it been a warm summer day I probably could have curled up on a tartan blanket and read a book under the shade of a sycamore.

2.  The Little Shops.

Okay, okay, nearly every town has a section, token or some form of little, local shops which are either vintage, new age or just plain stocked with hip creativity. Inverness is loaded with this, particularly the number of shops which also happen to be part of old buildings which make for a pleasant few hours wandering about. The Victorian Market for example is a lovely little alley mall originally built in the 1890s and apart from modern clothes and nick-nacks, you could almost still be wandering the path from back then. The nice part is that you can also see most of the main bits in a day. As a photographer, I can never get tired of old buildings, shops which will locate your ancestry, or the pubs. Love the pubs. There is a brilliant one called the Hootenanny which does Celtic music and dancing every evening. It's waiters are also quite happy to stop and chat about local legends and tales which I, being rather mythology obsessed was as happy to indulge in as the haggis and the carrot cake.

(Haggis by the way is rather reminscent of mousaka, a Greek dish of ground meats, potatoes, cheeses and other similar layers).

3. It's a town hub for smaller villages and day-trips.

On a simple note, it happens to be a hub from which you can easily trek out to Fort William, Castle Urquart, the Isle of Skye or to the Cairngorms National Park in just a few hours. All of those are brimming with epic mountain and moor vistas, punctuated with crumbling towers and blanketed with blue waters.

All in all, Inverness is one of those places you could see in a day, but the location is prime if you intend to do day-trips to all the nearby parks and heritage sites.

Moony.

If I Had

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love’s day.

~ from "To His Coy Mistress"

Andrew Marvell 1621 -1678 

Have you ever heard the phrase "had I but world enough and time"? I have. Not sure where though but it was circling through my head this morning as gray light slipped through the huge windows of my new home and I snuggled deeper under freshly washed sheets...only to have a list of potential things to do start running a marathon on the oval track of my brain. 

There is always so much to do, to see, to hear, to taste, to touch. I walk into grocery stores here and it's a struggle to decide what to go with in terms of one, being diverse and healthy, and two, keeping to a budget, and three, allowing myself treats but also ensuring I am trying new things so I can experience as much as possible. The same goes for what I do on a daily basis. Yes, most of my days are living at school since I get there for 6:30 and often don't leave, exhausted, until 6. By the time I am home I might have planning or marking to do, I squeeze in a bit of lazy reading and then I drop into bed, lately, near midnight. Especially, if I get asked if I want to go out for dinner, or come by for tea or whatever the case, and then things get shifted back or around even more. In my idealistic mind I figured every weekend I should aim to travel to somewhere for the weekend, but honestly, as a new teacher and an introvert who needs alone time, with just a book, not even random cafe strangers, in order to recharge, that probably won't happen. 

 I'm still going to try but what I am currently coming to grips with is the notion that we don't have eternity and nor is the world and giant place. Not that I really have a desire to see every single corner of it. Just certain parts. What I am learning currently is that, when you choose to move to somewhere to live, to live, even if it is to a new country that you want to explore and learn about, you are living there. That means factoring all those mundane and dull things that come with being human. Like sleeping, eating, having a disgustingly oily face by the end of a ten-twelve hour day because of the more humid climate or just having a personality that as much as your logical brain cannot shut and wants to keep going and going, your emotional side just wants to curl up in a corner with a comfortable book you have read before and smells like home. Currently I have my nose in Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" again. 

I have so many people in my list of connections now. Just skyping them all takes many hours. Plus I've begun making friends here and that too of course takes time. Then, I still haven't stopped my writing dreams, I still have plans to go out in early morning hours to photograph Bury St Edmunds without many people about, I have an ever building list of places to visit, Cambridge and Sutton Hoo being the closest and most present in my mind at the moment since i could day-trip them both which leaves me time to actually prep for my teaching job. Whoever says teaching is the most slack job because of all the time off does not realise how much effort goes into the job outside of the work hours you are paid for. Especially when you are new at it, have no experience or resources to draw from and yet you are expected to take on the same work load as an experienced teacher who has five or more years of resources to pick from. 

But maybe, maybe, we need to do not what Andrew Marvell suggests, which is to take time to think about what we will fill our days with, but to just do things on spontaneity, to not judge our choices as good or bad. If we need a day to recharge. We need a day. The point is that we are making a choice and we need to wholeheartedly believe in that choice. 

The challenge is when you wish to do great things but your idea of great things measures up to the individuals who are buried in places like the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. It's at this point in the teeter totter of your mind I remember Andrew Marvell who I didn't know, let alone did I attribute him to this poem or the line this post is centred around until I looked it up out of mild curiousity about a year ago and I've heard the phrase "if I had world enough and time" (which is really not even very accurate) thrown about for much longer than that. 

It tells me that whatever I do, however I do it, this blog for example even, will go out into the world, it'll be some words among trillions, some thoughts among billions, one life among ten million years worth. So, really, then, what does it matter what I do, so long as I do something. 

After all. I am here aren't I? Here on Earth. Living. Breathing. Writing all this right now. 

Here's another saying for you. An idiom: "the devil's in the details." 

Berry details on a walk through a nature reserve in Bury St Edmunds.

I see that as meaning life is in the details. The good, the bad, the little, the big, the sideways bits that don't ever actually turn out how we envisioned. I encourage you to spend today looking at things with a magnifying glass (whether you wish it to be metaphorical or not is up to you) and you'll see your life in the things you spend time with. It is in the seconds you take to enjoy your toast in the morning. Just your toast. Not your toast with your newspaper or your phone or your prep for work or while you are running scattily toward your transit vehicle. Your life with be the sum of many parts. It is neither good nor bad nor sideways. It is life. It keeps going no matter how many times you sit down to think about which way you are going to walk into order to best pass the time which is delegated to day cycle of this planet. 

If had we world enough and time, I would suggest we kept our ears opened and did whatever we desired during every second that passed us by. It might be watching tv, reading a book, listening to music, walking, biking, sleeping, eating, visiting with friends or family, scrolling through websites or wandering through isles of clothes. 

Whatever it is. Enjoy the details of this life. You've just got one. 

Moony.

Being Between

So happy lately. So happy. The funny thing about moving to a new country and being stuck in a transient state of not really belonging in the tourist class or the permament resident class is that you start living in the moment and when you don't get your bank information when you were meant to, or you were so busy drolling over a plaque denoting the place where Charles Dickens lived or biking about Hyde Park and drinking ginger beer with a some-level of cousin you never met before, who is actually close to your age even, and you forget to call your agency to see if your online banking codes came through...well, you don't stress.

Instead, you laugh, until you choke, over John Finnemore's epic preview of the next series of the Souvenir Programme and you sneak around side alley's and corner courtyards, snapping random photos at people's pretty flats and then you find yourself walking down a street and you wonder why it feels like you just walked into a t.v. show. Then you see Speedy's Cafe and the door for 221b and then you go in. Permanent grin glued and the local construction workers on tea out front stare at you as you go past with a springy step. Yeah, so what if I am just one in a million femal 20-somethings who is now frequenting your favourite local spot, take it up with the BBC.

It's London. There are people everywhere. I was sitting on a park bench in Russell Square Gardens (yes, that also features in Sherlock) and no other than the slightly creepy Timothy Spall, also known as Peter Pettigrew of Harry Potter fame, walks past with his nose buried in one of the newspapers that get passed around outside all entrances/exits to the Underground.

Being between means you get to try new things but also have to be careful of new things. I've got a giant list of foodstuffs I need to try eventually and already tested a few just out of pure amusement.

Why isn't this in Canada?! We already have almost maple-flavour everything?

I also have a giant list of places to visit, despite doing a walking tour that hit nearly every big spot, plus getting a freew pass into the centre of the text-based media world and also got a free view of the city just as good as the pounds one might spend getting on up the Shard literally next door. The same goes with shops. I tried almost every day to walk into an old bookstore. To no avail. But that's life. Especially when you are in between and find yourself slipping into Westminster Abbey during a service (because that means you can go in for free) and feeling massively out of place because you find much of the sermon a bit silly in the terms of your personal views of the somethings and everythings in the Universe while also feeling like you are drowning in a sea of uncomprehending minisculism. You are one tiny human being under a lot of stone, under a lot of years. At least 500 to be exact. That also means a lot of people. A lot of events. Oh, and watch out when you step on top of Winston Churchill, or John Donne.

It's at this moment when you understand why heroes in adventure stores don't sit down and scream and rant, or cry and run away when they are faced with their entire known world getting turned up like a turnip patch during harvest time. They are not out-of-character. They are more in character than any of us can realise, until we too, are in the same situation.

When you are faced with things so bizarre, so different, or just a general sequence of events which is out of your ordinary to-do, you take it in stride. You do what you have to, just to see the end of the day.
You might not understand why. Or how. Or what the flip is going on. And you are most definitely entirely scared out of your head.

But at least you are out of your head. You aren't dreaming anymore. You are doing something. You are doing many big somethings. You are the hero in your own adventure story.

So, on that note, I entreat you, to stumble out ye olde farme doore (and include lots of "e's" just to throw things off even more) and to stand between the world known and the world unknown.

Take a deep breath, dive in. But don't forget your towel.

Just keep swimming.
Moony.

The Best Way to Choose Your Own Adventure

Welcome to the distant land called Adventure. Occasionally it's just in your head. That's an adventure too.

 
In the short-ish life of this blog this has probably been the longest I've gone without rambling away with something on here that might provide curious insight at the very least to you all.

It's probably going to happen a lot more (at least for the recent future). I've got a potential job floating about. It's currently very nebulous but it's certainly been an adventure and will continue to be for the foreseeable future as it involves living in another country for at least a year, for starters. It's taught me quite a bit about going for things, and a bit like those yellowy old "choose your own adventure" books that were in my elementary school. So let me tell you my half of the story so some context can be applied to my reasonings behind how best to take hold of your own adventure and future.


The Call to Adventure:
Unexpected phone calls at odd hours. Unexpected meetings. Unexpected tragedies. Unexpected celebrations. Unexpected deers jumping into your path.

Notice those. Immediately. If you breezed past them. Back up now, either literally, if it was a person, or phone call, or if it was a one-time event, just go to your memory.

The Door. Crossing the Threshhold:

That unexpected thing just opened a door. Walk through it. Dive through it. Roll through it. I don't care how, just get your bottom off your couch and go through it. That is my advice as your personal wise Wizard with a pointy stick (staff). 

Tests, Ordeals, Possibly a Death of Some Sort:

Cheers for going through the door. Things aren't all robot rainbow unicorns though. You've got a monkey barrel of tests, possibly lots of paperwork, using acting skills that you don't actually have because employers sometimes need to see an image before they see you. You might screw something up. Fantastically. A great big bomb of a boom because you pulled out the red wire instead of the blue one.

Okay. Breath. Sit back. Make lots and lots of lists. You might go through a metaphorical death, maybe there will be a literal death somewhere (and I give you a pre-emptive hug if that is the case). It'll pass. You might not have talking eagles at your beck and call to help out when your stuck between a warg and a tree, but you'll figure it out. Make lists. What's important to you? What steps need to be done to get there?

Reward! You Got the Sword!:

Yay! You passed all your trials. You got the job. You got the house. The boyfriend. The barrel of monkeys. The raise, the book deal, the green-lit script. Breath. Relax. Trust. Enjoy. Unlike Joseph Campbell's tidy hero cycle, this current reality has a set of Physics rules that dictate you'll have a new set of trials and adventures and all that. Sort of like mini cycles within a cycle. But hey, the world's round, so it does make logical sense that our lives are going to be like that too.

Return:

Your adventure is going to be over at some point and you'll probably go visit whoever lived with or around you before you got the Call to Adventure. This is a chance to go thank them for putting up with you during that period when you were miserable and didn't realize all you needed was to stop hiding and just grab on to an adventure. You'll also probably realize you're really different and probably not happy back in that old place anymore.

That's okay. You've grown. Your a hero. You are living an adventure. It's called life.

Aren't you glad you listened to that wise Wizard with the pokey stick (staff)?

Navigating an adventure to other lands on Earth.
Moony.

How to Take over the Universe in Ten Steps: A Guidebook

If you are reading this then I am sure you have made the attempt to take control of some aspect of your life or another. Maybe you decided to play the floor tuba or dyed your pet badger the colours of the rainbow. Maybe you just rock out to 1812 or Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in your old car. Maybe you wear brightly coloured socks or blow your bubble gum large enough to lift a hot-air balloon basket. Whatever your normal may be, rule number one to taking over the Universe is shouting it out to the world. 

Now, I know this is meant to be a guidebook but seriously, when is there anything that anyone does the same? I mean, we don't all look the same or act the same so why do people write guidebooks to help people solve the same problem in the same way? It just isn't done. So before you waste your time reading any further, if you are looking for a guidebook that tells you how to be like everybody else. 

Stop. Being an evil overlord or creator of a new world, you can't be run-of-the-mill, or else all your mill workers will simply go on strike and find somewhere else to be stepped on. (Also, if you are going to be an overlord you don't have the time to waste on reading how-to books. Thus I have condensed this into a short list to enable access to your optimal conquering abilities).

Shouting from the Rock of the Universe. (An important daily activity).

Step One: Find yourself a Name.

Madame Director, Moony Dreamer, Moony Director, Eltara Moondancer. Richard the Lionheart, Tyrant Lord of All, Richard the Third. O Blue One, Imaginist, The Storyteller, Super Sleuth etc.

Step Two: Find yourself a Sidekick or Sidekicks and Make a Base.

Luna, Ninja, Balthinemore, Pickle, Skunks, Fred and Ted, Bee, Boswell etc. The multi-dimensional hot air balloon: The Rock-It Ship. The Tower Library. A moving castle, an airship that is a moving castle, a throne etc...

Battle for The Music.

Step Three: Find yourself some Allies.

This is where you need a list making device to record who might be on your side.

Step Four: Find yourself some Enemies. Also, Arch-enemies.

This is where you realize a lot of people have it in for you. 

Step Five: Blow something Up.

Preferably something innocuous like a coffee shop. If you don't it is possible you will experience Step Six. If you do follow my suggestion for Step Five you probably will still experience Step Six but it may fall under the second interpretation of "meltdown."

Step Six: Have a Major Meltdown.

1. Meltdown may be interpreted as realizing you've been duped by your allies, measly underlings or enemies. You now need A Change of Plans. You're emotions equal that of a rabbit of negative euphoria.

2. Meltdown may also be interpreted as realizing you've got all the cards in your hands with awesome allies, useful underlings and stupefied enemies. What to do next? You now need a New Plan. You're emotions equal that of a rabbit of star-circling headaches.  

Step Seven: Start Small. Start Subtle.

If you fell under 1. of Step Five, no worries. Step Seven is here to remind you. Start Small! Blow up another coffee shop in another corner. Then, blow up a laundromat. Maybe blow up the post-office. Domino effect your plans to bigger and bigger buildings.

If you fell under 2. of Step Five, again, no worries. Becoming the Ruler of the Universe takes time. Just keep going at the Small Stuff. Eventually you will domino effect your way onto some large structures like H&M stores or scheming banker offices.

Step Eight: Have a Change of Plans.

You're getting bored. Probably. Try something new. Maybe develop some cool mind-control devices. Stick something in the local fast food stores (well, more than whatever chemicals already exist in them).

Step Nine: Reboot the Universe.

Yay! Congratulations. You have reached the status of Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Now, where did that Big Green Button Go? Press it. It means Start-up. You get to re-start the Universe to suit your dreams and desires. Maybe one day you will make it into the Ruler of the Universe Hall of Fame. 

The Moon is always Full in this Universe.

Step Ten: Have Fun. Just Dance.

This is self-explanatory. Yes? I hope so. If not. Get out of here. You obviously do not have the makings of a Ruler of the Universe if you don't know how to have fun or dance. 

Want to be a minion? You'll get an airship.

***

Alright. So aside from having fun scribbling that list off, for those of you who require sensible explanations, that is what this section is for. 

Taking over the Universe is, at heart, just a more interesting way of saying you are moving in the direction of your dreams. 

You are growing your confidence. Step by step you continue experimenting with ways to reach your dream, or, if you have yet to figure out what your dream is, experimenting is a way to find that out too. 

Yes, there are mistakes, there are moments when you accidently blow up the coffee shop you like to visit (ie: whatever you were striving for); people let you down, you let yourself down and you have to back-up and start over again. 

You revaluate your situation, your resources and your dream/s.

You begin again. Never letting go of the intrinsic confidence in yourself that says you are meant to rule your universe. You are the protagonist in your own story, the leading actor in your life play, you are the Supreme Commander of Your Reality. 

Make it count. Don't just try. See it. Watch it. Feel it. Taking control of the universe is a lot of work. It's going to take time. 

In the wise words of Dori, "just keep swimming." 
(Source: Finding Nemo)

One of the best forms of transportation.

Usually mysterious, generally odd, with a fedora and curls.

Moony.


© Alyssa Rae Reynolds and Moony, 2014.