Oh, Hello There

After a week of being pretty badly hit by the cold making its way around Vancouver, I kept much more to myself on my birthday weekend than I’d planned to. The weather has been lousy, and I realized I wasn’t as flush with cash as I was hoping, so I figured I’d keep it simple.

Case in point, among the other exciting happenings of my life, in a few minutes I plan to empty out my refrigerator. I’ve been buying way too much way too infrequently of late, and it’s an ass-backward way to live a culinary life. Food has been on my mind this weekend because, well, I’ve been avoiding shopping. As a result, I’ve started thinking of how this can be a good thing.

So, deep in thought all weekend, I’ve decided to simplify my life in a number of ways, in keeping with returning to the old job and all. The biggest of simplifications will be in regards to food. I’m going to return to the Slow Food movement and start taking the time to pop in to the local markets a couple times a week and be inspired to create fresh foods, rather than trying to take the easiest way out. I want to really cook again. It’s such a great way to add meaning and dimension to your life. There’s food, then there’s soul food, then there’s food for the soul. Slow Food refers to the latter two.

The Slow lifestyle’s
something that really appeals to me. (Read “In Praise of Slow” by Carl Honore.) I wanna be totally present in the here and now. You hear people talking about living their “best” lives, and it all sounds like so much new age bullshit sometimes. But they’re onto something.

Me, I’ve taken the most important step. I’ve quit the big fancy job with the nifty title and no down time in order to take the pressure-free, life-balanced job. Now I’ve spent my slacker weekend setting the groundwork for something I hope to bring me even greater work-life balance, my self-employment scheme. I’ve come up with a company name and spent my weekend working on personal branding and designed all the graphics that go with such things — business card, letterhead, invoices. It and looks pretty polished. Now I need to spend a week or two getting the rest of my life feeling a little bit more polished to go with. My home needs to be more Zen so I can make better use of my time and work smarter, not harder, as I try to get my life back under my own two thumbs.

The next several months will still be transitional. There are a few ways I see my life going, and I’m hopefully setting the stage for good things, but the only way we’ll know is when it all comes down the pipes. Life’s more fun when it’s unexpected, so I’m just trying to keep an open mind, ‘cos the whole controlling-everything thing wasn’t really working out for me, so…

Anyhow. Here’s how I’ve spent my birthday weekend, I guess… pondering what is and what might come to be, and trying to set a little something in motion towards that end.

Y’know, I’d have thought I’d have had it much more together than this back when I thought of what “34” would one day mean, possibly in my late teens. And, it’s weird, but as much as it’d be nice to have a nice, firm, predictable and together life… it’s kind of cool to know I’m just as open to adventures as I was a decade and a half ago, if not a little more so. Getting older’s mostly all about me not taking myself as seriously as I once did. I still have work to do on that, but it’s all good. What I do know is, being single, kidless, and mortgage-free, I sure as hell have nothing to lose. I’m just trying to think of what kinda license that gives me and what I oughta do with it. What fun.