Alphabetti

One of the first rules of life that we learn as children is "don't play with your food!" Eventually after much harassing from our parents we learn that the dinner table is not the place for that sort of fun. We sit up straight and learn how to twirl spaghetti, cut chicken and use chopsticks.
Ironically playing with food is so much fun! For some it is a visual organizational game based on colours and textures while others blow bubbles in their milk while making mashed potato forts.
This particular game requires intellect, creativity, good spelling and a can or two of Alphabetti soup. This organized Alphabetti competition required its participants to write an uplifting phrase from a can of soup. Perhaps playing with your food is not so bad?

A Week in Japan

What does a week long vacation in Japan look like in 4,000 photos? Mike Matas took almost 4,000 photos and turned them into a stop motion video to illustrate his travels. The food, people and places come to life in a series of still photographs that manages to capture the pure essence of daily life.
I love everything about this video and hop that you take a few minutes out of your day to watch it!

One Week In Japan from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

Missed Connections

One of the most fascinating things about humanity are the connections that tie us together. Whether it is a quick glance from a stranger or the embrace of a childhood friend we are constantly making connections.
Spohie Blackall has been illustrating these interactions prompted by Craigslist's Missed Connections forum. Missed Connections is where people post about their meaningful interactions hoping that perhaps they may be reunited with their mystery person. It is sweet and bitter all at the same time and provides a unique perspective on humanity and its relationships. Sophie's illustrations are personable and detailed giving you a peek into each of her character's stories. Inspired by love lost and found, her illustrations bring New York City's Missed Connections to life.

Handmade Portraits: Sophie Blackall from Etsy on Vimeo.

Visit her Etsy shop to see more of her work!
www.etsy.com/shop/sophieblackall

Some Thoughts on Pain

It has come to my attention that I don't know how it feels not to be in pain. I am not writing this to complain about my life because I know it could be much worse. I don't have an incurable disease and my pain does not completely inhibit me from participating in life, but it is there all the time.

I started this relationship with pain when I was 16 and dancing as many hours as I could in a day. The pain was only really apparent when I was dancing so I chose to ignore it and continue to work my ass off. Gradually it became more unbearable and I began to medicate with advil at night to take down the inflammation in my hips and back.

For the past two years I have been experiencing chronic back pain. Chronic pain has its own separate category. Chronic pain follows you around daily never leaving your side. Some days I can almost ignore it and other days it has me curled up in the fetal position with tears streaming down my face begging for mercy. I can't take drugs for it because they destroy my digestive track so I have had to learn to manage it. This chronic situation prevents me from walking long distances, standing for periods of time and dancing every day the way I would like. That said I do walk sometimes and dance as much as my back allows me so it isn't completely debilitating.

I just wish I knew what it was like to wake up feeling good. I wish I could stand and walk across the room without feeling discomfort, and of course I wish I could do some walkovers and huge back bends. How would I feel if I didn't feel pain. What if I could take my common excuse, "oh, I can't because of my back" out of my vocabulary?

Life would be beautiful for sure but there is something I have learned from all this agony. I have learned to appreciate and live in the moment. When I'm in pain I approach it as a challenge, something to overcome. I take a bath or lay in bed reading and try to appreciate the moment for everything that it is both good and bad. Chronic pain is part of my life and although I am occasionally overwhelmed, I have come to accept this.

The biggest thing that chronic pain has changed for me is the way I approach dance. I used to take it for granted and push my body towards perfection every single day despite what injuries were acting up, but these days I am so grateful for every plie and develope. When I dance I move like it is my last day dancing and I do it for me. I do it for the little girl that wanted so badly to be a ballerina. Every time I dance, I dance for her.

Pot hole Gardner

Growing up I spent many hours playing with my doll house and all of the miniature furniture in it. Creating my own little world was always a treat. The Pothole Gardner does just that out in busy city streets, creating small gardens in cracked pavement and pot holes. Sometimes it is just a rose bush in the cracked cement and other times small shrubs are accompanied by miniature furniture creating a small haven.
As a social experiment it is interesting to hear feedback from people passing by. I love how these gardens brighten up the streets creating small oasis in unexpected places, however they are not very practical and are unlikely to make it through the week. I commend the Pot hole Gardner for their innovative ideas and short term gardens that bring a little novelty to the world.
Watch this segment from their documentary "Holes of Happiness" to see the joy that these miniature worlds bring!

What if The World was Perfect?

If the world was perfect there would be no war, hunger, disease or poverty. It would be sunny most days but snow on Christmas eve and everyone would have access to food, water, shelter and a cell phone and computer.

But what does perfect really mean? I constantly find myself trying to attain what I deem as perfection in my dancing, art and basic life. I know it is unattainable but I desperately want to be as close as possible. To be perfect is to be "entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings." This sounds like a pretty amazing ideal but like communism it doesn't work in the real world. If we were all perfect we would all get along, never disagreeing or starting an argument. Would there be no difference of opinion? If we never got sick would we appreciate our health? or maybe that appreciation would be part of our perfect world.

I could dissect these things for days but as much as I love the idea of perfection I have come to love so many imperfect things in life. I still strive for perfect technique in dance but I have found with my paintings that some of my 'mistakes' turn out to be beautiful works of art. Mistakes lead us to solve problems and force us to think differently about our situations.

Sometimes the real beauty of life lies in our disagreements and struggles. They are what make us unique in all of our imperfection. I still think the world could strive to be a little more perfect but today I am going to enjoy my less than perfect life and hope you do the same.