Freelance fun day

Finally, the only day in my life where I feel like my life might have any sort of purpose or meaning is here.

Freelance day. It only happens once every 2 weeks.

The ideal lifestyle.

I get up at 9 and get ready to cycle to the office. I start at 10 at the office which is in central Amsterdam.

I grab a coffee, get briefed by my editor and then get left alone to write about the arts all day.

Sublime.

Australia Day

9:30 Standing at De Clerqstraat tram stop

9:40 Amsterdam Centraal Station, boarding Regional train to Brussels Airport

12:33 Receive sms invitation to go out to Cocos Outback bar tonight. (Amsterdam's only Australian bar.)

13:15 Car ride to Northern European office

13:56 Eating Starbucks chicken salad waiting for 2pm meeting to commence

15:08 Heated discussion with Northern European Marketing Director

15:40 Running to catch train back to Amsterdam

15:56 Dissecting heated discussion with Northern European Marketing Director with fellow colleague over Belgian Waffles with Nutella at Brussels Central Station

17:12 Discover Triple J hottest 100 winner is Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know".
("You're just somebody that I used to know.") Realise Gotye is originally Belgian and I am spending Australia day in Belgium.

18:30 Decline invitation to Cocos. After being accused of being "Unaustralian", send a prompt response by retorting " But I can listen to "You're the voice" at full volume and eat lamb sausages at my house without the sweaty backpackers and horny dutch girls trampling on me..." (Based on 2011 experience of Australia Day at Cocos)

19:10 Tram 13 home, debating if I should be going out.

19:55 Hot shower, ugg boots, laptop.

Goodnight Australia.

Anticipating!

image by Mark Mawson

I am so freaking excited about 2012, I have no idea why.

I just am. I can't stop smiling today.

2011 wasn't a particularly bad year for me. It was actually very good to me.

Weird to think I'm not smiling because the year is over, but because I'm looking forward to the future.

I formed a really strong bond with a great bunch of friends, and I kept my job and therefore my visa to live in Europe.

I travelled a lot, and saw a lot of new places on the planet.

I went home and saw my family and friends and had a lot of nice realisations about my life.

I didn't get slapped in the face with any obviously hard lessons this year, just some gentle reminders.

Here are my resolutions this year:

- Be more responsible. I want my finances to be in check and also my health. And I want to be reliable, so when I say I'll do something, someone can rely on me to do that. Turning up on time to things is a good start.

- Quit the social smoking. Blagh. It's going to be tough, but I want to live for a long time and be around to accomplish some great things.

- Lose weight before I go home in March.

- Plan time for exercise and passion projects. (See resolution number 1 to understand why this is important.)

- Be more selective about who I interact with and what projects I decide to take on. It's all about quality and not quantity this year.

BOOYAH!

I hope 2012 blossoms into a phenomenal year!

Happy New Year!! xxx

Kids with jobs

“The most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children”

- Jim Henson


Late twenties and early thirties... and We are just kids. With jobs. And that makes us awesome.

I'd like to be the kid that got to market this as their job.

TomTom records Bert and Ernie's navigation voices from AmsterdamAdBlog on Vimeo.

A sign

I got something in my inbox today, which I am going to classify as a sign.

If I told you what it was, it would sound really weird and geeky.

I shouldn't pretend that I am neither of those things but some things are just too strange for other people to get.

In any case.... the time is nigh!!!

Where's your aim?

image from my latest favourite website Nerd Boyfriend

"The great danger for most of us is not that we aim to high
and miss it,
but that we aim too low
and reach it."

- Michaelangelo

The Lost Thing

Part of the reason I have been so lax in updating this little platform has been because I have been trying to juggle a few balls in the air.

Freelance writing for a lot of blogs about pop culture and motion graphics and art, the full time job and then blowing off some general steam.

Also, the all-consuming task of working out my next move in the face of a rental contract that's about to end, and the fact that I am turning 30 soon, which means opportunities for working holiday visa opportunities will end very shortly in many many countries.

Do I stay here, do I move on, do I reinvent myself into a total creative and ditch the project management/strategy side to me, what-o-what do I do?!

In terms of moving on, I have often thought about whether I would fare better in London or even risk it all again and move to Berlin.

I decided to try and make an online portfolio of work I have been up to, to try and get myself another job, hoping it may help me present myself better online and be a one-click representation of myself as a writer.

This was instigated recently after Tommy Hilfiger emailed me - the company, not the man himself - after I applied for a creative copywriter job at their European Headquarters. They asked to see my portfolio and I had to send them about 10 links to 10 different articles I had written. I thought an online portal of one singular link might help me convey myself a little bit more professionally.

What was supposed to be a creative portfolio of my writing and copywriting to break into the creative side of an ad agency turned into me into thinking how I didn't really want to fit into one box and wanting to add some considerable projects I had invested a lot of time and energy into as a an advertising strategist. And then what about my cultural journalism stuff?

I don't mind fitting into a few boxes, but I know that companies think you look flakey as an all-rounder. Arent we all supposed to be specialists and not generalists?

Question: "Which side of the fence do you sit on? Creative or strategy? Editorial or conceptual? Video or print?"

Answer: " All of them."

To be quite honest, in this economic climate, I don't think companies can really afford to hire anyone who is good at one singuar thing or specialise in a niche but hey, who am I to comment?

This morning I woke up and someone I had requested an interview with had made a last minute decision to agree to meet me online.

In requesting an interview, I should say, I wanted to do a piece on him for my freelance job, not requesting him to meet me to give me a job.

It was 8.30am when I woke up. He wanted to skype at 8 am (my time).

Not thinking that he would agree to the interview, I hadn't prepared myself the night before.

I mean, I had notes, and a vague recollection of what he did, but I needed some time to brush myself up on his work and research him a little more.

In actuality, I think he's brilliant (and so does the rest of the world) and was certain he was a very down-to-earth and lovely guy.

How would I know? Well, he's Australian for a start, and the way he writes on his website, he seems to be...well... nice.

I logged onto skype and sent him a few messages, but he didn't appear.

"Damn. I should have woken up earlier and checked my email and logged on in time. I am such a noob. A failure at this whole thing. How could you let someone like him wait for someone like you? "

I spoke to my cousin in the meantime, had a bit of a pep talk with her and then he appeared online apologising for not being on time.

I interviewed him and he was lovely. Inspirational.

Who was he?

Shaun Tan, the illustrator and writer of a multitide of picture books (for adults) and graphic novels. Also a painter, set designer and director with a degree in fine arts and english literature.

One of his graphic novels was recently completed into a movie which took ten years to make and runs for 15 minutes.

Shaun told me the main animator was from Adelaide.

He also told me over our one hour interview that he just needed to be flexible and adaptable in his career and just learn on the fly for all the projects that life threw his way. He said he felt like he was getting a little PhD in learning to do what he does as he plays so many different roles.

This year, Shaun and an Australian production team won the 2011 Academy award for Best Animated Short film and accepted the Oscar from Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis.

Watch the video here.

At the end of his acceptance speech, his counterpart Andrew Ruhemann says "This award is for Lost Things everywhere."

Apparently, there's nothing wrong with dabbling. In fact, being good at a few things might ultimately be more than ok.

Until the last twig

"Child in Arms" by Kathe Kollwitz

"I do not want to die until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown."

- Kathe Kollwitz

Set the world on fire

image by Alexander Kent

"If you are what you should be, then you'll set the world on fire."

- St Catherine of Siena

Loud n clear?!?

Hey Universe

Do you need a hearing aid?

Perhaps you're not au fait with the english language and I need to do more interpretive dance?

Or can you not read my handwriting?

Should I write in red 172 point font?

Because I am pretty sure I am doing everything I am supposed to be doing on my end and this was a two way deal.

The opposite

This is the categoric description of someone who is not me.

It's the last line that gets me.

"I know exactly who I am."

But I know this person in real life.

Come so far

Buurvrouw, Sunday 7 August 2011, 3:34am

I think I'm in a good place. A really good place.

I just need to tweak some things to make it better.

I am really fortunate.

Fantastic home.

Great flatmate.

Lovely, genuine friends.

A respectable job.

Youth on my side.

It was a very different situation two years ago and I'm thankful I've come so far.

Finally

PostSecret: 1st August 2011

Twee

It's my two year anniversary of living in Amsterdam on Sunday.

Bring it. Just bring it.

I wrote a short piece on one of my friends who is an artist, with his permission, and submitted it to a great arts and trends blog that has decent exposure in NYC and in Austalia.

I love his stuff and think he is exceptionally talented. And a super nice guy.

The blog, Lost in E Minor, picked up my piece and published it late on Sunday night (my time) about 8 hours after I wrote it. (Australian morning.)

Then they tweeted it. To over 10,000 followers.

I tweeted it. To about 150 followers.

Then I told my friend and he put it on his facebook page. ( His art page and his personal page, and he credited me in his foreword, which also drove traffic to my newly updated blog project.)

Then he tweeted it, and then the blog retweeted his tweet to the same 10,000 followers.

Then I put it on my facebook page.

Then his/our friends started to spread the link on facebook.

The friends of our friends picked it up on facebook and share it and one of them works for the Amsterdam city council marketing department, I amsterdam, who are by the way, a phenomenal brand in their own right, especially in the field of social media.

(As a marketer and a consumer and someone who lives in the city, I enjoy their campaigns, and reading their website for what's on (it's also very user friendly) and enjoy interacting with them on facebook and twitter and the like.)

I amsterdam put it on their facebook wall infront of their 25,000 fans.

Call it serendipity, call it synchronicity, call it the power of social media. Whatever you want to call it, I don't care.

The Universe is providing.

The Lost in E Minor blog then agreed to let me write for them regularly for the love, glory and exposure.

Then my phone rang. It was a creative production house called Yellow Submarine, in Amsterdam. They heard about me through someone and they asked me if I would be interested in freelance writing for their regular company newsletters, FOR MONEY.

Of course I am interested!!

Then I got an email saying that a short piece I wrote and submitted for Lomography Magazine is going to be published on July 24th.

O-M-G: It’s all happening.

I just got back from Australia about 2 weeks ago.

Before I left, I told my friend Amber that I was on the brink of something, something that felt good, something that felt real and something that felt right.

I think this is the something.

I am, in a word, floating.

Don't give me that look. What look? THAT look.

I once said to someone,

"There's only one look that's ever on my face - and that, is the look of honesty."

Translated into: I show every emotion which is going on inside of me, whether I like it or not.

I know this because people tell me all the time the exact thing that I am thinking, and that disturbs me greatly.

Apparently, I am an open book. Maybe not a book. Maybe an open magazine with scruffy dog eared pages. ( Always lose recipes and pictures I like in magazines unless I do this.)

What is the opposite of a Poker face?

How about a BINGO face?

As in the game that old people play? As in, they get antsy if they are closeto getting their combination of numbers in order to win? Or screaming at the top of their octogeneric lungs when they have won?

I think I care too much about things.

I am way too opinionated about things that I shouldn't even be concerned about.

There are some words I should really be channelling at the moment, and I am going to do my best to start with these words today:

NONCHALANT

ALOOF

UNPERTURBED


I am going to come up with a technique for dealing with things I hear/see/sense that all of a sudden shock me/annoy me/disturb me.

Just like the Seinfeld version of "Serenity Now", I need to think of something that makes me laugh, or smile serenely. Hmmmm, what could be that mechanism...?

Maybe I could just go to my happy place...

- Amsterdam Roots Festival or WOMADelaide.
- My recent holiday back to Australia
- My recent birthday party in Amsterdam where my friends presented me with not one but 2 birthday cakes and sung to me in dutch and english.

Or maybe I could think about things like

- winning a scholarship to gastronomy university
- getting made redundant, being paid out for the trouble and then being offered a full time travel blogging job

Thought du jour: Why waste energy that could go into YOUR transformation worrying about others are doing/not doing? Some people are Phoenixes and others are fodder.

The jig is up...

Needless to say, I really enjoyed my time at home.

I thought that all the self-confronting time I had spent in the Netherlands was going to provide me with all the answers - or at least a large proportion of the answers - that I was looking for.

It turns out that coming full circle and being home gave me the perspective to join more than a few dot dots together, and so far the picture is looking good. Hopeful. Inspired.

Going home gave me a new vigour for continuing on the path of "doing whatever the hell it is I feel like doing, because there is only one of me to execute what needs to be done."

Here are some myths that were blasted while I was at home:

- I don't have a true home.

Not true. At the moment, I have two.

- My friends in my hometown have all moved on and forgotten about me.

My friends at home have some of the strongest senses of who I am, and what drives me as a person and vice versa of me for them. Their lives have changed, but they haven't forgotten me, in fact their support for me has only grown stronger and more vocal.





- I'm too big for my home town and can never go back.

My home town has changed but so have I, and I saw that city with new eyes, and a fresh attraction for the beauty of the sky, beach, and people. I might have seen more things in the world, have more grand ideas about who I can become and what is possible, but that town holds opportunities that are there for the taking. It just wasn't where I needed to be a couple of years ago, and maybe not in the near future.




- I need to stay overseas because I'll be labelled a failure/won't be "anyone" if I can't hang tight there for a significant amount of time, after all the years that I talked about going over there.


How long is a piece of string? Who defines what is a significant time period? I make the rules, and so I can break the rules.


An nobody has ever said to me that I shouldn't come home until I can prove myself worthy. Worthy of what? Who knows.... something I created in my own mind.

In the end, all that matters to is that I shape my own life with decisions that I am happy about and believe in 100%. And having the courage and wisdom to own each and every decision I make is a process, but I have people on both hemispheres that can help me with that.

Badge of honour

The eve of my 29th birthday.

I'm arranging my catchups, accomodations, flights, and goodbyes on facebook.

Whilst I am perusing the profiles of other people, I think: "I have no boyfriend - I seem to be an emotional retard."

Then I think,: "I have a job with the United Nations - I seem to be pretty freaking awesome."

So I updated my employer information. Just so when I do turn 29, I have something to smile about, and remember how far I have come. (And maybe, just maybe, remind anyone who wishes to know, about how freaking cool I am.)

Because why should your relationship status become the sole something so freaking special to gloat about on the online self publicity machine?

Fly.....

" I don't know

where I'm going

but I want to be

there...."

Jack Lerouc, On the road (1957)

The Lengths

The coals are hot,
To walk across,
Without your shoes,
But in the end,
Know that you've got nothing to lose.

Nothing to lose.