Addicted to Stress...

Addiction...sickness...deficiency...talent...skill...whatever you want to call it...I have a thing for stress. It's the kick in the rear that is required to get anything of magnitude done; the Red Bull for a procrastinator's lagging energy.

It is now 1 week away from Art Walk...the only time of the year I attempt to present myself as some variation of an artist to the public. I'm disgustingly behind...no where close to where I want to be...and even worse off than last year since I had no expectations then like I do now.

Somewhere along the line (i.e. about 10 minutes ago), I realized to myself that I might be expecting too much from myself this year. Subconsciously, I've almost set this up as a do-or-die kind of year, when it's really nothing of the sort. I figure I might have at last become impatient with my circumstances, and it seems I've been hoping that something bigger than me will make this all work out.

However, Luck is not a familiar bedfellow...only a passing acquaintance that I've met occasionally when I walk down the street. I've accepted the fact that I'm not really a lucky person. After all, none of the good things in my life have come easy...why would it start now?

So perhaps I'm courting Luck a little too much (who ignores me entirely too much for my taste), when I should be nurturing Patience a little bit more. After all...over 30 years to get to this point...what's a few more years over a few more years?

I just have to hope I remember this when I'm having a meltdown the day before Art Walk begins.

I am a walking pharmacy...

...yup...you heard it right. That is what I am. I spent about 2 hours in the car, 1 hour in the doctor's sitting room, 30 minutes in the patient's room, 20 minutes consulting with the doctor, and voila, I have 4 prescriptions, 3 samples, and a pending appointment with a allergy specialist.

Oi...I feel like such a pill-popper.

I have been nursing a sinus headache for 4 days in a row. I go to sleep with a headache. I wake up the next day with one too. My teeth feel sore from the pressure. So I finally gave up on the allergy medication prescribed to me last month, and went to see my doctor again...and I hate going to the doctor. The only place I hate more is the dentist.

Anyway, my doctor tells me I have yet again another sinus infection. Whoo hoo...big surprise. Please...tell me something I don't already know. She prescribes me...for the 4th time...a nasal spray I have already tried and does not work. I told her the last spray worked but had the unfortunate side effect of irritating my throat and making me sound like I smoked for 30 years. A raspy voice might be sexy for some people, but I prefer to speak without feeling like I swallowed sandpaper.

She also ran through a list of ineffective antihistamines for my allergy symptoms. Finally settled on giving me a prescription that's stronger, but will probably knock me out standing up. Hmm...take 3 tablets a day...but not while functioning apparently. Good stuff.

Don't forget a prescription for over-the-counter Sudafed for the congestion... and the antibiotics (that NEVER work) for the sinus infection...add in the antibiotic samples... and since nothing really works, maybe I will need to see an allergy specialist so why don't we book an appointment for that...

Sigh...why do I feel worse than when I went in?

Teeth are running through the streets....

A co-worker of mine sent this to me. MUTO, an amazing short film by BLU, is done by animating paintings done on public walls and streets. Subject matter is strange and twisted, yet incredibly intriguing...


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Random Meanderings...

There are many days where thoughts pile up upon each other like random books in disorganized stacks before they're placed back in their proper shelves. I think these piles of books in my head are the source of my bouts of insomnia. If I don't fall behind, there are less books to put away and the faster I fall asleep.

That's seldom the case and the piles have become mountains. I'm simply adding more books than I can put away. On my luckier days, I'm able to extract the big picture books that hold the ideas to my projects and put them in a slightly less disorganized but more easily accessible pile.

More often than not, I'm caught off my guard when someone is asking what I'm thinking about, or what I want. My mouth hangs open like a gold fish, trying to grasp a singular book from a library doesn't have any of them left on the shelves. I'll grab the first pile of books near the front of my mind, letting them spill out of my arms until I'm left with one. And as luck would have it, this one random book is probably the equivalent of a harlequin romance or sensational tabloid biography -- GARBAGE!

I generally don't mind being absent-minded. I've lived my whole life not quite dialed into the program, so I'm used to lingering on the edge of "normalcy" (whatever that means). But lately, I'm feeling the impact of my part-time awareness. Mistakes that I don't usually make are starting to haunt me, my days are becoming scheduled cages of frustration, and I'm spending much of my time preoccupied with tiny things that shouldn't even register on the scale.

This is a horrible time to become complicated. One of my friends told me once that although I have the potential of feminine deception, viciousness, and ability to nurture a good grudge, my mind is essentially male (at the time, I was pretty certain he was insulting me). Fairly single minded, knows what it wants, when it wants it, says what it means, means what it says, and blunt to boot.

Man, I miss that.

A couple days ago, I had a meeting with my manager. He asked the question I always dread in these one-to-one discussions. "What do you want to do?" "Do you see anything else more you'd like to do?" I'm sure there's some proper, diplomatic way of telling your manager that you have no ambitions whatsoever without either getting fired, or shunted off to the basement with leaky pipes while you clutch your red stapler. I haven't figured it out. I guess I'm just lucky our company doesn't have a basement.

So usually I keep my mouth shut when it comes to big ideas (I'm pretty loud with everything else)...it keeps me out of the politics. But I guess that tiny, but consistent streak of pragmatism I have is also endangered, and I've opened my big mouth. No good is going to come of this. I know it. It never does. My last manager almost peed in his pants the last time I had a session like this. The gap between the present and my vision of future projects was too big, too far, too unreachable to accept, that it pretty much bordered on ridiculous.

So it's back to the stacks, for a little reorganization...or at least a wide shovel so I can at least clear a path to the shelves and some of the trashy reading material laying around. Then I can at least begin putting the books back in their rightful places. I've been reluctant to take the necessary time for me to do so...but unavoidable it seems. And since sleep eludes me, no time better than now to do a bit of spring cleaning.

It's Official: The Green Campaign is ON!

Alright...so I've finally gone and done it. In the midst of my struggle to assemble something resembling of a collection for Art Walk 2008, I've gone and become a Norwex Enviro Products Consultant. Yes, I'm insane, and not only just.

Needless to say, it's refreshing to be able to sell something I believe in. Where I'm going to find the time to do this on a regular basis, is beyond me. While I attempt to pull more time out of thin air, I leave you with the lovely Norwex 2008 Catalogue, which can be viewed online in full here.

If you have any questions, would like to have a PDF copy of the catalogue send to you, book a presentation in the Edmonton area, or place an order, email me at randomlifeproject@gmail.com.

Product Review: Ecover Cream Scrub

So, if you do have quite a bit of buildup in your bathtub like I hinted at in the previous product review, I found a winner. I've always hated using bathroom cleaning products. When I was younger, I was addicted to the lemony scent of Mr. Clean (which probably explains a lot), but have been reluctant in using it in my more recent cleaning forays since it also made my eyes burn.

I came across Ecover products (http://www.ecover.com) at my local Planet Organic grocery store about a year ago and picked up a 500 ml bottle of their Cream Scrub product for an economical price of $3.50. Now Cream Scrub is not specifically a bathroom product, but more of a general cleaner that specializes in degreasing & stain removal.


A milky, slightly thick liquid, Cream Scrub actually clings fairly well to where you squirt it, but its cleaning strength surprised me for all its low aquatic impact and complete biodegradability assets. Required minimal "scrubbing" action; all I did was wipe it down with a sponge and rinse. Voila & presto, c'est finis, the scummy soap scum was gone from my bathtub in about 3 minutes flat.

Even if you don't use a daily decalcifyer or other products to minimize calcification and general soap scumminess...I found that it takes up to about 3-4 weeks before you even really need to think about cleaning your tub again.

I rate Ecover's Cream Scrub 5 out of 5 hairballs for being a consistently excellent efficient cleaner, economically appealing, versatile, environmentally friendly, and 100% biodegradable.

Product Review: Daily Shower Cleaner by Attitude

I used to use Tilex Fresh Shower spray in my shower to keep down the soap scum & calcification on my shower walls and curtain. The stuff is fantastic and supposedly non-toxic and has basically removed my need to scrub my shower walls to remove layers of scum. The bathtub is a slightly different story but I'll get to that another time. Anyway, though I was not unhappy with Tilex, I searched for a "green" replacement, and I found a product from a Canadian-based company that produces a rather extensive green line of products calls Attitude. Attitude products have recently become EcoLogo - an internationally recognized Canadian certification approving the "green" nature of their products.

Simply called Daily Shower cleaner, I've been using this for about a month in place of Tilex. Daily Shower has a mild scent that I did not recognize but has been identified by the label as being Ylang-Ylang & Tangerine,...or was that Grapefruit (I still am not sure what Ylang-Ylang is despite all the shampoo commercials)?

I'm slightly reassured by Attitude's printed mantra that Daily Shower has no impact on aquatic life. Other markings note that it's also a vegan product, and donations are made to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for every purchase. Talk about a feel good product. I'm doing my [very tiny] part in saving the environment and still get clean, soap scum free tiles in my shower. Bonus.

Attitude products are available at Planet Organic and most recently, London Drugs has begun carry them as well. Daily Shower will run you around $5.90 for the spray bottle. Larger refill bottles are also available for the same or lesser price.

Daily Shower has been fairly good at keeping my shower tiles soap scum free and the routine is fairly simple. As soon as I step out of the shower, I spray down all the wet surfaces, and walk away. If only doing laundry and dishes were this simple.

Because I was already using the Tilex Fresh Shower before hand, I don't know how well it works with shower walls that start off with a thick layer of calcification. The instructions recommend giving everything a good scrub first if you have quite a bit of buildup. As it is, I think it's a fairly good product, and something I will continue to purchase.

I give Daily Shower by Attitude 4 hairballs out of 5. ;) Definitely worth a try.

Going Green...

In the last 6 months, I've been making more of an effort to go green in my tiny little condo. Do a bit more recycling than I used to, reduce my overall waste, be more conscious of how much energy & water I'm using and when, and slowly changing over the products in my home to more "green" products.

"Going Green" has been popping up more frequently in my infrequent exposures to media, news, and social activities. No, I’m not referring to green beer…and since Guinness is the only beer I drink and is too dark to be green, I can’t really go green there.

People are becoming more aware of the products they use, and how it impacts the environment around. Due to this awareness, a large variety of "green" products are FINALLY becoming more readily available to the average consumer.

While choosing more environmentally friendly cleaning products isn't necessarily a difficult thing, I'm finding that changing how I perceive "clean" may be. If I think about it, usually "clean" with a scent, fragrance, or perfume associated with a favorite cleaner (former Mr. Clean sniffer addict here).

In the end, that probably means it's not all that good for us, after all, a majority of traditional cleaning products will have extensive warning labels listing the negative effects to prolonged exposure or ingested. Don't even get me started on bleach.

So my question is this: No matter how effective a product is at "cleaning" our things (i.e. cleaning microscopic "bad things")...if it's dangerous to be using it by breathing too much, or irritates our skin if it accidentally touches our skin...why are we using it to clean our homes? I mean, aren't we around it all the time? Isn't it evaporating into the air we're breathing? Aren't we touching the same places we just cleaned with toxic chemicals? I don't get it. If it's not safe to touch it while I'm cleaning with it...why is it safe to touch what I just cleaned with it?

Okay...I'm probably just digging myself into a big hole, or chasing my invisible tail that I'm never going to catch. I'm not a scientific mind of any sort. I can understand logic to a certain point, but can't really follow beyond a certain level. I couldn't tell you fact from fiction when it comes to chemistry. And although information is readily available via the internet...whether or not that information is correct is an entirely different matter.

Anyway, I've digressed. No one cares that I'm a scientific idiot. My point is...I'm trying to get to the point where I don't need unnecessary chemicals and products in my home. I want to use less “stuff” that will help lessen my environmental footprint so I don't have to feel bad about my existence polluting the world (I exaggerated, I don't have that much of a guilt complex).

However, to go straight from toxic cleaning to chemical free cleaning is a little tough, so I figure baby steps will help and do equivalent replacement. I’ve been coming across a variety of different products during my half-witted, random shopping technique, so I’ll be posting reviews of the products I’ve picked up after I’ve had a few uses.