Yearly Archives: 2012

go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Taken at the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica. I’m going to Wonderland today!

Going out for a long drive with Alice and my camera to clear my head from a tough week.

Nothing beats the joy of Friday evenings, when the excitement of having the full weekend ahead of you has just begun. If I could freeze time, I’d freeze it on a Friday evening.

What a crazy day. I got to work at 8:30am, sat down on my chair, and was permanently glued to it for the rest of the day without a second to breathe. Skipped breakfast, skipped lunch, skipped washroom breaks. I was famished with an exploding bladder at 5:00pm. The productivity level on the other hand though, was insurmountable. I’ve become a master multi-tasker over the years – I’m actually an octopus with eight arms. And then I came home to continue the marathon: packaged and shipped three Etsy orders, walked the dog, put food in my stomach, and now doing math questions for the next two hours. Holy cow. Eye on the prize. It’ll all pay off at some point.

I am re-reading Jim Collins’ Good to Great for the third time, with a fresh perspective every time. The more corporate experience I gain, the more meaningful and interesting this book gets. I am particularly drawn to his Level 5 Leadership theory. Level 5 leaders, as defined by Collins, is the antithesis of the great, egocentric leader. Above all else, they operate with genuine humility and that humility is defined by this burning, passionate, and obsessive ambition for the cause, the company, and the work. Not for themselves. They’re not looking to be glorified for their goodness. And then they have this utterly stoic will to make good on that ambition. They are defined as the type of leaders that enable an organization to make the leap from good to great. The book gives tangible examples of these types of leaders who have reinvented organizations and turned them into moneymaking machines. An excellent business book – pick up a copy. :)

From the little bit that I saw, I conclude that the Olympics closing ceremonies in London were quite elaborate and so much more than I would’ve expected (that is if I had cared enough to set expectations in the first place). It is exactly that thing that you didn’t care too much about but then found yourself hopelessly glued to it as you accidentally stumbled upon it. I caught the goosebump-inducing performances of Here Comes The Sun, Imagine, and I Am The Walrus. All things related to the Beatles give me the warm and fuzz. I wish I had tuned in just a bit longer to see the Spice Girls, Muse and Oasis performances (I am currently hooked on a show called Breaking Bad and that had a stronger pull at the time). Did they have Paul McCartney or Elton John perform? Ah, England has certainly bred some great talents into this world.

Here’s a larger version of a surf photo from the set of four in the previous post, as promised.

My surf photos began in the beautiful surf beaches in San Sebastian, Spain last summer. Since then, I’ve been waiting to set foot in another surf town to build on the collection. And that I did in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica. The best surfing photos will likely come from Australia though – I’ve heard that the waves in Australian beaches are unreal. Australia is on my travel hit list in the next 3 years, but Greece or Kenya first!

There is something about surfing photographs that is so nostalgic, despite not actually drawing anything from my past. The images have so much raw emotion.

I created this set last night for Etsy, called Surf Love. They are available as 8x8s individually or as 5x5s in a set. :) I’ll post the large version of each of the four photos in the following days.

I jumped the gun on a surfing photo. I got excited. Let’s break from the Circle of Life series and go back to it later. :) This is me at the Manuel Antonio Beach in Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio is considered a surf town and their beaches had glorious waves. The truth: I didn’t actually go surfing. I’d rather keep my legs, so I just borrowed some boy’s surfboard to take a poser photo. I wish it were a pink board though.

Baboon in deep thought. Do not disturb.

I am halfway through the Circle of Life series, I think we have about 7 more to go. Then we’ll move on to surfing photos. And helicopters. And parasails. And mountains. And beaches. And self portraits. And a million others.

Happy birthday to my little sister who is in Paris right now. Can I be in Paris, too? She has turned 18 and is about to enter one the most exciting chapters of life – The University Chapter! University was truly the greatest and I would relive those 4 years over and over and over until it was no longer possible. Not that it’s possible to begin with (lol).