March Madness, in April?
A couple days late, but there's been so much happening! You're in the right place to find out what.
Look ma, no fans. Haha jk; 21 subscribers and one $80 pledge! Stellar.
Well, my stacklings, we survived the ides of March! This month proved itself to be renewing in many ways — warm weather, a packed schedule, and good energy abounds.
Marketing
In a remarkable turn of events, this season of spring renewal marks my return to employment after thirteen long months. Even more surprising, I was offered two positions and delightedly accepted both! One is full-time as an apartment community leasing consultant which so far has involved a lot of phone calls and paperwork. This is exciting because it’s a similar kind of work to what I’ve done before as far as interpersonal and transferable office skills go, but also totally new and could lead to future advancement. The other is part-time as a Social Media and Communications Coordinator at Visit Vancouver Washington, the city’s official destination marketing organisation. VVW feels like the pinnacle career evolution of experiences I had in Salt Lake City and the Pacific Northwest. I get to bring in more of the arts & entertainment elements of my background to the day to day of regular social media posting, maintaining records, and letting the general public know about upcoming events.
Yoga
I’ve now experienced yoga nidra from three instructors, taken my first hot yoga class in five years, and been bruised in new places from aerial strength classes. Aerial is a fitness format I’ve been curious about and am pleased to sport the badges of effort. Not to mention this community has shown itself to be genuinely supportive of all members. Another yogi told me about the karma program just before she departed from the studio while someone new I met shared contact information for a hospice volunteer coordinator. It’s amazing what doors can open when you put yourself in new situations and make your interests known.
Sustainability
As it turns out, nature nerds setting up a booth outside of a comic store is a surefire way to get a girl with leaf earrings to sign up for monthly donations to The Nature Conservancy. In the name of sustainability and against unchecked destruction of the natural world, what’s a few dollars? I have the willpower to resist morning coffee in lieu of a bigger cause. In on brand fashion, the comics I picked up recently were Poison Ivy stories. 🌿
Food
Each spring my partner and I celebrate Ostara by cooking a duck, drinking mead, and listening to folk metal. I don’t know what he did exactly, but it came out with a satisfying crisp to the skin and tender meat. Skinned apple chunks, quartered dried dates, and bay leaves mixed together and stuffed within the rib cavity made for a succulent flavour as well as filling a fruit need. After the bird is cooked and carved, we make stock from the bones and various drippings. This time around, we made the broth into a wild rice, kale, carrot, and white bean soup. Yum!
Death Doula-ship
I’m grateful to myself for trying a new thing by hosting monthly death cafes. March ended up being a bit of a flop with only one person joining. This person happens to be another death doula I’ve met with a few times. I’ve been attending her grief workshop series, and she supports my efforts in kind. Once she left, I did end up leaving early though on my way out the door a woman I’ve chatted with before finally said hello. Bula Kava House has created an inviting & lush environment in the heart of downtown Vancouver where you’d be likely to run into the same people if you go often enough. Back to the point about hospice volunteering… I reached out to and have since registered for a spring hospice volunteer training session which entails about 20 hours of education over two days in person and more hours of online content self-study.
Film
March was a bag of mixed nuts as far as cinema goes. It started with an exploration of extra-terrestrial ethics with “Mickey 17” then ventured “In the Lost Lands” through terrain no one could have predicted (besides the beast). “The Rule of Jenny Pen” honestly just made me mad about how much one gross old guy got away with. In an ideal world, I would not have been the only lady seeing “Queen of the Ring,” but I am glad there were bold enough messages that maybe even those other men of the movies may have walked away with an awakening. The film “Opus” was anything but magnum, yet I can’t help but wish Lady Gaga had a compound I could run away to and chug kool-aid at. For fans of conversational drama, “Black Bag” might be your bag. Or your dinner party soirée with work friends. If finding love, taking names, and kicking ass while feeling no pain sounds insane, you must see “Novocaine.” Where desperation and impending demise meet a desire to do better, “Locked” leaves only the question of whether this father will finally get his act together. A film directed by Flying Lotus doesn’t need much beyond audio visual excellence, but for “Ash,” something (besides music + imagery) did seem to be missing. Finishing the month with a spot of realistic fantasy and “Death of a Unicorn” felt like the cherry on top of Jenna Ortega typecasting and Paul Rudd coming across amiable as ever. I, too, would risk it all for a mythical beast.
Apologies for this entry coming out later than intended due to travel. Hello from Georgia! Soon I shall be in North Carolina, but that will be discussed in the next edition :)
Make sure to subscribe for my thoughts direct to your inbox! Tap here to read last month’s post.