If you’re looking for me, I’m hanging out here for a while.

2012 has arrived.  I love this time of the year, new beginnings and all of that.  I’m not going to do the obligatory list of goals and things I want to accomplish in the new year, let’s let my action speak louder than my words in that regards.  So…here’s to the new year (raises glass).  For all of my regular readers (all 3 of you), thanks for inspiring me to continue to blog.  I have a cool new blogging adventure planned for this year.  I hope that you will like it.

OK…get out and do something that inspires you.

Here are a few snap shots from the days spent with family during the Christmas holiday.

As is usual about this time of the year, folks start setting their sights on the New Year and what they want to do once the Christmas turkey has settled in their bellies and the loll of the holidays have ended.  I’ve started to wargame next year in my head.  There’s a bunch of stuff I want to get done.  And to get it done, I know I need to focus, something which I can be notoriously bad at doing.  I am like a crow or a raven in that instance, shiny new things catch my eye and I abandon whatever I was doing to go see what this shiny new thing is.  That’s good for experiencing loads of things, but not necessarily good for finishing the stuff I start.  So for me, the buzz words for 2012 are FOCUS and in terms of attitude, DETERMINATION.  And the sub-text for 2012 is MSH (Make Shit Happen).

Hunter S. Thompson was always going on about the beasts closing in.  I know, more so than ever, what he was going on about.  I can feel the beasts closing in on me.  But I have a few more tricks up my sleeve.  I’m not ready to be caught yet.

We need to get it together folks, stop the madness.

I participated in The London Documentary Summit 2011 this weekend.  It was an extraordinary event filled with loads of inspirational talks by documentary filmmakers out there in the trenches telling great stories – folks like: Chris Jones, Chris Atkins, Geoffrey Smith, Lucy Walker, among others.  I met some really good aspiring filmmakers as well. Here are my sketchnotes from the summit: (Click to Enlarge the image)

I’m looking forward to the next Summit.

Vlomo is done.  And already I am getting lax with my posting.  I guess that just proves that without a deadline, it’s harder to get things done.  Which I guess is what happens to most people’s dreams.  It’s fun to dream, to fantasize, to “wish shit” as Eminem says.  But to make stuff happen, is a whole other thing.  To make stuff happen requires commitment, dedication, focus and direction.  And, as I think Vlomo has taught me, purpose.  I don’t know how long I’d been saying that I wanted to start video blogging, but until Vlomo provided the purpose, video blogging remained something forever on my to do list, which was really a wish list.  Ah yes, and one other thing I should add to the make stuff happen formula – accountability!  You, my dear readers (or lookers in the case of the video posts), were my accountability element during Vlomo.  When I was late posting, people let me know about.  There were a number of times when I had considered slacking off, but then I had your voices in my head shouting, “GET IT DONE!” So thanks for being my virtual drill sergeants.

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”

Get it done!

this is it, the last vlomo, but not the end of video blogging

A wacky journey.

Trampoline and Tumble World Championship

I’ve lost 7.6  in 9 days.  My energy levels are fine now as long as I get my timings right.  I have been working late; and so I have been eating dinner late.  I have to cover the longer time gap between lunch and dinner with a snack of about 200 calories.

German Christmas Market and Trampoline and Tumble World Championship.

Getting my sweat on!

Launch party for novelist Emma Cole and her new novel Visiting Mum.

An interview with novelist Emma Cole.

I’m one tired puppy tonight.  My brain has definitely been put through its paces today.  It’s ready for a shutdown. But there’s so much to be done.

i think, therefore – a poem from my book, a thousand bullets gone astray.

I make a quick sketch of a random guy and then speed up the playback.  I’ve been wanted make a video like this for a while.  And thanks to VLOMO I’m finally getting around to doing it.

Yabba dabba do-ing my way into the weekend. I had a long engaging day and now it is time for some fun.

A quick exploration conversations hidden and explicit. I also got a chance to try out my Kodak PlaySport underwater, and that was cool.

Our cat is quite the hunter.  He has brought in mice, moles, birds, and frogs.  The worst are the birds because they are usually still alive and end up flying all over the place or getting in hard to reach places.
When a cat brings you its kill, it is suppose to be one of the greatest compliments you can get from a cat. And the correct response according to cat folks is:

You love him! He went out of his way to hunt down this thing, and he was so happy and proud of himself he dragged it all the way home to give as a gift to you for all of the love and care and food you give him. Pet him, give him a treat, and then get a couple layers of napkins and throw it away and wash your hands.

Five days in and I am 4.6lbs lighter.  I have been experiencing energy lost between meals.  May need to snack a little more in between feeding times.

Working on a documentary short film for novelist Emma Cole. I’ve included a rough cut of some of the footage we shot today. The audio is not great because I am using the audio from the camera for the rough cut. I did have a separate mic for the audio and will use this for the final version hopefully.