The School Bell Is Ringing!

There are very few places I’ve lived that I have not liked but I have to admit, I did not care for Ottawa. We made some very good friends there with whom we are still in touch - but there was something about the place itself that I just didn’t care for. I found it grey, cold and lacking in any sense of the vibrant cultural scene one would expect to find in a capital city - it was a little dead and a little deadly - and we lived there for about 6 years - which were about 5 too many. Yes, there were aspects of the place that were nice; the National Gallery, the Parliament buildings, the Museum of Civilization - but other than that - not much. People raved constantly about ‘The Market’ but once you’d been, you’d seen it.

I don’t know - I just found it too much like a small, insular, uptight little town. Call me crazy - but there you are.

In order to alleviate the sense of heaviness that began to fill my heart, I put together an ‘arts schedule’ for myself, similar to that which one might have in university, and began a daily routine of self’-instructed courses. For example, the day would begin with an hour’s walk, then an hour of writing, followed by an hour of piano, and then another hour of writing. In the afternoon, once all my household obligations had been taken care of, I would begin with French, followed by some vocalizing and then turn to sketching to round out the afternoon - I might be leaving something out but I’m not sure - oh, yes - my workouts.

This was the perfect way to pass the day and kept me quite busy - in fact, probably a bit too busy for the schedule became quite demanding when performed on a daily basis - I felt like I was running from pillar to post - but a great deal was accomplished and satisfaction was found in the results. However, it did become rather hectic and so I modified it somewhat in order to catch my breath.

The reason I’m even writing about this is because it actually worked so very well and now, I find myself in a situation where I’m always looking for more time - perhaps I need to schedule a bit more. 

 The thing is - when you make an appointment with yourself, you must consider it the same way that you would, a visit to the dentist, or the doctor - it is not something that you can just change or ignore - you must show up to do the work - simple as that. 

 Because I’m always looking for topics for these writings and end up doing it at the end of the day - I’m often too tired to actually think much about anything (signs of age…).

But, perhaps imposing more of a schedule could be the answer - perhaps I’ll give it a shot - but that can wait till tomorrow.