Déjà vu

I have periods where the déjà vu impression is all over the wall.  Déjà vu, for me, means that while I look at something, I have the impression that I have already seen it elsewhere.  I don't always remember where I saw it first.  The first time I experienced déjà vu was as a child.  An invited person explained something (about drawing) and I sense I had déjà vu this scene somewhere else.  In that case, it was a dream.  When it happened, it was dream like anyway, so it must have tainted my feelings.  I had many more after that.  I have a few occasion where gut feelings were guiding me and there was an undercurrent of déjà vu, as if I knew what I was doing.

Recently, I seems to enter another period of déjà vu.  Not long ago, I saw a video where one person stroke a cord with me.  I seems to have seens that person somewhere else.  The music too seems to resonate with me.  I just can't pinpoint where and when I saw/heard all of this.  I must have seen that once or twice, I think.
I don't know if there will be other events like this in the near future.  I find it amusing to experience that.  I like in trying to pinpoint the source of the experience.

Strange that I am addicted to the déjà vu experience.  To each it's high, I guess.  I can always use that in fiction.  I think it would be a nice description for a prophetess, in her mantic job.

Kelp Caviar

I consider myself as a picky eater.  There are lot of food that I don't eat and that I don't like.  When it comes to like and dislike, it is all personal.  When I was a child, it was hard for me to taste new food.  I think I was alike other children.  It is not always evident to taste new and unknown food.  There where some food that I tried as a child.  It ended that I didn't like those food.  I also felt a little bad to ask for a food and ending not liking it.  This isn't helping when occasion arise to taste new foods.

As an adult, there are a few times where I felt adventurous.  All of them happened recently.  I no longer have to ask.  I also live with omnivorious, they aren't picky.  Maybe all that help me feel more adventurous on the food side.   Recenly I saw how kelp caviar is made.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIPud24k41s).  I admit that ordinary caviar is a bit repealing to me.  It is more the idea of eating fishes' egg, even if I would like to kown how it taste.  Could be a love / hate relationship.  Dislike/Curiosity to be more precise.  What I like about the kelp caviar is the vegetarian side to it.  They use an specie of seaweed, if i remember correctly, as a base for the caviar.  I remember more how they form the pearly caviar.  I find it cool.  It is like little droplet from a leaky faucet.

So, I was curious to try it.  I odered here: http://www.amazon.ca/Kelp-Caviar-Sturgeon-KELP-CAVIAR/dp/B0089CDS1Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443296750&sr=8-1&keywords=kelp+caviar

I took one with sturgeon and one salmon flavor.  There isn't much difference between the two.  I am hesitant to try the other flavors (ginger, wasabi, chili and truffle).  I was feeling adventurious but not too much.  The flavors that I haven't tried are a bit spicy.  I am not ready to try them yet.  Don't know if I end up trying them yet.  I tried them with family members.  One of them didn't liked it.  Another reason not trying the other flavors.  What I liked the most about this is the texture.  It made me think of some little peals of jello.  The one thing I didn't liked was the saltiness. 

It is rare that I like something and the other doesn't like it.  I don't know if I will try other exotic products.  I never really talk about food in my fiction.  I could put this experience in one story.

Inauguration

I am a bit late in some events, sometimes.  Over the past weekend, there was the inauguration of a big wheel.  It is an "work of art".  No ones can go into the wheel.  It look like this (there is also an article on it): http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/sculpture-in-the-city-art-trio-bgl-reach-new-heights-in-montreal-north
Of course, there are people who get the idea, other dislike it and there are the indiferent.  My opinion is pretty simple: I am sure there will be someone who will use it to makes a statement.  There are always people who will see this wheel in a distored way.  There are some places (like bridges) where some people goes when they are troubled.  I wouldn't be surprise if one morning, there is bad luck in this area.  There is also the possibility for some "coup d'eclat" where people would attach messages on this big wheel to make a statement.

All this metal add on to the image of a city: asphalt, concrete, building, cars.  Pretty disconnected from nature.  As someone who do art, I do use metal.  I also want to incorporate some natural coponent to it.  The photo doesn't show underneath.  The wheel is fixed in concrete.  There are bushes surrounded it but I find it add to the lack of soul of the place.  The bushes are bland and seems rusty.

Art is a personal taste.  I agree the place was a good canditate for art.  I just don't agree on the piece of art that had been erected.  The idea behind it was all good intention but I would had made more brainstorming behind it.  Maybe using other material would have made it more successful.

In need of more greenery

Right now,  I live in a big city.  There are many city's parcs in my area.  I find it nice.  I had been in many of them, just to sit there, to relax and get inspired.  What I find lacking is the trees.  I don't find there is enough trees in city's parcs.  They seems to be a bit apart and don't always cover much of the parc, compared to the grass.  Grasses seems to be more everywhere.  I don't need the parcs to be like the forest like on this photo:

It could be something more surrounding, where we don't see that we are surrounded by streets.  Or something that could be less sanitized and manucured parc.  There could be a part that look a bit like that:

I think that I enjoyed taking forested area.  I had found it refreshing.  It is where I also thought that cities' parcs are a bit tame or timid compared to forest.  The parcs that are a bit wilder isn't that much accessable in my area.  Well, they are a little bit far and they are more near a river.  I don't necessarly want to get close to a body of water.   I better like the woody part of those places.  I haven't found the perfect balance for a city's parc yet.

Cats can be technological!

This photo is on my desktop.  I do have other ones like that with another cat.  I said "Cats can be technological" in the title, just because I found it matches the photo.  I find both compliment each other.  I even wrote, a long time ago, a string of small stories with working cats.  Those stories had  a cast of characters that linked them together.  I wanted those stories be part of a bigger one.  Maybe it is time to rework that piece.  Maybe upgrade and change a few things.  I wanted it to have a comedic bend. Don't think I succeded back then.  It was more fun to write them than anything else.  Of course, if my upgraded story with working cat are published, I probably take this photo as a base.  I may ask to get it edited a bit.  It is an old photo.  I am sure it is good material for something better.  With my little experience, I don't think I will be able to edit it myself.

Pets are great inspiration for stories.  It is what I had fount out over the years.  I haven't used all the pets I encountered in the piece of working cats.  Right now, I think of all those I had left out in the past because I didn't thought of them at the time.  It would be another motivation to return working on my cat story.  I will add an cat and expand it to include a few dogs too.  I think I better take some notes now.  I got an idea involving domesticated pets getting in the wild, in the forest to be exact and they could cross path with some wild animals (thinking of a cariboo, deer, beaver, skunk, wolves, bear, crow/raven thing like that).  I will have to find some details for each animal.  I want that each encounter won't be stereotypical.

Many ways to get high

Here are many ways to get high.  There is the usual culprit (drugs) but there are also those addicted to sex or to adrenaline.  I had a vague idea that some foods could get us in a high.  I found a video that explore this topic:
Here is foods that can get us high:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gP8jF5V6ok
Coffee, cocoa, mushruooms and poppy seeds bagels are no surprise.  There are a few items I didn't knew their potential.  I think I will keep clear of stilton before bed.   I have no interest in talking solf toys and guest being traded for camel.
Unripe mulberries should be more popular as a laxative.  I wonder if unripe mulberries are more laxative than prunes...
The chili peppers are the ones that I didn't expected to be on the list  I never heard of sarpa salpa.  Romans soldiers seems to know how to get the most of that strangely named fish.
I knew that rye could be intected by ergot.  Does it get infected today?  I would dare to try.  I think there is a beer made with that ingredient.  Something to look upon...
Seeing the nutmeg on the list made me smile.  It seems to be so inoffensive.

It was nice to see this video.  I am thinking to use that in some fiction.  It will use it my way, giving it a fun twist.  I am thinking about fine herbs, something similar of catnip for cats.  Also, some components used in pastis and absinthe (anis, fennel and wormwood (artemisia absinthium)).  It won't be a big part of the stories but it will add to the fictional worlds.

Creativity and mental illness

There seems some kind of synchronicity sometimes.  Yesterday, I had found a video on ideas for DYI projects and today, I found this video on creativity and mental illness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWzhVauFbSU
They say that creativity and mental illness seems to be linked.  Both seems to feed each other.  It is what I understood from the video.  I think, on a personal level, that there is an higher incidence between the two. Not every person that have mental illness is creative and vice-versa.  There are well known cases, those where there were a clear link between creativity and mental illness.  I don't have to say the names.  They had made the headlines one way or the other, having tragic ends and shooting stars careers.

I find that creativity and mental illness can be hard to study.  They are intangible.  There is no telepathy to see in the mind of people.  Nothing to go directly into the mind, like a microscope.  The scientists who had done the studies, in the video, had to take the word of the "patients" or the written words in files.  All matter of perception, interpretation and translation.  So, there are extra steps to understand and learn more on the topics.  Words of mouth.  So, we have to be careful.

The relation creativity and mental illness doesn't surprise me.  There is a reputation that link the two together.  It is mostly due to some events and peoples.  People are quick to jumps to conclusion.  It is easy to get some assumption.  It is just that when it comes to the mind, I know that nothing are to be taken at face value.  It is what I learn the hard way.  I find those finding nice but it would be even more nice to have the right tools to study the mental side of ourselves.  It is a slippery slope and science have a lot to do in this area.

Creative DYI video

I found a video listing 25 ideas for DYI projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RhoA7DZgM
There are many of those that I would like to try like the number 19 and 20.  Most of the ideas takes objects and highjack their purpurse for something else.  It is one thing that I love to do.  Of course, I may try a few on this list.  I also may get some inspiration too.  Anyway, this list contain projects that I haven't seen elsewhere.

I wish that I would be able to have more ideas like that.  I wonder if I would get ideas during brainstorming sessions.  Would be worth a try.  It feel nice when people notice the unusual.  It seems to be more visible.

A idea just pop up in my head.  I could do some experiment with my hair's barettes.  I would like to try washers instead of bolt or hinges.  It would be nice and add some variety.  I will have to find a way to assemble them and put them on the barette.  The threads I usually use are a bit too big.  Gueing them directly on the barrette isn't better, it would lack solidity.  I will have to look for another way.  A bit more thinking and I may find the solution.

Improving some skills

Recently, I started to dig a bit more on photography.  I had done so to improve the quality of my photograph.  A few years ago, I took a short photography class.  I was unable to do the practical part because the camera I had was too much basic.  I could not do the exercices in class.  It took me some time before I got another better camera.  I didn't took the follow up photography class.  It had become hard to free my schedule to the classes where I took my first class.  So, I decided to learn on autodidacte mode.

I had purchased a few dvd on the topic of photograph and jewelry.  I find some modules on the topics.  They are an introduction to photography.  It is how I take those modules.  I am thinking to look for some website on the topic next.  I have a few ideas of where to look.

My mind seems to have work on it own on photography.  My main goal was to improve the quality of picture, that I become more good at snapping photos.  I realize that while imporving my photographical skills may open a Pandora box.  It may lead to improving other skill that are on the periphery of my main creative topics.  I don't know where it lead me.  It sure will add on my to do list.  I already find I have a lot that I want to do.  Lot to manage in the next few weeks, I will have to find a way to manage all that!

Creativity is more complex than I previously thought!  I didn't thought I had to develop a various set of skills to attain my creative vision!

Finding a new place

Over the weekend, I found a new place for inpiration.  It is a website called Instructables (http://www.instructables.com/).  Seems to be a good place to have good instructions for dyi projects.  I saw this website while listening to the CBC News Network.  Two colunmnists were talking of websites we could go for learning new stuff.  I was curious about Instructables.  I haven't finished browsing it more deeply.  They cover a lot in their projects.  I saw a few of those areas that I am sure to look at (for example jewelry making, homemade beauty products and using some items for other purpose than intended).

I have alteady seen many projects that have catch my eye (http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Burts-Beeswax-Lip-Balm/ , http://www.instructables.com/id/Scrabble-Badges/ or http://www.instructables.com/id/Classic-homemade-toothpaste/).  As usual, they are jumpstarts and I may do them my very own way ( at least for the scrabble badges anyway).  For the homemade toothpaste, I will follow the recipe.  I don't consider myself an expert when it comes to homemade beauty products, yet.

It was a bit weird to discover this site now.  Not long ago, I was thinking to do something along the line of that website.  It is not the first time I am beated at this area.  In high school, I created a character, to find later on, that a certain videogame had a character in the same vein than mine.  Seems to be that all creative minds can tap at the same source, that ideas make their ways to different minds at the same time, all to be sure to see the light of day.

Experimenting with hair's barette

I had put some pebeo vitrail emerald paint on one barette (http://www.amazon.ca/Pebeo-Vitrail-45-Milliliter-Fabricant-Couleurs/dp/B00M7HNP8I/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1440946849&sr=8-4&keywords=pebeo+emerald).  It lead me to wonder if nail polish could do the same on a barette.  I took the Hard Candy.  I think it is the bitty blue or the touch of teal color.(http://www.hardcandy.com/beauty-nails/hc-nails-bitty-blue/)(http://www.hardcandy.com/beauty-nails/b_4_nails-touch-teal/)

Here is the result, with two photos, on the barettes:

I added a varnish on them all.  It is an water based varnish (http://www.amazon.ca/Water-Based-Varnish-3-Ounces-Gloss/dp/B004RR9H6K/ref=sr_1_80?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1440945999&sr=1-80&keywords=gloss+varnish).  I don't know if it will hold on,  It is an experimentation.  I may add another varnish but I don't have any other than the one I just mentioned.  I think to try the barettes as they are right now and maybe add another coat of varnish if needed.  It will give me time to shop for other varnishes.

When the senses are too quick...

There are times where I read too fast or heard something the wrong way.  The message get distorted.  The results can turn hilarious.  It is something that happen often for me.  I have to look twice or ask the other person to repeat, to be sure if I see/heard right.  It doesn't take much to change the message.  Subtituting one sound or some letters and it change everything.  I think it is more obvious when it become oral.  There are plenty of songs where the lyrics are heard the wrong way.

An example: when I was viewing the end credit of Star Trek: the next generation.  It happened when I first started to listen to the show.  It is not always easy to read everything when it comes to the end credit of a show.  It can sometimes goes fast.  It ended up I read "Wolf" instead of "Worf".  It took me somebody else to correct me from my error.  There are time where I correct myself when I get a second better look.

I am lucky this bad habit doesn't put me in trouble.  Until now, it just provided some laughs.  I am happy to be perceived as silly in those moments.  I wonder if there are some tricks to counter that.  Ok, there are a few words that are written in a similar way or sound alike.  The context clear them most of the time.  It is just not full proof.

Playing with words can be fun.  There are some European strip cartoon that have a double meaning (well, those in French that I saw had them like the Femme en blanc (Women in white) and Pierre Tombal (it's a name but it can also be translated as tombstone).  I just would like that ability would be easier for me to access...

Change of perspective

When I was younger, there was a place I liked to go.   It was a big flat rock behind the house.  The rock had some trees growing on it.  The rock seems big, in my memory.  I recently returned to that place and found that the rock wasn't that big.  It seems to have shrunk.

They aren't all clear but the rock is there, under the moss, parly in the ground  There is a  the back of the rock that is more above ground than the front part.  The place where the rock is is part of a slope  As we follow the slope toward the higher ground, we arrive higher in the mountain..  Yep, the slope is a part of a mountain.  It is pretty cool to have a mountain and a forest combined inthe backyard.