Twenty thirteen.

Happy New Years everyone! I hope the holidays have spoiled you all rotten - and were laden with family, friends and good food. And I hope, for everyone who made them, the new years resolutions are holding up!

The culmination of 2012 took place in Vancouver - my first new years in the city. As 2012 came to and end and 2013 began, the past year begged for some reflections. No large realizations, more... reaffirmations, I think - finding pathways to make myself a stronger, kinder individual - to succeed in what I put my mind to. Pretty standard Auld-Lang-Syne-type stuff.

Resolutions are a rather functional ideology - because they give us this conscious chance to see what we are, what we were and what we want to be. It doesn't necessarily change anything - it's just sort of an internal systems purge, dusting off foggy dreams and memories, maybe wiggling some things around. Sets everything straight again, if only for a little while.

Christmas was good - a long holiday this year, filled with dogs and gingerbread houses and mulled wine. I also got to work with the crew at Café Books over the holidays - which is always superbly prime. Snowshoeing with my folks was tons of fun - though we should have been out doing that more. I got to (finally) read my first John Green book, Looking for Alaska - (which was lovely, I wish I had read it a few years ago), re-read Tolkien's The Hobbit (which made me further rage about the film - which I have so many feels about I don't even know), and got into a volume of Greg Bear's short fiction (I also read a bunch of Kafka, but I don't want to talk about it).

My to-read list this year is monstrous, as is my to-see list. But I am a fan of lists, so this is probably okay. By September of this year, I am going to have two whole other short films shot, one completed, the other going into post. Really got to do that one chin up. Just the one (it's a process). Cooking more and baking more, that's going to be a combo of fun and tough I look forward to. And! Here's a large one - I've got to not wait around for things - there's my big new year's whatever. I can't wait around for occasions, people, miracles, opportunities. Waiting around is for chumps. Gotta go and get it - gotta go get that one chin up. Plus some other stuff.

Most of my education is over, and when it is, I'll be glad to be out. I've got barely a year and a half to make sure I know how to swim. Then it's out to sea with the lot of us.

The sea's a scary place, to be sure. But the second we stop fearing is the second we stop learning, creating and moving forward - and, to layer on the cheese, we stop living.

Life's all about the cheese.

All you poor souls going back to school this week (as one of you, I sympathize) - Have a good semester!

And thus ends my blog post filled with secrets in parenthesis.

Things to keep up with/check out/feast your eyes upon:

Keep up with Rheanna Toy's short film NINA, going into production sooon!

The Rain City Chronicles has a show coming up this month, and I really can't bail on it this time. Tickets are twelve bucks and it's at the Orpheum. There is no excuse to miss hanging out at the Orpheum.

I made a video, because I took my camera out for one day while I was on holidays, and I was going to do something with the footage (damn it).

Snowshoeing in the Bow Valley from Laurel K Brown on Vimeo.