There was so much hype on American Sniper that I decided to go check this movie out on Saturday night. Hmph. I should have stuck to my indie flicks. As much as I like Clint Eastwood as a director and I do love the way he takes a quiet approach in shooting a script...this movie was too stark with not enough story arc. I thought the movie was way too long, it could have been edited down by at least 40 minutes. I was yawning and shifting in my chair through half of it. I felt the soldier returning home and unable to connect with family could have been better developed. The crying wife begging the husband to talk to her felt like every other relationship. I will say Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle was pretty amazing. I didn't realize he had this much range as an actor so it was great to see him with some definite intention. I know there are a lot of people out there who love this movie but I just don't get it. What am I missing?
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Splintered Bloody Dream
I dreamt last night that I was climbing wooden stairs but they were jagged, splintered, and every step was a different height and shape. Every step was precarious and unwieldy. Every once in a while a large grey furry critter would scurry across my line of vision making me jump. I would reach out to the wall to hold on for support and the wall would become nebulous and amorphous making me misstep. When I faltered it would bring me very close to falling over onto these splintered planks and I knew that if I fell upon them it would mean unending pain. At one point, the image of a crown of thorns flashed through my brain and the stairs began to flood with blood. Making the stairwell slippery and I was falling neither being able to get back to the bottom to escape or getting to the top to finish the journey. Instead I was stuck in this mire of splintered fragments, blood and grey furry critters swimming beneath the surface. Ergh. Ick. Let's just say that when I woke up the only thing that made me feel better was a long hot shower. Talk about vivid dreams.
I'm off for a little pampering, a movie and then a little art supply shopping. Yay!
Peace,
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
I'm off for a little pampering, a movie and then a little art supply shopping. Yay!
Peace,
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2014 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Transitions
As I move into the month of February, I find myself in a time of transition in most all aspects of my life. Most years I go through these times kicking and screaming, dragging my heels, clawing at the walls, not wanting to make changes despite the fact that the changes are happening with or without my consent and/or participation. (This is the part where I giggle to myself because it's true). I'm doing things a little differently this time...I'm not putting my head in the sand, I'm making some choices here. Right or wrong, I'm starting to figuring some of my own life aspects. Call it synchronicity. Intuition. Emotional resonance. I'm just trusting myself as I move forward.
Day Job--The group seems to be in a state of flux at the moment and they are going through some growing pains. I am trying to remain calm but I find that playing office politics is not my forte. Never has been. I'm trying to find a new way of doing my job, do a decent job of it, trust my gut, go home and work on my creative writing. And try not to get too entangled in the office shenanigans. At the end of the day, it's too easy to get sucked up into the machinations of restructuring. In the last three days I've been to three meetings and I am finding more and more that people have lost the ability to listen to one another. Its frustrating. As the person with the least seniority on the admin team, I think I'm just going to pitch my ideas when they are applicable but I'm not going to get attached to the outcome. Easier said than done.
Creativity -- Now this is by far more important but all the stresses of the day job have really taxed me. I am going to make some adjustments and shift my focus again so that the creative work becomes the priority. I watched a co-worker of mine play in his band this past week and there was this moment when he cut loose and he was just so present, riffing on his instrument...watching him play inspired me to get back to writing again. The last couple of weeks I've been doing these short stories in my journal during lunch but they were so quick and just these jotted down pieces...I have to look back and see if I can use any of that material for something more substantial. Perhaps I can salvage a story from it. And then of course, I can work on that albatross that is Indigo....perhaps that will be the new title to my sci-fi novel. Albatross. So back to my shift of consciousness...back to the creative work. I'm still at least keeping up with 3 journal pages a day so I've kept up with that commitment. Now I need to incorporate creative time every day.
Health -- I've discovered there is no "magic pill" to take away chronic migraines. After seeing a specialist, I believed for a moment I was on to something. But after several months of dealing with side effects of stress, fatigue, joint pain, numbness in fingers and toes, bitter taste from the medication, I am done. So I am going back to my naturopathic specialist and trying to figure out a holistic approach to dealing with this chronic condition. One of my worst side effects was "trouble with words." And as a writer...let's just say that was noticeable from the onset, I just thought I could work around that issue. Ergh. I realized it was a problem when my spelling started to turn to crap. So if you find any typos in this entry...I'm blaming it on the meds...I'm still weaning off of them. Hehehe. I'll be off them completely by next week. Anyway, I just finished reading Molecules of Emotion which also lends itself to the decision to come off the medication. I knew I wasn't doing well on the migraine prescription but I kept trying to convince myself that it was going to help. So onto to healthier life choices. Back to food restrictions, natural supplements, yoga, walking, meditation and one or two new activities.
Anyway that is all I have for now...I am sure there is tons more to share but it's late and I need some
shut-eye. 'Night.
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2015 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
Day Job--The group seems to be in a state of flux at the moment and they are going through some growing pains. I am trying to remain calm but I find that playing office politics is not my forte. Never has been. I'm trying to find a new way of doing my job, do a decent job of it, trust my gut, go home and work on my creative writing. And try not to get too entangled in the office shenanigans. At the end of the day, it's too easy to get sucked up into the machinations of restructuring. In the last three days I've been to three meetings and I am finding more and more that people have lost the ability to listen to one another. Its frustrating. As the person with the least seniority on the admin team, I think I'm just going to pitch my ideas when they are applicable but I'm not going to get attached to the outcome. Easier said than done.
Creativity -- Now this is by far more important but all the stresses of the day job have really taxed me. I am going to make some adjustments and shift my focus again so that the creative work becomes the priority. I watched a co-worker of mine play in his band this past week and there was this moment when he cut loose and he was just so present, riffing on his instrument...watching him play inspired me to get back to writing again. The last couple of weeks I've been doing these short stories in my journal during lunch but they were so quick and just these jotted down pieces...I have to look back and see if I can use any of that material for something more substantial. Perhaps I can salvage a story from it. And then of course, I can work on that albatross that is Indigo....perhaps that will be the new title to my sci-fi novel. Albatross. So back to my shift of consciousness...back to the creative work. I'm still at least keeping up with 3 journal pages a day so I've kept up with that commitment. Now I need to incorporate creative time every day.
Health -- I've discovered there is no "magic pill" to take away chronic migraines. After seeing a specialist, I believed for a moment I was on to something. But after several months of dealing with side effects of stress, fatigue, joint pain, numbness in fingers and toes, bitter taste from the medication, I am done. So I am going back to my naturopathic specialist and trying to figure out a holistic approach to dealing with this chronic condition. One of my worst side effects was "trouble with words." And as a writer...let's just say that was noticeable from the onset, I just thought I could work around that issue. Ergh. I realized it was a problem when my spelling started to turn to crap. So if you find any typos in this entry...I'm blaming it on the meds...I'm still weaning off of them. Hehehe. I'll be off them completely by next week. Anyway, I just finished reading Molecules of Emotion which also lends itself to the decision to come off the medication. I knew I wasn't doing well on the migraine prescription but I kept trying to convince myself that it was going to help. So onto to healthier life choices. Back to food restrictions, natural supplements, yoga, walking, meditation and one or two new activities.
Anyway that is all I have for now...I am sure there is tons more to share but it's late and I need some
shut-eye. 'Night.
L~
All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2015 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.
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