Raise your Glass (Pink)

 Well another year has zoomed by. Hard to imagine so much has happened within this year.  First the CT scans to figure out why my carotid artery was so swollen, then in emergency and then hospital for a bit, a new diagnosis as I was "misdiagnosed" , the tumour is inoperable but I did the radiation, had  the best care, tumour has shrunk, pledged allegiance to my wellness mentor on taking the supplements that are helping me on the reg, felt phychic when I knew the 1kg bag of skittles that was handed to me by my daughter to help with some of the bitter meds would NOT be eaten by me (ha ha hah and I was right,  the midnight shuffles into my room by two legged creatures was on point!)  laughed with the many wonderful volunteer drivers from Bloomhill, who took me in every day for 6 weeks to ACS for my treatment, did  the Conga with the radiation Techies and nurses on my last day,  told everyone I got a few tattoos (it was for the radiation... but I'm thinking of a proper one... hmmm)  lobbed off my long hair to the former cleopatra look I used to have as a lot of hair fell out during treatment but was told that "radiation doesn't cause hair loss.. one also has to look at one's age..."Well colour me purple... was coddled by my close friend and healer who helped me stay in the zone and just get through it all, she made me envious as heck when she went away for a month to travel through France, Greece, Egypt and had the nerve to text me whilst she was on a house boat on the river Nile! but it just made me more determined to travel again! another birthday came and went, another Christmas, and during all this  dodged and swerved around the Covid Crises Delta and now sitting in the eye of the Omicron storm.   

The Clowns cheering me up on the last day

Between all of that I bit the bullet and decided to try dating again... whoaa that's a lot of raised eyebrows.. well when you realise that tick tock, now is the time, you go and do what you can.  Unfortunately the dating online thingy just didn't work for me, I'm gonna admit, and you all can groan and make noises as much as you want, I'm an old fashioned romantic.  You gotta connect face to face with the person, energy, chemistry, what ever you want to call it!  Looking at pictures and reading stats is what I did for my modelling agency when we were putting talent up for commercials not dates!!  however I did make a couple of wonderful friends from that! (always look on the bright side of life) 

 I  finally went back to Adelaide to visit my besties as I had to cancel the trip due to my prognosis, had a total blast, did a load of videoing,  ate a lot, drank a lot, gained weight a lot.. ha ha ha.. I got my junk in mah trunk back dat is for shore! Met some fab people, flirted a little, hey I still have a pulse!

Me and Miz P

Then when I returned I went .. wait for it.. camping!  Oh yea... those images of the bush with no loos and mozzies flying everywhere can now be expunged from your grey matter, I was told I did a version of what people now call uh Glamping! heh heh whatevveeerrr. 

Getting the Wetta in the Water...

It's called a SWAG!

The Regatta set up
 

I had tons of fun, was taken sailing on a Wetta,  which was exhilarating , it's been awhile since I've been on a "boat" , then did some kayaking with a friend on the lake whilst the sailing regatta was on and discovered "hey I got the energy and capacity to do this!", which led me to take down my road bike, give her a little sweet lovin and start over on the riding.  I even bought a pair of .. PURPLE ROLLER SKATES!  go me! he he he. ok ok now that was my daughter's fault, no really, it was ALL her fault, she wanted to start roller skating, asked me if I would join her,  COERCED me into buying a pair of skates and bam! howsyerfather!

Told ya they were purple

Lastly but not least, I've been working on something I've loosely called The Art of Giving, , I'm launching it in the next couple of weeks, took my own sweet time to get it together, but it's ready now and I hope you'll be  there to watch the launch and support me.

In my quiet moments between Christmas and Boxing day, I raised a glass to the Universe, the Angels, those spiritual guides and the ancestors who keep any eye on us all who are earthbound and said "Thank you, I'm still here, I'm alive and I am well". 

Yes it's been a tough year, we've all had to really dig deep, cry, rage and do some deeeeppp meditation,    So I say to you all 

What can be said in New Year rhymes, 

That’s not been said a thousand times? 

The new years come, the old years go, 

We know we dream, we dream we know. 

We rise up laughing with the light, 

We lie down weeping with the night. 

We hug the world until it stings, 

We curse it then and sigh for wings. 

We live, we love, we woo, we wed, 

We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead. 

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear, 

And that’s the burden of a year.

From A Poem for Every Winter Day

An Incredibly Awesome New Year to all of you, may you all be happy, loved, safe and healthy.

Dx

Cheers!

The Year 2016.. in the beginning

Happy New Year everyone.  I do hope for everyone this is going to be a great year.  2015 had so many bumps in it, it seems like everyone is happy to see the back of it. I for one waved it off with close friends and a few days of recuperation!

In my last blog I was talking about empowering women and what we can do for ourselves financially and spiritually in this economic state of uncertainty. I'm not going to bog you down with figures and tech speak, but have a real heart to heart about what we can do to help ourselves.  We've been informed that there have been so many budget cuts which means a lot of people being made redundant, downsizing of departments, companies going belly up or being bought over or like the radio station I had been working for, shutting down with 2 weeks notice.

Last day at the Station!

Me and my partner in Crime on the Morning Show

Once the initial shock is over, I think the most important thing is to ensure your tribe, and that is your most faithful and most supportive friends and family rally around you.  There will be a lot of ideas being bandied about, but the most important thing I've discovered is to trust your instinct and go with your gut.

Now for some of us , it's the age factor, lets face it, more companies prefer to hire younger people and to also pay less for the inexperienced ones. Plus the younger folk can hop around from one company to another and it's quite the norm, but if you've had an established career and a defined work ethos that you've been following it can be harder.  You will come across a myriad of  work opportunities, from MLM to introductions to investing.  Lets cover them one by one shall we?

My Almond Shortbread

Firstly if you find yourself at home, going through the ads and recruitment agencies without as much luck as you'd hope to have, lets look at what you can do immediately.  Do you cook?  Is there a specialised dish that everyone ooos and ahhs over?  I've spoken to quite a few women and they do a few signature dishes that they advertise online and cater to folk who don't have the time to cook.  All it takes is a little bit of patience and PR.  Make sure you bring you signature dish to the next get together, tell your friends you're available to cater the dish you've brought , make sure you also have a price in mind of how much you will charge.  Post it on your social networks, it's the best way of being visible and word of mouth also works and make sure you take some great shots of the food (not the person holding it or eating it!!)   Also as my girl friends mentioned to me, a lot of restaurants and cafes are accepting home made goods that are up to their standards so look around your neighbourhood to these places where you can possibly promote your dish.  This is immediate cash.
I make about 4 specialised dishes, apart from my Shepard's Pie and Apple Crumble I also do

killer quiches in many flavours

I also make tasty tuna puffs!

Then there's part time work at UBER, why not, if you own your own car, have a few hours to spare and want to earn money, apply, I'm sure your network will tell you where and at what time there's the most need for public transport.

The same can be said for your actual skills, you can always offer your services on a free lance basis whilst looking for the next major job, (anything from teaching yoga, cooking, accounting, language classes etc)   just make sure you know what the going rate is and charge accordingly.  Cash money more money.

my pal Riz does dive classes in her free time

and has some pretty awesome experiences along the way!

There are many MLM, Pyramid and Networking Jobs. out there, ranging from health products to time sharing.  The most important thing about this type of work is to actually believe in the product, believe you can market the product and make the initial payment (yes there is always an initial investment starting from RM 500 upwards.)   I'll cover them all in detail in the next blog, suffice to say this is to just kick start your year with a quick patch up and to let you know that you are not alone, we're all in this boat together, and we believe with more women supporting each other and building a network together or as I love to call it a TRIBE , we can do it and there is light at the end of the tunnel.


I'm in the midst of gathering other blogs for micro financing and also investing.  If you have a topic you'd like to share please don't hesitate to let me know, I'd love to hear from you,

Christmas and New Year

It was a completely and utterly mad week prior to Christmas, we were shooting episode 2 and some other episodes as well, I was falling asleep half way through the printing of our storyboards in the middle of the night as we had such early starts.

I am absolutely amazed I managed my lines! But we did it! Oh yes we did it.

Then we had the preview party, which Kym kindly help organise with Jo Jo at his Wine Shop, HM Wines, in Bangsar for the first Episode.

I was so nervous, I was prowling around like a cat on a hot tin roof! I even bugged my brother to come and give me support! His version of support was "ok"

Me - So what do you think of the show?

Bro - "Ok"

Me - Would you watch this show?

Bro - "O..K."

Me - Do you think we look stylish and professional?

Bro - " Ok...hmm"

Me - Do you want a drink?

Bro - Ok

That folks is my brother giving his stamp of approval...

The Night went well, we had mostly very positive comments, and a few that were "hmmnn???", but overall the main sponsor loved it and so did the developers so that was that!

Then it was back to finishing off the final bits of editing for Episode 2, and as usual, me being me, I was not that psyched with the sound (my former music background..eh) so I was irritating my editor about the music beds and the overall sound of the show.. (he will most probably be nodding through gritted teeth here) and of course, I still can't get used to seeing myself on screen, it feels weird, and I am my own biggest critic.. I think he is so fed up of hearing "I LOOK SO FAT!", even my Film Director was looking at me quizzically..

We finally got everything transferred and sent out to the Broadcaster and in my deluded mind I thought I could concentrate on the holidays... but no, there were more interviews and meetings, so I cancelled our holiday to OZ. However , and there is always a however I managed to surprise my family with a trip to Phuket on Christmas day, so off we flew to have some fun in the sun.

It was wonderful to be away, but I just had a look at my phone bill, between my producer in Oz, Kl and my Film Director, Celcom must be raking it in!

Upon returning to KL, we were inundated with all sorts of last minute details, and finally on the 5th, my gal pals organised a night in to watch the show on one of their big screen TVs. It was a noisy, uproariously funny night, with much ribbing and shoulder bumping. When the show finally came on, they were all making their comments and finally one them yelled "SHUT UP I AM TRYING TO WATCH THE BLINKING SHOW !!!" Did they ? Nooo... ( I am still nursing a sore arm from all the smacking I got.. you know how girls are!)

So now we are nose to the grindstone again, I have to finish scripting the up coming shows and make sure I've storyboarded them properly, deal with my producers and finalise the shooting schedules...

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to watch the show every wed at 8.30 on ntv7 or on our website www.artoflivingshow.com

Saluti!

Dx