pensive lioness

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

For inspiration, from here:

So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years:

1. Ignore everybody.

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.

3. Put the hours in.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.

7. Keep your day job.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.

14. Dying young is overrated.

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.

16. The world is changing.

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.

19. Sing in your own voice.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.

21. Selling out is harder than it looks.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.

24. Don�t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.

25. You have to find your own schtick.

26. Write from the heart.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.

31. Remain frugal.

32. Allow your work to age with you.

33. Being Poor Sucks.

34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.

35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.

36. Start blogging.

Can I say how much I hate some members of my family? Hate, hate, hate, hate.


Backstory - My Grandmother passed away on Friday. It was an expected death, as she has been dealing with everything from foot infections to Alzheimer's. In my mind, she had ceased to be quite a while ago. And while I'm sad she has passed, I am not upset. I would like to mourn.

However, as every TS knows or will know, funerals bring out the worst. After the debacle of my father's death, I realized that any family gathering, whether in joy or in sorrow, my presence would not be required, nor even desired, by most.

And while I thought I had come to terms with this over the past four years, what my grandmother represents, at least to me, makes me realize just how shitty, shitty, shitty this whole situation has become.

My memories of my grandmother are that of family. Every time I say her it was a celebration of some sort. Whether it was a Memorial day cook out or a Christmas feast. All members of my mom's side of the family were there with aunts and uncles, and various cousins of all ages. There was no dysfunction at these events, at least none that I can recall. And now? Now dysfunction is the norm. And I hate it.

I know there are only two answers here - go or don't go. Going means that the funeral ceases to be entirely about my grandmother, and I don't want that. Not going means that I'm miserable.

Is this a martyr-complex that I'm carrying? *shrug* It's possible. But damnit, this frackin' pisses me off.

And it gets to happen again relatively soon, because my grandfather, after having three strokes in the past year (only one of which I've been aware of until told of the other two this weekend) is expected to pass away in the near future.

The Space Shuttle Challenger went up into space, and exploded 2 minutes into its journey...


...22 years ago today.

For those of you curious as to what I've been up to of late. In addition to everything else on my agenda, I've now started writing restaurant reviews for "The Stranger", Seattle's best Alt-weekly.

If you're so inclined, you can see said review here.

This makes me an official food journalist. Woo hoo!

Where before I was able to read the exploits of my friends whilst I was "toiling" at work, the evil IT ninjas have now started monitoring internet usage.

I am so doomed.

What this means is that I am now on LJ less than before. Where once I was a comfortable lurker, now I feel absent from my friends lives.

I'm jumping on when I can, but now that I'm responsible for two posts on the Hedonist, as well as herding various writers and editors on Well Fed, let's just say that when I get home, there's little time for "me time" on the internet. Which sucks in so many ways...

There's a period of time when you take an aspirin to lessen the pain of a headache from when you swallow the tablets to when your headache is gone. My professional life feels as if I'm in that zone. QA job equates to the headache, AH equals the aspirin, food writer job equals to life without headache.

I've worked so hard over the past two years on the site, and it has paid of in some amazing ways (I'll have to tell you about the tour of the gourmet ice cream factory some day), but I feel as if I need to push it even further. The problem is that I'm not sure if I should wait to see who's been noticing me or if I need to initiate contact...

I'm in the midst of writing my second book proposal, just in case.

Are you fuckin' kidding me?

When the stress of the war in Iraq becomes too severe, the Pentagon has a suggestion for military families: Learn how to laugh.

With help from the Pentagon's chief laughter instructor, families of National Guard members are learning to walk like a penguin, laugh like a lion and blurt "ha, ha, hee, hee and ho, ho."

No joke.

The Pentagon has a Chief Laugh Instructor? I feel as if we're been transported into a world that's a cross between a George Orwell novel and a Leonard Wibberley novel.

As much as I hate the current President, I've always been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

That they play vicious politics has never been in question, but neither was it a reason to protest them. Politics is a vicious sport, and if you play it well, then by all means use it to secure your party into power. Typically when the republicans have resorted to this sort of behavior, as long as it didn't violate law, then more power to them. Typically when it happened, I bemoaned the fact that the democrats never had (and still don't have) a similar strategy.

When the Bush Administration has shown lack of intelligence in the implementing of their various projects and plans, I cringed, but I did not speak up. Last I checked, ignorance and incompetance was still legal, regardless on whether they are characteristics one would want their leaders to avoid having. There's no law against being stupid.

As the Administration flopped through the summer months, and it became clear that some members of the Bush Team were going to be indicted, I still didn't flinch. The Reagan administration had a helluva bad record with corruption and illegalities, so this too, was nothing new.

Then Friday the New York Times reported on the President's plan regarding wiretapping citizens within the US and his subversion of the judicial process that was in place. This was the process so lenient that warrants could be had after the wrire tapping took place, up to 72 hours retroactively.

I've hesitated to use the word "Impeach" for a variety of reasons, including the fact that those who had been shouting it over the past 5 years have come across as a bit wacko, and oftentimes didn't have enough evidence outside the fact that Bush was a republican.

Plus, thanks in large part to the over-enthusiastic Republicans of the late 90's, I grew a bit tired of the concept. Most people used it as a political tool of vengeance, rather than one of justice. Bill Clinton broke the law, yes...over a blow-job.

On Saturday, Bush gave a radio speech in which he not only admitted to breaking the law, but he defended his right to do so.

Sorry Mr. President. As your Republican cronies showed us with the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton , no president is above the law. This includes you.

You broke the law. You need to be impeached. I've made my phone call to my Representative.

You scored as Albert Camus. You are Albert Camus, so you are one sweet existentialist. He built largely upon the framework of existentialists before him, but introduced the concept that life is absurd, but that we should continue living anyway. You have strong liberal leanings, although you annoy the Communists. You are susceptible to driving fast, and possibly crashing into a tree. </td> Albert Camus 68% Jean-Paul Sartre 64% Friedrich Nietzsche 43% Martin Heidegger 43% Soren Kierkegaard 25% Not An Existentialist 7% Which Existentialist Philosopher Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

I've posted nothing of substance on LJ for quite some time. My apologies for that, but I do have a reason:

I own my own company.

It's not much, as we have no product or service delivered of yet. This also means we have no value, and have nothing of value... but we are currently working on releasing said product/service within the next few weeks (New Year's day, to be honest).

The company name? Digital Mavens LLC

The product? A food blog network, one that encompasses many topics as well as food sites for major cities.

Pretty cool, huh?

I'm actually partnered with two other folks, Tara being one of them, and we've been spending the past few months creating Business Agreements, filling out paperwork, and making sure Uncle Sam knows we exist.

To say that this makes me a bit anxious is an understatement, but I'm working through it. I have no idea on where this endeavor will take me, but it does promise to be a bit exciting.

Here's a list of pets that I have had in my lifetime. I was thinking about this last night and was amazed at how many animals have been a part of my life. Feel free to do the same on your own journal.

Cats

Archie - Siamese
Mahitabel - Siamese
Pete - White Persian
Tillie - White Persian
Popcorn - Siamese
Frampton - American Longhair
Fleetwood - Tabby
Sheba - Siamese
Delilah - Siamese
Patches - Tuxedo
Sam - Burmese
Toto - Tabby
Guinevere - Longhair
Chessie - American Shorthair
Emily - White shorthair
Tiny - White Shorthair
T.C. - Black Shorthair
Reba - Siamese
Katie - Tuxedo
Jake - Tabby
Fenwick -
Audrey - Tabby
Roxanne - Tabby
Mouse- Tuxedo

Dogs
Riley - Irish Setter
Sam - Basset Hound
Lady - Collie
Shadow - Wiemeramer
Kelly - Golden Retriever
Heidi - Black Retriever
Sniffles - Pug
Frick - Tiny Dauchsand (red)
Frack - Tiny Dauchsand (black)

I know I'm missing a few.

You scored as The Operative. You are dedicated to your job and very good at what you do. You've done some very bad things, but they had to be done. You don't expect to go to heaven, but that is a sacrifice you've made for a better future for all. </td> The Operative 88% Simon Tam 69% River Tam 63% Inara Serra 56% Shepherd Derrial Book 56% Hoban 'Wash' Washburne 56% Jayne Cobb 44% Zoe Alleyne Washburne 44% Capt. Mal Reynolds 38% Kaylee Frye 25% Which Serenity character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Bill Maher, talking about George W. Bush

Seriously Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore.

There's no more money to spend, you've used up all of that.

You can't start another war because you've also used up the army.

And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people.

Listen to your Mom; The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out and no one is speaking to you.

Mission Accomplished!!!

Now it's time for you to do what you've always done best...

...lose interest and walk away.

Like you did with your military service, and the oil company, and the baseball team.

It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job: How 'bout cowboy or spaceman?

Now I know what you're saying. You're saying there's so many things that you, as president, could involve yourself in.

Please don't.

I know there's a lot left to do: The war with Venezuala and eliminating the sales tax on yachts; turning the space program over to the church and Social Security to Fannie Mae; Giving embryos the vote.

But Sir, none of that is going to happen now.

Why?

Because you govern like Billy Joel drives.

You've performed so poorly that I'm surprised you haven't given yourself a medal.

You're a catastrophe that walks like a man.

Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceeded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes.

On your watch we've lost...

...almost all of our allies.
...the surplus.
...4 airliners.
...2 Trade Centers.
...a piece of the pentagon.
...and the City of New Orleans.

Maybe you're just not lucky.

I'm not saying you don't love this country, I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So yes, God does speak to you. And what He's saying is...

Take a hint.

Feel Free to post this anywhere and everywhere on the net.

Us and them - Pink Floyd. You need Quick time for it to work.

Oh the things people do to cats. This made me gasp and laugh out loud.

You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis. </td> Postmodernist 81% Existentialist 75% Cultural Creative 69% Materialist 69% Idealist 50% Modernist 50% Romanticist 44% Fundamentalist 13% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

I swore I would never get sucked in by satellite radio, but in the end, that's exactly what happened.

Particularly, I am fond of the Cinemagic channel, which plays soundtracks from movies, often interspersed with dialogue. It makes pleasant background office music.

The Broadway channel doesn't such either.

And I'm getting no money from XM for writing this either.

Today our temperature may...repeat may reach a high of 90 degrees. If it does, it will be the first time this summer.

OOh, and it's been over 80 degrees less than a dozen times this summer.

Deal with this information as you see fit.

[nelson] Haa-ha! You live in a sweltering sauna![/nelson]

I know, I know... I should write more here.. and write more about my personal life to keep all my friends on the east coast updated on my life.

Duly noted.

But this is just too cool

Time Magazine called Accidental Hedonist a Cool website. I quote:

"Honorable mention: The Accidental Hedonist, written with flair by one Kate Hopkins. Newsy, political and practical all at once (she offers 14 pointers "for better enjoyment of your cheese" in a May 27 post). The quotes on each page ("My favorite animal is steak." -Fran Lebowitz ) are like the cherry on top."

How freakin cool is that?? I'm still rather stunned.

Below are some picture sets I've created in Flickr.

Feel free to view them and see what I've been doing with a camera over the past year or so...

Around Seattle
Mouse and Roxanne
Strange Piccies
Pike Place Market (for VirginiaDare)

I know I haven't kept up to date with a lot of you, for that I apologize. Hopefully these will give you some insight to just what the hell I'm doing.