Happy New Year!

Here in the UK, there are just a few short hours before we shall be bidding farewell to 2010 and welcoming in 2011. For those of us who find the changing of the years depressing, here is what a friend of mine has to say:

The Chinese believe that the "decade" birthdays (i.e. 20, 30, 40 etc) are gateways that set the scene for the next decade. The same can be said for decades, of which people don't believe traditionally start until the 1 (i.e. 1991, 2001, 2011 etc).

So see this year changing as the beginning of a new period in your life. Make your wishes and hold onto them. Stay happy and positive and the next 10 years will be happy and positive. Keep smiling. Keep loving those around you even when they wrong you. Say "I love you". Say "Sorry". Or you could take some advice from the song "Sunscreen":

"Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch. "



Have a very happy and joyful 2011!



(Photo - Christmas 2009)

The Season of Giving and Goodwill

“He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.”
~Lao-Tzu

Christmas, they say, is the season of goodwill and giving. And, as I'm discovering, there are a lot of thoughtful and giving people out there.

Over the past month or so, I have been rendered speechless by the blog posts which have been cropping up from people who are in support of my pen-palling film (For those not in the know, it's a user generated film about people who take part in the age old hobby of exchanging letters through the postal service. I'm a fully paid up member of this hobby and wanted to make a film based around it). There have been several and I wouldn't have known about any of them unless various kind hearted people hadn't emailed me to let me know. But it's the fact that people are taking the time out from their lives to talk about something by someone they've never met. They've never met me and never spoken to me yet, with all the love in their hearts, they are grabbing this project by the proverbial horns and spreading the word. Wow! Just wow! I can't find the words to express how I feel about what these kind and lovely people are doing for me! Blog posts, emails, words of encouragement and love. Where has this outpouring come from?!

So thank you to the team at Sandbook for dedicating so much of their website and magazine to this project.
Thank you to Maxine at Penpal Magazine for blogging about us!
And thank you to the blog I discovered today, Penpalling and Letters for giving us space as well!

And thank you to everyone who emails and writes and keeps me going when the going gets tough! Thank you to all of you for being here and reading this, for offering your help and your support. You are all very special and extremely wonderful. May you all have a wonderful and joyous Christmas.

A human being is only interesting if he's in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it. 

Barbra Streisand

 

It seems that if you trust enough, if you smile enough and if you wait enough, things do begin happening. 

Firstly Sandbook.net, a large and popular pen-palling forum, got in touch after being past one of the postcards I'm circulating regarding an art project about pen-friends. They're now acting as sponsors and promoters, encouraging people to get in touch and be involved. 

Secondly, the lovely owner of Penpal Magazine posted a wonderful blog entry about the film:

http://penpalmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/pen-pal-video-by-glass-completely-empty.html

So it's gathering steam, which I'm really happy and really thankful for. It's not the project that I thought would begin to take off first but it's certainly a welcome surprise!