One Reason to Love Entertainment Expos

I spent this past weekend hanging around the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo having a blast.  It was a trip that I hadn’t planned on making and had lots of little hiccups leading up to it but once I got there things got fun just as they always do at the Calgary Expo.  I had some amazing moments like putting on my Expo shirt and realizing I need to stop asking for the largest and start asking for a size (the largest was too big…woo hoo!).  I also had some great moments getting autographs and photo ops.  I mean seriously Christian Slater was there!!!!!  What sticks out from the weekend though is a conversation I had with another favourite guest, Ted Raimi.  I spent some time writing about it on Saturday evening and will try and put it into coherent form now.

When I went to get Ted Raimi’s autograph we started to chat about conventions and how cool it was to have a place where you could go and just love what you love and know that you will find other people that love it too.  It was a short conversation but of course it stuck with me because although there are many reasons that I love both the Calgary and now Edmonton Expo, one of the biggest is how I feel when I’m at them.

Typically I avoid places like the Expo.  Anywhere there is a gather of lots of people tends to put me on edge because it usually means I’m going to have to deal with stupid people who think it’s fun to make rude comments about my size.  I have thick skin and have put up with this for years but I will still avoid situations that make that likely.  So while my friends had started going to the Calgary Expo before me and tried to convince me to join them I avoided it.  Eventually though my inner teenager gave in because Calgary Expo kept bringing guests that I had crushes on and so I had to go.  I went prepared to deal with the stupid but was pleasantly surprised when by the end of the whole weekend in spite of being surrounded by thousands of people I never heard one negative comment or saw one negative look.

This didn’t really resonate with me that strongly that year, although I did write about it in my journal, it was noticed.  It wasn’t until the next year when I went and enjoyed the weekend again and still nothing.  It was then I realized just how special Expo was.  I have now gone to 7 conventions (5 in Calgary, 1 in Edmonton and a really small one in Des Moines Iowa) and it has been the same at each one.  You go in and it doesn’t seem to matter who you are you are accepted.  Everyone is there to have a good time and enjoy the things they love.  You get to be surrounded by people who like the same things as you which means you can strike up a conversation in any line.  I have also learned in a lot of cases it makes it easy to talk to the guests that I love too.  Expo is a very accepting place.  It always leaves me feeling amazing, happy and full of many great memories. 

There are many reasons to love and check out a convention and the acceptance is just one of my reasons (cute boys are totally another…hehehe).  I do find now that I actively encourage lots of my friends who have never gone to go and check it out.  I always tell them that it doesn’t matter what you love you will find someone else that loves it too.  You will get to talk to people you may never have talked to before.  You become bonded by a shared experience.  I love that and want other people to experience it.  I really do look forward to that feeling every year. 

Oh and anyone wondering about some of my other memories and moments I am working on another entry to be posted soon.  I realized that I also didn’t write about Calgary this past April and now with Edmonton I have lots to share.  This year has been pretty amazing in terms of moments with some of the media guests that came out.

The Power of a Schedule – A Check In

It has been 4 weeks since I posted my blog entry about my new schedule.  When I wrote Time – NonRenewable Resource although I was excited about it, I don’t think I realized how amazing I was going to feel following it.  I feel incredibly happy and proud of it.  I have been sharing my thinking and planning with lots of people and I truly feel like for me it has been one of the best things I could have done.

In the past four weeks I have been sticking fairly close to the schedule.  There have been a few hiccups where things haven’t gone quite to plan and I have also learned what works and what doesn’t.  It has all been an interesting part of seeing what schedule my time would actually be like.  Overall I have to say I’m thrilled with how it is working.  Having a schedule has been helping me make the most of my non work time and is helping me to feel like I’m a more rounded person.

The most surprising result that I have noticed in the last four weeks is that I no longer struggle with feeling like I should be doing something else.  Pre-schedule when I was doing one activity, like scrapbooking, I would often feel like I should be doing something else, like going to the gym.  I was feeling pulled in too many directions and like I didn’t have time for any of it.  It was a weird version of guilt.  With the creation of the schedule I’m finding that now I don’t feel that same pull.  Having a spot for all the things that matter means that when I’m doing something I can focus on just that and know that later I will have time for a different activity.  It takes any guilt out of doing the things I love because no one should feel guilty for doing the things they love.

Another thing that has been really fantastic about the schedule is how much I’m getting done.  In the last month I have spent more time with friends, done more hikes (6 hikes – 3 of which were on the same day), completed more scrapbook pages (I wish I had counted how many), read more books (3 –so close to one a week that I want), written more words, and even got to the gym more than I have ever before.  Then thrown in were a few things that although planned were not technically on the schedule, like Globalfest fireworks.  I feel really productive and can see the progress I’m making in all the things I love.  It actually amazes me when I think about how much I have gotten done.  It not only makes me feel good but it has also helped to keep me feeling grounded and centered.

Another benefit to having my schedule is that I have been making myself look for new things to do and places to go.  Sunday is my adventure day.  The only goal I really have Sunday morning/afternoon is to get out of my house.  In the last four weeks I have gone to some different farm markets, went to a pig farm and gone hiking.  It has been really cool to get to see things around my province that I hadn’t seen before.  I’m also already looking ahead to winter and what I will fill my Sunday’s with as the weather turns bad.  I know that this will be a little bit more challenging but I will figure it out I’m sure.  Heheh.  It is amazing when you start looking for things to do what you can find.  It is also amazing that even though I have lived in Calgary my whole life there is a lot of things I have never done or thought to do.

One last thing that I have seen that may not be directly related to the schedule but likely helped by it, is that out of the last 4 weigh ins 3 of them have had me with a loss on the scale.  It does make sense though the scheduling would help.  I mean I’m making time for the gym and food planning and prep which is a huge part of giving me success.  I’m also happier and more fulfilled in other ways so I don’t need to turn to food to make me feel better.  I’m also doing less mindless tv watching which always seems to get paired with mindless eating.

There has been some learning to come out of the schedule as well.  In the past few weeks I have noticed that I need to tweak a few things.  The first thing I have to tweak is my scheduled writing time.  I need to add in some evening time for my writing.  My morning writing sessions have been great for getting my novel organized (ie. fixing timelines, clarifying characters, ect) and to get my head back into the time period but they have not been as good for actually writing much in the story.  I definitely find my creative energy is higher later at night.  So my new schedule will flip one of my two sessions into an evening session.

The other thing I realized that I have to tweak is my meal planning, grocery shopping and meal prep.  My current schedule has me doing meal planning on Saturday and then shopping and prepping on Sunday.  Since my Sunday is my adventure day the thought was I could grab groceries on the way home and then prep in the evening.   The problem is my adventure day has been longer than I thought it would be and I have been coming home more tired than I figured I would be.  The solution will be to move at least the grocery shopping to Saturday. 

The last thing I have noticed is that while I was planning I left out a little of my non work time.  I completely forgot that Monday to Friday I have an hour where currently I have no plans.  I have decided that in my new schedule I will also come up with some things for my lunch hours at work.  It will give me 5 more hours in which I can get in activity or maybe do my meal planning or just read a bit more. 

All in all I have been really pleased with what having a schedule has done for me.  Sure there are times when I still choose to do nothing but at least now I know what I’m giving up if I go that route.  It has been quite motivating and freeing.  I don’t have to waste valuable time trying to figure out what I should be doing.  I always know.  The last four weeks have renewed me.  It has shown me that you really can do everything you want (even if you can’t do it all at once).