Indelible Adventures: October 2016

Friday, October 28, 2016

El Presidente!

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What do you say about the state of affairs when a candidate and his running mate capture over 70% of the popular vote in the presidential elections? Rigged right? Or is it just another Banana Republic on the verge of democratic calamity, but wait there’s more...charges of widespread bribery have also surfaced and now leaked to the media from multiple sources.

I can imagine you all trying to guess what country this shameful and ruthless attack on democracy has been carried out on, and can see you with your "sharpies" poised to cross it off your next travel destination list.

Oh the travesty of it all!

As you know my son Zach is an avid political scientist, and has been studying politics, history and foreign policy for quite some time including taking summer school at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington DC. Now mix this in with a splash of psychology and you have the makings of an interesting situation. How so you ask?

Well, soon after the school year began he mentioned that he might be interested in running for student council, but after a few days it sort of faded from our conversations and so thought nothing more of it. Then three weeks ago he came one night all excited and announced that he had decided to run for president of the Student Council. I must say I was both surprised and impressed by his enthusiasm including the forethought and planning that he and his running mate (Garrett) had mapped out in terms of their campaign strategy. Until now Zach hadn't much interest in being involved in anything to do with school except focusing on his studies...more of a minimalist if you will. I certainly don't want to cast aspersions on his achievements on either his academic or sporting accomplishment but it was sort of a surprise lets be honest. :-)

I’m not sure he was even aware of his own personal ambitions, well at least not at the beginning but as soon as they had announced their candidacy everything seemed to spring into life. It seems as though he finally realized that this was a fantastic opportunity to put their political theories and analysis to work in a real life situation. Cool right?

They designed and produced campaign buttons that were reminiscent of the old style US presidential buttons that were so common in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When I saw the button they designed for the first time it reminded me of the campaign button produced for the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign. These guys were going old school - love the retro!

Collectively they mapped out, what I can only describe as a comprehensive plan for winning the campaign. First they planned a weekly series of events targeting the most apt to vote – yes, the year 7 & 8 students. They also realized the specific urges and motivations for this core constituency…you guessed it cookies, muffins and candy.

They enlisted a breadth of supporters and volunteers, and even some from the most unexpected places. Yes, Zach talked Sami into baking cookies for his campaign so he could give them out in the lunchroom one week. I think she liked being asked to help, but second she loves to bake – especially cookies where she gets to “sample” them as they come fresh and hot out of the oven. It was awesome to see them working together for a common cause – so sweet!

Another week Garrett’s mum baked a huge batch of muffins, again to ensure that they were captured and fortified this key battleground…the “lunchroom”.

That wasn’t all, they enlisted volunteers from across the various groups and cliques within the school to understand what was important for the students this year and figure out how they might go about doing it. Then with all this information they began developing the story line for a short campaign video that could be played in various venues throughout the school.

The key tenant for the video was that it had to be short, funny and hit their campaign messages in away that was both friendly and empowering to the student body. Filmed on hand held iPhones and edited on their laptops they scripted, shot and edited the video in less than a week. Such a hit!

They certainly worked hard to be top of mind when the balloting opened last Friday morning, and by 11:00 am it was all over. They were declared the winners in an absolute landslide, capturing more than 70% of the votes cast.

As a side note, I think it will be a great addition to his already impressive academic record, and can't hurt his chances of having a choice of universities both in Canada and abroad.

Let's be honest, clearly in this case - the apple fell far, far from the tree!

Yesterday he chaired the first meeting of the student council. They have already incorporated some of the feedback they received during the campaign and developed a a yearlong events calendar as the big desire for many students was to have more social activities and events run by students for students. First up is a Halloween fancy dress competition scheduled for Monday.

Another busy weekend ahead for El Presidente me thinks! :-)

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“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home!

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This week's photos are from a night photo shoot I did last week in downtown Toronto.

Enjoy!

One of my favorite shots from the night shoot - that sky is awesome!

How I spend my Saturday nights :-)

Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall - downtown Toronto

Long exposure fountains on my night shoot

"The Bus" - Bay Street traffic on a night shoot

Food Truck - parked on Queen West at 6:00 pm on a Saturday night

The "perfect double" - Nathan Phillips Square

Friday, October 21, 2016

Always a kind word...

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One thing about my dad, he saved everything he ever ran across, and was often accompanied by one of his favorite refrains “that might come in handy one day”, then he’d smile wryly and stack his new found piece in one of his many sheds. The term hoarder is a bit strong, but probably closer to the truth than anyone in the family would care to admit.

Dad could literally fix or build anything, didn’t need any plans, instruction or a guide to help him. Somehow, and almost innately he just knew what to do and how to do it. When people bandy about the term “handy man”, my dad was the epitome of the term and whether it was plumbing, electrical, mechanical, or even building structures he was able to do it all without any guidance or help.

Not surprisingly this important “handy” gene skipped me, but got my younger brother James, and it’s with no surprise that he and Dad share many similarities, particularly around these important skills. Now, its true that since leaving home at 17, other than all of my travels I’ve resided in cities my entire life and so haven’t needed to rely too heavily on these special skills, whereas James still lives in the same country town that we grew up in and has adapted his breadth of skills into a thriving general contractor business.

Dad was always working with his hands, building, fixing or tending to something and always had a lot of projects on the go, and all of which he'd somehow finish. One of his favorite pastimes was building sheds and over the course of his life he built four large structures on our one-acre block. Let’s see, there were two garages - a double garage for his ute (pickup truck), firewood and his tools, a shed for his fishing boat, a large hothouse for his tomatoes and vegetables plants and another just for all the odds and ends he'd collected over the years.

In particular, his hothouse was a work of art in that it was both a place to grow his legendary tomato crop as well as any other vegetable that was sensitive to the weather fluctuations that Australia has to offer. In addition he also designed it to double as a drying shed for the walnuts that he harvested each year from the two very large and fruitful trees in our yard. Growing up our yard was often strewn with walnut husks, which dad would faithfully collect and dry in his shed. Now given the volume of walnuts it was impossible for one family to eat their collective body weight in walnuts each year and so dad was constantly palming off bagfuls of walnuts to anyone who'd take them.

For many years he worked on the local council doing all sorts of jobs, from fixing water main breaks, to repairing roads, slashing long grass and everything in between. He became a familiar figure around the town, but Dad was a man of few words and so kept a low profile...or so we thought.

When it came to his funeral, even though he'd lived in the town his whole life, (other than a few early years) we didn't know how many seats to put out in the hall and so conservatively we put out 25 chairs, just in case a few people came to pay their respects. We were all shocked when over 200 people descended on the hall for the service. It was standing room only as the stone hall filled to capacity before spilling out into the surrounding grounds.

And it wasn't until his wake at the local Bowls Club afterwards that I came to understand why so many people came to his funeral. Almost to a person, everyone who came up to me told me a story about dad and his big hearted generosity. Whether it was about providing them and their families with fresh fruit and vegetables from his abundant garden or providing a helping hand to someone in need, it was clear he had been a constant source of help and support to many families around the town. He didn't wait to be asked, he just had a sense of who needed something and then somehow found an excuse to drop in to say hello, and not surprisingly always seemed to leave behind something when he left...yes the dreaded walnuts, although just as often fresh fruit and veg.

Dad was never one to "big note" (another of his sayings) himself nor talk about his deeds, nope he was just the quiet country bloke who thought it was the right thing to do and just did it. He didn't tell a soul - least of all his family...

And although its been five years since he passed away there isn't a day I don't think of him and the kindness, generosity and compassion that he constantly demonstrated to all those around him, often in quiet and unsaid ways. I'd like to think that his legacy to me were his incredibly strong values, his unmatched work ethic and his empathy and compassion.

I miss you dad!

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“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home! New episodes this week...

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This week's photos are from a photo shoot I did last week in Toronto's Kensington Market.

Enjoy!

Reminiscent of the veggies dad used to grow

Fall reflections on the speeding subway train over the Bloor Danforth
viaduct

Cool motor bike at Kensington Market

A monochrome study of me reflected in a bike store window

Some of the interesting street art on offer in Kensington Market

A street artist plying his trade on the street corner...

Yep, it's a combination of Mexican, Chilean and Pilipino :-)

This one got my attention...

Now that's eclectic!

The street was awash with bubbles from his bubble machine

Sunshine in this Tibetan piece

The unlikely spot for a plant/weed to grow - alleyway mural

The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) campus - yes, its
a coffee table...

I loved the reflection of the buildings from across the street in the glass fronts
of the buildings in front of the CN Tower

Subway reflections...

Friday, October 14, 2016

Foundations...

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How many times in your life have undertaken something only to stumble and learn a valuable lesson? I’m betting that you often see these as failures, and perhaps make platitudes about being a great learning experience but deep down you feel as though it was nine parts frustration and embarrassment and one part lesson.

The value of learning that lesson, albeit possibly painful at the time was immeasurable and likely enabled you to turn that experience into something worthwhile and valuable over time, maybe not on a conscious level, but more likely deep within your brain.

This cycle of learning life’s lessons is never ending, but sometimes we find ourselves repeating these prior lessons, maybe because they weren’t painful enough at the time or we were too self absorbed to really internalize the lessons and take them on board at an intellectual level. However, to be able to do that you need a foundation of self-awareness and emotional intelligence, coupled with a solid dose of empathy and pragmatism. This powerful cocktail often comes with maturity and time.

The important lesson is that even though you may float through life seemingly unscathed or perhaps lurching from one issue or disaster to the next, it’s not about the actual events or things to happen to you so much as how you deal with each situation that allows you to grow as individual, or not, as the case may be.

Here are three simple reminders to help you set a solid foundation for personal success:

Indelible Tip #1: Giving yourself permission - I know for me personally its important to allow myself some mental space and take a little time to reflect on specific situations, thus enabling me to take a virtual step backwards and reflect on the outcome that I'd like to see or that had transpired, and whether it met with my expectations along with what I might do differently next time. Strangely it’s about giving yourself permission to take this time…sounds sorta flakey – right? (Yes, that’s your outside voice btw) :-)

I guess what I’m trying to say is that many people may scoff at taking a time out to reflect as a waste of time and declare that the most important thing to do is continue to push forward no matter what. This is what I refer to as the "just do it" crowd - fantastic for Nike but not so great for you...without an anchor, framework or mental model it all becomes academic and theoretical. Lots of action, but without direction or a plan is often a master lesson in frustration.

I find that taking time to reflect helps me clear my head but more importantly enables me to re-wire or re-architect a different set of actions for the future. This enables me to keep focused and evolve as I realize my dreams.

Indelible Tip #2: Decisive Clearly its one thing to reflect but entirely another to actually do something about it in a concerted way. Taking action because of your reflection and planning allows you to take control and dictate your own path forward, on your terms.

Feeling stuck in life? Nothing gets you unstuck faster than taking decisive action on your plan!

Personally I like to write sticky notes to myself, so that I’m constantly reinforcing what I want in my life and the things that are most important to focus on. These are NOT long-winded objectives, or paragraphs of notes... Nope these are what I call trigger words. My stickies are all hand written and strategically placed so that I see them multiple times per day. This constant reinforcement is my way of rewiring my brain, and keeps me focused on what I want to achieve.

Indelible Tip #3: Seeking Inspiration Another thing I’ve learned about myself over the years is that as a writer, photographer and speaker I’m constantly seeking inspiration. This comes in many forms, often an image, sometimes the written word or perhaps a conversation with someone who brings out the passion in me. I find inspiration in the smallest, and sometimes most inconsequential things, for example discovering something ignored but in plain sight, or the way the air feels on a fall morning…yes it can be anything.

More often than not though it’s something simple, and often not even the “thing” per see but more importantly what it evokes in me that inspires me, or makes me smile in awe. Fortunately for me, a great source of my inspiration comes from when I have my camera with me and I'm just wandering and exploring. The tougher part for me is often in the slowing down part and not rushing to find my next little nugget of inspiration...yes, lesson learned!

However, I must tell you that I was truly inspired earlier this week over a dinner conversation I had with my almost 18 year old son as he explored an idea he had for school about developing an "Entrepreneurs Society". Seriously I wanted to bottle that conversation, I loved how animated he became and how engaged in the process of ideation but more importantly articulating what action he was going to take, clearly he had been thinking about this concept for sometime and it was awesome to take part. Very motivating!

So now what? Are you ready to try something new - no time like the present...what are you waiting for?

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“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home! New episodes this week...

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This week's photos are from our fantastic trip to Ireland for Canadian Thanksgiving.

Enjoy!

I found this shell found on the beach at Laytown, about 60km
north of Dublin on the Irish Sea.

Visiting the Titanic Quarter in Belfast

This is the slipway where the Titanic was built, you can see the
outline of the ship and how huge it was in the markings on the ground.

One of the few original lifeboats used only once and now on display at the
Titanic Museum in Belfast

The Titanic Museum - this was the size of the actual bow of the Titanic,
absolutely enormous...

The Harland and Wolfe Shipyards adjacent to the museum in Belfast
and the original builders of the Titanic

Loved the contrast of colors and shapes - the harbour in Ballintoy

The rugged coastline of Northern Ireland - rock pools at low tide in Ballintoy

Yes they filmed some episodes of Season 2 of Game of Thrones in Ballintoy

Not sure if this boat was in this state before or after Game of Thrones came to Ballintoy :-)

Seriously the coastline was more like you'd expect to see in the Mediterranean than on the North Sea

The rope bridge at Carrick-a-rede and now a National Trust site - it
swung a lot as we walked over it... Very Indiana Jones!

You can see why this part of the coastline was a haven for smugglers and pirates - lots
of caves that you could sail a boat into