Yesterday I opened up the July chapter sitting with my mother caught hostage in the emergency room of a hospital in Hershey PA.  The emergency had passed the night before, but we had been there for hours and hours stuck between her actually being admitted to the hospital or being able to go home.  As my mother noted many times, July 1 is the day when all new doctors start their residencies and the experienced ones have moved on, so there was nothing logical or orderly about our experience there.  (Word of advice: if you’re going to end up in the emergency room, don’t do it on July 1^st) Anyway, To pass the time we read the new challenge and reminisced about all the crazy things I have done, and even laughed a bit about Gabe’s accurate descriptions of our old crappy apartments and weird roommates.

Logic and order was exactly what we were in need of yesterday and it is sometimes just the right remedy in an emergency or chaotic situation.  Reading Gabe’s sobering prescription was a good thing for both of us to focus on in the midst of a very emotional and disorderly experience.  Gabe, has always been able to successfully bring both humor and logic into any situation and scenario no matter how difficult it seems.  I will definitely learn from him this month.

My life has never been void of both positive as well as negative emotional, dramatic, and spontaneous adventures but both logic and order have always been a bit more elusive for me. I have to admit, I was really kind of worried about what I would be thrown into this month and if I would be able to make it happen after operating my entire adult life more on instinct and feeling rather than logic or order.

“How practical!” My mom complimented Gabe’s chapter idea.  Then she quickly followed with “But how the heck are you going to put 10+ years of experiences together in 4 weeks?”

Quickly his logical prescription was giving me a side effect of a mild panic attack. Hmmm… not sure, how am I going to take on one more technology challenge to my plate right now (with the Living Chapters blog and my new work project both vying for my Macbook’s attention). Can I somehow pull together and organize the last 10 years of my creative professional life in such a short period of time? I have always been too busy in the middle of one project to even think about the work or project that I just finished – and now look at me, I have put it off so long that it seems… overwhelming! It kind of amounts to looking at over 20 projects and through at least 10,000 images.  I thought organizing the work in a text only resume alone was hard! Ok time to take my own advice…

…in case of emergency, first – be creative, second – simplify things and of course next – ask for help

Can you help? (please!)

1. As a former photographer, community artist, story collector, and visual junkie. I am looking for a professional portfolio-hosting site that offers something more visually and stylistically appealing than mahara.com. Oh! And maybe something that a non-tech savvy person as myself can handle?  Do you have suggestions?

2. Do you have a personal portfolio that you would like to share that would inspire me? Something with unique design, layout, media etc.

3.  If you know me, have worked with me, or know my work in the past 10 years – could you share a program, story or project that you feel I should highlight? (post here or on Facebook)

Please share your ideas by posting here to the blog, on the LIving Chapters Facebook page or sending me a comment.

Thank you for your ideas!

Just finding this blog today? Read the prologue for more details on what Living Chapters is all about.

Visit the June Gallery for images and videos from the first chapter.