Live the Life You've Imagined

Every week I like to post something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/quotes-about-dreams/

Start Again

Every week I like to post something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/quotes-about-dreams/

Dream a New Dream

Every week I like to post something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/quotes-about-dreams/

Live Your Dreams

Every week I like to post something inspirational.  This week is something I made myself! ^_^

Six Years Strong!

As of today I have had this blog for SIX YEARS. It is amazing that I have been active online for that long!

My focus has changed almost yearly as my focus in life has changed. I started off just having this blog so I could comment on a friend's blog. Sadly I never linked to the blog so I don't even remember which friend it was! I spent a portion of time talking about poetry, People Unlimited, and PrePaid Legal (now LegalShield). They were the 3 P's of my life at the time. I posted a lot of poetry in 2011. I posted sporadically from 2012 to 2014.

My new years resolution for 2015 has been to have more content on this blog even though my primary focus is on getting ready for the sailing trip around the world. I feel like this will be the most interesting and universally relevant year for this blog.  Stay tuned and please let me know what you think! :-)

Believe in the Beauty of Your Dreams

Every week I will be posting something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/quotes-about-dreams/

Random Rant of the Moment: Solar Suckiness

Do you know what irks me? SOLAR PANEL AND WIND GENERATOR FIELDS IRK ME. That's right. I said it. I do NOT like vast expanses of solar panels and windmills covering random landscapes in the middle of nowhere. I absolutely HATE them.

Do you know what would make a heck of a lot more sense? COVERING EVERY ROOF WITH SOLAR PANELS WOULD MAKE MORE SENSE. There would be no question of impact to the environment if utility companies just rented solar panels to people for a fixed rate per month. Something ridiculously awesomely inexpensive like $20/mo residential and $50-100/mo commercial. Why is it the 21st century and I am some complete nobody ranting in a blog about this instead of it actually being done all over the world? Even if one takes the greed aspect of capitalism into consideration, it still MAKES NO SENSE!

So...

Dear Utility Companies of the World (Especially America),
Get with the freaking program and implement this already huh?
Thanks so much,
Me.

The Lives We Live

Photo source: http://westwoodgrove.org/tag/authentic-self/

Some days it seems that life is just a really long run on sentence rolling over and over, on and on, without any real direction  or purpose. Especially in the gray of winter it is so hard to remember how wonderful summer was when the air was so clean and clear and filled with truth.  Yet there is that more than memory that keeps the fires inside burning.

Today is a typically rainy cloud covered day in the Pacific Northwest. It has a strength all its own that can't be denied. I am doing what I do every chance I get and spending the day in the nearest local coffee shop working on all the many things that will make my life easier in the long run. Making logos and slogans for The Emuna Endeavor and thinking about life in general with the to-do list seeming to be never ending.  

I guess a lot of the time we are caught up in the trivial minutia of the day to day. So many people rarely stop and think of all the good things in any given moment.  I was thinking this thought about the life that I am living right now.  So I decided to give my life a little PDA/PSA and stop to publicly acknowledge the goodness I experience.

Photo source: http://olivesandalcohol.com/page/2/

Who am I? What is my life?
I am this odd little person born in Oregon and raised in Arizona now living in Oregon that was invited on the adventure of my lifetime. I spend my days like a lot of people being occupied with school or work (on some days both). I have dedicated myself to being and doing the most that I possibly can and that in and of itself is such an important start. Granted, some days that "most I possibly can" is a bit less than others.  For a moment earlier I was focused on that less.

This post is where I check myself.  I have a wonderful cool life that even though it can feel mundane and small, in the overall I am living an eccentric dream that some would love to be in my place.  There are rainy days and I am working on fixing the leaks as I go (figuratively and literally).  I know that by the end of the process I will be fully ready to take on the challenges of the journey.

So here's to finding your light in the gray and the darkness. I hope that you will take the time to acknowledge the power you do have even though it may seem small. 

The Stars Come Out

Every week I will be posting something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/inspirational-quotes/

I don't know about you, but I am sometimes so discouraged. This one reminds me to keep hope!

My Coffee Shop Culture

Since I am working on blogging for dollars, I need to spend a LOT of time online. This is hard to do with an old computer and living on a boat so I go every chance I get to the nearest cafe 3 Cups Coffee House here in Astoria, Oregon. It is just the right amount of independent quirky cool but comfy and clean enough to spend a whole day blogging. In this shop I have found my home away from home, but this isn't my first caffeine dispensary experience.

My very first coffee shop experience wasn't Starbucks. It was back in 2004 at a small spot in Mesa, Arizona called The Naked Bean where a man called Mr. Frip hosted a little low key artsy open mic called Beats, Poetry, Music.  I was not a coffee fan back then.  Coffee to me was something I drank out of necessity to get my early shift days started and that was usually convenience store fare. I think I usually ordered tea or some other drink because the event was in the evening. Just across the street (practically) was the second coffee shop I ever went to called Essenza which was the long time home of the Mesa Poetry Slam. In that same time frame I ventured further east to downtown Mesa to the Anthology Cafe which was run by the founder of Anthology.org Bob Nelson.  So for me coffee shops had all that beat poetry days vibe. The only thing missing was smoking!

Another experience was a semi-monthly poetry event hosted by Phoenix poets Jeremiah Blue and Arrian Wissel at a cute little place called Fair Trade Cafe in downtown Pheonix, AZ.  I used to work the door regularly because my finances at the time didn't allow even the $5 twice per month (I was doing good to have the gas money to get there).  At the time I was also  still performing at open mics at places like A Shot of Java in Glendale, AZ and the former Coffee Conspiracy in the Conspire vegan cafe in downtown Phoenix.

Although poetry was my introduction to the coffee shop scene, in 2009 I was introduced to the working aspect of the urban coffee jones.  I was working on a home based business and spent a lot of my time contacting clients via phone and email and somehow working from home was TOO relaxing so I would head to Fair Trade and use it as my office. This was the start of my all day cafe working habit that I am currently back on here at 3 Cups.

When I look up "coffee shop culture" in a Google Search I get a wide variety of links (including this blog post!).  It seems to be widely agreed that it's about not just the coffee drinks, but about the way that we sit around and talk, play chess, do art, read, etc.  It's about the idea of a coffee shop as a meeting place for social interaction (especially the little independent spots like I've listed in this post).  I have to say that for me, that is pretty much on point.  So thank you 3 Cups for being a part of my personal coffee shop cultural history!

Thanks for reading!
~ Niccolea

~~~

I am preparing to sail around the world! Read all about it on the official website: http://emunaendeavor.org/

Keep Moving Forward

Every week I like to post something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/motivational-quotes/

Be Better Than The Person You Were Yesterday

Every week I will be posting something inspirational.  This week is from http://www.mapictures.com/quotes/inspirational-quotes/

Here's to being a better person every day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have been off and on with this blog over the years but I resolve to at the very least post something to inspire at least once a week. These will be mostly for me but if you find that they help you too, let me know! For the first one I will be using the image from this article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140908205607-26850710-65-most-inspirational-quotes-of-all-time

Happy New Year!  I hope 2015 inspires you to have the best life you have ever known!

HAPPY KWANZAA! (December 26 through January 1)

Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67. (from Wikipedia.org)

I honestly have not ever put out an actual display like the one shown above, but I have wanted to for decades. My life just never really stops enough to do this as a single person with no children. Plus the celebration is about COMMUNITY so it seems like I should do this with someone.

Much like Carter G Woodson felt like the week of celebration of positive Black history should be and annual thing (which has now been upgraded to a whole month), I feel like the principles of Kwanzaa are hard to celebrate if the community doesn’t live the ideals all year long. I feel like even within the churches, there is not enough community in a lot of places to support a real coming together during this week of reflection on what Black life SHOULD be.

The stock images of Kwanzaa are of Black people in traditional African dress which in the neighborhoods I have lived in was not ever the style even on special occasions. I did have very culturally aware people in my life from time to time and that is why my heart wants to be in Kwanzaa even though the harsh reality around me point to life being otherwise.

In spite of all the media flash about how unfair Blacks are being treated, or perhaps because of it, I want to have hope that we as a community can embrace this annual celebration in truth without falling into the commercialization pattern of most other days (regardless of culture).

So today if you are one of the many people of the African diaspora around the world, I hope that you will at the very least take a moment each day to consider how to add the following Kwanzaa principles to your daily lives in your community. Happy Kwanzaa!

Umoja (Unity)
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
Nia (Purpose)
Kuumba (Creativity)
Imani (Faith)

#WhyIStayedSilent - Follow Up to the Medium Article

I wrote another article on medium.com as a follow up to my first one. This time it is piggy backing off of an article I found on tumblr about unreported rape. Click here to read One Story from the Unreported Rape Statistic. If you have a story you would like to share, join in the twitter conversation under #WhyIStayedSilent. If you reported your assault, you can use #WhyISpokeOut.

A New Medium for My Thoughts

I read an article on https://medium.com called "Bill Cosby Raped Me... Kind Of" and felt compelled to write an article of my own in response called "Different Yet Similar — Another Story of Rape and Silence". Feedback on the subject would be appreciated.

The Blogger Site Is Updated!

Check out the new background and layout of my Blogger! I even added a place with links to my other blogs. :-)

An Overdue Update

Since I am living on the boat now (http://emunaendeavor.org/) I don't have regular access to wifi at the marina so I am not online nearly as much as I used to be when I lived in Phoenix. I'll be working on changing my layout today and setting up some regular subjects for when I am not able to get online.

So far my adventures  and online activity have been centered around the sailing trip. In 2012 I was invited and the idea for Emuna Endeavor was formed.  In 2013 life was lived by myself and Dovid (I was in Arizona and he was in Louisiana). In 2014 we finally made it to Oregon and have been dealing with the boat and living situation. We are now planning on departing in spring 2016 after I get a Maritime Sciences certificate or associates degree.

I will post more about my side of this experience soon. STAY TUNED! :-)

A Year Gone By...

It has been 10 days shy of a year since I last posted on this Blogger. Now that Blogger has made some changes that I didn't know about before, I think I will change the layout up and come back and post more frequently. I can do AdSense with Blogger where as I can't get paid for ads on my WordPress blog. So... I will update this one. I will be changing the focus of this blog towards being a personal blog with inspirational and philosophical things. Stay tuned for some changes! ^_^

Since I won't be using this blog for poetry, I will be starting a Blogger to replace my poetry Wordpress.  I also want to do this so that ALL my poetry related online profiles link to the same gmail (I have a separate gmail for my poetry profiles everywhere else on the web). The new poetry blog will be WAY more active than I have been on this Blogger. I will have at least two posts per week of my poetry. I also want to add quotes about poetry by famous poets.  I'll post a link as soon as I have it all set up. Stay tuned for that too! :-P

Thanks so much for reading the few posts I have made over the years! So much more to come! :-)

The way things ended up...

I have been neglecting this blog over the years... looks like this is going to be a once a month update kind of thing at the rate I am going now... I guess it is because I have so many other places to post (tumblr, wordpress, facebook, twitter, etc).

The last actual life update I posted here was back on January 1... sadly, the trip to Oregon was postponed and then the sailing trip around the world was postponed until July 2014. I still need to get out of Phoenix, but I am beginning to lose hope about it right now... I am trying to remember that the name of Dovid's boat is Emuna which means FAITH and for me as a Christian, faith is the evidence of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for... have to keep that in mind so that I don't get discouraged!

Thanks for reading! :-)