 The Nine Muses (Greece) Day 20 lands on April 20th, 2020! How auspicious!
The wind has changed directions over here. The “excitement of new” that I mentioned on Friday opened up a portal!! I have been “downloading” like crazy from my muse(s). I have a list of classes & meditations I want to record, and new projects to share!! Hoooo! When these big downloads happen, they really stir up excitement and energy and enthusiasm. I have to be careful to not get too caught up in it. I could easily derail my current projects for new (and exciting). I am grateful that creativity has been a big part of my life as I am now experienced in this phenomenon. In the past, when I didn’t understand this flow of energy, I would place to the side paintings, writings, and any other creative pursuit to chase the new. The “old” would rarely get picked up again and when it did the flow of inspiration was usually gone and I was stuck. So now, this wiser gal knows, make detailed lists of the new ideas that come forward when creativity is on a high. Then place those ideas in a safe location. And the tricky part? Do not look at them until your current task is complete!! I am enjoying learning and recording and would like to continue. So my ideas are in the safe for future reference. Today:
Update on my "life planning" (April 17th post): It was so very clear that the time was now, that the “way” showed up in a flash. Saturday night I added a 1 hour block of time to each day in my day timer with 4 topics; “book study”, “study group work”, “yoga study” and “your choice”. I love when things are so certain and clear! So I began my new practice right then and there. Lovely! Even my yoga practice has shifted! :)
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 Happy Friday everyone! i have 3 things to chat about today...
1. My field trip was fairly painless - only minor confusion at both pick up locations (with them, trying to find the item i ordered/reserved). Here they are...... A lovely, light, very adjustable tripod and the phone holder attachment! Thanks again to everyone that contributed! 2. I uploaded a video guided meditation/relaxation/breathing practice last night. Head over to the "expand" page to check it out or click here. And, i learned how to edit things out of the middle of a video too! There was a goof while i was recording so i decided to start that part over and then see if i could snip it out later. And i did! Hooray! This new skill/tool, i think, will create a little more ease in me while i am recording now. 3. I am excited to start using my new tools BUT the tripod is super stinky- strong chemical &/or plastic smell. I will wipe it down later but for now it is outside airing out. AND.... It is an admin day. I need to put my excitement of new toys to the side and finish some other important tasks.
So have a fabulous day! I send all you good vibes and big virtual hugs! And, May all good things come your way! :)  Well, i was able to find a tripod and a phone holder thingy to attach to the tripod, LOCALLY! I have to go to 2 locations, but they are in the same area of town. AND i should be able to do that all today!
With that said, my book keeper also lives in that area so my new goal for today is to do the last teeny bit of work to prepare my stuff to hand over for income tax prep. So that means that i might not get to video editing today. But who knows, the day is still young! (Yes, i was out of bed early again!) And a further update from yesterday... as you will see by today's accompanying image, i was FINALLY able to make a "cup tripod". I'd read about this idea a while back but didn't have a cup on hand. I know i could have made a similar holder with cardboard but a "mini" tripod is not really what i need so i never bothered. One of our favourite coffee shops (Milanos) re-opened and we decided to treat ourselves. I made this lovely cup tripod more as a joke than anything else - it was fun. And, i didn't feel quite so guilty about receiving a disposable cup, as i knew it would be put to use. hugs! :)  my new desk decoration I awoke full of beans again today and started work around 9:00am What?! Yup. This not a morning person was up early again! I knew that i would have at least an hour with an empty house in the late morning so i knew i had to take advantage (and be prepared). My goal was to shoot one video and record one meditation. I also knew that set up would take just as long as the recording itself (see yesterday’s post) so i had to "get on it".
The video: I have been teaching a monthly chair yoga class to a lovely group of people for almost 10 years and i really missed seeing them in March. And i don't know when we will see each other next! It is a short, gentle routine that we do, and it is all sitting on a chair. (I thought) set up would be easy and I know the routine in and out, so I hoped it would be a quick process. HA HA HA! My chair-pod (see Day 6 - a bull clip, blue goo & an office chair) is too tall for recording a chair yoga session so time to MacGyver a new phone holder. The recording went smoothly, I think. For what ever reason, during playback, my phone no longer plays the audio (only the video). So I will have to disassemble my phone and check the recording on my computer, but I will leave that for tomorrow. The Audio: My experiment today was to record a relaxation/meditation audio, but in video format. I am curious if it will be an easier way to upload meditations to my YouTube channel. I figured I would not be moving and “you” would not need to see me so I set up my new desk decor (the photo included in today's post) as the visual. Again, I had to MacGyver a way to hold the phone in front of the flowers and I would hold the mic. I did several takes - I jumbled up my words a few times and had to start over. I have no idea if it worked. This item will also go on to tomorrow’s list. Lesson learned? Just do it already! I have my plan (see yesterday) so i am going to get on it! It is research time! But first I need to go put my room back together now that recording is complete for the day. I send you all big hugs! And I hope you are well!  Sheila and her trusty blue steed (whose fleshy body just happens to be made from blue goo) I had another brain storming session with myself today. I needed to look back at what i have done so far and assess. I asked myself the following questions:
my biggest challenges/priorities: 1. I have been frustrated with the time it takes to set up my phone for recording videos. I don't seem to have the right type of "things" to create an easy to use, fast set up, flexible camera holder at home. Set up is agonizingly slow and often takes just as long (or longer) than the actual recording does!! 2. I have an ancient mic that plugs into my phone. It works pretty well considering its age (I’ve had it for at least 4 years and it is 2nd hand). It is a tiny mic and I need to hold it while I speak into it - I usually get a hand cramp part way in and have to switch hands, and it usually picks up the noise from this simple switch. I have tried to make a mic stand and I have one set up that works when I sit at my desk, but it is not transferable. So what is my plan? I am going to use the gifts from you, my dear ones, to buy a phone tripod and possibly a new mic (that comes with a tripod). I have done a bit of research on a couple mics that will work. Next I will research a phone tripod. Hopefully someone has them in stock and can ship/deliver or maybe locally and I can pick up soon! I am ready ready! So keep on sending those good vibes! Hugs :)  I am always a little surprised at how long these seemingly simple tasks take. So it is end of day, 3:00pm, and here is what i accomplished:
Time to relax and enjoy the sun and blooms on my patio! Hugs!!! :) I woke up feeling ready to go and inspired!
It is only 10:00am (and so you know, i am NOT a morning person) and already i have:
So next is to add a meditation that i recorded! But, first, i need to have breakfast! Yes, i was so excited to contribute today that i didn't even eat breakfast! Happy Saturday everyone! hugs :)  In an earlier post i mentioned that i had a couple people offer equipment loans and i had to test to see if they'd be compatible. My tests are complete and...
A quick update:
Also i have uncover some of the reasons why i had become "anti-technology" and quit teaching and learning half a decade ago.
:)  Some days are easier than others.
Some days i am able to just go with the flow. Some days i can comfortably sit with discomfort. Today is one of those days. All messages pointed towards "no work" so i listened. After that, a whole pile of "lovely" flowed into my life. I had a great phone walk with a friend only to come home and have an offer of a coffee phone date, followed by another lovely phone date. So blessed am I to have these experiences!!! So grateful for the gift of still being able to connect with friends even though i can't see them face-to-face. So today i share the pretty scene at my work desk, that will hopefully stay fresh for one more day, until i return. hugs to all!! :) Testing time: A couple people have offered to loan out some equipment to me during this "at home" time.
Also, i jumped in, downloaded and tried out Zoom the other day. It was a last minute and hurried adventure because Pema Chodron was offering a meditation and Q&A through Tricyle - The Buddhist Review. I had signed up for it the week before but as i am not on a schedule for much these days, it slipped my mind. Thankfully a friend sent me a reminder text a few minutes before it started. I do not yet have a web cam, so i joined in "silently". Practicing "live" with Pema has been on my "Ooo that'd be special" list for many years. It was eerie and good at the same time. Although i am not Buddhist, her wise words have helped to guide me through many times, joyful and uncomfortable, in my adult life. I feel recharged and inspired. She reminds me of why i do what i do. Woo hoo! Here is my favourite snippet from many years ago that i watch when i need a laugh and a nudge:  HA HA HA HA!
Yesterday was not the "forward" motion day i was hoping it to be:
 Happy Monday everyone!
It was not my intention, but i ended up stepping away from the "on-line" production for a few days. I realized that i had fallen behind on my admin and accounting work. I am all caught up and ready to return to the on-line world. The time away was a good thing. I had time to process where i've been and where i am going. Here are my updates:
So what is on my list for today:
Thanks again for joining me on this ride! and yes, Please do keep posting comments here, and sending me emails. It is nice to know that someone out there is reading some of the words i am sharing! HUGS! :)  Light at the end of the tunnel Update: That Yoga Video I Recorded:
In Day 9, i mentioned that i recorded a short yoga video. I did scan through it quickly today.
How exciting to be moving in a forward direction with this project! :) 1. Editing on YouTube: The editing on YouTube is basic but good. I can trim videos here, which is the most important feature for me. You can also add music (they have a library of free music to use) and you can blur faces or parts of videos. I won't work with these right now as they will likely not be required. Just for fun, i did add captions to one of the videos that had speaking in it (below). 2. Editing on my Computer: As i mentioned in a previous post, there is a video editor on my computer.... I think it is just the one that comes with windows. Anyhow, today i played with it and i am able to add a "title" screen to the beginning of my videos. I am getting closer...... First, a YouTube update:
I read a lot more and then made a test account with an old email address. I used a funny video of our dog as the test video to upload. THAT was very helpful process - it cleared up some questions i had about a couple features. I got stuck on "how to make it private but still share it" so i left it at that as my brain was full. There are some editing features available on YouTube, so i will play with those to see if they are any better than the one i have on my computer. Today i decided to take advantage of an empty house to dive in and record a yoga video. I learn best by "doing" and "trial and error" so i remained open to the experience and the successes and disasters that would take place. I would be delighted if i actually got a final usable product but i'd also be o.k. with learning by going through the process. And boy, did i learn...
Problems to fix/lessons learned:
hugs! :)  Today's project has been primarily "how to use YouTube" to post my videos. LOTS TO READ. Oh my.
Then i will try out some editing and then i will upload it. So far, YouTube has the best explanations for steps of all the sites i have visited lately - they have clear descriptions and definitions for everything. The thing i have found to be challenging on many other sites is the use of jargon with no explanation of what the jargon means. "We sure want you to use our service but we won't tell you what it really is or how to really use it. If you don't know what it means, oh well, too bad." Well, i have 6 more tabs open on my web browser of YouTube info to read through so i best get at it! Questions i'd like answered by the end of this reading session:
And thank you for you ongoing support! Keep sending me good vibes folks! e-hugs! :) Back in 2019, before this new world was even a blip on our radar, I planned a mini holiday for the end of March. When all this came about, i considered skipping my time off to continue forging ahead into this new learning journey. BUT there was a voice that got louder and louder every day urging me to keep my planned holiday. The other voice would argue, usually with a "ya but..." about making money, keeping the energy flowing, the momentum growing, and of not disappointing my students. I am happy to report that both parts of me got what they wanted: I did not check my email for 4 days. I did not blog or record or test out products. I did not read any non-fiction. I lazed about. I watched cartoons while eating breakfast. I had baths. I sat in the sun. I read fiction. But I also did “work”, just not the “making a living” kind. I received great pleasure from this work. It is all the stuff I have been wanting to do but have not had the energy to do in a while. I washed all of my floors, I rearranged decor, I cleaned and reorganized my spice drawer & tea shelf, and I coloured…. in my day timer!! I looked at my day timer the other day and realized how drab it was (I mostly write in pencil so things can changed without making too much of a mess) - so that plus there are a lot of items crossed out. With all the cancellations, it was, to my working mind, depressing. If you have been following my blog, you will know I have not been idle on my working days but none of that stuff is in my day timer, nor do I feel it needs to be. “BUT, but, but!!” my working mind cries, “how will we know we have done things???!!!” So I let my working mind go at it! I pulled out my markers and let her fill those days with all that I accomplished, both in words and blobs of colour. The "work" part of me was very satisfied and would like to continue this as a daily practice. The "fun" part of me liked it too. :)
 to protect the identity of this feline viewer, i have blurred some of the objects in the image ;) O.k. so that was easy....
If you head over to my "expand" page, you will see the fruits of my labour, well, and the labour of some fab people over at the City of Courtenay and the Recreation Department. And to the right, you will see one of my first viewers. I am honoured to have had such a lovely participant!! ;) :0 :)  Richard Dean Anderson as "MacGyver" I have been called MacGyver* on many an occasion. I come by this trait 2 ways:
1. I am creative and impatient. Meaning I want to do something and I don’t have the patience (and sometimes resources) to wait until I have the proper tools or items to do said job. So I will futz around until i can get it to work with what I have available. And 2. I inherited this trait from my father - ask me some day about how he made a temporary repair on a vehicle’s under frame with kevlar skis from an old snow mobile and tar. So I have been brain storming ideas of yoga videos and spaces in my home that might work to film them. Today’s experiment was “yoga in bed”. And the main question to answer was “I don’t have a tripod… How do I hold the phone up to shoot?” After much trial and error I MacGyvered a “ChairPod”. I attached a giant bull clip to the back of a hydraulic office chair. The space between the 2 “clips” was way too wide for a stable phone holder so I folded a piece of fabric, attached it with an elastic and then used blue goo to make sure the phone stayed in place. So, next on my list of things to do? - get funding for some easier to use equipment! I will investigate the various crowd-funding sites out there to find the one most suitable to my needs. Have you ever contributed to one? Have you ever used one for fund-raising? Any suggestions or ones to avoid? Follow-up from yesterday: - Yay! I now have a PayPal account! - Yay! I now have a secure Auto-Deposit e-transfer service! (i’ll talk more about those in a future post) Well, I am off to enjoy the sun while it is shining! Happy day to you all! Hugs :) *MacGyver is a verb meaning "to make, form, or repair (something) with what is conveniently on hand." A term originating from the popular 1980’s T.V. serial where MacGyver (played by the sexy Richard Dean Anderson) gets out of sticky situations, using items like gum and paper clips.  Well, I guess today is supposed to be a day of rest because
Hugs and happy Monday! :)  what my brain feels like on info overload Today I tested out some new software!
https://www.media.io/audio-converter.html This is the recommended site for file conversion from Insight Timer. I did a little reading and researching and it turns out, my meditations (audio files) will all be small enough that I can use the free version of their program. Step 1- I made a test recording on my phone (easy! - phew!). Step 2 - well, before step 2 comes a ranting. For some reason my phone refuses to communicate with my computer. They have been having a spat since shortly after I got it 3 years ago. If I plug my phone in using the cord, my computer says “there are no files on this drive”. So, I have to turn off my phone, take off the covers, take out the mini SD card, plug it into an adapter and then plug that into the computer. And then do that all in reverse to put it back in. Too many steps! Anyhow, I think my computer has figured out that I have been disguising the contents of my phone via this backdoor route of SD adapter because now it is refusing to read that!!! It took 5 tries of in and out to recognize the adapter. My new motto/mantra is “keep going even though it is frustrating and uncomfortable!!”. So finally, 20 minutes later… Step 2 - I tried out the free version of the converter - SO EASY! And the quality seems fine. What is next?
Lessons learned: I FINALLY understand that teaching of “If it is important, keep at it!! Even when it fails or doesn’t go your way - try again!!” I know there is a deeper ah-ha but my brain is DONE for today. :) Part of the reason i created my Mind Map (see day 1 blog post) was to gain clarity. I had already searched out some info on the web in regards to sharing audio on line and i decided to start with Insight Timer. I have been using Insight Timer to follow guided meditations, track my time and use the timer for sitting. i like the way it works and it is free! As a user you can subscribe or buy programs but it is not required. There is also an option to donate to teachers. The folks that created it are meditation practitioners themselves and their goal is similar to mine "make meditation accessible to the world". A few months I did an initial “check in it” but I quickly became overwhelmed as there were suddenly several “sub steps” involved. They have a 10 item check list for uploading content…
So questions I need to answer/features and programs I need to learn:
I will also set up an Insight Timer account (as a teacher, as I already have a personal account, & I want to keep them separate). P.S. If you’d like to check it out, here is their link. https://insighttimer.com/ :) Hi all. I decided to record my first "for public listening" guided meditation today (March 20th, 2020).
I will start by saying that this is not my first guided meditation recording - i have been recording for personal use (on my phone) for many years. I don't worry too much about how smooth they are because i am good at ignoring mistakes for a while and if the importance of the meditation out-lives the quality of the recording, then i will just re-record it. But now the stakes are a little higher. If this recording goes on the internet, it will be there FOREVER! I'd like to to have as few mistakes as possible so that it can be listened to repeatedly without the listener getting annoyed by the glitches. Set up/prep :
Lessons learned/things to test out:
 Hello! and Welcome!
If you are anyone, pretty much living anywhere in the world today, March 19th, 2020, you are aware of the current health and wellness challenge facing, well, most of us! If you have perused my sight, then you know that i teach yoga and meditation. Both of the spaces i currently teach in, are closed. So, what to do? What to do!? I have been getting requests for CD's, or digital recordings of my classes/teachings for many years but have simply not had the time or resources to throw myself into the process. SO MUCH research is required. SO MUCH testing! SO MUCH writing! SO MUCH hardware and software to learn (and buy!). The plus side of this self-isolating time of ours is, i have time - lots of it. Join me here every day or so and learn what i am learning, use me as a resource, or just come have a good laugh at my technology rants and raves - there will be many! Being the tactile person i am, i started this process with a mind map. i needed to get all the "stuff" out of my brain and onto paper so that i can decipher what the first step might be. Come back tomorrow to see that that first step entailed and what disasters i encountered. ;) Happy Saturday! germ-free hugs to you all! |
Sheron's Techie JourneyI am not "new" to techie learning, by any stretch. In fact i used to teach people how to use their computers. But, that was several years ago. Since then, i have avoided learning new things on the computer. I seem to have gotten myself into a "stick in the mud" mind space in regards to all things techie. Well, that is all about to change! 
(March 2020)
So i have decided to take a leap and offer classes and meditations on-line. This is a HUGE LEAP, as i need to learn, what feels like a million new things. If you would like to follow my progress &/or learn from my process, check this "blog" page often And... The products of my labours will be posted on the "expand" page. Keep checking back! Archives |
