Chain of Thoughts...

Its amazing how one thought leads to another...

I was making a piece of jewelry yesterday for a friend P, and started thinking about her personality and all. I thought she used to be so quiet and almost formal earlier..much better now.

Me: Wonder if she talks more to others. Oh yeah, she talks to her colleague, J
change scene to cafeteria, where we are all having lunch

J: I used to live in LA earlier
P: How long were you there?
J: *mumble mumble*...I lived East of Hollywood

Back in my work room
Me: Hmm...Hollywood...I wonder if people think everyone in Hollywood is in the movies. As if everyone in Mumbai is related to Bollywood and movies. Nah.

Bollywood...why do all Miss India's become actresses? Being pretty doesn't necessarily mean they can act. Priyanka Chopra is ok though...

Priyanka Chopra...she was good in Fashion. Who was that other girl...with a shrieking  voice...Kangna

Kangna...bangle...why would anyone name their kid bangle? Well, if they can name them Payal, then why not Bangle. And if anklet and bracelet are ok, then why not name their kid "Angoothi"

Logically, this should have led to me thinking about making "Angoothi" since I was making jewelry at the time. But the chain stopped there because the name "Angoothi" sounds weirrrrrd.

So...from how shy a person is ... to ... would anyone name their child a "Finger Ring"

I like my mind, keeps me entertained ;-)

So...what was this new thing?

I think a lot of you know what my "new thing" was...

My handmade jewelry exhibition and sale :-)

This is something very very very special to me...in more ways than I can count!
But I'll try...

FINALLY found something that can hold my attention for more than a few weeks! I am truly amazed about this. I had tried soooooo many different ways of letting out my creativity...singing (I sang at a few public events), dancing (been the attention grabber of every dance floor I have ever been to), writing (...ahem....am doing that here), photography (I still like it...but not as motivated as I used to be), sketching, painting, etc (was fairly good at it, but decided it was not quite for me), fashion design (not sure where that bug went off to...I guess its still there somewhere on the back burner), crochet (too repetitive)...and I forget if there were more.

None of these, what I thought were my passions, survived for more than a few months. And then I accidentally stumbled upon making jewelry. That's a long story for another post...how all of this came about. The short story is that I gave myself a year to have something like a shop. And I did it in 9 months! Never thought I would have the patience, perseverence and whatever else is needed for this. I am still shocked, is this really me!?

Here's the first pair of earrings I ever made (and I think these are one of the prettiest ones too...bad pic though :(()

And here are pics of some of the pieces I had put up at my exhibitiion

First Handmade Jewelry Exhibition and Sale

I have always been a very very late riser....if I could have my way, I would get out of bed only when I am hungry ;-) And, I still can't believe this, I actually wake up at 6, and some times even at 5 to work on some of my projects. I dream of it, I stare at people's ears and necks, and... well, you get the picture. I have finally found my passion. I think :-)

One more reason...I can actually put into use all, or at least most of my other interests.
I have tried using crochet in a few of my pieces, and have plans for adding embroidery, painting and sewing in the mix. And of course, I now have a real reason to sharpen my photography skills, think about what settings I need to use to make the picture look as pretty as the piece of jewelry itself, learn about lighting, shutter speeds and what not. So its all good :-)

And finally, one BIG reason I am so thrilled about this is that the proceeds from all my sales will go to Project Why. I have always wanted to do more than just donate. Tried volunteering at one place here in the Bay area, didn't like the experience. Not brave enough to actually go and do the real work that needs to be done. But this seems like a middle way, I do something I enjoy, create something beautiful (yes, i think it is, and you better agree ;-), and also help out the little kids of PWhy. A win-win for all I think :-) Maybe the thought that there was actually a purpose to what I was doing was what kept me going. Don't know...whatever it is...its all good :-)

Ending with pictures of some of my favorite pieces (for those lazy ones who did not want to click on that link ;-))

Awright folks! Have a fantastic 2012 while I wonder where this "new thing" will go in this new year!

More about the "new" thing!

Tomorrow is D-Day!
Nervous and excited and all that :-)

About the previous post: New

Its happening...slowly...not yet surely, but am making progress slowly...
Will update more when I the "sure" part kicks in.
Wish me patience again, friends :-)

New

I started this post thinking..I need luck! And I remembered my post about it a few days back.
No, I don't need luck. I need hard-work, discipline, and my creativity. And some encouragement and good wishes from my dear ones will help too :-)

Dreaming new dreams...
Hoping new hopes...
And one small step at a time, I will do it :-)

I know I will!

(Just don't ask me what! You will know when its done :))

The Importance of Failure

I know, no one likes to fail. I sure don't.

But failure is inevitable. If you have always succeeded so far, then you are either very lucky, or never done anything interesting and challenging.

Today, I was in a class: Introduction to Android Programming. Was quite new for me, since I have never done any client side work, so I was very excited. We all had laptops which were supposed to be pre-loaded with the environment we needed for development. We started with our first exercise, everything worked well for 2 people, and failed miserably for the rest. The errors were new for the instructor too. We all collectively tried to figure out what it was, googled the error, re-installed everything, got a new version...lots of different things were explored before we finally figured it all out.

It was frustrating, but in the end I thought it was interesting and quite rewarding. We found out a lot about the different things that need to be configured, all the options available, etc. We would not have if things had worked smoothly the first time.

Learnt two things from this:
1) Failures are useful, they are a good learning experience
2) Helping others in trouble helps us too. The two people who had everything running smoothly could easily have taken a coffee break, or jumped on their facebooks. But they helped. And they learnt!

In this example, failure was eventually corrected, and we reached our goal. This does not always happen. Some failures are minor, you can laugh about it, others are not...failing major exams, failing to get a good job, failing in a relationship. These hurt. Bad. But they also teach a very important lesson. You question why they had to happen. What's the purpose of it all? There is a big purpose. Teaching us to move on. Teaching us to be tough, to be brave and confident.

What do we do when we have such big failures?
Pick up the pieces. Pick up the pieces and make something out of what is left. There will be a lot of hard knocks in life, lots more pieces to gather and move on. But these pieces put together will make a beautiful mosaic of a life well lived. A flawless, uncracked piece of glass is hardly as interesting, right?


Life is beautiful, live it well. Taking failures in stride and making the best out of them is the biggest success you will ever have!

Lucky!?

The next time someone says "you are so lucky you are so fit", I am going to scream!
Lucky, my foot! Especially when they KNOW the effort, discipline, self-control and hard work that went into it!

Yeah, I am lucky that I actually decided to get fit! And that I DID something about it after deciding!

@#&^!%@!