Little Bites Big confession: I want to be hired!

It’s time for me to confess/profess/exclaim something: I’m looking for a new job!! A career. An opportunity. A new place to apply my passions and develop my professional… BLAH BLAH bl’blahhh. There are some really great, flashy ways for me to say that I’m ‘between positions’ but the most important thing for you to know is that I WANT TO BE HIRED... and in much smaller, italic letters… for the right new position.

It’s hard to frame it when I’m not entirely sure what I should be doing right now…  What I absolutely know is that I’m ready. I am ready to test my incredibly wide range of skills in a new environment.

To really spell out the spectrum here, I’ve gone from cat/house/baby-sitting, camp counselling, gymnastics coaching, fundraiser organization, music council president-ing, ski program registration, tow-operation, paddle-boat renting, educational research, product development, sensory testing, waiting tables, landscaping, wedding and event MC-ing, financial administration, scheduling and coordination of production teams, business management to… this.

I’ve been unemployed, or ‘underemployed’ to be precise, for almost six months now.  I left a cushy position in financial administration and management to ‘find myself professionally.’  This was my 30-year-old version of going on a backpacking trip through Europe. Instead, I’ve gone on solitary emotional journeys through periods of solitude and reflection and downright panicked existential crises… in my own basement apartment and, if I’m feeling ambitious, in some of the incredible independent coffee shops scattered throughout this great city.

I just gave quite the laundry list up there, but sometimes I think it’s really important when we’re on a new job search to remember the early jobs we have had that provided the foundation for the kinds of skills we feel proud enough of to put on our official CV’s. Do you know what’s going to make me the type of communications coordinator, producer, organizer, etc that will be willing to work on really important projects that aren’t SUPER sexy and enticing? The same part of me that made me OUTSTANDING at cleaning oil out of the popcorn popper and the grime out of the steamed hot dog machine after a whole day of soccer tournaments when I was a teenager. I might raise my right eyebrow, and I might even make a hilariously snarky comment about it, but I WILL get the necessary deeds done. I’m a do-er.  That is the very essence of what makes me the type of person that has excelled at 98% of the jobs I’ve tried to do… that failing two percent is from trying my hand at selling newspaper subscriptions on the phone and studio-directing live national news radio. Both of those are incredibly difficult jobs that would SEEM to be perfectly suited to me and my skill set, but I’m not good at them. I respect those who are in both types of positions immensely and am really glad I had the opportunity to try them out.

I should also mention that at the beginning of this career shift I went on a two-person-one-vespa road trip through the Pocanos, helped an awesome musician on some touring through 4 states and went on an East Coast visit (that time I quit a vacation), which took up a good portion of a month.  There have also been many periods where I’ve worked casually at CBC and I’ve been volunteering as a board member for an amazing non-profit environmental organization called Ecosource. I have been participating in numerous panel talks, workshops, networking events and even had the chance to go away on a professional development retreat.  And then recently I fell from the top of a bouldering wall, and have been injured for almost six of these weeks..  So, really, when I itemize all of the ‘what have you been up to?’…my ‘down time’ during this tour-de-self has been pretty minimal.

So here I am, putting it out to the world that I want to be hired. As you will also find on my LinkedIn profile, I’m looking to find a new position or career which should include some or many of the following activities and skill sets: producing and content creation – researching, interviewing, analysis, writing, editing/vetting, formatting in paper, digital or audio formats, and management –  of social media, events, people, information, etc.

I am a quick learner and am extremely experienced in scheduling, finance and office administration but would like my heightened capacity to ‘deal with numbers and boxes’ to be completely integrated with my creative approach and proficient people skills. I’m really easy to work and get along with.  I’m an avid participator in meetings, seminars, and other office activities and am generally a pretty positive, joyful, smiley person who’s confident in new situations.

So… offer me a job! I’m open to short-term or part-time! And I would even travel outside Toronto for the right position. Tell me about your job and how you got there in an informational interview! Or introduce me to a friend/colleague of yours who might let me interview them.

I’ll end with this… when I entered my last block of work, the woman who hired me into my position finished my interview by saying: “I don’t really believe that you’re capable of this position, but I really like you, so let’s try it out for a month and if it doesn’t work out, no hard feelings.”  Less than two weeks in I was signing a seven month contract. That turned into me being the person who would be requested in new positions when a sudden vacancy or special project required immediate and reliable competence, even if utilizing new platforms or procedures. Each time I started a new position in that building, I went back to knock on her door to thank her for seeing my potential and taking a chance on me.

I can’t wait to see what else I can surprise myself and others with… my mind and arms are open and ready for a new opportunity.

Talk to you soon?

littlebiteswithbig AT gmail DOT com

Linux Cafe has been replaced by The Bickford ‘Flexitarian’… soon to be replaced by another!

If you are a pedestrian or cyclist who travels along Harbord regularly, you were probably deeply saddened by the closing of Linux Cafe. You probably used to go there for the free, open-source Wi-Fi and the space to plug in your laptop to get your schoolwork or your freelancing done in similar company. Maybe you’d grab a latte, a fresh smoothie or a bottle of fancy juice with a cookie or a muffin before settling into your work or having a conversation while sitting on one of the picnic benches in the sun at one of the best people watching corners in the city.

Well, the good news is that the space has been reactivated. Yesterday the doors opened at The Bickford at the corner of Grace and Harbord.

The bad news is, that they’ve now closed. The good news is that the space is being activated again by a new owner, and I happen to know that what is expected to go in there is going to be TASTY.  But here’s the Flexitarian ‘review’, for nostalgia’s sake:

Announcement: Allotting time for excitement…

“You’re the only person I know who gets so excited about things that they actually have to allocate their allotments of excitement.” – one of my friends, about me, at some point in the last few months…

I’m officially allocating more time and energy for noticing, observing, participating and excitement as of this Friday.

After 3+ years of scheduling and financing I’ll be leaving the admin world and, after a month of some travel and visits with friends from New York to Halifax, I’ll be acquiring a whole new set of skills in the production side of the CBC Radio News world.

As I approach my 30th birthday (gasp), ‘what I will be when I grow up’ is becoming marginally clearer. My ultimate goal is to be deeply involved in content creation, and ideally I’d love to be paid millions to be covering local/street art and Toronto culture.  Alas… Little Bites doesn’t quite have that kind of readership yet, so I am excited about diversifying my capacity to capture moments in many different mediums.

So, dear readers, I want to thank you.

You’re a small, exclusive group, but you’ve been incredibly supportive and you’ve fueled me for six years now (!!). You can expect some changes on this site relatively soon. I intend to give you (and me) more in the next chapter of my life, and hope you’ll welcome and encourage some new fellow followers.

Let’s get excited!

Pinterest – the quickest, most aesthetically pleasing addiction, I’ve ever had.

I’m going to go ahead and do a post about this phenomenon.  There’s not a lot TO say that hasn’t been said already.

But I can’t not comment on it, because it’s kind of insane. For those of you who don’t know, here’s my version of a little run-down of how it works:

Art Battle – How to enjoy it, from a self-professed Art Battle addict

Art Battle is live competitive painting. The audience watches, cheers, votes, and bids in support of the artists and their paintings.  Rounds are 20 minutes in length. 2 winners from each round will advance to the final and compete for a cash prize and the title of AB19 Champion.

So, you’ve never been before?  Cool, no worries. Here are a few suggestions:

See it all – Arriving fashionably late is sexy for other types of exhibits, where the art is static, but Art Battle is an experience you’ll appreciate more if you see it from start to finish. Doors open at 730, and it gets going at 8pm. Getting to see the canvases transform from stark white rectangles into incredible works of art in 20 minutes is something you don’t get to see very often, and won’t want to miss.

Get up close – Art Battle is set up so you can see the paintings from numerous angles.    The painters aren’t paying any attention to you, so don’t be afraid to stand right beside them or behind them.  Remember that the painters, who have spent 20 intimate minutes with the painting you’re admiring from afar, are paying attention to lots of little details, try to see them too.

Take pictures – With your film camera,  your dslr, your lomograph, your cell phone, whatever… but don’t forget to put down the screen and see what your documenting through your actual eyes too.

Social media – Some people like to post pictures to Facebook or live Tweet the event, and if you do, use the hashtag #AB19 and/or #artbattle, or mention the @artbattleto but similarly to the pictures, don’t forget to put it down some of the time.  Remember that you’re there, surrounded by beautiful people, and they probably think you’re prettier without that blue glow on your face.

Separate – It’s great that you’re arriving with friends, but give yourself the space to experience each of the paintings through your own eyes.  Split up and get some of you to go clockwise and some to go counterclockwise, and meet up again to talk about what you saw in the last couple minutes.

Talk to people – See someone gazing at the same painting you really like? Ask them what they like about it.  Make bets with strangers about who’s going to win each round. Find out why people are there, how they heard about it, what they are liking the best, are most surprised by, most excited about.

Vote for your favourite – This can mean a multitude of things, from the one that surprised you the most in its transformation, the most intricate, the most beautiful, the most striking, etc.  I always seem to struggle between the one I find most creative, and the one I’d most want hanging on my walls. Whatever you choose, make sure you choose for your self – Art Battle  is a democratic process.

Talk to the artists – One of the coolest things I’ve experienced over the course of my Art Battle obsession, is getting to know some of the most talented painters in Toronto.  One of my favourite experiences was talking to one painter, who was admiring another painter, and finding out about how they went to art school together.  I learned about how far the talent had progressed in mere months. Tell them how much you appreciate it. Ask them about their work. But if they don’t seem to want to talk, leave them alone :)

Buy the art – There are going to be painters there who sell their art for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, and they’re going to be there, performing for you for the 1 in 17 chance of winning  $300 dollars.  But each of the paintings that are created on Tuesday are also for sale in a silent auction.  The artists take home 50% of the highest bid (and if they don’t make the minimum bid, they get destroyed).   People spend soooo much money on prints and canvases of the same size at un-named Swedish superstore, and millions of other people will have the same pieces on their own walls. If you buy from Art Battle, you’ll be taking home (or giving as a gift! It’s holiday season) an incredibly unique piece of art. I’ve bought 4, including paintings from 2 Art Battle champions.  They have been worth every penny.

Ignore everything I’ve written above –  “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” (Thomas Merton), so whatever makes you happy (or pensive, or engaged, or inspired, or however it is that you want to feel or be while you’re there).  I’ll just be glad you’re there with me.  Art battle is an addiction I have zero desire to beat, and vices are more fun with friends.

~~~

A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.
Hedy Lamarr 

Pumpkin Parade

So… this was a thing I went to that was really cool.

Sorauren Park: Hundreds of jack-o-lanterns from mostly local neighbourhood pumpkin-carvers.

Lots of talent. Pretty whimsical. Ranged from super simple to amazingly intricate.

Of course, given the portly and spooky medium, Rob Ford’s face made a few appearances.

There were also far too many beautiful beautiful people walking around, happily holding hands with their partners, walking their dogs, smiling and laughing…  but I digress… to the art:

The Pedlar’s Wager

Sometimes you decide to go to the park for the Farmer’s Market, and you end up taking yourself out on a solo date that couldn’t be more playful and romantic if it tried.

I spent 15 minutes watching a beautiful burly man make two gorgeously intricate flower arrangements. I could have watched him for hours.

I spent some time touring around, experiencing the community-driven magic that is Dufferin Grove Park, appreciating that there were at least ten different passions being explored and enjoyed simultaneously. This ranged from basketball to group yoga to music-video creation to open-fire potlucks to… outdoor theatre.

Clay and Paper Theatre are currently presenting a run of their production “The Pedlar’s Wager;” a whimsical exploration of how we, as a people, have traveled from simple farm-driven self-sufficiency to being mere cogs in the giant wheel of industry. It highlights how the allure of “more” has led us to longer work-weeks, and a drastic separation from the products of our labour. I went to the stationary performance, but there are also mobile versions, which hold the 3 different acts in 3 different parks!

Huge paper mache puppets of “The River” and her exploiters “Baron Boots and his consort Lady Grabsome”,  loom over the heads of an enthralled audience of mostly young families. The versatility of the actors, playing narrators, characters, puppeteers, and stage-hands alike, carried the story along with skillful enthusiasm. By the end, the whole crowd is cheering, clapping, and singing along with the boisterous 3-piece ensemble of multi-instrumentalists (my faves were the accordion, the trombone, and the percussion on the bikes).

For a well-written, properly theatre-ey review of the play, read Tiffany Budhyanto‘s in Mooney on Theatre.  She and I both got tearey-eyed in our experience of the play. She, because of her appreciation for the beautiful music and the children’s enchantment with the puppetry and I, because of my deep-felt hope that arts funding not be cut, since productions like this are so incredibly important in the creation and upkeep of community and creativity; two factors I believe might just save our world a little bit.

You should probably experience this, it’s pretty much a lot of wonderful:

The Carnegie Hall Show

Hey, how do you like the feeling in your cheeks? Do you want to lose that feeling from smiling and laughing so much? Yeah?

You should probably go check out The Carnegie Hall Show that runs on Wednesday Nights at 9pm at Bread & Circus in Kensington Market.

Improv Comedy + Variety Show + Live Music + Special Guests + Tuxedos = Hilarity.

It’s basically like a regular improv show, except they wear fancy outfits, there’s piano accompaniment and they’re ACTUALLY funny!

Facebook /Website

Art Battle

* A note * This is an entry I’ve been meaning to write since I attended Art Battle 12/13, and I still haven’t fully formed my thoughts because it’s Summer, and instead of writing, I am playing outside… but Art Battle is such an amazing event series that even if it were on the most beautiful night of the Spring/Summer/Fall, I would still choose to bypass the park/beach/patio and go get my art-on at Art Battle. So I give you a short little peak, and I will give you a more in-depth, inside take on it in the near future, complete with pictures and interviews with organizers, artists and attendees… perhaps when I`m sunstroked and can`t leave my apartment­.

Walking into the venue, there’s a sense of organized chaos; tickets that could be perforated, had they not had the trust in their attendees to just rip the ‘vote ballots’ in the appropriate spots at the appropriate times. There’s no need to be precious here. We get it; we’re voting for our favourites.

The Great Hall, a venue that makes you feel like you’ve walked along a crushed-velvet red carpet to attend an event with plastic wine glasses, is literally filled with gorgeous human beings; a veritable cultured meat market, except minus the potential connotation with bacterial growth. (Oh, maybe you didn’t think that way? Well, I did, and you’re reading me, so you’re on that road, deal with it).

I could describe the format, which was tweeted by Ivor Tossell as “I am at an event called Art Battle, which is like Iron Chef with art. 8 invited & 8 drawn-from-a-hat artists have 20 mins to paint some art. ” You could also just visit their website and find out for yourself, but I’ve made that process shorter for you by piecing together some of the descriptions from said site:

What is Art Battle?
Art Battle is live competitive painting. The audience watches, cheers, votes and bids in support of the artists and their paintings. Rounds are 20 minutes in length. 2 winners from each round will advance into the final and compete for a cash prize and the title of Art Battle Champion. All paintings created at AB are auctioned, the minimum bid is $60. Paintings that fail to meet the minimum bid may be destroyed.

Despite the fact that the very nature of the event, with its quick and dirty judging process, and its encouragement to make impulse bids on incredible art (I bought two pieces!), is to be rapid and public, there is something incredibly slow, calculated and meditative about seeing art pieces becoming fully-formed right in front of your eyes.

Some snarky criticisms against art battle (and one that may have even crept into my own thoughts. I KNOW, BADDD RIGHT?)  might include “but they could totally have prepared ahead of time, why don’t we TEST them by surprising them with a THEME?” but, um, this is how they make their living. Imagine if what you did on a daily basis was done in a live setting, with hundreds of people watching AND you couldn’t even prepare!?  This is live, this is competitive.  It’s like preparing for debate. You kind of know what you’re getting into, but you don’t know how you’re going to do until you’re doing it… and that is AMAZING.

So the next one, Art Battle 15, at The Great Hall at Queen & Dovercourt, is Tuesday, June 28th. Doors are at 730, and the painting starts at (artist-time) 8pm. You should go, because there`s booze, beautiful people, great music, incredible talent, and the opportunity to take home an original painting.  This time, for the first time, organizers and co-founders Chris Pemberton and Simon Plashkes, have decided to host a test gallery, where there will be an exhibition of paintings that were not produced at Art Battle, for viewing and sale!

Oh, and I’ll be there, so that should be reason enough!

Centaur in the City

Ok, huge props to Torontoist.  Everytime I go on the site, I am reminded about how many amazing things there are to learn about on a daily basis that have nothing to do with my facebook news feed.

Today’s home page was no exception, with a stunning shot of OCAD, from Grange park, in one of the pieces from Harley Valentine’s Centaur in the City , which he tells Torontoist is a “project based around activating Toronto’s landscape.”  I especially love the ones that feature the centaur near statues.  The dark, matte nature of the Valentine’s  3D man-horse seem especially two dimensional and void-ey against some of Toronto’s most impressive sculptures:

See more of his work here.