Category Archives: Flying

2019 Vision Statement Scorecard

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Art, Fearless, Flying, Travel, Writing, Yoga

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My Instagram Top 9 photos of the year. I love that they represent the important areas of my life: family, friends, flying. learning and yoga.

This was an unexpectedly challenging year. I don’t feel like I was able to fully live up to the lofty vision I had crafted at the end of last year, but I’m okay with that. I had to spend more energy and time than I had planned managing some family and work issues. Life happens.

I do feel like I was able to accomplish more than I would have, had I not written a vision statement; so, I’ll continue doing them for self-inspiration and accountability.

I’m using the same color-code system to rate how well I was able to deliver on my vision for the year, where green = did it, yellow = did some of it and red = didn’t happen.

Family:

  • Goals
    • Did a family vacation together and unplugged our devices for at least one day (it was wonderful to do this during my New Zealand trip in 2018; need to disconnect from social media more often). The kids had some health issues and so we weren’t able to do a family vacation together where we could completely unplug. The three of us spent the holidays with my parents in Tampa, and Julia and I joined my family in March for my brother’s 50th birthday. She and I also did a weekend trip to Ukiah, but for the most part, this was a year we stayed local as a family.
    • Spent time with my parents I got to see my parents several times this year: for my brother’s birthday, for Thanksgiving, and then mom and I did our girl’s trip, and she also visited us in California.
  • Bonus:
    • I finally met the partner I’d hoped for and we are building a life together I went on three dates this year. Three! Maybe 2020 will be better?
    • Enjoyed a Vegas Girls’ trip with my mom, during a month when it was warm enough to sit out by the pool!We did our trip to Santa Fe, and it was in late September so it wasn’t super warm, but it was fun!

Friends:

  • Goals:
    • Had a fun trip to Sedona with my girlfriends This was super fun. Love my #girlsquad
  • Bonus
    • Hosted a dinner party for my friends Did this at the beginning of the year and would love to do more in 2020.

Work:

  • Goal:
    • I started a Women@GBM group and helped support women in our org I didn’t get a chance to do the Women@ group before I left Facebook, but I did get a Managers@ group started, as well as mentor several women at work.

Community:

  • Goals:
    • Started teaching yoga and mindfulness classes with Veterans Yoga project I had to postpone the VYP training into 2020; this will be on my 2020 Vision Statement.
    • Continued supporting veterans transitioning to tech by participating in Facebook’s Vets group and speaking with groups like Breakline Still one of my favorite things to do and I’m glad I was able to help veterans transitioning into tech jobs.

Me:

  • Goals:
    • Fitness:
      • Earned my 200-hr yoga teaching certification so I can teach yoga to veterans. Completed in June and have taught 2 community classes, as well as private lessons.
      • Can do a press-up handstand. Nope.
      • Competed in a pole dancing competition. Took classes but didn’t compete…yet.
    • Music: Since buying myself a digital piano for Christmas in Dec 2018, I completed an online piano course and can play at least 4 of the following songs. :
    • Flying: I fly every 3 weeks or so and enjoy taking friends up for flights. Did a couple of cross-country camping flights and enjoyed sleeping under the stars. I was flying frequently during the first 6 months of the year but then a combination of weather and personal stuff kept me grounded for the second half of 2019.
  • Bonus:
    • Writing:
      • I sold the screenplay/teleplay I wrote in 2017 and wrote another one.
      • I blogged monthly
    • Travel: I visited two new places this year (thinking about Sedona, South Africa, Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, Costa Rica). I actually went to five: Toronto, Edinburgh, Scotland, Sedona, Portland and Kauai. I traveled a lot: Singapore, London, NYC, Washington, DC, Boonville, Yosemite, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Big Sur.
    • Painting: I set up my art studio space in San Jose and completed 20 paintings, enough to sign up for Open Studios. I have posted my paintings to my art website, encaustech.com, and have sold a few. I’ve begun talking with Facebook about doing an encaustic installation on one of the walls at work. I’m thrilled to have a studio in San Jose and I visit a couple of times a month. I would love to spend more time paining, but unfortunately, this has taken a backseat to other activities. Also, the studio is hot in the summer, which doesn’t pair well with encaustics, so I’m starting to learn Cold Wax painting for the summer months.

2019 Vision Q1 Check-in

17 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Art, Flying, Travel, Writing, Yoga

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I thought I’d try something new this year and not wait an entire 365 days to report on my vision statement progress.

I’m at my art studio, waiting for the wax to heat up to a molten state so I can start painting; seems like a good time to write a little. I miss writing. I had a call today with my writing partner about some tweaks to our screenplay and I felt that pull to sit in front of a laptop and empty my brain into another story. I love writing. I need to do more.

So, how are things going so far? What happened in January – March?

Family:

  • Goals
    • Did a family vacation together and unplugged our devices for at least one day (it was wonderful to do this during my New Zealand trip in 2018; need to disconnect from social media more often). Not yet. Planned for this summer.
    • Spent time with my parents. Julia and I got to see them and my brothers for my brother Patrick’s 50th birthday.
  • Bonus:
    • I finally met the partner I’d hoped for and we are building a life together. Not yet. Still hopeful. 🙂
    • Enjoyed a Vegas Girls’ trip with my mom, during a month when it was warm enough to sit out by the pool! Planned for Q3.

Friends:

  • Goals:
    • Had a fun trip to Sedona with my girlfriends. Such a fun trip, although I was coming down with a bad cold. Did some awesome hiking.
    • RhQAqPCbREqkCxr6PKBikw
  • Bonus
    • Hosted a dinner party for my friends. Super fun, hope to do another one later this year. I’m grateful to have such amazing, supportive friends in my life.

Work:

  • Goal:
    • I started a Women@GBM group and helped support women in our org. Not yet.

Community:

  • Goals:
    • Started teaching yoga and mindfulness classes with Veterans Yoga project. Not yet, will finish my training in June.
    • Continued supporting veterans transitioning to tech by participating in Facebook’s Vets group and speaking with groups like Breakline. Not yet.

Me:

  • Goals:
    • Fitness:
      • Earned my 200-hr yoga teaching certification so I can teach yoga to veterans. In progress! I’ve really been enjoying this training. Lots of studying!
      • fullsizeoutput_3f9c
      • Can do a press-up handstand. Hahaha, not even close…
      • Competed in a pole dancing competition. Not yet, but in progress.
    • Music: Since buying myself a digital piano for Christmas in Dec 2018, I completed an online piano course and can play at least 4 of the following songs. : In progress. Embarrassing accountability videos are below. I’m almost done with the Entertainer, halfway through La Valse d’Amelie (although it’s really rough), at the beginning of Glitter in the Air, and deciding whether or not to continue on Between the Lines. I love the song but it is freaking difficult. NOTE: Not sure why the video images are upside down, but it’s normal once it starts playing.

 

    • Flying: I fly every 3 weeks or so and enjoy taking friends up for flights. Did a couple of cross-country camping flights and enjoyed sleeping under the stars. I’ve taken a couple of friends flying on Bay Tours. Next up is my mountain flying checkout so I can go camping in the foothills. I’m also looking at getting my aerobatics check out, as straight and level is getting boring fast. 🙂
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Bonus:

  • Writing:
    • I sold the screenplay/teleplay I wrote in 2017 and wrote another one.Still trying to sell it.
    • I blogged monthly well, maybe quarterly?
  • Travel: I visited two new places this year (thinking about Sedona, South Africa, Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, Costa Rica). Edinburgh is next!
  • Painting: I set up my art studio space in San Jose and completed 20 paintings, enough to sign up for Open Studios. I have posted my paintings to my art website, encaustech.com, and have sold a few. I’ve begun talking with Facebook about doing an encaustic installation on one of the walls at work. 

I rented a super cool art studio space in San Jose!

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Move-in Day

I have been focusing on yoga teacher training, so I haven’t been as productive in the studio as I would like; however, with the sun setting later every day, I’m hoping to paint more. Here’s a painting that’s almost done, and one that is just beginning:

 

2019 Vision Statement

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by in Art, Fearless, Flying, Travel, Yoga

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houseframe

Writing a vision statement feels like building the scaffolding for my life this year. It’s the framework of a house that I can decorate over 12 months with experiences and relationships.

However, sometimes it feels a bit grandiose. There are plenty of things I want to happen in my life that I’m not going to document in a vision statement because I enjoy being spontaneous and enjoying serendipitous moments (see: name of this blog).

I’m not as anal-retentive as this process suggests, but I know that the best way for me to get the most out of my one sweet life is to set my intentions and find ways to make them happen. I am a woman of action.

I lost another friend from college this year – a painful reminder that we don’t know how much time we have left on earth. I want to be deliberate in how I live my life. I want to live it to the fullest with the people I love.

Last year’s vision statement was pretty ambitious, and I ended up completing 8 out of the 20 goals, halfway completing 6 and not getting anywhere on 6. This year, I decided to simplify to two main goals per category and a few optional, bonus goals.

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in 2019 and what I’ll be writing at the end of the year:

Family:

  • Goals
    • Did a family vacation together and unplugged our devices for at least one day (it was wonderful to do this during my New Zealand trip in 2018; need to disconnect from social media more often)
    • Spent time with my parents
  • Bonus:
    • I finally met the partner I’d hoped for and we are building a life together
    • Enjoyed a Vegas Girls’ trip with my mom, during a month when it was warm enough to sit out by the pool!

Friends:

  • Goals:
    • Had a fun trip to Sedona with my girlfriends
  • Bonus
    • Hosted a dinner party for my friends

Work:

  • Goal:
    • I started a Women@GBM group and helped support women in our org

Community:

  • Goals:
    • Started teaching yoga and mindfulness classes with Veterans Yoga project
    • Continued supporting veterans transitioning to tech by participating in Facebook’s Vets group and speaking with groups like Breakline

Me:

  • Goals:
    • Fitness:
      • Earned my 200-hr yoga teaching certification so I can teach yoga to veterans.
      • Can do a press-up handstand.
      • Competed in a pole dancing competition.
    • Music: Since buying myself a digital piano for Christmas in Dec 2018, I completed an online piano course and can play at least 4 of the following songs. :
    • Flying: I fly every 3 weeks or so and enjoy taking friends up for flights. Did a couple of cross-country camping flights and enjoyed sleeping under the stars.
  • Bonus:
    • Writing:
      • I sold the screenplay/teleplay I wrote in 2017 and wrote another one.
      • I blogged monthly
    • Travel: I visited two new places this year (thinking about Sedona, South Africa, Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, Costa Rica).
    • Painting: I set up my art studio space in San Jose and completed 20 paintings, enough to sign up for Open Studios. I have posted my paintings to my art website, encaustech.com, and have sold a few. I’ve begun talking with Facebook about doing an encaustic installation on one of the walls at work.

2018 Vision Statement

06 Saturday Jan 2018

Posted by in Art, Fearless, Flying, Travel, Yoga

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rosie

Here’s what I’ll be writing at the end of this year.  I added my work goals this time because it’s also an important part of my life.

Family:

  • Visited NYC together and saw some Broadway shows
  • Both kids are growing up to be independent, happy young adults.
  • Enjoyed a fun Vegas Girls’ trip with my mom.
  • Did a family vacation to a new spot.
  • Visited my parents in Tampa.
  • I finally met the partner I’d hoped for and we are building a life together.

Friends:

  • Finally did our international girls trip!
  • Hosted a dinner party for my WHIP friends and our partners.

Work:

  • I successfully supported AHE in our move to GBM
  • In our new team, we have radically improved education for all of our customers.
  • I was able to get an investment for community and we’ve increased the engagement which has helped support and education.
  • I started a Women@GBM group and helped support women in our org.

Community:

  • Started a Facebook group for my neighborhood and at least half of my neighbors (13 of 26) joined.
  • Continued supporting veterans transitioning to tech by participating in VetsinTech and other vet orgs.

Me:

  • Painting: I attended the International Encaustic Conference in Massachusetts in June. I set up my art studio and completed 20 paintings, enough to sign up for Open Studios in 2019. I have posted my paintings to my art website, encaustech.com, and have sold a few. I’ve begun talking with Facebook about doing an encaustic installation on one of the walls at work.
  • Design: I completed a web development course and was able to use what I learned to redesign encaustech.com, which I am now using to both exhibit and sell my artwork. Investigating how to do a small installation at Facebook.
  • Writing: I sold the screenplay I wrote in 2017 and wrote another one.
  • Fitness: I rode the Peloton bike 3-4X a week and did yoga at least 2X/week. Took a pole dancing class and loved it. I’m exploring options to get certified in teaching yoga.
  • Travel: I visited two new places this year (options include Bulgaria, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Prague, Berlin, Costa Rica).
  • Flying: I renewed my medical and got current again in a small plane. I fly every 3 weeks or so and enjoy taking friends up for flights.

Happy New Year, 2018

01 Monday Jan 2018

Posted by in Art, Fearless, Flying, Inspiration, love, Parenting, Writing

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fearless

As we often do at the end of a year, yesterday I reflected on my vision statement from 2017 and how much I was able to accomplish and what didn’t get done.

While I was able to achieve more things than I believe I would have if I hadn’t written a vision statement, it occurred to me that despite a shit-ton of therapy introspection over the past few years, I am still letting fear guide too much of my life.

I am still afraid of…

making bad decisions.
looking stupid.
hurting someone.
falling in love again.
hurting myself physically.
failing the people I love.
and probably several other things I haven’t listed. Blockchain technology, for example.

So, while I did write another vision statement for 2018 (which I will have to post separately because Quip is being uncooperative at the moment – shocker), I want to also commit to a guiding word for the year.

Over the past few years, I’ve used Explore, Stretch, Mindful, Forgive and Create. But for some unexplained reason, this year I feel I need to up-level the bad-assery of my inspirational word-of-the-year. Maybe it’s because I turned 50 a few months ago and so my mortality is more top-of-mind. Perhaps it’s because I find that the older I get, the fewer fucks I give about a LOT of stuff. Like my potty mouth, for example. During my years in the navy, my creativity in the fine usage of colorful metaphors approached artisanal mastery but has since degenerated to the point now where I can barely manage to drop an f-bomb when I need my teenage son to take.the.fucking.garbage.out.NOW.

But I digress.

For me, 2018 is about being FEARLESS.

  • It’s about stepping up for challenges at work that scare me, because I know I will figure shit out, somehow, and I’ll be supported by the best team I’ve ever had the honor of working with.
  • It’s about engaging more with friends, instead of using my INFJ-ness as an excuse to not comment on a post, or go to a party or take a stand on an issue.
  • It’s about encouraging myself to be vulnerable and open, hopeful that I will meet someone I can trust and find a partner whom I adore and who feels the same about me. Or maybe I won’t, and I’m okay with that. #dontsettle
  • It’s about getting back behind the stick of an airplane (a stick, not a goddamn yoke. Fuck that shit.) because I love flying and I miss having my head literally in the clouds.
  • It’s about continuing to loosen the grip on the two people I love the most, who are pulling slowly away from me (as they should) as they look toward that beacon of adulthood beckoning to them more brightly, while still supporting them and loving them every day. Even when they don’t take out the fucking trash.
  • It’s about sharing my writing, rather than worrying about what people will think, or how they’ll judge me. Ditto for my encaustic painting work.
  • It’s about getting stronger physically. After years of recovering from a fat childhood, I’m no longer afraid to own this. Sorry, Mom and Dad, this might be the year I take up pole dancing.

So there it is. My first fearless act is to share this publicly and ask you, my friends and family, to remind me that in exactly one year I’m going to have to answer up to myself about whether or not I followed through on being fearless. Hopefully you will at least have received an airplane ride out of it with me somewhere along the way.

Happy New Year, everyone! Except you, Fear. You can fuck off.

 

 

 

The mathz

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in Art, Flying, love, Math

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goldenratio

I’m on a long flight from LHR-SFO, reading a great book called The Divine Proportion, by H.E. Huntley, published in 1970. It’s about the relationship of aesthetics and mathematics, so of course if focuses a lot on the Golden Ratio.

In the first chapter, the author describes how he fell in love with mathematics. It was at a lecture, during his freshman year at Bristol University and the lecturer, Peter Frazer, wrote a theorem on the chalkboard and became enamored by the simple elegance of the set he had drawn. He paused, then proclaimed how exquisite it was, becoming animated in his exaltations of the theorem’s beauty. The class laughed, but the author was moved.

I get it. I had a similar experience in my freshman calculus class, when Professor Zukowski, who most mornings reeked of alcohol, wrote on the board the first differential equation I’d ever seen, and proceeded to explain how calculus could explain so many parts of our world…it was like I had received a decoder ring for the universe. I had loved trigonometry in high school, mostly the graphing of the curves, but this was adding a new dimension, literally.

In the book, Professor Huntley gives advice to those who might be reading it and thinking of pursuing mathematics as a career. One bit of advice struck me as sad, yet true. He writes, “You may be lonely. Scarcely anyone will understand your work because few will be capable of understanding it.”

I feel that deeply. Perhaps my greatest failure as a parent has been my inability to stir in my children the same love I had for math. Granted, I didn’t fall in love with math until I was in college. And friends will tell you that it wasn’t math I fell in love with, but David Carpenter.

I’ll explain… I was in NROTC, so I had to take calculus. And in my calculus class was a cute, suntanned, shaggy-haired boy with awesome dimples, named Dave Carpenter. He kept to himself, which added to his mystique. One day, he came to class in an Air Force ROTC uniform and I about died…my secret crush was also in ROTC! I finally mustered the courage to ask him about it, and we struck up a conversation. He had dreams of becoming an astronaut, so he was enrolled in AFROTC. I started researching the space program. Most astronauts were former military test pilots who had technical degrees. So I switched my major from art to mathematics. My friends accused me of wanting to become an astronaut so I could have sex with David Carpenter in space.

After the second month of school, I didn’t see him in class. I never saw him in a uniform on campus again. His enthusiasm for the space program had apparently dissipated, or maybe it transferred over to me. I went on a field trip to a few naval air stations over the holiday break and fell in love with flying, too. David Carpenter had been replaced.

It’s funny, I was reading this book about numbers, and then the in-flight TV show I was most drawn to was a show about online dating and algorithms. I took a few notes; my next exercise after writing this blog post is updating my dating profile. On the show, the host mentioned the mathematical formula about rejecting 37% of options and then dating the next suitable person (also detailed in this article). I’ve been keeping a list of the dates I’ve been on; I think I’m around 28, so I feel like I have extra incentive to hop to it and get out on some more dates.

I was also super inspired by the images and figures in the book. I cannot wait to get my art studio in order so I can start a mathematically-inspired series of paintings. I want to do a bunch that are inspired by the golden ratio, and also a series of chessboards. I love that math continues to inspire me in so many ways, which gives me hope that maybe my kids will also eventually learn to appreciate it.

Slipping the surly bonds

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Flying, Military

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Tags

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Spines in the sky

I’ve wanted to write a post about flying and all the things about it that I love but I keep coming back to the famous poem by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., “High Flight.” His poem so beautifully captures the joy and wonder and freedom of flight, that I feel like nothing I could conjure could come close to it. Unfortunately, I think that most people associate it with memorials of those who have died in airplane accidents or President Reagan’s speech about the Challenger shuttle catastrophe.

I did a little research (ok, I just looked at wikipedia) and I was amazed to find that Magee, Jr. died at the young age of 19, in a training accident while flying a Spitfire. It’s stunning to me that someone so young could so eloquently describe the essence of flying.

Often, the first and last lines are combined as a quote, but here is the poem in its entirety:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
 And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
 Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
 of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
 You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
 High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
 I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
 My eager craft through footless halls of air….

 Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
 I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
 Where never lark, or even eagle flew —
 And, while with silent lifting mind I have trod
 The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
 – Put out my hand, and touched the face of God


I hope that I can eventually write something about flying that will capture even a small fraction of that beauty. For now, I read his words…I think about all the wonderful times I’ve danced in the clouds and all the flights that are yet to come, and I smile…how fortunate I am to be privy to that magnificent world overhead.