San Francisco

Back in 2010, I went to San Francisco every other week for work. Here's a picture taken outside the window of the very tall building I worked in. The highlight of these trips was walking to The Ferry Building for lunch each day. It was filled with great shops and lunch spots. It was my first encounter with Blue Bottle Coffee; I loved the simple blue and white branding. 

Matt Jones paints with words

Photo by Matthew LeJune on Unsplash

My friend and colleague, Matt Jones (not pictured above), shared some of his word portraits. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a Charles Bukowski vibe. 

Here's what Matt says about his paintings:

I have always been intrigued and somewhat envious of people who sit in public places sketching passersby. It’s a talent I could never develop. I’m a writer and I am more than okay with that.

Then one day I was watching over the shoulder of a young man flawlessly sketching a fellow commuter and it hit me—I can do this. Only not with graphite or pastels.

I can do it with words.

What fascinates me about this idea is when we view a portrait, we all pretty much walk away with a similar representation in our heads (all things being equal). If I say “Mona Lisa” for example, we create very similar images in our mind’s eye.

With a word portrait, image creation is left to the imagination, generated solely and wholly within the mind of the reader. And every image created will be as unique and nuanced as the person themselves.

Here are a few examples, named Orion, Joy, and Patch. I hope you enjoy meeting them. Someday, I’d like to collect enough to do an actual gallery showing where the art on display is nothing but text on a page. A place where you can let your mind be the artist. If I do it, I hope to see you there.

 

ORION

His ill-fitting suit hung awkwardly

from his oddly shaped frame,

all over-hangs and strange angles.  

His hair swept back in thin,

predictable,

oily lanes.

A smug grin dissecting the Orion’s Belt of moles

strewn across his cheek.

Another, single mole perched

at the edge of his profile.

Like a comma at the end of an unturned page.

JOY

She smelled of cheap

Hobby Lobby candle.

Her clothing all black.

Festooned.

With sequins,

crosses,

and strategically placed

factory crafted rips.

Her hair was thin.

Her skin, thick.

A tragedy in tanned hide.

The party had ended long ago.

But she’d be damned

if she’d admit it.

So she orders another drink on the plane 

with an all-too-husky laugh that probably drew desirous gazes, once.

More smoke and roughness

now 

than sex.

PATCH 

The broad swatch of dark facial hair

that rested

Just beneath his lower lip

Looked like a misplaced mustache

that had been violently sneezed south.

Brian Eno - Workday soundtrack

Always a mainstay for the workday. Ambient, not particularly melancholy, nuanced, flowing. No words, so it doesn't distract from writing. I was introduced to Brian E. by a friend, Lee, many years ago and never looked back. It does make you feel like you should be wearing Vikander's suit from Ex Machina. Or Cameron's from Continuum.





You can listen to the full "Discreet Music" album on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl_z5JvrKlc
MFA's album cover:

Blog more #goal

A newly acquired full time gig has me so busy with technospeak writing that I haven't been able to make time to blog. My intention from last year remains unfulfilled, so far. 

In other news, I changed my diet over the past 16 months and lowered my cholesterol by 65 points. I am as proud of myself as I can possibly be. For anyone who knows how hard this is, I know you're shaking your head yes and thinking I'm a rock star. The method is easy, unless you have a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol - just don't eat animal products. I feel lighter without meat. I eat the rare piece of fish, usually salmon, and I cheat with a cheese plate at Le Bonne Table, but mostly it's nearly vegan for me. I just got a bottle of Just Egg and can't wait to try it - fake eggs made from mung beans! Update on Just Egg - this sadly does not do the trick. Doesn't work texture wise, or taste wise. Too bad.

Day interrupted: Dies intermissus

How many times a day are you notified and alerted? Phone banners, texts, incoming emails, news feeds. So much click bait vying for our attention, and so many tragic headlines. Do you drop it all and swim into the chaotic flow? Or choose  something non-electric like nature. Supposedly just breathing in a forest that has fern growing strengths your microbial makeup, because ferns are some of the most prehistoric plants out there and they offer healthy soil microbes that we need. So go snort some fern air, and do it today.

To change your alert functions: go to Settings, then Notifications (on an iPhone,) and turn off as many notifications as possible. Silence the demons of solace. 💗

Tea Cup Cozy Cat Cowl

It can get tedious just writing about information technology all day. One’s mind tends to wander a bit. Sometimes you have to just think outside the box and pull your tea cup cozy off your mug and pull it over your cat’s head, as is depicted here.

Gwyneth: Really? You’re really doing this? Then taking my picture, and blogging about it? Wasn’t that pink vest picture enough?

Such a darling tolerant one.
Oh, and Kate loves yams and kale. A lot goes on here during the day. You just wouldn’t imagine! *yawn*

Bloggus Returnnus

Hey, everybody! First, let me say, I miss everyone! After posting this, I’m going to get over to your blogs and check in! I haven’t had much time lately to post and I miss it, and the sweet comments from you blog beauties. So, the announcement is this: I got a real job! But, before I got said job there was an interminable amount of back and forth via email and telephone until at last there were interviews,then more waiting, an offer letter, a slight differing of opinions over logistics, and finally, acceptance. During the whole process I was sort of frozen, waiting, wondering, thinking about what it all actually meant and how my life would change. And now I am working, and it’s great. I think this is the first company I’ve worked for that doesn’t seem dysfunctional. Of course, I’m very new, but fingers crossed, right?

So, this was the view from the 19th floor of the training room last week. That’s the Ferry Building in front of the ship. I walked over during one of the lunch hours and OMG the shops in that place! Cowgirl Creamery, Blue Bottle Coffee, Boulette’s Larder and an adorable place called The Gardener that sells Weck jars (which I love). I got some herbes de Provence from Boulette’s Larder for me and my belle mere. It’s sort of the perfect spice for everything from soups to eggs to salads to sandwiches even.

I’m going to get my work-life balance sorted out soon enough, so I’ll be back on the blog trail soon.

My Colleagues

Yes, well, here at Essential Marketing Group, while we are hard at work with our crackerjack team of designers and developers via phone and email, we also have a few teammates right here at headquarters, a.k.a. spare bedroom. Well, hello there Mr. Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman! You're here early today! And I see Sadie the Scottie, looking ready to take on the world...of Westminster! Squirrely and Catkin are regulars, and I (laughing right now) can't remember what I called them the last time I posted about them.

Seems my collection of little figurines has grown. It's funny, when I go to estate sales and walk into a house with shelves full of teeny-weeny figurines, I always think, oh boy, look at all those tiny dust collectors! Yeah. That was then, this is now. Now I see some of these cute little goobers and say, um, how much for this one?

She Writes!

As many of you darlins know, my "day job " is being a marketing consultant. Well, what that really means is I'm a contract writer for a short list of technology companies. And, now in tumultuous 2009, what that actually means is I am scouting around looking for work! I don't know if it's economy-related, but the work gravy train is quite slow. I'm doing all sorts of things to get my name out there. I Twitter, here. I think it's called "tweeting" when you post. My Twitter name is robin_writes. Catchy, no? I keep a wordpress.org blog, which I use as a sounding board on marketing-related topics, and I have my work web site. I recently added a page of recent work on my work site. And...I'm on facebook, here.

As I've been making my rounds, prospecting, I thought I would add the blogosphere to my collective shout out. Perhaps folks who read my blog also work at companies that may need a writer! Got a project on your desk that you want to off-load? I write white papers, case studies, press releases, web content, product briefs, and really any type of document that needs to be written for corporate communications. In the technology space, I've written for CA, Inc., Interwoven, Handshake Software, and we shall see who is next! I have a little bio here, that tells you a bit about my work past. I can also help you with web design/development and print design.

Thanks for reading my little ad!

The Editing Team at EMG

So, over here at Essential Marketing Group, we work as a close team -- me and Bernice the bunny and Sebastian the squirrel -- to make sure our sentences are concise and descriptive. Without these guys, I'd be sunk. It's amazing how Sebastian never gets tired! Just look at those eyes, all wide with energy! I think it's the quiet strength of Bernice that keeps him so grounded, lest he should fly across the room! I bet when I leave to put the tea pot on these two step off the window sill and move stuff on my desk. I just know it... Yes, I'm on shaky ground, folks. The office walls are closing in. The paper I'm editing was reviewed and edited by a lawyer who probably wore out the Comment feature on his Word Track Changes. But, hey, in this economy, I'm ecstatic to have this work. So, forward I go, happily and gratefully.