Absence Explained!

I went to Australia, then Vancouver Island, and now work 2 jobs and am planning a wedding...

You might see this blog post and think, Oh! There she is! I’d almost forgotten about her. And you’d be right. It is me again! and I owe you a small apology for the unexpected radio silence on here. I had every intention of sticking to weekly blog updates, and I’d been doing fairly well if I say so myself, but life got a little busy (and exciting). So here I am with a whole bundle of updates and stories for you that I’ve separated into job, creative, and travel.

Job: I’m back at Wolf Circus

One of the most shocking changes over the last three months is that I’ve returned to working at Wolf Circus Jewelry. This is the third time now, I think? The place seems to always be there when I need it. I forgot how much I missed the tactile rhythm of sanding, polishing, and working with metal. There’s something meditative about using your hands to create something small and beautiful. When I was let go from my position last year, I was secretly pleased. It meant I had more time to work on creative things, spend time with the people I love, and relax. But now that I need a more steady flow of income, I couldn’t be more thankful to fit right back in to where I left. It’s made me realize how much I like creating. At the beginning of the year, I did a stained glass workshop with my friend Aimee. I have always been really interested in glass but it always felt so unapproachable. Now, I’m wondering if I can fuse my skills in jewelry production with my desire for glass making and start getting into glass jewelry—especially glass rings. That’s probably an expensive hobby to learn though. I recently bought some glass rings in Coolangatta (5 different ones!) and I have since broken them all. I am not very gentle with my hands it seems.

On top of that, I still work at Selene as a host!

Creative: I’m the New Web Editor for SAD Mag

I’m so excited to share that I’m now the Web Editor for SAD Mag. There are three of us helming the site: I’m in charge of previews, reviews, and sourcing new online articles. One of my colleagues is taking the lead on the weekly newsletter, and another is working to revive and spotlight archived articles and older features. It’s already been so rewarding. I’m learning a lot and I love working with a team that cares about local culture, reflection, and experimentation as much as I do. There are now 9 articles live on their website that I sourced and edited—one of them I ever wrote myself! I get to reach out (or be pitched) to local writers and then edit their work. The first piece was really rewarding as it was written by my friend Nathalie about our other friend Shruthi, both who were in my writing group at SFU. They are very talented creatives and artists so I am glad they had a chance to be spotlighted. You can read the article “Solarpunk Zine Making as a Ritual of Grief” at the link here. That being said, if you are an author or illustrator looking to contribute to SAD online, you can pitch me your ideas!

Other creative things happening in my sphere include writing my novel (which is coming along so slowly) and reading through all the submissions for Chthonic Lit. August felt like I only worked part time, was on vacation having fun, and now I have 2 work jobs and 3 creative jobs and I don’t know where all the time is going…If I’ve been extra silent or flaky lately, you now know why.

Travel: Greetings From Australia

I originally started writing this post from Sydney, Australia, where I was visiting family with my dad. And then I let it sit open on my laptop for over a whole month, sorry. Australia was part vacation, part memory-gathering mission: my dad and I are working together on writing his memoir, which means we’ve been collecting stories, laughing a lot, and learning more than I ever expected. I realized that I actually don’t know that much about my dad’s side of the family. Partly due to the fact that they live on the other side of the world (a 15hr bumpy flight over open ocean where I thought I was going to definitely die) but also because I had never really asked. I have only been down under a handful of times and to different cities across the country, the last time being when I was 12. It is very different travelling there as an adult and I am thankful for the chance to explore the city but also get to know my family better.

Australia was warm and sunny and strange in the best way. It is winter there but basically it is a Vancouver summer. Chilly in the morning and night but day time highs of 18 degrees. People casually call you “my love” and no one is in a hurry. The scenery is breathtaking, too—gum trees, golden light, and beaches that make you want to fall into them (if you can forget all the deadly creatures that reside there).

That said, I struggled with the time difference. I wasn’t tired exactly, but every so often I would get this sudden, disorienting vertigo—like the world was tipping sideways, or like I was a spider in a glass someone’s gently shaking out onto the lawn. I don’t do so well with travel, almost everyone I know can attest to the fact that I’m a bit of a fragile flower. But so far, a the time of writing this, the trip had been very exciting. I also wrote that hopefully my body can catch up quickly to the time change, and I can say with confidence that it only kind of sort of did.

I didn’t get a chance to finish the article in Australia, as we went to Sydney then Coolangatta/Kirra Surf then Tomerong. But here are my Sydney highlights to get you excited:

• Single O Coffee – absolutely delicious and so cute! All the shops and restaurants in Aus seem to be half open, everything is leaking out into the street so you have coffee shops and restaurants with wide open facades and lots of outdoor seating. Something else I’ve noticed is the city is full of coffee shops and bars that are small and beautifully lit. It reminds me of New York.

• Paramount Coffee Project – one of the best matchas I’ve had! Feels strange to say. There is also a cute bakery above and a very small and sweet cinema below (it only olds 30 people).

• SWOP – my cousin Brigid’s store! She started it in 2013. It is essentially a highly curated vintage consignment store with beautiful pieces. I know Vancouver is rife with that kind of place, but turns out it is more of a North American concept. Not a lot of places in Australia have that sort of store.

• The Sydney Museum – I saw a cephalopod! And ammonite. Don’t even get me started on the Mineral exhibit. I had a blast. Except for when I was watching a video reenactment of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and I had the most intense hit of vertigo I’ve ever had. It felt like the world was spinning.

• The Dudley Hotel Pub – exactly what you want from an Aussie pub and I wish that Vancouver had more places like this. It looked like an old house, 3 stories, carpeted, but full of pool tables, beer, and laughter. We lost at trivia that night, but made our way up from last place to finish at a nice and crisp 7th place.

• Clovelly Bowls Club – good views, great vibes. Curling but outdoors and on the lawn. We got to watch the sunset over the water and we even saw a whale!

That’s all for now—thank you for being patient with me and for reading along. I’ll be back soon with more writing updates and our latest book club review. Until then, stay hydrated and mildly disoriented (preferably somewhere beautiful).

Much love from the upside-down and right-side up again.

xx,

Ciara