Feedback on Feedback and a warm hug to the heart

I haven’t been here in a while to write — hence the Art Journal Every Day posts sans the accompanying blog post.  I guess you can say I’m in a rut again, but trying earnestly to get out of it.

I don’t get too many (legitimate) comments here, so when I do, I take notice.  And since I had started responding to them in blogposts way back when I started, why stop now?  That would be a disservice to those who took the time to leave me an echo of their visit here in my corner of the blogsphere.  Thank you, most sincerely, for letting me know I have more than 5 readers out there. =)  (Kidding!)

For starters, Shay surprised me with the sweetest of comments during a time when I felt like everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong.  I was definitely in no mood to write anything but she made me pause and think and even smile.

Shay wrote in response to “Riding It Out” : “I am hooked reading your blog.. from new to older entries. hope you are feeling much better now.”

The Pinay New Yorker says:  … I am humbled, Shay.  Your comment couldn’t have come at a better time.  I have started reading a book entitled “When God Winks at You” by Squire Rushnell, and I think now that you would be what he calls a “godwink”.  (That’s another blogpost altogether!)

I have a confession to make, though — I actually thought you were someone trying to get me to go back to writing and using a pseudonym to push me forward.  So when I  wrote the e-mail address you provided with a thank you to make sure the address was legitimate, I was pleasantly surprised to get an almost instantaneous reply.  (Almost within my timezone.. !)  And when I replied once more, I even got a hug back!

But what touched me most was the warmth of your response which helped me get myself here tonight and write.  (While I would normally publish it, since it was said in private and was most meaningful for the simplicity of her words of encouragement, I would like to keep that exchange between Shay and I.)  For someone who didn’t know me to get a sense of what I was going through simply by reading my posts was truly amazing and touching.  It makes me wonder if I have become so transparent that my emotions are so easy to read.   But simply to know that people actually read what I write is most heart-warming and keeps me writing — more so during those times when I feel like I want to just clam up and stop churning out the words.

This blog has been my personal journal both during the good and bad times.  Often, there are things I opt to keep to myself, but which I am able to write about in veiled sentences that nonetheless encapsulate the thought or feeling I want to record.  I have always said I blog for my personal benefit — it helps me get in touch with my feelings, enables me to sort out my thoughts, chronicle my joys and pains, and it give me a channel to just plain rant and rave about life in general and MY LIFE specifically.  I find myself browsing back to entries from years ago and it helps me remember the good and the bad, and I recall the lessons learned.  It has helped me to remember the happy ones and relive them in my heart — and remembering the “happy” has helped me to remember how to forget the “sad” when I come across those heartaches.

I always say that you can never go wrong paying someone a compliment, no matter how simple a thought it may be for the most miniscule of tasks that was rendered.  You never know how you can make someone’s day, or change the direction he or she goes because you made nice.  Sometimes it’s not just the “Please” that gets us what we want and which matters — but the corresponding “Thank You” or “Sorry” can make the bigger difference.  (It’s the one reason I always take the time to fill out a customer survey, more so when the service rendered deserves recognition.)

Your words were a warm thank you to this blogger, Shay.  So I am back.. or at least I’m trying.. =)  I’m not quite there yet — “feeling better,” that is.  But asthma has a way of holding me back even if I fight it.  I am no longer “drowning” trying to breathe — I should be back to my usual self in a few more days.

I have been prolific writing longhand letters and cards, though, as well as finishing pieces for my Art Journal Every Day project as inspired by my art muse, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer.  I have managed to finish two entries which immediately precede this blogpost, the earlier of which saw a fellow “art journaler” (sp?) visiting and leaving a comment.  (I cannot publish or approve a second comment which is not returning a legitimate trace like Shay’s and Susan’s. — trying to check first.)

Again, I am humbled.  Most of these people who art journal with me and Julie are REAL artists in every sense of the word, dwarfing me and my novice attempts at rendering my journaling through my personal art.

Susan wrote: “Love the lettering and the flowers. reminds me of a beautiful garden.”

To which the Pinay New Yorker says:  Many, many thanks, Susan.   I have been learning a lot watching fellow art journalers do their own pages and reading up on their individual process in coming up with their work.  I feel like a kindergartener amongst experts, but I have always said, it’s never too late to learn.  I just might try what you did with the gel pen in a future entry.

Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Monday in 20 minutes.  I can’t believe the weekend’s over and another week unfolds.  In a few days, it’s March.  In another month, I turn 46.   How time flies indeed.

My  bestfriend Fe would say “Life is short.  You cannot postpone happiness.”  Indeed.  Even when you try putting things on hold because your heart seems to have stalled — the world will go on.   So I picked up my pliers tonight (hooray!) and actually created quite a bunch of freshwater pearl pieces in sterling silver findings.  (I am getting adventurous and extravagant, I know..)  I almost wasn’t quite sure I could tweak the loops the right way in the uniform width, but I think I did pretty well.

Another godwink, I believe.  Or if I were to believe Fe, it’s the universe listening.