How is it October?!

Kent’s Beach at sunset on my birthday, picture Kate Dryden Dunn

Just over a month ago I sat down and wrote almost a full blog post that I intended to publish before my birthday (which is late September). And then the next thing I knew it was October 11th! September seemed to be one of those vanishing months this year. I think its disappearance was aided by two weekends away, my mum visiting for a week, three Bard on the Beach shows, and one visit to Broadway Across Canada. I’m sure there WAS a month that happened in amongst all that, but I hardly remember it!

Autumn is here, with shockingly clear skies in Vancouver and some perfectly cool temperatures. My sweater collection and I are currently living our best lives. Autumn is also birthday time for me, which in my world also gives me an opportunity to figure out a few things I’d like to accomplish in my 36th year.

I’m knocking a big travel/bucket list/epic adventure thing off those lists in November when I go to Africa, which I’m beyond excited for, and hope I have the presence of mind to post about afterwards (we all know my track record here)

I’d like to learn/re-learn a few non-essential skills as well. I learned to juggle in elementary school (and was even cast as a lead in a play based on my abilities) but I’ve fallen WAAAY off. It’s a weird, silly thing that I liked being able to do, so I’m going to try and commit to practicing for a couple of minutes every day. Maybe post the practice videos? We’ll see, Sam and Sandra are inspiring me to try and motivate myself via IG these days. The other thing I’d like to get better at is ukulele. I have this GORGEOUS uke that I can play about three chords confidently on. I have the instrument, I want to be able to play it, dang it! So, similar to juggling, I’m going to try and put in some practice minutes every day (maybe week)

Finally, that dang novel. Normally, at this time of year, I’d be gearing up for NaNoWriMo, but with the trip to Africa happening right smack dab in the middle of November, I know far better than to try and attempt that. I know myself far too well. However, I’ve had some epiphanies about my novel over the past couple of months, so the re-write is on….slowly. I might try and use November to be NaNo adjacent, and work on it a bit (maybe on the 30 hours plane rides?)

So, that’s it. Juggle, ukulele, novel. A few things to spice up 36, and make that trip around the sun a little more interesting.