365 Days of Adventure

Adventure 310 ~ Learn How To Introduce Myself In Hindi

/ intrepidjane

Today is another squeeze-one-in day. I’m busy with work all day and running a webinar tonight. You might be saying to yourself “Well, take a break then. Have a day off from your adventures.” But it doesn’t work like that for me.

Even when my day is so full that I can hardly breath, it’s the adventure that gives me the gulp of air I need. Even when I don’t feel like doing an adventure (and there have been a few days like that over the past year, the kind of days where life has been a little tougher than I’d expected), I still do it. You know why? It’s because I’ve learned that I feel more alive, more present, more resourceful and more grounded as a result of leaping into an adventure – even if the adventure is only for a couple of minutes.

So for today’s adventure, I catching my breath in a Hindi language-learning adventure. On today’s video, you can hear me say “Hello! My name’s Jane. Pleased to meet you.”

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 309 ~ Write Some Postcard Fiction

/ intrepidjane

postcard fiction Jane TalbotFor today’s adventure, I tried my hand at postcard fiction : attempting to write a complete story that fits onto the back of a postcard. Sometimes short forms of fiction are also referred to as micro fiction or  flash fiction. The rules for short  forms of fiction vary, but I’m keeping it simple today and writing a short love story  that fits onto a postcard-sized image 🙂 .

It’s a true story, and one of the characters is in the image on the postcard 🙂 .

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 308 ~ Write A Cleave Poem

/ intrepidjane

cleave poem by Jane TalbotFor today’s adventure, I decided to try out a new form of poetry. I Googled “experimental poetry” and found several references to the term “cleave poetry”.

A cleave poem is 3 poems in one – and I’ve tried my hand at writing one today. The way to read the poem is :

1. Read the poem on the left (in black) first. Let it sink in.
2. Read the poem on the right (in purple) second. Let it sink in.
3. Read the two poems together, from left to right. Let it sink in.

It was fun to write – and quite challenging too. I think it would be a very therapeutic process for someone experiencing an inner conflict! It was really helpful to fully associate myself with both sides of “the story” before writing and not really think of the third poem. The third poem emerged quite naturally! (It’s the third poem that elicits the biggest emotional response in me. I’m going to stop and think about that for a while. I’m going to stop and sit in that poem for a while.)

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 307 ~ Develop A TV Show Format To Support The Big Renga Project

/ intrepidjane

The Big Renga Round-Up TV SeriesLots of preparation is going on behind the scenes to support the launch of The Big Renga Project on the 1st December. Renga is a cross between jazz , chess and a murder mystery (where you’re constantly changing your mind about “who-dunnit”) . At the moment the poets are getting their heads around all the rules so that when it comes to the time to “play”, everyone can relax and have fun.

You could say that The Big Renga Project is quite an esoteric undertaking, something that you might only enjoy, or understand, if you were involved in the project and had immersed yourself in the spirit of this collaborative form of poetry.

Realising that the art of renga has a huge amount to teach us both in terms of an outlook on life and in terms of the way we collaborate and express ourselves, it occurred to me that inviting people to share our experiences might be something really worthwhile.

And that’s when I hit upon the idea of running a daily TV show throughout the project 🙂 . Think about those football programmes with post-match reviews; or about the television programmes covering the Olympics where, after each event, a panel of experts analyses the performances of the day – and some of the competitors actually come on the show too. That’s the approach I’m aiming to deliver on the TV show.

The programme will be fun (and probably more than a little tongue-in-cheek)! It’s going to teach the viewers about the form and get them in involved in the process too. It’s also going to help the community of poets get tactical as they develop a deeper understanding of the form.

To support the TV programme, I had a go at creating a title sequence for it : it’s the first time I’ve managed to make something with a dynamic video loop. You can watch the title sequence here :

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 306 ~ Enter A Poetry Competition

/ intrepidjane

365 Days Of Adventure For today’s adventure, I’ve entered my very first poetry competition!

I’ve selected 10 of my haiku for a haiku calendar competition. Entries are open to anyone , anywhere in the world, and a haiku will be selected for each calendar month.

Because my haiku adventure tracked the transition from Summer into Autumn, my entries are limited to the months of August, September and October.

This has been an exciting adventure – and an interesting one. I feel no sense of exposure or risk. I’m not worried about what the expert panel thinks of my haiku. Winning something isn’t even on my radar. Instead, I feel thrilled that an expert panel is actually going to read my collection of haiku! And, I feel a sense of connection to the haiku community too.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 305 ~ Write An Acrostic Poem

/ intrepidjane

Cherry Tree acrostic poem by Jane TalbotFor today’s adventure, I tried my hand at writing my very first acrostic poem. An acrostic poem is a type of poetry where the first, last or other letters in a line spell out a particular word or phrase.

I chose to use “other letters in the line” to spell out the theme of my poem : Cherry Tree. I have capitalised the relevant letter on each line. If you scan my poem from top to bottom, my acrostic poem spells out CHERRY TREE!

I’ve been wanting to capture the spirit of the cherry tree for some while now. Its blossoms captivated me in Spring, but during the summer months the cherry trees sunk into the background , unable to compete with other flowers and trees. A part of me wondered why people would plant a tree that only held its beauty for a very short period of time.

As Autumn has advanced, I now understand the real beauty of the cherry tree. It’s as if the Spring blossoms offer a promise of better things yet to come. In Autumn, the cherry tree is bright, bold and confident. If the cherry tree is a pretty girl in the Spring, then by the Autumn, this tree is all woman (and all too ready to take off her clothes!)

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 304 ~ Drive A Kawasaki 4010 Mule

/ intrepidjane

For today’s adventure, I try my hand at driving a Kawasaki 4010 mule. I keep to the traditional YouTube style for this kind of thing : a “walk ’round” to show off the key features of the vehicle, followed by an actual drive!

It was fun to see if I could pull off the walk ’round. It was even more fun driving it!

You can see how I got on in today’s video.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 303 ~ Learn Facial Features In Finnish

/ intrepidjane

Yup. I’m still going with the whole Finnish thing : it feels good 🙂 .

Today I learn the words used to describe facial features. You an see how I got on in today’s video blog.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 302 ~ Learn How To Count From 0-10 In Finnish

/ intrepidjane

Today I learn how to count from 0-10 in Finnish. I find the rhythm of the language mesmerising. The rhythm seems to be the key to learning and remembering this language.

For some reason, today’s words seem uncannily familiar. To be more precise, they “feel” familiar. I’m going to pay attention to this feeling and walk a little deeper into the Finnish forest 🙂 .

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 301 ~ Learn Some Basic Finnish Phrases

/ intrepidjane

Do you speak Finnish?For today’s adventure, I’ve learned some basic Finnish phrases. I used Finnish Pod 101 to help me out. What surprised me about learning the phrases is how helpful rhythm is when speaking Finnish 🙂 .

You can hear me speaking Finnish in today’s video. I’m using the familiar form of language and I’m saying : Hello. My name is Jane. Pleased to meet you. Do you speak English? Bye!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT