GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #269

Ugh. I'm feeling overwhelmed. Tense. Anxious. Too many things to do. Too much on my mind. No energy. Upper shoulders are screaming. My plate is too full at the moment. Worrying. Ruminating.

I know all of the things I can do to help myself at this moment.

But right now, I just want to scream, "Serenity NOW!" the way Frank Costanza (and George Costanza) did in one Seinfeld episode. Sometimes humor is the best medicine. :)

This too shall pass.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #268

I went to a fantastic event last night called PechaKucha Night in Champaign Urbana. In a PechaKucha event, people give presentations for which they show 20 slides and speak 20 seconds per slide, totaling 6 minutes and 40 seconds per presenter. Last night was the first of these I'd ever been to, and I was not disappointed! There were, I believe, 12 presenters in all, a great emcee, and presentations that ran the gamut from why we should do away with copyright laws to the benefits of living without a car. Some were persuasive, some were humorous, some were educational, some were art/design related, some were inspiring, and some were extremely personal.

The most moving presentation, to me, was by Kelly White, an amazing well-known local artist, teacher, and business owner/operator. Her topic was about her struggle with how others respond to her being overweight. She discussed how she feels judged, and how she judges herself, every day, every time she walks into a room where there are people, when she wakes up in the morning, and so on... how people say things to her that are very hurtful all time time, and that anything you could say to her about her size, she's already said to herself over and over. She brilliantly expressed her emotional pain in this short presentation, and she communicated so clearly that her being overweight is her own business and nobody else's. She took examples of words people tend to use to describe "fat" people, such as lazy, and explained that none of these stereotypes were at all accurate about her; in fact she is the opposite of these harmful stereotypes. Her message at the end was to ask people to simply be kind. Be kind to others, regardless of their outer appearance. It was extremely moving, and it was so brave of Kelly to get up in front of 500+ people and talk about something so deeply personal and painful.

This phrase is for you, Kelly. You're awesome! I've known that since we met a few years ago, and after your PKN presentation, I think you are even more amazing. Thank you. It was the best presentation of the night, and your message is so very important. I feel that my written description of your presentation doesn't do it justice... I'm leaving out an awful lot. But I loved it, and it moved me greatly.

Wanna know more about PechaKucha? Visit Pecha Kucha FAQs.

Wanna know how to pronounce it? Visit Youtube PechaKucha pronounciation

A few examples of PechaKucha presentations on Youtube
(none of these are as good as the ones I saw last night!)
     1. Joe Ginese, "20 Seconds of Courage"
     2. Colin Jenkinson, "Click Art"
     3. Val Jones, "A Tale of Two e-Patients"
     4. Mark Rickmeier, "Pain. Fear. Humor"
     5. Max Spang, "What the Hell is Beer?"

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #267

It takes a great deal of practice to learn to accept imperfection, in ourselves in particular. Tara Brach talks a lot about this in her book Radical Acceptance. Acceptance of everything... saying "yes" to everything that is... this is how we can reduce our own suffering.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #266

When you aren't calm, you tend to hold your breath. Or sometimes you might be breathing shallowly and quickly. The fastest way to calm yourself is to focus on your breath and breathe deeply and deliberately, slowly if possible. Count your breaths. Notice how breathing feels in the body. In the stomach, the chest, the throat, the neck, the nostrils. Even with children, you can teach them to calm themselves when they're upset by just stopping whatever they are doing, breathing slowly, and counting ten breaths. So simple, yet so effective!

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #265

I have been learning from Pema Chödrön and other spiritual teachers that no matter what the present moment brings, no matter what is going on inside me or around me, no matter what is happening emotionally or physically, if I can accept this very moment exactly as it is without trying to change it and use whatever is going on in that moment as a way to go even more deeply and honestly into the present, the more open my heart becomes to compassion, forgiveness, peace, and love. It takes a great deal of dedication and practice, and I'm far from being able to be present as much as I'd like... but I just keep coming back to this moment whenever I realize that I'm somewhere else.

Namaste.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #264

I have come upon what is now my favorite dessert. And the best part is that it's a vegetable! My friend Kelli actually showed me how to bake butternut squash; I have just tweaked the recipe a bit.

My favorite way to prepare it is the following:

Cut it in half longways. Clean out seeds and pulp. Put a teeny bit of brown sugar with some cinnamon in the hollowed out part of each half, facing up. Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil in each and stir it up. Spread the mixture over the entire top. For added delight, slice an apple (or even just half an apple) and distribute the slices over the top. If you do the apples, make sure to cover them with the mixture as well.

Cover a small cookie sheet or flat baking pan with foil (no dishes to wash), put both pieces on the foil, and bake at 375 for 25-40 minutes (it depends on the size of the squash and how soft you like it). Check it with a fork for desired tenderness. Eat while hot, and you'll feel like you're eating some kind of wonderful pie without the crust. Sometimes I put a little coconut spread on afterwards for extra moisture and decadence.

I just had one (half) for my dessert, and my sweet craving is satisfied (for now!).

By the way, if your grocery store doesn't have whole butternut squashes, you can get it frozen and cubed... you can do almost the same thing, only you just mix everything up in a bowl first and then spread out on the cookie sheet. Cook for less time. Adding cubes of apples and/or pears adds enough sweetness that you don't need the sugar. Actually, you don't need the sugar at all; I just like it a little sweeter than it is naturally when eating it as dessert. :)

Enjoy.

GLORIA ROUBAL'S DAILY HAND GENERATED TYPE PHRASE #263

When I started the graphic design program at Parkland College in August, 2013, I was extremely fortunate to have Maya Bruck as my instructor for Typography I. She absolutely inspired and excited us about typography. She had us join Pinterest and create a typography board as a kind of blog for the course. It was there that I came across Jessica Hische's Daily Drop Cap project. I was and continue to be amazed by her work. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to and filled with Jessica's work. I recently bought her book, In Progress, and am excited to really delve into it when I have time to do so, hopefully soon!

Jessica became very successful early in her adult life. At this point I believe she is only 32 years old. She's quite remarkable.

Here is a link to her website.
Here is a link to a presentation (video). AIGA Houston Presents: Jessica Hische Full Lecture.

If you're interested in design, lettering, beauty... please check out her stuff! Any of the above links will take you somewhere cool.

(In designing and executing my lettering design, I'm obviously trying to emulate Jessica's style. I sent it to her on Twitter... I'll let you know if she replies!)