Well hello there, blog! It’s been a while but that’s because I’ve been busy crossing things off my bucket list. I’ve learned that the 101 in 1001 days list doesn’t work for me – instead, I’m starting to be a bit more impulsive.. changing things up here and there, trying new things.
So, in the last week, I’ve managed to try out two items. The first one is something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been enamored with black culture since I was a kid when I first heard Martin Luther King’s speech on an Encyclopedia CD (back in the day when the Internet didn’t exist). From there, I started discovering things like reggae, breakdancing, the civil rights movement, the blues, rap music, etc. In my early adulthood, I accomplished the dream of finally going to see some authentic live blues music in Fort Worth, Texas. But I had always wanted cornrows. It’s a traditional African hairstyle – something you’d never have seen where I grew up. I’ve always found it tremendously beautiful but never had a chance to get it done. And then, last week, I realized that this is something I can finally do! There are plenty of black salons in the city so I figured I’d find the closest one and see if they could do it for me.
Sure enough, there’s a tiny Congolese hair salon right near my workplace. They spoke French, not a word of English, so I found that to be a nice little bonus since French is my mother tongue. After discussing the idea with the hairdresser, we booked an appointment. I settled on a diagonal pattern at the top and just regular cornrows for the rest. It took about three hours and sometimes, my hairdresser would break into Congolese song in her mother tongue. It was a fantastic experience – we mused about the Quebecois, Congolese politics, the differences between our race and culture (she called me “blanche”) and our ambitions in life. I met her brothers, her nieces, her nephew. You’d never really see that in a typical salon. This was a family affair. I love small shops like that…it made me miss home.
When it was finally done, she gave me a hairnet/scarf to cover my hair while I sleep and shower and just parted with this single advice: “don’t get them wet!”. Since I’m white, they won’t last that long.. maybe two weeks. But I love them! And I told her that I’ll be back but that next time, we’ll try extensions. 
Wheeeeee!
And then…
Firing the .308 rifle.
I decided to contact a guy I met at a film industry gathering. He owns a company that supplies Airsoft weapons for film and tv shows. Anyway, we had a good talk that night about target shooting and how I have always wanted to try out firing real guns. Sure enough, he made it happen! So, last Sunday, a friend and I headed out to the gun range to meet my new friend and some of his pals. They taught us a bit about weapon safety and how to hold a rifle properly. We started out firing a .22, but even after telling them that I had no interest in trying out bigger guns, they convinced me to try different rifles – like the Russian military gun, the SKS and then, the amazing .308 rifle. All in all, it was AWESOME! I loved the mental aspect of aiming for a target while fighting my fear of the noise and recoil.
I went from being a complete sissy when it came to guns to feeling like I could do it – that the noise wasn’t scary anymore and the fear of recoil just disappeared. I wanted to hit the target and that became my obsession in the end. To be able to control the gun, control my breathing and nevermind the rest.
My ears were ringing after firing the SKS!
Because it’s not always the gun you’re shooting that’s scary – it’s the guys shooting these super loud weapons next to you that will scare you half to death!
I’ll definitely be back. I’ve decided that I’d love to hunt small game, especially grouse! And what a great exercise in focus. Despite what some people would perceive as “violence”, there’s a very zen-like quality to shooting a firearm. The only other time I’ve felt that is during photoshoots. The two kind of go hand-in-hand as I discovered a while back that a few filmmakers go to the range to practice their shooting so they can focus more when they practice their craft.
And just a final note on the range: my friend and I were the only women shooting guns that day. Personally, I think that women should try out this sport (or hobby). I find that my female friends are pretty divided over this but I figure that if you’ve got a fear of guns and it’s stopping you from exploring things like hunting or target shooting, it’s possible to beat that fear and become more confident with the idea of handling and discharging a firearm. Just find the right people to go shooting with and everything will be ok – and I bet you’ll have a blast like I did!
So there you have it. What will I try out next?
My tribute to Steve Jobs
I’m not a Machead. In fact, I had sworn to never own an Apple product, mostly because I felt that that Apple products were too proprietary. In my youth, I enjoyed taking computers apart and replacing their parts and buying the best hardware I could find. But with a Mac, I couldn’t do that. So I became a PC girl and stuck with it.
When the iPad came out, I ridiculed it. First, the name was absurd. Second, I thought ‘but it’s just a giant iPhone’! There’s nothing special about that.
And then one day, late last year, I realized that I was spending far too much time at my desk, in my chair and that my back was suffering big time because of it. I tried working on my laptop on the sofa or in bed and that worked for a while but it was too bulky. I wished for something much more practical, more easy to use when I wanted to change positions.
And then it made sense: I needed a tablet. I spent a week or two researching the options out there and it was so evidently clear that the iPad was the best one out there. I sampled it at the Apple store and then finally bought myself one.
I LOVE the iPad. To me, it’s the greatest invention I’ve seen since computers became mainstream. It’s a nearly perfect product – it would likely become perfect if I bought an external keyboard for it but it’s not a huge priority.
I’m saying this because it takes a brilliant group of people to create products that are this good. And those people need a great leader to push them to be great and to discourage apathy or mediocrity. I’ve been a part of software design teams for a while now and I can tell you that without the proper leadership, most software (and hardware) ends up sucking big time. And I’ve unfortunately been a part of that much too often. How terrible it is to watch people implement an idea in such a bad, bad way. Too many companies have this desire of just getting the product out instead of spending more time and resources to making it a great product. It’s always about the quick buck without looking at the long-term picture (mostly because most CEOs aren’t in business because of their passion for the product – they’re in it for the potential of becoming rich). And I don’t buy the mantra that it’s best to release a substandard product into the wild in order to be first to market. Apple isn’t a great company because it gets its innovative products out first; it is great because it releases amazing products out first. Look at how RIM responded to the iPhone by releasing the Storm. What a horrible product that was!
So why was Steve Jobs a great man? Because he was a dreamer who made his dreams happen. He had a vision and he pushed that vision forward. He was even fired by the company he created at one point and instead of being bitter, instead of giving up, he learned from it.
I often hear the term “serial entrepreneur” to describe CEOs that jump from corporation to corporation. These people aren’t innovators. These people are just businessmen and women. Steve Jobs was more than just a businessman. Yes, he amassed a great deal of wealth and anyone who argues that he doesn’t deserve our attention and respect because he was a rich corporate guy completely misses the point. His wealth, his corporate empire is just a side effect of his passion.
The passion that we find in great leaders like Jobs is as deep and powerful as the passion found within great artists or great writers or great scientists. The world needs people that can inspire others. The world needs people to say no to conformity and to bring forward new ideas, despite how painful it is to do so. The world needs tools that enable people to communicate, organize and express themselves quickly and efficiently. The world needs beauty. And the world needs dreamers, dreamers who are excited about possibility and who, like Jobs, may drop out of college to discover the things that interest them the most. Because sometimes, a fire burns inside of you and it hurts more to try to extinguish it than to take the risk and make it burn brighter.
And that’s why I tip my hat to Steve Jobs. And I mourn the death of a man who has inspired me to remember about the things that matter, the things that inspire me, and the things that fuel my imagination and my curiosity. Jobs was right, life is short, and when you remember that, fear of failure and all of the things that stop you from doing what you love don’t matter any more.
You just do what you love, like he did.