The perfect metaphor

During the last week of this past August my Dad found out he had Colorectal cancer. But as he awaited treatment details in the subsequent month and a bit since being diagnosed, the less dire everything seemed to be. His doctor’s weren’t rushing back to him with any news. And when they finally did, they were pretty confident their prescribed treatment — being major surgery — while still very serious, would eradicate the issue. I gathered he just wanted it over with. Dare I say it, we all did?

Then along came the day prior to Hallowe’en, the day of his surgery. While it ran long, it was successful. However his initial recovery was slow. And the following Tuesday morning, while involved in his “physio,” if I may label it as such, he had what his doctor labelled a “cardiac event.”

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to place blame on anyone. But everyone involved in his care after this occurring wasn’t entirely clear on what had happened. Or what was continuing to unfold. His doctor being chief among “everyone.” Point being, “why” is no longer a question I’m particularly interested in asking anymore. I’d much rather focus on the way in which my Dad handled things which he was dealt. Whether it was how he immediately put his entire life on hold when I needed an advocate, or how he passed from this world.

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Benefits of coma

It would be mighty irresponsible for an individual to live a life with their head down only being concerned with where they’re headed. That isn’t a general criticism directed broadly. It’s a specific comment directed at one person in particular. Me.

Truth be told, I haven’t honestly always (as in very recently) been the most accepting of change — when it comes to myself, at least. Being so strong headed about certain behaviours has proven to be the least productive of my efforts going forward. Especially concerning matters of the heart. Hard lessons learned. And I’m working on it.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. In fact, I’m incredibly insecure about the “answers” I do have. And I hope that never changes. However as sure as I am about not being adequately informed about everything, I’m more than secure in proclaiming no-one is. As long as we refuse to listen and learn from each other we will never get to where we want and need to be…

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The lightbulb came on

I haven’t posted anything up here in quite awhile so I’ll cut the shit and get right to it…

I hadn’t been all that happy recently. I’d become increasingly frustrated with life and couldn’t put my finger on what had been bothering me. Characterizing it as a “bother” doesn’t give the extent of my abrasiveness its proper due; I was an asshole, not to put too fine a point on it (and my profuse apologies go out to one person in particular who was hurt by said confusion: I am so very sorry).

But it wasn’t until very recently, with my renewed interest in type, and really studying Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style, that I started to put it all together. I realized something was missing.

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Feels really good

Have you ever had one of those life changing events?  Where you have little choice but to heed it’s wishes? I’ve had a few. My accident is one. Going vegan is two. And the third one happened just this past Saturday. And all are equally momentous.

Saturday I attended the first annual Accessibility Camp Toronto. An unconference absolutely dedicated to the field of accessibility for and by professionals working in the field. What was so special? Great question. First it was a lot different than I’m used to. With 4 PhotoshopWorld’s, a few Adobe Launches, a couple Apple Presentation’s, a Lynda.com Web Conference and a couple other gatherings under my belt it’s safe to say I’m no stranger to these sorts of events. Or so I thought.

The format while similar in scope, as there was a presenter who presented ideas to an audience, but it was how and what was to be presented that was so different. The schedule wasn’t arranged ahead of time. The session ideas were proposed during the event’s opening then decided on before the event began. That’s not how these things are typically structured and run. The attendees, those who were most interested in what was to be offered, determined the direction of the event. But after, or in some cases during said “presentations,” the discussion was opened up to the audience. So not only were the attendees tasked with the conference schedule, we were able to influence the direction of the individual sessions, too…

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