I Was a Community Leader at Blissdom Canada '12, and a Lot of Things Happened

Whenever I go to a social media conference, I am left with a month's worth of stories, but no one wants me to dedicate an entire month to posts about my four days in Toronto at Blissdom Canada '12. Damn you all for having taste.

So, a whirlwind tour it is!

I dyed my hair before going, because I saw hair salon tweets from conference-goers, and I am easily influenced when suffering pre-conference anxiety.



I wore my Christmas argyle toe socks for the flight from Regina to Toronto, because they are what keep the airplanes I ride in up in the air.



On Friday morning, the entire Marilyn Denis Show audience was made up of Blissdom Canada people, of which I was one. And these people (aka Shannon McKarney, Bon Stewart, and Susie Parker):



This little guy hung out with us at the show:



I would show you the picture of me with Marilyn Denis, but I ended up looking like a psychotic Weeble Wobble with three chins who'd just been hit in the back of the head with two-by-four, so I erased it in a fit of good sense and human decency.

Then, I decompressed next to a pond with some ducks:



And then, I had supper with Annie of PhD in Parenting, where I neglected to take any photos, because I was busy dealing with some pretty tasty spaetzle.

And then, the Palinode and I met up with Gayla Trail and her partner, Davin. They took us all over Chinatown, and then we had coffee in a little coffee shop with a bathroom that looked like this:





Not to knock their tour-guiding skills, though! They were lovely, even if the bathroom was a health violation. The Palinode and I are secretly selling our apartment and have bought a lovely little bungalow next door to them.



No, that's not happening. We only wish that we were that dedicated to stalking fabulous people.



Did you know that, according to the In Case Of Fire notice in the hotel hallway, if you make or cause to be made an alarm of Fire, you are guilty of an offense. Make an alarm of fire, and you are guilty of some nondescript offense! They'll tell you what that is later!

The Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General needs an editor.



During the actual conference, from the party on Friday night straight through the microsessions and the speakers all day on Saturday, I didn't take any photos. I forget to take out my phone when I am being overwhelmed by hundreds of people, sponsors, and events.

Even though there is no evidence here, I assure you that I was a Blissdom Canada Community Leader, I attended the opening party, I lead three microsessions on iPhoneography, I watched great speakers, and the presence of a Starbucks booth giving out free coffee nearly cured me of my atheism.

Later, the Palinode and I had supper with Bon Stewart, Motherbumper, Redneck Mommy, and Jessica. I only mention this because I'm name-dropping.

The Palinode was a rather well-dressed dragon for the traditional closing Blissdom Canada Halloween party.



I dressed in a black turtleneck with comfortable shoes and told people alternately that I was an academic, a member of the French Resistance, or a lesbian spy.

Barbara Jones and Bon Stewart both win for being kick ass:



JC Little wins for going meta with me and drawing me while I took photos of her doing the drawing:



And here's her drawing of me!



Look, I know this entry is really long, but it's mostly scrolling, and we're almost done! I swear!

Motherbumper and I lead an excursion on Sunday to the Canadian Movember headquarters and then on a short photowalk.





RadioRedHead and I mo-sista-ed it up:





Here's our whole Movember excursion crew:



And then on Monday, the Palinode and I hung out with Mrs. Wilson and her wonderful aunt, flew home, and were welcomed back by horrifying raw chicken carnage care of our three evil-genius cats.

And that, my last remaining readers, was Blissdom Canada '12!

The End.

Coming At You From Blissdom Canada

This is me coming at you from my early arrival at Blissdom Canada!



I am a member of the Blissdom Canada Advisory Board, and I am a Blissdom Canada '12 Community Leader who is leading three iPhoneography microsessions on Saturday and is going on the Marvelous #Movember Mobile Photography Photo Walk Excursion with Katie York on Sunday.

I will also be everywhere all weekend, so if you're here and you see me, say hello!

If you and I just met, you can see all the stuff I do by clicking on the links along the top of this website.

Happy Blissdom Canada, everybody!

I Went to World Domination Summit 2012

Last weekend, I went to Chris Guillebeau's World Domination Summit 2012 in Portland, Oregon.



I flew there in an airplane, of course.



I almost immediately found myself at a party with sumo wrestling suits, ping pong, a dunk tank, people doing yoga, food carts, a balloon artist, and a real, live marching band.



I was surprised at how I felt as soon as I was there. I felt such a strong pull toward each person I spoke to. It was both exhilarating and exhausting.



So I went back to the hotel early and slept. Life is way too freaking intense, maaaaan.



I spent most of the World Domination Summit listening to powerful storytellers like Brené Brown and Scott Harrison and J.D. Roth and Susan Cain.

They made me want to run back to my hotel room and let the words run away with me. They don't just say You can do it! They say You can do it! And there are practical things you can do to get you there if you want to work really hard! These people mean what they say.

It's refreshing when there are so many who are willing to pep talk you to death with inane shit about how you are awesome and hot and can do anything you want to just because you believe you can because the Secret and faeries and unicorns are all real in your heart, and what is real in your heart is what creates the world, because egomaniacism rules the universe or something.

I just made egomaniacism a word. So there.

The question leading the conference was "How do we live a remarkable life in a conventional world?" What I heard most throughout the weekend was that we all have this immense power to lead interesting lives and put more good out into the world if we are willing to put ourselves out there and do the work and leverage our available resources. This is what I live by, and it was uplifting to be around so many people who know this, too.



I have a strong aversion to talk of the relationship between love and/or personal growth — be it spiritual or otherwise — and one's ability to become wealthy and/or successful.

I want to be clear that the WDS speakers themselves did not directly reflect this philosophy, but there is often a thread of I-became-a-better-person-and-the-money-followed running through these kinds of inspirational business happenings, and I found it in some of my conversations. I have nothing against good people making money, but tying their relationship with that money to their moral and ethical high ground screams of immense bullshit to me.

Negative people who do bad things get rich. Positive people who do good things get rich. Negative people sometimes do good things that improve the planet to improve their social standing. Positive people sometimes do good things that improve the planet to improve the planet. The universe didn't open a path to more money for the good person because they were good any more than the universe opened a path to more money for the bad person because they were bad. People make money because they figure out how and do it. There are a million ways to get there, and moral and ethical superiority aren't what makes the universe draw your lottery number.

The universe is kind of jerk that way. It doesn't serve humanity.

Of course, I really believe that not being a huge jerk will help you get to where you want to go faster than being a huge jerk. That's not magic, that's being a decent human being, and I'll admit that it helps, but you still might lose all your money, find yourself estranged from your family, and die in a freak roofing accident without ever having accomplished your life dreams, because that's how it works.

Bad things happening to you are not proof of your inferior goodness, and being good won't stop bad things from happening.

I know. This is the most uplifting one-sided gab-fest you've ever witnessed.



And then I had a few meals with Christy Stahl (above, of Vintagology on Etsy and The Grandway Theatre) and Blair Glaser and Krista Carnes. It was a relief to let my brain stop its whirring for a bit and get in touch with some truly nice conference companions.

Whenever you go to a conference, find yourself at least one down-to-earth, proper sense-talking conversation and idea partner. I found three, because I am very lucky.



After much hashing and rehashing with others and then writing out my thoughts alone, I came to the conclusion that I have no firm idea yet how to move forward business-wise, but I have figured out that time management is probably closer to a spiritual practice for me than anything else, and I need to wrangle with some issues to get my deal with time smoothed out.

I would be more clear about that matter if I could right now, but I'm still figuring out how to put it down in words so that it makes perfect sense rather than making me sound like a crazy person with a feather in my turban and an acrylic crystal ball who claims that space aliens gave me my true name.

Not that I have anything against people with befeathered turbans and space alien names. That's just not my style.



So, as you can probably tell, I haven't worked out all of what happened at the World Domination Summit and what it did for me, but that's good. It was a big, meaty conference with a grand dose of food for thought topped off with a Bollywood dance party cherry at the Crystal Ballroom. I've barely finished chewing.



If I can make it happen to get to the World Domination Summit in 2013, I'll be there, because anything that can get this deep under my skin is worth the price of admission.

Thank you, Chris Guillebeau. You've created something truly remarkable with the World Domination Summit, and I'm excited to see where we all go because you brought us together.

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A year ago today: 7 Short Dust-Jacket Synopses Of My Early Twenties