Morning! I’ve been added as a speaker to a second panel during Social Media Week and this one is probably the most personal talk I’ve even agreed to take part in. It’s about to get deep, we’re talking ANXIETY.

One of the things that gives me the most anxiety and possibly you too, is not having money. I’ve gone through lots of ups & downs in my life and I don’t come from money so all I have, is all I’ve earned. When I returned from Australia I was so skinny from living on next to nothing I looked like Nicole in her anorexic days, not by choice.

It’s hard to carve out a way to get paid for what you love doing. Especially as a creative person. Last summer I wrote a post about how you can’t pay me in chips or chocolate bars. I got sick and tired of people asking me to do work for them in return for things I don’t need. What would I do with a bunch of chips & chocolate? I go to the gym for a reason! Helloooooo. If they (whoever is asking) are getting a paycheque and are asking me to do work, I should get paid too. You wouldn’t believe some of the extreme things I get asked to to in return for ‘publicity’. I turn down way more than I accept. (That’s not to say I don’t love getting a few freebie’s along the way!)

Lauren posted this video that’s an excerpt from an upcoming documentary on Harlan Ellison, “DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH“. He’s an excellent writer and inspiring man. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

My startup disk is full so I’ll be spending the afternoon moving TO THE CLOUD. Have a spectacular day. It’s lovely & sunny in Toronto

How long have you been reading stories? Forever.

How many stories do you read a day? Where do you read them? How long are they? Who is in them? What are they doing?

What are you doing when you read them? What are you reading? Why are you reading it? How does the story make you feel?

What do you think about them? Where are you when you read it?

Think about it.
Read more.

Restless

Its a thin line that divides the ocean and the sky.
A thin line which divides you and I.
A small space.
Without a trace, feelings vanish before my eyes.
People leave to go back home and I am left here all alone.
Resting by the ocean and taking in the sky.
The waves are restless and so am I.

Written:2004 Posted: May 22, 2006

Found these old pix as I was traveling through a time warp in MSN hotmail land from 2005-2006.

I had really dark hair for a season here and there. I lived in New York and Indiana. I dated a hockey player. Seems so weird and long ago that life.

It’s crazy how much we change as time goes by. I’ve been through so many different stages and likes, habits and hobbies.

When I really think about it like now it’s quite amazing. I’m really excited for the future.

Who knows what I will get up to, my wildest dreams I guess.  I’m happy to get wiser as I get older too, make better decisions that way.

Have a great day

“Be careful what you wish for” Mum said to me today as I was chatting her about what I’m up to. She called via Skype from the boat on the East Coast of Canada. Been a couple days since we last taked. Before she went on her sailing trip we used to chat almost daily. I would fill her on on what I’m up to. She inspires me, always has. I miss her.  Everything I’m doing r I always wanteight now… the parties, the makeup the hair the clothes. It’s all new to me.  I always wanted to be doing this stuff. Mum says luck is where preperation meets opportunity. I feel grateful. I’ve worked my ass off the last few years.

I arrived in Toronto five years ago post uni in Australia. Back then, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I just did it. I believed in myself and I worked hard at whatever it was I was doing. When I was younger I used to say I wanted to be really well known for being good at something, I wasn’t sure what it was yet.  Maybe I still don’t? Either way, I have always been determined. When I really want to do something there is little to no stopping me. Mum will for SURE tell you that. I want to interview her one day so you can meet her.  She’s not been able to read my blog much from the boat, she usually reads it daily to see what I’m up to. She said it makes her happy. It makes me happy too.

I love looking back on what I was doing previous years, same time.  Makes me dream big about what I might be doing next year. Quite looking forward to the long  flight to New Zealand, that twenty or so hours to myself is going to be magical. I wonder if there will be internet? I hope no.

Hope you are not annoyed with my TIFFing. I am excited and I will continue to be excited about my life. You should be excited for yours too. It’s the only one you will ever have.

Thank you for reading. Love Casie xo

I was a young entrepreneur.

When I was 13, in grade 8, before I had internet, I started a publishing campany called Jeans Publishing with my friend Holly and the help of our Mums. We got funding to start our business and began taking on the DIY (do it yourself) circuit around Ontario attending conferences and seimnars on evenings and weekends.  We often set up a booth to talk about what we were doing and where we wanted to go. We though it was important for young people to have their work published, we were tired of people not taking us seriously just because we were youth. So, we did it ourselves.

We started a quarterly newsletter called Jeans Material where we published young peoples work and sent it out to out to over 100 subscribers across Canada. Each subscriber paid $5 for a one year subscription and we printed them all ourselves. We were official with our ISSN which allowed the identification of our serial publication.

We wrote an anthology of poetry and prose called JEANS and in 1996 I became a Published Canadian Author. Our book launch was at the Preston Library Branch on November 7, 1996 and we sold 81 books that night. One dollar from the sale of each book went to the local womens crisis shelter. This is me presenting the cheque. Don’t laugh at my bangs, there were horrible back then.

Jeans was an acronym that stood for Junior Education & Achivement Network System (tongue twister?). I’ve hunted around the internet to find stuff about it but it was so long ago, there’s nothing. (I’m sure newspaper archives exist.) Here’s what I have kicking around the house, most our stuff back at Mum’s tucked away.

We were in heaps of papers and it makes me feel really proud to look back at it. It was a really special and inspired time for me. I did some of my best writing ever back then. Highschool is hard and this gave me a creative outlet and kept me busy. We often spoke at promary school about the importance of reading, writing and following your goals

I was nominated for a YTV achievement award in the category of Writing. I got to go the ceremony and actually sat beside NicK & Drew Lachey from 98 Degrees.  I had NO idea who they were until they went on stage and waved at my sister and I. Robyn performed, she was great.

At 16, after heaps of involvement in the community and serving a year as PR Director for the City Youth Council, I was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the city of Cambridge. My school was given $1,500 for new computer equipment and Darryl Sitler presented the award at a ceremony.  I went on to wint he Miss Teen 1996 pageant and completed my three year term on the City Youth Council.

I really like helping people get following their dreams as mine have always inspired me. This past year, I was a mentor for Humber College’s Personal Brand Camp and a guest speaker at Mashable’s Social Media Day in Toronto. Next week I’m doing a webinar about personal branding for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.

If you would like to check it out see their blog post here or sign up for the webinar. I promise not to be boring

When I was in grade school I was part of a skipping team for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. We went around to schools like yours and did crazy tricks like doing a cartweheel in to a double dutch with chinese ropes. We practiced often and had heaps of tricks. We were called the Preston Pump-Ups. We had one routien called 12th Street Rag and the melody got faster and faster and you had to speed up your steps. If you lasted till the end, you were good. I could do it pretty well. I really loved skipping.

(photo via laurencephilomene)

The content. The character.
The me. The judge.

Judge of content.
Character, the judge.

The judge of character.
The character of content.

Content my judge.
Of me, my character.

* wordplay

eye see rad people.

Put on some music miss thang, turn it up. Put on the lights and wear something cute. Headband hairpiece helps. Put all the clothes on the bed. Organize the empty hangers. Get the bins to throw stuff in. Put on lipstick. Put your clothes away. It doesn’t reallllllllly take that long. Clean up the other crap you’ve collected and throw shit out. Put clean sheets on the bed. Make bed, lay on top, relax. Look at the cleanness of the place, feel good. Go out and play.

Can’t focus. Keep thinking of you. Keep thinking about the impact you’ll have on my future. Our connection, your energy, my energy. So cold right now you are.You melt, I taste you. You feel nice on my skin, you feel nice all over me. When will I see you? Feel you. I don’t know. You are moving closer to me every single day.

The iceberg.

Ok true, not true. Kinda. The world isn’t what it used to be. The way we get and recieve information, what shows are on TV, where the news comes from. We’re all playing in this game of sharing and wanting attention. Pay attention to me, look what I’m doing, look what they are doing. Look, listen, watch, read. Nothing is new but everything is recreated, remixed, revisited, reshared. I’m one to talk, I share hard. I share often because I want you to listen, I want you to care. It’s a never ending life stream. Don’t ever let it end. I want to remember it all. What did I do last week? Lemme check my blog. Maybe one day I will be a reality show. Maybe I am, right here? I love the internet, if not for the internet, would you still know me? Would you care about what I’m doing? Would I know you? Well, I do care and I do want to know what people are doing. It inspires me to see people succeeding. Makes me wanna try harder. Reach higher.

There’s a thought for the day.