
Grid 6



Hi everyone!
This is a play about 3 personalities. It is set in a prison in space. They are trapped there in the future, trying to return home, which is Calgary, AB, Canada.
ABOUT CHONA FE
I thought long and hard about the reasons why I left. Did it have to do with change? I changed her, she wasn’t me. I was in reverse there, trying to prove myself when there was no need. Show them that I can be left-brained, I thought over and over again.
ABOUT BLOX
I gave up something very important – the ability to procreate. I think they were listening, but no one would make the sun shine. I became used to a large company running this way. It was amazing, the work I did.
ABOUT DAISY
She’s dressing for tomorrow, frantically preparing for what could be the start of something amazing. As soon as I’m free, I will quickly realize what reality is, she thinks.
CHONA FE & BLOX – Ask us what we’re doing.
DAISY – Ask me what I do for work.
(silence in the prison; they sit on their cold beds, dressed in yellow and grey stripes, holding their heads down in agony)
(Daisy exits)
(ChonaBLOX enters; she is their savior, a creative entity with powers to change reality)
*
(back in town, ChonaBLOX is working; it is present day)
How would we portray the above? Have you attempted to write about your life story before? What was your experience? Positive outcomes? Negative? And on a side note, can we just say how scary writing can actually be?



Hi everyone! This is a story about taking naps. What would you do if you could start your nap over again?
Day by day, she fought to stay awake. At night, facing the wall, she could see her breath come back, stirring her into place. Her gaze could only see an odd, black shadow.
The plague.
Napping feverishly on an ex-boyfriend’s mattress, my breath came to me, rousing my face. There was no odd black shadow, only the installation piece (University of Calgary, Faculty of Art, 2001) I completed about a red cross and red intersecting paint brushes. Over time, the red morphed into a black matte surface, replacing the glowing red symbols with something different…
The sound.
I gasped for air, clutching my heart staring into Kevin’s barren closet. I saw myself as a ‘doctor’, healing the world from every known pain of mankind. In that moment, my heart sung and I cried. I felt adorned, yet I was confused as to how this could have happened. How could this be a reality that I, Chona Fe, changed the world? Healed it, in fact. How could I be the charging force that put everything into place?
The only other time this happened, I was napping, this time at my aunt’s house in one of the empty rooms. (Note: Filipino homes always have empty rooms; they’re probably accommodating ghosts.) All of the 90s furniture, including a stark, reflective black master’s bedroom set, had no meaning or design in that place. That place where I slumbered and was suddenly awoken again. I think I was 13, sitting up abruptly on the right side of the bed, staring at myself. Yelling. Screaming at the top of my lungs.
Stop!
I wasn’t looking at a reflection of ours.
The reflection.
My brother (Alan Abad) and cousins (Ryan and Vanessa Skinner), ran home from the playground in the centre of the crescent (71 Maryvale Cr. N.E., Calgary, AB). They heard me scream. They were horrified to think something horrible had happened. But nothing did. I was alive. I wasn’t attacked or eaten by monsters. Vanessa grabbed my shoulders, shaking vigorously and I blinked slowly three times, “What. The. I…don’t know what just happened, but I think…I died and saw…a different person…in…” I couldn’t even continue. It was that bad.
Scared?
Hi everyone! Remove the shackles!

Hi everyone! Try to decipher the duality I refer to throughout this story. It will make complete sense…both ways!
In university, I was fervently attached to impermanence and how it spoke to love and the meaning of life. My creative process started with a blank canvas, although it did not have to be canvas, it could have been anything.
Definition: Complete; sheer.
Purpose: To feel everything; to be whole.
And with that, I commenced. Commenced a process of removing completeness; commenced a process of covering up visibility – to reveal something different. I utilized a very special skill set that I have discovered and use fervently today.
What is this very special skill set you ask?
I’m not sure, you tell me.
Identity?
I am simple. I am me. I am beauty in everything. I am everywhere you need to be.
Pushing down non-artistic capabilities; denying intellectual understandings. It was easier to pretend that I didn’t have drive, than to begin the self-exploration required to achieve bigger and better things. I hated that I lacked moral support. I loathed that I was just an ‘artist’. If only I had been shown empathy and was equipped with real world survival skills, everything could have been so different.
Thus, laziness could be defined as such –
Everything should be unique. The space-time continuum moves forward and does not evaluate past failures, previous motivations or work.
My struggle with identity began as a young woman. I felt completely transparent and to make matters worse, my mom would try to help me by uncovering my supposed weaknesses – piano, French, public speaking, pretty much everything. I just wasn’t at the receiving end. I did not know how to define it or how to get there with her help or by myself. So, where did this laziness come from? Was it genetic? By the time it would have mattered (from high school to university) my mom did not have the energy or input abilities to output my success on top of everything she was dealing with (likely mental health issues and more severe complexities). She struggled with many things, and so I struggled with the same. So is that it? I was lazy to take care of my mom? Growing up was about resisting and playing, if safe.
We both lived in fear.
Fear of being; fear of leaving.
Fear is weakness. Be passionate. Be real. Be able to tackle everyday things with insight, knowledge and strength. Who I am today.
The past can come back to haunt us, but we choose to live in the present. We must.
Who remembers the wallpaper in their baby bedroom? Who recalls the vibrant tones of shag rugs in every ‘box’ throughout the house – intense violet, indiscernible mustard, Oscar the Grouch green, rusty red and so on and so forth. Do these memories matter? Yes and yes!
Definition: He has a green body, no visible nose, and lived in a trash can.
Purpose: To love my body, my style and the way I write.
Outcome: Writing is code, it is a system we are creating for ourselves and more importantly, for others.
Who recalls bubblegum pink mohair, fresh brand T-shirts from The Body Shop or Le Chateau. Things have changed so much in fashion; things have changed so much in our world.
We are united, we are technological. We are happy and we are digital.
Really?
Yup, listen to me. I still need to figure out how to convert everything! How do I realistically explain our digital way of being? Not there yet. It will come.
Rewind.
In university, I obsessed over process to the point where I think it became my source of envy. I didn’t understand how he (Bradley Harms, artist, Calgary, AB) could make prints nothingly-ly.
How did he do that?!
I do not know; I am so worried.
Are you sure?
Listen, at the time, my inner artist screamed. It didn’t matter that I was making things with my own hands or that I was taking things that were already whole, erasing them and reconstructing a sort of murder scene using Exs and Ohs. It didn’t matter that I was mapping. Or napping even. What mattered is that I could have turned out. What mattered is that my mom loved my art. But it wasn’t enough. It will never be enough until I succeed!
I was meditating, frowning worries and heartaches away from medicated pens and BIC Wite-Out. In my mind, I was substantiating Gilles Deleuze…and I quote:
“Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with land surveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come.” ―
Definition: The technique, profession, and science of determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them.
Purpose: There is already a movie about language saving the world. It’s called Arrival. Can we really still cure cancer with letters? Bubble letters at that (Blocks speaking of Bubble + Blocks, Calgary, AB, 2005)? This was my original thesis, you see.
Outcome: Today, I do not know the answer or I am tired. That is the thing with Global Comprehension. It involves too many things. The only sure thing I’m certain of is, I will be the one to figure it out and communicate it to the masses. Just wait and see!
Mapping the continuum can spark regret; so better focus on real world debacles.
This is already occurring.
I am something out there.
As per Greenpeace.
My trek is long and arduous.
Bold and filled with assumption.
What matters however, is living continually knowing that I am loved and spectacular.
And must I reiterate. No thanks.
All of this work transmutes the power of love and the power of regression through ignorance. Still, we get tired of things. Always.
They all say: she is trying to objectify life; she is avoiding subjectivity.
The beauty is in interpretation!
Thanks to you, Chonie (my mom with depths greater than the sea).
❤
Hi everyone! Dualities are the best. You keep passing them – right/left. In a similar sort of way, networking plays on the ball and catcher theme. What do you think?
Life can be unfair.
If you’re like me, you always want to know the perspective of others. I try to emulate it using my ‘super sensory assumptions’, but that doesn’t give perspective any justice. I just cannot circumvent the topic enough. I even wrote an elaborate letter to a stranger, expecting some sort of comeuppance for the amount of energy I divulged throughout. I think that’s when I discovered my passion for technical writing, ironically by asking about technical writing. So, returning to the main topic, I wrote a letter to Duncan Kent.
Mr. Kent is my good friend’s uncle and the firm founder/senior project manager at Duncan Kent & Associates Ltd., a technical documentation company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. For the past 27 years, his company has guided and developed more than 300 manuals and technical publications. His team’s work and client list span many industries, from construction and project management to law enforcement and security.
I was inspired to write to him because of his company’s success. Or perhaps, more realistically, I wrote to him to feed my desire for positive constructive criticism…from anyone…someone…please.
My apologies for continuing to fall off of our topic. As I started planning (this elaborate letter you see), I wondered to myself, “Imagine if my client list was in the thousands?” I thought, I’m prepared to ride this wave, although, I do not surf. This is much more important – to change the course of history vs learning how to write effectively. Alas, I tend to jump the gun, but that is only my proactive personality. The unfortunate thing is – when things don’t turn out, and especially because I rely so heavily on fate – I get extremely disappointed, saddened to say the least. I suppose I will be able to save the documents for a record of my process. Egad!
Let’s have a read –
Good morning Duncan,
Thank you for your time. I am excited to share a bit of my background with you and hope that this will be the beginning of a new adventure! (Edit Jan. 4, 2020 – and holy f what a crazy ride it has been!)
I have spent the past 8 years managing corporate accounts for the medium and enterprise-sized business market segments of Canada’s #1 telecommunications brand and wireless service provider, Bell Mobility. I write about 50 emails a day, corresponding with important decision-makers like billing analysts, IT coordinators, managers and/or executives.
Writing business emails has taught me how to approach language in a linear and logical manner, so that the complexities of the technologies and services we implement can be communicated to our clients with clarity and ease.
My passion for writing was originally theoretical (art school approach), but my role at Bell Mobility changed that. Now, making words make sense in a technical fashion has me completely converted, if not entirely fascinated by the precision of writing in and of itself.
I have achieved positive results in account management by way of technical writing:
So here I am, graciously connecting to you thanks to your nephew, Chris Kent. I understand you must be very busy, but if possible, could I ask you some questions about technical writing? My goal is to determine if it is the right career for me and what steps I would need to take to get there.
Cheers,
Chona Fe Canlas
There is always a way to make things simpler.
*Note: I ended with that sentence and amazingly, I can see now that it is the beginning of my brand! (Edit Jan. 4, 2020 – Simpler & Larger guys!)
The success of your pursuits can be measured infinitely. (Edit Jan. 4, 2020 – OMG, did Simon Sinek steal that?) What will you cherish once your work is done? For myself, it is truly gaining the perspective of someone else ego holds a different holistic experience. I am continually examining this philosophy, why not!