Something I Came Across

Not gonna lie, I'm just posting this list because #7 made me laugh so hard. ;)
Tips for a Better Life by Rory Freedman
With 2 million books sold, Rory has taught us how to eat better. We’ve asked her for tips on how to live better, based on her own life experiences. Here are Rory’s top twenty ways to make every day shine brighter...

1. Don’t say "yes" when you mean "no". It’ll make you resentful. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

2. When driving, if someone wants to get in front of you, let him in front of you. And do it with a smile. It’ll make his day better, and it’ll make you feel good. You just changed the world.

3. Try to make a gratitude list each day. Include big things and little things. Invite your friends to make their own lists; you can all email one another each day, sharing your gratitude.

4. Don’t be a problem solver when a friend just wants you to be a listener.

5. Call your parents or grandparents. Sometimes, a five-minute phone call is all they need to feel loved.

6. Be a good neighbor: Be considerate inside and outside your home/apartment so your noise doesn’t bother those around you. That includes opening and closing your front door quietly.

7. Pee in the shower. If we each did this once a day, it would save an enormous amount of water and toilet paper (trees).

8. Write a "fan letter." Tell someone you know, or someone you’ve never met, why you admire him or her. You’ll make someone’s day.

9. Curb your jealousy. Be happy for others.

10. Be willing to be wrong. If someone has a grievance with you, really try to see her point of view. If called for, apologize. It’s hard to do, but it feels really good and makes life so much easier.

11. If you are in a room with someone you don’t know, introduce yourself right away. It takes away the social discomfort immediately.

12. Pick a cause close to your heart, and get involved. You don’t have to quit your job and dive in headfirst. Just get involved on some level and do what you can when you can. Go slightly beyond your comfort zone but don’t overextend yourself.

13. Be a good friend to your friends. Tell them what’s good about them, that you appreciate them, and make the effort to spend time with them.

14. Go vegetarian. Animals raised and slaughtered for food suffer immeasurably. Visit GoVeg.com for a free vegetarian starter kit.

15. Do your best to think good thoughts. They affect your health, happiness, and the people around you.

16. Do something frivolous for someone you love. (It doesn’t have to be extravagant.) It feels so good to do nice things for other people, it’s almost selfish!

17. Practice accepting compliments. The person complimenting you is giving you a gift. Receive it graciously, even if it is difficult.

18. Be generous with your compliments. Don’t blow smoke up anyone’s ass. Just say nice things when they occur to you.

19. Forgive those who have wronged you. Holding onto anger and resentment poisons your body and your life. There are no benefits in staying mad. Let go. It’s okay.

20. Forgive yourself. It’s okay to be imperfect and to have made mistakes. Try to do better, that’s all.

Let Me Make A Recommendation

Tonight is a night to share music.



I'm reminded of Feist, whom I love, with strains of Metric and Kate Havnevik thrown in when I hear other songs by Florence + The Machine. I like it!

Sugar Kick

Oh no, I seem to have run out of Starburst candies! :O

I guess this means I'll have to move on to my cherry flavoured Certs. :D

It's Like Halloween For Adults

Last weekend was Nuit Blanche in Toronto and I have now sufficiently recovered (sleep-wise) from the event. Photos and videos have finally been uploaded...

















I didn't go last year so it really struck me this time around that Nuit Blanche has become less about modern art and more about providing a Mardi Gras type of atmosphere for young people. Not that I'm complaining, it was still fun. But it's definitely not the same thing it started out as in 2006.

English Music Is For Chumps!

After discovering the song 'Manos Al Aire' by Nelly Furtado, it's come to my attention that there's a crapload of varied (yet awesome) remixes of this song. Oooooh! *_*

Obviously, there's the original. Then there's a reggaeton styled remix featuring some dude called Franco El Gorila; very catchy, I can see myself falling in love with it. There's also a mellow and trance-like Robbie Rivera Radio mix that reminds me of 'Where The Streets Have No Name' by U2 for some reason. But the cream of the crop has to be the intense, club-tacular Tiesto remix. Do want!

It's notoriously hard to find good remixes to add to my iPod. the only thing I can do sometimes is bookmark them on YouTube for future reference.

Hooray For The Film Festival

Today I went to the gala world premiere of 'Dil Bole Hadippa' at TIFF with my sister. Of highest importance besides the actual movie was the chance to see actress Rani Mukherjee. And we were successful!







We tried to get her to take a picture of herself with us, but it didn't happen. We seriously tried; she was standing an inch away from us and we were begging for her to take the picture, but she walked on by due to time restraints.

The movie itself was really enjoyable, a solid hit for sure. Great music with excellent picturizations, colourful and interesting. It wasn't too long for a Bollywood movie either; no scene seemed particularly wasteful. Shahid and Rani can not only act really well but also danced fantastically, of course. Great chemistry as well between those two, I'd love to see the pair of them again in another movie. :)

Snagged From Around The Internet

Today, it is all about the links.

The Bechdel Test and Race in Popular Fiction: an examination of just how short most media falls when put against a PoC version of the Bechdel Test. (Warning: that last link goes to TVTropes.)

How to Be Seriously Frivolous (or, Feminism is For Grownups): "Part of the difficulty in battling sexism and gender assumptions is that they are sometimes subtle, sometimes difficult to tease out. What makes [the book Fascinating Womanhood] so shocking is how blatant it is."

"She’s got you wrapped around her finger": fathers, daughters, and a variation on the myth of male weakness: a new father talks about comments he gets when he's with his daughter and how they propagate misconceptions.

Freed reporters say they were dragged into NKorea: Reporters Laura Ling & Euna Lee say communist soldiers "violently dragged" them back when they returned to Chinese soil after briefly crossing into North Korea.

Today's Episode Of 'Things That Freak Me Out'

*shivers and looks away*

Oh David Guetta, You Can Do Better Than This! :(

Why yes, it's another episode of me cringing at how dance videos are chock full of female objectification. Le sigh.



Didn't help that I was unaware that there's a censored version...

Me: *downloads song*
Akon: ♬ "I'm tryin' to find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectfuuuul." ♬
Me: "Well, that's nice for a change."
Akon: ♬ "Damn, you's a sexy bitch... a sexy bitch." ♬
Me: D:< *facepalm*

It's Gonna Get Worse If He Waits Too Long

And that is but a mere taste of the lovely vacation I just took to the sunny southern seas. Both are of the beach we visited at Tulum, my favourite of the beaches. I've never seen water that blue before. :)

Thanks to one of the retro shows we saw on the cruise, I am currently listening to the following song on repeat: Don't Lose My Number by Phil Collins.



Ah, memories of my childhood! God bless the eighties, seriously. The video for this song is nothing but LOLZ.

Posts You Ought To Read

http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html - An Asian-American blogger talks about the Racefail that is the casting for the new Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. (Not to be mixed up with Avatar, that epic movie being done by James Cameron that's supposed to revolutionize how movies are being made. But I digress.) This is one of the best posts I've seen yet regarding why the casting for the movie sucks. Way to ruin the greatest cartoon ever, Hollywood. :P

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/07/behold-my-love-advice.html - Sady, blogmistress of the lovely Tiger Beatdown, delivers a tongue-in-cheek analysis of women and love that she gleaned from watching Hollywood movies.

Doing The Right Thing

Oh dear. So I have new neighbours, not next to me but behind me. As far as I knew, it was just a young couple of some sort.

A guy just showed up on my doorstep to politely ask if I could turn the volume/bass down because his baby's room shared a wall with me. :O Needless to say, my plan to blast the tunes at epic volume levels on a Friday night has been thwarted. Better go charge my iPod instead.

It's Song Time!

Here are a few tunes I am loving right now:

You Can't Hear Me, But I'm Squealing Happily

Like omigawd he's like totally following me on Twitter you guyyyyyys! I like can't belieeeeve he took the time out to friend me personally!

I'm sorry, George makes me revert into a starstruck little girl. I was practically tongue-tied when I met him in person. I never get tongue-tied by famous people. He's such an awesome person too. I'd even go as far to say he's a national treasure. Respect the man, my fellow Canucks. And watch The Hour! Go to the shows if you live in Toronto! Trust me, it's so worth it.

Oh, by the way? I cracked 80,000 words today for GWYO.

81,085 / 200,000 words. 40% done!

My Eyeballs Are On Fire

This is a story about my annoying neighbours.

Technically, they aren't my real neighbours. I live in a townhouse style building, so my neighbours are the family who live in the unit next to me. But my building faces an alleyway, bordered by a chain link fence. And on the other side of this chain link fence is another residential building with loft style apartments, the sort of place you find tattoo artists, mechanics, and freelance photographers living in. Cheap but functional.

In the summer, everyone from the building comes out to the alleyway, on their side of the chain link fence, to smoke and drink and talk and listen to music. Loudly. As frequently as possible. Late into the night. When the weather is warm enough, it happens every Friday and Saturday night, sometimes even on Thursdays and on Sundays if there's a long weekend involved.

When this happens, when they decide to party, I can't. sleep. at. all. Their shouts and music start at 10 PM and go well into the night, ending around 3 AM.

Last night, being a warm Friday night, was one of their louder parties. While annoying, these parties didn't bother me too much, as long as I had the ability to sleep in the next morning and make up for the fact that I wouldn't go to sleep until three in the morning. But now that I work Saturdays, it's become really fucking annoying. Like I said, last night they partied. Until 2:45 AM. And I had to wake up at 6 AM the next morning for training. Even my earplugs are not enough to block out the insane amount of noise they put out. Out here, where everything is concrete and brick and asphalt, sound just carries and echoes and amplifies to a horrible degree. It doesn't help that a couple people bring their belligerent dogs outside with them. Nothing punctures silence worse than a yappy mutt.

There is nothing, nothing, in the entire world that infuriates me more than my sleep being disturbed. It used to drive me to crazy tears when I was in undergrad, if someone else in the dorm or house was being noisy when I wanted to go to bed. Last night I was honestly considering calling the police and reporting that my lovely neighbours were disturbing the peace. Unfortunately, I'm a tragically light sleeper; I often think that what constitutes as unbearably noisy to me is a mere passing hum to most other people.

So anyway, it's Saturday night. It's warm. They're even louder than last night. I'm exhausted from only sleeping three (broken) hours last night. But there's no way in hell I could ever fall asleep with this kind of noise right outside my window. Urge to call the cops... rising.

*wearily puts in earplugs*

THIS IS NOT COOL

U.S. journalists in North Korea sentenced to 12 years hard labor

North Korea's sham court convicted Laura Ling and Euna Lee, American journalists for Al Gore's Current TV, for "grave crimes" against the Hermit Kingdom.

I heard the news this morning on the radio while driving to work and my heart totally dropped into my stomach. I don't know why, but Ling and Lee being captured in N. Korea really scares and bothers me. I remember watching Laura's reports on TV and worrying not only about the profound poverty and lies the N. Korean people face, but also for Ling's safety.

Obama and the UN better step things up.

I've Held Out On This Topic For Long Enough

Suspect in abortion doctor death warns of violence

The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell Sunday that similar violence was planned around the nation for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after a federal investigation launched into his possible accomplices.

A Justice Department spokesman said the threat was being taken seriously and additional protection had been ordered for abortion clinics last week. But a leader of the anti-abortion movement derided the accused shooter as "a fruit and a lunatic."

Nancy Keenan president of NARAL-Pro-Choice America, said Roeder's comments "continue to escalate that kind of activity, that kind of violence. Quite honestly, I think it's imperative for anti-choice groups to tone down that rhetoric and keep the more extreme elements in their movement form copying Scott Roeder."

*eyetwitch*

I swear to god, some people will just not be satisfied until women are ball-and-chained with no personal freedom. Or basic rights, for that matter.

And yes to what was said by NARAL; anti-abortionists need to work a hell of a lot harder in making sure they're delivering their message in a way that's not inflammatory and confrontational. Granted, I think their message is full of shit. :P

(Note: there's a difference between being pro-life and anti-abortion. I find pro-life people to be much more sane about a woman's rights.)

Allow Me To Yammer On Before Bedtime

Tonight I am full of orange juice and mellowness. *nods*

74,766 / 200,000 words. 37% done!

Thanks to my trip to Vegas and my new job (HELL YAH) I am now 9,000 behind in GYWO. I have no idea how people manage to write with full time jobs at the same time. It's impossible! I'm thinking I may have to give up GYWO and just write at my own pace for a while. Which sucks, because "my pace" tends to mean "not at all" most of the time. :P

Wish I Had Brought My Camera

I went downtown today to get some shopping done and had conveniently forgotten that it was Doors Open this weekend in Toronto. So after I was done with my business at the mall (including scoring that free burger from Harvey's) I went to a few of the closest buildings.

First off was old City Hall, which has a really nice exterior and decent interior. Then I went to Osgoode Hall, which was quite pretty inside. The courtrooms, the great library, and convocation hall were all open inside, so I got to see those too. Then I went to City Hall, which was pretty cool. Here's a video, it's crappy quality because I had to convert it from a .3gp to an .avi file.



There were some displays/pieces done by the Toronto Garden club inside, which were really nicely done. There were so many people walking around with SLR cameras, it was hilariously awesome. And lastly, I wanted to go to Elgin Theater, but it was closed for shows by the time I got down there.

Hmm, what to make for dinner tonight...

Never Need A Reason, Never Need A Rhyme

I opened up my inbox this morning was greeted by the following message:


Can't wait for the day she shows up on my doorstep and takes me to go dancing with chimney sweeps. ;)