Use the Unclean!

Hi Guys, I'm in the middle of moving into my first apartment and it just hit 45 degrees (that's celsius for all you who like to think of Canada as a permanently frozen wasteland!). So we've been cleaning and agonizing about what to do with this apartment which, on her first veiwing reduced my generally cool mother to tears, but perhaps we should have simply done this. A group of South African graffiti artists got together and decided to use the dirt to their advantage. Full article is here , but I kind of wish I had thought of it before putting my awesome sister to scrubbing the shower to bits. Pictures will, hopefully and eventually make their way onto the internet.

Home

No, I will not apologize. Yes, I know its been a while, but it seems lik all my favourite bloggers have been taking a break, so I'm just following the trend. No excuses, just peer pressure. I'll get better.

 

One of the great things about the way I grew up is that I always got to travel, and this summer I spent a month 'at home', this time home means Korea and China, and I having been gifted with an old DSLR for my birthday, I am sharing some of my pictures!

Going home always brings up questions of where you belong, and where you're comfortable. We are born with a desire to leave the familiar, to leave home but when you do, we miss it. When I live in a place, even for a matter of months, it becomes part of my 'home,' as much for the people and memories it contains as the physical place itself. Because without memories, what makes a location a place?
I love going home for a feeling perfectly explained by the wonderful Nelson Mandela,

  

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Read: The Book Thief

Ok, so I haven't read this in a really long time (I'm in college, we don't read!), but I highly recommend it. It has it's own sparknotes page, that means it has to be good.
First of all, it's narrated by Death. Yes, Death, but this is Death like you've never seen him before. He views the world in terms of colours, and I'll just leave it at that. Second, it's a book about books and the love thereof. Duh. Third, the main character is wonderfully rendered and fascinating in terms of motivation.
I won't go into it more, but read it : Marcus Zusack The Book Thief.

Good Stuff

If you haven't tried these yet. . . DON'T!!


More for me ^^





Nats

Goals!

So I've always been dreadful with setting goals for myself. "I'll finish that novel in two months": two years later, no more words have been added (that's partially because I was traumatised. . . yes, my own novel). "I'm going to go see that Shakespeare tomorrow. .  ." While in the realm of possibility, my goals never seem to reach fruition. So, inspired by Ms. Sarah Von over at yes and yes (which is one of those things you should be reading), my friend L and I have made a list, which I will share as motivation for myself to actually do them: 
20 Things To Do Before We Turn 20

1. Take a Dance Class
2. Hike to the top of the mountain and have a picnic
3. Spend a day doing 'snow architecture' (at least one of which must be a snowman)
4. See a musical/play
5. Go see a rock group in concert
6. Play volleyball on the beach
7. Sit in on a cool class that you're not taking
8. Stay up all night watching chick flicks
9. Get a mani/pedi/facial
10. Spend a day eating only red things
11. Get ice cream from Ben & Jerry's
12. Bake something your mum used to make for you
13. Buy 50 bagels from Fairmount in one go
14. Spend a day on a Bixi bike
15. Steal H's milk and photograph the theft (a reference to another incident with his milk)
16. Spend a week testing out new recipes 
17. Have a photoshoot 
18. Try Hot Yoga
19. Go to a restaurant and pretend not to speak either English or French
20. Start scrapbooking college

Timbit!

I think its time for another bite, don't you?
Train of thought for the day: Quebec.
It hit minus 30 degrees celsius last week, and I hope I don't need to tell you that that is utterly ridiculous. I tried the throw-boiling-water-in-the-air-and-see-if-it-freezes. . . It did. Why did I ever leave balmy Thailand again?

Did you know that in Quebec the drinking age is 18, meaning McGill, the largest English uni in the province is also on Playboy magazines Top 10 Party School List? Not a nice claim to fame, but an interesting one.

What do you think about the drinking age? At the age of 18 you're allowed to drive, vote, have sex, get married, and go to war, but not drink. In the rest of Canada it's 19, but in the States it's 21. And as far as I know, there is no drinking age in China.

Photo Courtesy of HC Photography

Question for the curious: Who on earth though, way back in time that it was a good idea to try rotten grape juice? I mean, if they hadn't, we wouldn't have wine, but what made them do it? And in a similar vein, who thought it would be a good idea to snort anything? Imagine the scence: " Hey guys, lets see what we can stuff up our noses!" *grabs banana*

Nats ^^

Pins and Needles

Have you ever had your foot go to sleep but not get pins-and-needles? Feels like your foot's turned to jelly and you can't control any of the muscles in it. A dead weight you just have to pull around that constantly gets in the way . . . I don't recommend it.

Also:  falling asleep cross legged with your forehead on the floor. . . for an hour. Testament to exhaustion, yes. Smart use of contortionist techniques, no.
Cutting blood flow to entire leg = painful paralysis for 15 minutes.

Nats ^^