Put on those high heels, we’re playing grown-up for life
If you were (or are) anything like the “average” person, you probably know what it’s like to try being older. When you were 11, you wanted to be 13. When you were 16, you wanted to be 19. When you were 19, you wanted to be 21. And when you were 29?
You wanted to be 25 again. Suddenly, growing up wasn’t so glamourous.
In this day and age, there is such a seductive pull to being older. We want to look older, act older, be treated older and just be older. Years pass, and then something changes - we get older. And then suddenly, being old isn’t what we thought it would be. We want to be young again.
There are bills to pay. There is a job (or two) that demands our time and energy. There are things required of us. There are adult restrictions and responsibilities. When things go bad, we don’t have our parents to hide behind. We’re not children anymore, and more importantly, we’re not teenagers anymore. We’re - finally - the ever elusive “adult”.
And for some, it’s terrifying. But for others, it’s just another step in life.
Why is it that so many of us try so desperately to speed up the life spedometer, only to hit our 30s, slam on the aging brakes, and put the time gear in reverse? Why are so many of us intent on mentally aging ourselves to a certain point, then 360-ing back to the days we lost trying so hard to grow out of?
Mac users are lonely people
“I walked into Starbucks and they. were. everywhere.”
“They who?”
“The macs. Everyone was on a mac.”
Snorts. “They all had Macs?”
“Every single one. Their little apples were glowing and everything.”
“No Windows? Anywhere?”
“Well there was one blue-glowing Dell in the far corner…”
“But how can that be?!”
“They’re lonely people, those Mac users.”
“I hope you don’t turn out lonely.”
“Thanks, dad. Thanks.”
Grab your ice skates, Hell is about to freeze over.
So my laptop finally cracked - literally.
First the left hinge rivet snapped clean. Two weeks later, the right rivet snapped clean. Now my screen doesn’t stand up by itself. As my friend Brandon so aptly put it, “Your laptop had a stroke. Now you own a paraplegic laptop.”
But like being handicapped in any way (like say, HAVING NO LAPTOP, which might happen if don’t stop abusing my current one, who’s screen is hanging by wires), this is no laughing matter. In fact, this is bad. Really bad. Enormously bad. Gigantically bad. Colossally bad.
As a result, I feel this all might be a sign from God - A sign that it’s time to come out of the closet. Whether I was actually even in the closet is debatable, but according to Tom, I’ve been hiding in there for years, only to come out ever once in awhile to touch his shiny new Apple toys.
It might be true. Maybe.
Regardless, I think it might be time to make the switch. I’ve had my beloved Windows laptop for years and we’ve been through a lot; 1 pair of hinges, two internal hard drivers, and three A/C adapters, not to mention the brutal murder of its sidekick, the external hard drive.)
It’s time for me to move on. I’m sorry, baby.
It was easy to fight against flaming mactards back when their OS really was a piece of shit. But as of lately (read: two years, give or take), it’s all become fairly level playing field. Plus, on a Mac, I can run Leopard and XP simultaneously on the same machine, and avoid Vista altogether!
Whatever happens though, you have my solemn promise: I will NOT become one of those yappy mac lovers who can’t STFU. Or a mindless, talentless, pseudo-artsy flaming Mactard.
All in all, I’ve been giving the 15″ Macbook Pro a lot of thought lately. In fact, the only really big switching problem I can think of should be fairly obvious to any Windows user who has ever used a mac: THE WORLD MIGHT JUST EXPLODE WITHOUT THE CHOICE OF A SECOND MOUSE BUTTON.
What will you do?
Remember that goal I set in the beginning of November? I did it! As of November 30th, I’m officially a 5K; I made promotion - and as a very lovely by-product, increased my monthly income by at least 10-15%. It took a lot of hard work, sacrifice and overtime, but it paid off in the end.
And around 12am MST, just after the office closed, it finally hit me: This is actually happening. I actually own a business network. I can take a month off (which, ironically, is what I’ll be doing for most of December), and money will still come in. It actually works. And this is just the beginning.
You know, as crazy as this may sound, I can’t imagine not reaching my goals; like, the idea simply does. not. exist. In fact, I actually sat down one time and tried to imagine myself going to a “normal” school, going to college like “normal” kids, getting a “normal” 9-5 job, and working for the greater part of my life like a “normal” adult, but try as I might, I simply couldn’t see it.
And right then, I knew it: If I couldn’t see it, It. would. not. happen.
Go on, make my day
I love it when people try to ruin my day.
While I usually try my best to live my life as if the world is conspiring in my favor (as opposed to conspiring against me), there are often moments when it is clear that certain individuals are not - it’s in their words and actions; in the sly venom or double meaning of ill intent encapsulated within seemingly neutral statements.
One big decision that not only forever changed my life but also brought a lot of negative opinions was the decision to leave the public education system forever. Suddenly, people were popping out of the woodwork everywhere to voice their “concern” - What about socialization? Don’t you miss the school system? What about your friends? Isn’t homeschooling for “special education” kids? How will you learn?!
Asians vs. First Nations - The battle for our city’s olympic image
Place yourself in the shoes of the Vancouver Olympic Committee for a second.
They’ve been getting a lot of negative opinions lately. I mean, first there was the whole debate about actually having the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and then there was the (ongoing) concern of how much it would cost, and then there was (and still is) the related mess known to Vancouverites as “that huge hole on Cambie that makes everyone avoid the street altogether and creates millions of dollars in losses for Cambie street business owners”.
But let’s forget about that. Today we’re talking about Vanoc’s newest unveiling: The official mascots (yes, mascots - the best place on earth clearly deserves more than one!) for the 2010 Winter Olympics. (A big thanks to Kaiti for suggesting a topic I couldn’t resist!)
When it came to creating a visual for Vancouver’s culture, I don’t doubt for a moment that the Vancouver Olympic Committee was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Why? Well, the reason is fairly obvious: Vancouver has no singular ethnicity or culture. You can find nearly every ethic background represented in this city, so what do you do?
I think Pete McMartin hit it right on the head in his column yesterday when he said, and I quote: “And, as usual, Vanoc went native, and heavily so, since it believes that the only culture worth promoting to the world is first nations. That, or it’s the most marketable.”
In another lifetime
It was early. Perhaps not “early” for most, but early for me. The air was crisp, cold, and the town was quiet. Undeniably quiet. Eerily quiet. Peacefully quiet. I can look outside my window and see Quadra Island, a place I’ve spend several summers at years ago. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I can catch sight of the cute little BC Ferry that services the two islands.
For the last couple days I’ve been in Campbell River, a small town off the coast of Vancouver Island. Coming from a city of one million plus, a city of 30,000 is small. Undeniably small. Eerily small. Peacefully small. It’s like an acquired taste, almost. There is something relaxing about it; and yet, I miss home. I miss the noise, the crowds, the traffic, the good, and the bad. Most of all, I miss my bed. And my silky sheets. And speaking French to my dog.
As I walked the streets from my hotel to my work location, I couldn’t help but wonder: What would I have been like if I’d grown up in a small city like Campbell River? Would I have “turned out” differently? Would I have had the same ambitions? What kind of friends would I have had? How would I have been like? What kinds of things would I have enjoyed doing?
It’s such an odd thought, trying to imagine yourself as someone completely different. Every little bit of everything we’ve done, experienced, learned, been taught, been exposed to… all of that makes us who we are today. Change anything, and you wouldn’t be the exactly the same person.
Have you ever thought about this? Say you grew up somewhere completely opposite to where you did: how do you think you’d be different? (Or would you?)
Content quality, advertising, and a lesson from Dooce®
If you’re even an inkling aware of what’s happening on the internet, you should know that making money with your website—not your company’s—is vastly becoming a huge thing. Ten years ago, pretty much nobody knew what a blog was. The same cannot be said today. Between the large availability of blogs (think blogger, livejournal, myspace blogs, etc.) and the rising spotlight on them (think celebrity bloggers, Fortune 500 companies, etc.), it seems that these days everyone and their cat has one.
So what about making money on your personal website?
If you’re anything like me, when you think about making money on a blog where you write about your personal life, you automatically think Google ads or Pay Per Posts. It is a general consensus among most blog circles I frequent that “those kinds of things” on personal websites are undesirable.
However, of those asked about their feelings towards advertisements, many of them used Dooce.com as an example of a personal website with ads that they didn’t mind. Curious, because as popular as Dooce.com may be, it is still a “personal” website. So what makes hers any different from Joe Regular’s?
History repeats itself
I cooked a fabulous vegetarian lasagna the other night. The family loved it and I was thrilled. Still giddy from the success of my latest experimental dish, I was idly cleaning the kitchen when my mother walks in and drops the scariest. comment. ever.
“You know, lasagna was always my signature dish.”
“Oh my god, DON’T SAY THAT.”
#1 most terrifying thing about getting older?
WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU’RE TURNING INTO YOUR MOTHER.
Do you have what it takes to be on America’s Most Redundant Show?
Are you…
-
Ugly“Model-like”? - Between the ages of 18-30?
- Shaped like a washboard?
- Freakishly tall, disturbingly skinny, and boringly bland?
- Dating someone and willing to compromise the relationship by “accidentally” making a “mistake” with one or more of the hot male models during the episode where the girls get to spend a day with the men who aren’t gay?
- Impossible to live with, making this show a hit because America loves to watch 13 girls fight over who’s food is who’s and who gets to open TYRAMAIL!!1! ?
Can you…
- Be bitchy?
- Act holier-than-thou?
- Fake a health-related crisis (dehydration, exhaustion, fainting spells, etc.)?
- Have morals and refuse to do nude shots?
- Fake a fear of one of the following: Heights, deep water, reptiles, etc.
Do you…
- Like your hair, so we can cut it all off during the makeovers episode and have you cry over the loss of it for an hour? (Hey, we’ve got to pass the time somehow!)
- Have a heart-wrenching story that will fool the viewers into thinking YOU should be America’s Next Top Model because you had a Very. Traumatic. Childhood.?
- Have a tendency to talk back to
the judgespeople who offer criticism of your photos? - A poor family back home who is counting on you to win (wink wink, nudge nudge!) so they can make their next meal?
- Adore Tyra and worship the ground she walks on?
If so, you might have what it takes to be in the running towards becoming America’s Next Top Model. Auditions for cycle 287 start in two weeks - apply now!
