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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.”

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This website finally made it to the front page when you Google “chanel” – that’s only nine spots away from the very top! (Note: This is using google.ca, and is likely to fluctuate as google rankings tend to do that, but still!)

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?)

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?

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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.

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 judges people 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!

Since the lovely Aisling tagged me for “seven things we don’t know about you”, here goes seven things you wish you didn’t know about me. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. ;)

1. When I was a kid, I hated running and did everything within my power to avoid it. I’d refuse to play tag. I’d make my parents sign a note basically telling my school (back when I went to public school) that I was “unfit” to run. I quit playing volleyball when they made us do push-ups (see below) and run before training… Ironically enough, I started forcing myself to run in the summer of 2006 and ended up training and completing the 10K Sun Run in early 2007. And now? Now I love running – on my terms, of course.
2. I can’t do push-ups. Now, I don’t believe in saying “I can’t” (whether you think you can do it or think you cannot, you’re right!), but in this case, I literally mean it: I can’t push my own body weight. I can do maybe 20 “girl” push-ups, but regular push-ups? Forget about it. It’s not that I’m overweight, but rather, I’ve always done activities that built up my leg muscles and not so much my upper body.
3. I have a love affair with tweezers and the things I can do with my favorite pair of them. I always feel so satisfied and accomplished when I use them to pluck my (or someone else’s) eyebrows or pop pimples (not after sterilizing them, of course!)… Gross but true.
4. I adore Disneyland. To me, no matter how old I get, Disneyland will always hold my childhood magic. I can’t even explain exactly how much Disneyland means to me, but ever since the first I went (when I was five), my daydreams have regularly included frolicking around Disneyland in a princess costume, never aging, always being happy and having the moment frozen forever.
5. I have a very lovely best friend named Roxy (Roxy and Chanel – Ironic much? The fact that we’ve both got clothing company names must signify true love!) whom I’ve been friends with for 12+ years. We’re so opposite, yet somehow, despite our differences, we’re very much alike. Oh yeah, and she’s crazy talented in the art and songwriting department!
6. When I was seven years old, I had the tip of a seam ripper lodged in my foot for an entire year. It all started when I got angry, kicked a door and somehow, in the process of doing so, stabbed my foot with a seam ripper that was lying on the ground (my room was messy!) – the entry wound wasn’t even visible, and at the time I had no idea what had happened, but soon a bump started to form at the site. 12 months later, my mom (the nurse) took a sterilized hot needle, poked at the bump, and out came the tip of a seam ripper.
7. I have a pair of handcuffs hanging from the headboard of my bed, but I assure you, they’re purely for decoration. (They’re not the real kind, but were actually bought for a totally different Halloween get-up: a badass vampire costume! I keep them there because they look good.)

People I’m tagging for this… Daddy Dan, Amber, Brian / Luther / The Dad, Chantelle, Crystal, Regina and V. Why not spread the fun around? I’ve learned a lot of very odd and funny stuff from those who’ve done it already. :)

With life being as insane and all-demanding as it is, few of us take time to stop and “smell the roses”, as it were. What are you thankful for? What little things do you appreciate the most? What are you daily pleasures? (A spin-off idea inspired by Regina’s latest post.)

For me, the list looks something like this (in no particular order):

Doing nice things for others. I love to do nice things for others. Sometimes it’s going the extra mile, sometimes it’s doing a random act of kindness, and sometimes it’s doing something that everyone should, by default, be doing, but either way, I love to do nice things for people. I don’t even have to know them—they could be complete and utter strangers for all I care. It doesn’t matter.

My neighborhood. I love my neighborhood. It’s nothing special, just your average nice east side neighborhood, yet it has almost everything I need within walking distance – ice rink, track, gym, swimming pool, community center, public library, two grocery stores, two Chinese restaurants, a bakery, two Starbucks (though I don’t ever go there, it’s helpful when I want to meet up with someone there), several forests and parks, etc. I love it.

Walking my dog. Walking my dog around my neighborhood is among one of the most relaxing and enjoyable things ever. He likes it, I like it, we take almost the same route every time, but it’s delightful. Walking, running, or just about any other form of exercise (with the mp3 player, of course) is also a surefire “pick me up” – endorphins can definitely account for part of this daily pleasure.

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I don’t know if you’ve checked the calendar lately, but it’s only mid-November – A bit early to be decked out in Christmas gear and playing Christmas tunes, don’t you think? Halloween just finished and we still have a month and a half to go. I don’t appreciate you trying to prematurely release my Christmas spirit. IT’S NOT TIME YET, DAMMIT!

Love,
Chanel

PS – I’m one whole year older today, and still not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

With Harry Potter completed and tucked out of the away, I can’t help but wonder: what comes now? Will any book (or series of books) manage to break JK Rowling’s impressive standings in terms of worldwide sales and phenomenon? Will any author be able to create an alternative universe as “magical” and captivating as Harry Potter?

Also, if Rowling ever decided to write another book or series, could she “out do” Harry Potter?

Imagine you’ve got loads of money—maybe throw in a couple cars, a mansion and worldwide fame. Now imagine you’ve met the one, that special guy or girl. Two years later and you’re engaged. Your family, friends, and even your lawyer are advising you to get a pre-nup. Do you or don’t you? Are the cases where having a pre-nuptual agreement is “the smart thing to do”, or is it always the first step to divorce (i.e. “I’m making you sign this because you might leave, but my money stays with me forever”)?

For me personally, I wouldn’t do it. I’d like to think that my future self will have enough sense to marry someone with the morals, consideration, and basic dencency to take his part and leave me mine (as I would do to him) if our relationship was beyond repair.

In terms of pre-nups in general, I think they can be the smart thing for some people—people who are being married for money, most everyone in Hollywood (where the milk often outlasts the marriage!), people who marry “for fun”, people who don’t think things through…

You might think I’m being satiristic, but think about it: if you ever found yourself rich and ‘one of those people’, you’d want a pre-nup too—after all, the only thing worse than being divorced is being divorced to a ex-husband or wife who’s now rich as a result of it!

On a different-but-related note, I find it ironically hilarious that the women who host The View are all divorced (some more than once). When one of the hosts asked Whoppi Goldberg (actress and co-host) whether she’d gotten a pre-nup, she replied, “Which time?”. America might have laughed in reply, but with a 50/50 statistical chance of your marriage making it or breaking it, marriage and divorce is no laughing matter—especially when children are involved.

From the Vancouver Sun’s article on the Top 100 surnames in the Lower Mainland:

#77 – Wood (664 entries)
An English and Scottish last name, Wood almost always denotes someone who lived in the woods, or who worked as a woodcutter or forester. However, a secondary origin for the name Wood is a nickname for a crazy or violent person, an interpretation derived from the Middle English word ‘wod’, meaning mad or frenzied.

Abstract thought of the day: Manners are seriously lacking in this day and age.

Hold the door open for the person behind you. Smile back when someone smiles at you. Say thank you when someone does something for you. Don’t treat your waitress like your slave. When someone asks you how you’re doing, ask them how they’re doing; being polite is not just for customer service personel. Hold back the urge to swear, finger and honk at the driver who might have accidentally cut you off in traffic. Don’t yap loudly on your cell phone like no one is around when in reality, you’re surrounded by people. Refrain from pushing, cuting, or budging.

Be considerate of others, for goodness sakes. It won’t kill you.

My father, on sharing his personal information on the internet:

“You better not be posting anything about me on your website.”

“Just tell ‘them’ your dad passed away or something.”

This just in: Contrary to what you might believe, talking on the phone will not kill you.

Me and the phone have a hate/hate relationship. You see, I’ve always avoided talking on the phone with most (read: 99.9%) people. It’s awkward and weird. You can’t see the person’s expressions. There are uncomfortable pauses. You might run out of things to say. I also get somewhat nervous when I’m about to call someone, especially if I have no particular reason for doing so (i.e. “just for a chat”).

I can make conversation in real life, but on the phone? No. Because chats about the weather don’t go over as well when the other person isn’t in the same vicinity as you.

“Lovely weather today, eh?”
“… Did you call me just to say that?”

So maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. I can make conversation over the phone, but it’s usually forced and my brain is always in “must think about what I’m going to say next” mode. I’ve even written down lists of possible conversational material before calling someone. Yes, a list of possible conversation material. Always prepared for the worst, I am.

However, as of lately, it’s become apparent that my fear of talking on the phone is holding me back. My occupation requires lots of phone calls, and my network’s growth has been somewhat hindered (though I have tried my best to delegate the task of phone conversations off to my mother) because of it. Simply put? I need to get over it. It’s a “suck it up, princess!” fear.

I know I’m not the only one who doesn’t like talking on the phone. Why is that? I mean, really… What makes it so different from talking to people “in person”, face to face (don’t even get me started on webcams – that’s for a whole other entry), or over IM?

Of course, being the ever-prepared person I am, I’ve already developed a plan of action to conquer and dominate this irrational sillyness head on. I’m going to force-dive myself into this phone business and bring out my list of people I should have called months ago. Clients. Friends. Clients. Clients. Clients. Dear god. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger!

This stepping out of your comfort zone stuff ain’t easy, but it isn’t as bad as I thought. I’ve already started on The Plan and called a few clients. Surprisingly, the world did not stop spinning and my head did not explode. It went well. Very well, actually, and the fact that I survived the experience to blog about it says it all. I’m alive, aren’t I?

Have you seen the Potter Puppet Pals? Because if you haven’t, you need to watch their skits, particularly the one called “The mysterious ticking noise“. Hilarious.

November is hard month to get by for a lot of people. If you live in Vancouver, November is often known as The Month of Rain. For students, the ‘new school year’ feel is wearing off and a sedated routine is likely to have set in. For everyone else, November is just ‘that month before Christmas’ – that month where you get bombarded with Christmas carols (’but Halloween just finished!’) and inevitably end up loosing your Christmas cheer before December even rolls around.

This month, I’ve decided to get the whole family involved in something that will make November a whole lot more exciting and a lot less blah. I’ve set up a goal wall.

What is a goal wall, you ask? Well, basically put, the goal wall is where we’ll put our goals for that month. For example, my brother wants to save $250 dollars this month. He’s put that goal up on the wall. I want to make promotion by next Saturday and loose five pounds by the end of the month. I’ve put those two goals up on the wall.

We’ll each write our goals down and put them on the wall where we’ll see them every day. No “out of sight, out of mind” business here! Nobody can skip out and the entire family has to work together to help strategize ways we can meet our goals. This way, we’re all moving forward as a connected unit.

Feeling the November blues? Want to participate in NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo but don’t have the time? Instead of joining a challenge you don’t think you can swallow upfront, consider setting up your own goal wall and sharing the challenge with a roommate, family member or friend. Your goals can be as small or as big as you want, but regardless of the size, you will see results if you’re committed to them. You’ve got nothing to loose!

Life Lesson #97656857: Never judge a book by its cover. Sometimes you’re right, but sometimes you’re wrong, and assuming someone to be something they’re not makes you an ass.

I’ve come to realize that in order to really succeed in life, you need to step out of your comfort zone.

It’s not always easy – in fact, nine out of ten times it’s downright hard. Sometimes it means talking in front of a crowd. Sometimes it means handing your brochure to the person sitting next to you on the plane, someone you’re so sure won’t be interested. Sometimes it means raising your hand and asking tough questions nobody else has the guts to voice. Sometimes it means stepping up to the plate and calling the shots, silently praying to God you’ve made the right choice. Sometimes it means taking the road less traveled, even if the path is darker and obscured by the fog.

Sometimes you just have to do it, and sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes it’s not so bad. Sometimes it is. But sometimes, you just need to feel the fear and do it anyways.