You too can be musically inclined!

Da-da-da-daaaaa! The Virtual Piano! Next thing you know, we'll be playing in the National Orchestra ;)
Enjoy!

http://www.thevirtualpiano.com

September 23, 1985

24 years ago,

a 19 year old did the bravest thing ever
and gave life to a brown-eyed baby girl.
Thanks Mom,
you made the ultimate sacrifice for me
and I'm eternally grateful for all you've done.

"I want to" -> "I will"

I've been thinking lately about things I'd like to improve about myself... personal goals if you will. I don't know what triggered it, but I've had an onset of things that I've been telling myself I would like to change, ASAP; however... it's very easy to push thoughts away and disregard that they even exist... especially ones that require Will Power!
For this reason, I've decided to record my personal goals so they're no longer just a thought in my head, but something I can see and read and seriously pursue. I'm hoping this will make them more of a reality than a fleeting thought passing by.

I want to:
- Cut back on my coffee consumption. I want my morning coffee to be replaced with an herbal tea every second day.
- Stop picking things on my face & be okay with my skin not being completely smooth.
- Get back into my wheatgrass regime!
- Floss my teeth every night before bed.
- Stop eating after 9pm!
- Cut back on my indulgence in a certain plant.
- Reduce my intake of meat & increase my consumption of vegetarian friendly meals.
- Take my hedgehog out to play at least a few times/ week.
- Stop biting my cuticles (no one wants an interpreter with gnarly hands!)
- Ensure schoolwork is always my #1 priority.
- Continue my Yoga practice & strive for meditation rather than a workout.

All a test of will power; here's hoping that seeing these in black and white will help give me a kick start to success and personal growth.

Cheap Laugh

I'm not huge on the whole "LOLz Speak" craze, but these did make me laugh out loud.
Hope they put a smile on your face too; Happy Days!

Brits: We do a Body Good

Jim Sturgess, fellow Brit. Ain't he dreamy *sigh*....

I'm currently grooving to some straight Beatles whilst (attempting) to tackle my enormous mountain of dirty dishes (notice "attempting" as I'm now sitting down blogging... taking a "break"). Anywho, got me thinking about the utterly beautifully fabulous movie "Across the Universe" in which I first became smitten with the above, Jim Sturgess.
Yes, yes, my boyfriend is aware; he begrudgingly sits by my side as I swoon and clasp my hands while watching the movie... for the hundredth time!

Here's two of my favourite scenes from the movie, if you haven't seen it yet stop reading immediately and get to it!!!
Here comes the Sun, Enjoy ;)

The Expressions at 00:11 & 00:15 make my Heart smile


This scene made me cry first time I saw it, Carol Woods is phenomenal <3

Confucius Says...

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance."
- This quote expresses something very profound which also is very useful to know: Ignorance is a willful neglect or refusal to acquire knowledge. It is not widen one’s own perspective in order to see a broader truth. As an example it would be to have racist thoughts and not realizing that all men are equal.

The ultimate truth therefore is where there is absolutely no ignorance, meaning where the perspective or consciousness has become one with all that there is. In Buddhism ignorance (Avidyā) is seen as the primary cause of suffering. Liberation is Enlightenment. Another quote by Confucius here is "Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star."

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."
- Whatever you do and whatever you commit to, do it fully, give your all – one hundred percent. It is the essence of Carpe Diem – Seizing the day and it’s surely the best way to be satisfied with what we do and get the best results.

"He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger."
- Confucius explains the connection of learning and reflection. Reflection of that what we learned by thinking or of the results we get by applying the knowledge. "Study without reflection is a waste of time; reflection without study is dangerous" is a similar quote by Confucius. Learning is only useful if we connect the learning within our own minds, with what we already know and what is useful for us. This reflection of any knowledge also saves us from blindly following any knowledge without checking its truthfulness and validity to us.

I think everybody experienced learning when we really want this knowledge and interweave it with what we already know. If there is a need or problem we want to solve, the consume knowledge much more effective than it happens for students in many universities.

My Personal Favourite:

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."
- Amazing. It calls for dropping the inner mask through which we constantly see and evaluate the world, distorted by our wants and belief-systems. Here we have to look at things as they are. Just like a newborn child would look at things. Then we are able to really see again, without instant labeling of what we see and therefore only really seeing our label. If we become able to do this – just for a second without judgment, we can see that everything in nature is as it should be. And in this natural perfection lies beauty.

Source: http://www.globalone.tv/profiles/blogs/confucius-says-the-top-10

Gezellig

"I'm gonna buy me a ticket as far as I can,
I ain't never comin' back
I'm gonna take me that south-bound,
All the way to Georgia now,
Till the train it run out of track"...

Don't ask me what it is about Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't you See", but every time I hear it I become overwhelmed with feelings of coziness, "gezellig", and a sense of one with Life.
I know it sounds corny, but there's something about listening to the opening riff of this song while being somewhere alone, I was just on my bike whizzing through the quiet streets of after-dusk Toronto, that makes me feel like all is right in my Life.
It's strange how one song can have such a powerful impact on my state of mind, especially considering that the lyrics don't particularly hit home...
I guess I'm writing because I just experienced this inner peace and tranquility and realized how strange it is to have such a thing stem from such a song. Perhaps it's because it instantly ignites a streaming slide show of memories from summer's past... Time spent driving for hours with no destination in sight or mind, the rules we broke sitting in close-knit circles in who ever's house happened to be parent-free at the time, stealth cottage weekends mid-winter just so we'd have some freedom and jokes so funny we could have sworn we were going to pee our pants.
This song reminds me of my (on-going) Youth. I feel like it has come to embody all the good feelings from memories past and memories in the making. It feels like something real and measurable, representing the attitude and feelings of the times- The "gezelligheid".



PS- This and Jethro Tull make me deeply regret ever giving up being a flautist... maybe one day.

Online Window Shopping

Etsy: my favourite site for online purchases; Although seeing as I'm broke in terms of disposable income, I've been forced to browse... "browse" until I find something I must, must have! Here are some of my Favourite Finds this Sunday:

Smiley Veggies

Inner cogs of a wrist watch (this wouldn't be distracting while signing... would it?)

My Favourite <3
Wooden replica of an old-fashioned gas gauge

Makes me feel Cozy

*sigh* I will never grow old of this show <3

Downward Slope of the West

Spare tire.
Pooch.
Dickdo.
Flab.
Muffin Tops.

Call it what you will, these are just a few of the names used to describe the ever-expanding mid-sections of far too many North Americans. You know what I'm referring to; the flap of excess tissue that can be clearly seen hanging over people's pants, skirts, shorts etc... The sad thing is that this phenomenon has become a normality in our society; so much so that clothing stores have gone so far as to alter their sizes so that what once was a size 14, is now a size 10... after all, you don't want someone to be *gasp* upset about their true size.

So why am I choosing to write about this? The fact is, I was stunned today. I saw something I had never noticed before... well, many things that I had never noticed before. Walking through the halls of my college, it seemed as though every second person was sporting their very own, home-grown spare tire. These are people my age; people who are supposed to know what it means to live a healthy lifestyle and the importance of doing such. Of course, I always want to give someone the benefit of the doubt and I'll tell myself in the back of my head "Oh, well maybe they have a thyroid problem..." or "maybe there are other under-lying issues that have influenced the way in which they live their life". But in all honesty, the majority of the time these are individuals who would rather take the elevator to go up one floor than take the stairs, rather grab a nutrient-deficient, over-processed, quick-to-go breakfast, lunch or dinner than take the time to ensure their bodies are properly nourished.

We have bred a nation of over-indulgent, under appreciative and lazy people. We have both disregarded and turned a blind eye to our body's needs and have come to rely far to heavily on medical advancements to solve our problems for us, rather than addressing them ourselves. We are so unbelievably fortunate to have all that we do here, but all too often people take this life for granted, continuously searching for something better.

There's a reason why North America houses some of the largest people in the World. It's because we have gotten far too caught up in a fast-paced life of convenience, readiness and instant gratification. The result of this can be seen in the youth of our country who are becoming increasingly dormant and overweight. These children are our future and this epidemic has spiraled so far out of control that school's have now instilled a mandatory 30 minutes of physical activity per day, aside from regular physical activity classes. What happened to recesses where kids would assemble an impromptu game of tag? Or play a game of touch football? Or even pull out their favourite skipping rope and go to town? The allure of video games, "Happy" meals and television have outshone the past times that our parents used to partake in when they were children. We now have to force physical activity upon many youth in our society... It's a scary and dangerous slope.

What I saw today shocked me. It also made me sad that in a country where we are so privileged, that so many people continue to take advantage of the luxuries we have. Our medical institutions are already struggling with addressing the multitude of disorders that come from living an inactive and unhealthy lifestyle. This way of life that we have accepted can only either take a turn for the better or for the worse. I pray that these people wake up one day and recognize how fortunate they are to live in this society, how many resources are available for them to use in order to improve their quality of life, that their body is a temple and should be treated as such. Take a look at how the rest of the World lives and I'm sure you'll notice that something is wrong with how the majority of North Americans are choosing to live theirs.

Here

Do you ever feel Lost,
Even though you know exactly where you Are?
What am I searching for...