Look how beautiful! Single tear.

On a somewhat related note, you should check out Harry Partch’s Instruments. The site is really interesting, and you can “play” the instruments using your computer keyboard!


i like tea.

14Jan10

These are (almost) all of the teas that occupy my house right now. They made themselves into a tower! In the past couple of years, I’ve really taken a liking to different kinds of teas, both for the taste and for the health benefits they offer. I can’t drink coffee, so tea is one of my main sources of caffeine. These are teas I have either bought or have been given to me and others. For fellow tea enthusiasts and other people interested, here’s a little list of what you see here and why I think it’s nifty:

English Breakfast and Orange Pekoe: Standard black tea. Good for caffeine and drinking with breakfast and desserts. I also like London Fogs (tea + frothed milk + vanilla) made with this kind of tea. The “English” English Breakfast teas were bought in London!

Jasmine: I think this is my favourite tea. It’s a caffeinated green tea, and is usually offered with Chinese Dim Sum. It’s tasty.

Yerba Mate: I only learned about yerba mate a few months ago, but I’m a big fan. Yerba mate is a shrub native to South America, and mate-infused tea contains “mateine” instead of caffeine, which keeps your body and brain alert without giving you jittery feelings as caffeine often does. It’s more of a constant alertness than a sudden jolt or burst of energy. The gold bag in the front is pure yerba mate that my sister brought me back from Argentina, along with the gourd and straw (which is how it’s often drunk in such parts of the world). The top left orange bag is Mate Citrus Buzz, a blend of Yerba mate and, you guessed it, citrus! I like the taste of this one, and I drink it when I’m sick or feel like I’m getting sick. The orange bag beside it is Matecchino, which is tea that tastes like coffee (which is the closest I’m going to get to drinking coffee).

Chamomile, Ginger, and Goldenseal Herb: I mostly drink these for health reasons, though I do like the taste of chamomile. Chamomile for sleeping, ginger for nausea, goldenseal herb for digestive stuff.

The rest: Flavoured herbal teas. I have yet to try them all!

Boy, I can sure ramble about tea, can’t I?


A little while ago, I was offered the opportunity to work for a film distribution company, but the only positions available were a marketing manager (for which I am nowhere near qualified, nor would I be interested) and a sales position. I considered the sales position for about a minute before deciding it wasn’t suitable either. Nevertheless, I did mention the position to a friend, and she said she couldn’t picture me in sales. We joked about that for a bit, after I replied something like “yeah, I’d probably be like ‘You can buy this if you want… did someone say something about a cupcake?’”

I was talking about sales positions (from a retail perspective) last night with my friend Laura. We both have years of retail experience and have worked in sales-related positions even though neither of us really have “sales” personalities. Laura works in a sports store and is very knowledgeable about biking, so she said she considers herself a “bike educator” rather than a salesperson. She’ll give the customer all the information they need and they can decide how they want to use it. I think that’s the best kind of salesperson—I would be much more likely to buy something if someone gave me all the facts and didn’t try to push a sale.

Laura said she is much too laid-back to be a salesperson, and in my case that’s part of it, but I think it’s more an issue of honesty and not taking advantage of others. I mean, how many people actually believe everything they’re trying to sell is worth buying? I said the only way I would enjoy being a salesperson and be good at it was if I was really passionate about what I was selling; for example, if I worked in some kind of store of amazing things. We laughed about the idea, and then I thought about actually opening a store called “The Store of Amazing Things.” Who would be able to resist going in?

I haven’t yet thought of the Amazing Things the store would sell, but I will.

In conclusion (for now), I believe in selling what you truly think deserves to be sold, and a store of amazing things would be… well, a pretty amazing thing.


26.

04Mar08

“A Rubik’s Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less.”


old road rage!

01Mar08

Beware: The Three Types of Road Ragers

Just because you have wheels, it doesn’t make you a hotshot. Remember that, because there are far too many people who don’t. You know the people I’m talking about — the ones who seem to have bought their cars fully equipped with ego-inflators and bad-temper-inducers. We’ll call them “Road Ragers” of Class A, B, and the dreaded C.

Class A Road Ragers are the mildest kind. They are the impatient people who will never be caught going less than twenty kilometres above the speed limit, and will tailgate you and honk their horns if you are unfortunate enough to be in their way. It’s also quite possible that they are suffering from stop-sign amnesia. Taxi drivers, mysteriously, are very susceptible to this illness. Class A Road Ragers have the idea in their heads that they are better than other drivers, which obviously gives them the right to annoy and inconvenience them in any way they can. Parking right in the middle of an already-full parking lot (the tinier the better) is a perfect way to do this. Cleverly, this inconsiderate act causes the legally parked people to struggle for fifteen minutes to squeeze around the car and get out of the lot.

Class B Road Ragers hold similar characteristics, but tend to become more frustrated when they don’t get their way. They also often take out their frustrations verbally. If you and a Class B Road Rager happen to drive up to an empty parking space at the same time, for example, he or she will definitely race into it before you can even signal. If, by some chance, you are able to get into the space first, be prepared for the string of insults that is sure to fly out of his or her mouth. However, no matter how offended you may get by these Road Ragers, the best thing to do is to ignore them and drive off. They are generally pretty harmless.

Class C Road Ragers, on the other hand, are undoubtedly insane. They think driving is life, and one wrong move in their presence can get you killed. These Road Ragers are famous for stopping at red lights, getting out of their cars, and screaming at each other for matters as serious as cutting each other off. They will then get back into their cars once the light turns green, get out and continue screaming at each other for the next few red lights, until one finally shoots the other.

When you’re on the road, be aware of these Road Rager symptoms. That way, as soon as you recognize even one symptom in a driver, you will drive away as fast as your little wheels can take you.

[I wrote this quite a few years ago, but it applies just as much today!]



light & dark

25Feb08


“Sorry, I’m talking in circles.” -Jenn
“It’s okay, I understand in circles.” -Me

Circles circles circles. I find them fascinating.

The idea of talking or acting in circles is construed as being unusual or erratic, and yet there is usually a point trying to be made through the circles, whatever it is.

Thinking in circles, dancing in circles, circular reasoning — they are all nonsensical while somehow bringing us back to the beginning.

Vicious circles, circles of life, circles of influence, circles as perfect shapes…
and et cetera, and et cetera. Endless references and possibilities!

I decided to start a blog where I would attempt to organize my thoughts, however circular they may be, in a less-than-circular way. I plan to put up words, pictures, and possibly audio and video at some point. They will be ideas to inspire my own creativity, and hopefully other people’s as well. And sometimes they may just be shapes.

Did I just talk myself into a circle? Probably.