David Suzuki’s Queen of Green

I’ve been trying to do make my own products instead of buying ones in the store filled with chemicals and things I can’t even pronounce. Making your own stuff, like soap, for instance, is cheap, easy, and really fun. On David Suzuki’s website, there’s a blog called Queen of Green, which has short news articles, tips, information, and recipes to make your own… whatever, really. From soap to deodorant to toothpaste, the Queen of Green is a reliable place to start looking for stuff you might want to create at home.

I’m itching to make more of my own soap sometime, but I’d also like to try my hand at dish soap and toothpaste as well. What are you all interested in making?

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/queen-of-green/

First online blog

I forgot I had a Livejournal account.

There are only two posts, but even reading them, it’s really strange. I know who this person is yet he doesn’t feel like someone I used to be. I’m not sure how to describe it.

This entry is dated May 15, 2005:

So here I go…my first entry. I may as well make it something to remember. I highly doubt anyone is going to read this at all but at least it gives me something to do for the time being and if for whatever reason someone does decide to stumble across my journal, you’re up for a real treat.

If anyone is wondering about this maniac that’s writing in this thing, well, I’m 16 (turning 17), a student (well, duh) that isn’t doing as well as before because, well, I’ve discovered a little thing called existentialism; basically, for all those who don’t know, it is the belief that life is meaningless and god does not exist. And although I am actually Wiccan, i don’t actually believe there is a god…let’s leave that for another day. My family is breaking from the already broken state (my parents are separated, but I don’t know why they just don’t get divorced), my older sister has moved to Alabama, my twin sister is at war with my mom, and I’m constantly unsatisfied with my “life”. Ugh… onto today’s stuff!

I got up an hour earlier for my (math) tutoring lessons with my tutoring, (btw, she happens to be my cousin). Yay…math. I go every week but end up forgetting everything by the next week and failing tests…actually, I only failed the last one, but that one was hard!!!! Anyhooz, I got another test tomorrow, so I should do some homework by tomorrow. After that, my mom came in and told my aunt that I was going to Richmond after to play piano and get this trophy for getting the highest mark for my grade 10 piano exam. My aunt congratulated me for my result and said she was extremely proud of me, which I was flattered. So my grandpa/ma, other aunt/uncle/cousin/ and mom all piled in my grandpa’s van and drove out to Richmond. My twin sister refused to go and see my play; she claimed she didn’t want to go so far and had stuff to do. My mom got angry at her for that but let it slide fairly easily. We arrived 30 minutes before it started and got front row seats (it’s in a church). After waiting, the programme commenced and started with the little kiddies, beginning with grade 1, ending at grade 10. On the programme list, it turned out I was last to perform out of 29 people. I patiently waited and waited for my turn and after what seemed like forever, it finally came down to me. I got up, bowed, and sat at the piano. I thought about what I was going to do and started playing. But by the end, I had made so many mistakes, I was smiling all over. At every mistake I made, I would smile and mouth words to myself, like, “that’s not what it’s supposed to sound like!”, which I found amusing. My uncle was filming my whole performance and he got me smiling and all. Then came the worst part: pictures! So much flashing! I felt like I was being snapped from all over, and the people were paparazzi or something. Since my score was tied with Cindy, another one of the performers, we had to share the trophy. She didn’t care who had it first/last, so I took it. After a lot more pictures, we departed.

My mom suggested going for bubble tea so we did. Then, we all walked to a nearby mall and decided to get our photos developed, which took about an hour, but since everyone was running around from one store to the next, it took many hours. I was listening to some bands playing in the mall and the first one was a rock band, and they were really entertaining. Then after they left the stage, I thought it was over, but a group of three Asian guys got up and started playing/singing and it was so bad! I mean, the guitar playing was fine but they had the music in front of them…so unprofessional! And after this medley of chinese songs, they played an english song, which i could not understand any of the words, but I knew it was some kinda mushy love song, which I nearly gagged at. After another song, we finally left the mall for home.

I found my sister at home watching “The Simpsons” so I joined her, even though I was mysteriously sleepy after drinking bubble tea. Only about half an hour later, we had to leave once again to go to my grandma/pa’s house for dinner. My sister didn’t want to come again and this time, my mom got angry at her. [I’ll skip the dinner part]. We left at 7:00 and I came home to the computer. My sister was watching a movie of some sort and is probably still is.

I think I should ask Jordan out on Tuesday (or the next time I see him). Oh yeah, Jordan is a guy in Grade 10 (one year younger) who runs really, really fast and takes grade 11 French. I usually go to his classroom every other day, and I find him looking my way sometimes. Also, his mom was talking with me at a track meet one time, and that got me thinking that perhaps he likes me, even though I shouldn’t assume anything, because it’s never gotten me anywhere. I don’t really care if he isn’t gay, but I’m doing it because I want to find out if he really likes me or not. *Sigh* I shouldn’t me driving myself crazy just thinking about asking a guy out, which I haven’t done before… so I’m kinda nervous.

I’ll probably chicken out in the end…unless someone convinces me.

~~Pride_penguin

Three days!

Wow, I haven’t posted in three days.  It’s probably because I went into hibernation to catch up on my lost hours of sleep.  And now I have nothing worthwhile to write about.  Go figure.

A blog about the failings of UBC

For one of my assignments for the Creative Writing for New Media class, we are to create a blog and write 5 posts.  I think this will be pretty easy, since 1. I already have a blog and know what to do and 2. I will probably not have a shortage of things to say, since I can go on and on about things (depending on what it is, of course).  I do have to come up with something of interest to readers; so far, I’ve come up with movie reviews for gay films, tracking my progress for making my next short film (or even that big documentary project I’ve been postponing for years), or even something like writing about the writing process of writing my creative non-fiction project (or some other assignment[s]).  And then I had a different idea!

How about a blog about the many horrible, disgusting, repulsive, shocking, angering, psychotic things UBC has done/continues to do?  There’s definitely no shortage of that going around.  I could call the blog “Reasons I am ashamed to be a UBC student”.  Now, you might be thinking, “Uh, okay, but, like, your teacher… uhh…”  And fair point.  Sure he might fail me.  But I suspect that he would actually find it quite interesting, as he is a writer, and writers are– or should be– open-minded about social issues and others’ opinions.  He also has a sense of good sense of humour (he’s done stand-up, I think he mentioned), and if I put some of my witticism in there, I think it would make for a good blog, or at least entertaining reading, about the school that is a place of one mind, not a place of mind.

Thoughts, Mr. Fluffet?

A plan for the future

I know what I want to be when I grow up.

But I can’t tell you or else you’ll steal my idea.

All I can promise is that it’s awesome.  And that I’ll need lots of help.

I thought this was a blog about my misery.  Well, I’m trying a different approach.

Let’s see how this works.

Dream 11

And while I’m on a roll about Jordan, here’s another one from Sept. 11, 2005.

There was a whole bunch of people watching this outdoor thing around Victoria Drive.  When it was over, everybody started [leaving right] away, like after the fireworks in the summer.  I needed to get to the Victoria Drive bus station.  Since there were so many people, it was hard to get through.  I saw some Grade 11’s there, like Spencer.  People kept stepping on my shoes.  I got to the crowded bus stop.  While I [walked, I saw?] J Lo’s dead body on the way.  People were crying, so I guess it was because of her.  I saw Jordan in the navy blue shirt that I saw him on Friday.  Immediately, I went over to him and said hey.  He seemed a bit surprised but I dragged him away to a quieter place.  I asked him how he was and he said he was okay.  For some reason, my hands were around his waists and his were around mine.  I told him we needed to talk.

We went and sat down on this picnic table.  Jordan sat across from me.  Karen Lee sat beside him.  Jordan told me I was too late; he already had a boyfriend.  I wasn’t really sad, just… disappointed.  I asked what his bf was like.  he said his bf was nice, kind, etc.  He told me that he would not tell me the name of his bf and I said that was okay, since I was gonna find out and bring it up again.  He told me that he really, really, liked me in the past.  I asked why he liked me.  He said that he didn’t really like me (personality-wise) but he though I was hot.  He also said he did crazy stuff just to talk to me.  For example, he made up an account on MSN Messenger named JD Onick that lived in Toronto.  Karen used the user to talk to me cuz she said she was bored.

He said [something illegible] that I had missed my chance and that I was too late.

[My commentary: oh what a dream.  Like I said, I doubt he’s actually gay but typing up these dreams on my blog is giving me ideas for another gay romance story… hmmmmm….]

 

Sometimes

… I just have nothing to write about but I feel like I have to write something as I’ve made the resolution to post something for at least half the year this year.  Sure, I could lazily post something I’ve already written but when even that seems like too much work, hmmm… where do I go to search out inspiration?

I’ve been told to just write.  Anything.  That stimulating your creative juices but revving it up with some free-writing helps, and yes, sometimes it does.  Most of the time, I find I write about the most pointless things though.  Maybe I just have the mentality that everything I write should be premeditated — like murder! — or that I should have a plan or an idea of what to do before doing it — like robbery!  Probably that.

I think I just care too much.  I want everything that spews from my pen (in this case, my typing fingers) to be a golden treasure of metaphors, deep, life-changing themes, and strong enough words that they will make people cry after finishing the last period.  But that’s not the case.  After having gone through a lot of my older material, most of it did make me want to cry — not in a good way.

It was still a good attempt though.  I feel like I’ve learned way more in my last two years at college in terms of writing than I had all the years prior to that.  Probably because I could finally get other people’s real opinions on things rather than my friends who would look at a poem I wrote and say, “This is good…”

There appears to be no end in sight for this entry.  Plus, I have to start doing mi tarea de espanol porque tengo un examen el martes.  Dios mio.  Por lo menos, lo hablo y escribo bien y tengo un novio que le gusta correctarme frecuentemente.

Deseeme suerte!

Year End review (for my blog)

Total posts: 146

Total comments: 35

Categories: 10

Tags: 732

Total views: 1545

Busiest day: 36 views (July 7)

Goal for this year: at least 182 posts total (half the year)

A month in review

I made it a goal of mine at the beginning of August to post one new post every single day and I did it!  In fact, I’ve been posting something every day since July 29th, which is pretty cool.  Or at least I think it’s cool because I never used to post this frequently.  I’m going to do my best to post something every day but with school coming up that may not be possible.  I have a 3 hour break in between my classes so I could do it then.  Anyway.

I also realized I try to be funny in these posts but I’m not.  That saddens me.  I like to believe I’m somewhat witty but I usually do it when someone says something rather than typing up random funny stuff.  Also I’m tired and not sure why that’s the case since I go to bed at around 1am and I still don’t really feel tired.  Maybe it’s from reading almost the first hundred pages of The Amber Spyglass I borrowed today (it’s so good!).

My sent me a link to some of Kelly Clarkson’s leaked demos.  There are 30 songs in there and some of them are kinda, really bad.  Seriously, a song called “Cleopatra”?  I almost feel bad for not liking them… almost.  She’s still awesome in my eyes.  Just not some of her songs.

Okay, I’m gonna stop trying to fill a post and end it here.  The end.

A dream about this blog

It seemed so real.  If only…

I don’t remember what lead up to it, but I found myself looking at the Vancouver Sun (or maybe it was the Province?).  There was a small article about me and my blog, talking about how I’m “calm” and “charming” and how the third entry of my blog, which was supposed to be a poem of some sort, was very emotional and that people should go to my blog and read my stuff.

There was someone else there with me, and I remember telling that person, “This article would explain the large jump in views over those days a while ago!”  I was really happy, to say the least.  Not only had someone actually noticed my blog and my writing, but they had taken the time to write about it and advise others to go and check it out.  Wow.

Then there was something about London Drugs and this guy who I was holding hands with in a truck was at some boat house and I had to be quiet because I was in a house too and there was a bad guy sleeping.  But then I woke up and for a minute, thought the part about my blog was real… and then, I realized I don’t read the paper other than for the music and movie reviews and then became disappointed.

Getting exposure has always been hard for me, and I’m not really sure why.  I think it’s a combination of things: that I don’t have zillions of friends on facebook/myspace; I’m not very extroverted or social compared to other people; I have a small network of close friends that I talk to (as opposed to ones I consider as acquaintances); I don’t really do anything that gets me noticed, etc.  I don’t feel like I stand out in a crowd.  I do, however, feel like once you get to know me, I stand out because of all the creative stuff I do and dedicate my time to, but if you saw me on the street, I’m just another guy.

On every site I join, I always seem to be less popular than others; youtube, facebook (my music profile), myspace… how do these people do it?  For youtube, it’s having the right videos.  For facebook and myspace, it’s a bit harder.  Sure, you can have a million fans, but of those fans, who actually cares and likes your music?  I am told my music is good but obviously being good is not enough to get more people interested; a while back, I was reading about Adam what’s-his-face, the guy behind Owl City, about how he started up a myspace page around the same time I did.  He didn’t tell anyone about it but apparently, his music was so good, the word spread about him and soon, he was up to a few hundred thousand plays.  He then got a record deal, made an album, released a single… why can’t that happen with me?

I struggle with making people care about what I do, more than most people, it seems.  I’m really sure either what I can do; sure, I can talk to more people and tell them about my music/writing/screenplays.  I guess that would be a start.

Perhaps I just don’t have very good luck.  Perhaps I’m simply not lucky enough.  Perhaps my type of music just doesn’t appeal to people or perhaps I’m not as good as my friends tell me and the reality is that people don’t like to become fans of crappy musicians.  Perhaps I will never be super popular, as well-known as I want to be (ugh, how depressing…).

But I’ll keep trying. As long as there’s someone listening.

Aaron