Journal (page 3)
What is Disappointment?
Chris Brogan at WDS had an interesting way of looking at disappointment. To paraphrase, if someone says to you, I’m very disappointed in you, what they’re really saying is ‘you didn’t live your life according to what *I* had planned for your life’.
How To Get Free Money … By Actually Doing Your Taxes!
For most people, doing a tax return seems like a really daunting task, with all sorts of esoterically named and categorized forms. Do you know the difference between a T2125 or a T778? One’s for reporting business income and the other is for claiming childcare expenses. Things get pretty complicated for adults with full time jobs and families to support.
The Spiritual Beauty of Wabi-Sabi
“Truth comes from the observation of nature. The Japanese have tried to control nature where they could, as best they could, within the limits of available technology. But there was little they could do about the weather – hot and humid summers, cold and dry winters, and rain on the average of one out of every three days throughout the year, except during the rainy season in early summer when everything is engulfed in a fine wet mist for six to eight weeks. And there was little they could do about the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, fires, and tidal waves that periodically and unpredictably visited their land. The Japanese didn’t particularly trust nature, but they learned from it. Three of the most obvious lessons gleaned from millennia of contact with nature (and leavened with Taoist thought) were incorporated into the wisdom of wabi-sabi.
22 Story Writing Tips
These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list – When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres. Oh, and I guess rules is a harsh word. I think ‘guidelines’ is more applicable.
Sterling Hundley: Being Original is a Challenge
“In a time when the transfer of information has become as natural as breathing and the clashing of cultures sounds more like the sloshing of water, we choose anonymity to avoid accountability, yet strut with the pride and potential of creation. Art is the record of a culture. Will appropriation and the resulting homogenization be the movements that define us?
The Gender Trap
Equality is something that has concerned many, especially gender equality. This radio talk from the CBC illuminates a lot of misconceptions regarding gender stereotypes and the power that these stereotypes have on…
A Lesson on Eating
“I take Monday nights off to enjoy ‘boys’ night’ with my 3-year-old son Frank. His favorite food is dumplings, so we’ve been on a tour of dim sum houses, and dumpling restaurants in Chinatown. Which is why I think that my must eat/drink list is not ‘where’, but ‘with whom’. I’m not a critical eater.
Notes from a Webinar – 4 Pages to Double Your Online Income
Clay Collins once thought that if he could double traffic to his site, he could double his income. He worked day and night to get a 20% increase in traffic, and there was some increase in sales, but not a doubling. He then tried playing around with his sales page to increase conversion, but he didn’t feel like doing it because it was just a pain in the butt for him. So what if he could double the number of people who would opt-in to an email list ? He was able to do that, and eventually double his income. He then systematically went through all of his pages to add more opt-in options, and he was able to keep doubling his revenue.
Eating on a Hood Budget For Noobs, Part 1
For those of you who may not know, I’m a pretty avid cook and like to make meatless preparations. I’m also one of those ‘starving-artist’ types, so going meatless is actually really nice on the wallet (and the environment; I could go on and on about how meat consumption is now devastating the environment). I recently read a blog post by Stic of Dead Prez who gave 7 tips for eating well on a hood budget. For those unfamiliar with urban vernacular, a hood budget is a small budget, as the hood usually refers to an area of lower income individuals. In a nutshell, the tips revolve around eating fresh vegetables and fruits versus processed and packaged foods, and planning out your meals versus eating flippantly and on convenience. I decided to share my own experiences with these tips, and how you can get started!