Things I Love Thursday

Posted on 10 November 2010 | 1 comment

If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.
— Sir Ken Robinson

The above quote comes from Ken Robinson’s TED talk about schools killing creativity. It’s the phrase that most struck me, perhaps because I am very hard on myself when I make mistakes and strive not to—and maybe this, itself, is my biggest mistake.

Today’s Things I Love Thursday post comes a day early firstly because I missed last week’s post, and secondly because tomorrow is Remembrance Day, and I think, if I were to write anything on the day, it would be on something that acknowledges that.

So here we are:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Things I Love Thursday

ethicalDeal

Posted on 9 November 2010 | 1 comment

I blogged a short time ago about social shopping sites.

The latest one to join the crowd is a site with a difference: ethicalDeal seeks to offer deals from local, green companies—‘to make green mainstream’. Each deal also offers a short section on the featured company’s social and environmental commitments, giving buyers a chance to learn more about local companies’ ‘green’ mandates that they might not otherwise think to look for.

(On another note, I left a comment for DealRadar (a site that compiles the deals from all local social shopping sites taht they know of, and offers it in one scannable page) to add ethicalDeal to their list. I got an email thanking me for the tip and they did add it!

So I have changed the world in my own small way, har dee har har.)

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Posted in Recreation, Sustainability

A safe resting place in UBC?

Posted on 6 November 2010 | 3 comments

I shouldn’t have, because I was poorly to begin with, but I did—I’d missed the shuttle and had fifteen minutes to get from Marine Drive to Buchanan Tower before the English office closed, so I ran.

Afterwards, I suffered the consequences of low blood sugar and found myself stumbling towards the Speakeasy lounge to lie down before I was publicly sick or fainted away. Fortunately, there were volunteers there as usual who gave me chocolate and water, and I recovered after an hour or so.

All this so that I wouldn’t get 15% off my paper for being late. There have got to be better ways of living than this.

This misadventure got me thinking, however: if I didn’t volunteer for Speakeasy and didn’t have a volunteers-only lounge to retreat to, where would I have gone? Where is a safe resting place for a student who just needs to lie down and be taken care of for a little while, not dragged off to the hospital?

I thought about the restrooms in Buchanan Tower, because the women’s washrooms each have a cot partitioned off to one side, so I probably would have used that if I didn’t have any other options. The Centre for Student Involvement? There are sofas and vending machines there, so I could have purchased candy on the way if I had change (which I didn’t, having left my wallet at home in my rush).

Where would you have gone and what would you have done? These are questions you never think about until you need to, and then it’s a scary thing.

3 Comments

Posted in Wellness

The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Posted on 31 October 2010 | 1 comment

Cover for The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Someone recently told me about a Little Prince-themed hotel in Nice, France, that they stumbled upon. I think that’s a fantastic idea and would love to visit it one day!

The Little Prince is one of my favourite stories of all time and the only fiction book I have in my dorm room right now that isn’t for school. Purportedly a children’s tale, this slim book is really meant for adults; if you were ever like me and read it as a child, it probably didn’t mean anything in particular for you. These days, I hold onto it when I am trying to remember some of the things I believe in.

Based loosely on de Saint-Exupéry’s own crash landing in the Sahara, this French classic tells the tale of an aviation pilot stranded in the middle of the desert who encounters a perfectly composed, small boy he calls the little prince. The little prince asks all sorts of questions but doesn’t seem to hear the pilot when asked any himself. As time passes, we learn that the little prince is from another planet which he abandoned after receiving one too many grievances from a very vain rose. He travels the universe in search of a friend and arrives on Earth to learn about that which is most important from a little fox, my favourite character in the book.

Interestingly enough, the fox was also my favourite character when I was a child, although I don’t know if I really knew why that was back then. Now I know I love the fox because he asks to be tamed, cries when he is about to be abandoned, but accepts all that as part of what it means to be tamed.

Web versions of the original English translation (which apparently has several mistakes) are available online. Not sure if they’re legal, but they’ve been there for a few years, so I suppose the copyright for that particular version has ended. If you’re able to read the French original, of course, I highly encourage you to do so. I can’t do it myself, but I’ve been told it’s simply lovely.

1 Comment

Posted in Recreation

Things I Love Thursday

Posted on 28 October 2010 | 1 comment

I missed last week’s Things I Love Thursday because I was so overwhelmed by my life.

This week, I am even more overwhelmed, sickly and depressed, and therefore in greater need of positive thinking. So here we go!

♥ I love the foccaccia bagels from Bernoulli’s in the SUB. When I say love, I mean love. What I need in my life is a large, large loaf of foccaccia bread.

♥ One of my friends is having a sleepover in my room tonight!

♥ I talked to a professor today about potential ideas for my thesis next term and have more material to look up.

♥ The sun came out for a while yesterday! That made the autumn leaves so much more beautiful.

♥ My colouring book arrived! I now have very many fairies to colour in when I’m stressed.

♥ I’m going home tomorrow and am planning on watching Aftershock (唐山大地震). People have been telling me that I’ll be sure to cry, which I certainly hope to do—I think it’ll be very cathartic.

♥ I love doing crosswords, especially with friends.

♥ Sarah McLachlan’s original video for ‘World on Fire’ is my favourite music video of all time so far. Despite some questions it raises for me in the back of my mind, overall, it still gives me an anchor of happiness:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0O2LMqnHGg]

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Posted in Things I Love Thursday