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Those who never risk will never lose. But neither will they grow. Those who never feel will never cry. But neither will they laugh.

Laughter is the best form of medicine. For when we laugh, we neither think, grieve, or feel.

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections. –

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

It is never too late to start something new.

We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.

A person is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.

Don’t keep looking back. If you do, you’ll trip in the present and fall in the future.

Time is free, but it is priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

You’ll regret the things you didn’t do, more than the things you did.

Live the life you love, love the life you live.

The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.

Live one day at a time or you’ll miss the beauty of each day.

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.

Life is made up of years that mean nothing and moments that mean it all.

It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what you focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destine.

Everything is okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.

Don’t let the sadness of your past and the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your past.

I stumbled across an intriguing website very recently (a few minutes before writing this post, heh). I don’t think I can say much about it as it’s rather self-explanatory. This website isn’t all that old or all that new… it was created in October 2006 by David Bleja, a “multimedia designer, or digital artist, or multimedia artist, or something like that,” in his own words.

The website I am talking about is Breathing Earth. What is it?

This real-time simulation displays the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth and death rates.

It’s also received over 1.4 million hits and has been mentioned on numerous websites, articles and blogs (like this one!), and has been installed as part of Vancouver’s Science World exhibition (this info comes from Bleja’s own website).

After you’ve spent some time ogling at the simulation, be sure to scroll down and read all the lovely information included about the website, the environment, the things you can do, and more.

The situation is still within our grasp, but we must act now, we must act strongly, and we must act together. Individuals, companies, and governments across the globe must each do what they can to reverse climate change. We will never get a second chance.

–Breathing Earth

Remember when you were a wee lil’ kid? You used to get these magical sticks of colour that you could use to vandalize your school yard… nah, just jokes, we definitely didn’t vandalize (didn’t, as well as don’t, juuust to clear that up). Anyway, there are some amazing artists out there who have taken it to the next level… one in particular, is Julian Beever.

Since the mid 90s, Julian Beever has been all up on the business of sidewalk chalk art. Wikipedia tells me he is a freelance artist who also creates murals for companies and has worked in 15 countries or so! Some of his works of art are shown below:

Each piece takes around a week to complete, and only last until the first hard rainfall. To me, that seems like an awful amount of work for something that won’t stick around for long… therefore I seriously admire Beever’s passion. =]

Want to see more of Beever’s work? See a video of him in action here, check out his website here, or go straight to a gallery of his sidewalk artwork here!

Images courtesy http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm

I do quite enjoy acronyms, heh. But hey, do you remember WFW? Alice and I’s Warm Fuzzy Websites (short) saga? ; ) Awesome, now keep remembering…does GMH ring a bell? GivesMeHope was the first of four websites we introduced!

Anyways, I have exciting news to pass along. This fall, you can physically hold some of the GivesMeHope stories in your hands.

Mmhmm, that’s right, GMH is releasing a book!!! I am so excited. ♥ It will be published by Ulysses Press some time in late fall of this year.

“GivesMeHope: The 127 Most Inspiring Bite-Sized Stories” is a combination of old favorites from the website and brand new, never-before-seen stories – all told artfully through the use of powerful, full-color imagery.”

Curious about this imagery? Check out some samples of them on the photos tab on their Facebook page.

Want something more interesting? You can get printed! If you write on their wall the name of the person who gives you hope, they will print your name along with their name in the book!

But just to make it clear, you’re asked to limit the name to 20 characters. Both your partial names (first name and first letter of last name, if included) will be printed. =]

Now what are you waiting for? Go and let the world know who deserves some recognition! =]

Yes, I kid you not, I like Robert Frost so much that I actually do have an entire page in my book filled with quotes from him… so here is an entire blog dedicated to those quotes. I’ve heard that he seemed to be a bit of a jerk while he was alive, however, I’m not entirely sure I can blame him for that, as his life was rather tragedy-ridden.

You may have seen some of these before since two of the quotes below are actually from two of his poems that we’ve featured on YAA: The Road Not Taken and Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I also like Frost’s poems. Maybe I like his work so much because we share the same birth month and date… nah, just jokes, I actually do really like his work. =] And just throwing this out there in case any of you decide to look his work up, I also love After Apple Picking, Birches, and Dust of Snow, in addition to the two previously mentioned, heh.

I quite like these quotes. Maybe it’s just me, but I like the humour I’m sensing from them. You also might see some of these quotes again under other categories I have planned. But enough rambling, I’ll get to them:

A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.

Freedom lies in being bold.

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.

The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.

The best way out is always through.

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.

Cheers, more quotes are on their way. ; )

I’ve been keeping a book of quotes for quite some time now…which means I’m next to always on the lookout for more quotes to add. They’re not particularly categorized in my book like I will be categorizing them here (and in my future posts), but I thought I’d share some of the ones I quite like here with everyone. These quotes below are on the topic of friends and friendship…since we’re all most likely catching up with friends or making new friends and whatnot over the summer. =]

“What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”
–Aristotle

“A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway.”
–Fr. Jerome Cummings

“Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
–Albert Camus

“Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.”
–Joseph Addison

“Your friends will know you better in the first minute you meet than your acquaintances will know you in a thousand years.”
–Richard Bach

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”
–G. Randolf

“Go oft to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.”
–Grace Pulpit

“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”
–Unknown

“Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.”
–Cindy Lew

And one more, just for kicks… ; )

“The best vitamin for making friends? B-1.”
–Unknown

Feel free to add more or share your favourite one! Cheers. =]

“Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.
Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense,
and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.”

No, I’m not talking literally. =] I’m talking about my new phone…the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10! ♥

Remember back in April when I blogged about phones? Well, this post is basically my follow up to that one. I finally picked between the two phones I was considering (the Yari and the X10) and got the X10 near the end of May. Yes, I did get it in white, like I said I would. =]

Unfortunately, I’ve actually already gotten the screen protector replaced and dropped it once, which scratched the corners of it. Oops. I guess that says something about the durability/sturdiness of the phone…but I did drop it onto rough pavement rather than smooth floors and the phone itself actually comes with its own screen protector (hence why the added layer comes off easier than it should). However, the one that comes with the phone is hard to remove and so it would be next to impossible to change if it got scratched up. If you’re really particular about your phone like I am, definitely go and get the extra screen protector.

Since I am so particular about my phone, you can tell I’m one of those people who get that twitchy feeling if there are fingerprint smudges on it—which is bound to happen with a touchscreen phone. So you’re probably wondering why on earth I got one with such a huge touchscreen phone…(it’s 4.0 inches, to be exact)…but I’ll tell you why by doing something similar with this phone like I did with the S500i and the K350, and tell you about it’s functions and whatnot.

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We all have those songs that we love to listen to…those songs that just get us going when we need that extra push. Whether you like the lyrics, the beat, or the music, something about the song just lifts you up.

For me, this song is currently The Sky’s The Limit. Can you guess the artist? His three singles are Whatcha Say, In My Head, and Ridin’ Solo………yeah, it’s Jason Derülo!

I found this song quite recently…actually, it was just last week, when I was coming home on the plane from Vancouver. With nothing else to do, I checked out what music Air Canada currently had for their in-flight entertainment system. I found Derülo’s album and this song definitely immediately caught my attention.

I’m not entirely sure what about this song pumps me up. It’s got a standard beat and okay lyrics, but something about it makes it a ‘happy’ song for me. Check it out!

(If you’re looking for more songs by Jason Derülo…

I also enjoy Fallen and Encore. =])

I’m sure that most of us have had to write English or Social Studies papers this past week…and because of that fact, I was reminded of an article I read a while ago about spelling.

“English spelling “truely atrosious”, says academic“

This article basically highlights how…unique (to put it nicely) the English language is. Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy English…but I do have to agree that the rules on spelling can be a little ridiculous at times.

Writer George Bernard Shaw was fond of pointing out that the word “ghoti” could just as well be pronounced “fish” if you followed common pronunciation: ‘gh’ as in “tough”, ‘o’ as in “women” and ‘ti’ as in “nation”.

In a nutshell, one side can argue that it’s okay to accept change, that society tends to be ruled by majority anyways. But then on the other hand, if there is leniency on different ways of spelling the same word (not taking into account Canadian, American, or British spellings), then how do we know where we stop accepting the endless ways? Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

I stumbled across the other day… and for some reason it really stuck with me. It is a painting done by Andre Jordan, titled Extraordinary Mind.

If this catches your interest, you can check out the rest of his work on his website. I actually own his book, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, although I’m not sure why…I think I bought it on a whim a while back. =]

This painting/quote is simple and to the point…do you find it meaningful?

So as you may have noticed (or may not have noticed if you happen to be out of touch with the world), Calgary is currently experiencing some…fantastic weather! Don’t get me wrong, I actually quite like the rain. I mean, what’s not to like? The rain…

…creates that damp earth smell (mmm, mother nature)…

…leaves behind a sense of freshness (and wetness too I suppose)…

…cleans cars brilliantly (assuming it’s clean, heavy rain)…

…waters all the trees, flowers, plants, lawns, and gardens (so you don’t have to)…

…cools the hottest of days (not that we get many of those in Calgary)…

…and creates beautiful rainbows (maybe you’ll find a pot of gold!).

Then again, on the other hand, I suppose the rain rules out all the outdoor activities you could have been doing…or does it? If you can brave the cold, rain, and/or wind (and you don’t mind the possibility of catching a cold or a fever), then…

…go out for a walk; with your trusty umbrella and waterproof clothing if you wish to stay dry…

…or simply put, go play outside; you can never be too old to get all muddy!

And if being out in the cold, wet rain isn’t your thing, there are still a ton of indoor activities you can do on a rainy day. You can…

…play some board/card/video games (we all know that Monopoly is a never ending game!)…

…catch up on some reading (either for school or for your own enjoyment)…

…do some chores (clean your room, do laundry, etc…yes, I know, eww, chores)…

…go shopping (if you don’t mind crowds and wet, muddy floors)…

…sleep the day away (maybe rain makes you drowsy? )…

…finish all your homework (hey, you don’t have that much else you can do)…

…do some baking (and make your home smell amazing)…

…watch TV or movies (let that overworked brain laze around for a bit)…

…or pursue your own hobbies/leisure activities (spend some time on yourself!).

See, there are a variety of things that can be done on a rainy day. I suppose, if worse comes to worst, you can always go earthworm watching. Fascinating stuff actually; I have my own theory wondering if some earthworms are suicidal… But anyways, don’t let the weather bog you down! There’s lots to keep you preoccupied while it’s pouring…although this spell of rain will come and go like every other type of weather we receive in Calgary pretty soon. Cheers! =]

You know the one I’m talking about… Those black, beady eyes? That brown, fuzzy body? Those sharp, white teeth? That big, bright red mouth? I’m sure you’ve all seen him before…but you probably didn’t know his name. Here’s a photo to jog your memory:

But don’t be scared off by his angry looking mouth, he’s actually a very gentle creature! His name is Domo (pronounced like dough-moe) and he loves Japanese-style meat and potato stew. However, he hates apples though. Why? Nobody really knows–apparently it’s just part of his DNA. He’s described as a strange creature that hatched from an egg with a large, sawtoothed mouth that is locked wide open. Something funky about him? He passes gas when he’s nervous or upset! Anyways, as far as I know, he loves watching TV and he lives in a cave with an elderly rabbit and two bats…I know I sound crazy, but please cut me some slack and let the video below explain everything!

The video is a tad long, but it compiles a bunch of Domo’s stop motion animated episodes into one…it’s also subtitled for those of us who don’t speak Japanese!

Did you know that Domo is actually the mascot for a Japanese TV station? I think that TV station must be pretty awesome to have such a baller mascot like Domo. Now, for those of you who are major Domo fans, I hope you know that Domo shirts and Domo hats exist, in addition to Domo as a stuffie. I think I’m going to have to be on the look out for those items!

Anyways, yeah, as you may or may not have guessed, I’ve been obsessing over Domo a lot recently since my friend has the most huggable stuffie of him ever. Honestly, I jack it from his car every time I can. There is something oddly comforting about hugging Domo that I really can’t explain…maybe checking out Domo’s website will help you to learn to love this little guy? Cheers! =]

Personally, I say bay-gul. I don’t know many people who actually say bah-gul…if any at all! But however you say it doesn’t really matter. At The Great Canadian Bagel, a bay-gul or a bah-gul both taste awesome! =]

There is a TGCB store a block away from my school, but I only started visiting it a few weeks ago, despite having attended this school for the past three years. The place, in my opinion, could use a bit of a makeover, but it had a cozy, old school cafe feel to it. There was an entire wall decorated with autographs from all the people who’ve visited and the walls of the kitchen were the traditional black and white tile pattern. It doesn’t strike me as a place with a particularly amazing atmosphere, but the people there always seem so nice and so willing to help.

TGCB has a wide variety of flavours, of for both the bagel and cream cheese. There are normal cream cheese flavours, such as garlic and herb, vegetable, and original (duh). And then not so normal ones, such as chocolate chip, cinnamon, and strawberry! If you’re a fan of sweets, go for the chocolate chip bagel with chocolate cream cheese. My friend reccommends it immensely…from what I remember though, it was the weirdest thing ever to taste something sweet when you expected something salty.

The bagel I tried the other day was a jalapeno cheddar bagel with spinach and feta cream cheese. My verdict? AMAZING. Love love loveeeeee. ♥ I’ve also had bites of bagels with garlic and herb cream cheese. If you happen to love garlic bread, I definitely reccommend the garlic and herb cream cheese. The taste of garlic is so strong that you’ll probably never have to worry about warding off vampiers ever again…not that it’s a bad thing, as garlic tastes pretty good.

In addition to just selling bagels, they also serve breakfast foods for the entire day and this pretty cool drink called Fuze. I had a sip of my friend’s Peach Mango Fuze…it was pretty amazing, if you love fruit, you have got to try it. Did you know that there are only two TGCB stores in Calgary?! I find that rather shocking. One of them is located 248-4820 Northland Dr. NW (by my school) and the other is at 1919 4th Street SW.

Have you heard about the I Love Science Video Contest?

The Perimeter Institute (for Theoretical Sciences) is hosting this video contest to reach out to youth in Canadian high schools who are passionate about science. All you need to do is make a video that’s 30 seconds long (or shorter!) about why you love science. The prize for this contest? An all expenses paid round-trip to Hawking at the Perimeter on June 20, 2010!

Please note, only youth in grades 9 – 12, who are also between the ages of 14 – 19, and are enrolled full-time in a Canadian public, private or home school are allowed to participate. Students must also be Canadian citizens or legal residents living in Canada. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

And for those of you wondering, the Perimeter Institute is an independent research institute devoted to theoretical physics that is located in Waterloo, Ontario. Stephen Hawking is a famous British theoretical physicist who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is a form of motor neuron disease that causes the gradual degeneration of motor neurons.

Apparently, the Physics 30 students of Sir Winston Churchill had the choice of completing a lab (to do with marshmallows) or submit a video for this contest. So far, my friend and I have located 12 videos from the students of Churchill! I guess this is proof that the video isn’t a lot of work ; ). Feel free to check them out below:

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