A nice moment...

A nice moment in Toronto winter 2013. I'm glad it's over though.

damn selfies

It doesn't matter to me whether someone only Instagrams the enhanced and made up photos of themselves. It doesn't matter if their selfies are only taken from a certain angle with very specific lighting. It doesn't matter if they decide to cover or cut out a part of their face.

I only hope that they can be content with what they actually look like without the filters, angles, lights; that they are still confident in who they are without the strategic and practiced cuts, makeup, or expressions.

I personally like to post a mix of made up photos and the silly ones. To the curious viewer it may be shocking or they might feel as though they've been deceived, but that's how I try to bring that reality of who I am on the internet.

Sometimes I like making stories from the gifs I've collected over my years in the internet.

True story

I was sitting in the new QNC building, listening to my music and looking out the big wall sized window:

When I noticed the a cute girl outside staring at me.

At first I didn't know what to do:

But I put on my smoothest and coolest look and checked if she was still staring:

She was and she was playing with her hair. My brain was like:

I smiled and waved all excited-like:

My friend stared at where I was staring and asked "what are you grinning about?":

But then the cute girl just walked away:

How could she do this to me:

I went back to studying and eventually went outside:

The whole wall of "windows" I was looking through was a one-way mirror:

MY DESKTOP WALLPAPER NOW - Marc Johns

This guy is great. Love his drawings, love his perspective of the world.

vim and vigour - marc johns

It's perfect in my period of need for motivation.

J is on hiatus

My name is J
I would like to say
I'm back today
Like Morgan leFey

The title and the message contradict each other. Like a dirty germaphobe or a sad person in a helicopter hat. It's a paradox

FOOD DIARY?!

I'm starting a food diary. I've visibly gained weight over the first semester (at least in my eyes) and I don't feel good about it, so I'm going to try to watch what I eat.

I've been reading The 4-Hour Chef that I got for Christmas, and although the slow-carb diet sounds interesting, it's impossible to do it when I am a student living with my parents. What I can still do is cut down on the carbs because I know I'm definitely addicted to breads and pastas, but that's not enough for me at this point.

Yesterday I came across a video by Jenn from clothesencounters (of course on YouTube) where she talked about her diet plan from the last year. She mentioned the same carb addiction problem, and how cutting down on it helps, but she also talked about an app called The Eatery. It's an app where you take pictures of what you're eating, and it's connected to a network where other people have rated similar foods on how healthy it is, etc. It's a good way to track what you're putting in your mouth because you actually get to see what you're eating, and it's super fast to do.

The only problem is, it's a damn iPhone app. I'm Team Android. *silent tears*

I suddenly remembered hearing a talk about a similar app when I attended the Design Our Tomorrow conference at the University of Toronto back in 2011. However, it turned out that the talk was by a cofounder at Massive Health, creator of The Eatery app. *somewhat audible sobs*

I really wanted an app like The Eatery because I know that I can't keep written diaries for these kinds of things. I've tried multiple times in the past and couldn't go for more than a week. Plus, I'm visual.

I still looked on Google Play for a similar app, but there isn't any such thing. However, I did find Moment Diary, a Japanese app that needs a lot of help in translation. It's alright though, because now it's really based on icons... like tumblr!

Moment Diary is just a great app to take down whatever you want in that moment. It timestamps all of the posts you make, and you can take pictures directly from the app or add old photos from your gallery. Although it's not connected to a network where you can see other people's ratings and reviews for the dishes you upload, it's still good for personal reasons to see what you've consumed in a given period of time.

It's all I got so I'm giving it a shot. I found that seeing the food gives me more of a guilt trip to stop me from eating more food, but it's only been three days so I'm going to have to see about this. FOOD DIARY!!

IS EVERYBODY THINKING THE SAME THING?

From about a month ago I had been thinking about reading.
A couple of days ago I read a blog post by content creator/curator/designer Courtney Mallam about reading.
Then I saw a video by YouTuber Kristina Horner about reading.

The similarity was not just "reading". We were all thinking about how much less we read now compared to our bookwormy days when we preferred to be with books over people. It's not just the books that have disappeared from our lives, it's also the act of reading.

Why? Do you really have to ask? I blame Twitter. Tumblr. Pinterest. YOUTUBE. I browse blogs but I literally only browse. If I saw a post as long as this one I wouldn't be able to read it. It all just zaps our attention span to that of a child. No, less than that of a child. My 8 year old brother is better at reading than I am now.

Upon these kinds of reflections during my winter break I have become determined to read 50 books in the 52 weeks of the 2013 year. However, because I am a student lacking time I allowed myself to count all of the books I would be reading for my English Literature course. And yet still, the only book I have managed to complete is my brother's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I know, shame on me. A kid's book is all I can do?? I KNOW, I'm not trying hard enough.

The best way (says the Internet) to bring back the reading habit is to read for just 15 minutes before bed. This is already a challenge, considering how I've developed this habit over the last couple of months of staying up until I almost pass out at my desk, then crawl off the bed sometimes without having washed my face. It really is pathetic. Really.

I'm trying different things to try to get reading back into my life. I'm getting books in ebook form because there's something about the time spent on my commutes on public transit that makes reading look so appealing. I'm trying to be more conscious of time and manage it better so that I can go to bed with room for a 15-minute read. I'm reminding myself that this feeling of inferiority around people that can so eloquently analyze and articulate their critiques of social issues and media can be fought with becoming a more learned person through reading.

50 in 52. Here we go.