Just Pictures

你開心就夠

On Thursday, there was a little University fair thing... my friends and I are pretty bummed out at the fact that the cut-off marks have gotten so high. I've never had such low business marks before, my initial goal was to take business because it was easy. My mark boosters became a mark killer...

I've been having second thoughts about business... I think arts are more me? :/

Anyways, today I went to the grocery store with my mom and I think I've seen the saddest thing ever... you know those shopping carts "buggies" as some call it? People don't necessary return it to the main place where these carts/buggies are stored. There are people who are hired to gather them and put them back. Anyways, usually, those people are given some kind of machine that helps them push the carts so not a lot of their energy and effort is used to get the carts to move. Given that it is quite a dangerous job with all the cars moving and such plus the cold weather in Canada I think that those cart-pusher things are a must for this job; however, what I saw today was absolutely disgusting... I could not believe what the super market puts their employees through... today, what I saw was a man; a man who worked for the super market, he wasn't young, I'd assume he was around his late 40's... this man had 'ought to be the hardest working person I have ever seen. He was small yet he had to use all his might to pull and tug on about 20 of these carts/buggies (which is extremely hard) because he wasn't given a cart-pusher thing... How the hell is that even ethical I mean I know for a fact that this supermarket did not pay their employees the minimum wage and even if they did people should not have to use that much effort/strength into working to earn less than $9 an hour. I stood there watching this man pull and tug on these carts and almost cried... I mean imagine your father going to work outside in the dark cold weather of Canada and having to use all that effort just to provide food and a warm decent shelter for you.. that is heart breaking. If that was my father I'd honestly rather starve than to see him go through all that pain and struggles. I wish there was some way I can help him so that his job is easier.

I don't understand why people always refer to Africa when talking about starving people or poverty... It's quite obvious that you don't have to go that far to see someone in poverty. Within kilometres you're bound to find someone in poverty in Toronto. Starving people, homeless people, and people like that man I saw. It's a shame that we are not doing anything to try to help these people and I know I'm not doing anything by just blogging about it but certainly people can start to care and get informed about these people.

I just wish there was some way I could help...

Anyways... toodles :/

-Joanne

Green Bathroom

I stole this off of Lush's website but chances are not many people read about this on the website so I am going to post it here:

1 Think About What You Really Need Learn about cosmetics ingredients and their effects. Read product labels. Avoid ingredients that are not beneficial to you or that are harmful to the environment. Ask for samples so you can try a product for a few days to help you make the right choices. The single most eco-friendly thing you can do is avoid collecting half-used bottles of products that weren't right for your needs.

2 Use Solid, Unpackaged Products Choose bar soap instead of shower gel or liquid soap. Use shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo and solid massage bars instead of massage oil. These are all better for the environment as there is little or no packaging. Solid products also contain no water and therefore need no environmentally-damaging preservatives.

3. Check for A Use-By Date No use-by date usually means that the product is heavily preserved. (Read the ingredient label and you'll see...) More preservatives down the drain are bad for the environment.

4 Avoid Disposables Look for personal hygiene products with extended life spans such as toothbrushes and razors with disposable heads. If you only replace the head you are throwing less away.

5 Explore Water Recycling Systems When you have a bath, make the most of it! Take at least 45 minutes out of your schedule to relax and unwind. Even better, share your bath with your partner. When you're finished, try recycling your bath water. You can use it to water your house plants, garden or lawn. Your begonias will thank you.

6 Don't Leave the Tap On When you shave, brush your teeth, or even shower, only turn on the water when absolutely necessary: at the beginning and the end. While you're soaping yourself or when brushing, stop gallons of water rushing down the drain needlessly by turning off the tap.

7 Recycle Your Plastics Most of us are already in the habit of recycling containers like water bottles and milk jugs but we don't always remember that most of our bathroom containers can be recycled too. Just be sure to wash them first. If you don't, they can contaminate the rest of your recycling and end up in a landfill. Plus, for every 5 black LUSh pots you return to you local shop you can pick up a free Fresh face mask!

8 Shop With A Lower Carbon Footprint Whenever you shop for cosmetic products, take your own reusable bag. Buy local products when possible (look at the label, was it made locally or air freighted in from afar?) and avoid buying products with excessive packaging (remember that sometimes the contents cost less than the packaging). Reduce your carbon footprint even more by walking or cycling to the shops. At the very least, take public transportation or carpool.

9 Save Water from going down the Loo Leave a water bottle filled with sand in the back of your toilet tank. This displaces the water so it takes less every time you flush. And remember; if it's yellow, let it mellow. Every flush uses gallons of water, so if you flush every other pee, you'll be saving thousands of gallons of water per year.

10 Use Green cleaning products Using conventional cleaning products in the bathroom exposes you and the environment to hundreds of harmful chemicals. By choosing 'Green' cleaning products, your bathroom comes just as clean, but you won't be inhaling toxins or contributing to environmental problems. When LUSH first started in the U.K, it was one of the few companies to list their ingredients on labels. Though there was no law saying it had to, LUSH was just incredibly proud of their formulations! Now in the U.K, and in North America it is mandatory to quantitatively list ingredients on cosmetics, and we are still very proud to do so.

Toodles,

-Joanne

Vow Of Silence

Today, I made paper out of old papers shreaded up and soaked in water. There was also a little University Convention.. I am still concerned about university applications. Quite interesting...

During the book club discussions, my group and I got off topic and began to analise the different ways people say certain words. Apparently, you can tell who were born and raised in Toronto by the way they pronounce Toronto. Torontorians pronounce it To-ron-no. Au Contraire, I've heard about this before on the radio; however, I was born and raised in Toronto and yet, I pronounce Toronto as To-Ron-To... yes, I articulate my words as it was required for vocals. I do believe that the way of determining true "Torontorians" is quite faulty.

'Tis pass 12, I am supposed to be doing the Vow of Silence but I'm too angry at the fact that no one in my neighbourhood wanted to pledge... I mean I've knocked on doors where young adults had a BMW parked outside, clearly they have some change laying around to donate to help build a school in Sierra Leone... what's even worse is his reply was "My parents aren't home yet"... grow the frick up... you can drive a BMW but can't spare some change for a good cause!? My friend and I decided to pick houses with nice cars parked on their driveway; it seemed like a good idea to do so. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It's disgusting to know that people with so much wealth are so selfish. My area produces the highest amount of income versus other cities; however, we are the least thoughtful people. People in the "poor" places of Toronto donates and contributes to charities way more than people in my area do. What a shame.

I can't even remember what else I wanted to rant about anymore...

I suppose it is time for bed.

Goodnight,

-Joanne

While I Wait...

Good morning everyone. I know I haven't been updating for a while but oh well, I suppose the element of surprise would be better than regular routine updates. Mmmm. I've really been into the Korean culture lately, who else can I blame for this, none other than Charlotte and Jennifer. It is currently Saturday morning and I have a lot on my mind. School, marks, "Ideal image", pretty much it.

School is stressful, I can't seem to figure out why I haven't started to really "try" in school yet. I seem to come home and literally do nothing but eat and watch YouTube videos. I think I've lost interest in accounting before I've even began to take accounting. My marks are horrible, actually no they're not, my average seems low because of Advanced Functions, I think I really do need to find something that can motivate me to try. Don't get me wrong, I do care and do try, I just need a kick to start doing so, that kick is something that I rarely get. I bring my work home and just look at it and say, "Later, later I will do it later FOR SURE", and what do I end up doing instead... not my homework. I am not going to blame anyone/thing for my behaviour and lack of motivation however I must add that I absolutely dislike my first period class for multiple reasons that I can not state here; however, I can verbally say it and not care.

As I am finishing my final year of high school marks are not the only thing I am concerned with. I am concerned about the choices that I will have to make shortly. What school should I go to and how do I know I am making the right choices. I wonder statistically how many people at this point [who are happy and successful] knew for a fact that their choice was right... I supposed they were really lucky. Something else that frustrates me is reputation of schools. Does it really matter? If I went to a prestigious ass school does it make me more superior than someone who didn't? I learned in English that the only reason why those schools are prestigious is only because it has the reputation of a prestigious school; hence, many people apply to schools like that; whereas, schools that aren't well-known have less people applying to it which means that it doesn't really have enough representatives to talk about it to make it as prestigious as other schools. That explains why school that are not well-known are offering full scholarships and whatnot. Does the quality of education have a significant difference from school to school? I suppose I shouldn't be asking these questions here, but I should ask people from these schools that I plan to apply to.

Body image, oh boy. So Prom is probably going to be here in the blink of the eye. This school year was so quick, it seems like each year passes by faster and faster, how can I slow time down so I can enjoy my final year of high school longer? I want to look fantastic for my final year, heck, I want to look fantastic always, I mean, who doesn't!? I guess I am quite self-conscious these days since I've gained a few pounds. I really need to start drinking more water and doing more exercise, besides 30 minutes of exercise a day isn't that time consuming especially since I spend my whole day on YouTube watching videos anyways, might as well do something productive. I wish I could really do yoga leisurely, my stupid brother is always in my room; which causes me to not have enough privacy to do yoga. Ugh.

How stupid is it that my brothers computer is in my room and I can't have privacy in my OWN room anymore?

I am hoping that someone's read the title and wondered why I decided to name this post that, I am waiting for my father and brother to bring home my breakfast... well brunch now.

Swiss Cheese Omelette and home-fries.

I guess I will add a picture of my food to this post later when it arrives...

I find that uploading pictures is quite a tedious process since I do not have the cable thing or an USB adaptor.

Late Night Alumni's new album is released. I must say I did like their old one better but I am not going to complain since this one is still good. Just not as good. I found it quite shocking that when I asked if HMV would have LNA's new album, no one had a clue who they were. They're awesome :/

I think my dad is home, if he isn't then oh well I guess I got tricked, but I will update this later with the picture.

Toodles,

Joanne

Speak of the Devil

So today I checked the mail and got my nail polishes. I placed the order on the 30th of September and got them today, that is some epic fast shipping. As a bonus I also got some New York Times news paper from July LOL.

The colours I got are listed in the post above this one but for those who are lazy I purchased Pamplona Purple, No Spain No Gain and Do You Lilac It? All three are from OPI. The picture below is a comparison of MAC's Love & Friendship from A Rose Romance collection (left/index) and OPI's Do You Lilac It? (right/thumb) I would say that these two colours are quite similar however Love & Friendship is more on the pink side whereas Do You Lilac It? is more on the purple or lilac side. The picture is kinda' horrible so I will try to get a better picture on my camera when the sun is up again. Both of these colours are matte.

The picture below is a comparison of OPI's Pamplona Purple (bottom/thumb) and OPI's No Spain No Gain (top/index). These colours are also pretty similar... No Spain No Gain is more on the red side than Pamplona purple which is more on the purple side. I think that if you were to get these nail polishes, you'd be good getting either one of the two. Honestly, I am hoping it's just my lighting but at the moment I can not tell the difference at first unless I examine the colours closely. Again horrible swatches, but I will try to do a better one. Sorry. Perhaps I should swatch these on blank white paper?

Hope this helped,

-Joanne

Update

Yes those are my parents and I am mighty proud of them, aren't they lovely? :)

Hola people who are following me, so as you guys may know or rather will find out, I am going to try to lose weight, I've already calculated my daily calorie intake, a year ago I lost 10 lbs effortlessly by counting calories and some short yoga sessions. I am going to start as I find that works the best for me and was the most effective way. Today, I have to really start to try in Math. class, I can't fool around anymore it's been a month into school, I've had plenty of time to adapt to school. After I type this I am going to work on my English Semiotics Assignment. There's my goal for the school year, lose weight and do better in school. Actually there's another one, I want to grow my layers out, when I try to curl my hair it looks horrible and flat because my hair is so thinned out. I dislike it. I'd rather have thicker hair so that my hair doesn't get exposed to heat that much and so that it looks better when it's curl. I want to be able to braid my hair while it's damp, wake up the next day and be able to have nice waves in my hair not nasty pubic hair looking waves... for lack of better words. I supposed fried crimped hair would work but I like the first analogy more. :)

My mommy is finally back from visiting her ill mother out of the country. She was gone for a month and I find that her absence had made me realize many things and the fact that I love her and genuinely care about her. I am now trying to be a better daughter and appreciating her. I do believe I am doing a very good job at it :) EEEEEEE I'm just so happy she's back.

For those who don't know, here are some of the things that I have ordered online and will get soon:

144 Palette

Acrylic Nail Kit

White French Tip Nails

Fimo Canes

Mini Bows (for nails)

OPI Espana: Pamplona Purple

OPI Espana: No Spain No Gain

OPI _____: Do You Lilac It? (I fear that this will be too similar to my MAC Love & Friendship (Cream)Nail Lacquer from MAC's A Rose Romance collection)

Apple iPhone earphones with Mic (I ordered 3 at once since I know I will be losing them easily and because Apple earphones are such horrible quality they will break on me however I am left with very limited choices since I have an iPhone 2G)

Things I want:

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

OPI Done Out In Deco

Over the Knee Boots

Lomography Diana Deluxe Package (If anyone has relatives in the states please tell me thank you)

Recently, I've really gotten into nail stuff. :| I think I kinda' made a bad choice when I ordered the Fimo Canes, I mean how often would I have the time to sit and do my nails especially since I am in my senior year of school. I am also thinking about getting the 28 neutral palette and the 88 shimmer, I am going to wait to see if the 120 palette in the 144 palette has a lot of shimmers in it, if there is then it'd clearly make no sense that I am going to order an 88 shimmer palette.

I will hopefully do a review on the stuff that I have ordered. I also need to do a haul entry or video from last month.... laziness :)

Well off to homework I go, toodles

-Joanne