Look around...

People, in varying degrees, absorb and are affected by their social environments.  Therefore, seek the company of those who want to see you become a better you. Seek out those who you can learn from, those who possess values and habits which you yourself would like to possess. Surround yourself with good people, genuine people, and honest people... And always endeavor to be all of these things to those you encounter:  life shrinks and expands in proportion... xo

*note: the quote in the picture is by William Gibson
*note: Anais Nin. Her original quote is "Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one's courage"

And how!

And how!

DJ Colour Wolf - click here to go to his Soundcloud page

Shana blasting off into OUTER SPACE!!

F is for Friends who do stuff together!
U is for You and me!
N is for Anywhere and anytime at all,
Down here in the deep blue sea!

Spongebob Squarepants - F.U.N.



After much tequila consumption, we paraded our way over to the next locale:

Super Mario Parade in Brazil



Then things just got great. Here is a photo of Kayt, Shana, and I singing in the kitchen.

We're starting a band. It was decided.

When Andy McP has had some hard alcohol, she consistently ends up at a 7-11 or Family Mart in search of "treats". "Treats" may be defined as the following: chips, chocolate, ice cream, peanuts, garlic broad beans, tuna rice triangles, vegetable fried rice, pudding flavored Hi Chews, almonds, and sweet potatoes.

And how!!

Thanks Mulder and Scully!

Then I spied a comfy comforter and fell asleep, to delightful dreams:

Friends With You - Dance For Joy



The best kinds of parties: Ones where you meet awesome people, make new friends, sing in kitchens, fall asleep, wake up, and you're still there and they're still going...

Confusion = Laughter

Today started off with an earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.9! I was awake in my bed reading about Shintoism and all of a sudden my bed started to shake like it was possessed. 

Was I dreaming? How much tequila DID I drink last night? 

So I did what I always do when I want to check on current events: I went on Facebook and watched the status updates. Sure enough, it was an earthquake.

What was next on this epic day of adventure?

My house-guest extraordinaire and I took a really long time assembling ourselves. First we had to do some super-charged cleaning. You see, last night we threw open the doors of my small closet in search of the most epic outfits possible on my limited wardrobe. We made a mess. What did we come up with?

May we present to you, King Tut Tiger and Scout Leader.

This gorgeous girl was my inspiration. I wanted to bring a mug with me too.

Here are some cleaning songs from this afternoon:

Lawrence Welk - Calcutta

The Muppet Show - Mahna Mahna

Manu Chao - Bongo Bong

Result? My apartment is SPARKLING!

Joseph is a friend from Canada. We attended the most amazing arts high-school together. 

We are both very creative and like to laugh a lot. 

We have started taking notes about our adventures and our shared opinions. Some of them are as follows:

Beards = hot

Sweatpants = hot!

Lumberjacks = hot!

Is your beard biblical? Does it have snow in it? = POUNCE!

Morning workouts = good

Garlic broad beans are good (and bad!)

Fried mushrooms are the bomb.

All the songs from Juno are great:

Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want Is You

NO DRAMAAAAAAA!!!

We have rainbow fans!

As the apartment became more and more organized I took notice of the suicidal poinsettia plant lurking near my front door. It was time for that dead plant to get the f*ck out of my apartment. So Joseph let it ride in the elevator for a while.

We laughed for about 10 minutes straight and then decided it would be funnier if it had eyes.

So Joseph made eyes for it.

And now it welcomes our neighbors in the hallway:

After laughing like hyenas we finally made it to Tiger City to watch a movie. I have heard so much about the Gold Class theater: they have comfy lazy-boy type chairs, and they serve you food, and give you blankets! So we went there and got confused about what was playing and when. Nothing was posted very clearly. The only thing we had to go on was a printed list with the names of the films and the showtimes. CONFUSING! I can't read Chinese so we blindly chose a movie called "This Means War". It said "Romantic Comedy" and we really don't like romcoms, but we just went with it. 

Looking for the ATM was an adventure. It didn't make sense that the ATMs were complicated to get to, and  located in the B2 level of the mall. CONFUSING!! And it didn't make sense that a gangster was using the English interface to cheat me. SO CONFUSED!! BUT SO FUNNY!!

The more confused we became the more funny everything was. 

We decided that confusing + confusing + confusing = hilarity.

We finally made it back up to the top floor and wandered around in a store with crazy stuff. After laughing at a million things I found these funny little dolls. They said "Honey Shake: serving you in a very tender way" on them. I couldn't figure out if they were filled with sweet stuff or what. CONFUSING! but then I realized they were vibrators! I bought this hilarious little cowboy guy. Hilarious!!

On our way to the Gold Class theater we got lost again. Confusedly we found the elevators, but they were taking so long to come. More confusion = hilariousness.

Then, we made it! Sort of. The entrance area looked like a cafe. Our movie started in 5 minutes, and the hostess was asked us to sit down at a small table and gave us a menu! CONFUSING! We picked out drinks and popcorn and went with it, while laughing and being completely confused of course. 

(By this time the word "confused" should be replaced by "bewildered".)

In the end, we made it to this incredible cushy theater. 

We were offered blankets, and reclined in pillowy Lazyboy chairs.

The trailers started to run. There are a lot of cool movies coming out soon. One of them seemed to have Tom Hardy in it. "I LOVE Tom Hardy!", I said to Joseph. I proceeded to oogle Tom Hardy on screen. Then I realized that the movie had started and it featured Tom Hardy. Most excellent! Hooray for today!

We agree. Tom Hardy is exceptionally hot.

The movie was quite good and we laughed a lot. Maybe it was because the movie was really funny, or maybe we were already on a roll. There were explosions and nice outfits and spectacular romantic scenarios. 

Tom Hardy was being his sexy delicious self. Glad I bought that cowboy! 

This Means War Trailer

The weather is FREEZING and we had to drive back on the scoot. Luckily, I had my panda costume in the trunk so Joseph wore it for the ride back, to the amusement and confusion of fellow motorists.

When we got back in we Googled Tom Hardy and now know that he is going to be in the next Batman movie. EXCITING! I don't have many celebrity crushes, probably because a lot of my attraction is based on attitude and personality, but Tom Hardy has the attitude + looks combo.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

So all in all, a really funny day. At this rate I will have deep crow's feet by the end of the week. 

What fun adventures lie in store for tomorrow? 

Thursday-Day for the Parrot

Waking up. Don't want to get out of bed. Dreaming of snow adventures.

Then I'm awake! Cart wheels! Coffee! Sweet Potato!

Let's get pumped for the day!
I agree with everything she says: My whole house is great, I like my school, 
I like my hair, I like my pyjamas, 
I like my whole HOUSE!!

On my way to work, on the Scoot, sunshine, strawberry helmet... Driving at the speed of ostrich!

Listening to bouncy music:

Said The Whale - The Light Is You

WORK!

This clip reminded me of teaching Culinary Arts class! YEAH! 

Next week we are making green onion pancakes - (cong you bing -  蔥油餅 )

Kids are funny.

Here's Teacher Andy's graphic organizer for our All About Me books. These are examples of various sentence patterns: I like, I love, My favorite, etc.

I made this poster for our classroom. (There are two posters but the other pic came out blurry).

Science is important:

Driving home now, time for more music!

Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane (Stern* Disco Remix)



I come home and look in the fridge for food.

All my food is alive, so I go out for food with Josie.

Then it's bed time, walking home through the Forest of Illusion:

That was weird, so I read about kittens.

I lay my head down on my nice soft downy pillows, and wrap myself in my comfy comforter, in my wonderfully soft bed which feels like sleeping in a warm buttered croissant...

And then, as soon as I start dreaming about tea time with Andy Samberg I hear buzzzzzzzzz!!! And I know that it's time to play hide-and-go-seek with a mosquito.
ELUSIVE  F*CKER!

Taking Notes

{My grandparent's backyard}

How I love the internet. How I love discovering through it. 

I am constantly reminded  that this world is amazing 

and that there's so much being done to fight against the problems we face as a planet.  

Please take the hour to watch this documentary. It's fantastic, and very inspiring.

Let me tell you, I was taking notes.

Natural World: A Farm For The Future

{These are all pictures from the little garden I had in my grand-parent's backyard.  I grew lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and all kinds of herbs. The romaine lettuce grew almost 4 feet high!}

{My grand-mother planted these for me, she knows I love daisies.}

Everything I am discovering right now is making my goal clearer and reinforcing it's possibility. Later this week I will be posting more about permaculture, farming, and sustainability.


"When you want something, 
all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it"
- Paolo Coelho -

SEDUCTION

Ok guys, I buckled.

I tried to take a vow of plastic celibacy, but last night these shoes 

were chillin near the googly eyes 

and they used their combined seductive powers to entice me to make these:

They're SO RAD!!!

Especially when you have them all together, the TRIFORCE power of hat/shades/sneaks:

My mind is boggled and torn. I absolutely LOVE the whole creative process of making stuff like this. Actually, scratch that, more than love: I GET OFF ON the whole creative process. How do I continue this path without supporting industries that harm our Earth? Like, I'm not trying to be an a$$hole and shove these issues in everyone's face, but it is something that we need to think about and make efforts to change. And since I've always been an advocate of ethical consumption and living self-sufficiently it would make absolutely no sense for me to construct my business without considering the impact it would have in ripple-effect. 

As I continue to battle this problem, I will keep on with my other projects and hopefully find a way to consolidate these seemingly opposing matters.

This video completely encapsulates my perspective. 

(I'm very wordy today, aren't I?  Must be lack of sleep.)

Back to the Start - ad for Mexican food chain Chipotle (food with integrity)

"Questions of science, science and progress 

don't speak as loud as my heart"

Massive Goal Shift

 
I bought clear-lens nerd glasses at the night market.

Then I bought a glue gun. 

And a pair of purple shutter shades.

Gess loves unicorns, so I made her unicorn sunglasses. 

And I made googly eye glasses for me:

Then I "google-i-fied" this hat and I bought black patent sneaks for future
"google-i-fi-cation":

I bought pink plush shoes with a teddy bear head on them at the night market,
(a Jeremy Scott inspired design, click here to see the originals)
and I painted a cap pink:

I got my trusty glue gun and away I went!

BAM!!!

 Here's the part about the Massive Goal Shift:

     I came to Taiwan with many goals. Starting my own small clothing label was one of them. Prior to leaving I photo-documented my scrapbooks and journals, carrying my many ideas across the sea. And when I started making all of these prototypes I was having a blasty-blast. I was drawing and designing and planning and getting everything ready for lift-off.

     I love creating things and I get HIGH when I’m making stuff. I love freaking out on inspiration in a craft store or a thrift store or a night market. Then I put on some tunes or a documentary and go, and I end up with some crazy $hit. And then planning the photoshoot for the thing? MAN. I love it. Any creative person who has worked with me before knows how I get when I’m in this mode. My brain just blooms.

     As soon as the ball was rolling on this clothing project a thought slowly embedded itself into me. It wasn’t a new thought, but it reemerged from my subconscious and caused me to reevaluate my plan. Through the manufacture of these products, as cool and limitless the ideas are, and as much appeal as they would have, I would be supporting the manufacture of materials that harm our Earth and I would be turning a blind eye to the environmental problems that humanity is facing today. And it sucks. I wish that it didn’t have to be this way, and I wish that plastics weren't so harmful, and I wish that all fabrics and dyes came from ethical sources. But I can’t ignore it.

     I found that my move to Taiwan pulled me far away from the “materialistic desperation” that surrounded me in Toronto, and I’ve been able to thrive as opposed to survive. I’ve slowly reconnected to every dream I had when I was younger because I now see viable ways of making these dreams REAL. My bucket list keeps getting check marks on it, and so many of these little buckets are getting done, one by one. But I am aiming for the big bucket. That big glorious dream and I have a plan and a way. I just had to shift my focus.

     My scrapbooks and journals are filled with a multitude of other things, so I’m going for them. We talked about leading by example, and living in a way that inspires others to do the same, so I’ve geared up and restructured my plan. Same big bucket, new way to get there.

Happy Birthday - *one box of tissue down*

   Today would have been my Opa's birthday. Back in Canada my family is at Swiss Chalet celebrating his memory and eating delicious french fries with that amazing spicy gravy they have. I miss Swiss Chalet, and I miss my family, and I miss my Opa. 

   His picture is the only one I have up in my bare apartment, right in the middle of my living room wall. My Mom hid it in my luggage and I found it when I was unpacking last August. Today I re-read some of my previous posts about him, and I still can't listen to "You Are My Sunshine" without crying.. That song is really sacred when it comes to him. We'd sing it together and I'd do the harmony. It doesn't help that the lyrics are about loss.

   I thank him for so many things; Snow forts in the winter, and showing me how to garden, teaching me to skate and boat and clean a fish, playing hide and go seek with me, driving me to piano/girl guides/swimming/art lessons, roasting marshmallows on rainy days in the fireplace...

Those are blessed childhood memories. I am so fortunate and so lucky to have had him there with me when I was growing up. I was the first grand-child born so I got to spend a lot of time with him one-on-one.

    I have simple and wonderful memories of his maroon flannel shirts, his safari gardening hat, his love of old cowboy songs, and how he wrote down "Dragon" as a Christmas word for Christmas bingo (a tradition carried on every Christmas now).

   He was an exceptional person and has truly set the bar so high for all of my social relationships. 

Maybe this is why I expect so much from myself and from the people around me...

   By simply being an example, he showed me how to be a good listener, and a patient friend. By being a good husband he showed me how two people can work together with loyalty and honesty, and make a great relationship happen. He showed me how to be generous; in spirit, in heart, and in help. He was a calm and simple man who loved fully, and I thank him for teaching me to love. I endeavor to follow in his spirit in what ever I do; in my work, in my friendships, in my goals, in everything.

   I don't know what happens after you die. Maybe we just unravel into the collective energy and flow atomically into everything. But I would like to think that an element of our consciousness still remains, and that a thread of his is with me always.

In your memory, Happy Birthday Opa. 

Here are some songs that you loved:

Connie Francis - Tennessee Waltz 

Woody Guthrie - Red River Valley

Jimmy Wakely & the Sunshine Girls - You Are My Sunshine

Dear 2011, Thank You...

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.

New Year's Eve is not my favorite holiday... We attach too much importance to the countdown, and who is with us, and where we are, and it just feels like a holiday saturated in superstition and anxiety. This measure of time is passing and another measure of time is to come, and I don't really feel the same emotions that other people do about December 31st.
It's another day for me.
I feel like it's taken too seriously. We take TIME too seriously. We take our numerical age too seriously. We become too structured by the hour on the clock. And although this structure is useful and necessary to maintain global regularity, I feel that it has come to govern too much of our mental space.

What are you going to change? What are you going to do differently, now that the seconds are ticking and we sense time slipping by? Meanwhile I think that changes and choices about our lives should be made all the time, not just at the end of the year.
Like, has anyone else experienced a kind of simmering panic at the New Year's countdown?
A sadness? A nostalgia? A wave of excitement stepping into a newborn January?
I used to, and now I don't care. I'd be cool sitting on a beach and letting that moment pass by without even realizing it.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

That being said, I will recognize the end of the calendar year, and I will go out and party my face off and run around with incredible people under the open sky.
And using December 31st as a marking point I'll look back on 2011 and share what I know.

In contrast to 2010, this year has been an absolute storm.
Now, erase that dark image of thunder and destruction, and imagine the chaotic awe of an interstellar cloud of dust - many good things and many bad things and many neutral things occurring quickly and slowly and some not occurring at all.
My life was filled with a multitude of changes that led me to the other side of the globe.
Once uprooted, now grounded.

It was a year of great spiritual advances and retreats.
I had found myself, lost myself, and found myself once more.
I became younger and older and now feel ageless.
There were times when I was so happy I felt like I didn't know what to with myself.
Then there were times when I watched my spirit disappear until I could no longer recognize myself.
It was like my saying "Burn to be Reborn", but it was happening at such a fast pace that the burning and rebirth blurred into a dizzying and exhausting thrill ride. And with that momentum, like a comet, I've been catapulted and liberated. Through it all I collected knowledge and wisdom.

2011, thank you.

There are no "New Year's Resolutions".
For me, the resolutions that work are the small daily ones, the baby-steps that lead to habits and patterns and a lifestyle fueled by growth.

Things are always looking or going up even if they don't seem that way at the time. 

And I know this is what it will be like for you.
   

To infinity and beyond, Andy


.

Time to think of decor!

So, it's happened!

I am moving into my new apartment this week!

Besides being super happy and relieved, my mind is turning with thoughts of interior decoration.

And really, it's mostly fantasy, because my paychecks will be eaten up by un-fantastical but necessary items like cleaning supplies and tupperware.

I've saved a lot of pictures of "home ideas" while traveling the interweb and 

the first aesthetic I look to is very bright and clean, natural fibers, and aged, painted wood, 

old books, vintage items, and colorful splashes (especially red and light blue).

(image source unknown)

(image source unknown)

(image via iwishihadanocean)

(image via januarymidnight)

(image found here)

(image found here)

(image found on pinterst)

(image source unknown)

(image via ffffound)

(image found here)

(image found here)

(image via stylizimo)

(image via unidentifiedlifestyle)

(image via sharptongue)

(image via myblackbook)

And since the holidays are coming up soon I think of green boughs and gold twinkling lights...

(image source unknown)

(image via charandthecity)

(image via charandthecity)

(image via peacefullydoesit)