StreamSend Marketing - A Review

StreamSend is a website that is dedicated to helping users create and distribute mass, quality-looking e-mails. The main audience for StreamSend consists of business owners and/or event planners who have a mailing list or a substantial clientele. StreamSend offers services such as e-mail templates (ready-made and custom made), management tools to care for subscribers and clientele lists, and analytics tools for marketing management. The website also offers services to users to audit the quality of e-mails that are sent to subscribers and groups.

Click the link below to learn more.

From: StreamSend Email Marketing: Review & Coupon Code

How Sex can Affect Your Relationship

Sex in a relationship is about more than just some fun bumping in the night. Many people don’t realize just how much sex can affect their relationships. With media projections and social pressures all around us, it’s hard to separate the facts from widely accepted beliefs.
Let’s take, for example, young people in their teens. Teenage boys are often of the opinion that the more sex and the more partners the better. Multiple partners make these boys “cooler” or more manly, because that is what the peer pressure is all about. Women tend to be the exact opposite... From: How Sex Can Affect Your Relationship

Become a Big Brother/Sister!

Volunteering to be a Big Brother/Sister is not as easy as it’s made out to be on television or in books. Someone who is interested in becoming a mentor cannot simply walk into the agency and say, “I want a kid.” It just doesn’t work that way. The Big Brother/Big Sister agency is responsible for matching a mentor with a child in a safe and controlled manner. Unfortunately, the process is rather long and discourages a lot of prospective volunteers from getting involved.

Here is some information about the first steps of becoming a Big Brother/Big Sister:

1. The ... From: Volunteering to Be a Big Brother or Big Sister - Part I

How to Help Fight Human Trafficking

Most people who have heard about human trafficking have heard most about sex slaves, and while awareness of that one aspect of trafficking is important, more people need to realize that human trafficking extends past the sex industry. Human trafficking includes slave labour, the selling of people to pay off debts, the use of people to maintain compliance amongst other trafficked individuals, et cetera. In short, human trafficking is the purchasing, selling, and using of people to perform tasks without proper pay or recognition. Human trafficking is a monstrous industry that is estimated at ear... From: How to Help Fight Human Trafficking

Five Points of Unusual Advice

While these points of advice may come across as silly and ridiculous, do not be fooled into thinking that the advice is worthless. Each point on this list has come from real-life experiences, and you just never know if you, too, will one day be faced with these tales of horror.
1. Do Not Make Bread in Small Spaces
Already, I can see the looks of confusion as this one, very small point gets read. Bread in small spaces? Oh yes. Please, allow me to explain this awesome piece of advice. Bread is a wonderful substance and smells absolutely delicious as it bakes, but unless a person has made brea... From: Five Points of Unusual Advice That You Just Wouldn't Think About

Fable II

Anyone who has ever played the first ‘Fable’ game knows how much fun it can be to choose between being good and evil. It can be exciting to have all of the villagers be terrified of you, or to admire you for being so virtuous. Whether the player chose to be a sappy do-gooder or a demon in training, there was a fun and innovative storyline to follow each moral decision.

‘Fable II’ follows the same principals of the original ‘Fable’, except ‘Fable II’ has so much more to offer. Not only is the world (and game overall) bigger, but there are mo... From: Reasons Why You Should Play Fable II

Before I Fall - A Book Review

There are so few books that can leave the reader feeling a profound sense of sadness and realism, yet also give feelings of hope and acceptance at the same time. Few books can really drag a person back to childhood, back to high school, while giving a realistic glimpse of life and the circumstances that so many people face daily. The intense sensations granted by the book, Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver, are almost as impossible to describe as the incredible story itself.

Before I Fall is the story of Samantha Emily Kingston. She’s super popular, a bit mean-spirited and immature, ... From: Before I Fall - A Book Review

Classic Computer Games: The Ones that Should not be Forgotten

 With all the technology available in today’s video games it can be easy to forget where such brilliant masterpieces truly began. Very few people remember the old DOS based games, where all there was on the computer monitor was an endless stream of text. The user would type in the desired move for game progress, and the text story would tell the result. Nowadays, such games have been completely forgotten. Let’s take a moment to travel back and time and reminisce about the extraordinary games that have since transformed into graphics, speech, and interactive environments.
... From: Classic Computer Games: The Ones That Should Not Be Forgotten

Is Buying an E-Reader Right for You?

If you're a book lover you can understand the difference between reading text on a computer versus reading text in print.  You can understand the way that the words slide into your brain and either remain seated, or proceed to slither away into some unknown abyss.  As an avid reader, you know what the term, "eye strain", really means, as you devour word after word, sentence after sentence.  At the end of the day, do you really want to be hooked to another electronic device in order to do the thing you love most - reading?  Are e-readers really just mini computers, waiti... From: Reasons to Buy an E-Reader and Some Facts You Should Know

Wake Up Call

Daylight savings time. I just don't get it. The other side of the world doesn't do it... why do we? I understand that some countries have the sun rising and setting at just about the same time all day, every day, all year long, whereas our time in the sun varies from day to day... but there has to be more to it than that. I've heard environmentalist theories, consumerism theories, government conspiracy theories.... but what is the REAL answer?

This morning I woke up to a backup alarm that I had set on my cell phone in case the power was to go out in the middle of the night. Did the power go out? No! It was daylight savings. What if I hadn't set my cell phone? What if, say, I completely forgot about daylight savings time and had slept in, was late for work, and then spent the rest of the day with my face on the floor trying to avoid my boss?
No one would care.
Yeah, I know.

There's also the issue about sleep patterns. It is now almost eleven o'clock at night, but I'm not nearly as tired as I should be. Why? You guessed it - daylight savings time. My body says that it's really only closing in on ten o'clock. Boo.

Earning Money Online

Ugh, it's just about impossible, isn't it? There are so many scams nowadays... Who the hell knows what's real and what's not?

Anyway, here are a couple of links for anyone interested in some sites that do actually pay up. You can just click on the links and they'll take you to the respective site. Keep in mind that you do have to put quite a bit of effort into these sites if you want to make any money from them.

1) Factoidz - Write factual articles for ongoing revenue opportunities.
2) Reviewstream - Write reviews about anything and get paid per review.

Playing an Ocarina

Do Re Mi Fah Sol La Ti Do

I started playing the ocarina a few weeks ago. I have to admit that it's not as difficult as I would imagine a traditional flute to be, or any other instrument that requires tons and tons of practice just to play one fluent song; however, I also wouldn't say that the ocarina is the easiest instrument to play, either. It takes a lot of memorization, and it takes a lot of effort in learning to move hands independently of each other. I lucked out a bit there since I'm a bit ambidextrous.

There are tons and tons of different kinds of ocarinas. My hope is to get up to something really advanced so that I can play tons of different music. I hate being limited!

If you would like to know more about ocarinas in general, see: About the Ocarina

Laundry Room Etiquette

Article about Laundry Room Etiquette

I write for a few different websites, mostly just to get feedback and to read what other people are talking about. You wouldn't believe the material that can be written about. The writing world is so vast that everything and anything can be put into words... with a few exceptions when it comes down to TOS.

Anyway, I noticed a very strange trend on one of the sites that I write for. Of all the topics, stories, and blurbs that I've written for/about, the topic that has received the most views has been about laundry room etiquette. Seriously! I didn't think that it was going to be much of a topic when I posted it... I was just mad because I waited half an hour to use a washing machine because some fool wouldn't get his clothes out when the timer was done. Hence, an article about laundry room etiquette was born. Who would have guessed that it would be the article to reach over 1000 views in about two months? I'm not much of a marketer, so for me to get that many views is pretty nice.

If you're interested, take a look: Laundry Room Etiquette

Onward with Strikes

Everyone is still on the verge of striking! It's absolutely ridiculous. Fanshawe College in London just barely avoided a strike. The faculty was demanding more money (of course), a smaller workload, and smaller class sizes. So basically they want to get paid to do less work. Confusing.

Yeah yeah, I agree that teachers are given way too much work and the class sizes are ridiculous... But you know what? Just work toward a small workload. Forget the extra money. There's just none to be had.

The MTO went back to work, so that's nice. Hopefully now I can upgrade my motorcycle license.

Transit Strike

A lot of people rely on the transit system here in London. The bus system has been a very affordable way to travel, especially with the recession, and provides the convenience of not having to find a parking spot (not mention not having to spend a ridiculous amount to park for one hour).

The down side, however, is when the transit system shuts down, like today. London transit workers have decided to go on strike for many reasons (including some that I agree with), but also for the usual cause of getting more money. I don't know about anyone else, but when I hear that people are going on strike because they want more money... I want to slap them all! Here we are in a time of financial hardship, where companies are shutting down left and right due to a lack of financial resources, and these people go on strike with MONEY in mind.
What the hell?

I'm not even kidding. Stop being so greedy and be thankful that you still have a job. There are thousands of people in Canada who are no longer employed and who would love to work.

Tattoos - A Sign of Evil

Oh my gosh! *Gasp*
You have a tattoo?! You must be the devil incarnated. I know that you're a drinking, drug dealing, street corner walking chunk of garbage...

Yeah, okay.

How is it that tattoos got such a bad reputation? Why can't tattoos just be seen as works of art?
True, not all tats are tasteful, and some are downright offensive, but there are a ton of tattoos out there that are absolutely stunning, cute, stylish, pretty, and so on. It's just body art. People have been making marks on their bodies forever; why are noses still turned up at the thought of a tattoo?
I personally have two tats, one on each forearm. One is a typical little butterfly, which I got while I was working in the Philippines. The point of the tattoo was of a reminder of something crazy and spur-of-the-moment that I did in a foreign country. It also reminds me of the book that I'm writing, which gives me inspiration.
The second tattoo is just a fancy leaf with a fancy stem. There was absolutely no point to this tattoo - I just liked the image.

Am I a screwed up druggie/hooker/gangster/hoodlum?
Not since the last time I checked.
In fact I'm a college student/fiancée/older sister/retail employee/writer, in spite of the fact that I've apparently been marked by evil.

Take that, world.

Holy monkey, I haven't put anything on here for a long time.
Are you ready for my list of excuses? No? That's too bad, because here they are:
1) I've started my final semester of college (thank gawd it's almost over!), and although it hasn't been much of a challenge so far, there has been quite a bit of work.
2) I've actually been writing my novel like a mad lady. I'm so close to finishing it! I'm very excited.
3) I have to work. A sad fact of life that many people can relate to.

So anyway, here's my random story for the day.

I work in a women's clothing store. If you've ever seen the episode of Family Guy where Peter goes shopping with Lois, you'll understand what I mean when I say that we have "husband chairs". I've always thought that it was nice that we have somewhere for the guys to lounge around while the ladies shop, even if it's still a huge bore for those poor male souls.
Anywho, a teenage boy came in with his mother, and he instantly headed for the chairs. As a joke, I told him that they were indeed "husband chairs", and he made a huge face. Laughing at him, I told him that he would be the husband one day.
You'll never guess his response.
He said, "I'm gay."
If he wasn't like thirteen I might have believed that he would even know whether or not he was gay, but I just went along with it and said, "Being gay doesn't mean that you won't have a husband someday who'd like to come shopping."

Oh boy, did his face ever go red.

I know, I know... It's not cool to torment poor kids who are being dragged around to shop with their parents, but it was fun. ;)

Math is not my strength

So, I go for placement next week in Teacher's College, and I've been asked to teach mathematics for the Grade 7 class. Specifically, I will be attempting to teach Data Management. The key word being "attempting". I'm not really nervous, but I just don't think that math is my strongest point as far as teaching is concerned. The good thing about it is that the classes are really only about 30-40 minutes long, so it's not like I'm standing there trying to do an hour lesson or longer.

Anyways, I'm sure I'll screw up somewhere and probably quite often, but I guess little kids don't really care all that much. I know that if I was in a math class with a student teacher teaching me, I wouldn't care at all if they said 2+2 was 5.

We will see how it goes...

Believing in the Laws of Attraction

Just about everyone has heard about the concept of the law of attraction. This isn't like bees being attracted to honey... It's more like negativity feeds negativity, positive feeds positive.
But does this concept truly exist?

I suppose a perfect example would be someone who is in a terrible mood. Everything that could possibly go wrong that day will indeed go wrong, but is it because of the law of attraction, or is it because that person brought the problems upon themselves? It could be a bit of both. A person in a bad mood can take a happy room and turn it down in less than ten seconds. Wouldn't this be feeding the negativity just through vibes, rather than attracting bad things with a bad mood?

I don't really believe in all the wholistic healing junk, which may be something that is really affecting my opinion on this whole concept. No one really knows how stuff works, or how Murphy's Law ever came to be true, although many people claim to know.

A bad day, in my opinion, settles down into bad luck and stupid decisions.

Homework - What's the Point?

Studies have shown that homework actually has detrimental effects on the student, especially when the student is very young (as in kindergarten age). Homework causes stress, lack of sleep, lack of a personal life, and plenty of negativity (google it).

Sure, the idea behind homework possesses the greatest of intentions. After eight hours at school, of course a student would want to study and learn more!
Mmhmm.

Personally, when I'm done school my brain is pretty bogged down. I know that, as a college student, I should be prepared to settle onto my couch for the night to write out circuit diagrams and explanations about relays; unfortunately, I'm just not prepared to do that. Class is hard enough to get through with giving my full attention, so when it comes to homework... Well, I'm screwed.
I'm a really good student, and I cringe at anything that's below an 'A', but it happens. Part of that is my lack of will to avoid procrastination and to just get homework done. Do I learn anything from all this extra work?
Nope.

What makes this worse is that I have a part-time job to support my lazy butt while I'm in school, and this means not getting home until around 10:30 some nights.
Bust out the books and be prepared for an all-nighter!

Which actually leads me to my next point.
Ever had a teacher or advisor tell you that you shouldn't be working while you're in post-secondary education, because school is supposed to be your full-time job?
That just drives me nuts. Every time I hear those words I want to hold out my hand and ask for money.

Anyway, I'm starting to go all over the place, so I'll end it with two last words: Homework sucks!