The living room white board holds an omnipresent position in my family’s household. Every Saturday my Dad would erase last week’s calendar and replace it with the next. With a family of six, he sees us as a small business of sorts.

My little sister just told me that the white board hasn’t been used since the start of the year. It has some wise pearls of wisdom that I don’t even remember writing.

We only have two and a bit months left to this year. Can you believe it? Make it count.

After all, 2009 is the year of the hard ass.

It’s practically written in stone. Have you been a hard ass so far?

Them Crooked Vultures from Tash Jayasinghe on Vimeo.

I almost died with joy when I saw Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Josh Hommes (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Fucking Jones (Led Zeppelin).

They haven’t put out an album yet, nor a song for that matter but their reputation exceeds every gig they have in the States.

It was so good, I listened with my eyes periodically closed. Yes, I had turned into the crazy stoner-like person bopping along at the back of the crowd.

All I could think was “This must have been what people felt when they listened to Led Zep live.”

Except it was heavier.

Check out the chemistry in the video. Josh Hommes repeatedly said he loves Grohl during the gig. I’m all for bromance.

It was spicking awesome.

According to a not so recent article, the amount of times you smile and the intensity of your smile can make the difference between a lasting relationship and a divorce. I think this can be applied to all sorts of situations. I deliberately smile at frowning people when I’m feeling depleted on the trip home and it picks up my mood.

I try to laugh off everything when I’m getting stressed. Except on my annual cleaning spree. Such as today. Then I don’t laugh, I dust, wipe and don’t you damn get in my way or I will plough you over. Yeah, I’m tired. But it’s over and I’m back to smiling.

So hello world! Tash is back after the last six bleach-scented hours.

A guest post by Vixel on how her scoliosis changed her for the better

I am a firm believer in clichés such as “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I believe that we are the product of our experiences, both good and bad. Everything we go through, every choice we make, shapes us slightly, and helps us become who we are, which is why, after years of trying not to let Scoliosis define me, I realised that if I could somehow wish it away, I don’t think I would. (Scholiosis is a word used to describe abnormal side to side curves of the spine, for more information, access iscoliosis.com)

Vixel

I like the person I am today, and although I may at times hate the way I look, the pain, and the fact that sometimes I just can’t physically keep up with everyone else, I know that a lot of my best personality traits are a direct result of Scoliosis-related experiences.

I am fiercely independent.

After surgery as a child, people had to carry my bag for me at school, I had to go up to the I.T room before class with the teacher as the top stairs were rather precarious and while at first I felt like a bit of a princess (I was ten and terribly precocious), I soon grew tired of having to depend on other people for things.

Deep down I also had the impression from several older relatives that some members of the family really didn’t see much of a working future for me, I think they expected me to end up unable to support myself. I don’t blame them for this but it ignited in me a burning desire to be totally independent and self-sufficient, never having to rely on anyone. If I come across a problem, I like to tackle it myself, and will only ask for help if I’ve first tried to sort it out on my own. As such, I’ve developed a personality trait that allows me to deal with setbacks and work with them, rather than dwelling on them.

I value learning and intelligence.

I’m never going to be a model, an athlete, or anything else I have to meet strict physical criteria for.

I can’t do manual labour.

I’d find standing at a shop counter all day very difficult, so I’ve known from the start that in order to succeed, I’d have to use my brain.

When other kids were running around the playground at school, I was sitting on a tree stump reading. When recovering from surgery I took extra French classes instead of P.E. and I think that’s the main reason I did well at French at GCSE level. I love learning, and finding out about a new fascinating subject is my favourite pastime.

I can go into a shop, pick up an item of clothing and know just by looking whether or not it will fit me.

There’s a lot to be said for having a weird body shape, you really get to know about what looks good! I could never claim to be a fashion expert, but I’m very much an expert at shopping for me!

I’ve spent so many years trying not to be defined by Scoliosis; being paranoid that people won’t see past the medical condition and see that I’m no different from anyone else, that often I forget just how much it has shaped my character.

I’d be a completely different person had I never been diagnosed, and I’d never trade my personality, my great group of friends (some whom I’ve made through support forums, that include some of the most amazing people I know) and the knowledge I’ve gained for a “perfect” body.

Vixel is a blogger for Sparkle and Glitter, “ a blog-zine project that attempts to observe the sparkle and glitter that makes our daily lives shine a little brighter and helps make life a bit more interesting.”

I never understood why I burnt to a crisp in one day down under yet I could walk around for weeks in a singlet with so much as a tan in downtown D.C, what with the 4WDs thundering down streets and the number of people per square kilometer.

Turns out this lack of tan is because of two things; a meterological belt that stops all the northern hemisphere pollution heading south and temperature. Yes, northern hemisphere, you cause a lot of pollution but that’s because there are more of you.

“The stratosphere in the southern hemisphere — the layer of atmosphere where the ozone layer lies, 15 to 50 kilometres above the Earth’s surface — is about five degrees Celsius (41 F) colder than in the northern hemisphere.” Because of this cooler temperature, it’s harder for the southern hemisphere to digest all the CFCs let off into the air, the extra ice sucks out cholorine from CFCs.

Remember, if you’re travelling down south to be extra cautious. I know you want to get a tan to show off your Aussie trip, but Australians have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. “The winter time UV level that we measure here in Brisbane are more than that in summer in the Netherlands” Professor Michael Kimlin, a cancer researcher told ABC.

So, as Sid the Seagull reminds all Aussies, remember to slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat.

It wouldn’t hurt to adhere to these rules no matter where you live.

Sources:

ABC Science

Aussie Skin Cancer Risk

from me to you.

Tamia Stinson from Cincinnati, Ohia, is a double agent. By day, she’s a marketing and branding specialist, by night an online magazine publisher.

“I got my “real job” through a temp agency and I’ve been there for about five years. The blog and magazine came from an almost physical need for a tangible creative expression, I had to let it out; my lifetime love of fashion magazines.”

29-year-old Stinson, created an online magazine as a vehicle for her love of fashion. She just hit publish on her second issue. “This is sort of embarrassing, but originally the magazine was going to be a promotional vehicle for me and my blog, sort of a monthly digest of posts with a little behind-the-scenes information, unpublished photos, design tips, that sort of thing. Then I decided maybe I’d include one or two other bloggers, the idea just snowballed from there.

“One of the things that always pushes me along is the fear that I’ll regret not at least trying to make a go of doing things I enjoy. I would rather try and fail than not try at all.”

Three tips for creating a magazine:

1. You need to really commit to publishing something you can be proud of. I gave that a lot of thought before deciding to create Style Sample Magazine.
2. Make sure you know and understand your target audience and give them what they want.
3. Do some research so you know what resources you have at your disposal because that will have a big impact on the quality of the publication.

Work flow

“Once all is said and done–reviewing submissions, communicating with contributors, proofreading and editing articles, photo editing, design and layout, marketing, etc, I’d say each magazine is about a 30-hour project. The lovely bloggers who contribute are my saving grace when it comes to producing amazing content and promoting the magazine on their own blogs. I do need help, though, so I’m starting to work with another local blogger on design and layout.

“I’ve always loved fashion magazines and the web has made it possible to do so much for so little money, so I figured I’d start my own.”

How Stinson targets to her audience

“I participate on fashion and style-related message boards, social networks like Facebook and Twitter as well as several fashion-related networks, join communities where other fashion bloggers hang out, add the blog site to various listings, write press releases, comment on other blogs and more. Plus, the bloggers who contribute are kind enough to post it on their own blogs, so it gains traction that way as well.

Tech stuff

“I draw inspiration from other more established magazines, websites, and print graphics when designing the layout. As far as software, I use OpenOffice to lay out the pages, Photoshop Elements and Inkscape for graphics, and Google Docs for editing text. I’d love to be able to buy a professional page layout program in the future, but for now everything I use has been free. All it costs is a lot of time and love!

Is self-publishing better than traditional publishing?

I’ve only experienced the do-it-yourself side, but I’d have to assume self-publishers have more control over their content and distribution. It’s also much more accessible and depends not on who you know, but what you know, which is the way things should be.

I’ve always loved magazines–my apartment is full of them, and some date all the way back to 1993! Producing an online magazine is obviously less expensive than producing a print magazine, though you can buy print copies of Style Sample online, too. The proliferation of software as a service providers and the ability to put your content online for free has really democratized the publishing industry.

I’m not sure if blogging itself is the end of the line for journalism, though I do think that online and mobile/portable content are the way of the future.

However, blogging is a great medium for both true journalists and people like myself who use it as a form of self expression.

Next on Tamia Stinson’s list is professional dancer. “I love to dance, always have–everything from Baroque ballet to shaking booty at random in the club.” Visit her magazine and blog.