Act V @marcellatomas-blog - Tumblr Blog

笑一笑,十年少 xiào yī xiào, shí nián shào

Remember what Zou Ma Kan Hua means?

A while back I wrote about the beauty of the Chinese language, its idiomatic expressions (chengyu), and how my studies during the ’90s were some of the happiest experiences of my life. I would routinely lose myself in a piece of text, solving puzzle after puzzle, and be so proud and excited when its meaning became clear.

Here’s another expression that resonates…

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#Ürümqi #China #Han Chinese #Kashgar #Kashgar Sunday Market #Uyghur #Xinjiang

Actions speak louder than words

I don’t speak Portuguese, but the message in this Brazilian YouTube clip is clear. Humorous to watch (I promise), the irony and duplicity of our relationship with animals as food is well-illustrated.

Why love one, but eat the other?

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Open Streets Toronto: are you in or are you out?

Back in the early 1970s, I remember walking with my parents down Toronto’s Yonge St when it went completely car-free for a few weeks in summer. The pedestrian street mall attracted upwards of 50,000 people a day and was touted as one of then new Mayor David Crombie’s more innovative successes.

Crombie, a proponent of legendary Jane Jacob’svision for urban development, went on to lead a reform…

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When stop signs no longer work

Came across this on Twitter the other day. The Abbey Road Meets Charlie Brown posting was originally published in January 2012, but used again as part of the June 7, 2014 100in1Day Toronto campaign.

Urban planners and engineers have designed complex and often costly ways to get vehicle traffic to ease up, especially around school zones and in residential neighbourhoods. I’m thinking of speed…

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#100in1Day #100in1DayTO #Abbey Road #Charlie Brown #Innovation #Peanuts #Traffic Safety

Wow, that's cool!

Wow, that’s cool!

When’s the last time you said that to yourself about something you were doing?

I’ve had some adventures in my day and seen some remarkable things, but at the time didn’t always think my experiences were special. It wasn’t until I heard others say, “wow, that’s cool!” I recognized I do, indeed, have stories to tell.

There’s what I can only call a certain ‘sensory quality’ to life that, no matter…

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#52 Jours Timbuktu #Morocco #Tombouctou #Zagora

The only home we've got

The only home we’ve got

Yes, it’s Earth Day. Let’s show a little love for the only home we’ve got, and above all remember that we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children (origin unknown).

The words and video below come from EarthDay.org.

Every year on April 22, over a billion people in 190 countries take action for Earth Day. From San Francisco to San Juan, Beijing to Brussels, Moscow…

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#April 22 #Earth Day #Earth Day 2014 #Green Cities

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

In the May 2002 I began a journal, or more accurately the daily practice of writing Morning Pages, a concept introduce by Julie Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.

The idea is to write three pages, longhand, about anything and everything that comes into your head. Don’t edit or censor yourself, just write whatever you’re thinking at the time – a stream of consciousness brain dump.

The catch is that you…

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#Julie Cameron #Morning Pages #The Artist&039;s Way #Waiting for shoe to drop

#NOTDAW Save a Life!

April 20-27, 2014 is National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week in Canada.

I get on my soapbox quite regularly over this topic, but I do so unapologetically. When someone you love is on the transplant waiting list there is little you won’t do to get the message out.

People are often surprised to learn how rare it is for someone to become an organ donor. An individual must die in hospital…

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#Advance Directive #Living Will #Organ donation #Power of Attorney for Personal Care #Recycle Me #Save a life #Trillium Gift of Life

Compassion fatigue

Empathy, distress over another’s suffering, feelings of love and sadness; all embody the word compassion. Religions attempt to define and practice it. Philosophers ponder over its meaning and expression in our lives. Reason holds it as a virtue to strive for in our individual thoughts and actions.

Or not.

Technology delivers the world to our digital devices, in real time, with moving images,…

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#Animal Cruelty #Compassion #Compassion Fatigue #Empathy #Factory Farming #Napalm Girl #Nick Ut #Phan Thi Kim Phuc #Vietnam War

Utilize this

Confession time – I like grammar. I’m not especially good at it, I fall into the same traps many of us do: colon vs. semicolon, when to use a dash, and serial comma mania. But I do see the beauty and power in a well-punctuated piece of writing [sic].

I also love words. Again, I’m not especially gifted in the way I use the ones I choose, but I do enjoy playing around with them to see what comes…

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Ontario first in N.A. to eliminate coal!

Yes, I think this headline warrants an exclamation mark. Had to share this great news that came via Tonya Surman, CEO of Centre for Social Innovation.

Traditional media is becoming increasingly irrelevant the more it favours sensationalist, negative ‘headline news’ over positive stories like this one.

We simply don’t celebrate enough … can we all take a deep breath and appreciate the message…

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#Acid Rain #BPA #Centre for Social Innovation #CFC #Chlorofluorocarbon #Coal #Coal Burning Energy #Environment #Ontario Clean Alliance #Tonya Surman

April snows bring what?

Months ago, I promised myself I would no longer indulge in that most Canadian of pastimes – complaining about the weather. Along with the ‘sorry’s and ‘excuse me’s, we just love to whine about our clime.

I’m happy to report that I’ve been rather successful.

Toronto had a traditional Canadian winter in 2014. Yes, kids, it really didsnow more 30-40 years ago. I have the photos to prove it. I wasn’t…

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#April Snow #Climate Change #Complaining about the weather #Global Warming #I love winter #Ice #Snow #Weather

Synergy and lessons from geese

Examples of synergy and successful teamwork are everywhere in the natural world. But what is instinctive to nature, is less so to humankind. Moreover, tragedy sells, so that’s what we get: media obsessed 24/7 by our failures. No wonder we’re so good at discord.

Wouldn’t it be nice if greed and world dominance weren’t always the lead story? Could we not benefit more from examples of cooperation,…

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#Cooperation #Encouragement #Good News Stories #Lessons from Geese #Partnership #Synergy #Teamwork #Unity

Peace, love and (hot) caffeine

One of the best things about working from home, aside from working when you want, dressed how you want, and sitting crossed-legged on the couch while doing it, is that you can now drink your coffee freshly brewed, and hot!

Those of you who appreciate the phrase ‘peace, love and caffeine’ will also understand that there are few pleasures in life greater than this.

When I worked in a traditional…

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#Caffeine #Cold Coffee #Hot Coffee #Life&039;s Pleasures #Love #Peace #Pet Peeves #Walk of Shame #Working from home

Forgive me

How does that joke go? A customs officer has 3 ways to verify your nationality. They can ask you:

to hum the theme from Hockey Night in Canada

what 967-11-11 means

how many times you’ve said ‘sorry’ that day

Canadians are famous (infamous?) for their quintessential ‘sorry’s. And while this is an old joke and millennials may have new pop culture references to the first two examples, even they…

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My left foot

My left foot is bigger than my right. I wouldn’t really mind except that it is does make buying shoes difficult. Why do we have to buy shoes in pairs of equal size?

I’m the classic pear shape; not much of a bosom, but hips and a derrière that would have been appreciated in Marilyn’s day. I’ve rarely worn a bikini for a number of reasons, but mostly because even when I was younger, fitter and…

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Over-thinkers Anonymous

Now that I’ve had a chance to step away from the daily grind of an office job and its accompanying … quirks, I’m reverting back to the more relaxed and, I hope, patient person I used to be.

I’m the first to admit I’ve gone through some very stressful moments in my life, when I didn’t or couldn’t handle all the challenges being hurled at me. I tried, but something had to give and it often was my…

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