April Challenge - Day 4: Exercising my brain

I decided to take a break yesterday, and instead, focused on exercising my political brain. As most of you, I have been very interested in these upcoming federal elections. One particular issue that's been bugging me is the fact that Elizabeth May, leader of our 4th place national party, was not invited to the English and French debates.

So instead of exercising my body yesterday, I exercised my brain and sent Ms. May a suggestion - question is, will she take my suggestion? I hope so.

Hello Ms. May,

While I do not support your party, I have been one of the many thousands of Canadians infuriated by your alienation from the English and French national debates by both the media consortium and the other federal parties. It is embarrassing that this country that professes to be a democratic society, shuts out a legitimate 4th national party and putting a regional separatist party at higher standing.

I think your fight to be included in the national debates is admirable, however, it looks like at this point to be a lost cause. So here's an idea. If they won't include you (likely because they are all afraid to debate you), hold your own Youtube town hall during both debates. Live stream and take live questions as opposed to the questions filtered by the national media. Reach out to the Youth vote. Reach out to those who are disenchanted with the state of Canadian politics. Do the unconventional and go online, while the rest rely on traditional media.

Use social media to your advantage - with the groundswell of support you've had on Facebook, I wouldn't be surprised if you get more views than the leader's debate. Get your candidates in key ridings you can win to follow up with linked videos. With the debates just a week away, focus your efforts on doing your own thing, as opposed to a system which is clearly out to exclude you.

I wish you the best of luck. I hope you do take my suggestion - if you do, I'll definitely watch you over the leader's debate.

Cheers,

--
Terence Jou

March Challenge - Day 4: Emotion Contagion

So the book I've been reading called Connected, has been incredibly interesting. Chapter 2 is all about emotions being contagious and how the people you surround yourself with, and the people they surround themselves with will ultimately impact your emotions.

Most of you might be going "duh, tell us something I don't know," but seriously, how often do you stop yourself in a day to calibrate your emotions back to that safe place, you know, that place where you're not overwhelmingly happy that people think you're Charlie Sheen, or that place you're overwhelmingly sad like a Sarah MacLaughlin album (I swear, that woman can make "Don't worry, be happy" sound like a funeral march).

I've recently hit a slump, and it wasn't until someone else told me about being negative that I was able to take a more conscious note of it. I'm an emotional person, although I try to deny that I have any human emotion, I'm very expressive when communicating with others. When I'm happy, I let out several guffaws while slapping the shit out of my knees. When I'm angry, a torrent of swear words gets unleashed into the world and my hands flail like a mad person. And when I'm overwhelmed, I get quiet and scattered. All of this is picked up by other people and like a domino effect others begin to feel the exact same emotions I project. If I panic, others do; if I stay calm, so do others.

In a study the authors conducted, they found out on average, if you had one close friend who was happy, you were 9% more likely to be happy. But if you have a close friend who is sad, you're 7% more likely to be sad. So the goal seems simple, surround yourself with happy friends, right?

Sure, that sounds simple enough, but terribly difficult when you consider how peoples' lives change on a constant basis. Your happy friend could turn sad one day, and vice versa. What's important is that you continue to check your own state and consciously figure your way back to a medium spot.

Another part of their study talks about how ultimately, people do level themselves out subconsciously - there are very few that spiral completely out of control or that can maintain a nirvana like happy state. However, if you consciously make the corrections everyday, you don't have to wait out the up to 365 days to get back to your normal self.

So the saying is correct after all - check yo'self befo' you 'reck yo'self.

The book talks about love next. Have a feeling I'm not going to like this chapter.

February Challenge: Day 4 - Fat Fridays

So normally on Fridays, I would go with my coworkers to McDonald's for a Big Mac combo with a Junior Chicken chaser.

Since my pledge to eat healthy, I swore to myself, "no fast food." Well, I did not go for fast food today, but I did eat out and it wasn't too healthy. I had a pulled pork sandwich with a salad. Then I had a third of a piece of chocolate cake. Man, it was delicious.

Oh well, I should get a pass, it's a Friday. The reward for a very stressful week.

January Challenge - Day 4 Holding Strong through Laughter

With the weather outside being frightful and work being slightly delightful, laughter, rather than beer seems like the best medicine. Day 4 and I am still holding strong - mostly by distracting myself with funny videos and laughing my face off talking shiznit with my fabulous co-workers Shelley and Jean George.

Here's one that I stumbled across today - coincidentally it's a beer commercial. Beware what happens when you drink too much. You might end up leaving the bar with someone you're regret the next day...