Queen Elizabeth II /Dinosaur Exhibit at Royal BC Museum—30DBC Day 5

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Yukari

I was lucky enough to have a sneak preview of Queen Elizabeth II By Cecil Beaton: Diamond Jubilee Collection today at Royal BC Museum.

Sir Cecil Beaton was a renowned fashion photographer. One day he gets a phone call, “…The Queen wants to know if you will photograph her tomorrow afternoon.”

“At first I thought it might be a practical joke . . . but it was no joke.” The now late Queen Mother had seen the flamboyant fashion photographer’s work for Vogue magazine, prompting the call. (Excerpt from Royal BC Museum)

The exhibit is filled with interesting anecdotes from Sir Beaton’s diary. Even I, who don’t have a lot of knowledge on British Monarchy, found it interesting.

There are some rare images – this one here is one of my favourite. (Click to enlarge)

DSC01692 300x225 Queen Elizabeth II /Dinosaur Exhibit at Royal BC Museum—30DBC Day 5

Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton: Diamond Jubilee Collection is open until September 3, 2012.

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We also got to see Dinosaur exhibit.

I have a toddler so we’ve been very excited about this. I remember my older son enjoying Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit at RBCM back in 1999. I have always been curious how museums pick their exhibits to show each year. Obviously, it is a long process. I was told something big is in the works as well.

This Dinosaur exhibit was curated and designed at Museum of Natural History. New technologies are helping scientists learn more about this fascinating creatures. There are a lot of hands-on activities for kids, as well as fascinating dioramas and footages on new discoveries. I was told the diorama contained about 400 or so species, but everything was extinct except for one thing. (It was a kind of a reed that is stil around.) Amazing, isn’t it?

Very well put exhibit. I highly recommend you check it out before it’s gone.

Dinosaur is open until September 16, 2012.

Special thanks to Eric Espig of RBCM.

For more info, please visit Royal BC Museum Website.

What to Write—30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 4

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Yukari

It’s day 4 and I’m again agonizing about what to write. It’s already 7:45pm and while my son is in the bath(after much talk about how he does NOT want to have a bath tonight), Mark and I have 5 minutes to ourselves. After a big sigh, I confess that I have no idea what to write today.

Me: I don’t want to write a diary, you know—”Today I went to see so and so, and then we went here and ate this.”

Mark: *nodding*

Me: I could write about what I felt from today’s meeting—how cool it is to talk to someone who have something in common, and have a similar vision. But it’s kind of boring.

Mark: No it’s not. It’s synergy. Write about how exciting it is when two like-minded people get together on the same page and the energy is flowing. Write about that.

Me: Yeah I guess… but it’s not really new. That’s what we do on Twitter, G+ and Facebook. “Today I met so and so and we hit it off and it’s SO cool to talk to someone who gets it!” You know?

Mark: *Nodding*

Me: I could write my thoughts about certain blog post…like I did on the video yesterday. But I feel like it’s cheating. Again, it’s same as “sharing” posts on FB and G+ with your thoughts on a link. I can write whole bunch of posts based on Julien‘s blog posts. Jose asked me today what blog I regularly read, and I said Julien’s, for sure.

Mark: I like Julien Smith.

Me: *Go on for another 3 minutes about how I subscribed and unsubscribed from a friend’s blog because I didn’t have time to read them*

Me: I’m not a “fan”, but what I really like about Seth Godin’s blog is that it’s always so short. I always try to keep it short, short, short. I hate it when I have to scrooooll down to read a single blog post. I also hate it when a blog posts referes to too many other posts; “I read so and so’s post here, and then so and so says this about this issue, but on the other hand so and so says…” I hate that. Nobody has time to read your post. Keep it short, you know?

Mark: I hate Seth Godin.

Me: So, any idea what I should write about today?

Mark: Why don’t you just write what you just said? That’s what everyone struggles with when blogging. Content. You should just write about that.

Me: Um. Okay.

Me: (Glancing at the clock) But, when do I have time to write it?

Mark: Right now. Go.

Alrighty.

On Integrity – 30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 3

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Yukari

It’s Day 3 of 30 Day Blogging Challenge and I am already starting to freak out that I don’t know what I want to write today. But I knew something like this would happen, so I won’t worry too much about it and keep it simple.

I found the following video via Olivier Blanshard on Facebook.

Basically, TV crew staged racism in a boutique and saw how other people reacted. Many didn’t say anything even though racism happened right in front of them. Many pretended they saw nothing wrong.

I know a lot of comments can be made on this video but what I got out of this totally reminded me of my favourite quote from C.S. Lewis;

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

When in doubt…reach out. I have been saved by someone reaching out to me in the past.

I can only hope I am doing the same to others.

On Having Your Own Judgement—30 Day Challenge Day 2

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Yukari

Today’s post is about something I’ve been pondering for the last few months.

On judging people. It’s a little different from “being judgemental”. I used to be a very judgemental person. Now that I’m close to 40, I do my best not to be judgemental. Who am I to judge anyone?

However, being judgemental and judging somebody based on past interactions—or compatibility based on personality—are two different things, in my opinion.

For example, my old friend G—who is a good person—has a certain trait that can be translated as childish and self-centered. He is still my friend and I care about his well-being, but I stopped being the person who try to save him from his troubles, because I often found myself that I was the fool who did not see his true colors. Now I do. And I feel agitated sometimes as he comes across, to many people who only knows him on the surface level, “very giving person.”

On the other hand, I have this very eccentric friend who I adore, but his unique personality and flakiness has people talking that he is “weird” and he is somewhat unstable.

I don’t think we are wrong on each of our own judgement. If I like “Mr. A” and somebody else cannot stand him…that is OK. It’s just the way we feel about each person.

We unintentionally label people around us—either the person is trustworthy, reliable, or ”all-talk.” I try to not to be tied too much to these labels though—sometimes someone I always thought was a complete jerk turns out to be a compassionate friend. And of course, vice versa.

What is interesting, is when your opinion about a particular person matches the opinion your other friends have of that same person. In that case we may say the person in question has a certain reputation. I have recently discussed this on Getting Engaged. If my negative opinion about someone is outnumbered by the positive opinions of others about him/her, that’s no problem. However is does propose an entirely different question: Would you change your mind about the person based on what other people are saying? How much are we influenced by what other people think when it comes to how we view other people?

Where do you draw the distinction between judging someone and being judgmental?