A bunch of stories have no views but they emailed this info to me and I thought wow, you made those. . It’s nice to know I have 46 memories in Story from the year. In 2013 I will create more. And better.
I published 569 blog posts on casiestewart.com last year.
My sister and I used to play The Quiet Game. Be quiet for as long as you can and first person to talk loses. I lost all the time. DOH! That’s not what this post is ab out THOUGH…
One of the things I have ALWAYS loved about my blog is when you leave comments. Starting now, like right NOW, I’m going to reward one commenter each week with a prize. It’s going to be a cool prize and I am going to send it to you, in the mail, with my own money. All you have to do is leave a comment on ANY post from Sunday – Friday. Winner will be picked on Saturday and mail sent out Monday. Comments will be shown in the sidebar so you can see who else is hanging around, who you are up against, or make friends. After all, you already have a common one here. (I mean ME!)
You have been getting to know me for god knows how long and when you comment, I get to know you. It makes me feel more human, this is not just a dot com or a magical blog-thing that updates itself, there is a real live person here typing on keys and smiling at the camera. Also, you commenting makes me feel like I am talking to myself less. Not that i mind talking to myself or that there is anything wrong with that.
So there, The Comment Gamestarts NOW and everyone who comments today on any post is entered to win a prize. This contest has no end date. It will hopefully go on forever (just like my blog).
Don’t be shy. Have fun! It’s just you and me here on the internet.
BTW this is my fav song right now. Her name is Lorde and she is from NEW ZEALAND too!
Morning! I’ve been added as a speaker to a second panel during Social Media Week and this one is probably the most personal talk I’ve even agreed to take part in. It’s about to get deep, we’re talking ANXIETY.
One of the things that gives me the most anxiety and possibly you too, is not having money. I’ve gone through lots of ups & downs in my life and I don’t come from money so all I have, is all I’ve earned. When I returned from Australia I was so skinny from living on next to nothing I looked like Nicole in her anorexic days, not by choice.
It’s hard to carve out a way to get paid for what you love doing. Especially as a creative person. Last summer I wrote a post about how you can’t pay me in chips or chocolate bars. I got sick and tired of people asking me to do work for them in return for things I don’t need. What would I do with a bunch of chips & chocolate? I go to the gym for a reason! Helloooooo. If they (whoever is asking) are getting a paycheque and are asking me to do work, I should get paid too. You wouldn’t believe some of the extreme things I get asked to to in return for ‘publicity’. I turn down way more than I accept. (That’s not to say I don’t love getting a few freebie’s along the way!)
Lauren posted this video that’s an excerpt from an upcoming documentary on Harlan Ellison, “DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH“. He’s an excellent writer and inspiring man. I’m sure you will enjoy it.
My startup disk is full so I’ll be spending the afternoon moving TO THE CLOUD. Have a spectacular day. It’s lovely & sunny in Toronto
Its a thin line that divides the ocean and the sky.
A thin line which divides you and I.
A small space.
Without a trace, feelings vanish before my eyes.
People leave to go back home and I am left here all alone.
Resting by the ocean and taking in the sky.
The waves are restless and so am I.
“Be careful what you wish for” Mum said to me today as I was chatting her about what I’m up to. She called via Skype from the boat on the East Coast of Canada. Been a couple days since we last taked. Before she went on her sailing trip we used to chat almost daily. I would fill her on on what I’m up to. She inspires me, always has. I miss her. Everything I’m doing r I always wanteight now… the parties, the makeup the hair the clothes. It’s all new to me. I always wanted to be doing this stuff. Mum says luck is where preperation meets opportunity. I feel grateful. I’ve worked my ass off the last few years.
I arrived in Toronto five years ago post uni in Australia. Back then, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I just did it. I believed in myself and I worked hard at whatever it was I was doing. When I was younger I used to say I wanted to be really well known for being good at something, I wasn’t sure what it was yet. Maybe I still don’t? Either way, I have always been determined. When I really want to do something there is little to no stopping me. Mum will for SURE tell you that. I want to interview her one day so you can meet her. She’s not been able to read my blog much from the boat, she usually reads it daily to see what I’m up to. She said it makes her happy. It makes me happy too.
I love looking back on what I was doing previous years, same time. Makes me dream big about what I might be doing next year. Quite looking forward to the long flight to New Zealand, that twenty or so hours to myself is going to be magical. I wonder if there will be internet? I hope no.
Hope you are not annoyed with my TIFFing. I am excited and I will continue to be excited about my life. You should be excited for yours too. It’s the only one you will ever have.
When I was 13, in grade 8, before I had internet, I started a publishing campany called Jeans Publishing with my friend Holly and the help of our Mums. We got funding to start our business and began taking on the DIY (do it yourself) circuit around Ontario attending conferences and seimnars on evenings and weekends. We often set up a booth to talk about what we were doing and where we wanted to go. We though it was important for young people to have their work published, we were tired of people not taking us seriously just because we were youth. So, we did it ourselves.
We started a quarterly newsletter called Jeans Material where we published young peoples work and sent it out to out to over 100 subscribers across Canada. Each subscriber paid $5 for a one year subscription and we printed them all ourselves. We were official with our ISSN which allowed the identification of our serial publication.
We wrote an anthology of poetry and prose called JEANS and in 1996 I became a Published Canadian Author. Our book launch was at the Preston Library Branch on November 7, 1996 and we sold 81 books that night. One dollar from the sale of each book went to the local womens crisis shelter. This is me presenting the cheque. Don’t laugh at my bangs, there were horrible back then.
Jeans was an acronym that stood for Junior Education & Achivement Network System (tongue twister?). I’ve hunted around the internet to find stuff about it but it was so long ago, there’s nothing. (I’m sure newspaper archives exist.) Here’s what I have kicking around the house, most our stuff back at Mum’s tucked away.
We were in heaps of papers and it makes me feel really proud to look back at it. It was a really special and inspired time for me. I did some of my best writing ever back then. Highschool is hard and this gave me a creative outlet and kept me busy. We often spoke at promary school about the importance of reading, writing and following your goals
I was nominated for a YTV achievement award in the category of Writing. I got to go the ceremony and actually sat beside NicK & Drew Lachey from 98 Degrees. I had NO idea who they were until they went on stage and waved at my sister and I. Robyn performed, she was great.
At 16, after heaps of involvement in the community and serving a year as PR Director for the City Youth Council, I was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the city of Cambridge. My school was given $1,500 for new computer equipment and Darryl Sitler presented the award at a ceremony. I went on to wint he Miss Teen 1996 pageant and completed my three year term on the City Youth Council.
I really like helping people get following their dreams as mine have always inspired me. This past year, I was a mentor for Humber College’s Personal Brand Camp and a guest speaker at Mashable’s Social Media Day in Toronto. Next week I’m doing a webinar about personal branding for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.
When I was in grade school I was part of a skipping team for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. We went around to schools like yours and did crazy tricks like doing a cartweheel in to a double dutch with chinese ropes. We practiced often and had heaps of tricks. We were called the Preston Pump-Ups. We had one routien called 12th Street Rag and the melody got faster and faster and you had to speed up your steps. If you lasted till the end, you were good. I could do it pretty well. I really loved skipping.
Found these old pix as I was traveling through a time warp in MSN hotmail land from 2005-2006.
