Doing my part to help Vancouver become the Greenest City by 2020!

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Hey all!

Very exciting news…at least for me it is!! I have been wanting a bike for the longest time since coming back to Canada. To be honest, I wanted a bike back in Hong Kong too, but it was too hot most of the time for me to want to go out and bike.

I went with my dad to Canadian Tire to look at bikes and walked out with one that I LOVED! Now I can go explore further than my legs can usually take me, and I am sure my friends who already have bikes can give me some heads up on how to properly use it around the city. However, to begin, I searched up the city bylaws regarding cycling and now know the required accessories one must have to legally ride a bike.

http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/cycling/safety/regulations.htm#provrights

Here are some that I still have yet to buy:
-front lights
-back lights
-a bell

Asides from this, I have to get a lock. I already have a helmet…but must get the other accessories! Anyone know a good place to buy cheap bike stuff in Vancouver? =)

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Greenest City 2020

 

Anyway, moving on to the topic of Vancouver Greenest City initiative, biking will definitely help this cause! For those of you who do not know, the Greenest City 2020 initiative has a goal for Vancouver to become the greenest city in the world by the year 2020. We already have one of the smallest carbon footprints in the world and is one of the best places in the world to live in! Our ambitious new goal is to be the best at being green!

It is not only vehicle emissions, but also other aspects such as clean water, a green economy and allowing for the availability of local food. Ambitious, it is, but there have already been significant steps taken since the formation of this goal in 2009.

What gets to many citizens is the cost. The newly installed bike lanes downtown cost a whopping $3.2 Million. Will they be as useful as intended? How much of the population will actually use them? I feel it will be hard for everyone to suddenly turn to biking. Cars are just too useful a way to get directly to your destination. However, with more programs steering towards sustainability, perhaps encouragement and changing of mindsets will appear. 2020 is coming up soon, especially with the vast amounts of change that we want to happen. But at least we are getting the idea out there. It will help raise awareness for the cause and I believe change will eventually occur. Again, I’m only an optimistic 17-year-old voicing her outlooks on Vancouver’s future! So ignore me if you disagree =) Now armed with my new bike, I hope I will be contributing more to this initiative!

Karen

Contingent comtemplation: Nostalgia- Pokemon

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I walked into McDonalds today to get an iced coffee…but then I saw the Happy Meal display. They were giving out Pokemon figurines! I decided my new goal is to collect all the Pokemon that they give out =) The two legendary Pokemon, Reshiram and Zekrom, really caught my eye. Being the chicken I was, I made my sister buy the happy meal. She came back with the tray and the toy that came with the meal was a Tepig. Real cute. But not a legendary Pokemon. I thought about going up to the counter and initiating a Pokemon trade with the McDonald employee. But that would probably make me look like a huge dork…so I begged my sister to return to the counter and see what else they had. I went with her, casually watching them bring out more Pokemon and when they brought out Zekrom, I kind of grabbed it saying “We’ll have this one, thank you”.

My happy meal ^^ Chicken McNuggets a tribute to Amir.

Anyway, that is what really got me thinking back to when I was about ten? Spending all my allowance on Pokemon cards, trading with my friends, bragging about certain ones with high HPs, playing all the games. After the Pokemon card phase came the Yu-Gi-Oh phase. Watching the shows, buying the cards… If only I could have the money I wasted on them now—I would probably have a small fortune. But I guess that is how kids are…mindlessly spending money. But to be honest, we probably still are like that. I know I buy more junk than necessary. I guess collecting the happy meal toy would be an example. Oh…and my new WoW card collection. It’s amazing how obsessions can take over you…and your wallet. But to be fair, I really wanted a WoW loot card. Still have not gotten one yet, but I think I gave up.

Anyone want to buy these of me? Or just take them…they’re not good for me.

Maybe a new goal of mine would be to stop wasting moolah on totally stupid things. I look back and seriously could have done without the cards. Or maybe not because that would have made a elementary school outcast or something. ARGH! Childhood norms are so complicated.

Karen

And so the blog begins!

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Hey everyone =)

With encouragement and inspiration from my friends, I have decided to finally take up blogging. To be honest, I have blogged before but you will probably never find my other blog. But anyway, moving on with the present, this will be my official blog! I have never been good at keeping journals or diaries, and who knows how long this blog will actually last, but regardless, I think you should read it and have a peek inside my brain!

I still have no idea what I will be posting on here. Most likely, I will be documenting my life. If you are a friend of mine and is reading this, I hope you will appear somewhere within the posts of this blog sometime in the future! I doubt my life is that interesting. Let me put it this way: if my life was published into a book, it probably would not be a bestseller. However, it also probably would not be on the discount shelf as stock waiting to be cleared by the bookstore. =) At least that is how I want to see it, and hope it is seen!

Karen