Cats Can Do Tricks Too!

Who said tricks were only for dogs?? Here's KitKat doing 3 tricks (the only tricks he knows haaa), sit, high five, and paw shake. I used clicker training to teach him to do this and it was surprisingly a lot faster than I thought it would be! He picked up pretty quickly and it only took a few sessions/days for him to master these tricks. Not bragging or anything but KitKat's pretty much an evil genius (he taught himself to open doors too just from observing me). If you have a cat (or any pet for that matter - I've seen bunnies respond well to clicker training too) and want to train them to do tricks, you should definitely try out clicker training!

Reasons why clicker training is so effective:
-animal associates the distinctive "click" sound with the behaviour & is prepared for the reward
-less confusion since the click sound isn't something the animal hears all the time, unlike your voice
-allows you to click right as the animal is doing the appropriate behaviour

Tips for clicker training:
-the shorter the sessions the better - animals have short attention spans yo
-cats are infamous for doing their own thing and not caring too much about pleasing their owners/peasants - make sure the reward is something your cat really likes and you'll be more likely to succeed
-if your pet loses interest during a training session, stop and try again another time/day

Here's an old video of him when he was first learning how to high five:


Useful Links
-CLICKER TRAINING (CAT) TUTORIAL
-Clicker training for cats
-Clicker Training for Cats by Karen Pryor
-Clicker Training for Clever Cats: Learning Can Be Fun! by Martina Braun

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

This is a video of some footage from a trip to Ripley's Aquarium - from a month ago but I'm such a procrastinator!

Shot using a GoPro HERO4 Silver - I'm really loving this camera for vlogging! It's really versatile

When Cats Try to be Invisible...

KitKat does this all the time, it's so funny!

Magic Man Concert @ The Garrison - March 7, 2015

Sorry this post is so delayed that it's on the verge of not being relevant anymore!!

I love concerts (love is an understatement here... I don't think there is a strong enough word to describe how I feel about concerts). I love the feeling of the music being so loud that you're able to feel it in your heartbeat; I love the excitement and buildup to the concert as well as the post-concert deafness and looking back on how amazing the show was; I love when the band starts playing and everything is so in sync and perfect; I love the connection you feel when the whole room starts singing along to all the songs; I love the light shows and the encore performances; I love it all! There's just something about watching a live performance that makes you happy all over.

When I found out Magic Man was coming to Toronto, I was obviously over the moon and HAD to go see them (I use Songkick to track all my artists/bands to find out when they're coming to town... it's a neat little website & app!) Magic Man is one of my favourite bands and I could not miss this! They put on a spectacular show and it was so much fun!

Below is a video of some highlights from the concert - filmed using my GoPro Hero4 Silver (mounted on a selfie stick ha! I was too lazy to hold it up because I knew my arms would get tired & I didn't want to wear it on my head because the video would be even more shaky if I did that). I was too excited that I forgot to take pictures with my phone but below are some pics taken by lovechowster

What Makes Community Awesome

Community season 6 has premiered yesterday!!! After five seasons in and venturing on its sixth, I am finally going to write down in words all the reasons why I love this little show that could! Longstanding Community fans already know what makes Community awesome but I just thought I would compile a list anyway in an attempt to convert people who don't yet watch the show ;)

1) It's hilarious & witty
Community is one of those rare comedies that actually make you laugh out loud (without needing to depend on an annoying laugh track to cue audiences when to laugh). There will be times (a lot of times) where you'll be thinking "wth is happening right now??" while you laugh uncontrollably on the floor. Another thing about its humor is that it's smart - my favourite kind! 

2) It isn't afraid to be itself
Community is weird and proud of it. It doesn't care about the ratings or appealing to a wider audience. It constantly pushes boundaries of what can be said and done on tv and it doesn't fall back on formulaic plot lines. It often does these epic themed episodes and they're the best ever! But aside from these themed episodes, the character-driven episodes that explore the characters' back stories and wrap up with a lesson on friendship or life are definitely my favourite.

3) The characters are relatable
I love shows about misfits... That's exactly what Community is about: a group of completely relatable misfits that form a close knit friendship. These are well written characters that have layers to their personalities. They each have their set of quirks and flaws and I can honestly say I love every single character on the show

4) It's a true underdog
When it comes to underdogs, Community definitely lucked out. It has been given the short end of the stick time and time again. NBC had no idea what to do with it and it was always on the brink of cancellation. It went on hiatus, they fired the show's own creator (but he came back!!), they delayed the season premiere, and then they broke everyone's hearts and canceled the show for real after five seasons. BUT Yahoo Screen has saved the day and I am so excited to see what season 6 has in store!!

5) For all you shippers out there, Jeff & Annie
Sorry I just had to throw this in there... they are literally my favourite pairing of all time. BUT they are not the reason why i watch the show, they're just a bonus ;). Ever since season 1's "Football, Feminism, and You", I was hooked and there was no turning back. The chemistry is off the charts. Excited to see what season 6 brings for these two

Why Chromebooks Should be in Your Life

If you're tired of your old slow and laggy laptop and need an alternative laptop for just surfing the web, then a Chromebook might be the answer! Initially I wasn't that fond of them since I had the mindset that I NEEDED Windows but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I spend 90% of my computer usage on the Internet anyway. I tested out my mom's Chromebox and loved the simplicity and how fast it was so I started pining after a Chromebook for my everyday Internet browsing. I started searching but couldn't find any Chromebooks that had it all (looks, speed, HD display) - until Toshiba released the Chromebook 2 (CB35-B3340 model) which has an IPS 1080P HD display!! It also looked beautiful (reminiscent of a Macbook Air which I used to want solely for its looks) and although they downgraded on the processor to keep costs down, it's still pretty fast to me!

I've been using this for the past week and am 100% satisfied with my purchase! It's perfect for what it is and does what it does really well. This isn't meant to replace my main computer or anything but it makes a great backup for days when I don't need to use any Window applications. I've been streaming shows and movies, listening to music, online shopping, browsing the web, opening a bunch of tabs at once (I have a bad habit of opening literally everything in a new tab and never closing any of them), using Google Hangouts and everything else I needed to do without any problems. It also comes with 1TB of free Google Drive storage for 2yrs (the sticker on it says 100GB but I think there's a promo going on).... sweet!



My Chromebook is Kit Kat-aproved!*

*The struggle to type up this blog post when you have a cat who likes walking all over your laptop and lying on your keyboard

Reviews:
PC Mag
Laptop Mag
Engadget
Cnet

Why Isn't This Video Viral Yet? GoPro: Retro Revolution

I came across this GoPro video a few weeks ago and I was instantly entranced. The way all the scenic San Francisco landscapes blend seamlessly between each shot, coupled with the hypnotic music from Slow Magic as its soundtrack (run-on sentence much?). I'm surprised this video isn't viral yet!!!

Find out how this video was made here: http://www.truettner.com/bts/gopro-revolutions

Side note: Kind of in love with everything GoPro related at the moment! I am faaaaaaaaar from active, adventurous or sporty but all these cool videos from GoPro have convinced me that I needed one in my life. When I watched the beautiful lions documentary with the lion whisperer from about a year ago, I think I fell in love a little bit - with these beautiful creatures and the cameras that captured them up close and personal. I bought myself a GoPro Hero4 Silver edition on boxing day because I thought it would be neat to use it to film my cat Kit Kat from unique angles or from his POV! Also I would like to use it to film at concerts and amusement parks. This would allow me to go hands-free and actually enjoy the LIVE concert instead of watching it through a tiny screen on my phone or digital camera, making sure I got the framing right. I could also stop worrying about losing my phone/digital camera on a roller coaster because I would be able to mount the GoPro to myself and it would shoot awesome POV shots!! Ok that's enough fan-girling to last a year, GOODNIGHT!
P.S. major props to GoPro for adding a built-in LCD screen to the Hero4 Silver!

You're The Worst and I'm In Love (With this TV Show)

I found a new love in this TV show I stumbled on, "You're the Worst" - a comedy about two terrible and flawed people who embark in a friends-with-benefits type thing but actually end up being perfect for each other. They're both commitment-phobes who fear intimacy and are emotionally-distant. There are layers to these characters that explain why they are the way they are. This is why I love them and I love this show. It's so relatable and realistic. It's hilarious, witty and cynical but secretly has a heart buried underneath it all. It's so much fun watching these two people on their journey as they face their fears and stumble into a "relationship" even if they won't admit that's what they're in. I can't wait for season 2!

Meet KitKat!!!

Meet my cat, Kit Kat! I adopted this little weirdo at the Toronto Mega Adoption Event hosted by Pet Smart Charities in partnership with the Toronto Humane Society and Toronto Animal Services back in July. Kudos to these organizations for planning this successful event and finding homes for over 500 cats and dogs!

When I first brought him home, he was so scared that he hid under a table in my kitchen and didn't come out for hours. After a few weeks though, he came out of his shell and I realized that he's a bit of a weirdo! (Like me LoL perfect match)


He likes biting his own feet and kicking his face



Here he is "cuddling" with the toy kitty before he bit off its ear and ate it...


Look at this evil face



He's always making me laugh with his antics




I see you Kit Kat...


Look how cute he is when he's sleeping... i mean LOOK




I'll end this here before this photo spam gets too out of hand... BYEEEEEE

Band Spotlight: Magic Man

Indie pop at its finest - I seriously love all of Magic Man's songs! If you're into upbeat catchy synthpop then you're gonna love these guys! For serious!

Their new album, "Before The Waves" was out in July and I know I'm a bit delayed with posting about it (or with posting anything) - blame it on my busy-ness and/or laziness. I know my posts have been quite sporadic to say the least but I'm back now and maybe I'm here to stay... haha no promises because "promises are meant to be broken"!



Recommend me some bands or artists to check out... I'm always on the lookout for new music to add to my collection!