simple living Archives - Badge of Awesome

December 24, 2016

Keep it Simple: Lessons learned from an idiotic Christmas tree

Putting in extra effort to make an event or experience extra special is great. But sometimes — like my disastrous attempt to find the PERFECT Christmas tree for my mom — you can overdo it. Like this story? Then check out my book Misadventure Musings: Lessons learned from life’s awesome and absurd moments.

May 26, 2015

Nurturing Imagination: Lessons learned from launching a fireball into a house

I wouldn’t describe my mom and dad as helicopter parents. Partly because giving us a long leash was just their parenting style. Partly because with eight kids running around like a bunch of maniacs, you’d need a whole fleet of helicopters to keep track of us.

May 19, 2015

Owning Up to Our Mistakes: Lessons learned from getting shot in the eye with a pellet gun

“Kids these days.” It’s a familiar expression used to express disapproval of how far today’s youth have drifted from the virtuous and well-behaved ways of their elders. But you only need to hear a few stories from my dad about his ridiculous childhood shenanigans to see what a crock that is. Case in point: the…

August 24, 2012

[Blog] 20 awesome activities involving 1 item or less

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on my Josh Martin Ink blog. In an age of iPads, Xboxes and $200 shoes, our sources of entertainment and activity require increasingly sophisticated technology, equipment and infrastructure. But there’s something to be said for the simpler activities. Activities that nurture creativity, ingenuity and imagination. In 2005 the…

August 3, 2012

[Blog] Finding balance in our busy world

By Josh Martin Badge of Awesome is all about doing cool things and being more active. But how do you live a more “active” life when every hour of your day already overflows with activity? How do we “suck the marrow out of life” as Thoreau describes in our go-go-go world? Good question. We’ve all…

July 27, 2012

[Blog] Fish Heads in the Far East: Remembering what’s important

By Josh Martin Chiayi, Taiwan—My 90 cc scooter (which I fondly nicknamed, “Scoot Scoot Riot”) howled in protest as we made the steep ascent along the winding mountain roads in Taiwan. By noon Marty, Yanik (my two fellow ESL teachers) and I had reached our campsite for the weekend. That evening, as the sun set…

July 20, 2012

[Blog] I am a Hobo Torpedo: Friends over stuff

By Josh Martin “My friends are my estate.” – Emily Dickinson Waterloo, Ontario—It’s ten-thirty at night and I’m hurtling down a deserted street inside a shopping cart, like some hobo torpedo. As my mobile, metal coffin rattles down the road at mach five I suddenly realize something—I’m an idiot. It had all started two minutes…

Tag: simple living