The Youth Blog

You don’t need any occasion to give a loved one gifts. In fact, the best gift is to give a gift just like that- without any reason or occasion. It’s sure to brighten up that special person’s day. And trust me, you’ll be on cloud nine too just seeing their smile. But if you have to have a reason.. theres Christmas as well as New years just around the corner!Here are some of the top gifts you can make yourself.

1. SCRAPBOOK

This will require some time and effort. But it’ll be all worth it at the end. Pick up a diary, and pick a theme. If its for your partner, you could have a chronological pictorial representation. Paste pictures of not just the two of you but also places you frequented (cafes, buses, cinema halls.. anything!) and things you liked (a special pastry, magazines you both read together.. etc). You can also make up small verses. Remember to pour your heart out. There’s no better way to say all that you feel. If its for a friend, parent or teacher, you can ask others who are close to that person to contribute to it also.

2. TREASURE HUNT

 Make it wild, crazy and super fun. Help your best friend or girl/boy friend bring the child out in them. Try and make the clues using words that the two of you use a lot. That will give it an even more personal touch. Don’t forget to make the treasure worth all the effort!

3. MOBILE COVER

What’s different about a mobile cover? Nothing! Except the fact that you’re going to make this yourself! You could knit, embroider or crochet… whatever you like doing. And if you don’t know any.. go and learn!

4. PHOTOFRAME

You could make one out of cloth or paper. Decorate it with pressed flowers, ribbons or buttons. If you want to get more adventurous, instead of one photograph, you could make a collage of many.

 5. PAPIER MACHE PEN STAND

Make a papier mache pen stand. If you don’t know how to make one, check out this site- http://www.papiermache.co.uk/tutorials/getting-started-with-papier-mache/

 You can personalize it using lots of paints or you can even stick some photos.

Take some time out of your packed schedule. You definitely wont repent it. These classics are sure to give you just the break you needed.

 1. REBECCA- DAPHNE DU MAURIER

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again”.

Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ is an evergreen classic. ‘Rebecca’ will continue to haunt you long after you have turned the last page over. The beauty of Rebecca lies in the first person narration of an extremely touching thriller. Wondering what I mean by a touching thriller? This emotional story suddenly takes the most thrilling turn you could ever imagine. The story unfolds many mysteries. But the one you are left with is the identity of the narrator. All you know about her are her feelings, her tumultuous thoughts, her insecurities, jealousies and her story.. beautifully told.

2. MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS- GERALD DURRELL

This hilarious autobiographical account takes us to Corfu, a Greek island where Gerrald Durrel spent four years of his childhood between 1935 and 1939. Durrel’s narration of his family comprising of his widowed mother, diet-conscious sister Margo, gun- crazy Leslie and Larry together with their various pets on and off the house does more than just tickle your funny bone.

 3. SMALL MIRACLES : Extraordinary Coincidences from Everyday Life- Yitta Halberstam and  Bernie S. Siegel

This small book will bring in a lot of positivity into your life. A collection of real life ‘miracles’ this book will bring in the wonder and beauty of coincidences that make us wonder whether there is a higher power looking over us. A must grab to keep away everyday blues or brighten up the lining of a dark cloud.

Milun Tesovic, the co-founder of Metrolyrics.com was awarded the Global Student Entrepreneur Champ award. He is doing a management degree in Entrepreneurship at the Simon Fraser University. Metrolyrics.com was the first website to start offering a huge database of legal, licensed music lyrics. At the time, it was launched Milun Tesovic was just 16-years old. He is a young entrepreneur. This years, that is 2009 Global Student Entrepreneur awards were held in Kansas City, Missouri

Like all good business, Metrolyrics was launched as a product that the audience requires. This is what Milun Tesovic said,

“There were a lot of places where music and video games were available, but what I saw was music lyrics wasn’t that well represented. So I made a quick script with my own code and started a database of music lyrics. … It cost $9 a month to buy up the domain.”

This means that Metrolyrics started with a capital investment of $9 only. Amazing. Metrolyrics serves a very high number of visitors, 36 million unique monthly visitors, 100 million monthly page views, and is currently the 3rd largest music property in North America. The most recent achievement for Tesovic is that AOL music provider has tied up with Metrolyrics to be the official lyric service provider.

And what was his passion behind starting Metrolyrics?

“When I was 15, I knew that after I got my driver’s license, I wanted a decent-looking car,” he said. “I had my own hosting company (on the Internet), and then I started analyzing where a lot of people go on the web.”

And he did fulfil his dream. See photo.