What is this about and how this all came about?
I’ve been practicing Zero Waste and zero shopping on new fashion items since 2018 and discovered many Rs along the way which helped me in my journey. I shared my learnings mostly on social media (IG & FB) but held back on the need to create a website and blog.
One day while I was binging on Instagram feed, I saw a brilliant digital art of Nirvana’s Nevermind album, updated to match today’s worrying reality – one truckload of plastic waste entered the ocean every single minute. If we continue at this rate, there will be more plastic waste than fish in the sea by 2050. This picture says it all.
During my days working at Zouk, we (the marketing team) conceptualized and created thematic events. One of them was a Green theme we named: Smells Like Green Spirit, a spin-off from Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit song, which happened to be the opening track of Nevermind album. This is no coincidence!
It is no surprise the name was taken since everyone has cleverly thought about the same thing we thought about decades ago! Feeling bummed, the idea of starting a website and blog ceased again.
Towards the end of 2019, I bumped into a friend whom I have not seen for years when I was in Singapore. He owns a vintage collectibles store and my gal friend was intrigued by his wide arrays of nostalgic collections. She bought a few items to show support. And in turn, I bought 2 smiley face patches from him and gift one to my friend. They are not your usual smiley face. One in blue, another in green, each has 4 eyes. My friend playfully embroidered extra eyes onto the iconic smiley face which I thought was hilarious. I kept the green one for myself and for some strange reason, at that moment, I knew this could be a cool logo for my website and blog. Come to think of it, Nirvana’s logo was a smiley face designed by Kurt Cobain himself! Needless to say, Nirvana was one of my favorite rock bands.
During my mandatory 14 days Stay Home Notice at a hotel facility, I had plenty of ‘me’ time to meditate, to read, to write, to take care of my body, attended various Earth Day week-long events which coincide with Fashion Revolution Week filled with talks, workshops, panel discussions on FB live or simply doing nothing. With too much time on one’s hands and the urge to contribute something on the other, the desire to start a website and blog reignited. One more R added to the list of Rs!
One night, I had a eureka moment when I thought about the green smiley patch – Smells rhymes with Smiles! Instead of Smells Like Green Spirit, I could go with Smiles Like Green Spirit – since I smile a lot as well. Ran a quick search online, lo and behold, the name is available on all platforms! Et voila! And the green smiley patch fits right in.
Why do I bother elaborating on how this all came about? I want to encourage you to find pleasure in taking the time to explore and create. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t force it to be, let it go, get back to it another time, trust the process, and the right time or AHA moment will pop up when you least expected.
I’m filled with joy that my zero waste journey, my favorite rock band, and the 4 eyes green smiley face all came to an alignment. Get ready for enlightenment!
Smiles Like Green Spirit 