Hi there! I’m Aisling, and there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve just butchered my name in your head! Just so you know, it’s said like “Ashleen,” and is Irish (but I’m not). Some of my friends call me Ash, some call me Aisy, and some call me Ling. A lot of them call me some sort of word with -ling attached to the end: Emoling (on sad days), Smiling (on happy days), Dinoling (on dressed-as-a-dinosaur days)– I’m sure you get the idea.
I live in Calgary, Canada. I wasn’t born here, and I often disagree with the city’s generally conservative outlook on the world, and yet somehow this place is my home. I suppose being an extreme liberal living in the conservative heartland of Canada does keep things interesting (except for the elections, obviously). I believe in marriage regardless of sexuality, health care for everybody, the right to decide what happens to my own body, and… many people around me do not.
In 2006/7, however, I was able to expand my horizons, when I participated in the youth service program Katimavik. I’ve travelled around the country, experienced new things, met some important people and did some other cool stuff along the way, which you can read about on this site!
I learnt a lot about myself during that time, but it seems the more I learnt, the more I realized I had so much more to figure out! Over the course of a year back home, I discovered new things that I enjoyed, revisited old hobbies, had my heart broken for the first time, and discovered that organic food retail is not for me. Design stole my heart, and coding stole my brain, and I’m now a New Media Production and Design student at SAIT.
My days are spent being quizzed on typefaces, seeing colours and shapes in weird new ways and being generally geeky with some pretty cool people (who understand my really lame jokes!). Overall, I’m optimistic and cheerful and I’ll probably always love you.
