H&M Fashion Against AIDS - prelaunch party

After agonizing over what to wear - what was appropriate, what everyone else would be wearing, what Rafay was going to wear etc etc. I settled on what was a decidedly casual outfit, braved the torrential downpour and headed out to the party at the location on Queen W.
The FAA line is great, there are a lot of pieces that aren't done any justice from the pictures on the site, and although some of the dresses didn't fit too well on me, I'm sure they'll look great on someone with a different body type. The smaller sizes were in high demand, and by the time I got there (7:30 - the party started at 7) all the size 2s and smalls in the mens pieces were gone. This was the first press party I've ever gone to, and I was entirely impressed. The food that was being passed around was great, with waiters and waitresses winding around racks of clothing with trays of mini-burgers, lobster skewers, bacon grilled cheese, feta and watermelon skewers, finishing off with chocolate dipped twizzlers, ice cream sandwiches and candied popcorn - all delicious, and bottles of Smirnoff ice, Heineken and Stella. Free food and free alcohol. How can I hate? I ended up leaving 2 tanks, a rain poncho and a pair of shorts, as well as a festival kit that was given to me with purchase and an umbrella that they were giving out at the door.
I have to say, H&M knows how to treat people. Must be a Swedish thing, because Lord knows how much I love Ikea, and how they have masseuses on hand for employees during the Christmas rush.
Here's a picture of what I ended up wearing tonight, which also doubles as showing off the white silk blouse that I scored at Value Village on Monday. I wore a blazer on top of it (because thin white material + rain almost always = bad news), and white plimsoles that were pretty much soaked through by the time I got to the store from the parking lot. Rafay and I also got our picture taken by the event photographer at the party (with our chocolate covered twizzlers!!), so when that picture goes up onto the site, I'll post it here too.

hi

My mom is looking for a house to move into. I want to help her and project my design aesthetic of bright airy rooms with large windows, winding corridors and various nooks and crannies to hide out in into her choices, but chances are I am not going to be living with her.

She has even downsized her options from 4 bedrooms (one for each of us and her) to 3 bedrooms for just her and my brothers.

I really want to move so I have a solid concrete reason to get rid of all the shit that I have. Almost everything I own is unnecessary, but I'm a bit of a pack rat.

(I guess you can sort of see this conflict in personality - the desire for bright, clean, airy rooms and my tendency to hoard junk - in the pictures I posted..)

Also the thought of having a brand new house empty of stuff to start over with is soooo appealing to me. The house we're in now is a complete disaster, and I want to say that when my brothers move out, my dad and I will go and clean shit out, but it probably won't happen.

So that's is what's happening right now.

A little bit of a life update; I had my first shift at H&M today (well, not really a shift, but orientation). It's weird working in a big store again. Folding doesn't require a board, and sizing things is considered a waste of time. I could get used to this.

I was escorted out of Madison Pub by security on Friday night where I spent the whole night sitting on the front steps and throwing up, so this is a warning to all you who like to have parties and go out drinking on the town for your birthdays. I cannot go to the Madison again. Sorry.

Aaand I just spent 52.00 on a ticket to go see Fleet Foxes at Massey Hall on my own. I am sitting in row A seat #2 on the left side, so I probably won't be able to see shit. But hey, at least I'll be able to hear? (I'm right by a speaker, so I'll need ear plugs I guess.)

I'm at work, slightly hung over and INCREDIBLY tired.
I had a dream about sam and this bespectacled american apparel hoody clad man who vaguely resembled my photography TA from last year. We were looking at art and discussing how different a certain painting looked from different perspectives.

It's such a fucking turn off when boys flirt badly. Or when they're completely obvious about it, yet feign subtlety.

This is incredibly fucked up. Because if I do this, I'd be doing exactly what I'm warning against. So what do I do? Turn it all off? Everything? Retreat?

Funny, the one time where things are working out the way I wanted them to, and the situation is almost perfect for what I've been telling myself I need... I stop thinking about myself (for once) and start to think of the implications for the other person involved.

My plans for the summer are also getting kind of complicated. I've been in contact with the Maple School in Indonesia, and although I haven't really heard anything confirming it yet, they seem to be interested in me going out there... but I kind of want to stay close to home this summer. But can I really in good conscience give up the opportunity to be paid to live in Indonesia for 3 months?
There's also the Equitas internship in Montreal that I've also interested in. I've fallen in love with Montreal, and interning with Equitas for a summer might lead to a full time position when I graduate. Parfait. Un raison pour demenager labas. One less thing I'll have to worry about when I do move out there when I'm done school.
This is all assuming that I get any of these positions. They might all not take me, and I will be stuck here trying to find another job for the summer.
Eh, life.

picture time

so yeah. there are more, but i won't subject you to them. they mostly consist of me making gross drunk kissy faces at everyone.

polaroid it.

Bitches.

For those of you who are going to miss out on celebrating my birthday tomrw night, this is exactly what you're missing out on.

Only it'll be dark, I'll probably have a beer in my hand and it will be to music and therefore soooooooo much better.

Yeah, that's right.

Birthdays.

I hate them.
But it's a damn good excuse to get dressed up, get sloshed and dance.

Here's to...

coming home reeking of booze and cigarettes...
from a bar where i was able to reconnect with my past, whether i wanted to or not...

"omg hi! its been so long! i havent seen you in years!! what have you been up to?"

"dude, omg, so whats up??"

"yeah man its been yearssss! how are you? what are you doing now?"



i knew there was a reason i didnt go to bars in streetsville.
and it turns out that all of SSS class of ... 2005 (thanks sasha..) was out at the cock and pheasant tonight.
How do I sum up the last 4 years of my life to you in a clear and concise way, that will keep your attention and not alienate you, in a bar over loud music and yelling from the table next to us?
"Um, yeah life's been good... I just got back from a 6 month adventure... half of which was spent in Brazil... yeah life's been pretty crazy.. So what have you been doing? .. Just school? Oh well, thats pretty....... respectable....."

wow, life.

i miss my CWYers.
Can we rewind to the last 3 days of the program in montreal?
can we go back to the night where we counted down the seconds to the end of the program?
I was so ill prepared. I promise I'll be able to deal with it better the second time around......

"A que horas, nos vamos emborra?"
"Vai emborra agora??"

I really need to get into the habit of not speaking Portuguese when I have the slightest bit of alcohol in me... no one can understand what I am saying....

1 week left.

I absolutely cannot believe that I'll be home in a week.
I packed today, and all I have to do is finalize tmrw and I'm done.
I'll probably be unreachable for the next week so, for those who care, here's the schedule for the next couple of days.

Tuesday 16 - leave our homes in Valleyfield for Camp Bosco
Wednesday 17 - Camp Bosco
Thursday 18 - Teary goodbyes to the Brazilians at the airport, arrival at the hostel in downtown Montreal with all other 30 Canadian participants
Friday 19 - Hostel
Saturday 20 - Hostel
Sunday 21 - HOME!

And so begins a week long drinking binge.. it started Friday night with a party at Lorna + Tamara's house, continued last night with our Goodbye party for the families and work projects, and will continue at Camp Bosco with our Brazilian friends during their last 2 days in Canada and our last 2 days together. And then its 3 days in downtown Montreal with all our other Canadian friends that we've only seen twice during the last 6 months. There'll be 40 participants and one supervisor.. we'll have workshops during the day and nights off. So far our group of Canadians have already decided to go to a drag show, go tobogganing down Mont Royal, visit le Musée de Beaux Arts and the Andy Warhol exhibit and go drinking/clubbing.
With $44 for meals for the 3 days... we'll see how we do.
I'll see you guys soon!

uh yeah

inspirational, self pep-talk posts are only possible when im not hating life, so part 2 will have to wait till im in a better mood, drunk, or will never see the light of day.

in other news, drunken trampolining is probably the most fun you can ever have in life - just make sure you dont throw up...

also, curling is a lot harder than it looks. its also a lot more fun (surprisingly) than it looks.

what's not fun is having the hour walk home in the dark against the wind, in the snow in -25 degree weather.

but heres a fun picture:

clair de la lune

drunken midnight black-light bowling is only fun when all those elements are involved.

consumerism

Even from the far corner of small town Quebec, without a credit card, without any income except for $15 a week, and a weekly expenditure of an average of $25 a weekend on booze, I still manage to keep consumerism alive.

Thank god for Paypal and international shipping.

I just bought this:

So cute! I'm super excited for it's arrival. I just hope it won't take 1 month and a half to arrive.. because I won't be here any more.

Shopping has become a distant memory for me. For the last 6 months every item of clothing I've acquired has been second hand - I do a weekly tour of all the second-hand stores in Valleyfield, and even in Manoel Viana, I managed to find a second-hand store (which is an amazing feat, since the town was so small, and barely had anything in it...) where I thrifted little boys button downs (actually if you think about it, it's kind of sad to think about - I'm wearing the castoffs of someone from a small-town in the South of Brazil... oh well). I don't think I'm capable of buying anything over the price of $5 any more. I actually balk at the thought of paying $5 for a sweater that looks brand new and has the tag on it here.

My host mom has promised me a trip to Montreal for shopping purposes, and besides the fact that I'm pretty much broke (or will be soon.. Halloween is on a Friday this year!) and have no access to a credit card, I'm dying to walk into an H&M, UO and/or American Apparel. (Let the stop-supporting-global-capitalism lectures begin!)

Out of the 5 pairs of jeans that I brought to wear on the trip, 2 are too tight and way too uncomfortable (I guess I did put on some weight...), one has several rips in the crotchal area and paint on it from digging, planting, and painting in Brazil, and one has a hole in it from falling off my bike. Someone purolate me some clothes please. I'm tired of fighting with little old men for plaid flannel shirts, little old ladies for cable knit sweaters, and buying mens undershirts to wear as dresses.

On the other hand, I will return home with the most impressive collection of plaid shirts and grandpa cardigans that Mississauga has ever seen.

The other day I bought a hand-knit, long, heavy wool sweater at one of the stores for $10. I wore it all weekend during mid-project, and at night I put a light hoody under it and spent the whole night outside by the camp fire, and I could not feel the cold even if I wanted to (this could've been attributed to the Fireball mixed with chai that I was drinking... but I really don't think so). It's magical, and probably the best buy I'll ever make in my life.

At least if I wanted to I could dress up as an old man for Halloween. It might be easier than dressing up as an 80s aerobics bitch, or a poutine...

Does anyone know what I can wear to cover my ass if I dress up as an 80s aerobics bitch, with my AA raglan sweater on top, and leggings and legwarmers? We all know how I feel about wearing leggings as pants...... RAFAY, I AM LOOKING AT YOU FOR IDEAS. Something that can easily be thrifted. I couldn't find short shorts at any of the thrift stores I frequent.

(wow, there are a lot of pertinent tags for this post..)

lush

do you know how hard/amazing it is to ride a bike home when you're trashed?
is that legal?

friday night we went to a bar where we accidentally ended up at a show.

last night we went to a club called "le saint", where the there was a jungle theme for the night, you could get squiggly lines airbrushed onto your arms and legs, and everywhere you turned, there was a frat boy with his pink polo collar popped and a beer bottle in hand.

welcome to small-town quebec. where it's like the suburbs, but worse.

but hey, drinks were cheap - $3.50 for a vodka+canneberge, $3 for a beer (i'm sure they know that there needs to be a certain level of intoxication involved in order to deal with djs dressed up in leopard print pimp suits, throwing budweiser hats at you).
and at least we started the evening off with class.. sitting on a bedroom floor listening to Madonna, and drinking wine with cheese and bread.
..and taking shots of gin on the long walk to the club..
all in all a good(ish) time was had - i vividly remember getting really excited and dancing really hard to lady gaga even though i could barely stand at that point.

my host dad just laughed at me because its 3pm and after i biked my way home from the place i slept over at, i took a shower and changed directly into my pyjamas. he asked if i drank a lot last night because apparently i look super hung over.

my counterpart and her partner for her JAE are in the living room listening to the beach boys for some reason...

good weekend.

anyways, happy thanksgiving.