Tattoo three, Round two

So today I had my second session at Urge in Vic, my tattoo destination of choice. I've been to two other places in the city, the first of which was terrible, while the second one was good but not good enough to bring me back. Why'd I go back to Urge? Emily. She's my artist.

She has a style all her own. She specializes in "all things rad," which is perfect for me. I like rad things. Better that these rad things are on me, raising my rad-factor tenfold! Also, I promise that I don't have a tiger and unicorn at tea tattooed on me.

I do have a mythological beast, though. My most recent (and hopefully final) addition is a Russian firebird, known throughout the English-speaking world as a phoenix. Yes, I have a story for it but no, I will not be sharing it here. It goes a little deeper than the usual "rising from the ashes" phoenix motifs into the Russian lore. I'm rad like that.

Urge logo by Urge, painting by Emily Shoichet, firebird artwork by an unknown artist

the WPC11 & Christmas

It's Christmas Eve, and to pass the time I've been working on drafting up the challenges for the Winter Prose Competition 2011 on Protagonize. I've got all five challenges thought out now, and I can't wait until February to see the finished results! But first, Christmas.

To be honest, it never really feels like Christmas anymore, now that I live in the Okanagan most of the time. I mean, it feels like Christmas in the Okanagan, where there's snow on the ground and I have no choice but to wear a scarf, mittens, and jacket everyday, but here on the island? Not so much. It probably doesn't help that I'm listening to Röyksopp instead of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.

Still, I'm excited for tomorrow. I might actually be more excited to see the reactions of the 'rents and the sister to their presents than to my own, actually. Weird. Apparently I've matured since I was twelve. That said, I'm stoked on the massive Tim's Card on the way. Seriously people, I asked for nothing but a gift card to Tim Hortons to satiate my massive desire for hocho and baked goods. It's a very expensive need.

And yes, that's a mitten on top of my tree. I sewed it myself, therefore it doesn't work too well as a regular mitten, but is redeemable as a tree mitten. That's also a ceramic chicken near the bottom. I also have a sheep somewhere. It's a quirky tree, okay?

photos and post-production by me.

and the Holidays Approach with Uncanny Speed

Whoa, that happened fast. Sometimes I feel like it was only a few days ago that the term started, and now I'm told that Christmas in on Saturday. I'm not even back home yet. I haven't done my shopping yet. In a word, I'm doomed.

I'm the victim of the speed, agility, and cunning of Christmas Raptor.

photo by a friend, shooped by me.

Music Monday: Daft Punk - C.L.U.

So last Friday Tronday I saw Tron:Legacy. I was tempted not leave the theatre and watch it again (edit: I went back and watched it two more times in the same theatre). I'm in love. I'm also in love with the soundtrack, which was composed by Daft Punk and features the London Symphony Orchestra (I think. It's a symphony orchestra in London, that's fersuure).



While not my favourite song on the soundtrack, C.L.U. is probably the most exemplary of the beautiful style that Daft Punk crafted when given the chance to work with more "traditional" instruments. Who knew synth and strings went so well together? Or feedback and timpani? Love love love.

the Regular Programming

Alright, I'm ditching the picture challenge series because I got bored of it. That sudden boredom may or may not be because of the next few days of awesome I have in store. It goes a little something like this.

Team project? Check. Two 10-page geography research papers? Check. Final exam in anthropology? Check. There's nothing left for me to do this term. Rad!

Everybody knows what Wednesday means. Heck yes you do. Wednesday means Wing Night, and I plan on hitting it for some buffalo-style lovin'. Mmm mmm!

Thursday morning I'm hitching a ride to Biggie to shred some gnar powpow. In more standard English, I'm going up to Big White to snowboard on all the fresh snow they've got. First time up in two years!

Friday Tronday is Tron day. I'll be watching the original at least once that afternoon before donning my Disney RealD glasses for the multidimensional experience that is Tron Legacy. Nerdgasm.

photos from around. Biggie photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 11 and 12 - Love and Hate

So I missed a couple days this week, due to intense procrastination on my part. Sorry. So, here are days 11 and 12 together, since they fit so well. And, instead of just listing what I love and what I hate, I'm going to list a few of the things (mostly food, it's on my mind currently) that I hated last year, and love/like/tolerate this year.

Mushrooms. All my life I have hated the texture of mushrooms, the taste of mushrooms, the everything of mushrooms. Well, not the everything. I like mushrooms when they're in the ground doing that growing thing they do. I like the clusters they form. I like the spots on some of them. And I may or may not admit to liking eating them now sometimes, but only sometimes.

Asparagus. Another food hatred of mine. Mostly because it's a vegetable with strange paintbrush-like tips. Except that last night I made baked garlic butter asparagus with cajun grilled chicken. Whoamigawd. I'm in love. Microwave some butter, throw in a couple cloves of minced garlic and a little salt, toss with asparagus, throw in an oven on a baking sheet for a while. Heaaaaaven.

Red wine. I detested wine. I would tolerate white. Now I live in the Okanagan, aka the wine capital of Canada, and I'm slowly fast becoming a wine snob. I have a wine cooler in my dorm now for goodness sake!

Those cherries in canned fruit salad. They are now my second favourite favourite part, after the pears. The former fave, peaches, ranks last now. I'm not sure what happened there.

Florence + the Machine. Now, I never hated F+tM, but last year I absolutely refused to listen to her. Bad experience with the person who recommended her to me, y'know? I'm not sure I could survive without her these days.

photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 10 - the Accomplice/s

The sis. Nothing much needs to be said here. We talk about how we're going to be bachelors together for goodness sake. Whether we're on an adventure to Wing Night Wednesday or stuffing our faces with goulash in the Czech Republic, we're always in cahoots.

The cuz. Post-midnight life chats? Check. Late night excursions to whatever fast food drive-through is still open? Check. (Illegal) Beers on the beach in summer? Check. Jersey Shore poses two years before the Jersey Shore? Check. We've got it all down.

The team. This was my RA team last year, and I miss them dearly! Well, except for the two who I still work with, but you get the feeling. We dealt with so much idiocy together, and had tonnes of good times after the fact.


photos by the sister, myself, and a team-mate.

a Picture Challenge: 9 - they Got me Through

the preamble. I've had a less than stellar month, to be completely honest. Luckily, I have an expansive collection of music and an iPod that has a strange capacity to know exactly what I need to hear. The result? Intense music therapy. All day, every day. Here are the five musicians that have and continue to carry me through.

Sia, an eccentric singer/songwriter from Australia. She's not well known, but she's all over the place. She co-wrote three of the songs for Christina Aguilera's Bionic, and one of the songs for the film Burlesque (which was amazing, beeteedubs). Specifically, I've been all over the song I'm in Here.

My favourite band of the moment, Metric. The lead singer, Emily Haines, deserves an international award just for being Emily Haines. Seriously. I've been listening to Collect Call nightly for a while now. The song seems to take a new meaning for me every day, and I sometimes feel it was written just for me.

Janelle Monae is a rising R&B star, nominated for two Grammy awards. Gorgeous voice, jaw-dropping dance moves, and good looking to boot. She's a true artist, as shown in her video for Cold War. I have so much respect for her.

I fell in love with Jamie Cullum the moment I heard one of his songs play at the Gap, but last month I took the time to actually search out his entire discography. Completely worthwhile. On repeat for days was the 7 minute Music is Through, the live version of which I'll share.

Florence + the Machine is another up and coming musician, nominated for a single Grammy award this year. Also similar to Janelle Monae, she's got serious pipes, inspiring choreography (of the contemporary variety), and all wrapped in a face and figure you can't ignore. Her entire album is my life's soundtrack, but Dog Days are Over is what has helped me most.

photos from all over the place.

a Picture Challenge: 8 - Lawls

Three Facebook memes in one? Impossible! I have nothing more to say.

photo by... i have no clue. Google Image search?

a Picture Challenge: 7 - a Treasure

 

When I was younger I collected coins. I had all the different quarter sets. I had three elusive "dove pennies." At one point I had a penny from every year back to the 50s.

My parents and grandparents would deposit their change with me after going globetrotting, and so my collection slowly became international. I still have a tin at home filled to bursting with old coins and banknotes from the world over.

I keep one with me, though. I have it hanging on a simple black string, no clasp, and I wear it about my neck every single day. Have been for the past, oh seven years. Seriously, it only comes off to bathe. Formal event? It goes under the collared shirt. Or suit, if that's the case. Volleyball games? Wrapped around my ankle and tucked into my sock. I even sleep with the thing on.

Why?

I have my reasons.

 photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 6 - in Different Shoes

 

No, I don't want to be the lead singer of Metric. Or the drummer in the background. Or the guitarist you can't see on the right. No, I'd like to swap lives with the bass guitarist on the left, who you can sort of make out.

Why?

Because then I'd get to spend the day with Emily Haines.

Whose shoes would you like to test out for a day?

photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 5 - a Favourite Memory

Funny, this photo seems a tad familiar. Oh, I know why! It's because it was my Ptag avatar for a while. And it's the URL icon thing for my blog. And it's the background image for my blog button (which you should post places. Hint hint). 

But it's also a photo from one of the best days of my life to day. A bittersweet day in hindsight, but a day on which I experienced my first "perfect moment." I wrote about it on Ptag somewhere, I'll try to search down the link sometime.

Anyways, the gist of it is that I was celebrating my best friend's (at the time) 17th birthday, a surprise party which I had a big part in organizing. It was the afterparty that gets the credit for being "that moment," though. We trekked off a path in Brentwood Bay to a small stone beach, lit up a fire, and just hung out until 1 or 2am. It was before the days that drinking was necessary for fun. We talked, laughed, sang, and all the rest for a good five hours. I miss that simple innocence.

Might I ask, have you ever had one of those perfect moments?

Author's Note:

Looks like I've written a few things based on or inspired by this moment over at Ptag...

the Strait

Moments Pass us By

photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 4 - on Holidays

I guess the last holiday I went on was a brief roadtrip to Seattle over the summer. I don't really count it as a "holiday," though. The last "holiday," according to my sense of the word, would probably have been in July of 2009 to the Czech Republic.

Next up? A reading week trip to an undecided location with the guys, a two week excursion to Turkey in May, and (hopefully) a 4 month residency in Singapore!

photo by me.

A slightly different post

So if you've got me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that my current status is "...is digitally dead now. #BUYLIFE" Curious, huh?

Well, there are two reasons for it. First, and most importantly, it's my own participation in a World AIDS Day movement started by Alicia Keys, where various celebrities have decided to "die" by refraining from various social networking sites, most recognizably Twitter and Facebook, until a donation goal is reached. You can read up on it by visiting buylife.org. 

The second reason? I've got a geography project due tomorrow afternoon (which I have since finished), and a ten page paper due on Friday, so taking away my social networks was a necessary step for productivity reasons. I'll be back online any time now, regardless of how soon the donation goal for the BuyLife project is reached.

Cheers!