Junkie Jessie

Near the end of June, my friend Jessie was between apartments, and kind of enough to let me take advantage of the fact that her room was almost completely barren. She was also kind enough to model for me as a cute little Asian junkie. The shoot didn't turn out as great as I would have liked, and I think that's partly because I was super hungry while doing the makeup and photo shoot. Lame, I know, but I get seriously distracted when hunger calls. Still, some images turned out quite interesting, such as these two. The photos aren't meant to mean anything, I really just wanted to practice special FX, which I have been been neglecting.

Exquisite Creatures

I am finally back from my whirlwind of a trip! After allowing myself a couple of days to bask in being back home, unpacking, and fully recovering from a lingering cold that seized me during my time in NYC, I have decided it's time to begin the daunting task of going through all my photos and videos and editing them. I've arbitrarily decided to do this in reverse order. I won't be posting anything substantial from my trip for a few days, though, as I have literally hundreds of images to go through.

On my last night in Manhattan my cousin Gaby and I made these two exquisite 'creatures', as we don't like to think of them as being corpses, heh. I was shocked by how well our drawing styles matched up, and how they both look like they could have been drawn by the same person. I suppose it also helped that we used the same small pen, too. I really enjoy how they turned out, and we talked about the potential of doing larger exquisite creatures in the future, possibly on canvas. I hope that one day that'll be possible!

Also, I just wanted to put out a big thank you to all the generous advice and opinions on my previous entry about what to wear. In the end I didn't end up wearing any of those exact combinations, but instead took snippets of the advice here and there. I had to dress for travelling on planes three separate times, too, and I found myself gradually growing more and more casual, especially since the last plane was so tiny there wasn't even a first class.

Up in the Air: What to Wear

I'm having a slight superficial dilemma with choosing an outfit to wear for my travels to the Dominican Republic. In the past I would aim for comfort all the way, but ever since I've been travelling on buddy passes I have been told over and again that I need to dress nicely. There are multiple reasons for this: when one travels with a buddy pass they are representing the airline, and the second (more important) factor is that if one travelling on this pass is neatly attired they are more likely to be bumped to first class, if there are seats available.

So I could definitely use some opinions! In photos a. and b. I am wearing a really light sheer-ish white blouse which I bought specifically for this trip. It's very baggy and comfy, though I am afraid that the sheer factor may make it inappropriate. In b. I am wearing my nude bra with it, so it's a little less scandalous.

Haha, my hip is thrusting out in the same direction in all these. In photos c. and d. you may notice I am wearing the shirt I recently made. It's definitely elegant enough to wear for my pass, but I'm afraid of how well it'll hold up with a heavy back pack strapped around the shoulders. Also, I so direly wish to wear those pale skinny jeans. They are comfort incarnate and make my butt look nice. But I'm not sure, are they too informal? And I may die in them when I reach my destination, though I KNOW that in the airports and up in the air I'll be cold in a skirt. And finally, e. shows something very different. Shorts are definitely more comfortable than skirts to travel in, but the cold factor will still be present. I could also wear the shorts with the white blouse.

This is the silliest and most superficial entry ever, but any suggestions or preferences would be appreciated. I still have so much left to do before even getting to the airport that I don't want to have to worry about this too much. I'm leaving my home at around 3am Wednesday morning (so it'll feel more like late Tuesday night). That leaves about 23 hours for any input you may have!

Creative Birthday Monsters

Last night we celebrated my good friend Marisa's 22nd birthday. The party was monster themed, and they (Marisa and Alex) even created an epic cardboard city that took up most of their living room with the purpose of getting destroyed by us monsters. The decorations were super cute to boot, and I had a great time (I suspect most everyone did!). The following are some images from the party and all the costumes.

The birthday girl as Pikachu, and Alex as a fancy robot. Not sure if he based it off of a specific one.

Philippe as Mecha Dracula 2000. That was not the original plan, but as he was making his costume, his father pointed out that with the back flap up, he looked like Dracula, and thus it became so.

Heather as a Gorilla Girl and Evan as a dragon.

Phil also made this awesome mask for Jacob to wear, and a better view of Evan's dragon head.

Rachel, Jessie as drops of blood (hehe), and Carolina as a dragon, or being eaten by one.

I'm pretty sure my obscure monster reference was lost on most people in attendance, but my makeup and antlers were inspired by a magical elk in Princess Mononoke. I was so surprised and impressed that the makeup didn't melt off my face from the heat.

Views of the city. Zaphod and Usagi were so cute in there.

And lastly, singing Happy Birthday. :)

So-so Sew

It rained! Not just a little rain, but a torrential downpour with thrilling thunder and lightening to boot. Despite the threat of water coming in, we kept all our windows wide open, because the breeze has been magnificent and has effectively cooled down our home.

With the drop in temperature my energy returned. I was able to vacuum the apartment (which was in dire need of it) as well as get creative. I have been more active in sewing lately, though mainly it has just been taking in skirts and hemming. The bottom feed on my machine was creating a lot of problems, but it seems to be rectifying itself the more I use it. Two weeks ago I made my first dress, a simple one inspired by the AA Le Sac Dress. Today I made my first shirt out of a lovely floral fabric I've had for months now. Like the dress, I didn't use a pattern, and instead based it on an Urban Outfitters shirt I already own. I learned tons from making it, and though it isn't perfect I am pretty satisfied with the outcome. The fabric is light and feels nice too, making it extra perfect for summer.

I'm hoping my productivity hasn't stop with sewing, though! I still plan to get my hands dirty with some paint before this day is done. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it.

Heatwave

It is hot. Not only is it 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) today, but it has been a constant heat since the weekend; even the nights have brought little relief. It wouldn't matter too much if Phil and I had air conditioning, but I doubt our old school apartment would be able to keep one running due to how much electricity they suck up.

I am in a state of lethargy. Every day this week I have wanted to make art, to clean up my apartment, but I cannot bring myself to do much at all. No matter how wretched I feel, though, I feel worse for my cats. Both are almost comatose, and I worry about how much longer they'll be able to tolerate it. Tybr spends most of his days in the bathroom on the cool ceramic tiles, sometimes up against the tub or wrapped around the base of the toilet. Poor guy, his coat is the thickest.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but it was also supposed to rain yesterday and today. I am still keeping my fingers crossed for it, and will even do a little rain dance for extra measure.

Luminosity in the Dark

Last night I hung out with my good friends Carolina and Jessie, as well as my lovely partner, Phil. We went to one of my favorite microbreweries in Montreal -- Brutopia -- for a burger and a beer. Afterward, we went back to Jessie's new downtown apartment which is a perfectly sized studio with great big windows and two sets of closet mirrors. It also appeared to be recently renovated, which in Montreal is a rarity indeed!

All the reflections and lights bouncing around from both inside and out caught my eye, and so I began documenting. I've always had a thing for windows with a dark backdrop on the other side (i.e. windows in homes or in buses at night, or in the subway) which allow for a myriad of lighting and mirror effects to reflect off of them. It wasn't until I was waiting for the night bus at around 3:30am that it dawned on me that I should start a series based around this theme. Only time will tell how far I'll take it, but I am going to try to keep my eye open for more dynamic looking reflections from now on.

In other news, it is way too hot in Montreal. Yesterday at 8pm it was still 40 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit)! I cannot wait for it to thundershower to break this heatwave. It wouldn't be so awful if Phil and I had a/c, but because we don't we are both constantly sticky with sweat and I have been worrying about the cats a lot. They have been intensely lethargic, and Tiberius even defecated on our bed last night. This leads me to rationalize that he is feeling ill from heat, as this has never occurred before. Tomorrow there is hope that it'll break; I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Earthquakes and sugar cookies

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit close to home today. The epicenter was less than 50 kilometers away from Ottawa, where my family and friends felt it strongly. The earthquake was even felt in Toronto and beyond, but I did not feel it here in Montreal, which I will admit I am a little disappointed about.

Quebec has always been considered one of the world's 'safe zones' as it is a good height above sea level, and no where close to the edge of the North American tectonic plate it resides on. To have an earthquake hit here, and at such a strong magnitude is unnerving, to say the least. Luckily it wasn't so strong as to cause intense structural damage and casualties.

2010 has been an atrocious year for natural disasters, and I can't help but think we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. It is no longer a question of if another disaster occurs, but when it'll strike. And in times of anxiety I tend to bake; when I first found out about the 2012 theory years ago, I remember baking a huge batch of cupcakes. Today, I iced my sugar cookies.

In unrelated news, Phil and I began learning ASL today. It's a lot of fun memorizing and practicing, and I hope I can stick to it. It may come in handy in the future (if not for anything other than secretly signalling to Phil, hehe).

Flying By.

Two Japanese silver-eye fledglings. Oil on wood, 10"x10".

It's my mom's birthday today, this is my gift to her.

My contract in Ottawa went by surprisingly fast. Though it was an office job, the people who work there are all really great which helped a lot. Yesterday I had a job interview for a position as a flight attendant. It went alright, but I will not hear back from them until the end of July. I find that kind of a ridiculous amount of time to wait around for an answer. In the meantime I plan to create artwork and art prints. Philippe purchased a snazzy CMYK printer, and I am hopeful I'll be able to start printing at home which will save on money and time. All I need to do is invest in some good quality paper for prints.

While I'm waiting for an answer from the airline I will also have my trip to the Dominican Republic as a distraction. I'll be there for around 10 days in the middle of July, and I cannot wait to see all my family again. I'm planning on giving my uncles, aunt, and grandfather an original piece of my artwork as a gift. I have never really been in a position to give them anything before, so this plan excites me. I also want to give my dad a few of the old maps I was able to nab from the geography library at McGill University last year when they were getting rid of them.

I'm hoping the rest of this month goes by as quickly as the last two weeks did.

Apple Pie.

Yesterday my friend Carolina came over for the day. We made banana cake and two apple pies. I had far too many black bananas, so this made great use of them. I like banana cake, but I think I prefer banana bread as it isn't so sweet. The apple pies turned out phenomenally, and I was amazed by how easy they were to make. I definitely need to make more pies in the future (especially since I have a bunch of frozen pumpkin innards stored away).

June has been a slow month to start, but I'm hoping it'll pick up. For the most part, it has been spent at home in a bit of a lazy stupor, which truly goes against my nature. It's unnerving to not have a busy schedule, whether my time is being taken up by school or by work. I have been applying to a lot of jobs, and I'm hoping that I will get hired soon. At the moment I'm actually waiting on a call for a contractual job which would take me to Ottawa for a couple of weeks. It is not what I would call a job in any of my usual fields, but it would pay me enough to cover my rent, utilities, and food for July. Since I'm visiting family in the Dominican Republic next month, this contract is as ideal as my situation can get. I don't really wish to get hired full time right now seeing how I would probably have to quit in a few weeks time to travel. I have my fingers crossed, please cross yours for me too!

p.s. I got the job!