Well, anyway, bon voyage to me! I am finally leaving for my long awaited England trip tomorrow. I can’t believe the last few months have passed so quickly! This last week felt like forever, with being sick and anxious and stuff. To be honest, the angst hasn’t completely gone away. This will be my first time leaving the continent, and I’m flying solo (literally, ha). So it will be interesting. I still need to finish some packing and stuff, so I should get on that, but I’m a bit sleepy from being super busy all day, trying to wrap up everything at work!

My parents are following me on Twitter while I am gone, and therefore are probably also reading this blog, so hiiii parents.

Not much else to say, really, except that I hope to blog while I’m over there, but if not see you all on March 3rd!

Katimavik is Canada’s youth volunteer service program. It was started by Jacques Hebert and Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1977. It was axed by the Conservatives in the 1980s and then brought back by the Liberals in 1995. When I participated in 2006/07 the premise was basically this: 12 strangers from across Canada, aged 17-21 and roughly representative of Canada’s demographic (several Ontarians and Quebecois, a few prairies or maritimes dwellers and a west coast or territory representative), living together for 9 months in 3 different places (3 months per “rotation”). The participants received $3/day in pocket money, worked full time (40h/week) volunteer jobs and spent their “free time” volunteering elsewhere in the community or participating in events related to culture, healthy lifestyle, the environment, leadership and official languages. And best of all, it was free. It was the perfect way for me to round off 12 years of education and learn a lot more about myself and my country before making any big decisions like at which post secondary institute I wanted to drop $10K+ at and why.

The program isn’t the same now. It’s shorter, for one: 6 months and 2 placements. The participants only get $2/day and they pay $300 to participate (and a $350 transportation deposit). Sure, the experience is worth well over $650 and I would pay it again in a heartbeat to relive the moments I had in the program. But I don’t think that I (and any young Canadian who would like to participate) should have to.

Unfortunately, soon we may not even have a choice as the Tories have put Katimavik back on the chopping block once the 5 year funding plan expires next year. The story first broke yesterday on the Huffington Post. My stomach sunk upon hearing the news. A cut, of any kind, could kill the program which is already so small compared to what it was in its heyday and even when I participated 5 years ago (and when my brother participated in 2009, and from when we were a billet family in 2010). It cannot afford to lose any funding. I immediately went to Twitter and was pleased when my tweet was retweeted by  a few people including Member of Parliament Justin Trudeau and was featured on the Huffington Post’s article.  For a while, people were chatting about it, but with all the other crazy stuff going on in Canadian politics (Vic Toews anyone?) the chatter seems to have died as quickly as it started.

But we can’t let it. Alumni such as myself need to take all the lessons we learned in leadership lectures and step up to the plate and let the government know that taking this amazing opportunity from the youth of Canada is so wrong. We need to send as many emails to our MPs and leaders as people are sending to Vic Toews. We need to let people know that Stephen Harper’s Canada is not Canadian. Programs like Katimavik are Canadian. They’re unique, hardworking and earnest programs with a positive message not only for each other but for the world. To see Katimavik die would make me very sad for my country.

So, I was pretty excited when I found out they were re-releasing it in 3D a few days before my birthday. And then I was even more excited when I managed to snag advanced screening passes for this evening. Seriously, does an evening get any better?

Titanic is a movie that should be viewed on the big screen. This is an indisputable fact, it is just made for a big screen, full stop. But I’ve not always been a fan of 3D. For a while, the hype totally turned me off. But then I saw the Lion King and I felt a bit better about it. That does not compare to the way Titanic in 3D made me feel. This movie is meant to be seen in 3D as much as it is meant to be seen on the big screen, in my opinion. It added so much to the experience. It was like being in each of the places. Stand-outs for me were (no spoilers tag here, if you haven’t seen the movie in the last 15 years it’s not my problem): exploring the wreckage at the beginning, the incredibly famous scene with Rose’s hat as she steps out of the car, pretty much every part of the sinking apart from a few bits that went too fast and felt a bit disorienting. But, I suppose that’s part of the experience as well. I really seemed to feel how big or small spaces were, how long the hallways were, how close to the water I was, etc. I caught myself holding my breath a few times after water had rushed toward me. At the same time, so much of the 3D was very subtle. There weren’t a tonne of “in your face” moments, and some scenes had no 3D at all.

I definitely think that if you’re a fan of Titanic, you should go see this. And even if it’s a movie you liked, but maybe didn’t love, go see it. If you didn’t like it, feel free to sit this one out, because ultimately not much has changed. The story’s the same, and it’s not like the effects are really better with the 3D, they just sometimes pop a bit more, in a mainly subtle way.

I know it’s over, but Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you had a lovely day with whomever (or whatever) you love. I know I will be wearing the free Titanic 3D t-shirt I was given at the screening as a reminder of my lovely evening!

Basically, this all came about because my friend Scarlett wanted to go see The New Cities play as part of almost her dream tour line-up. See, on Monday, we’re all going to see a big concert with Simple Plan, All Time Low, Marianas Trench, These Kids Wear Crowns and… I think that’s it, but there could be more. The only band really “missing” from the line up was TNC, so the fact that they were playing 2 days apart (well, approximately 1 day and 18 hours apart) was kind of exciting. As for me, I’d had several people recommend TNC to me over the years, I “like” them on Facebook and I even had their 2009 album on my iPod, so I was thinking about going. Then I found out Scarlett was going, etc etc and so I decided to go. </underwhelming sentence>

We were there pretty early (Scarlett was there insanely early because she is such a hardcore fan), which was awesome  because we got to interact with the guys in the different bands (there were 3) playing that night. Since the show was at SAIT, the college I graduated from in May, I know the place pretty well and always feel comfortable there. But it also brings back the feeling of “exhausted student” and I usually feel like I should be using my spare time to catch up on sleep in a corner somewhere. I went to The Odyssey (coffeehouse) and asked them for “the most caffeine,” and they gave me a “red eye” which is light roast coffee with espresso. It was like chewing coffee beans, and pretty much did the trick. I recommended it to TNC’s bassist when he went for his coffee run.

So, we chatted with the guys and pretty much everyone wanted to feed us Twizzlers and Scarlett got a poster big enough to wallpaper her room with given to her because she’s so hardcore.

First band of the night was Take Me To The Pilot an infectiously fun group of guys who fall under the pop punk category. They also did a very nice, sweet ballad called “Green Eyes,” which I loved, especially when they dropped back from the microphones at the end and all sang a capella. They’re genuinely good singers and it was lovely.

Second band was my newfound loves, The New Cities. We stood right at the front of the stage so we could be really awesome, and even not knowing a lot of the words to the songs, I sort of just bounced around like a crazy person and had an AMAZINGLY good time. Their energy is just outstanding, it was hard to not fixate on one member of the band at a time because they’re just all up there giving it their all and each of them are just so interesting. The keyboardists are literally swinging their keyboards (that’s right, keyboards, not keytar, although one did make an appearance, but keyboards– stand and all). It’s crazy. It’s fun. And the guys were amazingly nice and I instantly regretted the 5 or 6 times I’d had the opportunity to go to one of their gigs and turned it down.
Never again. I will definitely be front and centre at their shows from now on!

Rounding out the night was Transit, who opened with a great tribute to Whitney Houston who we had found out passed away while we were waiting for the doors. He was a change from TMTTP and TNC who are both pop punk while Transit is hip hop. He’s included in the really great, nice guys of the evening. I think we chatted with him the longest. I knew of him because he is fairly well known around SAIT, and I’d posted more than a few stories and videos about him when I worked at The Weal. Unfortunately since TNC started a bit late (and I had already arranged a pick up time), I only got to see the first part of his set, but it was really good! I mean, obviously, this is a guy who allegedly turned Gene Simmons down, so he has to be good!

Overall it was an amazing night with some really great musicians (and a lot of World Cup bobsleigh/skeleton athletes, did I mention that?). Definitely the perfect kick off to my next 10 days of crazy busyness!

Anyway, here we go.

1. Lancôme Définicils Mascara
   Mascara and I have a very love-hate relationship. Mainly, I love it because I need to. I unfortunately did not inherit my mother’s big eyes, and I need a bit of extra help in the wide-eyed department. But also I have very dry eyes which cause me to blink and rub them a lot. Every mascara I’ve ever tried, from drugstore brand to my beloved Benefit, has failed me. That is, until I got a sample of this mascara from Lancôme with my Emma Watson-endorsed perfume. I let it sit in my bag for a while until one day I had left my Benefit Bad Gal Lash god knows where and needed something in a hurry. Lo and behold, I discovered the miracle mascara– it actually lasts all day. It’s a tad expensive, but definitely worth it.
2. The Eleanor Scarf from AnaidDesigns
   I fell in love with this scarf after someone I follow on Twitter mentioned ordering one as a Christmas present. And I tried to shove it from my mind because let’s face it, I own a lot of scarves. But this one definitely kept calling me, and after a poll on Twitter over whether I should go for the grey or the blue (well, the yarn is called “thunder”), I went for the blue (although the grey may still have a place in my future). Yesterday I received it and now we are inseparable. This scarf is so comfy and warm and soft. I’m still perfecting how to wrap it, but it seems the best way for me allows me to wrap it around twice which makes for extra cuddly warmness. If only the weather wasn’t being forecast for above 0C the rest of the week! This may be the one time I hope for a cold snap.
3. Pinterest
   As a long time Tumblr fiend, it took me a while to get into this site. I’ve had my Pinterest account since  the end of May 2011, but I only started using it for real about 3 weeks ago. Since then I have become addicted. Several people asked me what the difference between Tumblr and Pinterest are, and I guess what it comes down to is organization. My Tumblr is an insane mixture of everything from Internet memes to adorable animals to dinosaurs and beyond. Pinterest is a bit more practical. I organize boards with outfits I like (that I have been slowly buying the pieces to in order to put a bit more effort than “throw on jeans and a t-shirt” into my daily wardrobe), home decor ideas (I plan on getting my own place in late spring) and design inspiration (without the LOL cats mixed in).
4. Iron Fists:
   Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State
   When I am not busy being completely girly fawning over mascara, scarves and kitschy apartment decor, I am rather obsessed with all things in the realm of totalitarian dictatorships. Dudley linked me to this book which I think may be the bible for anyone interested in both graphic design and oppressive regimes which, of course, I am. Although my mother insists one day someone will look through my belongings and peg me as a closet fascist, the truth is that this book is just a terribly interesting look at history, and how people can be influenced by imagery around them (if only I had some kind of product placement here so I could make an ironic remark, thinly veiled as something cutesy). The images are amazing, all bright, bold colours and subject matter that is scarier than some horror movies.
5. Ricky Martin and Naya Rivera singing “La Isla Bonita”
   This has been on a loop on my iTunes since last night’s episode of Glee. Although I found most of the show to be a yawnfest, I perked right up at this performance. Ricky Martin is always entertaining, but something about Naya is just so captivating (despite the fact that it’s taken me a while to warm up to her character, Santana, to whom I can’t entirely relate) I tend to lose track of whatever I am doing and just stare when she performs. Or talks. Or exists on screen. “La Isla Bonita” was not only the strongest song of the night, but also one of the only moments I didn’t spend outwardly cringing. Naya may have an acting career after Glee, but I really hope she has a singing one. Also for some reason when I listen to this song I have a crazy urge to learn Spanish. ¡Loco! (Okay, I have a long way to go…)

What’s on your guys’ rad lists? I always jump at the chance for more online activities, including shopping and iTunes sprees. I could also use some more book suggestions (although I have two juicy biographies I am waiting to devour).

I’m quite sick today which is rather upsetting, so I’m glad I have such amazing things around me to make me happy. I’m also glad that I get to leave you with the image of a sick girl with incredibly well defined lashes, wrapped in a scarf, alternating between pinning things on Pinterest and reading about dictatorship design as Spanish-infused covers of blatantly American songs swell around me above the sound of roofers banging around all day. I live for moments like this.

See, I am so bad at scary films. I’m very easily frightened by the loud bump noises and ear splitting shrieks. Not to mention anything that is visually frightening. I very rarely go to see scary or violent films at the cinema, because I am such a wimp. I will occasionally watch them at home, with all of the lights on and plenty of distractions in the form of Internet and bathroom breaks.

My brother loves scary movies. He owns a bunch of them on DVD and busts them out at random occasions. He will happily sit through a Paranormal Activity marathon. Once he snuck into my room and put a scene from The Ring on pause on my TV, so when I walked into my room it was the first thing I saw, effectively scaring me half to death. So, yes, he gets a definite kick out of scary films.

So, while I sat cowering in my seat, covering my eyes with my fingers and whimpering softly, he was actually laughing out loud because he thought several parts were so ridiculous. So, if you are a seasoned horror flick veteran, you probably won’t find the movie to be frightening. Matt told me it was to the point where he made a game of searching for what was supposed to be scary and trying to find it before the audience was supposed to see it.

From my point of view, it was definitely scary, but not to the point where I will be eternally emotionally scarred. I must admit, sometimes I find it fun to be scared. I went to Fright Nights with my friend in Vancouver in October and I had a blast going through all the haunted houses, although I screamed and cried through most of them. This was similar. It was tolerable fear. I mean, the movie has a PG13 rating. It’s no Saw III, which had me running to my bedroom within the first few minutes. It’s a bit more psychological, kind of similar to The Others (which is my favourite “scary” movie).

Scariness rating aside, Matt and I both agreed that the movie was fundamentally pretty good. We both had issues thinking of Daniel Radcliffe as a father. But the story was interesting, I loved the set of the old house, and Daniel is really good at being engaging even when he isn’t saying anything. The ending had a twist that I didn’t expect and was very well executed. There were a few funny moments as well, although I’m not sure if they were intentionally funny.

So, overall, I’d say see it. But, if you scare really easily, you may want to wait for the DVD. And if you are a hardcore horror enthusiast, you probably won’t enjoy it from a horror perspective, but you may like the story.

For those who may be new, or need a refresher, at the end of January 2009, my father had his first stroke. It was very unexpected as he was only 48 years old at the time! Within the year, he had two more minor strokes. As you can imagine, it was a very scary time for my family and for a long time we weren’t sure what would happen. Of course, today my dad is doing fairly well, but not everybody is so lucky. So, each February since 2009, I’ve tried to bring a little bit of awareness of the effects of heart and stroke to my friends and family.

I’m not going to stand up here and tell you I’m an extremely healthy person. I’m not. I love salty, fatty foods and I dislike many sports. I’m a short, pudgy girl whose main hobby is baking an extortionate amount of cookies. But recently, I have been trying. I’ve found physical activities that I enjoy and I’ve been taking a closer look at what I eat. I think that this Heart Month is the perfect time to kick it into gear.

The majority of the readers of this blog (based on comments, etc) are females in their late teens through to their mid-twenties. Many of us probably feel pretty far removed from the grip of heart disease and stroke, but the fact is this: heart disease and stroke are the #1 killer of Canadian women. And I’m sure the same can be said in countries with similar lifestyles. Not only that, but heart disease and stroke are becoming more and more prevalent in younger people, especially with the intense, high pace, high stress world we live in.

So, some years, I ask you guys to head on over to the Heart and Stroke Foundation website (or equivalent in your area) and drop your spare change in the proverbial can (now more commonly a “PayPal” button or something similar), but I’ve decided that seems a bit too passive. And I want you guys to be active, because I want you in my life for a long time!

I’m really digging the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s campaign “Make Death Wait.” It’s all about action. Mainly, taking the steps toward having a healthy heart. On the site you can find things like heart healthy recipes and physical activities. You can also take their Risk Assessment test, to find out in which areas you are at risk for heart disease and stroke, and how you can improve! It’s a great way to get started, and for each person who participates,  Desjardins Financial Security will donate $1 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. So you can feel good about getting some money donated toward research too.

Well, that’s my spiel for this year! I know nobody wants to think about icky things like heart disease and stroke, but it needs to be said. And I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled programming later this week.

At the end of my second year in New Media, I got a bit more into drawing using Adobe Illustrator and started to incorporate my creations into a few projects, building up to my favourite project: my Soviet Cupcakes poster, featuring a drawing I did of everyone’s favourite Marxist Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin.

Vlad and I made our love pretty well known for a while. But I essentially stopped drawing again once I graduated. Recently, however, I decided to make the commitment to try and improve in a few aspects of graphic design, which brought me back to my old friend, Illustrator. A few weeks ago, I dedicated 1-2 hours per night over a span of 3 nights to draw this:

It is slightly more detailed than what I usually do, and I’m hoping will be the catalyst to a trend of increasingly detailed illustrations that I would like to complete every two weeks or so.

I’m also hoping to get back into the swing of weekly blog entries on a topic separate from “this is what I did today,” while still including small life updates at the end of the entry.

So, life update for this week is that so far the scheduling has gone well (although I will wait another week or so to give a detailed analysis of how it’s worked). It is 24 days until I leave for my trip to the UK, which is actually kind of terrifying. Friends have been giving me lots of tips on what to see and do while I am there, and a bit on how stuff works, which is nice. But I also still have to book a hotel in Newcastle and kind of sort out my transportation to/from the airport, not to mention between cities. Still a lot of planning yet. The one area I’m not having troubles in is with what to wear as my rate of shopping, both online and off, is at a high. I really need to stop so I actually have money to spend in London (and room in my suitcase to bring stuff home).

See, I always figured I was a spontaneous person. Because I am. But recently something occurred to me: I crave structure and predictability. Not in all aspects of my life, of course, but certainly in some. This is a relatively new development that I became suspicious of when I was in post-secondary. I began thinking about it a bit more when I started obsessively organizing my desk at work whenever my brain became too cluttered with the different tasks I was jumping between throughout the day. I realized that I’m fine with things being messy when my mind is clear, but when there’s lots zooming around my mind, I want my environment to be clear. The two things cannot be the same!

I’m also the world’s greatest procrastinator. If left to my own devices on evenings and weekends I can, and will, spend the entire day doing nothing. Sure, a Nothing Day is nice every once in a while, but is pretty impractical on a weekly basis.

The other day I was chatting about this with Melissa and Hanna and I decided to take action. So I drafted a schedule in my word processor. It includes time for work (obviously), food (again, obvious), physical activity, entertainment, personal development (i.e. learning something new, working to improve on an old skill, or researching something I’ve been interested in), an hour of reading (I want to regain my bookworm status and update my Goodreads account)… pretty much everything I would like to accomplish in a day that usually gets pushed aside in favour of laziness and procrastination (and, let’s face it, Twitter). I’m also reinstating my strict 11pm bedtime that I had in school but quickly abandoned after graduation.

Now the tricky part is sticking to it. I’ve written out the schedule on coloured index cards (as seen below) which I’ve stuck to the wall near my closet, where it will be impossible to forget.

I think the trickiest part will be getting up on time in the morning, as I have a tendency to hit snooze until 10 minutes before it’s time to leave, which is a habit I developed only recently and would love to break. It also depends on my dad’s ability to drive me to and from work each day, which obviously won’t be possible during his monthly doctors visits. And of course, the whole thing isn’t set in stone and will obviously need to be altered on days when I have plans after work. I also decided to not schedule my weekends because they’re too unpredictable, but to make a commitment to spend a certain amount of time doing something productive. But in any case, it’s a start! I guess we’ll just need to see how it goes on Monday.

So here we have the 2011 year in review! It was another big year for me, that’s for sure. To recap, if you’re new or have simply forgotten, 2009 was unanimously dubbed The Worst Year of My Life. Well, at least the section of 2009 that spanned from January until I started school in September. The greatness of learning about a subject I loved with people I bonded with immediately as if we were kindred spirits gave 2010 an incredibly good edge, which continues to radiate into 2011.

Personal highlights of the year include:

An amazingly fun last semester of “freedom” with some great friends: After a particularly brutal 3rd semester (known for its brutality), it was great to come back for “the homestretch,” as it were. Stressful, as always, but with much more free time independent study time, and an amazing part-time job that only took up an hour of my week, I was able to really enjoy my last taste of student life, not-as-glamourous moments included.

Graduation: After two years of hard work, I graduated! With a 4.0 GPA, so my diploma says “with honours” on it. I was completely dreading the ceremony part of graduation, thinking it would be boring and useless. And it was. But I did have a lot of fun hanging out with my classmates for one last time.

A new job: I started working full time at my new job in June, and so far it seems to be going well. I enjoy what I do and I enjoy the people. So it’s all nice on that front.

Some cool concerts: Probably my highlight concerts of the year were Simple Plan at the Virgin Grad Party and Tegan and Sara. At Simple Plan, I met some really great friends and got to hang out with one of my favourite bands before a very intimate show in the bar of my college! It was kind of a perfect evening, and I was on that cloud 9 post-concert high for days. A feeling that was similar to the euphoria felt after a tiny Tegan and Sara concert and Q&A held in a 100 year old theatre.

The best weekend: one of my best memories of the year was the weekend I spent in Vancouver, meeting up with friends, making new ones and seeing old ones. No need to recap, since I have already written an entry all about it, but it was something I will never forget and one of the many reasons why 2011 rocked!

Pretty much everything from that point until now: Essentially, I’m just pretty content with my life. I’ve been keeping busy, going to different events and places and bi-weekly dinners with my close friends. I spoiled my friends and family at Christmas which felt nice, and I also have been able to treat myself to a few things I’ve been wanting for the last few years.

Of course, nothing is perfect, so I also had a strange year dealing with the mystery illness that causes me to faint and be sick fairly often, which is continuing into the new year. But I’m trying to stay optimistic and I have lots of cool things planned for 2012, like seeing Simple Plan again, my upcoming trip to England, a trip to see friends in Toronto this spring, and moving out of my parents’ house (finally!) in late spring.

Needless to say, life has been on a bit of a roll since the horrid year of 2009. I am pretty sure 2012 will rock just as much… well, until the world ends next December.