stuff.

Hippy-ism: Going No 'Poo

2010-03-24T11:07:00.000-04:00

Some of you may be grossed out initially at learning this: I basically stopped using shampoo over 2 years ago. But let me explain. This isn't a comprehensive look at the no 'poo movement, just my experience with it. For more information and other accounts of the experience, just look it up on the internet.

Why?

Environmentalism. We don't really need it. People have done just fine for millennia before shampoo was invented. We don't really need plastic bottles full of chemicals to wash the natural oils off our heads. Plastic bottles that go into "recycling bins" and then get down cycled or shipped to rot in India. Chemicals that will spring up conflicting and controversial information if you look them up. I don't want a debate about whether the ingredients are safe, so interested parties can go do some research for themselves.
I'm cheap and I don't want to pay for something I don't need.
My hair has never been better. The thing is, the human scalp under normal circumstances produces just enough oil to keep hair hydrated and shiny and protected. When we use harsh chemicals to wash off our natural oils, hair gets dry. Then, the scalp will over produce oil to try to fix this. Heads get greasy and itchy. Hair looks dull. And people with wavy or curly hair tend to get frizzy flyaways. That's why most people in the North America can't go a day without shampooing. But after some time of not using shampoo, your body's natural oil production process will resume and your hair will feel clean and well moisturized for weeks on end.

How'd it go?

Straight hair allows oil to travel down the hair shafts faster, so most people with straight hair tend to have greasy hair sooner after a wash. It takes longer for oil to move down wavy or curly hair, so people with these hair types get oil collected near the roots, leaving the length of the hair dry. Shampooing too much makes this worse, with some people ending up with frizzy hair, me being one of them.

When I started this no 'poo thing I just went ahead and stopped using shampoo. I washed my hair in warm water often - everyday-ish at first. (Hot water, or heat in general, can damage hair, so it's best to wash in the coolest water you can shower with and still feel warm.) It took a little longer to get good rinse 'cause of the extra oil, but that's just temporary. So for a few weeks I had slightly oily hair but it was winter and I was still in art school (no dress code whatsoever haha) so I just wore a hat often. And oh yeah, I didn't use styling products either - if you use products you must wash it out with shampoo or else it just gets all gunked up on your head.

Rinsing, with my hair long, was easiest in a sink full of water. I'd just dunk my hair in and shake it around. This was more effective and more efficient than standing under the shower.

After about 6 weeks my scalp was less oily and I only needed to rinse twice a week. But my hair was so badly damaged from before (contrary to what the shampoo commercials say, you cannot repair damaged hair. you can temporarily make it slightly shinier using conditioner but the effect doesn't last very long), I decided to cut the damaged hair off. I had sort of a pixie cut... or a boy cut... just short. The new hair that grew back is nice and silky since it hasn't been exposed to a lot of shampoo and hot water. Now, 2 years later, my hair has about 90% less frizz than before I started this.

Nowadays I do use shampoo... but only about once a month... and that's only because I got too lazy to rinse at all in between (I should change that haha). I got back into using shampoo 'cause of the wedding and all the hair spray, and all the swimming in the salt water in Cuba. When I do use shampoo, I use only a nickel sized blob of whatever the hubby currently has in stock. I massage it into my scalp and try to avoid getting it on the rest of my hair. I think I'm gonna look into all natural shampoos for both of us to switch to. I don't want him rubbing potentially cancer causing stuff into his head everyday!

Doesn't it smell or itch?

No, it doesn't smell. If you sniffed my head up close, you wouldn't smell any fragrance that comes from shampoos. Instead, I smell like a human being. But you really wouldn't smell anything unless you sniffed my head directly, and it's not a raunchy smell. Just smells like me.

It did itch more than normal initially. But rinsing often takes care of that and it'll go away within few weeks.

But I can't speak for everyone. Some people might smell or itch more. If this is a concern to people who are thinking of giving no 'poo a go, there are some alternatives:

"dry shampoo", which is essentially starch. There are commercial dry shampoos available, but it's the same as putting a teaspoon or so of cornstarch on your head. Spread the starch around the scalp and leave it in for a few minutes to absorb the oils. Then brush it out. This is really only good for people with lighter coloured hair though, since it's difficult to get all the starch out without spending a LONG time swishing your hair around. And this can't be the only thing you do with your hair all the time, for the same reason.
Some people like to use a baking soda solution to absorb excess oils. After a baking soda rinse, you should neutralize it with an acidic solution like diluted vinegar with a few drops of essential oils or spices (these will get rid of the vinegar smell).
Use only conditioner, not shampoo. For someone who is doing this purely to improve hair quality, using a conditioner instead of shampoo could work well. Many people suggest this for curly/wavy hair types that are prone to frizz. Conditioners contain surfactants just like shampoo, just a lot milder. Use only a little bit and work it into the scalp. Rinse it out really well. Use warm water only and never use hot styling tools like a blow dryer or curling/flat irons. Towel dry only, using squeezing motions working from root to tip - no wringing! Don't use styling products, especially anything with any ingredients with a name ending in -cone (these ingredients cannot be washed out without shampoo). Instead of a brush, use a wide toothed comb, which puts less stress on your hair. And when combing, start with the tips. Then slowly work upwards. (And I don't mean comb upward 'cause that doesn't make any sense!)

Making clothes

2010-03-11T15:58:00.000-05:00

Here's one maternity dress I finished and wore out today. Yeaaaaahhhh.... it is THAT nice outside. I even broke out the flip flops.

When I'm bigger I'll probably have to fold up the waist a little. But that's ok - I didn't want the waist to be too high so that I can still wear it next summer when I'm hopefully NOT pregnant. I've been making most of my dresses with high-ish waists, with a poofy skirt. That way, I can still wear them later with a wide belt at the normal waist level. (I hope that made sense.)

I also wore this tiny purse out today:

Detail shot:

When I walk though Bayview Village to get to the grocery store, sometimes I wish I didn't have to worry about saving money, and just go ahead and get nice things for myself. It's a girl thing. But then, I remember that buying as little as possible is for good causes:

So that we can afford to get a mortgage for a house in the not-so-distant future, and still have all the daily necessities, and so that I can stay home during our kid(s) early years and provide the nurturing of a full time family life. (It really made a difference during my childhood to have a parent at home often.)
To minimize our participation in commercialism, the destruction of the environment, and exploitation of the down trodden around the world. This is part of the reason I like making clothes. If I'm the one doing the labour, I know kids in India or wherever aren't suffering for what I put on myself everyday. With that said, I still can't be sure that the fabric I bought is exploitation free, but at least not having a poor kid sewing my clothes for next to no pay is a start.

Hmmm... I should use fabric / bedsheets from thrift stores more often... 2nd hand is good. Buying 2nd hand means

Not using up more natural resources and energy to produce more goods
Taking something that somebody else doesn't want - that way less end up in landfills
Giving local under privileged people a chance to develop job skills - a lot of thrift/charity shops exist for this purpose.

Ok... that's all for now.

Baby quilts

2010-03-10T15:08:00.000-05:00

Just lugged about 20lbs of groceries home... walking. Who needs the gym when you can get free weight training plus cardio workout with the purchase of your food?

And now time for some R&R on the couch, with my laptop on and an orange peeled on the coffee table. And a hot tub of water for my feet and my pedicure tools waiting.

These are not great pictures but here are the quilts :) I was waiting for the sunny days to take pictures but when they came, I was too busy enjoying the weather outside. The colours are much more vibrant in real life.

Stash busting

2010-03-02T07:13:00.000-05:00

To make room for our baby, we're each downsizing the stuff we keep in our back room. We have a little dresser that we picked up from the hallway, that I use to house my craft tools and supplies. This dresser is going to hold all the little clothes and socks and baby stuff, so all my crafty things have to go into the closet, which is currently full of old fabric. So now it's time to downsize that stash, and for the past week I've been madly sewing - a bunch of baby bibs and hats, 2 dresses, 1 vest, 1 jacket, 1 blazer... plus 2 crib quilts, 1 coat, another blazer, a bunch of handkerchiefs/burp cloths and a couple of dresses still in progress. And I also reupholstered 2 chairs a few weeks ago. When the weather is nice I'll take some photos!

More on food

2010-01-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

I'm really a sucker for simple food. I find that I don't enjoy the fancy gourmet things as much. Things like Japanese squid balls with mayo and brown sauce and fish flakes on top.... i dunno... tastes too complicated for me. I like the "poor man's dish" from pretty much every culture's cuisine that i've tried. I guess I'm a cheap eater. Just take me to the cheapest oldest cafe or diner and order their most popular, long lasting dish.

What I'd like right now is a grilled cheese and a milk shake from that mom and pop diner at queen and spadina...

Why can't i stop thinking about my stomach and food?!?!

Positive!

2010-01-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we've broke the news to most of our social circles, so now I can write about this on the internet. Yes, we are expecting.

Are we excited? Um... kind of. Increasingly. I think the excitement will come once my stomach issues settle somewhat. I think it will be good despite the horror stories people have been telling us. I've had years of training in sleep deprivation, and some vague memories of what it's like to take care of a little one, from when my brother was small. I'm pretty sure I'll survive if I can start getting 3 hr stretches of sleep after a couple of months - I've gone months on sleeping patterns like that. So, in retrospect, having insomnia has been a mixed blessing.

It's been almost 3 months and I'm still struggling to get the hang of this whole eating thing. Everyday I get a different mixture of nausea/vomiting/hunger on top of fatigue. It's a whole new surprise every single day. Makes planning our evenings difficult.

For example, today I am extremely hungry. I literally haven't stopped eating all day. I had milk and cereal for breakfast, then grapes at 9, then a handful of chips, then half a chinese bun at 10:30, then some bits of chocolate and cereal, then leftovers for lunch at 11:30, then the other half of my chinese bun, then another handful of chips, and now (2:30), a sponge cake. it's taken me an hour to write this 'cause I can't stop eating.

Most days I feel pretty queasy. It's hard to cook, do dishes, or get groceries because of the smells. It's also a bad idea to make quick movements. It is a good idea, however, to keep a bagged garbage can within arm's reach.

My wonderful husband is the best. I'm so glad he understands that I need to sit around or nap a lot. And if when he comes home and the dishes are still dirty and there's no dinner on the table, he's ok with making something quick or shoving a pizza in the oven. He's taken on a lot more household chores these last few weeks and I really appreciate that. Anyway, I hope this is only temporary - hopefully in a few weeks I'll feel better and then I can do the house stuff again.

Aww my sponge cake is gone :( time to cut open some kiwis!

The foods of childhood

2010-01-12T09:54:00.002-05:00

just started thinking about this stuff one afternoon... most of these things can be found in toronto, but they are still best eaten right at the market, or on the streets, under a tarp, and sitting at a folding table on folding stools. how i miss hk in the 90s

fresh from the oven egg tarts. we get these here, but they're best eaten right at the bakery. no one does that anymore.
菠蘿油 (hot custard buns with a slab of butter in the middle)
raisin bread
hot dog buns - the chinese bakery kind
ham and egg sandwiches on white toast with loads of butter. with crusts cut off
ham and egg on macaroni in soup.
vitasoy. there was one time when the church crowd was at one of those street food places. all the kids had a vitasoy and we imagined the boxes were little robots. hours of fun.
fish balls and fish cakes on rice noodles. i'm referring to the cheapo 魚片 fish cakes, not the fancy japanese stuff we get nowadays
cola in tall glass bottles
deep fried french toast with lots of syrup. we used to go to this one street-tarp place for breakfast. mmm syrup. the toast at bubble tea places comes the closest.
japanese fish sausages
紙包蛋糕 (spongecake "cupcakes") - this is one of the things that've never tasted the same. none of the bakeries here make it like they do in hk
魚肉燒賣 (fish siumai) on a stick, with a drizzle of soy sauce, fresh from the market vendor. this one too... i get them from first markham once in a while, but i think the fish they use is different. also the soy sauce.
curry fishballs on a stick. it's not the same without the stick :D
spaghetti bolognaise from hk cafes. or ox tongue on spaghetti. there was this cafe that we went to sometimes after church. i remember going there one afternoon during a typhoon.
ground beef and egg in rice. my mom used to make this in the rice cooker. she'd stir in the egg and the beef when the rice was almost done.
rebena
ovaltine
homemade popsicles from orange juice or diluted sweetened condensed milk.

gotta hit up a really cheap cafe some time :)

Whining

2009-12-11T10:04:00.000-05:00

My stupid stomach... my life now consists of sipping warm water very slowly throughout the day, and getting up and moving around every few minutes to belch out the gas, and also, eating yogurt or congee with chicken broth slowly all day, reheating it when it gets cold 'cause i'm too slow.

And there's always food on tv. KFC chicken bowl. Wendy's baconator. Chef Boyardee. Rachel Ray.

If it doesn't get better soon Christmas will be difficult, with everyone having delicious holiday food and me with my dumb stomach and congee.

Ok... time to reheat more food.

Floating sheet of paper

2009-12-07T21:13:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of problems with lack of sleep. So whenever I have a song that's too upbeat stuck in my head, I listen to Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No 3 on repeat. If I close my eyes I imagine a white piece of paper floating, twisting back and forth like it was dropped from a tree or a tall building. It's blowing around, swaying with the beat. Kind of like the feather in the opening of Forrest Gump. Or the plastic bag video in American Beauty.

Oddities

2009-11-16T21:09:00.001-05:00

+ I wanted to put away a guitar, back into its case. But instead I walked toward the garbage can. When I got there, guitar in hand, I had visions of putting the guitar into the garbage. Then I thought, um... that's not right.

+ Sometimes when I'm lying on my back, on a bed or couch or floor, and after having stared at the ceiling long enough, I think about how spacious it seems compared to the floor. Just look at it. all that room. It has just as much surface area as the floor but it's not cluttered up by all the furniture and the stuff. I'd tilt my head a little to look at everything sort of upside-down, and imagine what it would be like to live on the ceiling. I envision using the normally-upper kitchen cabinets as the "lower cabinets", using what is normally their underside as the "countertop". And if I'm alone, lying on my head, I'd put my feet up and sort of do a half headstand. Meaning, I'm "standing" upside-down with my head, neck, and upper back to the bed. Then I wave my feet about and pretend I'm "walking" on the ceiling. It's fun!

+ Sometimes when I'm sitting around, and my lower body feels really warm but my upper body feels a bit cool, it feels like I'm up sitting in a hot bath. I have that feeling right now actually. I'm sitting cross legged on the couch, and my feet are tucked underneath my legs. They feel so warm, but there is a slight breeze in the air because the window is still open. This makes me feel so comfortable and sleepy.

+ And sometimes when I'm sitting on a chair for a long period of time, usually with my legs crossed, my legs feel like they're crunched up together. Like there's a step stool under my feet. It's like I have no sense of how far my legs are - I think they're closer to my torso than they are in actuality. For some reason this happens to me a lot during sermons :D

+ If I have words or phrases stuck in my head, I'll keep mouthing the words or "typing" the letters. I do this basically subconsciously, but nobody's ever noticed this 'cause I use the slightest movements. I don't think I ever even told my husband about this one. Hehe now he'll find out.

I'll post more whenever I remember them. I've got lots.

I think I can call this one an FML...

2009-11-12T18:59:00.000-05:00

While preparing a casserole, I put the end piece of a loaf of bread into the toaster, to make some bread crumbs. At the same time, some ground beef was defrosting in the microwave, on which said toaster was sitting. I turn around to the opposite counter to chop up some onions and chives to flavour the beef. I couldn't hear the toaster over the hum of the microwave, but I didn't really pay attention because I wasn't in a hurry or anything - I could just leave the toast sitting there while I was doing other things. When I finished chopping up the chives, I spun back around, only to see BLUE FREAKIN' FLAMES shooting out of the toaster. Thinking surprisingly clearly in my panicky state, I went to pull the power bar out of the socket. Then, thinking surprisingly UNclearly in my panicky state, I threw down the power bar and knocked over a carafe that was sitting on the stove drying, shattering it into a million tiny little pieces. Meanwhile, the toaster was still on fire. For some reason I picked up the toaster looked inside only to see more blue flames, and quickly threw it down on the stove (I'm sort of pyrophobic), and ran out of the apartment in a frenzy looking for the nearest fire extinguisher. I didn't find any, so I banged on the neighbour's door screaming for help. The dad of the family came to look at it and he basically just told me to let it be and it'll burn out. The neighbours went back to their apartment, leaving me alone with the burning toaster. Luckily, the flame was much smaller by then, and it eventually burned out. After that, I went around the place in some random platform flip flops I had lying around, cleaning up the gazillion pieces of glass on the kitchen floor.

Things like this happen to me every so often. My husband says I have bad luck :D

Simple Vanilla Cake

2009-11-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

A long time ago, I thought I'd bake cookies for my mom, for Mother's Day. I must have screwed up somewhere because the cookies turned into one giant cookie, and it also tasted really bitter. I was not a baker.

But now:

Yay! This is the first time that I baked something by myself and had it actually turn out. I started with a vegan recipe that I found online (oops I lost the link), messed with it a little, and un-substituted the ingredients with their non-vegan counterparts. I also don't have a non-rusted cake pan, so I lined a pan with parchment instead of just using a greased pan.

1/2 c margarine
1 c sugar
4 eggs
1-3/8 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c milk

1. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. Cream margarine, sugar, eggs together (I used a hand mixer on low)
3. Add flour, baking powder, vanilla, milk. Mix until smooth.
4. Grease pan or line with parchment. Pour batter into pan.
5. Bake for 45 min. -ish. The original recipe called for 30-40 min but mine wasn't done until almost 50 min.

This cake is probably very fattening but it tastes light and is pretty fluffy. Tastes good by itself but I bet it'll be good cut into thin layers and made into a decorated cake. A little less sugar would be ok since it's really sweet as is.

Stuff I Made: Jewellery Box

2009-11-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

For a long time I wanted a jewellery box to house all my things (mostly homemade, since I don't have much real jewellery... and this is not a hint for my husband, 'cause I'm allergic to everything anyway). We put a box on our wedding registry and thank goodness, no one bought us any of the overpriced stuff from The Bay. I got this box for a few bucks at Goodwill. I glued beer caps and little wood pieces to the top. Then I taped it up and spray painted the rest of it blue. A little bit of sandpaper and elbow grease later and it looks good as old :D

I didn't take a picture but the inside has been re-covered with new fabric, since the old stuff was yellow and had mould stains... eww.

A little bit about my allergies: we had 14k white gold rings. I'm allergic to the nickel in the alloy. It was pretty bad when we went to Cuba - my entire hand was swollen and developed weepy little bubbles all over. We went back to the jeweler and traded my ring in for a platinum one. I've been wearing that for a few weeks now and lo and behold, I get those retarded bubbles again where the ring sits. I thought it must be some sort of irritation, so I took the ring off for a few days, slapped on some hydrocortisone, and the rash went away. I put the ring back on and after about a day, the bubbles are back. It's driving me bonkers!

Stuck in Limbo

2009-10-29T11:36:00.001-04:00

For the past 3 months I've been stuck in limbo.

We can't get our marriage certificate until November, so I can't get my name changed on my ID and banking info. However, a bank did allow us to have a joint account under both our names (with my assumed name).

My old bank won't let me change my name with out a "name change certificate". I think the guy had no idea what he was talking about because in Canada married women can assume a new last name without getting that certificate. That document is only for people who want to legally change their names including the name that's on their birth certificates. Anyway, I will go back when we get our official marriage certificate so I don't have to run back and forth a million times.

When I went to the library to get a library card, they wouldn't let me get it because my proof of address (bank mail) and proof of identity (driver's licence) had different names and different addresses. They did finally give me a card when I went with my husband and we presented our temporary marriage license plus the other ID I originally provided.

Our cheques only have his name, with his old address. So today we went to change our parking spot, and then he left for work. Then the office person calls to say that it's done and it'll be $XX and it has to be paid today. I don't have cash on me and I can't write a cheque. -_- I had to go back into the apartment, look for the nearest ATM, walk there, get money, go into a supermarket to buy a loaf of bread in order to get exact change, then walk back to the apartment to pay the fee. In retrospect I should have checked to see if the supermarket provided cash back to save me the ATM fee.

Luckily, the 3 months are almost up. We can get our certificate. I can get all my ID changed.

Boy oh boy am I looking forward to tax filing time. It will be fun do deal with all sorts of documents with my different names. Fun fun fun.

Oh yeah, I will refer to myself or my husband by name online as little as possible to protect our information.

Vogue-ing

2009-10-28T17:04:00.001-04:00

Beard. Reclaimed fleece and cotton balls.

I can't believe I just spent 4 and a half hours making this for my brother's halloween costume. Schmexiiiiii.

Stuff I Made: Jar of Junk

2009-10-26T04:30:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to the third installment of Stuff I Made. Here in this photograph is depicted a jar of junk:

I did not make the jar, nor did I make the junk. The seashells were collected from my travels to Rhode Island, Wasaga Beach, Thailand, and Cuba. The glass pieces were mostly from beaches around Toronto. I put it all together and crocheted a lid to keep the dust out. Pretty, no?

On Christianity and Artists - cont'd

2009-10-26T04:19:00.000-04:00

Since I can't sleep, I will continue with what I can remember. (I swear I will just drop dead one of these days, like those Japanese people who work all day and party all night for months on end and then just randomly drop dead. Pray for me, people, pray for me!)

+ Every person is God's craftsmanship. He planned for each of us to be the way we are. That includes me, thankfully. He purposefully made me to be an artistic person. I can't describe the relief that I feel hearing other people say this. Since I could remember I've felt wrong for being creative. In contemporary Chinese culture, it's wrong to make things that don't make money. Math and science are right. Law, engineering, medicine, and accounting are all good and acceptable, but literature, poetry, music, dance, and art are wrong - I don't even know why Chinese parents force their kids into piano or violin lessons if they don't expect them to go anywhere. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. That's been following me pretty much my whole life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a ditz. I took 5 of the Chinese 6-pack in high school and somehow wound up in engineering in Waterloo. And I didn't flunk out either (I actually did pretty well) I just quit because I hated it. I just can't deny this part of me that needs to create art. It's the way God made me.

In response, what on earth do I do with my life? Back in Old Testament days the gifted crafts people and musicians would use their skills for God in the temple. After those days were gone, there really hasn't been much for artists to do except cater to the whims of the rich and famous. Before modernity, artisans could earn meager livings through selling their wares locally. But with the advent of corporations and mass production, handmade one-offs just can't compete with the affordability of Ikea or Pottery Barn. (Evil, evil, evil corporations!)

In recent years there seems to have been a resurgence of craftspeople and small businesses, but it's really a hard living. There can only be so many people making art in a given civilization. For the rest, art doesn't pay the bills.

Seriously, what am I going to do with my life? I want to make art, affect people, and support a family. But is this what God wants? I'm so confused. What about the struggle and sacrifice that is necessary for art? Does that mean I have to put off growing a family? Or do I sacrifice art for the sake of having a family? I give my life to God, but what does that really mean?

I am very thankful to have been given a wonderful, understanding, and supportive husband. My only wish is to be able to take a load off your shoulders.

On Christianity and Artists

2009-10-25T22:33:00.003-04:00

We went to Mosaic Baptist again and they were discussing art in context of Christianity. Lots of interesting things said.

+ Art is born of struggle. It really is true. Creation of something beautiful demands sacrifice; that's why they call it a labour of love. Meaningful art comes out of the processing of emotional turmoil and many hours of conceptual and physical work. That's why artists are often more morose. How does that work for Christian artists then? We expect Christians to be full of "joy" (happiness?) all the time. We expect contemporary Christian art to be celebratory (cheesy). There certainly is a place for artwork that celebrates God's love and works (landscape paintings a la Friedrich?) But what about the hard parts of our faith? The sacrifice of Christ? The dying to ourselves? The becoming of a living sacrifice? The selling of our riches and giving to the poor? Some of the more well known Christian art are more than landscapes and Madonna-and-child. Da Vinci's The Last Supper. Michelangelo's Last Judgement. My question is, why aren't darker images "allowed" in contemporary Christian circles? *I'm talking about mainstream North American Christianity here. And also, the same goes for music. We only listen to happy happy worship music. We never listen to music about struggles that don't yet have a happy ending. cough cough*

+ "In the beginning God created..." I guess a lot of Christians are familiar with this idea that God is the original creator/artist. However, it somehow seems like we don't think that we should be like God in this way. Art is trivial and frivolous for some reason. If God created us in His own image, doesn't that make us mini-creators? God created animals and humans, and then invited Adam to participate in the process of art through the naming of the animals.

Tired... to be continued.

Stuff I Made: Back to the 90's

2009-10-25T15:30:00.003-04:00

Does anyone remember these? Pogs. My brother Eddie and I used to have a bunch. And when we grew out of them, they got passed down to Hubert. For years now they've been sitting in the basement until one day I was digging through a pile of toys and rediscovered them. I picked out the classic ones 'cause they look so freakin' awesome.

Stuff I Made: Pillow Shams

2009-10-23T22:19:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd share some of the things that I made for our apartment. I've made so many things - I'll post one a day until I run out of things to post. Then I'll upload pictures as I complete projects :)

Today's picture is a bunch of pillow shams that I made using various techniques. All of these are in our living room on our couch and chairs. As I post more pictures you'll begin to see how much I love complex patterns, and the colours red and blue.

Clockwise from left:

1. Flowers made of singed synthetic fabrics. To make this, I had to conquer my inexplicable fear of using lighters. Until this point I had never used one before. (I'm sure Harry is relieved to know that if I was alone during a blackout at night, I wouldn't be screwed :) I spent many hours sitting in front of a candle melting the edges of fabric circles. A couple of times I accidentally lit them on fire!

2. Circular embroidery pattern on acetate, applied onto crinkly cotton. Another super time consuming technique. Many hours with needle and thread. Enough said.

3. Leaf shaped applique pieces. I made this one time after visiting an Anthropologie store and being inspired by the bold patterns on their bedding linens.

4. Crochet spiral. A square version of the spiral hats that I had made for friends and family.

We are all Turnips

2009-10-12T11:14:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday's Rick Mercer Report - he said something about the Liberals and the Conservatives being a bunch of monkeys (pointing fingers and flinging crap at each other without proper reasoning) and the NDPs being as good as vegetables. Paraphrasing: If the entire NDP were to be replaced with turnips, the results would've still been the same.

And now I say Obama is a turnip too. Hugo Chavez makes sense when he said that Obama didn't do anything but perpetuate the war.

Health Canada are a bunch of turnips too. After watching this documentary on Monsanto, I am slightly outraged that knowing all this, Canada hasn't banned anything from Monsanto other than the bovine growth hormone.

Harry was just saying, "Most voters are turnips too," and added, "but then again if we only have turnips to vote for..."

Next election I'm probably voting for the Green Party candidate if available in my riding.

re: Charisma

2009-09-30T00:09:00.000-04:00

After having seen this, I decided to give it a go. I'm making it a point to be curious about people and ask them questions and generally encourage them to talk about themselves. And you know what? I met a really interesting woman on the subway who's traveled to Europe and Japan and all over the place. And I spent a large chunk of time talking to a woman in my pattern drafting class - she even said I'm easy to talk to (but I think that's largely because SHE's easy to talk to!) I also learned a lot of things about the shy girl.

So I think I'll get there some day. I can be a person with charisma. I just have to get into it.

Craft is therapy

2009-09-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

I read this on Craftster and I'd thought I'd share it. It captures what crafting and writing and music and the arts generally mean to me:

When someone asks me why I spend so much time and energy making things, I usually just shrug and say, “because I enjoy it,” or, if I feel a bit more comfortable with that person I might try to delve a little deeper and try to explain how I feel the most like myself when I craft, but that doesn’t really quite explain it either. When people who don’t make things look at my quilts or other things I’ve made, I imagine they see hours of mind numbing repetition which could be spent doing things altogether more interesting and useful. What they don’t understand is that we don’t craft just simply to have whatever we make at the end of the process. It isn’t even the act of doing the craft which is so important, although that too is enjoyable. I think that when we craft it is our way of making sense of the world around us.

Charisma

2009-09-27T08:45:00.001-04:00

One word that's been repeatedly getting stuck in my head is charisma.

I remember going with Kyrios to see "Pinball" Clemons speak at a church many many years ago. I don't recall anything that happened that night except taking a group picture and then Pinball says to my friend A, "You've got charisma." And I thought, hey that's neat, she DOES have charisma. She's always got something fun to do and the right thing to say. She's caring and funny and just makes people feel good. I love her and I wish I was more like her.

Earlier this week, I was watching America's Next Top Model (I know it's retarded but sometimes I have nothing better to do), and they were talking about charisma. Actually I missed that part - I only got the end of it when the judges were telling the contestants whether their act/pictures/whatever it is they did for that challenge showed charisma - a little zing, a bit of pop, something to make the contestant stand out from all the others.

The point is: everybody wants to hire somebody with charisma. Even models have to have charisma and not just good looks. They all want somebody who gets along with everybody, who just has a magnetic personality. If you walk into an interview with charisma, you're pretty much bound to get the job assuming you have most of the qualifications.

Then, is the no hope for those of us without Charisma? Those of us who walk into a room full of people and feel nervous and don't know what to say? I feel like I can't get along with "normal" people in a social setting. It seems like I'm rather like a magnet for the socially inept. I won't go in depth here but people who feel left out somehow find their way to me. It's a good thing to be able to make these people feel comfortable but I'd also like to make EVERYBODY feel just as comfortable.

So if my friends are reading this, please remember that if I'm rather curt or awkward in my speech with you, that I don't mean anything by it. I love you all a whole lot but I just have a weird brain function that shuts it off if my mouth is moving.

After a couple of drinks I'm much more social though, as we've experienced last night at the Mui wedding ;)

All alone with no songs to write

2009-09-25T19:35:00.001-04:00

The husband is out with his buddies tonight. I originally wanted to devote the time to song writing, but I'm just all out of inspiration these days. Getting tired of writing songs about my feelings and experiences. I'd like to come up with something meaningful to people other than myself. Something of a social commentary? But - nothing. I've been living in a hole too long.

I guess that's partly why I started blogging again. I used to take the more inspired entries and rewrite them into poems or songs.

Fashion and Consumerism

2009-09-25T17:01:00.000-04:00

Since I started making my own clothes when I was 16 or 17, I sort of already knew that I'd want to be involved in fashion somehow. At first I figured it'd be just a hobby and I'd make clothes for myself for fun. But recently I've been doing more - putting on a show at SWAP '09, designing and making my own wedding dress... I'd really like to turn it into a living. 'Cause with a bit of training, I think I can do it.

At the pattern drafting class that I'm currently taking, the teacher, N, tells us a lot of inspiring stories about how regular people like you and me got to making a good living out of sewing and fashion design. The way they made it usually involves getting out there, meeting people, being nice to everyone 'cause you never know who they are or who they know, having a positive attitude, selling yourself, etc. Charisma, basically (I'll write about this another time).

N also tells us about his work as a buyer for Holt Renfrew. About gorgeous clothes that go for thousands apiece and about clients who are willing to spend tens of thousands on a shopping spree. And that brings me to the next point. These design houses are raking in the millions, and most of them are probably paying children in third world 10 cents a month to make these clothes.

Another thing about fashion is, it changes every 6 weeks. Every 6 weeks women are pursuaded by commercials and magazines to toss their old clothes and buy something new. Today it's skinny heels, tomorrow it's chunky ones. Or flats. Or wedges. It's exactly like what the lady said in The Story of Stuff. In fact, fashion is one of the biggest industries known to promote and perpetuate consumerism. All the exploitation , resources, the chemicals, the garbage in the landfills...

Anyway, I'm not sure where this post is going. All I wanted to say was that I can't reconcile my interest in fashion with all this destruction. Feeling a little conflicted about all this.

Sorry for the rant I've watched too much tv and my brain is not working so properly :D

Back on old Blogger, again

2009-09-24T09:49:00.003-04:00

For those of you who I hadn't had the good fortune of meeting back then, it may (or may not) be interesting to note that I was an avid blogger way back in the good old days of high school. I was pretty good at updating, usually everyday. Sometimes I'd miss a day or two, and sometimes I'd post several times a day. Some of the things I wrote were poetic or meaningful, but most of it was probably pure mindless drivel. But all that doesn't matter now. It's all gone, because of this:

I had been told, on several occasions, that it was stupid to write about my thoughts and feelings and then let my friends read all about them on the internet. The people who said this (in the best interest of everyone at the time, I'm sure) were (and still are) important to me and I cared about what they thought, so I stopped. I left it all there on the website, untouched, collecting cyber-dust, until one day in an angry moment I upped and deleted all of it.

But my sanity has been on a down trend since then.

I was (not) cool, I was confident. I was vibrant. I cared about people, especially outcasts, and I didn't mind being one. Not too much anyway. I had my issues then but on the whole I think I was happier than I am now. Now I'm self-conscious, and I'm nervous around people.

You know, I'm not one to just talk about things with people. I know it sounds pretty retarded but it's true. It's not that I wouldn't like to have intelligent and/or emotional conversations with friends and family but when I make attempts to move my mouth, it's like my mind shuts off. I never quite understood this until the last couple of years. I'm a person who needs time alone to gather my thoughts, and writing helps me do that. Writing is therapeutic. It helps me focus on a subject and form a cohesive train of thought. I use it to work out how I feel about things and situations, and why I feel that way. And in doing so, I can find a way to put away the negative feelings so that I can go out and make friends and conquer the world again. Well, at least this little corner of it :)

And if the people I care about want to read it, I'm not keeping it a secret.

So, in conclusion, yes, I am starting a new blog. Whoopee! And in this blog I will:

Write a lot about myself. I'm sorry if it sounds selfish but hey if I let it all out now, I'll have more time to listen to you when we talk!
Be as honest as possible
Not write for specific people to read. 'Cause if I have something to say to you I should probably do that in person.
Write only about the positives if I happen to mention other people. It is important to note, however, that I do not intend to write about people. I do not want to gossip.
Exercise proper spelling and grammar and use some big words in order to keep my knowledge of the English language alive
Try to be as intelligent as I can be, though that doesn't say a whole lot
Post fun things once in a while

And if anyone doesn't like it, he/she doesn't need to read it. It's all ok with me.