vegan cannibal

It's taken a while because I had to blend a few clips together and add sound, but here's my circus vid. It's just training, so you can see us struggling at times, but overall I am happy with my progress- you try holding up your body weight for 10 min! :) It's long, I warn you. I am on the right.
The music in the video are the Arcade Fire's tracks No Cars Go and Crown of Love...reppin' MTL.

I am on break between Phil of Lang and French class.

My friend Martin's band are going to be here this weekend- you should come!
It's at Siesta Nouveaux http://www.myspace.com/reconstructingbarrier
Saturday Nov 28th 8pm $8 Punk and hardcore/emo.

Martin is bringing my best Montreal pal Sarah (his girlfriend) from Friday to Sunday to hangout! They are probably going to stay at my place. I want to bring them out to meet my Toronto friends! Bekka? Allison? Pals? Let's hang! Sleazy Dizzizle? Martin is xvegx, Evan is a rad vegan with a beard and Sarah is a rad vegan with no beard. You want to come hang with them!

Ola is going to be in town this Wed-Fri from LA! I haven't seen her in so long.

Sadly, Caroline will not be here because she is going to be in England, then NYC until December 6th. I have been with her pretty regularly the past few weeks, doing yoga together. It's been rad. I am so fortunate to have so many wonderful, considerate and ethical friends. I love that I can talk about things and she just gets it. I have this same feeling with Ola, Bekka, Allison and a ton of my other friends, though we seem to get each other better in different areas, which is cool.

Did a 10 min circus routine (will post a vid) with my classmate Nessa the other day and climbed the tissue with no leg help twice in one class. I will have to film that because it looks really funny. I've always had a lot of upper body strength, it's pretty rad even if I do look like a football player.

Bikram yoga 30 day deal is ending, so I am looking into what to do next to keep up my cardio. Storey and I might join the Y- it's cheap and you can attend any class, at any location. I am signing up for the next session of circus to the tune of $400, but this time 2 aerial classes, no acrobatics. I love it, but I want to see rapid performance level improvement in my aerial skills, so 1x per week is not enough.

School sucks! I love my classes and hate writing essays but I got some self-help books to try and curb my procrastination. End of semester assignments are all dropping on me at once. I have to hang in there and work harder, sleep less.

My apartment is shaping up! This weekend I got things tidied up enough to have guests, but I am NOT ALLOWED to clean any more than this, I must leave it for the holidays, since I just use it to procrastinate.

Speaking of the holidays, they are fast-approaching. So, what are everyone's plans? Maybe a potluck is in order? I will definitely be going to Flint, since I haven't seen Ryan in a long time, though I am not sure when nor for how long. I guess my sister will be coming and I want to go see my cousins/brother likely in Mississauga. Luckily, Ryan abhors the Christmas season and it's commercialization as much as I do, so I don't have to worry about buying him some crappy present.

Don't forget about ARK II's Silver Ball to mark our 25th anniversary! Hopefully we will get posters up for that this weekend.

What I want to know is: Are they faking it, or is it possible to be this stupid and air-headed? I feel like it's fake. Also, who names themself Lady Gaga? It's okay Paris, I still love you.

Life related: This post makes me feel less depressed about my financial tragedy because I have lots of pictures of my friends having fun!
Food related: I made pumpkin cupcakes and a gluten-free Halloween themed birthday cake. Check them out!




Check out my art:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/tattooedvegan

Today sucks but I have to head to school pretty soon and I am buying myself a dark Kit Kat bar to make everything all better. I wish I could get a hug from Ryan right now. Luckily I have yoga tonight with Caroline.

I have piles of homework to finish and I haven't even gone to school yet even though I got up at 6:30am. I spent the morning paying bills and following up on my MRI- it's confirmed that I have 2 partially torn knee ligaments.

At least what I have been suspecting about my knee is confirmed. Now I get a referral to an orthopedic surgeon to discuss whether or not to operate. It will be my first operation if it happens. I've always been pretty healthy and this is considered a sports injury. Next tattoo? FUCK SKATEBOARDING. Just kidding. Maybe I will get a little skateboard tattooed on my knee scar if I do have surgery. Imagine if I had not quit skating and tried to skate again since my knee was better? I would likely have fully torn my ACL. Hahaha. Funny enough, the circus stuff and yoga have really improved my mobility.

I am so so so broke I want to cry. Actually, I was on the phone trying to find out how to get reimbursements from Quebec for my medical bills and I did cry. They said it will take 8-10 weeks to get my money back once I submit my forms. Shitty.

I just paid 2 old bills from my last apartment in Montreal. Then, Monday night, I parked in front of a parking space (I AM A GENIUS!) and my car was towed. $250 went to that. I paid off another $300 odd dollar debt with my monthly whopping $737 of student loan money. Now there is about $100 left to live on somehow for the rest of the month. This is what makes shoplifting so appealling to poor people.

None of this includes the $3500 I owe on my credit card nor the giant student debt I have- somewhere around $20,000. Holy shit. Definitely not starting a Master's right after my undergrad.

I need another job but I don't really have the time to work more than the 1-2 days I already do. Oh well, I need another job. I will feel better once I have one. I am thinking of applying for tutoring positions or getting a waitress gig. I think I will sell my camera and anything else I can think of. Maybe a diamond earring I have in a box somewhere and a Royal Doulton doll.


Anyway, Hallowe'en was awesome and I baked up a storm. I am still editing out the crappy photos and such on my Picasa.


I have prints are up for sale in my etsy store. I am going to try to add more stuff soon.

Your Score Is 69 http://www.drsalzarulo.com/candida.html
In today's world, Candida often accumulates in the body much faster than it can be eliminated. A score greater than 65 indicates advanced yeast connected health problems. A Candida cleanse is needed, both to rid your body of the unpleasant symptoms you are experiencing and to finally achieve the lasting health results you want.

In a newly cleansed state, your body will be more receptive to deep healing. I am ready to design an individualized program for you based on principles that I've seen work time after time. My easy-to-follow program will be highly effective and at the same time very safe and gentle - something you can look forward to and have fun with, at a pace that fits into a busy life.

Candida Self-Test Score Interpretation Ranges:

•    65 or greater indicates advanced yeast-related health problems

•    55-64 indicates moderate to advanced yeast-related health problems

•    45-54 indicates moderate yeast-related health problems

•    35-44 indicates lesser to moderate yeast-related health problems

•    Less than 35 indicates yeast-related health problems are most likely not present

So - in a nutshell - some of the major causes of Candidias are:

• Use of antibiotics.
• A diet high in refined carbohydrates such as sugar, muffins, breads, cookies, ice cream, cakes, bagels, soft drinks, most pastas, etc.
• Alcohol and caffeine (both are strong gut irritants and alcohol feeds yeast).
• Stress and Environmental pollution (both suppress the immune system).
• Chemotherapy (suppresses the immune system and kills the good bacteria).
• Oral contraceptives (progesterone from the birth control pills changes the vaginal lining, making it more hospitable to yeast).
• NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen, Naprosyn, Celebrex, Indomethacin, etc.) suppress the immune system and encourage the overgrowth of yeast.
• Constipation.

I definitely crave bread, sugar, caffeine, I have a sore throat often and get tonsiloths and irritated tonsils and throat, have itchy dry skin, et cetera.
I think my school covers a naturpathic visit so I am going to get tested but for now it would be useful to look into a Candida cleanse kit and elimination diet.

 

Honestly, my journal should have a tea dropdown menu instead of music. I literally have a teabag patch sewn to my denim jacket thanks to Nessie.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say I just finished a 9 day master cleanse!
I actually pooped my pants doing the salt water flush- you cannot fart because you poop "Shiss" (Shit-Piss), I accidentally farted. This is extra funny because my friend Kira had the same delightful occurence. Luckily I was at home in the bathroom. I felt really good to cleanse though and I was even cleaning out poop 3 days after my last meal. Gross. I am not even sick of the maple lemonade, either!

Lately I've been loving:

Master Cleanse lemonade
cayenne, maple syrup, lemon juice

A strong cup of rooibos with vanilla almond milk
It's a great replacement for an Orange Pekoe lover

"milk" oolong (I got the one Sarah had us try at Goldfish, Nessie) with 1 tbsp maple syrup and 2 tbsp soymilk
This tea TASTES creamy even with no soymilk.

Coconut chai with soymilk

Davids Tea caffeine free chai blend
Very surprisingly orangey.

Davids Tea opened up in the Bloor West Village so I have been trying new blends. They have about 60 kinds of tea. Across the street is this new "custom cookie and muffin top" place called Sweet Flour Bake Shop. They make you a custom cookie or muffin top in 2 min. What the hell? I wonder how long it will stay in business. I checked and they had nothing vegan. I realized that there is a market there for a vegetarian restaurant since there isn't one. I wish I had $20,000 to start one!

I was food shopping yesterday... more like sampling everything I could as I walked West along Bloor in search of cat food.. but I went into that giant Korean grocery store and it is awesome! I found those soy paper wraps and japchae clear noodles, not to mention yummy and weird asian peanutty treats and teas I have never tested. I want to go back sometime soon.

If anyone wants to do a Korean/Japanese food night, let's!

Other news: my dad bought a house with his girlfriend in Vaughan.

Amanda doesn't want to move to Vaughan.

Sooo, my dad will be renting out the main floor of our house, after some renovations, and I am moving into the basement in the new year. This works for me because I still don't have to pay rent, I get my parking space and my own big 1 bdrm apartment. I am actually super lucky and it totally rules. I feel kind of bad since he could rent the space out, but hey offered that I live with him, so whatever. The upstairs neighbours will probably have annoying kids running around, but I can handle it. After my degree is done in the summer, I will want to move anyhow.

My dad's girlfriend is going to live with us for a while until they can move into the new house. So far, so good- she actually cleans up! I hate cleaning up after my dad so I was letting things get messy and not caring since he would never be home to do anything. She has a cute little dog, Tia, who I get to walk and play with, she makes my dad happy..even if I think they are going too far too soon, I wish them the best.

Ola is moving to LA! Crazy. She is getting transferred through her job. This rules and I am way stoked for her.

For my reading week this coming week, Ryan is going to come up and we are heading to spend Thanksgiving with some friends from Montreal.

We are going to drive my car, so I don't know if anyone wants to come, but it will be a fun time!
Ryan is driving up on Oct. 8th or 9th.

We will stay over at my friend Sarah's house and are going to Quebec city on Oct 12th.

We are leaving Sat. Oct 10th and coming home Tues. Oct 13th.

I thought maybe Nessie, you would want to come but it's pretty short notice, I guess.

This woman is a genius! I cannot believe all the fantastic treats she cooks up.

 A cake covered in ganache flowers? An ultimate frisbee cake, covered in sugary "grass"?

And it is all vegan.

http://www.tasteslikeyum.com/

You should come!

Maria, Caroline, Yee, Allison, whoever wants to, come try it out! It's fun and sweaty.

10 days for $10!

Bekka and I will be going tonight at 8pm. Bloor and Avenue.
http://www.bikramyogatoronto.com/bloorschedule.html

Essentials: bring 2 towels, wear light clothes- wifebeater, bikini top, shorts, large bottle of cold water, yoga mat

Plan to get there at 7:30pm.

Caroline, call me if you want I can pick you up!
416 251-5031

Lots of stuff for sale: Green Ladie's 5 speed bike cruiser/road bike, Men's CCM Targa bike, Ikea Mandal bedframe, Solid wood dresser, Chinese dolls, Royal Doulton doll, Gothic and Lolita magazines, anti-bark dog collar and more. Please click my Picasa album photo- the album will be updated and sold items removed as they are purchased.

I just got home a few hours ago from Flint. I left Wednesday night on a 5:40pm train and arrived in Sarnia at 10:20pm where I had to take a $40 taxi across the border to get dropped off at the McDonald's parking lot. Unlike in Windsor, there is no $4 cross-border shuttle bus at the Sarnia, On-Port Huron, MI bridge, so you have to take a taxi over. I could have WALKED across the border, but you are not allowed. So stupid. The taxi ride was about $5, but taxis charge $35 to cross the border.

Anyway, none of that mattered because the moment I pulled into the Mc Dick's parking lot, I paid my cab driver and jumped out of the car to throw my arms around Ryan Christopher Gregory and it was like no time had passed at all since I saw him last on August 1st. I can't even explain what an amazing person he is. I nuzzled my face into his chest and inhaled his scent. He has not smoked a cigarette in over a week and although he never really smelled like cigarettes before, now he definitely smells even more amazing. I like how you can establish recognition for someone by their smell. Vanessa and Laura definitely smell particular and always like being around people who don't wallow in perfume. I was so excited that Ryan actually quit smoking and has been vegetarian for over a month.

We got into the hearse and started to ride back to Flint, going the wrong way because we got distracted with talking so intently. We were heading toward Detroit instead of Flint. Finally, we arrived back at his house and I felt instantly at home. On Thursday, we did our grocery shopping at the local Middle Eastern grocery and the cheap grocery chain, Kroger. We made vietnamese cold spring rolls with miso-ginger sauce and baked tortilla chips for dinner. Vanessa was in Flint visiting her family, so she came over for dinner before heading to hang out with Jay and her other friends in Flint. She cut her hair and looked really gorgeous with cute shoes and a fancy necklace. We caught up a bit and made plans to hang on Sunday.

On Friday, Ryan had to head down to Auburn Hills (south of Flint, North of Detroit) to finish mixing Morseville Bridge's album so we brought my bike and while he and his friend/producer John did that, I biked over to the Sally Ann (Salvation Army) and looked around. I found a white Bell skateboard helmet for $5, some fall clothes including high-waisted mom jeans (oh yeah!) I biked back to the studio and listened as the boys finished up mastering the last few tracks.

Ryan's band just finished shooting a music video in an old theatre for one of their songs and they are playing a few shows in Flint and Detroit soon. This youtube video is a good example of their live show, they hook up tons of neat lamps that flicker with the music. It's really fantastic. I never cease to be amazed at Ryan's creative intelligence.



Ryan and I drove back to the Sally Ann and we found TWO RAD BIKES! Yes! I found a 70s Schwinn road bike for $50 and a similar hybrid road/cruiser for $45. We decided to grab both bikes and bring them home. I brought them back to Toronto and I will sell one, which will effectively pay for both. After that, we were starving and drove around but could not find any decent place to eat. We ended up looking for food at the mall which made us both annoyed. I got grumpy and we decided to just cook at home. He is definitely patient with my picky "I am not eating at Taco Bell" attitude toward food. We made daal, brown rice, collard greens and a fall veggie bake with shredded beets, carrots, squash and sweet potato. I love cooking with Ryan, he gets so excited about tasty healthy food. It's adorable that he thinks I am the world's greatest cook- if only it were true. I think most of my vegan girlfriends are excellent cooks, come to think of it.

After eating till we were stuffed to the gills, John and his girlfriend Jen came over and we all went for a bike ride, which was awesome until we were chased down by a dog at the end of the bike ride, 5 minutes from home. The dog succeeded in knocking me off my bike and clawing a hole through my American Apparel tights AND underwear, all the way to my ass.

I chastized the dog owner about it being off leash and chasing people on bikes, I managed to get $100 off him to replace my ripped clothes, for probiotics and bandages. He also promised another $100 to tune-up my bike. Considering I could have sued him for thousands, he obliged and will hopefully pick up my bike next week. Being Canadian, suing people is obviously not something I am apt to consider, but all our friends were insistent that we get the dude to pay us something. After all, why should I be out the money when I did nothing wrong? He had a construction business and was running for city council, so no doubt he could afford to pay up. The worst part is that this puppy had already chased Ryan's roommate the week before and he was out there at night training him as a guard dog for his house. Animals are not a security system, you idiot.

Saturday, Ryan and I went up to his parents' house in Clio to visit. We helped with his parents' garage sale and visited with the family. I have marveled at how comfortable I was with Ryan from the very beginning of dating and I feel the same way around his parents. We chatted and laughed while Ryan's mom was showing me how some people sell dirty socks to foot fetishists on ebay. Ryan's dad finally said "sonnabitch" in front of me! We had been joking about the hillbilly accent that Ryan gets sometimes and he said it comes from his dad. I definitely feel like they are already my family. Apparently Ryan's mom has a picture of us on her facebook and someone commented on it, asking whether I was really short, or Ryan was really tall. Both.

Saturday night we rode bikes in Clio and Ryan showed me the skateboard park he and his friends raised $90,000 to build when he was in highschool. It was really impressive and huge! I rode the Schwinn we had bought since my Univega was being tuned up, but the frame is huge for me and we headed back after an hour or so, because I started getting sore bike vag. I was also not used to riding at night without bike or street lights so it was a bit scary to bike beside the country traffic at night.

Sunday we rustled up Shannon and drove down to Detroit to visit with Vanessa and Matt. We stopped at Vanessa's house where she was waiting for us on the porch in her striped conductor's Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls and her grunge-as-fuck Nirvana shirt from highschool. We drove over to Matt's where Vanessa has been keeping Beatrice the fruit bat for a few weeks. We got to watch Vanessa and Matt exercise and feed Beatrice- she is too overweight to fly and has to be in isolation for a few weeks away from the communal food supply with all the other bats. We drove back to Nessie's to make food; Matt hung out with us for dinner and then headed off to practice with his band, the Summer Pledge. It's pretty exciting that both Vanessa and I have boyfriends with amazing musical projects happening. I really like Matt's band and the dudes in his band are really great guys.
For dinner, we made zataar covered tortilla chips with fresh pico de gallo and sauteed onions, zucchini and sweet potatoes to garnish our chickpea cutlets. Ness had made Veganomicon cutlets, potato salad, and I brought over a terribly sweet Americanized Nanaimo bar dessert. Ness, REAL Namaimo bars are way better, with coconut and walnut crust. There's a vid of Sarah Kramer making them and she says that "husbands are for doing dishes", you have to watch it.

After dinner, Shannon, Ryan, Nessie and I biked to Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit river between Windsor and Detroit. We did yoga/acrobatics on the beach and relaxed for a few hours before biking back to Nessie's, packing up the bikes and driving home. Belle Isle was packed with cars, biker gangs and mostly black families having picnics and family reunions. It was rowdy and dangerous since very few people bike there, but being the urban bike pirates that we are, we made it awesome.

This morning Shannon came over for vegan waffles! We picked up a waffle iron from Ryan's mom's garage sale and we made chocolate chip brownie and banana nut waffles from Veganomicon. Ryan's roommate/bassist Mark and his girlfriend Katie joined us for the vegan feast.Ryan and I headed down to Detroit around 2:30pm with my bikes and he took me across the border with his shiny new U.S. passport. Of course, we were pulled over on our way across because we look like drug huffing hippies and we drive a hearse. After being questioned about the weird mushroom Ryan had in the ashtray-it was an edible one he picked in the woods- we were allowed to cross and I met with my rideshare who ended up being a +$100,000 income accountant for a consulting firm that he fully admitted takes advantage of poor underdeveloped nations. He was explaining the spin that his consulting firm puts on business deals to make exploitation look like investment. As much as I knew all that already, it was amazingly poignant to hear it from the horse's mouth.
The rideshare dude, named John, works in Toronto so he goes back to Michigan to visit his family. It was a smooth ride in his silver Lexus and he let me bring my bike rack and 2 bikes, so Toronto pals, expect to see me cruising on over to visit this week on my shiny blue Schwinn road bike. By the way, is anyone attending Tuesday night's 10th anniversary party for How It All Vegan with Sarah Kramer?

I'm moved into my dad's place but he really wants to sell this house and his girlfriend is in the process of selling hers. I am trying to to get my shit together to sell my superfluous stuff, but this week I have to try to arrange my AFE Quebec funding, start classes, and buy books. I don't have classes until Thursday, but I am going up tomorrow morning to add one more class to my timetable and take care of school stuff.

All and all it was an awesome visit back to Flint and I feel ready to take on school again. I was discussing Masters' applications and the GRE test with Mark's girlfriend Katie, so I might look into U of M Flint's Master's programs and law schools, the latter mostly as a joke.

Whoa.

I just watched a bunch of youtube videos where people pick bike locks with Bic pens. In looking at buying a road bike, I will definitely invest in a better lock.




Anywayyyy, I am home and my dad traded the local mechanic some A/C work for a car, which fucking rules and now I have the use of a red Pontiac Sunfire that I can drive to Flint, but I need to learn to drive standard a.s.a.p.

I visited my grandma and my cousin Cinthia today! It feels good to be near family. At first when I walked into the seniors' home my grandma said "What is she doing here?" to my uncle. By the end of the visit I think she felt okay about it and hopefully my mom doesn't convince her I am evil again.

I also plum forgot how awesome my 50 year old second cousin Cinthia is. She seriously is totally my ideal family member- her backyard is crazy and filled with amazing gardens and an art studio, her home is creative and inspiring with lots of wonderful Eastern influenced art and she just has overall amazing energy- she is positive and really intelligent, not afraid to be different or take on projects that others might find useless. I would be really happy with myself if I end up like her when I am 50. She seems really accepting of herself and her family, really loving too. She was really happy to see me.

My Montreal friends (THANK YOU Sarah, Martin, Leo, Valerie and Todd) helped me move out of my place and load up the Uhaul on Sunday afternoon and today my dad and uncle helped me unload the Uhaul here in Toronto, but the refrain has been the same from everyone- YOU HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF.

OKAY, okay. I GET IT. Now it's time to take the criticism gracefully and get rid of shit.

Books I haven't read in 2 years that don't pertain to my degree- Goodbye.
Clothes I haven't worn in 2 years- Goodbye.
CDs- burn them all onto a harddrive and sell them online or at Sonic Boom.
Furniture including bed and dresser- FOR SALE! I will worry later about what I need for my next place- live in the present.
Knickknacks, art and decorative stuff- FOR SALE. Fuck sentimentality, hello practicality.
Anything inessential- garbage.
Extra dishes, knives, kitchen things I don't use- garage sale!

My goals are to get enough money from selling things to pay off my $2000 credit card bill and get back on track financially. This means no more cell phone- it's too expensive. I have to list things regularly on etsy, too. I have watercolour paintings to make prints of that should sell.

Inspired by Bekka, tomorrow's 3 MIT (most important tasks):

1) Call about/finish process of documents for student loans
2) Photograph and list furniture and for sale items
3) Return Uhaul

And if I get to them:
4) Get insurance and plates for car
5) Learn to drive standard
6) Find a road bike (car would help this)
7) Unpacking, organizing

Wednesday's MITs:
1) Call about course wait list
2) EI ?
3) More organizing/listing

Packing is going well and I am in a good mood! It's cooler out, I ate some chocolate and leftover chickpea salad for breakfast, I am trying to use up the food I have here. I am hoping to have the majority of packing finished today so I can spend this week finishing school and bureaucratic tasks like applying for Québec financial aid, not to mention hanging out with friends.

I have seen lots of my friends, it's been strange, people who I haven't talked to in a while have called or emailed me out of the blue, giving me a chance to see them before I go. My friend Simon from Trois-Rivères is engaged, my friend Julia is pregnant... crazy changes.

Today will make my 4th circus class this week and I am so excited to be back. I can't wait to start attending regularly in Toronto. My abs are coming back...slowly, hahaha. I am going to try to stick a drop on the aerials today, I got a bodysuit to wear so that I don't burn my sides coming down.

Tonight is a hangout with Sarah and Kira plus a bunch of other Aux Vivres friends and maybe Sam from Flint! Cool. Time to get ready to leave.

Montréal Montréal Montréal, COMMENT je vais tu vas me manquer quand je te quitte. Je sens que vais revenir à toi un jour.

On my bike ride home from a potluck at my friend Johanna's house, it hit me that I am leaving. After an evening of circus training, Diana and I went, tired and happy to Johanna's where we tried on her garage sale clothes, helped cook and caught up on each other's future plans.

I know I AM doing this, leaving I mean, I just don't know how. I keep thinking of the song Ryan and I wrote together, but in my mind it's now dedicated to Montréal.

I love this city and even though I've only been in Québec for 2 years, only 1 in Montréal, I have some wonderful wonderful friends here, inspiring motivated people who make me feel alive.

What will I smile at every morning knowing I won't walk into class and catch sight of Sarah's stainless water bottle with vegan stickers, Kira's Norweigan grandma sweater and Tara's black hoodie? However did I end up a philosophy major at Concordia with 3 brilliantly academic vegetarian women who love tattoos and rock music? Life is truly amazing.

I know I have to leave but it's hard. I deeply love a lot of people here and the city itself.

This week is going to be very hard, lots of changes and emotions.

I promise to return to you someday Montréal! Nous sommes en amour.

I always wondered why I could still feel it when the dentist worked on my teeth, but I never hated it.

"A growing body of research shows that people with red hair need larger doses of anesthesia and often are resistant to local pain blockers like Novocaine."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/?em

I am back in Toronto- I've been here since August 1st, but have been pretty low key and stayed at my dad's house.

The rest of my summer in the USA was awesome.

Photos are here in a couple albums:


I learned a bit about drawing, painting and tattooing. I camped, road-tripped, sun-bathed, rocked out, read, chatted, biked, liked, slip 'n slid, loved and lost. I drank too much pop and energy drinks and ate some of the most unhealthy food I've ever had, I even tried a reverse energy drink called Drank. I got to see Vanessa at Dudefest in Indiana, I drove down with her boyfriend and mine.

Even two of my Montreal friends came to Dudefest. Sarah and Martin took the bus for 30 hours to get there.

I listened to lots of new music. I fell in love with Ryan's band, Morseville Bridge. I listened to Planes Mistaken for Stars incessantly- it was Jay's summer jam.

I've never felt more Canadian than when I left my country. Most people called me "Canada" or "Hey Canadian".

I miss the American friends I made, but I am excited to go back soon.

I am going to be doing cheap tattoos to practice and build a portfolio if anyone is interested. They won't be awesome, but I promise to touch them up when I am better, haha.


I am still dating Ryan, though he is in Flint. I guess we just like each other enough to try a long distance relationship and don't think that the distance is enough of an impediment. We spent a lot of time together- I lived with him for a month. We gave each other matching stick-and-poke mouse tattoos and recorded a song together. I am hopeful that things will work out. Only time will tell.

My old apartment in Montreal is going to be sublet and I am returning to school in the fall, living in a new place.

Let's hang out while I am here! I go back to Montreal next week. I want to ride bikes and do things that are cheap/free with friends. Bekka, Allison, Caroline I have little presents for you.

I have not written in some time, this is a bad habit of mine. I should really write more regular updates.

Being here,  I often tell the story of how Vanessa and I met on livejournal, since people wonder how a Canadian came to be among them, and that I still use my LJ, and it always surprises me to hear that people have them. Most of the people I have met don't really use them anymore though. A few new friends- Justin and Ryan- have journals. I must remind myself to go back sometime and lurk their old entries.

I have put quite a few photos up in my Picasa albums, with more to come.



During my first week here, I had gone fishing with Jay and his friend Kevin up in Oscoda, where I laid in the sun and watched as they failed to catch dog fish. I found a beautiful red Univega road bike in great condition for $25 at the Sally Ann and it's been taking me everywhere, good and bad places.

I've been told on numerous occaisions that I should not have biked where I did, but sometimes I just want to climb on my bike and ride to a new place. Unfortunately that's dangerous in north Flint, but pretty much safe in south Flint. Jay showed me how to use his gun and since his roommate is home from tour I realized he too has a gun in his room.  I can't really describe how strange it is to sit down on someone's bed and notice something hard under the pillow only to realize it's a gun. Or to ponder the fact that there are guns in the house you are in. It's strange. Most other people living here don't have guns, but some people who have been jumped or almost jumped, they sometimes feel it neccessary to pack heat.

I haven't felt unsafe personally, but I remind myself to take warnings seriously. I have felt my priviledge often, growing up where things are safe and secure. I have met lots of nice friendly people who look out for me, who want to come hang out or offer to take me to run errands, since I have no car.

I've gone to Seven Lake beach with my friends Laura and Heather where we went swimming and sunbathed. Laura has moved to North Carolina and I am really happy for her.  I met Laura through Vanessa but our similarity in thinking made us fast friends and she came up to spend a few days with me before leaving for N.C. I miss her and we discussed the distances between friends and how it can work out well.

I've talked to Vanessa on the phone a few times and I get to hear updates of her exploits working tracking bat species in the forests of the Smokey Mountains around North Carolina, Tenessee and VIrginia. She sends picture texts of rattlesnakes and videos of black bears. It's exciting and scary. I guess Flint is exciting and scary, too.

We go on lots of bike rides around town, sometimes night bike rides that end up back here at the house with frosty rootbeer float celebrations.

I have been spending a lot of time with our upstairs neighbour, Shannon, who is another fantastic fast friend. We cook, bake and have adventures together. She's quite the inspiration, a photography grad who is now working at Red Ink art studios. I love that we get along like two peas in a pod, without her being vegetarian, though open-minded to cooking vegan meals. We have decided that we are summer BFFs.

Her friend Ryan has come along with us at times, he's also an artist at Red Ink, very talented and inspired. Ryan drives a hurse and has a folk band. Shannon and I went thrifting with him this past Monday.

Last night I saw Black Moth Super Rainbow in Detroit at the Magic Stick. It was a great show and Matt came to hang out. We are supposed to see each other again on Friday and buy our bus tickets to get to DudeFest in mid-July.

I barely use my email or Canadian phone and have been enjoying the vacation, though I miss my friends, dad and sister.

Lots to say but I will leave it at this for now.  I am having a really wonderful time experiencing another culture (it is definitely another culture), meeting new and interesting people and being warmly received into a new place that I call home for the time being.
Someone asked me the other day if I missed home and I can honestly say I don't. It's like I am just really well-adapted to being here, though I am perfectly cognizant of the fact that I am leaving on August 1st. I feel love often for my surroundings and friends here, it's really peaceful and nice.

I've been having a great time so far but as always, there's been too much to do in too little time.

I've been to 2 shows including Wolves in the Throne Room which was fantastic and the Birthday Massacre show, which was entertaining. We partied on Sunday night at the Bovine which ended up being a 90s themed music night that was more fun than that sounds.

On Sunday and Monday, Ola and I took romantic gay couples walks down to the Harbourfront with our love child Tyson (he's actually her dog). I photographed circus performers at the Toronto circus festival and got info about where I could train while I am in town.

On Tuesday, I trained at the Centre of Gravity circus school, held a punxercise class with 4 of my friends to get them to try circus arts.

The weather was bitchin', so tonight Ola came over for dinner with my dad and his girlfriend Patti and we just sat by the pool, tanned and hung out with the kids (i.e. the dogs). Ola's dog Tyson, Patti's dog Tia and her friend Terri's dog Cleo were adorable. Stay tuned for pictures of Ola in a bikini.

Tomorrow is my last night in town and I am going to train at the CofG again and see Keelhaul at the Annex Wreck Room with Ola and Caroline.

I threw up a few photos from the various things I've been upto and to showcase my $15 Montreal hipster mullet: