portfolio interview is done aaaaaaand done

i managed to get all my artwork strapped to a luggage carrier and had planned to walk it all the way to the school but figured it was safer to call a cab. I managed to drag the whole thing down the two flights of stairs to the door, praying that i would NOT sprain my fucking ankle again or some other completely ridiculous injury i generally sustain (seriously. i am a total klutz) when i'm nervous or not really focussed on what's in front of me - imagining the explanation i would need to give doctor as to why a whole canvas was lodged in my brain.

my cab pulled up just as i was hauling the awkward bulk out the door. i quickly realized i hadn't exactly considered canvas size versus mode of transportation size, but the cabbie jumped out, carefully placed it all in the trunk and assured me he would get me and my stuff there in one piece. sigh of relief. promise kept, he even helped me get it all to the front door. so either he was super nice, or he was pleased about the ridiculously huge tip. probably both.

i got all signed in a waited for about 10 minutes for someone to call my name. the waiting area was mostly filled with soon to be high school graduates and their parents who, besides faculty, were basically the only other people there over 30. when i finally made it to the interview room, i was told i had about 15 minutes to set up, which was fairly easy, except for the thought of having to manoeuvre the hulk on wheels i was dragging behind me through the rows of tables and chairs. so i chose a spot at the front of the room, also so i could use the whole corner wall space for leaning paintings, which worked incredibly well. then i had nothing to do but sit and wait to be interviewed by 2 faculty.

the first interviewer was nice enough, and seemed interested in me and my work. she told me that she LOVES mature students and hoped i would get in. the second interviewer didn't give me anything to go on at all. he took his job as seriously as only a middle aged i've-seen-it-all-so-you-don't-impress-me-bitch gay man can. i packed everything up again and wheeled it into the english placement test room, where i had to read and write a response to an article written by a current student.

then it was just over. sort of anticlimactic really (kind of like this post). anyway, now i have to wait until the end of may to find out if i get in.

karl pilkington

is a funny, funny man.

the ricky gervais podcast series is almost done. download while you still can.

oh and the interview went well. post coming soon.

how winning an award can make you feel like shit

when i was 16, i won the 10th grade visual art achievement award. that year was one of the most exciting i had ever had. my crazy egyptian high school art teacher took a group of students to paris, france for a week. that and i had started dating my first boyfriend. anyway, it took about a whole month of wheedling and emotional manipulation for my mother and i to finally convince my father to let me go. we visited the louvre, the georges pompidou centre, the musee d'orsay, montmartre and all the usual tourist-y spots.

we also took a day long drive to brittany see mont st.michel which was a total nightmare. first of all it's about a 6.5 hour drive from paris to mont st michel. then about 10 minutes after we piled out of the van, i got my period and the WORST cramps in history. I spent the whole 2 hour visit there alternately sleeping in the van and puking my guts out into the atlantic ocean while my friends were visiting one of the most beautiful monastaries in france. then we drove back. THE SAME DAY.

ok. back to the award story. at the end of that school year, my teacher decided to grant me the visual arts academic achievement plaque at the awards ceremony, even though a good friend of mine had better grades. when he called my name, i was shocked. i was SO SURE she was going to win it. in fact i had wanted her to win it. she was so talented, focussed, competitive and dedicated. i was just having fun learning. she was livid, gave me the EVIL eye and a couple of her friends hissed and booed me as i walked up to the podium to accept the plaque.

i didn't know what to do. i felt so humiliated and happy at the same time. i mean, it was great to be recognized, but i wasn't willing to lose a friend over it. afterwards, i went to talk to the teacher, pleaded with him to give it to her. that SHE deserved it. he told me that it was HIS decision and he stood by it. i was crushed. she and i eventually made up but our friendship was never the same.

when i chose my courses for the following year, i decided i didn't want to deal with that shit and never took art again. the experience left me totally freaked out and creatively blocked. i tried to draw and paint on my own, but ended up hating everything i did as it just reminded me of the humiliation i felt. so i just stopped. i decided it was better to just appreciate it rather than make it. which is what i did until about 5 years ago when my mom gave me gift certificate to take art classes with katrina (i'm re-doing her website over the next few weeks so please don't hold it against her) which changed my life.

any now it looks about to change again. tomorrow is my interview at ocad and i'm super nervous. AND excited. if anyone is reading this, send me your positive vibes and high fives.

***

p.s. HOLY SHEEEEEIT! I think I'm gonna poop myself in jubilation.

OH.MY.GAWD.

HELLO!

ask a ninja

ok. this is officially the funniest podcast EVER.....ok, well maybe so far....

I passed 8th grade science!

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

phew! thanks squid. i was worried there for a minute. you know, with me planning to back to school and all.

i have a new toy

12 inches of pure portable love.

in other new and exciting news, i also have a portfolio interview at ocad on valentine's day. if i get in, i'll be going to school full time in september. i went to the portfolio clinic a couple of weeks ago and got the low down on what to get ready, so i'm working on it. as part of the clinic we got to choose a 4-hour workshop to get an idea of what classes and instructors are like. i chose the encaustic workshop and SO dug the painting with wax. i definitely plan to do it again sometime.

here is the result.


besides the wax, i also used plastic and metal beads and gold leaf. nicole collins was the instructor and is a fantastic artist. you can see some of her work here.

i want one of these for my birthday.

blech

as i've mentioned before, over the last few months kirk and i have been using public transit to get around instead of driving. with the city's problems with traffic and air pollution, it seemed like the logical thing to do.

It takes us each about 35 minutes door to door, driving took about 20. My brother recently moved out and my parents have a free spot in their garage, so we parked betty for the winter. we'll pull her out of storage when we start going back up to the cottage in the spring. -21oC (about -6oF) with the windchill winters are hard on the 18-year old volvo 240DL station wagon. the car is named betty after the betty page air freshener we bought when we got the car, which was subsequently stolen by some neighbourhood crackheads who went through the car the ONE time i forget to lock the doors. GAH! Damn you crackHEADS!!!

what this means is that i also walk more, which is a good thing since i bailed on the regular exercise thing about 4 months before my wedding, which i've neglected to post about but just needed to take a bit of a wedding hiatus. since the wedding i've been battling my inner-self-pitying procrastinatrix. i've started working out twice a week at a gym and it is KICKING MY ASS people.that and i kinda...sorta...well...ok I FUCKING SPRAINED MY ANKLE AGAIN OK. STOP ASKING ME WHAT'S WRONG ALREADY.

ahem.


oh yes, i am definitely a pleasure to be around right now.

podcasts that ROCK

cbc radio 3: the best coverage of new canadian music EVER.

distorted view: finally, another freak who thinks vomit porn and poop are funny. today's podcast covers news stories: umbrellas in your ass, toothy prostitutes, fuck that cancer away.

channel frederator: sweet cartoon shorts. if you or anyone you know makes animated movies, submit them NOW!!!

ongoing history of new music: the ONLY good thing left about what used to the the best radio in toronto.

happy tree friends: cute AND violent!

tiki bar tv: video podcast of cocktail recipes with kooky story lines and pretty ladies.

any other suggestions?

dj poopee shmoopee's top 50 iTunes downloads of 2005

dear internet,

i'm still here. just busy.

in case you were wondering what the hell i've been doing, here's the short version of what's been going on.

i'm taking an online correspondance course in project management. working on getting all my wedding loose ends tied up. and then there's a nasty sinus infection thing going around that i'm trying to avoid, which is becoming increasingly difficult since we decided to park our car for the rest of the winter. i mean, public transit, while convenient, breeds that kind of viral shit. for christmas my brother got me a membership to the gym he works at, so this week i've started going. since i stopped working out last June i've gained 10 pounds, 2 dress sizes, and a whole lotta clothes that don't fit me so well anymore. must. stop. ass. spreadage. NOW. oh and i'm totally breaking out from the cold, dry weather. and my dust allergies are causing major inflammation in my nasal passage which makes me feel like i have a big gaping whole in the middle of my face, which makes working in a lumber yard just that much MORE fun. did i mention that i've also applied to art school to start full time in september?

yes, that was the short version. trust me, you don't want the long version. my loving and patient husbie can attest to that.

anyway, until my next post, for your listening pleasure, i have posted my very first iMix on the iTunes Music Store titled: the shmoopdeck's top 50 downloads of 2005. enjoy.

don't have iTunes? next time i'll post the playlist, tonight i'm just too damned tired.

hugs,

poops.

happy hoho

mustaches for kids update : $3633.18 raised.
ok so here is kirk's week 5 'stache.


thanks to everyone for their kind words. my aunt was a fantastic lady and a gifted artist. i'm really going to miss her.

like many, i've been sucked into the christmas vortex and am busy as all hell (which is kinda weird because i'm pretty sure i'm not a christian anymore). i think we're having dinner with friends and/or family every day for the next 9 days and won't have much time for you, dear internet.

that being said, i sincerely wish you some relaxing, guilt-free holidays.

stressed-out guilt is for LOSERS.

p.s. vote for chris christmas rodriguez.

Last night my Aunt Debby died

She died of complications following a year long battle with some weird fucked up form of brain cancer. Originally, I wrote this big long post about how the medical community doesn't know shit about assisting dying people to die with dignity. But when I re-read it it was mostly incoherent, so I'll post again later.

1 week to go!

Mustaches for Kids Toronto has raised almost $2200 so far and 1 week left before the big mustache ball. Kirk went to get his Week 5 photo taken tonight, but here's the Week 4.


This is my most recent painting. It's from a photo given to me by my friend Howard. It's is his village in Newfoundland.


On the way home last night from a massage (oh god, EVERYONE should have one) I passed this house. I was momentarily blinded by its radiance and had to go back and take a picture.


This is what my neighbourhood looked like this morning.

Since I woke up late, it was a bit of an inconvenience. That's because everyone in Toronto is retarded the first time the snow flies. For examples, read THIS and THIS. What makes driving in Toronto even more terrifying than a measely 10 cm (4in) snowfall? THIS.

I currently am sifting through 600 photos to sort out an online photo gallery of the wedding and another 300 for the honeymoon. It's taking longer than I had expected it would. It's coming soon, I promise.

just a little taste

...update...

kirk's week 3 snapshot:

mustaches for kids!

We're not back for a whole week and Kirk is already busy growing a mustache for the Make a Wish Foundation here in Toronto.

See his progress and pledge a donation at http://www.m4ktoronto.org.



Wedding & honeymoon photos coming soon!

here we are

thanks for the well wishes!!! just stopping in to a cybercafe just outside of scarborough, tobago. man is it HOT here. so far we are having a great time. our wedding was so much fun, i'll have to tell you all about it when we get back to toronto. suffice it to say many, many shots of sambuca and limoncello were involved as well as way more food than most people could possible consume in one evening.

bridezilla revisited

well. tonight is my last night as an unmarried harlot living in sin with her "get-the-milk-for-free" bohunk.

tonight we had our rehearsal dinner at my parents place and we had a great time. afterwards i checked out this AWESOME halloween party as bridezilla and was about to climb into bed when i realized, HOLY SHIT, I'm not going to even SEE a computer for the next 12 days.

on sunday, we fly out to trinidad and tobago, where i hope to enjoy tropical storm/hurricane-free weather, and lots and lots of sleeping.

and sexing.

awwwwwww yeahhhhh

peace out.

10 days and counting

There is so much going on right now. Wow. Ok, so I'm getting married in 10 days. A Halloween wedding. I'm super excited.

With my past event management experience, I've pretty much managed not go all bridezilla on everyone. Mostly.

We've sorted out the venue, the marriage licence, met with the officiant, wrote the ceremony, bought the cake, booked the flowers, made the guests' takeaway gift, picked up dress, suit, booked the honeymoon(sigh. honeymoon. i want to be there. right. now.). What's left?

1. Decoration of the ceremony and reception area. We're going with a harvest kinda theme. The halloween part? Everyone's going to get halloween candy, and a Nightmare before Christmas/Corpse Bride-inspired cake and the whole bridal party will be dressed in black on black except me in ivory and silver.

2. Practice dancing. As I mentioned before, Kirk doesn't really enjoy the whole dancing thing. Hence the practicing. Which is great because we're finally starting to really move together. I have to admit I was a little worried that we'd end up looking like we were in the 6th grade at our first boy/girl dance.

3. Program a soundtrack for the evening. We need to cover the ceremony, reception and our first dance. Here are some of the tracks we're thinking about including:

Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
Anniversary Song - Cowboy Junkies
Wedding Song - Bob Dylan
We Are Going To Be Friends - The White Stripes
Mushaboom - Feist

Any other music suggestions?

It's a good thing we've got most of it done early. I am so busy at work right now it's not even funny. Oh, and I fell on the stairs again and smashed my other leg. I was carrying a lot of shit up the stairs and the toe of my boot caught a step and well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm wearing a long dress.

Vice Magazine is the SHIT.

Vice Magazine - Kill Your Parents issue


I think there's a lot of really great writing and pointed arguments about the the baby boomer generation in this issue. That being said, I still love my parents and don't really want to kill them.

My parents are of that generation and while I would do everything in my power to make sure they are loved and cared for as they age, just as they did for me as a child, I've made it pretty clear to them, that it's THEIR responsibility to prepare for their future financially.My brother and I will never be able to afford to support them with the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. Hell, we can't even truly afford to support ourselves with the lifestyle we were accustomed to at home with them.

A few years ago, Kirk and I decided that RRSP's and the concept of retirement is BULLSHIT.

Why the hell, should I give a significant percentage of my earnings to some other person who's going to do something better with it than PAYING OFF OUR MORTGAGE. Because lets just face it, the ONLY way to own a home these days is to carry a mortgage. If I have a third of my earnings goes to taxes, another third to my mortgage, then most of that third is spent on school loans, car lease, insurance, property taxes and credit cards oh and eating and let's not forget entertainment. WHY THE FUCK would I take what little I have I have left and save it for my "retirement". I'm 31 years old! Who the hell knows what the world will be like in another 30 years. I need to see that I've worked for something tangible. Something real. NOW.That's why Kirk and I decided to bust our asses to own land. Seriously, real estate is the only way to go.

i'm such a geek

Today I read THIS. Oh and on Sunday I'm going to see THIS and I CAN'T WAIT. I even bought the official movie magazine and everything.