the gifts, the thank you notes

"I've always depended on the kindness of strangers"

First and foremost, look at the cute socks Bri got me yesterday! I love them so much and they love me back by keeping me very warm.

Look at what I found on my way to work today! Some kind stranger left gifts for everyone or anyone I guess in this case. AWww...a kindred spirit, it reminds me of the time me and my girls were handing out free roses in Time Square. Some people insist on paying us, others literally ran away from us, and some interrogated us about the true cause of why we're doing this. But it seems like this person gets it. I helped myself with the lawn seeds-Jiffy pellets-planters package (what a great gift, I've been meaning to adopt a pet plant) and a handsome chair. I feel greedy so I'm making (him/her/them) a thank you note.

Keep up, keep up

It's been a while since my last post. It was that time of year when school consumed your entire life, but now I'm done and free-didily-free. Hmm.. let see...so much has happened since my last post. The workshop with the Dutch Delegates, the reception, my hot off the oven ceramics pieces, my new socks, oh and Adrienne Clarkson! I think more happened than that but I honestly can't remember.

But yes I got to meet one of my idols Adrienne Clarkson, the former Governor General of Canada. I know I'm a dork by idolizing a former Governor Gerneral but you don't understand! She used to work for the CBC!!!!....and I look up to her for other obvious reasons. But I said none of that to her yesterday, instead I politely asked to get a picture with her after the presentation. I also called her by her first name, I hope that wasn't disrespectful in anyway. She's such an elegant lady and have such a presence to her, so much so that I choked in the begining of the presentation when I focused too much on her. i I'll make sure I do better when I present to the minster. A charming note about Adrienne: as she was leaving and Isabella was helping her and asking her if she wants her to call her a taxi. "Oh no" Adrienne responded, " I have family over tonight, I got to buy some vegatables from Chinatown."

Phew this semester is finally over, and it's been such a fruitful one. I've gained a lot of real life experiences, learned new skills and did things that I'm proud to have in my portfolio. I'm so glad to have given myself this year to grow. With that said, big changes are taking place at home, no one should lose sight of what is it that they really want in life. For me, being too comfortable only leads to complicency.

Lucky Day

Today was awesome. I got to sleep in and have a leisurely brunch with Bri. Upon payment, the theme song from the price is right began blasting through the register, apparently I won a free rosti for my next visit. Later on I went to pick up my dress for thursday and recieved a sweet little discount because the nice cashier noticed a minor damage ( broken thread) underneath the garment. Back at school, I picked up a cute pair of white doves earrings at the MAAD holiday sale. I paid a pretty penny for those- $12. What? I like birds...fine there is no justification for paying that much for plastic toys (though the girl at the booth was trying to convince me that they're made of ivory.) I found these at the mix and match bowl for $6 each, even though the same exact pair displayed with a cardbouard backing were going for $48....oh MAAD kids. With that said, I love the MAAD department, in fact I think I'm taking enough MAAD courses this year to qualify as a temporary MAAD major (if such thing exists)

I casted my first cup yesterday and I am in love. It's adorable, I really didn't expect the amount of satisfaction from such a small accomplishment. I'm going to cast my bowl tommorrow and finish my mould for the saucer.

Aren't these the sweetest posters? I've been "collecting" them around school. I'm trying to collect all the variations so I can frame them and put them in my room.

A little something from Mr. Phil Rae

I really like this thing my friend Phil has put together for one of his projects. I apologize for the lame "property of Phil Rae" thing, just trying to look out for my friend is all.

Oh dear...

Somehow, it'd appeared that I 've blacked out sometime in late 90s early 2000 when everyone, even housewives picked up CSS. It seems like everyone knows CSS except me -just look at the how pathetic my creative commons license look at the end of my page, kerned way too far left and just look at my margins. (shudder) I think it must've been a Village of the Damned thing and I was put to sleep while all the people in the world were being impregnated by CSS aliens. "Leave her" they said, rolling their eyes "she still uses Microsoft Word for layouts"....which was not completely untrue. But hey if you're able to pull off the kind of layouts I was able to pull on Microsoft Word, you too will not be embarassed. Well not too embarassed anyway.

What Not to Do

Fuckups.

Thinking..

Begin Anywhere

9. Begin anywhere. John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.

- Bruce Mau, An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth


Things are moving along lately and there are many more I would like to set in motion, so I thought I'd scribble a little something every now and then to record them.

After days of fuckups, I've finally finished my first mould today! It's drying right now and I'm dying to do its first slip cast. The process dried up my hands terribly, well that and the dry winter that Canada gets but it was worth it. I have pictures of it but since I've decided to start this blog on a wimp I don't have my camera with me. I've also got a bowl and a saucer to cast, oooOOOOoo I do hope I'll have enough time to do extras as X'mas presents. Let's see a set for my parents, a set for my boyfriend's parents, a set for each of my two best friends...damn that's a lot of castings. If my concept works out I'm going to use it for the Souvenir Show coming up.

Speaking of hands I can't stop biting my nails, it's come to be quite a nuissance and I can't seem to control it. Whenever I'm being confronted with a complication or pounding out ideas for a brief, the act of biting my nails calms me down and puts me in the thinking mode. A bit like sucking a thumb for a kid. Here lies my problem, I need to attend a reception for the Dutch Delegates next thursday, fake nails or no fake nail. Not long ass hoochies ones of course but nice short french manicured ones so at least my hands look presentable...until they fall out as I shake their hands.