I've always been a hair kind of girl. If you asked anyone who knew me way back when and now, they would probably tell you that my defining quality is my hair.

I love having long hair. I tried the short-medium thing a few times but I never liked it aside from the 10 minutes after. The mourning after was the worst.

Anyway, since my hair has reached an unbelievably long length, I have set out to try some different styles:

The Rapunzel

I don't have 70 ft of hair but it's nice to pretend isn't it? I learned this one already but it's much shorter...and my version kind of sucked because, well, it was short. Plus, it was my first time. The goal is to master this artfully and wear it to...something, somewhere.

The Beaver

It's not actually called the Beaver. I just called it that because Jennifer Lawrence wore this hairdo in the movie called The Beaver and I think it looks really pretty. I tried it with two loose French braids on the side but it didn't have the same loose effect. Back to the drawing board.

I hope I can continue to be the master of hair. I like playing around with it...makes me feel cool.

I used to tutor a boy in grade 7 who introduced me to The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I'd like to think (being a 24 year old adult female) that young adult series were a thing of the past...I was deadly wrong. Within the week, I had finished books 1-3 of this amazing series.



What drew me in was the main character of Katniss Everdeen. Before I go any further, the storyline is very Battle Royale-ish (I'm convinced BR had some influence on this, no matter what the author says) and totally addictive.

A 16 year old girl in a dystopian future volunteers for her younger sister to participate in this annual event called the Hunger Games where children from different districts are thrown into an arena to fight to death on national television.

The main character is this rough, tough 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen who basically fights tooth and nail for her family, love and freedom. Like, HOLY MOLY. Who doesn't want to be Katniss?? The kicker is that her ethnicity was kept pretty ambiguous too. "Straight black hair, olive skin, grey eyes..." I mean, that can be ME with grey contacts. I wear my hair in a braid pulled to the side ALL THE TIME. Actually, it can be anyone. Take it as you will, Katniss is a very personable character to every fangirl.

Now, not too long ago, Hollywood caught wind of this series and of course, opted to make a movie. Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) is set to direct and casting went underway. Fan made videos popped up EVERYWHERE, including this little number:



I think this set the ball rolling on fans going crazy about wanting to be Katniss Everdeen. The most popular pick was a Cinderella fantasy. Open casting to cast the perfect fan with black hair, grey eyes, no acting experience but an outstanding audition. But ALAS! The release date was set (March 23, 2012) and the auditions were sadly, closed.

I never really had an opinion about who I wanted for Katniss. I knew who I DIDN'T want...but deep down, I hoped they would cast a seasoned actress so I knew I didn't miss an opportunity.

In the end, the coveted role went to Ms. Jennifer Lawrence. Blonde, busty, blue eyed. I guess I didn't miss out on anything.

1) My boyfriend loved the vintage Star Wars poster I gave him for his birthday. It's nice to see him smile.

2) I power tanned this summer and sun bleached my hair. I now have brown hair my mum hates.

3) I tried deep fried mac and cheese at the CNE.

4) I finally learned to workout properly at the gym rather than walking for half an hour on the treadmill while Two and a Half men is on t.v.

5) I finally went to a John Williams concert (sort of) in the form of ultimate geektude: STAR WARS.

6) Two bikinis for $5. Enough said.

7) The supply list opened up for the TDSB and I'm praying (hard) that I'll be on it.

8) Then I can quit my job. My next list post will be, "I QUIT MY JOB!!!" from #1-10.

9) I finally got my tattoo!

10) I switched my mismatched bedsheets and pillows for pretty lavender ones.

On a low note, my new Louis Vuitton Speedy is a sad fake :( So I will officially pledge that if I get on this supply teaching list, I will head straight to Louis Vuitton headquarters downtown and buy myself a real one. Mark my words. This will happen.

Avatar




I'm not a film critic but I can only say that this an epic. I usually enjoy James Cameron's films...for the most part. However, I'm not falling all over myself to watch them. I went into this film excited though, because it IS James Cameron's big "comeback" into cinema.

The story was fantastic. Even if it's a little simple, it follows the "feel good" formula:

An unlikely hero+a love story+a shit ton of action= Success

Anyway, I was reading the IMDb boards for this film (yes I read them) and I found a lot of criticism about the CGI in the film. People complained that the effects were too "cartoon-like" and the aliens look unrealistic. I don't agree...but here is something a poster wrote in rebuttal to someone else that made it all make sense:

"I was really impressed with the CGI. The N'avi aliens were excellently portrayed. By the end of the movie, I wasn't even thinking about how they looked. They blended in after the first hour of the film. And honestly, they're aliens. How can you make something look true to life and realistic if it doesn't even exist? In any case, the performances by the actors in their CGI bodies were so convincing.

As for the scenery, this is James Cameron's VISION of a whole different planet with a completely new biological atmosphere, not the Amazon rainforest. It's FANTASY, and everything in this film was fantastical. I'll bet if all the scenery was shot realistically in South America somewhere, critics will complain that Pandora wasn't anything special enough for humans to WANT to extensively study and invade.

This was an epic film. Open your eyes a little wider to imagination."

It's hard to imagine what life would be like if things were different. I guess I have the case of the firsts.

Of course, I want everything I do with someone else to be special. There's something about being FIRST that makes everything seem warm and glittery. It's sharing an experience that you have never shared with anyone before. How does it feel to put effort and love into something, only to realize later that it has been done before? Not only has it already been done, it has been done BETTER. And that will always be the case wouldn't it? Things will always be better the first time around.

Suddenly, the movies I thought were special to us have lost their lustre, the notes, the gifts are not unique or creative and the times we spent just being together always poses a question: Am I good enough?

I can argue that every experience you share with someone is new. Even if it is repetitive, the fact that it is with someone else becomes an entirely new experience.

I've been feeling a bit down lately. I don't have little quirks or inside jokes from which I can generate a beautiful set of memories, like the one before me. The lovely moments I thought we shared had already been shared with someone else.

It's not a matter of competition. I just feel like a knock off version of someone better.

I had a mental breakdown today...and it didn't look good. Everything was going fine until I realized that my life is horribly out of place.

Post grad depression right? Who knew life after grad would be this difficult?

My life has no structure. I have a list of things to do for the day, which barely leaves any time for eating and exercising so I've been consistently packing on some weight. On top of this monstrosity, people throw things at me to do (and they swear it's for my own good). "Go take Mandarin lessons, look for jobs overseas, other boards in Ontario, you can live at the cottage! Visit some schools, get connected with principals. Come see me and we'll party it up! ..."

I can't take it so HERE (in no particular order):

1. I don't want to go overseas. Sure, I can be adventurous and spontaneous...but I will when I can enjoy it. I don't want to leave my life behind while I spend the suggested 1-5 years in a foreign place telling myself "It's ok. It'll only be for a little while."

2. On that note, I don't want to go to the middle of butt fuck nowhere living in my family's cottage with no heat, no Internet, no phone line, no cable and sharing living quarters with a family of mice who poop in my bed.

3. I HATE drinking. Yeah, try to comprehend that. I enjoy an occasional brew on a hot summer's night or winter's night in but cocktails, martinis...no thanks. I hate to break it to you, but I grew out of it two years ago. So bar nights and dancing...count me out please? I swear the only time I will set foot in a bar is for someone's birthday or my bachelorette party.

4. My perfect date night is staying in. I dig lounging around in sweatpants and tshirts, watching a movie and napping hardcore. Of course, I'll go out for tea and coffee and dinner too.

5. I don't have money ok? I make a fingernail's worth of a sad salary at my very sad job and I'm trying to SAVE it for my own apartment. Cost of living in Toronto is expensive and I have more important things on my mind than gallavanting around the world before I can afford it.

6. I don't care for old fashion logic. Meaning, I don't care that memaw from church clucks her tongue at me when I don't attend weekly worship. I love my family but it's not fair to judge me based on the dating code from 1965. Yes parents, couples DO take trips together and they're not ALWAYS expected home by 10 P.M.. If you're judging me, who's judging you?? Memaw from church? Because it always goes back to how many people will talk about you behind your back eh? It's 2009 and we're all adults.

7. I know my parents desperately want me to get in touch with my ethnic "roots". This doesn't mean I'm going to search up Mandarin classes to fit in my disorganized schedule. I'm also not going to do any research regarding the economy in China or read any books written by secret service agents on what the US does with their money.

8. Number 8 really has nothing to do with me but it bugs me so why not?

I despise Facebook spammers. I despise those friends on Facebook who spam your newsfeed with pointless quiz results commentated by "Oh nooooo!! I gotz angelababy lols. SO naive and innocent =_=' " and the like. Who could forget the webcam portraits: "I was so bored!! Hahaaha." You weren't bored. You were procrastinating by camera whoring.

9. I can't be a humanitarian or an environmentalist. I would like to...but I lack the passion and the drive to proactively go out there and do something. Instead, I try to do good things for people on a daily basis. It works.

I guess this post was more of a complaint than things I love. But it feels good to write everything down and take a breath. Now if you excuse me, I think it's time for bed.

September 8th rolls around this year and while freshmen celebrate a new chapter in their lives, I can't help but feel a little envious. I want to body paint, pie the leaders in the face, wear funny clothes, act a fool, wave my arms like I just don't care...!

I think what I miss the most is being part of something with a whole lot of people who are feeling the same way: Nervous, excited...

It's sad to understand that my time in the educational system has come to an end. Gone are the academic days of late night essays and gabbing on the phone about who-did-what-with-who. We've been conditioned to schedule our lives around school that when it is all said and done, the lingering question is Now What?

-Make some money? (Need a job)
-Get a job, start a career. (Do those four years of studying American Lit help at all?)
-Move out. (Broke)

A list like this makes me want to go back and be in 3rd grade again when all that I can see ahead of me is school school school. Way back when "growing up" was a pretty concept saved for your imagination.

Still, frosh week is a happy time. A time of uncertainty and the realization of dreams come true.



HAPPY FROSHING!