This is the reason Christmas wasn't a complete bust:
Also, cause Don came over for a bit and I got to give him his present. And there was wine and Ativan and chocolate. And I got a pink and black playboy bunny blanket from my younger brother (the father of the cute baby girl); slippers, and herbal tea. My mum got me modeling clay, scratch tickets, and Chapters gift certificates :o) Tim gave me some canvas and a really fancy shmancy pen that you use to write with or to do fine details with in your art.
So yeah, Christmas is over, thank the gods, and we're almost done new year's as well. Until then, not much going on around here, kinda bored actually. I'll probably sit in front of my puter with a bottle of wine for new year's eve - we shall see. I'll have my own little LOFNOTC party.
I spent most of boxing day sleeping and internet window shopping for sales - ended up finally upgrading my toy collection. I was going to go for books since I got the gift cards, but there were no good sales. I watched two movies I've never seen before: '8 Mile' and 'Just Friends' - interesting combo. '8 Mile' had a lot of good stuff in it, but also some crappy stuff. But now I can finally compare the movie with 'Clueless' - another big movie that Brittany Murphy played in. My verdict is that 'Clueless' was the better movie, had a bigger cultural impact, and that Brittany's performance in this film trumped her performance in '8 Mile.' On a side note, the sex scene in the factory was really hot.
The other movie, 'Just Friends' was kinda... cute I guess? I expected more from it for some reason but I'd say it was probably more corny than the average corny chick movie. But I definitely related to Ryan Renold's character as the geek who is ever in the 'friend zone' - always the friend never the girlfriend. I've also been known to play the part of the friend with benefits... just never the girlfriend.
I's sick. Yes, sick. As tough as my immune system is, stress is a killer.
I think I'm sposed to be sick though, as odd as it sounds, I needed a break from responsibility. It doesn't take much for me to get overwhelmed as it is, and lately my life has been becoming busier and busier.
So my body is now forcing me to rest and I'm resting to the best of my ability! Unfortunately I missed the Supercrawl because of this, which sucks much ass, but it was out of my hands and I'll just have to go to the regular art crawl next month.
Where was I? I can't write when the music is blaring and I have been having to play music as of late to drown out certain other noises (no no I'm not hearing voices in my head lol). I won't go into detail except to say it sucks and I'm too tired and sick right now to do anything else. Ugh.
Anyway! Some of the stuff I've been up to in the past month...
Last Friday was MiniSoOnCon at Think Haus! I wasn't going to go because I would have to go solo and I'm very shy and introverted and all that fun stuff. But I went anyway and was pleased to see that most of the other guests in attendance were just as shy and introverted as I am! I've never been to a hacker conference before so the sight of a room full of people sitting quietly, looking at their laps in complete silence was both hilarious and refreshing.
It did not remain that quiet all night though: once people started to get to know each other and of course get some alcohol into them, it was pretty good times! A lot of people showed up. People from Diyode (from Guelph), HackLab.TO (from Toronto), KwartzLab (from Kitchener), think|haus (from Hamilton,of course), FouLab (from Montreal), as well as other hackerspaces and someone even came out from Rochester! So yeah I met a lot of awesome people and we managed to get hackers from all over Canada to come out to our humble space.
We had a yummy bar-b-que, despite the bad weather, and a well stocked bar - I don't remember the bartender's name but she was awesome.
We had (what I now understand to be a hacker con tradition) really cool frikken badges. I mean, I saw these things being made at the space and didn't quite get it until the finished product was presented:
The picture doesn't really do it justice - but it's awesome and everyone in attendance wore one.
According to what I've been told, the tradition is to hack your badge and see who can do the coolest thing with theirs, which, I suppose, is why our lounge area was filled with drunk people soldering - mhmmm, unfortunately I don't have a photo of that madness.
See that little house there? That's the Think Haus logo. Don made that! He is awesoma powa.
Paul (TH) graced us with demonstrations of the long awaited http://www.emotiv.com/ - the thing reads your mind maaaan! No, srsly, you put it on your head and it detects your facial expressions, eyeball movement, emotions, thoughts, actions, and "can be used to control not only a virtual environment, but also a live environment through the help of micro-controllers and actuators."
I love this thing, the implications get me very excited!
The other cool thing going on was the arrival of the CUPCAKE Makerbot (3D printer). It wasn't assembled until the next day of the con, so since I didn't make it that day, I didn't see that, but here's a video cause I only vaguely understand why this is awesome:
That lovely gal is Leigh Honeywell from Hacklab T.O. and the fella behind the mic is Wayne MacPhail giving us awesome coverage.
Isn't our space da bomb? It's been being "fixed up" for four months and is now officially a workable hackerspace.
I wish I could have taken pictures myself but my camera is acting wonky.
Needless to say it was awesome (especially considering Think Haus is only four months old!) and I'm looking forward to it next year.
What I did find interesting was the very small percentage of females in attendance: Adina and I from TH, Leigh and Alex from T.O., the bartender gal, and maybe one or two others (I mean no offense it's just my memory sucks right now). Then a crap-load of mens. I love mens the best, but it begs the question, why? Where are the geeky gals? I know you're out there! Come over to the dark side, we have beer! (and cookies, and cupcakes!).
This little MiniSoOnCon attendee is on the right track!
zomg she's cute!
What else... Oh Tetro! haha
Hamilton just had a film festival called Festitalia International Film Festival. I know, it aint TIFF, deal. Riley and I went to see a film called Tetro, which turned out to be an okay movie. The best part of the night? Discovering that Jackson Square cinemas got brand new seats for the event! Yay! Clean theater seats! And they're slightly more comfy too, woot!
Anyway, that was fun, next year I wanna try to see more of the films. Hell, next year I might go to TIFF.
Before that, I went away to Parrysound to stay at someone's cottage for four days. I LOVE going there, it's so relaxing and peaceful surrounded by nature. Last year upon arrival, as soon as I stepped out of the van all my heartache and stress dissipated and I was at peace the whole time I was there. Of course it came back when I came home, but at least for that short time I was at peace.
I expected/hoped for the same this year, especially since my stress this year is quite a bit less than it was last year, but no such luck. I was at peace, but there was still things nagging at me in the back of my head. I'm pretty sure I know why now but all in all it was a good time. I swam in the lake and it was COLD! but very clean and refreshing. I paddled a rowboat all by myself *proud grin.* I made a smore (I love love bonfires) and did some meditating and crocheting. Yep.
I got a great tarot reading from Franco Minatel - he did a reading for me a few years ago but I didn't recognize him until he started reading my cards.
The day ended as the very bright sun was making its way below the horizon, with all joining a circle for a little closing ritual, which was quite nice.
The meal I just had was so fucking good I just had to share it.
First of all, organic cherry tomatoes from the farmer's market = heaven... I don't think I've tasted tomato with flavour like that since I was little, seriously.
I fried up leek, garlic, celery, mushroom, spinach, and an egg in some olive oil and ate it on a whole wheat pita. Very simple, yes, but it was so good! I don't know why. And the egg could have easily been replaced with tofu.
It's good that I'm getting excited about veggies again. I'm slowly starting to feel a bit more "alive" - my body is celebrating the return of real food.
I was ready to go for a nap after eating, but now I think I'll stay up and make tea and do something productive... at least I'll try - I'm kinda bored today.
Tim picked me up and we went and got the paint and supplies I need at Home Depot. I picked a colour called "Dare Devil" so that should be interesting.
Here's what the room basically looks like right now:
The plan is to take most of the furniture out and paint. Then I'm having wall shelves put up with the help of my friend Sean. Other then that, you'll have to wait and see because of course I'll be posing 'after' pictures as well.
Other then doing some reading and giving some feedback, I've got nothin' goin' on this weekend so I'll likely get at least the first coat done.
What else... the doc doubled my meds today...
I'm feeling optimistic yet pretty miserable. I only got about three hours sleep and that nap is still tempting...
I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday and spent about fifty bucks on veggies. Some fruit too. My poor body was/is craving nutrition desperately so now my fridge is full of colourful, living things and I'm quite excited, believe it or not, to be eating it all. I got:
and I also picked up some coriander and raw honey while I was there.
I don't know why I felt the need to post a list of what I got, maybe I'm just excited to not be eating crap. I'm just gonna binge on veggies if I have to because I'm at the end of my rope here. I'm not even concerning myself with counting calories or anything, just eat regularly, eat the good healthy stuff, and go from there.
Tonight Don came over and I made a really frikken delicious dinner consisting of red peppers, onions, garlic, fresh cilantro, black beans, stewed tomatoes, coconut oil, and spices (chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper) served on top of brown rice and topped with cheddar cheese (for Don) and a dollop of sour cream... soooo good.
Tomorrow I'm gonna start my day with a breakfast (gasp) of oatmeal and berries. Then Tim is gonna take me to get paint and supplies so I can finally paint my living room. At least I'll have something to do during this long weekend while everyone else enjoys turkey and chocolate and love :P
I don't know why I'm so tired right now, but my brain isn't completely on and I'm trying to fight it cause I wanna write more. must... write...
See I'm trying to get something out but the words are not forming... something to do with missing long chats with ning folks and always having someone to talk to and how it's kinda lonely now, kinda sad.
I'm practically nodding off so...
zzzzzzzzzzzz
-Love Marylin.
P.S. This blog is in dire need of a tag-reno as well as a bit of redesign!
I'm a little bit drunk right now: split a bottle of red wine with Tim tonight. He's gone and I'm here, kinda bored. So sore today. A hot tub would be grand right now.
The only thing being drunk is productive for is taking away your inhibitions, and writing... not necessarily good writing, but writing nonetheless.
*burp
Approximately two years ago while gallivanting around the Hamilton Art Gallery, I asked Tim if he'd be so kind as to paint me a yellow painting. No idea why I asked that it be yellow, but I did. Well, he finally decided it was done and he brought it over tonight to give me: it's pretty cool I must say, and I can't believe he actually did that for me: even my ex flaked on doing the painting he said he was gonna do for me (bastard).
So yay for Tim, who is becoming quite the successful artist but seems to be a tad shy in doing any promotion of himself whatsoever... I can't even point you to a link.
He has some magic fingers... he does.
I'm getting the feeling that this weekend is going to be very "blah" but I hope I'm wrong.
Anyway, here's a picture.
So now I have to paint my living room (like I was supposed to do a month ago) because this painting needs a nice wall to be hung on. If only I could decide on which shade of red...
Well things have been up, down, and all around with my life lately. It's really none of your fucking business but I will say there are a few things keeping me very happy these days.
Went to the Art Gallery Of Hamilton (AGH) not too long ago with a friend, that was a blast. I've gotta say my favourite part was Kim Adams: Bruegel-Bosch Bus.
That was pretty fascinating - it's been in the works for seven years and is a permanent exhibit in the gallery. I wish I had had a camera with me for that.
And a close second would have to be Kent Monkman (aka Miss Chief Eagle Testickle): The Triumph of Mischief.
There, we were allowed to enter Miss Testickle's elaborately decorated tepee and watch a very cool silent film noir by the artist.
His paintings are fascinating minglings of historical scenes and in your face sexual perversions. They're like staring into a wild dreamscape where nothing is as it would be expected.
In other news, you can check out my poetry as you're walking down King Street, downtown Hamilton ;) cause my piece, 'Steel', was just accepted for the sixth edition of 'Street' - a journal of fiction that reflects our shared urban experience.
