Je partirai demain. (I will leave tomorrow)

I am going back to camp this summer. Only for a few sessions, but I am going back. The work is hard, but rewarding. You feel like you mean something to someone. Not going returning for the entire summer, only part of it, so I should be back to still do something this summer, still be creative and all of those things. I've done so much this summer, I cannot believe it.  

I am putting various things on hold with my friends and my own art projects, because I think its better to have a job even if you don't make a whole lot of money. Anyways, I'm off to enjoy the last night in town, and hopefully I will be able to update sooner rather than later.

Goodbye for now,

Aly

Dream 1: A job with french

I am going to try to write down some of the dreams I have and post them on here. Some are interesting, scary, and odd. I don't remember all of them, but why not write down the ones I do.

The phone rings and I am standing in the hallway just outside of the bathroom door. Robert hands me my cellphone, and the woman on the phone asks me if she can speak to me. I go into the bathroom to try and hear her, and she says to me, "Can I speak french? It's easier."

I agree, and she starts speaking trying to explain something, but I simply cannot hear her. The volume on the phone is down and there seems to be a bad connection. I keep muttering to her, "Un moment, un moment". I raise the volume on my phone, and in desperation, I put it on speakerphone. 

We speak a little bit of french, but I don't really remember much of what we said. I said, "Tu me comprends?"(you understand me?) and she said "Oui." Even as I was saying it I was thinking how I should have said "vous" instead of "tu" because it is a more polite form especially because I didn't really know the woman on the phone.

I get off of the phone, and some time passes and the woman is sitting in my kitchen with a lean, average sized African Canadian man who is bald and wearing a pale blue business-like dress shirt and dark pants. The woman is white and has brown hair pinned up at the back that is kind of wavy, and with thick glasses giving her a secretary look. She is wearing a suit jacket and skirt.

There are no formal introductions, and I stand there to the side for a moment watching them both look at papers that are spread across the kitchen table. I sit down closest to the man, and I ask him, "So what is this about?" And I notice he is holding this thing that is essentially small glass-like rocks attached to white grid like wire wrapped overtop of a hollow half-sphere plaster cast. He explains that he makes these designer rocks that people submerge into their ponds. 

I tell him that if he doesn't want to hire me for my french, he can hire me for my design abilities, and I tell him that I have some paintings he should take a look at. Humouring me, I take him to the wall that leads downstairs which usually holds my paintings on it. There are many more paintings on the wall of all different sizes and he picks one up that is mostly a blue background, a portrait of a man with blonde hair in sunglasses with random white lines incorporated somehow. 

He takes a sweeping glance of all the other paintings and says, "This is the best one," staring at it for a moment. I tell him apologetically that this one is not mine, and I look for a painting that could be mine, but don't see it. Then he asks, "Why aren't any of these yours?" and I say something about the art teacher needing a place to store the paintings for awhile. I don't remember exactly what I said.

I ask Robert from the landing where he thinks my paintings have gotten to. I want to show him my work, but at the same time I feel anxious because I know my painting are not as good as the one he liked. I picture my nude painting with its faults-the too peachy skin, the background that seems almost too childish and not blended properly in comparison. Robert explains that they are probably downstairs, and I can show them to the guy down there. 

Before we go downstairs we're somehow back where we were at the table and the woman and the man are talking, discussing. They might have even been talking in french, I don't know. The woman says that there is a woman in the office who is going to give me and them a hard time if they hire me, but I seemed to think she was meaning it in a kidding jokingly way as if it was this person's nature to pick on new people. 

The man was talking to the woman and telling her that she shouldn't have decided so quickly to come here because I had chances of getting the job, but as he phrased it, "If she's the best she'll get it, not just because she's close." To me it seemed awkward why they had taken such an interest in me if they had not seriously considered me for the position.

I take the man downstairs and I look at the wall where my paintings are usually. They have been moved, and there are only old posters and drawings that are tacked up onto the wallpaper. I try to explain to the man again that I don't know where my paintings are, but I have some I could show him. It's as if there is some event that is about to happen soon because things have been moved, and in the basement along that wall there are three picnic tables stretched out in a line and fairy lights. On the side of the picnic table facing outwards I see books placed on the wooden seats as if marking the places where people would sit.

An unfamiliar brown haired woman in an old fashioned, flared, yellow and white patterned dress gently brushed the man as she set something on the table. Her hair was semi-fancy and she smiled broadly squinting her eyes slightly as people often do when they smile like that. After she left the man and I stared at the wall with its patches of white. There might have been more to the dream, but I do not remember. Then I woke up. 

Last t-shirt for a little

For Natasha

T-shirts

I couldn't wait to post this. I haven't given John, or Sandra their t-shirts, but I know they check my blog, so SURPIRSE! You're getting t-shirts. The colours of the shirts aren't quite exact because I used my light. The camp ones are the same shade of light blue. They're not perfect, but they were very fun to make. 

Here's a rundown of the shorts I've made:

Camp t-shirt for a girl I worked with. Woodeden is an easter seals camp. She works as a lifeguard at the pool.

Front

Back

Blog tee shirt for my friend John. It seems so weird to make a blog tee shirt. My traced my hand and it looks small.

Front

Camp t-shirt for a friend I used to work with.
Front

Back

Snape T-shirt for Sandra. I know how much she loves Snape, and Harry Potter. On the backs are the unforgivable curses.

Front

Back

Also, I thought I would do some checking up on the list that I made to do this week. That leaves about 7 of the 13 things left to do. I've never felt so productive in awhile. 

2. Start writing again.

3. Stay on top of taking photos.

5. Start a journal.

8. Finish reading the bookclub book.

9. Start reading Harry Potter

11. Silkscreen/make shirts

12. Find out where the path leads

Interview 2: 21 Questions With Sandra

Interview Type: Person to Person, 21 Questions

Wednesday July 8, 2009 

9:30 approx.

Interviewer: Alyson

Interviewed: Sandra E.

1. What is your favourite movie? 

That's hard. I'd say Amelie because it makes my heart smile when I watch it.

2. What's the most out of character thing you've ever done?

You know it. It was Nick and Norah.

3. Who is your ideal boyfriend?

I'm not answering that question. We talked about that stuff when we were in grade 5.

4. In one word, how do you feel about your life right now?

The first thing that came to my mind was happy. The second thing that came to my mind was normal although they're not really descriptive.

5. If you could be a character in any fictional work, who would you be and why?

See my favourite character is Snape, but who would want to be Snape? I don't know. I'd say Snape.

6. What is your favourite piece of clothing and what memory does it have tied to it?

My cardigan with yellow stripes because I started highschool with it, and every special event I go to, I wear it. I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lily Allen. It is the cardigan. I went to Paris with it. I've done everything in it.

7. What's the best gift you've ever received?

When Mrs. McPhee made me take grade 11 art.

8. What is something you never did, but wish you did? 

I never went to The Underground, and it's not open anymore. They closed it down, and I never went. 

9. What was the last show you saw?

Lily Allen.

10. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?

Some sort of vegetable or fruit, but which one? I'd say figs. They're good. They're purple and green, and that must mean they're healthy.

11. What person in your life do you least understand and why?

Either my brother or you because my brother continuously behaves idiotically, And you because I don't know you. Not at a surface level, or like I don't know you, but at the core. 

12. What is your favourite fabric pattern?

I don't know. I wear patterns, but I'm not much of a pattern girl. I like floral patterns, wearing floral-patterned dresses but I don't like seeing patterns. I like plaid on guys, but I wouldn't like my house to be full of patterns.

13. What is your favourite french word?

Oui.

14. What is your favourite way to waste time online?

Reading blogs.

15. What's the longest you've ever been awake and why?

30 hours, school. No explanation needed. 

16. If you could take something from someone and give it to someone else, who would you take it from, what would you take and who would you give it to?

I would take a journal from you, and give it to me.

17. What is a song that you like that you would be embarrassed to like?

I don't know. I've stopped being embarrassed by liking music.

18. If you had to eliminate a sense of the 5 senses what would it be?

Taste because it seems like the one I could live most without.

19. What's the biggest lie you've ever told?

For me, every lie has the same magnitude.

20. What colour do you paint your nails the most often?

Pale pink.

21. If you could be addicted to something what would it be?

I'm already addicted to chocolate. It's hard enough to deal with that.

Just do it already

Being artistic, I always have a million and a half things on the go at one time, and often times things get pushed to the side and forgotten. Therefore, I have to finally get some things done that I have said I need to get done and such. this will more or less be a checklist of things that I need to start, or get done this week, and maybe it this actually works out as a planning method, I'll use it more in the future. I just feel like by writing something down the likelihood that I'll finish it is much higher. I'll try to keep it to all art related things.

1. Paint Jeremy's Painting (of an owl)

2. Start writing again. Start the story that I said I was going to start a long time ago. (Actually start it)

3. Stay on top of taking photos.

4. Play the guitar more and work on writing songs. 

5. Find a journal or mental substitute to spew the things which cannot be contained in my head. 

6. Clean my room because it makes me feel more organized and motivated to do things.

7. Do "Point and Shoot". I didn't do it this week, and I need to do it very soon.

8. Finish reading the bookclub book

9. Start reading Harry Potter. I haven't read the last book, but I have read all the others. I think its because I am in denial, and I really don't want the series to end, but I know I have to read it.

10. Work on creating guerilla art, which is something I've wanted to do for a really long time.

11. Silkscreen/make t-shirts 

12. Find out where the path leads near the Red Hill Valley Expressway because its something that I think about often and I never actually walked to the end the last time I walked it.

13. Walk to downtown Hamilton from where I live. I've always felt that the walk would be an experience, a random adventure that would be amazing to describe after the fact.

I know this is a lot to do in one week, or to start to do, but I think that if I can at the very least get half or a third of it done, I'll be for the most part happy. I will try to keep updated with the progress throughout the week, or at the end of the week. 

John Photoshoot 1

Not the first photoshoot I've ever done with John, but the first one I've posted on this blog. I loved these photos especially the one with the mirrors. I actually didn't feel too creative when I was taking them, but I think a bunch of them turned out well.

Book Bound Girls Photoshoot 1

Interview 1: 21 Questions With john

So I had been wanting to do some interviews on this blog, because I really enjoy the idea of getting to know another person. This is just the first one that I did, so it's not quite perfect, and I'd love to interview anyone who would be interested in it. I feel like by sitting down and talking to people you can really ask them questions that otherwise you wouldn't know the answer to even if you have been friends for awhile. 

Interview type: Person to Person, 21 Questions

Tuesday July 7, 2009

11:30pm

Interviewer: Alyson

Interviewed: John G. 

1. Do you prefer pens or pencils and why?

Blue pens only because I like the idea of permanence. 

2. Do you want kids when you grow up, and how many?

Yes. Under three. I think children are important. I don't know. I like kids, and I want kids because I think I could raise interesting people.

3. What is your craziest dream for the future, personal or otherwise?

Moving to another country and losing contact with everything I ever knew before. By country, I mean Paris.

4. What is your pet peeve, something that other people do that annoys you?

Making noises while eating, food sounds. Drives me up the wall.

5. Who is someone in real life, or a fictional character you feel you are most like?

J. Alfred Prufrock

6. What is the biggest mistake you've ever made in your life?

Convincing myself not to like onions because I would enjoy a lot more food.

7. If people were to gossip and say negative things about you, what would they say?

That I am bossy, gay, boring and vain.

8. What is your favourite book?

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf because it is a lot of things at once. 

9. If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?

I would probably be an opossum because I'm often out at night, and easily forgettable. 

10. If you had the ability to change your life right now, what would you change?

My appearance, my location, my intelligence, my confidence, my relationships, my life. All of it. Not to say I'm not happy, but given the opportunity, why not?

11. If the world was ending in 20 minutes, what would your very last playlist include, songs or artists?

Joni Mitchell, Belle and Sebastian, Grizzly Bear, REM, and you.

12. If you could, would you choose to be instantly famous?

No, I don't want fame.

13. What is your greatest fear?

Being alone.

14. What are 5 words that you would use to describe your childhood?

Typical, wholesome, gluttonous, spoiled. I want to say creative, but my childhood wasn't so much creative as I built things.

15. What is the nicest thing someone could do for you?

Tell me the truth.

16. Do you believe in God?

I believe in magic.

17. If you could be anyone else for 24 hours who would you be and why?

I would be a 16 year old no name boy from Illinois. Why not? Someone different from me. I don't think fame is important.

18. What was the happiest day of your life and why?

I don't remember.

19. What do you think is your greatest talent?

Listening/Pretending.

20. What was the last thing you made for someone and why?

I made Alex Bull a tape in early May because it was her birthday.

21. What is something most people like about you and your personality?

I don't really know. I ask myself often. I think that's something people often ask of themselves. "Why do people like me?"

The extraordinary adventures of book bound girls

So today Sandra, Natasha and I got together for some bookswaps and a photoshoot. We decided that today would be a good day to start our club. I won't go into all the details because I believe that some things must remain secret, but we plan to meet regularly and discuss. 

Myself having an unhealthy obsession with photoshoots and a love of facepainting, decided that we should do something I had always wanted to do, and do a real photoshoot together. Real meaning facepaint and wearing random eclectic pieces of fabric and sheets and scarves that were grateful to be removed from their stuffy homes in cardboard boxes and closet shelves. I am really happy with the way that the photos turned out, and I would love to do more photoshoots. Just putting it out there for you, my 3+2 should you ever feel the desire to model and or act crazy for an afternoon.

Anyways, I haven't yet gone through all of the things we photographed today, but I'll post a few photos of the process of the shoot, and hopefully tomorrow I can put up my favourites, and maybe get some suggestions from the other girls of the ones they liked as well. 

Scarf to keep the hairs away

Getting paler. 

Sandra the master of painted liplines, hair and sheet dresses and much more.

Taking a break. Eating pizza with a knife and fork to save the facepaint. A truly dedicated model.

Pulling it all together:

More photos to coming soon. 

Savoir Sunday

Hung out with Natasha and Sandra. We celebrated Natasha's birthday and watched Let the Right One in. It made me realize that Swedish is a very beautiful language that shares some french words (the movie was Swedish with english subtitles). I also realized that it had been a really long time since we had been together just passing time, and it was nice to do some exploring and walking outdoors. 

We've decided to do a bookclub this summer, hopefully every Monday. Swap books that we have read that we own for books that we have not read and own. Maybe do some creative photoshoots and things to that nature as well. 

Point and Shoot

The concept: I am going to take all of my photos on my memory card in one day, 504 (I think). I remember when I had film cameras as a kid I always got so annoyed with not being able to capture everything I wanted and taking only 24 or 27 photos when I wanted to take hundreds.

Then the digital camera came, and I find myself taking maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the photos I could take, and still having so much space to take more. So I'm going to photograph until I can't photograph anymore.

The rules: 

1. Take all of the photos in a 24 hour period. I think I am going to start at 9:00am and end at 9:00am the next morning. 

2. No doubles/extremely close photos. I am going to try to be original, and try to keep it fresh. (But since it is more about the quantity than the quality, I may not stay 100% true to this.)

Sharing: I am going to pick the 10 best photos and post them larger on here, but try to include smaller sizes of all the photos I took. Maybe a large collage like thing, I don't know.

Start: Sometime next week hopefully. I need to set aside a day where I can do some bussing around and get up a little earlier. I won't say when, but will post after the fact.