I Used to Sing, and it Turns Out I Still Can

Guys, I thought I couldn't sing anymore. It was really sad. I used to sing every week at church, and all the time at home. When I moved to Toronto, I wasn't really as comfortable singing around Andrew as I was with my mum (she'd always join in, not know the words, and mess it up... I miss my mom), and I stopped going to church (except for when I visit my parents). That's another story, for another day. I'm working up to a post about that.

So anywho, I've sang like 4 times since I moved out a year and a half ago.

I was never really one to record myself singing and share it. I'd record them, get embarrassed, and delete them. It was a personal thing, that I did, because I was curious about how I sounded.

I never really liked my voice, which is part of why I stopped. But since I stopped singing, my poor ole' heart has (WARNING: SAPPY), been yearning for a song, or two.

So here's a song, my first song on my Youtube Channel. You should check out my channel, it's got not a lot on it, but all of my videos are so worth watching! (Sock puppets, am I right?)

It's pretty crappy quality- I took the video on my broken iphone. And I haven't played guitar or sang for a long while. So I picked a simple song, and I like the snow in the background.

It's a cover of King Creosote & Jon Hopkin's song John Taylor's Month Away

Whenever I listen to the album it's off of (Diamond Mine), I cry and think about my family.

:::

It's snowing here in TO. We went for a walk to the beach. 

I think it will be pretty when the snow actually sticks around.

Prints Available

Heyo!
I just made some prints- they'll be available at the artisan fair. $5 each! They're around 4x6, a little bigger including the borders. Sorta folky (as in- I know they don't look like the people they're of). Watercolour & ink.

Message me via Facebook / Email
hpowling@gmail.com

if you want one before the artisan fair! Or if you won't be able to make it. I've only got 5 prints of each image.

If you want the original- let me know. The originals are also 4x6 with the exception of one which is 9x12. For the originals, I'm thinking like $15-20 for the small ones, $30 for the big one. But it's negotiable.

xoxo

TRACKS

Also.
Here's a few things I've been listening to recently.

FEMINIST RANT . (sorry, not sorry)

I'm going to do a little post here about something that is kind of unpopular. Nobody really wants to hear about Feminism anymore. But we discussed it in my class today, and my world was spun around.

There is a trend right now that goes, I don't need feminism because... (insert something true). It's usually about man- hating.

This is important- man hate is not okay, and there has been a lot of anger and hatred in the past. When I first saw this movement, I thought- yeah, I get what they're saying. But by saying we don't need feminism we are rejecting the women that gave us the choice to say that. We deny the history. We forget about artists like : Ana Mendieta, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Hannah Wilke, Carolee Schneemann, Yoko Ono, Judy Chicago, the Guerilla Girls, Howardena Pindell, Rachel Rosenthal, etc etc.

These women, and countless others fought pretty freaking hard for things to be where they are today. I don't want to forget them, or reject what they did for us. I am so thankful that I have the choice to live with Andrew without getting married, or settling down, and pursuing a career, and not be condemned (by everyone) for my choices. But the fight's not over. I need feminism because:

WOMEN STILL GET RAPED.
I still can't feel safe walking home after work. I still carry mace in my purse. I still can't have my headphones in if I'm walking alone at night. I still feel more comfortable in groups. There is so much of my day, and lifestyle that is affected by my sex. When I first brought this up to Andrew, he didn't even realize that this is the way we live our lives. Afraid of getting raped. Men need to get on board with feminism, and start taking responsibility for their actions. Stop raping people. Tell your friends to quit cat-calling, or being disgusting. This is still real. This isn't over until things are even stevens.

And I just wanted to let you all know that I'm gonna call myself a feminist, and I'm gonna do what I can to make things better for everyone- men included. Drop the stigma of man-hating feminists and get on board too.

Blah.

YESTERDAY

Yesterday, Aj and I had his parents, and my parents over. At the same time. (Are we crazy? Maybe.)
I feel kind of bad forcing them to hang out together, but I'm pretty sure everyone had a fab time! We went to the AGO to see Alex Colville:

http://www.alexcolville.ca/gallery/

You probably would recognize this painting:

Even though we had seen it already, it was neat to go back. I noticed different things, and was drawn to different paintings this time. It was very interesting. And it was really cool to show my parents the gallery, and the school, and the area of Toronto that I spend a crapload of time.

Then, we all came back to our place. On the menu:

Chips & Guac & Hummus

Crackers & Cheese & Meat

Bacon wrapped waterchestnuts

Veggies & Dips

Peanuts!!

Cheesecake

We had a really nice visit. Aj's parents left around 9-9:30, and Aj went to a friend's down the road for movie night, and my parents stayed for some tea and a game of Carcassonne, and a visit. I miss em. It was a treat to visit them out of the context of home (lots of distractions! Siblings, life, and whatnot). 

I do miss those siblings though, but we'll be up in Alliston again for the artisan fair at the Well Nov. 22. Be there! I'm working on some good stuff for it.

Also- on Thursday we saw Mac Demarco again. It was a really good show. Crazy even.

Upcoming: I got the pictures from our reading week Algonquin trip!!

xoxo 

HP

Shakey

Really bummed that this show is sold out: but I'm just going to gorge myself on his live sessions until it's over.

Tommy Thompson Park

HEYO.
Yesterday we went for another really long walk, but it was way cooler. We went to Tommy Thompson Park, which is at the bottom of Leslie Street, where the street juts out (the Leslie Spit), and forms a little peninsula. It's only open weekends and holidays, and is a 'wildlife sanctuary'.

When I first read that it was a bird sanctuary, I was like... yeah right. It's Toronto, what birds would choose to live here, and why are they special, and I doubt we'll see any birds, blah, blah, blah. But we did! We saw a heron, and we found this crazy other-worldly Cormorant zone. It was so strange, the trees were white (from their crap, we decided), and there were little bones, and nests everywhere, and even some dead cormorants hanging from the trees. It was spooky.

Apparently they're gone after September 1st, which is good cause it would have been way spookier if there were live birds there.

We also found a little ship wreck, and had a fire on the beach (shhhhhhhh), and had a good, long walk, and some Thai food afterwards. We tried to paint for a bit, but the boys got antsy so I'll have to paint from the pictures.

Also, we watched Inside Llewyn Davis last night, and I've been listening to Dave Van Ronk & Bob Dylan all morning.

:: Pictures

We threw a message in a bottle into the lake!

We had a caber toss competition- it was pretty funny.

mad clouds!

Halloween!

I noticed y'all have been waiting to see the costume. I had super views last night even though I didn't post anything. But anywho- here it is.

I currently feel like an idiot because of the makeup, but we had to be dead and TBH I didn't wanna do gore. It was an attempt to be classy, but in the photos it looks kind of dumb. At the pub though, in the dark, with only red lights, it probably looked pretty sick.

So. I followed Katie's DIY for it and  it worked out just fine. http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/10/bjork-swan-dress-costume-tutorial.html

I unfortunately don't have any other photos of the dress, but the back was bare, plus tutu so it's pretty easy to imagine.

I tried to wear white contacts but couldn't get them in to save my life. Either I'm a wimp, or they were really poor quality. Maybe both. 

My heels didn't last long, and I changed into my converse about an hour into my shift.

I also couldn't fit my glasses over the fake eyelashes, so I went blind til my shift ended. My manager thought I was pre-drinking, but it really was the heels + vision combo.

We had a staff costume contest, which I won (but almost lost to Amy Winehouse!), and was given $100 to spend at the restaurant (yippee...), which me and a few friends promptly drank.

Woulda been nice if it were cash... but we had a great time last night anyway and it was nice to go out and not have to worry about the bill!

After that we (Devon, Josh, Sally, Kirby, Vinnie, Danny, Aj and myself - absent was Cody Clark), all came back to our place and laughed, and talked until 5 in the morning.

As per hang over tradition, we'll probably be in a diner in about an hour. 

Hope your halloween was rad

xoxo

HP