Comparing Campuses

When I went to Maine the other weekend, I got a nice tour of the U Maine campus. It's so pretty! I was a little jealous. Dal has a nice campus... sort of. The old buildings are ivy-covered beauties and I love them. But the new buildings (hello, Arts Center) are atrocious. U Maine also has beautiful old buildings, but they build the new ones to match! Imagine that! Their library is a prime example... hear that Killam?
Here are some snapshots:

Not sure what building this one is, just a pretty view.

This is their library, it's at the end of a big mall: think Henry Hicks, Dal kids

This last picture is from their make-up room. I nearly fell over when I went in!! They have a make-up room!! There's probably 8 sinks and mirrors against one wall and then 4 double-sided rows of those light-surrounded mirrors. It's so big! And this isn't even their dressing room, those are SEPARATE. It's ridiculous. They even have a class on theatrical make up (I saw the people walk out of it on Friday; they were learning fake facial hair... lotta chicks with beards). 

Here's the kicker, though: they're canceling their Theatre program. 

New Bangs and New Purchases

I'm trying to grow my hair out as long as I can, but my bangs were starting to drive me crazy so I had to at least cut them. They still kind of shock me when I look in the mirror, but I'm getting used to them. They just seem so stark and kind of aggressive.

New bangs! And new plugs are peeking out from behind my hair. I got those jeweled ones (which are nice because they look like real earrings and I can now look socially acceptable with my 00 ears) and some zebra striped ones. They had wicked zombie plugs at Hot Topic but they were too flared for my stupid ear lobes to handle :( 

Other than Hot Topic, I got some stuff at Charlotte Russe (a corset and a cute lace tank top), and this dress at Express. I think I'll wear the dress to my staff Christmas party; I just got some wicked gold nail polish from China Glaze, and a black and gold outfit would be sweet for the party, I think.

Corset from Charlotte Russe

Thank god I can sew or I'd never be able to wear this top again. I wore it yesterday and the fact that it has no lining meant that I spent the day in agony. All the insides are serged and the metallic thread in the roses makes it super irritating on the skin. While I was wearing it, I thought "how can a business get away with selling something this poor quality, ie: unlined??" But then it hit me: because idiots like me will buy it. Silly consumer culture and its lowering of our standards... Blehhh.

Long Weekend in Maine

On Remembrance Day I hopped on the Acadian Lines bus and took the twelve hour trip down to Bangor to see my friend for the long weekend. It was a blast! We did some shopping (sadly missed all the Black Friday deals) and hung out, went to parties and stuff.
Here are some snapshots.

Before we went out the first night

The first night we went out to a nearby club. It was so weird not being able to go up to the bar and order a drink!! Oh well, next time I visit I'm sure I'll be 21. 

(They had dollar shots!!! I may have cried a little that I couldn't drink.)

I love this photo! The house had amazing vintage wallpaper (I should have taken pictures of the red birds and pears on the wallpaper downstairs) and that mask is favorite mask from a production I saw (and my friend was in) in first year. Look at that wonderful mustache!!!!! So cute.

I went to U Maine since they still had classes on Thursday and Friday; this was a cute engraving in the music building. I had to get a picture of it :)

I have some pictures of my new clothes and U Maine's beautiful campus, hopefully I'll post them soon!

Headed Out

I'm sitting on my bedroom floor trying to get my laptop to suck up every bit of power its battery possibly can because I'm headed out in twenty minutes to catch a bus to Maine. The route is scheduled to take twelve hours.

That's gonna be a looonnggg bus ride, but it'll all be worth it :)
I can't wait to get there!!
Pictures to follow, obvs.

Old Books In A Modern Building

To me, libraries are a haven. I love the public ones the most, but even Dal's Killam (with its atmosphere of stressed out students) can be peaceful and cozy when you dash off into the stacks.

I just found an article talking about a new public library Halifax is planning. It will be downtown, a block away from the old one, and be about three times the size. I love that Halifax is investing in a new library, but when I saw the design... Well, I can't decide if I support it.

This is our current library

This is what the new one will look like

I feel like an old fogey, bashing this new-fangled shit, but it worries me! I can't find anywhere what's going to happen to the old building, and I'll be heartbroken if it disappears, or even stops being a library. I love the old library, it's everything a library should be, to me. It's old stone, and its solid. You can descend into the bowels of it and pull ancient books off the paint-chipped shelves. Or, you can go up to the upper levels, spread all your work out on old, sturdy wooden tables, and be surrounded by reference works threatening to distract with all sorts of things you don't know (but could, if you just leave your work and open them!)

The new design looks neat, don't get me wrong. It's very modern, and it even has potential to be awe-inspiring to some small child. Maybe the child will be struck by the magnificence of it and will later reminisce about the atmosphere and how it was their haven growing up. But it looks so new. That's all I have against it really: the modernity. The old stone building can't go out of style. How will this new architecture age? It's all glass. It's the modern thing. But I look at other buildings built in the modern style of their time and I cringe. Have you seen the Dal Arts Centre? It's Horrible, with a capital H. Plus! All that glass and open-concept nonsense in a library! I want the books to surround me, to protect me from the outside and take me into their world. I don't want to grab an Asterix comic and go sit by a window to watch the bustle of downtown. I want to grab an Asterix Comic and go hole up in some corner, forgetting that I'm anywhere but in Roman-occupied Gaul.

These are very personal beefs. I realise I look at books and libraries a certain way. But something inside me still obstinately believes that a library is better off being a stately stone edifice than a shiny glass construct.
Also, the old library is a memorial to those that died in the two world wars. Announcing its replacement so close to Remembrance Day? Have a little class, Halifax.

(AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY FAVORITE STATUE? Wrong-facing Winston??)

Photoshoot inspiration

Halifax is so pretty in the fall! And doing my make-up on Hallowe'en made me want to do more like it (not to mention my friend texting me the other day and saying that we should have an "editorial night" where we do crazy editorial-style make-up). So who's down for dressing up in cute clothes, doing some fun make-up, and running around town in the leaves with a camera?