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?

Happy Hallowe'en!

Since Hallowe'en is on a Sunday this year, my friends and I went out Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, I went all out: I made a gypsy costume and did my face up in the style of gypsy-sugar skull tattoos. I was super pleased with how it turned out :) I got a bunch of compliments through the night.

My full costume, at the end of the night.

I was super grateful to my friend Mike who kept me company while I put all that make up on, then took pictures of the costume for me so I could remember it :)

Gwaaarrrrrr

The Halifax Pop Explosion is going on right now, and last night I went to see one of the less "pop"-y acts. Gwar and the Casualties played at our local, seedy, club [The Palace]. It was a weird venue, but the concert was crazzzy good. I really like The Casualties, and I had heard about the ridiculous shows Gwar puts on, so going was a bit of a must. The girl I went with had seen them before and said, "I don't think everyone should go see a Gwar show: I think everyone needs to see a Gwar show."

The Casualties were everything I could have hoped for. So punk.
Gwar was so messy and theatrical. Lovelovelove.
Here are some of the better shots I got at the show;

Gwar!

Me at the end. So much fake blood.

When I took out my contacts at the end of the night they were pink.

They had a Lady Gaga costume, and I wish I had a good picture. They ripped her tits off. It was awesome.

Escape

I've been feeling so demotivated lately, and today was especially bad. Waking up with no power and no food in the house isn't a great start, and my pasta just boiled over hardcore and almost made the smoke alarm go off. So now I'm sitting in the living room getting chillier and chillier because the door is open to air out the house.
I can't wait to get out of the city this weekend and go up to visit St FX. I'll bring my camera, maybe I'll get some pictures worthy of the interwebs; their campus is really pretty.

Jewelry by Stella & Dot

My step-mum had a jewelry party the other week and I picked up some gorgeous necklaces and a super sweet brooch. The company is called Stella & Dot and their website is definitely worth browsing through!

And awesome packaging!!

The middle two are bees, and the lady selling them said nobody ever buys the bees... why not?? They're so pretty!

[[apologies: lack of updates - school kicked in, lousy pictures - good camera's dead]]