Hella Stella

Dang! I missed de-lurking day! I seem to miss it every year.... It's like the Polkaroo.

Let's pretend it's actually today, shall we? Lurkers! Regulars! Pop out and say hello. :)

Some more musical things have happened. My old producer came to visit. We plied him with coffee, cinnamon buns and bulldogs. It was the perfect way to start discussing recording.

Dudes, I think I might find myself in the studio in under a month. I'll do some prep recording at home, we'll hash out our ideas in advance, and I'll be studio bound. I can't believe it's really happening. I don't have enough money to do a whole recording yet, but I'll just do what I can and figure it out as I go. Total opposite of how I did things last time. Remember, you can still donate here if you want to help support the new album!

I also did a photo shoot yesterday to get some new pictures for the album / web site. It was insanely cold and we shot everything in a dog park, so basically an open field. I couldn't feel my toes when we were done, but I'm feeling really optimistic about the pictures. I'll get to see them in about a week.

Oh, also? I got new hair. Or rather, I told my stylist to "have fun and shave something." Luckily she chose my head.

I have a minute or two to write, so I'm gonna.

Bangs:

I like them, and I don't.

I like the way they look... I've been sporting the non-bang cut for ages, and it's fun to try something different. That being said, I am a total whiner about having to actually STYLE anything on my head, other than a quick brush and a splash of anti-frizz goo. Megan is an angel and she's lent me her flat iron, but y'know.... That means I have to actually do stuff to my hair. Jury's out.

Funeral:

That funeral I went to was a bit of a freak show.

I went to support a friend of mine - it was her mother's funeral. We haven't seen each other in a decade actually, but we were good friends in high school. I knew she was estranged from her mother on and off over the years. I expected some drama. What I wasn't expecting was the level of drama. Grown ups acting like children, name calling, her family basically pretending she didn't exist, sibling bullshit. I'm glad I went, because other than myself and another girl from high school, she had nobody there for her.

It made me glad that my family is not drastically dysfunctional. We're just weird.

It also made me realize how comfortable I am around old friends. People who have known me for a long time already know my quirks and my sense of humour. It's surprisingly relaxing to know that I'm not going to accidentally offend someone who's expecting me to be different than I am. I suppose I didn't really realize that I get stressed out about such things.

Work:

Typing for 10+ hours a day is already ruining my body - shoulder muscles in particular. It's only the beginning of Crazy Month. I'd better get used to it, and fast.

Music:

Last week, I wrote a long-ish letter to a songwriter who I really admire. We've shared a gig in the past, so I'm not a total stranger to her, but we haven't been in touch in years. I just wanted her to know how much I love her work. She wrote back, and she said some really lovely stuff - particularly things about how songwriters keep writing and recording when everything seems to be falling through. I think her letter has made me more patient.

It also made me realize that part of my songwriting battle stems from a lack of inspiration. I've got nothing going on that I want to write about. My love life is wicked awesome. I have a steady job. My friends are wonderful. But writing about cheerful things bores my socks off. This gives me even more reason to spend a week or so in Montreal this summer - that city gives me the creative creeps.

The End!

Things are puttering along here. My BH and I are slowly figuring out how to manage his weird overnight shifts with my overtime.

We're both a little out of it though; I already have a sore throat, and he accidentally put bulghur in his tea instead of sugar. I think he only noticed as the tea got thicker and thicker....

Now that I think about it, that's actually pretty funny.

The benefit of having a partner who works nights is when you have a nightmare at 4am, you can text them and they'll be awake and quick to respond. Last night I kept dreaming that an evil corporation was trying to poison me. My BH calmly wrote that nobody is trying to poison me. Sometimes when you're fresh out of a nightmare, you just need someone to point out the obvious.

Today I'm going to a funeral for my friend's mom. I've never been to a funeral that wasn't related to a member of my family - I wonder how it will go. Funerals are strange beasts.

In more cheerful news, my stylist gave me bangs and I don't hate them. I may, however, need to purchase a flat iron. The shorter my hair gets, the more it emulates Shirley Temple. I do not have the patience to "style" anything on my head, but maybe I can commit to a quick iron in the morning.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Tomorrow, I work! Boooo.

Today was one of those funny days. I didn't do much, but it feels like I did a lot. Does that make sense? Probably not.

My BH and I went to Raw Sugar for a mini date. He snapped this picture of the back of my head, which is handy, because now you can see the pink. I think it might actually fade to a light pink before my next appointment, which is cool with me - then it will match some of my wardrobe.



You know. Because I'm terribly concerned with wardrobe matching.

I snapped this picture, which does not include any pink hair. Those are my favourite pears on a table, next to a plate that once held some tasty banana cake.

Work is really wearing me down these days. It's insanely busy, and will continue to be busy for most of the winter. So I was extremely grateful when Milan said I could use his apartment to write songs in while he's numbing his ass on a bus to BC. Thanks Milan! I hope you regain the feeling in your ass soon.

I'm out, lovelies. Enjoy the last week before Christmas!

Finally, Friday is here.

I've got to admit... The last three weeks have not been my favourite of the summer. But as of Monday, my boss will be back, I'll be gigging, and there will be some fun events to attend. I'm pretty relieved about it all. Maybe I'll even be able to catch up on some sleep.

Last night, Jo and Megan did a reading at Raw Sugar. I was afraid I would miss it because I was getting my hair cut right after work. Luckily for me, I arrived just in time - crazy hair and all.* Have you guys seen these two read before? It's really something else.

Jo's reading was funny and familiar, and I keep running over the details of her story in my mind. I love that I can picture everything she says right down to the t-shirt descriptions.

Megan's reading was also familiar (cough cough... okay, not quite... I have yet to have sex in an airplane washroom) and crazy hot. You can buy her new zine at Venus Envy, and all proceeds go to the Venus Envy Bursary Fund. I could talk at length about this fund, but I think I'll save that post for a little later next week.

This weekend I'm attending a baby shower. It's only my third baby shower ever, I think... But I suspect I'll be attending more and more over the next couple of years. Admittedly, I've never really had a wicked time at a shower. It's one of those strange parties that can get awkward really fast. Dudes who don't know what to do. Single ladies who don't know what to do. Moms who are SO EXCITED about everything. Diaper trees.

Hopefully tomorrow's shower will be fun. I think I'll go see Julie and Julia afterwards, so no matter how the party goes, I'll have a great evening.


*Note to self: do not ask stylist to "just do something funky" when she is finishing up with your hair. You may walk out looking like the spawn of a sea creature who mated with Elvis. At least I got a great conversation about Bumpits out of the whole thing... And a fabulous new skunk stripe, obvs.

1. My mouth is better! Apparently it was a pretty normal mouth sore that got crazy infected, hence the pain and problems swallowing. My doctor said it would be gone within a few days and sure enough, it's gone. YAY! I was expecting something much worse than that.*

2. All this coalition talk is boggling my mind. I think I like it. Even if this whole plan faceplants, it's fun to see history happen. Nobody knows what the shit is going to happen, and that's oddly entertaining to me.

3. I cut off all my hair and dyed half my head brown, half my head platinum. Took me three minutes to do it up this morning. Most excellent.

4. Christmas is coming really, really fast. I was putting off present-buying until the next paycheque, but I think that would put me in dangerous territory. I'll have to get on that. Like, today.

5. My laptop is back from the dead. The virus had destroyed part of the registry, so it was wiped and Windows was re-installed. Startup time yesterday was 20 seconds, versus 30 minutes last week. God, I missed my laptop.

My weekend was supposed to be productive and exciting and instead I fell asleep on the couch. FOR HOURS AND HOURS. Nothing got done. This includes packing a proper lunch today, so I am going to be eating two giant carrots and four boiled beets.

Sigh.

*BY THE WAY. When rinsing with salt, I figured I would go big or go home. As in, I put in so much salt that the water nearly turned to paste. Upon hearing this, my doctor said, "Ummm, you only need a half a teaspoon per cup, not a quarter cup per cup. All that salt may have actually irritated it further." Whoops. Live and learn.