New Look

I've been keeping myself prisoner at home studying for my last midterm ever so I decided to change my blog layout today in an effort to fight the boredom and feelings of isolation. The color palette is a little too "soft and creamy" for my liking but I wanted the change to be completely different from my last one. Plus, I had to color co-ordinate according to my banner picture which I took and edited all by myself.

I wore this outfit last week so the fact that my outfit matches my blog colors perfectly is a total freak coincident. Perhaps it is the result of an unconscious priming effect? Regardless, I think this is extremely appropriate for welcoming the change though

This purse is way too small for its own good but damn it looks good.

I am in love with these old-lady sandals. They jumped right out at me when I was browsing through the "summer shoes" section at the thrift store.
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"trouser-friendly kiss"

I've been working on my profile piece for Behind Sapphire since ten o'clock and I just finished it. Writing takes a lot out of me but I'm happy to have completed my work. Once it's published in next week's issue I will be putting up a link for those who wants to read. Meanwhile, I'm just going to post a picture of my outfit and not write anything for awhile.

Entrainment

One of my favorite things to do is writing, especially if it's about something I love. Tomorrow, I will be conducting an interview with a local band called Behind Sapphire and will being writing a profile piece for my university news paper: The Peak. I've done interviews in the past with bands, a few of which are actually quite renowned in the Canadian indie scene (ie. Mother Mother, and Ohbijou), but none of them will be as quite intimate and exciting as the interview I will be conducting tomorrow. That is because I have had a somewhat of a personal history with the band as I went to high school with all of the members and was good friends with the front man for quite some time. I guess this can be both good and bad because I now have the upper hand of writing from a more personal level however, this may also skew my objectivity. As I realized this it occurred that when it comes to journalism, nothing is without bias and stringently neutral. And I think that is what makes writing enjoyable for me. Not to say that I think neutrality is obsolete or that I advocate one-sided writing. But "art journalism" is subjective because art itself is subjective thus the pursuit for objectivity in art is really a futile endeavor. So for all you self-critical writers out there who are too shy to share their creative works with the rest of the world, I encourage you to indulge yourself and us with whatever you feel like writing. After all, I believe our opinions are completely worthless if they can't be fired-up by our passionate words.
This is one of my favorite possessions right now. It really is just a glorified doyle, in shirt form. But the details on this thing is totally bad-ass. I mean, just look at the patterns and the pearl embroideries.

"My spoon is too big"

Just as I was starting to get used to the nice weather, it started raining cats and dogs this morning and continued through the day. This dampened my original plan to wear a dress and frolic but more importantly, it taught me to never take sunshine for granted again. From now on, I will try to be out doors as much as possible when it's gorgeously sunny out. Despite all this, something good did come out of my ruined outfit-plan though. The rain made me yearn for comfort and coziness thus I ended up draping myself in all sorts of over-sized things. And here is the turn out.

I've been wanting to wear my D.I.Y. boyfriend jeans for a while now but couldn't figure out what to pair it with. Since the boyfriend jeans are such a hot item, I didn't want to style it according to any of the popular trends. So I put my own spin on it by wearing them with these cute little booties and an over-sized sweater; but it's really just my natural tendency to pair everything with knit-wear.
I've been doing a lot of D.I.Y. sewing and altering lately because I've been shopping predominantly at thrift shops and occasionally American Apparel since the beginning of the year. You see, I've committed myself to my new year's resolution to not purchase anything new that has been manufactured overseas or in sweatshops. I gotta say, it hasn't been an easy journey. Since my conscious effort in trying to eliminate consumption of outsourced products, I've realized just how difficult it is to be a socially responsible consumer. Because almost everything we buy has been outsourced at some point. Thus it is virtually impossible for us, the consumers, who are only familiar with the final product to even know the processes involved in making an article of clothing or an everyday household item. Therefore, the biggest problem resides not with people's inability to boycott sweatshop goods, but their disconnect with the things they buy. Because even if one wants to fulfill his/her oaths as a "karmic shopper", sometimes we simply cannot make an informed decision to be ethical because we don't always know everything about the things we purchase. So far, I have been successful at resisting the urge to buy new clothes made in sweatshops. Hopefully, by the end of this year I would've made a small, albeit meaningful difference in the world.

Copy Cat

I am taking only one class (the last class, in fact) this semester and today was my first day of the last semester of school. After my exam on June 22nd I will be saying goodbye to the fine institution of which I've been a part of for the past five years. Come to think of it, I don't think I can't handle not being a student anymore. However, I am looking forward to beginning my life in the "real world" whatever that is. The class I've enrolled in entails extensive discussions and scientific researches on the mechanisms and purposes of biological rhythms. To those who has never heard of the term before, you can conceptualize it as sets of behaviors and responses according to an "internal clock". Like our sleep-wake cycle; we tend to feel sleepy or wake up around the same time daily. As the professor was imparting his never-ending wisdom about biological rhythms and lab rat studies concerning hormonal secretions, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Which is that is that all living beings on earth simply cannot function without an intrinsic rhythm. And that rhythm although exists independent of the "socially constructed" time itself, it is however cultivated throughout evolution and genetically programed according sets of stable, environmental cues. A "sense of time" thus essentially lives within all living creatures. Thus, time encompasses all living things here on earth and it is two-fold (intrinsic vs. extrinsic time) but interrelated. If there exists other life forms besides the ones we know on this planet, would they have "time"? And how would they respond to time and govern themselves according to it? Would they have biological rhythms like us (ie. if female aliens menstruated, would run on a course of a 28 days menstrual cycle?). Thus, is time necessary for the cyclical nature of life and existence?

The outfit I wore today was inspired by Alice Dellal. Whom has recently became my punk-rock fashion muse!

I got his book from Daniel for this past Christmas and hadn't got around to reading it until now. It is such an awesome read! As some of you may know, The Pixies is one of my all time favorite bands and the narrative is truly captivating. Even though it is a small book, but the material harbors some real substance. Definitely enough to satisfy your Pixie-hunger.

May Flower

You know when you have too much clothing you forget to wear things which you've purchased a long time ago. This dress fell victim to my neglect due to a closet that is bulging at the seams. However when I finally realized I had this dress and put it on today, I was very happy with how it looks.

A couple of days ago, I stumbled across a fellow blogger's site and was very much inspired by the openness with which she writes. This inspired me to become more outspoken about who I am on this blog because as I was reading her blog, the experience was very intimate. And I want all of my readers to feel the same way about my blog because otherwise Happenings in Singsong would just be a self-indulgent website rather than a means to share my quirks and love for fashion. I guess I what I'm hoping for is that I can maximize the social karma of my blog by blogging beyond the topic of fashoin such as issues concerning music, politics, sociology etc. I am really looking forward to this improvement because I just can't wait to hear what you all have to say!

Punk Rock Girl

Yesterday, I attended my first official hard-core show and it was an immensely rowdy experience. I've never been an avid fan of hard-core music but I've always appreciated their political message, D.I.Y. ethics and their defiance against the main stream. The bands I saw yesterday were incredibly energetic as well as inspirational. My favorite performance of the night was by a band called Ruiner from Baltimore, U.S. The lead singer was this intense yet humble person who spoke with a dubious amount of eloquence for someone who's seems like such a bad-ass. His banters between songs were especially enjoyable because they were not the usual lighthearted personal anecdotes but cynical remarks which I found extremely insightful and poetic. After two and half hours of avoiding being squished by rambunctious punk rockers with liberty spikes sharp enough to puncture the aorta, I have a new found respect for hard-core music. A shot of Ruiner in dramatic black and white

I wanted to channel my inner grung/punk-rocker so much that my outfit seemed completely cliche. But, I honestly couldn't care less because the show was way too fun!