Twelve Days of Christmas Sweaters - Day 1:Peacock colours and a Pair of Docs

Hello! As Christmas is fast approaching, I am going full throttle with decking myself out with some of my favourite sweaters!

Since I'm a few days behind the first day of twelve days before Christmas (This sentence is like a word problem), I'm going double up a couple of outfit photos to make it in time for the 25th.

Stay tuned, stay excited and stay warm, everybody.

Creepers

It's been a week and I'm still trying to figure out how to properly style my hair. Being a terribly lazy individual who prefers everything low-maintenace, this hair style has posed as a bit of a challenge.

Some may regard straight hair to be a blessing but I see it as a boring, lifeless, flat-to-the-scalp nuisance. So far, I've tried almost every technique known to beauty experts to make the right side of my head more tousled and bouncy and this is the best I can come up with. I spent about twenty minutes playing with it, putting in volumizing  mousse and hair curlers and blow drying and whatnot and eventually decided that that amount of time is simply way too much time spent on four inches of hair.

I ended up rubbed my scalp with much vigour hoping that perhaps a static charge in the follicles can make my hair stand up more. I think it eventually worked.
Oh hey, did I mention that I now own a pair of T.U.K's creepers?! Fuck yeah!

Look at the height on these babies. I mean, they definitely slow me way down whenever I prance up the stairs home but they are worth every second prolonged between point A to point B.

The Breasts of a Feminist

Ok, so my friend posted a picture of me on Facebook. In it, my right breast is very discernibly droopy. I am a young woman and so far, I’m losing the war against gravity. I comment on the photo and also thinking the same thing: “oh man, I really need to start wearing bras.” 

The truth is, I haven’t worn a proper bra with paddings and underwires in almost five years. Ever since second year university, when my feminist values started to root and flourish within me, I’ve began to detest putting my breasts in those things. Everyday, I would put on the bra that I’ve been wearing since high school and feel its underwires digging into my ribcage and the elastic straps sinking into my flesh. “Have I gained weight?” “Are my breasts getting bigger?” I used to think to myself but I knew that I’ve been the same size ever since I stopped developing at age 17. Every time I got dressed in the morning, I became more and more aware of the suffocating and stifling feeling of wearing a bra. 

I eventually started to go without one because I didn’t think it was normal or even necessary to cram something so irregular such as the human upper torso into something that was pre-made and obviously not suited for living comfortably. So, what is my lesson from seeing my sagging breast in the picture?

Yeah, I should wear a bra. I also should have listen to my father and married rich.  Shouldn’t have bothered with trying to get into graduate school because smart women are not as desirable because they’re too opinionated. While I’m at it, I should also laugh at sexists jokes or lewd one-liners about rape because girls with a sense of humour do so much better in social situations.  I should always feel sexy and validated as a woman when men hit on me or grab my ass and feel guilty and apologetic immediately afterwards when they get furious and call me “fucking dyke” when I don’t respond in a positive way. Really, I should be what a “woman” ought to be and I could if right now, I give up everything that is ever important to me as a female, as a woman but importantly as a human being. Frankly, I don’t think that sounds fair.

Hey look, I have short hair now.

Fight for My Rights and Not Just to Party

Having three weeks off work is awesome. I'm going to do all the things I've always wanted to do during but never had time for because I work a split shift schedule from 7am all the way until 6pm, with a few off hours in between.

For example, I'm going to produce an LP for Scrambled Debutante. Channeling my inner Brian Wilson is a must for this project. Except I'll be going insane trying to top Goo by Sonic Youth instead of The Beatle's Sgt. Pepper. Both great albums but totally different approach.

I am now a proud wearer of short hair. That's right, long locks are over for me and I couldn't be happier with the results. I'll try to upload some pictures sometime this week.

Granny Hipster

I wish I could make a living by selling things that I make.

It's getting really cold and I'm starting a few knitting projects. Hopefully if they're good enough they'll make it onto Etsy.

Most people complain about the cold during these months but I think it's nice. Because I get to do things like sit on my ass all day with my cats and my knitting, watching shows on Netflix.

What's Up, Doc?

You know me. I don't really write about fashion in the format of sentences and words unless it's something that really gets me excited. Today, I'm going to take a moment and appreciate the sheer awesomeness that is of Doc Marten shoes.

It's no secrete that I'm stupid crazy in love with Doc Martens seeing how they're featured in over 75% of my outfits. I've been a proud owner of my Docs for over four years and have found ways to make them look great with anything and everything. I wear them pretty much all seasons long and have even rocked them at formal affairs.

This is not a sales pitch for Doc Martens but rather an example of high quality fashion and timeless aesthetic. By owning a pair of shoes that is functional, stylish, durable and versatile, it creates so much potential for creativity, development for personal style and less waste and consumerism. Which, in a way, embodies a lot of how I see fashion and what it means to be a conscientious fashion enthusiast.

If you haven't gotten yourself a pair of these puppies, I think you really should get on it!

Little Troubled Girl

I've been wanting to write dissonant sounding riffs on the guitar and I was able to do that yesterday during band practice. However, it has proven to be extremely difficult to come up with vocal melodies without sounding sour.

Speaking of which. The little band I play in, Scrambled Debutante, has been making some headways in the promotion department. Without even really trying ourselves, we have somehow garnered more recognition over the past two weeks than we've ever imagined we could in such a short span. Some person in Italy made a Youtube video of Self-Loathing Love Song and I wasn't even aware of the fact that our music had crossed national boarders.

Another interesting titbit: I am officially a woman of the 21 century in terms of consumer technology. I've opted out my shitty Samsung slide phone and got myself an iPhone5. Having this thing is like owning a magic wand. I can literally get almost anything the internet offers with a few clicks. Just like owning a magic wand, I can do all of this with just one hand and the power is definitely slowly luring me to the dark side. I've already signed on with Instagram and started sharing pointless pictures on every single social media sites I've connected myself to via my phone, and so far it's just been such a novel and thrilling experience.

There's always an excuse for not doing things but countering that I've now found a reason or a better way to finally set up my Etsy shop. Remember those fruit necklaces I've been promising everyone? Yes, I've got my Etsy app ready and it's almost business time. Of course, I'll have to get going on that...tomorrow.

No Fur, Faux Fur

I rearranged my living room so my background is different. I am now posing in front of where all my music stuff is.

Did I mention I have a band? We are Scrambled Debutante. You can download our newest EP for free or by donation. 

Short post, lots of pictures. Enjoy them.

Breaking Dawn

I watched the last Twilight movie in theatres today. It was not by choice but out of altruism. The movie didn't make much sense to me because I've never seen the previous ones nor am I familiar with the story. It was, however, exactly what I had expected from a sensationalized vampire love story.

Right down to the supposed "witty" and "funny" lines in the movie, Breaking Dawn caters to the demographic of today's tween wavers by being both accessibly relatable (cheesy jokes and shallow banters) yet fantastically idealistic (half human, half vampire fetus). It is the pinnacle of mediocracy. The epitome of all badly written and directed but well produced story of "love-lasts-forever". All glossed over and fast-food like, Breaking Dawn trivializes just about everything young people need to learn about living a productive life.

The Twilight series is like Disney movies for an older audience. Except everything is replaced with extremely attractive people with nothing better to do but to fall selfishly in love at the risk of bringing absolute horror and destruction upon themselves and those around them. The extremely simplified theme of "love conquers all" is so blatant that the story itself doesn't actually add any rich context to make it in any way movie or worth watching/reading (there are Twilight novels, apparently). Furthermore, I did not find any of the characters captivating. Perhaps it was because they were all terrible actors but I could not for the life of me understand the love between Bella and Edward. Also, after five movies it seemed that Bella is still the same fucking person in the sense that after all the shit has happened and everything she's gone through, she has not developed as a character at all. She is, in the end a stock character in the story. This is ironic because she completely died as a human and came back as a vampire in Breaking Dawn.

If this is the kind of shit young people are into these days then I am seriously worried. And here I am worried that Disney was going to the demise of the future generation.

Fly Like an Eagle

Tonight was probably one of the best Tuesday nights I've had in a long time. My band,  Scrambled Debutante officially released our first three song EP and had a premiere/interview with Y57 Media where the they broadcasted, for the first time, our finished tracks!

Oh hey, we also had an in-studio acoustic performance/interview at CJSF last night, previewing our premier tonight!

Holy fuck balls. This is excited shit! That's why I'm wearing my eagle sweater today because I think eagles must feel awesome all the time and I feel awesome today, like a fucking eagle!

We have all of our songs on bandcamp available for download for free or by donation. Go listen now!

Sick, Obsessed, Girl Crushes

I celebrated turning 26 last night and the backlash of that is this horrible sore throat I'm having to deal with. Every time I swallow, I imagine razorblades, slowly being pushed down by peristalsis; mangling every oral structure on the way down.

 So yes, being sick sucks but what's sick about sick is that I get to stay in a Saturday and look at photos of girls in bands I like. I'm starting with the Dum Dum Girls.

I saw these babes two years ago opening for Beach House (another great band with a babe in it.) and Vampire Weekend (I left right after Beach House because I didn't give a shit about Vampire Weekend) and I immediately developed a crush on them. How could you not? They're so good at what they do and they look fucking amazing!!! 

I really want to focus my attention on some local talent here, The Courtneys. These folks live and play shows all over Vancouver and technically, if you think about it, Scrambled Debutante (the band I'm in) is kind of their contemporary. Fuck, I get shivers just thinking about that. The very notion that I may someday get to play a show with them just blows my fucking mind. 

They seem hilarious too. If you just click on the link I provided which leads you to their bandcamp you can see that they are absolutely cuckoo for Keanu Reeves. That's the kind of shtick I dig because Keanu is awesome.

I've been listening to Mika Miko way before any of the previous two bands and I've never really thought anything of them until I started playing music again. Just from a musical point of view, some of the riffs are the best I've ever heard. Which completely fucks with any gender related expectations regarding girl guitar players. 

This has been a productive sick day. I hope I get better soon. Good news, Scrambled Debutante is going on air for Y57 Youth Media on Tuesday and CJSF on Monday. Stay tuned for the recordings of those.

Dress like Grimace

It's not winter yet and I'm already sick. Pretty sure I ran an all-day low grade fever yesterday and yet I still went for a run for an hour, did some heavy lifting and had children scream in my face while defencelessly threw my arms around my head, trying to muff out as much of everything as I can.

Today, I'm taking a day off.

To make up for me feeling shitty, I think of these boots. No, you don't have x-ray vision. They are in fact see-through.

These are the Vancouver hipster version of Cinderella's glass slippers. Except they will never fall off my feet because they are rain boots. Come to think of it, if Cinderella wore these she would've never had her prince coming to rescue her from her shitty home. She would've had to think of a way to break out of that room, somehow elude her evil step mother and sisters, start a new life and become a feminist then later join an all-girl hardcore punk band.

Jeremy was looking super lumber-jackish and I found it stylishly hilarious so I asked him to pose for my blog.

I must say, he's a natural at modelling.