apologies and catching-up (yet again)
I have been neglecting you, poor livejournal. Though tumblr has become my newest internet hang-out, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this livejournal. I've had it for nearly 5 years! That's 4 jobs, 3 trips, 2 schools and 1 emo-period. And while I haven't always articulated myself well, or been very social online, this blog means a lot to me. It's a record of me growing up. I started this when I was 16 and working for the first time in a day camp. And while I may not be very different from that awkward 16 year-old, I feel like I've learned a lot since then.

Anyways, excuse the rambling. What I wanted to say was I'm sorry I haven't been blogging, and I'm going to try to do it more.

I've been busy(-ish) since I last posted. Let's have a run-down, shall we?

~ I saw No Doubt with Marcela. It was amazing. I have loved No Doubt for a long time, and seeing them live in incredible seats was such a rush. They performed all my favourites (Underneath It All, Bathwater, Spiderwebs, Just A Girl) and gave a totally electric performance. I had so much fun that night, more than I think I've ever had at a concert before. If you're interested, I posted a few videos here, Marcie has a few videos up here and my photos are here.

~ Last week I went with my mom to a gallery opening in the Distillery District for Douglas Coupland's "Atelier". It was a really strange, surreal kind of homage to Andy Wharhol, with defaced Marilyn prints and framed, flattened wigs. There were also children's letter blocks spelling out words like "mother fucker", "define normal" and "total asshole". My mom's friend Kat wrote a much more eloquent review of the show than I ever could - you can read it here.

~ On fathers day a bunch of my mom's family came over to celebrate. We BBQed, drank, acted silly and had a wonderful time. My mom's family is a little bit insane, but I love them dearly. We had a candle in the cake my sister baked and we all sang "happy father's day to you". Most importantly though, my dad had a good day (I hope)! We got him a CD and the first three books of the Oishinbo series, which is a manga about Japanese cuisine that has been around since the 80s, but was just published in English. He's already read the first two, and I'm going to read them as soon as I get a chance to.

~ I've also been watching a lot of movies recently. So far this month I have seen Forrest Gump, The Apartment, Chasing Amy, Drag Me To Hell, Smiley Face, Harold and Maude, The Go Getter, Crossing Delancey, Harvey, The Pillow Book and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That's what summer's for, right? Sitting inside and watching movies? Well, it's how I spend my summer at least! Mostly this movie watching has been the result of my discovery of Video Flicks, an amazing independent video store at Laurence and Avenue that has pretty much everything, plus amazing prices. You can get 7 movies for a week for $12! Its pretty much my new favourite place ever.

~ Today has been nice and relaxing. I've done some GRE studying, caught up on my Google Reader and YouTube subscriptions and read the first book from A Series of Unfortunate Events (I'm rereading the whole series). Tonight my mom, sister and I are having grilled salmon and baked potatoes (mmmm) and watching The Graduate. I am excited :)

That's pretty much it. I'll be posting again soon, for reals this time.