Way Too Weird.

Okay. So a day or two ago I was sitting lazily in the hall way against an orange graffiti'd locker. Probably talking to my friends or so. Maybe drinking a juice box or something. And this guy, who was in my class last year walks up to us and says "hi". So I look down. And he's wearing orange crocs. But CROCS WITH SOCKS. I kind of laughed at him, because I found this a little weird. I didn't think anyone else in the world wore orange crocs on a daily basis. I feel really bad right now, because I just looked on the Hour website. There seems to be a large picture of a man wearing ORANGE CROCS. He's barefooted, but that basically completely ruins my theory that nobody actually wears orange crocs around.

So George Stroumboulopoulos interviewed Ricky Williams yesterday on the Hour which explains the crocs. But still. If anyone else around here wears orange crocs, and even with socks please let me know.

If Someone Can Pretend to be George Stroumboulopoulos Can I be Chuck Norris!?

You know those silly Chuck Norris jokes going 'round lately. "Chuck Norris doesn't sleep - He waits". Well, obviously to todays culture Chuck Norris is a pretty superior human being.

So on the Hour, George was talking about how some person was pretending to be him on Myspace, and they had a semi-accurate and detailed page. I bet that happens quite frequently, and I bet some people do believe it. Well, if someone can pretend to be Todd Bridges, and diss Gary Coleman I wonder if I can pretend to be Chuck Norris and gain his superhuman powers and recognition? Cause I want the bogeyman to check his closet for me every night. Every night!!!

Does anybody think that this might work? Any other suggestions?

Value Village Produces Lovely Photo Opportunities

So, once a month I go shopping at Value Village with my friend. Now, it's not really about getting anything it's more about "The Value Village Experience". For example, the last trip produced:

6 Crappy Metal Bracelets (Bright colours): $0.69
1 incense tin with snake design: $0.69
1 Pair of hexagonal Elton John Sunglasses: $1.49
Bringing a camera and a friend to Value Village: Priceless

Sorry, I had to add the last one cause it makes me smile (I fall for incredibly corny commercials). We did a couple laps around the building checking out the most importants: Toys, Women, Kids, Shoes. My friend and I both enjoy picture taking and that day I was quite camera-happy. I'm not quite sure how Value Village would feel if they knew we were using thier store as a prop, but at that present moment it didn't seem to concern me. It's a very interesting place. You get a mix of college kids looking for costumes, people who can't afford to buy elsewhere, crazy eccentrics and hipsters. Oh yes, and some very ordinary people. Previously, at the Value Village in Victoria we had a man approaching us talking about how the stock becomes better at the end of the month because the homeless people get thier paychecks. Okay. Last time I went there was a woman with metallic golden lipstick, leopard print shirt with an overflowing cart. I wonder where you can buy golden lipstick? Now I should get to the pictures, because I need to do my science notes. I despise the end of the year. Especially in science and math. Apparently I have "two weeks" to finish my math units if I want in 10 pure. I have a couple units to go. But that's what happens when you forget to do math homework all year.
Anyways:

A lovely orange number.

I'm not sure if I'd work as the reluctant bride. Plus, there was probably lice in the veil.

The hexagonal shades, and I look like a guppy.

Bert and Ernie on the Doll Wall

Rocking the shoulder-pads and sequins.

Never did buy that shirt.

My friend and I looking deathly serious.

Value Village is excellent for those photo ops.

La de da de da dedadedade-da.

These past couple days have been days of love at first sight.
It all started out by picking up the Decemberist's "Picaresque". Or rather, having a listen on my iPod. You see, my pop culture savvy father bought it a while ago, and I didn't get a chance to listen to it until I went to Victoria. I loved it!! I think I had some of the songs on repeat for a bit, just to listen to them again. It's kind of witty, modern, tongue-in-cheek folk songishness. But I'm no expert. Anyhow, I love them. I had a couple favourite songs.. umm. "Sixteen Military Wives", "From My Own True Love", "Eli, the Barrow Boy", "The Mariner's Revenge Song", and "Engine Driver", I swear the start of this song is a variation of the opening chords to "Half A Person" by the Smiths. Anyways. I'm head over heels in love.


Nextnextnext. A movie. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which is kind of like an experience, everyone should probably see it. Well I hadn't, so I rented it from Roger's and watched it with my friend and dear brother. Now, I know people will argue about the value of musicals, and how they suck, but I thought it was just fabulous. Just a fun, great movie to see. Tim Curry was the most hilarious 'sweet transvestite' I have ever seen, and the entire supporting cast was fab too. Though I despise Meat Loaf, his appearance was awesome. My friend loved it too. Now we both want to go to the Plaza (which is minutes from my house) to see it in theatre. But I think the last showing was tonight, so ohh well. Maybe next time. It was a great change from the string of dark and depressing movies I had seen (The Weatherman, Match Point, The Squid and The Whale, Art School Confidential). They were all good, but not really uplifting.

byebye for now.
hilarym.

Victoria on the Victoria Day Long Weekend!?

So this lovely weekend I went to that mild climated town on the coast we call "Victoria". It definitely lived up to my expectations of being funky, sweet, old, nostalgic and mild. I adore being by the ocean, the smell and the waves and the sand. Naturally, Victoria is a great place for me to be on the Victoria Day Long Weekend. We went to Victoria partly because my Dad spent 6 years of high school there, and attended UVic (Political Science). Also because it's a lovely time. We spent a lot of time seeing my dads old friends, shopping downtown in the markets and stores and eating at excellent restaurants and cafes.

Victoria has a wonderful downtown. Old brick buildings with funky shops, and some really old buildings that pre-dated the brick. We walked around quite a bit, usually down Government street, or on the Harbour. There's some lovely markets down Government near the Harbour. Just walking around the old buildings and funky shops in front of the ocean was great. The Empress Hotel is a wonderful building. My dad had worked thier as a bus boy and waiter, serving tea.. etc. It has vines growing and crawling all over the building, parts of it are reminiscent of a giant, detailed tree sculpture. The parliament buildings are magnificent. They are regal and ancient, elaborate and wide.

A couple days in, we decided to drive up to Point-no-Point, a little teahouse and resortish thing north of Sooke. We had some lovely tea, over-looking the green, bold hills that dipped into the ocean. We went for a walk down to the beach. It was raining and grey, and I managed to get some good pictures. There were black rocks along the sea, and you could see hills in the distance. It was absolutly beautiful. Complete magic.

It was a wonderful trip, overall. I fully recommend Victoria as a great Canadian travel destination.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

A lovely bench, I captured and photoshopped.

Black rocks on the point-no-point beach.

Victoria Parliament buildings.

My brother on the breakwater.

Some silly bagpipers in full costume, after the rainy "Victoria Day Parade"

Trees and ferns at point-no-point.

The Empress Hotel.

Track Meet

Yikes, today was the track meet, and I was in girls 600m. This event is otherwise known as "why the hell did I sign up for this" or "is it really worth it". So I took the bus to Foothills at 8:50. My event was at 1:10. I kind of sat around in the shade, listened to.. MY BRAND NEW 30G iPOD!!.. and talked to my friends. The race was quite tiring in the sun, on the hottest day yet this year. I placed 10th.. but I think I placed 9th, because the grumpy lady at the end didn't like me. You see, the theory of the 600m is.. "fast running at the start, jogging till the end, sprint at the end" I completed the following minus the sprint. Therefore, I suck. : ). So after that, I poured water on myself, bought a Texas Donut to share with my friend and stood in the sun. When it was over, we went to the busses. Our school had one bus. There were enough kids to comfortably fit in three busses. So we piled in that bus, than left the rest of us to sit in the sun. It was old, creaky and smelt of cheese. That's usually what you get when you go to public school, though I couldn't love my school any more. Well, now I have a nasty looking sunburn. All this to miss a day of school.

hilary.

Birthdayss.

So, this morning I woke up at 6. I always wake up at 6 on May 13th. It's weird, without an alarm or anything I just wake up. But it's always been lovely at 6 o'clock on the morning of May 13th. So I'm thinking about going to sleep again, when my lovely brother enters the room. "Hah" he says triumphantly, "I am 14 and you are not" (I'm not sure why he would like to be triumphant about this fact, but he's a competitive kid). So, I glance at the clock. 6:06. That's the exact time my lovely brother was born, on May 13th. Ugghh, I'm going to have to spend the next seven minutes under my brothers triumphant gaze. I put the blankets on top of my head. The clock finally turns to 6:13, after what seems to be an hour. I yell "burnage" at him, which makes me sound really geeky, but at least he's no longer triumphant. I am 14 now, phewwf.

Eeh. I love my birthday, I love May and spring. So today is very good. Veryyy. After this, I sit around in the living room with a cup of coffee, waiting to open presents. I got some lovely gifts. I got a k.d lang cd from my mum, that was mainly bought because it looked like the cover of "London Calling" and "Elvis Presely" and because my mum will end up listening to it. But a nice gift. Then I got a special addition mojo magazine about Morrissey and the Manchester scene from my brother. Next I got a dvd, unfortunatly, it wasn't CRAZY, but my mummy said she couldn't find it to buy, but it was just as great. It's called "The Smiths, the complete picture" and has a bunch of live Smiths footage from the 80's. My dad bought it for me in Texas on business. Then, I got a really funky, cool, awesome ring from Rubayait from my parents and my granny. Unfortunatly, it's an ounce too small and I'm getting a bigger, similar one. Eeeh. The last present was a wonderful acoustic guitar made in Quebec, from my parents. It's gorgeous! Now I feel very spoilt.

Tonight, I'm going to a movie at the Plaza with my friendlings. It should be very nice. I am in a very great mood right now, so don't ask me for money..

eeehh!!

How I'm Awful At Soccer.

I'm very bad at soccer.

Seriously.

So I try to be a goalie, during gym. But then my team gets angry at me, because I seem to let in the "goals". Why do they call it a goalie, if you're not supposed to let in goals!? The worst part about soccer, is my silly twin brother. Today we were divided up into two teams, the team that competes, and the "leisure" team. Otherwise known as.. the people who suck. My brother decided he would be on the liesure team, as did I. Except, he was constantly competing throughout the whole game, showing off and kicking the ball really hard at me. And making fun of me. Sometime I think twins should be illegal.
Phewwf. That was a good rant.


Well, it's very hot and the mosquitos have decided to make thier unwelcome presence on my arms. It's not very fun, though I'm good at slapping them. Though, I slap pretty hard, and I end up with red marks on my arms from slapping. Oh the not-so-joys of springtime.

I'm going to Victoria in a week, I'm very happy about that. And I'll be at Knox United the night before, for some Billy Cowsill memorial. I didn't listen to Billy Cowsill, but my parents are big fans, and his band used to play at my mum's fundraisers, so it's a big deal for them. I've never been inside the church, so I'm excited about that. Yikes, May is a busy month.

How I Love Spring Despite Running into Fences.

I've decided spring is my favourite season. Seriously. I even say that during spring. You know how people usually think thier favourite season is winter during summer... Yeah. I love the freshness and (semi) humidity of May. I love the birds, and the sun and the rain. I adore the fact this all is after winter, where everthing is cold and dead. I love being outside and walking during spring. Anyways, I'm pretty passionate about this season.

The only thing I don't like about spring, is when it gets too hot. Or running into fences. Which I accidently did today, because I'm not very intelligent when it comes to fences. And it hurt. I fell on the ground. So I've decided not to run into any more fences, if I do I will probably die before I hit 30. I also hate being inside whilst the weather is nice.

Another thing I've decided. When I turn 19 I will go on Much VJ Search (c'mon, you know the show) and I will go into that hotel with a bunch of other silly people. I've always wondered what it would like to be on a reality show. I could interview celebrities and go on challenges, and talk about my house-mates behind thier back (on live TV!). It would be an absolute blast! And maybe if I win, I can have thousands of screaming fans of my own!! I need a good plan for an audition though. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. It's never too early to prepare.

Also. My birthday is in like... 6 days!! I'm going to be able to get my learners. And even more important to my parents, my boating license! Oh, the joys of age and brightly coloured flotation devices.

much love,
hilary m.











(cherrie blossoms in Vancouver, where spring occured 2 months ago)

So, I stumbled upon my old Archie comics, and I happened to find this lovely page:

Hehe. Poor suckers. I guess Morrissey got to that disco before they even had a chance.

Now I need to find a safe place to keep that page.

I watched "Match Point" last night. It took me a couple hours (at least I think it was that long) to figure out that it was basically an opera, directed by Woody Allen. I thought it was engaging. But I had to go upstairs during the embarrassing and stressful parts. For some reason the drama and flamboyance of an opera makes me nervous when it's a movie set in the 21st century. The soundtrack was all opera, a lot of Verdi, which was very fitting for the entire movie, but it made me even more nervous. I wasn't that nervous when I saw "Dead Man Walking". I think that movies are a lot more believable and realistic than opera, which is more about the drama, passion, music.. Maybe that's why I was so nervous. Although, what do I know? I've seen two opera's in my lifetime, both on invitation, although I enjoyed them. It was a good movie despite the fact that I went upstairs for half of it because I couldn't take the "stress".

Those silly Flames..

Well, yesterday was the day Calgary's beloved Flames got "knocked out" of the play-offs.
I didn't shed any tears, but I was quite sad to see them go. I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I think the play-off games are fun to watch. It's a bit like a suspense movie, like watching "Psycho" with our Film class. You have an audience filled with questions "Who's going to score? will we get a powerplay?" or perhaps "When's the lady going to get murdered? is Mrs. Bates dangerous?". It's not necessarily horrifically scary, but very suspenseful. I really enjoyed "Psycho", and I also enjoy play-off games. Now that they're over, I'm not sure where I will get my suspense. Well, I am going to the divisional track meet next week. Unfortunatly I was fourth in our school at my race, and I haven't trained since then.. the race will not be suspenseful.

I didn't exactly notice an "aura" of sorrow looming around the city today. People seemed quite calm. The newspapers seemed quite calm, a real absence of exclamation marks. The only remarks about the Flames I heard were a couple "The Flames sucked last night". I think people are moving on. Now that the Habs and the Flames are out, I think I will be cheering for the Senators, who seem to be doing quite well. Oh, and those silly Oiler's beat the Red Wings.. I wonder what would happen if I wore the Oiler's shirt I have at the back of the closet, tomorrow. I wore it to go jogging once, and people yelled at me from bars.

Scandalous.

And in other news... the artists with the most amount of songs on my iPod go like this:
Neil Young-70
The Smiths-65
The Clash-58
Rufus Wainwright-55

Good ol' Neil. A couple months ago I grabbed all of my Dads greatest hits cd's and it became that. The Smiths would be there because I own most of the albums commercially available, (which is a lot, trust me). The Clash, I have a couple greatest hits, than Combat Rock and London Calling. The rest are resting beside my record player on vinyl. I own four Rufus albums. And a couple songs from movie soundtracks. Because he's done about a bazillion. And I really want his cover of Chelsea Hotel No. 2, but I am unable to acquire that...

The Tuesday that defied all myths..

Has anyone ever heard of Black Uhuru? They're a reggae group, and they sing a nice ditty called "Mondays". It goes kind of like this.. "One day I don't enjoy... is a Mondayyy". Well, if I were Black Uhuru I would've written the song about Tuesdays. Tuesday is a day I most definitely do not enjoy. French and Math on Tuesdays.. no Gym or Film.. nothing to do in the evening, that sort of thing. Buuut. Lately my Tuesdays have been getting better and better. Next Tuesday, I'm skipping a day of school to run one race at the track meet, and hang around for the rest of the time. Today I got kicked out of math for being "sassy" and spent the entire time drawing patterns with sharpie on a piece of paper. Now, in my view that's a good thing. Mainly because of the absence of maths. Now, another great thing about today is the rain. It is currently raining outside my window, which makes everything look grey and green and drippy. A wonderful thing for someone who lives in a cold-and-dry-as-hell climate. The most exciting thing about Tuesday was probably getting my email read on "The Hour". Now, I admit to have an ounce too many blogs right now on The Hour, but I couldn't miss a brief mention of the show. Or perhaps a paragraph. A little paragraph..

(the little paragraph)
So, I recently had a blog beautifully entitled "Why I wouldn't be caught dead getting shoved into that Panel Van or having my email read on The Hour". It was mainly about.. why I wouldn't be caught dead getting shoved into that Panel Van or having my email read on The Hour. So, I got a very encouraging reply from Barbara, which made me think about having a go at sending an email. So after hearing about Neil Young's "Let's Impeach the President" song, I thought I came up with an adequate reply. And Strombo read it!! I was very happy about this, and ran upstairs to my father, blathering about it (although he probably couldn't understand). Anyways;; I was extremely ecstatic about this (you should've seen me). But I do feel the need to explain the email in greater depth.
(wasn't it cute?)

Now, I would really love to "impeach that cat", almost as much as Neil Young does. But pessimistic (and possibly realistically) I don't think anything would happen to send Dubyah out of office. George Bush is definitely not Nixon-ly scandalous. There are so many people who believe every single word that comes out of his mouth, therefore they have reasoning not to believe the evidence against him. These are the people who voted for him. George Bush's deception is much more subtle in my belief, even after the evidence has been presented. There is nothing obvious enough to scream out "Impeach him". Although I am not saying I agree with what he has done, and I am definitely not taking it lightly. There are too many powerful conservatives in America that this would have to pass through, which to me makes impeachment seem out of the question. Never less, I owe it to Neil Young for singing about what he believes in, and perhaps opening some eyes to the injustice of George W. Bush.

Well, now it's sunny and raining, which is just adding to the greatness of this Tuesday.

merci beaucoup bon soir.

hilary m.

(Dubyah and Old Neil)

Neil Young's "Living with War" is now on sale at most music stores.

Uhoh.

Today, whilst reading through my blog I noticed that 50% of the comments are mine. Now this quite curious, considering that fact that I am the blogger. Neverless, I know who my number 1 fan is.

and at least they are a nice person.

I think..
I hope...

hilary m.