Sudoku.com (app) - I've been obsessed with this game. I recently rediscovered my love for this puzzle. It's something I do when I'm watching or rather, listening to TV, or when I'm on the streetcar heading into work. I like the way it challenges me to think and consider all the different possibilities. It's about more than just one box.
Blood Orange concert at Danforth Music Hall - This is one of my favourite concerts. It was a beautiful evening. It was a truly beautiful concert. It felt like an otherworldly experience. It was transcendent, ethereal. Blood Orange is much better live. The music is good, but it is a different experience to hear it live. He is amazing, the instrumentals are amazing, his backup singers have the voice of angels. I felt the music vibrating on my skin, into my soul. When I heard it, I almost cried. There can be so many things we do wrong, but this - that moment - cannot be wrong. Nothing quite so beautiful can be wrong. It was so, so lovely. So, so transformative.
Westworld - I'm very late to this bandwagon, but I'm glad I joined anyway. I think it's a powerful look at where our technology is headed. It's a powerful look at how we decide to treat the world and its people. In the second season, there is a conversation between a couple of characters that I found particularly powerful. It talks about Westworld and the other AI worlds as where we go to commit our sins without fear of judgment. It is where we can be our worst selves with no repercussions. If there is God to watch us, what kind of sins will we commit? It's a truly frightening thought.
A Star is Born - It's all that it's hyped up to be. Lady Gaga is a wonderful actress just as she is a powerful singer. While this will not go in the list of my favourite films of all time, I thought the way that it treated addiction was worth commemorating. It is an honest look with no way out. It doesn't allow or provide excuses for one of the cruellest things we do to ourselves.
Imanishi Japanese Kitchen - I can't believe how long it's taken for me to visit this restaurant. It really is a true gem and now I can see why. I'm not 100% sure but I think it is in the style of Japanese home cooking. Or at least, an elevated version of that. The food is so well then. There's not much pretension to the place. It feels very homey and practical. The food is great - a lot of smaller dishes that go well with drinks. I think I want to make this into a regular spot.
Something one of my favourite yoga teachers, Krista, said in class - We think of life as something that happens to us. What if we thought about life as something that happens for us? What if instead of life happening to us, we thought of life as happening through us? What a powerful sentiment.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Friday, October 5, 2018
The world is beautiful, and it is in crisis.
These days, I'm in awe of the world. I'm in awe of the beauty and the torment we as a collective put into the world. Some days, there is so much beauty and wonder and goodness. Some days, there seems to be nothing but devastation. We are seemingly at a standstill. Or maybe it is me at a standstill, unsure of how to feel and how to act. I only want for things to turn out alright.
The world is beautiful, and it is in crisis.
I'm trying to be more mindful of where I stand in the world, what I do to the world. It's been a slow journey. I admit there are things and habits I will never be able to change. For example, one of my pills is in a sheet of 10. I take 5 pills a day, so every other day I throw out this sheet of garbage. It is inevitable. I can't stop taking my meds. There are things I try to do. That's all we can ever really do.
In the last few weeks, some things brought perspective. I finished Sapiens (I & II). I thought it did a wonderful job of outlining the existence of Sapiens and all we have done to change ourselves and the world. It is informative and witty. It ends asking about the next steps, and what those look like. It ends by acknowledging how scary these next steps can look. I went to the Anthropocene exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario last week. Anthropocene is what our human epoch is called. Humans have caused irreversible changes to the Earth. Some of these changes are beautiful. They look stunning, but beneath the beautiful aesthetics, the Earth is hurt. The animals are disappearing. Cities grow bigger and tighter as more and more people are fit into ever-dwindling, ever-shrinking spaces. It turns out we cannot escape our mess either.
I went to see Blood Orange this week. I have almost no photos - certainly no good photos. I was just trying to enjoy the show. To live my existence instead of photographing every minute. To experience fully instead of partially, missing so many details. It was a truly beautiful concert. It felt like an otherworldly experience. It was transcendent, ethereal. Blood Orange is much better live. The music is good, but it is a different experience to hear it live. He is amazing, the instrumentals are amazing, his backup singers have the voices of angels. I felt the music vibrating on my skin, into my soul. When I heard it, I almost cried. There can be so many things we do wrong, but this - that moment - cannot be wrong. Nothing quite so beautiful can be wrong. It was so, so lovely. So, so transformative.
I wonder if I am simply in a time of transition. A lot feels so tentative. I am in flux. A wave of change. I'm rounding 25 soon. It may be the most exciting year yet. This year has been full of dramatic changes. I'm so far away from where I was last year, and yet so much feels the same. I live in the same place, have the same clothes, my body is mostly the same. I did another year of school, I quit a job I had for almost three years - a family of almost three years, I'm working in a different job and industry, I have so many new friends. I'm in a different financial situation. So much has changed and will continue to change.
I'm rambling. I don't know what I am trying to say. The world is beautiful, and it is in crisis. I am in crisis, but standing so tall.
The world is beautiful, and it is in crisis.
I'm trying to be more mindful of where I stand in the world, what I do to the world. It's been a slow journey. I admit there are things and habits I will never be able to change. For example, one of my pills is in a sheet of 10. I take 5 pills a day, so every other day I throw out this sheet of garbage. It is inevitable. I can't stop taking my meds. There are things I try to do. That's all we can ever really do.
In the last few weeks, some things brought perspective. I finished Sapiens (I & II). I thought it did a wonderful job of outlining the existence of Sapiens and all we have done to change ourselves and the world. It is informative and witty. It ends asking about the next steps, and what those look like. It ends by acknowledging how scary these next steps can look. I went to the Anthropocene exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario last week. Anthropocene is what our human epoch is called. Humans have caused irreversible changes to the Earth. Some of these changes are beautiful. They look stunning, but beneath the beautiful aesthetics, the Earth is hurt. The animals are disappearing. Cities grow bigger and tighter as more and more people are fit into ever-dwindling, ever-shrinking spaces. It turns out we cannot escape our mess either.
I went to see Blood Orange this week. I have almost no photos - certainly no good photos. I was just trying to enjoy the show. To live my existence instead of photographing every minute. To experience fully instead of partially, missing so many details. It was a truly beautiful concert. It felt like an otherworldly experience. It was transcendent, ethereal. Blood Orange is much better live. The music is good, but it is a different experience to hear it live. He is amazing, the instrumentals are amazing, his backup singers have the voices of angels. I felt the music vibrating on my skin, into my soul. When I heard it, I almost cried. There can be so many things we do wrong, but this - that moment - cannot be wrong. Nothing quite so beautiful can be wrong. It was so, so lovely. So, so transformative.
I wonder if I am simply in a time of transition. A lot feels so tentative. I am in flux. A wave of change. I'm rounding 25 soon. It may be the most exciting year yet. This year has been full of dramatic changes. I'm so far away from where I was last year, and yet so much feels the same. I live in the same place, have the same clothes, my body is mostly the same. I did another year of school, I quit a job I had for almost three years - a family of almost three years, I'm working in a different job and industry, I have so many new friends. I'm in a different financial situation. So much has changed and will continue to change.
I'm rambling. I don't know what I am trying to say. The world is beautiful, and it is in crisis. I am in crisis, but standing so tall.
Monday, October 1, 2018
September Favourites
Good Girls - This show is hilarious. It's a NBC show but I watched it on Netflix. I am a big fan of Christina Hendricks after finishing Mad Men. Three women in Detroit are friends and each has her own desperate reason to need money. Their solution? Rob a grocery store. The plan seems to be fail-proof until they steal more than they accounted for and they learn there is some gang involvement. The show premise reminds me of Nancy Botwin from Weeds and Walter White from Breaking Bad. Ordinary, seemingly good people face unpleasant circumstances and they turn to the dark side. Chaos ensues.
Sam James Chinatown - It may be the routine more than the coffee, but it is a routine I really enjoy. It's a little bit of peace. It's a treat. Here, I will be honest and say that I'm making more money than I'm used to. It's not a lot of $$/hr but it's a full time job. As a result, I justify this $2.50 to $4.50 expense every morning. I've earned it.
Every morning, I leave home around 8:10AM and walk over to Sam James. My usual order is an Americano in my KeepCup, but I will occasionally get a brew coffee or an almond latte. I then hop on the 8:20AM streetcar and make it into work around 8:45AM. Monday to Friday routine.
Glossier You solid perfume - Everyone has been raving about this perfume and I finally understand why. The scent is hard to describe - there's barely any description of it online. I'm not sure if there are scent notes somewhere. To me, it smells almost like a baby, but in the best possible way. Every time I wear it, I wonder if innocence can be a scent because that's what it smells like to me. Try it, please. I really like it.
*My only qualm was that the packaging for this was so excessive. The solid perfume itself is wonderful. It's small but heavy. That's fine but the hard plastic wrapper, the foam rectangle and elastic band that wraps the small solid perfume is so over the top.
Farmacy Honey Butter lip balm - Admittedly, this was a total impulse purchase but it's been the lip balm I've been gravitating towards. The scent is faint. There's no colour. It's very moisturizing. I believe in all things Asian beauty and skincare products. They can do no wrong.
Sam James Chinatown - It may be the routine more than the coffee, but it is a routine I really enjoy. It's a little bit of peace. It's a treat. Here, I will be honest and say that I'm making more money than I'm used to. It's not a lot of $$/hr but it's a full time job. As a result, I justify this $2.50 to $4.50 expense every morning. I've earned it.
Every morning, I leave home around 8:10AM and walk over to Sam James. My usual order is an Americano in my KeepCup, but I will occasionally get a brew coffee or an almond latte. I then hop on the 8:20AM streetcar and make it into work around 8:45AM. Monday to Friday routine.
Glossier You solid perfume - Everyone has been raving about this perfume and I finally understand why. The scent is hard to describe - there's barely any description of it online. I'm not sure if there are scent notes somewhere. To me, it smells almost like a baby, but in the best possible way. Every time I wear it, I wonder if innocence can be a scent because that's what it smells like to me. Try it, please. I really like it.
*My only qualm was that the packaging for this was so excessive. The solid perfume itself is wonderful. It's small but heavy. That's fine but the hard plastic wrapper, the foam rectangle and elastic band that wraps the small solid perfume is so over the top.
Farmacy Honey Butter lip balm - Admittedly, this was a total impulse purchase but it's been the lip balm I've been gravitating towards. The scent is faint. There's no colour. It's very moisturizing. I believe in all things Asian beauty and skincare products. They can do no wrong.
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