Music: Chastity
Granted the honour of opening for Wolf Parade on Friday (can't believe I get to see this band again!) is an indie rock band out of Whitby called Chastity. I sorely hope I found the correct band on Spotify as they don't have a lot of info on the internet. But anyway if this is the right band, I'd say indie rock is a bit soft of a description. I can see people moshing HARD to this music which makes me worry about wanting to stand at the front. We'll see what goes down. It's certainly full of energy. Listen below:
Accomplishment:
I survived the Easter Parade! I totally understand how many of the parades my drumming band has played haven't been quite the best fit for our performing style, but this was insane. We basically spent half the time running and playing with one hand while holding our drums in the other hand as we tried to catch up to the float in front of us. Honestly this parade could have gone at half the pace and been a good speed for us. Lots of bruises and scrapes on my hand. but I'm otherwise okay and happy to have been part of the parade. It was really fun to perform outside again!
FriendCanoe congregated for a meeting last week, where we made some good progress regarding the meaning of old friendships and the value they still carry. This app is going from technical to extremely sentimental pretty quickly!
I also attended my first trope class on Thursday, as I am learning to chant the torah instead of reading it monotone like a chump. The lessons run weekly, and since the weather is nicer, I don't mind taking trips up to North York as much as I did in the winter.
[email protected] is now fully functioning from my other email address, which is awesome. I could only manage to make it work on desktop for now, but I'm working on the iPhone part (which is less important anyway). This all makes me wonder why I put so much importance on looking at email from my phone. It might be time to move that icon off the dock of my Home Screen.
Finally and most importantly, I got the permit for my bonfire happening in a couple of weekends. This event always marks the seasons for me, which I'm happy to celebrate with my friends. Next up is patio day-drinking and lying on the hills in Christie Pits watching movies in the park.
Goal:
This week is pretty packed for me, but I'd like to work on FriendCanoe. There are some simple UI changes we've made, and I want to iron that out.
Almost as a reward for agreeing to take on an extra project at work, I have been granted access to the full suite of Creative Cloud for a month. This is an excellent opportunity to finally finish the WayHome video I created last year.
I've also noticed a bunch of clothing swaps happening this weekend around Toronto (must be the season of Spring Cleaning) so I'll be attending (at least) one to get rid of the piling corner of Bunz crap in my apartment (and whatever's leftover at my parents' house too). It feels AWESOME to get rid of stuff you don't need.
Random Thought: Clothing Swaps
It's no secret to my readers that I am obsessed with Bunz. With the advent of all these clothing swap parties cropping up all over the city like the Annex, Parkdale, and Evergreen Brickworks, I wonder if they're taking a page out of the Bunz book or if these sorts of events have always been around. Regardless, I think it's all great. I feel like movements like this always start from the bottom up: when consumers make decisions with their wallets NOT to buy new things but to trade for them instead, the world gets a little better. It's like ripples in a pond, hopefully reaching outward to big box stores and the like, reducing waste and production of items no one asked for and no one needs.
Inspiration: Enamel Pins
God damn, I love enamel pins. Ever since I was little, looking at my dad's button collection on the walls, I was always enamoured with the tiny little enamel-filled metal pins that just had a handmade quality with which regular circular buttons just cannot compete.
Ever since I found out about Pintrill, a pin lifestyle brand based on Brooklyn, I realized there are other people out there like me as well. Since then, I've been following them and keeping up with my pin trends.
Yes, that's a ChocoTaco pin.
I also had the opportunity to source, design and create some enamel pins during my short stint as a design intern at the ROM a couple of years ago.
My pins (not pictured above - those were inspiration) became the 5, 10, 20, and 25 year commemoration pins for years of volunteer service with the museum. Yet another reason to love pins.
Fast forward to my birthday last year. After finding a friend to confide my enamel pin dreams to, the beautiful Tess Reid bought me some lovely pins to start my collection.
And now, a year later, I am happy to say that most of my belongings have pins attached to them.
Did you know that enamel pins can also be used as zipper pulls? Probably obvious in hindsight but still a great idea.
I found this one face-down on the southbound platform of the Bloor-Yonge Subway. I have lost pins before, as I am no stranger to the fact that they are as flimsy as they are beautiful and their backings are usually really loose. I had lost a pin just before finding this one, so I feel like the whole city is involved in an involuntary swap meet all the time, constantly in a cycle of losing and finding enamel pins on the ground. On the plus side, they're shiny (and usually fall sharp-point-up) so they're easy to spot (with your eyes or your ouchy feet).
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