Sleepy time

sleepy time
Originally uploaded by claud-hop

I wish I was doing what Graeme is pretending to do in this photo, but in a big bed with incredibly huge and over-stuffed pillows and blankets.

Q: Are we not men?

Q: Are we not men?
Originally uploaded by claud-hop

Last night I had the insane privilege to attend the first Devo concert performed in Toronto since 1984, and it rocked the socks right off my feet. My shoes too. It would have been weird if only my socks came off... Even though the Phoenix was completely oversold (I was wedged between a really drunk guy and a really fat guy, and the tallest man known to earth was standing in front of me) I still had an amazing time. Thanks to Graeme who bought the tickets!

P.S. The guy who opened for Devo, JP Incorporated, was hilarious! You should google him. Or click on the hyperlink.

Epidemic

Everybody is sick. My dad has had some kind of flu for the past few days, now his wife has it, my mom got a kidney infection today and her boyfriend woke up this morning with a fever of 102. Since my mom and Luigi were mostly bed-ridden, and it was such a gorgeous day out (a whole 13 degrees celsius. That's hot here in November), Graeme and I took the dogs out for a walk. Hmm... not much else to report. I'm feeling quite lazy.

Ziggy between our shadows.

I know that she's blurry, but I like it.

Graeme and Brody playing together.

The bridge on the way home.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

Let's not even talk about my failed promises for this blog, okay?

Now that November has arrived, it is time to make gifts for the holidays. And since it is already November 3rd, I am a whole two days behind schedule, because as soon as those pumpkins get thrown into the compost by their respectable owners, or smashed by some totally badass kids, Christmas is shoved down everyone's throat with commercials of Santa, snowmen and douglas firs, all lined up and dancing like the Rockettes. I guess I don't really mind, the holiday season does have a somewhat cozy feeling to it, dancing trees and all. So anyways, I am starting my gift crafting by completing this giant granny square blanket I began making months ago, and then forgot about (what a surprise, I, Claudia, began something and neglected it. How unlike me). I worked on it for about two hours tonight, and didn't seem to get very far because it takes about 20 minutes for me just to complete one side at this point.

Christmas gift #1,

about half way to completion.

The blanket will be for Graeme's youngest niece Emma, who is about 7 months old, this will be her first Christmas.

Wednesday= better

Yesterday's school day did prove to be more interesting. This class was called "photo production" and had about a quarter of the amount of people from Tuesday's lecture (which was the entire first year image arts population). These lads were just photography students, so I actually got to meet some of the people in my program. But the best part was when I found out that my teacher for this semester is Robyn Cumming, a really awesome photographer who's work actually inspired my decision to choose Ryerson over OCAD (she went to Ryerson a few years back). I felt like I was in the midst of a celebrity! I kept looking around at the other student's faces to see if they had the same reaction as me, only to realize that I was alone in my star struckedness (not a real word). It made me not like them a little bit. Today, I had part of a Spanish class, a two hour break (which consisted of me eating, and then walking around aimlessly with nothing to do), and then a three hour talk about computers in a class called "tools and applications". Tomorrow, no classes. Hoorah.

Got my lunch packed up, my shoes tied tight...

Graeme and I in the
fun house mirror

Today I had my first official university class. It was a three hour lecture on something to do with trilobites possibly being related to me, the mesozoic era, why we're here... I thought I was in the wrong class. But then we started watching clips of pretentious art films with very long titles and I realised that I was exactly were I had to be. Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting. The picture up there is of Graeme and I at the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) on Sunday. I took many photos that day, and you can see some of them on my flickr account. If you like.

Kittens: Man's other best friend.

If you ever wish to turn somebody into a blubbering idiot, put a kitten in front of them and watch as they magically transform from a normal functioning member of society, into a drooling and babbling fool who can no longer form proper sentences or real words. That is me when I am around Graeme's new kitten Data, his namesake being Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek TNG (Data is an android who serves on the USS Enterprise and is the coolest character on the show. A very big responsibility, I imagine). I'm sure you are asking your computer "Claudia, have you always been this big of a nerd (/loser)?" to which the answer would be "yes". I've always been a nerd, just not a Star Trek Nerd. I blame this nerdiness on Graeme, and a tiny bit on my mom who I used to watch the show with when it was still new (Geordie was my favorite character at that time because he was also on Reading Rainbow). But I digress. So my friend Maite gave us one of the kittens that her kitty birthed a few months ago, and he is so very precious. Graeme and I like to give him big smooches and he in turn gives me head massages with his tiny, sharp kitten nails whilst I sleep. Then he bites me with his tiny, sharp kitten teeth and wakes me up. It's a thing we have. Here is Graeme showing Data off, they're the such buds.

Data and Graeme, having a cuddle.

Food, glorious food

Soup!

I'm not in such a writey mood at the moment, but I did promise to post more on this blog, so post I shall. Here is a picture of one of the bowls of the udon noodle soup I made for Graeme and I the other night. For those of you not familiar with the wonderful udon noodle, it is a thick wheat-flour noodle that when put into soup with some random fixens (ie. egg, seafood, veggies, tofu) makes for a very satisfying and delicious meal. The base of the soup should be made of something called "dashi", a very popular base for many Japanese dishes, however we couldn't find it at the local grocery store and had to settle for a vegetable soup cube. The soup still ended up being pretty tasty. Not very authentic, but tasty. Oh, and just a side note: we watched "The House Bunny", starring Anna Faris whilst we ate. And now you're jealous.

Must blog

I don't really know what my problem has been lately, I have no motivation to write or post. My friend Barbara, who is the most disiplined blogger I know (I don't know many bloggers, but even if I did, she would still be the best), keeps reminding me to keep blogging, and she is totally right. It's good to have a some kind of daily habit (as long as it's not something like smoking, or shooting up). Plus who wants to visit a blog that is never updated? Nobody, that's who. This is why I must continue to write and post as often as possible, even if I write about something like the A-team episode I watched today, or what I ate for lunch, or how hot it is in the projection booths were I work. Eventually, something interesting is bound to happen in my life... right?

Tonight, I am going to bake a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting (my mom just bought some cake pans).

Sweet pools

these
Originally uploaded by claud-hop

I learned a few things today. Number one: family reunions are boring as crap, but if you go to the public pool in the park where the reunion is located, you can have lot's of water fun. Two: the water fun can be enhanced if you have a camera that has the ability to take photos underwater. However, if your camera is not waterproof, and you bring it into the water anyway, you may not have such a good time. Three: make sure you are subtle (but not suspiciously subtle) about the fact that you are taking photos of yourself or your friends (today I had no friends, but my cousin did sit by the water and wave at me encouragingly every so often). Don't be a creeper and take pictures of the little kids in their bathing suits. You may be thinking "aww cute!" but to their parents you're thinking "Hmm, I think I'll ask that kid if he wants to take a break and get an ice cream..."

All hat

all hat
Originally uploaded by claud-hop

I haven't written or posted anything on my blog in so long, for shame! Incidentally, after my last post (the one where I wonder if photography is in fact my cup of tea), I got a letter saying that I got into the Ryerson photography program. I was shocked, to say the least, but decided to accept and see how things go. Maybe it will be a lot of fun. I also opened up a flickr account, so I've decided to put the majority of my photos up there, so now you can come here, read my posts and see one or two photos, then click the link I have provided for you on the left which will conveniently lead you to the rest of my fantastic fotography.

More Georgia

And here are more from yesterday's photo shoot. I need to stop dilly-dallying and start taking more photographs. Do I still like taking photos? I'm not sure. I think I'm just really awesome at being lazy and procrastinating.

Comic Georgia

Just some photos I took for my friend Georgia for a press release she's trying to get into one or some newspapers. It will be talking about gangLion, a collaborative comic zine that she created. I took a bunch of others in different settings, but these one's are my favorite because she looks ridiculous.

Fatty boy.

I vant to be alone.

Gross.

I came into my room tonight, only to find this ugly thing on my carpet. Look at it, it has fucking fangs! I wasn't aware that I lived in an African desert. It could have been worse though. Every time I find a spider in my room I thank the universe that it isn't a centipede or centipede related bug. I am terrified of them. Ever want to make me cry and almost pass out? Show me a centipede. (Please don't, I won't like you anymore).

The possible Tarantula I found on the floor of my room. For those who are wondering, yes that is indeed a shag carpet.

Back to amigurumi

These guys are the results of me trying to busy myself with something a few weekends ago. It's a chicky and a jellyfish. I guess. They're cute, that's all that really matters.

Fun with FIRE!

Last night Graeme and I discovered that slow shutter speed + sparklers and/or flashlights + darkness and/or nighttime = FUN. Good times were had by all. "All" being Graeme and myself.

Duplicity

Behold. I've mastered the "magnetic lasso" tool in Photoshop. I need to do another set with a different person pretty much by tomorrow evening. I have no more ideas and it's really bumming me out. I feel very blah right now, so I'm not going to write anything else... except that the photographs of me were, in fact, taken by me. I used the self timer on my camera.

A plethora of pictures

Graeme came over today and let me take pictures of him. Enough said. It was a fun few hours, that was eventually ruined by my having to go to work. These are all of my un-edited favorites. I'll probably do stuff to them, but later, because I'm tired.

Mon homme.

This is Graeme. He does silly things so that I can take pictures of him. I love him. The end.

Big booties in the summer

It's gross outside. Winter has reached the point where it is that bitter, icy cold that freezes the ground and makes you forget what it feels like to be what one calls "warm". It is like an annoying relative who is going through a rough patch, but you thought that they were endearing and somewhat pleasant at first, so you said "sure, you stay here as long as you need to", but regretted the words almost instantly, especially after watching them eat all of your food, and clogging up your toilet with stinky diarrhea . Now it is months later, and that relative has far outstayed their welcome, and simply must get the hell out of your house. GO HOME WINTER. Go home...

Here we have some photos that I took in August (sweet August...) at an Afro Cuban concert/festival thing held at Dundas Square. Come back summer, we miss you.