Music to My Ears: Pre-Winter Edition

Hi folks.
It’s been a while since my last post, but I’m back and thought I’d talk about the music I’ve been listening to lately. Below is my pre-winter playlist of the recent tunes I’ve got on in my house and in the car. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Leave me a note in the comments section. I’m always looking for new music to appreciate (and older stuff to re-appreciate).

My Pre-Winter Playlist

1. Smokey Taboo – CocoRosie
2. Washed Out – You and I
3. I Follow Rivers – Lykke Li
4. Intro – The XX
5. Mykonos – Fleet Foxes
6. Waves – Deluka
7. Video Games – Lana Del Rey
8. Cruel & Beautiful World – Grouplove
9. Her Space Holiday – Sleepy Tigers
10. Set Fire to the Rain – Adele
11. Sway – Rosemary Clooney
12. Write Myself a Letter – Madeleine Peyroux
13. What I Am – Edie Brickell
14. Love Song – The Cure
15. Pass This On – The Knife
16. DNA – The Kills
17. Give Your More – Taxi Dolls
18. Sadness is a Blessing – Lykke Li
19. Lemonade – CocoRosie
20. The Winner Takes it All – ABBA
21. 99 Problems – Hugo

Happy Skank-o-ween?

I used to love dressing up for Halloween. And I still do, as long as it’s a costume I’ve made myself, because let’s face it, 99% of Halloween costumes out there for women (and teens) are beyond slutty.

Why do guys get to be superheroes and really cool characters, but everything for the gals has to be Sexy Witch, Sexy Maid, Sexy Fairy? *insert vomiting noise here*

But wait a minute, there are superhero costumes for the ladies, after all. Like Sexy Bat Girl and Cat Woman. All leather and latex. Blah. I rest my case. How about some interesting and original costumes that get your attention for other reasons than bare skin?

Surely there has to be something out there.

I’ve heard some say it’s because it’s the one day of the year that you can get away with wearing just about anything — or nothing, as it seems.

Hello Beautiful’s blog post on this topic summed it up perfectly:

“I don’t have a problem with women wanting to be sexy for Halloween, but there’s a fine line between being cute and walking down the street naked.”

I found simliar thoughts and observations on The Lovelyish Blog post (Why is Halloween an Excuse to Dress like a Skank?). I enjoyed her witty comments on the costume photos, too. Check it out.

A fellow non-conformist-yet-more-feminist friend of mine just shared this awesome website with me: “Take Back Halloween. A Costume Guide for Women with Imagination.”

Her comment was, “In the absence of interesting non-sexy-based female costumes, Take Back Halloween spans millennia and the globe in depicting fascinating and important female figures, both mythical and real.”

I loved the sound of it right away, so I clicked the link.

According to Take Back Halloween:

“We think it’s cool that there’s one day a year when people can dress up as anything they want. What we don’t think is cool is that increasingly women are only supposed to dress up as one thing: Sexy.”

The site has so many amazing and unexpected costume ideas for women that are not only beautiful but also empowering. “We’re pushing back against the rule that women have to dress up as sex kittens. That shouldn’t be the only option for Halloween, much less a requirement,” the site’s sponsor explained. “We’re trying to reclaim some space for a different vision of the holiday, where women can use Halloween to explore history and celebrate their heritage.”

Check out the site after you read this post, if you like!

My Kind of Halloween
Last year, I went for a North American-Middle Eastern meshing of cultural commentary and social irony. I was a Desperate Housewife. A Desperate Arabian Housewife.

I donned the full veil and robes, only my dramatically eyelinered eyes showing though. Some of the comments I got were, “That’s creepy. Your eyes are freaking me out,” but mostly what I got was silent and puzzled stares. I certainly didn’t get hit on (yes!).

This year I’m thinking David Bowie-inspired glam rock. I’ve got some silver studded half-gloves and rainbow sparkle spray just waiting to be busted out.  Or perhaps something steampunkish…or maybe Mary Queen of Scots…or — ooh, maybe a good ol’ classic horror-film zombie. Now that’s more like it!

Happy Halloween folks!

Tags: halloween, Halloween an excuse to dress like a, sexy halloween costumes, skanky halloween costumes, take back halloween, the Real History Project

Music to My Ears: Fall 2011 Edition

Alrighty, it’s time for the seasonal edition of “Music to My Ears”, which featured some music (both current and re-discovered) that I’ve been listening to lately.

1. “Candy” by Paolo Nutini
A revisitation of this amazing lyrical song. Gets me right in the heart.
A close second is his rock-y “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty”; both below)
This guy has an old soul (and voice) in a young man’s body. And he ain’t hard on the eyes either (being of Italian descent) and easy on the ears with his Scottish accent.

2. “Drive” soundtrack
Some real gems from the brilliant art-house action film, “Drive” is featured on this OST. My favourites:  “Night Call” + “A Real Hero (Real Human Being)” + “Under Your Spell”.
This soundtrack has a very mid-80s/early 90s feel.  See the film. It’s no wonder it was an official selection fo the Cannes Film Festival.

More about the soundtrack here.

3.”The Shore” by Basia Bulat
Love all of her work, but this one has been on my mind a good bit lately. So unique, soulful and beautiful.

4. “All This Time” by Maria Mena
She’s a cocktail of

Also very much enjoy from her other albums – from super sad ballads to pretty pop: “This Bottle of Wine,” “Boy Toy”, “Just Hold Me” and “Calm Under the Waves”

5. “One Match” by Sarah Harmer
(and as always, her older “Lodestar” – the perfect lullaby)

6. “Je Veux” by Zaz
This young French crooner is being likened to legendary Edith Piaf for her unconventionally ragged but likeable sound.

7.  “Anthem” by The Once
Fantastic Newfoundland band, The Once, performs Leonard Cohen’s classic. I love the melody and lyrics. If you haven’t seen this group live yet, you really should.

And check out this heart-rending musical recitation of an old story of a marooned lady.

8. Bossa n’ Stones II: The electro-bosso songbook of The Rolling Stones
Anekka and Karen Souza provide chilled out vocals over Stones classics. Nice to have on in the background with a glass of wine (or three). They also do takes on U2, Guns n’ Roses, etc. Check ‘em out.

9. “Hush” by Angus & Julia Stone
Seems like I’m ina  chilled out mode with many of these selections. And if this song doesn’t relax you, I don’t know what will. Very talented brother-and-sister duo from Australia that I’ve been into for a while now.

10. ‘Sally’ by Gogol Bordello
This one kicks it up several notches and may take time to grow on you. I instantly liked it, being a marriage of punk and folk. Thanks for introducing me to it, blogger “The Unravely Tree”!  Enjoy it in all its kitchsy, catchy weirdness.

Tags: cool new music, music

If I had a million dollars…

After a long day and feeling out of creative juice for a blog topic tonight, I resorted to a random blog topic generator. After flipping through several that were snoozers, I hit “If I had a million dollars.”  Too obvious? Too much wishful thinking?

I clicked away from it to another topic but stopped and thougt about it for a second. It could make for some decent blog fodder for tonight. *drumroll please*

IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS

In no particular order, both serious and frivolous, I would:

1. Pay off any remaining debt; invest the bulk and live off it for life
2. Design and build a house on a big piece of land by the sea
3. Take care of my father and grandmother financially
4. Take care of my closest friends financially (they’re family to me); send the droves of “friends” wanting my $ packing with a built in eject button on my front step
5. Start a no-kill animal shelter with a free (mandatory) spay-neuter program for locals; grow it from provincial to national
6. Quit my job (woot!)
7. Work for myself, focussing on my writing, art and passions
8. Take my friends on a private, specially-tailored around-the-world cruise
9. Make a lot of donations to charities around the world, and here at home – humanitarian aid, senior care and mental health associations, animal rescue organizations — all things I think are sorely overlook
10. Get a personal chef, trainer, housekeeper and tailor — it would be nice to be taken care of for a change instead of eking out this current existence
11. Build and furnish my own personal art gallery
12. Travel. All. The. Time. (Well, not ALL the time, but more often than I do now)
13. Make sure my pets were even more well equipped and cared for (a never ending vet care and supply tab for any of their future needs)
14. Build (and visit) vacation homes in France, Thailand and Nicaragua
15. And most of all, I’m pretty certain that I wouldn’t change who I am.  I’d just have more to give!

How about you? What would you do? Anything outlandish? Comments!

Window Watcher

Ah, morning. My favourite time to blog. Sitting in a top floor window, listening to the wind and the sounds of passersby. Sound travels quickly upward, I find, making conversations three storeys below waft up at equal volume. Some trick of physics that I once learned and now is forgotten.

I have a brilliant people watching vantage point here in hilly downtown St. John’s, where the people are as colourful as the clapboard that adorns their rowhouses.

On days like this when I’m considering what to blog about, I can’t help but lift my gaze up and out the window onto the world below. Sometimes, while typing furiously chasing a train of thought, I hear something from the street below – a snippet, an exclamation – and I smile without looking up.

The flashing scenes of people strolling by bring little slices of identities and lives – some silent as they pass, some very verbal. As someone who feels a lot and observes keenly, these fleeting moments can fascinate or tire me, depending on what I see.

I could fill a book with the things I’ve seen and heard from this window. So this morning, I thought I’d blog about the first 10 passersby scenes that caught my attention.

1. A well-to-do couple wiping ice cream off their crying 2 year old, then dropping the wad of napkins on the ground to be blown down the street. Seriously? Pick up your trash, you lazy yuppie bastards. Ugh! (We’re not off to a great start here, passersby! Who next will redeem the humans of St. John’s?)
2. A skeety mom in bar-tight, filthy windbreaker, constantly shouting at her 7 year old boy, who walks with head down, several paces ahead of her. I could hear her before I saw her – for a long time. I thought “Oh great, a fighting couple”  and “Whoah, that missus will not let up. I feel for the guy.” All I could hear was non-stop berating. Then I looked and saw it was just a little kid she was unleashing all this anger upon. I won’t repeat the terrible things she yelled at her son, slinging insults and threats at his hunched shoulders as she trod behind him.I pitied the child and imagined how messed up he will be as a teenager if this is what he has to deal with from a parent on a daily basis. Some people should never have kids. This scene hurt my heart as it unfolded – his mother walking slowly, one nasty phrase per footstep. He dragging his feet ahead of her. I could see ho beaten down emotionally that little boy was. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve held myself back from going out on the street and intervening in things…
3. Thankfully the next scene was lighter and more “human”. The matching track suit couple. They’re regulars. Smiling and rosy cheeked. Baby boomers who are starting to get particular about their looks, fitness and style. Cute. They even pump their arms in the same, silly fashion. Good for them to be getting out in the fresh air and doing something they enjoy together – matchy-matchy wardrobes and all!
4. An angsty 20-something girl is next to pass. Earphones in, walking leaning against the wind. I wonder what she’s thinking? Where she’s going? What song is playing right now in her inner ears?
5. A scruffily cute construction worker type in his early 30s. Hungover as bejesus but smiling pleasantly, blond eyelashes squinting against the sunshine. Sauntering with one hand in pocket, the other wrapped firmly around a coffee cup. Yes my son, have a swally. That’ll straighten you right up.
6. Here comes another. This woman’s haggardly sucking back her morning smoke, walking and wincing.  I wonder if the scowl is just her default face and she doesn’t realize it. Or maybe it’s the sun in her eyes. I think about default faces, including my own, as I watch her round the corner and disappear.
7. Two hipster dudes walking in tandem, raptly glued to their iPhones – faces downward, feet still walking with sure steps. So much for conversation snippets, but I am distracted from them as girl with a violin case walks by, wind streaming her reddish hair out behind her. She must be going up the road to the violin repair guy. A lot of violin cases coming and going lately. I quickly get snapped into a scene from Desperado, when the Mariachi use their cases as weapons and a rocket launcher comes out of the cellist’s case. But I digress!
8. A 30-something mother walking hand-in-hand with her little boy, who looks about three years old. In the other hand is the leash to her dog. Glad to see she makes an effort to include her pet in the daily routine after having kids. So many don’t, instead offload the confused once-beloved family pet to a shelter for inevitable death. She talks animatedly and sweetly to her little boy, pointing and showing and smiling. Such a reversal from the mother-son scenario 30 minutes earlier. Good mother. Good pet owner. I nod to myself and smile, type this in and go back to folding laundry. When the next passersyby come, I come back to the laptop. Mutli-tasking!
9. Oh dear. A group of loudly upper-Canadian accented tourists revelling about the architecture of St. John’s (ugh, the accents go right through me – why so harsh and flat? And LOUD). But it still makes me happy to see our neighbourhood being admired by tourists, even as the season winds down and fewer arrive. I don’t take for granted what a great thing it is to live in the downtown heritage district — though lately I’ve been dreaming about a quiet little place in Logy Bay.
10. A trendy looking guy in a wind-flapping raglan walks down the hill speaking passionately (arguing? excitedly relaying a story?) on his cell phone — in French. Not a Quebecois dialect, I notice.  His dark curly locks and metrosexual attire stand out against the bright yellow clapboard of the house he’s passing

So there’s 10…in just 35 minutes. If I stayed here all day I’d have quite the slice of humanity for you. I see good, bad, strange, hilarious and intriguing things every day. I despair about the troubling things, smile at the others and think about what someone in an upper loft would ponder if I were the one passing by as they recorded their own, similar observations.

Enjoy your Saturday. Get out there in the fresh air. Now that I’ve finished this, I know I am!

P.S. If you liked this entry, or others of mine, maybe you’d like to vote for me for the NL Bloggers Choice Awards. I’ve made it to the Top 3 of the Mixed Bag category. You can vote by clicking here. Takes less than a minute! And if you like what you’ve seen, please come back and visit my little nest any time for more stories.

Tags: Newfoundland, people watching, St. John's, window watcher

Blog Award? Whoo me?

I woke up this morning and while reading the NL Blogroll news,  was surprised to see my blog made it to the top 3 finalists for the NL Blogger’s Choice Awards under the category of “Mixed Bag”.

Wow! I made it to the top 3? Yay!

If you enjoy reading my blog and think I’m worth a vote, all you have to do is click here and leave a comment in the section provided.

Anonymous votes are worth 1 point, logged-in voters (using their actual names) are worth 5 points and fellow bloggers’ votes are a weighty 10 points.

I may not have the most snazzily designed blog “look” but I think you’ll agree that my varied and straight-shooting content makes me a distinct voice for Newfoundland on the blogosphere. I’m considered to be in the “mixed bag” category because I like the freedom to write about all sorts of topics without being limited.

I’m pleased to be in the Top 3, considering all the talented bloggers out there in this province. If you like my blog, please vote for me!

Tags: Blogger's Choice Award, Newfoundland and Labrador blogs, Newfoundland bloggers, NL BlogRoll

You are who you hang with.

Sometimes you have to cut ties if it means living a more positive, less stressful life. My New Year’s Resolution this past year was to closely evaluate relationships – ones that I’d outgrown, ones that were draining me.

And so this has been a year of some changes. I’ve removed three people from my circle (after much deliberation, effort and hopes that something would change). I’m learning that you can put in all the effort you want, but relationships — whether friends or family — are a two-way street. And sometimes, friendships fade away. You no longer have anything in common with them, or you’re not growing as a person in their company, or your morals and lifestyles have changed over time.

It was certainly no easy task, and it hurt, but I know it was the right thing to do. The three people I have stepped away from were dragging me down, holding me back, unsupportive and in some cases downright toxic.

I kept telling myself it was because person X was going through something, and it would turn around – friends support each other in thick and thin, right? With person Y, I kept thinking about what I could be doing differently, what approach to take – I was walking on eggshells unsuccessfully. With person Z, we just had nothing in common with anymore, after many years. All very different situations.

Person X was always needy and in crisis mode; person Y seemed to thrive on negativity and petty gossip; neither were there when I needed them, but expected me to drop everything if they were in need. Person Z was critical and never happy for me when things were going my way, sneakily putting me down in front of others. I realized down deep that this wasn’t right, and that something had to change…still I don’t like to give up on anyone.

But after years of making excuses for these people or giving chances, with no effort from the other end, you have to ask yourself: “Why am I doing this?” I was miserable as their “friend”.

If you feel exhausted, drained, frustrated or hurt every single time you’ve been around someone, that’s a sign. And so I move along and work to surround myself with positive people. People who will put in as much as you do to your relationships – ones you can count on and who accept you as you are.

It’s been a long time coming, and while I still feel a little sad and disappointed, sometimes you have to let go of things that aren’t good for you. But I do feel a sense of peace now, in letting go, keeping my distance from them and am focussing on the positives — and wish they somehow find a way to lead a happier life with balanced relationships.

I’m thankful for the great relationships I have that truly count, and no longer worrying about and working so hard on the ones that don’t.

Some helpful articles about this topic are:

Bad Company

Ending Friendships

Ending Unhealthy Relationships

Cutting Cords to Toxic Relationships

Tags: ending unhealthy friendships, estrangements, friend break up, relationships

Leaving the Nest

I’ve been considering discontinuing my blog. Although I get anywhere from 70-100 hits per day on The Owlery Chronicles, I feel as though my inspiration has dried up and also, in this small town, even writing under an alias doesn’t always work.

If you think this is just a “blah” phase and that I’ll be inspired again (plus have the time to dedicate to the blog), if you think I have more to say,or if you think it’s time for me to leave the nest, please vote below.

Woe is me.

I’m mourning the end of summer — well, what few days we had of it. Nonetheless, it pains me to think that our fleeting moments of sunshine are numbered as the days grow shorter. I didn’t get nearly enough summertime activity, fun or laughter this year. I’m guessing a lot of people here feel the same way. I wish there was a way to ring what is left of the season out and feel some sense of having “lived” this summer.

There’s one day left in August. What are the odds of it all happening tomorrow and redeeming my summer? Perhaps something exciting and memorable will happen while the sun kisses my white face.

I wish I had more to say, but this is really the sum of it. Ho hum. Woe is me. Let’s hope the Autumn has more to offer…

Anyone have any cures for the non-summer blues?

(C) Meg Pickard

Reward Offered: Lost Vitamin D

The sun has been missing for quite a while. I have winter blankets on my bed in August, and I’m not one bit happy about that.

I found out this year that I have severe Vitamin D deficiency, and have been taking lots of supplements, hoping for better times as summer came along.

Still waiting, summer. You out there?

With very little sun, and all this cloud and fog, I feel more sluggish and tired than ever. And that hardly motivates me to blog or do much of anything.

Anyone have any tips on how to get the energy back, aside from taking quadruple vitamin D daily?

Your friendly neighbourhood Owl, who desperately needs to see the sun again.

Tags: energy tips, newfoundland's non-existent summer, vitamin D deficiency