Othello

If you've ever lived in Vancouver or even been there during the summer in the past 20 years then you may have hear of the Bard on the Beach performances. If not, well I'll give you a quick description, basically right near Kitsilano Beach, they set up a bunch of tents and put on plays. And no, not just any plays, they are the work of Shakespeare. The tickets are rather pricey but its so fun and the plays are so good, and surprisingly they're almost easier to understand when someone is speaking it, and acting it out because using the body language and all the words that you can understand you can figure out what's going on. I know I had a terrible time in school trying to figure it out when I was reading the plays! Anyways, I'm a little off base here. So yes, they set up tents and there's a litle mini bar type thing, just beer and wine, nothing special really and there's a few little kiosk type things where you can buy little trinkets and goodies from the play and there's an entire tent filled with porta-potty's which looks kinda funny but definitely good to have! So tonight my lovely boyfriend decided to take me to see one of these plays, and as the title says, it was Othello. I have the play at home and had tried to read it once (I don't think I made it past scene two lol) so I knew how it started, but lucky for us there were little pamphlets with a short synopsis of the play which was great. The acting was wonderful and there were even a few funny parts which for some reason I found surprising, I never really though of his plays as particularly funny but there were definitely moments! It was just lots of fun, a very good date for anyone really, as long as you can go and enjoy it together then it works perfectly. On top of that we spent the day out and about in vancouver which was nice plus we spent a good few hours at the beach. So yes, all in a all a wonderful day. Plus I havent seen a play in ages and it was nice to finally be able to go to one. But that's about all for now.

Cheers!
- Holly

University Here I Come....Again

My first year of university was a complete and utter failure ha! I went, and did horribly, mostly because I wasn't ready to go to university especially not straight out of high school! So why did I go you ask? Well mostly it was because of my parents, my mom saying how she would love to have a university student and she'd be so proud, you know...parent stuff. Well I sure showed her eh? Seriously though, that was an awful year and I did so terrible. I almost dropped out after first semester which now that I think about it could have been rather beneficial because now I want to go back to school and I am in fact, this fall. However, it's so expensive to go to school that I can't afford it on my own and I'm doing my best to try to avoid getting student loans because when I'm done school I don't want that huge amount of debt on my shoulders, that's no way to start off life. So I've been trying to find bursaries and things like that which I can apply for and it's really really difficult because I did so completely rotten my first year. But I'm going to the best I can with what I'm given and definitely continue to work a LOT after I get back from Europe, if I'm lucky I can get in three paychecks before school starts which will be more than enough for first semester..it's the second that worries me! So I'll have to be super frugal, or get a really really good paying job...fat chance! Anyways, we'll see what happens, in the meantime I'm just going to focus on my trip and try not to worry about school too much! Oh the wonders of youth....*sigh*

Cheers!
- Holly

Change

Interesting title eh? But essentially that's what this is about. The biggest move of my life (thus far) which was a huge change for me. Basically I grew up in Prince George B.C, definitely not the prettiest town but still, it was home for about 13 years of my life (we initially moved there when I was 3) and we did move around town a lot which wasn't too bad, but basically what I'm getting at is that PG was my home, it was all I knew up until that point. I was really comfortable living there had lots of fun, lots of people to be with and things, and then in grade 11 I got the worst possible news, once again, we were moving. At that point, I had been going to school with the same people for about 6 years so I had my little niche all worked out so I was NOT pleased at all when I found out we were moving. Especially since I had just found myself a new beau. Anyways, the time came and we packed up everything and moved to Victoria B.C in the middle of my grade 11 year. When we started up at our new high school I hated it (and I have to say I always hated it there) It was a super small town school that we went to because initially when we moved there we lived in Sooke which has 3 stoplights and then you're through the town. And all these kids had been going to school together since elementary school! So needless to say I did not fit in at all. It was super cliquey. The people were really rude too I found, but either way I hated it. I hated the school, I hated the town, I missed my friends, I hated my parents for moving me there, I just was not a happy person. And that lasted for a really really long time and it wasn't until just this past year, after having moved from Sooke into Victoria and being done school, that I've been able to be happier and to enjoy myself more. What I've noticed is that I really enjoy living here and each time I go back to PG to visit, it just makes more and more sense to live where I am now, great schools, beautiful surroundings, lots to do and see all the time, no matter what season! If you would have asked me three years ago if I thought I could ever enjoy living here, I would have given a flat out NO for an answer, and yet now, you couldn't make me move back to PG for any reason!! The whole point of me talking about this is because I absolutely hate change and this was a prime example of me being stubborn. As much as I hate change I've come to realise that it can be a good thing, and it may not always seem that way at first but it really is a good thing. Change doesn't have to be bad, it can be great as long as you deal with it properly, I didn't and it made me miserable for so long, and now that I've learned that lesson things are going alright...and finally I'm happy again.

from here....



to here...



Which if you ask me, is a wonderful change of pace. Going from a dirty logging town to a gorgeous island!

Cheers!
- Holly

Filler

Wow, it's been ages since I last posted and I'm only going to do a short one today simply because there seems to not be enough time in the day for me to do things! I've just spent the weekend with my boyfriend and best friend here at my house and it's been lots of fun. Picnic yesterday, kite flying the day before that and lots of dorky fun and some drinking of course. We even went out dancing one night (my sister included) we started off at the strip club which was kinda fun, I'd never been to one so it was definitely an experience and then we went to the club that was above that and there was like 5 people in there max and it was super lame so we ditched my sister and some of her friends and hopped a bus downtown and ended up at the Upstairs Cabaret which was SOOOO packed it was absolutely nuts and so many people who were being really pushy so it was kind of frustrating, but my best friend (who's from a small town) had a good time and that's what matters. Anyways, I'm going to go keep her entertained as well as go make a lunch to take to work later.

Cheers!
- Holly

P.S. Can you believe it's only another 32 days until I leave for Europe?! So exciting!!! :)

A Night Out

Last night I had the wonderful pleasure of being with two good friends of mine and we had a super fun evening so I figured that I would share it. We started out at Thrifty's so that we could get all our ingredients for dinner which we had decided was going to be vegetarian calzones. So we wandered around the store having to go back and forth between the aisles a lot, we weren't particularly organized about it. And finally we ended up getting everything we needed to make it and by then it was about 6ish. Then we hopped on over to Planet Organic Market to get some coconut milk ice cream (which is amazing btw) and say hello and goodbye to a friend of ours who is leaving victoria this comming week and so that took about a half hour or so, plus I lost the two of them for a few minutes, I had no idea where they went so I was just standing around looking like a moron infront of the store. Then there they were and we said our goodbyes and went over to the video store next in search of a super scary movie! They didn't have either of the ones we were looking for so we had to kind of improvise and see what there was. We ended up with Shrooms, and The Strangers (which is the one that we watched) and after that we headed over to the liquor store so that they could grab some drinks, I already had some with me. So FINALLY we got back to the house and made up some drinks and then cut up all the veggies and things and then there was a smoke break, and then back into the kitchen to attempt to make calzones which actually turned out quite well! We each had two, full of tofu and veggies and lotsa cheese of course! And then we got stuck on youtube for a bit watching Charlie the Unicorn, we ended up going for a quick walk and then eventually got back home and put on the movie. Now, for me, The Strangers was terrifying, the whole mask thing on its own is creepy enough but add in the fact that they have knives and things with them, thats just even worse, and they're ability to move so quickly...gahhh, I was very glad that I got walked home after that! Anywho, just before I left we busted out the brownies and ice cream and omg it was soooo fricken good! So yea, we had a really good time, so I'm thinking we'll all have to do it again at some point, whenever we can get together again.

Cheers!
- Holly

Library Nerd

I must say that I fit the description of 'Library Nerd' quite well really. I absolutely LOVE going to the library, there's just so many to choose from and you can lose yourself in any part of the world or any kind of a story. Books are such a wonderful creation. And I don't speak for anyone else when I say this but the smell of old library books is just so weirdly comforting! Anyways, the reason I brought it up is that I got the chance to go to the library today finally and I find it so satisfying to walk in and be able to get whatever I want. So today I ended up with The Kite Runner, which I've heard is a really great book, and so far I'm really enjoying it, I'm only up to chapter 6 though so I've got a ways to go yet, but it seems promising!! And the other book that I got is called Lost Girls and Love Hotels which is about a girl who leaves Canada to escape her past and goes to Tokyo and spends her time working during the day and doing drugs and spending time at Love Hotels during the day and obviously something mysterious happens and all of a sudden she's in terrible danger so I think that will be a nice quick read. Apart from that though I'm not too sure what I'm going to want to read next, so hopefully I'll think of something, otherwise I'll just browse the fiction section for whatever catches my eye. Maybe a mystery novel next time. Who knows?

Cheers!
- Holly

Treasures of the world!

I went to go and see the Treasures Exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum today! Basically they brought in some of the worlds greatest treasures from the British Museum and put them on display it was absolutely AMAZING! As you walk in it starts with 'Becoming Human' which just mentions how the first humans were able to distinguish themselves because they had the ability to make crude tools to help their survival unlike other species. Then it moves into the Africa display which has handaxes which were some of the first tools made by humans, and then it goes into my favorite part, Egypt! They had a 3000 year old mummy and the sarcophagus as well!! It was soo amazing to see! It's hard to believe that the Egyptians had the technology to preserve their dead so well! And it's also really amazing to see the care that was taken for their dead, it takes 15 days to wrap a dead body in linens! They were so precise with the steps that had to be taken to help protect the souls of their dead in the afterlife. Anyways, there was also a casting of the Rosetta Stone which is inscribed in three different langues, Heiroglyphics, Greek and Demotic (which I've personally never heard of) all the writing was sooo small, I couldn't believe it, it must have taken ages to chip it into the stone! So from Egypt you walk into the kingoms of West and Central Africa, there was a lot of really neat sculpture type things. Then it's off to the Middle East! Now the Middle East is where writing originated over 5000 years ago!! Also, there was lots of religious art created at this time, however artists weren't allowed to depict people as they really were because that would imply that they were similar to Allah who created man. And they have these really neat cylinder seals that had a hole through the middle so that you could put a string through it and wear it on you, and basically its like a rolling stamp they were super neat. Also there were really large lamps that were among the first to hang in Cairo's early mosques, oil lamps of course. There was also a headdress from a royal cemetary made with gold, it was so intricate, it was very beautiful! So from there you move along to Europe and there was LOTS to see in this area, lots of jewllery and sheilds, carvings from ancient Greece and Rome lots of sculputures and there was lots of currencies from that time. Also, there were artifacts from Medeival Europe as well as the Age of Enlightenment. There were tons of paintings from this time, they were amazing! And of course, most famously, The Lewis Chessmen ( I want a set soooo bad even though I hate chess, but the set is like $400...ouch). They are so cool, they were made from walrus tusks for about 300 years until elephant tusks became readily available and for some of the pawns they were able to use whale teeth if they needed. The chess pieces are really odd looking but still really amazing, and I have to say that I much prefer chess pieces in white and red rather than white and black. After Europe you go over to Asia and theres lots of Chinese jade and bronze creations (for lack of a better word!) There were these really amazing screens, there were two and they were both 8 panels long and they depicted the Tsushima River Festival, so lots of boats and paper lanterns things like that :) and then we moved into Japan and there was a really huge standing Buddha made of wood and that was really cool to see. And then at this point someone came on the loudspeaker saying that the museum was closing in 15 mins, so I was NOT happy about that because we staill had 3 sections to get through, so we had to skip the Enlightenment Center which was all the hands on fun stuff...which I was looking forward to so we quickly had a look about and then sped through the rest of the exhibit which contained the Ocenaia section Which had pictures from Easter Island and some wood and shell artifacts and had some info about the Oceanic island cultures and the traditions and trade networks that they shared. After that came the Americas which there wasn't a whole lot of stuff on (go figure eh?) but still there was a gold mask and helmet of Columbia and then the last bit of the exhibit was the Modern World which has one of the neatest artefacts which would be the Throne of Weapons from Mozambique which is a chair made of guns and its all rusted, but it's so crazy to see a chair made completely of weapons! So that was the end of the exhibit and then there was the giftshop and i couldnt aford a single thing lol it was kind of funny, but yea overall it was really amazing, it made me think of how much fun it will be to see the British Museum which apparently has over like 50 000 paintings in it! CAN'T WAIT!!!!

cheers!!
- Holly

P.S. Only 48 more days to Europe!!