In which cat-callers talk fashion

Picture this:

Here I am, walking down one of the shiftier areas of Toronto at approximately 10 pm. I have just finished a session of bikram yoga, and the sky has decided to litter snowflakes like it's nobody's business.

Out of the blue, a young man in a hoodie walks past me and says:

"That scarf is working for you."

My first thought was, "was he insulting me?" albeit in jest considering the amount of my neck that is exposed to the elements.

My second thought was "was that a compliment?" Was he trying to tell me that he likes my scarf, in his own odd way? Perhaps.

My third thought was my amusement that my first assumption is that he was putting me down. I think that highly of myself that I can't even accept a simple compliment from a possible street urchin. Go Cathryn!

In the end, I like the cut of this guy's jib. He must be rather fashion forward to recognize the suitability of my scarf. And of course you would hear scarf compliments in Canada. So thank you random guy! I do believe my scarf is working for me.

I am a lightweight

Two tall boys of Strongbow and a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade put me out. And when I get drunk I like to reach out.

Yes, I am a drunk text machine. There is no stopping me from letting the world know I fucking miss it. Whether it be my mum, or my old floormate from university that I'm still good friends with, but don't see enough.

I wouldn't consider it a problem, except for when I'm drunkenly asking for advice about this guy I met over the break, who I'm super attracted to, but sort of blew my chance with while we were in the same town. Now I'm back in Toronto and he's in Halifax, and I'm pathetic. But more on that another day.

At the very least I'm amazing at hiding my inebriated state. My spelling is immaculate and the messages are coherent. So, at least I have that?

2010: A Review

No real complaints. I read over 20 books which is at least 8 more than the book a month resolution I made.

I tried bikram yoga, which I gave up on after two sessions in my week trial, but I got a great deal on 25 sessions for the next three months so there's that.

I didn't get a tattoo, but I have decided on what I'm getting and I figure a year to mull over it, isn't the worst thing I could do.

There's also multiple other things that I won't go into, but lets just say I pushed the boundaries of my comfort levels, including, but not limited to getting black out-puking-pass out drunk on two different occasions. [Although for some I'm sure that's just old hat]

I'm starting 2011 rather broke, but not something to worry about for the time being. I do want to get a tattoo, and I do want to write a story than a notebook of thoughts [although I have almost reached 18,000 words in that regard].

However, I'm not going to start the year proclaiming that 2011 is going to be the best year ever! [multiple exclamation marks]. That is fruitless. I want 2011 to be a good year, as much as anyone wants the next year to be a 'good' year, but that isn't how it works. It's like wanting to have the 'best life ever'. It's just not going to happen without a little bumps on the road. There are good days and bad days, and how you learn to deal with the bad mixed with the good marks your feelings about it.

Looking on 2010, there are plenty of moments that I want to remember, and many I would rather not. But I've learned to make a funny story out of my weaker times [passing out on my birthday for one]. I could also say that this year has been more stressful than I would have liked and for that I'm happy to see it go as much as I'm going to miss it.

So, I started last year off kissing four boys and ending the night in a strip club. This year I spent it with some old friends and although a bit tipsy from the wine, still content.

2011 will be as good as I let it be.

"You left in a hurry, didn't speak for a week"

My roommate made a video for this Aldo Dance Contest [she's far left in the pool scene], and she needs as many likes, tweets, shares and views as she can get.

I don't usually promote these kinds of things, but I really like the video so, show your support!

-Cathryn

Hello again... naturally.

Hey all!

Sorry for the radio silence. School has been my bitch for awhile, and I've just lacked motivation. I was just reading the excellent blog Being Blanche, who is going through a bit of a blogging conundrum, and it made me think of this blog and how I want to keep going, but am lacking the ambition.

That isn't to say I'm going to give up on it entirely, I'm just going to revamp it the best I can. I want to make it exciting for me and for you guys as well. All five of you.

I'm going to try to think of a direction to go in. Lifestyle in general seems best. I tried fashion, but I'm not fashion-forward enough to devote that much time to it. And I tried personal, but things just got messy.

So, if I could petition the help of you lovely people in the form of how to make a new layout or what you want to see, that would be greatly appreciated.

Much love

-Cathryn

And in the meantime, I have my tumblr for odds and ends.

"You should be on Coney Island bird-dogging chicks"

Granted that line doesn't appear in the novel "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini, but it does appear in the trailer for the film. I found the trailer first a couple of weeks ago and quickly became intrigued with the story of a severely depressed and suicidal 15-year-old boy who commits himself to a mental institution. The movie comes out September 24 and features the likes of Zach Galifianakis, Jeremy Davies, Keir Gilchrist and Emma Roberts.

I bought the book on Sunday and devoured it on my bus ride home from Toronto. I regret not having heard of it sooner, although that's beyond my control. It reminds me so much of myself at that age. Sad, lonely and horribly horribly awkward which just heightened my adolescent insecurities. And although I don't feel that way about myself now, I can recognize the emotions and feelings of isolation from the rest of the world. It didn't help that I was very introverted and quiet. In my own head all the time. In that way, I think this book could be very helpful to teenagers. Any teenagers. It talks about mental illness in a light-hearted way, while taking the characters and emotions seriously. There are no sudden epiphanies or dramatic monologues about life. It's just very normal.

The story is actually based on the experiences of the author Ned Vizzini, when he committed himself to a mental ward at the age of 23 for five days. It's a young adult novel, so it's a quick read, and the movie looks quite good, but different in that it's clearly been fleshed out a bit with jokes and back stories for the other patients.

I'm not writing this to say "go read this now", unless the mood were to strike you, I just like to raise awareness of these things. In my opinion, I found the novel insightful and only wished I'd read it sooner. Also, I'm seriously stoked for the movie.

With love and bookmarks

-Cathryn

Now I don't want you guys thinking that I've forgotten about you again, because I haven't. I just wanted to update to say that I have an interesting project I'm working on that I'm going to try and blog about regularly. It's kind of personal, in that it should really only affect me, but it's rather time-consuming.

In the meantime here is a picture of a Dolce and Gabbana sweater I'm trying to recreate:

I'm excited

With love and knits

-Cathryn