Love: Mothers Day

   Good afternoon dear readers and happy mother's day to you all. Whether you are a mother or not, we all had one at some point in our lives, and let's be honest, we couldn't be here without them (literally)! Who came first, the chicken or the egg? It doesn't really matter because you can't have one without the other.
   So today's post is pretty straight forward. I apologize that I didn't post anything in regards to my move last weekend since it was all pretty emotional, but with every new change in life, comes something else to look forward too. My amazing parents helped me move my entire apartment in two days and drove all the way back home. I even got to drive there and back in my new car (so at least Glen can survive longer road trips) and it's given me extra courage to go out on my own. I've been hiking with my friend Gen to get in shape for our trip to Iceland (which we will be leaving for in less than two weeks) and I'm tying up any loose ends before the adventure.
   I'm stating all of these big details because my mother is all part of it too. If it wasn't for her, not only would I not be alive to experience it, but she has never told me that I couldn't do anything. She may have mentioned once or twice that something wasn't a good idea, but she never said I couldn't. I know that I wasn't (and still am not sometimes) the easiest child to raise, but I'd like to think that she (and my dad) have done a pretty good job. I have an amazing relationship with my mom and I honestly do not think that I'd be able to live without one with her. A lot of my friends love her too (who wouldn't?!) and I sometimes get jealous (because I don't like to share) but I know that she can make the biggest difference with the slightest effort.
   My mother, my grand mother, my oma and my aunts are amazing women. They are strong, independent, caring and continuously show me that there isn't a thing that a mom can't accomplish when she sets her mind to it. And I'll admit that for a really long time, I was convinced that I didn't want any children, but after seeing all of the love in their hearts, and the love I have for them, I don't know why I wouldn't want that experience for myself. I don't care if people criticize that mother's day is a hallmark made-up holidays to increase profits, but our parents (who are so giving) deserve to be thanked and rewarded every day for what they have offered us. Especially on my end, I wouldn't have Literature, Love or Laughter in my life without my wonderful maman.
  
Joyeuse fête des mamans! <3

 

K.P.H.



Literature: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

    Good morning dear readers and welcome back to the home stretch. Yes, with only 6 days left before move out and my last ever exam of my undergrad happening tomorrow, reality is sinking in (well not as much as I expected it to). While I'm stressing out about work, school and having to pack up my entire life in 6 days, my mind wants me to procrastinate while my body just wants my mind to shut up for a second. Could you believe it if I told you that I over think things? Yeah, no one could ever guess THAT one! Anyways, so the title of this entry is in relation to what I decide to do when everything just seems too much... sift through books.

   Now I know that that sounds like procrastination (and it probably is) but it was doing me some good and I managed to study afterwards so it wasn't all bad. I manage to look through boxes of old books I was going to donate, and figured that I should only really keep those that are in pristine condition (or that would at least hold up in travel). As I was looking through them, I came across a box of children's French books and couldn't help but think of Katie for when she has her own kids. I know that most people think that I should be thinking of when I'm going to have my own kids (and I do plan ahead sometimes) but she's the one who's getting married and I'm still the single hermit who likes to read and go off on adventures by herself.

   What's really great about Katie and her future plans is that she wants her kids to learn French and English right from the get go since that is something she wished she had had. So while I was riffling through, I found a few good ones, as well as translation of popular books so that her fiancé could read one in English to the kids, and Katie could read the other to them in French.

   It's little things like that that we like to look forward to because we both know that we're both stressed and excited to start the next step. The tough part will not be seeing each other every single day, and not coming back to each other in the fall. Riles has already moved on to his new apartment, so we don't see him much but he's making a little effort now (so that I don't get too emotional over time). So with that, I discovered (or rediscovered I should say since I already technically knew) that books are some of the best books you can give someone. It is the one thing that you can continuously learn and grow from. It can be passed down from one person to the next, and it carries meaning beyond the pages of the book. That is why my dear readers, never through away a book, but rather donate or re-gift if you don't want it anymore, because you never know who is out there waiting for that exact story to change their life.

K.P.H.

Love: Creative Cooking

   Good evening my dear readers! I promised I have not forgotten about you all, but I think it'll be a little easier for us all if I post once every second week (at least until exams are done), or else I'm just going to run out of days. Believe it or not, we've reached the 12 days lefts mark and my apartment is beginning to look empty. With all of my belongings going into boxes, I've had to plan ahead for what I'm going to wear, what I need to finish studying, but also, with what I'm going to eat.

   Having been raised in a house where my mother loved to cook and try new recipes (so much so that we weren't allowed to eat the same thing until the duration of 4 months elapsed), I've learned to make a good meal with whatever is lying around. I've got so many random pieces of protein lying about in the freezer that I've got a base at least for everything. I've got veggies in the fridge and a pantry full of miscellaneous items. Though my meals may not always be conventional, they are always quite entertaining. I tend to "wing it" as I go, but once in a while, I'll consult the great cookbook of my mother's recipes and see if I might substitute one ingredient for another. My roommate Katie is loving my creative experiments as she gets to wine (but mostly) dine with me. We've only got 12 days to empty out the cupboards so if we have to have pancakes at odd times, of some sort of pasta concoction, we will be adventurous and push our taste buds to the limit.

   It's in moments of creative exploration that you can find one of your favorite recipes, or learn to make a basic meal with a little more pop to it. They may not always pan out the way you hope, but then you get to know what doesn't go with that certain ingredient. There really isn't anything to lose and everything to gain. And like Julia Child once said: "People who love to eat, are always the best people."

K.P.H.

Laughter: Faceswap...Enough Said

   Good evening my dear readers, I hope all is well. I  know that I did not write a post like week but I figured that with all the excitement of Easter weekend, both myself and you, were all too busy to read the blog. However, I made sure to post an entry worth while to make up for the time lapse. Believe it or not, since the last post, I currently have 27 days until I have to move out, and 22 days until I'm done my undergrad. Time seriously needs to stop passing by so quickly because I don't think there's enough coffee in our apartment to fuel those extra hours I have to undertake. Despite that, I thought it might be a nice change to focus on something a little funny that a lot of people are trying out lately.

   Now I'm not a person to follow a lot of trends, but I do on occasion take a dip into the mainstream. And the trend I have been testing out is a concept called Faceswap that is created and facilitated by an app called SnapChat. To start off, the only reason I have this app is because my friends from work got me to add it to my phone so that we can stay connected with funny pictures. For those of you not familiar with the app, it is one that allows you to connect with your friends by sending pictures and videos that can only be seen for a total of 30 seconds at a time. It's a brief way of communicating which really forces you to capture just the right moment. Now SnapChat has added certain filters that enables you to make funnier faces and add special effects to what would be normal pictures and videos. One of which allows you to swap faces with another person next to you.

   This Faceswap can be quite ingenious and can on occasion prove to offer plausible faceswaps, but on other occasion (which happens more often than not with me), they produce horrible (yet hilarious) pictures. Below, you'll see the app attempting to swap my face with my roommate Katie's. We were slightly further from one another, and apparently the app cannot register slight flaws in the pictures. The second is a faceswap that I did with my brother which resulted in utter horror. For some reason, my face in the faceswap filter tends to breed some kind of alien race. If you haven't tried the app, it's guaranteed to grant a good laugh (one that will make you feel like you've got abs by the end of it) or at least a great story to tell after. So I invite you my dear readers to test it out and see what the results will be!

K.P.H.

Love: The Official Countdown Begins

   Good afternoon my dear readers and I apologize for not posting an entry last week, I was busy writing a post for the OAR, which will feature me as a guest blogger in the next few weeks. I'm shooting for new experiences, and sometimes I really have to take a leap out there to get my foot in the door. And though I know that today is not Sunday nor Monday, I thought you'd rather have an entry late than none at all. So with that, let's begin!

   From the very beginning of my writing this blog, I've been looking forward to many things, and counting down the days to reach them. Whether it was to the end of a semester, to a trip back home, for an upcoming concert or of a familiar visit, there was always something to look forward to. That was all great, and I'm sure I will feel the same in the future, but for the past couple of weeks, I have been keeping tabs of the ever fleeting days since for once, the certainty of it all is numbered. It is no longer a temporary fix that I'm looking forward to, but I found myself inching nearer to a cliff that leads off into an abyss of an unfriendly job market (as rumoured for someone with an arts degree) filled with adult responsibilities and expectations. I have always had the comfort of a safety net, and that was the reassurance of school. If I didn't have four years of university to make plans, I had four years of high school. If it wasn't four years of high school to plan where I'd study to ensure that I'd be able to get a good job, I was in middle and elementary school to make sure I had good grades and a good extra-curricular rapt sheet to boost my profile in high school.

   All my life, I've been living it as a way to prepare for the next step I knew I was going to make. There was always time to make incredible memories and to go on great adventures. There was always time to figure out what I was going to do next. There was always time to save and prepare. There was always an assurance of more time to come. Now, with only 40 days left until I move out (34 until I've completed my undergrad), I realize that there really isn't any more time. And with that, I find myself being continuously asked what I'm going to do this summer, or come September. I find people even planning out more things for me, and giving me their own opinion as if it were the only rational path for me to take, when in reality I don't quite have a definitive clue of what's to come. I've spent this year preparing for the ending of a milestone in my life, as well as for the summer of celebration to come, but nothing much more for once the summer comes to its bittersweet end.

   So with a ledge in front of me and nothing to catch me, the days continue to pass by at an alarming rate, yet I am not afraid (well not as much as I expected to be). I do not see myself being paralyzed by the uncertain unfolding of my future, but rather challenged by the blank slate I'm being offered. Therefore my dearest readers, do not fret the final countdown, because there will be others which will call for a much worse ending. Thus, I leave you today with the words of D.H. Lawrence: "Life is a traveling to the edge of knowledge, then a leap taken."

K.P.H.