Wednesday, June 6, 2012

This one's for you, Value Village Sunday shift boss...


So It's summer technically for me! I've been working a lot but I still want to make sure I get some blog posts done! It's a weird transition, though. Going from being at school five days a week and only owing things like good grades to yourself, to going to working a full-time job. It's all very odd, and I'm not sure I'm dealing with it all that well, but, then it's only been three weeks.

My days off and evenings are mostly spent driving around by myself in my parents car (I finally got my license last month!) listening to the Almost Famous soundtrack and visiting my local Value Village a little too often. I haven't been dressing too interestingly lately though because of work, so here's the most fun thing I've worn recently in my spare time. Tis my outfit for eating Tim Hortons yoghurt and berries by myself and composing fan-fiction poems about the manager of my fave Value Village. Which will be published in my friends' collaborative zine in the near future! (The creepy poetry, I mean :) )

 
Shirt from Forever 21 (aghghghgjfkdlsafj I swore I wouldn't buy stuff there any more, but why does clothing made by four-year-old factory workers have to look so darn cute!? The dilemmas of my mindless, consumer-driven life.... ), thrifted kilt and a silk headband my mom's friend hand dyed for her and which I stole from her underwear drawer (yay my hair is almost getting long enough to not look weird in a 'bun'let). I know the pictures are kind of blurry, but I didn't really have time to take any better ones.

In other news, I recently went to a Zine Fair that was held in an independent gallery in my city. One of my good friends and favourite people in the world was selling her zine there (Glitter Zine, I would post a link, but I don't think she has a blog), so I went and was totally excited to be there. When I got there, it was cool, but something about it bothered me and some of the people I was with. Going to an independent arts event, you think people would be very open and accepting, right? I mean, wouldn't you want as many people as possible to read your zine and learn about things they maybe had no prior knowledge of? For the most part, it was a fun and cool experience. Most of the zinesters there were dressed all in black, tattooed and sporting under-arm hair and that was cool.

What bothered me was that it seemed like one out of every three of the zinesters was rude or stand-offish or dismissive of myself and my friends and even my friend who was selling her own zine at the fair. And it seemed like it was because we were too 'mainstream' or dressed in bright colours or ignorant-looking. I guess I can't say I know why, but I bought peoples' zines and I was nice to them and tried to talk to them, but some people just wouldn't have it. Now, most of the people there were awesome, but really? That behavior, however rare it might have been, just doesn't make any sense. Especially from people who claim to be accepting, enlightened and who want as many people as possible to read their zines. Okay that rant is over :)

On a semi-related note, I am working on my own zine right now! It will be called On the Fence and will be a product of my brain and its angsty-ness. I guess I'm kind of focusing on the theme of transition - like being in between teenage years and adulthood. And I'm going to be writing about blogging, and will have an interview with the lovely Nicole of City of the Fireflies! I've started working on my cover, which I will be screen printing, but that's about all I've got done so far.

The front and inside cover designs for my zine so far.
A page spread from my friend Steph's Glitter Zine for inspiration!

That's all for now!