Another life experience

American Apparel had a crazy "Rummage Sale" this past weekend, here in the city.
I saw an ad for the sale somewhere on the internet, and then a couple days later, saw it on multiple other sites and then found out that there was a facebook page set up for the sale. This should have been my first clue that things would not end well.
I've never bought anything at American Apparel before. When it first came out in the city, the prices were higher than they are now, and the overstuffed racks of gold shiny leggings and neon fake-dancewear made me cringe. At the time, the word "hipster" was not on my radar. I was confused and aghast at what they were selling. Sadly, my sentiments have not changed since then.
The thing is, I have been looking for a good pair of leggings for quite some time now. I am very particular about the leggings that I'm looking for and so far, American Apparel is the only non-luxe boutique that offers the product I want. Yeah, you'd think that buying a pair of leggings would be easy, but trust me, it's not.
So, I figure that this sale, is the perfect chance to snap up some leggings and maybe some tights at a good price. I should have known that it wouldn't be so simple.
My strategy is to go on the first day of the sale, in the morning while people are at work or school. I showed up and am vaguely surprised to see a looooong line snaking around the corner of the nearest intersection. Turns out, tween and teens will skip school for these kinds of sales. Darn it. I join the end of the line and go through my plans for the day. No problem - I can just delay everything I had planned by an hour. An hour in, I've moved about 10 meters forward and thanks to the girls behind me, am reminded that teenagers have a skewed sense of personal space. This, however, may be a smart strategy to battle the cold weather. None of them seem to be wearing late-fall/winter coats and their leggings would not meet my criteria for purchase. I marvel at the kids strutting down the street without coats on and the girls wearing their hiked up kilts and ankle socks. I'm too lazy to bring out my reading, but I probably wouldn't have been able to concentrate on my articles with the stories of so-and-so cheating on her best friend's boyfriend and so-and-so thinks she's so cool, being screamed in my ear. Oh my.
Every so often, I see someone walk by with a large shopper bag filled with purchases from the sale. I guess there's good stuff to be bought. A flyer is passed out with the pricelist of items for sale. It's very enticing.
Starbucks, McDonalds and other local vendors must be so happy this sale is happening in their neighbourhood. Hipsters will spend lots of money on lattes and food.
At one and a half hours into my slow death, I've only moved half a block, but the girls behind me have started listening to their i-pods and I get a much needed break from their rambling and ranting. The sun comes out and warms my body (thank goodness I wear so much black), although by this point my feet have gone numb and the short stint of sun isn't long enough to bring them back to life.
I make a couple calls for moral support, and just as I think it's not worth my time nor energy (realistically, I'm only looking to buy 2 or 3 items) to stand in this line, we move forward. 2 meters.
I overhear a shopper tell a fellow line-waiter that it's not worth it. Items are not being replenished as advertised (it's just stuff that people don't want after throwing them on the floor or in the incorrect bin that's getting put back on the racks) and everything has rips and tears in it. Okay, I ready to bail, until I look down and see the massive shopper of clothes that she's just purchased. Huh?
I'm starting to feel a little bit hysterical from the cold and waiting and realize that I really have to leave. The line is not moving fast enough and I do have things that need to get done that day. After two hours of waiting in line, I've moved about one block (half a block to go) and am actually disappointed with myself that after all of that time, I have nothing to show for it. I feel like a quitter. I had gone so far, just to bail.
As I walk away from the line (I'm sure to the cheers of the girlies behind me), I can't feel my feet and am astounded that I can walk on stumps. I'm shaking from the cold and happy to sit down in the warmth of the streetcar. My muscles feel sore from tensing in the cold for two hours and I start uncontrollably twitching as my body returns to a normal temperature.

By the next morning, I've convinced myself that it wasn't meant to be and that I'm probably better off not getting into the sale. And then I get an e-mail from someone who's waiting in line. I waver (as always) and soon find myself in line beside her. I don't stay for very long, as I have plans that I do not want to tamper with (and the line is not moving any faster than it did the day prior), but a new development is that the organizers are now giving timed entry tickets so that potential shoppers do not have to wait around and can go and come back at a later appointed time. Just before leaving at 10.30am, I hear that they are giving tickets for a 4pm entry. I'm happy to leave, but wish my compatriot luck.
Yet again, I thought I was done with the whole gong-show, until later that day, I get an e-mail saying that there is a 6pm ticket with my name on it, if I want it. Like a sucker, I bite. I show up that evening, join a shorter line, and wait about 20 minutes to get in.
Once inside, we begrudgingly join yet another line (mandatory coat/bag check) and wait another half an hour, at least, this time in the warmth. In the distance, I see chaos.
It brings me back to my Club Monaco warehouse sales of my childhood where people are going crazy. Clothes are everywhere, and there's not much that is worth buying. I figure I'll be out of the there pretty quickly. I scan the racks quickly (definitely not a rummager - hmmm, why did I think I would enjoy this sale, again?) and end up with a couple items, mostly picked up off the floor and hidden underneath the overflowing racks. Strange, everything seems to have a rip in it, except for items sizes XL and above. So we're buying defective merchandise. Oh, great. I am actually tempted to get two different dresses. One would need altering and would only be worn to the beach, and the other has at least 2 rips that would need to be stitched up and I don't really know how well it fits.
I leave with nothing.

The kicker, I have developed a cold from Friday's antics. I hate being sick.

Now that the sale's over, for some reason they've decided to have a crazy sale on their online store. Clearly they have extra stock left from the sale. Apparently the webcode promo works on their regular stocked merchandise too. It's only for a couple days, so I'm actually going into the store today to try out sizes and see if I actually want to take the plunge. I'm wondering if the past couple days were supposed to be a sign that I should never engage in anything American Apparel.

One of a Kind Show

The One of a Kind Show, Christmas edition is in town and I decided to take a break from my writing (not of this, silly - it's end of term) and head over thanks to a little free re-admission scamming.
I haven't been to the show since I was in university, and in those years, it's become massive. I was a little overwhelmed with the space upon entry, but once I started snaking up and down the aisles, it was pretty manageable.
I didn't see anything too inspirational, but that's not to say that I didn't see things that I liked. There were many variations on the same theme, but that's not atypical of a craft/art show.
The only thing that I saw that I would be tempted to buy for myself was a dessert stand, but it was way out of my price range. It was beautiful.
The show is strategically split up so that, for the most part, similar artisans are stationed in the same area. One thing that I found a little odd was that one end of the hall had a higher percentage of vendors from Quebec. I wonder if that was on purpose. I admit that I lingered in that area to try to re-train myself to understand French.
Oh, do people in the city put sheepskin lining in their baby strollers? Also, (again, in the strollers) do they put their babies in little sleeping bags to keep them warm instead of just covering them with a blanket. I'll have to keep my eye out for that.
There was stuff that I would probably be interested in buying a couple years down the line, but for the moment, I was pretty satisfied to leave the show empty-handed.
The food section was a tasty break with their free samples.
It was quite busy today, and lots of purchases being made. The holiday shopping frenzy is definitely underway!

Cosmic bowling

The last time I went bowling was in high school. It was a long time ago.
Last night, we went cosmic bowling!!!
It was so much fun. I got caught up on some of today's music videos (along with classics too - Bob Seger, Brooks And Dunn). Remembered how heavy bowling balls are got a couple strikes!
My mostly black outfit meant that I didn't have to stand out in the crowd, although I got the most colourful shoes of the night. With the blacklights on, my shoes were fluorescent orange, yellow and green. It was wonderful.
I wish I took pictures, but every since I lost my camera case, I haven't had my camera in my bag and so I don't carry it around with me at all times. Next time, I'll remember.
My best game was 165 and hopefully we can go bowling again soon!

Pop-up shops

I've never experienced the phenomenon of the pop-up shop, but there's a couple popping up strategically in time for holiday shopping. Unfortunately for me, it's bad timing as this week it going to be a little hectic and I'm not going to be in town for most of it.
For everyone else who's in town, here are a couple that showed up on my radar:

Holt Renfrew
560 King Street West.
Wednesday, December 2 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 3 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Friday, December 4 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 5 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 6 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Housed in Toronto condominium development Fashion House, the pop-up will feature a curated assortment of Holt Renfrew’ brands merchandised as a shared shopping experience that has a decidedly unisex outlook.

Burroughes Building
639 Queen Street West.
Thursday, December 3, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Friday, December 4, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 5, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Burroughes Designer Department Store Holiday Pop-Up Shop, a four day showcase of great Toronto labels selling quality fashion, design, home and beauty buys including Philip Sparks, Carrie Hayes, Dalish Cosmetics, Petals, Soos Jewelry and Susana Erazo.

The Loft
52 St. Lawrence Street, Unit #324.
Saturday, December 5 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Gather your girls for the ultimate holiday treat. Sip, shop and share! Sip on some bubbly
Shop four Canadian designer lines: Psalms 91:1 Accessories, Brazen Hussy dresses, 442 McAdam handbags, and Aime by Monica Mei womenswear. 10% proceeds will go towards Dr. Roz Healing Place: a centre for empowerment and healing. PLUS, spoil yourself with cupcakes by prettysweet and mini-makeovers by Mary Kay Cosmetics!

Le bal

Although I know that there's no way that I would ever be able to attend this event (especially as a deb), but I'm still a little bit jealous that Le Bal is happening today and I'm not there. I can't wait to see pictures of the gowns.

Copy cats!

Every time I see them in the store, I make a mental note to ranting about them, but with my lackluster memory, it's taken awhile to actually follow through.
Skechers has totally copied MBT Shoes. The Shape-ups idea, is definitely not original. The give away? The ugliness of the shoe. I blatantly love to promote all things Swiss, but I draw the line here. I didn't see many people wearing MBTs, but the few times I did and when I saw them in stores I cringed. They're horrifically unflattering and I don't really know how much they work. Of the two people I personally know that wore them, one, ummm, could have used the toning but none of us really saw any results. It could be that this person didn't really do a lot of walking, so I'm not sure how they expected to see the apparently benefits of the shoe. The other, I have no idea if it made a difference. She's so fit, that it probably wouldn't make too much of a difference.
Anyway, my point is - Sketchers or MBT, they're both ugly.

Cheerios - Send a Cheer

I'm so tempted to go out an buy a box of Cheerios. It's not my breakfast of choice (I don't eat breakfast in general - yes, I know it's not healthy), but the Send a Cheer campaign makes it really tempting to change my eating habits. Although, I have to say, I've got a fresh box of Raisin Brand waiting to be opened. I think it's a couple months old. Ooops.

Survivor #1-billion (or something like that)

I can't believe how many seasons of Survivor there have been already. Currently, the show is airing season 19 which was shot in Samoa.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm watching this season. It's actually really good. There's one guy who is a serious-*ss player. I hated him at the beginning, but now I'm in awe. I think that's how they set him up, and it's working like a charm.
Impressive.

Keeping it together

Someone spilled/broke a bottle of red wine on the platform of the Spadina subway station. It took all of the energy I had left from a long day to keep from keeling over.

La Suisse me manque

Last night, I said tschüss as I left a friend's place. It just came out. It kind of surprised me after I heard myself say it. All of sudden I was happy and sad at the same time.

GAME OVER

J'ai ri apres avoir vu ces clips. Allez les Suisses!

The Room at The Bay

I was tipped off about the revamped version of the St. Regis Room at The Bay, Queen Street West location opening up as The Room. Today, I finally made my way over to see the place.
Incredible.
They did a fantastic job with the renovations, making the space roomy, sparse and bright. Fantastic merchandising and visuals. They instantly won me over by carrying labels such as Repetto, Sonia Rykiel, and Balmain, among others and many, many Proenza Schouler PS1's. Their selection included, a drool-worthy purple suede version and a stunning blue clutch. Man alive. Beautiful.
I also saw lots of pretty frocks, that I would currently get no use out of, but would love to own. Moschino, Elie Tahari and Erin Fetherston (whom I'd never heard of before).
They edited the space and products so well. Tons of beautiful pieces by tons of beautiful designers.
Well done.
I'll be going back for more browsing in the near future, I'm sure.

Luella

Apparently, Luella is going through some financial issues. Basically, they have no backing. A couple other fashion houses have been going through similar struggles this past little while, but have managed to pull through. Hopefully, Luella will as well.
One of my first bag-crushes was a Luella bag. The classic Gisele. I never bought it, because at the time, I couldn't even imagine spending that much on a bag. Oh, how things change.
So it's bad news for Luella, but good news for shoppers. Everything's on sale!

The Sleeping Beauty

Tonight, I attended the opening performance of The Sleeping Beauty of The National Ballet of Canada. I selected this specific performance to attend as it worked into my schedule and it had many dancers that I wanted to see.
I have a horrible headache, so I'm going to bed, but here's a couple highlights from the night:
- Penelope Reed Doob gave an extremely uninspiring Ballet Talk. It was the first time, I wished that I wasn't sitting there. It was absolutely dreadful.
- Spotted: former Princess Aurora's, Vanessa Harwood and Karen Kain
- Rotten luck sitting beside an audience member who shouts brava or bravo after after every single variation. Of course many of the dancers deserve such praise, but I don't think it was necessary during this performance. I mean, c'mon - the corps?
- Sitting in the third row is fabulous. You can see everything. I found myself staring at the dancers' faces more than their dancing. I'm so blind, that it's just such a treat to be able to see the costumes and faces up close.
- Bridgett Zehr is a little bit too skinny.
- The Ballet Boutique is copying Freitag by making their own messenger bags and totes out of ballet posters, seatbelts and other recycled materials.
- Standing ovations and prolonged curtain calls seem to be the norm these days. I often believe that the audience has no clue what's going on, but they think that they're supposed to behave that way.

Thoughts from yesterday

- My body has decided to crash and I'm sleeping in on a regular basis. Condo hunting has quietly taken its toll.
- Paul Popowich now has the educational standard required to teach high school but for some reason didn't graduate with his peers in the spring. Failed practicum, perhaps? Practicum deferral due to filming obligations?
- Convocation Hall is smaller than people make it sound. I think I was expecting something of Roy Thomson Hall-esque proportions.
- Nota Bene has tasty food. Yucatan Hot and Sour Soup reminds me of a Grade 8 field trip.
- Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon are easy on the eyes. This actually surprises me.
- My condo smells like mold. Last year it smelled like sewage. Unless something goes terrible wrong, I won't be around next year to find out what the next smell will be.

Art of the Trench

Hmm.

More shows to numb my brain

I've added two shows to the background noise-list...and both happen to be linked to education.
1. Community. This show takes place at a community college and focuses on the interactions between a group of diverse classmates who's connection is Spanish class. The characters are hilarious.
2. Glee. This show takes place at a high school and focuses on a group of students who belong to the glee club and various teachers at the school. There is singing and dancing and some stars who I noticed way back when there hadn't hit it bit yet. Two of the characters were in the original production of Spring Awakening and Lea Michele, who played Wendla stood out in my mind as being such a strong presence. There's an episode of Glee where Kristin Chenoweth guest stars. I've been a big fan of hers ever since she appeared (as an unknown) on the Rosie O'Donnell show as Sally with the cast of the revival of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown for which she later went on to win a Tony. Of course, she is now fabulously successful (I would have loved to see her in Wicked, well any show, I guess would suffice). so anyway, seeing the two of them on the show was cool. The show doesn't have much substance to it and I imagine that it's catering to a small demographic. Every so often they'll be a nugget of insight to the life of being a teacher, but other than that - it's very much a in-the-background kind of show.

My heart still belongs to Improv Everywhere

When I first found the site, Improv Everywhere, I was quick to bookmark it. I have not read a post that did not make me smile. Most, if not all make me laugh out loud. I somehow clicked to a worldwide network of spawns of the original, and was interested to see what the Toronto version had to offer. After visiting the Improv in Toronto site and taking a look at the different missions that they had done, I was very hesitant to bookmark the site. Knowing however, that I probably would not have the chance to participate in the New York based, Improv Everywhere missions, I thought, what the heck, I'll give my hometown friends a chance to prove themselves worthy of my affection.
Sadly, I am still disappointed.
This past Friday night, a couple of friends and I took the plunge and decided to participate on their Stop dancing where no one is watching... mission. This mission would be perfect for me. I guess my expectations were too high and I'm too much of a dancing snob and perfectionist to give it enough of a chance. I did have fun learning the routine, and was pleasantly surprised at how fast non-dancers could pick up choreography, but my problem stemmed more in the fact that the people running the show grated on my nerves. It was before the mission even began that I was doubtful of my participation of the actual event. The speech and arrogance that our leader portrayed (and this was not the leader of the Improv group) made me sick.
Although we did not follow through and participate in the final event, it was kind of fun to be a part of the preparation. Going to an off-site location, learning about the mission, learning the dance (I still have the music and choreography in my head) and meeting a couple new people. The age demographic for the Toronto branch is much younger than the original counterpart, which did throw me off a bit. There was quite the mixture of individuals who answered the call for agents.
Once at the mission site, we waited around for the mission to start and it was quite clear that there wouldn't be as large of an audience (and media presence) as the organizers had expected. I wouldn't call it a flash-mob, per se. I'm pretty sure a 75% of the people in a area wearing flickering lights/glowstick necklaces means that something is up. It looked like everyone participating had a wonderful time and I don't necessarily regret not completing the mission. It's hard to say.
Another mission is coming up pretty soon - I'm undecided as to whether or not I will participate. There could be a small amount of agent interaction on this one, so it might be a bit better. I still dream of the day that I can be an agent with Improv Everywhere, or would be happy to participate in other dancing missions in the city. Just tell me about your demographic of agents beforehand.
Also, Improv in Toronto was setting themself up for failure. Did they seriously think that they could compete against this (wheeee for 3:35!) or this (like, hello)?!?