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One of the awesome things about being not poor is sometimes you do stuff like buy a membership to the art gallery, and then when you are poor you can still do stuff sometimes! Yes!

So on Monday I met Val downtown to supervise her purchasing things at Dressew. I was very tempted by the HALF OFF SALE (go! GO NOW!) on the discount fabric. Ok most of it is kinda gross polyester blends but there are some good things in there, like the gigantic roll of pink jogging fleece. Look, it’ll come in handy when winter comes back and I assure you it will come back! I want to make a nice comfy hoodie dress but that’s not the point of this entry.

(This is an old picture. You can tell because right now it is an explosion of green on the trees and this clearly does not depict an explosion of anything other than grey.)

After Dressew, she had to go to work but first we got sandwiches at the International Food Court somewhere downtown, I don’t even know. Once upon a time when I first moved here, I was very into downtown and I liked going down there a lot but now it just makes me anxious and uncomfortable, sort of like how I felt from all the stares I was getting on Monday. People don’t stare at me in my neighbourhood because a pink haired girl is not even a big deal. But I guess downtown, one pink haired girl is interesting but a pair of them is completely stare-worthy. Oh well.

SO! Since I already had to use another bus ticket to get home, and also since I had nothing really better to do other than finish reading the last Twilight book (oh and you know um work on things to sell), I decided to stop at the art gallery. I consider it extra curricular learning so it is totally ok to go there whenever.

Right now they have a few exhibits going on including The Modern Woman: Drawings by Degas, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Other Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Rise and Fall by Fiona Tan, paintings by Kerry James Marshall and something called Bearing Witness: Works from the Collection, which was basically just random stuff that they had laying around I guess, except there was no Emily Carr this time.

Do not be afraid, though, because In Dialogue with Carr opens on July 1 and it involves works by Douglas Coupland (pretty sure he made this sweet Orca also), so basically, I’m in! (If you haven’t seen his film, Souvenir of Canada, please do so. It is pretty magical. I want to live in Canada House except I can’t because they destroyed it.)

Or you can watch the one that is slightly not safe for work but slightly more funny I think.

(Oh and remember the time he chewed up his own books to make wasp nests? That was a good time also.)

I JUST REALLY LOVE DOUGLAS COUPLAND, OK?

Ok first, let’s talk about the drawings. I was so happy I went alone because it gave me time to read every single thing written on the wall. It is kinda funny because after just one year of art school I feel like I appreciate things way more, and have a better understanding about the significance of art. I was all proud of myself for knowing who did some of the drawings before even looking, because a year ago I would probably have no idea.

I am kinda bummed, though, because there was one drawing that really stood out for me and now I cannot remember who it was by, or the title, and google is not helping me at all. It was a portrait of a woman (duh), probably done in charcoal or conté, that was mostly black, and the lady was wearing a veil and it was pretty striking. I thought about going to look but then the security people freaked me out so I didn’t. (They follow me around a lot… I assume they do this for everyone but sometimes I feel like a criminal in there.)

Then I went up to the second level to check out Rise and Fall, which was mostly video installations.

I found some guides on the wall so I took one and ended up going backwards through the exhibit (I do this a lot… I also read magazines backwards, I dunno why.) The one the stuck out the most for me was Rise and Fall. There is a crappy section of it on Youtube, which really does it no justice at all. It is 22 minutes. I sat through the whole thing.

It is about two ladies: one old, one young. It is possible they are the same ladies. It made me think about getting old a lot. Go see it for yourself if you can.

After that I went up and saw the paintings by Kerry James Marshall. All of the paintings were very impressive, but the one that stood out the most for me was the Black painting, which shows a lady laying on a bed in the dark but it is painted all in black, and you have to get pretty close to see it. Also it is huge and amazing.

This also does not do it any justice. I stole this picture from someone on the internet, but I don’t feel bad about it because they said it was “All rights reserved” and I don’t think you can do that if you took a picture of someone else’s painting. Pretty sure they’re the ones who own it. Otherwise all you did is take a picture of the wall. (Sorry if I am breaking any internet laws here but really. Come on.)

(Oh! And the reason I didn’t take a photo of it myself is because it is a big no no to take photos at our gallery, and I don’t want to give the security guards more reason to follow me.)

Ok and the last thing was Bearing Witness, which was ok I guess, except can we talk for a moment about Picasso and how batshit insane he was? Ok, maybe he wasn’t insane, but whenever I see anything he did I start to feel slightly insane.

And the best part about the third floor is most people don’t seem to bother going up that high so it is not so cramped and annoying (on the first floor there were a lot of people with those recorded tour things getting in my way and it was so making me crazy). The downside is the security people have less people to follow, though I find the lady on the third floor pretty much left me alone. She’s good. She’s the same one who told me it was ok to lift the covering on two drawings a few months ago.

Oh and I still have two guest passes for the gallery that expire in September, so if anyone in Van ever feels like going with me, I can get you in for freeeeeeeeeee. (This doesn’t work during the opening week or closing week of major exhibitions, though, sorry!)

I nearly pee’d myself the first time I saw this:

Tremaine is too easily influenced:

Is there anything more delightful than seeing old friends?

When I moved to Vancouver, nearly ten years ago, I didn’t quite realize how far it would actually be. I assumed I’d still see all my old friends: we’d all make an effort to visit each other, despite all the adults who warned we’d make new friends, we’d move on.

And it’s true, in a way. People are getting married, having kids, and the only way I know about it is through my Facebook feed. It’s not really anyone’s fault, though. Time and distance makes it difficult to find things to talk about, since you really don’t have much in common anymore, and you can only reminisce about childhood so many times.

(This guy never leaves.)

Still, though, there are some people who can show up and it’s like they never left, like ten years hasn’t gone by. So how do you make that even more awesome? You add (overpriced) beer and POUTINE PIZZA.

Maine and I have walked past the Brado cafe many times, and we always get simultaneously horrified and intrigued by the ad for poutine pizza.

This time, everyone had had just enough beer that for some reason it actually seemed like a good idea.

Maine may have died and gone to heaven.

Shannon was pretty impressed, as well.

Raine did not partake (she is vegan), but I think it was more than enough for her to just be near it. Her friend, Derek seemed pretty indifferent, but maybe he was just afraid for his insides.

Overall: It was pretty decent. Like having a slice of crispy bread with your poutine. But the fries were evenly coated with an optimal amount of gravy and cheese. Delightful, but definitely carb overload.

I think the funniest part was when we left, and Maine started dreaming up other things to add to make it even more ridiculous, like pepperoni, or Montreal smoked meat. He sees it merely as a base. It is kind of horrifying.

Other than that, not much has been happening.

I made more poop soup and still have a ton of fleece to wash.

I still don’t understand World Cup or Soccer (no, I won’t call it football – that is a thing the Lions do).

We went out for Vietnamese food the other night. It was good to get out of the house.

The restaurant we went to is pretty dodgy, but it is easy to get to and open all the time. I prefer the place by Sean’s but I’m not going to Burnaby for just that.

Also another thing has happened that is almost too shameful to talk about, but since we’re all friends here I will just come out and admit it: I’ve been reading more Twilight. I can’t help it. It is too funny! Also, even though it is entirely predictable and there is never really any danger, I keep on reading. I had to slink into the library the other day to get the rest of the series (thank goodness for self checkout) and I’ve pretty much blown through them in a couple days. I’m almost done the last one. I would have finished it yesterday but then I went to the art gallery and I will probably make a separate post for that one. So yep. There it is. I don’t even hate it because it is too silly and ridiculous. Don’t tell anyone, ok?

I have to go now.