School

School by shazie28 @ deviantart
(Anyone else reminded of Matilda?)

During summer break I did a whole lot nothing. The only productive thing I did was find new blogs and start blogging regularly. Wait, I take that back, August was the month I didn't do anything, during July I went to Summer School for g.10 math so that was productive. I was around some very smart people and since Math is not my strong point at all I was feeling less than stellar intelligence wise. Which isn't to say I was necessarily feeling sad, I just felt like "Okay, this is how it is. I'm not stupid, but I'll never be a genius or particularly intelligent". I know it's silly to compare myself to others but it's an old habit that tends to pop up into my mind at times. During August with this whole "not stupid/not a genius" rolling around in my head I started to doubt my abilities to write anything that isn't hot poo.

Then comes school, and because I refused to take any more sciences and I don't have 11 math 'till 2nd semester, I'm in love with all my classes. My brain is pumping and I'm getting excited about discussions I can bring to the table. I got my first World Religions assignment back on Friday. I got 80%, and lost most of my marks on communication. Barrett said he thinks my problem is that I think faster than I can type. He also said that he's impressed with my insight and thinks I'm one of the brightest students in his class(es).My reaction to that was --> :O/=D He has a policy that if he thinks the student tried and didn't rush the assignment that he'll let them re-write it, so hopefully the 2nd time around I can get a 90 something on that paper. In my English class we had to write a streamline of consciousness that stemmed from two short stories that we read. Myself and James (Minor) read ours in front of the class and the teacher liked what I wrote.

Compliments are awesome and are making me realize that maybe I don't suck as much as I think I do when it comes to school. Just don't talk to me about math. I think part of, or most of my fear comes from the fact that grade 6 was the last time I really put effort into school, so I'm worried that when I try and push myself with school that I'll end up with the same results that I've gotten academically for the last 4 years. I know that can't happen but the fear is still there, lurking in the back of my brain. I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester and I'm even looking forward to exams which is odd. Another thing I can't wait to do is a University road -trip. Since we are car free right now, we'd rent a car and myself and my mom would drive around looking at Universities I might apply to next year. My first choice right now would be to go to Ryerson for Journalism, other Universities I might apply to are Wilfred Laurier, Western, and Carleton.

For extra-curriculars I'm getting super excited about Stage Crew. Stage Crew is the behind the scenes people who do lighting, sound, design sets etc. for Westdale's plays and musicals. Stage Crew also includes doing costumes, make - up or being a stage ninja (the person dressed all in black moving stuff between scenes). So there's all these sub-categories and parts of crew that people can be a part of. For this year's musical, they're doing Cabaret and I'm trying to get myself into the costumes/stylist position for the musical. I want to try and learn about lighting and/or sound and do that stuff for the Sears Drama Festival. Then there's Classics which is my other major club that I'm in. I need to start getting my ass in action and start cross-stitching my projects (I'm doing 2) for this years' Conference. Umm, I'm also trying out for touch football and Rugby. I'm going to be a general member of Triune (student council), and SPA (students for political action), and if I find the time do yoga at a studio or at home. OH! And I want to try and go to Romania this summer for two weeks for a Journalism program, more on that later.

-Lady V

What I Wore - x 2

Wearing a scarf as a shirt is a viable alternative

This is what I wore to school yesterday.
I'm wearing;
-my dad's sweater
-a scarf/pashima (as a shirt). I bought this in Egypt for about 5$.
-Red headband salvaged from an old torn pair of stockings.
-Skinny jeans I got from Urban Outfitters for about 15$.


Photo taken by Tala

This is what I wore to school on Monday and on the 6th to Locke Street Festival. The only difference would be the footwear. I wore sandals on the 6th and on Monday I wore my black mary jane's with my polka-dot socks.
I'm wearing;
-grey tank from H&M
-my mother's jacket
-red headband
-UO skinny jeans
-polka-dot socks
-my mary-jane heels (about 2 inches high)
-my VV briefcase

And in case you're wondering I'm holding my keys in my hand.

Val's Adventures - Second Installment

"Val's Adventures" are photographic and voyeuristic peeks into my every day life. Basically these are snapshots taken at school at home or anywhere else and I wanted to put them up somewhere. Plus since I'm now Facebook free it's easier for my friends to save pictures they want from me this way.

Locke Street Festival
On the 6th, I met up with Rachael at her house and we headed off to the festival. It was really fun and we bumped into Tala and Hannah while they were doing booth duty. We walked around looking at different things, stopped and watched a street performer (I'm a fire eater hahaha), walked around some more and stopped at the Bagel Shop (I think that's the name) to get something to eat. After that we headed back to her house, where I ended up watching the Shining for the first time. When the movie was done I walked downtown and caught a bus to my house. The whole time I was walking I had "Red Rum!" stuck in my head.

This is my type of bike. My mother's bike looks like this but without the working wheels and brakes. The company name is Raleigh, so if I end up buying a new bike I'll check this company out.


Jewelry


Belt buckles and other knick knacks.


I don't have anywhere in my room to hook up a telephone but I was very tempted to buy these anyway.


Some killer and massive bird houses.



If I was allowed to have a pet and wasn't paranoid about a bird flying away somewhere, I think I'd get a bird as a pet.




My self-engagement ring has been eaten by my house so I'm searching for a replacement. I didn't end up buying this one but I took a photo of it because I really like it but didn't have enough cash on me. If I'm lucky I'll be able to find something like this on Etsy.


Yeaaahh, it was pretty crowded.


Cutie!


Some tin man marching band members.

I have no idea who this man is but he was hilarious. He was standing and posing for change for Breast Cancer. Is anyone else reminded of Fabio?


Tala & Hannah face painting.


Tala painting Rachael's face. She painted a peace sign on Rachael's face and a heart on mine.


This is the street performer we watched. I can't remember his name but he had a good sense of humor and was amusing. He had a female volunteer lighting torches that he was putting out with his mouth. He had told her earlier if his clothing happened to catch fire that she was to put it out (she was wearing an oven mitt). His shirt caught fire so she put it out. And then he light his ass on fire and she put that fire out for him too. He jokingly tried to light her butt on fire too and when she backed away he said that was too bad because he's a fire eater. Zing!

My yummy lunch that I had at the bagel shop. They didn't have any cinnamon raisin bagels left. Rachael suggested that we have these cinnamon sugar (can't remember for sure it that's what they're called) bagels instead. They were delicious and sticky and sugary. I had my standard choice of plain cream cheese on my bagel. Also, some old women peered intensely into the window (she was actually right up against it) to see what we were eating. She seemed like quite the character. I kind of wish I took a picture of her.


A picture that I took while I was walking home.


Before I went to the bus stop I made a pit stop at a Tim Horton's to get some grub. The picture on the counter is one of the two vintage pictures that I bought for a buck each.

Val's Adventures - First Installment

"Val's Adventures" are photographic and voyeuristic peeks into my every day life. Basically these are snapshots taken at school at home or anywhere else and I wanted to put them up somewhere. Plus since I'm now Facebook free* it's easier for my friends to save pictures they want from me this way.

Lunch


Diana & Ailish


The Gang


My wonderful Briefcase


(From left to right) Tiffany, Ailish, Diana


Tiffany & Helena


Ailish & Rachael


Ailish rocking (I'm using that word a lot now) my sunglasses


Steph being interesting (=P ) & Helena


(hahaha) Diana & Tiffany in some..... idk weird leg dual

Ailish has a crush on the man in the magazine.

At Home

Me & my 9 year-old sis Olivia in our backyard.


My legs on my bedroom wall


=O Me without my glasses! This is a rare occurrence, treasure it!


That's all folks!

*I got rid of it because I stopped getting what I wanted out of it. It was really useful for organizing my parties but besides that I was using it to feed into my ego by friending people I didn't even like to up my friend count. I wasn't digging the atmosphere of it, if that makes any sense >_> Some people would think it's hypocritical to get rid of Facebook then get a blog, twitter and modepass etc. But to me at least, Facebook was more of a RL thing I used to keep in contact with friends or acquaintances from school. I think my biggest problem, personally with Facebook was that to me it was useless chatter. After the novelty wore of it became meaningless communication to me. It was a lot of small talk (HBD, what do we have for homework? etc.) gossip and other stuff that wasn't very vital to my social or personal life. Plus there's the whole capitalist agenda and the whole you can get rid of your account but you have to delete everything by hand thing that's really fishy. My blog, twitter, modepass and style mob are ways for me interact with people (globally) about personal style, Fashion in general and all things blogosphere. I will admit that sometimes I regret getting rid of Facebook but with all the stuff I'm doing and my blog I don't think I'd have time for a Facebook account anyways. So for simplicity's sake I'm glad that people just email or call me now instead of writing on my wall.

What I Wore - School Girl

So today I rocked a modest beehive but I'm not sure if you can see it that well in these pictures. I'm doing another post today with some pictures of my hair do, so hopefully you'll be satisfied with the detail in either of these pictures. Today I was a weird Valentina version of a school girl. The clothes I wore were:

1. Old School Uniform
2. Sunglasses from the Dollar Store
3. H&M Grey Tank
4. Striped tights from Sears
5. (You can't see them here) Beige Ballet flats from Old Navy
6. Old black tights as a headband & a turquoise bow headband on top from H&M
7. Thrifted Briefcase that I nabbed at Value Village's big 50% sale for 2$!

YUS! VICTORY IS MIIIINE =DDDD

*does a little internet jig* HA! Take that, messy room of mine. You couldn't hide my camera charger from me forever! (Yes this means I finally found my camera charger)

Guys I'm so happy right now. I can start posting pictures now. Life is grand.

Tomorrow I'll be doing my own twist on the "School Girl" look. Cross your fingers that I won't have too much homework, so I'll be able to blog quicker.

e x p o 7000

Also first day of school was amazing! I love all my classes, yes even my grade 10 French one. Even the "scary" Mr. Barrett doesn't seem that bad but I think that's because he likes me so I won't be on the receiving end of his wrath.

-The classes I have in order for 1st semesters are-
Sociology, Anthropology & Psychology - Mr. Barrett
Grade 10 French - Mme. Panton
University English - Mrs. Newton
World Religions - Mr. Barrett

Dun dun dun......

Girl Walking Octopus by Barnaby Ward

School starts tomorrow. I'll be in grade 11. Time flies by so quickly. I still remember freaking out (just before grade 9) because homg Westdale is so big compared to Norwood and omg I'll get lost etc. Now it's time to stress about University choices and "What I Want To Do With The Rest Of My Life" (TM)

Value Village is having a 50% off sale tomorrow and I'm heading over before school to try and find some new clothes. I'm lucky that I'm in grade 11 because school doesn't start for me until noon so I have the chance to stop by VV in case you were wondering why I had the time.

Hmmmmm stillll no sign of the ever elusive camera charger. Push comes to shove I'll be able to start posting recent pictures of myself by mid September thanks to Amazon.com

I'm gonna run off now and watch some more Buffy while trying to pick something to wear tomorrow. Tata~