I’m currently out east with friends. Sappy Fest just ended, but I’ll be heading to friend’s cottages and continuing the vacation out here for the next few days. I’m not sure what the internet situation is going to be like, but I’ll keep trying to do my daily posts!
Life
Enjoying Nature
Yesterday I set up camp at River & Sky festival. This community festival is more like real camping than others I have been to.
I woke up a little eaten by bugs but it is an ok tradeoff for such a wonderful relaxing atmosphere. For the first real time last night, I looked up at the stars and saw galaxies full of them. I found the Big Dipper and appreciated all the natural bright lights in the sky.
In the city, the skies are frequently polluted with airplanes but here they were natures decorations.
There's not much cellphone signal here but I am okay with that!
Headed to River & Sky!
I’m going to be somewhat off the grid this weekend (or I don’t know what reception is like). I’m headed to River & Sky Festival which takes place in Field, Ontario (wherever that is). It’s around a 4 hour drive from Toronto, and we headed out bright and early at 6am.
Daily blogging but get a bit hard but I’ll see what my reception can handle! Otherwise, see you on the other side!
RIP Chester from Linkin Park
Today I learned of Chester Bennington’s passing. I’d fallen out of fandom of Linkin Park as I grew up but when I was in high school albums like Meteora, Hybrid Theory and even Collision Course. Their depressing and lyrics complemented my teenage angst.
I remember excitedly playing the piano melody to “In the End” for everyone in class when it first came out. Whenever I had problems in life I would put on my headphones and blast songs like “Crawling” or “Numb”. These worked whether I was sad about relationships or my parents. It didn’t really matter. I related to the (somewhat suicidal in retrospect) lyrics. It probably gave me life.
It is sad to know that while Chester saved teens like me, he wasn’t able to save himself.
I Never Want to Build Ikea Furniture Again
The last week has involved a lot of moving, unpacking and building Ikea furniture. The latter is the most annoying because it involves unpacking enough so that you have space to open the boxes of wood and bolts.
IKEA furniture is definitely a true test of a relationship. Though, I did build most of it alone while Nash was working. The most difficult parts always involved pushing pegs into their pre-drilled holes. Sometimes I swear they don’t fit!
This shelf had hundreds of pegs
The good news is I’m done building all the furniture we bought, so now I can enjoy my new home!
Woke Up At Sunrise to Get Ducky
Today I woke up before sunrise to see the giant duck. While it may seem random to celebrate Canada’s birthday with a giant rubber duck, this thing has brought joy to all types of people all weekend. Maybe that’s the point.
While I wanted to capture the colours of the rising sun, I also wanted to watch the stillness of the morning before tens of thousands of people descended on the waterfront a few hours later.
Here are some photos with no or very little people:
photos taken with the fujifilm x100T
Happy Canada Day!
It’s Canada Day long weekend. While Canada’s 150th birthday should acknowledge the past suffering of Indigenous peoples, there are still things I’m grateful for all the privilege I have experienced in being born here.
I’m relatively free to look how I want, studied what I wanted, marry who I want to. I can blog about what I want, a freedom of speech that doesn’t happen in China where my parents were born.
I think we can celebrate Canada as a country and the freedom it allows many, but also continue listening to our Indigenous neighbours.
Solitary Wandering
I find solace in wandering alone. Today I had the day off and I spent a lot of it walking around town without many specific aims.
I love falling in love with Toronto all over again, specifically my west-end neighbourhood. I like supporting local businesses instead of chains when possible. Today I discovered a local fruit & veggie mart where I picked up a few things and my total was like $2. I also sat in a local café, had a coffee and contemplated life. The other day I ordered a delicious banh mi from a small snack shop for $3.50 and brought it for lunch.
There’s so much you can find if you look close enough at your neighbourhood.
Living in A Dream
I downloaded this photo app called Beauty Plus and I can’t stop playing with it. It’s from the makers of Meitu, with a slightly better interface.
I was playing around with it today and look how dreamy it made us look:
Time to make my life look like a dream.
Happy 25th Exclaim!
This year is Exclaim! Magazine’s 25th birthday. They are one of Canada’s last surviving (print) music magazine. It was also where me and Nash first received some of our first industry experience. Many of my friends also had their roots there.
The Exclaim! crew is like my mini festival family and I hope they’ll be publishing for many more years!
Tiana Feng 