arrival

let me first repost here a link to my montrealites essay/profile of my friend natalia, which i for some reason i didn`t post properly last week. this is how long it can take for things to get fixed around here.

http://www.montrealites.ca/arrival/2014/11/this-is-your-day-natalia-becomes-a-canadian-citizen.html#.VGAl4_l5MfY

my prof always goes in there and photoshops my pictures to light them up, which, ok, it`s her website. but i always get scared when i see the modified product. i think it`s time to buy a functional camera.

somehow, it`s time to buy or replace a lot of things: my computer acts like it will have a stroke from day to day, my camera battery lasts about 5 mins (i know it`s the cold), my teeth hurt in the cold (also i HAVE to go to the dentist because i only have the student plan for 6 more months, gaaaah), what else? my bed is sinking in. i need a dictaphone to do interviews and potentially record students for pronunciation tutorials. all this paid for by the government of quebec = my financial aid. it would be nice to also eat from time to time, but i hope that can be arranged.

back to entertainment. some bits of halloween preparation:

i took no selfies with me in costume, because it was a semi-improvised costume. i just never want to have a morbid disguise ever. i went with one of my predilect themes, fall: they kept calling me "mother nature" at the party, which i think that`s fine too: as long as i don`t have to explain my costume, i consider it a success.

picked up these leaves from the street to help complete my disguise. apparently the black on the green leaves is a particular form of rot - and it looks so interesting and...beautiful!

so the mystery of the 4 shirts in fall colors one on top of the other, solved. (costumes i promised to consider for next year: flamenco dancer, frida kahlo (a shop-assistant at dollarama this year was the best frida kahlo i`ve seen so far)) (costumes i was considering anyway: arya stark in braavos - all it takes is a good cart)

i took this pic to demonstrate the suitable autumnal pattern of the skirt i wore as part of "costume" - with orange tights, duh.

costumes, the usual. (and a splendid view of the river, right behind those windows)

monsters, black cats and all sorts of sugar threats.

and the most scarily good cupcakes i`ve ever had. 

moving on to montreal street in november...as it gets darker sooner, the colors and the mood switch...is it just me adapting my discoveries to the weather, or does the city really change seasons organically, putting on new murals in back alleys like undertops and scarves and mittens? anyhow, i`ll say this for the 1000th time: i love it. some days, rustling the leaves up toward duluth or through carre st louis, the beauty i saw first 4 years ago comes at me with the same force as back then...but i don't want to take the same photos over and over.

so, this is new to me - how perfectly appropriate though

side-eyeing the green roof scales

si no miras, no existe - my motto and my fear forever and ever. (this means i`m an artist then? huh.)

winter is coming: foreshadowing a targaryen-stark-baratheon alliance in the North

discovering new cafes, because i have to read and journal in between other things. this is cafe rico on mt-royal:

bowl of latte for 3$, with the best latte art i've seen yet.

and going drinking. once per season :)

taken by sonja going down st laurent to else's, after alex leslie's book launch.