The Tampered Press

Shall we have a weekly feature on shops run by lovely young people??
Probably we should, so if you know of any shops I should visit/befriend, let me know!



After lunch yesterday with The Bitter End men (bit star-struck, also they are all babes, also so funny), Dollface and I wandered towards the park and I was like "I want a soda" and then we both got distracted by this new coffee shop, The Tampered Press, we hadn't been in before. So we went in. No soda (luckily, what the hell, I never drink soda except at work sometimes because it's free and plentiful) but I got a sweet loose-leaf green tea.

Dollface started talking to a girl she knew who was in there having coffee and so I started talking to the owner. Man, people are friendly, hey? I'm trying to learn about being friendlier and warmer and not rude all the time or sarcastic (good luck, me).

Such a lovely space and the owner was telling me she's only been open for two weeks (?)

SIGH.
yep, view of the park and great furniture. and I said "hey, I like this rocking chair" and she said "I found that on the road". That's the best possible way to decorate a place, for certain.



Gluten-free options!
I didn't have any as I was too full, but I will have some next time, definitely. I lovelove baked goods and I barely get to have any more because of my stupid gluten intolerance. So great to have options!

Dollface had one of the "awesomes" which is sort of like a giant chewy oreo only the insides are sort of cream-cheesy and I tried it ("don't tell me what I can't do, gluten" -john locke) and it was awesome. No denying.
 Totally reasonable prices. Dollface says her latte was great, too.




also there's a big mirror by the door that is great for taking full-body photos of yourself! Perfect.

Board games! And wifi, of course. Word is that the space is open to having meetings in there as well, like book clubs and things. Kind of makes me want to start a book club..
Also the space is big enough I think that could be going on in there and not be too intrusive. 

"cafe and community space" how great, right?
it's right on Dundas at Crawford, open pretty much all daylight hours, and the owner is very friendly and the lighting is good.
Oh yeah, there's a more proper here!


I'm not saying that I don't love Ella's Uncle still (this is where we usually go and sit outside of by the park). But this is also pretty neat and it has inside space and I bet it's super cozy when it's raining out...plus I want to go play board games, anyone?



Also, guys, I have so, so, so many photos to sort through right now and then a couple people just send me other photos that I want to post. Until then, you can look at Sub Rosa Vintage's blog for a few sweet photos of me.

it's getting too late out!

when will I have time to read my book??

I FORGOT ABOUT READING I LOVE IT FOREVER.

I blame the internet 100% for the lack of novels in my life. Oh, no, wait. 90% and then 10% on the library for charging me a lot fines for keeping their books for months. Now I can never go back there. Library = Indiana.


I just touched up my colour and trimmed my hairs. Too bright of red, hope it fades fast. I'll wash it a lot. I also had a hot bath and shaved my (lower) legs. We'll see if that ever happens again. I cut myself in four places, one place so badly it still hasn't stopped bleeding.
I also did my nails. It's like a beauty salon in here. A mediocre beauty salon.

So, yeah, I survived my outdoor shift tonight - thanks for your concern. I wasn't as cold as I was last time. Meaning I did not feel like I was going to die. I did wear three pairs of pants though, and 7 shirts/sweaters/jackets (including a winter coat).
The uniforms shirts and jackets are green and white but the team colour is red and so if we want to wear extra clothing it has to be black or red. Guess who wore red accessories including scarf and mittens just to look completely like Christmas??
Go ahead, guess!

Then Kaya and I went to Bellwoods and I played on the swings and phone-chatted with my mother while she wandered around. Pretty fun.

I've stayed in the last three nights and I feel very pleased with myself about it. I guarantee this trend will not last. But it's good for me, none the less.



Shit, I'm bad at daily linker already, eh?

How about Priddle Concern on a bus?


Not your style? How about Planet Unicorn???

PLANET UNICORN PLANET UNICORN PLANET UNICORN HEYYY.

"We yearned for the future.

"How did we learn it, that talent for insatiability?"
-Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale







Oh the rain is lovely and I like having my window wide open to it and there was the sound of all the tiny children going into the school across the way as I woke up. They are always laughing and yelling and they are my kind of people.
Now that I have the chance to sleep in, I can't. Of course. Not feeling too well, tired of the same old kinds of pains.
But I've nothing that I have to do right now and I forgot that I love reading and how starting a book is delicious with promise (I try so hard not to read the back of novels or the inside flap, I like knowing nothing about the unfolding story, I don't want to have anything ruined -- unlike my uncle who flips to the back first to make sure it's going to end well before he invests his time).
I do, do love reading, wrapped in a down comforter, especially with a kitten asleep stretched across my chest. And I forgot how pretty the mornings are, I put all my efforts into late-nights and so I miss out on how the day forms itself.

I can make your hand disappear!

Dreamt of going home and falling back in love with my mentally ill ex-boyfriend. In a hyper-realistic way. Dealing with people's stigma about it, their complete awfulness about it, dealing with him and his family, and with his not making any sense but with still loving him. Woke up feeling thankful that wasn't the case. But still.
Thanks again, Barbara Gowdy.


I'm not actually very good at talking about other people's problems. I tell people what to do too often and I don't have enough of a filter. Between what I think and what actually needs to be said.
I also always think I'm right.
Oh, who doesn't


Booked my trip home to Saskatoon. Luckily, since it's less than two weeks away. Craaaazy. I'm not even home sick yet. This is awesome.
August 22nd to Sept. 2nd party time.
Just enough to to We-Are-Many-fest, lake, party, party, bond, party, drink tea, then leave.
Back here in time to figure out what the hell I'm going to wear to go hang out at film fest.
I want to make some dresses. We'll see if that actually happens (nope).



OMG got my mum the best birthday present today. I wish that she didn't read this so that I could post it for you. It's ever-so-pretty and yet completely useful. Which is exactly what my mother is about.
Maybe I'll just keep it. I wish I could justify buying one for myself.
Actually... maybe I can. After I get real paid at least.
I really don't know why I like it so much, but I do. And I'm trying to think who else I know could use one. Pretty much every fancy lady. Haha that gave you a wrong idea of what it is.
I've also built it up now! Now no matter what it is it won't measure up to mother's expectations! perfect!
Shit, I went to upload pictures of it to post to my other journal that no one reads but then I realized that even if I set it to private on my flickr my mother would still see it because I think she's still logged into my flickr as me. Hell. Good thing I remembered that.
Got the internet is a complicated landscape.

I'm trying to clear out the junk from my home. I'm trying to not buy useless shit anymore. And especially trying to get rid of anything junky/plastic. I threw out my crappy dish rack because it was ugly. Now I don't have one and that's for the best. Just my favourite red tray and a pretty tea towel. And I threw out the plastic juice jug and bought a glass one. Need more glass containers. Red glass especially I want.
I also need a pretty kettle (red or maybe green) and some cast-iron frying pans (I'm tired of eating teflon!) and I need a pretty pot to keep my wooden spoons and things in.
Housewares are pretty much the grown-up equivalent of school supplies.

Did some laundry today! Now if only I would get around to putting it away and cleaning things up around here...

I went to the cheese store that's less than two blocks from my house for the first time today. I'm pretty sure the brie I got sold is not good. Like verging on mouldy. Gross. I haven't tried it yet. But I did eat close to a log of goat's cheese. And it was good.

Downloading a shit-load of Patsy Cline. That sounds good to clean to. We'll see.

Damn I wish Jonathan-Cat hadn't left. There's nothing lonely than apartment freshly empty of kitten.


this is my neighbour's cat. to make me feel a bit better. click on the photos to see all of it. yes.

Dear Barbara Gowdy,

your book, The Romantic, did not make me feel better. This true and ultimate be-all-and-end-all love with a beautiful young man who is mentally unstable and alcoholic did not end well. And you forgot to write the epilogue where the protagonist goes on to find happiness with a stable, well-adjusted gentleman and lives happily ever after. And you forgot to say that even though her heart was broken a couple of times over by that young man, and even though he really was beautiful and worthwhile and important, that she is still good at loving and can move on. And you forgot to say that she is able to find greater fulfillment and joy later on.
I guess I'll just write that in for you.

Beautiful novel though.

love,
Meredith R. Mistletoe

it's either nap time or gym time very shortly here

I had an audition early this morning. I could've been back in bed by 11 but I didn't feel tired. Now I surely do. But now it seems too late...

Stupid flippin teen fiction let me down. Thirsty by M.T. Anderson is a pretty great read. But no flippin happy ending, in case you were wondering. Also, I love vampire books and am secretly pretty excited for the Twilight movie that's coming out this winter...
I've only read the first book in that series but having been jonesing for the rest since then.
Jonesing for BLOOOOOOOD

Went to Nick's show on Friday at Cameron House.



Sometimes I forget that not everyone knows that when I say I'm going to see "friends of mine" play music that it's the best music ever. It's not shows I feel required to attend, I fully feel lucky to know such clever people sometimes.


Oh lordy I just read icanhascheezburger until I was seriously crying. Maybe 4 hours of sleep was not enough. Hmmm.
Time to make some soup!!!

I forgot this picture in my ode to dollface the other day. Sorry dudes, I know you wanted to see her in my glasses looking like freakin Holly Golightly or some other hot nonsense and imagine going at her from behind (by which I mean, sneaking up on her, like for fun, like as a joke, you would go at her and surprise her! and she would laugh! and you would hold hands and frolic and things! through the park!)

(reflections = awesome)

I just ate most of a can of corn (why do I have canned corn? a) it doesn't go bad, b)I don't have a proper freezer) and I was all like "why is this corn so sweet and tastily delicious?" and then I saw that sugar was on the list on ingredients in my corn.
Maybe I could have it for desert.

Meredith's Tuesday Soup

1/4 big bottle of Mott's Garden Cocktail (left over from the cottage)
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic (unless you are a vampire, in which case, do not use)
1 can of black beans
1/4 can of corn (then eat the rest of its sugary goodness)

put it all in a pot and cook it for awhile. It will be delicious!!!

Waited out the rain on Saturday night to go party more, it was only 2 a.m., after all.


The rain didn't let up.

You know when you start drinking vodka mixed with Gatorade (from a tin, no less) that you are up to no good.

On my way home that night, crossing my street, I stepped in a puddle up to my ankle, completely submerged my red flat. Needless to say, I continued stepping fully into every puddle that came my way after that.
Bliss.

between hope and dispair

Well. I did it. I finally finished A Fine Balance and it is a seriously lovely book and beautiful and everything that you'd expect. Except it is also just so horrendously depressing. The 'fine balance' part refers to finding a balance between hope and despair.. but I'm not sure the book actually find that balance. It did not make me feel at all hopeful, really.

Unfortunately I read three online gossip blogs every day. All this time I could be devoting to my creative pursuits or jerking off or something. But I do. I can't stop it.
But here are some thoughts on some hot celebrity topics:

#1 - Nicole Kidman did not actually birth her baby. I am 100% convinced of this. For sure she wore a bad prosthetic at points during the farce, but she did not actually carry that child. The weird part is that she insisted on pretending that she was. Why pretend? Because Katie Holmes had one? Because you want to out-crazy your ex-husband? Impossible.
She is used to shams because of being contractually married to Cruise and pretending that he was
a) straight
and
b) not insane
Nicole 2 weeks after "giving birth" to her new daughter


#2 - Katie Holmes. Something about Katie Holmes makes me want to weep. I bet she was the nicest kid ever. I didn't even like her on Dawson's Creek, and I don't think she's a particularly good actor, but there's something nice about her.
Well, there used to be. Now she looks drained and strange. Probably terrified that she signed her life away to play house with Cruise. But who could say no to that sort of offer? I can seriously say that if I were offered a million dollars and a chance to have kids and a career and everything that I want in exchange for being a front, I would take it.
I can't ever move to Hollywood because I would end up addicted to drugs and playing beard for a gay superstar. For certain.

#3 - Michelle Williams is lovely. She is beautiful and so great in Brokeback Mountain and in that movie I watched once that I still consider a favourite, Me Without You.
When I saw Williams on Oprah with Heath Ledger and their baby I was the most jealous green-eyed monster for about a week. What a life! I wanted to be her so, so ridiculously bad. At one point Ledger turned to his young family and said "I fall deeper in love with both my girls every day"
My heart is broken for her and this weekend must be the toughest. I wonder what she'll end up doing. I wonder if she has any desire for any more fame after all of this.

#4 - Heath Ledger is amazing as Joker. There is no denying that. I am not in the camp of "he just had to act crazy". Nope. He genuinely made me feel bad inside (probably due, in part, to being dead now) with that character. Unsettled and shook.
But I can't imagine having to play a character like that. Especially if you took the character as seriously as Ledger seemed to. I can't help but wonder if this character didn't play a part in his death. And no character is worth this.
Holy over-analyzation, I know.

#5 - Lindsay Lohan is in a lesbian relationship. And that's okay. Everyone calm the eff down. And why is Perez Hilton constantly constantly making fun of her and her girlfriend, Sam Ronson? Perez is gay, and yet he's the meanest about Ronson's looks/persona/style of any of the bloggers. Constantly attacking both of them.. when it doesn't really matter.
I can see how Ronson is attractive. She reminds me of a certain lesbian DJ we know who virtually every (straight) girl I know has a crush on. Because she's damn cool.


The stories that come out of Hollywood are nearly as depressing as A Fine Balance. And I don't think I'm particularly shallow to care about it, just interested in people. And interested in how people react to fame and money.
What a tough game.

I am totally going to go read some teen fiction right now and I'm hoping for happy endings.

Damn Yankees

Holy skydome makes it hard for me to do my job sometimes. It's ridiculous there and so many pointless rules that I have to follow to the letter because my job is at stake and I really can't get fired right now.
And I have to be a huge bitch and get yelled at which only makes me bitchier person and it's a lose-lose situation that frustrates the hell out of me.
And it would be fine if I made enough to make it worthwhile but because of over-staffing for big events I make nothing. Last night I made $25 and almost lost my shit approximately 30 times over people being assholes to me.
Service industry is not for me for much longer (please, God).


Friend: That guy behind you is a babe
Me (turning to look then back to her): That's the dad I babysit for


Went out for drinks after work with my friend and all his cousins. There are few things I like more than being the centre of attention in a group of men.
This is because I don't have a father.

Dollface came for a bit too but then she had to go dancing but I did not because I have to work alllll weekend and also do the last performance of the play tonight!

But then I have a bunch of days off. Which I am looking forward to like I can't even tell you.


Dear A Fine Balance,
why should I continue reading you? Nothing good happens in you, you are horrendously depressing in a really beautiful way. I want everyone to live happily ever after and I don't think you're going to make that happen for me. If you weren't making me feel slightly better about my own destitution I would quit you.
from
Meredith