ok ok i've put off blogging a new post long enough.

but first of all, i just wanna say: i just watched Bandages on Much. oh, the memories... sweet sweet memories...

okay... so yesterday was a very action packed day. i got to HSC at 8:30, so for the full hour, i read the newspaper and finished some breakfast. 9:30, Ruth comes down and one awkward handshake was exchanged. personally, i think it was her fault, becuz, u know... bad handshake... anyway! we went up to her office, chatting about school and stuff. apparently she kinda teaches at Laurier too! anyway... we chatted about music therapy, and she showed me a handout she usually gives parents, and two other pamphlettes, and then she goes over the first handout, and i asked questions, stuff like that. then she points to the photos of the kids that she works/worked with. it was so inspirational, really. and then she showed me this one picture of this baby girl, and right when she told me she died, i swear to god... i started tearing. omg... she was so sweet. ahh... anyway.. after the pictures, she brought out an assortment of instruments. my favourite were probably the lollipop drums and the nice xylophone looking thing. such a nice sound! after playing the instruments for a bit and chatting a bit more, and another bad handshake, i left. i wanted to cry..omg... cuz i was thinking about that little baby... *sniff*

i decided to go to new tribe to get my jewellery changed, but when i got there, it was still closed. it opens at 11, so i wnet over to pizza pizza and got some... pizza.. lol. and read all the pamphlettes. after that, i went to get my jewellery changed. cost me 15$, goddammit.... oh well.

after that, i decided to go to the art gallery, becuz last time i went, it was closed, and i HAVE to go see Monet before school starts, so... yes. i called Em to see if she wanted to come too, and she agreed. so for the next hour, i wasted time, waiting for her to come. after one hour, i called, and holy crap... she was only at kennedy station. i got kinda pissed off, and walked over to HSC again to get some water. walked back to the AGO, and started lining up, cuz the line was soooo long. hafway thru, Em arrived. whoo whoo. anyway.. okay this exhibition is SOOO important that i am going to have to make a whole new subheading for it.

The Turner/Whistler/Monet Exhibition:

the first panel was already beautiful. there's something about just starting at three huge photographs of these incredible artists... chills... esp. Monet, becuz we all know that i'm there just for him. the first room was mainly Turner's work. it was really nice. very impressionistic. soft and flowy. i kinda wanted to skip it, mainly because i didn't know who he was, but i thought, 'i'll keep reading slowly... i'll get to Monet soon.' so i kept going thru everything. Em went by really fast. i didn't see much of her, which kinda pissed me off, cuz i waited pretty much an hour and a half for her, and she's not even in the same frickin room as me. anyway... Turner's paintings were really dreamy-like. trees and fog, mostly. the second room was Turner and some Whistler, who is an American who lived most of his life in France and London. Turner is an English. okay... so in the third room is pretty much all of Whistler's watercolours. they were reeeeaalllly nice! the smaller ones were so intricate, like...wow... but anyway.. regretfully, i got bored after a bit, because i still haven't seen any MONET works yet. after a couple more Turner's and Whistler's, i started seeing a bit of Monet's. hoooollyyyy crap. it's like, UNREAL, u know? after reading so many books and seeing duplicated works, this is the REAL THING. oh man.... okay, i walked into the next room, FULL of Monet works, and standing right in front of that painting of the sunset, the first actual fully Monet painting in the fully Monet room, i was overcome with emotion. imagine.... 80, 100 years ago, Monet standing in front of this very canvas, his brush creating the wonderful, incredible strokes. it's breathtaking...like... omg.. i can't even comprehend. the next painting right beside that was no different. Em came up to me at that point, and i tried explaining to her how much this meant to me, but i guess she didn't understand, cuz then she told me she finished the entire exhibition and she's gonna move on to other places in the gallery. so i said bye, and she left. i kept going, totally in awe. all the different variations of the bridge! and the parliament! oh man.... in was unreal. okay, in the next room were pretty much all the paintings of the bridge and the parliament. it was incredible. before i walked in there i was thinking 'omg... this is it...'... hahaha! anyways... i went in, and went through everything again. there was this big board, explaining Turner, Whistler and Monet's trips to Venice, and in 1908, at age 68, Monet and his wife Aice, went to Venice together. it was so beautiful, that Monet regretted not going earlier. when he got back, Monet planned on visiting Venice again soon, but never did, because Alice died not too long after, and Monet wanted to keep those lovely memories of Venice, some of the last happy moments with Alice. and on the other side of the entrace to that room was a huge photograph of Monet and Alice in Venice, feeding birds. OHMYGAWD. i looked at that picture and started crying again. it was so beautiful. Monet was a powerful lover. he loved Alice. so much that he did not even return to Venice. he fuckin loved her. *sigh*... it's beautiful.... i sat in that room, surrounded by Monet's work. it was such a powerful feeling. it was so real. i started crying again (sorry, i'm a nurd. and a crybaby). anyway... after that, i went through more paintings, skipped the Turner and Whistler ones, because after i've seen Monet, nothing else measures up. the last painting of the exhibit, was the colourful sunset of S. Georgio... or something... i forgot the exact title of it. anyways, i just sat there and started at that painting for so fuckin long. it was sooo nice. just imagining Monet sitting in Hotel Savoy... over looking the parliament, or the bridge, bidding farewell to Turner and Whistler's spirits.... *sigh*... it was like meditation, in a way. even though there were so many other people in that room, it felt like it was just me. and that painting was crying out to me. before yesterday, i didn't think much of that piece. just another Monet piece that's a bit more colourful. but now... it means so much. i'm going to buy a poster of that painting someday. for sure.

after the exhibit, i went to look at the permanant gallery, careful to avoid the henry moore sculpures. but after a little bit, i called Em, and told her i'm going home. i've seen that stuff all before. so we met up, went to eat, then headed home. but none of this matters, because the only thing that matters is that I SAW THE ORIGINAL MONET PAINTINGS. and it was worth every cent of my 15$. i wouldn't mind going again, to be honest. bought a couple of postcards, and a poster of the ad for this exhibition, to remember by. it's lovely.


and today... i worked for 8 hours, and then went to dinner with the people i went on the china trip with. lots of fun! can't wait til the next one! doug (or i think now we can call him dougie) drove me home. all in all, a great night.