I’m gonna try and fill ya in on what’s been goin’ on, but truth be told I may not say too much. I’m just going to bombard you with photos instead and then hope that I acquire a camera some time in the near future which will curb my neglect. I think- that’s the plan. I’ve been relying on Adam and his iPhone for all photo goodies as of late and it’s a bit of a pickle seeing as, … well, it is his phone. Thus, my urgent need for photographic evidence and for the ‘documenting of things’ has had to take the back seat.

So first up- was a birthday party where I met a bunch of Adam’s friends and acquaintances.

This photo was taken and later tagged on Facebook- I like candid:

Then mid July Adam and I worked with We Are Words + Pictures on a children’s comic event at Legoland in Windsor with the lovely Mike Leader.

We were lucky enough to meet Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba on this excursion in London- who were in town for a Brazil fest- they also painted the mural (seen below) on the South Bank of the Thames by the BFI building. Tres jolie!

Me and Mr. John Allison who was Mr. O’Malley’s date for the evening.

Once in the theater we watched the cast doing interviews outside  on the big screen: Edgar Wright (for another post related to Edgar Wright via yours truly go here.

Mr. Bryan Lee O’Malley admiring the crowd

Micheal Cera:

Mary Elizabeth Winstead:

Simon Pegg:

Who I luckily ran into on the way to the loo after the film and managed to geek out and get an autograph (bottom leftish):

He is just as hip in person- truuuuue story.

Brandon Routh:

Wooooo!

Waiting for movie magic!

They got the whole cast up on stage- really, really fun to see this whole thing happen- from the comics to this … justs :O

I believe I’m also able to add now that I was an extra on the set of Mr. Scott Pilgrim for about three weeks. I can be seen briefly and blurrily in the background at The Clash At Demonhead concert and throughout the Roxie fight scene.

Now for some ha-ha! Only in London would you find a poster like this:

Adam has started showing me the sights in Manchester. This is the Vimto statue.

And yes, like a parent he likes to get me to stand beside the things we see ;)

Then I made a delicious potato salad! DELICIOUS!

Our apartment is almost there- and by ‘almost there’ I mean almost at the point where we’ll take an metric poop ton of photos of all the rooms and post them somewhere for people to ooooo and ahhhh.

Adam has managed to put up pretty much all of our framed artwork. Here’s a bit of a preview.

This is what you see when you first walk through our door:

Glancin’ down the hallway:

Then last weekend we had the fantastic company of three lovely ladies at our humble abode as they went on a Liverpool excursion and then went to the Manchester Drink’N'Draw. These ladies were of course Lizz Lunney, Philippa Rice and Anne Holiday.

Before gettin’ into the booze + drawin’ equation we went and checked out the John Rylands Library. Manchester is the right place for bibliophiles. Remember this?

And this is what happens when I try to take pictures of Adam and I in the library.

Drink’N'Draw was fantastic. For a full write up you can see Adam’s post over here.

And this is Gary made my the very talented Philippa. We’re lovers. I love him. Love.

Unnnnntil next time!

K

It’s been a while I know, I know- but I’ve been busy busy busy.

I left for Manchester June 22nd so I had a few weeks before that where I worked at The Beguiling cleaning up the warehouse and eating my way through Sky Blue Sky’s sandwich menu. (Please go there and have a ‘Dreamer In My Dreams’ for me- god I miss that place!)

So here’s just a few photos from early to mid June- it was stressful as I packed and tried to get rid of pretty much 80% of the stuff I owned while working 10 hour days.

Hair before I chop chopped it

The tall piles of VHS that I got rid of

One of my favorite streets in Toronto- Palmerston. Made sure to take some time to walk down it one more time before I scooched.

Hair after I chopped it

I had a goodbye party before I left but of course my camera broke as I was going to take my first photo at the event. *sob* So I will hopefully be acquiring a new one soon if you have any good camera suggestions please feel free to drop me a line. I’d ideally like to avoid batteries, I don’t want anything too fancy or big- just something that takes good photos. Oh, the digital age- (Previous camera was a Sony Cyber-Shot so I was pondering just getting a newer make of the same thing)

I know that other people did make a point in taking photos because I failed miserably in that department so as I get a hold of some of those I’ll make sure to make another post.

The flight went well and everything was cool- but I have to admit I was pretty jumbled by that point. Maybe even an emotional wreck- but I kept it all internal for the most part. I’d just sold everything I owned and given what little was left to my folks- I was unemployed, moving to a new city in a new country- just felt a little drained. On top of everything I was trying to keep everyone else’s emotional states in mind and not hurt anyone’s feelings- see as many people as I could before I left, make sure my mum, dad and sister were okay- make sure I remembered how to do the girlfriend thing… bah. I think just at the end I wanted to push everyone away and have some solo time to digest but instead I hopped on a bus with Adam and made my way to Glastonbury. Not something I regret for sure but it probably wasn’t my wisest decision.

I am happy to report that now I’m doing way better, adjusting to my surroundings, rekindling friendships with many of the lovely people I haven’t seen since March- I even found a book club! *swoon*
Got a fantastic new apartment for August 1st with Adam and I’m working on getting employment at the moment which will give me the ability to get a bank account and a proper phone & plan.

But talk about an experience… geeezus. If you want to force yourself into thinking entirely different about things- try to get rid of all your material possessions. Try to push through an epic pile of change and give a brave face to everyone when you really just wish someone would pull you aside and tell you it’ll be okay. *phew*

But I made it. Just reeling a bit looking back. Makes one wanna shout “HOLY SHIT!”

Entirely. Worth. It.

/emo

But onto Glastonbury!

I saw the following bands-
Friday:
-The Magic Numbers
-Peggy Sue
-Lissie
-a bit of Miike Snow
-TEGAN AND SARA woo!
-Phoenix
-La Roux
-Vampire Weekend
-Florence and the Machine
-Hot Chip
-THE FLAMING LIPS!
(this was clearly the most epic day- where I actually had a lot of conflicting gigs- faaaannntastic)

Saturday:
-The Phenomenal HandClap Band (who to be honest, weren’t so phenomenal :( sorry!)
-tried to see The Wurzels and failed because it was way way too crowded
-Imogen Heap
-Kate Nash
-The National
-a bit of Marina and the Diamonds
-Foals
-listened to the Scissors Sisters while getting changed heh
-THE XX again WOO!
-Muse (I heard the Pet Shop Boys were AMAZING so a part of me wishes I would have seen some of their set)

Sunday:
-Frightened Rabbit
-The Bees
-listened to quite a bit of Tunng from a distance
-then we watched England lose during the World Cup BOO- I should have gone to see Holy Fuck instead but I talked myself out of it thinking “the World Cup only comes around every four years and I’ll surely see Holy Fuck some time in the next four years”.
-The Drums
-We Are Scientists
-MGMT (probably should have opted for Broken Social Scene)
-Stevie Wonder

I could ramble on about how awesome this fest is- how it’s been around for 40 years, it’s the largest in the world and that over 200,000 people attend blah blah blah- but you can use Wikipedia for that surely.

Here’s a bunch of photos taken on Adam’s iPhone you can see the full set on his flickr here.

Woo! first Kayla at Glasto pic

Pretty flags!

Adam enjoying a Vimto pop!

The trees have eyes! …quite a few of them did actually…

I had a bit of a moment here I’m not going to lie- I have been in love with Tegan and Sara for ages. AGES. I had never seen them live. Quite literally I was out of the country or unable to attend their concerts for legit reasons every time they came to Toronto- so I’d waited over a decade for this to actually come together- to actually be in the crowd at a Tegan and Sara performance. HOLY MOLY.

*SWOOOON*

I was front row too, to the right of the stage singing every song very loudly and probably quite annoyingly just like I used to do at work when I played their CDs over and over and over to the point where co-workers complained and banned me from playing certain discs. :D

*SWOON* I love you Tegan *tears up*

Moving along…

La Roux

Crowd at La Roux- very different from my Toronto concert experience

Me watching Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Florence and the Machine

The Flaming Lips- which were easily the best damned thing I saw (after Tegan and Sara of course)- they put on an epic show with incredible treats for the audience. I even teared up near the end.
Hamster Ballin’

Confetti- so much ‘fetti

Green lazers- impressive

The next day Adam and I ran into He-Man and She-Ra

The next bunch are from many art installments and whatnot around Glastonbury- really neat stuff

Muse

Adam outside our cow tent, with my Kate Nash flag on the last night- heading over to see Stevie Wondah!

Sunset over the tents

The view from our campsite of all of Glatonbury- I recommend clickin’ on this sucker to get a better view, entirely worth it

Path up to our tent

Me with my pork pie hat – at least that’s what Adam was calling it. Actually it was a gift from Adam.

Adam and Me

This photo really doesn’t do it justice, but this was the crowd for Stevie Wonder, actually- just part of the crowd. There were SO many people there. I have never seen, or participated in such a huge crowd in my entire life.

More of the Stevie crowd

Our crew, Beth, Kristian, Paul and Adam (Ruth is missing sadly- she had to head home early)

So there you have it- a recap.
Any other comment I need to make is this: After going to Glastonbury and seeing how lax the security was, how they allowed people campfires, to play with flares, to light Chinese lanterns and throw them into the sky in the middle of the hugest crowds in life- how people could drink openly and freely etc etc etc I have renewed faith in humanity as there were no accidents or fatalities (at least that I’m aware of)- people were respectful of one another and they did so on their own accord without a metric shit ton of police officers and security telling them to do so. It was nice. It freaked me out at first because I’m used to things being so … just intense. I’m used to getting searched all the time and watching out for other people to make a mess of things. It was nice to just relax and trust the people around me to be respectful.

That is all. It was fantastic.

/ramble

Hopefully, more soon-

K

(Somehow I never managed to take any photos until this year.)

If you’re not familiar with Anime North- it’s a crazy, crazy experience- especially to work it. It’s not just the costumes and the heavy overflowing boxes of manga and other goodies- it’s three days of madness. A lot of these kids have saved their money all year just to come and buy stacks of books- it’s incredibly busy and very fast paced. I worked 16 hours on the Friday and then 12 on Saturday and Sunday but it all goes by so quickly. It all blends together, you don’t even realize how long you’ve been on your feet until Monday morning hits you in the face.

Here’s some photos of the manga section and our hard workers- the show as always was epic- the most rewarding part is when you can visibly see via empty boxes how much you’ve sold and how little you have to carry back to the store.

Then throughout the three days I tried my best to snap a few shots of some fantastic costumes:

These guys did a wrestling show scenario I just got so used to seeing way too much teen parts via their holy moly inappropriate costumes that it was a jolt to see man-ness.

I appreciated her puppet- it moved and everything!

Soul Calibur anyone? (Only the best game EVER)

I want this car real bad. REAL BAD. Small cars ftw!

I spotted this couple on the lawn as we were driving away on the final day and they made me swoon a bit. Not only is the dude wearing the cutest bear suit in life- but he’s actually havin’ a thumb war with his lady. ADORABLE!

Victory! Christopher and Jamie-

I was lucky enough to run into my friend Hilary from University at the after party who is now in the band The Skirt Chasers- who just happened to be playing that night.

It was a good time and as always it does take about a year to forget how exhausting it is etc. But if I were still in Toronto- I’d probably dive into this event again for 2011.

K

My buddy Arthur and I decided to see them again- we’d gone to a show in November which was quite rad. (For photos from the previous show you can head here – then scroll down.)

The opening band was Hounds of Hate- I’d recommend givin’ them a listen.

Here’s some photos of them:

The show was really good- I think the crowd was kinda annoying this time around which took away from it a bit- being sandwiched between drunken teens who are mouth breathers not exactly my fave. I’m actually interested to see the difference between a Canadian show and seeing them play at home.

I got to meet Esteban when I purchased a snazzy t-shirt before the show- he was managing the tour and a fella named Matt I believe… Maaaatttt, who was doing the sound. Really hip fellas. Also got introduced to Caley (sp?) and her friends- we all drank til the wee hours of the morning together- at least until we couldn’t find anything that was open past 3am and going home became a necessity.

Esteban & Caley

Ben & Esteban
This photo actually prompted the following one to be taken-

An impressive tongue scenario…

There you have it, my last Toronto concert until 2012- but I do have live tunes lined up: Glastonbury at the end of this month. EXCITED!

K

In April it was my friend Rosie’s 40th birthday- thus her lover Jeremy and sister Laura decided to stage a surprise party at the swanky Table 17. The surprise element didn’t necessarily make it out of the gate- there were a few blunders, but the evening was still quite delicious!

I decided to try venison for the first time- you can also see my potatoes in the bottom right corner which were mashed with duck fat. OH BOY!

I guess this is how you feel when you’re 40 ;) – Rosie and Jeremy.

Delicious birthday cake!

Rosie and Laura

So I finished unpacking (as you may have seen in my previous post) and with that came the huge purge of my belongings… but somehow these suckers made it through my first run.

Then on April 26th (to be exact) two awesome things happened.
First, my lovah mister Adam Cadwell flew to Canada for his first time ever to attend TCAF, but lingered a bit longer to spend a whole 2.5 weeks with me. :D
The second thing was: that evening we went to see Jeffrey Brown talk at a Toronto Library which made me swoon. The man is a bit of a hero, so I tried to reel it in. Heh, tried. Adam snapped this photo- the colour red FTW!

I tried to show Adam as much of Toronto as possible, (you can see his photo set here) this also included many Tim Horton’s excursion + Cold Stone Creamery. This is me tryin’ out the Birthday Cake Remix.

At risk of makin’ some people puke- I’m throwing some swooney lovey photos on here. Long distance relationships can be tricky so I believe I’m allowed to wallow in my happiness.

Marc and Anna came into town early May which was super rad. We had dinner in Dundas Square at Milestones in this hip 4th floor patio thinger.

The next day the four of us went to Niagara and enjoyed the Maid of the Mist and our fancy blue raincoats, which I must tell you- are really quite necessary.

Then of course there was TCAF! This was the first time since 2005 that I wasn’t working the show which was really, really nice. I sat with Adam for the most part, but one guy didn’t show up so I nestled in between Howard Hardiman and Ray Fawkes for a bit. My main goal was passing out 200 flyers for my webcomic.

Howard and I- you can see Jamie McKelvie to the left there and Adam and Anna behind us.

Howard and his boyfriend Jonathan as well as Julia and her fiance Nevs stayed at my place- it was a little crowded but it worked out pretty well. Sadly everyone took turns getting sick :( (Well, except for Howard and Jonathan who were fit as fiddles the entire time.) I do have to say that eating delicious cake and watching a Muppet film on their final night was the right way to make an exit. Cake always wins. Always.

But of course, because it was TCAF after all, there was some epic karaoke goodness on the Saturday night. I think Andrew and I were rockin’ out to Kelly Clarkson here-

I yoinked a few of these photos from Chris Butcher here and from Jim Zubkavich here.

So now- this is where I’m at. I have a visa to live in the UK for 2 years. I can work and do the whole thing properly- my plane leaves on June 22nd. Between now and then I’ve been working at The Beguiling, getting ready for Anime North which happens next weekend. I’ve been selling my furniture and going through all of my belongings once more. My apartment is literally only a shadow of the photos I took before. I’ve sold both my bookcases and had to pack them up a little over a week after I set them up. Things are kinda crazy, but I’m really excited. I’m thinkin’ about things differently. I don’t feel like I’m going through the motions anymore. I’m actually living each day which sounds so blah- but honestly- it is way too easy to get caught up in the 9 to 5.

More soon!
K

I really wanted to shed a bit of light on her work because I’m extremely happy with my purchases mmhmm :D

Here’s the “Skills on Toast” necklace and “I <3 Toast" brooch that I bought.

There’s the Polka Dot Emporium:

This one is one of my favorites as Brian Cox is the bee’s knees!

And the Tuck-Shop:

Everything is so bloody adorable and awesome. My next purchase will probably be the Welly earrings. This is just a small taste of what she’s got available as well. Check it out!

K

In case you’re concerned I donated the vast majority of the stuff I wasn’t using to some awesome charities. I also managed to use a recycling bin way more than garbage. *high five*

I’m going to try to do this more often- I’m not much of a hoarder to begin with- but I think it’s really valuable to think about the things that you purchase and how often you use what you own. I like the six month rule, if it hasn’t seen the light of day for that amount of time, set it free. It’s also way easier to let go of something that you haven’t had for ages.

I’m going to be going through my VHS and DVD collection with a fine toothed comb later this month. That’s gonna hurt. I already cleansed the CD collection- time to reconsider some of the films I bought (most of the time solely because they were cheaper than renting or seeing it in theater).

I’m approaching buying things in a different way. For example, no more buying clothing because it’s cheap. I’m only buying clothes when I loooooovvve it. LURVE. No more of this “it’s only $10! That’s a deal!” I may have done that … a lot …

This is the apt prior to any of my stuff being moved in. I left my landlord’s (who is a friend) bed in there because I have a ton of company coming this month for TCAF- so it’ll come in handy.

After the movers came-

My university notes that I decided to throw into the recycling bin

The ones I decided to keep organized on my shelf :D

Tour of me basement apt after I’ve unpacked everything and after my first purge.
Bathroom

Reading material = tres important

Entrance to zee bedroom

The living area

Kitchen

K

The cover in itself is gorgeous!

MUSIC FROM: SLEEPING STATES // TRISTRAM // DOGTANION
WE ARE WORDS + PICTURES DJ SET

SOLIPSISTIC POP 2
Contains 64 pages of sequential art from some of the best comic artists, illustrators and designers working in the UK today. With a 12 page newspaper insert, gorgeous gatefold cover and specially designed tote bag, it’s a must have for any comic fan.

CONTRIBUTORS
Kristyna Baczynski, Becky Barnicoat, Adam Cadwell, Stephen Collins, Joe Decie, Marc Ellerby, Sally Hancox, Anne Holiday, Tom Humberstone, Philippa Johnson, Daniel Locke, Lizz Lunney, Jack Noel, Mark Oliver, Luke Pearson, Octavia Raitt, Anna Saunders, Julia Scheele, Matthew Sheret, and Matilda Tristram.

PRE-ORDER SOLIPSISTIC POP 2
If you are unable to make the launch night, you can pre-order the book here.

REVIEW SOLIPSISTIC POP 2
Email solipsisticpop@gmail.com to acquire press copies, arrange interviews, or for more information.

STOCK SOLIPSISTIC POP 2
Email solipsisticpop@gmail.com to order copies of the book for your store.

(via SolipsisticPop.com)

K

I returned to the … dare I say- “Big Smoke” on Wednesday evening in order to get my affairs in order for the arrival of a certain Christopher Madden the following day.

Madden is Adam’s old roommate and friend who currently lives in Edinburgh. When I was there for a few days in January we went out for drinks and food in the evenings and got on really well. So when he planned his three week trip to Canada and the airplane tickets got fudged- a visit to Toronto became a reality and I got to return his hospitality.

I should also direct you to a few things here. Chris does a podcast with his friend Chris Wakeman called Casta La Vista. It’s full of silly banter and film-y goodness. Check it out here. You can also get it via iTunes here.

Chris also has a YouTube channel found here. Where I personally found amusement with this video- not to mention it must have taken AGES!:

Ok, so onto his visit!

I picked him up at the airport around 3ish then we dropped his stuff off at my empty apartment and went to the Burger Bar in Kensington Market. Deeeeelicious!

I took him to Honest Ed’s where we managed to get lost because that’s just what you do in Honest Ed’s. We may have linked arms and ran to the exit once we found it.

Then we went out for drinks at Clinton’s with Chris and Andrew Butcher, Shane (who is a new friend yay!), Jim Zub and Nadine.
I got way too drunk, way too early, but that’s how I roll apparently.

We started makin’ peace signs in photos, I wish this photo came with sound, because I assure you, there is a sound effect that goes with this face:

It was really nice to see some lovely Toronto folks eee!

Madden has Tom Selleck on his case. You can make a lot of friends this way.

Here we are the next day- we finished our night with a hot dog (ohhh street meat, how I missed you!) and Oreo cheesecake from Futures. I think he may have been making this face because he didn’t want to leave Canada.

We spent the afternoon at the CN Tower- I’d only been up to the restaurant and not the touristy bit, it’s pretty neat!

Lovely view!

Pensive Christopher gazes into the distance.

Glass floor!

Glass floors are exciting!

Here’s where Chris pulls out a Rubik’s cube and tells me that he can do it in mere minutes! So I decide to take a video of the whole thing at the top of the Tower. Sadly… as always, my batteries ran out and he finished it 10 seconds later. But you can still have a peek at the video below:

In its completed state:

We finished our visit by going to The Keg for lunch/dinner… lunner. He was impressed with the steak knives. (Frightening)

I was impressed with my steak! Please note the pile of tomatoes is so epic because Chris pilled his on top of mine. They don’t cut an entire tomato and slop it onto your plate.

Dessert is delicious! After this treat we went to the airport so he could fly home.

I was quite pleased that this sign can be found at Pearson. Let’s hammer those Canadian-isms into place dammit!

I love airports.

*wipes sweat*

So there we go, the next day my movers came and I’ve been living in the rubble of that wreckage for the last two days. Don’t worry I’m grabbing photographic evidence!

K

So, I’m back in Canada now with full intentions of returning to England for a more prolonged stay *fingers crossed*. When people ask why- I have decided to go with: “England woo’d me with its impressive display of overcast skies”. Rather them ramble on about comics, travel and Cadwell. I think if anyone followed my blog while I was away or has a brief chit chat with me, they’ll know that this has been a long process with much thought- that dates back to September 2009.

Blah, blah, blah- PHOTOS!

So during my last few days in Manchester there was an lovely rainbow sky show! It is captured here via photos and video! On the video you get the lovely treat of Cadwell trying to speak with an Irish accent and only succeeding in sounding like a pirate.

The day after the Silver Mt. Zion concert (Wednesday, March 24th to be specific) I took a saunter around Euston station as I waited for my hotel room to be ready. My final few days were spent with my lovely new army print suitcase (as I managed to ruin two other cases on this adventure) in hotels wandering around London.
I found some treats of the architecture variety!

This was the hotel wed-fri. A swanky surprise!

I was pleasantly surprised by the Nanny McPhee world premiere while I was walking around central London waiting for Adam’s train to get in from Manchester. I was just about to sit down to a lovely Italian meal when I glimpsed Emma Thompson and Maggie Gyllenhaal “red carpeting”. *swoon* Both ladies are très lovely in person… from a distance. :D

I took this photo on the tube. Aw, memories. Meaning can be found here.

I think this is easily one of my favorite Adam/Kayla photos as it a) reminds me of a certain Tegan and Sarah photo and b) reminds me of how awesome our awesome is.

I will miss you futuristic tube stations!

Twinnings tea shop! This place was closed for renos when I was in London in September so I had to go back! For any tea lover I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend this sucker! eeee!

I couldn’t find the Temple church when I was sightseeing in September either. Another success story.

To complete my set of “things I missed”- the Aztec masks weren’t in their cases at the British Museum as they were being cleaned last time- so we slipped in just before it closed so I could check that sucker off my list.

Friday night was my “Good-Bye Drinks” at the Phoenix Artist Club- the following photos are the result of mixing friends with booze.
Beth one of Adam’s friends who I met in February (and adore!!) stopped by and got me an epic pencil case of the red telephone booth variety. Très exciting!

Marc and Kieron. Best part here is both Marc’s face and the fact that there’s a Puppetry of the Penis poster behind them.

Anna kisses!

Kayla kisses!

KISSES!

Julia may be pissed at me for postin’ this sucker but it results in laughter on my end. Also- YAY Jon Browne! + Nevs and sadly a blurry Andy :(

Anna vs. chip bowl

Nevs, Julia and Sarah. HAWT.

Adam and Marc have a very … sensual…relationship which I dare not intrude on…

But we do make rude hand gestures towards it ;) (Sorry mum!)

My face is a bit much on this one… I apologize

This photo also makes me giggle.

Annnd this one too-

And this one! Baha! Très serious.

Here we are the following day, very, very hung over at the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing. Oh boys, oh boys!

Barely had any sleep that night, Adam and I woke up really early to say our good-byes at Gatwick. It’s been almost a week that I’ve been back and visiting with my folks.

I will leave you with this fantastic ad campaign that can be found around the London tube stations.

-K