Friday 23 March 2012

Missing: The Brit

Lauren and I were emailing today and we both expressed legitimate concern over the disappearance of our blog friend Tom - aka TbR.

If anyone knows where Tom is please let us know! Is he okay? Is he just REALLY, REALLY busy? This blog kinda just stopped because he stopped posting and things just fell apart. We're only as good as our weakest member, so the Transatlantic Support Group is feeling the loss of our friend from across the pond!

Tom - send us a sign that you're okay! Raise your TASG ring to the sky...I've got my hockey stick, and Lauren has her keytar - you just need the Elder Scarf and we're ready for battle!

- Allison

Monday 21 November 2011

Where's Tom?

Hey all! I know some of you probably saw that Lauren posted her Halloween post yesterday - yay Lauren! But Tom is still M.I.A. - so this is what I, the Canuck, propose we do: Take another week off (if you didn't notice, no one posted last week - not even myself). We might have to change the format of this blog - maybe make it bi-weekly instead or something.

I know that the last email I got from Tom said he was really busy with work and that he had been staying at the office late every night. Hopefully he returns to the land of the living soon to grace us with his presence.

Not too much is new with me, trying to get all my Christmas ducks in a row and such.

Cheers,

Allison


Sunday 20 November 2011

What Happens At Zombie Prom...Probably Just Shouldn't Happen

This is very late post detailing my Halloween. But at least I'm getting it out there before Thanksgiving. :D

My friend asked me to DJ a party this year. Naturally, I said "yes." The theme of the party was ZOMBIE PROM. How awesome is that? I put together a perfect playlist of Halloween party hits, threw on an outfit that I would never be caught dead in on any other night of the year, and consulted my friends who are make-up artists for help in becoming ZOMBIFIED.

I spent the evening telling people I was an undead rock star. I think it was a semi-tasteful costume at first, but my fishnet stockings ripped a little bit throughout the night and dancing in a hot room made my make-up all smeary. I was a hot mess. A sweaty, undead, hot mess.

I meant to take a picture of myself before the party started but I forgot. And luckily, no one snapped a picture of me while I was doing the time warp again in a dark room with a bunch of other sketchy looking zombie people. I have to say - the phenomenon of Facebook photo tagging has made it almost downright unappealing to attend any sort of sloppy social gathering. But I do regret not having a picture of Zombie Lauren to share with you guys.

But the real story lies in my attempts to DJ this Zombie Prom.

Because my little hipster gnome friend that lives down the hall felt that he should also be the DJ. And the girl organizing the innocently told him that he could DJ it with me, thinking that it would be the best way to avoid conflict.

I was not thrilled. This particular hipster gnome is sort of like an annoying little brother to me and his music is usually awful. I did not want to get in a war with him though, so I agreed to let him open the party with a set of his music.

His music was worse than I thought it would be. It's the sort of music that makes you want to awkwardly lean against the wall and then eventually leave the party. Which is what people were doing. In fact, only one person was truly dancing to the music, and it was the guy who put it on. He had a smug little look on his face that seemed to say "Wow, this is great, my taste in music is fantastic!" Apparently he didn't realize that none of us knew how to dance to his weird hipster stuff.

I didn't want to be a bitch, but everyone was leaving. I went over to him and said "Hey, I love you man, but this music is terrible. Let me play some songs?" He started to protest, but I was already in the process of fading his iPod out. "You can come back on when we're in need of cool-down music," I said. I then proceeded to play "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer.

And suddenly, all the zombies in the room started dancing...

...And stripping.

*facepalm*

I'm sort of glad Halloween is a once-a-year holiday.

Monday 7 November 2011

Blah!

Okay, so The TASG had it's first hiccup of the season...Tom and Lauren are sorry and will post twice this week (last week's topic and this week's...well I know Lauren is. Tom, are you okay? Tom!!!!!!!!!!! Can you hear me!!!!!!!???? I miss you!!!!)

This week's topic is "Sick Days" - Basically how we deal with being sick. I've got my first cold of the season and while it's not really that bad, it's still quite bothersome.

How do I deal with being sick? I tend to drink tonnes of tea with honey, orange juice and try to drink more water. I know you're thinking I'm probably all holistic and stuff...but no. I also hit up the drug store for Nyquil, Dayquil, Tylenol cold, Buckley's, nasal spray, cough drops...whatever fits my symptoms and will help me sleep and avoid actually having to go to the doctors.

I also generally don't take time off of work while I'm sick because I have a shitty job and I don't get paid sick days, so I usually just feel like dying for my shift then I go home and actually die. If I ever am sick enough to not go in, that means I'm really, really sick.

I don't get sick that much, but when I do it tends to last a long, long time. Last year, around Christmas, I was so sick that I actually lost my voice.

Anyways, I wish you all a happy and healthy November.

I'm looking forward to Halloween and Sick Days posts from both Tom and Lauren this week.

Tom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All cozy in bed today.

Monday 31 October 2011

Halloween is Weird When You're a Grown Up

This week's theme is: Halloween: The Aftermath. I assume most of us celebrated Halloween on Saturday, as tonight is mostly about Trick-or-Treating with kids. So this week we'll be sharing what we did on Halloween this year (or if nothing, we can share a story from the past).

This year's Halloween was the Halloween that almost wasn't. First, I wasn't completely sold on the party I was invited to. I'm going through weird feelings of social anxiety right now, where I mostly want to retreat within myself and be a hermit all winter long. Anyways, I started thinking about a costume anyways.

I've always wanted to be Joan from Mad Men, as she's one of my favourite character's on TV.

My other costume ideas were:

* Kate Middleton (I make fascinators for my Etsy shop, and I could have just bought a fake sapphire ring)
* Robin Sparkles from How I Met Your Mother 

Anyways, Joan was easier because I could use mostly my own clothes. I bought a vintage pencil necklace years ago (because of my unhealthy Joan love), so I had that. I have a pencil skirt - though mine was a bit shorter than the kind she wears (hey, on Halloween it's okay to slut up costumes, right?). I also had tights, black heels, a bright pink blouse, a brown cropped jacket, and a brooch. I bought a vintage silk scarf and pearl-like clip on earrings.

The other hard part was the hair - a 60s updo! Thank god for You-Tube and people who make hair and make-up tutorials for just about everything! I watched the video a few times, got some extra hold hairspray and a box of bobby-pins. It was a success!

Look at that hair! I'm so proud of myself, I might just do this on a normal day now.
Make it my new thing. I'll be the girl with the updo.
Anyways, the original plan was to meet up at a girl's house, arrange rides and then all travel together to the party - which was in this weird commercial space that my friend's boyfriend has turned into an apartment. But just as I was halfway ready a friend texted me that our other friends were already at the apartment. She gave me 15 minutes to get ready and then she was going to pick me up. At first I kind of wanted to just say nevermind and stay home, but I decided to just finish my hair and make-up and get dressed.

The party was okay - the space was pretty crazy. People were skateboarding and there was a swing hanging from the ceiling. I wasn't really feeling it though...so I sat on the couch and sipped a martini (part of my costume as well) and watched the others play beer pong.

There were a few highlights thought. I beat my friend at pool three times (dating a Brit is really rubbing off on me), and a girl dressed at Black Swan knew what my costume was (unlike everyone else). I mostly felt old and awkward and kinda wished I was curled up on my couch watching Beetle Juice or something Tim Burton instead.

The next day I had no hangover because I didn't drink that much. I did boring errands with my boyfriend and wondered if there was a middle ground between drunken dance parties and looking at tools at a hardware store on a Sunday afternoon.

I think I need to go to the pub soon.

So, Happy Halloween!

Tom, I hope you have a fantastic story for us all!

It was fun being a ghost & and Canadian Zombie in the cartoons last week!

Full Costume!

Sunday 30 October 2011

This Is Halloween...

Ack. I am late! And my cartoons are fairly lame this time around. But, alas, here they are... (click to enlarge)


Thursday 27 October 2011

A Very Awkward TASG Halloween

So, this is a day late, for which I apologise. Last night I tried to post a stalling message that read something along the lines of:


"DUE TO OBSCENE AND IMPROMPTU DRUNKENESS, THIS POST HAS BEEN DELAYED. NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME TOMORROW."




However, my drunken thumbs wouldn't let me send it. Damn them.




This, I believe, was a blessing in disguise, because I didn't have this idea until this morning. Now, I know it's not technically a comic as it's only one picture, but I am immensely proud of myself.




So, without further ado, my imagining of a TASG Halloween: