What comes to your mind when you think of Skateboarders? Graffiti?

awesome, can i come? i bailed pretty badly on my longboard the other day so i’m a bit skittish about it but yeah, definitely easily aligns within the culture of cool. it’s a whole different reaction from people when you walk down the street carrying a board too. graffiti has a darkness to it, linked to crime, is a crime so there’s that clash against society edge afoot. very punk. also gangster. graffiti is like the old-school method of relaying messages, advertising. some advertisers are big on the geurilla style advertising oft’ involving graffiti. they’re desperate for the cool edge most of all and have the dollars to make it happen. mess with the system activist graffiti is everywhere and totally great some of the time. this is about as much as i consider graffiti. for now anyway.

Name me one thing that really pisses you off right now about what’s cool or hip.

i have a massive interest in advertising and social media, namely blogging. being creative and organic and genuine about things. it’s hard to get the attention of the bigger guy though and tell them what they’re doing wrong. this is my offer to the world, my special insights and consultation of cool branding. that’s what pisses me off, my cunning talent is slightly going to waste. i love telling people when they’re fucking up and how.

coolness cannot be taught, it is ingrained. some can fake it but it’s blatantly obvious to the “real” cool ones that they are doing so and their project, ad campaign, whatever, quickly dies off. with cool you have to be proactive and ahead of the curve. always.

When you think of New York and cool, what do you think of? Or more importantly, do you think anything is cool in new york (Brooklyn, etc) now? When’s the last time youve been in new york?

three years ago was the last time i was around. i love the LES and williamsburg, despite its hipster disneyland quality it’s still a great scene for toolin’ around in. i can’t wait to go back single. fuck, yeah. i’m gonna get on that asap. Everywhere is cool right now though. you could make a forest cool, in fact, try to think of a band brooklyn vegan would blog about, they have at least one video (or many) featuring forests. seriously, i’m going to be the lead female of one next week and guess where the singer of the band (who will be playing my boyfriend) wanders off into…that’s right, a fucking forest. so anyway, tangent aside, when i think of new york and having lived there for several months, i think it’s great and i admire anyone who makes it there, even to just live there period. it’s a lifestyle choice. to actively choose to be urban. to live in a $2k a month box scraping your way by, music, bar/food industry, artists, writers, partiers, whatever, it has its faults but its pluses are great. enviable. LA’s got nothin’ on it. tho there are cool scenes there too and these guys will show you all about that.

i’ll share the rest of that garbage another time hombres.

yesterday was a little ‘tarded, rather, i was, and yesterday just merely happened. i feel better now despite the minimal minimal sleep i clocked last nite. loads of coffee before bed, always a dumb idea. here we are at cafetaste which is ramping up to be one of my new favouriter places to be emo by. they’re having a back patio launch party in a couple weeks, i’ll be there. went with melodie weeks ago and didn’t blog it as i am fully backlogged with stuff. would get around to it eventually.

right now rob is on a plane to SF to seduce some engineers. go find him he’ll be in town a week. he says those speaking engagements are great they make you feel like a star, but no hot chicks. burn.

before cafe taste it was mitzi’s, always mitzi’s. fuck i’m so lazy.

fried chicken southern style is a new menu feature and shit right i ordered it.

then after i wolfed half of it down rob and i traded meals, lamb roti SO good.

i waved to her. she waved back. there goes my nudist colony.

buds are budding.

SO jealous of their roof access.

part of why i couldn’t sleep last nite was i was worrying over my knee. it’s still pretty sore, hobbling into bed takes delicate precision. hoping i’ll be good for harlettes rehearsals and don’t keep dragging the pain out.

the selection here is incredible. they make their own chocolate too that you get with the bill and i always ask for more, it has cinnamon in it. delicious. better than a blowjob.

snoot. we started with the baco noir which was too sweet for rob. then we had something else that i have no recollection of. in-between that had a taste of something that was too dry, like drinking a bloody desert. kinda funny. too bad we missed the belly dancing.

fading and fighting it sure an espresso with bailey’s as recommended by jeremy, why not. then i had another.

see?

an idiot in action looks like this in case you’re wondering.

wonderful.

this guy had some serious altar kneeling worship to do. it was bizarre and most amusing. oh parkdale.

jeremy humoured him nicely though and went over to inquire if the bro was looking for something. he goes yes (so wasn’t) so jer gets a flashlight, goes back, oh, i’ve found it (no you didn’t). leaves. got it all on video.

cafetaste from raymi lauren on Vimeo.

cafe taste have only been reviewed once when they first opened and before they got their liquor license so they were reviewed solely as a coffeebar/cafe. stupid no. yes very actually as they’re a wine bar. tsk tsk toronto urban web media guys. one day when i have more than three seconds to string together a coherent post, i’ll unearth the plethora of photos and notes i took at/on cafetaste. short of that, maybe see you at their wino partio in a couple weeks. they’re also on twitter @cafetaste.

the vibe in there is very relaxed, perfect dead on wine night out atmosphere. dark. pillows. dimly lit vibrant gypsy lamps. good place to be heartbroken.

sayonara!

not even facing mecca is what every asshole in there proclaimed. ha. erp software

don’t stop believin’ from raymi lauren on Vimeo.

portable toilet rentals

having a chat about love vs money with a gal right now. i told her i was recently told to marry for money, not love. fuck love, they said. she agreed with that. i don’t. i’ll wait to be jaded for when i’m actually jaded. she said the older you get the more you crave comfort and security. “forces of desire wear down on ideals of romance.” i say for now i’m enjoying my gypsy wanton ways. i’m drifting kinda. initially i said my mom/uncle were bummed i didn’t leave with the pilot. she said her parents were angry she didn’t become a trophy wife she married for love to which i replied yeah love is the reason we are here. that’s the meaning of life everyone keeps scratching their heads about. so effortless and true. she goes, so confounding and complex as well. money kills love. then i reference the being told to marry for money by the red flag. ten million red flags later much?

so we all want money yet we are obsessed with movies about love.

getting loads of mileage out of this hat some drunk left at work.

i cannot exist without loving someone or something. it just isn’t possible. i don’t consider myself romantic at all but i know i have a deep heart and i fall in love every three seconds. the heart is always hunting. but i’m hot and cold. i enjoy company but i super dig my alone time. like right now for instance i’m layin’ around in my underwear (had to put a shirt on there’re hipsters out on the roof next door wonder how long til they know they’ve a nudist view) in my sunny ass room window open very warm coffee lounge smokey-headed. this is fine. even sleeping alone too. i’m getting into that. i still sleep on one side of the bed though. taking up as minimal space as possible but when i have a bunk buddy i am up all over that. someone must study sleep behaviour like horoscopes. what does that say about me? needy, clingy. most likely.

i was such a tomboy growing up but i am so attracted to soft pink now. teenage me would baaarf all over now-me laughing. stoner calling me barbie the other day got me going a little. please child at my age you want to look like barbie, trust me, not crazily-dreadlocked street raggamuffiny. just sayin’. however the dreads if they look clean and well-maintained enough are ok by me. i’m breaking some of my rules all over the place.

but goin’ back to money now. i need to be wealthy so i can buy frivolous shit such as this. i’ll tell you, life as a blonde now, totally different world. you can get away with practically anything. get someone to carry you something for an entire toronto city block if you wanted to. (ps. here our blocks are actual blocks not street-lengths away that essentially are the size of my bedroom).

i like melodie’s better. my mom said this was tacky. guess how i reacted to that.

i die.

melodie and i are going to do this to many other t-shirts. this, i bought like this.

massive opening in the back, dips pretty low.

the pilots were feelin’ this, those are not them in the bg. hilarious night. tell you about it another time. hello fellas if you’re reading.

Hi Raymi

I hope you’re well. I am writing to you because my government worksite has finally decided to block you from being loaded onto my computer. They say it’s porn. What rubbish! I’m addicted to reading your blog, and I heard that your blog has been copied onto another site that is not blocked. If you know of this site’s url, could you please reply to this email with it. And do it quick, because I’m getting withdrawl symptoms.
By the way, are you still single?

Single yes. Other site ive never heard of, where did u hear that?

Raymi

A workmate of mine assured me that there was another website that relayed your blogs. He showed it to me, but like an idiot I forgot to bookmark it. It wasn’t blocked late last year, but it may be by now.
Unfortunately, due to some unfortunate personal circumstances, I don’t have access to a computer outside work, so I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet and get access to one outside work. Yours is the only blog I read, so it doesn’t take too long to read it. I hope you’re going OK, because I feel I’ve really got to know you through your blog. It’s great to know that there are still ladies like you who are single.

How very flattering. Good luck finding it again. Im going to blog your emails. -raymbo

do you guys know what this guy is talking about? interesting.

i missed my family. was kinda blue on the train ride back. didn’t get to spend as much time with all of them as much as i’d liked to of, next week or something i’ll go out again. commuting wipes you the hell out especially when you schedule something between two other somethings. just bailed on dance rehearsal cos i think i’ll have a wig out if i push myself any fucking further today.

i’ve been trying to figure out what to put inside this locket for the longest time. joked yeah probably a photo of myself, why fuck around here right?

then i got a way better idea. hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee. kinda weird i know every single catholic prayer. hello useless!

you know when you have so many things to share, stories to tell, it all just cancels itself out on you. don’t even know where to begin or if i should even bother? i feel like a total whiner right now. gross.

so unbelievably frazzled right now. so tired. so half awake. running on empty. haven’t stopped in weeks it feels. i need a time out.

ha ha so emo. turned away a lush last nite. some asshole lifted chelsea’s ipod. disgusting.

nothin’ like a new suit to turn it all around though. hip scrape bonus.

you should see the reject photos. or not. i have no bathingsuit pose game. that bag of chips on my side dresser are pretty undelicious. if i don’t plow through something in 30 seconds without breathing, you know it’s a flop. india’s magic masala flavour, from my new favourite bodega thanks to rob.

can it just be summer now please?

here is a shitty picture of my ass and uv vodka plug.

this was just an in-betweener post. i’ll dazzle you in a bit. things get going a little slower ’round these parts when your brain is functioning at the speed of a skittle.

i fucked up and didn’t link to the evelyn room correctly down there so go pay them a visit thanks bye!

interesting times my (pseudo)(non)(sort of) friends.