why not? looking back over this last decade it’s weird to think about how things panned out.

New YEars 2000 marked the corruption of my (14 year old) self. Within the following year I was skipping school, disobeying my parents, dying my hair crazy colours among other things. In April I turned 15, in May I lost my virginity to my first love (DP). A pivotal changing moment of 2000 was when I first met Jan, and funny enough, it was DP who first introduced me to Jan. I became vegetarian in the fall of 2000.  Through Jan I met Cam and in October, Cam and I started dating (my first real relationship). Jan and Cam were in a band with Sam and by the end of the year I was joining the band on bass.

On March 3, 2001 we played our first show (at the WECC) and we all wore dresses. Jan put on the show and we called it Dress Fest, you got a dollar off at the door if you wore a dress. It was one of the best days of the decade. Unfortunately, by April Cam and I had broken up and i was out of the band, but the whole experience changed my taste in music and I marked the beginning of my songwriting. IN july 2001 I attended my first Winnipeg Folk fest.  In 2001, I also forged my parents signature so that I could switch from private school to public school to be with all my friends. At the end of a long family controversy, I started my first year of public school in the fall. I was in grade 11. I started playing at many school coffeehouses that school year. I met many new friends, found a new interest in school work and had a great year. I also started dating lots of people.

In the spring of 2002, Cam and I, along with Andrew K, played a show at (what was then) the Academy Coffee House. I attended my friends grad and there my friendship with Maggie began. We bonded over her recent breakup with DP (ironically). I tried to kick DP in the ass at grad. Maggie and I were inseparable for the next several months. She fell in love with Tom in Minaki and we moved there for the summer, cleaning cabins for money and partying all over the lake. In the fall I started grade 12 and maggie moved to Banff with Tom. Grade 12 I was very successful, decided to apply to many universities, outside of the province, and ended up graduating with a over 90% average. I also continued playing various high school coffeehouses and writing songs. In 2003 I got into all 7 universities i applied to and decided to move to Montreal to attend McGill.

I turned 18 in April 2003 and went on a crazy drinking binge which lead to the ending of my brief relationship with Stephen, a cute talented older man who had been interested in me since he saw potential way back when I was 14. I had always had a crush on him as well. He was friends with me at my private school, when no one else was, even though i was in grade 8 and he was in grade 12. I had started running into him at his work (a music store) and he was very impressed with the cds i was buying. We dated briefly, but I was too young still and got drunk and said stupid things and he wont he talk to me when i run into him in public, although he will talk to my mum when they run into each other.

Summer 2003 was a crazy one. I worked at Minaki lodge for the one last summer it was opened. That was a crazy time and i lived out of my boat for about 2 weeks at the end of the summer. There was also a forest fire over the minaki road that August which stranded a lot of us at the lake. There was a heat wave at the time and the air was thick, hot and smokey. The lake was not even refreshing it was so hot. Those were lazy summer days. But I was suppose to move to montreal at the end of that week and had to get out. A long boat ride in a thunderstorm with several cats later I was on my way to montreal.

My first year in montreal was a blurring of drinking. I was 18 and on my own for the first time. I met steve in the spring of 2004 and we had a whirlwind romance. it was cute and shortlived. most of my time in montreal is a blurr. I got my first tattoos in 2005.

In 2005 I worked with Jeremy pumping governemnt wells all summer. It was a hard exhausting job and i spent time in little corners of the province and spent many nights in hotels. DP and I really reconnected that spring with many cold weekends jumping into lakes in may together. It was good and then bad. At the end of the summer Alex died. We were heartbroken. I went back to Montreal and got mono within the first week. I was sick, depressed and spent many nights awake crying at 3 am with a fever of 103*. I moved back to winnipeg for the semester. It was the best decision i ever made. Sadly, Phil was shot and killed in October. The last time i saw him was at Alex’s funeral.

Jessie had moved to Chicago at the end of the summer (her dad, my mum, and me moved her down). Despite her moving away, Jessie and I became close that fall. At the begin of Dec I felt totally better and went to Fernie with Maggie for 2 weeks, she was moving there. We had a big fight before we started our 27 hr bus ride out there and our friendship was never the same again.

I went back to Montreal in the beginning of 2006. I met Dan. He was weird and very different from anyone I dated, but he was there so we dated for 4 months. We had some good times but i never loved him, even though i thought i did. I wrote some good song during that relationship (a testament to how unhealthy it was).

2006 was the year i spent time in 14 different airports. February 2006 I went to Europe for the first time. A short, but crazy trip to London, Dublin (were we hung out with Milo) and Cantebury. My brother and I went on a crazy trip that landed us in the Californian desert for Cochella music festival. We took planes, trains, cabs, and buses to make it there. We flew to Seattle and took a 2 day train to California. It was amazing! We also spent time on Venice Beach. We flew from LAX to Saskatoon for a wedding at the end of the trip. Sarah and Rob’s wedding is hands down the best wedding i will ever attend. All of our friends ina hotel together for a weekend in a provincial park in northern Saskatchewan. Unbelievable!

Fall 2006, Holly went to Guanna and Tadhg became my roommate. LBF and I (who i met at Cochella and then ran into in a mall in mtl) became friends. I adopted Mouse in October and my life changed again when i met AK in December. We had a crazy 2 month romance fuel by negative influences which left me totally broken in February 2007.

I rebuilt myself in 2007 and started my new musical career in Mtl. I met great people and Sarah Mangle and I put out a split cassette on pink triforce. In April 2007 I met Sam, a old man rocker. I was 22 and he was 32. He intrigued me. He told me I had a very positive energy. We hung out for a month as friends and then our friendship progressed. His band opened for Dinosaur JR and i got to go backstage (while D jr was playing) and we saw Lou Barlow and Jay out back between their performance and encore smoking. Sam was the second friend that opened up for a band of Lou Barlow’s that year (Brian opened up for Sebadoh in the spring)! Brendan started playing music with me in the summer and we changed my band’s name from Warriorette to Do you Believe in god, Warriorette?! We went on a 2 week tour through the US and Ontario in July 2007 with Sarah Mangle and Cassie. It was insane and the most amazing experience ever. We actually ended the tour with 5$ each after everything was paid off (gas, food, booze etc). We played a small bar similar to that scene in Annie Hall (Minneapolis), a barn bash (on a farm in Wisconsin), an art space (Chicago), a kids camp (Toronto), a house show/ old train station (Waterloo), on a roof (Guelph), a puppet theatre (Ypsilanti, MI) and more! Sam and I were still dating at this point and one day when i was over he was asked to join a huge Canadian, toronto-based music collective band (BSS) and even asked me what he should do. He was over at my apt after the Dino Jr show when he got another call and decided to join the band. That pretty much marked the end of our relationship. I gave him the flu and he was sick the first time they jammed. He spent the next year all over the world and forgot about lil ol’ me.  I was again, heartbroken!  That took awhile!

In 2008 I turned 23 in April and got my first colour, crazy big, “real” tattoo. I also graduated with distinction from McGill and moved back into my parents house. I spent the summer being lazy. I got an office job in the fall and lost my soul a bit. I decided to apply to a masters program in order to leave the working world.

I turned 24 in April 2009 while my grandmother was dying. It was a crazy 2 week ordeal with much other family bulshit that developed. It was extremely challenging and on top of it all work was insane and I was dealing with a lot of bulshit there as well. I don’t know how i didnt quit my job. I was getting real tired of my job by the middle of summer!

On July 10, 2009 I met my current boyfriend/lover, partner. I have written about that crazy meeting already. A week later my world fell apart when my first love and always friend, DP died in a tragic boating accident. I am still dealing with this horrible experience.

In fall 2009 i started my masters program. It was a very challenging semester. On top of everything, school was extremely challenging. In October Rad and I went to Montreal and then moved in together. In December we got a new kitten, pickles. 2009 decided to kick my ass to the very end, I was sick from the moment i handed in my last challenging essay until well, today!

So that is my decade in review. It was crazy and really developed me into the person I am. It is interesting to look at a chunk of my life in the format of a decade!

To the future! Happy New Year/Decade! The best to you all!