Moving to Montreal by My Van Loc

0+0=7 (2015) Suzanne Mcclelland

0+0=7 (2015)
Suzanne Mcclelland

So the original plan was to jet to San Francisco by October; that plan has changed and the destination is now Montreal. YUP I’m making a nest, finally.

I’m moving in with a couple friends. The best part is, we’re all creatives, and they cook. That’s pretty much heaven to me.

Another best part, very close friends live close to us, and we’re pretty close to the gay village.

One thing I love about Montreal is that unlike Toronto, people aren’t hustling as hard and damaging their mental health and bodies with burn out everyday. I SAID IT. That part about Toronto, where people work 3 jobs and do school and volunteering to keep their 900$ closet and network is the worst to me. Maybe that’s what I wanted when I was younger. Now all I want is a group of people who care about me, laughs, and a bottle of wine.

I bought a ukulele and am writing songs using my ipad. What a world!

Frequented places in a Toronto by My Van Loc

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As someone who freelanced/remotely worked for years, these are some places I frequented.

Livelihood Cafe
In Kensington Market there’s a cute cafe that serves Lebanese cookies… I have a hard time finding these! I make better ones from the recipe my friend’s mom taught me but they’re ok. This cafe also employs refugees. https://www.livelihoodcafe.com/

Green Grotto
35 St Joseph St, Toronto, ON M4Y 1J8
They are mostly quiet in the day time, have wall plugs, wifi, natural light, food and bubbletea, what more do you want.

Victory Cafe
440 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 1X5
Coffee, beer, wine as you type away… up to you.

ICHA TEA
235 Spadina Ave Unit 4, Toronto, ON M5T 2E2
Good tea and drinks but weird tables unless you can get a square one, and no natural lighting.

Bonus

Women’s College Hospital
Women's College Hospital, 76 Grenville St, Toronto, ON M5S 1B2
This is not a work space but I just like it, if you can get a family doctor here… this place is the bomb. Walk-in ultrasounds, same day IUD insertion… wow. Sometimes when I’m early for an appointment I just sit on ground floor and work.

Cops Donuts
https://www.copstreats.com/
Adelaide and Brant, I think. Tiny donuts that give you mouthgasms, also the branding of this business is a millenial’’s aesthetic wet dream.

Alternative Small Talk by My Van Loc

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“Do you have a family doctor?”

“What kind of cooking oil do you use and why?”

“If you were a donut, what kind of donut would you be?”

“What’s the worst thing that can happen on your Sunday?”

TGF Design Managers by My Van Loc

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As someone currently without one, I really appreciate people design managers, agents, and production managers.

I once worked with a really good ally, she was a DM but pretty much a PM, and in short, kept the bullies and users at bay while juggling the workload of the designers in the studio.

As an intern, I will never forget the day she told me that our boss, the person who hired us both, the Marketing Director, was a bad client.

This manager was always standing up for the designers, and advocated for research trips for them to join the rest of the team who got paid to fly out source materials/resources.

It’s hard for designers to find a place at the head of the table, where sometimes, they REALLY need to be apart of the conversation. Despite the partitions that keep creatives from the executive, these walls are getting shorter and shorter, and having roles and people that act as advocates for designers is something I really look for when interviewing for new positions.

Anyway, this is all to say that sometimes I struggle with working with clients, often have to bite my tongue (hard), and think, “what would [insert DM’s name] say"?”

Side note, I just quoted a project for 20k and I don’t think I’m going to get it. I only pray that they understood my breakdown of costs. Like I said, it’s hard to communicate your worth to people/value to projects, and if only I had that bridge, haha.

Frequented spaces in Montreal by My Van Loc

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http://www.lagrainebrulee.com
Near Berri-UQAM, in a pretty lgbtq+ vibey area if I recall

http://pikoloespresso.com (no wifi, good place for reading or writing with no distractions)
Close to Station Place des-Arts

http://santropol.com (amazing provisions, meh service, amazing vibe, go out to the back patio, not sure if wifi)
Pine x St. Urbain, kinda near Station Sherbbrooke

https://www.facebook.com/liliandoli
Near Station Lionel-Groulx

China towns by My Van Loc

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100% of the metropolitan cities I have travelled to have an area dedicated as Chinatown. I’ve been learning about the ghetto that Chinatown in San Fransisco is, protecting its residents but also a construction sigifying their immobility.

Thinking about my own experiences moving around as I grew up, my immigrant family has also always chosen to surround themselves in the comfort of those like them, in other words, in areas with a high concentration of East Asian commerce and demographic.

In highschool, the group I tended to hang out with during lunch monopolized a table, where we knighted it “China Town”.

Windows by My Van Loc

I’m working from the island in the kitchen and I can see a dude not sure if he sees me but the lights in here are bright pink so how can he not directly see into the condo?

Anyway this gets me thinking about how people spend hours during winterin that ugly yellow man made light.

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Resumes by My Van Loc

How many resumes do you have?

I realize while putting two different ones together today that I’ve got a lot of out of place experiences, sometimes they overlap but most of the time they don’t.

For example, in 2015-2017 I worked as a videographer’s assistant.

In 2017 I got my Yoga Teacher Training certification.

In 2013 I was a Sports Clubs Coordinator in my uni.

And the longest position I’ve kept (mostly for fun) was an art installation specialist.

I’ve been on a couple of Board of Directors, mostly in social/child welfare.

I can’t imagine an opportunity where all of this would be relevant on the same page.

my avatar was violated by My Van Loc

I am a long time Mac user. In fact the last time I owned a PC was when I had to share it with my family when I was about 8, so about 16 years ago. At the time I discovered Runescape; being a lover of fantasy experiences and reading, it was amazing to me to play in a little world of made up things. That was also my first time experiencing online sexual harassment. I remember thinking, people can harass the pixelated avatar?

I probably felt wrong about it because I had invested a lot into those few pixels, a signifier of part of myself, really. That one incident really taught me a lot.

Classical, Commercial, Computational Design by My Van Loc

In 2018’s Design in Tech report for KPCB, John Maeda, Maeda also classifies the three types of designers:

  1. Classical Design (the traditional "craft" of design)

  2. Commercial Design (formerly also design thinking? seeking insight from the relationship of the customer and the product)

  3. Computational Design (Using analytic evidence/metrics turned systems and algorithms to solve large scale problems for many people)

I think this important to know as an young designer because focusing on classical design as we are sometimes tunnel visioned into during our practice limits what can be done.

Who doesn't recognize the sound of Für Elise? by My Van Loc

INT. LIVING ROOM—NIGHT

VAN is sprawled out on the bed, dinner in one hand and her laptop under the other. HAYDEN, turns on this 99% Invisible episode during dinner about how the West sucks at recycling and sits across from her on the couch. The podcast producer recites a fact about how SF has the best garbage system in all of America.

VAN

Thinks back to how Taiwan as an island is much more
progressive in recycling than many other countries.
Is that
because Sanfran’ is so small?

HAYDEN
Nah it’s ‘cause hipsters.

VAN
…Hipster’s are gonna save the world, okay, bitch?

HAYDEN
BABE!