Friday, December 30, 2005

Holidays

We are back to work after the "Holidays"... frankly I think I need a Holiday from both Work and Holidays because Holidays are big work.
My Mom arrived on Friday the 23rd and we spent a quiet evening at the house. Saturday we headed down to Calais for a little cross border shopping at Mardens. We didn't really find much, but we also didn't have a lot of time to look around. Mom picked up a couple little outfits for my nephew Cole (2 years old). I got all my sewing done in time for Sunday... Mom loved her nightgown and it actually fit.
It was a fairly laid back Christmas day all in all. Darrell and I decided to just buy ourselves something big instead of doing all the gift exchange stuff... so we bought a nice table saw. His parents also gave us money for a gift and we put it towards the saw. We did get a few little stocking stuffer type things for each other though. He got me a couple beginner guitar books, a guitar stand, some picks, a patch cord, and the Batman Boxed DVD set with all four movies. We haven't had a chance to look at it yet, but I'm hoping there will be some good extra stuff on the special features disks. I was extremely disapointed by the extra features for Fantisic Four... I was hoping for some making of stuff to get a feel for how some of the effects were made. I got Darrell some CK1, a BBQ utensil set, an automatic pepper grinder.. and there are couple things he wanted that we are holding off on until they go on sale. When we phoned my Sister's place Christmas Morning she informed me that I had to make alterations to her PJ's... not because they don't fit, but because they have to be made into Maternity PJ's.... so I'm now in the process of adding some adjustable elastics to the pants. (I don't actually have to write that she's pregnant.... you got that from the Maternity part right?)
Boxing day we got up and ready and headed into town to find everything closed. That West Coast lifestyle I used to live makes me forget sometimes that I live in a Province that is 20 years behind the rest of the globe.
The day after Boxing day we hit the malls and found some fun stuff. Mom got me the new Diana gaboldon Novel... a Breath of Snow and Ashes at Coles. I didn't even know it was out yet, and can't wait to crack the spine and soak it all up. "here's hoping it is better than Firey Cross... or as it was called by many on the Jack Whyte Forum... Brianna's leaky nipple saga.
Wednesday mom flew out for home... and Thursday we were back to work. thank God it's Friday and we may get alittle rest over the weekend.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Classic Leading Man Test







Cary Grant
You scored 23% Tough, 23% Roguish, 14% Friendly, and 38% Charming!
You are the epitome of charm and style, the smooth operator who steals the show with your sophisticated wit and quiet confidence. You are able to catch any woman you want just by flashing that disarming smile. When you walk into a room, the women are instantly intrigued and even the men are impressed. When you find yourself in trouble, you are easily able to charm your way out of it, or convince others to help you. You're seen as dashing, suave and romantic. Your co-stars include Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, and Joan Fontaine, stylish women who know a class act when they see it.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the Classic Dames Test.

Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the Classic Leading Man Test.

The Weekend

I thought after Christmas Carol was over life would slow down a little but it just hasn't, If anything it's gotten a lot more hectic. I've been trying to get ready for Christmas.. Darrell and I aren't normally big Christmas type people, but my Mom is flying out from Calgary this year so we are trying to bump up the Jolly Ho Ho Ho thing because of it. Which makes me a very busy person.
I am working on something extra special for my Mom that requires sewing. When my Mom was a little girl my Great Grandma used to sew flannel PJ's & Nightgowns for everyone and on Christmas eve everyone got to open them and wear them to bed... and the whole family would be wearing their new jamies for Christmas morning. This is something Great Grandma did right up until she died ten year ago, and when you consider she had seven kids and of those had four or five and all of those turned around and had two or three... that makes for a lot of sewing. After Great Gramda died... my sister started buying my Mom a flannel night gown every year, but since she's going to be here this year I thought I would be cool if I got out the sewing machine and carried on a family tradition. Of course by carry it on I mean for my Mom, Sister, Brother-in law, and nephew... not the whole clan. So I am still up to my ass in flannel. I have finished my Mom's nightgown and a PJ set for my sister, and have started to work on my Brother inlaw James' Pjs. I have a really cool patern that is father/son.. so James and Cole will match. I think Cole will get a kick out having PJs that match his daddies. So pretty much every free moment (and there aren't a lot of them) have been spent sewing and now it's crunch time. I still have to finish James and start on Cole and Mom gets here Friday.
Sewing aside work has been intensly busy as well, especially the Rogers TV listings stuff. Since everyone in Toronto is off over the Holidays the push is on to get any holiday ads in, which is intense. Usually I can work on them right up until a couple days before they air, but I now have to have everything that is going to on between now and January 13th done and gone. No wonder there never seems to be any time to update this blog.
Friday I spent the entire day in my office with Betty Rubin from Moncton going through pictures for here new ad. She had room in it for 9-12 images and brought 185 with her.. so it took a little while. After work we popped down to Sabastians for alittle News 88.9 party Dave Dobson was hosting.. it was fun, but damn expensive... thankfully it was a contra deal. I'm done with Sabastion's to tell the truth they are so overpriced it isn't funny... there's nothing "that Special" about the place to justify it. We had a Christmas comes early Friday at our office, thanks to a bankruptcy buyout. There was a company in Moncton that went out of business and we got all their equipment for a pretty good price. So after Dave's party we went home and spent the evening playing with our new toys.
Saturday was Brian Chisolm's anual Christmas open house... it's always very busy and lots of fun. It was a really early evening though, all the people we knew were gone by about 10 and the remainders were mostly Brian and Debbie's family so we called it an early night.
I spent Sunday sewing.
Monday I spent racing around the office trying to bring together all the elements for Betty Rubin's commercial so it could be overnighted to Ontario. I barely looked up from my computer screen all day and it was down to the wire. I was still putting the final touches on the audio at 6:20 and it had to be put to tape, packaged up and out the door delivered to same day on the west side by 7.... just made it.
Today I have a lighter work load, not as traumatic... we are going out for a company lunch a little later on (although it's almost 1 now... so it will be more a company dinner by the time we actually get around it.)

Friday, December 09, 2005

Friday Feast December 9

Apparently I haven't posted anything since last Friday.

Appetizer
Name something you'll miss about 2005.
The record breaking hurricane season. (Aside from all the damage.... it was still pretty cool that there were so many.)

Salad
What is one thought that went through your mind today?
I'm already sick of the election.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how compassionate would you say you are?
7 ish

Main Course
If you could invent something, what would it be?
A truly viable solar powered automobile.

Dessert
Do you prefer salty snacks or sweet treats?
depends on my mood.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Friday Feast

Appetizer
When was the last time you did something you would consider courteous, what was it, and who was it for?
I held the door open for someone going into the dentist's office this morning.

Salad
If you were to have a painting done of you alone, what would you want the background to be?
The view of Melvin's Beach from the picnic shelter on the Fundy Trail

Soup
Describe your voice.
I have several voices.
My speaking voice (which sounds completely difffernt in my ear) is a little higher pitched than I'd like but whatcha gonna do?
My singing voice is quite powerful.
And my inner voice is very loud at times.

Main Course
What is something you would like to do, but you're afraid of the risk(s)?
Become a parent.

Dessert
What was the last television show you watched?
Everybody Loves Raymond (it was the last thing on before I went to bed)

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Rent

Went to see the Movie Rent last night. I'd have to say all in all, not bad. I saw the touring show when it was at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John last year and fell in love the music. Unfortunately the band in the live show often overpowered the singing so parts of the story were compleetely lost to me, but I managed to walk away with the point. The movie didn't have any problems with live musicians overpowering the singers though, although the thumping and booming from the Harry Potter movie in the theatre next to us was little annoying, and I had to constantly restrain myself from singing along. Quite a few people from Christmas Carol were in attendance, since we sent out a mass cast e-mail before the show to arrange a bit of a meeting. Everyone was still a little tired and run down from the show so there was nothing special planned for afterwards and Darrell and I just went home.
Darrell is not a fan of the musical, so I had hoped that Rent would be the one to finally win him over... no such luck. But to each their own. I enjoyed the movie and the evening out and had a good time. I will opf course be getting the DVD the second it is available and cranking it up on our stereo to watch it again... probably singing along at the top of my voice.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Tired!

I think I could sleep for a week, or at least an extra couple hours.
Now that Christmas Carol has run it's course Imay actually find a little time to kick back and rest up. But I know I am really going to miss that show. This time around there was a particularly fun group of people involved so rehearsals often spilled over into drinks afterwards (which actually starts getting a little expensive... good thing it's only a few weeks). All things considered though I woul dhave to say this was the best time I've had doing a show so far. Don't get me wrong I've had really great times with all the other shows I've done, but this one was different.
To begin with I was out of my usual element, this was a non musical show. I am not very confident in my acting abilities compared to my singing abilities, and being in a huge cast of really good actors was a little intimidating. It certainly forced me to dig a lot deeper, pull out my best game as it were... then push past it. So I feel like I walked away a lot better for the experience. I certainly had a great time.
The show actually fell at just the right time too. Darrell's mother, Joan,flew out from Barrie for a visit during the final week, so I was quite busy working and doing the show and they got to spend the week together uninterupted. They came to Thursday's opening night performance, and joan had a really good time. Darrell's not big on Theatre but he also liked it so it must've been better than I thought. hehehe
The cast party was a great time. We did some karaoke, some dancing, some singing with guitars, and a lot of drinking. Needless to say Monday morning at work was not the most pleasant experince I've had, but being completely self inflicted who can feel sorry for me?
I am now trying to get motivated to finish up a couple work projects... feeling very uncreative and disinterested, but I'll pull it out of somewhere I'm sure.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Too much fun

I haven't posted in way too long, basically because I've been way too busy... possibly even having way too much fun.
First an update on Cocoa Tree that is thretening to outgrow my bathroom already. It has bloomed several times already, but I have yet to have any luck at all with polinating it. This could be one of two problems, 1) the tree is too young... 2) the tree is not self compatible. Ultimately it comes down too, if I actually want to see this tree grow pods that have cocoa beans in them, my best bet is to get a second tree. Of course I'll have to renovate my bathroom first to make more room, and go through all the hassle of importing it from Florida, then building the lilttle greenhouse around it to climatize it.. etc etc etc... sounds like fun.
Work got insane for a few weeks. I had two huge animation projects due at roughly the same time. I have to say they are probably the best most detailed projects I've done to date, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to say anything more about them as I had to sign a confidentiallity agreement on both of them. Hopefully the various annoucements happen soon, so I can actually post samples of the work to our website, for other potential clients to see.
At the same time as I was busily trying to wrap up those projects, we were also working on a little home improvement project. Darrell's Dad came out for a visit and before he showed up, we had to get our spare room all painted and cleaned up. Luckily he's not a super fussy person so the fact that we didn't get all the molding finished in time didn't really bother him. Darrell's Mom is coming out in November and my Mom is coming out at Christmas time so the push is on to get the downstairs basement done, as well as finishing everything that didn't get finished in that bedroom. We found a really nice grey ceramic tile to go in the downstairs bathroom last night, and it was actually on sale to boot. When we got it home I got curious and started laying it out on the Kitchen floors and it looked so good with the stainless steel appliances that we made a second trip to the Kent store for more. It's funny how one job leads into the next when it comes to home renos. I'm actually really excited to roll up my sleeves and get tiling this weekend. I'm a bit of a wierdo that way.... I actually find painting a room to be fun and relaxing. It actually gives me a real high, when I go through with my putting knife and some drywall compound filling in all the little nicks and nail holes, and bumps... then sanding it all down.... putting on that first coat of paint... getting the finishing coat on.... putting up the moulding..... and at the end the room is fresh and clean and new feeling. Gotta say... it's a nice feeling.
You might say... wow that was a lot of stuff going on all at once, and it was, but.... it wasn't all. On top of all that I was busy reheasing with Opera New Brunswick for their production of Tosca, that played while Darrell's dad was here. I had originally opted out of auditions for the Chorus for the show, because they were rehearsing in the early spring and over the summer, and I had just come off two consecutive shows, a move, and a huge work load... and wanted to take the summer to just relax and enjoy our new house. A few weeks before Tosca opened though my buddy Bertis (who produced the show) called me up and asked if I would be willing to be a super. He said all I basically had to do was walk on and walk off which sounded pretty easy so I said sure. Turns out the supers played the guards and there was quite a bit more to do than just walk on and walk off.... but it was a really great experience. All the principles... the director etc were all professionals who had been flown out from various places across the country, and the set was brought up from New York... it was a huge huge show, and got rave reviews... and I not only got to be part of it... I actually had to be on stage more than the chorus, and I only had to put in three weeks of rehearsal time. Super Fun.
During rehearsals for Tosca there were auditions for Christmas Carol, and we are just getting underway with rehearsals for that now. I have two parts in it and am also head of teh sound crew. Well so far the crew is me, since I'm building sound effects etc and don't really need an actual crew. But when we get to show time I will need someone to run the sound board, or I will have to do some very creative and well timed running between the audience and the stage.
So there you have it.... I'm having way too much fun.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

No Title

It's been a long time since I actuallyposted anything to this Blog, so I guess I better get off my butt and do it. There's no title here, because I have no idea what to actually write about today. Life has pretty much fallen into a nicely paced summer routine.... work all week (not too too hard), home the second we can get out the office door each day, and hang out at home doing yard work or just sitting onthe deck all weekend. All in all pretty nice way to pass the time.
At work I have three projects on the go right now, that are threatening to take over my life in the near future, but I am chipping away at each of them now, so they won't be mammoth undertakings as the deadlines draw nearer.
At home there are lots and lots of projects we would like to do, so we are doing the little ones we can immediately and prioritising the rest. As far as excitment goes.......... I'm finding myself excited over tiny little things right now, since there isn't anything big going on. (you take it where you can get it)
One thing I'm kind of excited about (most people will think I'm out of my mind for this one) is my Cocoa Tree. I got it shipped up to Maine from Florida several months ago and drove down to bring it across the border, no big deal. Once I got it home though, it was extremely shocked and began to drop it's leaves. They are an understory rain forest type tree, so they like high humidity and indirect light. The light part is fairly easy, the humidity is another story... so I eventually took some dowling and build a little scafolding around the pot then wrapped it in cling wrap to make little greenhouse. The tree finally started to come back to life and slowly I started leaving the top flap of cling wrap open for longer and longer to acclimatize the tree. Then just when I was ready to remove it from it's tomb we moved. On a happy note, we bought a house that has a skylight in the bathroom so I threw caution to the wind, removed the cling wrap, and put the tree in said room. I'm excited because there are now seven new branches growing on it, and it is about to bloom.....(I think it's happy there). I don't know exactly how to go about polinating it once it has bloomed and there is not al ot of information online about it, so I am searching and searching to find something that will help. I would love to actually get the tree to produce a cocoa pod, and then plant the seeds to start new trees.
See what I mean about excited over tiny things?
As boring and domestic as it all sounds I'm actually enjoying the relaxed pace for a change. We had some people over on Sunday for a Bar-B-Q, and it was a lot of fun. The long weekend was absolutely gorgeous, until Monday when it poured (but I didn't have to water the garden or the lawn). We even took Friday off so we'd have an extra day. I'm still not quite recovered from all the time off to tell the truth. It really throws off my internal clock when my routine is switched around like that....I must be getting old and set in my ways.
As you can see, I haven't really put an entry into this blog for pretty good reason.... there hasn't been anything to put. I suppose I could pop on each day and say, " It was 27 degrees and we sat on the deck in the sun today," but how many times could you read that before you wanted to shoot someone?

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

I must be really wicked

So they say no rest for the wicked... well I must be super wicked then. I really thought things would slow down a little after Evita and the Move. If anything they just got busier.
One minute we're moving.... having a huge housewarming party (the cathetor really did come in handy for that, but I'm glad it's gone.) Then the next thing you know...a tonne of work projects flouded in out of nowhere. Not to mention I promised to do sound for the Theatre Companies production of the Sunshine Boys. I thought doing something backstage would be less of a time and energy commitment than being on stage... I was mostly right, but not completely. It was a really fun thing to do though, and the Imperial Theatre has a state of the art computerized sound system that scared the hell out of me. I was terrified to touch anything, so basically stuck to the buttons Malcolm showed me. The rest of the time I did a lot of leaning over and reaching and generally looking like I was doing something. The sound guy is actually down in the audience so people could see me.
No sooner had we wrapped that project and gotten over the hangover from the all night and a little into the next day cast and crew party, than we got a new client at work...... and they wanted animation. Not just flying text either. I'm talking a scale model of the west side of Saint John, displaying new proposed roads etc etc. .... Unfortunately they needed it yesterday, but couldn't get me the stuff I needed until tomorrow... if you get the picture...... lots of lost sleep and two all night work sessions later I managed to get it all done, only to have them come back with another project just like it.
They really loved the first one, so descided to do another. Not on the West side though... this time over on the east side in the old ship building yard. So I'm building a whole new part of the city, and you guessed it they needed it yesterday, and yes this is my second all nighter. God I love this job. (the scary thing is..... I really do)

Well I just thought I'd jot that down since I haven't really posted anything here is a very long time. not that I've had the time.... Til next time........

Monday, April 11, 2005

Time for a Breather.... finally.

Holy... busy Batman! I honesty can't believe just how many things have happened in the past couple weeks.
1) Evita...... The show went really well. I was happy with my performances all four shows.(of course there were little things I would have corrected etc, but nothing major.) The review in the paper was not the greatest, but you can hardly compare a local theatre company to a broadway cast... I can't honesty say I disagreed with the criticisms. Of course that is the opinion of one man, as compared to the really great reviews we got from other members of the audience over the course of the run. Those who can, perform.... those who can't, become critics.
2) With absolutely no time to catch my breath (or suffer post production depression) after the show... it was time to move. We took everything in two loads of the U-Haul we rented and spent the day lugging, and lifting, and hauling, and driving, and pushing, and pulling, and grunting, and sweating, and packing, and unpacking, and disassembling, and assembling, and arranging, and rearranging...... and then we were moved. The next day we returned to the little mini home we have rented for almost six years and cleaned...oy. I thought I had done a pretty good job of precleaning, but once you take everything out you can tell someone has been there for nearly six years. Thankfully the mini home is not large, so the deep cleaning didn't take all day, and we managed to get home in time to set up most of the house.
3) On Friday I received an e-mail from Bertis wondering why I hadn't called him to help with the move and suggesting we should get together with the Bonds and go out for dinner and Martinis. Of course I suggested we stay in for Dinner and Martinis at our new house on Saturday evening (not thinking for a second it was Friday). Then at a meeting for the crew of Sunshine Boys (which I'm doing sound for) I invited a few more people, and thus we had our first dinner party in our new house. It was a lot of fun, I made Fetucinni Carbonara and Garlic Cheese Bread, and bought a bottle of Vodka, Vermouth, and an Ammaretto just for fun. Bertis Brought the Ceasar Salad, a bottle of Creme de Cacao, vanilla vodka, and orange juice (chocolate martini mixings), and Brian and Helen brought the Cranberry juice, and triple sec (crantinis). We already had a fridge full of beer and Smirnoff Ice (that was purchased for the move), and some baileys... so we were all set up for a pretty good night. After dinner Chad and Nancey stopped by for drinks and hadn't realized we just moved in. They actually thought we'd been there awhile, so we must've placed everything fairly well. And our old neighbours George and Loretta stopped in too. Like I said.... Lots of fun.
4) Next I was off to Halifax for my surgery. The Wednesday after moving in, I went under the knife to have Ureathroplasti to remove a stricture. In short... unpleasant. Basically there was about a 1 cm section of my urinary tract that had gotten narrow and was resticting the flow. (last year it actually closed completely and had to be surgically dialated.... extremely Unpleasant) So the doctor cut that peice out and joined the ends of the tube together. I spent three days in the Halifax Hospital (which was actually quite refreshing all things considered.) I basically ate, slept, and read. Apart from the discomfort of the surgery site, and the cathetor (which will be my companion for the next three weeks) it was a fairly nice "time out". I got home Friday afternoon, and spent the weekend hobbleing around doing little things here and there in the ongoing setup of our new house.
5) Saturday we had the ADT guy out to install the security system and Sunday Darrell cleared a bunch of the small trees and brush and we set up a clothes line. (We haven't bought the new dryer yet... so this will buy us a lot of time... not to mention I like clothes off the line better, and it conserves energy.)
6) Today is my first day back to work and there are 5 projects piled up in my absence that I should be getting to instead of typing this long post, but aside from that the frantic rushing about is over for now.... back to a more normal pace. There will be some rushing around this week in preparation for the Housewarming/Open house party this Saturday, but nothing major. (I don't know if it can be called a housewarming though.... I'm not sure but I think a housewarming has to be planned and executed by someone other than the home owners.) At least thanks to my new companion I won't have to worry about line ups for the bathroom during the party.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Theatre

If you find yourself thinking you have too much time on your hands, or think you are bored and there's nothing to do.... Get involved with your local theatre company. Once you get wrapped up in the kind of rehearsal schedule that a musical requires.... you'll never think you have too much time on your hands again. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I auditioned. I knew back in December that if I accepted a part (or parts as it turns out) in Evita, every free minute of my time would be spent in one kind of rehearsal or another, and the ones that weren't would be spent practicing all the stuff we'd just rehearsed on my own.
Thankfully we are in the home stretch, the entire company has finally taken possession of the Imperial theatre and moved out of the wretchedly cold rehearsal area we were using above the pool hall. Thursday is opening night, so if anyone on the cast thought their time was at premium up until now they haven't seen anything yet.
Tonight is the dreaded Cue to cue rehearsal, I say Dreaded because it is when all the technical people who will be working on the show learn their cues, which means.... the actors are basically bags of flesh that stand here and there while they set up lights, and reset lights, and spike entrances, and props, and set pieces, and we enter a couple hundred times, and exit a couple hundred more, then sit(close at hand in case we're needed suddenly) for an eternity. The Cue to Cue will more than likely start at 6 and go until about midnight, and then it's back to work tomorrow morning bright and early....... the scariest thing about all that is that I actually am smiling while I type this, and in a weirdly sadistic way am looking forward to it, if for no other reason we will get a feel for what the stage is really going to look like for the show. Plus There's just something about backstage at the Imperial Theatre that I find comforting... it's a little like visiting a great-grandparent... it isn't quite home, but it sure is comfy.
That being said it is now Quarter to six and I must get my butt in gear to get to said Cue to Cue.

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Finally a Day to Myself.

For some reason known only to the muses today's scheduled Evita rehearsals have been cancelled and my costume fitting has also been changed. That coupled with the fact it is Sunday, and Darrell is off with Mike playing with the companies new Jib have conspired to give me a day all to myself. (with the exception of the dogs.) Considering my recent schedule , it will most certainly not be a leisurely day to myself but more a catch up day to tend to those tasks that have fallen by the wayside through lack of time.
I think I may even get extremely adventurous and totally junk out the bathroom. We aren't due to move until the 30th of March, but if I do a super heavy duty cleaning on a few rooms now, I'll only have to give them the most superficial wipe down when we move. It could be a real work saver later if I can muster up the enthusiam to get started, and not be distracted by the few remaining chapters in the novel I am so close to finishing.
I also have to get to all those mundane chores I've been neglecting, like Laundry, dishes, and my poor plants. (my life is so damn glamorous I could just puke...:) )
Musical theatre is a super fun hobby, but it can really suck up your free time. Especially when you get involved with a project that is as big as Evita. It isn't like a lot of musicals where there is dialog then a catchy tune and a dance number. For all intents and purposes it's an opera, I think there are maybe three or four spoken lines in the entire show. Since every word is sung, it puts a huge pressure on the performers to make sure each word in the song comes out really clearly, because there is no dialog outside of it to tell the story to the audience. There are also only Four major identifiable and defined characters... the rest are part of the "company", and have to find their motivations and actions from somewhere other than the script in hand. In short it is a tonne of very draining work, but once you are in the atmosphere of it, and enjoying the comradery of your fellow castmates, you don't even notice how hard or how draining it is.
On Friday night we had a cast Karaoke party at the Sommerset Pub. Due to the flue circulating around, only about a dozen people from the cast actually made it, but it was really fun. What struck me immediately, was that we have been rehearsing this musical since the beginning of January, but the Karaoke party was the first time I'd actually heard most of the cast members really sing. Of course we've all heard each other singing our parts together in groups etc, but I mean pick a song you love and stand up by yourself and belt it out.... really sing. It was a real eye opener as to the true extent of the talent of my fellow performers. I can quite honestly say I was extremely impressed... well worth the fuzzy brain the next day.
Well, writting in my weblog is not getting many chores done, but it is quite relaxing and enjoyable so I might endeavor to make a habit of it. For now an enormous pile of laundy and a filthy bathroom are calling to me so I'd best answer the call.

Friday, February 25, 2005

How did I end up with this Spot???

How on Earth did I end up with a blog spot? It's actually a pretty simple and complicated explanation at the same time.
I've been on a bit of a mixed emotional whirl for the past week. My partner and I are in the process of buying a house, so that is all very exciting, and I have been rehearsing with Saint John Theatre Company for their upcoming performance of Evita. The show open on the 17th of March so rehearsals have kicked into over drive. Then something terrible got thrown into the swirl of excited emotions, when I learned that a very good friend who I've known since kindergarten passed away on Friday. Tracy Tweadie has been part of my life in one capassity or another for 27 years now, and while we live on oposite Coasts and haven't actually seen each other in person in a little over a decade, we have stayed in touch. I even had an e-mail from her a week or two before she died to ask me how I got involved with Saint John Theatre because she was thinking of getting involved with the group in Abotsford (British Columbia for anyone who doesn't know). Tracy was a flight attendant with Air Canada and often told me about all the cool places she'd been, she was only 33 when she passed away in her sleep on a lay over in Calgary. She is formost in my thoughts today since her memorial service is this afternoon. I called out last night to see how everyone was holding up and they are doing as well as can be expected. (what else can I say?)
Tracey's passsing in and of itself didn't lead to the Blog spot mind you, but it did set the wheels in motion. It got me feeling nostalgic for old friends and good times past. That's when I started googling people's names to see who I might find, and I googled Christa Giles. ( you should too she has a fantastic little web site that shows off her beuatiful creations.) Of course finding Christa's website led to e-mailing her to say "Hi.. Remember me?" (of course I didn't actually say that, I was pretty sure she'd remember who I was.) The last time I saw Christa she was in a bar called the Oddessy in Vancouver. I was living on Vancouver Island at the time (probably in Nanaimo) and singing in a Country band, and a friend and I had hopped the ferry to party for an evening in the City. Again that is about ten years ago... it would have to be since I moved to New Brunswick seven years ago.... I honestly can't believe I am already old enough to speak in terms of decades. ( You know you're getting old when all the music you loved as a kid is in the Bargain bin and called "Classic Rock") How Bowling for Sue is that?
So I e-mailed Christa and she e-mailed back, I had also asked her to say hi to her sister Heather (who I was also close too for quite some time) and she sent me the link to both of their blogs. So now we're getting to how this little area came into being. In order to post a message out of the blue for Heather I had to sign up for this site.... no anonamous posting.
What the hey... I've heard Blogging is all the rage these days, so I just might give it a go. An online journal as such, except instead of being a private repository for your inner most thoughts it's public to the extreme.
Well, that is my first post to "My Blog" will there be others? That remains to be seen.