Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Tuesday

Not much going on today. I have alot of work to do on a project I can't seem to get inspired about so I'm very easily distracted by just about everything, like updating blog entries etc. This is going to be one of those projects that is just excruciating in the the beginning and then eventually (Soon I hope) something will click and I will be going full steam ahead.

Aside from a lot of work to do, there isn't much else going on. I have to travel to Halifax on Thursday for my regular every three month check up with my transplant doctor and that's about it.

I noticed that Survivor is entering into it's death throws this year. They are splitting the teams into races this time around, ie White, Black, Asian, Hispanic. It's offensive on every level and causing quite a controversy which tells me they are very desperate for ratings. I'm not surprised, the show was really different and interesting the first season, but by the end of the third season I was over it, and even if I wasn't completely over it, Survivor Allstar definitely drove the final nail into the coffin. When you get right down to it, it's a very boring show.. it's a bunch of people camping and scheming. You can tell which team is going to lose the immunity challenge by which team's drama is featured most prominently in that episode. It's no wonder it's tanking in the rating, and they are so desperate to revive the poor dying thing that they are willing to piss off every special interest group in North America, just to get the show in the public eye again. They claim the reason for the races idea... too many complaints that minorities weren't well enough repersented on the show. Oh well, if nothing else they got people talking about them again (even posting on their blogs about it.) There's my contribution to the Hype ... Survivor R.I.P.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Awsome Weekend

The weekend was awsome. I went to the Blue Olive Friday night to see Kizzy sing with Opa. She looked and sounded great as always. She had a few new songs from the last time I heard her as well, which was great. I especially enjoyed Time after Time. Chad dropped by around midnight and after the band was finished we headed over to the Dolan Road Irving for a bite.

Saturday we had a corn boil with Bertis and the Bonds over at Brian and Helen's place. It wasn't your regulation corn boil where you drink until you can't see and eat only corn until you turn yellow. There was steak, salads, potatoes, deserts, and of course corn, lots and lots of corn. We had a fire and made some smores later on and it was a really great evening. Being Helen's first Canadian Corn Boil she was the only on of us to actually achieve the onjective of drinking until you can't see.

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to do much more than clean the kitchen a bit and do a little weeding in the flower boxes. Darrell worked on his truck trying to discover what is wrong with it. It quit on him coming back from a shoot in Amherst and he had to be towed all the way home from Moncton. Thankfully we have CAA.

The best part of the weekend though was the news that I am an uncle for the fourth time. My sister Amanda gave birth to a healthy baby boy (Which surprised us all because we thought for sure it would be a girl) on Saturday. He weighed in at 7lbs 11 ounces and his name is Seth Lee Loiselle. His older brother Cole got to spend five days with grandma because Amanda started having slight labour pains around Monday. She didn't go into the hospital until Friday, and Seth arrived Saturday morning. Needless to say everyone is a little worn out at the moment. I am expecting picture any moment (hint hint) since I know that Amanda and James had Mom's digital camera at the hospital with them. In the mean time here are pics of my other nephew and neices.

This is a Shot of Cole from Dec 2005 he is two in this one and will be turning three this September.



My neices are my Brother Lorne's Daughters. This is Brooke. The picture is From August 2005 (She was 3 about to turn 4).She will be Four this October.




This is Sydney also from August 2005, she had just turned 2 the month before, and just had her third Birthday last month.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Last Weekend of August

I can't believe we are already heading into the Last weekend in August. It has been such and hit and miss summer weatherwise that I feel kind of ripped off. It is already starting to cool off and we will be seeing changes in the leaves very soon. At least the forcast this weekend is for good weather. Fall is actually usually very nice in New Brunswick though, and the first part of September can sometimes be the best part of the year. I just can't believe how quickly the time flys by once the snow is gone. It felt like February/March was going to last a lifetime and now suddenly we're staring September in the face.

We are planning a trip back to Ontario in September for Darrell's Dad's Retirement, and then his Uncle Ken may drive back with us for a visit. I'm so far not committed to doing anything for Noises Off, but will leave myself open in case Bob needs a sound guy. I don't have any plans of auditioning for Glass Menagerie in March but may work backstage. I'm definitely still working toward Cabaret in May, that's the show that's number one on my list of things to do. If I have to, I'll show up at the auditions dressed as the Emcee in an effort to show Stephen I'm the best suited to that part. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I'll keep it in mind just in case. Whatever part comes along it will be a fun show to do.

I've been arranging all my online comic books into PDF files and posting them in my rapidshare folder. I don't know if anyone who reads this actually uses rapidshare or not, but if you do here's the link: Rapidshare Folder They allow non subscribers to download stuff, but there is an hourly limit.

Kizzy is singing at the Blue Olive tonight so I think I will pop in for a drink or two and cheer her on.

Friday Feast August 25,2006

Appetizer
If you could have a free subscription to any magazine, which one would you like to have?
There are a couple woodworking magazines that used to get delivered to our old address by mistake, and I always had a flip through them before returning them to their rightful owner. I would enjoy a subscription to something like that. I would prefer an online magazine subscription though, so I don't have a bunch of magazines needing a home and taking up space.

Soup
Describe your living room (furnishings, colors, etc.).
Our living room is on our things to do list. We've been saving the painting etc for fall/winter when the weather is not condusive to working outside. At present the walls are off white. Our place is open concept so the Livingroom/Diningroom/Kitchen all sort of run together. We have a vaulted ceiling that makes it feel even more open and gives the illusion that it is bigger than it really is. We have ceramic tile in the entryway (where you come in from outside. We put it down oourselves) and the same tile in the kitchen. The living room has a hideous blue carpet that ends at the old linolium in the dining room. Both those floors are going to be Maple laminate flooring like we used in our bedroom by this time next year. We have a great big picture window in the livingroom that provides light for our forest of house plants. Just in the living room itself we have; Cashew tree, Phoenix date palm,coconut palm, canary ilsand date palm, Fig tree (real fig tree that grows figs), Ponderosa Lemon Tree, Gold rush bush, corn tree, regular lemon tree, Weeping fig, another larger corn tree, and a banana tree. That's not counting the plants in the dining room where the sliding glass door is. As far as furnishings go there is a dark blue vinyl couch (That I reupholstered myself), a glide rocker and ottoman, a really cool coffee table that the top raises up and acts like a tv tray and matching end table, tv stand and Tv plus stereo, and a DVD holder.

Salad
What does the shape of a circle make you think of?
Infinity, no beginning no end

Main Course
Name 3 things in your life that you consider to be absolute necessities.
Family, Friends, Music

Dessert
What was the last really funny movie you watched?
I can't recall... it's been a really long time since I've watched a comedy movie. most of the new ones are that over the top absurd, lowest common denominator kind of humour. I don't need to be bashed over the head by a joke. I appreciate more subtle, intelligent, dry humour. Although that doesn't mean I haven't been laughing my ass off in a theatre lately, it's just been to live theatre not movies.(see posts about winging it)

Monday, August 21, 2006

Winging it 2

It was very hectic weekend. We were up until 2am Friday working on our script for winging it and back at it by 11 am Saturday trying to get everything together to perform the show at 8pm. At 8pm four teams of four were as ready as they were going to be to take the stage at the Mary Ohland theatre and perform for a live paying audience. It was hilarity from start to finish. I can't remember ever having quite that much fun at a theare event. The fun thing about it was that people knew these plays were all thrown together, created, learned, and performed in the course of 24 hours, so the bar wasn't really all that high. Although once teams started taking to the stage the bar really was a lot higher than one might expect. All the plays were clever and funny and the inevitable mistakes were even funnier. Being new to second stage I didn't know about the no food or drink rule and used beer as a prop which inevitably got spilled on the stage... Luckily it was a moosehead product so as Jay Pointed out we christened the Mary Ohland Stage with an Ohland Product. I just hope no one gets in trouble.

One of the neatest things about it (I found) was that some of the participants had never done anything with the Theatre company before.. talk about jumping in to the deep end. All in all it was a very fun and funny night and I know next year it will be bigger and better. There were a lot of people leaving the theatre who were kicking themselves for not signing up, but I know they'll waste no time signing up next year... I'll definitely be doing it again. (Maybe next year we'll try a musical...hahahaha)

The cast party for all the festival events was a really good time. A lot of the Winging it crowd left early, some of them were pretty exhausted. I called Darrell at 1:30 and asked him to come get me since I had pretty much finished off the rest of the props in the case. He met me at the office at 2 and we headed home.

Sunday we got up and had a late breakfast.... If you can call it breakfast at 1 in the afternoon. Then we met up with Bertis and the Bonds and headed to deer Island for cake. No really we went for cake. This was my first time to Deer Island, and we toured around a bit & went to see the Tidal whirlpools, which weren't very active since it was low tide. Then we went to the little diner that is on the right side of the road just after you get off the ferry. I can't remember the name of it...Island something. It's owned by a really nice French couple, they are super friendly, their food is really good, and their cake is worth traveling for. The prices are pretty good too. They were really flatterred when we told them we traveled down specifically for their cake and said they'd had lots of people say they had come for the food, but we were the first to say we came for the cake. Bertis, Helen and I all had the three layer chocolate cake with white (Butter) Icing. Darrell had the White/Vermouth cake also with Butter icing, and Brian had the Blueberry peach Cheesecake. Brian always orders something different than Helen because she usually doesn't finish and he gets the last quarter of her deserts. Very smart strategy.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Winging It

I went to the Museum last night for the first meeting for winging it. We were divided into four groups of four. I am grouped with Doug Fillmore, Vincent greg, and Andy Steeves. Then each team was given a prop and a line randomly picked by audience volunteers. Our Prop is a male head from a hairdressing school, and the line we have to incorporate into our play is "We are serving doughnuts on another Planet". So off we went armed with our porp and our line and 24 hours to come up with an original work of theatre. We stared writing a script right away, then left the museum and met back up at my house, where we worked away at it until 2am. With a draft script in the bag, we called it a night and met up again the next morning at 11. We made some revisions to our script, and started blocking the scene and learning our lines. It is now 3:44 and we are still learning our lines and marks. All our props are in place, we have our costumes and we will be able to do a technical run at 7:20 this evening before we perform for our live audience at 8. This is soooo much fun.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Reality Shows

I try to avoid reality shows like the plague with the notable exception of the Amazing race, but I have been watching Rock Star (I got sucked in last year just because I'm a huge INXS fan)and while I'm not a big Tommy Lee fan, the show is actuially pretty good. I think Dilana has a really good chance of winning. She's the most memorable each week and the most consistent. My onlu problem with the show... they want too much of my time, I mean really three nights. I normally watch it on NTV on tuesday so I get the monday show right before, and more often than not I don't watch the results show.

Another one that sucked me in was America's got Talent, which was really surprising since I have no patience for flat singing etc, and don't particulary care for Regis either. They sucked me in with the buzzers and the gong show feel of the early shows, then when the gong show part went away I was already invested. They asked the question Does America have Talent and the answer was a resounding yes. The variety of the acts was really good. There is no question now, America's Got Talent, although after the results of last nights final vote one might wonder if America has Taste. I found the performance of the girl who won terrible. She was 12, she was cute, she really wailed on the big high notes that get the crowds cheering, unfortunately that's all people seem to remember because her enunciation was awful, I barely understood a word she sang, and on every other note in the song that wasn't a huge show stopper she was pitchy at best and downright flat most of the time. It was painful to listen to. The little Yodalling girl was a much better singer so far as technique and vocal control are concerned and she had a better stage presence. The clog dancing groups were both awsome, especially those kids who also played the fiddle while they were dancing... very Leahy. I really liked the Quick change act, but have to agree with the arrogant English judge that they showed the exact same routine everytime and I was frankly bored with it by the end. He went about saying it all wrong when he critisized them, but the point he was trying to make was, if they had an hour long show.. there must be other elements to it that they could bring to the stage and show the audience instead of just doing the exact same routine over and over. The routine they did was really good, and really quick but based on it alone, I would call them a great opening act for a million dollar headliner. It was an interesting show all in all, but I doubt I'll be tuning in for a second season.

Friday Feast August 18, 2006

Appetizer
What color is your car?
I drive a dark Blue Olds Alero, that I purchased last year from Al's Ultracar, specifically so I could be inthe cast of Evita without spending a tonne of money on gas in Darrell's Blazer driving back and forth to rehearsals.

Soup
If you could wake up tomorrow with full training in another occupation and a job in that field, what would it be?
I would return to the field I left when I developed leukemia... Music. I would love to wake up tomorrow and have full musical training in piano, guitar, voice.. you name it.

Salad
How many times in your life have you had the flu (or something similar)?
I've had Cancer twice.. I don't pay attention to flus and colds.

Main Course
What is something that has happened to you this week that you didn't expect?
Nothing really unexpected happened to me specifically, But Saint John Theatre Company announced their plans for their new building this week, and although that wasn't unexpected the total on their funding drive so far was... they are over half way to their goal of $950,000.00. It's very exciting for everyone involved in theatre and the arts in this area.

Dessert
How old were you when you had your first kiss?
That's a tricky question. If we're talking innocent peck between two blushing kids.. I was probably about 7 or 8 with Debbie from down the street (I don't really remember). First time making out, I don't exactly remember that either, it may have been at Deanna's Party in junior high, or on a band trip. Being that I'm gay, it all felt fake to me anyway, so that could be why it's not that memorable. My first actual "passionate kiss with intent" was when I was 16 and working at the Double Day Mini Market, it was with the guy who worked int he aprts department of the Ford dealer next door... whose name I won't mention for privacy reasons. (and no he doesn't still work there)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Setting the Stage

Yesterday I managed to make it out to the Setting the Stage event at the new SJTC building. I almost didn't make it, I got in the Zone while working on an ad and when I glanced at the clock it was 11:56. Luckily the building is only about five doors up from us.
It's a really exciting time to be part of SJTC and I can't wait until things really start happening in the new space. There will be administration and rehearsal space, as well as set building, prop & costume storage areas, and basically anything else a flourishing theatre company could need. My hat's off to the board of SJTC and especially to Stephen Tobias for his vision and tireless hard work on all our behalf. Without them we wouldn't have a theatre club to be part of, and I really appreciate everything they've done and the years of hard work and dedication that went into making it happen.
I also managed to get my registration for winging it filled out and sent in yesterday. In case you don't know, Winging it is part of this weeks Theatre on the edge, where participants will be broken into groups, and each group given a line and an opject. Their task is to take these things and come up with a ten to fifteen minute original play... written, rehearsed, off book, staged, costumed, props, sound, and tech... to be performed in front of a live audience within 24 hours. Okay how fun is that?
I have avoided getting involved in any plays etc over the summer because I just don't want the commitments. We're working on our yard and the weather has been so unpredictable that it's just nice to be able to drop everything when the sun comes out and not worry about having to be someplace or do something specific. But taking 24 hours to put together a play with a group... that's just toooooooo fun to pass up.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Darrell's B Day

Yesterday was Darrell's actual birthday, even though we celebrated on Friday. He was in Halafax all day and didn't make it home until about 8 o'clock in the evening. Surprisingly I walked into the house about ten minutes before he did. I didn't get away from the office until just after 6, then had to stop at Home Hardware to pick up his present (A Bench Grinder). I popped home quickly to wrap it and then headed right back out the door to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cake. Since I hadn't eaten anything by that point I also got a double cheeseburger (I like Dairy Queen Burger way better than any of the other fast foodplaces with the exception of maybe Burger King). I got home and was just sittign down to my burger when Darrell pulled in. He hadn't eaten either so we hopped back in the truck and got another burger from Dairy Queen. In the place we used to live before buying the house that wouldn't have been possible, but now we live 10 minutes from everything.

I am hoping to get away from work and attend the launch of the new SJTC Capital Campaign this afternoon. I have a lot on my plate today and tend to lose trackof time when I get in the zone, so Hopefully I will remember to come up for air at noon and toddle down the street for the festivities.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Weekend

We had a really busy weekend. On Friday we left work early for a beer at O'Leary's, then headed over to Bertis' for Darrell's Birthday dinner. Bertis made an awsome lasagne and a Chocolate-chocolate cake with boiled icing. The Bonds were there as well of course, having returned from their camping trip to Montreal.

Earlier in the week we had thought of going to the pride dance on Saturday, but decided on Friday night that we would skip it. Basic reason...we really just couldn't afford it. Fifteen dollars each just to get through the door, then drinks = too expensive an evening. I still think it's offensive to make people pay a cover charge just to get into a bar, by the time you get in and get your first drink you've spent ten bucks. You might as well go to the liquor store and invite your friends over... it's cheaper and you can talk to each other without yelling all night.(There now you know... that's how old I've gotten)

We spent Saturday doing some small jobs around the house. We spread some more peat moss over the area we seeded. The little baby grass is starting to come up now and the ground has a slight green tinge to it, almost like a thin layer of mold but it's actually grass. I repotted a couple plants, & cleaned the kitchen. Darrell got a call from Mike, and we ended up going over to Mike and Cathy's to help them put in laminate flooring in their living room.

Sunday started out as a lazy day. I did the laundry and dried it on the line. Kathy and Elizabeth came over and we had some margaritas (I use vodka instead of tequilla). Then Darrell and I spent the rest of the day just doing odd little chores that needed doing while he got ready to head to Halifax this morning.

He was up and out the door at 4am, on his way to Halifax for an appointment with a thyroid specialist, and it's about bloody time too. He has been up and down and every which way with his thyroid over the past couple years and no one seems to be able to get the dose right. It doesn't help that he often adjusts the dose himself when he thinks it's not quite right. Hopefully this doctor will have some useful advise and he'll actually follow it.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Friday Feast August 11, 2006

Appetizer
Tell about a toy you remember from your childhood.
Star Wars stuff... I was only 6 when the Original Stars Wars movie hit the theatres. So I was one of the millions of children obsessed with the toys. I never actually got to see the original movie in the theatre however because I was in the Hospital engaged in my first battle with cancer, and coincidentally when I went into the Hospital in April/May 99 for my second cancer battle, The first Movie of the second Star Wars trilogy hit the theatres and I never got to see that in the theatre either. So..... If George Lucas annouces plans for a third trilogy I may have to have him assassinated.

Soup
If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be?
I would pick a necessity... Food, shelter, heat, medicine, medical care. Take your pick of one of those they should all be free to some copassity. Although with the way things are going at the moment I may pick Gas!

Salad
Approximately how many times per day do you think about your significant other?
All the time... I couldn't even begin to count or guess at a number.

Main Course
What is something you believe in 100%?
Everything happens for a reason.

Dessert
Name one thing you have done this week that you would consider a "good deed."
To be honest I haven't done anything this week I would consider a good Deed. We helped our neighbor cut down a tree in her front yard, but I consider that just being neighbourly. I don't think of things like holding the door open for someone or helping someone carry stuff as good deeds I think of them as common coutesy... although it would be nice if they were a little more common.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Hummingbird

Darrell brought the camera home this weekend to try out a new component for it that the company may be buying. After the shoveling and raking in the hot sun, he got some footage of the little guy who visits the feeder on our deck.

Hummingbird footage


Here's shot of the area we spread with topsoil and seeded. We outlined it with sod to keep the soil from being washed down the hill by rain




And these are a few shots of the really cool storm clouds on Monday. They looked kind of like whipped frosting in the sky.






Not quite long enough

We had a great long weekend, but it wasn't long enough. We spent the majority of it doing yard work. More specifically shoveling and hauling dirt, then raking it out nice and even and seeding it with grass seed. We learned our lesson last time and ringed the entire area with sod to keep the edges from washing away in the rain. I'm not going to jinx it, but everything survived last night's thunder storm, so I'm hoping we did something right. Just as long as we don't get four straight days of rain like last time, we should be okay.

Saturday night we met up with Bertis and checked out opening night at the new Club Montreal. It is a much nicer place than the old one. The ceilings are higher so you don't feel like you're in a cave anymore. The new bar is above the liquor store on King Street, where we rehearsed Evita. Makes sense since the pool hall that was there never had anyone in it the entire two months we were rehearsing upstairs and we were starting to think it must be a front for something else... since no one ever went there.

We had the dirt moving and seeding all done on Sunday, and Monday was just a day to kick back and relax. All that shoveling and raking is damn hard work. I only managed to move 22 wheelbarrow loads on Saturday morning before I was completely wiped out and felt the world spin a couple times. That's when I switched to raking and let Darrell take over the shoveling job. He has a lot more stamina than I do and I'm not ashamed at all to admit that... I'm just a little guy after all. Not to say that the raking is much easier than the shoveling because it really isn't. I spent most of Sunday evening with my various muscle groups spasming from all the unaccustomed movement. Once or twice I thought I might cry, but it passed. Sunday night we watched Charlie and the Chocolate factory on the movie channel. I liked it... I wouldn't rush out and buy the DVD or even rent it for that matter, but as something on the movie channel it was a good waste of a couple hours.

Monday was a very slow and relaxed day. Nothing to stressful or strenuous. In fact I think the closest thing to physical labour I did that day was the dishes... but hey even God took a day off.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Forcast calls for more Shovelling and Raking

Last night we got another load of topsoil delivered to finish off the side of the house. So the next nice day will be spent shovelling, and wheelbarrowing, and raking, and raking, and seeding. The back looks really good now, there are still a few very small bare spots but they will fill in on their own. we may have to get some more sod to do the incline, so that the toorent of rain and fog that consitute our summer this year don't wash the topsoil away before the grass has a chance to take root. We're hoping to stretch this load so that we can seed in around the cedar trees as well.

We are also considering shortening our driveway this year, and turning the part directly in front of the house into lawn. We are going to have Rob come by and scrape it all down and widen it in a few places. Then we'll put down a good weed barrier and some compacted sand. Then we're considering pouring our own concrete bricks to pave it with. Down the road we intend to build a garage and the driveway will change locations so we don't want to have the existing one paved. It's way too expensive for something that isn't intended to be permanent... so the brick idea is most apealing. They can be taken up fairly easily when the time comes and used for something else.