Unexpected Long Weekend

We took Friday off, because we had to head to Fredericton to meet up with a guy from Halifax and trade him one of our Pacific Blue Tangs (Like Dorry in Nemo)for some coral frags. Before that happened however, I was checking out an add on the Reefers forum about a guy getting out of the hobby and selling all his stuff, so we took an impromptu jaunt up to Sussex on Thursday night to see what he had. We returned home with some really big and beautiful corals at real bargains.

We headed up to Fredericton to meet up with Kirk for 1 O'clock. We were waiting in the parking lot of this little mall and it all looked a lot like a drug deal because we weren't the only one getting frags from him. He arrives and I trade him my big baggy with the fish in it for a bunch of little tupperware containers of coral frags. Then a couple other guys show up with cash in hand for their containers, like I say it looked like a drug deal or something. We headed home and popped the new aquitistions into the tank and I toddled off to teach my class. We were expecting the Hagen Order to arrive at Village Pets with our new 130 gallon tank in it, but it hasn't arrived yet, so when I got home just after 7 Darrell decides we need to go back up to Sussex. We pretty much cleaned out the big corals and we got a filter for our new tank when it comes, plus a Reverse Osmosis unit for purifying our tap water (our water's pretty good anyway because we're on a nice deep well, but the price of the unit was too good to pass up). He still has some stuff up there that we want, but some of it has to wait until he's taken the rest of the stuff out of his tank so we won't be rushing back up to Sussex right away. At least I don't think so....but it could happen.... we are officially addicted!!

Unfortunately we bungled a little bit by putting all those big corals in all at once, and the stress caused one or two of them to let off some toxins in the water, that did in our little flame angel fish. He may have been alright if we had just left him to recover but we paniced and moved him over to the quarantine tank right away, and I think the extra stress was just too much for him. The toxins also effected our yellow tang and he was all dopey and lethargic, so a crab took advantage of it in the middle of the night and nipped a chunk of his dorsal fin. We moved him over to the quarantine tank and he is doing much better now. That was Saturday morning and in the process of all that we completely took everything out of the tank and rearranged all the rock work and the corals and this is what we came up with:





The rest of Saturday was spent fussing around with the tank and the fish and then we watched Finding Nemo on Disney.

Sunday we attended a get together at Rogers for volunteer apreciation. I haven't actually volunteered there in a while, but it was nice to see everyone. Then we were off to Brian and Helen's for a BBQ. Chad & Nancey, and Bertis were also there, and we brought along our blender, some frozen juice, a couple bags of ice, and vodka to make vodka Slushies. It was a lot of fun, but we all called it an early night. When we got home we watched a beautiful feature on the Nature of Things all about coral reefs and shipwrecks.

Gym packed

Holy crap the gym was busy today. I usually go at 2 to avoid the rush, but lately the bikini rush has been in full swing so there is no real slow time. Lots and lots of ladies desperately pounding the treadmill and the eliptical trainer so they can rock that sexy new two piece on the beach. Not that any of them will probably take the baggy t-shirt off that they have covering it, but as long as they're looking in the mirror congratulating themselves for their sucesses and not critisizing the places they still need to work on ... more power to them. Then it's off for 15 - 20 carcenogenic minutes fake and baking on the melanoma machine to get that nice base skin damage that everyone is looking for. I have to have a slight rant here because ... for christ's sake people everybody knows about skin cancer and how to prevent it. It's not a state secret. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "HEALTHY" TAN!!!!! Sun damage is cumulative (that means it builds up over time) so every little burn in the past and all those highschool summers spent laying out in the sun covered in baby oil all count toward the future. And take it from a two time cancer survivor... life may be the longest thing any of us does, but it's too damn short to suffer treatment for a disease that you can prevent.

Maybe when Justin Timberlake's balls finally drop and he pays someone to bring sexy back he could encourage hollywood to make pale sexy again. The ancient Greeks had the right idea.

...... All bow and worship the diva that is Rose McGowan... She rocks the pale!!

*End rant*

It will be nice when the gym slows down again in the next couple weeks and I'm sure all those ladies will return in January to try out their New Years Resolutions. Now if I could stick to my resulution to get my diet in order. I know all the theory it's the practical I'm falling down on, and I can run a mile and half every day and work out a specific muscle group each day and do 200 crunches... but if I don't start eating breakfast and bringing a lunch my body is going to go into starvation mode and that belly fat aint going nowhere!!

Wednesday

I am exhausted today, just physically and emotionally drained. I've had the strangest week imaginable and now I just need to sit down and process.

I will be teaching summer camps for animation coming up in July and August. It will be three hours each morning for five days at a time, and sounds like we are going to have a lot of fun. Plus the school runs a day long summer camp that has aspects of all the different things offered at the school, from music to painting, and I've been asked to do an hour and half of animation once a week with those kids. So it's going to be a very busy summer.

Friday I'm off to Fredericton to trade my blue pacific Tang for some corals with a guy from Halifax. We got two regal tangs not realizing that there was a compatibility issue with them, so we are trading the one. Apparently Blue Regal Tangs...like Dorry in Nemo.... can only be kept as individuals or in groups of three or four, and you can't have a group that size in the small tank we have. 77gallons doesn't sound like a small tank, but relatively speaking.... it is. Apparently if you have a group of them they will sort of school, but if it's only two they will just pick on one another until one eventually dies.

The room of souls

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but you're head is in the clouds. You see yourself with pretty objective eyes. How you view yourself is almost exactly how other people view you. Your near future is calm, relaxing, and pretty much what you want. And it's something you've been anticipating for a while now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

Surreal kind of Day

Okay the past 24 hours can only be called extraordinary... I couldn't make this stuff up. She did reply, and she is who I thought she was... she had to be, she looks so much like one of my aunts when she was younger it's spooky. As for anything else who knows really. I basically intruded on her life and she's probably feeling a little shellshocked. I told her a bit about me, and a bit about my aunt, and pointed her in the direction of some family photos in case she was curious and left it up to her. If she wants to know more I'll happily tell her anything I know, but now I step back and respect her privacy.

Weird Weekend

We had a really good weekend weatherwise and took the oportunity to catch up on some long overdue yard work. It was only the second time this year we've cut the grass, so you can probably imagine what that looked like. Darrell also got a really good start on cleaning up the huge mess I made in the basement building that aquarium stand. I will be building another one in the very near future because we have a larger tank on order that should be arriving on Thursday...... I know, we're crazy but what the hell. We're going to deal with the ich problem by putting all the fish and only the fish in the larger 130 gallon tank for a month with no sand or gravel for the parasite to reporduce in. With no fish in the main tank any parasites in it, will die with no hosts and, since crabs and shrimp can't be hosts to it, they will stay in the main tank while the others decompress and get healthier. Then when everything is clear again the fishies will move back to their home in the 77 gallon tank and we will slowly (Slowly being the key word that I will have to continually say over and over again to Darrell because once he gets going it's hard to pull him back) put together the components for the larger tank and get it all up and running in the downstairs rec room. Then everything from the main tank will move there and a couple new fish will be added as well as a better lighting system and some funky corals. The 77 gallon tank that is upstairs right now will stay exactly where it is and will become the home to a snowflake eel and possibly a triggerfish and a puffer fish depending on compatability.
Aside from all the fish stuff, it was a pretty laid back weekend at home. I was craving tacos for a couple days, so I popped out and got the stuff. I invited some people over but they were all busy so Darrell and I pigged out and had a lot left over for another taco fest on Sunday.... there's still some stuff left for when we get home.
Called my Dad for Father's day, and got some weird news... turns out my aunt and uncle are getting a divorce... that totally blows my mind because they're the last people on earth I would've figured would separate... they had such a rocky beginning and overcame all those problems way way back that I figured there was probably nothing that could tear them apart now after 39 years together, but what do I know, I live on the other side of the country and only seem to manage to get home once every five years. Then another odd thing happened. I was talking to my grandmother and asked her about a cousin of mine (my aunt gave her up for adoption when she was born for a lot of complicated reasons that I was too young to understand and not willing to ask her about now because it's none of my business)and she told me as much as knew about her. My aunt went through the process of trying to find her a few years ago and was given the basic information (her name and where she was adopted out too, but not much more came of it)... so anyway I typed the name into facebook, and a girl came up who seems to match everything I know and looks exactly like a younger version of another of my aunts... it was spooky. I couldn't help sending her a message but I'll be surprised if I hear back from her... I mean would you respond if some crazy stranger sent you an e-mail that said... Just wondering, are you adopted, because I think I'm your cousin?

Difficulty signing in

For the past couple days blogger has been acting a little whonky and I haven't been able to sign in, but that seems to better now.

The weekend was quiet. The weather was awsome and we stuck close to home. Did a few chores, fussed around with aquarium stuff, finally got some tangle foot on my fruit trees to keep the ants off.. that kind of thing.

The dogs have both already brushed up against the tangle foot so they will be needing a bath this weekend to get the stuff out of their fur. No point doing it yet, because it takes a few days to wear it down enough to wash it out. The stuff is nearly invulnerable and I'mm be glad when the trees are big enough that I can start putting it out of dog range.

I think post show despression may ave set in because I'm feeling generally bored with my life. It took a lot longer to set in this time, probably because the show was so draining both physically and emotionally, I needed to recouperate before I had enough energy to get depressed....hahaha.

We are still dealing with ich in the tank, and Darrell is still obsessed with the tank in general. I think it's the frustrated scuba diver in him that's causing the obsession. He hasn't been diving since we moved here 8 years ago and he used to spend almost as much time in the water as he did out of it. At any rate the problem with the ich and the fact that we can't afford to upgrade to a larger tank at the moment, coupled with the new problem that there are half a dozen pistol shrimp hiding out in a piece of live rock that we need to get rid of, are dirving him to the brink. He is not a patient person and the marine aquarium hobby requires a lot of patients. I think an intervention is in the not to distant future.

Got a little done

Just incase any of you are suffering from a little Cabaret withdrawl. I managed to do a little editing today. It still needs to be tidied up and the audio adjusted a bit, but here's something:

Willkommen

I don't have enough room on this editor to do the entire show and Darrell's system still has a big project on it that needs to come off before I can get it all finished, but at least I've got it started.

For the first time in 8 Years.

I was off work yesterday and up in Moncton for my quarterly appointment with my transplant Doctor. It is now 8 years since the BMT and he decided to take me off cyclosporin (one of my antirejections drugs.) This is the first time I've ever been off it since the day my transplant marrow took. It is a nasty drug that has done nasty things to my gums and raises my bloodpreasure, not to mention it is extremely expensive, so I am happy to put it in my past. I will have to moniter myself very closely and make sure the Graft vs Host disease doesn't come flairing back and my skin doesn't tighten up and get all thick again, but I'm optimistic that things will be fine. In fact I think this may be the year I leave all the drugs in the past (Well here's hoping).

I also stopped into Noble Aquariums, while in Moncton, and picked up my very first coral. There are actually two corals on the rock I got, one is a bright red mushroom coral, and the other is hard to describe... it looks like shimmery grass. The base is purple but the tendrils that come off it are sort of gold tipped and flicker in the light. It closed up on the drive home and I haven't seen it completely open yet because I had to leave for work before the daylights came on, but Darrell said it looks awsome.. so I can't wait to get home and have a look. I also got another feather duster and a brittle star. Terry (the owner) also took the two chocolatechip sea stars off my hands that we bought without researching first. He will, no doubt, find them very good homes.

The Weekend

It was a really nice weekend weatherwise. Darrell was working for the IWK all weekend so I basically had the house to myself. I took advantage of the sun to cut the grass, do alilttle gardening, and hang the laundry out to dry on Saturday. Around 7 I headed over to Brian and Helen's for a BBQ with Chad & Nancy, and Bertis & Colin.We had some burgers & smokies, a few drinks and played a hilarious game of beyond Balderdash... it was more than worth the price of admission... I never laughed so hard.... I swear I pee'd a little a couple times.

Sunday was a lazy lay around in the sun day. Coffee on the front step, water on the back deck. I spent some time just sitting and watching the aquarium... so relaxing.

Today I made some strides forward with my pilot. I also went up to St joe's to get my annual BMT blood work done. They took 11 vials of blood, I'm surprised there's any left. It felt like an audition for Dracula.

There was an ich outbreak a in the tank a while back and both Pacific Blue Tangs had to be moved to the quarantine tanks. They were just covered in the parasite..poor things. We were scraed they weren't going to recover but after a few days they are now looking healthy again. They will be staying in the quaratine tank for a little while until they've had a chance to really recover.

War Bride Descendants in Limbo

Okay... the news is really starting to piss me off. There is an entire group of our population who, although they spent their entire lives here, worked here, raised families here, paid taxes here, retired here, and were the children of young Canadian men who bravely fought and sometimes died on another continent in our name, have recently discovered they are not Canadian citizens as they believed themselves to be. Some stupid little loophole in whatever hairbrained federal legislation that deals with War Brides says that even though they were the Children of overseas Canadian Soldiers fighting for our Countries Honour, and even though their mothers traveled across the Atlantic to join their husbands here in Canada when it was all over, because they were born on foreign soil... they aren't actually Canadian. So it's an oversight, right? Someone forgot to include some sentence or whatever to cover them, and it should be easily fixed, right?

Typical of Ottawa, do these lifelong Canadians who helped rebuild our economy after the war, and raised their children, and their children's children as part of our great nation, all the time paying enormous Canadian taxes, get an apology and an immediate correction to their status... of course not. There has to be legislation filed then debate etc to decide if these people qualify as Canadian or not. Keep in mind the people we're talking about are all mostly retired by now.. they are the elders of the people in Ottawa who are debating this crap instead of bending over backwards to apologise. The MPs in Ottawa should be lining up single file to pucker up and kiss the asses of all 20,000 Canadians this effects on both cheeks. Instead, they are going to table legislation in the fall to fix the problem. Well whoopee doo. In the mean time these people are in limbo.

Immigration and Citizenship Minister Diane Finley is the person resposible for fixing this problem. You've seen her on the news, always sitting just behind Stephen Harper in the giant dark glasses nodding her head to everything he says.... another conservative marrionette without enough tension on the string to keep her head up straight. She could have immediate citizenship granted to every single one of these people today, it is the function of her office and it is within her power.... legislation in the fall, what utter bullshit.

Diane Finley is the member for Haldimand--Norfolk, Ontario. It's time to start e-mailing her and telling her to correct this mistake now, not later... NOW!!!

Minister@cic.gc.ca

This is the e-maill address for her department spread it around and start using it. The idea that people who have lived in this country and contributed to our society for 60 years are anything other than Canaidan Citizens is offensive!

And why are the rest of us not outraged by this? Could it be that the Stanley Cup playoffs are bumping the news out of it's timeslot even though there are dozens of specialty sports channells, so no one hearing the story? Who knows.

Facebook

I'm so hooked on facebook at the moment. In fact just today I got added by one of my old friends from elementary school... it is soo cool. I've been able to reconnect with several people I went to highschool with and lost track of over the years... it's nice to know what happened to people. I know for all you 20 somethings whose Highschool career isn't that far behind you, this is no big deal.... but hey, I'm verging on my 20 year reunion here. So any of that highschool crap of whose who and what's what is far in my past... besides I had a good group of friends and was never picked on or anything like that... at least not that I remember. I wouldn't say highschool was the best time of my life (I hope I'm still having it and it keeps getting better) but it certainly wasn't the worst time. It just blows my mind how much smaller the internet is making the world. My Aunts and Uncles etc had to wait until their reunions to hook up with the people they went to school with unless they had some chance encounter somewhere.

Another Weekend come and gone.

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning we headed up to Fredericton to get some more live rock for the aquarium. It was my first time to the aquarium stores there and I was pretty impressed by what Pets Umlimited had for a salt water section. They are very well established with lots of fish and rock. We got the live rock for 8.99 a pound which is a super deal here. I also picked up a yellow tailed blue damsel fish, and Darrell got two Chocolatechip Sea Stars. Unfortunatly Darrell didn't know anything about the sea stars before buying them, and we later found out that they eat coral and small invertibrates among other things. They are also surprisingly mobile. Darrell has already had to rescue his tube worms from them by relocating them to a place higher on the rock and farthur away. We will be looking to relocate the seas stars to a nice home.

We are having absolutely no luck with little goby fish either. This is the second time a goby fish has stowed away in one of the holes in the live rock, unfortunately the first one jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night and died on the floor and this time there wasn't enough water in the box with the live rock so he didn't survive the drive home from Fredericton. I almost feel responsible because when I saw him in the tank near the piece of live rock I wanted to get I kind of hoped he would hide in it so we could get a free goby. As they say you should be careful what you wish for... because whenever wishes are granted there's usually a catch... and this time around we did get the free goby I wished for, he just happened to be dead when we found him.

Later Saturday Brian & Helen, and Bertis & Colin came over and we sat outo on the deck and BBQ'd some Burgers, Steaks & Hotdogs.... Then they brought out a birthday cake for me...hehehe.... my birthday was last weekend but the show was going on so there wasn't a chance to do anything.

Sunday we popped into town to do a little shopping. We stopped at Village Pets (Very very very overpriced) and got a little emerald crab (he was reasonably priced). They had a powder blue tang that just looked awful. When they first got it last week it was gorgeous but now it's all faded and thin and it's been harrassed by other fish because it's fins are nipped... it was really sad to see. I think we're done going in that store. Pets Unlimited is setting up their salt water section right now and so far we've got a few nice things from them. They are a little higher priced than the store in Fredericton, but they're just getting started so I'm sure once they're established it will even out. I got another yellow tail blue damsel fish, a hermit crab, and a snail (they accidentally shorted us on last time we were in).

As you can see, now that the show is over I've finally had time to get caught up in Darrell's aquarium fever. He spent so many years as a diver and underwater camera person he's gone completely over the wall with the aquarium... he just wants everything... it's kind of fun to watch. He's like a little kid in Toys R Us.

New Flag

A couple weeks ago I sent the SJ Union Club a nasty e-mail regarding the ratty torn up Canadian flag that they've been flying for well over a year.. It read:

If you guys aren't going to get a new flag, you should take that ratty thing down. It's disrespectful to fly a beaten up, torn apart Canadian flag from your building. I've been seeing it everyday for over a year flying there all tattered on one of Uptown's Main streets. If you can't afford the 20 or 30 dollars to replace it the least you could do is remove it.

Today I noticed a new flag flying proudly from their building.... coincidence????

I know... it's fussy and picky, and I should probably try to use my powers for good, but hey...this isn't a club of poor people we're talking about... so how about showing a little respect and a little pride? You know wha I mean?

Friday May 25, 2007

Appetizer
Name a sound you like to hear.
I love the sound of waves crashing on the beach

Soup
What is your favorite kind of cheese?
Swiss, no wait, parmessan, no wait, romano, no wait, aged cheddar, no.... why do I have to pick just one?

Salad
Do you sleep late on Saturday mornings? Why or why not?
Every chance I get.. absolutely yes... why? Duh.

Main Course
When was the last time you forgot something? What was it, and how long did it take to remember it?
The last time I forgot something...hmmmm.. youknow I can't remember..OMG I've forgotten the last time I forgot something, and I didn't remember until just now.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I notice ____________ when _____________.
I notice a lot of idiots driving when it's raining, when it's snowing, when it's windy, when it's sunday, when it's a day ending in Y... there's just a lot of idiots driving.

May 24

So Tuesday I set my mind to it and said " I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today!"... I didn't go.
Wednesday I set my mind to it and said " I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today!"... I didn't go.
Today instead of setting my mind to it and saying " I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today, I will go to the gym today".... I just got up off my ass and went. It was my first time back in a few weeks thanks to the show, but it wasn't as bad as I was bracing myself for it to be. Infact I managed to get a good run in on the threadmill, ran the entire time, and only felt like I was going to die for the last two minutes.

Met with Ryan Gilgert today to talk about turning Life Study into an animated show. I think it's entirely doable and we'll be auditioning volunteers to play parts in the very near future... so we'll keep you posted on that.

Tuesday

What can I say today? Still super tired and worn out from a very long month. I have not slumped into Cabaret withdrawl yet....still too tired for that, maybe tomorrow.

I noticed the other day that my inspection on my car had run out in February, so Darrell took it in this morning and had it done. I had to get two new front tires, mine were as bald as I'm becoming. It was pretty hard hit to my pocketbook since I wasn't budgeted for it but it had to be done.

I'm not looking forward to my workout today. I haven't been to the gym in weeks and I'm feeling pretty tight after all the dancing and partying, so I know I will be aching everywhere tomorrow. It would be very easy right now to just say I'll go tomorrow... but no... today I will go to the gym, today I will go to the gym, today I will go to the gym.

Heroes finale was great last night. It felt a little rushed and was kind of predictable, but still good. It doesn't matter what you, everyone will always say you can do more so why not just enjoy it for what it was?

I have my class tonight and no real plan so I'll be winging it, but I think my kids are ready to start doing an actual project start to finish so we will probably spent tonight designing and drawing characters.

ooooh my head!!

There was no fat lady, but it's over. We wrapped Cabaret with a fantastic Sunday Matinee. A fairly good sized crowd for a matinee and extremely appreciative and responsive. It was a pretty bow on a beautiful package. I had a blast all weekend doing this show. It's funny how in rehearsals directors always tell you to give performance level everytime, and you give it all you got... but everytime you add something like the band, or the theatre, the set... the level goes up a little bit... then the audience comes and you find even more that you never knew was there. I feel very lucky to have been a part of this show, and to get to work with and nurture friendships with such talented and fun people. I'm also lucky in that nearly every time I do a show I feel like... "This is the best theatre experience I've ever had" and that means it just keeps getting better and better.... and this was no exception... this was, pants down, my best show yet.

I have Shakespeare coming up in the fall and am looking forward to trying something new. I've never been into Shakespeare before so it will be a unique challenge. I'm also trying to cook up an animation collaboration that should keep me fairly busy if it all works out.... fingers crossed.

I am exhausted and hung over from a fantastic run, topped off by a stallar cast party that started for me around 7pm (well if you count all the wine and champagne that was circulating during the matinee backstage... it actually started around 2pm) and ended in the wee hours around 5. Once I get caught up on my sleep I'm really going to miss everyone, and feel like I suddenly have too much time on my hands I'm sure.

Luckily I will get to revisit the entire thing very soon when I edit the footage Darrell & Mike shot from our dress rehearsal (It figures that would be the night I screwed up one of my lines)and compile stuff into a DVD. Hopefully things at the office will slow down enough that I can get to work on that very soon.

So until then... The time now is finished.... Go Home.

Fairly Good Opener

Aside from a very distracting door malfunction last night was pretty good. I've heard some excellent feedback that I will be applying straight to my head... beward the diva. hahahaha

On With the Show this is it!

Opening night tonight. Last night's dress rehearsal for the students was okay for a dress rehearsal. There weren't any major flubs or blunders. I completely blew a line, but of all the lines to blow that was the perfect one. I accidentally called Keith Bobby instead of Victor when I intoduced them, but the joke in the opening number is that there's only one way tot ell the difference between us... soooo my screw up basically just played into the previous joke. Luckily Darrell & Mike were there taping the entire night so I will always have it as a reminder.

The student audience always reacts differently than the regular audience, because they don't always get some of the jokes, and they laugh at things the regular audience doesn't....so tonight it will be a completely different reaction to the same stuff. There will laughs in different places but hopefully tonight's crowd will react to the last scene of act one in the exact same way the kids did. It's kind of hard for Chad since he's really hanging out there, but at the same time, it means he really sold the role so he should take it as a compliment. But that's as much as I'm willing say about that since saying more would give it all away...and what fun would that be?

I'm really looking forward to tonight. I kind of wish there would be someon in the lobby counting how many people get offended and leave.

I took the morning off to rest up for tonight. Unfortunately my system is all screwed up so I couldn't sleep in. But I did take it easy, had a long bath, cleaned the kitchen, and made a great big chicken and veggie stirfry with brown rice... so I would have a fairly healthy dinner for the next couple days.