Free Stuff

Okay, so I totally got sucked into this stupid promotion to get a free IPOD. It all started because my girlfriend Jen, see link to the side, asked me to click on a link to register one of five friends that have to check out the deal.
So I clicked and thought...hey, I want a free IPOD too.

So, please just click on the link below. You don't have to go any further just click on the page. Hopefully that will be enough to get me my goods.

Thanks y'all.

http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=20556312

I'll let you know if it works.

Okay, so it's obvious that I'm bored at work with 45 mintues still to go!

Here's some funny tidbits I found while surfing the net:

Click on these to read more:

Queen buys Dr. Who DVDs

Cat turns up alive at own funeral

What the hell happened to Peter Jackson?!!!

He's even wearing the same damn shirt!!!

G and C sittin' in a tree....

The G-man and I have been talking on and off for the last few months about…wait for it...having a baby. A constant concern for both of us is our finances. It bothers him more than me but considering I grew up poor for a good part of my life it does concern me as well… to an extent. But as times goes on we keep coming back to the idea and it seems as though we are getting more and more “on board”. The recent situation with my dad really brought things into perspective for me. One of the very first thoughts I had when G told me that my Mom had had the stroke was that she will never meet her grandchildren should we decide to have them. Now with what’s going on with Dad, when it first happened, I told myself that if by some miracle he maked a recovery from the heart attack, I wanted to have a baby. G warned me not to let the intensity of the situation cloud my judgment but I offered that perhaps it was giving me clarity on what is important…family. G came back from his tour with the band at the end of June and it seemed as if over the 12 days he was away, it occupied a lot of his thoughts because he brought it up on numerous occasions.

I asked him when he thought a good time would be to start trying. He said that maybe next February and at first I was disappointed because now that the idea is in my head I was thinking that upon no further bookings for The Overcoat over the next 9 months (or more) following San Fran, and during the waiting period for the selling of Exotic Fishing Adventures (I expect that a pregnant woman in a bikini going on exotic fishing tours isn’t going to bring in the viewers) I didn’t see why we couldn’t start in November. If it happened right away we could potentially have an August baby…hmmm a Virgo perhaps?

Recently the conversations have dropped off but now I can’t stop thinking about it. I know I can bring it up at any point without fear of freaking him out but without any answers to my questions or a definate plan in place, it seems sort of “girly” to keep talking about it. And it seems pointless to talk to my friends and family about it as well without and firm (no pun intended...dirty mind...dirty dirty mind) decision regarding the whole thing. So, I’m writing about it.

And so it goes....

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Last night G-man went to bed at ¼ to 11. I was not too too sleepy so I caught up on a little trash TV (Big Brother and Canadian Idol – I had to see if my boy Aaron was still in the mix!) so I stayed up until 11:30. I went to bed and G-man asked if I set the alarm. I said yes, for 7:15. He says “But I need to be at work for 7:30. Can you set if for 6?” Jesus Christ I’m doomed to wake up at least an hour before I have to get up! It’s just not fair!!

So 6am this morning, I’m pretty wide awake as G is bustling about doing his getting ready for work dance. I remember that I need to get him to sign as a witness on a form for my dad. So I get up and put it on the kitchen table for him. I go back to bed and once again try in vain to fall back asleep. Then I remember our Landlord called wanting more rent cheques. For the past year the cheques have just come out of my account and G-man just settles with me. We’ve discussed having them come out of our joint account, so I wait until the next time G comes into the room to get something and I mention this to him. Chit chit chat and I’m pretty awake at this point. Twenty minutes later and G leaves saying goodbye and giving me a kiss goodbye. I toss and turn and try and visualize my white sheet on a clothesline image (I tried a big blank white space but it seems to work better for me to actually use this imagine of a blowing white sheet hanging off a clotheslines …who knows). Low and behold this actually works so when the alarm goes off at 7:15 it wakes me up.

Sigh….

*********************

Last night, G-man and I got to be the voices in a new Podcast that two of our friends have come up with. I don’t know much about this new fad sweeping the internet but from what I understand it’s like an old radio dramas (or comedy, depending). The neat thing about it is that it was the first time G and I actually got to act together. In the 13 years that we’ve known each other, we’ve never acted in anything together.

It’s been a while since I had to “act” and even though it was only an 8 or 10 minute piece, I had to consider intention, motivation, and all that fun acting shtick. I miss it. I wish I didn’t have to go through the audition process in order to land acting work. It’s such a pain in the ass to have a flexible work schedule keeping yourself easily available for auditions at a moments notice. And getting geared up, nervous and prepared for a 2 minute snippet of time is quite exhausting. It don’t miss auditioning one bit…but I do miss the work.

Did she or didn't she?

I don’t want this to turn into a blog about whether Mz. Maizun sleeps or not but… I did a little better this morning. I say a little because I woke up around 6:00 instead of 5:00. On top of that, I went to bed at 11:00 with a Nytol so I got a solid 7 hours. Feeling good today although I find the Nytol usually stays with me for a better part of the morning.

************************

Went to my ol’ coffee/scone place this morning, mmmuffins. I used to go there every day when I worked downtown and it was a little reunion when I got there. While catching up on the last year, I didn’t feel up to filling them in on “the down” side so when asked “Are you happy? Things are going well?” I simply replied “Yes, very well.”

It’s funny to have a regular “haunt”. I find that because I’ve been a bit of a transient over the last 10 years or so I haven’t had many establishments that know me as “a regular”. It’s nice though to have people that know your name, know what you’re going to order and have it ready for you even before you say a thing. Makes you feel kind of special. Makes the other people look at you like “Well. Who the hell is she anyway?”

My Sweet

I want to take a moment to gush about my wonderful husband for a second. This past year has been filled with so much grief, loss and life altering change for me, that I feel I’ve put a damper on our first year of marriage. He has been so supportive and understanding I don’t know how to ever thank him fully for being the rock during this ridiculously strained time. I guess it’s something I just have to accept with grace and be ready to do the same if ever he should need it.

Thank you my love.

I need a nap

I keep waking up anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours before I need to get up in the morning. No matter how much I try to “clear my mind” I’ve been unsuccessful at falling back asleep. Every twenty minutes or so I open my eyes to see a) how much time has passes since the last time I checked the clock or b) how much time I’ve got left until I have to get up. I will say that the majority of what’s rattling around in my brain at that time of the morning has something to do with Dad and this overwhelming situation I find myself in but I used to get this sort of thing occurring at night when I would try to fall asleep.

I’m the kind of person that loves to sleep until the very last possible second. I time everything out to the very last minute so I can the maximum sleep in my “allotted” time. So knowing that two hours are slipping away and I don’t seem to have any control over it, drives me crazy.

I didn’t get to bed last night until 1 am, which means that I may have fallen asleep somewhere around 1:20 / 1:30 am, so waking up at 5:30 this morning….sucked! Here I am now approaching the 3:00 pm slump and I don’t think I have enough going on to keep me awake in my sleep deprived state. I have some calls to make on my Dad’s behalf but with the office being so open I have to wait for just the right time to do so. Until then I’m tying to look busy so this annoying maintenance man for the company will leave me alone. HELP!!!

Stuck without my Email

I’m temping this week (and probably next week) downtown in the old building I used to work in while I was at “The Bank”. It feels weird being down in the exact same area I spent 2 ½ years. My first day for this assignment was Friday and instead of going to the 42nd floor as I did for “The Bank”, I have to go to the 7th floor. But without thinking I got off the escalator and walked right over to my old set of elevators. Habit…funny eh?

The office I’m in has very restricted internet access plus I can’t get to my yahoo mail so I’m going crazy!!! Mind you, the computer I’m stationed at is in plain view of EVERYONE, including the guy who arranged my placement, so it’s not like I would be playing games or even visiting some of the fun sites like Go Fug Yourself or Awful Plastic Surgery (thanks Rabs). I have a feeling that for the rest of this week at least (I’m moving to another department on Tuesday – seems they have an admin shortage on their hands) my time will be filled with blog entries and wacky Google searches.

*****************

Things are progressing with my dad. Turns out that instead of sending him to a long term care facility, the “powers that be” think that he is showing vast amounts of improvement since his relocation to Cobourg (from Peterborough where he was for the first month after his heart attack) and they would like him to go to a live-in rehab facility. They believe (as do we) that it’s better to work with him to get him to the place of maximum recovery and then assess what kind of care facility, if any (fingers crossed) he will need at that point.

This is amazingly good news for us. Considering that the doctor told us originally that chances of him waking up from the coma were less than 1% and if by some miracle he did wake up (insert harp music here – one miracle performed!!!) he would only be a shadow of the man he used to be. In their defense, for them to be wrong in their dire diagnosis is better than being wrong in their false optimism.

Get Well Soon

Dad took a bit step yesterday. A couple of work colleagues came by to wish him well and they brought him a get well card. The visitor “rules” is that there can only be two visitors per patient in the room at any one time. Well my aunt, uncle, cousin, husband, and other aunt were all there visiting when they arrived. We all went out into the hall so Dad’s colleagues could have some time with him. When I went in to the room to check that things were okay, Dad was pulling the card out of the envelope as he would before his heart attack.

Over the last week and a half his movements have really improved. He pushes up his glasses, adjust his blankets, shakes your hand on arrival and departure, points to this and that depending on what he’s trying to talk about, the list goes on but to walk in the room and see him opening the envelope like it was just another day was really great…but not the greatest thing that happened. I was standing by the bed chatting quietly with Dad’s colleagues when I heard him say something. At first it didn’t register but when it did I realized, he was READING the card. I immediately checked out the front to see if what he had said was actually the words that were there and sure enough, they were. I was dumbfounded. The inside proved to be too much for him because the script was fairly small and quite curly but at that point, I was tickled pink.

Feeling ill?

Oh this is good:

Click here if you're considering calling in sick to work!!!

Check this out:

Jen's blog

On my way

Well, where do I begin?

As some of you know and maybe others of you don't; my father had a massive heart attack one month ago tomorrow. I'm not going to go into all the details of what happened at the time and what's happened since as it would take me a year to write and I doubt anyone really wants to read it all.

I will say that he is slowly - very slowly - making baby steps of progress. Ultimately, we don't know how much progress he is capable of making so we are just taking our lead off of him. He is talking - occassionally, and some days he is more animated and responsive than others. Some days we feel like he knows who we are and others he doesn't. It's pretty frustrating but again, we're trying to take things moment by moment.

Here he is during happier times; the wedding last summer. God a lot has happened since then eh?

Thankfully, out of tragedy a blessing has blossomed. I've being spending A LOT of time with my family. My uncle Barry (dad's brother), my aunt Kathy (Barry's wife) and my cousins: Ryan, Todd and Eden (their three kids) as well as my aunt Kathryn (dad's sister). Plus, Kathy's mom Georgiana (we all call her Dordie...long story)who lives with Barry and Kathy. She's extended herself to me in like one of her own grandkids. She's a doll. I love her. I didn't get to grow up with this part of my family so it feels like over the last month we've been making up for lost time. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I had grown up here instead of out in BC, but then...who knows what would have happened. What I do know is that they have made me feel as much a part of their family and their lives as I could ever have hoped. They've been nothing but generous, thoughtfull and loving to me and this time we've had together during this awful situation has been made bareable only by them.

I do want to take a second to thank everyone out there for their love and support. The timing of all this is remarkable but my friends have been even more so. Thanks all.

She's not a bad girl

Nuff said....

And...

As a side note to this whole PMS post - when I'm in need and I turn to Midol for relief of all PM symptoms (including irritability!), it doesn't help matters that there is so much cotton batten in the bloody bottle the it makes getting the pills out an exercise in futility!!!

PMS...can I get a WHOOP WHOOP?!!

Finding myself in the middle of a PMS spell, I’m hoping that writing about it will turn into a positive coping tool. I’ve tried numerous times to explain to men what exactly happens to me (women) during PMS and I never quite make them understand. Maybe it’s futile but I’m going to give it another shot. Women reading this blog, feel free to add your 2¢’s worth in the comments below.

Let me start by saying, it always catches me off guard. At first I don’t know what’s going on and what’s happened to put me into such a lousy mood. I know “the schedule” so you would think that I’d be prepared but somewhere deep down I guess I imagine that this month everything is going to be okay. That being said, some months are okay which I think is why I get caught off guard when it hits.

First comes “the feeling”. More often then not, it’s a “negative” feeling: frustration, anger, depression, sadness, etc. Nothing happens to bring on this feeling it just appears. Having explained that, understand this; everything that happens following the recognition of “the feeling” feeds into making “it” worse. If you are happy, it makes me feel lousy because I’m not happy. “The Feeling” makes me resent you and your happiness. If you’re miserable, it makes me more miserable because then the world just sucks cuz everyone’s miserable. If you’re quiet then I’m left to fester in my own mire and that never leads to anything good. That’s were I’ve learned to keep quiet. Talking only leads to spurts of venom or ridiculous bout of tears that I usually regret after. The only time talking seems to be okay is if the topic is something we both can be upset or angry about…a mutual hating if you will.

Here are a couple of no no’s when dealing with a woman in this state:

Never rush a PMS’ing woman to get dressed. You must understand that trying to dress during a PMS spell is virtually impossible. Nothing is perfect therefore everything we own sucks and should be thrown away, better yet… burned.

Yesterday I was looking in my closet for about 10 minutes wishing for a tan khaki skirt. Here’s the thing about PMS, if I had a tan khaki skirt in there it wouldn’t have solved the problem, unless it was less that a month old. New is good; old is bad. So I’m staring at the closet and getting deeper and darker into the pit, all the while Gary is merrily dressing only changing his mind once to go from dressy to casual. He asks me why I’m not wearing the top I originally had on and lucky for him (and me in the long run) I have the sense to warn him that I’m swimming in the middle of PMS and it could get ugly. After a sigh, he finishes dressing out of the bedroom.

NEVER ask us what’s wrong. This will only lead to a tongue lashing about how women getting their period is perfectly normal and not something we can control so how can there be anything wrong with it?!!!

Understand that we really don’t have much control over the situation. This is the time when we really don’t have control over our emotions. The rest of the time it’s touch and go at best, but during these spells, all bets are off and the plane is flying by itself.

And as silently as the whole things starts, it goes away. Whether it’s over night and we wake up as if nothing happened, or if it’s from seeing a cute puppy that brings a smile to our face and breaks the spell.

Easy come, easy go I say.

FrankinKitty

So it's come to my attention that our sweet Lucy appears as if she's a few cats fused into one.

Notice the small kitty head
Then the massive cat body,
Add a couple of wee legs
And finally throw on a disproportionate tail and... ureka! Lucy!!!

But watch out....she can turn on you in an instant.

FrankinKitty...rahhhh!!!

Getting Involved?

Last night we watched "Hotel Rwanda". I don't do well with movies like these because I get too emotionally attached and in the end feel small and helpless. Last night was no exception. I went to bed feeling frustrated that acts of genocide can still occur in our century. That the "world powers" go into a country looking for non exsistant WMD's because they are afraid for their own safety but when a million people are being slaughtered because of their height or shape of their nose, the same "world powers" sit by and let it happen. It's absolutely disgusting.

Feeling like one voice in a cavern of emptiness I turned to the Amnesty International in Toronto website. They have orientations for new members the fourth Thursday of every month. As it seems I just missed it for this month I'm going to go June 23rd. Anyone want to join me?

This just in....

It can't be true!!!

Eva and Keifer....dating???

I love that the article mentions them having dinner together "in Canada" and then whisking off to a hotel together. Doesn't the author know they are shooting a movie here and they are probably put up at the same hotel???

Keifer

Here's a better shot of Keifer on set from Thursday. One of the other Background Performers has this super tiny camera that fits in the palm of his hand so he was much better equipped to take photos than I was.

Let's imagine what he was talking about on his phone.....

On Set

So this is my new friend Keifer Sutherland. He's talking to my other new friend Eva Longoria.... she's on Desperate Housewives. I know you can't see them very well. The picture was taken with my cell phone while I was on set with my new friends yesterday. I had to pretend to be talking on the phone while I silently snuck the picture because I didn't want my new friends to think I was creepy or anything. I don't know who the guy in blue is...some car moving guy. We're not friends with him.Ya...my new friends...sigh.

Adding to the Blog Madness

Okay. So I've changed the look of my template. I've started a new blog just for my creative writing (see LINKS to the right) and somehow, somewhere along the transition the whole format went out the window.

So this is the new look for Ms. Maizun. Same day to day stuff. Take it or leave it.

Yikes

I wish I could speak kitten just so I knew what was going on here.

Expectations

I am always getting my butt kicked by my preconceived expectations!! I don't know when I'm going to learn my lesson and just wait to experience a situation before I decide how it's going to be.

It gets me into trouble in my relationships, both personal and intimate. It gets me into trouble in my job-life. Time and time again.

This morning I was on my way to a new temp assignment that I was having some reservations about as I "expected" it to be A LOT of work. I've worked with this woman before for her personal business but never for at her job job. Knowing what I know about working directly for her, I "expected" the next two weeks to be very long. I get to the assignment and realize I'm actually covering for her today. I was under the impression I was going to be helping her get caught up after being away for three months. The only thing my temp agent told me was "you'll be helping her" and I came up with the scenario of getting her caught up meaning tons of work!

Now, the reality is that I don't think she was supposed to be away today. Something came up and I "expect" she will be back next week. Turns out they don't need me because her replacement has been found and next week she'll be training her to take over her job; she's retiring. So I'll never really find out what the job was supposed to be.

With Gary, I'm frequently finding myself upset or disappointed because I had "expectations" around an evening, a day or even a weekend. A big part of the problem is that I don't express how I "expect" things to go, I just "expect" them to go that way. Sometimes I think it's the logical sequence of events and other times I assume Gary has the same expectations as I do!! Not always so.

The best things in life are unexpected - because there were no expectations. Eli Khamarov

As Time Passes

My mom passed away October 24, 2004.

Before this, when I had to call up big tears for auditions, I would use the idea of her dying and it worked like a charm. Just the faintest notion of the loss of her would send me into a chasm of sadness.

I can honestly say the idea of her death and the reality of it are nowhere near the same. The depths of grief I thought I would feel is nothing compared to the daily heatbreak I live with now. It's been such an emotional rollercoaster. Every time I think I'm doing better and dealing with it in a positive way, I get smacked in the gut. With the passing of Mother's Day and prime time television, there are a million reminders a day that I no longer have a mother on this planet.

My relationship with my mom over the last few years was strained to say the least. I won't get into the sordid details as it's not my intention to air the grievances I had with my mother in this blog. I'll just say that, as all humans are, my mom was flawed. I understand that no one is perfect but I always wanted more than she was able to give. My life growing up was incredibly unstable and with the loss of her I know she can never provide the guidance of a parent in regards to security and stability; something I had always searched out from her.

Her death means the end of the possibility of a deeper, more meaningful relationship. Thankfully, just before she died, before the wedding in fact, I was able to find the path of acceptance after a enlightening talk with Gary. I had only taken baby steps but overall I was feeling better about our relationship. Regardless of this change in my thinking, there have been times when I've felt tremendous hypocrisy because of my abundant grief vs. the state of our relationship when she died. I remind myself that it's about the loss of my mom, one of the people that loved me first. She knew me from the inside; she carried me. I was a part of her. That love, that bond, is something that I can share with no other person on this earth. I've got a huge hole that only she could fill in my life, in my consciousness and in my spirit. The love I have for her is her's alone. It's not the same as loving a spouse, a friend, a pet or even myself.

Over the last couple of months I've felt worse than when it first happened. I spoke with my sister about this oddity and she claimed to be feeling the same way. It was her idea that the shock of it all had worn off and now we were living in the pit of it. My pit consists of a different kind of sadness from anything I've experienced before. Of course there are the tears, there are always tears, but this has more of an angry rumble. Anger with out the fire, with out the movement - just a thickness that stays in my chest. I still know how to smile, how to laugh, how to maintain a conversation, so I imagine that everyone believes me to be fine. I can understand how people can continue to "manage" their grief for years with out the people around them noticing that anything is wrong.

I miss my mom.

I'm not posting this today looking for sympathy or words of encouragement. I'm simply trying out another way of coping.

Pampering Madness

Okay, now don't hate me but I have to tell y'all about the services I've been having since working at the best temp assignment EVER!!!

On the top floor of the building is the Elmcrest College of Applied Health Sciences & Spa Management. Most of the student performing the services are graduating next month so they're pretty much industry ready. That's not to say they are speedy. I don't know if I've had so much attention given to my feet since...ever! Because the students need people to practice on before graduation, the services are crazy cheap and for employees booking after 3pm, it gets even cheaper!!

Monday was pedicure and facial. I know "the spa" has this aura of relaxation surrounding it but I have to tell you...sometimes it hurts to be pampered. The esthetician that did my feet said they were in good shape but you would have never known if for the amount of time she spent diggin' at the cuticles of my toes. Yikes! The fun part was trying not to squeal like a little girl when she pumiced the bottoms. Holy cow...skin flying everywhere. It looked like Edward Scissorhands down there!!!

Then the facial. The first part was great. Lotions and soapy stuff, then steam for ages while she finished the polish on my toes. It was awesome. She asked me if I wanted her to do extractions. SURE I reply....little did I know that extractions is another word for digging relentlessly into my pores to clear out any clogs. I almost passed out as she was working the side creases of my nose!!!

At the end of it all I felt shiny and buffed.

Last night was the sea-salt body scrub. It's just as it sounds. They take a lotion with sea-salt in it and scrub your entire body save for your face and neck. Wow. Not as soothing as a massage but still quite relaxing...except for the feat...again....ticklish. Once the salt is all over, they lay plastic down over you and a towel over that to keep in the heat and let you sit for 15 minutes. Then you shower off and they cover you with lotion. As she was doing the lotion portion I thought of how nice it would be to have enough money to have someone apply lotion to your body every day. It's always such a chore when I do it myself. Even starting every day with a salt scrub would be pretty great because it leaves your skin super smooth. I couldn't believe it. And a nice smell to go with it. Delightful!!!

But I think I'm out of service options. I've got tonight and tomorrow open for something but I don't really need anything else. They aren't doing massages this week or else I would have had one every night. So I guess this ends the insanely cheap spa service madness. What a treat.

My Sweet Filet

This is Filet.

She's from the first film I made together with Tina and our production company Silent Millennium Films. The film is called Trout to Lunch and we made it in December of 1999. Four days in a freezing warehouse with tons of donated fish bits; heads, skeleton and tails. What a stink!! Tina directed and together we produced it and I was one of the leads. I was also in charge of choreography as the film is a modern day silent film. No dialogue, and choreographed to music. It's not dance, it's not mime, it's movement storytelling.

In 1997 I was lucky enough to be a part of a new play called The Overcoat (above). It's now touring as part of the CanStage family but back then it was originally produced by The Vancouver Playhouse. 22 actors, 2 directors and a ton of creativity. I had been a part of a movement play back in school but this was the first of its' kind on the main-stage. Coming from this kind of a background, the next logical step seemed to be putting the art form on film.

Tina's my bestest friend from Vancouver. We went to theatre school together starting in 1992 and have been around the world and back since then. There's not enough space in this blog to even touch on what we've been through together!!! We started making films together because she needed to have a produced short film for an application to the Canadian Film Centre. Trout to Lunch was a play in the early stages of development that we quickly translated into a film project. We became known as "the fish girls" by all our crew members working tirelessly for free. We were so blessed!

I'm posting this today because due to the diligent hard work by Tina (applying for finishing funds, getting the film an original score AND doing a final edit) Trout to Lunch is finally festival ready. Six short years later, Tina is sending it off to The Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals. Keep your fingers crossed folks and I'll let you know if we make it to the big screen!!!

How to WORK it?

So I'm smooth sailing for work until the 3rd of June. I've got two back to back assignments and can relax about money for at least three weeks.

I find myself with a bit of a dilemma regarding work that maybe the great internet universe can give me some guidance on. As work seems to be picking up, I'm faced with taking temp work that is coming in more regularly that extra work but pays sometimes half the amount. Taking a temp assignment for $11 an hour takes me out of the availability of extra work which pays $20 an hour with an 8 hour minimum. So how do I work this? I'd rather do the extra work but I don't want to turn down temp work in hopes of getting extra work and then have nothing come in.

I was thinking about telling the temp agencies that I wouldn't take $11 an hour jobs anymore but then I would have missed out on the sweet assignment I'm on for the next four days. I'm working for the company that owns The Elmwood Spa and as an employee I get a discount on the services. I get 50% off all services no matter what time of the day I book but if I book after 3:00pm, I get an additional 50% off!!! A $20 pedicure ends up costing $5.00...how great is that?! And to make the assignment that much sweeter, there isn't much too do except get the mail and interoffice mail, and answer the odd #'out call from voicemail. My direct supervisor even told me to bring a book. She said to feel free to "Google" to which I responded "Oh honey, I'm way past Google, I'm a blogger!!!"

As you can imagine, the higher the pay, the more work is required. I'm not against work and to be honest, if I was at this assignment for longer than a week I would probably go crazy with boredom. Getting paid for writing a blog and surfing the net is pretty great but with that comes $11 an hour. Such is my quandary people!

"Grass" Day 5

Okay, so here's a picture of what the "grass" looks like five days after planting. The weed's doing better than the grass seed for god's sake!! Pretty exciting eh? Ya, well just you wait until day six. No...I won't make you look at pictures every day...just every week. Keep in touch ...but keep off the grass!!!

My Girls

These are my girls.

First is Marlowe

....and here's Lucy.

This picture is how she looked when we first got her. She's a little puffier now but equally as cute!!!

And here's a little story to let you know a tidbit about their personalities. About a month ago, Gary and I decided the girls were a little stinky so we were going to give them a bath.... an inspiration sent to us from Satan I'm sure.

We chose to do Marlowe first as we figured we'd get the nutcase out of the way and then see what Lucy dishes out. Boy, we didn't know how right we were. Marlowe's eyes went the size of side plates and a meow came out of her that can only be connected with death. She fought us tooth and nail...literally, I have the scars to prove it. Poor Lucy was at the bathroom door crying because she could hear Marlowe freaking out inside. By the end of it, Gary and I were both soaked and the bathroom floor had a river running down the middle of it. We dried her off as best as she would allow and let her out of the bathroom to go and shiver in a corner.

With that out of the way, we re-ran the bath and braced ourselves for Lucy. Knowing how she reacted to Marlowe's bath, we were a little cautious. You're not going to believe me when I say....she was as good as gold. She sat in the bottom of the tub and we barely had to hold on to her. We poured water on her, scrubbed her down and rinsed her off. The only time she got a little worried was when we got too close to her face with the water. Unbelievable. We took her out of the tub and she sat on my lap without being held down while I dried her off. She even helped out by licking herself in one area as I dried the other.

Ahhh yes...my girls!

The green green grass of home

Gary and I moved into our apartment last August with big dreams of backyard fun come this summer. At the time there was a seven foot thistle (we have a picture of Gary with his arm around the thing - they look like good ol' chums) along with a massive overgrowth of weeds. In a spurt of energy one day, Gary decided to chop down all the tall stuff and then rip everything out. We lived with basic dirt back there for the winter and now that spring is sprung, we've decided to put seed down and try to grown some grass. We picked up some triple mix and seed and threw it down; after tilling the soil of course, come on people...we all know that you have to till the soil!!! We didn't have one of those heavy rollers to press the seeds into the ground so Gary found this pipe that we rolled over it and I got the edges with my feet. I think I actually walked away with half the seeds stuck into my shoes.

Ahh...a lawn. I've got this idea of a perfect, flawless lawn coming up. With our luck it's going to be patchy and wired!

Once I figure out how to get pictures loaded onto this thing (don't ask...it's been very trying!!!) I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

$$$

Well, as I had thought, things are starting to turn around. I've got extra work booked for Sunday (with Gary - we get to be parents watching our child at "a sporting event"), two days of temp work for next week and a full week of temp work the week after. THANK GOD!!

So you won't have to put up with me bitching about not having any money...at least until next month!! Sigh...the life of an artiste!

Bikini Fishing

Here it is a beautiful Friday in Toronto. I've got another Temp assignment for the day so all is well in my world.

I have to make a brief mention about some of the odd ducks you come across while temping. Today for example, I'm working at a location I've already worked, so some people remember me and others don't. I'm in the kitchen this morning making myself a cup of international coffee (I don't understand these companies that don't have real coffee!!!) and one of the employees walks in. I recognize him from the last time but don't remember his name so I give the noncommittal "Good morning. How are you?" to which he responds "Well my marriage has fallen apart so it's a wonder I make it out of bed at all these days." Hmmm....what's the polite but appropriate response to a comment like that? I just gave him a "Oh my goodness" and left it at that.

You really do meet all sorts.

Some of you may or may not know that earlier this year I was on a show called Urban Outdoor Adventures. Our show was shot in September of last year and it was on the Pickering Salmon Derby. Shaun, the host, is this great (massive) brit who really knows his stuff about fishing. Now I hadn't been fishing since I was about six and stood at the end of the dock in Steveston, Richmond with my cousin, a bit of line and hook and caught nothing but seaweed and corks. But my friend Steve Thorne, who is producer, editor and camera man (probably more too but I can't keep track) for the show, called me last minute to say their scheduled co-host for the episode fell through and would I be able to pinch hit. I wasn't doing anything so I said sure...I like fish. Let me tell you I had the best time. Shaun's boat is super fast (he tried to scare me on the ride out to our "spot" but I was all for it!) and we had a great day of fishing. We caught two biggies (three actually but we don't like to talk about the one that got away...sniff...it's too painful) and we ended up coming in second place for the derby.

One of the many conversations we had over the course of the day was this crazy fantasy idea we came up with of the two of us hosting a show in the Caribbean where we go on high end exotic fishing tours, Shaun does all the manly stuff and I spend the show in a variety of bikinis. Shaun thought it was a great idea and if it's sunny...I'm there. Well, it turns out Shaun has been shopping the idea and it looks like it's going to happen in October after the rainy season. We've got some interest from a distributor and Shaun's managed to secure a five star resort in Venezuela for a seven night stay, with five days of boats and guides for the show. How amazing is that?!!! Now nothing's secured yet and set in stone but Shaun's moving forward as if we're going so you know what that means!? I'm off to the gym for the next five months!!! So none of you offer me chips, cookies or treats of any kind. I have little or no self control when it comes to these things and they are off limits for bikini wearers!!! If anyone wants to start a training schedule with me, I'm in! If someone just wants someone to check in with about training, I'm in! I'll take all the help I can get.

Choo Choo

I feel like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel but that's not to say someone is shining a flashlight in my eyes.

I broke down and requested a withdrawal of some of my Equity RSPs to make sure I cover rent this month hoping that next month I'm not going to find myself in the same position staring at my ACTRA RSP statement. I signed on with another extra casting agent today so I now have four, count them, four companies working to find me be work to pay the bills.

One of the casting agents told me things were slow but starting to pick up, the other just told me it was slow so don't expect much. Is the whole work force slow right now? At least the areas in which I can work? One good thing that I can do is paint (rooms...not artwork) and I have a friend who is moving on the 15th and said he would pay me to help him paint his new apartment. And I can work around a work schedule so I won't be giving up other stuff should it come up.

PLUS, my friends Warren, Sarah and I are having a garage sale this weekend (keep your fingers crossed this sun and warmth holds out!!!) so that should bring in a couple of dollars. If you're free Saturday and live in the GTA, be sure to stop on by!!!

But I'm feeling remarkably optimistic. I know that the shift is right around the corner and this stress is going to ease off. I feel like the extra work thing is really going to bloom into something. I can't wait to get on set again.

Tomorrow I'll tell y'all about the exciting news around "Exotic Outdoor Adventures"!!!

Extra extra, read all about it!

So I signed up to an extras casting agency today. Yvonne of Y.H. Casting says its a good time to register as things will start to pick up for the summer. It brought me right back to the good ole days of posing for a quick photo for my file (just like they do before auditions) and filling in my "skills", type of roles that I can play and languages that I can speak. I found this last one to be an interesting question for an agency that employs people specifically no to talk.

The whole experience really got me excited about being on set again. I decided to try my hand with extra work as I figure it will give me a good chance to be on set, re-acquaint myself with the "rules of engagement" but not be under a lot of pressure to perform. The days can be long and extras are often herded like cattle and treated like slaves but hey....work is work. I'd rather work on a set that in an office.

Gary came with me and signed on as well so hopefully one day soon we'll be appearing in the background of some locally shot tv or movie and we can finally say that we "acted" together. One of the questions they asked us at the end as we were just about to walk out the door was "Oh...are you a couple?" We responded that yes we were, married in fact to which she asked "Are you willing to do work that requires you to kiss?", to which Gary responded, "Sure, especially with each other." He got nothin', just a blank stare. Apparently all they are really interested in is 15% of the pay our Actra Union membership entitles us to.

Take a deep breath here Cyndi!!!

I'm temping today....ya!!! I figured it was a good excuse to do a post. Turns out people are actually reading these things and starting to check back after I said that I would be writing on a regular basis. How considerate!

I have to address something today that I guess people who put themselves out there "to the public" have to deal with at some point or another; negative feedback. I received a comment after one of my posts that was... well let's just say a bit biting. I won't repeat the comment as I feel the "Anonymous" writer, being too cowardly to leave his or her name, doesn't get to diss me twice on my own blogpage. I've also removed the comment from the post to prevent any further embarrassment to them as they tried to use a word to make themselves appear intelligent and proceeded to spell it wrong...the word is spelled minutiae my friend. I've never been one to receive negative comments well and Gary even told me not to take it personally but how can I not? These posts are personal, I write them and they are primarily about me so I can only imagine the writer meant for me to take it personally. Except there was a ":)" following the comment so maybe I am being too sensitive and the comment was simply meant as a poke and not a jab. Regardless, if you don't want to read the posts, if you at all find them boring or pointless, then please, don't read them. Don't check back and by all means don't waste your time making comments that make you look stupid and petty in the end.

I write these for a fun take on my world. If it offers you a different point of view...great! If it bores you...check out www.gofugyourself.com - it's always good for a laugh.

The Life of a Temp

For the last six months I've been working as a temp. Sent out to various offices across the city to work primarily in reception but occasionally I get to do more involved work such as invoicing, tax preparation, etc. On the whole I like it because the assignments are relatively short and I don't get caught up in office politics or get bored with the routine. For the most part I've been able to continue my internet surfing, blog checking and game playing routine that I established while working at the bank. I even finished the third draft of my screenplay during one of my assignments. (Not that I wrote all three drafts while temping, I was just stuck on the final hump of the last of the revisions for the third draft.)

The first part of temping that I wasn't prepared for was the "shitty pay" part. Granted it's not minimum wage but living off of $11 an hour means no extras. No Chantico Drinking Chocolate from Starbucks, no sushi dinners at Sushi Island, not even the good kind of toothpaste. It's pretty lousy.

The second part of temping that I wasn't prepared for was the "not working" part. I would take the first part working for $11 an hour over this part any day!!! I have been off work since the second week of April with exception for a four hours shift two weeks ago and two days last week. I'm freaking out!!! I went out and signed on with a new agency hoping that when one was slow the other would have something. Nope...not really. The good thing about this new agency is that their base pay is a little higher and they pay the same week you work. BUT...there's no work.

So I'm sitting at home trying not to get bored because being bored usually leads to spending money...which I don't have. I'm going to the gym and trying to eat well (more on that subject tomorrow) but that only takes up so much time of the day.

I'm not looking for sympathy here as I know we've all been in the state of "brokeness". I'm just venting. Phew!

Smokers and the TTC

Please allow me a moment to air a pet peeve. If you’re one of those people who hate pet peeve blogs then go “click off”!!!

(I know I said the next blog was going to chronicle Lucy’s arrival to our home but…the moment has passed. She’s home, she’s cute, we love her. End of story.)

Okay, first of all, it drives me crazy, those last minute puffers that drag a lung-full of smoke right before they get on the streetcar or bus. Inevitably they blow the smoke out once on said transit vehicle making it smell like a pre-June 2004 nightclub. To make matters even more nauseating, 9 times out of 10 they stand next to me, said pet peever. Most likely, it's really crowded and if I’m lucky enough to have a seat, my nose is right in line with smoker’s disgustingly smoke-filled clothing. God giveth and then he taketh away.

Secondly, and this isn’t a pet peeve so much as an observance I can’t quite digest, but what is it with the smokers that can’t wait to get off the streetcar (or bus) before putting the cigarette into their mouths? Buddy stands there on the top step ready to disembark, mouth primed for sucking and blowing, anxiously looking at the driver willing him to stop milliseconds before he’s set to, so that he can ignite his vibrating fag. This morning, said pre-lung (and/or esophagus) cancer victim, even had the lighter in his hand and was repeatedly caressing his thumb over the flintroller in preparation. Maybe it’s just the fact that the site of an unlit cigarette dangling out of an overly "nic fitted" person just looks ridiculous. Truth be told, I’ve never had a habit that caused me to get jonesy for my fix but come on, it’s just smoke.

That’s my beef. I’m not a vegetarian. What’re you gonna do about it?!

New York Adventure

Okay, so while in Hartford we had two days off. The first one came before our opening so we were put under "house arrest". We went to the mall (wahoo!) and had a fancy dinner. Not too bad considering we had only been there for less than a week and weren't fully exposed to the mind numbing boredom Hartford had to offer.

As the end of the second week was approaching, it was obvious to many of us that we had to get the f%#k out of Hartford for the day. Colleagues Allan Morgan, Mark Christmann and myself decided to escape to New York. The idea of staying overnight was sketchy considering the weather and the idea of getting stuck there was just too daunting, so, day trip it was.

We caught a 6:30 am (yikes!!) express bus into The Big Apple. We ran into "rush hour" as we approached Manhattan but the traffic that we are used to in our little cities is nothing compared to what we were facing here. What should have been a three hour bus trip turned into a four hour one because of the jam getting into the Port Authority. Here we were chomping at the bit to get on our adventure and we were stuck on a bus. (Slight side note here - in the morning, I wasn't going to waste precious sleep time by applying makeup or putting in contact lenses therefore, this task came up during the highway portion of the bus ride. Let me just say that I have a new skill to add to my resume!!)

We finally got into the Port Authority and my good friend Rick met us and took us to a great greasy spoon for some much needed breakfast. After that, they gents went off exploring on their own and Rick and I headed off to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). I'm not a big "art gallery / museum" kinda gal so Rick and I spent most of the time there making fun of stuff or creating names for the "untitled" pieces. Broken Wood Beam Stuck in Concrete was one of my favourites.

We wandered Broadway for a bit then ducked into The Palace to have a look around at all the poshy poshes. Then it was off to Canal Street (aka China Town) to see if we couldn't find a "Coach Bag" knock off. I'll give you a little back story on this one - Judi, my long time friend that is in the show with me, has a bit of an obsession with the Coach line of hand bags, wallets, etc. We stumbled upon an authentic Coach store while in the mall and I thought her head was going to pop off from excitement. I figured I'd search out the knock offs and see how they compared.

Here's where the real adventure takes place. There has been a major crack down in New York to the knock off industry so retailers are very careful about who they peddle such wares to. Mind you, as you walk down this section of street, shady looking men are whispering "Prada, Vitton, Coach" as if they were offering you smack. I asked for Coach in one place but didn't really like the ones he had available. I asked in another and the small Asian woman, looked us up and down (I imagine we didn't look like the "authorities"), then told us to follow her; warning bell number one. She lead us back onto the street and into a shopping arcade of sorts. We followed her up a flight of stairs (insert more jingling of alarm bells here), then she pointed to a store that had it's windows covered in newspaper and said, "My sister will meet you there." Rick and I exchanged "we're about to be murdered aren't we?" looks but before we could run for our lives the sister appeared and beckoned us to the store. She opened the door to reveal a small space filled with knock offs. Prada, Louis Vitton, Coach and some I'm sure I don't even know the name of. She showed me the Coach bags she had and out of them I found one that I liked. Of course I found one I liked...when have I ever not found a purse/bag that I liked. She wanted $40 US for it and considering I had seen that the authentic versions of this bag were close to $300 US, I figured I was getting a deal. The truth is, I knew the reaction from Judi would be worth the $40 even if the bag fell apart the next day. So I paid the woman and we escaped with our lives.

The remainder of the day was pretty cold so we spent it in a pub, a Starbucks (oooh the Chantico is so good!!!) and a restaurant. After dinner Rick took us to the bar at the Crowne Plaza for a drink, at which a surly waiter spilled mineral water on Allan's leg (and not in that "I'm picking you up sort of way"). By then it was close to 10 and we had to catch the return bus at 10:30.

Let me close by saying that the woman bus driver drove like a bat out of hell. I was surprised she didn't roll the sucker!!! We made it back in a couple minutes over two hours!!!

P.S. When we got back to the hotel I found Judi hanging out with a couple other cast members in the breakfast area on the second floor (aka Level 2 - we sort of took that area over for post show gaggling and tomfoolery). When she saw the bag she screamed so loud the security guard came up from the first floor to find out what was going on. Job well done, forty dollars well spent!!!

Up next....Lucy comes home!!!

Here we go!!!

Well, I thought I'd give this "blog-thing" a try. If it's dull and lacklustre at first please forgive me. I'll try to get wittier as I go along.

I just got back from doing "The Overcoat" in Hartford. Not quite the hub of activity of such cities as London, Adelaide, Wellington or even Bergen but hey...work is work. How can I exactly explain the vitality of Hartford? Let me start by describing my daily routine. First, I would try to stay up as late as I could in order to sleep in as late as possible. That would take care of most of the morning. Then it was off to the gym where I would run AND do weights; whew!! That would take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours. Then home to shower and eat; another hour or so. At this point, I was faced with the vast expanse of the afternoon....hmmm what to do; watch bad television (The Ashley Simpson Show, Rosanne or The Surreal Life) OR go outside and freeze my a$$ off in the twenty below blowing wind! Let me interrupt here for a moment to explain that there are no coffee shops for whiling away an afternoon with a newspaper, journal or good book. There are about 5 shops to browse and two of them are eyewear stores. The mall is a half an hour bus ride ($18 cab ride) away. Therefore, going outside into the biting wind to just walk the streets of Hartford wasn't really an appealing choice. Plus, considering the fact we couldn't have any booze before the show....all that was left was bad television.

The show itself was received well. I guess the folks in Connecticut are a little more reserved than what we've been used to. At first the houses were pretty small and then on the first weekend there was a snowstorm. This was a funny experience. What us igloo-living Canadians are used to was cause for a near "State of Emergency". The mayor came close to calling in the military for a couple of feet of snow. It was quite ridiculous. And as a result, our houses on the weeked dipped dramatically. One show had 53 people in the audience....we almost outnumbered them with stage management and crew!!! The second week was better and the word of mouth brought more butts into the seats. I had a friend from New York come to see the show and he said the buzz at intermission and after the show was really positive. On the last Wednesday that we were there, we got tickets to another play at the Hartford Stage Company (we where at The Bushnell Centre for the Arts....whatever) and I overheard a woman telling two friends, "I saw The Overcoat last night....aaaastounding!!!" so that was nice.

We got two great reviews in the local papers and one pretty good one in Variety magazine. So hopefully that will open some doors for us in the future. No word yet if San Fransisco is going through but keep your fingers crossed.

Up next....Escaping to New York for a day!