Sunday, January 30, 2005

figures

Just my luck that Mukey sends me this info on Henry Rollins' movie review show on IFC today. Today is Jan.30. Grr. Hopefully there will be February reruns.

posted by Unknown @ 10:23 PM 0 comments

Thursday, January 27, 2005

happy birthday to me

I am 35 years old today.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.

posted by Unknown @ 10:13 AM 3 comments

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

three years down

Happy Anniversary to us! I love you, Allison!

posted by Unknown @ 8:39 AM 0 comments

Friday, January 21, 2005

dream

OK, so this part is real. There generally isn't much to report on in the Medicine Hat paper. Two cars got vandalized last night...a truck overturned on the highway near Redcliff..you know, small town stuff.

Last week, there was an artical that "Starbucks comes to Medicine Hat". I know, whoop dee shit, but ths is Medicine Hat, so this is news. Actually, it isn't even quite true, the newly renovated college campus coffee shop now SERVES Starbucks Coffee (a Starbucks Rep even came all the way here and TRAINED them to do it). Again, this is news here.

So anyways, I have this dream that I wander into the Hat Starbucks and get my favorite, Caramel Machiatto (mmmmm). The price on the menu was $4.50..that sounds about right. So I get it, it has the lovely whipped topping and drizzle of caramel on top..the tall, fat, curly haired guy behind the counter looks at it, looks at the bottles of various syrups and shots he put in, and mumbles "OK, 4.50, and 1, and 1 and 1.50, and one..." and then turns to me ans says "That'll be..."..hesitating.."..how does $10.50 sound?"

I'm aghast, $10.50 for a coffee? I ask why, and am told that $4.50 is the base price of a plain coffee, and they charge separately fo each shot and additive. I buy it anyways, saying that it's ridiculous. On the way out, I tell another employee that it is ridiculous to charge that much, to kind of a dumbfounded expresson, basically saying "well, it IS Starbucks, and you DID buy it.." As I pass through the door leaving the store, I hesitate, thinking "This would be the time that they should offer me gift certficiates or something to appease me.." But it didn't happen. As I walk down the sidewalk with my admittedly yummy CM, I think "$10.50! Why did I buy it? A pund of ground coffee is only $6 or so..I should open up a real Starbucks here, this is a goldmine..these rednecks will buy anything". Sip..mmm.

So, though exaggerated a bit, how much is that like a real Starbucks experience? Even five bucks for a coffee is pretty stupid. But we do it.

posted by Unknown @ 11:08 AM 0 comments

Thursday, January 20, 2005

progress

With much prodding from my lovely wife, I have registered for Psychology 290 at Athabasca University. That would be th equibalent to Psych 105 at MacEwan. This, along with my Psyc 104 and a class in Greek and Roman mythology, if I can nail down two more classes, I'll have a whole semester down towards my degree.

Yeah, it doesn't sound like muh, but it feels OK to me. I'd rather have that much down than none at all. I hope to be enrolled full-time at Medicine Hat College in the fall, with a goal of finshing the firs two years of a degree, then moving on. University of Lethbridge does a combined BA/BEd..I'm leaning towords that (but as you all know, plans change..how many career courses have I blogged about?)

I'm going to check out volunteering tonight with a local theatre group, see if I can keep my hand in the AV thing, and learn something about stage lighting.

I'm flying to Toronto to visit tbit and marmy, that will be awesome.

Also got great news, Allie's cousin and her husband are coming to visit us from Scotland in August/Sept. We only see them every two years or so, so we're realy looking forward to it. We wanted to go see them for a change, but the work situation for Allie won't allow us enough time to do it. Who wants to go to Scotland for a week? I've never been there, so I think 2 weeks would not even e enough, I'd want to go for 3 or 4.

posted by Unknown @ 1:51 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

rollins

Thanks to Mukey, I'm overdosing on books by Henry Rollins. He gave me "Broken Summers", an awesome book about Rollins' efforts to put together a benefit CD and Tour in support of the West Memphis Three. I need to pick up that CD, "Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs in Support of the WM3"

I downloaded a few Flag songs, and they really aren't my thing. I guess there was a reason I didn't listen to them when I was younger. Do want to hear the re-done versions, though.

Mukey also gave me "Get in the Van: On The Road with Black Flag", also by Rollins, about his years with the band. That was some crazy lifestyle. It's amazing he survived. It can't make me actually like the music, but tons of respect for their work ethic and what they went through.

posted by Unknown @ 10:44 PM 0 comments

here again

I had the strange feeling today, while heading off to do some shopping, that this was the first day after Christmas holidays. It wasn't, of course, it just felt that way. With the trip to Edmonton and back before Christmas, the trip to Edmonton and back after Christmas, and last weeks trip to (you guessed it) Edmonton and back for Allie's work-sponsored 3-day course, the last few weeks have been so blurred. I feel like we spent more time in the car than at home.

The animals have apparently had enough, and have requested that we stay home for awhile. Molly barfed at Allie's mom's, and again yesterday now that we're home. uzz walks around looking guilt-ridden, but that's par for the course. The cats were excdptionally bad, our friend Sam (who has gone above an beyond the cat-feeding-while-we-are-away department) saw many messes while looking after the crew this time, including a cup full of pens and pencils that hit the ground (and somehow, the cup didn't break), and a box of baking soda dumped from the cupboard onto the countertop...white powder everywhere! I guess it looked like Robert Downey Jr's house.

Adding to the odd feeling is the fact that I went to Calgary and back solo (day trip)while Alie was in her course. Before Christmas I had applied to the Banff Centre for a work study program in lighting for the stage. Sounded cool, getting paid a little bit while learning theatre lighting. The drag would be being away from home for three months or more, living in Banff while leaving Allie here dealing with the animals and suff, but she was (and is) so suportive..if it is something that would help me get experience that would make me a better candidate for a tech job at the Esplanade, she is all for it.

So, found out that I was getting an intrview while we'd be in Edmonton. I had asked for Calgary as an interview location, living in Medicine Hat and all, so it ended up being the same difference..I would have had to drive to Calgary either from the Hat or from Edmonton.

Made it to the interview, and found that (as I expected) the competition for the two available lighting spots is very competitive, and most applicants have more actual theatre experience than I do. However, my goals at the Esplanade and my varied AV experience still got me into the interview, and the artistic director said I may have a better chance at a more entry-level program in Theatre Craft II.

What this means is a better shot at it, and not going in too much over my head to start with, with the distinct drawback of no stipend. They pay all the program costs, meals and accomodation, but no money on top, which isn't so good for someone who's EI will be running out at about that time.

I haven't got it yet, but they said I may hear a decision sometime in February for the May start date. It would be great of I could find something that pays decent in the meantime, even if I hate it, just to get some cash in the bank. It would be a great learning opportunity. Oh well, as I say every time, I'll take it as it comes, and see what happens.

posted by Unknown @ 10:25 PM 0 comments

Monday, January 10, 2005

dreams

Had some doozie weird dreams the last few nights. On eof them reminded me of dreams I used to have, where either during the dream, or upon waking, I think to myself "Damn, if I can remember thsi one and write it down verbatim, it will make a great movie script!". Shortly afterwards, what I can remember of it can't even be described or put into any kind of context in the least, and if I can describe it, it sounds incredibly stupid.

I did have a zombie dream, and I can remember fragments of characters in a building, trying to accomplish something. I can remember something happenign outside with trucks and cherry-picker basket trucks, trying to get on the roof of an apartment building. I can remember from the roof, seeing a non-zombie character getting killed by other non-zombies. I remember lots of surviving-human conflict, you know, the good guys vs the bad guys, and the zombies are more just the setting.

In fact, I didn't see a single zombie in the dream, even though I knew they were out there somewhere, and during the dream, a character, who was me, (you know how dreams are sometimes, you're you but you're not you) said outloud to the others,

"There aren't many living dead in this living dead movie, are there?"

You read it here first..screenplay to follow.

The other dream I had was about Buzz, one of our dogs. We were still calling him Buzz, but I knew that his name was really Allan.

I can't explain it either.

posted by Unknown @ 1:02 PM 1 comments

wow! a post!

Hey eveyone. Man, I did not feel like posting the last little while. I just ralzied all the things that I think to myself "I should blog that" but ust didn't do. So, instead of jamming it all in one big rambling post, I'll try to do a small post or two each day until I get it all out.

Hope everyone had a great start to 2005!

posted by Unknown @ 1:00 PM 0 comments