Dream Jobs

It's Friday again and I find myself quite dreamy. I was reading Arin's blog today and I began to wonder what our dream jobs would be like if all we had to do was pick them out of a hat. I'll take that one, that one, and thiiiiis one.

Here's what I came up with:

• Arin: she would own a wooden instrument shop, surrounding herself in cellos, violins, basses, etc... Days filled with humming strings and whiffs of orange oil.
  
• Ron: would be the King of Canada, of course!
  
• Ceri: she would host her own top-rated show on the CBC radio, interviewing famous people and presenting interesting material. She would be destined to be the next Peter Gzowski. By night, she would be playing saxophone in a band that would regularly perform for the Queen at all her high-brow events.
  
• Scarlet: her Witchcraft school would be her main focus, so overrun with students that she would be running it full-time.
  
• Bill: she would replace the two current hosts on the Electric Playground, spending her days trying out new games and flirting with various gamer geeks at the E3 conventions.
  
• Sue-Bob: would be the head photographer for the company that produces the Fireman's calendar.
  
• Lisa: would help Sue with the processing of the film of the scantily-clad firemen.
  
• Stephen: he and Dina would own a wee Bed and Breakfast in the Eastern Townships or Nova Scotia. And when the guests would be out and Consuella would be preparing the rooms, they would collaborate on writing gaming books for Wizards of the Coast.
  
• LightSpeedChick: would own her own driving school, specializing in the aggressive driving styles used by secret agents from around the world.
  
• Paul: would live his life as a professional soccer player, playing in all the professional fields of the world.
  
• Jane: would be a caped crusader that would take down evil and inefficient governments worldwide.
  
• Toast: would design book covers and CD covers for the Canadian cultural elite.
  
• Michel: would be stuck on a craggy face of some mountain somewhere, wondering how he got himself into such a mess, and loving it.
  
• Maggie: would be the head of worldwide sales at Hello Kitty headquarters.
  
• Blork: would be the official taster at the Ritz Carleton. He would also check to see if the arrangement of foods upon the plate was juuuuuust right.
  
• Lyrae: would be Montreal's top socialite, attending only the poshest of affairs and speaking with the finest people. But at night, she would transform herself into Miss Julie, the Queen of the Blues clubs, setting the night aflame with her crooning voice and sensuality.
  
• Me: I would own my own theatre, direct some of the plays performed therein, and hold nights of storytelling. I would also tour the world, one storytelling festival at a time.

So? Was I far off?

I think I'm turning Japanese

Toast was particular to the Neil Gaiman comic, but I thought the Shogun strip was better. I know way too many people like this already.

Still cleaning

Meri came by last night to pick up the last of her things. That experience was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Ugh. Didn't feel much like cleaning house after she left; I just went to bed. I'll pick up the paprasse tonight after Howard's party. Then all I have to do is clean the kitchen, vaccuum the house, and mop the floor.

I'm also realizing that I won't have enough wine glasses for everyone. I hope plastic wine glasses are okay. I guess I should buy some instant coffee in case anyone asks for some. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, so I don't have a perculator. It'll give me an excuse to pick up a new tea pot.

Hmmm... I guess I'll be spending Saturday shopping for supplies.

1990? It's supposed to be 1996!

Erik invited me over for a beer, tater tots, and 12 Monkeys (B. Willis and B. Pitt). That is one messed-up film. Interesting, slightly predictable, but surreal.

I'm getting my pad ready for my party on Saturday in stages. Last night was picking up all the clothes strewn about the house and either putting them away or putting them in the hamper. Done and done. Tonight will be the sifting through the various bits of paper, envelopes, receipts, and books that are piled upon every flat surface.

Having a party is a great excuse (and motivator) to clean your pad. I should do it more often.

Babbling

There's a funny story that goes with the previous post about Tara's Garlic party. I first met Tara last year at Hurley's Pub during a get-together for Ron's birthday. When Tara walked into the room, I was flabbergasted because I found she bore a striking resemblance to Molly Parker. Faithful readers will remember my star-struck obsession with Molly Parker back when Men with Brooms came out.

Since I was a mite taken aback, I felt I couldn't introduce myself properly, so I asked Taras to make the introductions. He did, but all that came out of my mouth was gibberish (I thought). I didn't actually succeed at making any kind of good conversation with her. Ah well.

I toyed with the idea of asking her out on a date, but I couldn't figure out the angle. You can't very well walk up a to a girl and expect to take you seriously when you say "Hi. You look like Molly Parker. I like Molly Parker. Will you go out with me?" Embarrassing, ain't it?

So I never acted on it, the moment passed, and we moved on. When I see Tara now, she's that person that looks like Molly Parker that is friends with Arin. I don't have any trouble talking with her now and I see her from time to time at public gatherings. She's cool. And when I think back to that first moment, I always laugh in spite of myself.

Sometimes these little spur-of-the-moment crushes can lead to really solid friendships, which is what's really cool about them.

I remember when I first met Arin way back in 1994 at the Lakeshore Players. I crushed on her almost immediately, but I kept it to myself 'cause she involved at the time. When she became single, I courted her for a brief time. We went on a couple of dates, but nothing came of it.

Now Arin and I are good friends (and through Arin, I'm getting to know Ron, who is also very cool), sharing a love of theatre, spiritual expression, and the company of shared friends. I wouldn't trade that kind of friendship for anything.

And when I think of the time I tried making Chocolate Fondue for her once, how I burnt the chocolate in the microwave, and we ended up devouring a tub of Oreo ice cream instead, I always laugh in spite of myself.

People always make the best memories. Good memories make for the bestest of friends.

Time for a Change of Scenery

The Pooh Log days are numbered! I've started to rethink my blog design and I hope to have the new concept up and running in the coming months... Stay tuned!

This weekend was wild and wooly. On Friday, I attended a BBQ in the Pointe at T and A's house. T and A always throw the bestest parties and the people who show up are always so interesting. But the Pointe (Pointe St. Charles) is a bit of a disturbing place. A couple of times as we were standing in the backyard, we heard a high-to-low whistle that sounded like a bomb dropping, then nothing. We all looked around expectantly, but there was no other sound. Then maybe 15 minutes later, there was a loud bang like a firecracker going off. Weird.

Then on Saturday, I attended a Garlic Potluck Party at Tara's. I had never been to Tara's house, but it wasn't hard to find. The aroma of garlic wafted out of her house and filled the street. The list of garlic-based edibles included:

• potato salad
  
• escargo (which used 5 head of garlic)
  
• pasta salad
  
• green salad with garlic dressing
  
• tdziki
  
• meatballs
  
• stuffed tomatoes
  
• ice cream (vanilla-garlic)
  
• chocolate chip-garlic cookies

I sure hope Tara likes garlic 'cause she won't be getting that smell out of her house for a few days!

The party itself was quite well attended. Many of my friends were there and I recognized a few old Lakeshore Light Opera people I used to see during my flirtations with Gilbert and Sullivan plays. I'm having a Dessert, Wine, and Cheese party at my place on Saturday and I hope it runs as well as Tara's party did.

On Sunday afternoon, evening, and early morning, I was having the first of many discussions with Loic about putting together a Musical Storytelling show. We talked about stories, music, and how the two could compliment each other. I even spoke to Mike Burns, Montreal's own master storyteller, and he agreed to support us as a guest teller. Mike is such a great guy...

I'm very excited about this project. If we actually pull this off, it could turn into something big. I'll keep you posted!

A Quebecker gets 'alifax h-aspirations

Recently, Bill suggested that we get a bunch of us and move into a house in Halifax. It seems Bill is afflicted from the same strange pull that I've been feeling for Nova Scotia since I visited it so many moons ago.

So for fun, I popped over to MLS to search for a house that would suit our heathen needs. Of course, the closer you get to the Halifax Pennisula, the more expensive it gets, so I tried looking out aways from there but still in the general area.

I don't know if it's my age creeping on, but I've been enamoured with the thought of living away from the city. I want land. I want green space. I want forests. I want water. I want quiet. A nice little farmhouse would do nicely.

So here's what I found to setup the House of the Rising Blog:

• $79,900
  Huge older home presently rented as 3 units, ideal location for Bed & Breakfast or renovated as classic cape house, some oceanviews, 48 hrs required for all showings.
  Property type: Detached
  Bedrooms: 8
  Bathrooms: 3
  Lot size: 35000 SQ FT
  Age: 100 years old
  Zone: Halifax County South & West
  Region: Halifax-Dartmouth Region



• $99,900
  Country charmer on 1/2 acre. 5 BR w/in-law potential in a cntry setting. Numerous perenials, apple trees, cherry sumac, 2 ponds w/waterfall. Euro. kit, LR w/wdstv, sky- light, 2 baths.
  Property type: Detached
  Bedrooms: 5
  Bathrooms: Full: 2 Half:1
  Lot size: 71X253(APPROX.)
  Subarea: Lawrencetown, Lake Echo, and Porter's Lake
  Zone: Halifax County East
  Region: Halifax-Dartmouth Region
  Features: Sloping, Fence, Rolling, Pond or stream.
  
  
• $47,900
  Priced just a little over tax assessment, this property could be a real bargain. Presently set up as apartments but uses could be flexible. With a little T.L.C. this house has the potential for an excellent income property. Located in a prime location.
  Property type: House
  Bedrooms: 5
  Bathrooms: 2
  Lot size: under 1/2 acre (17222.00)
  Zone: Queens South East
  Region: South Shore Region
  Features: Landscaped

Take one of these places, wire it all up, network the 'puters together, and we'll be chugging along just great. Of course, these houses are a bit far from Halifax itself, but with the money we'd save, we can always get a Blogger Bus! With LSC at the wheel, we'd be anywhere in about 15 minutes (and dying for a stiff drink to calm the nerves).

Sounds pretty sweet, if you ask me.

Bloop! Buzz! Zap!

A buddy of mine just sold me a used PlayStation I console. It came with about 8 games, dual analog shock controllers, a mem card, and a Game Shark (to enable the cheat codes). I was up late last night playing Driver, trying to figure out how to pull a 180 degree turn backwards before the timer ran out.

I've never owned one of these console gaming systems before; I always played games on my PC. I figured my PC would always be able to out-perform them. But the price was right and I thought I could give it a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.

BlogNote: Gosh, I love you guys who take the time to read my blog, but you're so unpredictable. Sometimes I'll write something I think is though-provoking and deep and I'll only get a couple of comments. Then I write something about the Dukes of Hazzard and I get over a dozen comments on that post alone. Weird. Funny, but weird.

Finished! And now... to memory!

A friend of mine got me 365 Bedtime Stories (by Christine Allison) for Christmas last year and I just now finally finished it.

Now the book is all dog-eared with all the tales I took a shining to. Now starts the labour of love that is to learn all the stories that I want to tell from this collection.

The book itself is a wonderful collection of tales. There is a new story for each day of the year and the holidays and seasons all have related folktales. Each story is written in a way that you could read it to a child as a bedtime story, so some of the tales are very short (like the Aesop fables) and some are longer (extending into two parts over two days).

I have resolved to learn a new story every month this year, which means I may end up with 4 to 7 new stories in my repetoire by June 2003. I never know how good a story is until I tell it to an audience, so I won't know which ones are keepers and which ones are throw-aways until I try them out.

The stories are also written in such a way that they leave lots of room for me to throw my own flourish into them, which allows me to make them my own. This is the fun part or learning new stories.

NEWS FLASH: I finally got the final copy of the Master CD so I'll now be making copies en masse. If any local folks reading this blog have old CD jewel cases that they're not using and wish to recycle, I'd love to get my hands on them. Email me and we'll see if we can make arrangements.

Just a Good ol' Boy

... and I just realized that the actor who plays Clark Kent's father in Smallville (John Schneider) used to be Bo Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out. Duh!

Smallville is a better show than people realize. When I mention it to people, they say "Oh yeah... that's the show about Superman when he was a kid" and they dismiss it with a wave.

Actually, the show is about Clark Kent when he was a teen. It's a subtle difference, but an important one. The show is surprisingly well-written and has some strong actors in it, notably Michael Rosenbaum who plays Lex Luthor.

A Weekend of Fable and Folklore

I spent the better part of the weekend at Maisonneuve Park at the Montreal Children's Festival, which was quite well put together! I don't know how many people ended up attending, but the people looked like they were having fun at the various kiosks, stages, games, and inflatable jungle gyms (you had to see it to believe it).

The storytelling sessions didn't work out exactly as planned. There were some technical difficulties with the microphone so the storytelling itself had to compete with all the ambient noise around us. That's no problem; I just had to speak louder.

But it was difficult to find English-speaking folks to come to the telling. Understandably, the large majority of folks were French-speaking and weren't too interested in hearing English-only folktales. Still, I was able to gather enough kids together to have a couple of sessions a day, telling to about 30 people in all (parents and their kids).

On Sunday, I met a lady who told me that she and her husband (who directs animated films for the NFB) collected fairy tales. I laughed and said that I would love to spend a Sunday afternoon thumbing through her collection and she replied that she would like that. So I have an unscheduled afternoon of fables and tea coming up. I can't wait.

I know that really sounds strange, but I love being able to swap stories with other people. Many of the stories that I know I've either heard from other people or I read them somewhere and then heard someone else tell it. It's cool when I learn one version of a story from a certain cultural perspective and then I hear the same story, but from a completely different cultural perspective.

My decision to spend this year focussed on storytelling is really working out.

How did I get here again?

It's official: Meri and I are no longer a couple. We gave it a go and it lasted about 4 months. The final conversation was not graceful and quite ugly.

It's also left me with quite a bit to think about, plenty of self-examination. Sometimes I think I'm not cut-out for this relationship business. There seems to be too much to sacrifice to make it work, too much to change to make yourself compatible to another person's needs and expectations.

My friends all sigh and tap me on the shoulder and say "There's someone out there for everyone. You just need to be patient." I look at folks like S and D, B and C, J and D, and D and J, and I think "Yeah... maybe there is hope. These guys have all made it work for themselves."

But then I look at my miscalculations and errors in judgements, the things I had to give up (or was expected to give up), and the expectations that were placed in my lap and I wonder: would I ever be able to shoulder that much responsibility? Do I have it in me to live up to such expectations? Do I even want to?

It's not like I can't have friends. I have plenty of friends. I meet people, I'm friendly, and occasionally, I meet someone that I hit it off with and we hang out. We become good friends, confidants, reliables. I can handle that. I have that. I'm lucky.

But when it comes to moving that special friendship bond to a more intimate level, something goes wrong.

Maybe I'm destined to be a single guy and find myself buried beneath a single tombstone. Maybe sooner, maybe later. Dinner for one, non-smoking section, and a bottle of absynth. The night is young.

If that's the case, so be it. I came to grips with the possibility of being a single guy and not finding that lifetime partner years ago. I don't want to pin my whole future on another person. It's dangerous and unrealistic.

Hmmm... maybe it's that kind of thinking that's landed me in this situation in the first place. Maybe the "white-picket fence and the 2.5 children" ideal would have left me happier in the end. Who knows?

Sometimes even that sacharine ideal seems better than dragging other people into this Titanic I seem to have built for myself.

"No no... Speed up! It's just an ice cube. We'll be fine. Hand me that bottle of absynth, would you my good man?"

Friday blues

'Twasn't a good day yesterday, nuh-uh, no sir.

I was supposed to meet a friend for supper, and due to our slightly unreliable bus system making me 30 minutes late, my friend ditched me and took off with some other friends. That really stung 'cause I was looking forward to this supper-date all week.

When I realized that I had really been ditched, I went to visit some friends in the neighborhood. When I left their place to come home, I lost my footing and fell down the stairs, bashing up my knee. Now I'm limping about, not being able to put too much weight on the injured knee.

Of course, today is the first day of my latest storytelling gig at the Montreal Children's Festival. Despite my injury, I'll be attending the festival but I won't be able to be as animated with the kids as I had hoped.

I'm a bit nervous about it actually. I've only told stories to kids a few times; I usually tell to a crowd of adults. I hope I can keep this audience entertained.

Argh! Demon spawn! And fur!

It's only because I have one of these (a "thanks for coming to my wedding" present from Ceri) that I love this little tale about Plush Demons of Destruction.

Maybe I should bring the little guy to work to adorn my desk. It might strike fear in the hearts of writers. Mwuhahahaha.

Just for your info, the whole Plush Demon discussion started with this cartoon and continued with this cartoon.

Dormir à la belle étoile

In an effort not to be visited by hallucinated hairy spiders while I sweated it out in my bed, I finally decided to sleep on my balcony. I dragged the foam mat, the sleeping bag, a bedsheet, and my pillow onto the balcony and lay down to sleep. I'm used to sleeping on hard surfaces; in fact, I enjoy it. My bed is basically a mattress lying on a flat piece of plywood. Not much give there.

Putting the portable phone nearby and leaving the door open a crack (so that the cat could come and go), I settled in for the night. Surprisingly, I dropped off almost immediately, like I do this all the time.

When I woke up this morning to a bird song, I felt refreshed. Newton (the kitty) had snuggled in next to me in the sleeping bag, making it that much more comfortable. I actually had a difficult time heading back into the house to get ready for work.

Heat, smog, humidity, stupidity be damned! I've found a solution to my hot-night sleeping problems. My balcony is darned comfy!

Flying Spiders

It's a known fact that this ol' Poohbah don't do well in da heat. I'm not complaining, mind you. We've been pretty lucky this summer so far: only a couple of intense heat waves. Overall, I've been sleeping rather well.

But this week is getting uncomfortable. I've got an AC, but I need to get an exit tube to let the water out and then make a hole in my screen window (it doesn't slide up) to let the water egress. The last time I tried to use the AC, I had left it on for a few hours to cool off the bedroom. I then needed to adjust it's positionning in the window, so I turned it off, lifted it up, and all the water inside splashed over me.

It took me a few seconds of uncomfortable moistness to realize I'm holding a huge electrical appliance that's still plugged in and now I'm wet. I gingerly unplugged the monstrousity, emptied all the water out, and haven't used it since. Truth be told, it hasn't been warm enough to warrant it.

I keep having brushes with electrocution. I am reminded of the time I accidentally dropped my phone into the turtle tank. I plunged my hand in after it, only then realizing that if someone called at that moment, I would be toast. Dial M for Moron.

But so far, I've been cheating death. Or more to the point, I've been teasing death with alot of sing-songy "Look what I'm doing!"

But I digress.

When it gets really hot at night, I tend to sleep badly and fitfully (like many of you). But my body gets so overheated that I my brain simmers and I start to hallucinate. Like last night, I popped an eye open and saw a spider with a body about the size of a football float into my room. I yelped, grabbed the sheets, and started rat-tailling at the thing yelling "Get out! Get out!".

And then poof... it was gone and I was left there, now fully awake, holding a pile of bedsheets and hoping that no one was walking past the house at that very moment to hear me hissy-fitting at something that was nothing more than a brain-bubble.

Mortification at 3 am. Ye Gods... I am so looking forward to Autumn and everything cools off.

Lovely Montreal Architecture

I was riding down Sherbrooke street this morning on the 24 bus and I was glancing out the window lazily. Montreal certainly has some facinating architecture to gaze longingly at (and no, I'm not talking about the ladies).

In fact if you work your way east from NDG to St-Laurent along Sherbrooke (where I hop off), the buildings range is size and variety from the early 1900s to Still Under Construction early 21st century. I've always had a long-standing love of the older brick and mortar buildings myself. There's something about their worn faces, a time-stained majesty that more modern buildings just don't evoke in me.

If only these walls could speak...

Hermit days are over

My first day at Softimage is almost over and it's been pretty painless so far. My bosslady Judy gave me the grand tour of the office and ye Gods... this place is a maze! I met a whole bunch of nice folks, but when Judy told them what I was going to do, they would say stuff like "Oh la la!" or "Woooo.. that'll be a load off your shoulders, eh Judy?" and "Best of luck Dave!". The more people I met, the more nervous I got!

The first day is always the slowest. I'm aching to get started! I've got some reading material to absorb first and then I'll be able to get cracking. By the way, Softimage hired me as their Technical Editor (but I'll probably do a bit of techwriting too).

Thanks LSC for the well-wishes! I think this is going to be fun!

Relax... it's not illegal

... so if SOCAM is reading this, call off your pack dogs boys. I'm trying to make copies of my own CD.

I've got the covers, I've got the CD labels, so all I have to do now is make copies of the original master CD. Simple right? Wrong.

I've tried to make four copies of the master CD this morning. What I have now is one copy and three coasters. Argh! I'm using the Nero CD Burning software: it reads the audio CD fine, but it fails to burn it to the new CD successfully. Drat. What am I doing wrong?!? This shouldn't be so difficult!

And then I think about what my ancestors were dealing with just a scant 100 years ago and I realize that, if I were left alone in the Great Canadian Frontier armed with a straw hat and an axe, I'd probably be found by other frontiersemen half-eaten by squirrels.
Stupid CD. Maybe I should have this thing mass-copied by a professional. Maybe I'll try again...

Drat! Another coaster!

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of S-uh-mmer

I just realized that today is the last Friday of my summer vacation. My first day at work starts next Monday. Yikes!

It'll be back to the old grind of waking up at 6:30 am, dragging myself to the shower while the bacon sizzles, making a quick set of scrambled eggs, gulping it all down with some tea, and being out the door sometime between 8 am and 9 am. I'm actually looking forward to the Return of the Daily Routine.

Looking back on this summer, I managed to get quite a few things done.

• My story CD has been recorded and I'm putting them together as we speak.
  
• The first draft of my play is more than half-written.
  
• The first stage of my Dad's biography is written (I need to meet with him and his siblings for the next part).
• I've started to rekindle a few old friendships along the way.

Not too shabby really... But I had no idea that 1.5 months of non-work could seem so long.

Cows on Parade

Due to poopular demand, here are my pics from last night's Yulblog meeting. Lyrae has some more revealing pics, but I think Bill has cut her off at the pass.

YulBlog... Are you experienced?

Another successful Yulblog evening! I got to meet Marc (who I keep meeting for the first time everytime), Lyrae (who hasn't changed a bit since that fateful Christmas day), and Lightspeedchick (who, because of Bill, a plate of Greek salad, and an unnamed cleavage-nestling cow (don't ask), I never got a chance to speak to properly).

I've also received complaints that my blog takes forever to load due to the graphics on the nav bar. I must now consider my options to rectify this.

We spent the evening mired in nostaglia, mainly slogging our way through the 80s (leather ties and all). I admit it: I'm a child of the 80s and I still listen to the tunes.

My shame knows no bounds. Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight.

Montreal Children's Festival

I went to an organizational meeting on Monday night for the Montreal Children's Festival. I had been invited to participate in this festival as a storyteller, which I eagerly accepted.

Although this is the first I had heard of it, this festival has been going on for four years. Last year, the one-day festival received over 70 000 people, so the organizers decided to extend it to two days. They expect to receive over 125 000 people this year.

You can read more about this event at La Fete des enfants de Montréal. The festival will take place on the 17th and 18th of August (a weekend) at Maisonneuve park. My storytelling hour will start at 2 pm on both days.
I'm very excited about this. This is a huge gig and I'm proud to have my name associated with it.

Squee! Squee! Squee!




I used to collect postage stamps when I was a kid, but I was never this particular shade of lime green.

Don't mind me. Scottish festivals tend to affect me this way. Diddle Daddle Doo. Wubba. Wubba. Wubba.

(snagged from Lynn who has become my new best friend.)

Telephone Pole Toss

I'm off to the see the Highland Games in Pointe-Claire today, as I do every year at about this time.

But once again, the Gay Pride activities are scheduled on the same day. I've said it before and I'll say it again: someone's trying to the keep the kilted lads away from the Gay Pride parade.

Suspicious, ain't it?

Whup-Whup-Whup

I was sitting on the terrasse in Brutopia last night, sipping on a Raspberry Ale (one of their many house-brews), when I heard the distinctive sound of rotary blades nearby.

Hanging in the sky above us was a helicopter. It wasn't moving; it was just holding it's position.

I have to admit that it made me nervous, having a helicopter just hang there over the city like that. This time last year, it would have been an object of curiousity, but now it filled me with dread.

Even thought September 11th is almost a year away now, I still find myself scanning the skies in the city and I'm always afraid of what I might see. Many people I speak to tell me the same thing.

Something global ended that day, more than just the tremendous loss of life. We were also invaded by something, something that is not easily shaken, although we all do our best to deal with it so that we can continue living.

Fear.

And it knots my stomach as I stare at that helicopter, wondering if it's a harbringer of the Unthinkable.