Week 44

I have been 42 for 44 weeks.

It has been a good week… as most of my weeks are. A little of this and a smattering of that combining to make it a fairly decent week.

 

DATE NIGHT WITH IVAN

Thursday night Ivan and I went on a date… dinner and a theatre show. He didn’t know anything about it; I just told him that we were going to hang out for the night. So after work I got home and cleaned myself up and told Ivan that he wasn’t allowed to wear shorts.

We went out for Chinese food at a local restaurant. The food was good, but the company and conversation was even better. Ivan and I chatted about our days, and about Christmas, and how school is going for him… much like what we do at home around the dinner table—only neither of us had to cook or clean!

After dinner we headed over to The Guild where ACT was presenting “The Laramie Project.” Produced by  Marla Haines, Paul Whelan directed an amazing bunch of actors (Kassinda Bulger, Guy Brun, Emily Anne Fullerton, Adam Gauthier, Keir Malone, Margaret MacEachern , Rory Starkman,  Tamara Steele, and Tim Wartman), who presented a truly remarkable piece of theatre. Based on true events from 1998, “The Laramie Project” is a series of ‘snippets’ that explore the aftermath of the horrific beating and death of Matthew Shepard, a gay university student.

It was a powerful show. I was moved to tears a number of times while watching it, and once in a while when I looked over at Ivan it was clear he was engrossed in it. The scene just before the intermission was especially poignant (as it goes into great detail about how Shepard was found beaten and left to die tied to a fence), I could hear Ivan say, “oh wow… oh my god…”

It was heavy. Very heavy. But amazing. I’m glad I took Ivan to the show, and we had a great conversation about it on the drive home. He’s even mentioned it a few times since then… clearly, it made an impact on him—the right kind of impact.

Also on the drive home, Ivan and I decided that we should have a date night once a month. So, that’s what we’re going to do!

 

SATURDAY NIGHT SILLINESS

I had some parents from the football family over for drinks and games. We played “Outburst”, which, I discovered, is perfect for two teams of three players. There was a lot of bursting out of words… and some painful silences as we wracked our heads for the right answers!

After “Outburst” we played “Speak Out”. Oh my dear fuck.

So… in teams again (we had two teams of three people), one person has a ridiculous-looking apparatus on their mouth which forces it to stay open. That person then has to read a random, nonsensical ‘sentence’ which his/her teammates have to guess.

The laughing… the drooling… the fussing round with the mouth guards… the comments that were made by the couple who had to share their mouth guard (only 5 came with the game, we were a party of 6). It was such a fun-filled evening with loads of laughs.

And of course we sat around and talked football for a while… of course!

Such a great time. Really.

 

SUNDAY REALLY WAS THE DAY OF REST

Yes. So I stayed up very late on Saturday night (really, it was Sunday morning…), so although I did get up at 10:00, I did very little on Sunday. My roomie and I made a trip out to a store for some envelopes, and then for some coffee, but other than that, I did very little. It was nice. I watched some shows on the computer box and cuddled with Bob the Cat under my electric blanket while the snowstorm kicked up a fuss. It was great. Relaxing… just what I needed.

 

FOR PANDA

Ugh. You. So close and yet so far… I miss your face.

 

TO END WITH A SONG

Because I like this one… you should look up the lyrics… this is a very good song.

 

Week 43

I have been 42 for 43 weeks now.

My life feels a lot more settled now that the play is over. After having a little down time to reflect on the whole experience, I am still so thankful I did it.

The days were ridiculously long, especially the two weeks leading up to the performance, and the driving back and forth from Georgetown was quite tiring, but I loved it.

This week seems so tame in comparison.

 

DINNER AND GAMES WITH FRIENDS

This actually happened in week 42, but I neglected to write about it in last week’s blog entry.

I hadn’t seen my friends ‘L’ and ‘R’ for a while. Well, that’s a bit of an untruth… I had seen them, but it was always at meeting for RoTV or for Salty; we hadn’t been able to spend much time together to just hang out and not “talk shop”. Last weekend they had me over for supper and afterward we played a couple of games. It was nice. Relaxing. We only brought up our projects for a couple of minutes when we needed to double-check some dates, but aside from that we just chatted and relaxed.

I had forgotten how nice it is to just chill and hang out with friends. It was nice to catch-up and shoot the shit without having to talk about ‘work-related’ stuff. I definitely need to do that again sometime in the not-too-distant future.

 

I TOLD IVAN THAT WE’LL HAVE TO MOVE AGAIN

My housemate told me a few weeks ago that she was putting the house up for sale, but I hadn’t talked to Ivan about it. Because my schedule was so busy, I didn’t want to just drop this bombshell and then take off. So I decided to wait until we had lots of time to talk about it and when I knew I didn’t have to be anywhere else for a while so that if Ivan had questions about anything, I would be around for him.

I told him that the house will be going up for sale in February and that we’ll have to move again. He was not happy. He wasn’t mad, or sad, but disappointed. We had a very long talk about it. He recognizes that it is out of my hands and he understands why ‘T’ has decided to sell the house. He is pretty disappointed that we’ll have been here for less than a year and we have to relocate again—I told him that I felt the same way. I also told him that if I had known that ‘T’ would end up deciding to sell the house, we wouldn’t have moved in here. Who the fuck wants to move twice in a year?! Not me. Not Ivan.

 

I MIGHT BUY A HOUSE

Forever I was dead-set against buying a house: I am not rich; I do not have a cushion of savings in the bank; I am the sole-support parent of a child for whom I get no child support; etc.; etc…

However, seeing the frustration and disappointment on Ivan’s face and hearing it in his voice, it has become clear to me that he’s sick of moving.

I am too.

I have decided to look into the possibility of buying a house. What’s the worst that can happen? Someone says “no, you cannot buy a house.” Regardless of what any banker says, I have to move… so, why not just look into getting a house?

I don’t have a lot of money. It will not be a fancy house, but if I could pick something up that is reasonably priced…I’m handy, I can do simple repairs on my own… it’d be nice to know that we won’t have to move again any time soon.

I feel like it is a complete long-shot, and a bit of a Hail Mary…but why not just talk to some people, weigh my options, and then see where things may go from there?

 

RAISED ON TELEVISION

The rehearsal for RoTV happened this week. So exciting! We had 24 people sign up for an audition and six of the directors got to see some very talented people read for them… the directors then discussed who they wanted—both on the room and after the auditions were over. They let me know who they wanted and I phoned/emailed people with a “yes” or “no” (why do I volunteer for these tasks… I always feel terrible having to let someone know they were unsuccessful with their audition?!).

I feel like it is all becoming so real now.

Lots to do though: develop a marketing/promotion strategy; get rehearsal space; find sponsorship… make sure all of the directors and actors are relatively happy… so many things… I love it though. I love this sort of pressure-filled work. It’s fun for me!

 

WHAT?! A VISIT FROM PANDA?!

Oh my dear google… I was chatting with Panda earlier this week and was told that a trip to PEI before Christmas is in order. Then TODAY Panda told me that the weekend of December 2 looks like a good weekend for PEI. I haven’t seen my Panda in months… life has been crazy for both of us… moreso for Panda who has been helping the momma with her cancer treatments (fuck you, cancer!)

Regardless of the amount of time that has passed… I cannot fucking wait to see Panda. Hopefully everything can go as planned!

Panda, sometimes I miss you so much it hurts.

 

To end. I like this song:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 41-42ish

I have been 42 for almost 42 weeks now.

I know, I know… I have not updated my blog in weeks—25 days to be exact.

To be fair though, I have been really, really busy and once you read all about it, you’ll understand why I have neglected my blog.

Where to start?!

 

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

It was an amazing show. I am so glad that I got to be a part of it. I tried hard to avoid the rehearsals as much as possible because I wanted to enjoy the show on opening night. I went to two of the rehearsals, briefly, for some ‘business’, but was able to take off without seeing or hearing too much of the show.

Ivan and I went to opening night, and it was fantastic! The set looked great, the costumes were perfection, and the actors/actresses were just amazing. Everyone sounded great! I loved it.

Ivan also loved it. He really enjoyed the dentist, Orin Scrivello, and of course he loved Audrey II as well. I was impressed with Ivan’s singing on the drive home from the show “Little Shop, Little Shop of Horrors…”.  I haven’t taken Ivan to much live theatre but I am really glad he came to this one with me—it was a great ‘date night’.

The show closed on Sunday and I was around to help with the tear-down and transporting of the set, costumes, and props back to the warehouse. Afterward, there was a cast party at The Merchantman Pub where everyone sat around and shared stories while enjoying each other’s company. What a great group of people…. Really. I feel lucky to have met so many amazingly talented folk.

Overall, the experience was definitely a good one, and I hope to do something like it again in the not-too-distant future!

 

WAITING FOR THE PARADE

The main reason I haven’t been updating my blog regularly is because of the rehearsal schedule for ‘Waiting for the Parade’. For example, every day last week I left my house at 7:40 to go to work. Left work at 5:00, picked up the girls and headed straight out to Georgetown. I got home between 11:00 and 12:00 each night. It was a very, very busy schedule.

However, we only had a few weeks to get the show put together, so we had to rehearse whenever possible.

The show was on November 10 and 11. Opening night I was so exhausted, and the audience was so interactive that I found myself having a hard time staying in character. There were a couple of times when I giggled, or hid myself on stage in an effort to not show my laughter. I know, I know, it wasn’t very professional of me. I tried though.

Friday night was entirely different. I was able to relax before the show and I felt really calm. The audience was completely different—they were quieter than Thursday night’s audience—they were more like what I was expecting the audience to be like.

Honestly, both nights were fantastic. Everyone that I spoke with (and I had people at both Thursday and Friday nights’ performances) really loved the show.

The football family took Ivan to Friday night’s show.

My character dies near the end of the play and apparently he said, “Oh no… my mama!” What a kid.

On Saturday morning I woke up and realized I didn’t need to head out to Georgetown for rehearsals any more—it was nice to know I have some time on my hands again… but sad too.

It was all so fast. We rehearsed and performed a 2-hour long show in 5 weeks. Crazy.

The women I worked with are amazing too. I hope that we’ll get to do something together in the future!

 

DONALD TRUMP

Yeah. So that happened.

Ugh. What a fucking asshole.

 

RAISED ON TELEVISION

Have I talked about this yet?

One day I was hanging out with my friend, R and he was telling me about an idea he had for a theatrical show. As I listened, I realized that it sounded like a fun thing to work on, so I said, “Let’s do it!”

So, yes. R and I are co-producing a show called Raised on Television. Auditions for the show are tomorrow. Rehearsals will happen over the coming months, and the show itself will take place on February 24 & 25.

Here’s a little about the show:

Raised on Television is multimedia theatrical event being created to explore how television (and the way we view/consume it) has changed and how television has changed us. Through sketches and homage led by various Island directors, retro commercial breaks, and possibly even some theme songs Raised on Television wants to reveal the medium of television and everything it represents: the good, the bad, the tawdry, the commercial, the uplifting. We have gathered 7 directors who have chosen a scene from a show that will recreate (in the form of a parody) on stage.

Additionally, interspersed between scenes, the audience will be able to enjoy re-watching some of their favourite TV commercials projected on a screen, commercials like the classic “Where’s the Beef?” ad from Wendy’s back in the early 1980s. By show’s end, it is our hope that the audience will leave feeling a giddy nostalgia…reflecting on the serious, silly, and absurd moments on television that influenced who we are today.

I am so, so, so excited about this project. I hope it is the exact thing people need to help get them out of the winter doldrums come February.

Yes. So in addition to LSoH and Waiting, I have been working on some of the behind-the-scenes stuff for RoTV. I have been busy! See?! That’s why I have been so slack on this blog.

 

WE HAVE TO MOVE AGAIN

So my housemate has decided to sell her house. She is moving out west to live with the love of her life. I can’t blame her… I am a big believer in holding tightly onto what makes you happy.

She is ridiculously in love; her girlfriend is ridiculously in love with her. They are in love and the distance between the two just isn’t what either of them wants.

Come February, the house will be going on the market and Ivan and I will have to move again.

Before you ask, no, I will not buy this house. Even if I wanted to, I can’t afford it. I am the sole-support parent of a teenaged boy… I cannot afford to take on a mortgage and the financial responsibility of a house.

So. Ya. That fucking sucks though.

Seems so typical and fitting for my year though; very little of it has gone smoothly or with any sort of sense to it at all. So yes, moving in the middle of winter seems exactly like the way this 42^nd year of mine should end, shouldn’t it?

 

I DON’T LIKE BEING SINGLE

I have realized that in the past month. I am done with being single… lol. I mean, I AM single, but I am very ready to no longer be single. I miss having someone to share life’s experiences with… you know, all the good stuff that comes along with being in a relationship.

I think that if I am still single by my birthday, my next blog will be about my experiences in the ‘dating’ scene on PEI. I’ll let my friends set me up on blind dates, and they can write an online profile for me, and be open to the adventure.

Who knows though… maybe I’ll meet someone before then? lol

 

TO END

I am back on track. Life is a little less hectic now, and I will be more regular with my blog entries. And now to end with a song… I sang this in ‘Waiting for the Parade’: