My Olympic Experience

It feels like a million years ago that we were in Vancouver.
To be in that city in the days leading up to the Olympics was pretty cool. Especially in the last two weeks. To watch the number of people on the streets increase exponentially every day.
The number of police walking the streets, all in different uniforms. The street closures and chaos of a changing downtown.

Those last few days I was living right in the thick of it. It was electric.

The room mate I was staying with was a volunteer performer in the Opening Ceremonies. He gave me two tickets to the dress rehearsal. We met at my hotel at about 4:30 and set out the two blocks to the gates of BC Place. The line was incredibly long to get to security. One block up Nelson St, around the corner and down the street, around the next corner and we joined the line in the middle of the next block. The line was a longer walk than from the hotel.

Going through security was crazy. It was a lot like being at the airport. Only worse.
All of us were funneled into a number of tents. All of your stuff was put into bins, as is at the airport. But there is no imaging machine, a person goes through your stuff. They pulled everything out of my purse. Then a walk through the metal detectors.


Finally inside we got to watch the Pre-show. Ben Mulroney teaching us how to use the props that we would not be given. But the $8 beer kept us entertained.

They explained to us that we were all in attendance because we know someone who has spent months working on this event. That these people have been sworn to secrecy about the show and they ask that we honour them and keep the secrets.
They also explained that they would be keeping some of their secrets.

It was pretty cool to see the event live. I tried not to watch the screens so that I could see all of the live stuff live.

They had stand ins for most people. They didn't announce the talent if they were stand ins. Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams were stand ins, so were KD Lang and nearly all of the others. But Sarah Mclachlan, the French guy and O Canada were all as they were in the show.

The snow boarded made the jump, the pyro went and the polar bear roamed the stage.
It was all very cool. After watching it on TV though it is clear that it was designed for the billions of people watching on TV, not for the 60,000 watching it live. From where we were sitting the projections were not a clear as they were on TV. The projections on the floor were not connected to the action. For example at the very beginning when the people are walking on the ice and it all breaks up, you needed an over head view to understand it.

But I could watch all of the dancing. My favorite part was the "Sacred Grove" with the huge tree and all of the dancers. I wish that I could have seen KD Lang do her thing because it was certainly the best song of the night (when watching it on TV)

One of the secrets they kept was the torch stuff. Seeing as it went wrong on the actual night, perhaps they should have practiced it. Especially when it wasn't all that secret because they had the other one set up on the water already. Oh well. That is exactly why we have dress rehearsals, to make sure everything is going to work.

Those last days in Vancouver were wild. It felt really fun to be there. Glad that I wasn't going to have to be there when it was really crazy. But glad to have seen it, to have felt it.

When we returned to Calgary and the next day were watching the Opening Ceremonies at Dennis' house it was surreal to not be still in Vancouver. To be apart of the build up and then to be in someones living room like everyone else. It was weird.

This week while we have been back rehearsing and at the theatre for way to many hours on end. The TV has been tuned to the Olympics at all times. We are cheering as a team. And yesterday we held Act II by a couple of minutes to watch the short track speed skating metal final with the two Canadian brothers. Our watching didn't help but it was fun to take that extra minute to be Canadian before we went back to work. The audience will never know what we were waiting for.

Colposcopy

Colposcopy is a medical diagnostic procedure to examine an illuminated, magnified view of the cervix and the tissues of the vagina and vulva. Many premalignant lesions and malignant lesions in these areas have discernible characteristics which can be detected thorough the examination. It is done using a colposcope, which provides an enlarged view of the areas, allowing the colposcopist to visually distinguish normal from abnormal appearing tissue and take directed biopsies for further pathological examination. The main goal of colposcopy is to prevent cervical cancer by detecting precancerous lesions early and treating them.

Yesterday was my third. Gotta love those days. First - most importantly, the doctor told me that he expects that to me my last visit. (Unless of coarse I have an abnormal pap in the future). But he figured that it would come back the same as before and therefore I would be clear.

I hate those things. I dreaded it all day. To the point that I asked the boys at work to try to distract me. One of the fellas brought in "Pippin" soundtrack for me, and that worked for the preshow. But during the show I was very distracted. I was aware and remember the first two songs but missed most of the show. We got to the second to last song, the most showy piece of our show, and I clicked on to my com "wow, how did we get here". I pretty much missed the whole show. I ran a good show, all the right things at the right time, I just don't remember.

Wow, January 14

Time has flown by.

It all started with the flu. I find that my body is very considerate and waits until I have days off to get sick. I am not complaining, this has come in handy more than once. However, this time it didn't check the calender and see that there was only two days off.

I was fine the whole Christmas holiday - entertaining kept me busy. After all of the family went back to Regina I spent the days prepping for my next show. We went to Canmore for New Years (which was delightful, by the way), and then on the 2nd had a Production Meeting at the theatre. The meeting was so laid back and everything was going well. I was told to take two days off and we will start rehearsals on Monday rested. I went home on Friday ready to relax. Saturday went well too. Then I went to sleep. It was cut short by the sudden urge to toss my cookies at around 1am and stuck around for the whole of the night. It is the worst flu I have ever had. You usually have a bit of a reprieve between bouts of throw up. I was up so much that Logan called in for work because I had kept him up all night.

I was in a bad way all of Sunday and Sunday night. I didn't even bother to see "if I could make it" on Monday morning. I called as soon as it was a decent hour. ***As a side bar, you don't call is sick in theatre. There is no substitute teacher, no understudy, no make up test. There is a tight timeline and rehearsal cannot happen without the stage manager, legally. Let's just say they had to call someone else in. Ouch.***
I threw up all day Monday but had a decent sleep on Monday night. I got up with full conviction that I would work on Tuesday. Not just "see how I was feeling", I had no choice. I made it through three hours of rehearsal before I excused myself and left for the day. Wednesday and on were the slow climb up the mountain of recovery.

Rehearsals have been going great though. "Come Fly With Me" at Lunchbox Theatre. It is one of the best rehearsal processes I have ever been apart of. There are two actors that sing to me all day, they have both done the show before (but not together), and everything seems to be coming together fairly easily. I am sure by typing that I have jinxed the sound levels session that is scheduled to happen in 20 minutes. Oh well. I am ready.

Winter Weather

Yesterday winter really began. It was wild. Stef and I were out Christmas Shopping and it was snowing like crazy. There were winter storm warnings on the radio, "10-15 cm of snow". There was quite the snow drift in front of our door when we returned.

Logan worked at 5:00 and I had a show. So I dropped Logan off at work at about 4:15 and hit the Deerfoot. From Country Hills Blvd to Beddington (the very next ramp), it was regular winter driving. Not that bad, just snowy. That is where the driving ended. I didn't move faster than 20km the whole trip. The road was packed with people just rolling along. I was pretty relaxed, I had left myself an hour and a half to make my 25 minute drive. I started to get a bit angry when the three lane Deerfoot suddenly had four lanes. Okay, no one really knows where the lines are. But then the taxi pulled out of the "fourth" lane and created his own lane. That is when my temper started to rise.

I had to be at work at 5:30. At 5:28 I pulled off the Deerfoot onto Memorial and came to a stop. A solid stop for the first time my whole trip. It took me over 20 minutes to make it off the ramp. At this point I was attempting to call the theatre and let them know. Well, my phone rang busy and said "network busy". Great.

I finally pulled into the parking lot at 6:18. Two hours after I set out. Nearly an hour late.

Playing House

Today I got off the bus and walked onto our circle and approached our house. I could see the back of the house from the end of the circle as we are on the corner. As I clomped along in winter boots, mitts, scarf and back pack I felt like I was far to young to be playing this game. I had this flash that very soon we would have to pack up our over night bags and go home to our respective parents and get back to school. That is my house. Not just the house that I live in. Not my parents house. A house that I am responsible for.
Surely I feel that the bills are mine. That I go to work six days a week to scrape together a pay check for the bills to keep the place going. Those things are not lost on me. But I am sure you have all had those moments. How did I get here? I love it here. But for that short 2 minute walk it felt a bit surreal.
But soon enough I walked through the gate, up the steps of the deck, and into the kitchen where I was greeted by a puppy so happy to see me that he is almost flipping over and a big kiss from my loving husband.

Route 301

Now that we live out in the sticks I cannot walk to my downtown theatre jobs any more. I get to take the bus. Good 'ole reliable public transportation. This really isn't a big deal. Especially since bus fare is $2.50 each direction and parking is $27 a day.

We happen to live right next to a major bus route. It is called the BRT, what is stands for I don't know, but it is the express bus to downtown. It takes me 25 min on the bus and 20 in a car. It stops almost right out side our little circle. It comes around every five minutes in peak times, every 10 minutes on the times surrounding peak times and every 15-30 minutes in the middle of the day and evening.

Yesterday was my first real example of how bad this could be. Yesterday was a holiday. So the buses were running on holiday hours. I called to see if parking was on holiday rates and it was not. That meant there were only buses every half hour, and about 10 minutes sooner than I am used to. So I hurried my butt out the door to make it for this earlier bus. I had 6ish minutes to walk about a minute and a half. As I stepped onto the main road from our circle I see the bus at the stop. So I run. (I forgot to mention that I have a tray full of cupcakes that I was volunteered to bring for the birthday of our Scrooge.) The bus waits for me. I hop on and it is already full. I guess lots of people took the holidays as Monday and we are all trying to fit on one bus that is usually one every five minutes. I put my cupcakes on the "my bag is too big" holder and stood. The bus was like a sauna. I had my coat off before the next stop. To make matters worse the driver had a very heavy foot, both on the gas and the brakes. We lurched out in the sauna for about 15 minutes before I had to start calculating my options.
-sit down, then I won't be able to see out the front window
-open a window, I am so far away from one I wouldn't feel it if I opened it
-get off at the next stop and wait for the next, half an hour later I would be late
-just breathe through it and hope for the best.

When we were rolling over the Center St Bridge I almost thought I couldn't make it those last couple blocks. As we pulled to a stop I grabbed my stuff and was off the bus so fast. I sat on the wet, granite steps of the building we stop in front for 10 minutes before the feeling of throwing up had passed.

I felt sick for the rest of the day. Then I had to get on the bus to get home. In comparison, the bus ride was much more pleasant. Except that I still felt that my stomach was upside down from the first ride. Seabands and all I still felt like I might just chuck on the good ole 301.

The one, the only

My parents drove into town on Thursday night with concert tickets. Tickets for 4 to Elton John. Mom, Stef, Auntie Shelley and I we to see the diva at the Saddledome on Friday.



It was great fun. I am pretty sure that Stef and I were bringing down the average age of the audience - if you don't count the front three rows of young gay men.

The show was great. There were a couple of song off the top that I didn't know. But the rest of the songs were loved classics, Rocketman, Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

It was just him at the grand piano, a keyboard players, drummer, percussion, bass and guitar players. The stage values were small (if you count at least 50 intelligent lights small), but it is Elton John. Somehow I expect more extravagance.

He wore a jacket with tails and blue embroidery on the arms that went onto a huge, abstract face of a woman with beautiful hair (which is what the rest design over the arms was). With that an electric blue dress shirt with matching cravat. When I searched Elton John I was hoping to find an image of him in the outfit he wore. This one is very close - if not the same. Including the blue tinted sunglasses.

I was able to find many images of him in similar but different coats and looks.There was no opening act, just two and a half hours of Elton singing. There was hardly any talking besides short introductions between a handful of songs.

When he left the stage before the first and only encore Stef and I expected a wardrobe change. He did not deliver. Oh well, the music was stupendous. (though I was not impressed with the sound mix - Elton was muffled and his voice was often competing with his piano playing). It was a great show - thanks for the ticket mom.

Preserves

Previously I had mentioned my garden and my garden update. About a month ago already (my how time flies when you work at a crappy job) we returned from Regina to find that the heat had cooked our peas and that our carrots were ready for eating.

So we picked a couple carrots from each row which were different seeds, and all of the peas. I made a pea salad but the peas were woody and past their prime. I think that because the weather was so crappy for the first month they were in the ground it pushed back their prime time. But the carrots were delicious.

On the weekend of the 1st of September I spent the rainy Saturday in the kitchen making Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam. The strawberries were a purchase but the rhubarb I had harvested in June, chopped and froze.

On the Sunday, Stef and I made a dozen jars of pickles, a few more than a dozen jars of pickled carrots and two ziplock bags of fresh parsley (pulsed into usable pieces by the food processor) for the freezer. It turned the kitchen upside down, stopped being fun after awhile - but was successful.

One large jars of carrots didn't seal so the next day I had to re-process them. All of the cucumbers seemed to have worked. The jam has not set to the consistency I would like - but that is fixable. All in all - a good thing.

Life at Home

I have now been in Regina for over two weeks, living with my parents and working at the Globe Theatre. Moving back in with your parents, in the room that you grew up in, driving your teenage car, is a bit surreal. It is like I have travelled back in time. It is all very normal. I am not sure what I expected coming back to Regina.

The show is going well. For the most part I am having a good time. We switch over to evenings on Tuesday, and move into the theatre on Thursday. It is all moving very quickly.

Ahh...Dry Weather / Dry Skin

I have eczema. Yet another great trait I picked up from my dad (along with bad eyes, and bad teeth). Every winter my skin gets red and itchy on my upper arms, upper leg and cheeks when it gets really bad. When I was young I went to the dermatologist to solve the problem. He/she (I can't remember) told me about

Buff Puff SinglesThey seemed to do the trick through most of high school. It wasn't until Gr. 12 when they stopped selling it in Canada that things started to get worse.

Now every winter I look forward to an itch that can only be satisfied but rolling around on the carpet - much like Baloo the bear from Jungle Book on a tree.
I saw an ad on TV not to long ago for Spectro Eczema relief. So I bought it today. We shall see how it goes.

Rehearsal, zits and bad eyes

Rehearsal keeps ticking on.

Clearly I am a little stressed as I have started breaking out. I am 25. Shouldn't you stop getting zits when you aren't a teenager any more. I have heard no.

Oh, and I think my eyes have changed again. I realize that I got my glasses a whole year ago Sept 13 . But again - 25 years old. My eyes should stop changing every year.

Just when I thought I was a grown up.

My new lap top

I received my new lap top from Dell. I ordered it for work. If I can take a computer with me into rehearsals that aren't in a conventional place, such as the last show (in the basement of a community center) or this one (in the "theatre" space of the basement of a church). I can take my computer in and save myself a couple extra hours of work every night.

This lap top is one of the new ones you have all seen commercials about - you can choose its colour. I chose espresso. It is great. I love that it has a full size keyboard and a full number pad too. If I am doing paperwork on this thing I need to be able to type.

In other news: Stef and I chopped up another bag of apples tonight. We got another 2 freezer bags full of chopped, cored and skinned apples and 5- 1 litre jars of apples sauce, 3 apples with cinnamon and 2 apples and strawberry. Should be yummy.

Headshots

I received the disc containing the two photos that I chose for my Headshots. One of these will be put in the program and displayed in the lobby of each show I work on. I haven't decided which one to use, or if I switch between them. Theatre Calgary tends to hold onto your headshot and just hold onto it and reuse it for each show.

Which should I use for Theatre Calgary and which should I use for my current show at Lunchbox Theatre?

Day Nine of Nine

Today is my last day off before I just back into the crazy, and all consuming live of theatre. I am excited and nervous to start up with Lunchbox and don't feel like I have prepared enough. Oh well. That is what they are paying me for next week. That and I have had to much fun slacking off this week.

Derek and Rory were in town this weekend. We went out for breakfast yesterday after an interesting game of run around as they tried to secure tickets to the Riders / Stamps game. We drove them to the game and they seemed to enjoy themselves. The game didn't go well - but they did discover why people from Sask can drink. They need to in order to make it thru a game.

We went out for dinner and then the three of us drove Logan to work. I have never been in a cop car so he grabbed some keys and let us hop in. He wasn't on duty yet so we couldn't take it out for a drive or log onto their in car computer system - but it was still cool.

Then we headed out to Wildwood for a drink where the three of us ordered the sample tray of all of the beers that they brew. It was fun to compare and sip and discuss the flavours. Stef, Jason, Tyler and Raveigh joined us for a bit. Back to our place for a quick game of Wii and then had to put the pooped travellers to bed.

Today I want to finish up all the things that I really didn't get around to like I had planned. Let us review the checklist

- Prepare for starting prep week at Lunchbox Theatre
- Sew slip cover for the Haughey's pink and purple couch
- Complete Sarah and Tyler's Wedding Video

Okay, I did prepare a bit. Reread the opening of a guide to create my checklists for starting at a new theatre. Had the script emailed to me. Contacted equity (the theatre professionals association) to learn how much money I had to give them in order to work but for them to do nothing for me. But I didn't organize my shit - my literal stationary, binders etc to see what I need to replace. It is like starting school again.

I did complete the slip cover for the couch. And it looks really good I might add. It did take me three 8 hour sessions (including fabric shopping). But it is complete. One check mark for me!

I am not even close to finishing Sarah's wedding video. I have completed their Getting Ready segment. It will certainly be the hardest part because I captured almost two hours of video between the salon and her house. I got it down to 22 minutes. That is pretty damn good if I do say so myself.

I guess I did enough. Entertained, created and enjoyed. Couldn't ask for much more.

Health Claims

In July you may remember me getting the Gardasil Vaccine. And if you will remember it was sparked because we received a newsletter from Blue Cross saying that it would now be covered. So when they gynecologist and my doctor suggested it I did it. I sent in my claim and have been waiting for a huge cheque in the mail. Instead I received a letter saying that it wasn't covered. I just got off the phone with Blue Cross looking for an explanation. You are not going to guess what the reason is. It was administered in a doctor's office. Yup. She snotty lady on the phone said the drug is covered but not if you get it done at the doctor.
"So I am supposed to give myself the shot?"
"Uh, no. You could go to a clinic"
"So I am supposed to go to a walk in clinic or family planning clinic but my own doctor can't do it."
"That is right."

That is possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard - just behind "yeah, we are Best Buy but we don't accept the Best Buy Credit Card."

Without the snotty ladies help I have figured out a way around this. Purchase at Shoppers and then take it to the doctor. It costs way more at Shoppers but I can claim it. The shot is a series of three. So the one that is already done can be claimed under misc expenses and it will mostly be covered. The next will be covered under my drug plan if they don't know the doctor did it. And the last will be in the new year so I should be able to claim it again - or if not - thru the renewed misc expenses which renews in Jan.

Now the problem with my glasses:

On Monday I decided enough was enough, I was going to tell Lens Crafters whats what. I got these glasses in Sept of last year. I have always felt that I was not seeing as well as I should for a new prescription. I have gone back 3 times and each time they have said they are the right prescription we can adjust frame if you would like. The one time they adjusted it so high on my nose (so that my vision was clear) that I looked ridiculous that I had them adjust them back and left pissed off. This time I was gonna have none of that. I realized after wearing my contacts the other day that the glasses were way off. I can see better with contacts that are 2 prescriptions behind my glasses.

We marched into Lens Crafters and told the first lady. She seemed not to speak English so she got someone else. That lady took my glasses and had a pow wow with several other ladies in lab coats. I was expecting "I am sorry, you have had them for a year, clearly your eyes have changed and it is your fault, not ours." When she returned she didn't do that at all. "The focal point of your glasses is in the middle of the frame but your eyes are lower than that. If you give me an hour I can replace the lenses. The only thing is I don't have the Featherweights in so I will have to upgrade you to Index lens." (which by the way is the lens I had wanted/ requested in the first place because they are way thinner than the coke bottle look I get without).

They fixed them and they are good now. We think that they pulled up my profile and saw who took the order in the first place. She was training and I remember feeling like I knew more about glasses than she did. This is the only good thing I have to say about Lens Crafters. If you are in need of glasses *Don't go to Lens Crafters!*

Day Two

Today is the second day of nine days off before I go back to my actual job, my career, what I have worked toward for so long, the reason I have to go thru summers of crap.

So far, yesterday, I uploaded Sarah's wedding onto the computer and solved major problem that has been haunting the stupid thing for weeks. My editing program auto saved three files that were each 10Gb to the hard drive. Deleting those saved almost half of the memory space. We also went out to Original Joes for drinks.

Today I did the laundry and hung out with Logan during the day. We did a little searching on the web for homes for sale. We looked at stuff downtown and places out by his district office (very far away from downtown. The express bus takes 30 min). For the same absurd amount of money we can buy a two bedroom house with garage or apartment style condo of 800 sq ft. Depressing. I think we will stay put for a little longer.

I have begun editing Sarah's Wedding and hope to complete it by the end of my 9 days.

Checklist for my time off:
- Prepare for starting prep week at Lunchbox Theatre
- Sew slip cover for the Haughey's pink and purple couch
- Complete Sarah and Tyler's Wedding Video

We will see how she goes.

Nights at home

When Logan works nights I get to come home to an empty apartment. I am not really a fan. He has the car and I have an evening alone. I am catching up on my tv, and on blog ready. I have also done some misc searches on the net. But I am bored. I guess it is just me and my editing. But I am mad at it right now cause I can't get it to burn onto disc. It is not much use on my computer.

Gardasil

Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus Recombinant Vaccine

The HPV Vaccine.

I was at the doctor today regarding my test results. I was a little stressed out about this. He could tell me anything. But in the end he told me nothing new. The results were exactly the same as they were before I went to the specialist and had a painful exam.

But both the gynecologist and the doctor talked about the HPV shot.
Mom's, here is the site for the specific vaccine Gardasil

To catch you up

It may seem odd that I didn't write for a long time and then suddenly put forth a lengthy entry on my thoughts about a subject most people like to avoid. To fill the gap...

We were in Regina for the Long Weekend. Logan's sister Lindsay was married to Dan. And we had a lovely time. As always, the stay was far to short. We left Calgary at noon on Friday (the earliest they would let Logan out of class) and arrived late for rehearsal but just in time for supper. The weather on Sat started out horridly, but shaped up in time for the ceremony and started raining just after pictures. Sunday we went to the gift opening, had tea with my grandparents, had the Kotlar's over for dinner - and I flew home.

I flew home because on Monday I started a short contract with Theatre Calgary. A festival called Fuse - a new play initiative. It was to look at different plays and if a theatre like Theatre Calgary should consider presenting them or plays like them.

Monday we rehearsed Much Ado About Nothing
Tuesday we presented it.
Wednesday we rehearsed Omnium Gatherum
Thursday we presented it.

Today, Friday we rehearse Passage to India.
And tomorrow we present it.
12 hours of rehearsal and then a presentation, script in hand, to a small, but interested group of theatre people and their spouses (who are usually also theatre people).

But it has be extremely interesting, but a bit tiring. Three first days and three performances in six days. Though I wouldn't change a thing. I am meeting people that may hire me in the future, and a ton of interesting actors from Calgary I have not yet met - and others whom I have.

What's in a name?

For a long time now I have been talking and thinking about trying my hand at wedding videography. After the mess our guy made of our wedding I thought that anyone can do better, especially me. I really enjoy video editing. I have been doing so for years. Way before computer editing softwear I would have two VCRs hooked up together with the video camera and create videos for different events. I have finally put a deadline before myself. I want to have myself ready for the next batch of Bridal Shows in January.

Step 1 is a name. I need a catchy, great name. I like simple. I don't like anything like The Wedding Shooter. Examples of names I like, Red Leaf Studios, our wedding photographer. It is simple and clean and leads itself to a logo. I like Day One, a videography company in the city. It links to weddings and it being the first day of the rest of your life etc.

Before you read my ideas think. Don't read ahead. I don't want to influence your thoughts.

The first thing that came to my mind was Slogan. A name that they ole Do It With Class kids used to call us - Stacey & Logan. But that name doesn't go anywhere. Logan came up with Glass Imagery. It is winning so far. I like it. Ties to my old name and a nice sound.

Tell me what you think. All ideas are great ideas!