Roses and Thorns June 12 - 18

Alright, let's see what's in this week's mixed bag.

Rose
'Kay, maybe it's a little too obvious to start with the obvious, but I'm gonna anyway: We got a nibble from our actor.

You may remember me saying that this actor was actually our favourite of the bunch so far. The only reason we didn't consider him earlier was because our casting director hadn't put his name on any of her lists of people in our budget and age bracket.

If we do get him, it'll definitely demonstrate the mantra I've been saying throughout this entire process, "The right person will come along when the time is right." I used to say the same thing when we were looking for producers, and we definitely lucked out with the ones we got. While we certainly made many changes to the script, TC & AS didn't force us to compromise the actual integrity of our story the same way earlier producers were pushing.

Given this baby step in progress, you can imagine our excitement (and anxiousness!) right now. Of course, I should elaborate that it's only just a bite. We've been given no indication as to how the actor responded to the material, except that two weeks ago when the first offer was put in, we were told that his team was "very warm". On Friday (their deadline to decide), his team requested a "formal offer" which now gives them until Wednesday.

Jim n' I asked our producers what the difference is between an offer (which we already made) and a formal offer, and they said that a few things are changed and details are refined. This really didn't answer our question, but whatever... I guess it doesn't concern us. We're not producers. Sounds like it's a pretty standard part of the process.

So yeah... excited, anxious and hopeful. And again, if it somehow turns out that he's not the one, then well... I guess someone else must be. But gawd, it sure would be cool if he was! Jim n' I watched four of his movies over the last two weeks in anticipation. We both think he's great!

Fingers crossed!! Fingers crossed!!

Thorn
The waiting. It can be torture somedays. I'm pretty good at keeping my mind off of it, but now n' then I can't help thinking, "Man... when will we know!?"

Rose
Sunny days down at the beach and boardwalk. Last week I got down there a couple times. I went for a walk with Jim and once with Lara.

I love downtown in the summertime. The boardwalk buzzin' with people selling all their jewelry and crafty things. The sweet mouthwatering smell of Moolicks' fresh waffle cones wafts on the warm breeze.  The interesting looking transients make for great people watching. I actually saw two hippies walking a tiny baby goat! I kid you not! (Har, har...) I totally want a baby goat... or a potbelly pig.

And for the first time this year, I finally got to kick off my sandals and rub my feet in the hot sand. Ah... summer is here at last. Or at least for part of the week when it wasn't overcast.

Thorn
I've still been closely following the whole Marc Emery situation south of the border. It completely disgusts me! You know it's bad when even politicians from other parties have been speaking out to parliament on his behalf.

Sorry, but I can't censor myself (even though I've written and deleted the following sentence about four or five times):  This whole situation is just fucking bullshit.  I obviously have a lot more to say, but I'm gonna reign it in for now and leave my rant for another post.

However, on a related (somewhat) brighter note...

Rose
I emailed Marc's wife, Jodie Emery to express my support and propose an idea I had for a letter writing campaign using templates. Because, let's face it... while some people might care deeply, not everyone is comfortable with writing their MP. Meanwhile, others are too busy or just too damn lazy... Either way, I think emailing a letter template to all fans, friends and supporters would help. It puts the ball directly in their court and eliminates any b.s. excuses of why they haven't written yet.

I empathized that her team is probably feeling pretty overwhelmed trying to balance both business-as-usual as well as the whole Free Marc campaign. So I volunteered myself as a writer and offered to help out in any small way that I can.

Surprisingly enough, she wrote me back that very afternoon. It turns out that there are only three (!) of them who are trying to balance everything! There is a definite lack of resources, and she admits that with so many immediate-response-needed tasks throughout the day, important things that she wants to do, like a letter writing campaign and petitions, keep getting pushed aside. (Which I think is something that we can all relate to in one way or another... there are never enough hours.)

She admits that she's not organized to the extend that she wants/needs to be. Therefore, she has happily taken me up on my offer. I have already written up some letter templates for both CDN and US supporters. (Which are much better than the letter I sent myself. Oh well... :P) Now it's just a matter of her web guy finding the time to get the letters posted online.

Look at me! I've finally found a valuable purpose for all those transferable skills I learned at the big B... ;)

I have some bigger ideas too... but I'm gonna wait until this part is done first. One step atta time.

Thorn
Jim n' I have been pretty good at watching our money lately; however, last weekend kinda tore a hole in our pocket.

Jim met up with the guys next door for a drink, and ordered a half liter of red wine because he knew I'd join them a little later. Now, there are a bunch of new waitresses at Brandt's for the summer, and the one serving Jim didn't know what the house red was. Apparently Jim suggested that it might be a shiraz. (Although in my experience, house wines are usually not shiraz... I think he just said that because that's usually what we buy.) Anyhow, I guess she took his suggestion as an order for a half liter of shiraz instead. (Which will be relevant later in the story.)

I showed up late and the conversations were flowin' nicely. Jim n' I debated, and thought that since we've been so good at budgeting lately, maybe it'd be okay if we splurged on another half liter and stayed a while longer.  Little did we know what kind of splurge that would be!

When the bill came, it was over $50 for just the two half liters. The receipt read, "Shiraz '88". WTF? We were drinking 22 year old wine?! We were kinda choked. When he went up to pay, Jim told the waitress that this was not what he intended. He was only suggesting that the house wine might be a shiraz... he didn't mean to order a 22 year old wine. She apologized profusely and admitted that she should've said something. (Umm... yeah... probably.) She then told the manager who gave us a 10% discount. Of course, that didn't really matter, because Jim still ended up tipping her more than he should have.

Oh well... I didn't stay annoyed about it for very long, because what can you do? What's done is done.

Rose
I went to a really neat art exhibit at the Alternator Gallery with Laura on Friday night: "Jesus Coyote Traveling Art and Healing Show" by Chris Bose. The artist was a friend of a friend of hers. It was pretty funky stuff. The longer you looked at it, the more you saw, which I thought was very cool. From what I got looking at all the pieces, I believe the overall theme seemed to be about the Indian residential schools.

I had a few favourite pieces and would've loved to buy a memento of the event, but I found that the artist wasn't as... hmm... I don't know if "organized" is the right word? He just didn't have anything for sale, and I think he should have.

When Jeremy did his art show, you could actually buy his pieces or a book. He eventually had some postcards printed up too. I was expecting the same sort of thing, but there was nothing, which is too bad.

The exhibit is on until July 31st if you want to check it out. (The Alternator Gallery is located at the Rotery Center for the Arts.)

Thorn
My little garden totally sucks compared to everyone else's. It's kinda embarrassing. I guess I got a late start since my patch was "floating" for a good week after that first flooding, so I staggered my planting over the next couple weeks. So while everyone else has these absolutely gorgeous gardens, the only gorgeous thing about mine are the markers I painted. Ha. Poor little garden.

Although I do have to say that my balcony garden is doing fabulous. I've been enjoying lots of basil n' cilantro, and I even have a few little green tomatoes and cayenne peppers. Yay!

Rose
The countdown is on until my surprise. I'm very impressed that no one has spoiled it. Oooh! Can't wait!

Thorn
That dumb bitch that Gary Coleman divorced. I'm not like this huge GC fan or anything, yet whenever I see that insanely insensitive tabloid cover of the tragic death bed photo of Gary, with her leaning into frame like the stupid see-you-next-Tuesday that she is, it just pisses me off. (For those of you who haven't heard, she actually hired professional photographers to come in and take photos of him before and after his death so that she could sell them to tabloids. Gross, huh?)

Whenever I'm in line at a store, I've been turning that tabloid around backwards so people don't have to see it. I know tabloids are terrible (duh...), but that cover story is just so low, it's absolutely despicable. I hope she gets what she has coming.

Okay, I know I've said it before, but I seriously gotta switch the order of these roses n' thorns so I'm not always ending them on a sour note. Maybe five roses and four thorns is a better balance, huh? Maybe next week.