Roses and Thorns July 17 - 30

Okay, I think I've stored up enough roses n' thorns over the past two weeks that it's worth writing a post. Here we go...

Rose

Libby's clean bill of health and her pretty new peeper! I could say more, but her sweet face says it all. :)

Thorn

We had a couple really late nights, cramming to get the script revisions made. While the tweaks themselves were relatively minor, there was still the matter of refining new dialog and cutting down the phat.

Our latest night, Sunday, was then followed by our earliest morning. We were up at the crack 'o dawn (well, maybe not that early, but still...) considering our producer's final suggestions before they passed the script off to Telefilm. Fortunately, their final thoughts were maybe only half a dozen optional "remove a line here, add a reaction there" sort of things.

Of course this temporarily sleep deprived thorn does not come without a rose...

Rose

We met our deadline with a script that we're all very happy with. Although I should mention that the writing won't end here. We've been forewarned that there will be additional drafts as each new partner comes on board. We anticipate that our distributer will have further comments, as will Telefilm when they sign on, and DG as we get closer to production. It's just the way it goes.

But as I've said before, I really don't mind writing at all. It's fun and I enjoy it. The hours whip by when I'm in a zone. It's just the turnaround that always kills. After all, it's never the writing but the turnaround that keeps us in our pj's, eating bowls of soup, working into the night.

(Which reminds me of a side rose: No soup was consumed during the writing of this latest draft! At last we've broken free from that soupy rut! Hooray!)

Thorn

We bought the newest Stone Temple Pilots album, and I dunno... while it's not bad, it's pretty generic. It's kinda like 60 minutes of forgettable radio music. We've listened to it three times now, and I don't think it's growing on either of us. There's one song that stands out with a strong start, but then Weiland begins singing in this Bob Dylan-esque voice, and it just doesn't do it for me... at all. The first time I heard it, I skipped ahead to the next track. I love Bob Dylan, but not when I want to listen to STP.

Rose

"The Only Prescription" mix on Playlist.com. Because sometimes you've got the fever, and for that fever there's only one prescription -- more cowbell!! The list includes a bunch of fun cowbell classics, including everything from Kings of Leon to Tone Loc to Blue Oyster Cult (of course.)

BTW, If you haven't seen the SNL "More Cowbell" skit with Will Ferrel and Christopher Walken that inspired this mix, then you should... 

Thorn

Tis fire season once again, which means smokey skies. Meh. While it's definitely hazy out today, it's not too bad, so I'm still sitting outside as I write this. I hope we get that rain they were calling for... we sure could use it. 

Rose

Sushi picnics at the beach! We spent two afternoons in a row at Bertram beach, eating sushi in the shade and then lounging on our tubes in the warm water. Beautiful! I was also a smart little girl on the second day, and put our MP3 players in baggies so we could take them out on our tubes with us. So nice. It's days like that when you can't help but think, wow... life is good!  :)

Thorn

I had a very irritating situation with some contract work I was recently assigned. I blogged about it, but then I removed the post because I wanted to give that person the benefit of the doubt in case they ever decided to get back to my half dozen emails. They finally did respond, but didn't answer any of my questions! Grrr... Now it's two weeks later and the issue still isn't resolved! 

Sheesh... I have to say I'm pretty shocked at how terribly disorganized some people are... although I know I shouldn't be. It's par for the course. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. :P

Rose

I was pleasantly surprised get a letter back from Marc Emery. The only other celebrity I've ever written to was Kirk Cameron when I was nine years old. He was my first celebrity crush. I thought he was so dreamy and was convinced that I'd marry him someday. Ha! I even included a pack of ten cent bubble gum with my letter. Unfortunately, he never wrote me back.  Le sigh. Then again, Kirk Cameron wasn't in a federal prison, so he probably didn't have as much time on his hands to return his fan mail as Mr. Emery does. 

Okay, I could probably add more roses n' thorns, but this laptop is starting to get really warm, and I want to get on with my day ova here. I have a few more finishing touches to take care of on my helmet (which is lookin' pretty cool, if I do say so myself...) and then I will be starting my next painting for Suzie Q! I've been focusing on acrylics for the past year, so I'm looking forward to diving into the slippery, blendy texture of oil paints again for this piece. Fun, fun, fun!

So I guess that's it for another week... or two.

Afternoon Randoms

No real post in mind. I just had a few minutes n' thought I might throw a small handful of randoms at you.

Number One:

Jim is always plucking away at his guitars. It's how he unwinds. He modestly dismisses his skill, but in my opinion, I think he's pretty good. He picks up new songs quickly and his fingers can do some tricky dancing when they want to. One of my favourite things to hear him play is the intro to Nothing Else Matters. I think it's so pretty.




Number Two:

I think this video explodes with cuteness.



Number Three:

I heart Counting Heartbeats.

I had my painting in an art show at the briefly-lived White House Night Gallery. (It was a small run-down ol' house located in the field across from the mall.) The entertainment on opening night was this little garage band from Victoria. They rocked it. Jim n' I loved every song. (Actually, their song Le Danse ended up being our wedding danse... or reception dance, I guess. Our actual wedding didn't have any dancing. But we did have paparazzi!)

Anyhow, like I was saying, we thought they sounded way too good to be playing in a run-down art house, so we bought their album with hopes that they'll be huge someday. I think they deserve to be.

And that is all I have time for today. :)

The Last Few Days I've Been Cravin' Me Some...

Letter from Marc Emery

Shortly before my trip to Ontariariario, I wrote a lengthy letter to Mr. Marc Emery.

At the time, he was in solitary confinement for 21 days after breaking an unwritten rule about prison phone use. During one of his brief phone calls to his wife Jodie, she recorded a message from him to his supporters that would be released via podcast. Well, apparently people are not allowed to record phone calls made from prisoners... and yet, phone calls can be recorded by the media. Isn't a podcast classified as media? Or at least social media?

Not to mention, solitary confinment for 21 days seems a little excessive as a punishment! Phone privileges, fine. (Which were also suspended for 51 days.) But seriously... solitary should be reserved for murderers, rapists and child molesters. Not an extradited Canadian seed seller whose wife simply recorded a short message (which was never even released to the public).

Okay.... I'm getting on a bit of a pissed off rant here, so I'll finally get to the point of this post...

While Marc was in solitary, the only thing he could fill his days with at that time was reading mail. There was a big push for people to take the time to write a letter. So I did. I wrote a really long letter that took him on a walk through my neighbourhood. I figured that since he was stuck in that dark cell, subjected to no outside contact except the non-stop screams and yelling from the other inmates locked in their own solitary quarters, maybe I could try to take him away from that terrible place for just a little while. So starting with our apartment, I took him down the stairs, out the door and down along Brandt's Creek Linear Park. (Or what I call, "the duck path".)

I took the time to describe every detail, stories, and passing thoughts as if he were there with me. I figure that if you're going to take someone on a tour without pictures, you better add a little colour.

Anyhow, today I was pleased as punch to see that Marc had taken the time to write me a three page response. It sounds like he enjoyed my letter. :)

Here is what he wrote:

10:00 P.M. Saturday, July 17, 2010

Dear Melodie,

I admired you advocacy of my release in the first part of your letter and would encourage you to keep at it. I'll be submitting my Canadian transfer application immediately after I get sentenced on September 10, 2010. So at that point the Canadian government will officially have my transfer on the desk of the Minister of Public Safety. Once parliament resumes from its summer recess in September, my application will show up on Vic Toews and that's when you should write letters, emails and phone calls urging that he accept my transfer application. Indeed!

(*Melodie side note: More info on how to contact Vic Toews here.)

As to your delightful travelling idyll through your neighbourhood, that was wonderful. I bet "it's stinkin' hot on that 4th floor" now as you read this!

Strange how your ravaged garden was juxtaposed with the Free Marc protest. (* I was telling him about how the news story on our trashed garden came right before a segment on the Free Marc rally downtown... which I was totally unaware of.) Once my transfer application is officially in and parliament resumes, I would greatly appreciate a "Bring Emery Home" rally outside of the federal building in Kelowna!  Hopefully all the vegetables will be harvested from the community garden without further vandalism. I would walk 5 miles to have some asparagus or broccoli now - we never get fresh vegetables here.

You are fortunate to have so many bird species to observe in your lovely meadows walk along the river.  I'm not sure I've seen a purple martin. (*Actually, me either. I recently learned that what I've been calling a purple martin all this time is actually a brewer's blackbird. Ha. ;) Swallows consume huge amounts of insects to power their relentless swift flights. The swooping and diving and wild movements are all about consuming insects. They have incredible vision for insects.

When I get out, Jodie and I will come to Kelowna and we can walk that wonderful nature walk with you. (*Oh no! I think I build Brandt's Creek Path up into something far more impressive than it actually is! Of course, I've seen it almost ever day for the last 5 years. Maybe I've just come to take it's beauty for granted...) It would make a great narrative if you decided to videotape that walk; sort of like Kelowna's own David Attenborough (or Melanie Attenborough of sorts).

I really enjoyed the virtual reality tour of your neighbourhood. I haven't seen a bird, a bee, a Starbucks, a tasty treat, chocolate pastry, a Subway, a Blendz, a baby duck, a German bakery, geese, a waterfall, a cedar waxwing, a calico coy, a robin, a chocolate covered banana, a London Fog... this year...

(*In the margin beside this paragraph, he drew an arrow and wrote: Loved the trip even on paper! Next time for real!)

Believe me, being out of solitary after 21 grueling days is a relief. I stay very busy! I have subscriptions to 3 daily papers, 9 magazine subscriptions, I have some excellent books to read (Currently reading Hitch-22, a memoir by Christopher Hitchesn, Mr. Natural Comic by Robert Crumb, The Armageddon Factor about the Christian fundamentalist takeover of the Canadian gov't.) I do 3 hours of email on Corrlines the prison email system. So from the time I get up at 5:45 a.m. to when I close my books at 2:00 a.m. I sleep from 2:00 a.m. - 5:45 a.m. On weekdays a bit more from 6:45 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.  ~ We are locked down at those times.

I get my phone privileges back next Saturday after 51 days of no phone use (21 days in solitary and 30 days suspended use once released.) Jodie and I's 4th wedding anniversary is next weekend, on the day my phone use is restored.

Jodie visits me twice on weekends; it's 11:00 p.m. now Saturday night and I see her at 8:00 a.m. in the morning in just 9 hours! I'm always so excited. We get to kiss for 30 seconds at the beginning and the end, and for the 2 hours we can hold hands and stare into each other's eyes and we talk, talk, talk!

That's one of the good things about this place, it's not too difficult for Jodie to get here to visit me; and the visits are so nourishing to me. Time goes quickly for me here when I am bathed in her love, whether in her visits, her emails, our 10 minute daily phone calls (I get 300 minutes a month maximum once my phone privileges are restored ~ 10 minutes a day.) ~ She keeps me motivated. And I do keep busy. I write 6 - 8 letters a day also!

The food here isn't good by any standard of the outside world, but I eat everything I get. I'm working hard and I get hungry.

Thank you for caring Mel. Write me again, won't you!?

Peace and Justice in our time,
Marc Emery

P.S. Hope that oil well stays capped!

Supernatural Thriller?

We recently learned that our distributers classify DE as a "supernatural thriller".  Who knew? We thought it'd be marketed more as a mystery drama.

Anyhoo, I just thought that was interesting and felt like sharing....

We have a bunch of tweaks to get done before Sunday evening, and the sooner we get 'em done, the sooner we can spend an afternoon at the beach. I hate to be missing out on this gorgeous weather. Sitting outside staring at a laptop isn't quite the same.

So on that note, I'd best be off.

Roses That Never Blossomed

After such a long lapse of not doing R&T posts, it almost feels too soon to try n' write one. But I've got over an hour on my hands before our meeting, and since all I really feel like doing right now is sitting outside on the swing, I might as well be productive while I'm swinging. Especially since I'm sure things will get hairy again right after said meeting.

Our week of tweaks was good. I'm actually really, really happy with what we've come up with. The only thorn in my side is that the script is now about 114 pages long, and I really want to have it between 105 - 110.  But our time was too tight to afford another pass.

The latest version needs to go back to our distributers (who may have further notes...) and out to Telefilm on Monday morning, so we aimed to have the latest draft in to les producers by Wednesday night. That way they could have some time to review it, provide us with any notes, and then let us polish until Sunday night.

So yeah, this last week has been been busy, busy, busy, busy. I am pretty confident in what we produced, even though it felt extremely rushed. :P

Now we've just been trying to take advantage of this patch of free time before we get back to work. Unfortunately, I wish "taking advantage" meant lounging at the beach. Instead, yesterday was spent more in catch up mode.  Jim did errands dropping stuff off at some places and picking things up at others. And I spent the day dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, washing, spritzing, scrubbing. Good times!

While I dusted, swept, vacuumed, washed, spritzed, and scrubbed, I was able to start making a mental note of all the things that can soon be purged. I'm quite excited about the stuff I'll be getting rid of! Is that a weird thing to say? Because I really am. It's fun to think that someone may actually like some of the possessions I'm totally bored with or that I never use. Why hoard them in cupboards, closets and drawers, when someone else out there can breath new life into them? (Ha. And now my mind is suddenly struck with cartoon images from Beauty and The Beast and the dancing kitchenware.) Anyhow, I have some pretty decent stuff to get rid of... But don't get me wrong - I've got a whole lotta crap too....

I think I'll tackle the whole purging thing once the writing is over and done with. In the meantime, I've been just enjoying the rest of my day n' a half off. I met with with Michelle and Laura for dinner next door at Brandt's... whose food had become considerably pricer since they removed the pool table and added that new back room (that's almost always blocked off, and would get more use if they stuck a dark board in there or something.)  But I digress...

The ladies came over for a bit on the balcony after dinner. When they left, Jim n' I finally took advantage of our free movie passes (that we're constantly forgetting to use...) and checked out Inception. Wow! What a super cool, imaginative film.

Apparently Christopher Nolan (of the new Batman movies, The Prestige and Memento) pitched the idea, thinking that it would only take him a few months to write. It ended up taking him eight years!! But after seeing the movie, I'd have to say it was time well spent!

The story plays with unique ideas that may sound complex - dreams within dreams within dreams - but the rules of reality are made easy to follow. It also has a very neat subplot about the protagonist and his wife.  One of my favourite parts is how the very last shot of the movie just hooks you to perfection. Loved it! I expect Nolan to win best original screenplay, or at least be a serious contender.

Speaking of screenplays, our meeting is comin' up, so I'd better prepare. Wish us luck. ;)

And maybe I'll get around to that roses n' thorns post a little later... or perhaps next week instead.

Ten Days In The Valley - Part Trois

Okay, so I actually took this picture for Jim. I guess in BC, milk isn't usually sold in bags? I hadn't noticed until Jim once gave me a crazy look when I mentioned  "a bag of milk".  He had never seen one before.

Anyhow, the next few days of my trip were spent at my sister Amy's place. Here's my super cute nephew David.

And super sweet niece, Josie.

They're quite a couple of little monkeys.

My sister also has 9 chinchillas, three cats and six dogs....

Kilimanjaro and Nia, the two basengis.

Francis the papillion and Kodiak (Kody) the chocolate lab. (Excuse the fuzziness/blurriness of the following two photos... I accidentally had my camera on some weird setting.)

Santika the mixed doberman n' some other big dog breed (who, just for kicks, is trained to respond to Portuguese commands), and Scarlet the other papillion. (Beyond horrible picture, I know!)

While they're all nice dogs, I think my favourites of the bunch are Francis and Nia. Don't know why... I just like 'em a little bit more than the rest.

Okay, I think that's all I have time for right now.

To be continued... (because I'm sure you're all dying to see more hometown holiday pics. ;)

100 Things Challenge

A FB friend of mine is doing the 100 Things Challenge - as described on the Zen Habits website. In a nutshell, the challenge encourages you to reduce the clutter in your life down to just 100 things. (Excluding things shared with other family members, as well as books, tools, collections, and non-personal items like dishes, cleaning supplies etc.)

While I try to make a conscious effort to declutter my life a couple times a year, the concept of this challenge has really compelled me to try harder. Of course I can only speak for myself here, but if I'm honest about it, I have so much unnecessary crap in my life, it really couldn't hurt to make some hard cuts.

Now, I don't know if I could minimize myself down to just 100 things, but I definitely feel that I could rid myself of 100 items.  I have a ton of clothes n' shoes I never wear. My linen closet is exploding with waaaay too many towels.  I have a stack of board games that we never play. My library could probably use some purging (even though the challenge doesn't include books, I may rid myself of a few anyhow since my bookshelves overfloweth.) A couple years ago I inherited a huge box of beads and yet I never do any beading. I've got an insane amount of Christmas decorations, even though I've already gotten rid of a bunch this year.

Hmm... yeah... I think getting rid of 100 items or maybe even 150 or 200 is a very doable goal.

Actually, y'know what... I think my perspective might be skewed on just how much 100 items really is. It just occurred to me that when I moved out here, I only packed whatever I could fit in our lil' Topaz, and that was definitely less than 100 items combined! (CD collection excluded, naturally.) It was an incredibly liberating feeling to just leave all that other crap behind. Even my beloved Doc Martens, my super groovy lava lamp and my all-important spice rack... there just wasn't enough room.

Okay! That's it! If I could do it then, then I can do it now! Once this workload lightens up, I'm gonna try n' see how close I can get down to 100 personal items. I'll be sure to letcha know when the yard sale is. ;)

All right... break time is over... now back to work!

Climbing that Mountain

There's an easy way up the mountain and then there's the hard way. I'm not trying to be metaphorical here... I'm actually talking about the mountain down the street. The easy path is a little longer, but it gets you to where you need to go without killin' yourself. Meanwhile, the hard way pretty much goes straight up. It's steep. Totally doable... but quite steep.

My first time up the mountain, I took the steep way. While scaling the side, I didn't quite understand how the path could be so vertical, as I had seen both seniors and people's pets wandering around up there through my binoculars. I mean, how the hell did they ever do it?!

The higher we hiked, the more worried I became about how the heck we were ever going to get back down again. I was anticipating that we'd have to somehow slide down on our butts, because it was far too daunting to walk without the risk of twisting your ankle or something.

Fortunately, we didn't have to cross that bridge. Once at the top, I discovered a well-worn path that took us for a relaxing walk down the other side through the forest. I can't tell you my relief!

Anyhow, the reason I share this story with you now is because for the last half hour or more, I've been sitting out here on my swing, watching a hiker try to climb the face of that mountain. I've seen him attempt different routes and backtrack because the climb obviously got a lil' too crazy. He's taken about four long breaks as he slowly makes his way to the top. And I can't help but imagine how happy he's gonna be when he's greeted by that lovely path back down. (If he doesn't know it's there already...)

Okay, maybe I should get back to climbing my own mountain (of writing) for just a bit longer before bath n' movie time. We haven't exactly had the most productive day, as we worked for maybe only four hours total. Yes, I know it's Saturday, but since our deadline is a.s.a.p., we really need to keep our noses to the grindstone right now. Although I do think that we're making decent time overall, so that's good.

Roses and Thorns June 19 - July 16

Holy crap... I hate when I have several weeks worth of roses n' thorns to catch up on.  I guess it's been a busy month. Okay, let's see what stands out.

Rose(s)
My trip to Ontario, obviously, which included a lot of great moments like...
* The surprise party at Heather's
* Reconnecting with family -- especially the looks on their faces when I showed up. :)
* Hanging out with friends, both old and new
* A generous belated birthday gift from my parents
* Canada Day in Gatineau with Amy n' Josie

As well as plenty of simple moments (many of which seem to revolve around food for some reason? Ha.) In no particular order...
* A shared shwarma platter with an old friend
* Drag Queen karaoke
* My first all-you-can-eat sushi experience
* David's super cute 'two step' dance. I wish I had it on video!
* Josie's reaction to spending a night in a hotel. Again, I wish I had it on video!
* Chip trucks that use dirty grease
* Cucumber sandwiches
* "Do you have peni?"
* Unexpected blasts from the past
* The cupcake incident
* Taking a walk around my old neighbourhood
* Brum's Dairy ice cream
* Watching The Sixth Sense with my dad (who hadn't seen it yet!)
* Getting ID'd at the LCBO... or at least what I'd call the honour system ID. "You girls are 19, right?" :P
* Penny's Fudge Factory
* A chilly basement bedroom in a hot house
* 80's night at Barrymore's
* Picking strawberries in a heat wave... Okay, so the heat wave was NOT fun... which brings me to...

Thorn(s)
Again, in no particular order...
* The humidity!
* (Not so) Good Vibrations ;)
* A mouthful of a bad cherry tomato. Blegh...
* Super screeches. Ha!
* Six dogs trying to show their love all at once. (One at a time was okay though. :)
* Lack of sleep
* Biting my tongue
* The car break-in
* Finding out that my flight was going to make an extra stop in Winnipeg, which I didn't know about when I booked it. Then again, take offs and landings are my favourite part of flying, so it wasn't all bad.

Um... that's probably all.

Rose
Coming home to my wonderful garcon! It's always nice to go away, but it's sooo nice to come back.

I know that I'm blessed to have such a great husband. Who else would bring flowers to the airport, take me out to dinner, and then have balloons, a Welcome Home banner, wine n' freezer grapes chilling, and the Welcome Back Kotter theme song playing when I got home? (And I was only gone for ten days.) Yup... he's pretty perfect alright! ;)

Thorn

When our air conditioner and three fans do absolutely nothing to cool down our apartment. Boy, it sure gets hot in here sometimes! You can especially feel it as you walk up the stairs. Our floor is like a sauna.

Rose
Signing an awesome actor to play Donovan!! (Sheesh... the fact that I'm including this certainly shows how long it's been since I wrote an R&T post.)

Thorn

The slight throbbing headache I had for a few days this week. (Which is unusual because I almost never get headaches!) I finally figured out that it was from painting that fire fighter helmet. For a few nights in a row, I had spent hours focusing with a furrowed brow as I painted the wings on top of the distracting swirly pink background. Even though this is the first time painting has hurt my head, I wonder if I should maybe get my eyes checked? Couldn't hurt... 'cept our bank account. In the meantime, I've taken a break for a couple days. I plan to hand the helmet in early next week.

Rose
Attaching a distributer to release our film, even if it means another round of script tweaks. We're all happy (excited even!) with the solutions we've come up with, and are hopeful that the distributer will be too.

Thorn
My poor lil' stunted garden. After speaking with other gardeners, I've realized that it's not just me with the black thumb. Anyone whose garden was flooded the first time the vandals hit in May has suffered long-term consequences with minimal growth and stunted plants.

Soo... last week I ripped most things out, added some new soil n' plant food and am trying again. So far, so good. The veggies I replanted are now suddenly flowering and producing fruit, which is pretty rewarding. I'm hopeful that my new seeds will sprout soon too and will be more successful than the last so-called crop. As for my balcony garden...

Rose
It's doing really well. I have like 12 cayenne peppers growing  -- one of which is really big n' red and can be picked any day. My basil, cilantro and chives are getting plenty of use. And I just love my pretty morning glories and nasturtiums. Overall, I'm quite happy with my little balcony garden this year. It normally doesn't do this well.

Okay, I promised that I wouldn't end these posts on a thorn anymore... so I guess that's it for now. I'm sure there's lots more I could include, but I've spent the last hour working more on this post than on the script... so I probably should get back to that!

Ten Days In The Valley - Part Deux

After a weekend in Ottawa, for my first night in Pemmytown, my cousin'd Jodie decided to cater to my craving for chip truck fries. I've been eating really healthy for a good month in preparation for this special artery clogging event. I knew for sure that I'd be indulging more than once on this little ten day excursion.

Colburn's chip truck has been a popular establishment in Pembroke for as long as I can remember. You can always expect a long line-up of people waiting to purchase their cardboard cartons of deep fried goodness. In fact, it has been so successful that they opened a second chip truck in Petawawa and more recently, upgraded their Pembroke truck to a little take-out joint where Wally's Pizza used to be.

As I may have mentioned before, the Ottawa Valley has more chip trucks/take out stands than you can shake a stick at. Since my last visit, I've heard that about 4 or 5 more have popped up in Pembroke alone. I wanted to take pictures of all of them, but there just wasn't enough time.

Actually, I was just doing the math, and did you know that if Kelowa were to have as many chip trucks per capita as the city of Pembroke, we would have about 42 of 'em parked all over this city? Instead, I think we have two. There's a chip stand down by City Park, and then there's the one in the Crappy Tire parking lot, but they use fresh cooking oil there. Meh. Don't they know that it's the really old oil that makes the fries nice n' dark n' tasty? If you're gonna be consuming a greasy box of free radicals anyway, you might as well get your taste buds worth! And while you're at it, why not throw in a side order of deep fried pickles? Mmm-Mmm! (Hey! Don't look at me that way! ;)

While at Colburn's I was surprised to see a real blast from the past - Pop Shoppe! Jim n' I have often reminisced about how when we were kids, Pop Shoppe was always a special treat. Of course, the rainbow of funky flavours would never last in the house more than a few days. I didn't think Pop Shoppe was still in business, so Jodie n' I grabbed a root beer and lime ricky. (Whatever lime 'ricky' means...?)

After our deep fried picnic, Jode n' I ended up taking a swing past the Wall of Shame. It's an area near City Hall where people like to sit and watch the world go by. However, the people who generally sit there often look down on their luck. Hence, "The Wall of Shame". The first time we drove by, my photos were all blurry. Being the thoughtful tour guide that she is, Jode took another swing past so I could grab a better shot of the people sitting there. (Still crappy quality tho.) I just wanted to show Jim that people actually do sit there....

Not just us. (As seen during the 2006 "Livin' The Dream Tour" we organized for Jim's first trip to Pembroke.)

The next day we paid our friend Amanda a visit, where I had my first cucumber sandwich since... umm... well, probably since I left home?! I forgot all about the simple goodness of cucumber sandwiches. Manda says that's because it's a valley thing. I don't know... is it? Did any of you non-valley people grow up enjoying the crisp pleasure of cucumber sandwiches? I'm craving one right now...

Full of smiles and silliness, (once he was past his "Heman" melt down), Nathan made sure to invite Jodie n' I to his birfday on Saturday. I asked him what he wanted, and he said a candle. That's easy! ;)

 I also had the pleasure of meeting Manda's very serious baby number two, Gabriel.

Although we did manage to eventually get a smile out of him... or maybe it was gas. I'm not sure.

Okay, I'm gonna take a break from picture posting for now.

To be continued (again)....

The Unreal Post

I wanted to write a 'real' post, but all my trip pictures are on the other computer. Plus, I really should finish painting this fire helmet before we get swept up in rewrites again.

We had a really productive meeting this morning. The four of us discussed the distributer's notes, and came up with a flurry of terrific solutions. Personally, I'm pretty excited about all our new ideas. Jim also admits to feeling better than he thought he would, even though he's not looking forward to the process of another rewrite. Of course, doing rewrites has never been his thing. He's just dying for his chance to finally direct.

So anyhow, I'm gonna go groove out to the featured "Dancing in the Street" mix on Playlist.com (who knew I loved Motown so much?) and paint my little heart out. I promise to do a better update later. (Not that you're all clicking refresh, dying to check out my hometown pics... but in case you are, I don't want to disappoint! ;)

In the meantime, watch this video to brighten your day. I swear I can't watch it without clapping my hands in laughter at a few points. The longer you listen, the more hysterical it gets. (Someone please get me whatever he's smoking!)

Enjoy!

Ten Days In The Valley - Part One

"Oh, quiet house!" I just exclaimed two seconds ago, as I cozied myself into the couch cushions to write this post.

I had so much fun over the last two weeks! But it's always wonderful to return to the familiar comforts of home after a busy bout of visiting. The trip felt long, but went fast... if that makes any sense.

Now, I was about to write all about the places I went and the people I saw, but it's so much easier to let the pictures do most of the talking. (BTW, thanks Jodie and Heather. I stole some of these pics from you!)

So let's begin...

The best trips always start off with a shared shwarma platter. Tip!: Be sure to order extra pickled turnips (those neon pink things) for your dinner companions. Chances are they'll think they're gnarly, which means all the more for you!

Heather's San Diego pals, Petra (that's Pet-ra, not Pee-tra) and Pierce made a detour through Ottawa on their 90 days across America adventure. Very cool people. Here's their first time sharing shwarma. They seemed to like it, except for those gnarly pickled turnips. Good thing Heather and I insisted they order extra! Ha.

Nothing is more heartwarming than when the surpriser becomes the surprisee. I'm still tickled by the surprise party held at Heather n' Jen's.

Saturday morning, Jodie and Catherine were first to arrive, which made sense. I knew Jode was coming and it was great to see Cath. But soon after, the door opened again. This time it was Steph. It was only 10:30 in the morning, so that was definitely a shock, since Steph lives in Toronto which is about a five hour drive away (if you're going the speed limit anyway...) I didn't expect to see her at all! From there, the dominoes quickly fell into place. Aissa was next to show up, and finally Lori, Julie and Quinn.  A few others were invited, but couldn't make it. Still, what a turn out! I was definitely surprised!

It was a full house, so we took it outside.

Two out of three Gilmers, ain't bad.

I didn't realize it at the time, but this picture totally cries, "Alastair and Suzie Schultz would like to announce the engagement of their daughter..." Ha ha.

Lori, Julie and baby number 1.5.

Quinn chasing bubbles. Quite possibly the cutest picture ever.

Shortly before we headed out to the Shanghai Restaurant for dinner, I was thrown off by yet another surprise when Wendy showed up. I haven't seen Wendy in for-ev-er! So that was pretty awesome, and very thoughtful of Heather to extend an invite her way.

Okay, so moving around the table clockwise we have Wendy, Heather, Aissa, Petra, Pierce, Catherine, Jodie, Steph and Lori. There will be a test.

After dinner, the Shanghai Restaurant hosts some karaoke fun featuring the fabulous China Doll. Here she is giving Wendy n' I a piece of her mind. "Hey you, bitches! I'm in the witness protection program!" So funny.

She must really be a wanted woman because she did a few costume changes over the course of the evening.

Who knew that we had such a serious table of karaoke singers? This picture wasn't even posed.

Willing to make an ass of myself, I bravely got up there a couple times. Since there's safety in numbers, Wendy n' I started off with Grease. Sing it with me... "Grease is the word, is the word that they heard. It's got groove, it's got meaning... Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion. Grease is the way we are feeling..."

The other song we had chosen was the Family Ties theme song. ("I bet we've been together for a million years... And I'll bet we'll be together for a million moooore....") But they never called us up for it, which is too bad. That's a pretty rare karaoke gem, so I really wanted to do it.

Next, a bunch of us got up to sing Margaritaville.

With two songs under my belt, I mustered up the courage to go solo on Mercedes Benz. If I wasn't feeling so awkward up there, I might've grabbed the tambourine. ;)

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go out on a high note. Almost immediately after, four or five of us went up at Heather's request and tried to sing Good Vibrations. Good lord! I'm sure we left the audience with nightmares for years to come. Even my enthusiastic pom-pom action didn't distract from how terrible we were. On our way up, some random had actually cheered, "Yeah Melodie!" After Bad Vibrations, no one even clapped! Seriously, it was that terrible. There are no pictures to earmark this event, because I think all those involved would rather not remember. Ha.

But as for the day itself, it was definitely one to remember!

To be continued...

Quick Update

Bonjourno!

Whew... So much to say, so little time. I have to run out to a nail appointment in about 10 minutes, but I have seriously been neglecting my mindclutter ever since I left for my little surprise visit to Ontariariario.

The visit was lovely and just long enough - but more on that later....

Instead I came to announce.... that I can't announce anything. :(

I had only been home for an hour or two, when we received word from our producers that we have an interested distributer... but they have script notes. While this is par for the course, it means doing another pass on the script. (Yeah, I know...)

But as many of you might already know, sometimes scripts are revised up until the very day of shooting that scene, so it's nothing unusual.  Even Lord of the Rings was being revised while they were on set. Needless to say, this news doesn't exactly have us jumping up and down.

We went through the natural roller coaster of emotions. Pissed off. Frustrated. Depressed. Anxious. Open minded. And now we're at the point of forcing ourselves to be enthusiastic that these notes will help us take our script to the next level. Some ideas we're totally pushing back on, while others we agree with. It's amazing how three months and some fresh eyes can give you new perspective. It's definitely a process.

SOOO... that being said, we cannot make an official announcement about who DG is for a while. Actually, we can't say anything until all key players are in place, and this house o' cards is built to stand... which might take another two months.

On the plus side, the distributers and sales people our producers have approached all agree that our script is amazing. They think it is very smart, incredibly well written, and has excellent potential. (Even so, there's still notes...)

Anyhow, my ten minutes are up so I better go. I just wanted to keep y'all up to date. I'll be back with a better blog post soon!