Turn Around

Am I allowed to swear? Can we air this if I curse? I wouldn't say it's a naughty word, but it is certainly a bad word that I have in mind that I want to use. George Carlin (RIP dude) had it defined under his "Seven Words" bit. Well, I'm going to go ahead. This my my blog (one of them, anyway), so I think I'm allowed a certain degree of freedom.

Holy fucking shite, I feel like someone pulled a rug out from under me, revealing a trap door in the floor, which opened up beneath me, causing me to slide down this weird water-slide-like tunnel (but minus the water), and now I've been dropped off in a place I don't recognize. And I have to face a series of challenges to be able to go on. Go on with what? With life? I don't know. Hell, I don't even know how many of these challenges will be good or not. I mean, sure, I can be hopeful, and I am. But I want to clarify something.

The whole "Holy fucking shite" thing? That wasn't out of shock, or anger, or anything like that.

Excitement.

School started on Monday, August 25th. If you really care to know what's going on, you can read my journals on different subjects here. You don't need to read all of them, really, but at the very least you can read the first post to get the idea of what it's all about. Get it? Got it? Good. Moving right along then.

Without going into an incredible amount of unnecessary detail, I'll tell you that school's going well. A million times better than last year went. And it's only been a week. It's been busy, aye, and crowded, and a lot to keep up with, but I am having a good time. Heck, it's even kicked my sleeping patterns into something decent! I'm planning on talking to the TWE folks about the superhero plays I wrote... as soon as I make a minor alteration to both of them that it necessary for continuity purposes. I really hope I can get them on though, considering how much time and hard work I've put into them.

Remember Mott? This is him. While he still needs ears, and eyes, and a haircut... he's finished. Some clothes wouldn't hurt either, I suppose. But for now, with his long hair and sunglasses, he is totally rocking a surfer-puppet look. I brought him to my first T.W.English class, for two reasons: (A) To get people to join my Project Group (I'm a PGL now), and (B) to show what kind of crazy stuff people can get away with in that class.


Work. Yeah, I'm still a Karaoke DJ, don't you worry about that. I'm doing it with my friend Zak now. He's the guy that lived with me for two months. Goes to my school. Swell guy, and a great friend. So he and I co-host Saturday Night Karaoke at the Phoenix now... when it works, that is. While we managed to fix the computer problem (and thus regain all the songs we've been missing for the last month or two), the monitors are still giving us hell from time to time. We did what we could, and now we just have to hope for the best and pray they work next time. Because if they don't, then I don't know what I'm going to do.

Anyway, I stayed last night (even though there was no karaoke) to chill with some friends. I was accused of some pretty ridiculous shit from someone I used to consider a good friend (I stopped considering them that last night, when they went all offensive and insulting for no reason). Had to deal with the stress of the karaoke stuff not working. I was tired after a week of school. But apart from the shitty stuff, it was alright. Had a couple drinks with some friends (who didn't insult me for no reason), got to hold hands for a couple seconds with someone really nice*, and shoot a couple games of pool. I miss pool. In the end, I went all the way downtown for breakfast at 3.30am. It was fun, and nice. My breakfast was a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a soda. Moe's, downtown, about a block from Alexis Nihon. Check it out. I highly recommend it.

*(It was just holding hands, and it was just for a couple seconds. Literally. That was it. If there's more to come, then you'll know about it. I guess, anyway.)

So this basically wraps this post up. Long weekend this weekend, thanks to Labor Day being tomorrow. I think I'll be going downtown to see a friend of mine who's visiting from Québec City. In the meantime, however, for the rest of Sunday, I shall wait for a phone call which I'm starting to think I'm not going to get... Oh well. Either way, I'll make the best of everything.

Hobey-ho, let's go!

Complete

So I haven't been completely honest with you. No, I haven't lied about anything. Everything I've written is true. I just haven't been writing about everything, if you understand what I am trying to tell you. But things have changed recently, and I think now is a good time to share with you what I kept from you, and then explain what it was that changed, and how things changed at all.

As you know, GC and I broke up, right? Aye. I wrote about that a while ago. It's been little over a month now. For most of that time, however, I couldn't get over her. Everything reminded me of her. And the things that didn't? I just found myself wishing I could share those things with her. I couldn't get over my feelings. While my heart was ready for the "moving on," my head wasn't. It kept bringing up thoughts and memories. I could see her smile whenever I closed my eyes. My heart skipped a beat if I saw someone that looked like her, because for a moment I would hope, dream, and imagine that it was her.

It was hard. Rough. Painful. Saddening. And impossible to get past. I knew I could, but I couldn't control what my head was doing. I found it extremely difficult to sleep. I didn't like eating, because it just made me feel sick. Songs that used to be my favorites suddenly held new meaning, and that meaning didn't help the situation that I was in. I still felt for GC. I still wanted to be with her.

To me, I think that if you found someone that you were willing to give up your dreams for, but they didn't ask you to give them up and actually supported them... you should hold onto that person. You won't find many. You're lucky to find one or two. To me, GC was that girl for me. I would have given up my dreams for her, but I lucked out, because not only did she like that I wrote and improvised, but she did it too. And then it was over. And I was sad.

Now? I'm better. I don't know how to explain it really, but I think I finally got my head to cooperate. School really helps as a distraction, seeing as how it wasn't something I ever really got to share with her, but even so, it makes no difference. I'm actually over her now. I still like her, yes, and I still want to be friends. But relationship-wise, I'm over her. And I owe it all to a webcomic that I read.

This is the comic. While my situation isn't anything like Hawk's (the main character), since he wasn't completely sure if the break up happened or not, I feel that it still applied. GC and I didn't end things in a blazing fire. We didn't fight or yell or argue during our break up. Sure, it sucked and it hurt, but it went a million times better than it could have ended up going. As Hawk's friend said; "Fuckin' fantastic. Grab your coat, we're going out."

Since I read this comic, on Monday, I've been feeling differently. And let me tell you; it feels good.

Last Day of Summer

It's nearly midnight. School starts tomorrow. Spent a good portion of the day working on Mott. He's nearing completion now. Had to spend a little money to get thread and some fabric-spray-adhesive, but it was well worth it. I'm hoping that this first puppet of mine will be finished sometime this week. When he's done, there will be pictures, fear not.

The evening, however, was spent with friends. Friends I knew from high school, and a couple that I met during my first year of CEGEP. They're all good friends. I don't get to hang out with them too often, but when I do, it's good times all around. We chilled, browsed the net, joked a lot, and watched The Birdcage. I haven't seen that movie since June 2006, which was right after my first prom. I think the interesting part was that we were all hanging out at the house where we hung out after that prom. So same place, same movie, a couple of the same people, and a few people that weren't there the first time around. And it's a good movie. Really funny. Robin Williams has a weird esque mustache though. Nathan Lane is a riot, as per usual, haha!

School starts tomorrow. Part of me is excited to start, but another part of me wishes that summer wasn't over. There're some things I wish I could do over. Some things I wish could have happened differently. I'll talk more about this later, because now isn't a good time for me to talk about it. Sorry.

Two

1. School starts tomorrow.
2. I'm lame. But this is a commonly known fact.

Thunder

Rejection. In most cases (like, percentage wise, the high 90s) it sucks. In all cases, it's either expected or unexpected. And in the cases of where it's expected, you still hope and pray that it isn't coming. But in very few cases (the unused percentage), it isn't necessarily sucky. It can be shocking, sad, unhappy, surprising, or even funny. Tonight's case of rejection was both surprising and funny. Here's the story.

So a few weeks ago, I met this girl named Isabelle. Izzy for short, as a nickname I guess. She's cool. A lifeguard, plays rugby, and works with a bunch of people I know. Uses the expression "true story." Anyway, we talked a lot (this was at Tuesday night karaoke that we met), and decided to exchange digits. In my mind, I'm thinking sweet, a new friend! I didn't know what was going through her mind.

At one time, she came over to my house. We BBQed a dinner-type thing, popped in a movie, but we talked most of the time. Payed very little attention to the movie because it was such a good conversation. And no, that's not blogger or slang or code for anything else. We just talked. Then I walked her to the bus stop, and that was it. We made half plans to hang out again.

Those plans grew into proper plans. We were going to go bowling. Just the two of us, but bowling because it's something fun and something you can do while talking and/or having a conversation. Still in my mind, I had the word friends. I didn't think anything would happen, nor did I want it to, nor did it ever even enter or cross my mind.

Anyways, those bowling plans were "rain checked" because Izzy didn't feel too well on the day of. I say rain checked because that was the word she used. Not canceled, just moved to another day. So that's what happened. Then somewhere between that day and the day it was supposed to happen, we traded bowling for the movies, and made movie plans instead. (Still friends in my mind. (And for those of you who don't know, I wouldn't do movies as a date unless it involved a day of something else first, so that should really confirm that it was solely as friends.))

Get this; the day we're supposed to go to the movies, there's a wicked storm. That was this past Monday. Izzy's got a bad knee from a rugby injury, and she's not a fan of rain (whereas I am a huge fan of storms). So we moved the plans from Monday to Thursday. AKA today. Well we met up at Fairview to catch the bus. While waiting for the bus, she turns to me and says "We need to talk." This totally came from left field. I had no idea what it was going to be about, or what was going on in her head. But listen to (or rather, read) what she said to me.

"I just want you to know that I don't think I'm in the mind set for a relationship right now, and I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings in any way."

Like I said; left field. I actually chuckled, and quickly explained to her that it had never entered my mind. She smiled and chuckled a little bit, saying that she's glad for that, as it meant nothing would be awkward between us throughout the duration of our relationship (which would be a friendship. Got it?). I didn't bring up the recent ending of my relationship with GC with, well, who needs that when you're trying to get to know a new friend better, right? There's a time and place for that. And sure, it's been a month (close to it anyway) since it happened, but I'm still thinking about her. Not all the time, but there are moments that sneak up on me and then BOOM, like thunder, they're there.

But apart from the whole "nearly awkward moment" and the chuckle we shared, it was a good night.

Ties

Today's agenda!

In about three hours, my friend Mitchell will be coming over with his camera. He's the guy I've been acting in a short film for. My friend and co-star Mike will be joining us as well. We just need to shoot a quick little bit, retake a single shot in the new location (which is my house), and then we can get on to the regular hanging out stuff. So we'll be chilling for the afternoon, which should be fun.

Karaoke tonight. 'Nuff said about that, except I'm going to wear one of my nifty new ties. New to me, but they're second hand. But they're freakin' awesome. A couple of them remind me of Al from Quantum Leap. You know, the guy who's a hologram that only Sam, the main protagonist, can see? Well Al always has crazy ties and whatnot, and a few of these ties remind me of that. They make me think it'd be funny to puff on a cigar and carry around a handheld computer and say "Sam, Ziggy says there's an 98.5% chance that this is what you have to do in order to leap."

If you've ever seen the show, you'd understand what I'm talking about. It's good, in that old cheesy 80s way. A lot of fun to watch though.

Work

So I got back from the capital today. I went up yesterday in the morning, and got back this afternoon. I went up for my friend Tony's birthday party. It was pretty good. Coffee, followed by dinner at a restaurant that I felt somewhat under dressed for. Then we walked around Elgin street and whatnot. Then we could this bar on Elgin that does Karaoke on Sundays, which I thought was really cool. Now I know where I can sing next time I'm in Ottawa.

Speaking of Karaoke, this past Saturday night was my first successful night as a Karaoke DJ. The monitors worked. The night started off slowly. Slowly as in I only had three singers with a bunch of songs each. But as the night went on, a couple friends showed up and more singers joined the rotation. I went from "struggling to keep a good rotation without hearing the same singer every other song" to "I can't take anymore songs, the list is already full for the night!" My friends Tyler, Joanna, Matt and Newman showed up. I was happiest to see Newman and Joanna, to be honest. Matt's got a bit of a mouth to him, and he isn't really aware that I know about what he says about me behind his back. I know Newman from Tuesday night karaoke at McKibbin's, and he alone made the night more bearable. Especially since his performances behind the microphone made this one asshole a lot less asshole-like.

It was a good night, sure, and I was happy to get paid at the end of it, but it wasn't very fun. I think the main thing that contributed to the "no fun" part was that none of my Phoenix friends were there. Guess where they were? A cast party for a play that was organized and put on by the old karaoke DJ, Evan. I knew about the play months and months ago. Evan had even asked me to be a part of it way back when. But guess what; in the end I didn't get to be a part of it, and while all my other friends were partying and having fun, not one of them thought to at least swing by the Phoenix to see how I was doing or tell me how the play went. So I was a little disappointed by that fact. I thought/hoped that they would all come by the Phoenix after the play and have their "cast party" there, but in the end, no. No one thought of me. Some friends, eh?

Newman's awesome though. He's turning out to be a better friend than I thought. I don't have his email or phone number or anything like that though, so I see him when I see him, but whenever he's around, I have a good time. He even waited for me after closing to give me a ride home, which was really nice of him, considering that if he didn't give me a ride, I'd be waiting 3 hours for the STM (Montreal public transit system) to start again to catch a bus home. I mean, like, I knew I'd have to wait for buses when I accepted the job, and was totally willing to, but it was such a relief to have a ride home.

I'm looking forward to Karaoke tomorrow night at McKibbin's. I'm also looking forward to school that starts next Monday. The superhero plays I wrote? I finished one of the costume pieces; a burnt up tee-shirt that looks like it had been on fire. I literally lit it on fire to make it look the way it does. Just... it's so fragile that I'm only going to get one real use out of it, so I'm saving it for the play itself. Fun, eh? Next up, concerning costume pieces, will be the utility belt for Cover Art, since that play requires a superhero costume of sorts.

So, all in all, it was a half bad, half fun weekend.

Hot Damn

I ended up pushing 43 hours and 37 minutes before heading to bed. I don't know how long I was in bed for before actually falling asleep, but it felt like a long time. But I have gotten some much needed rest. Being awake in bed last night, before actually falling asleep, was the worst. Without actions or distractions, my mind had it's opportunity to rear it's ugly face and call up some memories. My thought process wandered. For a while, I thought I was dreaming, until I realized that I was still 100% awake.

But shit damn am I a good actor. Because I went out to a friend's birthday party last night. And no one knew that I was awake that long until I told Kate, a new friend of mine that I met last night. She was shocked. The look on her face was priceless.

Looks on faces often tend to truly be priceless, heh.

Surprising

So I'm still awake. Still operating on no-sleep-whatsoever from last night. I think I might have actually amazed myself, and it's very rare that I'll say something like that. But in all seriousness, I thought I was going to crash and burn a couple hours ago. Yet here I am, feeling as alert and as awake as I would be if I had actually gotten some sleep. The only thing that reminds me that I didn't get any sleep is the fact that some of my joints are a touch stiff. Such things are easily remedied with some stretches, and a bike ride.

It's a beautiful day. It really is. What's funny though is that I keep forgetting that it's still the AM. I keep thinking that it's like 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but then I realize that it isn't even lunch time yet. I've got the whole day ahead of me, and I'm putting it to use.

I'm going to write a couple chapters for my fourth book, Parvulus Aequitas, to catch up on that. I might get some work on Mott done, or rather, as much work as I can get done without requiring assistance (which will happen at some point, I don't doubt that). Best part is this; I don't need to rush.

I've got the whole day ahead of me.

UPDATE:
It's been four hours, and I'm still awake and alert and fresh. It's so... weird, but at the same time, I feel... empowered. I'm operating on no sleep at all today, but I'm as awake and as alert as I would be if I had gotten sleep. Heck, maybe even more than if I had actually gotten sleep. Is that even possible?

UPDATE:
Just hit the thirty-six hour mark. Thirty-six hours that I've been awake. I'm starting to get a little tired, as I normally would at the end of a long day. At least I know that I'm going to sleep well tonight, y'know?

Not Bad

For those who have been keeping up; I managed to finish the compilation. Stayed up for most of Wednesday night to do it, but it was finished, and I already handed it in to my employer. It was enjoyed, thoroughly.

Wow. It's quarter to eight in the morning, and I haven't slept at all yet. I stayed up all night playing Capture The Flag with some friends. It's something we do once or twice a summer, at least. Then we went for breakfast downtown at this place that's open twenty-four hours a day. Then we watched the sunrise. Watching the beginning of a new day truly is a beautiful thing. Especially with the way the sky is today. Patches of white fluffy clouds with blue skies everywhere else. It was slightly chilly, but the sun hasn't been out long enough to heat things up at all.

I'm at home now (obviously enough) and I'm figuring out some things. Next week is my last week of summer vacation before school starts on the 25th of August. While I've been excited for school to start for a while now, at the same time, I think I'm going to miss the summer. So I'm trying to figure out what should be done for the last stretch of summer vacation, and what I can or can't afford. Expenses cannot be determined until Saturday night; when I know whether or not Karaoke happens or if the monitor-system is still busted. But I'm pushing that stuff to the back of my head, while I figure out how I'm going to make it to a friend's birthday party this afternoon. It's off the island of Montreal, and I have no idea how I'm going to get there or back home for that matter. I'm hoping that someone will be able to give me a ride, y'know?

Meanwhile, even though I've not slept yet, I still feel awake. Sure, I'm tired, but not sleepy tired. It's amazing what insomnia can do to you. I really thought, and was hoping, that when I walked in the door I would just want to crash. Well, low and behold, I can't. I tried. So here I am. I'll probably try to get a short power nap in later to make up for the lack of sleep, just so I can get through the day.

Sigh.

Falling Apart: UPDATE

The laptop is a bust. It doesn't have enough Random-Access-Memory (aka, ram) to run the software required to continue the project. I'm out of options, at least for the time being. This is ridiculously problematic. I'm sincerely screwed.

SECOND UPDATE:
There's hope yet. While the laptop is a bust and Liz (my computer (yes I name stuff)) won't run the software, I've been dealt a new hand of cards to work with. A friend of mine is coming to visit Montréal tomorrow, and with her she is bringing her MacBook. She also happens to have iLife '07, which contains iMovie, which is video editing software. Depending on how long it takes me to familiarize myself with the program, I could get this job done. So cross your fingers!

Falling Apart

Shit damn. Some things have fallen apart before my very eyes. Other things came to my attention. Well, they didn't just come to my attention, but rather they grabbed the attention. I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I'm not sure if I'm hungry enough to finish it all. (Alright, bad metaphor, but who's complaining?)

This past Saturday was my first night of work at the Phoenix as the new Karaoke DJ. My friend and former-roommate Zak was there to assist me on Evan's request. Evan was the old DJ. Anyway, we get everything set up. Books, microphones, the computer system; everything. We decided to leave turning on the monitors for when it comes closer to the actual thing. Well, guess what. The monitors wouldn't work. We couldn't connect the karaoke system to the monitors, thus no lyrics were visible, and thus we were absolutely screwed. There was no karaoke this past weekend at the Phoenix. My first night of work was an absolute bust. I just hope I don't have these problems next week, otherwise I'm going to have a very hard time affording another trip to the Capital (see below).

My freelance film editing thing had a beautiful start. I had put in five hours of work and managed to get little more than half of the first compilation finished. Anyway, when I booted up the program to start on the sixth hour (and hopefully wrap up the first compilation), it crashed on me. Completely and utterly. I backed up the source files and the project files, and then tried rebooting the computer. Didn't work. I uninstalled the program and reinstalled it. That didn't work either. I ran four different trouble-shooters, but nothing worked. Five hours of work had been lost because the program failed on me. I have a laptop on loan to me from a friend, and with a minuscule (and legal) hack, I'm hoping to be able to do the work on the laptop. Best case scenario; the backed up project file works and I can pick up where I left off. Middle case scenario; I have to start the project from scratch. Worst case scenario; it doesn't work on the laptop.

I'm off to the Capital again. From Sunday the 17th until Friday the 22nd. It's not to see GC (although I am hoping that we could arrange coffee or something while I'm there). It's a friend's birthday, which is initially why I'm going. I'm staying the extra few days just to hang out with some people. Take my mind off of things and have one last "hurrah" before school starts. School starts Monday, August 25th. A bit sooner than I expected, actually, but school will force my mind onto other things. Not to mention I'm actually looking forward to school.

That's what's going on.

Mott

Mott. The first puppet I am working on. I haven't been able to get a lot done on him lately, given all the filming and guests I've had over. And yes, I confess that my social calendar did get in the way once in a while with work on this muppet-version of me. But there is good news, and it has absolutely nothing to do with car insurance; I found the digital cameras. I took photographs of my tools, materials, and what I have accomplished so far.

This is his head. The lower jaw and the rest of the head are two completely separate pieces. The glasses were an old pair of sunglasses that I removed the lenses from for Nameless Love (for my double to have glasses too), and decided to recycle for Mott. He is supposed to be modeled after me, after all, so it only makes sense for him to wear glasses as I do. His hair will be dark brown wool, and the skin will be this fleece (see below) which I got on sale. I'm thinking ping-pong balls for eyes. Cut down to size and colored to look like eyes, of course!




This is the body. It's a small black plastic bucket from a small waste-paper basket thingy. It was made seperate from the rest of the unit so that I could just pick up this bucket and empty it when needed. I cut out the body and used the cylinder shape to act as the bulk of the body. This makes Mott more stage-and-live-audience friendly, since most puppets don't have rigid torso structures. Paper towel wrapped around the bottom of the bucket (which is the top of the torso) so that I don't scratch my wrists on jagged plastic from the cuts. Duct tape was used to secure the entire thing. It'll take two layers of fleece for an even "puppet skin tone" but we'll see how one layer works first, given that he'll be wearing clothes more often than not.



This fleece is what I am using as skin. The photo doesn't exactly do it's color justice. To describe it's color with words; "just imagine the color and texture that puppet skin would be." It even has that texture, yes. I managed to get three meters of it on sale, so I have more than enough to be able to safely make mistakes. I've already used some of the material for the arms, which you're about to see!




These are the arms. Using hanger wires as the skeletal frame for the arms, I padded up the wire with excess foam to give the arms flesh. Foam for the hands, although the hands aren't finished. I have excess material at the end of each arm to be able to safely attach the arms to the body when it comes time. Magnets will go in the hands to allow Mott to hold things. Magnets will also be placed on the body and the wands (the rods that the operator uses to maneuver the arms), so that everything is detachable, making transportation easier.


These are my tools. A sewing machine, which I'm getting really adept with, helped make the "fleece sleeves" which became the skin of the arms. I'll need to hand sew the body and head though, so we'll see how that goes. The electric turkey carver is for the foam; it makes cutting a lot cleaner and easier to do that with your average kitchen knife. Not to mention it's faster.

So that's Mott so far! Stay tuned in to see when he's finished!

Compilation

I used to have this hobby where I would take video clips from all sorts of things and make compilation videos out of them. I'd pick a song, and then organize and cut the clips to that length. It all started April of 2006, when I got really bored one day. I followed this series of video games called Kingdom Hearts (which is my all-time favorite video game), and had a lot of videos and cinematics from the games on my computer. So when I was bored, I opened up Windows Movie Maker and got to work. It was a big hit amongst all my friends who know/like the video games, and a good hit amongst people who kinda knew me but knew the game really well. So it went up on Youtube and MySpace. I made a second Kingdom Hearts compilation which went on youtube, and a third one that went onto MySpace. (So far, the third one of those three has over fourteen thousand views and 96% good rating.)

Approximately eight months after I made my first video game compilation, I tried something that never entered my mind before; using video clips I had taken with my digital camera. I had clips from everything; school, play rehearsals, even Improv Camp 2006. So I had at least a year's worth of clips to put to use. So I did, using a song called Don't Ask Me by OK Go. The compilation was a huge hit with my friends, considering more than half a dozen of the people I showed it to started to make their own video compilations.

After the success of Don't Ask Me, a big question I got was "will you make another?" I thought about it, and I did. I came up with a set of self-guidelines, which included "don't use a song that pushes three and a half minutes unless there's enough variety in the clips" and "pick a song that everyone will find catchy, even if they don't outright enjoy it." Those guidelines helped, for I had made eleven compilations over the following year. Twelve if you count this thing from an improv-team tryout, but it was only thirty seconds long and didn't feature music.

As I got closer to the end, I started to push on the boundries I had set for myself. My tenth compilation was nearly four minutes long, and used a type of music I had never really done before. But it worked. My Improv Camp 2007 friends seemed to really enjoy it. My last compilation, using the song Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, was more than three and a half minutes, and really let me get back into the grove of things, especially since I lost a majority of my reservoire of clips when I lost my computer's harddrive.

That was nine months ago. I haven't made a new compilation since Flagpole Sitta.

Until now. My friend Cathy just got back from this trip to Germany/France. She was sent for work, but used some vacation time to extend her stay in Europe. She's back now, and she had known that I used to make video compilations. So she asked me if I could make one (or two) for her using clips she had taken during her trip. I said yes, even though I knew I was going to be rusty at the very least.

Get this; Windows Movie Maker didn't support the .mov file type that all her clips were in. I had hit a snag before I could even get settled and properly started.

But I was smart, and already had a back-up plan in mind. Adobe has this thing where they have awesome programs such as PhotoShop and AfterEffects and whatnot, but for several hundred US dollars. BUT if you had signed-up for an account on the Adobe website, you could download the software and have a 30 Day "trial period" for free. So I quickly hopped onto the website and downloaded the software for Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. I had never used it before, and feared that it would take me days to get the hang of it.

It took me about six minutes.

I don't know how to accomplish crazy fancy things with this seemingly amazing program, but I know the basics and then some. It's a lot smoother than what I traditionally use (Windows Movie Maker), and it's made organizing clips and audio a helluva lot easier.

Anyway, I've put in three hours of work so far on the first compilation. I'm using a Weezer song. It's been nine months since I last made a compilation, and now that I'm doing one again, I realize how much I enjoyed doing it. But not just that; I realized that it wasn't just a skill or a hobby I had, but a talent. When I had a song picked for a compilation, everytime I listened to it, be it while working on the compilation itself or listening to my iPod on the bus, my mind would be listening as well, figuring out what type of clips could go where, when to cut clips, and everything. I seriously need to dig out the old digital camera and start to take video clips again. I want to make a comeback to the video compilation scene, and I want it to be big.

You know why I do it? Why I make compilations, why I write, why I'm building a puppet? Because being creative feels good to me. I feel good knowing that I'm putting my talents to use. I like making things that people will enjoy. I like making things and doing things that will create an emotional response in whomever my audience is.

Day After

Night four of the four night binge was a success. Good rotation at karaoke too. I got to sing My Way by Frank Sinatra, Peaches by Presidents of the USA, Under Pressure (with Cathy and Adam) by David Bowie & Queen, A Little Less Conversation (with Adam) by Elvis Presley, and Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice.

Surprisingly, I did Vanilla Ice well. The only reason I put it up was for all the people who cheered for Under Pressure thinking it was Ice Ice Baby.

Four Day Bender

Tonight was officially the third night of a four-night-binge with my friend and costar Mike Orton. He plays the part of Chase in Shards of Man, who is the character John's best friend. I play John. Anyway, Mike and I are on a four night binge. Saturday night was the first night. "Cast & Crew" party for Shards Of Man. Really that was just an excuse to have a party. Sunday night was hanging out with Kelly and Chris, making it four of us. We watched Home Alone 2 and played Super Smash Bros. 64. Tonight was another party at Mitchell's, but it was more of a get together than anything.

Oh, and there was drinking involved each of these nights.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday night, is the fourth and final night of the Four Day Bender. It'll also be the only day of the four where Mike and I won't be together. Mike is off to Metropolis (a venue in Montréal) to see Rancid in concert, and I am off to McKibbin's for Tuesday night karaoke. Adam'll be there, and hopefully Cathy will be too. Cathy just got back from Germany and France last week, and I haven't seen her in like two and a half weeks. She's a good friend. Gave me a ride to visit GC once. Oh, and my new friend Izabelle is coming over to hang out and have a small BBQ. Should be fun. I'm going to introduce her to Dr. Horrible.

That's what is happened/happening. Enjoy the show.

Speed Racer

When I'm on my bike, I can be pretty fast. It's easy to pick up speed for me, and I always,
always, pedal on the heaviest gear. Why? So I can get a workout even if I'm at a decent yet not-too-speedy pace. My lower body is really in shape, and I try to keep it that way. I enjoy riding my bike.

But when a friend in need calls me and the only thing you want to do is make sure they're safe, well, let's just say it's good to be in shape.

Close to half past midnight, my friend Chloe (not Chloe from my first post, that was just an alter ego) starts chatting with me, asking for a quick and painless way to die. I just thought she was writing a short story or something, but I don't give her any ideas. I ask her what it's for. Next she tells me that even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be brave enough to. Chloe would never commit suicide, but death was on the mind, so immediately I told her that we were going to meet somewhere.

I live maybe a 30 minute walk from Chloe's place. Walking at my pace that is (long strides and fast pace). But I made that trip in six minutes flat on my bike. I raced over and caught her at the end of her block. We were going to meet at a park between our places, but I just raced over there. We sat outside for a couple minutes before going back inside to be comfortable in her living room. She told me what was going on and why she was so depressed and worried and troubled while I cleaned up a cut she had gotten earlier that evening cooking (she's home alone for the weekend, and she tends to get careless about injuries). By the time she finished her story, I had finished dressing the cut. (NO the cut was not self inflicted.)

This is how much I value my true friends. Not assholes who call me their friend but really don't give a flying rats ass about whether I'm alive or face down in a gutter. For my true friends, I would be there for them in a heartbeat. No matter who I was with, what I was doing, or even if I was in the middle of some breakthrough that could cure cancer; friends come first. True friends even more so. So I cleared a vast distance in record time for her.

And that's my story for the night. It's what I just got home from.

PS: Chloe's alright, or at least she will be. She keeps the promises she makes to friends, and she promised me we'd hang out tomorrow for a little bit. This way I can make sure that she didn't try anything and that she really is (or is going to be) alright.