Day one of school was a success. Got to see my classmates, and I hadn't seen most of them over the six weeks of break. Had only two classes; Movement and Voice. Finished classes at 11.30am, and stuck around to hang out with friends. It all went well. Good classes, good fun. Now to make everyday as good as this day. I hope all my other classes are just as good.
I noticed something today; while I was at school, I had the feeling that there were significantly more beautiful people this semester than last. More as in how many, just to clarify. I don't really know why, but maybe it was...
- Just everyone dressing up for the first day of school, or;
- Because everyone was smiling and happy to see everyone else again, or;
- There really are a lot more beautiful people at Abbott now. But I don't know.
But seriously, a lot of beautiful people. And I wasn't the only one who noticed either.
My friends... seeing everyone today, friends and classmates alike, made a six week break feel like a long weekend. I literally asked one of my classmates "How was your weekend?" instead of "How were your holidays?", slipping immediately back into that Monday morning routine. But that's a good thing. Even if we haven't seen one another in over a month, it means that we're picking up right where we left off. And I have two words to say to that.
Sweet deal.
More details on school related things later!
Update (the next morning): Wow. All of my muscles are screaming at me. It hurts to even just move. I think it was the "welcome back" warm-up/work-out Carol put us (theatre kids) through yesterday in our first class. But seriously, major ouchies.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Ash
So this cat isn't mine. But I met him the day my friend "adopted" him. Originally his name was "Baby" (no idea why), but we got to rename him. I came up with Ash, and it stuck. Because he's gray. Eight months old. Really cute. So I consider Ash half my cat, hehe.
But the reason I put "adopted" in quotation marks is because we only have him for a month. My friend does this thing, once in a while, where she'll take a sick cat from the SPCA and help nurse it to health over the span of a month, and then return it to the SPCA, no matter how attached we grow to said cat (Ash, in this case).
I don't have any photos of Ash yet, but I'll try to remember to bring my camera next time I'm over at the apartment where he's living.
School starts tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have been for a while, actually.
But the reason I put "adopted" in quotation marks is because we only have him for a month. My friend does this thing, once in a while, where she'll take a sick cat from the SPCA and help nurse it to health over the span of a month, and then return it to the SPCA, no matter how attached we grow to said cat (Ash, in this case).
I don't have any photos of Ash yet, but I'll try to remember to bring my camera next time I'm over at the apartment where he's living.
School starts tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have been for a while, actually.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Yesterday
This feels a little strange, to be honest. I look around me and I know that the world's the same. It's still rotating and revolving around our star. Time ticks on. I could continue with this near-poetic type of narrative, but it'd just be my way of distracting from what this is really about.
Yesterday, a man named Rolf Smart passed away. He hadn't been doing well for a while, and was in the hospital. He wasn't in pain, or suffering, but it still happened. A terrible loss for a number of people, myself included. This man was my grandfather. My mother's father. The man who's name is my middle name.
When my parents divorced when I was six, my mother took me and my sister to live with her (my mother's) parents. We lived there for little more than six years. Every morning before school, I had an apple and some cheese, which my grandfather had set out for me. He helped me with my (former) love of trains, with pictures and an electric train-set in the basement. He showed me how to build things with the workshop he had in the basement, like a little wooden boat which was a bath toy. He taught me how to tie a necktie, and even gave me a few of his, which I still have and wear to this day.
In the past few years we weren't as close as we used to be. Since Mum got a place of her own, he and I didn't see one another as often, and we didn't speak as often either. But he was still that man, who taught me so many things, big and small, who left me so many things. Even on a genetic level; he's one of the reasons I'm as tall as I am, heh.
I really am not that good at this type of thing. But I miss him. I saw him on Friday night, just little more than a day before we lost him. I thought then that it was hard to think of words to say, but that moment seems to be in the shadow of this one.
In other news: still waiting for my mark to be changed, and school starts in a week. I'm also (apparently) no longer in the cabaret I was a part of; I missed yesterday's rehearsal because of what happened, and apparently an announcement was made at the end of the rehearsal saying that I was no longer part of it. I wonder what will happen next...
Currently: browsing the net, and listening to the album of this lovely little musical which I always enjoy, called "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." I'd read comics, but I don't have any that are new to me, and I don't feel like reading my old ones.
Yesterday, a man named Rolf Smart passed away. He hadn't been doing well for a while, and was in the hospital. He wasn't in pain, or suffering, but it still happened. A terrible loss for a number of people, myself included. This man was my grandfather. My mother's father. The man who's name is my middle name.
When my parents divorced when I was six, my mother took me and my sister to live with her (my mother's) parents. We lived there for little more than six years. Every morning before school, I had an apple and some cheese, which my grandfather had set out for me. He helped me with my (former) love of trains, with pictures and an electric train-set in the basement. He showed me how to build things with the workshop he had in the basement, like a little wooden boat which was a bath toy. He taught me how to tie a necktie, and even gave me a few of his, which I still have and wear to this day.
In the past few years we weren't as close as we used to be. Since Mum got a place of her own, he and I didn't see one another as often, and we didn't speak as often either. But he was still that man, who taught me so many things, big and small, who left me so many things. Even on a genetic level; he's one of the reasons I'm as tall as I am, heh.
I really am not that good at this type of thing. But I miss him. I saw him on Friday night, just little more than a day before we lost him. I thought then that it was hard to think of words to say, but that moment seems to be in the shadow of this one.
In other news: still waiting for my mark to be changed, and school starts in a week. I'm also (apparently) no longer in the cabaret I was a part of; I missed yesterday's rehearsal because of what happened, and apparently an announcement was made at the end of the rehearsal saying that I was no longer part of it. I wonder what will happen next...
Currently: browsing the net, and listening to the album of this lovely little musical which I always enjoy, called "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." I'd read comics, but I don't have any that are new to me, and I don't feel like reading my old ones.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Twiddle Your Thumbs
Good morning two-thousand-nine! It's about freakin' time you got here. In the famous words of my best friend; "Fuck 2008, she was a bitch anyway!" (Well, not really. A lot of things happened in oh-eight that I'll never forget and cherish for a long time, but it certainly was a hell of a send off... here, I'll just tell you the story.)
New Year's Eve was a mix of good and bad. The good being I met tons of fantastic new people, enjoyed partying with my oldest and best friends (and by partying I mean two parties), drank enough that I shouldn't remember the night but still do and can still smile about it! The bad was that I got punched, twice, at the first party. But it was just this huge issue of miscommunication, and I was the better man by walking away and not hitting back. Oh, and the one night of partying turned into not-getting-home-until-several-days-later, but it wasn't a binge or anything like that. Just chilling with friends, new and old, and enjoying life with junk food, movies, mini-embarrassing-dance-parties, and singing solos and duets along with youtube videos. Oh, and waking up a sleeping elephant seal. And that last one might possibly be one of the most entertaining things, regardless of you being sober or not.
The story with the quote is that Paws wrote across the knuckles of our entire group F-U-C-K 2-0-0-8, and on a few of our arms the quote itself. Before the countdown, we all went around to different people, telling them to call it out when we officially hit 2009. Didn't expect many people to do it, but when it happened, at least half the party yelled it out so loudly that we were easily heard over the band that was playing. Sick, no?
That just about sums that up. I might do a more detailed report of the ushering in of 2009 when I'm at home with my keyboard. We'll see.
So now I play the waiting game. Remember the whole probation deal? Well, I reached the teacher and the school, was given a test that if I get four out of fifteen right, I pass the course. I aimed to get all fifteen things right, personally. So that was done and handed in yesterday (emailed in, more accurately), and now I just have to wait for that mark to change, and then I am home-free concerning school. But, now that that work is behind me, I realized something:
A lot of my program classmates knew about my situation, and no one cared/cares to see how it all faired. Well, not true, one person actually asked me how I was feeling and it came up and she expressed hope and confidence that I'd make it. I suppose the punch line of this joke is that it wasn't any of the people I hoped/expected it to be. It does lead to another interesting thought, however:
What will everyone's faces look like when they see me there again? Classmates, former and current, those who dislike me and do like me, and everyone else. No matter what, though, I'll walk in with a smile, regardless of whether or not everyone else is smiling. Haha!
I get the feeling that this year might hold a lot of potential. Or at least as much potential as I put into it and myself. Woot woot.
New Year's Eve was a mix of good and bad. The good being I met tons of fantastic new people, enjoyed partying with my oldest and best friends (and by partying I mean two parties), drank enough that I shouldn't remember the night but still do and can still smile about it! The bad was that I got punched, twice, at the first party. But it was just this huge issue of miscommunication, and I was the better man by walking away and not hitting back. Oh, and the one night of partying turned into not-getting-home-until-several-days-later, but it wasn't a binge or anything like that. Just chilling with friends, new and old, and enjoying life with junk food, movies, mini-embarrassing-dance-parties, and singing solos and duets along with youtube videos. Oh, and waking up a sleeping elephant seal. And that last one might possibly be one of the most entertaining things, regardless of you being sober or not.
The story with the quote is that Paws wrote across the knuckles of our entire group F-U-C-K 2-0-0-8, and on a few of our arms the quote itself. Before the countdown, we all went around to different people, telling them to call it out when we officially hit 2009. Didn't expect many people to do it, but when it happened, at least half the party yelled it out so loudly that we were easily heard over the band that was playing. Sick, no?
That just about sums that up. I might do a more detailed report of the ushering in of 2009 when I'm at home with my keyboard. We'll see.
So now I play the waiting game. Remember the whole probation deal? Well, I reached the teacher and the school, was given a test that if I get four out of fifteen right, I pass the course. I aimed to get all fifteen things right, personally. So that was done and handed in yesterday (emailed in, more accurately), and now I just have to wait for that mark to change, and then I am home-free concerning school. But, now that that work is behind me, I realized something:
A lot of my program classmates knew about my situation, and no one cared/cares to see how it all faired. Well, not true, one person actually asked me how I was feeling and it came up and she expressed hope and confidence that I'd make it. I suppose the punch line of this joke is that it wasn't any of the people I hoped/expected it to be. It does lead to another interesting thought, however:
What will everyone's faces look like when they see me there again? Classmates, former and current, those who dislike me and do like me, and everyone else. No matter what, though, I'll walk in with a smile, regardless of whether or not everyone else is smiling. Haha!
I get the feeling that this year might hold a lot of potential. Or at least as much potential as I put into it and myself. Woot woot.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
"Eternals"
This is it. The morning of the last day of this particular year. Nothing all that special about this specific morning, apart from the fact that it's on the day where, at night, everyone drinks and embarrasses themselves. As they bid farewell to the past year, and welcome in the new year. Blah blah blah. Yadda yadda. "NINJA PUNCH!" Not a whole lot to it.
It's not even 9am, and I've been up for a little while. Got plans for tonight with el best friend, which should be fun. Not exactly sure what said plans are, but it involves friends and celebrations of some kind, so they must be fun and exciting in some way, shape, or form. Right?
No, I don't have resolutions picked out already. I've got a couple things in mind, but I don't really see them as New Year's Resolutions. Why wait for the year to end to make resolutions to improve myself as a person? Anyway, my non-resolution-thingys involve finding a steady job, focusing more in school (if I can sort out the whole probation thing), working on making myself better and healthier (bit of a story there), improving my singing voice, learning an instrument, continuing my writing... a bunch of things*. Some big, some small, some important, some not.
*One of these things is "get superpowers if possible." A practical one too, if I get to choose.
I don't know what to do today though. Tonight is where the party and the life is at, but what about during the day? The sun is up, the air is chilled and brisk; a typical winter morning in Montreal. Worst part is; I'm bored. And it's not like it's the afternoon so I only have a couple hours to kill; I have the whole day ahead of me. Oof. Maybe I'll just read Neil Gaiman's "Eternals." That's a good way to kill some time; comic books. Fuck'n right.
It's not even 9am, and I've been up for a little while. Got plans for tonight with el best friend, which should be fun. Not exactly sure what said plans are, but it involves friends and celebrations of some kind, so they must be fun and exciting in some way, shape, or form. Right?
No, I don't have resolutions picked out already. I've got a couple things in mind, but I don't really see them as New Year's Resolutions. Why wait for the year to end to make resolutions to improve myself as a person? Anyway, my non-resolution-thingys involve finding a steady job, focusing more in school (if I can sort out the whole probation thing), working on making myself better and healthier (bit of a story there), improving my singing voice, learning an instrument, continuing my writing... a bunch of things*. Some big, some small, some important, some not.
*One of these things is "get superpowers if possible." A practical one too, if I get to choose.
I don't know what to do today though. Tonight is where the party and the life is at, but what about during the day? The sun is up, the air is chilled and brisk; a typical winter morning in Montreal. Worst part is; I'm bored. And it's not like it's the afternoon so I only have a couple hours to kill; I have the whole day ahead of me. Oof. Maybe I'll just read Neil Gaiman's "Eternals." That's a good way to kill some time; comic books. Fuck'n right.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The End of 2008
The New Year is right around the corner. Christmas is behind us. Still got a couple of weeks before school starts. But even though I'm on my "winter break," I feel like I've been working hard, and I've got more work ahead of me.
I got my final marks in the other day. 4 out of 5 marks were a pass ("success!"). The 5th mark... I'm shy 3% of a pass. Which isn't good, because of my academic probation. I have to pass 5 courses in order to stay in school, see? If I don't, I get booted out for one academic year. Don't think it's over yet though. I've already got plans to try to get that last mark to a passing mark. I can't just challenging the man, but I've got to speak with him too. Call the teacher, see if there's anything I can do with him for a grade booster. Talk to my counsellor to see if I can get my probation extended, in the event of not being able to boost my mark. Either way, I've got a couple of plans to try to sort this all out. If nothing works... then I guess I go with my "This is what'll happen if I don't stay in school" plan. I just have yet to work out the specifics of that plan, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Toronto. Arrived on Wednesday, just in time for Christmas with the Cassidys. My father, his wife, and his parents live out here in Etobicoke, where I was born. But for this Christmas, my uncles and cousins and those extended branches of family were here too, thus somewhat obligating me to come. It's nice being in Toronto, but I feel a little... I don't know... suffocated with family. I leave to return to Montreal in an hour or so though. I think the highlight of the trip was seeing my friend Hannah, who I met at Improv Camp 2006. I hadn't seen her since last winter, when I was last in Toronto, so it was really nice spending a day in the downtown area with her.
Wait, no, there's another highlight. I got to see my cousin Phil. He's four years older than me. When we were younger, he was always "the older cousin." This trip, however, I think he was my best friend when it came to the family stuff. We're both adults now, and we're on the same level. Anyway, he's part of this awesome band that's doing really well for themselves. I plan on catching their next show, if I can. The point of this mention was that he and I got to catch up, which was totally awesome. And he says he's going to teach me an instrument, if I'm interested. Which I very much am. Guitar or piano, I suspect, but I'd be happy with either!
Montreal; I get back today. 6 hours sitting in a car, with an occasional stretch break (probably once or twice during the entire trip). And guess what; I work tonight! Which involves more sitting, but at a bar instead of in a car. A lot of sitting in one day. I think I might go to The Orphanage tomorrow. I'd go to The Pound, but that's more of a Thursday night thing.
(Confused yet? The Pound and the Orphanage are the "names" of places I like. I'll probably go more into it in a later post.)
I got my final marks in the other day. 4 out of 5 marks were a pass ("success!"). The 5th mark... I'm shy 3% of a pass. Which isn't good, because of my academic probation. I have to pass 5 courses in order to stay in school, see? If I don't, I get booted out for one academic year. Don't think it's over yet though. I've already got plans to try to get that last mark to a passing mark. I can't just challenging the man, but I've got to speak with him too. Call the teacher, see if there's anything I can do with him for a grade booster. Talk to my counsellor to see if I can get my probation extended, in the event of not being able to boost my mark. Either way, I've got a couple of plans to try to sort this all out. If nothing works... then I guess I go with my "This is what'll happen if I don't stay in school" plan. I just have yet to work out the specifics of that plan, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Toronto. Arrived on Wednesday, just in time for Christmas with the Cassidys. My father, his wife, and his parents live out here in Etobicoke, where I was born. But for this Christmas, my uncles and cousins and those extended branches of family were here too, thus somewhat obligating me to come. It's nice being in Toronto, but I feel a little... I don't know... suffocated with family. I leave to return to Montreal in an hour or so though. I think the highlight of the trip was seeing my friend Hannah, who I met at Improv Camp 2006. I hadn't seen her since last winter, when I was last in Toronto, so it was really nice spending a day in the downtown area with her.
Wait, no, there's another highlight. I got to see my cousin Phil. He's four years older than me. When we were younger, he was always "the older cousin." This trip, however, I think he was my best friend when it came to the family stuff. We're both adults now, and we're on the same level. Anyway, he's part of this awesome band that's doing really well for themselves. I plan on catching their next show, if I can. The point of this mention was that he and I got to catch up, which was totally awesome. And he says he's going to teach me an instrument, if I'm interested. Which I very much am. Guitar or piano, I suspect, but I'd be happy with either!
Montreal; I get back today. 6 hours sitting in a car, with an occasional stretch break (probably once or twice during the entire trip). And guess what; I work tonight! Which involves more sitting, but at a bar instead of in a car. A lot of sitting in one day. I think I might go to The Orphanage tomorrow. I'd go to The Pound, but that's more of a Thursday night thing.
(Confused yet? The Pound and the Orphanage are the "names" of places I like. I'll probably go more into it in a later post.)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Providence?
Okay. School. It's done. No more assignments, tests, exams (hah, as if I had any), ceramic arts, or interviews. All I have to do now is wait patiently for the rest of my marks to come in. But as it would seem, good tidings are with me. I had my two interviews yesterday; one with Carol (for Moment and Theatre Creation) and one with Rob (for Acting). In that order.
With Carol, the interview couldn't be better. Apparently for this past semester, I was a star pupil save for an absence here or there. She told me that I seemed to work well with the class, that I was a really good example of a good in-class work ethic, that I was fantastic helping others with things that they found difficult, and a little bit more stuff too. All good. It was definitely a real confidence booster, if you ask me. Which was good since it was right before Rob's interview.
Don't get me wrong, Rob's interview went well, just nowhere near as well as Carol's. He's giving me a chance to show him that I am an actor. While I did improve over the second half of the semester (as he told me), like many others I still need work. And my insomnia made things difficult from time to time, in class, as I would start to doze off (rarely, but often enough to be a worry) after not getting sleep the previous night. So he and I have a deal now, which we call "Tough Love." If I start to doze off at all, I will be asked to leave the class and be marked as absent.
Normally such a thing would worry an insomniac such as myself. But I'm actually not worried. In fact, I doubt there will ever be a time like that. My determination is top notch. I already have a song selected for next semester's Acting class, and I'm already looking into monologue options and scene possibilities. This last semester was about getting back into the game; this upcoming semester is going to be about playing the game as best as I can.
For my other classes, I just need to wait for my marks to come in. But I've passed my Phys. Ed. class, I know that as a fact. As well as English; my written assignments were more than good, and everyone loved my play when it was performed. I even have a Scene Study picked for next semester, and hopefully I can do Splash Page as well. And if I can, then the two biggest assignments for that class are already finished. The only eyebrow raiser now is my Humanities class. I'm still waiting for the mark of my final paper, and that mark will make the difference between pass and fail. But I'm confident. My paper rocked, I know this. I just need the confirmation, you know?
So now I'm officially on winter break. Six weeks of freedom (be jealous, all my university-going friends!). I'm not working, except for the occasional karaoke night at the Phoenix. Although I might be bartending a special event at a club downtown sometime this month. If that comes through, that'll be several hundred dollars in one night, which I think I could use as my Holiday Funds. Combined with christmas money, I'll be able to do everything I want to do this break and so much more.
Things are good. There's always room for improvement, but I'm happy, and that's what matters, no?
With Carol, the interview couldn't be better. Apparently for this past semester, I was a star pupil save for an absence here or there. She told me that I seemed to work well with the class, that I was a really good example of a good in-class work ethic, that I was fantastic helping others with things that they found difficult, and a little bit more stuff too. All good. It was definitely a real confidence booster, if you ask me. Which was good since it was right before Rob's interview.
Don't get me wrong, Rob's interview went well, just nowhere near as well as Carol's. He's giving me a chance to show him that I am an actor. While I did improve over the second half of the semester (as he told me), like many others I still need work. And my insomnia made things difficult from time to time, in class, as I would start to doze off (rarely, but often enough to be a worry) after not getting sleep the previous night. So he and I have a deal now, which we call "Tough Love." If I start to doze off at all, I will be asked to leave the class and be marked as absent.
Normally such a thing would worry an insomniac such as myself. But I'm actually not worried. In fact, I doubt there will ever be a time like that. My determination is top notch. I already have a song selected for next semester's Acting class, and I'm already looking into monologue options and scene possibilities. This last semester was about getting back into the game; this upcoming semester is going to be about playing the game as best as I can.
For my other classes, I just need to wait for my marks to come in. But I've passed my Phys. Ed. class, I know that as a fact. As well as English; my written assignments were more than good, and everyone loved my play when it was performed. I even have a Scene Study picked for next semester, and hopefully I can do Splash Page as well. And if I can, then the two biggest assignments for that class are already finished. The only eyebrow raiser now is my Humanities class. I'm still waiting for the mark of my final paper, and that mark will make the difference between pass and fail. But I'm confident. My paper rocked, I know this. I just need the confirmation, you know?
So now I'm officially on winter break. Six weeks of freedom (be jealous, all my university-going friends!). I'm not working, except for the occasional karaoke night at the Phoenix. Although I might be bartending a special event at a club downtown sometime this month. If that comes through, that'll be several hundred dollars in one night, which I think I could use as my Holiday Funds. Combined with christmas money, I'll be able to do everything I want to do this break and so much more.
Things are good. There's always room for improvement, but I'm happy, and that's what matters, no?
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