Ah, family. Setting - Fancy winery for mother's day breakfast.
Grandad: Endrené, you've got some food on your chin.
Endrené: (wipes chin vigourously with both hands) Did I get it?
Grandad: Nope, it's right-- there (points to own chin).
Endrené: (wipes again) Now? Is it gone?
Grandad: No-- ahh... I think it's just a big pimple.
Endrené: (affronted) What? (touches chin again) Ah, I think that's just my mole.
Grandad: What mole?
Endrené: Umm, well, it's been there for at least twenty years...
Grandad: Are you sure it's not a pimple?
Monday, May 11, 2009
I AM the Phantom of the Opera!
Well, I got the job. My techie/security part-time position at the Cleland theatre. Now I just have to learn the ropes and keep my job. Let's face it... electronic equipment? Microphones, wires, 'snakes', splitters, uh.... things I call 'thingers'? These things are not a natural part of my mind-set. I have a lot of lingo to learn. And some black clothing to buy.
I like the 'being in the theatre' part of the job. I like that I get to drift through the wings in the dark, spying and assessing. I like the feel of the theatre; the smell of it, the grandeur of the space, the sacredness of it. It's like a church, with swearing allowed.
Friday night was the Miss Penticton talent show. That was me, thirteen years ago. Strange to be on the other side of the experience, both in terms of my new job, and in that I have all those years behind me now. Would I do it again? Hard to say. But the girls really do get a lot out of the experience, in terms of an education not offered at school-- etiquette training, public speaking, some modelling training-- there are little things you learn about being a 'lady' that just aren't so important to the general populace anymore. Things like the correct way to get in and out of a car in a dress and high-heels, and how to go up and down stairs in a way that is most becoming. Sometimes when I think of these things, the feminist side of me scoffs. But the other (perhaps more powerful) non-feminist side of me is glad that I know these tricks of the trade. I mean, knowing the proper way to politely eat a whole artichoke... that is priceless.
Anyway. Today we're setting up a big screen. I'll be taking notes. I wonder what the show will be tonight?
Well, I got the job. My techie/security part-time position at the Cleland theatre. Now I just have to learn the ropes and keep my job. Let's face it... electronic equipment? Microphones, wires, 'snakes', splitters, uh.... things I call 'thingers'? These things are not a natural part of my mind-set. I have a lot of lingo to learn. And some black clothing to buy.
I like the 'being in the theatre' part of the job. I like that I get to drift through the wings in the dark, spying and assessing. I like the feel of the theatre; the smell of it, the grandeur of the space, the sacredness of it. It's like a church, with swearing allowed.
Friday night was the Miss Penticton talent show. That was me, thirteen years ago. Strange to be on the other side of the experience, both in terms of my new job, and in that I have all those years behind me now. Would I do it again? Hard to say. But the girls really do get a lot out of the experience, in terms of an education not offered at school-- etiquette training, public speaking, some modelling training-- there are little things you learn about being a 'lady' that just aren't so important to the general populace anymore. Things like the correct way to get in and out of a car in a dress and high-heels, and how to go up and down stairs in a way that is most becoming. Sometimes when I think of these things, the feminist side of me scoffs. But the other (perhaps more powerful) non-feminist side of me is glad that I know these tricks of the trade. I mean, knowing the proper way to politely eat a whole artichoke... that is priceless.
Anyway. Today we're setting up a big screen. I'll be taking notes. I wonder what the show will be tonight?
Friday, May 08, 2009
So, I'm lost out here in the wilderness of my childhood. I don't know what I want to be when I 'grow up', and saying that lost its novelty years ago.
A friend of mine suggested that I look at all of the things I enjoy doing in my spare time, and have a look at those activities, and figure out what I could do with them that would be profitable and... actually I forget what the other part was. Profitable and... fun? ...worthwhile? ...feasible? Hard to say, really. I've been getting so much advice lately (the majority of it unsolicited), that most of it dribbles down the side of my face like so much egg yolk.
(Minor complaints aside, I warrant that most of it has been good advice, and positively motivated.)
Anyway, here is a list of things I like to do:
Read
Research
Write
Correspond (mail, email)
Paint
Draw
Sit in the hot-tub
Swim
Canoe
Camp
Explore
Take photographs
Visit
Travel
Snorkel
Cook
Eat
Seriously... don't you think this could be just about anyone's list? I guess the glaring omissions include "talking on the phone" and "partying"... I'm not a natural socializer like my mother. I love animals, but not in the way I used to; these days, I can't imagine having a dirty, smelly zoo of pets, like I used to fervently wish for when I was seven years old. As much as I love animals, I don't like to have to feed them, take them to the vet, clean their hair from my clothes... or pick up their poo.
Anyway-- I'm getting off track, and I had said that I was only going to write this blog if I had something worthwhile to say. So-- I'm actually soliciting advice today. If you look at my list, and you think, "I know what she should do!", by all means, tell me.
In the meantime-- while I'm still waiting desperately to hear if I have the contract for the mural I want to paint or not-- I'm doing acrylic portraits of children and pets and what-have-you. I also (maybe) scored a Phantom of the Opera style job at a local theatre. I would be there like a ghost, opening and closing doors, and coming over the sound system to spook the renters into keeping the exits clear, and sweeping up the stage after all the performers have gone home. I wonder if I have to check the seats for spills and stains too?
I have an interview on Tuesday with a school in Vietnam. I have mixed feelings about teaching abroad again. On one hand, it's something that I think I really, really want to do, and on the other hand, I'm curious about what life would be like if I stayed in B.C. and really, really applied myself. You know, if I actually USED my god-given talents, rather than sitting on them as though they could be stolen or used up. It's funny-- I may have pointed this out before-- but I think there are a lot of creative people that feel that way. That if we use our talents, we may be spending non-renewable resources. Pure foolishness. Where did I ever get this idea, this fear of my own potential?
I wonder if I can do it all? Teach, create, travel, write, make a difference... I'm sure I can. But how?
Self-centered ramblings aside, my dad's birthday is coming up, and my mom and I don't really know what we should do for him. It strikes me as funny (and sad) that I don't even know what my dad's favorite restaurant is, or what his favorite food is. I know he'll probably say that it doesn't matter what we do, but I think it does. He's going to be sixty-one this year, and I wasn't there when my parents turned sixty last year. I do wish I had the money to fly him to Truk for his dream scuba trip, but the last time I mentioned that, he was saying that he was getting too old to scuba dive. "But dad," I said, "look at Jaques Cousteau! How old was he when he was making his scuba-movies?". Dad grudgingly agreed that maybe he did still have a few good scuba years left in him. But I can't send him to Truk Lagoon this year. Maybe we can take him for fish and chips instead?
A friend of mine suggested that I look at all of the things I enjoy doing in my spare time, and have a look at those activities, and figure out what I could do with them that would be profitable and... actually I forget what the other part was. Profitable and... fun? ...worthwhile? ...feasible? Hard to say, really. I've been getting so much advice lately (the majority of it unsolicited), that most of it dribbles down the side of my face like so much egg yolk.
(Minor complaints aside, I warrant that most of it has been good advice, and positively motivated.)
Anyway, here is a list of things I like to do:
Read
Research
Write
Correspond (mail, email)
Paint
Draw
Sit in the hot-tub
Swim
Canoe
Camp
Explore
Take photographs
Visit
Travel
Snorkel
Cook
Eat
Seriously... don't you think this could be just about anyone's list? I guess the glaring omissions include "talking on the phone" and "partying"... I'm not a natural socializer like my mother. I love animals, but not in the way I used to; these days, I can't imagine having a dirty, smelly zoo of pets, like I used to fervently wish for when I was seven years old. As much as I love animals, I don't like to have to feed them, take them to the vet, clean their hair from my clothes... or pick up their poo.
Anyway-- I'm getting off track, and I had said that I was only going to write this blog if I had something worthwhile to say. So-- I'm actually soliciting advice today. If you look at my list, and you think, "I know what she should do!", by all means, tell me.
In the meantime-- while I'm still waiting desperately to hear if I have the contract for the mural I want to paint or not-- I'm doing acrylic portraits of children and pets and what-have-you. I also (maybe) scored a Phantom of the Opera style job at a local theatre. I would be there like a ghost, opening and closing doors, and coming over the sound system to spook the renters into keeping the exits clear, and sweeping up the stage after all the performers have gone home. I wonder if I have to check the seats for spills and stains too?
I have an interview on Tuesday with a school in Vietnam. I have mixed feelings about teaching abroad again. On one hand, it's something that I think I really, really want to do, and on the other hand, I'm curious about what life would be like if I stayed in B.C. and really, really applied myself. You know, if I actually USED my god-given talents, rather than sitting on them as though they could be stolen or used up. It's funny-- I may have pointed this out before-- but I think there are a lot of creative people that feel that way. That if we use our talents, we may be spending non-renewable resources. Pure foolishness. Where did I ever get this idea, this fear of my own potential?
I wonder if I can do it all? Teach, create, travel, write, make a difference... I'm sure I can. But how?
Self-centered ramblings aside, my dad's birthday is coming up, and my mom and I don't really know what we should do for him. It strikes me as funny (and sad) that I don't even know what my dad's favorite restaurant is, or what his favorite food is. I know he'll probably say that it doesn't matter what we do, but I think it does. He's going to be sixty-one this year, and I wasn't there when my parents turned sixty last year. I do wish I had the money to fly him to Truk for his dream scuba trip, but the last time I mentioned that, he was saying that he was getting too old to scuba dive. "But dad," I said, "look at Jaques Cousteau! How old was he when he was making his scuba-movies?". Dad grudgingly agreed that maybe he did still have a few good scuba years left in him. But I can't send him to Truk Lagoon this year. Maybe we can take him for fish and chips instead?
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
For the first time in the nearly two years that we have been (were) together, Nate read my blog. Not all of it, I don't think. I don't even know if he'll continue, and read this.
This disconcerts me.
Why didn't he ever read it before?
Would it have made any difference?
Who am I writing this for, anyway?
I started this blog to chronicle my adventures when I was living in Japan. These days, I don't really feel like I have anything that is worth public perusal, so I've reverted to writing my private (paper) journals. I'll write again when I feel like I have something worthwhile to say.
In the meantime, Namaste.
This disconcerts me.
Why didn't he ever read it before?
Would it have made any difference?
Who am I writing this for, anyway?
I started this blog to chronicle my adventures when I was living in Japan. These days, I don't really feel like I have anything that is worth public perusal, so I've reverted to writing my private (paper) journals. I'll write again when I feel like I have something worthwhile to say.
In the meantime, Namaste.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
