Monday, February 28, 2005
Weekend Update
I had a mellow Friday evening hanging with Jason. We braved the crowds at Swiss Chalet, then stopped in at FutureShop so I could pick up Gran Turismo 4, which we brought back to my place and played for a bit before we headed to the Somerset Pub to join a few friends for a bit.
Saturday I got a few errands done and then spent a few hours playing Gran Turismo 4. Saturday evening was a fun little road trip. Jay, Stephen, Jamie Suzy M, Cheryl and I hired a driver and hopped in Jamie's stretch-limo to go to Fredericton for the evening to see The Crucible at St Thomas University. It was a fun trip down and I'd been looking forward to seeing The Crucible. The show was a bit long and it didn't help that I was very thirsty and craving a big glass of water through the entire thing. The black-box theatre that they have was awesome. We are SO missing a venue like that in Saint John!
Sunday was a busy day. I spent the morning tidying my apartment, then got together with a few friends in the afternoon to do a play reading. I then gave Jay a lift out to Hampton (I hope all went well for you Jay) and went home and made supper and played a wee bit more GT4 before folks started coming over to watch the Oscars with me.
The Oscars were fairly interesting this year. I really like some of the format changes that they made. Instead of watching people get up from their chairs and make thier way up to the stage to accept an award, they were well-organized and made sure that the nominated folks (for the most part) were either already on stage or they presented the awards in an area near where they were seated. This seemed to keep the show running a bit more smoothly. After Beyonce sang two of the songs from the movies we started to joke that they'd use her to sing every song. It was a treat to see Antonio Banderas and Carlos Santana perform the theme song to The Motorcycle Diaries, and then imagine our surprise when Beyonce came out to sing ANOTHER song! Why on earth didn't they use the people who did the actual songs in the first place? And even if they decided to use guest performers, surely to God there are more singers out there than just Beyonce! I have nothing against the girl. She is a fine singer, but to have her sing in French, and to perform more than one song was more than I could take.
I was holding out a bit of hope that Finding Neverland would get an Oscar for something. I really enjoyed that movie. I'm glad The Incredibles won best Animated Feature Film. I'm glad Sideways won best Adapted Screenplay. There are a ton of movies that I haven't seen that I want to see, including Million Dollar Baby, Ray, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Motorcycle Diaries, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Being Julia. The only other thng that I couldn't help noticing at this year's Oscars, was the large number of yellow dresses. Yellow is not an easy colour to wear adn since it's a pretty bold colour, I think it takes a bit of chutzpa to pull off. Most of the women who wore yellow dresses managed to pull them off rather well, probably thanks to a bit of help from a good stylist. So, all-in-all I'm glad I got to see this year's Oscars. Thanks again to my friends who came over and hung out and helped to keep me awake to catch the entire show!
Posted by Dre at 8:10 AM
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Friday, February 25, 2005
The Oscars
I can't believe that The Oscars are sneaking up already. I have a busy day on Sunday but I should be home by around 7:30 pm, in time to catch the red carpet arrivals at 8. If you are interested in coming over to hang out and watch the Oscars with me, please let me know.
Posted by Dre at 9:14 AM
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Server move.
Just a little warning that my site will not be working for a little bit by the end of the day and over the weekend as it is getting moved to a new home.
Posted by Dre at 8:22 AM
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Thursday, February 24, 2005
I saw Hotel Rwanda last night with Scott and Jason. Wow - what a movie. So hard to watch but still I'm glad I saw it.
I made it to the gym after work and before the movie. I need to get back into my routine, so I booked a session with my trainer to help kick-start me. I feel great today - it's all good aches. Now I just need to keep making it a priority so I can keep going regularly.
Posted by Dre at 8:44 AM
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Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Another great evening
Last night Shannon and I went to see Constantine. I enjoyed it. It was interesting and had decent character development. We'd gone to see the early show, so when I got home I still had a good chunk of evening ahead of me and I made a point to use my time wisely: I went to bed early. :-)
After work I have a session with my trainer. I'm hoping it'll help kick-start me back into my routine at the gym. I got super-busy with overtime and then the last set of one acts and I found it difficult to go regularly. I miss it and can't wait to get back into my routine.
Posted by Dre at 9:05 AM
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Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Mellowness
Last night Martine and I finally had a chance to hang out together and exchange Christmas gifts. Crazy, huh? It was a nice evening. We went out to dinner at Churchill's, and then stopped back in at my place and just hung out.
Posted by Dre at 11:36 AM
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Monday, February 21, 2005
Weekend Update
I had a busy and fun weekend. :-)
Friday night I saw The Northern Pikes at the Imperial Theatre. They were great - I think they get better every time. You could tell they were relaxed and having fun. After the show I met up with Merl and we went to Churchills for a couple of drinks. It was nice to catch up with him - keeping in touch with friends by email is great, but it's so much nicer to be able to see them in person.
I spent the day on Saturday running errands. The next thing I knew, the hours had flown by and it was time to head to the red Cross Wine Festival. I walked over with Suzy and Colin and ran into Lisa and Anthony and Jay - and a ton of other folks. I think there were 700 tickets sold. It was a busy event, and it was a treat to see so many SJ folks dressed up. It was a fun event. I spent my time looking for wines that I would like to purchase, and I managed to find a number of nice reds in about the $20 range that I plan to add to my collection. There was a maple-wine that was interesting. It was like a dessert. I'm not sure if I'd buy that one, but I'm glad I tried it. I think the highlight of my evening was the 10-year-old Port. It was difficult to enjoy anything else as much after having that. After the show, a few of us headed to the Somerset Pub for karaoke. I actually sang a song - Kiss by Prince. I had some wings and Sprite then called it a night fairly early. I was home and in bed before midnight.
Sunday was a bit of a chance to sleep in. I did a bit of design work for a friend, then at lunch picked up Colin. I told him I'd take him shopping in Moncton for his birthday (which was last month). The afternoon flew by, and I made a few fun purchases. It was pretty chilly out, but at least it was sunny - so it was a nice day for a drive. Sunday evening I went to see Hitch with Hayley. It was a fun movie - a great note to end the weekend on.
It looks like another busy week. It'll be nice to do a bit of catching up with a few friends earlier in the week. I hope to find some free time to get a bit of design work done later in the week. I may just have to start booking blocks of time for myself to work on the creative stuff.
Posted by Dre at 9:03 AM
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Friday, February 18, 2005
TGIF
This week has somehow managed to crawl and fly by at the same time. I once again find myself anxious for the weekend.
Here's an old Friday Five that's I've dug up;
1. If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why?
Other than where I am now? How can I choose just one? My most realistic choice woud probably be Halifax. I liked it there and my folks are there. I spent years wanting to live in Chicago (another city I enjoy). Hmm... maybe London, England. Or Paris or Barcelona. Nah - London sounds like a good combo of practical (I can already speak the language) and interesting. Of course it is a tad more expensive than Saint John. I think I'll stick around here for now. :-)
2. If you could speak any language fluently, what would it be?
Hmm, Spanish. And, I suppose it'd be handy to know French a little bit better. I also think it'd be kinda cool to know Swedish too - at least to know more than how to ask for a postcard, or say that I'm hungry or cute or cold.
3. When was the last time you rode a ferry and where did you go?
The last ferry I rode was the Gondola Point car ferry to go over to Joanna and Eric's when they lived on the Kingston Peninsula. I used to love taking the ferry across the Halifax harbour to and from school every day when I was at NSCAD.
4. What was the longest plane ride you've ever taken?
I think my flight to Malaga, Spain was probably my longest flight. It was around 6.5 hours from Halifax, if I remember correctly. I do remember sleeping as we crossed the ocean, then waking as we neared the coast of Portugal. It was clear and we could see everything all the way to Malaga. It was awesome. I love flying!
5. If you discovered a country, what would you name it?
Sheesh, I havent even been able to come up with a name for my new car yet, let alone a name for a fictional country. I'll get back to you on this one ;-)
Posted by Dre at 9:08 AM
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Thursday, February 17, 2005
Another Quiet Evening
After a much-needed nap, I went to the auditions for The Sunshine Boys. After that, I went back home and spent the rest of the evening going through some papers that need to be filed while watching the remainder of Sex in the City season 6 part 2.
I'm tempted to take tomorrow oof work but I have a lot of deliverables. I'm going to try to make today as productive as possible. If I can plough through everything I may take all or part of tomorrow off. :-)
Later gators!
Posted by Dre at 8:27 AM
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Filling My Plate Again
Now that the last set of shows are over, I'm filling my plate with some social engagements and a list of things that I need to get done. It still seems a bit foreign to have free time again, but I'm doing my best to enjoy it and make the most of it. :-)
I like to support Canadian artists when I can. I've been listening to a little bit of Matt Dusk. It's rat pack music with a bit of a modern twist.
Posted by Dre at 9:12 AM
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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Getting to Know You
This quiz has been going around a fair amount recently - I know Lisa and Scott have both posted it, and I've gottten in in email format from a number of friends at work. So without further adieu, here goes:
1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:50 AM. I'm not much of a morning person so I tend to sleep in as much as I can. I also don't spend a lot of time getting ready for work - maybe 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds. I'm a bit like a crow - I like sparkly things.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Sideways
4. What is your favorite TV show? I don't watch much TV. I do try to catch Inside The Actor's Studio, even though I sometimes have a hard time watching James Lipton fawn over the guests. I like CSI when I manage to catch it. I actualy like renting shows on DVD and watching a season over a weekend - without commercials. I did that with season 1 of 24 and season 1 of Nip/Tuck, which were both awesome. Oh and I can't forget Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which I made a point to watch every episode of when it was on. Oh yeah - and Sex in the City - I own every episode on DVD. Wow - this makes it seem like I watch a lot of TV, but I don't really.
5. What did you have for breakfast? A bowl of Rice Krispies with soy milk.
6. What is your middle name? Nadine
7. What is your favorite cuisine? I have a few favourites; salmon, red thai curry, sushi, avacados....
8. What foods do you dislike? I'm not fond of peppermints - such as those served with the bill after eating out. I think mangos are a bit too sweet with a weird undertaste.
9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Regular. I don't eat chips very often, so when I do I prefer plain chips. My favorite flavor used to be ketchup, but they add lactose as an ingredient so I can't eat them anymore.
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? k-os: Joyful Rebellion
11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Toyota Matrix XR with all the bells & whistles.
12. Favorite sandwich? Egg salad.
13. What characteristics do you despise? Intolerance.
14. Favorite item of clothing? I don't think I have a favorite piece. If there is something that I turn to most often, it's probably a good bra. Proper support for "the girls" is important. Otherwise, I do have a penchant for shoes and coats. :-)
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Places I'd love to check out; New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, Rio de Janero, Argentina, Peru, Scotland, England (again), France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Spain (again), Italy, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Japan, Morocco, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand... oh, and I do like the idea of going to a quiet spot in the Carribbean or South Pacific for a quiet relaxing trip.
16. What color is your bathroom? White and light Prussian blue.
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Whatever fits well and is affordable.
18. Where would you retire to? Good question. It probably depends where I'm at when it comes to my retirement - and that is stil a long long ways away.
19. Favorite time of day? Early morning when I wake up without the alarm, afternoons when it's nice out and I'm not at work, evenings.
20. What was your most memorable day? I dont think I really have any days in particular that stand out. I've had a lot of interesting/surprising/great/terrrible/funny things happen that have made for some memorable moments but no big day in particular.
21. Where were you born? Summerside, PEI
22. Favorite sport to watch? Hockey - because I can start watching from the middle of a game and pick up on it pretty quickly. It's also easy to get sucked into. I don't really watch sports though.
23. What fabric detergent do you use? (cough) I don't know. I do the drop-off at the local laundromat, or else bring laundry home and do it at my parents' house when I visit them (and just use thier detergent, whatever it may be).
24. Coke or Pepsi? Coke. I find Pepsi too sweet.
Posted by Dre at 9:08 AM
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Monday, February 14, 2005
Weekend Update
What a great weekend! It was busy but fun, which is usually the case on the weekend of a show.
Friday night we had a very warm audience, and the shows all went really well. It was very rewarding. After packing up at the end of the show, I met up with Kizzy and Jamie and Stephen and Kristi and Irwin at D'Amico's for a bit. I guess Irwin will be moving to Toronto at the end of March. That's another theatre company member leaving town.
Saturday day turned out to be a busy one. I got groceries and picked up a few items for cast gifts. I spent the latter part of the afternoon making cards for the cast of The Red Glove. By the time I'd finished, I only had 1/2 an hour to get ready and get to the NB Museum. Scott Thomas gave me a call and asked if I'd do a little interview for his show on the local Rogers TV show on Cable 10, called First Local. It's just a little 5 minute piece. I hope I don't look or sound too goofy - I'm pretty self-critical about stuff like that. I've asked Colin to tape it for me because I have satellite and I don't get that channel.
I was a bit worried that the audience wouldn't be as awesome as what it was on Friday night but it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. I think we sold every seat except for one. Once again, the shows were on fire. We also had an extra special event happen on Saturday night. In the programs, Bob V replaced his regular bio with a marriage proposal to his girlfriend. She came to see the show Saturday night we caught it all on video. After the curtain call for The Red Glove, Bob called his girlfriend up on stage and proposed to her. It was so perfectly done - and there wasn't a dry eye in the house! So congrats to Bob and Elaine!
The cast party was a bit mellow compared to some past ones, which is a good thing. I was happy to get all the thank-you's and presentations over with so I could relax. A few folks lasted lasted till 5:45, when I finally shut things down for the evening. Alana and her friend Angelica crashed on my futon and everyone slept until noon. I headed over to the loft to clean up from the party, and there was an Evita production meeting going on and a lot of it had already been cleaned up. A big thanks to Ann Keary who beat us to the punch. After that, Jay and Colin and I headed to Reggie's for a bit to eat. Then Jay and I decided to check out the matinee of Mary's Wedding at the Imperial Theatre by Theatre New Brunswick. It was touching and inspiring. I loved the set and the way they used it. It was a 90-minute one-act and it was very engaging. I'm really glad I went. I spent most of the rest of the day either napping or flipping channels. Except for a short trip to Swiss Chalet for a bite to eat, I didn't leave my apartment.
I woke up ths morning feeling a bit under the weather, which usually happens after the week of a show. I hope to chase that away with a ton of vitamin C and fluids. I am looking forward to getting back to a slightly less busy schedule. It'll be a real treat to have time for the gym and for socializing again. :-)
Oh, and I hope you all have a lovely St. Valentine's Day!
Posted by Dre at 8:30 AM
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Friday, February 11, 2005
Every Day Can Be An Adventure
My day started out feeling a bit adventurous as I headed out to the "Villa Madona" for an offsite session with work. I made it through the morning then I started to panic a bit that I had too much to do and too much waiting for me back at the office, so when we broke for lunch, I scarfed down my ham jambalaya and then went back in to work. I did feel a bit bad that I was missing out on some work bonding. In the evening, they had planned a cocktail hour and then dinner theatre. Since we had opening night of Script Happens I wasn't able to attend the work-related function. Of course, I'd much rather have been at Script Happens anyway, since we'd all put so much time and effort into them!
The weather then made for an interesting evening. We got a ton of snow followed directly by a ton of rain yesterday. It was a mess. The roads were terrible last night, but still, for Script Happens, the show must go on. Martine lost her babysitter for the evening so she wound up bringing her kids in while she did makeup. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a distraction for the folks trying to prepare for their roles, so in the future I'd be happy to grab the makeup kit for the loft and do it myself, instead of Martine having to rush in and bring the kids. Alas, the good news is she has sitters for the next couple of nights so that should avoid any unnecessary stress for anyone involved (esp. Martine - sorry you lost a sitter, by the way).
I think there were around 15 - 17 folks in the audience last night. They were fairly quiet but seemed to enjoy the show. I know Photoshop Time got a ton of laughs. :-) Of course, most of them were from Scott who was sitting in the front row with Anthony (who was taping the show)! LOL
After the show, a few of us grabbed a beer at The Ale House and tried to kill some time before we headed over to Studio 112 to watch the band Jason is in, Hospital Grade. We got there at about 11:45 and paid our $5 to get in. It turns out they were on after a thrash metal band from Quebec City, so we still had a while to wait. At least that band didn't have a long set. But holy moley was tht ever a painful experience. Only Jay, Hayley and I lasted through it. I think they had different songs but I had trouble discerning a melody. Also, since I couldn't figure out what they were screaming, I made up my own lyrics to the "songs" in my head. ;-) I remember at one point looking at the thrash metal band and then looking back at poor Suzy - cringing in her Burberry scarf. She didn't last long.
So I did manage to hear the first few songs of Jason's band, and by then (1:00 AM) I was having trouble staying awake, as was Hayley, so we decided to split. It'd be nice to hear a CD version of their stuff because the acoustics weren't the best where they were playing. What I did hear, I enjoyed. Jason is new to the theatre company and he has been great to work with. He is quiet and polite and very down-to-earth, so I was looking forward to seeing him play in his band. It was neat to see that side of him - he was in his element. :-)
Today I'm pretty tired. I'm hoping to pop home at lunch for a power nap. The weather still isn't the greatest today, but I'm still hoping that we get a bigger audience for the plays tonight. I'm really looking forward to it being the weekend.
Posted by Dre at 9:05 AM
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Thursday, February 10, 2005
Opening Night: Script Happens!
Tonight is the opening night of Script Happens - an evening of locally written one-act plays. There are 3 plays, and each one is very different - and I can assure you that they are all VERY entertaining!! They are at the Mary Oland theatre in the NB Museum at Market square at 8pm, and tickets are only $10 in case you're interested.
Posted by Dre at 2:10 PM
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Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Happy Chinese New Year!
Welcome to the year of the Rooster - a good year to stick to practical and well-proven paths.
Tech rehearsal went well last night. Tonight we have dress rehearsal. I am looking forward to getting to the actual performances. Things are coming along rather well so far.
Posted by Dre at 8:56 AM
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Tuesday, February 08, 2005
No pancakes for me thanks
Rehearsal was OK last night. There are certainly a couple of things that have been nagging at me about the show that I'd like to get worked out tonight. Tonight will be our technical rehearsal at the theatre, so it'll be a long one.
Besides having a late night last night, I woke up super early this morning stressing about the show. I'm guessing I'll have to squeeze a power nap in at some point today if I want to keep functioning.
Today I'm listening to k-os. Awesome stuff!
Posted by Dre at 8:46 AM
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Monday, February 07, 2005
Weekend Update
Friday evening: rehearsal then hanging out with friends at Churchills.
Saturday: shopping with Scott , The Wedding Date, a nap, some tidying, then Mings for dinner and the last 6 episodes of Season 1 of Nip/Tuck with Colin.
Sunday: more tidying, filing of papers, a nap, some reading, then rehearsal for Photoshop Time then rehearsal for The Red Glove.
Posted by Dre at 8:57 AM
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Friday, February 04, 2005
TGIF
Last night after rehearsal for Photoshop Time, I met up with Tara Dick and Peto to record the violin piece needed for The Red Glove. that was fun and Tara did a great job. Thanks again, guys!
It has been a long week and I am really looking forward to the weekend.
Posted by Dre at 11:02 AM
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Thursday, February 03, 2005
Addiction
Have you ever been to PopCap Games? They have a ton of online games that you can pay for free. At lunch today, I re-visited an old favorite, Rocket Mania and I reached a new level: Level 24, Master of the Elements, with 811355 points. Yay!
Posted by Dre at 1:58 PM
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Shush!!
Last night after Photoshop time rehearsal, Jay and Hayley and I went to see Sideways. It was an excellent movie. There weren't too many people in the theatre - only about 10. Unfortunately, there was a group of girls in the row behind us who were sitting over to one side. They chatted incessantly, "Look, he's picking up the bottle of wine!" and laughed in inappropriate places. It was particularly grating. I know they were shushed often but that didn't affect them at all. No wonder people would rather stay home and watch movies, if folks in the audience are going to treat it like they're in their living room.
Posted by Dre at 9:09 AM
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Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Groundhog Day
What an odd culture we have sometimes. I think it's cute that so many of us (even jokingly) put our faith in the myth of a little furry rodent and some cloud cover. Odds are, for most parts of Canada, winter will last at least another six weeks like it does every year. I can't imagine it ending earlier. Even if I am starting to get tired of bundling up before going outside, and dealing with the salt and slush and general mess of the streets and sidewalks. I know a few people who love winter - especially since they get involved with winter sports such as skiing or snowboarding and snowshoeing. (I love to ski, although I haven't had a chance to do it yet this year.) I do enjoy the fact that we get a change of seasons every year - it reminds me that I need to really appreciate the warm weather when we get it. In the mean time, I'll be doing my best to appreciate this season.
Posted by Dre at 9:14 AM
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Real Life
Real life is far more interesting than we give it credit for. Within the last day I've wintessed;
- something insignificant get taken the wrong way and pushed to the extreme
- something completely romantic and thoughtful and touching
- self-doubt from someone who has no need to doubt themselves
- giddiness at the prospect of a something new
- convuloted miscommunications in a buerocracy set up to make things simple
- kindness between strangers
- and much, much more.
Posted by Dre at 9:04 AM
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