People in Edmonton don’t know how to be celebrities.
When I bump into actors from Die-Nasty, I usually ask them “Aren’t you someone famous?” They smile, but they deny it.
One of the people who is responsible for the improv jam, and knows far more about improv than I probably ever will, seems to think I was joking when I referred to him as a “Guru”.
These people have to accept that they are above the mere mortals and that people should be asking them for autographs. I think it might be the Canadian way of self-deprecation. Otherwise they will never come to accept the celebrity. Josh Dean did it and look where he is now.

So much for being lazy today.
I cleaned up the kitchen, but it was for naught. When I was making Pepper Jack Chicken for dinner, I pretty much messed up everything I had scrubbed. Cooking isn’t a neat and tidy activity for me.
After the kitchen I just started cleaning up other parts of the household.

I really need to learn to goof off.

I went to the improv jam. Afterwards, I was talking with one of the class guru and admitted I had a blog. Now I feel obligated to talk about improv in case he decides to read this. So here we go.
On Monday I got a nice form email telling me that I was not selected to go into Theatresports. I got it in the morning and shrugged. I expected it. What was surprising was that for the next few hours I felt depressed. Which is silly, because I don’t deserve to be on stage. Yet.
I think I learned a bit at the audition. I noticed that I was placing others in trouble instead of myself. I did it again tonight. When I broke the fine china, I blamed it on my brother and sent him off to the aquarium to escape our parents. I should have taken the blame. But I realize that I’ve done something wrong and I need to work on it.
Later that class I had an idea to play a father upset that his son had colored his hair blue. I stopped, and switched it around. I played the son with the blue hair. And we ended up with the start of what could have been a good scene. (I think I gagged it though.) But afterwards I felt good. It was liberating. I could get myself into trouble and be the center of attention. And I did the right thing.
I have room to improve, but I know what to work on.
Of course, when I went to Chimprov yesterday and saw the 25 trading cards of all the improvisers, four of them were people I had gone to class with.

This looks like it will be a good day.
Because of a persistent stitch in my side I’ve decided to take a break from running for awhile. Next weekend I will be definitely be running, but that’s not the point. Today I got to sleep in. (That’s big news for me.) I stayed up late last night and went to see some improv at 11:00, featuring a new play “The Quick and the Undead”. Really, a predictable plot, but that’s improv.
Today it looks cloudy with a chance of rain. So I can justify doing whatever I want and not feel guilty that I should be outside. Besides I did my outside stuff yesterday.
The only obligations I have is to go to the improv jam this evening, and make a nice meal for myself for dinner. So I can waste my time with anything.
I could play computer games. I can do some personal programming. I can watch TV (but there is nothing on). The possibilities are endless.

I’m going to go clean the kitchen.

I’ve been wanting this song for about a decade. It was finally added to the iTunes store. And now it is mine!

Other than that, life continues.
I’ve been getting the stitch in my side every time I run now, so I’m thinking I might need to take some time off. Hill training doesn’t aggravate it too much, so I think I can continue that. But the 23km run last Sunday was probably a little much.

Yesterday I had an audition for a part in Theatresports. It was easy to prepare for, because, well, it’s improv. Preparing would be a bad thing. There are 8 spots available and there are twenty two people trying out for them. So roughly a third of the people will get in.
It didn’t feel that high pressure for me. I’m not sure I deserve to be on stage, but if they want me, I won’t say no. If they don’t want me, well I have a good career as a computer programmer to fall back on.
Looking back I didn’t do too much wrong. I can think of two places where I could have been better. One scene where instead of putting myself in danger, I put someone else there. It was funny, but I should have done it the other way around. In another scene I tried to be clever and did something that would make me look like a bad improviser. It wasn’t too obvious, but it made sense in my head. Unfortunately, the audience wasn’t in my head.
Well, we’ll see what happens.

Yesterday I came to a realization.
Running hills isn’t fun!
That would explain why I have such a feeling of dread when it is that time of the week. The depression. The avoidance of actually doing it. I try and stay away from things that aren’t fun, but I’ve signed up for the race, so I’m stuck.
I did the hill training yesterday instead of Wednesday because of the blind date. I only got out at 7:00 PM. I might have been later except I wanted to get home and see the next episode of Stargate SG-1, after last week’s cliffhanger.
All that said, it went surprisingly well. I had new runners, because my last have started to die. The hill didn’t have many other people using it either. I think that helped a lot because I didn’t feel the need to try and pass the person in front of me. So I could take the hills at a comfortable pace. After the session I felt good, and got home just in time to find a rerun being played.
Hopefully I”ll remember this good feeling for next week.

Yesterday I saw a play called “Three Days of Rain”. I don’t know what it is about Shadow Theatre, but lately, all of their plays are… well they leave me empty. They are dramas, and very rarely funny. They never seem to conclude and leave me confused. Maybe if I was more intelligent I would get more from them.
As it is, the first half seemed to be revealing bigger and bigger secrets about a family. I was getting interested. Then the second half went back thirty years and revealed… nothing.
I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend.

Blind date tonight.
I’ve been nervous about it all day. The most popular piece advice given to me is to not be myself.
The person who set me up commented that I strike him as a person who is never afraid of anything.

Ah, my old foe irony. We meet again.

I’m thinking of joining the conservative party of Alberta. It’s not because of any great love of them, but just so I have a chance to have a voice in this province.
As it stands, the conservatives will always win. Nothing will change that.
Everyone in the Tory party gets to select a leader or decide when there should be a leadership election. As an average tax-paying citizen, I don’t get that right. So I should spend some money and join.

Payback sucks.
Yesterday I went running with a friend. I use the word in its most liberal sense. He hadn’t been out exercising in awhile and he was using me to get himself motivated. He only wanted an eight km run, which is so short, I really don’t need to tie my shoes. He conked out halfway through and we walked most of the rest. At Victoria hill, he wanted to run it, and he did start out with a good pace. That lasted halfway up the hill and we walked the rest. At the top he found a bench and collapsed on it. According to him, if he didn’t lie down he would throw up.
Me, I was just enjoying the nice weather. Not even sure I broke a sweat. (Yes, I’m bragging. It just makes my fall that much more entertaining.)
After he made the best french toast I have ever had. He likes to cook, and I am perfectly willing to be the guy who eats what he makes.
However, payback came today. For the past year I have had a shoulder injury. That normally doesn’t sound like it would prevent me from running, but the shoulder muscles are shared with the lungs. So, after awhile, trouble breathing. It has slowly been getting better, and so I have been able to do further runs. It’s been about a year and a half since I have run 32 km. (Can you tell where I am going with this?)
Today was a run scheduled to be that distance. For the first 45 minutes it was rather awkward because my right calf was tight and I was wondering how far I would be able to go. That went away when I warmed up and we continued on the rather hilly route. When you go that far you pretty much cover a good chunk of the city. Kinsmen. Snow valley. Qu’appelle bridge. The legislature.
The last seven kilometers did me in. I got a stitch in my side. It went away when I walked, but that is only for one minute for every ten minutes of running. I kept up, falling behind a bit as we went along. I completed it about a minute behind the pack. But I did it. And now I feel terrible. (Note: We actually ran 33 km.)
My legs hurt, and so I don’t really want to take long steps. I don’t need to vomit, but I’m not that far off.
To celebrate I’m going to go to McDonalds and gorge myself on a quarter pounder with cheese. Mmmm. Greasy!
Let’s hope I can make the walk there.

In a way it is disturbing.
This morning I woke up with a semi-headache. Basically my left eye had an ache and I felt sort of blah. I still pulled myself to work, feeling pretty uncomfortable. I assumed the pain would go away eventually. After lunch I had had enough. I went to the first-aid kit and pulled out an aspirin. Popped it and went back to work.
Now I am feeling no headache. I’m alert and ready for anything. Better living through chemicals.
Generally I don’t like the thought of taking chemicals to feel better. If I take that pill that makes you happy (I forget the name, it’s not Viagra) I will feel better, but will I still be me. The magical effect of an aspirin makes a very convincing argument.

On Friday I drove down to Priddis. I had originally intended to leave on Saturday so I could pick my sister up at the airport. However the weather report indicated that there would be heavy snow starting that night, so I figured it would be better to get there sooner, than later.
On Wednesday I had filled the car with gas, and purchased a car wash as well. I didn’t use the wash immediately. I had planned to go and get the car cleaned right before I left so my sister would have a clean car awaiting her. Of course, when I went to the gas station to get to the car wash, they had a big sign saying it was closed. Bait and switch. So the inside of the car is all clean from where I cleaned it, but the outside looks horrible. I did not make a good first impression with it.
The trip down was otherwise uneventful. I do seem to have picked up a strange habit. Above the highway, at certain points, there are large light signs that flash important messages about how it is wrong to drink and drive. Whenever I go under one, I make sure I’m drinking. A coke of course, but it is the thought that counts. I think I may be speeding as well, when I go under them, but I’m not as sure about that.
It was St. Patrick’s day, so I suppose it would be the appropriate time to be drinking. Lunch that day was at Chili’s, which seemed to be doing their best to be as un-Irish as possible. Not a lick of green anywhere. I suppose if we wanted Irish and Tex-Mex, it would have been better to go to a place called Chilegans. But no such place exists.
If it is St. Patrick’s day, it means I have had my shoulder injury for a year now. Last year at this time I was at The Druid in a lot of pain from it. That’s kind of depressing.

I’m on vacation in Priddis right now. My sister is here on holiday from Florida. It’s good to see her again.
Of course I wasn’t feeling as generous when she declared to my parents that the resort I had stayed at in Jamaica was Hedonism. I had been trying to shelter them from that information.
She has to do a lot of school work, and the weather here has been fairly bad. So I’ve spent time trying to clean up my computer. I’ve been going through all my old files and putting them in organized locations. A lot of the time I have the same file, maybe with minor differences, in multiple locations. I’m paring them down and keeping only the essentials.
I have a huge pile of “Magic: The Gathering” stories I had written in 1994. I tried to figure out exactly when I had written them by finding them on the newsgroup that I had posted them to. I found four of them there, and then suddenly nothing. It took me awhile to figure out that after some time I had started posting them to a mailing list instead. Which is a shame because it means that there is now no record of them on the internet.

It finally happened. I was able to cancel my subscription to the newspaper. It’s been a long journey, but finally I’ve been able to see the end.
The deal I was on ended, I called up and said I wanted to cancel, and the guy didn’t make me a cheap offer to continue. Like the last dozen times. I get the feeling his heart wasn’t really in the salesperson side of things. In any case, at the end of this month I will no longer have a newspaper.
I will have to get my Sudokus elsewhere. Comics will need to be read online.
I will still remain informed because I read Time magazine. But now I won’t have the additional burden of a newspaper.

Of course, this could all come crashing down if they call me up and offer me a “special” deal.

I really didn’t want to run today. I had a feeling of dread that made me drag myself around. Hill training feels like work instead of fun. But I’ve signed up for the K-100 relay and paid my money, so I better get on it.
Surprisingly, I did actually do the run. I only did six Emily Murphy hills. That’s about all I can stand. I like to believe that physically I could do more, but mentally six hills is my limit.

Is Snapple still available?
On Sunday I had a craving for a lemon Snapple. This was in the evening, on the day when I had had a long run in the morning where I probably didn’t have enough hydration. So, needless to say, I was thirsty.
Going home from the improv jam I went into Safeway and looked through the cold drink section and couldn’t find any. I stopped off at a 7-11 as well, and had the same story. Now that I think about it, I can’t recall the last time I saw a Snapple for sale.
They have a functioning website, but that proves nothing in Canada.

Years ago there was a show called Dark Angel on television. It was hyped a lot because it was made by James Cameron, who I am sure you are aware is well known for his science-fiction movies.
Anyway, I faithfully watched it for one and a half seasons. I was usually busy when it was playing, but I recorded it so I could catch it later. Then one day something happened and I lost the recording. A single episode was missed. I then noticed that I felt no sense of loss over this tragedy. Apparently I didn’t care. Only momentum was keeping me watching the show.
I never did watch another episode.
The television show Lost was hyped a lot and many people said it was good. So when it went into reruns I started watching it. Several episodes were skipped because the television network didn’t know how to broadcast a show consistently. Still I got the gist of what was going on and it was interesting.
Now in the second season, that interest is waning. Nothing ever happens. I think this is going to head the same way as “Dark Angel”.
The killer seems to be the last new episode broadcast. It was on the same time as a new show called Free Ride. I was out at the time so I could only record one. I had to see Free Ride because I knew the lead actor. (Literally. I was in a class he taught on improv. He’s a nice fellow.) I figured I could catch the missing (no pun intended) episode of Lost at some later date, or figure out how to bittorrent it. But I feel no need to do that. There is no sense of loss.
Maybe this is a chance to reclaim some more free time?

This weekend I made an accomplishment.
I have gone through all the old computers and sucked all the pertinent data off of them. All I have left to do is delete any old files lurking around and then I can chuck them off the balcony and let them be some lower dweller’s problem.
Maybe we’ll call the balcony plan B.

Holy gronk! I haven’t updated in awhile.
Nothing too exciting to report. My free time has been spent trying to clear off the data of old Macintosh computers. (And an old Newton.) It’s not exactly edge of your seat excitement, but it needs to be done. In my mind everything will go better once this is done. I can get rid of the old computers that litter this place. And then concentrate on other projects.
I need to make a “To Do” list of all the other projects I’ve been interested in.
I’m also impressed that I have been keeping my condo fairly clean. Usually if there is no threat of anyone visiting, it slides towards the bad. But I have been setting time aside to keep it in good condition. I have no fear of anyone dropping by at the last minute because I am ready for them. However I have probably jinxed myself by mentioning this.
Next week my sister will be visiting Calgary from Miami. I’m picking her up from the airport, despite being in a different city. Then I take her to the parent’s place. I haven’t seen her in a year and a half, so I’m looking forward to this. I just have to figure out how long it takes to drive to Calgary from Edmonton so I can hit the airport when her plane arrives.

Today I received an email from my father.
He was reminding me of a few things to take care of. But at the end of it, since it was his birthday recently, he mentioned how old he was. I found this kind of shocking. I don’t tend to think of the age of my parents. They are some nebulous age that doesn’t really concern me. To find out explicitly how old my father is has brought feelings of mortality up in me.
Some day I would like to have a child. If I don’t start on that project soon then my father would never know a grandchild. This is becoming a very real possibility.
I really have to start getting my life in order and get past some of the psychological hang-ups that seem to linger in my brain.

I noticed something this weekend of concern. I’m lopsided.
I was looking in the mirror and got a good glimpse of my pectoral muscles. The one on my left looks pretty good, dare I say sexy, but on the right it looks… flaccid. I’m assuming that this is because of my shoulder injury. I must be favoring my left arm leaving my right muscles to atrophy.
The solution I suppose is to start forcing myself to use my right arm more. Which shouldn’t be a problem since I am right-handed. It should be my natural behavior. Except evidence is proving otherwise.
I want to concentrate on my running form. I might not be swinging my right arm the same amount as the left. That might also be an explanation.

Really, last night was pretty much the first time I ever drank beer. I’ve had numerous opportunities before for beer, even free, but I never drank it. I guess peer pressure, and a friend who wouldn’t take “No” for an answer, finally did me in. The secret is apparently to not sip, but to take a good swallow.
Today I still felt the taste in my mouth. And I don’t know if there is a hint of a craving for it. Which doesn’t make sense since I much preferred the Shirley Temple I had after the beer.

I have no shame.

Went to the bar. Just got back. Yes, I am aware it is a work night.
I went with a co-worker and his friend. He was quite supportive and seemed to be trying to make me a better person. This involved me drinking half a pint of Kokanee Gold. I apparently need to acquire the taste for beer.
Also I can’t seem to do anything right. I need to swear more. I need to drink. I also need to learn how to talk to women with confidence, especially if they start the conversation.

It was warm enough to do hill training today, but we have finally had snow. I figured I didn’t want to try charging up a hill when it is slippery. So I went back to the treadmill.
On Sunday I with a shorter running group than usual, because I was taking Harry the dog with me. He kept up well for the ten kilometers. The last two or three he was lagging, but he did finish. I’m sure he enjoyed it. After the first kilometer he had calmed down that I started letting him off the leash in safe areas. An interesting result of this was that when the group of runners was packed into the woodland trails behind Hawerelak park, he started expressing his genes.
He is a border collie cross, so he started herding the pack of runners.
No nipping or anything, but he started circling the group to make sure there weren’t any stragglers. I could have put him on the leash again but it didn’t look like he was getting in the way, and he seemed to be having a good time.

I was exhausted today. It was a different sort of exhaustion than I am used to. Usually when I haven’t had enough sleep I try and keep my eyes open as best as possible. This time I had no trouble with that, but concentration was shot. It was because after a weekend with a dog that had a moral objection to people sleeping, I had also stayed up too late last night.
Still it didn’t stop me from going to a model call.
I noticed on the door to the stairwell in my building that the Academy of Alberta Aesthetics was having a model call. I wasn’t sure what it was, and with good judgement shot to hell from fatigue, I went and checked it out. The pretty girl was very convincing, so I was soon being interviewed by three students of the academy to see if I would be good as a model for some event in March. I think they are interested in using me. I have prior experience being a model from being a chronic volunteer last November in Jamaica. Plus I am obviously comfortable being in front of a lot of people since I do improv.
At one point they were asking for vital statistics about me. I didn’t know what my eye color was because I never look at them. Really, how can I? So I go forward to let one of them tell me and she said I had freaky bluish-green eyes. Usually I only get that reaction if I am wearing cats-eye contact lenses.
That interview only took fifteen minutes after work. I went home and took a quick nap, ate dinner and then got to my improv class half an hour late. I didn’t miss much, just some warm up exercises. The class is too crowded so I don’t feel I’m getting that much out of it. So I don’t feel bad about being late.
The nap helped because I am quite alert right now, and about to do the same mistake I did last night and stay up too late.

This was a whirlwind weekend.
Last Thanksgiving I purchased a turkey. The plan was to cook it and invite people over to eat it. A dinner party if you will; For all the people who wouldn’t be able to have a good Thanksgiving dinner. That plan got trashed when I went to my parent’s for Thanksgiving.
So the turkey stayed in the freezer until this long weekend. I invited all the people who didn’t have turkey at the correct time to come over. I even had my parents there to help celebrate. But not to help cook.
Cooking with my mother in the area is rather difficult. I wanted to do this party by myself. She said she was bringing Waldorf salad and stuffing, and I thought I would leave her that, but I would do the rest myself. In her defense, she left the turkey itself to me, but she was insidious with everything else. I really wasn’t allowed to be involved with the gravy sauce at all. The rice and peas were a fight to do my part. Still, it was a good turkey for the seven people around the table. I finally opened up one of the twelve year old bottles of rum that I had purchased in Jamaica. The daiquiris were apparently very good. The party didn’t officially die until around midnight when the last person left.
Interestingly, for a time there were two turkey’s living in my refrigerator. The aforementioned bird and another one I had picked up at the farmer’s market on Saturday. The Hutterites make great turkeys and my mother wanted one for the “Welcome home” party when my sister visits in four weeks.

Hill training isn’t fun. I find that I am no longer looking forward to the Wednesday evening runs. It is no longer a social activity but a lonely slog up and down the hill.
So, when it became cold today I felt no guilt in skipping the run. It really isn’t that cold, temperature wise it is only -13 degrees. However, the wind chill makes it feel like -23. That’s good enough for me on a day when motivation is low.
In my defense I did go onto the treadmill in my gym. I set it to a high degree angle and tried to find how long I could keep that up. Treadmill running is different from what I’m used to so I couldn’t keep it up for very long. Still it was training.