So a week ago I came up with a schedule for myself. A way to organize the activities I do and actually do them. I put time aside for playing computer games, and for working on my computer programs.
In the past week the only thing I have done on that schedule was to have a movie night on Monday. And that was only because I invited people over to join me.
I could blame my taxes, but I still haven’t done them.

I did laundry though.

In keeping with my MO, I’m going to go out and continue to not do taxes.

After an evening of communist art, one feels the need for an opposing viewpoint.

Starbucks was happy to provide one.

New plan. As soon as I stepped into my condo the phone rang. A friend wants to go to an art show. I have a policy of never saying “no” to any social invitation, unless I have prior plans. (Leaving me in a deadly trap if I’m ever invited to see a male stripper.)
Taxes do not count as prior plans. More like nebulous arrangements. (Note: They do consist of selling and buying of foreign stocks, so it is not a simple job.) I guess I’m pushing it back to Friday. Wow, that’s a fun Friday night. Taxes! I think I’ll stick some laundry in there too.

I should be working on my taxes. Every time I think I have energy, something comes up. Yesterday, I didn’t have any energy at all; hill training will do that to you. Today, the run was tiring, but I feel alert. Except that I got caught up in the final episodes of the second season of Doctor Who.
So tomorrow sounds promising.
Until I remembered that there is a band I’m semi-interested in seeing. At my last improv class, the teacher mentioned his band was opening for a Danish band this Thursday at New City. I have Danish heritage, so I was thinking of going, nominally to support him, but also to check out what Danish music is like. And it is a good excuse to get out.
Well there goes that tax preparation day.
Not that I have ever heard of this band.

A short run today. Very bacon filled. That isn’t a slang term. Three houses smelled of bacon. Very salivating.
Afterwards, a bunch of us went to Artisans Bakery Cafe. The service was terrible. It took half an hour for them to take our orders for the meal, and then another hour for the meal to arrive. And what arrived was rather small. I’m still hungry. And afterwards, I didn’t hear an apology or compensation made.
I’ll chalk it up as a learning experience, but I’m never going there again.

There is a cult out there that is trying to get me to knit. They are persistent, and they make good arguments. But so do the Scientologists .
The biggest argument made was an article titled “Knit Like a Man”. In summary, if you are a man that knits, women will be all over you. That sounds very convincing, and normally that would be enough to get me going. Except for one thing.
I’ve fallen for that exact same argument twice before.
I’ll admit I’m stupid. That shouldn’t be a reason to do anything.
The first time was my scooter. The store was down the street from where I lived, and so I was always seeing scooters zipping by. They looked fun, and they said that girls would be all over me if I had one. In my defense, it wasn’t the only reason to buy it, but it did affect the decision.
I never did get a girl hanging off me. But then I never got the knack of hanging out by my scooter. I’m not even sure how it is supposed to work. Either I’m using the scooter and moving too fast to meet someone, or I’ve parked it and wandered off.
The second time was the guitar. Woman love a man who can play the guitar. This one I can’t really blame on anyone. It might actually work. I have tried to learn the guitar, but I don’t practice that regularly. And certainly not in a public forum where loose women would be wandering. I should get back to that, and try and see if it does work.
In other words, I’m cynical now.

I had my last improv class yesterday. It went well. It was a good way to end what might be the last improvisation I ever do. I was particularly proud of my reincorporation techniques.
With that class over, and I’m now being shunned by RFT, I am with a lot more free time. My adult acting class ended, which gives me more time. The Friday Feasts are on hiatus. The only consistent time suck I have now is training for a marathon. Even the magazines I read are being cancelled.
I have free time again.

I hate it.

I’m already noticing the bad effects. Don’t get me wrong, there are good effects. I am strangely sleeping better now. But I’m not used to this. Worst of all, it is giving me time to think. That has always been a bad sign for me. I tend to get introspective and depressed. You can’t be alone with your thoughts if you are busy.
I’ll try and find new activities. I came up with an idea for an interesting website today that I might try to make. But computer stuff will only hold the tide back for so long.
And it isn’t going to get better. Once the marathon happens in… oh god, it’s in exactly one month. I’ll have too much time on my hands.
This sucks!

Today was my ninth anniversary of working at my job. I’ve been through two acquisitions, but I’m still plugging away at it.
My traditional way to celebrate is to bring in donuts. It means people will be forced (not really forced, but programmers have a hard time resisting free food) to come to my office. There, guilt will make the congratulate me.
I went to Tim Hortons and picked up two dozen donuts. While there I decided to get a hot chocolate.
I have now tasted the worst hot chocolate of my entire life. I’m almost sure it wasn’t hot chocolate. It tasted wrong. Last night I stayed up too late, but after slurping that swill I was alert for the entire morning. That just isn’t right.
I think Tim Hortons slipped me a roofie. Or a mocha something.
I will give them credit. After work I returned with the barely drunk beverage and they refilled it with actual hot chocolate.
A little late, but still good.

Apparently I have graduated.
I got a nice email from RFT that said that I had learned all that they had to teach. All that is missing is a diploma and a ceremony.
Which would be great, if I agreed with them. I may have learned all the rules, but I still need practice to become better. Since I’m not part of the show, the best way to practice was to attend classes. I agree that I’m not learning anything I didn’t already know in my head. That doesn’t mean I’m good enough.
However, there is a new policy. Once you graduate, you can’t take classes anymore.
Well that sucks.
Now I have to either find a third party improv group to practice with, or watch the skills I have fritter away. On the plus side, I should have more free time now. Maybe I can catch up with life.

In the past three and a half days I have run 48.6 km. That’s over a marathon in length.
I think I get to take the rest of the week off now.
Oh, and that plan to stop talking about running doesn’t cover the blog. You come to me, you hear what I want to talk about.

Muscles aching. What do I do? I go out for another run. And not just any run, but hill training. Up and down Emily Murphy Hill seven times.
Truthfully, it felt better than last hill training two weeks ago. It may have had to do with drinking gatorade instead of water while running. Or I may have just gotten stronger.
Either way, I can’t wait for the marathon to be over with. Oh wait. That doesn’t solve anything, because a month later I have the K-100 to look forward to.
It’s like being on a treadmill, except… well no. It is exactly like being on a treadmill.

Oh yeah. The pain doesn’t start until the next day. Silly me.

It’s been another day of full blown busy.
It started out well. I got a good night’s sleep and then set out for a 32km run. I felt good for most of it. I think it may have had to do with better nutrition while actually doing the run. (Two powergels instead of one.) Then, in the middle, there was talk of doing an extra three clicks at the end (because we weren’t doing the 11km of speed work.) If I did that, then it would become the second-longest run I had ever done. After waffling with the idea, I decided to do it.
But I made a miscalculation. I thought the group leader would go back to the Running Room before doing the extra distance. Because I was quite a bit ahead, he was able to… deek?… deke?… uh that hockey term, and he took off while I had slipped into the store to get more water. I didn’t notice until a few minutes late. I started to run to catch up, but I didn’t have “racing” energy. Just “maintain speed” energy. I gave up and enjoyed stretching.
Since then, I’ve felt a lot better than usual for such a long distance. My legs don’t hurt (except for my toes) and I don’t feel spaced out. I was able to run the D&D game today without too many brain problems. (Climax too. The undead army was stopped, but the bad guy got their hands on the really evil sword.)
I talk about running a lot. I’m trying to re-evaluate my anecdotes. There are two topics that I continually bring up. I’m trying to avoid them now. Running is one. I can’t imagine it is that interesting to read about.

Yesterday I got a Nintendo Wii. I probably won’t play it much, but instead treat it as a party machine. Have friends over, play Wii-games. I don’t want to think about it too hard, because I can’t really justify buying it.
I haven’t played my Xbox (original, not 360) in years. I have a game I want to play, but I can’t ever find the time to sit down and goof off with it.
I know, I know. I’m supposed to make the time. But that is easy to say.
To use the Wii, I did have to unplug my Xbox and disconnect it from the TV. So now it is even less likely that I will get around to playing it.
Actually, one of the more fun parts of the Wii has been designing Miis, the little avatars that represent you in the games. Try to get them to look like each person who is playing. It is a great way to ruin friendships.

I was supposed to go running this morning. That was the plan for quite some time. Since I was going to be in Priddis, I couldn’t do the usual Running Room run. So instead, I would go on to the highway and start running west towards Bragg Creek. After an hour and a half, one of my parents would pick me up.
I didn’t contend with vacation mode.
The weather was fairly miserable down there. So last night I could not motivate myself to consider running. It was cold and there was no sun. That wouldn’t be any fun. So I skipped it.
Ironically, it was beautiful out there today. But too late for the run. Instead, we went into the Kananaskis park and took a walk. It was a forty minute walk in. Then there was some exploring of a hill at the bend of the river. And in theory, it would be followed by a leisurely forty minute walk back.
There is a pile of stones and rocks that I have been carefully constructing in my parent’s driveway. I alternate between calling it a navigational marker or a navigational hazard. In either case, I think it should be bigger. And at the bend in the river there was a nice, big rock. And I took it upon myself to haul it out of there. My mother estimates it at 25 kg. I am terrible at estimating weight, but it was heavy.
I’m wondering what state my back is going to be in tomorrow. My arms were limp at my side for most of today. Lifting a much needed can of Coke to my lips was a major undertaking.
Fortunately I could manage to lift them to the driving wheel of the car this evening. And now I’m back in Edmonton.

Today was a much needed day of goofing off. After over three months, I finally got back to the Civilization IV game I started at the new year. I took a gamble that the French wouldn’t finish their spaceship in time, and it paid off. I was basically a shut-in with my family (the weather here isn’t spectacular.)
But now, I have conquered the world. I can put the game away for awhile with no regrets. Now I’m on to being productive.

I’m at my parent’s place in Priddis now. When you are here, you have to deal with morning dog. It’s like morning breath, but only furrier. And demanding to be scratched. And heavy on your stomach. And come to think of it, it is nothing like morning breath.

Okay, this might be offensive to some, but that hasn’t stopped me before.
The War on Terror isn’t going well. It strayed from its original focus and is now stuck in the mires. I think part of the problem is that it is an esoteric concept. How do you know if anything has changed. Nobody in the free world was blown up recently, but that was true last week as well. You can’t tell if things are better.
If you want people to sit up and take notice, and support the government you need to declare war on something that is happening all the time. Where people will immediately notice if things have changed.
We need the War on Spam.
Not the lunchmeat! You know what I’m talking about. None of this namby-pamby stuff. We need an actual war, not a bunch of bills that haven’t changed anything.
Make the conditions of being spam ridiculously easy to achieve, so that a broad net is cast out. I don’t know what the conditions are, but something that covers a lot.
Then if someone sends spam, they get arrested and thrown in jail. None of this talk of fines, they aren’t a deterrent. Hard time in jail! Boo-yah!
Of course that is the privilege of citizens. If you are in another country, then let’s be a bit more severe. You are terrorizing the domestic internet, so we will need to be harsh. Once you are found out, the country in question has a week to hand over the guilty party for a trial, or war will be declared for aiding and abetting them. A very short war that consists of black-op troops slipping in under cover of night, and grabbing the guilty (not presumed innocent) party. If he resists, then he’s too much trouble and should just be capped.
This would put the fear of god into spammers. I’m fairly sure that the amount of junk email would drop off. And the average citizen would notice that his life is getting better.
Is this fascist? Of course. But the War on Terror seems to be getting fascist, so the bar is fairly low.
The only country that could get away with this would be America. They have a military and they aren’t afraid to use it.
Canada could not. “Oh look. They’re trying to assert themselves in foreign countries. Isn’t that cute.”

I’m improved out. No, scratch that. Doesn’t make sense. I’m “improvisationed” out.
The improv guru Keith Johnstone was teaching a four day class and I had signed up for it. I had to take Thursday and Friday off to attend. No big deal.
After the Thursday class, I went and attended my regular evening improv class.
After the Friday class, I went to the late night Theatresports.
After the Saturday class, there was a party for a bunch of improv people. Lots of fun and discussion of improv.
Today, the class wasn’t in the morning so I went on a 24 km run. I had to get up at 7:30 for it, which meant I only had four and a half hours of sleep. A large bottle of Coke was my best friend for the afternoon.
I’m really tempted to skip dinner and just crash.
The workshop was great. I did get to be beat up by a rabbit in a karate suit. Mr. Snuggles soon became my master and led me into a karate competition where I was against Timothy the Bear. I won and my Sensei decided I could get a disciple of my own, and introduced me to a horse.
Keith knows a lot, and his advice is good for life in general. (Improv: It’s not just for theatre anymore.) I’ve taken extensive notes, and I’m glad they weren’t stolen from their spot next to my waylaid brownies.
I reported the robbery to the police. They gave me a number and everything. I’ve done my part to make the crime statistics accurate in this city. And in the harsh light of day I found some damage. There is a little plastic nib against the driver’s side window which is now bent outward. I have no idea as to its purpose, but it shouldn’t be that way.

I went to the bar late this evening with two friends. I took my car but the friends walked.
Afterwards, at around 2:15, I offered them a ride home. When we got to my car, the doors were unlocked and the console and glove compartment were open.
Someone had broken into my car!
Nothing was damaged. I didn’t see any fiddling with the locks or anything. I looked through and I could see my sunglasses, gloves, jar of grey poupon, iPod radio tuner, loose change, spare glasses, and other sundries were all there.
The only thing missing was a half eaten bin of one-bite brownies that I had purchased from Costco for the improv classes.
I suppose I should feel violated, but I’m more amused. They rifled through my stuff and took something that was barely mine. Maybe worth $4 after taxes.
I still should report this to the police so that crime statistics are accurately reflected.

Okay, I’m not going to do the run today. Normally I do a faster, shorter run on Wednesdays, but with my legs still hurting, I figure I should give them a rest.
In other pain news, I have blisters on my palms. I enjoy poking at them. But there isn’t any real pain. Just a weird feeling. Poke poke poke.
In lieu of run I think I will take a half hour walk. It should give my muscles a chance to clear out the lactic acid. And give me some fresh air.
Today is a special day. My week has ended. I’ve signed up for a four day improv course. So I’ve taken tomorrow and Friday off to attend.
I get to stay up late!

It was 31.37 km according to Google pedometer.
And today was filled with a world of hurt in my legs.
And yet that is nothing compared to what happened later. I went to help my friend with the last scene he needed, which involved me falling. This was not a professional production so there were no stunt men, or even padding. Trying to get a good spill for the camera I got a nasty rug burn on my palms. And man, does it hurt.
I’ve tried Aloe Vera gel, but only ice understands my pain.

I have survived. And my car was still there at the end.
I ran for 2:55:05. My legs really hurt. And I have listened to the dulcet tones of Bob McDonald through three episodes of Quirks and Quarks.
The original plan was Chianti’s. I’m not sure I can make the walk that far away and be there before it closes.
A shower wouldn’t hurt either.
I’ll look up how far I actually covered later.

It was probably 1987 the last time I was roller-skating. Not rollerblading, but roller-skating. I was in grade 7 at the time, and I was bad at it. It was a school trip and I spent most of the time clutching the wall.

Rollerblading is much easier.

Today was the Rapid Fire Theatre AGM, held at a roller-skating rink. The meeting, as usual, was fun as we have a bunch of people with short attention spans all trying to be the center of attention. The chair was competing against a bunch of retro-arcade and pinball games for the remaining attention span.

There was pizza as well. I ate quite a bit of it. The acting I was doing for my friend did not result in the promised lunch so the last time I had eaten was breakfast. I’m not blaming anyone for that. We were running behind and lunch would have taken too much time. As is, we still haven’t finished.

The acting was really tiring as I kept having to sprint through the halls of Grant MacEwan college. I’m not used to anaerobic exercise, so it is draining. But we got good shots and I’m looking forward to the final product. Of course, I did have to make sacrifices. I had to repeatedly collide with an innocent bystander.

Anyway, the AGM was fun. And after it was over we went roller-skating. I could have brought rollerblades apparently, but it hadn’t occurred to me. So I had the standard, ancient, four wheels like-legs-on-a-table roller-skates. They didn’t quite fit, so my feet started hurting. I think I’m getting a blister on the bottom of my foot.

Which all leads to the planned run tomorrow.

• I have blisters on my foot.
• My back is feeling weird from all the crashing into people.
• I gave pretty nice directions for someone who wants to spend three hours stealing a car.

I’m still going to do it. I’ve been thinking of parking some distance a way so that my car isn’t completely obvious. But that should extend the distance. Which might also be a good thing.

There are some movies that are better seen with other people.
It was funny in the theatre with friends. Seeing it alone, not so much.

Usually I do the long run on Sundays. But not tomorrow. I have a friend who needs an actor for his movie project for school. He needs me on a Sunday for quite a long time. I can’t fit in a run before, and I have an AGM to go to in the evening.
I really want to do the run. It is supposed to be one of the two longest runs of 32km that happens when training for a marathon. I feel I should do it. I missed a long long run two weeks ago. I had hoped I would be needed for a shorter time tomorrow so I could do it on my own (as opposed to the usual running group) in the afternoon. Apparently not.
I’m now thinking of doing it on Monday evening: Leave work, immediately drive to Whitemud creek, run to Capilano bridge, and back again. (Not quite 32 km, I think, but close enough. It’s the same route I tried to rollerblade at least once a year before I started running.) Then enjoy a well-deserved dinner at Chianti’s on their cheap pasta night.
My only fear is that the sun will set and make it completely dark while I’m in the river valley. I guess that will encourage me to run faster.
The benefit of this is that I don’t have to go to bed early tonight. I’m thinking of watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Maybe popcorn?
If I was more ambitious I would go out to a bar and “socialize”. But I would rather see a movie.
But first, dinner.

Today was a D&D game day.
In the past I’ve been making my own adventures, or heavily modifying them to fit into my “campaign”. This time I’ve been basing it all of an existing adventure I bought last year. It is amazing how much easier it is. I’ve still modified it, but mostly that is just changing the names.
And it has been a good adventure. It was very cinematic today. An old stone bridge collapsed around the heroes. The monk threw a large keg of explosive powder into an army of undead. Unfortunately, he then ran down the stairs to escape, and the explosive went off a little soon so the foundations of the keep were collapsed. But he used his monk-y skills to dodge the rubble, running along walls and escaping with his life. All to meet his friends who were proceeding to blow up the remaining bridge. It went off a little sooner than expected, so we had the classic run-faster-than-the-explosion scene.
Classic.
The army of thralls is still largely intact, but delayed. And about to march on the city that is in the midst of a major party.

Why yes, I am nerdy.

Yesterday was the big premiere. I was on stage at the Maclab in front of people I know. People with blogs! wrote a review in hers. also wrote about the experience. Lana was there as well with a friend, but it remains to be seen if she mentions the experience.
I had fun. But let me comment on the three plays I was in.
The first “Eye to Eye” could have gone better. The background music was too loud and the principal actors spoke too softly. And they mixed up their lines. I was the waiter in the scene. Since I had such short stage time I memorized my lines between the brief moments I was onstage. In practice that worked. I thought I had more time at one point, but since the lines got mixed up, a large chunk of the play was missed, and I didn’t hear my cue. Then the other actors started asking for a pen, a prop they have never mentioned before in any of the rehearsals.
All in all, that could have gone better.
“The Interrogation” was my showpiece. I was on stage the entire time, and I think I did well. I mixed up only one line, and the actress didn’t even notice, so I’m pretty sure the audience didn’t. The bigger problem I found was that I had forgotten to take off my waiter’s apron between the plays. I don’t know if anyone noticed since I was sitting most of the time.
The final play, “Now we’re getting somewhere” went well. I got all my lines right, and I was a properly smarmy sales-schmuck. I was getting pretty thirsty by that one, so I was jealous of the actress who had to chug an entire can of pop.
Go read other people’s blogs for better reviews.
I was really wired after, so I didn’t get to sleep until much too late. And I haven’t recovered from the 29km on Sunday, so the run today was not pleasant.

I’m not too nervous yet about the show tomorrow. I’ve mostly got my lines down pat. I’m actually more worried about what to wear.
We haven’t exactly had a dress rehearsal.
Still, should be exciting. I’m especially looking forward to having more free time now that the class is over.

The weirdest thing is happening.
For a Halloween party, I took many pictures. People of course wanted me to send copies. No problem. One woman only gave me a MySpace address. Unfortunately you can’t send messages unless you are also a member. I signed up and sent the pictures. And then washed my hands of the whole thing.
This weekend I’ve gotten five requests from people who want to be my friend. It’s great for the self-esteem, but I have never heard of these people. And looking at their profiles, they all seem to be young sex-starved women from the US.
And their descriptions about themselves match word for word.
And who is this “Tom” guy from L.A. that actually is supposed to be my friend. I didn’t say he was. Does MySpace think I’m so lonely that it is assigning me friends. Awfully forward of it.
I must say, my opinion of MySpace, not high to begin with, is not being helped by this.
I’m marking them as spam.