Missed the Great Glebe Garage sale!

Yesterday we woek up hungry with no breakfast food in the house. So Carrie suggested that we drvie into Ottawa and have breakfast in the glebe, then hit up the great Glebe garage sale (that we thought was on all weekend.)

Driving into the glebe, and seeing know garage sales, we quickly discovered that it all went down the day before. Instead we went to Home Depot and cased barbeques, and picked out the one we're going to buy today (a nice natural gas one.)

working in the garden

Spent today / this morning getting things rolling with the garden. Ideally I'd like to have things planted by the end of the weekend, but we'll see. Moved about 6 wheelbarrows of dirt into it, got 4 bags of manure (maybe I should just get a sheep), 3 bags of black soil, and am now 1/3 finished taking up turf. We'll take out 2 more feet of turf off of the end of the garden, and she's ready for planting.

The weather today has been gorgeous! The forecast called for 40% chance of rain - it was miserable yesterday, and i was thinking it would be miserable today too. But lo and behold, it's beautiful out - blue sky with poufy white clouds.

After the morning of hauling dirt and turf, just crashed out in my sky chair after a good lunch. Life is sweet. I would be inclined to finsih the garden now.. but I've got a 3 hour roving gig tonight, I'm manging some other entertainers, and performing, so i need to save up some energy for them. i'll probably make it home then pass out.

Cowavan 

Honda Cowlick

It's official the onion is freakin hilarious. I'd read it every day, but I don't think that they update it that quick.

Had a great day yesterday, It's official, I'm cowing up my car! we (The Cowguys) had to sell our Cowavan due to high kilometers (it had 265,000km on the odometer), a failing engine, and high gas prices. If i'm commuting 40km to work with any regularity then a vehicle with a 3.0L, V6 engine isn't for me. The van was brilliant, it had the word "COWAVAN" replacing CARAVAN, and moo as the third eye brakelight. I hope to do something equally stellar with the new/old car.

In the adbsence of said Cowavan, last year I purchased a much more modest, smaller 1992 Honda Civic. Strategically it's in a dark grey colour. I'm planning on putting white vinyl spots on it, and slap on all sorts of signage. I'd like to cover all of the rust spots with vinyl.. making my slightly rusty looking car look brand spanking new! Look out world, bring on the roads. The car does have almost 200,000 km on it, but it is a Honda.. and I just put a new engine, and new tires on it. I hope it lasts forever. (and it will likely last even longer as a Honda Cowlick.)

headshot 

Beck and taxes.

Sitting here this morning, with Beck's new album spinning around in my head. It's titled Guero (in fact I just went to the car to get it and rip it) and I think it's his finest work to date. I really like Beck's music, but his albums are pretty inconsistent. When he's good he's brilliant, and this album is brilliant, if you like weird, groovy music.

Yesterday I sat down and worked out a budget to pay back taxes. Being self employed, and being concerned primarily with paying the bills, i always neglect setting aside moula for the taxman. Just caught up on two years worth of taxes, and i'lll have everything all paid up by the end of July! Sweet. Gotta love seasonal businesses.

"There are two real certainties in life, Death and Taxes"

You coul add Dental Work in there too.

Quotes to live by.

If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.

Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he'll be a mile away - and barefoot.

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

A closed mouth gathers no feet.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

Always yield to temptation, because it may not pass your way again.

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

Eat well. Stay fit. Die anyway.

Men are from earth. Women are from earth, Deal with it.

These quotes are from this guy http://blog-convict.blogspot.com/

Chilling.

I woke up yesterday morning , looked at the weather, did a little internal survey of my mouth (which hurt) and made the call that I wasn't going to do shows. I was just going to see Star Wars.

And that was our day! We did the dishes hurriedly ran out the door and bought tickets to see Star Wars. Our plan worked out well.. we boght tickets, went and had a quick lunch (where we informed the waitress of our plan to see Star Wars, got back from lunhc about 30 minutes prior to the movie to find some reasonable seats (the two last reasonible seats - after that point the seats started sucking.)

Star Wars was killer. Plenty of lightsaber battles balanced with a love story that actually worked (unlike episodes one and two where the "affectionate scenes cause a gagging reflex.) The plot whipped along, all of the loose ends got wrapped up, and did i mention the lightsaber battles?

"This is how our liberty dies, with thunderous applause."

Best quote of the movie. Well that and everything Yoda says/does. I read an article about the similarities between the movie and American politics. Funny how alike the situation is (totally coincidental as well) with the Americans starting/continuing wars in the name of liberty.

Today is the start of a relatively normal workweek for me! I won't be drugged up all week (well part of the week, i'll be taking the occassional Tylenol 3. Advil doesn't count as drugs.

Feeling Groovy,

This long weekend was really disappointing weather wise. Things were cloudy, rainy, and generally pissy. My acts still got shows in though!

My work-weekend as OK. I had my first gig since the teeth were removed on Saturday - a great walkabout gig as a court jester at the Children's Museum. I pulled out this killer outfit for it.. pin stripe blue and red bellbottoms, a blue and red pin-stripe white shirt, blue/red vest, and a blue polka dotted tie. Throwing on a jester hat completed the outfit, (photo coming soon) and had me looking great! I have to shoot some photos of me in that outfit. The gig was great, a perfect ease - back into work.

Saturday was also my first day eating real food, drinking booze, and having a party! it was wicked.

Yesterday was my first circle show since the wisdom removal. Before the show started I did a little test as to my range - yes a torch fit in the mouth, but it was a bit snug. Blowing up a balloon was really painful - i shouldn't have even tried. I did the show.. ended up eating a torch at the end (the crowd was right behind me).. In my head i was thinking "I can bail on this and just blow it out... but the crowd was right into it, and i thought.. well it will fit." The torch was no problemo - funny how the fire didn't hurt me, but the balloon animal did. After the show (i got it in a little bit late) I was wrestling with my desire to make money, and the throbbing bad feeling in my mouth. I made the call that it wasn't worth it, and that i should just pack it in. This ended up being the right call, as on my way out to the highway it started to drizzle. So even if I had started another it would have been rained out.

Then puttered around, had coffee with friends/performers, popped my head in to Jon's little birthday party, then met up with Carrie and headed home.

Today, gauging the not-so nice feeling i've got going on in my mouth, and the pissy looking weather I think i'll be watching the New Star Wars in the theatre today with Carrie. Maybe that and working on the garden. I might add a few Tylenol 3's and some ice cream in there to make my mouth feel better. Life is good.

Getting there.

Last night I had a stir fry... hmmmmm real food. Counted out my narcotics, and i have one more day of blurriness and then i switch things over to Tylenol with Codeine. Of course I'm working Saturday, and hosting a party, so my goal is to try to not use drugs (well i have to drive too.. so i will have to not do drugs.) Saturay is going to be a drinking night! hmm something different.

The swelling is going down, i'm not really in pain, and i can a bit more. Still i don't want to push it.

Today is Star Wars too! It's pretty exciting, i'll probably go in with Jeff and Erin today and go see a matinee. I'm not sure yet, we'll have to see how i'm feeling.

yesterday I finished the video game Rachet and Clank. What a great game. Also watched the movie "Shaun of the Dead." It was pretty funny, all told i was expecting funnier, but it was well worth the watch. A quirky British zombie filled comedy.

I just want to be better already

It's official, I just want to be better already. Is it too late to tell the dentist to put them back in? I did actually ask the dentist for my teeth. They're pretty gross.. and much bigger than you'd imagine. (in a sterilized bag in my office.)

This morning i was kind of testy. I think it's because i want to be doing my usual thing, and instead i'm drugged up and unable to do what i want to. At least i don't have to worry about an infection in my teeth... or having them grow in improperly.

So my best bet is jsut to let things run their course, and to continue napping.

woooo eee

So i've been sleeping for at least 10-12 hours, and just popped a new Percoset about an hour ago. Certainly not feeling any pain.

The worst part of the whole procedure wasn't them ripping the teeth out (the cracking and grinding counds were admittedly not pleasant) but it was the bleeding. My mouth bled alot, i went through plenty of gauze, and after two hours and some ice, the bleeding stopped. This morning i'm delighted to find no blood in my mouth.

While the dentist was drilling or sawing or whatever he was doing, i could hear the zee zee whooo whoo of the drill. I kept thinking - just think of Star wars sounds. it worked. Plus I was way gassed, so it wasn't very hard to relax. The dentist said "you're a hero"... thanks doc. It was my toes that were really the heroes. I could feel the gas going right to them, and i emoted any discomfort that i was feeling through them.

I had the dentist and the assistant laughing pretty good. They gave my mouth a good rinse and I said the they hygenist "You'd be great at parties". "Rinse over here please.. yeah with the hose.. I also thought of a fwe good lines while they were working in my head. "My dentist works by word of mouth."

hmm yeah, feeling pretty bleary, i might go find some video games, or a movie or breakfast or seomthing. Maybe breakfast and then bed again.

In answer to my neighbours question about my wisdom teeth"Yes two of them were impacted, they were a bitch to get out." I'm thinking of having my teeth mounted like a hunting trophy.

getting ready for tooth ripping.

Tooth ripping fun is about to be happening in my mouth in just under an hour. I'm heading out to have my wisdom teeth removed. Wooo! So i'm not aloud to eat anything just in case they put me under (i'm hoping they do.) I've been getting all sorts of tales from different people on how bad the experience was, only one person so far said "Yeah it was a piece of cake." Hopefully it doesn't suck too bad. And carrie is taking the day off to nurse me.

Star Wars Revelations

Yesterday, fater reading a rather s cathing review of the last two Star Wars movies I was put on to a fan movie of Star Wars that got a great review. The movie titled "Star Wars Revelations" wasn't as good as the reviewer made it out to be.. there were obvious problems (ie Jedi's in leather, looking more like characters from the Matrix than monks), and a pretty weak two handed lightsaber fight. These are the differences in pro vs amateur films. Obviously the producer/director is a ravin Star Wars fan, and not delving too deeply into the philosophy of Lucas' films.

Last night i went over to Jeff's and watched Forgotten. Cool movie. There's a surprise moment that happens while the lead copule are driving along in a car that makes the whole movie worth watching. It would have been awesome too see that in the thearte. Forgotten was a neat thriller / sc-fi meets real world film. Again it's one of those films (like Men in Black or the Matrix) that make you question your reality, and the realm in which we exist. Movies like that rock - they definately help you forget about your credit card debt.

Today it looks like it's raining. That sucks - i was hoping to have a garage sale. It's still not too late, i could pack up a bunch of stuff and take it to the school, and rent a table - it's just tempting to actually chill out and not do to much.

Star Wars is coming

Dum Dum Dum Dum do de dum do de dum...

Star Wars Episode 3 is almost here, and I'm starting to get excited about it. The Star Wars press machine is in full gear, yesterday i picked up a Time magazine that had Darth Vader's head on the cover, itt had a least three articles on Star Wars in it. Over the past few months I've had the Star Wars trailer living on my desktop, just watched it again, it looks awesome. I'll probably see it on opening day at a matinee, as the Friday after it opens I'm working on the basement with Paul. The matinees shouldnt' be too busy - maybe i can buy a ticket online or something.

Hmm.. yesterday was a good day! I nailed down a few contracts, and June is now very booked up. That makes me happy. Now i jsut have to finish off booking July / Aug and start on the fall.. then start booking mass amounts of other acts. I do need another staff member in the office, it will happen in 2006.

Line from David Merry's show "I lost my grandmother 2 months ago. I haven't given up yet, I still want to look in two places."

a tired Brian

I was a tired one yesterday. My day ended up being mondo busy.. returning phonecalls, going to the bank, etc. It didn't stop - which is really good. At about 4:30pm i had jsut run out of steam and ended up on the couch with a beer watching Star Trek. Aaaaah the good life. Carrie managed to peel me off of the couch, and we went for a walk, although it was really windy (like walking in a wind tunnel) and neither of us was in a particularily good mood.

Our moods improved when we got some food in us, and got home.

Although after dinner I flaked out on the couch and fell asleep for three hours. Got up at night.. watched the Simpsons, then was in bed reading for 10:-10:30pm. I guess I really needed the sleep, the past four or five days have been rather hectic. of course that's why i'm awake now (at 6:30am)

Today should be a busy one too.. Going to Costco, shopping, doing errands in town. It should be fun.

The car that didn't start.

Still, i left the front door 45 minutes before i had to be downtown. Thinking that it being before 9am and all I'd likely hit some traffic on the way in, and being 15 minutes early never hurt anyone. Pop out to the car, turn the key.. nothing..

It wasn't the train that could.. it was the car that had it's lights on all day/night, and the battery was dead. It's the second time that I've left the lights on, and come out to a dead car. Luckily I wasn't leaving for a show - just heading to a bookeeping workshop.

So I tried to boost the battery using a battery charger i've got in the garage. Turning it over again it made some noise but not much. I left it for a while, tried it again, still didn't start. Seeing as it was 8:15am I didn't want to bug Jeff.. he could have driven over and given me a boost. After 30 minutes of waiting for the battery to charge I made the call.. i was calling Jeff. Sure enough I got him out of bed.. he said "I'll be over in 10 minutes." three minutes later the car started. I called Jeff to let him know and he was literally heading out the door.

Felt a little dumb, but apparently i can install a light / alarm / indicator. cool.

In the end I only missed a tiny little bit of the bookeeping workshop.

Had a full day in town.. and managed to bump into two people who I didn't plan on bumping into too. Finding Nick on the street at 10:15pm, when i was on my way from Dave Merry's comedy/magic show to the car was a huge surprise. The cool part was that I had a cheque for him and everything! (and I meant to drop it off to him that day anyways.)

Dave Merry's show was great! I asked him after the show how many jokes/lines he did in the hous, he figured around 200. Crazy! His show was fast, funny, quirky and edgy. Not your regular comedy/magic by any means. It was great having dinner with him and another booker in town, and talking shop all night, capped off with a great show. I love my job.

lost dogs

Yesterday I was driving into Ottawa for a big corporate show (well it was a replacement 15 minute bit for an act that I had to cancel for a corporate client) and along the highway I noticed a lost dog. This sad looking black and white border collie type dog was standing by the highway pouting.. i could imagine him thinking "why won't anyone stop for me." I totally would have stopped to pick him up had I not been on the way to a corporate gig.. I slowed down and thought about it and everything.. Can you imagine me showing up at the Congress Centre with a stray dog "don't mind the dog.. i found him on the way in."

First weekend... having solo fun, & godmothers!

This past weekend was the first of the Tulip Festival. It was really my first weekend really pushing to do solo street shows.. all told I got 7 shows in, and did alright in the hat. (Being my first weekend on my own, i'm still feeling out the ladder & hat pass, but it is getting better and better.)

It was fun! All week I was busting my butt to get my show together.. worked on a new costume (well new pants), had a chunk welded out of my ladder as well. Now, instead of an insanely high 9ft ladder, i've got a comfortable 7ft ladder. Still high enough to be impressive, but i'm not freaking out on the top of it. The ladder was ready for me Friday night.. got it home, hopped up in my driveway, did it a few times, figured.. yeah I can do this, and then packed it up in the car. Performed it in the show (juggling for the first time on it, on Saturday) Funny thing.. i assembled it at the welders so it was full height, then it wouldnt' come apart (it's pretty bitchy to get apart on a good day. I worked out that if i fit the gap over the front passenger side seat in my Honda Civic hatchback I can fit the assembled 7 ft ladder in my car in one piece. CRAZY. That warrants a picture (coming soon.)

Yesterday was mothers day, and while I just have a mother in-law, I bumped into my godmother. I haven't seen her in years. She tried to make it out to Carrie and I's wedding three years ago, but she got horribly lost and didn't make it. She still has our wedding gift all wrapped up for us. My godmother is a really sweet little Spanish lady.. we were talking after the show, she says "I love you Brian" and i was all like "ok don't tear up here big guy..." I didn't but i had to bite my tongue a little.

mornings & birds

mornings... Today is looking to be a busy one. I have to make a call I don't want to (have to cancel a show due to injuries) and hopefully substitute something else in it's stead. Have to work on that first thing this morning.. ugh.

Yesterday I was just getting up.. i was looking out the patio door into the backyard, with Waldo sitting next to me. I little bird flew into the glass patio door and lay there stunned and blinking. Not missing a beat Waldo pounced as much as she could (hitting the glass door.) It was pretty amusing - i think it was a little woodpecker (kind of chickadee couloured and sized with a red skullcap.)

Last night i started working on a prop stand holder that would enable me to hang all of my juggling implements. It' came out pretty well, although i really should rebuild it before tomorrow.. The prototype was good, but the clubs area little snug. Now that I've built it once it should take me all of 30 minutes to build a new one. AND i get to use my new mitre saw.. woo!

I should get my ladder today. My dream of making my pants fall down this weekend while climbing up my ladder looks like it's not going to happen. I'll aim for next week. Hopefuly I can perform on my new ladder height - should be exciting! Hopefully i can get my ladder back in good time today so tha i can practice it up!

Anniversaries and getting puller over by the heat.

Can I call the police"the heat"? Is that good slang?

I met up with Carrie the other night in Ottawa to do some groceries. On the way home I wanted to hit a certain thrift shop - which I'd discovered had gone out of business. I took some rural roads home, and got in behind this Ford Escort full of old people. Driving just under the speed limit tends to drive me bonkers.. i saw an opening, passed them, then realized I was going 90 in a 60 zone. I started to slow down, and noticed another vehicle passing the old people, sure enough it was "the heat" It's difficult to try to slow down without hitting on the breaks, sure enough the police car flipped on it's lights, i pulled over. The nice policeman let me know to slow it down, they've been getting complaints from old people in the neighbourhood about speeding (probably old people in Tempos.) And then he sent me on my way without a ticket! YAY. He probably looked at my 92 Honda, saw me in a sweatshirt, and thought "this guy doesn't need a ticket" Sure enough I didn't.

Last night was Carrie and I's anniversary. We celebrated on the weekend by having a romantic night which involved having a nice steak for dinner, watching a romantic movie "Finding Neverland" and drinking wine. Well we did other stuff too but you probably don't want to hear about me beating her in scrabble repeatedly (What can i say... i'm good at scrabble.) I really wanted to watch "Shawn of the Dead" but Carrie put her foot down and said "Romantic dammit" Who am i to argue..

Again last night I met up with Carrie in town, got her a nice boquet of flowers, and we bought me a mitre saw! WOOOo. I've been saying things like "Hmm i bet i could use a mitre saw to cut that." or "Hmm i could build one of those with a mitre saw." Honestly, a mitre saw is a pretty useful tool (as I discovered by cutting all of the wood that is framing the walls of my basement.) It's also great fro cutting PVC and stuff. What am I doing.. ranting on.. I don't need to sell you a mitre saw. Either way.. It's all set to go, i just have to wrestle with it a bit to get the guard back on.. then i Toss Paul's mitre saw in the garage. Sweeeeet!

And to top things off Carrie got her back pay cheque, and we got a gift.. pretty good day all in all!

Poem - YOYO

A spinning top at the end of a string
provides a momentary distraction,
a retraction from the modern world.
Japanese machinations
spin childrens fascinations.
It spins, orbits and revolves
short attention spans involves
a tricky web of two-ply string.
Simple little plaything
Causing revelations
Spinning revolutions.

(originally written December 21/99 - Brian Wilson)

Feeling like a kid

I Just got back from Jeff's house, where we played video games.. playing this game "God of War" for the PS2. It's the best game ever. I said that about the Lord of the Rings, then the Two Towers, but this game really is the best one ever. Jeff and i both play plenty of games, but this one has stumped us both at different times.. it's a real gamers game.

On the way over I bumped into some of the neighbours who were out walking their dogs. We were all walking in the same direciton, and literally two houses down.. Was chatting with them a bit how I felt like a kid "Going over to a friend's house to play video games."

Today was a pretty good day. Got my car fixed up (which didn't cost me.. but I found out that another repair is in order.. grr.) Then I got a hot lead on a welder, that happens to live within 1km of my house. This is a big deal seeing as I live in the middle of nowhere. Foudn out that the welding job i'm looking to have done will cost me something like $20. Also managed to buy a new prop case, a few pairs of pants (which I plan to get hemmed tomorrow) and things are rolling along tickety boo for plans for my solo - show and marketing campaigns. It's all going quite nicely.

Song of the day was "If I had a million dollars" by the Barenaked ladies

Quote of the day "It doesn't matter who you vote for the government always gets in"
(not sure if I've used that one before but it came up.)

Inspirational quotes on walls

Success a good weekend. It was tiring but it all worked out well.

Saturday saw me doing a show for a friend / caricature artist that I work with all of the time. It was his son's birthday party, and all in all a really good time. Usually when i'm performing at kids' parties I don't usually get fed, i don't hang out much, it's usually do the show and get out. It was great to hang out, chat with the parents eat (some good organic food) and then do my thing. Amir has a really cozy house - great colours on the walls, as well as insipirational quotes on the walls.

Quotes off of Amir's Walls;

"The most important things in life aren't things."

"We're all in the gutter, only some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde

"Question Consumption"

The last one I assume is about consuming products (our daily consumption) and not the disease." Question consumption" was suck in my head for a few weeks. Questioning what we buy, what we eat, can really affect your life philosophy. I'm at the point now where i have a house, almost full of stuff, and i don't want any more crap in it to junk it up. I'm looking to get rid of stuff, maybe acquire some better quality stuff that will last forever, and that's it! And i'm building my dream basement - but that's another story. I'm really pouring over whatever i buy, be it clothing, decor, books, etc. I think it's saving me money, and well not junking the place up. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Albert is Amir's cat. He's a big tolerant male cat that was chased around the party by the kids. My cats would have been hiding underneath the couch, or in the roof rafters, but Albert somehow tolerated being dragged around, and basically molested. He enjoyed my show, as all the kids were occupied for about an hour giving him time to soak up some quite time in the kitchen. I like the name Albert for him it really suited him - he was an orange tabby who was pretty big and laid back (I guess kind of fat Albertish.)