These days you can find me over at www.jennywynter.com
If you feel inclined to relight my fire.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Hanging Up
Hey dudes,
Well, it feels rather bittersweet to write this - what is gonna be the last entry on here. At least for a fair while.
For various reasons, not the least of which is that I feel like I've lost a lot of the passion that I had when I first started blogging, I've decided to have a long overdue break from blogland. Thanks for reading and occasionally even commenting, I heart it muchly. FYI my website's currently going through a dramatic overhaul, which, once complete (hopefully in the next month or so) will have regular blog-like updates on there, though admittedly they will probably be more random comedic musings and career-oriented blabs, rather than any of the personal stuff.
Which, on the personal note, my main frustration with myself on this blog is my tendency to censor myself far too much on here, which is something that - for the good of my soul and my comedy - I desperately need to remedy. "So running away and hiding is the answer?" you say. Point taken (even if it is from an imagined response from my audience, invented by my very self) but the bottom line for me is that I need to focus my writing time on my actual comedy and projects.
Plus peeps, I'm just so damn tired. The reason of which is posted below, in photographic form.
Life is good. Love ya lots lemondrops. And thanks for being a cyber-friend! xxx
"Jen!" you say. "Did you just finish off your blog with an image of paraphernalia which you actually URINATED ON?"
Uh-huh. I really did.
I know. Genius.
Salada! xx
Well, it feels rather bittersweet to write this - what is gonna be the last entry on here. At least for a fair while.
For various reasons, not the least of which is that I feel like I've lost a lot of the passion that I had when I first started blogging, I've decided to have a long overdue break from blogland. Thanks for reading and occasionally even commenting, I heart it muchly. FYI my website's currently going through a dramatic overhaul, which, once complete (hopefully in the next month or so) will have regular blog-like updates on there, though admittedly they will probably be more random comedic musings and career-oriented blabs, rather than any of the personal stuff.
Which, on the personal note, my main frustration with myself on this blog is my tendency to censor myself far too much on here, which is something that - for the good of my soul and my comedy - I desperately need to remedy. "So running away and hiding is the answer?" you say. Point taken (even if it is from an imagined response from my audience, invented by my very self) but the bottom line for me is that I need to focus my writing time on my actual comedy and projects.
Plus peeps, I'm just so damn tired. The reason of which is posted below, in photographic form.
Life is good. Love ya lots lemondrops. And thanks for being a cyber-friend! xxx
"Jen!" you say. "Did you just finish off your blog with an image of paraphernalia which you actually URINATED ON?"
Uh-huh. I really did.
I know. Genius.
Salada! xx
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Writing, writing and cliffhangers
Well, we're home again, safe and sound, back into the old routine, which includes (hopefully) some more regular blogging including actually replying to comments. Forgive me, readers, what can I say, it's a tough life on the road, baby!
I'm super motivated right now (and super annoyed at myself for my apparent automatic overuse of the word 'super' - but it's such a nice, upbeat word!) to enter into next week's third installment of my residency at the Banff Centre.
I'm gonna keep it focused on writing - writing some more chunks for my new comedy show, plus polishing off some songs I've been working on, but also getting together my spec TV script (I'm doing one for 'The Office') as well as a pilot episode for the sit-com which I pitched at the Banff World TV Fest. Excitement!
There's much other news to share, but that will have to wait. Sighs all round. Soon, soon, my little impatient ones, soon shall I feed you! Now in the meantime pipe down and let Mummy get back to her Scrabulous.
Ta.
I'm super motivated right now (and super annoyed at myself for my apparent automatic overuse of the word 'super' - but it's such a nice, upbeat word!) to enter into next week's third installment of my residency at the Banff Centre.
I'm gonna keep it focused on writing - writing some more chunks for my new comedy show, plus polishing off some songs I've been working on, but also getting together my spec TV script (I'm doing one for 'The Office') as well as a pilot episode for the sit-com which I pitched at the Banff World TV Fest. Excitement!
There's much other news to share, but that will have to wait. Sighs all round. Soon, soon, my little impatient ones, soon shall I feed you! Now in the meantime pipe down and let Mummy get back to her Scrabulous.
Ta.
Monday, June 16, 2008
BC Comedy Tour Update # 2
I'm very pleased to report that the past few days of the tour have taken a very pleasant turn for the better.
WOOT!
In short, the gigs have been great (particularly in comparison to what will forever after be referred to as 'The Chilliwack Fiasco' - which I've chilled the hell out about now, which in doing so, has led me to remember some of the positives, like a dude coming up to me post show and saying "I'm so sorry, it's really not normally like this, please come back!"), the family has been soaking up the glamour of living in a damn nice hotel while sussing out the equal parts beautiful and bizarrre Kelowna (more on that another time), plus, the best part of all, have made a new and incredibly fabulous friend - in the form of the tour's headliner act: Jennifer Grant.
Seriously, I love her. LOVE her. Comedically and personally. I don't think I've been this excited about meeting another human being in a long time. Gush gush gush. She is without a doubt one of my favourite comedians ever, I kid you not. And to top it all off, she is just one rocking chick. Damn! We bonded over incredibly drunk Kelowna locals, stories of hookers playing with my kids in the hotel pool (that is one looooooong story and one that I find disturbing, if only in my complete lack of judgement: but hey, it's gonna make a beautiful comedy bit), and geeking out over comedy.
Oh man.
Last night was the last gig, Timmy came down and videoed my set for me (courtesy of the hotel's babysitting service - NOT hookers) and then today we embarked on the drive back home. We're currently hauled up in a beyond quaint family campground in beautiful Salmon Arm. We've eaten a home-made meal, done laundry and relaxed for the first time in days. Rock.
I'm back, baby!
WOOT!
In short, the gigs have been great (particularly in comparison to what will forever after be referred to as 'The Chilliwack Fiasco' - which I've chilled the hell out about now, which in doing so, has led me to remember some of the positives, like a dude coming up to me post show and saying "I'm so sorry, it's really not normally like this, please come back!"), the family has been soaking up the glamour of living in a damn nice hotel while sussing out the equal parts beautiful and bizarrre Kelowna (more on that another time), plus, the best part of all, have made a new and incredibly fabulous friend - in the form of the tour's headliner act: Jennifer Grant.
Seriously, I love her. LOVE her. Comedically and personally. I don't think I've been this excited about meeting another human being in a long time. Gush gush gush. She is without a doubt one of my favourite comedians ever, I kid you not. And to top it all off, she is just one rocking chick. Damn! We bonded over incredibly drunk Kelowna locals, stories of hookers playing with my kids in the hotel pool (that is one looooooong story and one that I find disturbing, if only in my complete lack of judgement: but hey, it's gonna make a beautiful comedy bit), and geeking out over comedy.
Oh man.
Last night was the last gig, Timmy came down and videoed my set for me (courtesy of the hotel's babysitting service - NOT hookers) and then today we embarked on the drive back home. We're currently hauled up in a beyond quaint family campground in beautiful Salmon Arm. We've eaten a home-made meal, done laundry and relaxed for the first time in days. Rock.
I'm back, baby!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Family BC Comedy Tour Update #1
Boy I'm tired.
BUT...life goes on and I'm also incredibly excited to be on the road again with not one, not two, but all members of my little clan as we jet off on a comedy tour/ family holiday through one of my favourite places in the world, British Columbia.
A full debrief on my shenanigans at the unbelievable Banff World Television Festival is coming soon (I'm writing it for my next column) but a few highlights included:
- a half hour meeting with Jon Plowman, head of Comedy at the BBC, the genius behind such shows as Ab Fab, The Office, Extras, Bottom...oh man, I could go on forever rambling them off. And - from my very nieve and fresh-faced opinion - it went rather nicely. Agh!
- meeting Brent Butt, creator, writer and actor (and more than not-too-shoddy stand-up) of Corner Gas.
- extremely fun, friendly and incredibly informative meetings with peeps from Just for Laughs, The Comedy Network and CTV's Comedy branch, plus a couple of tres cool literary agents for film and TV.
- plus another billion amazing people I met, in both pre-organised and random encounters.
My head is spinning.
Immediately after signing off on the fest, I drove back to Canmore, whereupon we packed up the car (after first almost floating off into another realm upon discovering that Laura, my babysitter extraordinaire, had taken it upon herself to clean my BATHROOM! Does the wonder ever end?!) and drove to Calgary, where we crashed my Loose Moose cohorts Stephanie & Jeremy's pad for the eve. At 5.30 the next morning we were all up and at it, out to the airport and onto the plane for the quick journey to Abbotsford (just outside Vancouver).
To be continued...
I want to debrief this all properly, there are so many wild, wacky and ridiculous little details that I want to share with you, but I'm so tired my eyelids kinda feel like they've been coated in antiseptic right now. So for now just a brief highlight/lowlight/featured moment:
I had my first gig of the tour last night in Chilliwack, it was really weird. Namely cos most of the people, despite paying a cover charge for a comedy show, opted to get really drunk and talk loudly through the MC and both of us comics' sets. Then after the show, I was in the bathroom and overheard the following:
Chick 1 - Did you enjoy the show?
Chick 2 - Yeah, but I was here a couple of weeks ago and it was just so much funnier.
Ouch. I've been thinking about that a lot today, as I'm sure you know too, the best comebacks always come to you after the moment. Part of me wishes that I'd gone out and said something like:
"Uh, just so you know...when the audience just talks over the show, it makes it pretty hard to HAVE a good show. I mean, Todd (who opened the show) has been doing this for years, he was on the CRAIG FERGUSON SHOW last week for heaven's sakes! It's not the comics' fault when most of the audience out-shouts the entire act...in that situation, nobody looks funny!"
Either that or:
"I was here a couple of weeks ago and the audience was just so much better."
But of course, I said neither of these things. (And I'm glad - I mean, in my cooler-headed state, I can say that I genuinely believe you shouldn't blame a bad gig on the audience. It's just life - these are just my little hot-headed fantasy revenge sequences after what was basically a below average night.)
Instead, I simply walked straight out of the toilet and asked her how it flushed.
She looked sheepishly at me, and said "Oh, it...it happens automatically."
As she spoke, I heard the flush.
"Oh good! Thanks!"
And I walked away.
BUT...life goes on and I'm also incredibly excited to be on the road again with not one, not two, but all members of my little clan as we jet off on a comedy tour/ family holiday through one of my favourite places in the world, British Columbia.
A full debrief on my shenanigans at the unbelievable Banff World Television Festival is coming soon (I'm writing it for my next column) but a few highlights included:
- a half hour meeting with Jon Plowman, head of Comedy at the BBC, the genius behind such shows as Ab Fab, The Office, Extras, Bottom...oh man, I could go on forever rambling them off. And - from my very nieve and fresh-faced opinion - it went rather nicely. Agh!
- meeting Brent Butt, creator, writer and actor (and more than not-too-shoddy stand-up) of Corner Gas.
- extremely fun, friendly and incredibly informative meetings with peeps from Just for Laughs, The Comedy Network and CTV's Comedy branch, plus a couple of tres cool literary agents for film and TV.
- plus another billion amazing people I met, in both pre-organised and random encounters.
My head is spinning.
Immediately after signing off on the fest, I drove back to Canmore, whereupon we packed up the car (after first almost floating off into another realm upon discovering that Laura, my babysitter extraordinaire, had taken it upon herself to clean my BATHROOM! Does the wonder ever end?!) and drove to Calgary, where we crashed my Loose Moose cohorts Stephanie & Jeremy's pad for the eve. At 5.30 the next morning we were all up and at it, out to the airport and onto the plane for the quick journey to Abbotsford (just outside Vancouver).
To be continued...
I want to debrief this all properly, there are so many wild, wacky and ridiculous little details that I want to share with you, but I'm so tired my eyelids kinda feel like they've been coated in antiseptic right now. So for now just a brief highlight/lowlight/featured moment:
I had my first gig of the tour last night in Chilliwack, it was really weird. Namely cos most of the people, despite paying a cover charge for a comedy show, opted to get really drunk and talk loudly through the MC and both of us comics' sets. Then after the show, I was in the bathroom and overheard the following:
Chick 1 - Did you enjoy the show?
Chick 2 - Yeah, but I was here a couple of weeks ago and it was just so much funnier.
Ouch. I've been thinking about that a lot today, as I'm sure you know too, the best comebacks always come to you after the moment. Part of me wishes that I'd gone out and said something like:
"Uh, just so you know...when the audience just talks over the show, it makes it pretty hard to HAVE a good show. I mean, Todd (who opened the show) has been doing this for years, he was on the CRAIG FERGUSON SHOW last week for heaven's sakes! It's not the comics' fault when most of the audience out-shouts the entire act...in that situation, nobody looks funny!"
Either that or:
"I was here a couple of weeks ago and the audience was just so much better."
But of course, I said neither of these things. (And I'm glad - I mean, in my cooler-headed state, I can say that I genuinely believe you shouldn't blame a bad gig on the audience. It's just life - these are just my little hot-headed fantasy revenge sequences after what was basically a below average night.)
Instead, I simply walked straight out of the toilet and asked her how it flushed.
She looked sheepishly at me, and said "Oh, it...it happens automatically."
As she spoke, I heard the flush.
"Oh good! Thanks!"
And I walked away.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Update from Banff World Television Festival #1
You know, I think I could get used to this schmoozing thing. At first, stepping into the pit of hundreds upon hundreds of networking TV peeps was more than a little intimidating, but sure enoug, once I started just taking the leap and getting past the "Hi! I'm Jenny!" bit, the rest just rolled with the sweetness of a juicy mango at Christmas time.So many interesting people. So much possibility! Loving it!!!
Oh! Oh! Oh! And I met Colin Mochrie (from Whose Line Is It Anyway) this afternoon!!! AGH!
Could there BE any more overuse of exclamation marks in the one blog entry? I think NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
A cup of peppermint tea a day keeps something at bay...I'm just not sure what
So we're all a little stressed round these parts at the mo. Partly for good (as in, positive!) reasons - we've got a lot of exciting things coming up - but mostly just in the money department. Living the dream rocks the casbah and is something I've always aspired to do...but bugger me sideways if it isn't a ticket to bankruptcy.
Anyhoo, forgive the bleak outlook, all else is well - my kids are healthy and happy, we're all alive and well-fed (trust me on that one) and we are still loving this incredible country, so we do have it all in perspective - it's just a little, yes, well, there you have it: stressful.
Thus, we are in a bit of a dilemma at the moment as to whether to stay put here in the Bow Valley. We absolutely love it, have a solid network happening now, good friends, there's enough opportunities for me to balance life and career quite nicely, etc, the bottom line is just that: the bottom line. And unfortunately, it's just so freaking expensive (both rent and groceries are far more than I've EVER paid in my life elsewhere) that from what I've been told, newbies usually last a year or two and then give up and move away.
We'll see - our pending BC tour (one week away: agh!) is taking on a little more significance now i.e. I'm sure it will be somewhat, if only subconsciously, a little scouting trip for potential new destinations to explore, conquer and soak up.
Time shall tell dear chappies, time shall tell.
Notification: guts are officially spilled. Time for bed.
Anyhoo, forgive the bleak outlook, all else is well - my kids are healthy and happy, we're all alive and well-fed (trust me on that one) and we are still loving this incredible country, so we do have it all in perspective - it's just a little, yes, well, there you have it: stressful.
Thus, we are in a bit of a dilemma at the moment as to whether to stay put here in the Bow Valley. We absolutely love it, have a solid network happening now, good friends, there's enough opportunities for me to balance life and career quite nicely, etc, the bottom line is just that: the bottom line. And unfortunately, it's just so freaking expensive (both rent and groceries are far more than I've EVER paid in my life elsewhere) that from what I've been told, newbies usually last a year or two and then give up and move away.
We'll see - our pending BC tour (one week away: agh!) is taking on a little more significance now i.e. I'm sure it will be somewhat, if only subconsciously, a little scouting trip for potential new destinations to explore, conquer and soak up.
Time shall tell dear chappies, time shall tell.
Notification: guts are officially spilled. Time for bed.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
It's the same old tired story
Forgive the brevity, as I write this it's 1.43am, I am freshly returned from a family'n'all bite-size comedy tour to Edmonton - where I had a one-off but surprisingly massively rocking corporate gig for an Occupational Health Nurses Conference (go figure!) followed by a day of water-sliding it up at the massively chunky West Edmonton Mall.Cowabunga.
More details (and if I get motivated, perhaps even photos) to follow - in the meantime, if you're interested on a bit of a Banff Centre Residency debrief of sorts, you can check out the latest column.
Oh man, so much more to tell of stuff going on right now, so little energy with which to tell it.
Tomorrow morning: it's back on the green barley for me.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Making time for art
This afternoon as I tried to write my way out of a writing slump (yep, you read that correctly - I've taken to fighting fire with fire as far as writers' block is concerned, by reverting to stream-of-consciousness ramblings to get me through) I was struck by how frustrated I am with myself by how little time I've dedicated on a regular basis just to writing.
Anyhoo, more on that another time.
But right now, check out this great quote from a rather insightful interview:
It’s also crucial to find time to make work. Try to structure your life in ways that give you the opportunity to pursue art, because it’s very rare that the opportunity to make art will just fall into your lap. Everybody assumes that you are going to go to work at some point of the day. No one assumes you will make art. You have to make that a priority.
And with that, sleep tight Vegemite!
Anyhoo, more on that another time.
But right now, check out this great quote from a rather insightful interview:
It’s also crucial to find time to make work. Try to structure your life in ways that give you the opportunity to pursue art, because it’s very rare that the opportunity to make art will just fall into your lap. Everybody assumes that you are going to go to work at some point of the day. No one assumes you will make art. You have to make that a priority.
And with that, sleep tight Vegemite!
Judith Lucy's ruminations and Cool New Blog
Still at the Banff Centre, it's my second last day (more or less) so I'm about to switch off the damn computer and get cracking. But just thought I'd share a coupla things if you're interested and/or want to join Jen and the Procrastination Band.
1) A really interesting interview with Judith Lucy, which mentions a lot about how personal to get or not get in your writing/performing life.
2) A cool blog I just stumbled across all about Women in Comedy.
Enjoy!
Salada!
1) A really interesting interview with Judith Lucy, which mentions a lot about how personal to get or not get in your writing/performing life.
2) A cool blog I just stumbled across all about Women in Comedy.
Enjoy!
Salada!
Friday, May 23, 2008
My latest inspiration (and your laugh for the day)
So I'm up at the Banff Centre, trying as best I can to avoid all things bloggy and get my butt into writing-my-show gear, but I just could not resist jumping to share this with you. Oh boy. It's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while (note: I don't think it's meant to be) and is currently inspiring my newest comedy character.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
More Banff Centre-ing, Vancouver planning and Scrabulous avoiding
So tomorrow I start the second leg of my Banff Centre residency - I have to say, I feel markedly calmer about it second time around, I guess it just comes with knowing what to expect and being a little clearer on what I want to get out of it.
In a beautifully serendipitous turn of events, my director for the show appears to be confirmed, which is fantastic - just the kick up the buttocks I need to write, write, write my show off this week, and get it ready for what will be a very intensive jam-packed rehearsal period. I'm so excited!!!
In other news, I'm spending much time trying to piece together an extension to the upcoming BC tour in June - while I was hoping to find some gigs en route back from Kelowna to here, envisioning us meandering our way back through stunning lakes, valleys and campsites, it appears a little tricky to conjure said gigs up in time. So...I'm turning my sights to Vancouver,
which I'm equally excited about, given that there's not only a ton of cool comedy stuff to be part of, but my sister-in-law Liz (who has lived in so many countries she basically embodies the concept of 'multicultural') told me it's one of her favourite places in the entire world. So yes. Vancouver tis. And it shall be grand.
By heavens, if we can stumble across some reasonably priced accommodation, it will be downright magnificent.
If it weren't for me being sunburnt right now (courtesy of my re-discovered addiction to mountain biking) life would be pretty sugary indeed.
So for now, I say bring on the Banff Centre! Let's just hope I can haul my addictive butt away from Scrabulous so as to make the most of it. Yeah, right.
In a beautifully serendipitous turn of events, my director for the show appears to be confirmed, which is fantastic - just the kick up the buttocks I need to write, write, write my show off this week, and get it ready for what will be a very intensive jam-packed rehearsal period. I'm so excited!!!
In other news, I'm spending much time trying to piece together an extension to the upcoming BC tour in June - while I was hoping to find some gigs en route back from Kelowna to here, envisioning us meandering our way back through stunning lakes, valleys and campsites, it appears a little tricky to conjure said gigs up in time. So...I'm turning my sights to Vancouver,
which I'm equally excited about, given that there's not only a ton of cool comedy stuff to be part of, but my sister-in-law Liz (who has lived in so many countries she basically embodies the concept of 'multicultural') told me it's one of her favourite places in the entire world. So yes. Vancouver tis. And it shall be grand.By heavens, if we can stumble across some reasonably priced accommodation, it will be downright magnificent.
If it weren't for me being sunburnt right now (courtesy of my re-discovered addiction to mountain biking) life would be pretty sugary indeed.
So for now, I say bring on the Banff Centre! Let's just hope I can haul my addictive butt away from Scrabulous so as to make the most of it. Yeah, right.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
The b'day party that ended in stitches
Well, almost.
After a near perfect day, including the morning spent at the fanchasmic Canmore Children's Festival, then the afternoon (otherwise known as Cay's b'day party) spent frolicking on waterslides in Banff, it concluded with the birthday boy slipping on a top step and inflicting a nasty cut on his eye.
Poor little dude.
Luckily, we had this to distract/compensate with:
Please note: I'm only proud of this because:
a) I am SOOO crap at doing the cake thing.
and
b) Cay is particularly pedantic and when he asked for a Batman cake and I could find no black icing in a 100km radius of Canmore, I was completely and utterly resigned to the fact that no matter what I did, he'd pull a Donald Trump on me at the presentation of my assignment.
But he loved it. And coming from a newly-4-year-old with a cut to the eye and a birthday perogative to cry if he wants to, that's sayin something.
ROCK!
PS Thanks to Girl Clumsy for the icing advice!
After a near perfect day, including the morning spent at the fanchasmic Canmore Children's Festival, then the afternoon (otherwise known as Cay's b'day party) spent frolicking on waterslides in Banff, it concluded with the birthday boy slipping on a top step and inflicting a nasty cut on his eye.
Poor little dude.
Luckily, we had this to distract/compensate with:
Please note: I'm only proud of this because:a) I am SOOO crap at doing the cake thing.
and
b) Cay is particularly pedantic and when he asked for a Batman cake and I could find no black icing in a 100km radius of Canmore, I was completely and utterly resigned to the fact that no matter what I did, he'd pull a Donald Trump on me at the presentation of my assignment.
But he loved it. And coming from a newly-4-year-old with a cut to the eye and a birthday perogative to cry if he wants to, that's sayin something.
ROCK!
PS Thanks to Girl Clumsy for the icing advice!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Always My Little Man
My little man turned four today. Yep. Four.
His birth was so amazing - as far as torturous experiences go - I distinctly recall afterwards just thinking that all I wanted to do with my life was have babies. Sigh. His was a waterbirth, and while I'll spare you (and I) the gorily intimate details - though if you're really keen, just look up 'waterbirth' on youtube and you'll soon get the picture - just know that it was really peaceful. So much so, that afterwards the midwives were trying to prod him and poke him just to get him to cry, cos he was so content and peaceful just chilling out in my arms in the bathtub.
And now here he is: four years later.
He drives me nuts with his J-Lo like schedule of costume changes, his inclination to blame me whenever he bumps his head/scrapes his elbow even if I'm not in the same room as this occurence, and his obsessive/compulsive rants regarding washing his hands BEFORE flushing the damn toilet.
But...he also cracks me up with his sayings (the latest one being "Rock the Casbah!"), his highly involved toy-based stories (last week's was very short and basically involved him picking up Ella's cabbage patch doll and shooting her in the face: twice. Please don't ask), while his cuddles first thing in the morning melt me into puddles of sleep-deprived goo.
"Am I REALLY four?" he asked this morning.
"Yup!" I said.
"Am I still Caleb?"
"Yup!" I laughed. "You'll always be Caleb."
Happy b'day little man.
His birth was so amazing - as far as torturous experiences go - I distinctly recall afterwards just thinking that all I wanted to do with my life was have babies. Sigh. His was a waterbirth, and while I'll spare you (and I) the gorily intimate details - though if you're really keen, just look up 'waterbirth' on youtube and you'll soon get the picture - just know that it was really peaceful. So much so, that afterwards the midwives were trying to prod him and poke him just to get him to cry, cos he was so content and peaceful just chilling out in my arms in the bathtub.
And now here he is: four years later.
He drives me nuts with his J-Lo like schedule of costume changes, his inclination to blame me whenever he bumps his head/scrapes his elbow even if I'm not in the same room as this occurence, and his obsessive/compulsive rants regarding washing his hands BEFORE flushing the damn toilet.
But...he also cracks me up with his sayings (the latest one being "Rock the Casbah!"), his highly involved toy-based stories (last week's was very short and basically involved him picking up Ella's cabbage patch doll and shooting her in the face: twice. Please don't ask), while his cuddles first thing in the morning melt me into puddles of sleep-deprived goo.
"Am I REALLY four?" he asked this morning.
"Yup!" I said.
"Am I still Caleb?"
"Yup!" I laughed. "You'll always be Caleb."
Happy b'day little man.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Keeping up with the Jones'...
...or more specifically, keeping up with my good ole blogging and real life friend, Girl Clumsy, who has inspired me to get rid of the cobwebs, do some spring cleaning (it is actually Spring, over here in Canada, after all) and revamp the Comic Mummy premises. Thanks Nat!
My website's getting the onceover too pretty shortly, which I'm extremely excited about, given that my main man Matty B (who is a completely and utter GENIUS) is on the case and I cannot wait to see what delights he spews forth. Ah boy.
Mothers Day has come and gone - I wrote a short but sweet column on it last week but forgot to link it. Sozzoms! Here tis, please don't fret, take a deep breath and enjoy. Hopefully.
And this week's column (basically detailing how Mothers' Day was spent - i.e. on girl guide camp with little Miss Five) is up too if you're up to feeling like a CM stalker on this lovely morn.
In completely unrelated but worthy-of-documenting-for-my-own-reference, I had my last snowboard of the season today and it was ROCKING like an Opera. I finally experienced the joy of 'spring skiing' - i.e. slushy soft snow, so lush and thick and sloppy that it removes all fear of injury, sunny skies (resulting in my first ever Canadian sunburn) and absolutely no queues to the chairlift all day. I'm already lamenting the season's end...summer better be damn well spectacular to make up for it.
Seriously.
My website's getting the onceover too pretty shortly, which I'm extremely excited about, given that my main man Matty B (who is a completely and utter GENIUS) is on the case and I cannot wait to see what delights he spews forth. Ah boy.
Mothers Day has come and gone - I wrote a short but sweet column on it last week but forgot to link it. Sozzoms! Here tis, please don't fret, take a deep breath and enjoy. Hopefully.
And this week's column (basically detailing how Mothers' Day was spent - i.e. on girl guide camp with little Miss Five) is up too if you're up to feeling like a CM stalker on this lovely morn.
In completely unrelated but worthy-of-documenting-for-my-own-reference, I had my last snowboard of the season today and it was ROCKING like an Opera. I finally experienced the joy of 'spring skiing' - i.e. slushy soft snow, so lush and thick and sloppy that it removes all fear of injury, sunny skies (resulting in my first ever Canadian sunburn) and absolutely no queues to the chairlift all day. I'm already lamenting the season's end...summer better be damn well spectacular to make up for it.
Seriously.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Getting the balance, slowly but surely
One of the reasons I think I'm finally starting to get this family/comedy thing in balance is that I'm trying less to balance things on a day-to-day scale, and more to balance them in a wider time-frame, say, over the course of a week, a fortnight or even a month.
Weekdays, I'm pretty much 100% focused on the kiddly-winks. I'm happy to report too, that while homeschooling is certainly proving to have a pretty stepp learning curve, it's getting better and better all the time. My relationship with both kids has improved (with Ella out of SIGHT), I've connected with quite a few more homeschooling families too, which has been awesome and my dear new friend Penny - who literally has an entire wall full of resources - has been unbelievably helpful, encouraging and full of wisdom. She's my little smiley sage. Love her.
Then come the weekend, I usually spend Saturday mornings with the fam and attacking the house, then after lunch make the trek down to Calgary for training with Loose Moose. This weekend was quite the juggling act though.
Friday: Drove down to Calgary early and performed in the Loose Moose Micetro show. Oh boy, I had the most magical time I think I've ever had onstage, I feel like all the training is really starting to kick in and I just let loose, was completely ridiculously excited just to be onstage and had a ball. I usually constantly swing between being in love with stand-up and improv - at the moment it's improv all the way baby. Plus I think I've found a director for my solo show - I don't like counting my chickens before they've hatched but it's looking good! I then crashed the night on Loose Moose friends' couches and did friendly battle with their cat who apparently took a great liking to my sleeping bag covered head.
Saturday: Spent most of the morning shopping for the Cay-man's b'day party (he's 4 on Thursday: WHAT THE?!) but unfortunately was unable to locate a Batman costume, his number one request. Ah me. Then met up with said little dude for a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine. My friend Sabina brought him down with her and her little ones for an afternoon of rides, face painting and da-da-da-da, an actual ride on THE Thomas!
Then jetted off to Loose Moose training in the afternoon (wonderful, wonderful, wonderful - we're doing 8 weeks on status work, which I'll write about more soon on the improv blog) and THEN off to meet up with my little girl on her first ever girl guide camp.
Phew. I just wrote a column about it which I'll post once it's up - in short, it was exhausting but lovely, and I've been so emotional lately just at how quickly both my kids are growing up. Such a cliche, but well, that's what they're cliches for. When they sang their Mothers Day songs this morning, I actually cried. Yep. Cried.
After lunch we drove back home, hung out as a family, then Timmy and I went out on a hot date to Banff for some much needed, well, 'hot date' time.
Then home just in time to tuck the kids into bed, give the house a quick once-over and brace ourselves for doing it all over again this week.
Phew.
PS Massively belated but sincere Happy Mothers Day-ness for all you hot mamas and mamas-to-be out there. You rock the world and don't forget it!! xxx
Weekdays, I'm pretty much 100% focused on the kiddly-winks. I'm happy to report too, that while homeschooling is certainly proving to have a pretty stepp learning curve, it's getting better and better all the time. My relationship with both kids has improved (with Ella out of SIGHT), I've connected with quite a few more homeschooling families too, which has been awesome and my dear new friend Penny - who literally has an entire wall full of resources - has been unbelievably helpful, encouraging and full of wisdom. She's my little smiley sage. Love her.
Then come the weekend, I usually spend Saturday mornings with the fam and attacking the house, then after lunch make the trek down to Calgary for training with Loose Moose. This weekend was quite the juggling act though.
Friday: Drove down to Calgary early and performed in the Loose Moose Micetro show. Oh boy, I had the most magical time I think I've ever had onstage, I feel like all the training is really starting to kick in and I just let loose, was completely ridiculously excited just to be onstage and had a ball. I usually constantly swing between being in love with stand-up and improv - at the moment it's improv all the way baby. Plus I think I've found a director for my solo show - I don't like counting my chickens before they've hatched but it's looking good! I then crashed the night on Loose Moose friends' couches and did friendly battle with their cat who apparently took a great liking to my sleeping bag covered head.
Saturday: Spent most of the morning shopping for the Cay-man's b'day party (he's 4 on Thursday: WHAT THE?!) but unfortunately was unable to locate a Batman costume, his number one request. Ah me. Then met up with said little dude for a day out with Thomas the Tank Engine. My friend Sabina brought him down with her and her little ones for an afternoon of rides, face painting and da-da-da-da, an actual ride on THE Thomas!
Then jetted off to Loose Moose training in the afternoon (wonderful, wonderful, wonderful - we're doing 8 weeks on status work, which I'll write about more soon on the improv blog) and THEN off to meet up with my little girl on her first ever girl guide camp.
Phew. I just wrote a column about it which I'll post once it's up - in short, it was exhausting but lovely, and I've been so emotional lately just at how quickly both my kids are growing up. Such a cliche, but well, that's what they're cliches for. When they sang their Mothers Day songs this morning, I actually cried. Yep. Cried.
After lunch we drove back home, hung out as a family, then Timmy and I went out on a hot date to Banff for some much needed, well, 'hot date' time.
Then home just in time to tuck the kids into bed, give the house a quick once-over and brace ourselves for doing it all over again this week.
Phew.
PS Massively belated but sincere Happy Mothers Day-ness for all you hot mamas and mamas-to-be out there. You rock the world and don't forget it!! xxx
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Vagueness, more comedy tours and a cliffhanger
I've been feeling a bit up and down of late, not to sound too mysterious but I've been waiting on some rather important news and as it turns out: Shock! Horror! I'm incredibly impatient. So much so that in the interim I've taken to sliding into a little rut of demotivation, putting my life on hold and hoeing into a brownie-baking spree until the news is uncovered, decisions can be made and I can re-enter the world at a fiery pace. Or at least, some pace that is not 'standing still'.
Yes, yes, very vague I know. I'll get there.
There are many good things happening which amazingly, are good for both comedy and family. Woo-bloody-hoo! For
instance, I've scored another nice little tour back to BC in June, which I am so incredibly stoked about because the last time around I fell in love with the place, even when it was frozen stiff - this time around, it will be summer, which I've been assured is just magic on a mountain range. AND...the family's coming along for the ride. I'm currently driving myself mad trying to hook up some more gigs en route back to Alberta so we can take our time meandering back, but you know...whatever. It's all in the spirit of adventure. Tim was at first a little reluctant to take the time off work, but then (in typical Jen fashion) I just launched at him with my "Come on! We're in CANADA! We didn't come here to win employee-of-the-month awards, we came here to see the place, to experience something new, to have fun as a family!" Mission accomplished.
So yes, all is well - hopefully shall have some news soon. And then, at the risk of sounding like a Lost promo, all will be revealed...
Yes, yes, very vague I know. I'll get there.
There are many good things happening which amazingly, are good for both comedy and family. Woo-bloody-hoo! For
instance, I've scored another nice little tour back to BC in June, which I am so incredibly stoked about because the last time around I fell in love with the place, even when it was frozen stiff - this time around, it will be summer, which I've been assured is just magic on a mountain range. AND...the family's coming along for the ride. I'm currently driving myself mad trying to hook up some more gigs en route back to Alberta so we can take our time meandering back, but you know...whatever. It's all in the spirit of adventure. Tim was at first a little reluctant to take the time off work, but then (in typical Jen fashion) I just launched at him with my "Come on! We're in CANADA! We didn't come here to win employee-of-the-month awards, we came here to see the place, to experience something new, to have fun as a family!" Mission accomplished.So yes, all is well - hopefully shall have some news soon. And then, at the risk of sounding like a Lost promo, all will be revealed...
Monday, May 05, 2008
Fatigued round-up: possibly an unwise move
SOOOOO tired.
Hmph.
This entry may not even make sense, such is my state right now. You have been warned.
So, the weekend in a nutshell:
1) Spent yesterday at the very wonderful Calgary Zoo. The kids LOVED it! We LOVED it! Our camera...dead. Waaaaaahhhh!
2) Then proceeded to balance out the family time with some me time, otherwise known as Loose Moose training. So very wonderful. I'm blogging about it (bit by bit, as usual I'm overcommitting myself) at the other place.
3) Have been trying to nail Caleb down to his birthday party plans (he's turning 4 in a little over a week: how did that HAPPEN?!) but he keeps changing his mind on a half-hourly basis. Seriously...I've been this close to ordering his birthday cake decorating set off ebay when he changes. One minute it's Buzz Lightyear, the next it's Lightning McQueen. When did my offspring become so fickle?
4) Money - or rather lack thereof - has been proving a little 'stressful', shall we say.
5) Spent much of today hiking with the family - well, the kids biked it - through woods, alongside rivers and general all-round picturesqueness. The kids LOVED it. We LOVED it. Our camera...dead.
Cest la vie!
Hmph.
This entry may not even make sense, such is my state right now. You have been warned.
So, the weekend in a nutshell:
1) Spent yesterday at the very wonderful Calgary Zoo. The kids LOVED it! We LOVED it! Our camera...dead. Waaaaaahhhh!
2) Then proceeded to balance out the family time with some me time, otherwise known as Loose Moose training. So very wonderful. I'm blogging about it (bit by bit, as usual I'm overcommitting myself) at the other place.
3) Have been trying to nail Caleb down to his birthday party plans (he's turning 4 in a little over a week: how did that HAPPEN?!) but he keeps changing his mind on a half-hourly basis. Seriously...I've been this close to ordering his birthday cake decorating set off ebay when he changes. One minute it's Buzz Lightyear, the next it's Lightning McQueen. When did my offspring become so fickle?
4) Money - or rather lack thereof - has been proving a little 'stressful', shall we say.
5) Spent much of today hiking with the family - well, the kids biked it - through woods, alongside rivers and general all-round picturesqueness. The kids LOVED it. We LOVED it. Our camera...dead.
Cest la vie!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Aussies have it sooooo easy
Yeah, yeah, that's right. I'm like, SOOOOO provocative right now.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then not only do you have something in common with my hubby's daily existence, but you might care to check out the latest column. It's up. Like....yeah!
(Apologies for the non-sensical ramble. I'm still dealing with the fact it's a new week).
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then not only do you have something in common with my hubby's daily existence, but you might care to check out the latest column. It's up. Like....yeah!
(Apologies for the non-sensical ramble. I'm still dealing with the fact it's a new week).
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Tooth Whisperer
I am TERRIFIED of dentists. Terrified. The reason is clear - my first ever visit to a dentist, at age five, ended with me being held down in the chair by my grandmother AND the assistant, kicking and screaming while they drilled the living daylights out of my teeth. I'm serious. I checked. No. Living. Daylights. Left.
Henceforth (damn I love that word) I have never set foot in a dentists' chair without trembling, stiffening up and trying to hypnotise myself into another dimension. Bottom line: it haunts me.
Which is why I really wanted Ella's first dental experience to be pleasant, so she could avoid my fate. Unfortunately, twas not to be. (Note to all parents of babies out there - when they tell you not to let your child fall asleep on the bottle, seriously heed that. It will save you forking out both money and emotion.) Her first visit was going swimmingly, then they decided to give her root canal. Yes. Root canal. On her FIRST VISIT. To cut a long - and painful - story short, Little Miss was not only displeased, but refused to set foot in a dentists' chair again.
Which is how we found ourselves referred to a children's specialist in Calgary. Now, I was not thrilled by any of this, the pain of having to drive two hours each way just for a dentist appointment, the promise of having to fork out half of my savings no doubt, for the privilege of a 'specialist', without any guarantee that the kid would even walk through the door.
To cut a long - and happily painless - story short, it was worth every minute, penny and worry. This woman is a GENIUS. I love her. No, seriously. LOVE HER. If I ever release an album/produce a DVD/win an Oscar, she's going to be in the thank-yous. Yesterday Ella had to have a tooth extracted (yes, yes, let's not even talk about how crapola I feel about that even having to happen, believe me I've force-fed myself Marmite for the past week as penance) and not only did she not even shed a single tear, but afterwards told me "I LOVE the dentist! I can't wait to go again!"
Un. Believable.
Did I mention I love that dentist? Seriously. I'm not just throwing words around here. It's the real thing.
Henceforth (damn I love that word) I have never set foot in a dentists' chair without trembling, stiffening up and trying to hypnotise myself into another dimension. Bottom line: it haunts me.
Which is why I really wanted Ella's first dental experience to be pleasant, so she could avoid my fate. Unfortunately, twas not to be. (Note to all parents of babies out there - when they tell you not to let your child fall asleep on the bottle, seriously heed that. It will save you forking out both money and emotion.) Her first visit was going swimmingly, then they decided to give her root canal. Yes. Root canal. On her FIRST VISIT. To cut a long - and painful - story short, Little Miss was not only displeased, but refused to set foot in a dentists' chair again.
Which is how we found ourselves referred to a children's specialist in Calgary. Now, I was not thrilled by any of this, the pain of having to drive two hours each way just for a dentist appointment, the promise of having to fork out half of my savings no doubt, for the privilege of a 'specialist', without any guarantee that the kid would even walk through the door.
To cut a long - and happily painless - story short, it was worth every minute, penny and worry. This woman is a GENIUS. I love her. No, seriously. LOVE HER. If I ever release an album/produce a DVD/win an Oscar, she's going to be in the thank-yous. Yesterday Ella had to have a tooth extracted (yes, yes, let's not even talk about how crapola I feel about that even having to happen, believe me I've force-fed myself Marmite for the past week as penance) and not only did she not even shed a single tear, but afterwards told me "I LOVE the dentist! I can't wait to go again!"
Un. Believable.
Did I mention I love that dentist? Seriously. I'm not just throwing words around here. It's the real thing.
How To Tell If You're a Homesick Aussie
a) You randomly burst out in public spouts of "Land Down Under".
b) You dream of Vegemite.
c) You start searching for 'The Henderson Kids' on youtube.
Ah.
b) You dream of Vegemite.
c) You start searching for 'The Henderson Kids' on youtube.
Ah.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Poopedness, columns and a little bit of stage-mothering
I'm pooped. But in a good way. We just had the amazing honour of having our first overnight stay away as hubby and wife sans kids in 8 months. Woot! Timmy came down with me to Calgary, where I performed in my very first show with the ever-amazing Loose Moose, then spent the next 24 hours coming down from that high by hanging out with my fellow moosers Steph and Jeremy (who very kindly lent us their couch), then pottering about snowy Calgary for the remainder.
Ah, sweetness.
So in the absence of anything more substantial, here's the latest column up if you please.
Oh, oh, oh! And while I stopped posting photos of my kids on here a while ago, if you're uber-keen, you can check out the front page of the newspaper here: my daughter is on the front page. A cover-girl at age 5. Oh boy. What the heck are we in for? ;-)
Ah, sweetness.
So in the absence of anything more substantial, here's the latest column up if you please.
Oh, oh, oh! And while I stopped posting photos of my kids on here a while ago, if you're uber-keen, you can check out the front page of the newspaper here: my daughter is on the front page. A cover-girl at age 5. Oh boy. What the heck are we in for? ;-)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Montreal Comedy Fest, Banff World Television Fest, etc.
I just sat down today and mapped out what the next few months of our life are going to look like, and suffice to say that I feel like taking the Jen who was complaining inwardly about how slowly things were progressing and slapping her in the face with a big chunk of salmon. Except that I seriously don't wish to be bear bait.
Anyhoo, lots of cool things are happening in the next month, so many in fact that I feel like a completely spoiled brat. Gees. Then again, every time I feel guilty about it, I just remind myself of the times when it seemd like all my friends were off globetrotting while I was shoving my jibblies into mouths full of freshly-cut teeth, making daily friends with nappies and their contents and cursing the heavens wondering why I hadn't taken my chance to get overseas when I was young and free and reckless.
Then, THEN...I feel better.
But yes, today I booked my ticket to Montreal for the Comedy Festival in July, I'm so excited I could almost scream. Agh! There you go, got it out of my system. Before that in June I am heading to the amazing Banff World Television Festival to try my hand at serious schmoozing (and am using it as a serious deadline/motivator in the meantime), in August will be doing the Loose Moose training intensive, somewhere squished in there is the rest of the Banff Centre residency and then in September...da, da, da, da, da, da! I'm coming back for a brief sojourn in Oz to be Matron-de-Honour at my sister's wedding. Ooh la la!
Note to self: now is the time to start cutting back on the bagels.
Self to note: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyhoo, lots of cool things are happening in the next month, so many in fact that I feel like a completely spoiled brat. Gees. Then again, every time I feel guilty about it, I just remind myself of the times when it seemd like all my friends were off globetrotting while I was shoving my jibblies into mouths full of freshly-cut teeth, making daily friends with nappies and their contents and cursing the heavens wondering why I hadn't taken my chance to get overseas when I was young and free and reckless.
Then, THEN...I feel better.
But yes, today I booked my ticket to Montreal for the Comedy Festival in July, I'm so excited I could almost scream. Agh! There you go, got it out of my system. Before that in June I am heading to the amazing Banff World Television Festival to try my hand at serious schmoozing (and am using it as a serious deadline/motivator in the meantime), in August will be doing the Loose Moose training intensive, somewhere squished in there is the rest of the Banff Centre residency and then in September...da, da, da, da, da, da! I'm coming back for a brief sojourn in Oz to be Matron-de-Honour at my sister's wedding. Ooh la la!
Note to self: now is the time to start cutting back on the bagels.
Self to note: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, April 14, 2008
A whole new blog...
That subject was supposed to be sung in the tune of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, by the way. If you missed that first time round, go back, do it again.
There, now we're all on the same page.
Not heaps to report, other than to do a kinda cross-promotional plug - I've started up a new blog, one which is going to be pretty strictly comedy/improv related.
As with all things, who knows where this will go, but for the moment I'm really craving an outlet to ponder over all things uber comedy-geeky and well, this seems as good as any.
PS Today we went biking for almost an hour. It felt like an extremely cool thing to do, but now I'm walking like a cowboy. Giddy-up.
UPDATE:
Gees, might help if I linked it. Wow, technology. It's the way of the future, you know.
There, now we're all on the same page.
Not heaps to report, other than to do a kinda cross-promotional plug - I've started up a new blog, one which is going to be pretty strictly comedy/improv related.
As with all things, who knows where this will go, but for the moment I'm really craving an outlet to ponder over all things uber comedy-geeky and well, this seems as good as any.
PS Today we went biking for almost an hour. It felt like an extremely cool thing to do, but now I'm walking like a cowboy. Giddy-up.
UPDATE:
Gees, might help if I linked it. Wow, technology. It's the way of the future, you know.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
From high culture to...
So this morning marked the last day of my first leg of the Banff Centre residency. I was sad in a way, but also just kinda relieved that I've made the most of the time and that things are really starting to kick in! If you're super keen you can read the column I wrote about it, feel free to shoot any questions my way too, I've been squeezing out many words this week on other projects, hence the lack of blog action. But hey blog, get over it. That's art, baby!)
Note to self: don't talk to your blog. It's weird.
Oh, oh, and those creative types of you out there - i.e. pretty much anybody reading this blog - should make like trees and get the hell outta here (hehe) and over to Vibewire's e-festival which is on right now. There's some interesting discussion going on over there, from gender stereotypes to digital technology to tips for up-and-coming creative career go-getters.
Oh, oh, oh and on a selfish note (aren't they all?) I am - courtesy of the wonderful folk at Achilles Media - gonna be attending the Banff World Television Festival in June. AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! And that was me reigning in my emotion.
And finally, introducing my latest procrastination ploy. It started innocently enough i.e. with me trying to decide whether I should get a fringe/bangs or not, but ended...well, like this:
Note to self: don't talk to your blog. It's weird.
Oh, oh, and those creative types of you out there - i.e. pretty much anybody reading this blog - should make like trees and get the hell outta here (hehe) and over to Vibewire's e-festival which is on right now. There's some interesting discussion going on over there, from gender stereotypes to digital technology to tips for up-and-coming creative career go-getters.
Oh, oh, oh and on a selfish note (aren't they all?) I am - courtesy of the wonderful folk at Achilles Media - gonna be attending the Banff World Television Festival in June. AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! And that was me reigning in my emotion.
And finally, introducing my latest procrastination ploy. It started innocently enough i.e. with me trying to decide whether I should get a fringe/bangs or not, but ended...well, like this:
Friday, April 04, 2008
Photos of the promised land
From the second I walk through the door of my little studio nestled into the mountain at the Banff Centre, I am in writer mode. Not because of any magical fairy dust (at least, not that I'm aware of) but rather simply because the smell of the place is EXACTLY the same smell of the studio I worked in at Tropnest (now very sadly defunct) some many moons ago. Seriously. Whether it's the timber or just the smell of - well, writers - it is seriously uncanny. But as I said, writers mode is thus quite easy to find, so I guess it's working out.I'll divulge all the bits and pieces soon enough, at the moment I'm kinda 'written out' but here are the photos, as promised, of my little piece of loveliness for the next week. For those writ
ers of you out there, you should check out the writing programs they have here, they're seriously amazing. It can be done!!Oh, oh, PS I read on this fantastic blog about ScriptFrenzy! a scriptwriting festival/motivator on at the moment which you might also like to be part of. Just a thought!
Okay, now bring on da photos!
Left: the view from the balcony. Presuming, of course, that I'm standing in front of you with my arm outstretched.
Right: One of this studio's previous 'tenants' wrote in the guestbook "The secret is to lie on the couch, stare out at the forest and wait. The art will come. Or sleep will."
Left: Do you see the deer? Do ya, do ya, do ya? This little guy/gal was frolicking around with his/her boyfriend/girlfriend most of yesterday. As my visiting Aussie mate Nic said "You're just living in a bloody Walt Disney film!" Tralalalala.And finally...introducing my new best friend. (Sorry Frankie, you'll always be number 1 in my heart, but the piano's in the same country as me, damn it!!!)
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Brief Update
Hey dudes,
Sorry for the lack of communication - I've just as of today started my residency at the amazing Banff Centre, which, in the words of Eloise, "I LOVE LOVE LOVE!"
Photos coming soon. I did write a whole blog entry detailing my shenanigans but decided - on hubby's always-wise advice - to save it for my column this week.
In summary: I haven't known silence like this since the womb and I'm becoming firm friends with Bambi.
Gees I like being cryptic.
Sorry for the lack of communication - I've just as of today started my residency at the amazing Banff Centre, which, in the words of Eloise, "I LOVE LOVE LOVE!"
Photos coming soon. I did write a whole blog entry detailing my shenanigans but decided - on hubby's always-wise advice - to save it for my column this week.
In summary: I haven't known silence like this since the womb and I'm becoming firm friends with Bambi.
Gees I like being cryptic.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Celeb pregnancy: what a crock
Just stumbled across these pics of the royally up-the-duff Gwen Stefani apparently en route to/from a doctors appointment.
How is this possible? How can one look stylish on the way to have the doctor poke around their nether-regions? This is not fair! "NOT FAIR!" I tell you. Especially when considering that on my own prenatal journey to make friends with the urine cup my mugshot was this:
Damn you Gwen Stefani. Damn you to hell.
How is this possible? How can one look stylish on the way to have the doctor poke around their nether-regions? This is not fair! "NOT FAIR!" I tell you. Especially when considering that on my own prenatal journey to make friends with the urine cup my mugshot was this:
Damn you Gwen Stefani. Damn you to hell.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Comedy: Which Path?
I have nothing particularly original, insightful or otherwise to contribute today. Thus, allow me to direct your attention elsewhere. Look, a gyrating chimp!
Haha, got ya.
Firstly, came across this interesting blog entry about where to focus your energies in the pursuit of a comedy career. Dan Rock, who I recently had the wonderful experience of touring with, alluded to much the same thing, actually his exact advice to me was to take my focus off the stand-up circuit and instead just put together a butt-kicking theatrical piece to take to festivals and *gulp* Broadway. I feel nauseous even typing that. But there you have it.
Secondly, for some reason this week's column is not online yet - I've no idea why - but it's actually one of the favourite ones I've written thus far, so I'm gonna just cut and paste it here directly.
There you have it. Again.
xx
***
Haha, got ya.
Firstly, came across this interesting blog entry about where to focus your energies in the pursuit of a comedy career. Dan Rock, who I recently had the wonderful experience of touring with, alluded to much the same thing, actually his exact advice to me was to take my focus off the stand-up circuit and instead just put together a butt-kicking theatrical piece to take to festivals and *gulp* Broadway. I feel nauseous even typing that. But there you have it.
Secondly, for some reason this week's column is not online yet - I've no idea why - but it's actually one of the favourite ones I've written thus far, so I'm gonna just cut and paste it here directly.
There you have it. Again.
xx
***
Excuse me if this week’s column is a little – uh…zany. I’ve been sent mildly insane by a 2-day comedy tour of
Later at the Nordic Centre, the dude was finally distracted from his epic tantrum by the excitement of being fitted for his ski gear. As the four of us – hubby, myself, Little Miss and Little Devil Spawn – headed out to take on the not-so-slopey slopes, I smiled. This wasn’t a mistake. We were here!
It was then that I discovered what my son had been apparently plotting all afternoon: his revenge came in the form of him sitting triumphantly, smack bang in the middle of the highly public lodge table with his snowpants smushed into the corner of the room – resplendent in his Spiderman underpants. And nothing else.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Rejection and disjointed ramblings
So...I finally got an email back from LA Comedy Festival and da-da-da-da! Rejection. Dangedy dang dang. Sometimes I feel so frustrated with myself for letting stuff like that get me down even when I've had so many awesome things happen lately. But I guess that is the nature of this beast. You put yourself out there - you're gonna get rejected.
Sigh.
In other news, we cross-country skiied SIX KILOMETRES today. That's right. Most of which was uphill. Three kilometres of which I dragged behind my little skiing buttocks a sled full of not one, but two children. Then upon arriving home, I promptly collapsed into a slumber of Sleeping Beauty proportions for two and a half hours.
Also this week, Ella lost another tooth and learned to ride a bike without training wheels. Damn childhood goes by past. Tim has already started googling 'constructing chastity belts.'
What an incredibly disorganised blog entry. I'm tempted to edit but...nah. There's the latest episode of Lost to catch up on. Ciao!
Sigh.
In other news, we cross-country skiied SIX KILOMETRES today. That's right. Most of which was uphill. Three kilometres of which I dragged behind my little skiing buttocks a sled full of not one, but two children. Then upon arriving home, I promptly collapsed into a slumber of Sleeping Beauty proportions for two and a half hours.
Also this week, Ella lost another tooth and learned to ride a bike without training wheels. Damn childhood goes by past. Tim has already started googling 'constructing chastity belts.'
What an incredibly disorganised blog entry. I'm tempted to edit but...nah. There's the latest episode of Lost to catch up on. Ciao!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A shameless plug (but not for me!)
Attention all Melbournians! (The rest of you, please carry on with whatever cream-cheese involved shenanigans you're hustling.)At the risk of seeming pushy, go see Mandy Nolan's show at Melbourne Comedy Festival!! She's a mama after my own heart, a truly fantastic performer and somebody who always makes me laugh out loud, even when I've seen her act before (that really is a compliment.) She is an absolute cracker and I'm not just saying that because I enjoy her with pate. She's seriously fantastic, I heart her, I admire her, I want to have her comedic babies and I would but between us mama comics we've already got our uterus' full.
So....having said all that, phew. Here are the details:
The Show: "She'll be Right"
Where: The Forum
When: Thursday March 20 til 1st April. 7.15pm every night (except Sunday shows are at 6.15pm and no shows Monday. Or Thurs 27th. Got it?)
Bookings: Ticketek: 132849
Promise you will? Really really promise? Alright then. We're all happy.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
RIP Anthony Minghella
This afternoon, post-grocery shop and feeling rather satisfied with myself, I hear the news and find that I'm genuinely saddened (as opposed to tears of the crocodile variety I suppose) to hear of the sudden passing of the truly excellent Anthony Minghella.Amongst many other gems, I'll remember him best for directing one of my all-time favourite films Truly Madly Deeply (as I recall, I pretty much cried solidly from one minute in until the end of the damn thing) - what an incredibly truthful, charming and original foray into the nature of grief that was.
Thanks man.
RIP.
Monday, March 17, 2008
The Saskatchewan Tour: a photoshoppy debrief
Driving through Saskatchewan is certainly an experience. A rocking experience. If, by 'rocking', you mean staring at this for twelve hours straight:
Minus the pink writing. Yes, that's right. One long un-bending road and an infinite supply of wheat fields. Titillating.
Then of course there are the en-route diners with their matter-of-fact service standards.
Then there are the pleasant surprises: Saskatoon was very quaint and picturesque, I dug it and upon arrival, took myself on a little getting-to-know-you / reintroducing my legs to circulation type walk.
It was pleasant. Backed by the ego trip of finally seeing your name up in - well, not so much lights as big black letters - for the first time.
Then of course, there's the ridiculous buzz of adrenaline pumping and whatever the rocket fuel Red Bull equivalent is that you ingest JUST before a gig, only to have it backfire when you cannot get to sleep til 2 in the morning, despite knowing that you have to rise in only a few hours to head back home again.
But then, oh yes then...there is the elation and returning to the excited fam, and of course the sleep deprived delerium that leads to a compulsion to stuff around with photoshop so you can blog about it.
Weird Stuff.
Minus the pink writing. Yes, that's right. One long un-bending road and an infinite supply of wheat fields. Titillating.
Then of course there are the en-route diners with their matter-of-fact service standards.
Then there are the pleasant surprises: Saskatoon was very quaint and picturesque, I dug it and upon arrival, took myself on a little getting-to-know-you / reintroducing my legs to circulation type walk.
It was pleasant. Backed by the ego trip of finally seeing your name up in - well, not so much lights as big black letters - for the first time.
Then of course, there's the ridiculous buzz of adrenaline pumping and whatever the rocket fuel Red Bull equivalent is that you ingest JUST before a gig, only to have it backfire when you cannot get to sleep til 2 in the morning, despite knowing that you have to rise in only a few hours to head back home again.
But then, oh yes then...there is the elation and returning to the excited fam, and of course the sleep deprived delerium that leads to a compulsion to stuff around with photoshop so you can blog about it.
Weird Stuff.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Quick cyber-postcard from the road
Hey dudes!
I'm in Saskatchewan doing my first tour as a headliner! BTW, Saskatchewan is the big state right next door to Alberta which is filled with pretty much fifty million hectares of wheat fields - I realised how understimulated I was on the drive when I started staring at clouds and going "Wow. Stuff to look at."
Anyhoo, after the ridiculous 9 hour drive from my hometown (I haven't risen before 5am since the kids were bubbas) I was pretty trashed but it was so fun. The crowd in Saskatoon was definitely one of the most incredibly up-for-it and eager-to-be-pleased bunch I've EVER encountered. There were even festoon lights in the room, how cool is that? This is only my second tour here admittedly, but I must admit the novelty doesn't seem to be wearing off anytime soon. I actually really dig living out of a suitcase and exploring hotels and new towns and stuff. Next month looks like I'll be up at Edmonton - the hubbster and kidlets will be along for that one - so yay.
I wish I had something more eloquent to write to update this, however I'm in my hotel lobby now in Regina before we gig tonight - the sign next to me to 'please govern your time accordingly' so consider my brief update me simply governing my butt.
Wish you were here!
xx
I'm in Saskatchewan doing my first tour as a headliner! BTW, Saskatchewan is the big state right next door to Alberta which is filled with pretty much fifty million hectares of wheat fields - I realised how understimulated I was on the drive when I started staring at clouds and going "Wow. Stuff to look at."
Anyhoo, after the ridiculous 9 hour drive from my hometown (I haven't risen before 5am since the kids were bubbas) I was pretty trashed but it was so fun. The crowd in Saskatoon was definitely one of the most incredibly up-for-it and eager-to-be-pleased bunch I've EVER encountered. There were even festoon lights in the room, how cool is that? This is only my second tour here admittedly, but I must admit the novelty doesn't seem to be wearing off anytime soon. I actually really dig living out of a suitcase and exploring hotels and new towns and stuff. Next month looks like I'll be up at Edmonton - the hubbster and kidlets will be along for that one - so yay.
I wish I had something more eloquent to write to update this, however I'm in my hotel lobby now in Regina before we gig tonight - the sign next to me to 'please govern your time accordingly' so consider my brief update me simply governing my butt.
Wish you were here!
xx
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
All hail Stuart McLean
Last night Tim and I had the very good fortune of being dragged along by my lovely newfound friend and co-preschool Mama Sabina and her hubby Graham, to see Stuart McLean live at the Banff Centre.Now all I knew about Stuart prior to this was that:
- he was a storyteller. What kind of storyteller, I didn't really know, other than that from what I'd read, his shows encompassed music, comedy and good old-fashioned, well...storytelling.
- he had a radio show that was rather popular. (I later was told that his radio show The Vinyl Cafe - of which this show was pretty much just a live version - attracts over 700,000 listeners every single WEEK.)
And now I know why.
Wow, oh wow. To say I was 'blown away' would just be too easy. But I'm tired. So there you have it. I was blown away. Just to see somebody telling stories - with funny parts, to be sure, some of them inspiring tears of laughter, but by no means punchline after punchline - and able to weave their spell over the audience such that they are hanging on the teller's every word, was an incredible thing to be part of.
And the musicians - guests of his, as would be the case on his radio show no doubt - were incredible to boot. The whole evening just really opened my mind up to what live performance can really be.
Plus I've decided that what I really admire - besides his natural charm, relaxed way with a massive crowd and apparent genuine love of live performance - is Stuart's evident commitment to sharing his profile to benefit up-and-coming artists. I've been told that thanks to him giving unknown talents a shot on his shows, tours, and so on, they have gone on to massive things shortly thereafter. Talk about sharing the love around!
On another note, it is my hubby's b'day today - he had a very suitably spoiled day, capped off with a CHESS BOARD BIRTHDAY CAKE. I'll post a pic soon. I didn't even get it out of a magazine but designed it and whipped it up all on my own! (those long-term readers of you out there will appreciate why, given my track record in disastrous b'day cakes, this is a big deal for me). Yes, yes. I know. Landmarks all round.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Hello Blog? It's me, Jenny.
By Jove (I love that phrase) it's been a while between blogs! This time however, I have an actual excuse, namely that we've been moving house. Ergh. Luckily the ordeal was again, grist for the mill.
But yes, we've moved and there are good things in the air!
For one, the new house rocks. So much space. An awesome yard, which - we only discovered upon moving here as I hadn't even laid eyes on it til moving day and Tim hadn't paid much attention when he checked it out - comes complete with a cubby house and slippery slide. And a little fire holding thing to toast marshmallows on. And as Nemo's Mum said just before she became fish-food herself: "The neighbourhood is awesome." Kids everywhere, we've been here four days and already our doorbell has rung with play-date requests more than it did the entire six months at our previously rocking - yet relatively child-free - abode.
So that rocks. Plus we've found a rocking chick (am I using the word 'rock' too much? Nah, it can't be possible) who is keen to move into the basement suite downstairs for cheap rent in return for helping us out a bit with child-minding. Which we DESPERATELY need. That is just the fudge icing on top of the Devil's Food Cake. (Sorry, I've got my mind on my hubby's upcoming birthday festivities...back on track.)
Plus I'm going on tour again next weekend - just 2 nights this time and it's gonna be a little less glamorous (or so I've been led to believe) than my last jaunt, as this time we're heading to Saskatchewan. All I know about Saskatchewan is that the highway I'll be on is so straight that people often resort to driving in the wrong lane just for stimulation, and from what I've seen on Corner Gas.
Then, just to add the cherry on top of the sundae, my sister calls me today.
Me (knowing she's been trying to call for days without success thanks to our screwed up phone line): "So what's the rush, are you up the duff?"
Her: "No! But guess what? I'm coming to Canada. In three weeks!"
Me: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!" (the good kind.)
So yes, thanks to her shining loveliness as a travel agent, she has apparently won a touring trip to Canada to check it all out. She'll only be in our neck of the woods for a day and a half, but, in the (mildly paraphrased) words of Sarah Connor: "We'll love a lifetime's worth." Translation = I'm planning to exist on no sleep for that entire period.
Yes, yes, the answer is yes. I really am that hardcore.
But yes, we've moved and there are good things in the air!
For one, the new house rocks. So much space. An awesome yard, which - we only discovered upon moving here as I hadn't even laid eyes on it til moving day and Tim hadn't paid much attention when he checked it out - comes complete with a cubby house and slippery slide. And a little fire holding thing to toast marshmallows on. And as Nemo's Mum said just before she became fish-food herself: "The neighbourhood is awesome." Kids everywhere, we've been here four days and already our doorbell has rung with play-date requests more than it did the entire six months at our previously rocking - yet relatively child-free - abode.
So that rocks. Plus we've found a rocking chick (am I using the word 'rock' too much? Nah, it can't be possible) who is keen to move into the basement suite downstairs for cheap rent in return for helping us out a bit with child-minding. Which we DESPERATELY need. That is just the fudge icing on top of the Devil's Food Cake. (Sorry, I've got my mind on my hubby's upcoming birthday festivities...back on track.)
Plus I'm going on tour again next weekend - just 2 nights this time and it's gonna be a little less glamorous (or so I've been led to believe) than my last jaunt, as this time we're heading to Saskatchewan. All I know about Saskatchewan is that the highway I'll be on is so straight that people often resort to driving in the wrong lane just for stimulation, and from what I've seen on Corner Gas.
Then, just to add the cherry on top of the sundae, my sister calls me today.
Me (knowing she's been trying to call for days without success thanks to our screwed up phone line): "So what's the rush, are you up the duff?"
Her: "No! But guess what? I'm coming to Canada. In three weeks!"
Me: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!" (the good kind.)
So yes, thanks to her shining loveliness as a travel agent, she has apparently won a touring trip to Canada to check it all out. She'll only be in our neck of the woods for a day and a half, but, in the (mildly paraphrased) words of Sarah Connor: "We'll love a lifetime's worth." Translation = I'm planning to exist on no sleep for that entire period.
Yes, yes, the answer is yes. I really am that hardcore.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Improv on 4ZZZ!
I'm rethinking this whole blog thing at the mo, not in an I'm not doing it anymore so nah-ni-nah-ni-nah-nah way, but in a Hmmm...I wonder what other things I could put on here instead of just written thought-spillage kinda way.
Anyhoo, as serendipity would have it, Brad from Edge Improv has just this very day put up a podcast of one of our old improv segments from back in the old Aussie days (they seem so far away now...sniff!) on 4ZZZ. It's a funny thing about improv, once you've done it, more often than not the little nugget - or turd - you created on the spot just flies straight out of your head and shuts the door of your memory, never to be thought of again. Having it recorded and then listening back is kinda surreal, in a 'Memento' kinda way. Point is, I honestly can't even remember us doing this one - but it sounds like we were having fun. Which is, I believe, the idea.
It's online here if you care to partake.
If not, no worries.
(But 'Nah-ni-nah-ni-nah-nah!')
Anyhoo, as serendipity would have it, Brad from Edge Improv has just this very day put up a podcast of one of our old improv segments from back in the old Aussie days (they seem so far away now...sniff!) on 4ZZZ. It's a funny thing about improv, once you've done it, more often than not the little nugget - or turd - you created on the spot just flies straight out of your head and shuts the door of your memory, never to be thought of again. Having it recorded and then listening back is kinda surreal, in a 'Memento' kinda way. Point is, I honestly can't even remember us doing this one - but it sounds like we were having fun. Which is, I believe, the idea.
It's online here if you care to partake.
If not, no worries.
(But 'Nah-ni-nah-ni-nah-nah!')
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Confessions of a Pop Tart
I'm offiically coming out of the closet. I'm a complete and unabashed pop tart.
I've been moved to admit it after stumbling across as 'Spice Girls History' special on cable here and being instantly transported to my uni days, much of which I spent dancing around my apartment to "Who Do You Think You Are?" Sigh.
Oh...and I believe I actually skipped more than the odd lecture in favour of watching Take That videos. Yes, yes, I know. Tragedy incarnate. But the things we do for love. Or specifically, for loving Gary Barlow. Double sigh.
Now THAT is a reunion tour I would fork out serious cash to see.
I've been moved to admit it after stumbling across as 'Spice Girls History' special on cable here and being instantly transported to my uni days, much of which I spent dancing around my apartment to "Who Do You Think You Are?" Sigh.
Oh...and I believe I actually skipped more than the odd lecture in favour of watching Take That videos. Yes, yes, I know. Tragedy incarnate. But the things we do for love. Or specifically, for loving Gary Barlow. Double sigh.
Now THAT is a reunion tour I would fork out serious cash to see.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Oscars! (And all that jazz...)
Oh how I long to blog about the Oscars. Call me tacky, daggy and downright stupid (Hey! That hurts!) but I love the Oscars. In all its ridiculousness, it never fails to be...well, the Oscars.However I must hold off - I spent last night watching and writing my column about it, and so will post my thoughts up once the column goes online. Ah me.
In other news, I've started teaching Ella a bit of the keyboard - I'm not sure my teaching style is all that (I seriously need to invest in some official piano books so I don't produce some sort of weird Elton John having a seizure style pianist here) but so far so good. Da girl loves muzak!
And apparently I'm turning Jamaican.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Mildly drunken birthday thoughts
"29 today. 29 today. I've got the key of the door, never been 29 before..."Ha.
So...I'm a little tiddly, having just arrived home from a lovely 50th b'day party from a newfound friend right here in Canadia - where mania abounds, wacka wacka! (you see what I'm like when you get me drunk?) - and I just thought I'd write to say hello and...well, at 1 minute past midnight...happy birthday to me.
29 years.
It's my newfound resolution to be more real on this blog - i.e. to actually grow some kahunas to reveal more of my actual self on here rather than censoring the scheister out of myself which I usually do - so, let's start with a few home truths.
1. I know a nauseating number of old-time tunes, thanks to being raised by my grandma. From 'A wee Doch and Doris' to 'Oh, you beautiful doll', I have no idea how any of these will ever come in handy in my life. But I know them. And some of them, I like.
2. I occasionally freak out about whether I've made a massive boo-boo in putting life experience ahead of financial security, i.e. in pursuing an unstable career and doing the overseas thing with kiddly-winks in the picture, rather than just going down the law path or something. But, those moments are very few and far between. Most of the time - and I do say this honestly - I feel pretty proud of myself for having suitably sized kahunas to take the road less travelled.
3. I worry a lot about my Mum (my grandma, but she is who raised me, hence the 'Mum' title) and having left her behind in Australia. Despite her incredibly supportive reassurances, my greatest fear is that she will die before I get back to Oz.
4. I also worry about my Dad (my real Dad, but who is also quite old). We only met 10 years ago and since then our relationship has been kinda strained. It has improved since I got to Canada, namely cos it's been forcibly moved into written communication mode, but I also worry that something will happen to him while I'm overseas and that I'll regret not having made more of an effort to connect.
5. I want to be a good person. And work out what the heck this life is all about. And make the most of it. If there's one thing that losing my mum early has taught me, it's that life is short. And that you mustn't take people for granted. And that includes yourself - sometimes trying to squeeze every last drop out of life has sent me a little around the bend (can you spell 'pressure'?), but at the end of the day, I'm glad that I have had that perspective from the start. I'm very aware that my life could end at any given moment, and I honestly feel that even if that happened tomorrow - while I wouldn't want it to - I would feel pretty happy with, not so much where my life is at, but at the way in which I'm living it. I do feel like, for the first time ever, I'm actually doing well by my family and by my personal goals. I'd like to improve in a number of areas of course, but all in all, if I died tomorrow, I think I'd feel pretty satisfied with where I got.
Okay, enough tiddly spilling onto the blog. I need to save some for the bathroom now. Don't be greedy.
Please.
*Photo courtesy of a b'day pressie from the fabbo Louise.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Peaking
I'm feeling pretty much at the high peak of my manic cycle at the moment - life is all roses, fudge and calorie-free fairy floss. Bear in mind that I rarely write on this blog during the low end of the mania...hence the danger of me coming across like Anti-Depressant Barbie, but right now, I'm fully aware that this happy time will not last forever yet while it does I'm sucking it up like a Frosty Fruit. They're my favourite.
Firstly, I had a rocking night on Monday at the 3rd round of the Great Canadian Laugh Off, presented by Yuk Yuk's. We managed to score some babysitting, meaning that my Timmy was able to join me for the ride, which always rocks my socks. I felt atypically relaxed, namely cos Dan Rock (my headliner on the comedy tour just gone) had assured me: "You don't have a chance of getting anywhere in this comp, you're an Aussie (note, I think his point was not 'Aussies suck' but rather 'it's the great Canadian laugh-off and usually they don't even let non-Canadians enter') but you're really doing this so you can get seen by Stan."
He meant Stan the man - as in Stan Thompson, as in veteran comic extraordinaire and booking agent for Yuk Yuk's rooms across Western Canada and one of the Laugh Off judges. To cut a long story short, it looks like - without wanting to prematurely count my chickens - after chatting with Stan post-gig, I may be doing some regular work with him in the coming months which hopefully includes more tours. Which I am completely and utterly stoked with.
The other thing which has rocked lately is Tim's growing support of this entire thing. We're really starting to do this as a team, rather than a germinating reality TV show of 'Hubby vs. Comedy: a showdown'. We're starting to plan a family road-trip to Montreal for the comedy fest in July (hopefully with gigs along the way there and back) and my mother-in-law - with whom I've had certain 'disagreements' in the past about the whole family/comedy combo - is even coming to the party, offering to come over and hang with us for a little while later in the year during what we anticipate is going to be a particularly hectic month.
Rock. The. Kazbah.
Oh yes, and the icing on the cake is that in Canmore, this crazy little impossible-to-find-accommodation town, we've finally managed to score a house. We signed the lease this morning and everything.
So yes. I know full well the bubble will burst soon...but it ain't gonna stop me enjoying the float upwards in the meantime.
YAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
Firstly, I had a rocking night on Monday at the 3rd round of the Great Canadian Laugh Off, presented by Yuk Yuk's. We managed to score some babysitting, meaning that my Timmy was able to join me for the ride, which always rocks my socks. I felt atypically relaxed, namely cos Dan Rock (my headliner on the comedy tour just gone) had assured me: "You don't have a chance of getting anywhere in this comp, you're an Aussie (note, I think his point was not 'Aussies suck' but rather 'it's the great Canadian laugh-off and usually they don't even let non-Canadians enter') but you're really doing this so you can get seen by Stan."
He meant Stan the man - as in Stan Thompson, as in veteran comic extraordinaire and booking agent for Yuk Yuk's rooms across Western Canada and one of the Laugh Off judges. To cut a long story short, it looks like - without wanting to prematurely count my chickens - after chatting with Stan post-gig, I may be doing some regular work with him in the coming months which hopefully includes more tours. Which I am completely and utterly stoked with.
The other thing which has rocked lately is Tim's growing support of this entire thing. We're really starting to do this as a team, rather than a germinating reality TV show of 'Hubby vs. Comedy: a showdown'. We're starting to plan a family road-trip to Montreal for the comedy fest in July (hopefully with gigs along the way there and back) and my mother-in-law - with whom I've had certain 'disagreements' in the past about the whole family/comedy combo - is even coming to the party, offering to come over and hang with us for a little while later in the year during what we anticipate is going to be a particularly hectic month.
Rock. The. Kazbah.
Oh yes, and the icing on the cake is that in Canmore, this crazy little impossible-to-find-accommodation town, we've finally managed to score a house. We signed the lease this morning and everything.
So yes. I know full well the bubble will burst soon...but it ain't gonna stop me enjoying the float upwards in the meantime.
YAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
Monday, February 18, 2008
500 Posts Old
Happy B'day (of sorts) to the blog!
500 posts. Gees. I feel tired just thinking about that, actually.
Well, rest assured the entire tour was completely smashing, it's actually been rather life-changing. I'm dog-tired so will write more about that later...in the meantime, the latest column is up, if you please.
Oh, alright here's a few photos too.
Left: this was us stuck for a couple of hours during avalanche control. Remember I told you about that? Do ya? Do ya?
Right: my comedic and driving partner-in-crime for the tour, Meistro Dan Rock.
And left: Sunpeaks, a ski village so charming it should be outlawed, hereby known as one of my favourite places on the planet. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry chocolate sauce.
500 posts. Gees. I feel tired just thinking about that, actually.
Well, rest assured the entire tour was completely smashing, it's actually been rather life-changing. I'm dog-tired so will write more about that later...in the meantime, the latest column is up, if you please.
Oh, alright here's a few photos too.
Left: this was us stuck for a couple of hours during avalanche control. Remember I told you about that? Do ya? Do ya?
Right: my comedic and driving partner-in-crime for the tour, Meistro Dan Rock.
And left: Sunpeaks, a ski village so charming it should be outlawed, hereby known as one of my favourite places on the planet. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry chocolate sauce.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Reporting from the first Canadian on-the-road comedy tour!
Wow. Wow. Wow.
The tour is already going beyond my wildest dreams. Well, okay, maybe not my wildest dreams, in that Johnny Depp hasn't shown up and ordered me to milk seven grizzly bears in return for his undying loyalty....BUT it's been pretty damn sweet.
Rather early yesterday morn, my headlining comedian from the US of A, Daniel Rock, picked me up from my humble abode and we set off. With a final comforting 'Don't worry honey, you can call me any time you want!' to Ella (which ended up backfiring on me slightly with her proceeding to call me at 10 minute intervals for much of the day, sometimes even just picking up the receiver, hitting redial and singing Every breath you take...) we headed off. Where I was reminded of how much - with the absence of fighting and/or tantruming children in the back - I LOVE road trips.
The drive into BC is just beyond stunning - already I cannot even wait to come back with the family in Spring (which we are doing, by the way) to check it all out sans snow. Aside from an hour-and-a-half stop for 'avalanche control', where we proceeded to entertain ourselves by throwing snowballs at trees in an effort to thwart the system, the drive went smoothly with us talking pretty much comedy, comedy and comedy the entire way. I have henceforth labelled Daniel my 'comedic sensai.' Master.
Then late afternoon we arrived at the beyond adorably gorgeous ski village in the middle of nowhere, Sunpeaks. I wish I could get my freaking camera to work so I could show you some of my pics, but til then...you can click on the link if you're slobbering over your keyboard right now in anticipation. I certainly don't want any keyboards out there malfunctioning on my account. Suffice to say it's the stuff of which dreams are made - again, dreams sans Johnny - and realising our gig wasn't due to start til much, MUCH later, I proceeded to hit the hill for some night snowboarding, then went down and soaked my cares away in the hot-tub. Bliss.com.
We headed on down to the gig - I'm so impressed that with only a permanent population of 300, a place like this even has a WEEKLY comedy room - and waited for the crowd to arrive. MCed by a dude called Chris who uh...was kinda like a comedic Bob Marley, if you know what I mean, the show kicked off to very small but attentive crowd. There were a few hecklers but nothing too nasty, they just wanted to be part of the show more than anything .
Completely inspired by Daniel's philosophies on just being yourself and having fun with the crowd, I just went a bit nutty on stage last night...and had an absolute blast. I feel like for the first time ever I was 100% me up there and it felt so liberating. The crowd were wicked - and so was Daniel who ended up doing almost a completely improvised set, which I have to say is one of my favourite things to watch from other comics.
Beautiful.
Then I had the most delightfully uninterrupted slumber in a beautiful hotel room -
I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Except I'm here to sell my soul rather than my body.
Moiahahhahaha!
Today: snowboarding, snowboarding and maybe a hot-tub. Then we drive up to Kelowna (which I've heard is beautiful) for the night.
Tomorrow: driving all day to Cranbrook, where I will be reunited with the hubbster and kidlets. I'm anticipating spending much of the time beforehand freaking out about them all driving on the wintery highways. Agh.
Okay, what was meant to be a brief 'postcard from the road' has turned into a novelette. Anyhoo, hope all is well in your worlds - take care and will hopefully have photos sometime in this life.
Salada!!!
The tour is already going beyond my wildest dreams. Well, okay, maybe not my wildest dreams, in that Johnny Depp hasn't shown up and ordered me to milk seven grizzly bears in return for his undying loyalty....BUT it's been pretty damn sweet.
Rather early yesterday morn, my headlining comedian from the US of A, Daniel Rock, picked me up from my humble abode and we set off. With a final comforting 'Don't worry honey, you can call me any time you want!' to Ella (which ended up backfiring on me slightly with her proceeding to call me at 10 minute intervals for much of the day, sometimes even just picking up the receiver, hitting redial and singing Every breath you take...) we headed off. Where I was reminded of how much - with the absence of fighting and/or tantruming children in the back - I LOVE road trips.
The drive into BC is just beyond stunning - already I cannot even wait to come back with the family in Spring (which we are doing, by the way) to check it all out sans snow. Aside from an hour-and-a-half stop for 'avalanche control', where we proceeded to entertain ourselves by throwing snowballs at trees in an effort to thwart the system, the drive went smoothly with us talking pretty much comedy, comedy and comedy the entire way. I have henceforth labelled Daniel my 'comedic sensai.' Master.
Then late afternoon we arrived at the beyond adorably gorgeous ski village in the middle of nowhere, Sunpeaks. I wish I could get my freaking camera to work so I could show you some of my pics, but til then...you can click on the link if you're slobbering over your keyboard right now in anticipation. I certainly don't want any keyboards out there malfunctioning on my account. Suffice to say it's the stuff of which dreams are made - again, dreams sans Johnny - and realising our gig wasn't due to start til much, MUCH later, I proceeded to hit the hill for some night snowboarding, then went down and soaked my cares away in the hot-tub. Bliss.com.
We headed on down to the gig - I'm so impressed that with only a permanent population of 300, a place like this even has a WEEKLY comedy room - and waited for the crowd to arrive. MCed by a dude called Chris who uh...was kinda like a comedic Bob Marley, if you know what I mean, the show kicked off to very small but attentive crowd. There were a few hecklers but nothing too nasty, they just wanted to be part of the show more than anything .
Completely inspired by Daniel's philosophies on just being yourself and having fun with the crowd, I just went a bit nutty on stage last night...and had an absolute blast. I feel like for the first time ever I was 100% me up there and it felt so liberating. The crowd were wicked - and so was Daniel who ended up doing almost a completely improvised set, which I have to say is one of my favourite things to watch from other comics.
Beautiful.
Then I had the most delightfully uninterrupted slumber in a beautiful hotel room -
I feel like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Except I'm here to sell my soul rather than my body.
Moiahahhahaha!
Today: snowboarding, snowboarding and maybe a hot-tub. Then we drive up to Kelowna (which I've heard is beautiful) for the night.
Tomorrow: driving all day to Cranbrook, where I will be reunited with the hubbster and kidlets. I'm anticipating spending much of the time beforehand freaking out about them all driving on the wintery highways. Agh.
Okay, what was meant to be a brief 'postcard from the road' has turned into a novelette. Anyhoo, hope all is well in your worlds - take care and will hopefully have photos sometime in this life.
Salada!!!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Who's the Queen of Justification? I am! I AM!
So I haven't been posting much to the blog this week. This is for several reasons:
a) I don't know.
b) I'm not too sure.
and
c) I'm possibly just slack.
BUT...I have written a new column - I guess posting it here in place of a week or so worth of entries is kinda like handing the teacher a tapestry when she actually asked for an 800-word essay on Mongolia, but there you have it. I'm a renegade.
Only two more sleeps and I'm officially on tour. I'm heading up with Dan Rock, the headliner, to Sunpeaks (which I've been told is a beyond stunning ski resort, so I'm eagerly anticipating hitting the slopes between gigs - have I mentioned my newfound addiction to snowboarding? Between that and Scrabulous I'm seriously entering the in-need-of-rehab zone) then Tim and the kidlets are driving up to join me for the last two nights in Cranbrook for a bit of a family holiday. Well, working holiday.
Then next Monday night I'm gonna be doing the Yuk Yuk's Comedy Competition in Calgary.
And we're madly looking for a new abode.
In other words, there's plenty on the boil. Excuse me while I go check on the pots. Or something.
a) I don't know.
b) I'm not too sure.
and
c) I'm possibly just slack.
BUT...I have written a new column - I guess posting it here in place of a week or so worth of entries is kinda like handing the teacher a tapestry when she actually asked for an 800-word essay on Mongolia, but there you have it. I'm a renegade.
Only two more sleeps and I'm officially on tour. I'm heading up with Dan Rock, the headliner, to Sunpeaks (which I've been told is a beyond stunning ski resort, so I'm eagerly anticipating hitting the slopes between gigs - have I mentioned my newfound addiction to snowboarding? Between that and Scrabulous I'm seriously entering the in-need-of-rehab zone) then Tim and the kidlets are driving up to join me for the last two nights in Cranbrook for a bit of a family holiday. Well, working holiday.
Then next Monday night I'm gonna be doing the Yuk Yuk's Comedy Competition in Calgary.
And we're madly looking for a new abode.
In other words, there's plenty on the boil. Excuse me while I go check on the pots. Or something.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Lost and other grievances
Last night's episode of Lost just irritated me. I LOVED the first one of the new season, but last night just seemed - despite my reassurances from a recent interview I read with the writers - frustratingly boring. As my mate Marc said some time ago, it's kinda like improv. The writers keep throwing all these new 'offers' out there, follow each one through slightly but then just keep adding more offers into the mix so none of them really gets terribly far.
Add to that the fact that Claire's baby seems to never require feeding or tantrum stops en route to the other side of the island and, well...
Grrrr.
I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed lately what with all the big decisions we need to make at the moment - they all seem so consequential, but I guess in the grand scheme of things they're really not. I guess it's just because getting the whole fam to anywhere in the world is quite a massive investment, we want to be sure we've actually thought it through. And I had a massive tiff yesterday with somebody close to me - I don't want to divulge too much but it had to do with our plans and stuff. I just feel so frustrated right now...
Double grrrr.
Add to that the fact that Claire's baby seems to never require feeding or tantrum stops en route to the other side of the island and, well...
Grrrr.
I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed lately what with all the big decisions we need to make at the moment - they all seem so consequential, but I guess in the grand scheme of things they're really not. I guess it's just because getting the whole fam to anywhere in the world is quite a massive investment, we want to be sure we've actually thought it through. And I had a massive tiff yesterday with somebody close to me - I don't want to divulge too much but it had to do with our plans and stuff. I just feel so frustrated right now...
Double grrrr.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Ying and Yang
Some things are great - like my breakthrough in snowboarding, making more friends and the upcoming Yuk Yuk's Laugh Off Competition which I found out today I'll be appearing in on the 18th of this month.
Then other things are not so great - like missing people, not ever being able to get in touch with my sister and the freaking out that is finding our next abode.
I'm gonna make hot chocolate now.
Quote of the Day:
Ella: I love you more than anything. You are the best mummy in the whole wide world...when you get me chocolate.
Then other things are not so great - like missing people, not ever being able to get in touch with my sister and the freaking out that is finding our next abode.
I'm gonna make hot chocolate now.
Quote of the Day:
Ella: I love you more than anything. You are the best mummy in the whole wide world...when you get me chocolate.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Without a Trace and the Upcoming Tour
So I actually enjoyed writing that last post so much that I decided to go with it and expand it for my next column for the paper. Hence, it's now not-so-mysterious disappearance.
Yah!
On today's agenda: coffee, writing, tobogganing and a nice chilled dinner with the fam. And trying to sort out a couple of details on the upcoming tour. It's barely two weeks away, I've just been checking out the places I'll be playing at: Sunpeaks and Cranbrook.
They look very purty.
Yah!
On today's agenda: coffee, writing, tobogganing and a nice chilled dinner with the fam. And trying to sort out a couple of details on the upcoming tour. It's barely two weeks away, I've just been checking out the places I'll be playing at: Sunpeaks and Cranbrook.
They look very purty.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Covering Up
So I'm trying to get a set of cover songs together - with my awesome sidekick otherwise known as the keyboard - for enjoyment as well as having more regular opportunities to perform right here in the Bow Valley. When Leon and Ash were here we hit a couple of the open mikes locally, with Leon and I doing a few songs together at Banff (Crowded House, Chris Isaak with some Nick Cave thrown in for good measure) which left me starving for more!
However, while I love my potential set-list, it is a little depressing. Why, oh why, are most of my favourite songs in minor keys?
Sigh.
In other news, apparently Canada is now considered a 'dangerous' travel destination. I wrote about it in my latest column (which is now online if you want to check it out) so it must be true.
Quote of the Day
Caleb: "I want to cuddle Batgirl's boobies."
However, while I love my potential set-list, it is a little depressing. Why, oh why, are most of my favourite songs in minor keys?
Sigh.
In other news, apparently Canada is now considered a 'dangerous' travel destination. I wrote about it in my latest column (which is now online if you want to check it out) so it must be true.
Quote of the Day
Caleb: "I want to cuddle Batgirl's boobies."
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Cold, cold and National Lampoon
So the last few days we've finally been battling SERIOUS cold - as in temperatures below minus 30, as in walking even metres outside turns your entire nostril in a frozen goods aisle, as in going into the cold-room at the bottle shop (as Leon and I did the night before their departure) actually feels WARM.
Today's a little milder - hopefully we'll make it up the ski hill again sometime this week. And Ella has been harrassing me to take her ice-skating again, so we'll see how the day eventuates. The only thing that comforts me in times of extreme frozen-ness is knowing that in other parts of Canada it is a lot worse.
In other bright news, I've finally sent out my promo pack to tons of peeps round the country so I guess we'll just see what happens. I honestly feel really cool about it all right now (no pun intended), just satisfied to know that no matter what happens, I've given it a good shot.
Oh and in really cool but kinda strange news, I'm the lead story at the moment on National Lampoon's website - I'm not complaining! Props to the very excellent comedy website IJoke.Tv who I suspect are the folks who put NL onto my stuff.
Quote of the day...
Caleb: "I saw a snake once. It was a Batman snake."
Today's a little milder - hopefully we'll make it up the ski hill again sometime this week. And Ella has been harrassing me to take her ice-skating again, so we'll see how the day eventuates. The only thing that comforts me in times of extreme frozen-ness is knowing that in other parts of Canada it is a lot worse.
In other bright news, I've finally sent out my promo pack to tons of peeps round the country so I guess we'll just see what happens. I honestly feel really cool about it all right now (no pun intended), just satisfied to know that no matter what happens, I've given it a good shot.
Oh and in really cool but kinda strange news, I'm the lead story at the moment on National Lampoon's website - I'm not complaining! Props to the very excellent comedy website IJoke.Tv who I suspect are the folks who put NL onto my stuff.
Quote of the day...
Caleb: "I saw a snake once. It was a Batman snake."
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
So long, faretheewell, pip pip, cheerio...
The guts ripped out of my innards this morning - otherwise known as Ash and Leon leaving the building - have left me feeling a little nauseous.
The past two and a bit weeks have seen much frolicking in the snow, cooking up of feasts and general basking in each other's Aussie soul-matedness, but rather than divulging details in long-winded rants, instead I'll make like a paparazzo and let the pictures do the talking.
*Note: please don't ask why I'm writing so bizarrely this morning - I have a lot of sleep to be catching up on. Right as soon as I stop writing like a Dubliner.
We 'll miss ya, guys!
The past two and a bit weeks have seen much frolicking in the snow, cooking up of feasts and general basking in each other's Aussie soul-matedness, but rather than divulging details in long-winded rants, instead I'll make like a paparazzo and let the pictures do the talking.
*Note: please don't ask why I'm writing so bizarrely this morning - I have a lot of sleep to be catching up on. Right as soon as I stop writing like a Dubliner.
We 'll miss ya, guys!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Homeschooling, Keith Johnstone and Loose Moose
So in a bit of very-late news (in that the actual event happened a couple of weeks ago), we've decided to pull Ella out of traditional schooling and home-school her. This is for a number of reasons (the main one being that now I don't have to do the early morning school dash or make lunch ;-) ), none of which bears any reflection on the school she was at which was great, but...nah, on second thought I'm not gonna use this as a post to justify our decisions. I know homeschooling causes quite a bit of controversy which I don't particularly wish to enter into, but suffice to say that after a trial run of a couple of weeks, thus far it is working out swimmingly. She's happy. I'm happy. We're all just one big ball of happy bubble gum. And I FINALLY feel like I'm able to have a life while actually being a really wicked mama. In the non-wicked sense.
Rock.
I also want to write a heap more about the training I've been doing with the amazing Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary. So I will. The first couple of weeks I was almost a little overwhelmed with such a different way of approaching improv training - it's far more analytical than what I've been used to in the past, but then last week something just suddenly clicked and I felt like I kinda 'got it' a bit more and could just relax, be present and all that jazz. I am so hooked. If only the weather wasn't such an element (no pun intended) in getting down to Calgary every week, seriously the winter roads here freak the living snowman out of me!
And I had a moment of star-struckedness a couple of weeks ago, having walked into the class and seeing standing right next to me none other than Mr Keith Johnstone himself. Of course I acted all cool (translation = mute) but part of me was going 'Holy crap, Keith Johnstone is in da house!'. For those non improvisers out there, Keith Johnstone is the guy who amongst other incredible feats, invented theatre sports and is one of the most highly revered improv teachers in the entire world. I'm currently - and finally - reading his book "Improv: Improvisation and the Theatre" which is already blowing my mind.
And reaffirming to me the validity of our choice of a non-traditional education for our muppets.
Manamana.
Rock.
I also want to write a heap more about the training I've been doing with the amazing Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary. So I will. The first couple of weeks I was almost a little overwhelmed with such a different way of approaching improv training - it's far more analytical than what I've been used to in the past, but then last week something just suddenly clicked and I felt like I kinda 'got it' a bit more and could just relax, be present and all that jazz. I am so hooked. If only the weather wasn't such an element (no pun intended) in getting down to Calgary every week, seriously the winter roads here freak the living snowman out of me!
And I had a moment of star-struckedness a couple of weeks ago, having walked into the class and seeing standing right next to me none other than Mr Keith Johnstone himself. Of course I acted all cool (translation = mute) but part of me was going 'Holy crap, Keith Johnstone is in da house!'. For those non improvisers out there, Keith Johnstone is the guy who amongst other incredible feats, invented theatre sports and is one of the most highly revered improv teachers in the entire world. I'm currently - and finally - reading his book "Improv: Improvisation and the Theatre" which is already blowing my mind.
And reaffirming to me the validity of our choice of a non-traditional education for our muppets.
Manamana.
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