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."

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!

Oh and the new column is up

It's a true story. Promise.

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.

And on a brighter note...

I walked in the door on Tuesday, having left Ash and Leon to majestically hold the kiddly-winkled fort while I set forth on my promotional assault (otherwise known as photocopying bios, columns and the like in readiness to send them out to agents, producers and other random peeps) - only to have Ash say those magical words: "*** from ***** rang and wants you to call her back about a tour."

Woo-bloody-hoo. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

And so my lovely pals, I am suitably chuffed to report that come mid-Feb, I'll be setting off on a brief but nonetheless exciting Canadian tour (it is my first, after all) for exactly four nights in British Columbia. If anybody hears an echo through the Rockies at this point, fear not - it's just my excitement.

After being introduced to the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a very well made little flick that shows - amongst other things - the gritty reality of life on the road, I'm prepared for anything. Who am I kidding? I can't freakin WAIT!

Positive news. Rock.

RIP Heath

I'm quite surprised by how upset I was by this news.

I'm not the most massive Heath Ledger fan in the world (not that I'm the least either, just that I'd hardly consider myself 'dedicated' to his work) yet I've actually felt rather shite-like since hearing of his very premature demise today.

Maybe it's just cos death has been a major theme of the past week. Maybe it's just cos I find myself thinking of his own little pint-sized tike. Or maybe it's just cos I'm an Aussie in a foreign land.

Either way, I'm shocked both by the news itself and my reaction to it.

Cos it is of course...all about me.

Isn't it?

I think the moral of this story - and I'm sure there are many which will come to light in the coming days - is that it's not all about anybody.

(And that fame is fickle. Blah blah blah. Cos we didn't know that already).

Anyhoo, rest in peace buddy. Geez Louise, what a week.

Riding the rollercoaster

It's been a crazy week. From mammoth highs - like having the joyous visit of two of my favourite people in the world Ash and Leon, to doing tons of snowboarding, to heaps of awesome kiddly-wink time, to a particularly rocking gig at Yuk Yuk's on Tuesday, to having some amazing career opportunities beginning to show their heads - to a crashingly horrible low.

My sister-in-law Lizzie - who is hands-down one of my best mates and most beautiful people on this planet - got the horrible news that her darling Dad (also one of the most gorgeous people I've ever had the good fortune of knowing) suddenly died. It's been so shocking and sad for everybody who knew him, my heart's just been crunched up with sadness for Lizzie and her family as they're dealing with all the emotional and logistical fall-out.

I'm not going to write anything more than that, just cos it's not really my news to be delving into, but suffice to say that it's times like this it makes you really appreciate the people in your life and just life in general.

And how far away we are from the rest of our family.

Just sad.

You have the best day. The BEST. One of those it-can't-get-any-better days. And you are grateful for how awesome life can be.

Then...the bad news. (Not mine).

And suddenly nothing matters anymore.

The good, the bad and the rest.

Our first visitors!!!!! Ash and Leon, our darling mates from Oz are here for a wee (please don't stop reading there...I do hate things being taken out of context) stopover en route back to Oz, after having spent the past couple of years doing the UK thang.

WOOT!

Tonight had a really tough corporate gig - on the downside, the crowd of 700+ young ski-season workers were rather over-hyped and WAY too far in party mode to want to pay attention to some weird Aussie lady strutting onstage (the entire ball-room and I kid you not, basically continued to buzz through my entire set), while on the upside I took comfort in my dear mate Fiona McGary's thoughts on corporates ("If you even get a couple of laughs out of it you're doing great. They suck, that's why they pay so well.") and didn't take it personally.

Plus I survived the incredibly snowy drive home.

Rock.

Tomorrow: missions include hair-cuts for the kiddlies and Ash, then snowboarding, then heading to Calgary to do a gig at Yuk Yuk's.

Huzzah!

Tina Fey - Improv in Real Life

Really cool read here.

Stumbling into something good.

Well, what an unexpected treat last night turned out to be.

At 5pm, all I had to look forward to was a five and a half hour work shift and a pile of dishes. By 11pm I'd somehow stumbled into 'headlining' a gig in Calgary - which, thanks to a VERY understanding co-worker taking my shift, ended up going well enough to score me several spots at the Calgary FunnyFest in May. Yee-haw!

I'm walking on sunshine. And it's hot.

(You can read a blogger's review of last night's show here.)

Ciao!*

*I'm actually feeling cool right now. That's a warning.

The Seven Stages of Snowboarding

Oh yeah and my latest column is up. It's on snowboarding.

Dude.

Two beautiful things...

Yesterday I was called forth to the cavern otherwise known as the post-office, to collect a package. What nugget of post-Christmas goodness could this be? I thought. Turns out it was a little spirit-lifting love pack from none other than my Shanghai-ian blogging buddy Lou, complete with a gorgeous scarf, a pair of awesomely cheesy and gloriously culturally inappropriate slippers (I will take some photos as soon as I can get off my frozen buttocks and recharge my camera batteries) and a pair of colourful puppet mittens to talk to myself with whenever I'm feeling down (note to Lou, I think Britney could use a pair of these pronto).

Awesomeness. Lou, you are a certifiable glow-stick of the human variety. You can quote me on that too.

Secondly, Johnny Depp is the cover candy on this month's Rolling Stone apparently:

One part of me is all 'Johnny, you're so talented, you don't need to slut yourself up to sell magazines!'

The other part of me is just 'THANK YOU GOD.'

Store Wars

Ah yes, comedy with a message. As you may know, I'm not a massive fan of puns (Mr Anon, try to contain yourself) but I felt moved enough to overlook that and pass this on. Enjoy.

A Song a Week

This is interesting, a young dude you may have heard about already through the incestuous net that is cyberspace, who's making quite a name for himself through his online videoed-in-the-bedroom musical comedy bits on YouTube. It's pretty amazing these days, to think that if you can't get to the world, the world can come to you through the magic of the net.

As serendipity would have it, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to write and video a new song a day for the month of January. Uh...so far I've failed to stick to that even for one day, so I'm now going the 'flexible' option of one song a week. Which means, I believe, that I have about a day left to upload song number one.

Guess I'd better get cracking.

My kids are sitting watching Franklin (one of the only kids' 'entertainment' options - that's me using the term loosely - that I actually don't mind them checking out) and while they do so, I am sitting here watching them.

I love this - when they don't know I'm looking at them and their attention is sufficiently satiated to save them worrying about going crazy for mine. They are cuddled up together in the chair, looking so cute, so sleepy and so innocent.

Why is it that sometimes it's easier to FEEL the love for them when they're a) silent and/or b) only semi-conscious?

It makes me wonder if there wasn't a deeper symbolism to one of my fave 80's movies, Mannequin.

Interview with Matt Nix

There's a wicked interview with Matt Nix over at The Rouge Wave I'd highly recommend checking out. My ears were especially pricked - in a good way - by this:

You have to listen to everyone. The minute you think you’ve got all the answers, you’re dead. I learned from everyone. I took notes from everyone – from the network, the studio, the writers, the actors, my assistant, my mom. I sought out criticism, and when something wasn’t working, I killed it, no matter how long I spent working on it. I was shameless about calling people and asking “how do you do this?” And when you come to people with that attitude, you’d be surprised how willing they are to help.

Good stuff.

Changes are in the air...

2008 is off to a flying start.

Nice gigs are stocking up, little by little.
Tim's started contract work, which, while not endless in supply, means that he's earning some great money.
And my new demo has arrived from Oz, ready for conversion to the North American format, after which my assault on festivals will commence.

Other changes are in the air too, but I'll wait til they're a little more firm before subjecting myself to the public blogging humiliation of writing about them only to not have them eventuate.

Yeah. Did that even make sense?