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).

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.

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.

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? ;-)

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

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:

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 writers 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!!!)

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.