Work and Play

I think I can conclusively say that, while I still tend to enjoy AYS catering jobs, the novelty has pretty much worn off. This past week I served a small dinner at Buckingham Palace attended by Princess Margaret, and I felt no real need to clamour over myself and report every minute detail to our adoring blog-reading public. Truth be told it was a complete breeze of a job, with much waiting around whilst the 40 guests finished eating each course. I did have the "privilege" of standing the in the vicinity of Her Royal Highness with a tray of drinks exclusively for her convenience and consumption. I hovered around her for 45 minutes, and she never touched a drop. Oh, the mad-cap adventures of serving royalty. The dinner took place in the Queen's Gallery of Buckingham Palace. While it was decked out in luxurious art and architecture, another symptom of too many high-society service gigs is that these timeless and ageless and priceless halls all seem to blend together in my mind, none of them standing out as they once might have done.

One great diversion from the stream of office and service work has been the opportunity to volunteer with Brianne's group of youngsters at the U-Film sessions. Two nights this week I have joined in with the group in their improv exercises and film-making tutorials. It's been great fun to "play" again, and gives me a deeper appreciation for the good work that B is involved with. The kids, while being identified by the local council as "at risk," are bright and responsive and relatively well-behaved. I feel that B's group is having a very positive impact upon the children. The experience has also reaffirmed my admiration for teaching profession, which is a form of performance art all it's own.

OMG! My Grandfather is really Spock!

While researching photographers for headshots (Andrew needs to have his re-done) we came across this picture of Leonard Nimoy. The likeness is uncany. He looks like my grandfather in this picture.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, my Grandfather is secretly Spock - all I have to do now is get him to teach me the Vulcan death grip and I will be set for life!

The Pranks Roll On...ladadadadee

Andrew and I have a great housemate in Matt, Not only does he share in our sense of humour, but he also is willing to join us in pranks – even if they are occasionally planned against each other. A few weeks after Andrew left to do a show before Christmas I started hearing a flute being played in the morning. Eventually I discovered that it was Matt who had previously studied the flute classically and had gotten his hands onto one. Earlier in the year I believe Andrew wrote about my loathing of most woodwind instruments. Please understand that this mostly stems from hearing either people playing them poorly or playing songs that should never be changed over to a classical instrument – such as Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”. It just doesn’t work. Well – because of this loathing I offered to Matt that he should follow Andrew around the apartment playing the flute – preferably the theme from Peter and the Wolf. Unfortunately it did not come to fruition but it was still a great idea for a prank. However, recently things have been getting a little silly. For instance; Andrew and I brought back with us from Christmas seasons three and four of The Office, a show that we are all crazy about. What ensued was two weeks of all three of us gathering around the couch and watching at least two episodes to relax after work. Due to my new job there are some nights that I am not home until rather late – for these occasions Matt has made a sign to show how much he is in Office viewing withdrawal, it reads as such: Will Drop Pants for Episodes of The Office. It makes me giggle inside knowing about it.

Anywho….last night we were all hanging about watching a bit of The Office as well as some Fawlty Towers, chatting about the plans for the week ahead, etc. Matt goes into the kitchen for a bit to make up a snack or something and when he comes back Andrew and I are canoodling on the couch. He playfully made a big deal about it as if he had walked into an extremely uncomfortablesituation. We all had a little laugh at it. I then went into the washroom for a few minutes and when I emerged I found Andrew and Matt locked into a tight embrace. Their prank worked – I hit the floor laughing and proceeded to run around in a very Benny Hill fashion exclaiming about the place. The only question now is…what can I plan next to top it?

Ufilm

This past week has been some incredible work. Incredible as in how great I feel about it, but also as in how much hard work is going into it. During the day from Monday to Friday I am doing two shows a day of a healthy lifestyle children’s show called Golden Spoon. For this show I am tour manager, sound technician and I also have a small acting role as a Cooking Competition Judge. Then on Tuesday and Thursday nights I am part of a new program called Ufilm. We have 17 kids involved in it with ages ranging from 13 to 17. Most of them have either been referred to the program by teachers, guardians or care givers. Some of these kids are in foster care, most are not doing well in school and one girl is pregnant. What we are doing in the program is splitting into three groups and each group will write, produce and film a short 10 minute film. We’re trying to get these kids involved and if they do the work it will go towards their school credits.
Most of the kids are really into it, some are even coming up with some really original ideas – although a little dark in nature – but there is always one or two that are out there to stir up a bit of trouble. There are five facilitators always on hand just in case there is trouble (I am one of them) and we have our eyes on two boys in particular that we know if closely paired together will cause a distraction for others. If anyone receives two warnings they are kicked out of the program. It may sound tough but it is necessary.The evenings that I am working on this end late, and I am usually so zonked that I just have a light snack when I get home and then crawl into bed. Ufilm will be going on for twelve sessions. Come March it should wrap up, however In February during the school break I will be part of some High School Musical workshops and then starting up in late March will be another tour of a show about anti smoking. Lots of overlapping of work in other words. Next week we start writing the film scripts so I will be able to expand on that then. TTFN!

What Were They Thinking OR Wii Willy Winkie

It’s the little things that you weren’t expecting, that make your head turn round and go “Did I just hear/see that?” Well that was my Wednesday morning on a drive to Basildon with the tour I am now a part of. Along a stretch of otherwise indistinct countryside road was the most perfect sign I have ever seen. It read: SECRET NUCLEAR BASE – TURN LEFT

I can count the number of video games I have ever played/finished in my life on one hand. I don’t think I even have to use my thumb: The Original Mario that included Duck Hunt that my sister and I played frequently until the electronic gun stopped working, Doctor Mario – given to us by my Gram and Papa and was my favourite for the longest time as I could actually finish level 2 – something I had not been able to do with the original Mario. Fast forward to the Hugo games for computers. I know I watched my cousin Nathan play and win the first one “Hugo’s House of Horror”, I never saw the second one completed but I do now that once, ONCE I was able to finish the third one all on my own. And finally that brings us to Phantasmagoria – a game I obsessed over. The blinds would be pulled down and the lights turned off. Brittany, Tanya and I would huddle around the screen enthralled by the mystery before us and screaming our heads off when something unexpected happened. It felt like we played that game for months until we solved it. That was the year I painted my room purple. Approximately 10 years ago. Aside from solitaire I haven’t touched another game since Phantasmagoria. Until this Christmas season and I touched a Wii. I have my cousin Amanda to thank for this experience – no one else I know has one (artists…)
So here we are visiting my Aunt Linda and Amanda comes home with a new game for her Wii counsel – Rabbid Rabbits. For those of you not aware of this phenomenon, they are a bunch of silly cartoon rabbits most noted for their interpretations of famous movies in 30 seconds – look it up sometime – so funny. Within minutes I realised how much I suck at this style of gaming: I either move too much or don’t know how to stay within range. It must be very funny to those watching me, especially when the crowd of Rabbits start booing my attempts. It’s all in good fun.
Plus filming Linda and Andrew attempting these silly dance moves was just way too much fun to pass up.(Amanda if you watch this, please do not split your stitches…)

Uncorked

I split my day-job time between catering and office work. Yesterday, as a break from the regular office day, I took a day-long shift with At Your Service. 12 hours at a wine-tasting event. MISTAKE. For 9 out of the 12 hours, I did practically nothing except watch people SPIT! The tasting took up an entire art gallery, and I was stationed in a room that was set aside for higher-up purchasers from grocery chains, and there were very few of those. As a result, I pretty much stood around all day long, perhaps clearing away a wine glass once an hour on average. Fortunately, the uniform for that day was jeans, T-shirt, and running shoes, which at least made for comfortable standing around. The room I was in, however, was overly air-conditioned (in winter, no less) and so I was rather chilly all day, too. For the final 3 hours I was involved in tidying up the whole gallery, which involved lugging giant spitoons up and down about 12 flights of stairs! I've decided that if I need a break from the office, I'll take a nap under my desk rather than spend an entire day on a catering job.

Your Local High Street

One thing that Brianne and I have discovered that we miss about Canada is the ability to know exactly where to shop for most things. Consumer awareness, we are finding, has an element of cultural upbringing to it. Back home in Canada one can say to oneself "Oh, they probably have that at The Bay (or Zellers or Home Basics or Sears) . . ." and 95% of the time one would be right. Here in London we're a bit up creek in some shopping ventures. We just don't know, as locals might, where to get that elusive item. The department store is part of the culture here, to be sure, but the North American idea of the Big Box store hasn't really taken hold. Imagine: a world without Canadian Tire! AAAAGGGHH!!!