my Tuesday

All morning there were thunderstorms. I have gotten up quite early but went back to bed. Felt good to get up late and well-rested.

I had a photo session to do at 2. This was not quite a glamour shoot. I had to take pictures of a woman's plastic surgery scars. She had a face lift a couple years ago and the scarring was so bad it turned out looking like fat worms all around her ears. It sure makes you wonder if having the surgery was worth the risk.. but she is going to go under the knife again to get this repaired. After her next surgery they will bombard her with radiation to prevent the overscarring that happened the first time.

She also made me take pictures of her mouth to show the plastic surgeon as she doesn't like the fine lines that are starting to show up there, so I guess her last experience didn't make her too wary.

She's a pretty woman and she's getting older and I can see how this distresses her. Will I be like her in 10 years? Freaking out because I'm getting older. I certainly don't look like I'm 18 anymore and nothing looks as good as it did back then. Surely we don't have to look young to be loved. I always thought what was most important was how someone made you feel.. more than what they looked like. It was always more important what was going on between their 2 ears than anything else.

Later, I went out to visit the duck pond. With everything that happened this summer, I hadn't been there once. Although the weather in the morning was dreary, the afternoon brought with it warmth and sunshine.. a beautiful day.

Meandering duck:



Reposing gull:



As for me, well... I'm trying to keep a positive attitude. I have moments, but then I put myself in check and pull myself together. There are moments that I feel very lost , as if I will never find my true self.. and other moments, where I feel happy and see a glimmer of who I'm meant to be. The same person I was before but happier, stronger, more confident... the same, just better. Right now the road seems full of faux-pas, trials and tribulations. I hope to believe the road will eventually be smoother.

week of rehearsals

Mentally, I'm trying to keep positive and I want to thank all of you that left such kind and encouraging comments on my blog entries. It really does help to know that people care. Going to rehearsals has helped me too. Even though it's lots of work, it's just so good to be around people that I like and I feel like me. We are a touchy -feely kind of troupe.. so when we meet each night, there are no handshakes.. it's hugs and kisses all around. It feels so good to be held and fills you up with love.
Here's to (((((all of you))))) :-)

It has been quite a week. I've been to practice everyday and although I'm supposed to
sit down and rest when I'm tired.. I guess I'm a bit proud and just keep on going. I feel fine, although yesterday with 2 practices in one day, 1:30 to 4:30 and then 6:30 to 10:00, I felt pooped. We had this dance sequence to do and sing at the same time and we had to do it over, and over, and over and you guessed it, over again. I wish someone would have been here to rub my feet.. they felt like they might fall off. One consolation.. everyone was tired, so anemic or not, I didn't fare off worse than anyone else.

It still was a lot of fun. Today I have one more practice. It was supposed to be 2 like yesterday, but I think everyone has had a long week and the last rehearsal has been cancelled.

A few pics taken yesterday:

Matthieu just waiting for rehearsals to start:


Here is a picture from ActIII, Philippe, who plays Captain Proton is being held prisoner with the other video heros on Bob the terrible's Pirate ship:
As you can see.. the ship for the moment is only masking tape on the ground:


Here is Stéfane, the director and Bruno, the writer:


A well deserved break:
Cute side-story note. See the guy sitting on the stage edge in shorts? That's Luc. Notice his legs. He's a volunteer firefighter in his sparetime. When I first met him several years ago, I was at his house waiting for Danielle, his wife, when he got home from a fire. He was as he is today in shorts. He had some soot on his legs and was going to take a shower. I looked at his legs and saw how he had no hair at all.. and came to the conclusion that they were singed off. They thought that was rather funny. Seems he just doesn't have hair on his legs at all!


Eve: To pronounce it in French you must say it as if you were saying Every but cut off the ERY and you will have it perfectly. She's 18, a violinist and so pretty:



Philippe explaining about sound resonance to Cynthia:


Marcel plays the robot.. Here you can see him adding oil to his joints:


Well, that's it for now.. I should have a shower and breakfast! Hope you enjoy the pictures.. I know they aren't very fancy.. no costumes, no decors and mostly off-scene.. but I still felt like sharing.

practice

I thought I'd show you some pics I took during our rehearsals. I'm pretty tired after these 3 rehearsals... so I won't go into great detail.. but thought you might enjoy these.

To put this in context a bit.. the people you see here are characters in a video game. These are from a hero/quest type game.
This scene with the bard, the sire, the magician and the charming thief as they are all scrunched together as they hear a noise.. the noise is the very loud snoring of a messenger that has fallen asleep in the woods.



Here you see a bit of relaxing during our break:



From a different time frame.. here is the hero of a video game from the future. You see here Captain Proton.. and the bald headed robot and the Narrator.. she calculates the points that Captain Proton has made and how many monsters he has beaten etc.,



Here you see Captain Proton and the robot.. preparing to save the planet and the citizens of the future.



Advancing and still surveying for monsters and enemies.



Captain Proton with his Pretty Lieutenant.. she obviously thinks he's pretty "hawt" and he thinks so too.. :-D :


and Stéfane St-Jean, our director:


that's all for tonight.. I need some sleep. I'll post more pics this week.

no place to go but up

Last time I posted I talked about how I wasn't going to let myself be hurt anymore. How I was going to be strong and happy. I had wasted 2 months torturing myself. I was ready to get on with it and be happy and get back in shape and feel good. What I hadn't realized was that the last 2 months had actually taken a much worse toll on me than I ever had realized.

About 2 weeks ago, I decided I'm not going to let this happen to me anymore, I'm going out every night and take a walk and try to get back into shape. I was never an athlete but I was used to going up and down 4 flights of stairs a few times an evening and then sing for 2 hours without a problem but I was feeling so tired and figured not going out for 2 months had me pretty out of shape and a bit of walking and I would be up to par again.

The first night I went out I was glad it was dark out as I was ashamed to tell anyone that I had to stop 5 times to take my breath because I couldn't go any farther. I was like I couldn't open my ribcage. I was shocked but thought, well, tomorrow it will be better and reasoned everything with how tired I was and how much lack of sleep I had this summer etc.,

I went out for several nights.. each night it was the same thing. Once I actually got it done in 4 but then the next night I was back to where I started. I cried ... right there at the bottom of the hill.. in the dark where nobody could see me. What was happening? I really needed rest.

I slept a bit more and even took a nap in the day time thinking i'm just really overtired. I kept telling myself.. give yourself a little time, doesn't take long to go downhill but slowly and surely I would get better and be ok. I really tried to have a positive attitude. Then on Monday and Tuesday I just felt very drained. I just went from one room to the next and found my heart was pounding. On Wednesday night, I was trying to relax and watch a movie but my heart was pounding like it wanted to leap right out of my chest and my throat. My left arm started to feel paralyzed.. what the heck was happening. I got really scared and went to the hospital. I thought for sure I was having a heart attack.

When I got to the hospital they took an ECG and then the doctor listened to me heart. He asked about the last time I had seen a doctor and I told him in the spring and he was very upset and said you have a huge heart murmur and they nobody has done anything about it.. He was starting to get angry because apparently it was pretty bad. He kept listening to it and making me squeeze my fists together.. or push to make a hard stomach. He told me they would be keeping me over night with the monitors and first thing in the morning I would be seeing a cardiologist.

Well, 20 minutes later he was back because he had just received my blood tests. Apparently I was running low on juice. I only had 40% of the blood in my body that I should have. Meaning I had 60% of the blood in my body that I had lost. My heart was going nuts because it was acting like a pump that didn't have enough liquid. have a Within the hour and for the next 12 I received a blood transfusion. 4 units of blood.. or 2 quarts approx. A normal body has about 5. I was running on 2.

When the blood tranfusion was over, I then had to have tests to see where I was bleeding from. They give you something very disgusting to drink to flush out your plumbing. It's not quite drano but not sure it tastes any better.

They then scheduled me for a colonoscopy and a endoscopy. One after the other.
Both of these entail entering your body with cameras and doing a strip search. They started with the colonoscopy. I've told other this because I found it funny.. You get to watch on a monitor. You at first see the operating room and then oops.. the camera turns around and there you see a nice round butt.. and I couldn't help thinking.. hey.. that's me.. We never really get to see the view back there.. :-D
Anyways.. seems the plumbing is just fine.. it's as if the pipes were installed yesterday. Even the doc seemed impressed. As lovely as they are .. we'll leave them on the inside and not show photos here. ;-)

Then it was on to the endoscopy. Oh.. it's really rough getting a tube jammed down your throat. My gagging reflex was in full force and it was horrible. It did go down the second time around and it only took him a few seconds to see what was going on. I had bled from my stomach probably for a couple of months. Not aggressive bleeding. Very slow and minimal but continually. Somehow all the stress and angst and torture I put myself through.. I had irritated my stomach walls to the point of them slowly bleeding. We are not talking huge drops here.. and that's why I never knew. My stomach was all up in knots and sore but I thought it was my nerves and my anguish and it was but it had actually physically hurt me.

My husband left me and what little self-esteem I had left I stomped on and tortured myself to the point of almost dying. When I finally decided to take care of myself and get back in shape it was already much too late. My body was already in distress and just couldn't take it.. it was too much exertion. I'm lucky to be alive.

What a wake up call... When you hit rock bottom, there is no place to go
but up and that's my intention.


Although I now am at about 80% ... it feels amazing.. better than I've felt in 2 months. I still have to be careful though because I'm still anemic but slowly and surely I should get better.

My rehearsals started back on Saturday, but I was still in the hospital. There were 2 practices on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. I'll go for the first time tonight. I'll do my best and when I get tired, I'll take a little rest. It's going to be good to get back to doing something I love with people I really enjoy. From what I hear so far, they are having a blast, so hopefully my new posts in the future will be of more joyful and fun things in my life.

Last Wednesday, I started a drawing for an illo contest I wanted to enter called "Survival". Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to finish it and when I got home the submit was already over. So.. I'll show it to you here. The iris is the flower of Quebec... I used it to represent me. Although I have felt strangled and very hurt, and it's been a huge struggle, I will get through this.

an update

Yes, it's been awhile since the last update. There have been days that I feel like I've taken two steps forward and then other's where I take one step back. All in all, what is important, I guess, is that I'm progressing, slowly but surely. I guess I was hoping that it would just progress, but surely the back and forth is what makes us human.

When I look back over the last 2 months, I see how hurt I've been. When something like this happens, it's like the other person has died, leaving you alone but then he's not dead and he's out there happy and has basically dumped you.

In the beginning I really felt like I must be a terrible person for him to not want me anymore and although I do have occasional instances when I still feel this way, most of the time I see thing differently.

I've learned it is not really about me. It's about him. How he feels about himself, how he needs something extra to make him feel like a man. He's grown a beard and let his hair grow. He doesn't even look like himself anymore.

I've realized that he is quite detached from his feelings and anyone else's feelings as a matter of fact. Everytime I see him it's because he wants something else. Needs something he has left behind. 3 times now, he has come with her in the car. Last time I told him to have a little respect and not bring her here.. that I'm not ready for that. He doesn't understand that it's painful for me to see my replacement sitting in our car in front of my house. He just answered.. "Bien, voyons- donc"! as if to say "Oh, com'on now.. be reasonable".

Reasonable? I'd been more than reasonable during all our marriage. I look back and see how much I bent over backwards trying to make him happy. If someone was making consessions, it was always me. He liked his clothes folded a certain way, sure.. I'll fold them like your mommy folded them! He liked things set up a certain way, no problem.. I'll do it your way.

I'm not much of a nag and didn't like to plead to get something done. If I could do it myself I would. He worked hard and I thought he deserved a break when he got home. I only worked part-time and had time to do extra things.

He never really liked to talk about his feelings.. or even knew how to express how he felt. I tried many times, it would always end up with him leaving the room and not wanting to discuss anything. Whenever we watched a movie that would have scenes where something that would happen would affect you emotionally.. and may even make you cry, he would start with the jokes. He never cried, I have not seen him cry once. I asked him once what would he cry for, and he answered me that he would cry when I died.. hmphf... well, not anymore I guess.

We had problems in the bedroom. He didn't have stamina and didn't want to talk about it much less seek help. We lived together before getting married and even though he was not a great lover, I didn't really have much experience and thought we would both learn and get better with time. In the very beginning, when we first got married, I thought maybe he was gay. When I asked him he was furious. He was tired and that was that.. and why did I need that much affection anyways? I was hurt but then thought .. geez, if I were married to a man and he had an accident or something, would I just leave him? no.. I learned to compromise. I gave him what he wanted, when he wanted it and held back when he needed me to and tried not to let him feel less of a man.

There is a French expression: "Jamais mieux servi que par soi-même!". It means never better served than by yourself. When I needed to I satisfied myself. It didn't replace the loving and touching from another human. I lacked that, I still lack that.

All through our marriage, I was always faithful, even though I had met great guys that were kind and caring and were interested in me. I never once turned.

I had always done things with my hands. I like creating things. Since the last 7-8 years though, I started going out and doing things that made me happy. I started singing with other people both modern and classcial music. I had no training but I enjoyed it. When I first started, I remember being very timid. I sat in front all quiet, all by myself and hardly even moved the air.

Slowly I tried to be more confident. I wanted the world to see the person I was inside. I was caring and funny and enjoyed people. I was quirky and loved art and creating art. I would push myself to be not afraid. To get up and speak in front of a crowd. I remember the very first time. We were doing a production and we were wearing some type of peasant clothes.. and they wanted us to wrap material around our waist several times. It was awful, cumbersome and uncomfortable.. most of all, the girls hated it. I hated it, it made us look like we were all expecting twins within the week.

At our "couturière", we had to go onstage while the director and the conceptor of the costumes watched us while we paraded back and forth beneath the lights on stage. Several of the girls had already passed and not a word was said. When I got on stage.. there was a glaring light in my eyes and they said, so .. like it? I remember feeling my heart pump in my chest and the feeling of being extremely nervous and I answered them telling how I didn't like it and thought it was not a good idea since we would be under such hot lights for more than 2 hours. They looked at each other and had the tiniest of conferences and said, you know, you are right! .. and we didn't have to wear them. I was so proud of myself. I hadn't put anyone down, but got my point across. I grew that day.

And I kept growing. I tried to do things that allowed me to become a strong person.

More and more I wanted to be myself and not have to walk on eggshells to make Syvlain happy. I wouldn't be mean but I stood up for myself. I think this bothered him. I was no longer subordinate.

This pains me to say but I guess it will put my point across. Often at night he would be too tired. In the mornings he was not too tired, but in a hurry. Of course, that meant he wanted to take care of himself and not have to care about me. He had started to would just rub himself on me and that was enough. It was enough for him, he wasn't overstimulated and it was fast. I hated it .. it made me softly cry when he left the room. I felt like a piece of meat. I remember late last fall, I finally said, no.. stop it! I don't want to be touched that way, I'm here too you know.

So, I guess I pretty much let him walk all over me. When I met him I was extremely shy and didn't have a lot of confidence in myself. So, if I have blame to take in this marriage, that is it. I let him have his way, and I spoiled him and pretty much gave him whatever he wanted but then I started to want more. I started to want to not be happy just for him, but be happy for me.

I had stuffed my feelings for so long.. that I was sometimes overwhelmed when I finally started to let myself feel again. I look back in this blog and smile to read how explain how I had kept my feeling as if in a little jar .. protecting myself from being hurt. When I finally let them out, I didn't want to stuff them back in again. I had done that too many times, this time I wasn't going to push myself back into that unfeeling place anymore. I was scared, I was vulnerable but I also felt strong. What changed in our marriage? I changed, I became a strong person. He didn't change. He didn't want to change and didn't appreciate my standing up for myself.

He would always say that I was too sensitive... but I've learned that I'm still sensitive.. but that you can be sensitive and strong too.

I used to think that being he was strong. Strong because he didn't cry.. didn't connect with his feelings. Well.. he wasn't strong at all, he was to weak to face his feelings and still too weak. When he talks to me, it's like we were never together. He doesn't see the hurt at all.

How many things I felt bad about... I wasn't the typical wife. I didn't make the same salary that he did. I was worth less. In reality, that's not true. This house was mine before I met him. He lived here and didn't have to pay a mortgage. Our furniture, mine. The piano, mine. Our bedroom set, mine. I walk around and the walls are covered with my paintings. The bedcover, I made. The curtains, I made. The smells of food whafting through the air, I created. I picked the raspberries for homemade pie. So..yes, he put up money to heat the house and made sure we had food on the table, but I also did my part. I also contributed to bills, to household items, fluffy towels, good sheets.. xmas gifts and any luxuries.I made our house a home. So I have nothing to feel guilty about. I may have made less money, but I did do my part.

I remember the first few days he left.. I walked around and cried.. his shoes were gone, his jacket was gone, personal effects. Then for almost 2 months I didn't sleep in my bed. I couldn't. It has only been a week now that I've slept in it. I've opened his empty drawers and put some of my clothes in them. It's a taking back of my space. It's a taking back of my air, trying to let myself feel like I still belong here.

Some small things have been liberating. The other night I sat at the piano. I am not a good piano player, but I enjoy it. It was past midnight and i started to play and just let myself be immersed.. and then I thought how free that felt. To be able to do something the moment you wanted without having to wonder if I was encroaching on someone's else space.

Many people have come to my aid. Most of them, people on line. Some just ask if I'm alright and check up on me. Some have offered their own stories and encourage me to
be brave and be happy. One person in particular actually tells me that I'm pretty terrific and makes me feel like I'm special. I allow these words to touch me .. to rock me and comfort me. They allow me to be brave, to be strong and to see goodness in the future, to believe that I'll be alright and perhaps one day be even better than I ever was.

Tomorrow will be a month

Tomorrow it will be a month since he left.

I wish I could say that I feel great, but it wouldn't be true. I still haven't slept in our bed. I still sleep on the couch and I don't sleep enough. I am getting better though, I don't cry as much unless he comes by, then it's really touch.

Saturday he came and got more things. It seems anything he wants, he just takes and whatever doesn't interest him anymore, well we can keep. He took every tool he has, and he has so many of them. I told him he needed to give me some, so he bought me a set of pliers, a measuring tape and a several screwdrivers in one screwdriver. I still have a hammer from before I met him.. a small thing, good enough to hammer in a small nail I suppose.

We had so many nuts and bolts, and nails and screws and widgits and gadgets.. all gone. He didn't even leave me a handful of nails and screws. It was my fault, I shouldn't have let him come and take things, but I wanted it over with.. I just wanted him to leave and not have to see him anymore.. not have to go through the pain anymore.

Today, I'm pretty angry about it all.. He didn't have the decency to be honest with me. He never said a word about being unhappy. He was like he always was, mostly emotionally cold. He was tired and wasn't interested in me, my needs or my thoughts. Of course he must have been tired, screwing around on the side.

I can't say there is no pain anymore, there is.. but today I have made a decision. To try and not let him hurt me anymore. Someone who could make me cry for a whole month and not care doesn't deserve my love nor my tears. When I asked if we could get counseling, maybe we could work it out.. heh, he said it wouldn't change anything. To throw so many years away in an instant like a light switch on/off.. how could he ever have truly loved me? For a whole month I was wrapped in my pain, almost comfortable in it knowing that it meant that I didn't take our life for granted.

Nobody is perfect, but looking back I see that I let him walk over me. In the last few years..and especially this last year, I've been working hard at being stronger, believing in myself, trying to have confidence in myself and being brave. I'm starting to wonder if this scared him. I'm nterested in many things that he couldn't be bothered with, perhaps it was too hard for him to keep up.

All the time we were together, I would always look at the positive things we had... and didnt' harp on the negative things that weren't alright. Now, I look back and see the negative.. because I have to, because it will be the only way that I will be able to take back my person.. take back my life.. to be able to breathe and be happy.. to get him out of my system.. To look at that and be able to say, I'll be better off without him. He's the loser here.. I'm not a bad person. I'm a caring and loving person who is smart and interesting and he's the one that is a fool.

I also want to thank everyone that left comments here, that wrote me personal messages and emails.. that told me, Maggie.. you are a good person, he failed you! Everyone who told me to be brave and offered their hugs and caring. I know how banal it seems to say it, but all your words of kindness and caring and wisdom have truly touched my heart and are helping me through this.

I walk beside a joy that is not mine.

This last week has been pretty horrendous. I've been in pain and vacillating completely between being a responsable person and doing what's got to be done and falling completely to bits and not being able to eat or sleep.

Last Wednesday, my husband came home after supper and very blank-faced and unemotionally told me he had met someone, that liked what he liked, and that he now only loved me as a friend and that he was leaving.

There was no fight, no confrontation, no ritual .. no nothing. I asked to see someone together.. to work it out.. but no.. he was not interested, instead he packed up his car with as much of his personal belongings as he could and walked out.

I was in utter shock. I had felt a lack of passion in our marriage for a while now.. he was always too busy, too tired.



The night he left.. I felt it was certainly all my fault. I'm not your regular housewife/mate. I don't have a 9-5 job, don't wear sensible shoes, don't like office clothing and fancy hairdoes. I work part-time at home, don't make very much money, I bake and cook and take care of people.. I draw and take pictures and create things.. I sew and like being barefeet and wearing long skirts. No.. I'm not the typical wife.

I don't think he ever was really very interested in the things I did, or created.. but enjoyed telling others that his wife was an artist.. because that was a "cool thing".

Most of you know I'm an admin at Worth. These last few months, Worth has actually been my saving grace as it has kept my busy and company all those lonely nights he wasn't here and I believed he was working. At first I felt like such an idiot to not have seen it.. not have noticed.. but I trusted him, implicitely.

This last week, Worth has again helped me.. to keep my mind off of putting myself down.. blaming myself, because that is exactly what I was doing.

I felt ashamed, I felt like an utter failure. What if 's were roaming through my head. If only I had.. were too.

It felt like he had beat me up and left me on the floor and just left. I could only blame myself. I didn't leave the house. I didn't want the neighbors to see my puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks.. I wanted to disappear into thin air. Surely they would ask themselves.. how bad it must have been for him to leave. Of course it must have been my fault.

I felt this way.. and felt so guilty because a few months ago.. when James left his wife.. I couldn't see how it could not have been his wife's fault. James was the good guy.. that I knew.. now I was just like her.. and realized how easy it was to misjudge. I had told Sylvain all about James. That I couldn't see how it was his fault. My husband, although always a little emotionally cold, was not a bad husband. He didn't beat me.. he made sure we ate well and had a roof over our heads. I often felt guilty wanting more passion in our lives.. I thought I was being selfish.
I never expected this..nobody expected it. He was the good guy! huh? So that made me the 'bad' guy.. no?

I walked around the house, his shoes were no longer there.. his personal effects on his bureau, gone .. and his drawers were empty. It was like he was dead, but worse.. . he was out there .. laughing and smiling and I was left crumpled in a corner, crying and having to tell the whole world that I had failed.

I told a few people at Worth.. not many.. but a few that held me up and kept me together.. they were my glue. You meet people online.. and you have never physically touched them.. but you are friends.. and affected by them.. and they opened their hearts and held me together. Kitten was online the night it happened. She told me she wasn't going to come online but felt compelled to.. felt as if she should. I usually don't like to lay my problems on people.. ok.. I rant and rave here a bit.. but normally.. I don't call someone with every little passing thing. She was extremely kind and caring. I told Arsi who told me it wasn't true that it was my fault.. that it was not me the failure.. and he said "you have to talk to Cyn". Cyn has had some rough times in her life.. but still manages to be very compassionate and caring .. and so strong. I admire her SO much. She gave me lots of good advice, and she opened up her heart.

Tampadan wrote me... and asked .. how are you doing.. when I told him.. he wrote me a very warm heart felt letter expressing concern and also not letting me get down on myself. He's an incredible friend.


They held me together.. They gave me advice... helped me see I was not a terrible person.. that I had not failed.. that he had failed me.

Last night for the first time I slept a whole 5 hours and only woke up once in the middle of the night. The night before I had gotten a mere 2 hours. Amazing how weak yet how strong a person can be.

I still haven't slept in our bed. I sleep on the couch. I'm not ready to do that yet. I slept an hour here and hour there.. literally from exhaustion .. my body simply shutting down.


Today, although I still feel and look like a trainwreck.. I have decided that it isn't my fault. I talked to my neighbor outside for the first time yesterday. Jame's wife heard about what happened and came here with the first rose from her garden. I have found people to be incredibly compassionate and caring.

I'm not saying I am perfect ... but I now realize that I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't fail.. I didn't drop the ball. I was just the victim here.

In the last week I have done at least 10 illustrations for the Draw a Worthian Contest. I had made promises. MMM was leaving on a short vacation. I promised to do his h2h's. I could not let him down. As much as it may seem to be a burden to do work at this time, it was actually a relief.. it helped me keep my sanity.. it kept me busy and doing for others made me feel better about myself. I've tried to keep my head up.. and smile through the tears.. and it's been good for me. It may not be everyone's solution.. Some may wallow in drink and food. This helped me.

Today, I can say I'm not alright yet.. but I know I can make it. I don't want to fade away.. I don't want to lie down and be stepped over. I want to be happy again. I must.

Accompagnement (Saint-Denys Garneau)
Je marche à côté d'une joie
D'une joie qui n'est pas à moi
D'une joie que je ne puis pas prendre

Je marche à côté de moi en joie
J'entends mon pas de joie qui marche à côté du moi
Mais je ne puis changer de place sur le trottier
Je ne puis pas mettre mes pieds dans ces pas-là
et dire voilà c'est moi

Je me contente pour le moment de cette compagnie
Mais je machine en secret des échanges
Par toutes sortes d'opérations, des alchimies
Par des tranfusions de sang
Des déménagements d'atomes
par des jeux d'équilibre

Afin qu'un jour, tranposé,
Je sois porté par la danse de ces pas de joie
Avec le bruit décroissant de mon pas à côté de moi
s'étiolant à ma gauche
Sous les pieds d'un étranger
qui prend une rue transversale.


Translation:
I walk beside a joy
Beside a joy that is not mine
A joy of mine which I cannot take

I walk beside myself in joy
I hear my footsteps in joy marching beside me
But I cannot change places on the sidewalk
I cannot put my feet in those steps and say
Look it is I

For the moment I am content with this company
But secretly I plot an exchange
By all sorts of devices, by alchemies,
By blood transfusions,
Displacement of atoms,
by balancing tricks

So that one day, tranposed,
I may be carried along by the dance of those steps of joy
With the noise of my footstep dying away bside me
With the fall of my own lost step
fading to my left
Under the feet of a stranger
who turns down a side street.

long day and sore feet

We've had 5 rehearsals this week, culminating in our last 2 rehearsals ... a very informal concert/practice that was in front of friends and family.

We started the day with a brunch and then continued on to the concert hall.. where in the afternoon we rehashed Act I .. completely until 5:30. Left had a quick supper and came back to be onstage for 7... where we continued until past 10:00pm.

Normally, the orchestra would be in the pit and we would be onstage, but instead, the orchestra was on stage .. with the soloists up front and we behind. It was a bit difficult hearing the soloists with the instruments between us.. but realize this is just for today, when we get back to working on this later this summer, we will have the stage to ourselves, but for the moment it felt a little constrained.

It was fun and exciting but at the end of the day... I was pretty glad to be finished as my feet were sore!

Here's a little idea what it looks like before we start.. just sitting around:


Here is Philip, he will be playing Capitain Proton.. he's very sweet and very talented.. and not too hard on the eyes either ;-)


Being behind the orchestra while they were warming up made for an interesting and unusual view!

busy, busy

I've had a really busy week and not a lot of time to blog. We are ending our session of rehearsals this week.. before taking a month off. (well, from singing anyways... in about 2 weeks we will probably be start working on making props) .

That means 5 practices this week and a informal concert Sunday night for friends and family.

These last practices are pretty great. The soloists have started singing with us and we are finally getting to hear the script too.. It's such much funnier and much less disjointed when everything comes together. Tomorrow will be a treat as we will have full orchestra and for the first time be practicing on-stage.

Wednesday, we had our first encounter with the singer that will be playinig "Bob, the terrible". He's very charming and "aguichable" and just seems to fit the role perfectly.

Yesterday, the director was there for the first time.. tiny little thing.. but a real cutie.. with his lime and lemon striped pants.. very retro!.



June 1st was also the first year for World Photo Day . Since it is the first year of the project, there is not many photos.. probably about 1000. Still, 1000 people cooperating on a project is not bad. Next year there will most probably be more. The idea was to take a photograph just showing people or a person just doing something ordinary wherever you happened to be that day. I took a few shots of the daughter of a friend.. and uploaded a pic of her blowing bubbles. Of course, I would have been better to have a plain background etc, but this is a candid shot and I couldn't help but love her expression..so without further ado, my contribution to World Photo Day...

Émilie:

clothes and clothes again

This week I went shopping with Carmen to try and help her find a dress for a fancy doodad she is going to this weekend near Montreal at the Château Vaudreuil where her husband will be picking up an award.

Well, good luck finding something elegant and chic in a small town that doesn't look like you're going to your high-school prom or that you want to look like the grandmother of the bride. It was either too masculine... for my tastes anyways.. stuff like stark shifts with very tailored looking jackets, made me feel like something you would wear to a high-class business meeting, not a fancy soirée. There were also the trashy looking dresses... extremely low cut with long chains and beads and bobbles and whatever all over.. almost made you look like a xmas tree... not "quite" what we were trying to find.

We found one dress that would have been perfect except it didn't fit her. She is petite and wears an 8, but she is less than well endowed so her chest is probably a 6. We did find a black crepe dress with just the tiniest bit of dark plum inlay with tiny beads.. well.. alhtough she's small.. that dress would just not fit over her hips.. well, maybe if we would have attached vice-grips and tugged it down.. haha.

-- -- --

Last night we had a practice. We really have to get a move on .. need to know all of this by heart. I'm pretty much there.. actually I would know it by heart if I would practice at home, I guess.. but I do other things instead. It will be a joy to get rid of the binder though, 350 pages starts getting heavy after awhile.

This evening we will be singing a few extracts to open the "Salon du Livre", which is a weekend of meeting (mostly regional) authors. We have to be there early and it was decided that they wanted us to wear black and white.. may I say.. boring!!

They think it will make us look unified as a group... oh.. no!. .. do you really believe that if people see us in ordinary clothing singing together.. will truly believe we just randomly and coincidentally all butted up against each other and burst out in song? LOL.

Also, it's a lovely day today.. beautiful sunshine and warm. We will be all dressed up in long formal black skirts and white silk shirts...so stuffy. It's also so darned conservative looking. Dressed like that, I feel we look like nuns, when they went through the stage of no longer wearing their habits, just need to add a small cross on our chests and there you go! Can you tell, I'm slightly annoyed?

this last week

I used to update this thing every couple of days and it's been about a week, I guess I'm getting lazy.

Last Sunday, I went to see a concert with a choir that sings pop songs, mostly 80's stuff. I went to see it because Claudette sings in it and she's like a second mom to me. She has 2 daughter's my age but they don't bother to go and see her. I met her about 7-8 years ago and she is so young at heart and has a wonderful spirit about her.
She's the kind of person you want to grow up to be.

Claudette:


Here's a look at their choir:


and the night's Master of Ceremonies: lol


--
Since I've started taking photographs, Claudette has always said she loved
my work, but you know how it is.. friends and family often say, "oh! it's wonderful!" just to make you feel good but when she came by expressly to choose some photos to put on her dining room wall, I was very flattered. I went with her and chose 3 frames that would look great together and with the images in them. Later that night, I went to her house and helped her put them on the wall... let me tell you .. putting several of them in a line is not an easy task, well not for me anyways! It took us an hour to put up 3 frames.. how useless do we seem? lol

--
Practice this week was fun as usual, getting more intense each week. This week when practicing our parts where we sort of have a bit of a screaming match between the peasants and the citizens of the future, we had to stand up each time it was our part to sing.. so we were bobbing up and down... turns out to be quite an aerobic exercise! :-P

Simon has gone to Sherbrooke with "l'Harmonie" for the weekend.. will only be back Sunday night. I have lent him my camera.. because it's got a pretty good zoom. (10x).

He left me his point and shoot.. (well, it has a few manual controls, but really very limited) in case I want to do a shoot. I think I 'll wait

--
In other news, Artalyst is going to have a new home and a new concept. It hasn't gone live yet, so I'm not linking it but just saying that it looks very promising.

I feel so spoiled

My friend, Dan, known as Tampadan on Worth.. send me 2 of his fabulous photographs.

They are gorgeous.. and I have found them the perfect spots on my walls.

I just have to share them with you!

here is "Red Chair". This image has quite a story to it. Dan found this lounger type chair and dragged it around with him in his truck looking for a place to photograph it.
He put it in the middle of the street.. but it just didn't seem right.. so on a very early Sunday morning in Tampa Florida, he dragged this mightily heavy and dirty old chair unto railway tracks to take this picture. I have found that since this picture was taken.. that Dan's photography has also changed... as if on a road to a new destination.. somewhat like those railways tracks. I believe sometimes we photograph stuff we want to tell the world.. othertimes what we photograph and feel compelled to photograph is our art speaking to us.. telling us something about ourselves.

I have placed "Red Chair" in my office area to look at it and have it inspire me everyday!




The second photograph is called "Blue Wall".

I have always loved the bright orange of the shirt casually draped on a chair against the blue wall. I love photos of chairs without people sitting in them. Van Gogh would paint chairs to represent the people who sat on them.. as symbols.. of the people that owned them, sat on them. Van Gogh represented himself and fellow friend and painter (although they often had bitter differences of opinions) by painting their chairs. I also have a fascination of empty chairs in art. Dan's Blue Wall has always captured my attention.. and now it has found a spot in my bedroom.




Thanks, Dan.. for your kindness and generosity.. you are the best!

last few days

I've just finished reading the book, 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown. He's the same author that wrote the 'DaVinci Code'. The book was alright but too easy. As soon as they fingered a certain person in the beginning 1/3 of the book, I was already sure it wasn't him.. and had by the middle of the book already figured out pretty much who did what.. and the only reason to read was to see if I was right, for one..and also for the small details.

I had the same impression when I read the "DaVinci Code" right from the beginning when the first person dies. It wasn't very hard to figure out they were talking about DaVinci's "Proportions of the Human Figure". Yes, I am aware it was a best seller and everyone thought it was the best book they had every read. Don't get me wrong, it was a good read, but perhaps I was let down by all the hype.

One gets the feeling that his so-called experts are not as brilliant as they should be because the clues are easy and evident. At least in the 'DaVinci code', there were a few more surprises and it was a better read. I'm wondering why Dan Brown has chosen to make his cyrptographers, that are supposedly geniuses.. not as smart as the reader.. or maybe Dan Brown is brilliant.. that he writes in a way that makes the reader feel very smart! lol

If there were a science-fiction book out there that I would absolutely recommend to anyone... it would be a very small but fascinating book by Canadian author 'Robert J. Sawyer' called 'Calculating God'. It is not only a page turner and interesting but truly thought provoking. The book is about an alien that comes to earth and has discussions with an atheist paleontologist about creationism. Let me state, right here. right now..this book is not about religion or anything about what most of us were brought up and been taught about God and how he cares for every living soul etc. Let's just say I could not put this book down.

----

Saturday I went with Sylvian to an Exposition by the Club Richelieu. I promised but I must say I was bored. Boats, campers and fishing gear... oh..yes.. everthing I hate!! lol.. afterwards we had supper with a colleague of Sylvain's and his wife. The guy could talk only about one thing: work.. I tried to be seem interested.. but instead.. was thinking about the time.. I had a colorization to work on and the contest would go live at midnight. I had completely forgotten about it and had only remembered that afternoon. You can imagine me, at the restaurant.. pretending not be ansy and trying to sneak quick, not obvious glances at the time.

--
Sunday, there was a Mother's Day Brunch that we went to because it was benefitting our prodution. It was at the local golf club. It was a beautiful day and let me tell you a small golf club fills up very quickly when 400 people stop by for breakfast.
We were supposed to sing a few selections..but the place was really not set up for it..and I must say, all the better. We got to sit with friends and just enjoy the mid-morning. Brunch was delicious and we had a couple musicians playing a few feet away.. it was fun.

Here's a picture of my friend, Linda, with her mom (a real sweetheart) and her daughter, Sophie.


--
Monday night I went out again for a late-night walk.. this time with my camera and tripod in tow.
Had some fun a small park closeby doing some light painting.


--
Today I had something fun happen. A new client came to my home for a logo for an organisation that he is head of that sends medical and educative supplies to Haiti. I'm not so honky dory on doing logo's .. but I told him.. sure I would.. why not! I could use the money.

He looks around and sees my walls are full of paintings and starts asking .. you did these.. blah.. blah.. and I say yes. So he says, how come I've never seen you expose anything.

I sort of laugh and tell him I don't really consider myself a painter because it's just something that I do because I like to create. I am not easily categorized I think.. a little impressionism, a little abstract.. a little water color.. a little sculpture.. a little photography.. whatever strikes my fancy. I don't put myself as one thing, I just have an intense need to create.. it can be making a great supper, making curtains or a painting. He says.. I have someone outside in my car that I would like to introduce to you.

He brings in this man that is a part owner of a small gallery. This guy looks around and says.. would I like to have a 2 week showing at the gallery.. give him a bit of notice.. and he would fix it up for me.. everything, invitations for the vernissage.. opening nite. He looks at my photos.. says that would be cool too.

So this is a great opportunity but I don't know.. it implies so many things. It means I would have to frame a bunch of my stuff.. that's going to cost me a lot of money that I just don't have. I have a sort of portfolio with photos. I also have some paintings that I wouldn't mind showing to people but at the same time really are attached to them because (and not all of them, of course) but some of them truly have meaning for me.

This one in particular 'Woman Unfolding' seems to mesmerize everyone that comes to my home. Everyone wants to have it in their homes. It's 3 feet wide by 4 feet high. It's in my dining room.. and I'm very attached to it because it very much about me.. as a woman unfolding .. becoming my true self. This guy kept going back to it .. over and over again. I don't want to sell it. I know that is what artists do.. but this one I would really miss in my home.

Woman Unfolding:


Anyways, I have to think about it.. is this something I want.. or am I just afraid? Do I want glorification and or critique.. how thick is my skin?

If I don't do this, will I regret it later on? If I do this, will I regret it later on?

I have always enjoyed doing art and creating things because there never was a reason it had to be done.. I already see in my work where I create invitations and other projects for people that I need quite a bit of control over what I'm producing. I hate being micro-managed.

I also don't want to have to make paintings when I don't feel like it. I want to create when and how I want to.. does that make any sense?

2nd attempt at blogging tonight! gah!

2nd attempt at writing this blog tonight..

I wrote the whole thing.. and was just going to preview..and my computer shut down by itself and rebooted too.. this is the second time in less than 2 weeks.. hopefully nothing freaky is going on with my computer.. :-(

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Last night was my night for rehearsals. Anyone that reads this (or should I say if anyone reads this) they know that usually is a great night for me as I get to do something really fun and be with people that are smart and talented and amazing to be around. We always have fun and it's always energizing but last night we were perhaps a little more crazy than usual. Seems everyone was in the mood for laughing. Heck, even Suzanne the pianist.. who usually is so quiet and demure couldn't help herself..she was cracking up. Although we were a little nutty, we did get a lot of work done.

Usually we have all the sopranos to the right, all the altos to the left.. and the tenors and bases in the middle. We are at the point though that we know all our lyrics.. (well most of them.. amazing how quickly you can learn when you don't want to hold up a binder with over 200 pages of music in it for a few hours). So now we split up our groups into the people who will be playing peasants (yay!I'm going to be a peasant.. hopefully that means I can run around on stage bare feet! :-D... if you ever had to stand in one spot in high heels for 2 hours.. you'd understand and wholeheartedly agree with me) and the citizens of the future. This means we don't sit where we normally do.. everyone is mixed up with their own group.. so now all peasants are to the left of the room.. regardless of which voice group they sing.

I'm sitting in the last row and behind us are a few guys that have no chairs..they are all standing up. One guy comes up to me from behind and asks to borrow my pen.. no problem.. a while later, he comes back again and asks me again for my pen..again no problem. Then he comes up to me and sticks a piece of tape on my shoulder. Everyone is having fun..so I think this is funny and just laugh and take it off.. and then he comes back again to look at my music .. the alto sitting two down from me .. does a motion with her eyes.. to show me he's taking a peek at my cleavage. D'uh.. It never dawned on me that from his vantage point he could get a pretty good view. I wasn't sure if I was to be insulted..or proud that he thought they were worth peeking at! Anyways.. I lifted my book over my breasts so he could get a good look at the lyrics, and the book covered my chest completely.. I gave him a smirk..and I'm pretty sure he got the message!

---
Every spring, after the snow melts, the town flushes out the water through hydrants in town to get rid of all the sand and grime that gets into the system through melted snow.

Last night, around midnight.. I saw the trucks pull up and as they did , I grabbed my jacket and camera and was right there with them.. I'm sure they were saying.. who is this loony lady and why is she taking pictures of us in the dark for.

Here is one where a worker is just starting to release the water.


This one is up the street at the same time. As you can see the water is shooting right over that van.. guess he got a free car wash huh? lol

Sometimes I just screw up!

Preparing for the h2h photo tournament this time was really weird.. to start off with I could not for the life of me come up with a great idea.

The theme sounded so easy... color. the more the merrier, NO GREEN.

It was deceptive in it's simplicity. Usually when the theme is narrow and ordinary, I usually don't find it too difficult to come up with something a little out of the box.. not so out there that everone is lost.. but just enough to make an impact. The problem with the theme was there was no box to think out of.

I decided to try several different things.... wine glasses with water .. in a sort of
tower arrangement. I didn't want a pyramid.. so moved them all to one side. Let's just say that didn't quite work out and 6 out of the 7 glasses I was working with fell to their fragile death in my livingroom, unfortunately, nobody is expected to come to the funeral.

I then tried with glass vases..I wanted to replicate the idea of the wine glasses with each having a swirl of coloring that would look like thick smoke dancing their way through the glass. The swirls of color were either not enough or they looked all the same. I tried with different backgrounds and that just made matters worse as the background color was mixing with the foreground colors of the dye.. and as the liquid and vases were transparent, left me with either "blah- muddy colors" or the dreaded .. GREEN!!

so I abandoned that idea too.

I had earlier in the week borrowed a pink wig from Carmen. Kevin wore it for Halloween dressed up as a girl and I thought I could perhaps use it. My idea was to put it on a balloon head.. and paint on eyes and a mouth.. open as in surprise. Then blowing up a pair of blue latex gloves, I would have the gloves holding her (the balloon lady)'s head. She would look up in surprise and awe as many colored balloons were escaping to freedome. Well, the darned wig would not stay on the balloon head, no matter what. I tried weighing it down with pretty blue hair curlers, but then the head was much too heavy and I couldn't prop it up.

Did I mention this is late Saturday night.. Sunday morning? .. oh.yes!

anyways.. I abandon that project also..

Now I'm desperate.. I'm at the point I'm using colored hair elastics, you know the type with material on so they don't hurt. Well, now I had color..but it was just a jumbled mess!

I finally come up with something that I don't think it's the most original thing since sin.. but I at least I like it ... It is now 4AM in the morning.. I have 2 - 1000WATT lights aimed at my white living room ceiling .. creating bright but soft lighting without any harsh shadows on my new subject. If any of my neighbors were up.. they were probably thinking .. what's Maggie up to this time :-D Try and envision the hydro meter spinning like crazy behind my house.

I can't show it here right now.. because voting is not finished but I can tell you that I went through several shots that I liked and eliminated until I came down to the shot I would upload. I had one I really liked but it had fewer colors and probably would be more of my style if it were on my wall..but I really wanted more colors.. (the more the merrier thingee). I cropped the image, resized it .. sharpened it

Monday, I'm still mulling over if I should upload a different image to the tourney. I'm feeling angst at this moment. I usually take photos.. and when I have the right one.. I just know it.. I stop and I just know it's right. I didn't get that this time, I got many good shots.. but not that .. this is it!! shot! So I finally make my decision quite late Monday night.. I upload and cross my fingers.

Monday afternoon.. I'm looking at my image.. and something is not right..I don't like it was much as I did on my comp.. now why is that? very simple .. I uploaded the wrong image to the contest. I uploaded my uncropped version. Was the uncropped version really bad.. no.. but the cropped one obviously had better flow and the composition really was much more balanced. Would it have changed who the winner is.. maybe not.. but I would rather have the better image left behind in my stats.

anyways, yesterday I was pretty depressed about it.. mad at myself and sad too..

but today, I have decided to leave it behind. This is sort of my way to get rid of it.. to tell everyone how I screwed up. It 's not the first time and probably won't be the last so I better stop beating myself up about it.

Would it still be considered petty to ask for hugs though.. if anyone is giving them out today!! ;-)

Oh.. and a huge congratulations to Kirby and his wife Jen on their new baby girl, Rachel, born today! :-)

Obladi Obladah

Tueday night.. I lost my internet service.. well.. ok.. I didn't really lose it, I just couldn't surf out of our region. At first when I called my internet service they weren't sure what the problem was.. then after was told that they got a communiqué that it would be 4 to 6 hours. I was a little ansy, I had an email that I wanted to respond to and also a colorization critique that I promised and was hoping the person asking for the critique wouldn't think I had forgotten all about them.

It finally turned out that there was a fire that damaged some fibre optics in Ottawa .. and our internet access to the rest of the world was shut off for more than 12 hours. Funny how 10 years ago we weren't even on the internet and now it's such an ordinary part of our lives. I stayed up past 2am finishing up work for a client.

Yesterday, Wednesday, while I was in a life help I noticed that my "?" were typing out as "É"s so I was pretty sure that perhaps my browser had crashed.. so I clicked on all the x's to close down the multitude of windows I always seem to have open and when I closed the last one my computer completely shut down .. and rebooted by itself. When it came back.. it had that warning screen that it was going to check my drive.. yes.. go ahead and check it.. while it's checking.. I see text moving up my screen.. I see words.. such as Mozilla.. file error.. truncated... etc., ah!!! When my desktop reappears.. my profile is not longer available.. and I've lost my bookmarks..

and life goes on....

last night I had my rehearsals.. as every other Wednesday. As you may remember a few days before last rehearsal I had an encounter with my musical director's wife. There were a few things that she said that I had not written last time. She kept on repeating that he was a narcissistic B. and that he wanted all the attention for himself and that he thought he was better than anyone and that she was no longer good enough for him.

As I said ... I know him now since about 7 years.. I have never seen him as being a narcissist in anyway... he's actually quite humble and shy. I 'm not saying he doesn't like to be complimented... heck, I don't consider myself a narcissist and I like to be complimented too. Sometimes when I arrive at practice, he's there early and putting up chairs. I remember once saying to him.. James, why don't you get your students to put out the chairs. (he teaches musical theory - soflège- and musical history, orchestra etc., ) He's says to me.. nah.. I give them enough work.. I'll do it. That just doesn't seem to me the type of guy that is on a power trip.

Since then I realized that since this year.. James has been in a unusually good mood.. just happier in general.. not as stressed out. Of course now that I know.. I tend to watch everything he does and compare in my mind to how it used to be. I did notice that since a certain amount of time he's attitude toward life has changed.

I guess I should add here that a couple of years ago, James had a very serious accident. He was painting the shutters on the second story of his house and fell off the ladder and amazingly didn't die. His arm was broken in several places and his wrist was practically detached from his arm. For several months his arm looked like something from a Sci-Fi movie.. it was huge.. and had several pins and contraptions sticking out of it. Can you imagine being a concert pianist and hurting yourself like that. Amazingly he worked very hard and with much pain for several hours a day he practiced.. and he plays now like he did before... or perhaps better.. because he no longer takes it for granted.

Since that evening that I met his wife.. other people have told me they have been having problems for years and they are not surprised. Now.. I'm thinking that since his accident.. he's looking at his life in a new way.. It's half over.. he's maybe 45?.. and he almost lost it.. so now he has been given a second chance in a way. Supposedly the year after his accident he worked really hard trying to get their marriage to work.. tried to figure out what his priorities were. It 's not like he didn't try and threw it all away. I think he's just scared of living the rest of his life unhappily. He may have grown and she just hasn't grown with him.

I've met a few scoundrels in my lifetime and he just isn't one of them.

Of course, now knowing what I know..I look at him during rehearsals and analyze what I see before my face... especially the way he looks at her. He practically beams when he sees her face. She's doesn't look like a movie star either... but she seems very sweet.. very artsy..and friendly. She is also a lawyer.. so has a functioning brain.. she is certainly not a bimbo. I have no idea if it will work out for them... but this seems to be something they need to live right now and I'm not going to condemn them.

Obladi Oblada .. life goes on!

Cabaret Richelieu

Last night, we went to the Cabaret Richelieu. It is a fun concert made up of sketches done by people here in town to raise money that is then distributed to different causes and projects. It is amazing how much they can cram into 2 hours.

Sorry about the quality, but being about 200 feet from the stage, and the camera hand-held at slow shutter speeds, I'm lucky to have gotten the shots that I did. It's a moment's like this that I sort of envy the owners of 10D's and 20D's .

Here was our M.C. for the evening... he also appeared as Spiderman at one point.


The two blondes.. beauties, aren't they?


This is from a sketch about "boucherons" normally guys, but here the women
proved they could sing just as badly as their male counterparts! lol



This is from a sketch with a psychiatrist and his patient. As you can see
the patient is somewhat stuck in the 80's.


Les Mama Mias:



One man orchestra: This guy played very well.. he made a double drum.. one consisting of a bear bottle with money it in.. tied to his leg.. and that contraption on his head with drumsticks sticking out that he clang about at the appropriate moment.



Here comes the judge:


The belly dancer:


and her students:


At the bar, everything is discussed from local politics to sports:


and everyone has their opinion.. especially the drunk:


This guy just got equiped at the local "Sports Expert Store" to be ready for this year's season of golf:


Here he explains how the skirt help him cheat.. because he can hide the ball between his legs.. walk stiffly and let it drop at the appropriate spot:


and he helps out a volunteer (well, he asked for a volunteer, but this guy (although unaware) was already picked out ahead of time and 2 guys were waiting to escort him to the stage. He tells him that he is going to teach him to be a better golfer and then exlains to him that he should make sure to keep both hands on the golf club, to not talk because he needs to concentrate.. he helps him out with a bit of tape! :-D


Xmas holidays at a resort in Florida:


Puppet man:


Surely everyone remembers that .avi that circulated on the net with a couple guys
playing pingpong.. but really it's someone behind the table dressed in black with
a ping pong at the end of a fishingline, here they guys sort of recreated it:


Lessons on how to take care of unruly children, start by teaching them while they are very young:


Before they become this:


and to end up a bit about Amerindian's singing gospel music.. this was pretty atrocious!: