So much rehearsing, so little time

Opening Night is one week tonight. Enough said.

It's basically rehearsals everyday, but not trying to over-do it cuz we have to save our voices (as well as try to stay healthy, which is proving to be very difficult as it is) for our 7 shows in 5 days, which is even harder to do by the end of the run because we have matinees and evening shows on the Friday and Saturday.

We're still doing some changes, reworking some things, polishing stuff, etc. But it's coming along. We go into the actual theatre we'll be performing in on Thursday. The Sudbury Star came in today to take some shots of us, so it seems like we're getting some good advertising in the community. Also, a bunch of people from the hospital are organizing a whole gang to come on closing night, as well as a bunch of friends from Toronto/Ottawa.

I still have to figure out what we're gonna be doing when they get here. I know we have dinner reservations for the hospital folk and my out-of-towners before they all see the show on Saturday. Then after the show I have to strike the set, and then meet up with them again at a bar/lounge/club place downtown, and then make my way after to the official cast party. I'll probably collapse by Sunday. Plus, I'll have to figure plans with my peeps when they get in on Friday night, what we're gonna do in the morning on Saturday, and the plan for Sunday.

I don't want this to sound like complaining at all. I'm so thankful and honestly feel lucky to have such a supportive network. This is me just trying to organize my thoughts so I know what I have to think about over the next week...on top of my lyrics, my harmonies, my blocking, my choreo, and my WORK. Dammit! I still have to work all next week too!

Well, I know all this hard work and effort is worth it in the end. I hope the show goes well, and I have full confidence that everyone is gonna love it. Having my sanity and my health at the end of it all is another story, but there's no "I" in "Broadway". Okay, I don't know if that made sense, so it's obviously time for me to sleep.

Blogged Down

Once again, I am apologizing for my lack of Coloblogging. But, it's busy being a star! Well, I'm not really star, but there are 2 CTV commercials running (or will be running) in Sudbury about the show. And…CTV is coming to film us on Sunday! Other than that, I've been busy at work and all of my Cinefesting last week. So, I'm pooped!

I'm still going to tennis. The gym, however, is a different story. I will be going tomorrow, though. I promise! Other than that, it's rehearsal after rehearsal, after rehearsal. Opening night is fast approaching, so I'm popping the Echinacea pills like nobody's business. I'm trying to get enough Vitamin C that I could become the personification of it. And, I will be purchasing special teas that will sooth my throat – a necessity after all the singing I'll be doing. So, *knock on wood*, I shouldn't be sick during the show. Cuz once I'm sick…there go the high notes!

Also, I must give a shout out to my MA crew who are planning to drive up from Toronto and Ottawa to come see the closing night and to take in all that Sudbury has to offer. It's actually very touching that they're coming all the way here to see the show and to see my Northern Ontario life, so I hope I don't disappoint.

Okay, so that the update. Time to watch some season premieres.

TIFF off the Ol' Block

Last night I went to the gala screening of Happy-Go-Lucky at the Sudbury International Festival. Yes, Sudbury has a film festival, and an international one at that. But, before I continue on with my retelling of my evening, I must preface this with how bummed I was that I was missing TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) this year. I have gone to the festival the last two years, watching tons of movies! And last year I got to go to the festival’s opening and closing galas, the picnic and even got into the Juno after party! Well, since I’m a glass-half-full kinda guy, I figure I’ll make the most of my situation and get myself into going to the film festival here. And yet again, Sudbury has pleasantly surprised me!

So, last week, a co-worker of mine and I decided that we were going to go to some movies for “Cinefest”, which is what they call the film festival up here. Because of my hectic schedule, I am only free on Monday, Friday and Tuesday if I skip my tennis league. We decided to go to the gala on Monday (yesterday), not because of the movie per se, but mostly because I was free and that it’s a gala. What’s great with a gala screening is that after the movie, there’s a reception at a nearby venue with food AND free booze. FREE!!! Yes! And the gala tickets only cost $19.50. At TIFF, a ticket to a regular movie will cost you 20 bucks.

We decided to make a night of it, so we went to grab some sushi downtown first. The movie started at 7pm and we wanted to be there around 6 so we could decent seats. So, we had dinner at about 5 o’clock. The sushi wasn’t bad. It was pretty good, decently priced (for Sudbury, not by Vancouver standards). My only complaint was that the edamame was overcooked, but it was complimentary so I can’t bitch about it too much. After some good chats and my co-worker's first taste of yummy, yummy spider roll (soft shell crab, for those of you not in the know), it was off to the movies.

Unlike TIFF, Cinefest movies take place at one venue – at the ONE Silver City in town! But, it does make it easier than trying to make your way all throughout downtown Toronto if you’re watching multiple movies in a day. And apparently, if a theatre is full, they’ll just show it on another screen, which I don’t think happens at TIFF either. Anyway, we saw the movie and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know much about the movie and the synopsis in the movie guide wasn’t very attention-grabbing – really it’s all about the gala afterwards! But I thought it was really funny. The actress in it was amazing – so funny and quirky! Anyway, here’s the IMDB link to it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045670/

Then, after the movie was the gala. This time the gala took place at The Keg across the street (it’s different after each movie). It was a bit crowded in there…or a lot crowded! Luckily, after being able to squeeze through to the back of the restaurant, my co-worker saw some people she knew who had a table. I had a couple glasses of red wine, some cocktail shrimp, crab and beef and pork appetizer thingies – it was great! Well, the people there were scavengers when it came to the trays of food, but we eventually got food served to us. So, all in all, I had a fabulous time. Free food and drinks (and you know it tastes better when it’s free), a great movie and even great company. And I'm going to a movie tonight instead of tennis (not a gala though), but I am going to another gala on Friday night! GO SUDBURY! Keep the pleasant surprises coming.

I signed up for musicals, not Drama

Wow…sorry! Two weeks without Coloblogging!

Okay, so a lot of sh*t has gone down since I last posted. So, since the last time I talked about rehearsals, the Best of Broadway 2 cast has gone from 14 to 12. So, there have been two casualties in the last week.

What happened was that one lady…well, she was just a bit overwhelmed. She wasn’t picking up the blocking and the lyrics and everything, I guess, as fast as she’d like to. She was also getting rather fatigued. She’s retired, and even though she spent all her time working on remembering her harmonies and blocking, she just couldn’t do it. We were sad to see her go and bless her heart cuz she tried her hardest. She definitely got on some people’s nerves a bit, but she did her best and at least she decided to stop now, as opposed to right before we open.

Just this morning, I open up my email and find out that they (the director and vocal director) have decided to “remove” a gentleman from the show. Apparently, “His commitment level was not what we were hoping it to be, and we refuse to wait any longer”. So, that’s that. I mean, it’s too bad he won’t be in the show – he has a great voice! But, he hasn’t been around, that’s all it is. He doesn’t know any of the blocking. Or his harmonies. Yeah, his solos sound great, but still! It’s not fair to the people that have been to every rehearsal, or at least doing their ‘homework’ if they can’t make it.

So, what that means is that their solos will be divvied up amongst the cast and blocking will, of course, have to be altered. Fortunately, I don’t think harmonies will have to change too much, if at all. We haven’t blocked Act II yet, and we’re only just starting to rehearse the vocals for that Act. Act I has been completely blocked and rehearsed vocally, so I think we’re gonna do a run through again this coming Sunday. It’ll be a chance to alter the spacing due to the fewer number of people and also a chance to cement the things that aren’t changing in our tired, and overwhelmed brains. But, I think it’ll be fine. It shouldn’t be too bad at all – I hope.

So much DRAMA!!! I guess it’s fitting though…it is the theatre :)

Other than that, things are going along as normal. Work is great. I’m having fun tennis and I’m getting back to my form from when I played more frequently, which I’m really pleased about. I won the majority of my matches last week, going 2-1-1. I tied in my first singles match, split my 2 doubles matches, and then handily won my last singles match like 8 games to 2 or something ridiculous. And I never lost my serve in that match! WEIRD!!!

So, yeah, things are good. C took me out for dinner yesterday as a thank you for watching the dog and cat while she was in Nova Scotia last month. We went to a Chinese buffet. The food was alright – I was expecting worse. Nothing spectacular, but nothing that was really bad. So, yeah, I had a good time. C picked another restaurant at first, but N said that we should go to this one. N actually came along too, making inappropriate remarks and making us feel uncomfortable with her colourful comments and off-putting remarks as usual. After dinner, we went grocery shopping. N was surprisingly genuine, offering her cart to hold my groceries, as I only grabbed a basket. But, of course, she had to embarrass me and make inappropriate comments in public. For example, as we walk down the frozen food aisle, with many people shopping by the way, she says loudly so that everyone can, “You don’t even touch me anymore!” So, I walked away shaking my head.

I should have prefaced all of this by explaining our relationship a little bit more, as I don’t think I have documented it yet. It’s sort of a brother-sister, love-hate-hate-hate-love-hate-hate thing goin’ on. Early on N, realized that she could make blunt, socially awkward remarks around me and I would understand, or at least go along with it. Then that turned into her making mean, scathing remarks (in a joking way) directed at me and since I’m able to dish it back, we’ve gotten into the habit of saying how much we hate each other. Of course, we’re joking and we have a good time with it. She’ll yell “Shrew!” when I come out of my room, I’ll call her a ‘devil-woman banshee’ and we’ll give each other the skunk eye we pass each other by, that kind of stuff. She’ll say that she wishes I was dead and I’ll pull a Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son and tease her how I’m her mother’s favourite now. So, yeah…we have our fun and there are occasional genuine moments, but then we go back to our “normal” communication.

40-Love...

...well, more like 50 or 60-Love.

I just had to do a quick post about tennis last night. I was very pleased – I ended up winning half of my matches, played pretty well, blah, blah, blah…

Anyway (and this is where the real story begins), after tennis was over, 4 of us (me and 3 others) went for a drink. I didn’t really want to at first, but the place we were going to was close to where I live, so it’d be better than taking the bus since I’d be able to get a ride. Anyway, these guys are too funny. I’d say they’re at least in their late 50’s; one of them may be a bit older and a couple of them are retired. Really nice guys, but man…these are some dirty old men! But, I mean that in a funny way, not in the creepy way. Two of them are divorced, although I think one of the two has had at least two divorces. And the third guy is currently married, but on his third wife. So here I am, this 25-year old guy drinking beer and shelling free peanuts (and at this place you actually just throw the shells onto the floor), talking about where the best spots are to pick up older women! Don’t get me wrong – I had a great time! But it was just funny hearing them talk about which places have the 35+ women and which have the 50+ crowd. It started with one of them talking about how some of the past tennis champions still looked really good, like Gabriella Sabatini and Chris Evert, but then the conversation quickly turned to where they can meet women. Anyway, I just had to recount this short little anecdote. I had a good time, shared some laughs, ate some free peanuts, got a ride home – hopefully we can do it again

The Colympics

I must apologize AGAIN for the delay in coloblogging. My excuse: the Olympics. The Olympics were consuming my life. And many of you may know that I have to watch sports live, or else feel that the outcome may not be as favourable. It's kind of psychotic, but I feel that if I watch it as it's happening, my rooting and cheering makes a difference. Anyway…cut to me waking up at 3:30 in the morning to watch Canadians NOT wins medals! But that didn't deter me from watching, which is good cuz we finally started hauling them in by the end. I would come home from rehearsal, or tennis, and by the time I'd get home, it would be morning in Beijing, so it's just when events are about to start. So, of course I got wrapped up in the Michael Phelps run for 8 gold medals, the amazingness of gymnastics, lightning-quick Usain Bolt (pun intended), etc. But because I'd be up late, or wake up in the middle of the night, it totally screwed up my sleeping schedule, so… I'd have to nap right after work and before rehearsal, have a quick dinner, head downtown for rehearsal at 6:30pm and then get home by 10:30/11 o'clock, watch Olympics and then the whole cycles starts again.

So, that explains my delay in blogging. Work, nap, rehearsal/tennis, Olympics. That's pretty much all I've been doing. And somehow, I was able to squeeze in some gym time too =) Yes, I've actually been going to the gym – I'm just as surprised as you are. But things have been going well. Every now and then a group of us would grab a drink (or two) after rehearsal, or we'd go out on the weekend, so I've been able to have somewhat of a social life, despite the Olympics. And work is great too, so can't complain.

Also, I'll be going back to Toronto for Labour Day Weekend. It might actually be the last time I go back to Toronto before I finish go back after I'm done doing my baseline research here at the hospital. I may not even have a chance to go back for Thanksgiving cuz it's the weekend right before the show, so that means it's tech weekend. For you non-theatre people, tech weekend = boringness. That's when you have to go through every single lighting and sound cue for the show. By the way, the run of the show will be Oct 14 – 18, with a matinee on the Friday and Saturday. 7 shows in 5 days, singing 40+ songs, is gonna be tough! Anyway, this weekend should be fun. Not sure what I'll be doing specifically, but I'll just be hangin' with my friends and family. It'll also give me a chance to switch out part of my wardrobe to get some warmer things as we're gonna be getting into fall weather soon.

So, that's pretty much it. If I went into specifics from the last 2 weeks, I'd be writing until finger cramped up. I'll try to update a bit more frequently, which is more plausible now that the Olympics are over. However, the US Open starts today (which I'm watching right now) and in September, we're gonna be up to 4 rehearsals a week. Well…I'll try not to disappoint.

Rehearsical Cats, Tenniscourtical Cats, Pilatical Cats, Haircutical Cats

I must apologize for the delay in coloblogging – it’s been a busy week and the Olympics being on in the middle of the night doesn’t help either :) So, I’ll give a short update cuz I did a lot of stuff, but I don’t feel like writing ALL of it down.

Any way, when I last left off, I had just played in the men’s indoor tennis league. Since then, I’ve had 4 rehearsals for BoB2 (aka Best of Broadway 2 Concert). The rehearsals have been going very well. We’ve already started blocking a bunch of the songs that we’ve had a vocal rehearsal on already. The most grueling vocal rehearsal thus far was for “Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” from, you guessed it, Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber is a PSYCHO! The music itself isn’t very difficult. We were able to get the harmonies rather quickly and it sounds amazing. But…it’s the words that we’re supposed to remember. There are TOO MANY CATS! And it goes pretty fast, so you have to make sure to enunciate (thank God for Gilbert & Sullivan, or I’d flub this up for sure!) For those of you who do not know the song that well, here’s a section of the song that I’m dreading to remember:
Practical cats, dramatical cats

Pragmatical cats, fanatical cats

Oratorical cats, delphioracle cats

Skeptical cats, dispeptical cats

Romantical cats, pedantical cats

Critical cats, parasitical cats

Allegorical cats, metaphorical cats

Statistical cats and mystical cats

Political cats, hypocritical cats

Clerical cats, hysterical cats

Cynical cats, rabbinical cats
Luckily, this is all in unison, so I don’t have to worry about harmony here. Theatre Cambrian actually did Cats a couple of years ago, so some of them know it (or at least used to know it). Today we’ll be doing “Supercalifragilistic” where we have to spell it, quickly, I might add, and in song – I’ll let you know how that goes.

Theatre Cambrian has also made its way into of my Sudbury social life – yes, I may actually have a social life here! A bunch of us met up on Saturday night for some drinks and some dancin’, so that was a lot of fun. We had to do some bar hopping cuz the first place we went to was busy and the patio was basically flooded due to a big rainstorm. I actually had been there previously with N and I think I saw one of her friends there, so it’s kinda neat that I’m actually starting to recognize people in town. And I also met a friend of hers that night, and I didn’t even know it until N and I realized it later. So, yeah, it was good times. What made it even better was that I was able to get a ride home too! I think I had the equivalent of at least a pitcher of beer and ended up passing out in front of the TV watching the Olympics when I got back home, where C had already fallen asleep.

Yesterday I went back to the tennis league and met some more people – yay! For some reason, we had a rehearsal last night, instead of Thursday, but I was able to leave early to catch the league at 8pm. And I actually won a match!!!! AMAZING!!! There’s a time limit to each match (half an hour) and my partner for the third session (we constantly switch partners too) won 5-2. The awesome thing is that the team we beat was totally expecting to cream us. For me, I’m still trying to get back to my form from a few years ago and so, yes, I’ve been a bit shaky. And my partner is not the youngest, nor is he the slimmest guy out on the court. He’s a really nice guy, likes to talk after points, which I like and he’s very congratulatory, but I thought I sweat a lot! He was a wearing a grey t-shirt (you gotta know that’s not a good colour for you if you sweat – I mean c’mon!) and it was already soaked, and his face was all red, huffing and puffing. And so the two young dudes who are really good (i.e. serve uber fast and all that jazz) decided to pair up together instead each of them pairing up with either me or Sweaty McPufferson. But, to all of our surprise, he’s REALLY GOOD! He serves really well, and has great groundstrokes and volleys. I guess the only area he lacks in is his mobility. But, I held up my end of the bargain, running balls down, I had a bunch of return winners, some great volley exchanges at the net that warranted some high fives, so I was playing pretty well too. And to put the icing on the cake, I was serving great as well. I had a bunch of unreturnable serves and even an ace, up Tin the ad court, causing the receiver to say, “Are you kidding me?” to his partner. So, all in all, I’m feeling a lot better about my game, even though I still need to play a lot more tennis to feel totally comfortable again.

I also met a dude there – and he's Asian…what?!?!? – who also just moved to Sudbury from Toronto – craziness! I think he’s about my age, and he’s an engineer. doing work here for a bit and then going back like me. He too goes back to Toronto all the time, but I think he has actually gone back every weekend since he’s been here. And the really nice thing is when he saw me walking to the bus station he pulled over to give me ride. Isn’t that the best, when you unexpectedly get a ride? Without sounding like too much of a desperate loser, there’s another friend possibility there :) Also, there’s another Asian dude at the club who introduced himself to me at the end of the night, as we didn’t get a chance to play with/against each other.

I took my first class at Goodlife last week. I took “Body Flow”, which is a mix of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates. I’ve never done any of that stuff before and it was pretty good I guess. It was a little too, how do I put this?...floofy and froo-froo for me. There was a bit much “take your ball of energy”, “look up at the moon” and “find your centre” crap that I didn’t really get into. But, other than that, I liked it. I especially liked how the last 8 minutes were left for meditation, or as I like to call it, break time! Tomorrow I meet with my personal trainer for the first time. Sorta nervous, I gotta admit. I just don’t wanna be yelled at! I know he PROBABLY won’t do that, but I guess I’m just psyching myself out. I do a lot better with encouragement with some constructive criticism.

I also got my haircut on Saturday. I went to apparently the best salon in Sudbury. The guy who owns it is apparently really famous and has won all these awards and competitions. So, it turned out well, although…she was new-ish. She’s really nice and we chatted the whole time, but she kinda cut out a chunk of hair at the back of my head! Well, it was more like she accidentally cut an area shorter than the rest, after just talking about how if you go to the $10-places, they’ll make all these mistakes cuz they rush. She was able to fix it, but still! Anyway, with that being said, I’ll most likely go back, and I wouldn’t even mind getting her again. She did the rest of my hair great and since the mishap was at the back of my head, I can’t really see it, so, meh…who cares. I do think she felt bad though, cuz she ended up giving me the student rate. She said, “You said you were a student, right?” I replied, “No.” But she gave me a student rate anyway. So, with tax and tip, it was only 30 bucks, and I got a shampoo and styling too. (FYI: at Aveda, you get a massage, shampoo, cut and style for less!)

So, that’s been my week since you all last heard from me. I’m sure I missed some stuff, but oh well. Off to rehearsal again tonight, the gym tomorrow, and who knows what for the weekend.

P.S. Canada better start kicking Olympic ass soon! I woke up at 2:30 in the morning today to watch Canada not win a medal.

Back in the Swing of Things

When I last left off, I had a busy weekend with my Pontiac G5. On Tuesday, I had to return it by 9am, but I wanted to get a few things done before that. As I mentioned in my last post, I had played tennis with my cousin in order to prepare for my big debut at the men's league in the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre. When i played with my cousin, it went okay....just okay. It took a LONG time to warm up my forehand! And when I practiced serving at the end, that was definitely not okay. I couldn't get a serve in. not good. So, I decided to wake up uber-early and get some serving practice in at the tennis courts down just up the street.

I get to the courts at about 7:50am. I woke up much early, but it took a lot of time for my motivation to kick in to get up. I finally decided to do so, got my stuff ready and went to the public courts. Since it was pretty early on a workday, no one was around. The courts, by the way, were of high quality. Better than the public courts that I've been to in both Vancouver and Toronto. No cracks, with weeds growing through them, and I think it was actual hardcourt, not just cement. Anyway, i serve for about 15 minutes. It goes alright - not serving very fast (not that I ever did), but at least I was getting them in this time.

So, I go to the Shell across the street to fill up the gas tank with 5 bucks worth - I had to fill the tank til 3/4 like how I first got it, and was just under that. Then, it was off to grocery shopping. I figures that I should do a big grocery run while I have a car. I didn't get there 'til about ten after eight. I speedily get all my stuff (like I was on Supermarket Sweepstakes!). I made sure to get my whole wheat tortilla wraps, assortment of vegetables, different meats, some yogurt, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember. I did slightly indulge and get some more diet lychee soft drink - yum! After all was said and done, I put away my groceries at home and went down to the rental place to drop off my car by 8:50am.

There were no problems at enterprise and I got outta there pretty quickly. They drove me back home aat about 5 or 10 past 9. Then I had to rush and get ready for work. Luckily I didn't have to be there until 9. I showered, got dressed, packed some instant noodles for lunch (didn't have time to make anything) and walked to work.

At the end of the work day, I got home and took a quick nap. Well...it was supposed to be aquick nap, like half an hour, but it ended up being about an hour and 45. I realized that I didn't have time to make rice and some pork chop thing, so I made pasta instead (pasta...that's what else i got in the morning - whole wheat pasta and calorie wise pasta sauce...tastes better than it sounds). I made it quickly and scarfed it down in literally 3 minutes. I didn't even warm the sauce. I just spooned it over the freshly cooked spaghetti, mixed it up and munched away.

I got to the bus stop in time to catch my bus (that's why I was pressed for time, cuz if you miss one bus, you have to wait pretty much another half hour or longer for the next time once it's after peak hours). I stopped off at the dollar store to get a couple bottles of water and then walked down the street to the tennis centre, which is actually very close to Theatre Cambrian.

Anyway, I get there, and couldn't find the entrance at first. I walked around and finally saw some signs directing me to the entrance and followed them. i walked in and told the young dude working there that I'm here for the league. I explained that I was new and didn't know how things worked around here. He showed me where the change room was, and informed that I can go down to the courts a few minutes before 8pm, which was the start time. He also informed to make sure that the first door is completely closed before opening the second door. He didn't explain why, but I suspect that the bubble dome might collapse or something :)

After I get change, a couple of the players introduce themselves and I do the same. Once on the court, one of the guys tells me not to worry after I explained my apprehensiveness. He asked my how long I've been playing. I respond that I've been playing since I was a kid, but only recreationally - I never took lessons or anything. He assures me that they're all recreational, but there are some people that are of a higher caliber, but not too often.

So, I start to rally/warm up with a couple of young guys and an older gentlemen. My back hand is okay, but my forehand is horrendous! I know it takes a while for that shot of mine to warm up, but I was not happy about it. Every couple of minutes, you'd hear a "sorry" coming from my mouth. I could tell that the others were better then me, especially the younger guys (man! they serve fast!), but I think I was able to hold my own. In the first game, I made some bad errors, but made a couple good plays at net. I didn't hold my serve at all and my partner was double faulting a lot. We end up losing, but I though that this is going okay so far.

We rotate every half an hour for the two hours. At 8:30pm, we go to the next game. I'm playing doubles again and get paired up with the old guy that I just played against. Right away, he seemed very frustrated with me. Yeah, I missed a few forehand ground strokes, but I made a couple good plays at net. And it's not like he's a superstar either. He was making errors too. I think he got really frustrated with me when I forgot to cover the line when he was serving and I was at net. That was understandable, but that just made me more and more nervous. So, there were a few balls that I could've hit, and didn't because i was a bit cautious and full of self-doubt. And he didn't really acknowledge me when I made a good shot. The opponents did, commenting on my effort as I ran down a bunch of balls when It seemed like they were unreachable. So, we got hammered by them too. Well, c'est la vie.

At this point, I was already thinking that I'm not gonna come back next week. The old man made me feel a little unwanted :( And to add insult to injury, my 9pm slot was scheduled as a singles match against the young dude that works at the club. HE WORKS THERE!!! Of course he's gonna be amazing!!! So, I apologize that he's probably gonna get bored playing with me cuz I'm no where near his level. We start playing, and he's just kicking my ass! I can hit maybe one shot back to him, and then hits a winner or I make a forced error. But, after he won , I don't know, 6 or 7 games in a row. I start to hang in the points a little bit more. Making him run more, catching him off guard by returning shots that he thinks is probably gonna be a winner. But don't get me wrong, it takes A LOT of effort for to just get one point. But at least now I'm getting to 30 instead of losing games at love. He started to make a few more unforced errors (I like to think because I keep on surprising him by getting balls back) and every now and then I'd turn defence into offence and make a good shot to win the point. And I actually won a game!!! I held serve, after saving a couple of break points too. And the next game I almost broke him too.

By the end, I was sweating buckets! I mean, I was sweating a bit before that, but I was drenched. But, i felt good. I got a bit more confidence, which carried onto my next doubles game. We almost end up breaking our opponent's serve. I made a good return to which my partner actually acknowledged. He was actually really cool, letting me know when he thinks I made a good shot and I did the same. Unfortunately my partner lost his serve, and our opponents held serve again, but I held me serve - YAY!!! I made so pretty crafty plays at net. A few of times I was able to run down some lobs and balls that no one thought I'd be able to get, and we'd get back into the point. Unfortunately, I messed up the easy put-away shot at the end, but we laughed about it, all acknowledging my super counter-punching abilities. We still lost, but i felt good. I mean, I missed quite a few forehands (ok...almost all), but there were some positives to take away from this. I did have one really good forehand return winner up the line, and I was serving consistently (not hard, but hard enough that the returner made some errors and we got some free points). So, it was 10pm and I was literally dripping sweat, but I was satisfied with how things went overall. It wasn't ideal (I know I can play at their level, it'll just take time to get back into the swing of things since I haven't played really in over a year). And the best news is that I decided to come back for next week.

So, I made my way home. I had to walk to the bus station, but there was hardly anyone on the main street there. I didn't feel that it was unsafe at all, so that was good. I caught my bus, went home, made my lunch for today (a wrap with humus - yum! - and some baby carrots, almonds and a granny smith apple).

I crashed right away because I had rounds this morning at 8:30am and I am TIRED!!! I also have rehearsal tonight, but I gonna try to go to the Goodlife (for the first time!) and catch a class right after work. So more on how all that goes to come.

P.S. This was written this afternoon before my rehearsal, etc. I'm writing the "P.S." right now, and will post again tomorrow about what happened tonight. Confused? So am I! It's sleep time.

Fish & Trips

Last Thursday I made a last minute decision to go to Toronto for the long weekend. I wasn't planning on this as I've already been back to Toronto twice since coming to Sudbury, and another trip back would mean 3 out 4 weekends I've had since coming here have been spent in Toronto. Oh well! But I decided to rent a car this time instead taking the greyhound (this decision had NOTHING to do with the murder that occurred last week - it still immensely disturbs me though). By renting a car, it would give a chance to check out some of the areas around Sudbury that are inaccessible otherwise.

So, I picked up my rental on Saturday morning. They were kind enough to pick me up before they even opened (Enterprise is only open from 9am-12pm on Saturdays). I got a Pontiac G5. It's a pretty good car - drives smoothly - but the only that was lacking was no power locks and no power windows. Oh well - it's better than the bus!

So, I made it to Toronto in pretty good time - about 4 hours including a stop for gas and to use the washroom. So, it only really took me about 3:45 hours to get there. When I get back the the 'borough, I eat some lunch and contemplate going to the Caribana parade. i finally decide against it after mulling it over repeatedly, as it was just too much work to get all the way to downtown and either try t subway/streetcar there or find parking. So, I decided to take a nap, treat my aunt to some pho for dinner and then hung out with my two cousins and one of their friends at Boston Pizza, throwing back schooners!...Rickards White...yum!

The next day. after dropping off my aunt somewhere at 9am and fitting in a much-needed session of tennis with my couz' (more on that later), I rushed back to take a shower and ended up getting my other cousin to drive the rental car (and me, of course) downtown. I met up with my soci crew for brunch/lunch (on time!...go figure) at Brownstones on Yonge St. Had me some Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict (Fish #1), some orange juice, and pleasantly familiar banter with my friends.

Next, is was off to Caribana on Olympic Island! It was a bit crowded on the ferry, but at least they were coming every 15 minutes. We got to the island, and to our dismay, there was an admission fee to get into the Caribana section. Not that expensive, but out of blue, plus we already paid for $6.50 for the ferry ride. Anyway, when we got there, it was actually a little disappointing. There was a main stage with performances that was cool. But, I just expected a lot more stuff. Maybe the are was just so big that it made it seem unspectacular, but I was underwhelmed. There were only a few vendors and food options, and I think there were even more sponsor tents than anything else (although....Scotiabank was giving out pens and purified water all day and I got a sweet temporary tattoo and Olympic games schedule from CBC).

Now as, for the food, I HAD to get something. So, I decided to line up for the Fish Shak and get me some Caribbean fried fish (Fish #2). The lineup was a bit long, but I knew it was gonna be worth it....or was it!?!?!

TWO HOURS!!! Two hours we waited in line. After the first half hour we figured that we had already waited this long so we might as well stay. Then an hour had passed, then one and a half. With each passing moment of time, we were clinging to the hope that the line would move just a bit faster. We passed the time by playing charades and some stupid "snaps" game (yes! stupid!!!). Finally, at the 1:50 hour mark, we get close to the front of the line, close enough to see the uselessness and unorganized nature of this business. OMIGOD!!! All the food was there and they were constantly cooking. I don't understand why they didn't have a better system of giving us our food. As my friend pointed out, they needed to learn a lesson from Henry Ford. They would go back on forth, putting lids on top of the other food thereby eliminating the chance for the other server to get food from there. It was awful! I wanted to punch them in the face!

So, I finally got my food - butter fish, deep fried, with an organic salad, plantains, rice with a curry gravy on top and a side of fish cakes - YUM! It was really good (except for the salad that was flavourless). It was definitely worth the 13 bucks. As for the 2 hours though?...I'd say it was worth a 45-minute wait, if that.

By the time I got my food, it was 6pm and we decided to walk back (it took up the whole afternoon basically and it was sort of lame so we left) through Centreville and took the ferry back so I could meet my cousin who finished work at 7 and drive back together. Hung out in Scarborough, we ordered in some pizza and wings (oh god! Goodlife, I need you!).

Then, I left for Sudbury in the morning, at about 9am. I got to Sudbury just before 1pm, picked up N and drove just over an hour to Killarney. One of the first things that people told me to do while in town was go to Killarney for the best fish and chips in the region (Fish #3).

We got to the small town (population 500 i.e. 1/3 of the size of my high school) and decided to walk around first before stuffing our faces with fried fish. We parked at the LCBO, which was open! We decided o make it a real classy afternoon, so we went in, bought a tall boy of Keith's each, emptied out our water bottles and poured beer in to make public drinking more of a possibility. A little spilling later (it's hard getting beer into a Dasani bottle), we walked around and took in the gorgeous view - with the lake, the sun, the trees, it was amazing!

We made our way back to get fish and chips. It was only a 30 minute wait there - it was pretty busy though, but we got a seat and enjoyed our wondrous food! SO GOOD! I'm not an a-FISH-ionado or anything, but it was damn good! Really light batter and great homemade fries - yes!

But that wasn't all. I decided to get some ice cream too! I was gonna get cotton candy (of course - I love it!) and the sugarless maple. N talked me out of it and so I decided to get the maple walnut as my second scoop on a waffle cone. Good decision. After N grabbed some coffee and a cinnamon bun, it was on the road again and back to Sudbury.

All in all, another great weekend, but Caribana was a bit disappointing. I'll make the effort to go to the parade next year, as i think that will meet my expectations. And the weekend was all about fish - so good!

That's all for now. I had a busy, tiring day, but I'm too tired to write about it now. It was my tennis adventure this evening, but you'll have to stay tuned...

Singing and Swinging

Today was my first rehearsal for Best of Broadway 2. First off, everyone is really nice. They actually all know each other as most of them were in the show last year and all of them have been in Theatre Cambrian shows in the past. So, I pretty much am the outsider but they didn't make me feel that way. Whenever they referenced something that happened in the show last year, they made sure to let me know what they're talking about. The directors in particular were very inclusive of me and it seems like it's gonna be pretty fun to work with.

Rehearsals will be three times a week on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This sort of screws up my plans to go back to Toronto every few weekends, but I understand why we have so many rehearsals. We're gonna be doing over 40 songs! And there are probably gonna be more added later - some choruses maybe added for transitions. Plus, a lot of these songs are full on medleys, so there are actually way more songs than just 41 or whatever the actual number is. CRAZY! Of course we won't be singing each song, as there will be solos and such, but there are usually some chorus parts and whatnot that must be learned by everyone.

The first song that we rehearsed today after we had a quick first meeting of going over the production handbook and introductions (and by introductions, I mean me introducing myself to everyone and everyone else introducing themselves to me), was "Stayin' Alive" from Saturday Night Fever. It went really well. Oh, by the way, there are only 14 of us. 12 were here today, but the show will only have FOURTEEN!

From what I could tell, everyone is really talented. There area few standout people that justifiably have most of the solos. The good thing is that everyone will have at least 7 or 8 solo parts throughout the concert, plus little featured back-up or one-liner parts. The musical director was just going through and informally letting us know what solo parts we have. Nothing's certain yet, but I think have some solo parts in some of the the Hairspray, Jersey Boys, Lion King and Dirt Dancing numbers to name a few. I won't really know what exactly are my parts until we get our music, which will happen little by little as we rehearse them. So, it's pretty exciting.

I'm not starting off on a good note (no pun intended...or is it?), but I'm gonna have to miss the next rehearsal. Since it's the long weekend, and I don't really have any plans here, I've decided to rent a car and go back to Toronto for a bit, but also see some of the surrounding areas. So, my plan is to rent a car on Satruday morning. Drive to Toronto and get there by Saturday afternoon. Maybe catch some Caribana festivities and then head back to Sudbury early Monday morning. Then, on Monday, I'll be back in Sudbury in the afternoon to explore the surrounding areas. Apparently there's a place that has really good fish & chips (shut up! I'll workout, don't you worry!)

Speaking of working out...another reason I want to go back to Toronto this weekend is that I'm gonna get my tennis gear and bring it back with me. There's a tennis league at the Sudbury Indoor Tennis Centre that I'm gonna check out this coming Tuesday. I'm not really sure how I'll do, since I haven't played in over a year. But, I figure it'll all come back to me. It's 2 hours long and you switch every half hour so between singles and doubles. And it's only $7 dollars for the 2 hours, as opposed to $12/hour to rent the court otherwise, and that's if you're a member. If you're not, it's like 30-something bucks! So, I hope that I have all that info down correctly that I don't need a member to play in the league. Anyway, I'll let you know how it all goes.

So long, farewell....(i don't think we're doing that song...pretty much the ONLY Broadway song that's not in the show! I'd let you know what the songs are, but for the people that MAY be coming to see me, I'll keep it a surprise).

A moment on the lips, forever on the hips?

Another good day in Sudbury.

So, I've decided to get my ass in shape, so I joined the Good Life today - and I don't mean that in the philosophical sense...I joined Good Life Fitness. There's one pretty close to me here in Sudbury and there are approximately 3 or 4 billion of them around where I'll be living in downtown Toronto in the fall. So awesome thing is that it's way cheaper to join in Sudbury than in Toronto. Also, i get a corporate discount through the hospital and I also got the first 2 months free! The trade off though, I guess, is that i got suckered into getting a personal trainer package that includes 6 sessions. Basically, that evens out out my two free months, but I rationalized that I don't really know what I'm doing at the gym, and I might as well learn how to do things correctly. The great thing is that my membership is good anywhere in Canada, and there are tons on fitness classes i can take if I don't wanna just do weights. So, I guess all I need to do now is make sure that I make use of this. I got a one year membership, so next to my job, this is the biggest commitment I have in my life right now.

After I signed my life away (I keep on thinking that in a few months from now I'm gonna be like Chandler - "I want to quit the gym! I want to quit the gym!") I went to meet N and a friend of hers for some dinner at Cafe Korea downtown or technically "New Sudbury", I guess. I ordered some Bibimbop and an unagi handroll. For a drink, I ordered "BongBong" because it sounds funny and sorta sounds like my last name, but unfortunately they ran out. I had to settle for a green tea aloe drink. The food was pretty good, but what was really amazing was the fact that the restaurant was connected to an Asian grocery store! YES!!!

During dinner, I kept on looking to see if I could catch a glance at what they had. But, alas, I had to wait until after dinner was over to check out the goods. Ohh...it was worth the wait! They had a bunch of different food from all over Asia, from Japan, China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Malaysia, etc. But, oh yes, there was Filipino food! More like Filipi-YES!

(Disclaimer: for those who don't know much about Filipino food, this may not be that interesting for you) The first thing I found was Tamarind Soup Base, a.k.a Sinigang. I've never made it before, but I figure now's a good time to start. The next thing I found, which I've never seen before, was a bottle of calamansi, which is a citrus fruit (by the way, it's really good with patis, a.k.a. fish sauce). But, the best was saved for last...the piece de resistance...the cream of the crop...LONGANISA!!! I've said it once, and I'll say it again: you haven't lived 'til you've had Filipino sausage! With garlic fried rice and an over-easy egg...YUMMERS!!!

I was also able to get some rice, and some frozen dim sum for those lazy days when I want to eat, but not really cook. I love this place! I mean, it's actually not that amazing, but for Sudbury, this is the closest thing to culinary familiarity. I'll probably be back again soon just to check to see if they get anything new. Apparently the longanisa is from Toronto. That explains why it's a sort of expensive, but who cares?...work is paying for it and longanisa is an essential. And I can feel a bit more guilt free for eating all this since I can burn it all...errr, most of it...off at the gym now.

C'est tout! I'll blog again tomorrow after my first rehearsal. Like me, I hope you all have calamansi wishes and longanisa dreams...okay, that sounds sorta gross, but I'm sticking with it nonetheless.

Start spreading the news...

Before I spread the news I should do a recap of my week, as I haven't posted in a few days.

Well, last Thursday, I went shopping in the afternoon and invited N to come with me as it was Friends and Family Weekend! My good friends at Banana Republic still remember to send me an invite, but this year it includes the sister stores, Gap and Old Navy. Unfortunately, there's only an Old Navy in Crudbury (not even a Gap!!! WTF!!!). Anyway, bought a couple things (not much) after we had a stop at Starbucks for some cool treats. It finally got sunny after it started to rain, and of course it only started to rain when we were waiting at the bus stop.

After that, we parted ways - N went to her last class for the summer and I went to go pick up my ticket for my trip back to Toronto. After getting it, I decided to check out the new and ONLY Thai restaurant in town. It was pretty decent. Not fabulous, but good enough to go back to, although I suppose they have a monopoly on Thai cuisine there.

Then, I met up with N again in the evening downtown with some friends of hers at the Little Buddha. It's a restaurant with a really nice patio in the back. It sort of reminds me of the Naam with meat dishes in Van City or something like the Green Room in the T-dot. This was my first time actually going out at night, and it didn't start off too well. When I walked in there was this waft of horrible B.O. (not that there's any other kind). It went away, but it might have been one of those things where I just got used to the smell. Anyway, went we went out to the patio, the air was clearer. We found some semi-dry chairs and sat down with N's friends. We had some drinks, a bit of food, and we all just chatted the night away. The people I talked to were really cool and we even got aride home at the end of the night. So, it was very successfull. Really cool people + really cheap drnnks = a great time!

So, it's off to Toronto, but I packed in the morning, cuz I was too lazy after coming home from Little Buddha's. My bus was at 12:45pm, but I actually when into work for a couple hours ( cuz I'm just so dedicated!) and then made my way to the terminal via taxi. I was good and only had an orange juice and a yogurt parfait thing at the Parry Sound McDonald's. I got to Yorkdale a bit later than expected, but did some shopping at the Banana and Gap (not much there, especially at the latter), then I got picked up and had a nice home cooked meal back at my aunt's in Scarborough. Yum!

TENNIS!!! What I came back to Toronto for! We got there and caught a few games before the rain started. So, we decided to throw back a few at Coronaville. But then massive thunderstorm!!! There was so much rain, we could actually see a river form on the pathway. Crazy! But, while others started screaming and running into the tent, we decided to stay outside, protected by our big table umbrella, and our raincoats/ponchos. The great things was the waitress was still serving us and coming out in the rain to do so. So, we took advantage of the service and three rounds later, the sun finally decided to peak through. Just before that though, there was a bit of a break and then people started to walk around again, but then sure enough, the rain started up once more and drenched tennis fans chaotically ran for cover once again.

After all the rain, free milk, yogurt, wine, etc. we actually watched some tennis too. After it was all said and done, Rafael Nadal of Spain (the current #2, but soon to be #1 in the world) won the singles and Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Canada and Serbia, respectively, won the Doubles, solidifying their hold as the #1 doubles team so far this year. So, it was definitely a good idea to come back to Toronto for the weekend for tennis. Even though I didn't get to see Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer, it was a satisfying weekend.

On Monday, I went into work at Toronto Rehab and had a meeting. It went really well ( i was a bit nervous, as we were gonna get feedback on our field notes so far), but it went well. I got a lot of praise for my narrative style and a few pointers on how to make them even that much better. Yes! After work, I caught up with my soci crew for dinner and a movie. We went to Baldwin St. for some Chinese. I felt that I should have some good, authentic Chinese food, since all I've seen in Sudbury so far are those big Chinese buffet restaurants, and if they're anything like I had in other small cities in semi-rural Canada, aren't really gonna satisfy my palette.

After some dins, and a pint at the the bar inside Paramount, we went to watch Dark Knight. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! So good. People kept on telling how great it was and I thought all the high expectations might not be met. I was wrong! I totally get all the Heath Ledger Oscar buzz. he was perfect! Great plot, great visuals, great EVERYTHING! Christopher Nolan is amazing...this was even better than Memento. Then, it was a quick stop at Jess' before I went off to the bus terminal for my 1am bus. I ended up sleeping the whole way pretty much. I didn't even get up at our rest stop, even though it was at Nobel this time instead of Parry Sound. I got back at 5:45am, had a quick nap and then off to work for a 10am appointment.

So, I had a pretty good few days. Since quite a few people were asking me about it, I was actually gonna post tonight to let everyone know that I hadn't heard back from Theatre Cambrian yet...until tonight...

I'M IN!!! I got a mass e-mail a couple of hours ago saying that I got a role and that we'll be having our first meeting/rehearsal on Thursday. So, I don't know what songs will be included in the concert, or what songs I'll be singing, or if I have a solo or anything, but I'll hopefully find out most of those answers on Thursday. I was thinking that they were gonna being asses and not letting me know at all, even though I specifically asked if they'd let us either way. The auditions were over a week ago, so I figures they must have made a decision already.

Anyway, I update y'all on what happens on Thursday. It's exciting! I haven't performed in such a long time!!! It's been over two years since I've done anything, so I'm a bit nervous, but excited. Hopefully everyone's cool and fun, cuz this will be a chance to get to know some more people in town. So, The Best of Broadway 2 Concert will be happening sometime in October. I think there'll be 2 performances the week after Thanksgiving. I'll confirm that for anyone who wants to come up to Sudbury and see me!

Ok, that's all for now.

Picture it, Sicily...

I was actually not gonna blog tonight, as I had a really busy day at work, and have an early and even more busy day tomorrow, but...

Estelle Getty a.k.a. Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls passed away today at the age of 84.

This is really sad...as you can probably tell from reading my blog, I loved GG, ever since I watched it as a child. Rest in peace, Sophia.

P.S.

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but Estelle Getty was actually NOT the oldest. In fact, she was the second youngest on the show. Betty White and Bea Arthur were born in 1922, while Estelle was born in 1923, and finally Rue McClanahan in 1934. GG is only one of 3 sitcoms to have all the main actors win Emmy awards and Estelle was the only one of the four to win a Golden Globe.

Bus-y Weekend

This weekend I got a chance to explore Sudbury a little more.

Friday night was a bit of a snoozefest. Literally. I was gonna go downtown, but then I got too lazy. I was gonna make dinner (chicken adobo, if anyone is interested - or adobo MANAK according to this dude: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=FeIXhLM_93Q, and no, i didn't follow HIS recipe). Anyway, I was gonna make dinner and then I got lazy. So I continued watching my Perfect Stranger DVD and fell asleep. Of course, taking an hour nap at 9pm doesn't really bode well for one's sleeping schedule, so I was up wasting time youtube til about 3am.

On Saturday, I woke up at about 10:30am and watched Balki and Larry get into a few comedic situations before I crawled out of at 11:30. I made a pretty good breakfast, well i guess brunch by that point, consisting of my leftover adobo, some garlic fried rice (I had A LOT of rice leftover from the previous night so it was perfect for some fried rice) and an over-easy egg. YUMMERS!!! For those of you that aren't Filipino, you haven't lived til you've had Filipino breakfast. All I need was some longanisa and it would've perfect!

Then I went with C's daughter, let's call her "N" to New Sudbury for the best shopping in town - New Sudbury Centre. Yes, some of you are probably laughing at what Sudbury has to offer shopping-wise. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as you'd expect. It's a pretty new mall. I'd say it's sort of like Scarborough Town Centre or Richmond Centre for you Vancouver folk. We took the bus there, and it wasn't terrible, I guess. We had a to wait for a bit. It's just annoying cuz it took us over 45 minutes including waiting and one transfer, but it would only take about 15 if we had a car.

Anyway, we stopped off at Starbucks and I got me a Strawberry & Creme. I normally wouldn't get such an extravagant drink, but it's on work, so why the hell not?! Then we did a little more shopping. Again, nothing spectacular. N's friend works at a nutrition store and we hung out for a bit. She's N's "smart" friend. Apparently her other friends are airheads, but this nutrition friend is quite intelligent. We had some enlightening conversations about the state of the world (it must be cuz she studied sociology :) I also got some protein shake stuff there and tried this weird exercise machine that just vibrates. Apparently a 10-minute workout on it is the same as a regular hour. All I know is that it felt weird and I was a bit shaky when I got off of it.

So, after we stopped off at Superior Meats to cure my craving for beek jerky (weird, huh?), we go back home. N and I did have plans to go out that night, but plans sort fell through. I was actually okay with it as I had an AUDITION to rest up for the next day!

Whhhaaatttt?!?!? An audition? Yes, an audition for Theatre Cambrian's Best of Broadway 2. It's a community theatre here in Sudbury and the show is like a musical revue, and it's a basically a concert - no dancing really.

I was a bit nervous. I hadn't auditioned for anything in over 2 years!!! I was on their website and saw that they were having a call for auditions in a few days (the last day of three audition dates) and I thought "Why the hell not?" I had to choose 2 contrasting songs, one slow and one fast. I was mulling over what I was going to sing and didn't decide until this morning. I decided to go with "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from The Sound of Music and "Light of the World" from Godspell. I was that close to singing "A Whole New World" but decided against it cuz I'd have to do a weird solo thing where I'd have to sing to both parts at once. Anyway, so that's what I decided to go with.

So, it was back on the bus today and off to a new part of town as the audition was in the West End of Sudbury, which I had never been to before. But...the buses only run once an HOUR!!! Awesome! I was organized, however, and decided to head down a little earlier. After having practiced singing out loud (for the first time all week...I was a little shy with C and N hearing me) just before noon, I left just before 1 o'clock even though my audition wasn't until 3. I thought it would be good for me to get downtown early, maybe go the mall a bit, grab some tea and water, and then walk to the audition, which was only about 1.4 kms away from the bus terminal.

Well...the bus actually didn't take that long to get me downtown - only about 15 minutes or so, but the mall downtown was not what I'd expect it to be. It's not like New Sudbury Centre. The biggest department store is called "Hart", which I've never even heard of! And, by the way, sold soap, toothbrushes, floss, but NO toothpaste that I needed to get. What the!?! How do you sell all that other stuff and NOT have toothpaste?! Anyway, half of the stores were closed too, but I guess that's Sudbury on a Sunday!

After already having had my Timmy's grean tea, some Dasani from the dollar store and looking over my sheet music, I decided I'll just walk over to the audition early, well, really early, since I didn't really know how far it was and after discovering that this mall kinda sucks. Luckily, as I'm walking down the street I hear music. Sweet music. I hear music everywhere (m!m). Down the street at Market Square there were two women with guitars singing. They were actually REALLY good. They sang a bunch of different stuff, from Nelly Furtado to Tina Turner. They sorta had a bluesy, rock thing goin' on. It was boiling hot outside, so I decided to go inside and there were a bunch of vendors selling jewellery, etc. When I go back outside to listen to some more music, I notice a sign that says "Blueberry Festival at Market Square". Ummm....where are the blueberries? I don't see any damn blueberries! Don't tell me there are blueberries if there aren't any cuz I'm gonna wanna eat blueberries and then I'll get disappointed!

So, I start talking to this one vendor and she explains to me that it was really busy yesterday at the festival and all the blueberries sold out this morning. Dammit! I actually wanted to go to the Blueberry festival but didn't know where it was. Then I accidentally found it and no luck. But, I end up talking to her for about 5, 10 minutes about Sudbury, how I'm new and about pow wows and First Nations stuff. Then, it's off to my audition!

It actually was only a 15-minute walk from the Market - I thought it'd be longer. But, it was a profusely hot day and I was Professor Pittain by the time I got there (that's a Friends reference - You'll have to find out what that means if you don't already). When I got there, I was sort of confused cuz I passed a church and next door, which is the address I was given, was a regular building with a huge cross on it and a tiny sign for Theatre Cambrian. Hmm....I gingerly rang the doorbell, but luckily a guy (all red and out of breath) came out of the side door of the church and let me in to fill out an audition form.

So, I filled out the form, but of course I can't remember my postal code so I call N. I fill out the regular audition information, like what were the last few shows you were in. The next question was sort of weird: "Defining characteristic: _________________." I wasn't sure what that meant, so I asked the dude and he said, "what makes you distinct from everyone else". All I could think of was that I'm Filipino! So, I put that down. I think that's pretty defining...in Sudbury!

So, it was my turn next. I went to the basement. A little nervous, but I don't think my palms were sweaty when I met the artistic and musical directors - phew! But, to my chagrin, I found out that there was NO PIANIST! The piano, or should I say keyboard, wasn't even plugged in. Everyone had been singing a cappella. WTF!!! So, the two of them awkwardly moved the piano close to an outlet and plugged it in so that I can at least get my first note - I wasn't about to try and play piano AND sing all by myself. They asked me a little about the shows I've done and then it was singing time. I sang both of my songs and I think it went pretty well. I was a bit nervous, and I think that showed a little bit in my voice, but I think I did pretty well considering I wasn't expecting to sing with accompaniment. I was pleased, and relieved, with what I did.

After I was done the musical director, she said that I had a beautiful and that she really likes it, but (uh oh....here comes the but) she wants to hear more versatility. Apparently when they did Best of Broadway last year, there were only 11 people in it and they were all very versatile. One guy went from singing Phantom to a Queen song. So, she wanted me to sing something that showed a "dirty" and "gritty" side!!! YIKES!!!

This really threw me for a loop! I had nothing else prepared! I mean, my other song was "A Whole New World" and I wouldn't call a Disney song "dirty" or "gritty". So, I stood there frantically trying to think of a song to show off that side of me(which I said I could pull off because "I'm an actor, I can do anything", but I'm not actually sure that I could). After all of us start brainstorming what I could sing, they suggest something from Spring Awakening. I try singing that but I sorta butcher the lyrics near the end. What can you expect off the cuff? He also suggests "Hound Dog", but I only knew the first verse, and not too well at that. They ask me if I know Rent, but I only really know "Seasons of Love". That's still a little too "sweet" of a song, but they ask me to sing the solo parts in the middle, which I do. After a bit of a loss for what to do next, they apologize for throwing this at me. The lady says that I have a good voice, but she just wants to know that I can sing something that's not so pretty sounding like Rodgers & Hammerstein and Gilbert & Sullivan, and he says she thinks I might have it in me. Finally, she asks me a little about my choral experiences and they express that they're impressed by my dance background (but I don't think that really means anything in a non-dancing show). And then they said they'd let me know, either way, some time this week.

All in all, I was actually pretty happy with how things went. I sang my songs well and they were impressed with that. They did recognize that I'm a sweet, happy person and I guess that exudes when I'm singing. That'd be great if I'm auditioning for Mary Poppins or seomthing, but if they're gonna have a concert that'll have some rock musicals in there, then who knows? Oh well, I'm a happy guy who likes to smile. That's just me...take it or leave it! But at least they complimented me on my singing. So, if I don't get in (and with such small numbers they're looking for, it would be improbable anyway), it's because I'm just not what they're looking for for this show, and not because I suck :)

After being proud of myself for getting the guts to audition after I hadn't done it in so long, in a new city where I don't know anyone, I decided to celebrate by getting bubble tea! Yes. Bubble in Sudbury. The funny thing is that the Cree lady I was talking to at Market Square asked me if I worked at the bubble tea place - I guess she figured I was Asian. And, it was actually pretty good. Or, the fact that I got a taro slush (which I hadn't had in FOREVER) on a hot, "you're so bluck now" summer day made it taste better than it actually was. Then I went home, where I ran into C on the bus. Later, I ran across the street to get toothpaste at the corner store, went across to "Paris Natural Food Store" and got some organic chicken sausage to BBQ. C and I had an impromptu barbecue, using her brand new grill, and we sat outside sipping mango coolers and conversing about everything from the American government to the politics of organized religion.

So, it was a pretty good weekend.

And to put the cherry on top, I'll see what shenanigans Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia get into now that I'm done with Balki and Larry.

I'm Back...

My apologies for the delay in coloblogging - it's been a busy week!

When I last left off, it was my birthday/first day of work in Sudbury. Then it was back to Toronto to see my sister from Vancouver, who was gonna stay in Toronto after having been in PEI for the 100-year Anne-iversary, and to see my cousin from Montreal. I had a great time..of course. Lots of food, inappropriate pictures, more food, more pictures, and more food.

When I took the bus from Sudbury, I found out that we get dropped off at Yorkdale. I didn't really care because I was planning to meet my sister and cousin downtown. BUT...they ended up not going downtown, so I figure I'll just get off at Yorkdale cuz my other cousin works near there and could drive me home to meet them. One problem: my luggage wasn't with the luggage of the people getting dropped off at Yorkdale! So, what does that mean? It means that I had to crawl into the luggage storage underneath the bus - of course it's buried in the back - to get my stuff. Luckily, I got it (without any help from the bus driver, I might add) and everything worked out. I got picked up at Yorkdale, drove back to Scarborough and came home to a wonderful barbecue prepared by my lovely, food-savvy cousins.

The next day we had some dim sum, and then celebrated my birthday at Jake's in Unionville. I LOVE Unionville. I actually just heard of the area? town? whatever it is, a few weeks ago. It sort reminded me of Niagara on the Lake, with small shops spelled with a "-ppe" (some of you may know about my affinity for "shoPPEs", especially if there is a "ye olde" at the beginning. About nachos, sweet potato fries, ribs, shrimp, 4 pints of beer, a McDonalds sundae run (NOT a fish-a-filet run one might expect), lots more "insert here" pics and some good times, we head back home.

The day after that was downtown day with my sis. We went to Spadina Museum, my new favourite Toronto attraction. Unfortunately my friend (a.k.a. the old lady in the kitchen that tests your knowledge of old-fashioned cookware) wasn't there, but I still had a great time. My sis missed it when she was in Toronto in March'07 cuz it wasn't open yet. Then we had a quick stop at Eaton Centre (so she can buy some hair products) and it was off to see my condo. My sis loved it. Took tons of pics. I especially like the ones she took from the rooftop with the CN Tower in the background. Then it was off for some Thai food, I guess it's our Toronto tradition now. After an amazing lychee martini and an awesome vegetarian 4 course meal, it was back da 'borough to watch Get Smart with my two other cousins. Really funny movie - I recommend it! I laughed out loud a lot and I bought cotton candy, which made the movie that much more enjoyable.

And finally, on my last full day in Toronto before I went back to Sudbury, was NIAGARA FALLS! After a bit of a late start (eating breakfast at Markham Station and some traffic) the 4 of us get to wineryland, a.k.a Niagara-on-the-Lake. We go to Hillebrand and take a tour. My sis and cousin fall in love with ice wine and buy 2 bottles each. 1 free tasting of ice wine in the store and another 3 wine tastings included in the $5 tour (one of which was another ice wine - yes!) . Then we got vouchers for a FREE tasting at Peller Estates! It's beautiful there, by the way. We get our free tasting, which included 3 wines (1 riesling, 1 merlot, 1 riesling ice wine - double yes!). We then go eat (my sis and cousin are starting to feel the wine by this point) and then it's off to the falls. Maid of the Mist = amazingness! I went for the first time last year, but this time was a lot more rough and I got a lot more wet ("that's what she said"). And finally, we drive back home, but not without a stop at our favourite dirty Chinese restaurant and get 4 orders of "#58" - A chicken cutlet, 2 pork skewers on Indonesian fried rice, topped off with a fried egg and tons of teriyaki sauce! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye. At least we got to hang out for a few days, and even have some time to watch some Perfect Strangers. It was really sad (leaving, not Balki), but I know I'll see my Toronto family soon (next week, in fact) but I probably won't see my sister and cousin 'til November for a cousin's wedding :(

So, back to Sudbury I went and I love it! Not so much the place itself, but I love work here! Everyone is super nice. I got my own workspace set up in a shared area with really funny and kind people. My first day on the job I got to go the mall...and I get paid to do this. Amazing! again, I can't go into too much detail, but things are moving along well.

This week, I also got taken for a mini tour around the city. I finally got to see the big nickel! When people first told me to make sure I see it, I thought they were talking about a giant deposit of nickel in the ground or something, but then I saw what it was in a brochure. It's actually a bid Canadian, 5-cent, nickel. I also went to the library, where I got a library card and got some books, including a Filipino cookbook that I'm looking forward to trying out. I finally did some major grocery shopping so I'm not eating out all the time. And, of course, the first day I make my lunch and bring it, there's a BBQ at the hospital!!! I'm not complaining, I mean, I love barbecues! I just wish I didn't waste time making lunch that morning (but I didn't waste it...I ate it today for lunch instead).

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to write more frequently. It's been a busy week, but I'll sure to update everyone on what I'm up to soon, that is, if the mosquitoes here don't eat me alive first!

mr. coloblog

p.s. I'm not sure if anyone saw the View, or at least the clip of it where Elisabeth Hasselbeck was being all stupid when they were discussing the usage of the N-word, but it infuriated me. Why can't she understand the empowerment of taking the word back?! I totally agree with Whoopi that it's taking the word out of the hands of White people and controlling its meaning. Elisabeth is so f*ing dense sometimes and cannot seem to understand anything outside of her own world view. It's simple. If you're not Black, don't use it. If you are, then you have the power to make the meaning whatever you want it to mean. Does that mean to say that its usage in pop culture isn't problematic? No, but at least there is a discussion about who uses it and why. Only then can we begin to address these important issues.

The more you know [cue music, shooting star]

http://perezhilton.com/2008-07-17-it-got-heated

I am 16 going on 17...

...well, now it's more like 25 going on 26...yikes!

25 years old. I used to remember laughing at my sisters when they reached that age, and here I am [sigh].

Well, today was actually a good day. Today (well, I guess it's technically yesterday now) was my first day of work at the hospital and it was my first day of the next 25 years of my life. I won't bore you with the details of work, but it went really well. Everyone is super nice, and warm, and caring, and fun. I had a great time and I think I'll get along with the staff really well. I was a bit anxious, but when I'll be hanging out on the unit next week, I think I'll be pretty comfortable.

After work, my boss came by to check up on where I'll be staying for the next few months and she's really glad everything worked out the way it did. I'm close by and C is really great.

When i got back from work, C, her daughter and I went out to dinner to celebrate my quarter century mark. We went to a diner-ish place. Sorta feels like Denny's, but with a better menu. I had some surf and turf action (steak and some deep-friend prawns...yum!). I also got free cake and a bunch of waitresses awkwardly singing to C until she gestured to them that it's actually my birthday. I don't really care who you sing to, as long as i get my free piece of cake!!! Well, it was actually pie - Chocolate French Silk....yummers!

Then we went to Blockbuster and rented a couple of movies - 10,000B.C. and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I watched former with C, and then spent the rest of the evening writing some field notes and then now I'm writing my blog.

All in all I think it was a very successful day. I wouldn't say overly exciting, but successful. And let's face it, I'm 25 now, I guess i should take success when I can get it and leave excitement for when i was actually 16 going on 17. Well, that's not entirely true...I'm hoping to have an exciting weekend in Toronto. Woohoo! I leave tomorrow by bus and will be in Toronto by early evening.

I'm gonna keep this blog short tonight cuz old age is getting to me and I need to sleep. But, i want to thank everyone that called me, sent a text message, or posted on facebook. I really appreciate all the love and birthday greetings, especially since I'm all the way in Sudbury. Special shout outs to my parents that called me at 5:30am PST! I can't thank you enough, really. I actually was getting really moved by the floods of wall posts I got. It made me feel close to all my friends, even though I'm geographically far.

LOVE YOU ALL!

P.S. Apparently being 25 has also made me more emotional. Hmmm..maybe I'm going through the change. And on that note, time to go search for some Golden Girls episodes online before I go to bed :)

P.P.S. "Thank you for being a friend..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuKZNmY3YDU

Explor-asian

It is humid here in Sudbury. And as most of you know, humidity and I are not friends. But I had a good night's sleep nonetheless. I also have 3 mosquito bites and counting. Could be worse, I guess.

In the morning, C and her daughter left for strawberry picking (I don't think this is a common thing...some outing related to her work). So, I had the house to myself. Took a shower (good water pressure) and dabbled on the piano. Watched some Ellen and decided it was time that I venture out into the streets of Sudbury on my own.



I walked to "Four Corners" which is what the locals call the intersection of Regent and Paris Street. My first order of business was to purchase deodorant, as I forgot to pack one of the TWO that I have in Toronto. And with all the humidity, that is a must. I also bought some bus tickets. It's sort of like the New York metrocard. I bought 2 5-Ride cards. Apparently I just swipe the card and it'll deduct with each ride I take. I also went to the bank (thankfully there's a TD close by).



Then it was time for lunch...and you all know that I'm a sucker for sushi! Yes, SUSHI in Sudbury! I thought, why not?! I live right next to the hospital. And to my surprise, it was actually pretty good. A little (well, a lot) expensive, though. With tax and tip, it cost me about 35 bucks! I did order a lot and doggy-bagged the rest. The miso soup was good (but that's hard to mess up) and the salad (which varies a lot by restaurant) was pretty good too. I also ordered oyako don. That was probably the weakest dish, but not bad at all. I ordered a seaweed salad and scallop nigiri. What really impressed me was the presentation - gorgeous! I didn't take any pics unfortunately, but they did a good job. The seaweed salad was served in a martini glass, and garnished with radish at the bottom, lemon, cucumber, avocado and a leaf which added height and grandeur. I know that a martini glass isn't really traditional Japanese, but it looked great. Good job, Umai.



And speaking of traditional Japanese, the chefs and the waitresses were actually Asian - go figure! There was one White waiter, but I was impressed the represent-asian...no imit-asian here!



So, I departed from the Japanese restaurant, doggy-bag in hand, and went across the street to Southridge Mall. And guess what...more Asians!!! AMAZING! Stereotypically, I spotted them at them working at the nail salon, but still, go diversity!





The mall isn't as small and crappy as I expected. It's still kinda small and crappy, but I expected worse. They have all the cell phone providers in there, a CIBC, Zellers, Dollarama (uber-important!), Sports Check, an Urban Planet and a Payless. That's also where the Goodlife is (shout out to Jess...I'll look into joining soon, I think). Then I walked across the street again and did some grocery shopping at the Food Basics. Got some stuff for breakfast (oatmeal, yogurt, and fruit) since I figure I won't be cooking lunch or dinner between now and when I go back to Toronto for the weekend. Then I walked back.



So, it's only a 15-minute walk to 'Four Corners". Not bad, not bad at all. I suppose i could take the bus, but it would be faster to walk since the bus comes every half-an-hour, or maybe even every hour...not sure. Anyway, I'm glad to be living so close to actual stores and restaurants!

I've come to the conclusion that Sudbury (or at least Southend of Sudbury where I am) is sort of like Scarborough, but White. I mean, there's a Food Basics and a Dollarama, just like Woodside Square in da'Borough. And it seems like things a re far away but you can easily walk to places. So, Sudbury doesn't feel too small town yet. It just feels like a suburb, with a lot of rock (like granite, not music) and lakes.



Later in the afternoon, C walked me over to the hospital. I literally step out, cross a small street and walk across the parking lot. I'm SO close to where I'll be working! She also showed me around Ramsey Lake, which is also right by the hospital. It's a beautiful walk, right by the water, lots of trees, small beaches with lifeguards, beautiful gardens. i didn't bring my camera, so I'll have to go back and take pictures. Also, it was a little overcast today. It sprinkled a bit this morning, so I wanna take some pics when it's nice and sunny out. I'm also excited to to Science North, which we passed by on our stroll.



So, tomorrow is my first day! It's really exciting...more exciting than turning 25. I'll be focusing on the former more than the latter I think. I guess it sorta sucks that I'm working and I'll be alone on my birthday, but I can ramble about that tomorrow. Anyway, I'm excited to see my sister and Montreal cousin when i go back to Toronto on Thursday. So, I'll have lots of time to celebrate the 25 years of my existence with my family very soon.



So, stay tuned for the Special Edition blog tomorrow talking about my first day and my birthday! I've been having trouble with the wireless here. Just today actually. I had no problems last night. I'm hooked up by cable now :( So hopefully I can figure out what's wrong with the wireless soon. But , at least there's internet! Where would be without that?!



Okay. See you next time on So You Think You Can Dance? Okay, I watch FOX too much. Damn you Simon Fuller and your semi-quality reality TV programming!

Flip Out of Water

So, I'm in Sudbury!

It was quite the experience getting here, I must say. The bus was late departing. It was actually quite confusing - not sure if i was in the right line up. But, it all worked out in the end.

The most memorable part of the bus ride was the Amish family that was waiting in the bus line up. I was thinkging to myself, "Omigod! Where am I going? What have I gotten myself into?" But I think they were actually going to Alberta, as Sudbury was the first of many stops. The guy I was sitting next to was going to Saskatoon and wouldn't arrive until Wednesday! Today is Monday! When I got on the bus, there were two seats open: a Black guy and an old White dude. I chose to sit next to the Black guy. i figure I should soak in as much ethnic diversity while I can. Plus, I'd be sitting on the aisle and I figure that the old guy might have to go to the washroom a lot. It turned out to be a good choice. The old man behind us talked WAY too much! The dude sitting next to me and I had some good conversation, but I did't feel obligated to talk the whole. I needz to nap!

Anyway, back to the Amish. The only knowledge I had of Amish people was Weird Al Yankovic's Amish Paradise and a little known movie called Holy Matrimony. So, i was sort bewildered upon seeing a woman in full black and brown Amish garb, bonnet and all (and it was HOT today) and her two sons in black dress pants and vests with straw hats. I later spotted the rest of the family inside the terminal (two men, a woman and a baby). I didn't know the Amish traveled by Greyhound! I thought horse-drawn carriages were their vehicle of choice. And the two men were also talking on the pay telephone for a while. You'll have to excuse my ignorance in the matter, but I thought you can get shunned for all the technological usage!

And I don't even know if they were Amish - I just assumed that they are. They look like they have names like Jebediah and Ezekiel, so i figure I'm correct in my assumptions. And man, the kicker was when the boys took of their hats. I know that the Amish aren't really known for their sense of style, but those were some haircuts they had! They had long hair in a bowl cut, but the bottom of their hair was shaved just above the neck. They sort of looked like a 15th Century Dauphin of France (anyone see the TV movie Joan of Arc? They look like Neil Patrick Harris a.k.a. Doogie in it. Or Milhouse when Lisa was Joan of Arc. Anyone? Anyone?) And the cutting wasn't even straight. I ended up staring at their hair for a good 5 minutes. The probably thought I was some perv, but i was just appalled by their hairstyling. And when one of the mothers passed the baby to the father, he grabbed her with one arm? ONE ARM! He just grabbed the baby's shoulder and plopped him on his lap. Don't the church elders have some sort of rule against that kind of behaviour!?

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offend any Amish people out there, but then again, the Amish wouldn't have computers, right? Or do they?

The rest of the trip consisted of me sleeping, interrupted by a stop at McDonald's (I had fish-a-fillet...yum!) followed by more sleeping. Then i took a taxi to to the town house I'm staying at and voilà, here I am.

The woman I'm renting from (let's just call her "C") is really sweet. I met her daughter who's half Irish and half Indian - she's also very nice. The house is pretty good. It's 3 floors, so lots of space. I've got my room all set up and I'm all unpacked. C took me around the area and she also took me out to dinner, which was really sweet of her. I have an expense account for food, which C knows about, but she wanted to treat me as a nice welcome for me. We went out for Indian food, which apparently she will cook from time to time.

She's actually very interesting. She has Nursing degree but also did a Masters in Environmental Studies, which is more planning based. She's done a lot of innovative work related to health and First Nations. i really like her worldview, or at least what I think her worldview is. She is definitely very culturally aware and knows the limits of common Western biases. She also has a lot of random knowledge about history and stuff, which i LOVE! She's always spitting out facts about Ireland. She takes Irish lessons which I may take part in too.

As for ethnic diversity here...yeah, it's pretty white. But that was to be expected. There was one Asian girl on the bus that got off at Sudbury, but not sure if she's local or not. While driving here, we passed by the "Bridge of Nations" which has the flags of all the countries of origin of Sudbury residents. To my surprise, there were tons of flags. And yes, even a Filipino one!!! So, my goal is to seek out the Filipinos here and maybe they'll cook for me :) C says that there is some ethnic diversity here, albeit relatively small. But apparently there are a couple Indian restaurants, a Korean one and new Thai place. So, I'm not totally isolated from my peoples of colour.

Well, I've rambled enough for now. Tomorrow I'm gonna explore for realz and I'll try to take some pics (I would've taken pics of the Amish family, but I thought that would a be a bit too intrusive). Getting to walk around a bit more tomorrow will give me a better grasp of the kinds of people and places that are here. Apparently the hospital I'll be working at is across the street, so that'll be good for those hard to get up days.

So long for now. Seacrest, out.