jaala

(I lost it while transferring from one computer to the other and I can't be bothered to come up with a new one.)

I need to write here more often. Same old, same old. Must have been writing too much email and calling my parents too often to have a burning desire to update. I'm uploading post-dated excerpts from a bunch of email messages with some names changed.

I'm still not back in "civilization." Slight change of plans: I'm staying in Sackville until the end of June. I figure if I'm transferring I need to get my small-town, Waterfowl Park, and Music Library fix now. Karin Aurell needs someone to babysit her cat and house (in that order) from mid-June until mid-July while she and her husband are in Sweden; I'm there until the end of June, then Imogen (currently in Kentucky) takes over from me. I need to be back in Ontario by July for my family's only month together, so I will be home then.

Right now, I'm staying at a friend's house temporarily. For quite a number of reasons, I was getting to feel very unwelcome indeed at my former hostess's house. (For instance: her voice became more and more quiet each time we spoke until she all but ignored anything I said.)

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Various random stuff:

A rumour is going around (confirmed by the man himself) than Sean Cullen may play Max Bialystock in the Toronto production of The Producers. My stomach gets all tingly just thinking about it.

Movies I saw for the first time recently: The Matrix Reloaded (okay, not really my thing but the company was good), Ed Wood (!), Red Green: Duct Tape Forever (not as stupid as I expected from the reviews, and I can't dislike something that has that much Harold Green content)

A hoped-for library job (in Ontario) did not work out, so I'm still out of work.

Do you have any questions to ask Rick Green (of the Frantics, Red Green, and "History Bites")? The webmaster of frantics.net (wherever he is; I do have his email address) gets to interview Rick and needs some good questions.

The general consensus seems to be that the vocal jazz ensembles at Mount Allison are no more.

University transfer update: Western has given me an offer which I've accepted. I still haven't heard back from Queen's, but I've found out that their deadlines are later for transfer students. If they give me an offer, I will probably accept it and thereby cancel the acceptance at Western.

Imogen gave me free tickets for closing night, so I ended up seeing "Home and Away" not just twice but thrice.

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I did end up playing flute in the performance of Remember Susanna. I knew the cues and timing better than the professional musicians, so I was the "on-stage" or "roaming" flutist (costumed and "in character"); that is, I gave notes and played introductory phrases for the sung numbers, played along with the chorus (as the professional musicians also did from the balcony), and played one piece of (really simple) background music.

For the first third of the play, I was on or near the "stage". Then I moved into the balcony, where I sang in the choir, played a conch shell (great fun!), waited around for a while, augmented the percussion part on one occasion, and played a long held note (on flute) at the end of the final number. Through pure coincidence, I ended up joining in late in the show on flute because the professional musicians had started a piece incorrectly and needed to be brought into time with the chorus; I hope I didn't insult them. I wasn't absolutely necessary, but it was a nice token for R. Murray to give me something more to do than sing in the chorus.

There was only one performance. It went okay, considering that our audience sucked. No wait, let me re-phrase that: they were an avant garde classical music audience, not an original-amateur-folk-music-comedic-dramatic-play audience. One of the actors swears they must have been alive because he could hear them breathing but aside from that one could not really tell.

Actually, there will be future performances, but at a later date. A tour to Ontario is planned, but I probably won't be around to participate at that point.

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In other scintillating news: I have short hair. Had I mentioned that before? In any case, it's been cut twice since April and now hangs slightly above shoulder level. My sole instruction to both hairdressers (first: amateur, free; second: professional) was, "keep it long enough to tie back."