Shucking and Jiving

The cost of keeping an apartment in New Bedford now far outweighs the benefits, which are significantly diminished since leaving my job at SouthCoastToday.com.

Friday was my last day, and I didn't plan to be as sad as I was. I'm hoping some folks come out for drinks Wednesday night. I want to say goodbye away from the cubicle gray. And I want to bombard their faces with karaoke insanity.

So I've moved to Swansea with Dad, a situation that has worked well so far. We're both pretty busy, so there's plenty of house to go around. I'm trying to organize a six-room apartment's worth of junk into one bedroom, which is going fairly slowly.

I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff, but there's a lot more I could probably do without. Trappings!

I hit Roy's for the first time this season with Alyssa. The place has certainly changed. Even empty, the security booth at the entrance is imposing. The 24 rules in the newly printed handbook seem so strange considering the unruly existence I enjoyed as a kid. We're wondering how we can pull of our annual clambake without the aid of a fire, now prohibited.

It's been a long time since I went to the beach on a weekday, and It was odd to see the place so quiet.

I'm helping out with puppet workshops in Jamestown for the next three mornings. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be good training for some other camps Nazo has coming up. Friday we'll be at the fireworks in Attleboro, apparently in case some kids aren't scared enough by the explosions, a few trolls will be roaming around.

Why I Ottawa...

Well, we wrapped up Penticton with a show for our smallest audience yet, on Saturday when there were no school trips. I remember it as a Saturday, anyway.

Even though the house was only about a third full, we had one of our best shows of the tour, and got more laughs. On the weekends, the crowds are about half adults, instead of a smattering of teachers and chaperones amongst a myriad of crazy schoolchildren. Anyway, I think that proves that we have a few jokes flying over the kids' heads. References to product placement and Thelonius Monk probably go over some adult heads.

But it was a good time, on the last night we went to the local casino for the festival end bash. I've been to better, and the evening ended on a sour note when Meg realized her camera had flown from her possession at some point in our dance floor invasion.

A full day of travel left us in Ottawa late Sunday night. Yesterday was our first day off, not counting travel days and tech days, which definitely do not count as a day off.

So I woke up, walked around a mall, parliament and some other shopping destinations. Then I bugged Min for my Canadian cash a bit before noon, confirmed that I didn't have any obligations for the day, and headed out for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, or some such named place. It was a great place, but I couldn't help feeling ignorant about Canada. Almost everything was foreign to me; every name in the "Face to Face" exhibit was new. I guess that's the point of the museum.

Our rooms are apartment-style, with living rooms and kitchens, so I thought I would make some pasta tonight. That means I was going to boil water, add pasta, and cover it with a jar of sauce. I thought I'd invite a couple other people over, because we're all trying to save money. Food of all kinds is expensive here.

Now we're in Erminio's room, everyone is coming, I'm not cooking and the meal will be a lot more complex. And so it goes.

Afterwards we're finally going to watch a video of one of our shows, and see if we can make some more tweaks. We love to tweak.

I took some nice pictures of Ottawa, myself and my PBR, but I haven't posted them yet.

I yearn to be home, but I'm certainly on the home stretch now.

Much love to my American peeps!

Penticton

We wrapped up our intergalactic creature show in Vancouver after five shows, and several strolls and workshops. My favorite part of the trip has become the minutes directly after a show. Children want to meet and talk to my character, and I can actually talk back. I tell them to study their chemistry, pose for a few pictures and answer questions. It's kind of special.

We also spent time TEARING UP several dance scenes, including the festival closing party. The Topcats played, which was essentially the Nazo band without masks. The musicians we have in the band right now are out of this world.

So we got on a bus with Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, Les Parfaits Inconnus and some other performers and drove to this Penticton place. They call it a city. It reminds me of a small midwest city, except with lakes and mountains. Everything is spread out for no good reason, stuff is newish but not that nice.

The festival grounds, tents and crowds are smaller, but the kids still loved our first show today, and the stroll went well too.

Hopefully I'll find more time with the Net soon. No new pictures for now.

Much love.