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Still having it.
No long posts until problem uncovered and trouble over with.
Trying to make a new layout. Not succeeding. Getting very upset. I am trying very hard and it isnt working. I dont know how long I want to keep beating my head against the wall on this.
The site has been having some trouble.
When Reddz and I can figure it out, then the posts will be regular again.
I also refuse to let this layout thing get the best of me. So, come every day and see what new and wacky layout I have.
When things are right with the server.
If you have been watching this blog today (when it wanted to work that is). You probably noticed the way that the blog looked changed about a gazillion fucking times. Well, the usual thing happened. I got itchy ass and wanted to make it better, but then didnt like what I changed it to and so changed it all together.
This process of constantly changing my layout is begining to frustrate the hell out of me. How the hell am I supposed to try and get readers in when I keep changing the fucking look every damn day.
I WANT to MAKE a layout from scratch that I like. I do. But I dont know how and that frustrates the living hell out of me so much it hurts. I want to blog well and get readers in and make this site big, but it aint gonna happen if I cant freaking make the layout work the way I want it to.
Fuck.
Found these here and some of these are soooo true it isnt even funny:
You Know You're a Light Board Op When...
You have a sore on your index finger
You're dates initials are written in the beams during intermission
You keep a steady supply of drinks in a mini-fridge nearby
You wake up in the middle of the night looking for a "Go" button
Other crew members throw objects to wake you up for stand-by's
You keep a lighter by the board to wave if anyone sings a ballad onstage and you feel like making them laugh
You Know Your a Stage Manager when...
you call cues in your sleep.
rest is a not a word in your vocabulary.
you've managed to be multiple people at once.
you feel like you are eternally wearing a head set.
you have friends on the crew and they have no choice but to listen to you.
the followspots leave offerings to the Almighty Stage Manager.
you have actors actually listening to what you say.
You Know You're a FollowSpot when...
You ALWAYS notice when the spotlight comes on in a play.
You can do ballyhoos better than an ice skater.
You can hit a dime on the stage...or a cow for that matter.
"Have you hugged your spotlight today?"
You dream of working the spot, not being in the spot.
You sometimes start talking, thinking you have a headset on.
You wake up to a familar humming noise.
You find yourself playing a lot more solitaire than you used to.
You're scared to go in the attic because of the ghost named Annie.
Light puppets are a favorite for you to do to pass time.
You leave offerings to the "Almighty Stage Manager".
Your headset is continually being stepped on, broken, or dropped.
You've seen the most spectacular fire...from your spotlight.
It looks like a star scene...on the stage!!
You call yer spotlight an affectionate name. (ex. Spotty, Barely)
You're behind has a permanent impression of the stool you have to sit on.
"No food, no beverages." Doesn't apply to you.
You walk around barefoot and play Uno and word games to pass time.
You're the lowly work horse, and live to serve the Almighty Stage Manager.
Sneaking in food is one of your best talents.
Steep stairs no longer scare you.
You now can handle hot weather since you've lived in it long enough.
You get sick from hacking on the smoke that comes from resurc.
Focus went very well.
Focus went very fast.
Enjoyed a beer out with Paul, Catherine, Anthony and Chris.
Came home late. Very tired.
Full post on Friday.... maybe.
The hang at MTYP went well tonight.
Very tired. Going to bed in a moment or two.
Will blog about the whole thing on Friday when I get home from work. Must now go and pass out.
If you have been able to get to the site (randomfusion.reddz.com, for those folks seeing this on my Live Journal) the last couple of days, you will notice that my list o links has gotten a little longer. I?ve been out there getting links to add and to read (I will trim the dead or boring ones soon). Some of the newer ones here are:
An Unsealed Room is a nominated blog in the category of "Best Middle East or African Blog" and I blogrolled the blog and went in and read a few entries. I can say so far that I like what I see and I think I will make this site a regular on my morning read.
Belle De Jour is another site up for a bloggie, yet one that I have been reading for a few weeks now. The author of the blog is a real London call girl and the site is an account of her life. This is an interesting read I must admint, and not for the chance of reading some juicy sex story (these are few and far between), but rather, just the gaurantee that you will read a posting from an interesting person.
going canuck is a site that I grabbed tonight and read a handful of the entries. Its always interesting to find other Canadian blogs making good. I can hope that I might be as good as this guy one day.
Kuro5hin is "the" site for technology, culture and interesting stuff. I have be going to this site for about a year now and I find it to be one of the best sites in my list and one of my favs.
Sub Zero is one of the newest sites in my list and I cant say all that much about it. When I know more about it, I will certainly let you know :) .
*****
Maximum PC has added a "sub" or additional magazine to its group Mobile PC. So far, so good. If Maximum PC is putting this out, you know it has to be good. (Via servergeek.net)
I love the look of this site, and the shit in it is damn good too.
You can see the list of blogs nominated for bloggies here
Well, thats all there is for me today. More snow is falling outside and there is supposed to be some high winds overnight (brrrrr), which means nice drifts in the morning, Yay! I work a LOOOONG day tomorrow. Working at the usual job in the morning, till close and I then I have to haul ass fast over to Manitoba Theatre for Young People for a lighting hang. Yay! I will get about 5 hours worth of work out of it and then go home and basically repeat the process over again. I hope I can stay awake on Friday morning.
Lets hope I can.
Well, since I seem to be getting some connectivity to the blog tonight, I thought I would put together a post.
The weather lately has been just south of ass numbingly cold. Temperatures took a sharp drop after new years and have stayed low since then. It its truly winter here now. A lot of snow has fallen in the last couple of weeks and earlier (and late late last night) I couldn?t help but hear the rumble of the snow crews as they worked to clear our streets. When I went off to work this morning, I was made glad that I don?t own a car. Since most people in the area have no choice but to park on the street, the snow crews couldn?t remove the snow around those cars and since the city has a parking ban when said crews are out, the cars on my street this morning were both blocked in by large piles of snow around them and a fresh new, vaguely Christmas like gift from the local police. Tickets. Lots of them. Several hundred were handed out last night.
Work has been, well, work. I cant really say all that much about it. I know that my probation period is coming up soon and I hope they will ask me to go full time. But I don?t think they will. There is a girl that came down from the restaurant to work in grocery about a month after I started. She has worked for the bay for about 5 years and we get along great. I like her and she likes me and we tend to goof off an equal amount (so that neither of us makes the other to look bad). On Friday last week, I came in and Craig (my direct boss if you will) was teaching her how to make a order for delivery (basically you punch the serial code of a product into a doohickey that goes to a company that sends us stock). This is part of Craig?s job. This is direct training for longer employment. No one on the stock floor other then Craig and Darlene work these little devices. I was pretty sad that day, I mean by showing Jackie how to do place orders, it means that she is the one that Craig (or maybe Rob or Ron) have chosen to be under Craig. I KNOW that this is because I have given no indication that I am to be working for the Bay for a long time. This place is not a career choice for me. They know this. I know this (logically) but it still bummed me out that I wasn?t shown how to place orders. I know I work hard. I know I do a lot of stuff right. I know I know how to work in a ton of different areas. I know produce, cash, milk, dairy, cheese, stock, and other stuff. But still she was chosen ahead of me. I have made it kind of clear that I really like working with Rob in produce and wouldn?t mind doing that. Meh. I am getting worked up over nothing.
Things on the new work front are nil. Sad.
Things on the personal front are pleasant. Shauna and I are in the very beginning of our wedding plans. We chose and date and we have told people now (oh crap dear, now we gotta do it!).
Well, my creativity has run dry for tonight. A short entry to be sure, but an entry nonetheless.
But out for the moment.
The damn layout has begun to be obsessive for me. And to make it worse, it wont work sometimes. I try to get it to do something I want and it wont do it. So. For the moment. The blog will have a generic layout and style from MT and we will leave it at that. I kind of like this look and so it will stay. For the time being, which will be for as long as possible, or until I master the look I want.
There is some trouble with the site, so if your not always getting me, sorry, keep trying, you will get it eventually. Stay tuned for the answers. Reddz and I couldnt figure it out. So, until we do, be prepared for page errors.
Well, more later.
We appear to be having random (ha!) technical difficulties that are keeping me from posting or working on the site.
Stay tuned for more stuff when things are cool again.
New, regular, content is coming I assure you my three regular visitors. The layout is coming along, I think, nicely and I am beginning to look at it being done. However, the last couple of nights I have had a little trouble connecting with my host to get some shot posts on and so it looks like nothing is happening. But rest assured, something is happening.
Keep your eyes to the page.
Well, I like the layout but the image at the top, while from one of the best movies ever made, didnt seem to be what I was looking for.
So now I am beating at the blog with a fine toothed design comb to get what I want out of it. I think I am getting there, somewhat. Maybe. Hopefully.
To the few people who are coming here to read the little that I do write, thanks, sorry for the sudden stop in what was looking to be a promising year of content. Once I get a layout that I am semi-comfortable with, I will get back to making the content worth reading again.
Well, as you can see, its really late and I am tired.
As you can see there is a new layout in place (so much for my going for a long period of just content).
I am working on a detailed links page, a detailed about page which will include some more info about the site other then whats in the "developed using" section. On this page you will find all the blog links and comic links and what not that you usually find on the right hand side here now. I am doing this to shorten the load time of this page, to make the links a little more easy to get at (so you dont have to scroll down so far and so that things are a little more organized. On the links page you will find a short description of each blog and the blogger.
In the navigation section above me here, I will put links to the links page, to the about page, and to anything else I decide to put there. I am in the process of trying to decide what I should put there.
There will be another post today for sure.
#13
I fooled you!
I said that I wasnt going to have a new layout for a while and I that I would concentrate on the content! Ha!
New look is somewhat in place. Perhaps.
I feel it could use something more.
#12
Sorry about the lack of posts.
I have started working on a new layout and it seems to be engulfing all my attention at the moment.
Damn.
But I think it will be worth it when I am done.
Going to be an early night tonight I think. Its not even 11pm yet and Im beginning to nod off.
Shauna and I had a wonderful dinner at Wasabi, stopped in at Safeway and came home as quick as we could. Its cold! Bah!
Ok, more tomorrow, I promise.
#10
Reading is something that my dad instilled in me at a very young age and it has only grown in my adult years. Currently I am reading:
The Thousand Orcs, by R.A. Salvatore.
From Fire to Flood: A History of Theatre in Manitoba.
Sanford Meisner on Acting
and
Tom Clancy's: Shadow Warriors
I tend to read, as you can see, several books all at once over a fairly long period of time. I usually read lighter books in the bath or while sitting in the bathroom (TMI?).
The theatre book is one that I got a few years ago when I was in University. When I was in University I took some acting courses and it was one of the books that was required reading. It details the teaching of Sanford Meisner, a leading teacher of the 1950s, 60s and 70s in New York. He teaches that for an actor to make a scene "real" or to make it believeable, the actor should not, as some teach, reach into his past and find a similar situation to bring about a desired emotion but rather use his greatest tool, his imagination.
R.A Salvatore, is one of the foremost fantasy authors of the last ten years (other then Robert Jorden of course) and his latest trilogy is now in its second book. The first one, which is pictured here, is now out in paperback and is, so far an excellent read.
From Fire to Flood is an amazing local history book. Winnipeg has a vibrant and strong theatre community in all areas. It is a definate must have. For me the book has personal connections as I know most of the people that are mentioned.
Tom Clancy writes non-fiction as well as he writes his fiction stuff. Shadow Warriors is an in depth history of the Special Ops. I would only recommend this books for folks who like military history. It doesnt really talk about much else.
Well thats all thats by my bed. Dont forget to read. Its good for you.
#9
Had lunch with Erik and Ricardo today. We WERE supposed to go to Wasabi for sushi, but it wasnt open at 1pm so we then tried a bistro down the street, which also wasnt open and then we went over to Stellas, which was open but very busy. Our last choice was a nice place, which I had not been to until today, A local dessert place called "Baked Expectations". The place does have other things on its menu, such as burgers and beer and pasta and breakfast stuff, so we ate and drank there for about 3 hours, just sitting and chatting.
I met Erik about 4 years ago when he brought a show to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and to my venue (4 - The Planetarium). He seemed a little worried about his show and how well he was going to do, so, being a nice guy, I assured him his show would do well and that it was no big deal. He did an awsome show and all the people who came to see it, were very happy with what they saw.
Erik is a story teller of tremendous talent. He primarily tells african folk tales and fairly tales, which he does with amazing talent, but this year he told a great story about the erotic memoirs of St. Gilles. The show was tremendous as always.
Over the past couple of summers, Erik and I have become fast friends and I always look forward to him coming to the Fringe. Thusly I was immensely happy and completely surprised when a couple of days ago, he phones me out of the blue and says he is in town! OMG! I couldnt beleive it. So we made tentitive plans to get together and today we did that!
Tuesday we are doing dinner at Nikos restraunt near here and then coffee here at the apartment. I am looking forward to it.
#8
Its now going on 11:41pm and I am yawning and thinking about bed. There used to be a time when I would just be heading out the door for the evening or just beginning to wake up for the day. I guess having to get up at 6am 6 days out of the week will do this to you.
Work today was agonizingly slow and boring. The store was open early today (8am) and there was no one in it. The weather was so poor most people stayed home. That isnt to say there were some people there. For us in the grocery department, there are a few "regulars" coughfreakscough, who come every day, no matter what the weather is like. They either need the food or items they purchase or need the human interaction they get when they come to the store. Some of these folks I dont mind and some I do. Some are fairly mean, beligerant or downright insensitive. Some dont care who they are mean to and some go looking to be mean to certain folks specifically. These people we try to avoid as much as possible.
Today, by 9:30am, after only being at work for an hour, I had all the milk stocked up and the frozen oj done as well, the two most important things on my list this morning. By 10:30 I had done most of the frozen stuff that needing doing and I was on my way to boredom. Needless to say,the afternoon didnt get any easier and the day didnt want to end.
Thankfully it did.
As I fall asleep here at the key board, I can only think that 10% day is coming up and that day brings out ALL the people we love to see at the store.
#7
It is cold in the apartment this morning! The only rad we had off over night was the one in the bedroom and still the apartment is an icebox this morning. Thats the one annoying thing with steam heat, is that I have no control over the heat in here. The rad is either on or off. When its off, THEN we get consistent heat, which is none. But when we have it on, we are at the mercy of the building, which has more holes in it then swiss cheese.
Looking outside and seeing that it is no longer snowing is comforting, but knowing that with the windchill out there, its about -45 celcius, makes it way more tempting to call in sick. I would like very much to stay in bed, let the rad's warm up the apartment and sleep the morning away.
The cats, specifically my cat, spoo were insane last night. Spoo has be meowing a LOT lately at nothing. I fully believe its time to go get him fixed, wether we can afford it or not. Any more sleepless nights and I may just strangle the little bugger.
This mornings breakfast consists of a very healthy combo of this and that. Time to get ready for work.
#6
..aren't that bad. One of the girls downstairs just came up and gave us her phone number and said that they were sorry about the amount of noise they were making.
I can only suspect that the people in apartment #17 (two apartments down) phoned out caretaker and complained again and that the caretaker talked to the two girls below us.
I kind of wish that we didnt have to meet the people living around us this way, but what's done is done and if they arent too noise from now on, I wont make any complaints.
And kudos should go to them for coming up and giving us their phone number.
#5
Well, the first real blizzard of the 2003/2004 winter is now upon us with full force. Since about noonish today, the snow has been falling and the wind has been blowing and the people have been going nuts.
It never fails to amaze me that over the course of a spring, summer and fall (very short time period) people in this city can forget how to handle winter. The snow is falling heavily and the wind is moving it around sure, but these are things that are not new to us in any shape or form.
The people who live below Shauna and I are playing music REALLY loud. So loud that I can almost make out what the person is saying in the song and so that I can feel the music through the floor. Im not sure if they are doing it to get back at us for us or the cats making so much noise (shortly before lollapalooza started down there, Tatum, was jumping around fairly engergetically) or the person listening to the music is just insensitive. I hope its that I have just made a little too much noise and now the people downstairs feel they can make noise too. As its only 9pm and still kind of early, I dont think I will go down and say something.
#4
Found this while looking for Theatre links to go here. This has got to be one of the best quotes I have ever read.
"Listen to the stage manager and get on stage when they tell you to. No one has time for the rock star bullshit. None of the techs backstage care if you're David Bowie or the milkman. When you act like a jerk, they are completely unimpressed with the infantile display that you might think comes with your dubious status. They were there hours before you building the stage, and they will be there hours after you leave tearing it down. They should get your salary, and you should get theirs." -- Lollapalooza Alumni Henry Rollins
Here are some links:
PlayBill
London Theatre Guide
Theatre Canada
Thats it for this mornings little bits. Time to get ready for work.
#3
Well, morning has dawned on the first day of 2004. Everything seems to be hushed and quiet now. The cats are sleeping on the floor behind me and on the chair in the hall. The people below us, who usually sound like elephants in tanks, are blissfully dead and the screaming kid I heard outside an hour or so ago has, perhaps, fallen down and hit his head or gone inside to annoy his parents.
While walking home last night after walking Shauna half way to work, I was thinking about what I want to do with myself in the new year. I know that I am no good at keeping resolutions and that I have no willpower whatsoever, so I resolved only one thing and hoped for the rest.
I resolve only to get a new job doing something that makes me happy for a reasonably larger amount of money per hour then I am earning now. Thats it. I want a good job at good wages doing something that wont make me insane.
I hope to be able to do some of the following; I would like to learn some new computer skills and refresh the old ones. I would like to loose some weight. I would like to read more and do more. I would like to watch more movies. I would like to spend more time with Shauna. I would like to spend more time talking to my friends. I would like to be happier. I would like to visit Vancouver, Victoria and California again. I would like to find a nice new, large, apartment for us to live in. I would like to pay off my debts.
Whew. Thats a long list of things that I could make resolutions for, but I know if I do, I wont keep them and I will feel bad about it. So, only one resolution this year. Only one thing HAS to be done, anything else after that is just icing on the cake.
#2
Well, here is the first post.
Welcome to 2004.
I spent most of today, since getting home from work, messing around with a layout that looked cool. As you can see, it is now almost 2am and I am using a default layout. What does this mean? Well, not much really. Other then I came to realize that while messing around with CSS looks cool, it really isnt going to bring people to my site. Good, consistent content will do that.
So for as long as I can, content will rule here. I will do my best to make sure that there is a minimum of a post a day or more if I can help it. If I can not make a post, then more will come when I can post. At the end of each entry, I will put a number stating the number of this post.
Later today, there will be a "New Years" post and a theatre post.
#1