Super Duper Long Post
Ok. So its only been a few months since I last wrote here. Sorry about that. It hasn't really been anything specific that kept me from writing here, just hadn't been doing it.
Since the last post at the beginning of June a little bit has happened, nothing earth shattering but here it is.
June saw a lot of prep on Shauna's part for her trip to Australia with her dad. Because of how the last plans fell through I was holding my breath for most of the time. She said that she would believe she was going once she saw the plane tickets, but I think she was already gone mentally the moment she knew she might be going. She planned and packed and planned some more and unpacked and repacked and planned again over the days leading up to her leaving in July. She left on July 20th for her first stop in Hong Kong and it sounds like she was in awe of everything that happened from the moment she got on the plane in Winnipeg (who wouldnt be).
From Hong Kong she went to Malaysia (langkawi to be exact) and stayed there with her uncle for a few days and on to Australia. She called while in Australia and for the first time I think the stress of traveling and her dad had gotten to her. She called about midnight our time and was almost crying the moment I picked up the phone. She broke down and sobbed for a few moments and told me about a fight she was having with her father. She was very upset and talked about coming home. I talked her into staying for a little while longer and seeing if things got better once she got to her grandmothers place in Melbourne (she was calling from Sydney). We talked for a little longer after that and she seemed sad but not broken and then we said good bye.She phoned back two nights later and said that things were much better and that she was now staying at her uncles place. As of writing this she is staying with family and enjoying her time in Australia immensely. I think she begins her homeward treck on the 15th or 16th and gets home on the 20th in the evening. I cannot express how much I miss her.
The big thing in July (for me) was of course the Winnipeg Internation Fringe Festival. This year was the festival's 20th year and my 9th with the fest. A fair number of the people were back from last year (both techs and actors) and there were new faces as well. This year I had a new partner (only my 5th partner in 9 years), a female tech/actor/dancer/personality, named Ntara. It was her first fringe (as a tech) and was super eager to see and do as much as possible. We had to split the shows in the venue by time (her in the mornings and me in the evenings) and because of that, I had more interaction with all of the groups in my venue then ever before.
Note: For those who dont know, The Winnipeg Fringe Festival has two technicians per venue (there are currently 11) and it has been the norm for the two techs to split the shows in the venue in half. One will do 5 and the other will do 5. What this can do is cause one person to be there more often then the other.
This year, for the first time ever, I think I can say with all honesty that I enjoyed working with everyone on the venue. There wasnt a single show that I dreaded doing and there were several shows that I looked forward to doing. I made the usual number of friends and fringe friends (people who you like but only see once a year) and I look forward to staying in touch with most of them if not all of them.
After the Fringe this year I had only a couple days off before coming back to the help desk and getting back into the grind. I can honestly say that every year that I do this, the mental change over I need to do when I switch back to my regular job gets harder and this year wasnt any different. While Shauna is away I am trying to clean the apartment and get rid of some of the junk sitting around. So far, it isnt going so good. In fact the apartment appears to be actually less clean then when Shauna was home. I had said to her that while she was away I would spend most of my time at the gym trying to get into shape, yea, that hasnt happened either. In fact, it appears that shes the only reason I do anything. Who knew?
I will try and write more but I can promise anything.