Swirling

Yeah, that's pretty much the scene inside my head right now. So much still to do, so little time.

Thanks to one and all for the kind wishes.

Soon, I will be back to post obsessively but for now, must attend to business.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Not sure if this is going to work, but you should be able to listen to our radio ad here - Noises Off.

Whirling

Yep. That pretty much describes it.

I'll be back when I'm back.

One week to opening night.

Gneep!

I set you a task!

Identify the 70+ bands portrayed in this picture. It's online here.

Ready?

Set?

GO!


I found this at Blogging a Dead Horse.

WTF?

For the last 2 mornings, some moron has called at about 6:20 a.m. and said nothing more than, "Uuuuhhh...." Yesterday, I said "Hello?" a second time, thinking it was just a sleepy person who'd dialed the wrong number and was still too drowsy to process what to do when you hear an unfamiliar voice at the other end. But his second answer was still just, "Uuuuhhhh..."

When I hung up on him this morning, the little sh*t had the audacity to call back a minute later, and actually left a voice mail message that just said, "Uuuuhhhh...." Who has a life that sad that they are amused by such foolishness?

I haven't been able to trace the number yet (no, he's not clever enough to block it) due to our super-duper new privacy laws, but I did call it around 10:30 this morning and a woman answered. I just hung up, but if he calls again in the morning, I'll call her back and have a wee chat with her about who has access to her phone in the early morning hours. I figure getting the wife/girlfriend/mother/whoever pissed off at him will be even more effective than calling the police.

Do me, Dietmar

Oh surely this can't be right. Austria? Seriously? Must be all that lederhosen. Ja! Das und das Bier. Granted, lederhosen make you hot, but not that way, if you get my drift. Or draft, considering the leg length on those sexy puppies.

Check out Spain. giggle

We're third. But we try... harder!* Mwa hahahahahahaha!




Austria No. 1 Among Sexually Satisfied
By The Associated Press
Wed Apr 19, 12:43 PM ET
The top five and bottom five nations on scale of rates of sexual satisfaction reported to University of Chicago researchers:

TOP FIVE
1. Austria: 71.4 percent satisfied with their sex lives.
2. Spain: 69 percent.
3. Canada: 66.1 percent.
4. Belgium: 64.6 percent.
5. United States: 64.2 percent.

BOTTOM FIVE
25. Thailand: 35.9 percent.
26. China: 34.8 percent.
27. Indonesia: 33.9 percent.
28. Taiwan: 28.6 percent.
29. Japan: 25.7 percent.
___
Source: Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors, published in April's Archives of Sexual Behavior.


*This only makes sense to those who remember the Avis Rent-a-Car ads from the 1960s. Except I think they were second... never mind.

Mea culpa and que sera sera...

Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It has been 4 days since my last post...

We're two weeks away from opening night for "Noises Off" and I feel... frenzied... everything's under control and we'll be fine, but there's always this point just before it's ready when it feels as if it never will be. So near and yet so far.

The choir is preparing for a concert on May 28. I know most of the concert repertoire but there are 3 pieces I've got to learn from scratch.

And at work, I've two reports to prepare for the semi-annual national meeting, plus layout for the annual report for our provincial annual general meeting and, just to make things more interesting, my work computer has decided that it will not let me open, save, save as or insert files using my word processing software, or indeed any M**roS*ft program. You know. The ones that I use to prepare reports and such. As in do my job... so yep. I'm feeling just a little... frenzied right now.

And gasoline is $1.16/litre. Oh dear lord above.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat as needed...

Spring Cleaning Meme O' Random

What to do on this lovely, sunny... at least here... Good Friday? Why surf, of course! Here's a meme I found over at Momentary Lapses of Insanity, home of that lovely purveyor of pointy sticks and all things Viking, Misty.

What you do is go to Wikipedia, and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three interesting facts, two births and one death in your blog, including the year. And on we go...


Facts

• 1823 - The poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (AKA The Night Before Christmas) is published in the Sentinel.
• 1888 - Vincent Van Gogh cuts off the lower part of his left ear, takes it to a brothel, and gives it to a prostitute named Rachel.
• 1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

Births

• 1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr., American founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1844)
• 1956 - Dave Murray, English musician (Iron Maiden)

Death

• 1771 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)

There! Now off you go to do your research. What happened on your birthday?

What I really have to do is go tidy the yard. The snow has finally melted and left behind its usual spring offering of flotsam and jetsam - one glove, lots of sand (spread on the roads to combat the ice, then shoved up onto your property by the snow plow), litter and the ubiquitous dog poo.

What the... ?

My blog is worth $11,855.34.
How much is your blog worth?

It is? To whom, I'd like to know. 'Cause I could really use the cash...

It was a snap!

I spent most of today at a portrait photography course. Not a terribly in-depth one, obviously. How much can be taught in an 8-hour period? But we learned the basics. The instructor was a very
personable local photographer who knows his technical stuff as well as how to work with people, which is essential if you are going to be a portrait photographer.





He had co-ordinated the class with some high school grad photos, so that we got free models and they got free grad snaps. A good deal for all. We students got to use some of his kick-ass studio quality equipment and I think the kids who modelled had a good time.








Most of my shots were crap, as I had the lowest-end camera models there (an HP PhotoSmart R607 and a C618 - fine for snapshots but not for studio work). I had to shoot without flash so as not to interfere with the cameras that were actually sophisticated enough to make use of the studio flash, so a lot of my shots were blurry, even with the ISO set to 400 and diddling around with shutter speeds. But it was still fun and I learned a fair bit. I did manage to get this shot, which accidentally looks like it has been photoshopped within an inch of its life, but this is how is came out of the camera.

The main thing I learned? I need a better camera.

Wood St.

Would.

It was so cold here this winter...

... how cold was it?

Uranus's newly discovered ring is blue, scientists find

Now that, my friends, is cold. You have my sympathy.

One for the Canucks

Remember this?

Update for the non-Canucks — This is a National Film Board animated short that used to run on CBC television during the late 1980's, featuring a Canadian folk song, Wade Hemsworth's Log Driver's Waltz sung by Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

It is, indeed, a classic. What? We can't all be James Blunt, you know.

Smooches!

Big smooches to all of you for being so supportive.

Under the big top

The circus continues...

First of all, know this. I am a dating moron. Can't figure out men at all. This will become glaringly obvious when I ask your opinion of the following excerpt from an email from a (separated) man I met online with whom I've been corresponding for the past 10 months and only met last Sunday evening.

"Scary wrathful one, you seem quite nice and you know that you are attractive, but there is this small problem of the XXX kms between us and the fact that I am seeing somebody here on a fairly regular basis...

Having said that, I too would like to see you again and will be in contact in advance of my next visit to see if we can hook up for a coffee or something...no harm in that is there?"

That "somebody" is news to me. So, my lovely readers, what do you think? Is this just SOP for that 7th level of hell otherwise known as dating, or should I kick this guy to the curb?

And why can't I decide myself? If this were someone else's problem, I'd be all Dear Abby on their heiney.

The hills are alive

The success of last night's performance of Mozart's Requiem (almost full house, we wowed 'em!) and today's beautiful, spring-like weather (it's only .2 C but the sun is SHINING! and the snowbanks are MELTING!) has prompted me to celebrate by granting a request some of my faithful readers made of me a couple of months ago.

If you recall, back on February 13, I posted a pic of the t-shirt I'd won from Alan at Random Burblings, which featured a chorus line of lovely yaks. This resulted in several requests for a pictures of my own yaks... norks... weapons of mass distraction — a mountain view, if you will.

And thus, I present to you, my lovely readers, the Himilayas of Dawn.

Update It has come to my frighteningly divided attention that some of my lovely readers think the pic above is the Himilayas. Strictly speaking, it is, but under cover of yaks. You have to clicky on the nice linky-poo for the yak-free shot.