mom and Filmpool

 Coffee and cards with mom this morning. In the afternoon I stopped at the Filmpool and got a bit of a tour from Joel. Things ar very much still in progress, but looking and feeling positive. 

Meeting of the minds

 Met at library this evening to work through another few stories for William's Bird People radio drama. Coffee with Geremy afterwards. Even after a discussion about how terrible the donuts at Tim's have become (I still remember the old days when they had a baker in every store, but those days are long gone), Geremy still had one and William still envided it. 

Coffee and Collage

Had coffee with mom this morning. Then I was back to sorting films in the basement. It is really cold down there, so I take breaks to go outside where it is very hot this week. I'm done some modifications on my new Bird People radio script "Buried Alive", but it is still unread by the others. This evening we went to a big collage collective work event where I had almost no space to work, no scissors, and no glue. I assembled a few pieces that I just photographed and disassembled again.. I glued only one piece permanently. Talked with Mike Jozsa and Mooky. 


 

Erika's MFA defence

 I'm very happy to have worked with Erika  Ospina Almanza for the past three years. She defended her MFA today. Mike Rollo and I were there in person with her. Matt and the external examiner, Professor Éléonore Goldberg of Emily Carr University of Art + Design were online. Ken Wilson chaired and took this picture. 

Vic 20

 William got the Vic 20 working. 

Barbara's birthday

Birthday party for Barbara Tomporowski at Greko's this evening. Meals are large and tasty (and very salty). Sat with Lynol and had our biggest conversation at the very end with a friend of theirs who was sitting at the other end who is veyr into old games and comics. Didn't catch his name. 

 

Lego in Moose Jaw

 Drove from Saskatoon to Moose Jaw and attended Brickspo. It felt a bit smaller this year. There were a few big train set ups like this alien planet one. Great black light use. 

Adventures in Saskatoon

 Some of our activities today. Went to Glitch again. Since we were here last, they installed a few pieces of Gerri Ann Siwek's works previously from the Funomina Museum of the Weird and Strange. Good conversation with the owner. Mike and Victoria joined us for supper at a good reliable noodle place downtown. Then we all went to "Much Ado About Nothing" done in pirate themes. For the most part, the pirate theme wasn't reflected in the plots or subplots, but it did give them opportunity to insert a sword fight (arbitrarily but nicely done) and a couple of dances which were spirited and fun. William got Victoria to record some voice work for Bird People. 

Julius Caesar

Attended Julius Caesar this evening at the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan. Hot out but the fans inside are strong and effective. Play was good. Done straight but in contemporary garb (suites mostly). Mike suggested a Persian restaurant that we all went to before the play (was generally good but too much rosemary for my taste). 
 

Saskatoon bookstore and zine

 We drove to Saskatoon today. William did half the driving (in his car) as he hasn't done that much highway driving. Our first stop was to Westgate Books who recently printed their first old school zine which includes a page that William drew. Stop in there and pick up a copy (only five bucks) if you are in Saskatoon. They gave William a credit voucher for the store and we spent a while poking around and finding a couple things to read. 

Basement full of film

 

I've cleared most things out of the garage (but for my history of year end report binders and some larger artworks) but next will be to sort and make sense of all the 16mm films I've put into the basement. 

Mushrooms

 I drilled and filled my apple tree stump and log (which contained a huge hollow area of rot inside their core) with shiitake mushrooms from a kit I purchased online. 

Routine

 I've begun establishing a bit of a routine. Somewhere in there, I need to schedule the "taking of a picture" so that I can blog properly (sorry, this is the only shot I took today - I made some beef hamburgers and barbequed supper - but so far every day I work on writing for a while (currently doing modifications on the bird people Thanksgiving radio play, in particular I am creating songs that will be sampled in the middle of the episode) and I also do some sorting of my stuff (currently still moving things from the garage, but that is running thin). I want to fit reading into the mix soon. I want to see people, but I'm not sure if committing to daily socialization will be good for me. It takes me very far off course and I don't always feel good about other stuff if I can't get that focus. Will figure things as I go along.

Hang ups

 Sorting things in the garage sometimes means throwing things away, sometimes means putting things into boxes or into places in the house or onto shelves. But sometimes it also means building new places to put things. I constructed the shelf (lower right) to put the panorama stage. The puppet theatre box is simply on a hook (it doubles as a frame). The chairs have been installed there since the end of William's BFA show. 

"electric" chair

I purchased this chair back in 2004 (see my 2007 blog post discussing it) and moved it home earlier this month. Today I put protective oil on the otherwise untreated wood, and spayed a coating onto the metal and plastic parts. It will be outside until it degrades (unless it has an interested buyer). I now notice the signature and title on the back, but still cannot identify the creator ("Mayday" by Shawn M.). 

Saskatoon berry picking

 Went to a you pick place that Geremy recommended near Moose Jaw today. Berries are a bit smaller but very flavourful. Very hot out. Got three buckets on our own and Margaret purchased another bucket of frozen berries. 

Bird People songs

 I would like to simulate a handful of 100+ year old songs to be referenced within the bird people radio play I'm updating. I found a few things and William is working at constructing midi files from them, but doesn't seem to have them right yet. 

On campus

 On campus for a couple of hours. Had coffee with Lee and dropped off a computer. Met with Erika and Mike to practice her defence. Parked off campus and walked in. Weather is hot but felt good. 

Matt visits

 Matt came by and picked up the super 8 films and also bought a couple rolls of super 8 colour film from me. We talked at length about the screening and I told him hos exhilarated I felt by keeping on top of all the problems (which admittedly, some I caused myself). 

Geremy was also over. We did a read through of my first solo radio show. They picked it apart, but I think due to my current state of rest, I didn't feel myself getting upset. Instead, at least by an hour after the reading, I'm fairly game to do the work and make it better. 

Fish toys?

 I think the catfish moves stuff around in the fish tank when we aren't watching. Today I placed three marbles in there to see if he'll move them. 

Ron Mein was over at the house. William and Ron talked about their idea for about 3 hours. 

Lazy day

Hot weather. Played cards with mom. Cat sleeps and eats and meows, but mostly eats. I did a bit more work putting my stuff from the office away. The garage is less cluttered but (after 12 days) still pretty far from clean. The goal is to just get a bit of progress every day. That way I never feel guilty about it, nor do I feel exhausted by it. I'm also doing at least a small amount of bird people radio show work every day. 
 

Wild Boar

Had Paul over for supper. I barbecued the wild boar burgers that I bought from Butcher Boy when I was out trying to find a new source for elk burgers (I didn't find any). Boar was pretty good. Certainly tasted like pork, but was juicy and flavourful. We played half a game of Root. 
 

Ron Mein

 Ron Mein is in town for a few days. Remember him from his series of "Jerry's Journals" films. William is pitching him on a collaboration. Back at home, I cleaned the projector that I ran Bella's film through last night. The gate was pretty much entirely blocked by junk that was attached to the film. 

One Take Super 8 Event

 Matt needed to be out of town today so I stepped in as the projectionist for this year's One Take Super 8 Event. Many things went wrong, but most went unnoticed by the audience. I was more or less on fire in the projection booth, fixing and adjusting things. It was rather fun, but I didn't really get to see the films very well. Gabby did intros and ran the sound. After party was nice. 

Erik, lunch, and comics

 Had lunch at Ngoc Van with Erik and recorded a radio show. Getting really hot this week and we spend part of the evening in the gazebo. It ends but that somehow the pre-lunch part of the recording got completely lost, so I had to edit only from the second half (William needed to record a new intro). It's a shame because the restaurant was much quieter in the earlier recording. 

Games with Geremy and Erik

 Erik is in town for a few days between jobs in Alberta. Geremy had us over for a couple of rounds of of the haunted house game. 

Coffee with mom

 Yesterday was really busy so I put off coffee with mom until today. I don't know how my retirement days, with almost nothing in my calendar, can be fuller than they used to be. I am more relaxed though. 

One Take credits

Matt and I shot the credits for the One Take Super 8 Event this afternoon, following my meeting with William and his team about the Bird People radio dramas (meeting of the minds).  George and Joel dropped off ground beef.