Not a very rowdy holiday at my house...one child sick, and the other two sleeping over at friends' following some exhaustive trick-or-treating.  Stayed and kept my daughter company as she battled a cold; watched 'The Sixth Sense' (only fun because she hadn't seen it and I was waiting for that "OMG" moment! Hee hee), as well as "Sleepy Hollow" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (remember when that was supposed to be very daring and risque?).  Lazed around for most of the rest of the weekend, fighting back a cold of my own and pondering what the heck to do with the final chapter and epilogue of my story.  It WILL come to me, sooner than later if there is any luck.  Gotta get it off of my plate and started on the Christmas story I agreed to write.

Life as a old, married lady, I guess...c'est la vie!

BBL

Stay single...travel the world...pursue your dreams, no matter how unattainable they seem.  Find a job you love more than life itself and do the best you can to make yourself happy.  If you are happy, those around you will be happier, too.

From the Sydney Morning Herald

IN HIS early theatre days, in the ’70s, when Australian actors were ‘‘kowtowing to the borrowed traditions from England’’, Geoffrey Rush recalls a British director complaining that he’d never seen ‘‘white-hot acting on an Australian stage’’.

Rush says the director was ‘‘probably right … but it made me think that, somewhere down the track, I’d want to be part of an industry that was capable of that happening’’.

Complete article here:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/rush-gets-afi-awards-top-honour/2009/08/01/1249152544854.html

Jean-Claude or Asher (or both!) from the "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" novels (Laurel K. Hamilton).

Miss Marple!

This one came quite a bit more quickly than the last, and I hope that those of you reading are enjoying it.  The story has almost run its course and this will likely be my first and last POTC fic (unless divine inspiration strikes, that is!).  Please give it a read if Barbossabeth is your thing...as I said on AFF.net, it truly has been a labour of love.


Title:  Adrift
Summary:  Hector Barbossa's love for Elizabeth Swann has endured for centuries...but what of hers?  WARNING:  Very angsty chapter, much sadness...
Rating: NC-17

http://movies.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600092482&chapter=28

I thought that this excerpt from The Australian described the appeal of "Exit the King" and its star very well:

Malthouse Theatre executive producer Stephen Armstrong yesterday applauded Rush's win.

Recalling Exit the King's first rehearsals in early 2007, Armstrong said: "We all knew we were on to something special. It was a text that was just waiting to be done."

Describing Rush's performance, Armstrong said: "He has a profoundly personal reading of his character. He has an enormous awareness of every centimetre of the stage he performs on. He also has a beautiful, one might say dangerous, rapport with his audience."

Rush said he "definitely wants to come back in the next couple of years" to Broadway.

Yes, a beautiful and dangerous rapport with his audience...EXACTLY! 

Well, sadly enough, I didn't win the lottery and so was forced to return home after a glorious week in NYC.  I thoroughly enjoyed playing at being a New Yorker for a while - God knows I'd go broke quickly buying countless Broadway tix if I actually lived there. :)  I managed to see "Exit the King", "Accent on Youth", "Blithe Spirit", "Mary Stuart", "39 Steps" and "South Pacific."  The two strongest productions were the one at the very beginning and the one at the very end, with only "Accent on Youth" being a disappointment.  I thought, though, that despite some very mixed reviews I would give it a chance....but even David Hyde Pierce could not save it.  I so enjoyed him year before last in "Curtains," but this did not suit him quite so well.

Of course, it rained on me almost the entire week, but hey - at least I didn't have to worry about sunstroke, right??? :D  Did some of the touristy things with my friend for the first two days and then just blitzed on theatre for rest of the time.  I've promised my daughter I will take her with me when next I go down, but I'm not sure she'll be interested or not (she'd love to go back this fall to see Hugh Jackman, her current crush, but the budget was blown on my trip and I'm sorry, but Geoffrey Rush trumped Hugh.

Off to a job interview today...wish me luck!

Okay, maybe not love...but I DID have Geoffrey Rush all to my onesy this afternoon in the elevator at Sardi's. :)  Attended a Drama Desk event where he was one of the panelists (and the only one with anything truly witty or insightful to say, I may add) and managed to corner him in the elevator long enough to get him to sign my Tony playbill and my 10-year old son's 'Pirates' book.

Yay me! God, but he's a very decent guy...and likely napping now, as he told me that was what he had planned after the event. 

I LOVE New York, baby. 

Have a fantastic day, Heather! 

We received word today that my youngest son's teacher, an amazing man, had passed away.  Mr. Snow was only in his fifties and one of those amazing teachers that kids remember forever.  He actually had been a principal at one time, but he gave it up because he couldn't stand being out of the classroom.

My older son had him as a grade 5 teacher as well, and every day I picked him up, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Do you know what Mr. Snow did/said/told/showed/etc us today???!!!"  He could excite his students about the most trivial of topics and in turn, inspired them to love learning.  More than just that, though, he was truly their friend...he found such joy in their ten year olds' humour, greeted them every day with a smile and was there to prop them up when they fell.  His care and spirit touched the parents of his students, too, and he was universally respected and liked.  It sounds tacky and cliche, but he was a real ray of sunshine and everyone basked in his warmth.

I am sadder than I can say that he is now gone, following a very long and terrible struggle with his health, but I am so glad that my sons had the opportunity to have this amazing person as part of their life.  They will be better human beings for having known him. 

He called the kids his "Snow Babies," at least until they left elementary school.  Then he called them his "Snow Tweens."  As sick as he was in January, he had his wife take a picture of him in the hospital holding a little sign that said, "Hey Snow Babies!  I'm feeling a little bit better but I'm bored!"  He planned a visit when he was released, but his condition continued to deteriorate to the point where it simply wasn't possible any more.  The kids sent him cards, letters and thoughts of love during his illness, and I am happy that all along, he knew how much he meant to all those little ones.

There are many wonderful teachers, but there are very few exceptional people like Mr. Snow whose presence touched everyone lucky enough to have met him.  Today at school, the kids lit candles in the shape of a snowman and sat in a circle, sharing their favourite funny, goofy stories about him.  How proud he would have been of them all...how happy to be remembered with laughter and not tears by his Snow Babies. 

Did you ever have a teacher who meant so much to you? 

Hi all,

Chapter 21 of Adrift is up at AFF.net, if anyone is interested. :)  Go to http://movies.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600092482&chapter=21 .

Hope those who are reading are enjoying...please let me know!  I'm trapped here, snowbound in the Great White North (a stereotype, but unfortunately true today).  Going to explore some other fic myself and see if I can't transport myself to the Caribbean for a while.

L.

Gads, I'm SO glad that it is Friday tomorrow.  After sitting in a college theatre and talking about cattle feed all day, I have a feeling I'm going to need the break.  Oh yes, people...I know how jealous you must be, this glamorous life I lead!  If only you could get to talk about swath grazing and forages for hours on end.  Slay me now.  Is it any wonder that I feel the need to submerge myself in my fanfic?  Until I win the lottery, though, this seems to be my destiny...working in jobs that, while they are certainly worthwhile to a lot of people, make me crave some kind of creative and interesting outlet.

Guess I shouldn't complain, right?  At least I have a job and the luxury of spare time upon which to indulge my need to write.  Of course, hubby would prefer that I spend a bit of that time cleaning and washing, but I'm afraid I'm one of those VERY rare women who don't find inspiration in a bottle of Mr. Clean.  Quel suprise!

Okay, I'm going to go see if I can get this chapter wrapped up before bedtime.  I'm doing terrible things to Elizabeth Swann and I'd hate to leave her hanging...:D

I have officially had enough of winter.  Of course, living in Canada means a few more months of same, but it's been quite a bit warmer this week and so I'm going to pretend that we'll have an early spring.

Making things all the sunnier this year is that I'm going back to New York City again, a place I dearly love.  Got my accommodations set (B&B Lodges), got a ticket for a play (Exit the King starring...ta da...Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon), and am still looking for a travel companion.  Hubby doesn't like NYC so although I'm still working on him, it doesn't seem likely he'll come.  Oh well, even if I end up on my own, it will be a nice break from the every day.  And I can spend endless hours down on Broadway, so life will be good. :)

Still haven't heard about our funding situation at work (ah, the never-certain world of a not-for-profit).  Best case scenario gives my until next March, but things are definitely tight and I'm not sure if the organization will be able to keep working.  I hate looking for a job...I'm getting very picky in my old age, y'know, and don't want to work just anywhere.  But cash is king, and so we shall see what t comes up that I can live with, eh?

Laura

...in getting another chapter posted to my story over on AFF.net (http://movies.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600092482).  If you read my last entry, you know there's been an illness in my family and unfortunately, my grandmother passed away yesterday.  I'll be heading out of town again for the funeral, but I will try to get it to my beta goddess at the very least before that time. 

Heard today that I may not have until the weekend to make it out to see my grandmother; according to my aunt, the cancer is getting closer to taking her from us now.

I tried to talk to her on the phone today, but wasn't able to get much out of her.  Might be the morphine, might just have been the cell phone. Yet only a few months ago she was living in her own place, enjoying a visit from me & the kids.  We played Scrabble, talked about what was to come if she couldn't live on her own anymore...and although we knew that the cancer was taking a round out of her, she seemed not too bad.  In a matter of weeks it has robbed her of her independence and dignity, stuck in the palliative care wing at a small rural hospital and watching her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren (even one great-great) file past her bed in an unmistakable farewell ritual.

She wants me to give her eulogy, to stand in front of my family and somehow summarize in a few tear-choked words what she meant to all of us.  It seems an impossible task and I've not yet written anything, afraid that by doing so I might somehow hasten the end.

I spent countless summers at the farm, playing with the animals and spending sunny days running around outside.  She had a garden that had to be nearly 5 acres, 'though that gradually got smaller as time went by.  Up until 1980, just after her youngest son was killed by a drunk driver, she lived in the old family home....no running water, no bathroom except the outhouse, no fancy modern immenities.  Yet to my memory, those years before they built a big modern building were the best of my life.  What better adventure for a kid from the city than to live a bit of the "Little House on the Prairie" life?

I remember arriving as a kid, saying a fleeting hello to my grandparents and then running off to check out the cats, the cows, the pigs, the chickens (and I'm sure I looked into their nests for eggs about 32 times a day...I surprised they had time to lay any!) and anything else I could find.  In the winter, no matter the hour or how dark it was, we would come into the little summer kitchen and the wood stove would be warming the place while we had homemade baking and washed ourselves with water from the reservoir in the stove. 

She gave birth to 14 kids and raised 12 to adulthood.  There are well over 30 cousins that came from that and many more great grandchildren that grew to know and love her.  I guess we should be grateful for that, 'though it breaks our children's hearts to lose their "Baba".  From simple farmers on the Canadian prairie, there are now teachers, engineers, writers, accountants, lawyers...you name it.  A legacy of love and caring, and yet I feel like we always took it for granted that she would always be there to anchour our family.

I'm going to go see her...miss work, probably tick off my boss in the process...but I want one last chance to let her know how loved she was, how much of what she sacrificed meant to all of us.  That we are proud of our heritage, of the struggles and victories that she and my grandfather experienced.  And yet...the chain will be broken, and the siblings and cousins will drift away from one another, each of us with our own parents taking on that role in our families.  I think we'll be sadder for it, but it seems inevitable.  Baba, I am going to miss you more than these feeble words could ever say. 

Have I mentioned lately that I hate winter with a passion?  So cold out at our place this weekend that it's actually giving me a headache inside of the house.  Took a brief venture into town but once the running around was done, I just wanted to get home.  I often wonder if I'm not the reincarnation of a bear - when it gets like this, I just want to hide beneath my covers until spring arrives.

Waiting to hear back from my uncle in Saskatchewan - he called when we were out, but my daughter forgot to mention it until hours later.  My grandmother isn't doing all that well right now and I think a trip out that way might be in order.  True that she is over 90 years old, but I don't feel ready to see her go yet.  Selfish, maybe, but are we ever ready to see our loved ones leave us? 

Okay, I'm going to try and distract myself and do some writing on my fanfic.  Maybe a mental trip to Florida will prove enough to warm me up, huh?