oasis of silence

angels finally removed the LOUD fans and dehumidifier today. after 5 days of constant LOUD white noise, coming home to silence was liberating.

during this time we:
> stayed away from home as much as possible.
> hid out in our bedroom where it was nice and cool and not 40 degrees
> ate out

i celebrated by playing some ladyhawk REALLY LOUD.
then i watered my plants.

angels also ripped out 3 feet of our new laminate flooring. the lovely lino (which never damages) is now revealed in all its hideous glory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

we turned off the fans last night to watch Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emma Thompson.

cinematography = lovely, a dream
writing = fantastic
acting = will ferrell was believable as an IRS auditor
music = max richter song. need i say more?

plus, rob cried at the end.
however, he's also in love with maggie gyllenhaal.

waterworld

angels have come to rescue us 4 neighbours from a building sprinkler accident in which:

furniture company delivers large couch to neighbour.
couch is being carried thru the common hallway.
couch is being carried too high and smashes into the sprinkler.
sprinkler in that hallway goes off.
building fire alarm goes off.

water p o u r s out of the sprinkler....
.
.
.
.
down the walls and floods into the 4 suites

rob was home at the time, opens the door and sees the water tidal wave.
he slams the door closed and gathers all the towels we own and jams them infront of our door.

towels only temporarily stop the flow of water that seeps into our laminate flooring.

but then Angel Restoration arrives with blowers that have tags attached that read "this unit has been cleaned and sanitized for your protection." it smells like rosemary and thyme to me. they use this cool video device that display dark areas where there is moisture: a video moisture reader.

Angels tell us we must have both blowers on non-stop for 2 days. i've already found and installed my ear plugs.

gardening money pit

i've been spending far too much time in my little patio garden these past 2 weeks. and everyday, after work, i make about 7 trips with my water pail from my kitchen sink to the patio to water all my little plants.

plus, i've been spending some of our food budget (sorry, rob) on seed packets and little seedlings. in past years, i've full on gone mental with spending hundreds of dollars on container plants. but this year, i had to be fiscally responsible due to us "blowing it" on the documentary.

so here are the seeds (which i've never had success with. never.) i planted:
> carrots
> new zealand spinach
> cilantro
> parsley
> eggplant
> zucchini
> sugar snap peas
> chard
> sweet peas (my only non-edible plant)

i've purchased 2 tomato plants: a yellow pear one and a purple one. i plan on buying one more tomato plant at the east van farmers' market.

the little green zucchini and sweet pea sprouts are already poking their heads out of the soil. yes, i'm using toilet paper rolls to hold the seeds. a great idea i found on the interweb.

aren't they cute? you wouldn't believe how much some of those seed packets cost; especially if they're organic.

update on documentary

rob and i had a meeting. while lying on our backs in our bed.
we decided to start over on the teaser trailer. brand spanking new. the objective of this new trailer will be to show all the awesome bits captured during our filming and, thus, generate some buzz/excitement for the doc.

we felt that the 8 minute teaser, which we thought would be the first 8 minutes, was holding us back from showing all the other great clips we have.

the new version will be super fun to edit together. like kids in a candy store, we'll pick and choose all the best parts. the cool parts.

yes, their record label will love this version. they will want to throw vast sums of currency at us to finish the job. yes.

to give you a taste, above is a still from our footage.

happy mother's day

my mom doesn't read this blog but in appreciation of her incubating me for 9 months, here are some 'choice' pictures of her from 2007.

and, even though i turned the big four oh this past week, she still gave me money and called me to say i'm still her baby.

another day just like any other if you turn 40 everyday

the big day is upon me and i was rather depressed. although i shouldn't be because of all the things i'm appreciative of in my life; let me count the ways.

> my boyfriend is awesome in so many ways
> we own property
> my health is excellent
> i'm challenged at work
> my mom lives far away
> my dad lives close by
> my nephew can say my name (well, it's the word for auntie in cantonese)
> i have good friends
> my hair finally looks sexy
> i don't own a car but my mom let's me drive hers while she is away.
> filmmaking gives me the opportunity to be creative

plus, the fact that i live in the wealthiest part of the world and have running water and flushing toilets and heat and can access an over-abundance of food.... these sobering thoughts still didn't dissipate the heaviness in my chest UNTIL. well, a couple of things happened:

1) rob made me a gourmet lunch and brought it to my work.
2) rob sent me a bouquet of orchids at work. they were so beautiful and so unexpected.
3) i went to the gym after work. well, actually, what happened is that about 100 birds decided to shit on my mom's car while i was in calgary. so, i decided to go to a car wash at 2nd ave and main right after work. the car wash is pretty close to the gym i pay a monthly fee at and so i went in. i hadn't gone to this gym in about 6 months.

ok, all you judgmental types, the monthly fee is only $13 so go easy on me.

anyways, i'm doing my regular cardio circuit where you run for 30 seconds then use a weight machine for 30 seconds, and on and on. it all felt so great. i was so happy.

4) i decided to treat myself to all the magazines that looked good at my favourite magazine store: what your mother doesn't know on 4th avenue in kitsilano.

5) i came home and rob had bought me some of my favourite movies and i opened a nice bundle of gifts from a good friend.

6) then i found a super lovely letter that rob had written to me. [rob works tonight]

i'm really fucked up in the birthday department; i usually get really depressed and want to be alone. well, i'm alone tonight but i feel the warmth of friends and family.

cowtown

we arrived back around 9pm last night from calgary. some quick thoughts:
> we are freaking spoiled in vancouver with all the restaurants and stores.
> calgary is freaking arid. i could feel it right away in my nose. my nose was not happy. when we arrived at yvr, the humidity felt like we had just landed in hawaii.
> people in calgary are very friendly.
> there are a lot of trucks in calgary.
> "chicken on the way" was the best thing about calgary (right after visiting family). this deep friend chicken place opened in 1958 and the same family runs it. see picture above. it is so famous, couples take their wedding photos not at a local park but at chicken on the way. see other picture above.

also, i've never driven thru "the rockies" and oh. my. god. is it gorgeous. the drive made me feel like all that waste in my life will somehow fuck up the amazing ecosystem that supports such beauty.

then, we flew back last night over "the rockies" and was faced with another perspective on that same beauty. stunning, people, stunning.

ps - i know you're all wondering "what was only $.30?" well, it was the corn fritters and, shit, i would fly back for that stuff. good doughey, corn eating.