Dance Idiot Dance!

That's a reference to a song by The Hives by the way... First opera, now ballet! What's wrong with this rocker?

Sheryl and I went to see the National Ballet's production of West Side Story Suite last night. I bought two tickets on the spur of the moment, so she'll have something to remember me by while I travel. It was very well done, as were the two preceding performances, Glass Pieces, based on the music of Phillip Glass and In the Night, set to four of Chopin's nocturnes. West Side Story Suite had a truncated feel to it but was a great performance. Odd to see ballet dancers singing though! I think I enjoyed Glass Pieces best though, Philip Glass's music can be irritating or entrancing depending on your mood, but the staging really worked well.

This was my last significant weekend of training, 2 hours on the bike trainer yesterday (60K), 20K (1:37:00) run this morning. Taper time! Tomorrow Enduro Sport packs my bike for travel, Tuesday Chris and I fly out. All I'll be able to do for the next week is a few short runs and swims as I travel.

Listening to: Walk Idiot Walk by The Hives from Tyrannosaurus Hives.

Dust and Memories

It's amazing how much dust can gather beneath and behind your furniture. It's all being revealed as I keep packing and shifting furniture. So are piles of Chris' old school work and drawings. My friend Adrian came over before dinner to help me move some heavy and unwanted furniture out of the house and into my parent's U-haul. The place is looking pretty spare and I kind of like it this way!

This week is Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children week, which I'd almost forgotten about in the confusing of preparing to sell my house and my father's stroke. I've signed up to help with the Sprockets School Programme sessions at the Canada Square theatre. I spent Monday morning meeting school groups coming up from the subway and helping them navigate through the shopping arcade to the theatre entrance. There were a few crazy moments when large groups arrived at the top of the escalator and... stopped and stood there blocking traffic.

Today I was in theatre 2 acting as an usher, which meant I got to see two films. An Italian film was first, Rosso Come il Cielo (Red Like The Sky). Beautifully told and the kids were really absorbed by it. Red Like The Sky is the story of a boy blinded in an accident and forced to board at an oppressive school for the blind. He discovers a tape recorder and begins secretly making sound "stories" that result it . The boy the character is based on has become one of Italy's top film sound designers and music producers! It was also an interesting illumination of "Foley artists", who create the natural sound effects heard in film.

After an hour spent organising impromptu lunchrooms for several of the school groups we had our second film (there were eight screens in operation today); the Belgian Gilles. Gilles is the story of a boy and his father who are consumed by soccer (err... football). When Gilles' father passes away suddenly Gilles' home life and football ambitions are thrown up in the air. Sensitively told, but pretty straightforward. Once again the kids were drawn into a story that they would never have picked themselves. I wonder if either film will every be screened commercially in North America. Probably not, which is a sad observation.

I'm flying out to Regina on Thursday at the crack of dawn. Time to start a different sort of packing. I'll be bringing along some newly-assembled childhood photo albums of my brother, sister and myself that my mother has created for her own enjoyment. She's loaned them to me to bring out to Regina to share with her ex.

Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech: not much I can really do except to shake my head at the senselessness of it and mourn the loss of innocent lives. I wish we could somehow erase all mention of the killer, I think in their crazed minds the news coverage is partially what motivates them.

Listening to: Say Hello by Deep Dish from George Is On.

"Nigger-brown"

"Nigger-brown" is the name of the colour of a sofa a black Toronto woman bought this week. Bit of fuss about it! Turns out the store and distributor had never closely examined the products they were bringing in from China. I wonder if the description, which was apparently once a ordinary colour label(!), was just another example of a translation mishap or had a meaner intent.

Edit: Sheryl tells me that "when she was little" Brazil nuts were sometimes called nigger toes! My God.

Chris and I are back from an Easter visit to my parents in Cobourg. It was a very full house, with two grandparents, four parents, one babysitter and five children. I presume Mom was happy to have all her chicks in the nest for the day. I'm still struggling with a terrible cold so I took a few time-outs to recuperate. I did manage to photograph our Easter Egg Hunt and devour my share of the Easter lunch.

Once I was back in town I dropped in on my friend Brian to watch the Malaysian Formula One race which had happened overnight. Ferrari and McLaren were at the front again, this time with Felipe Massa's Ferrari followed by Fernando Alonso's McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. A poor start by Massa allowed both of the McLarens to get by the Ferraris, and although the Ferraris were faster they were never able to regain the lead, despite a valiant attempt by Kimi in the closing laps. The podium had the same occupants as in Australia, but the order was different: Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen instead of Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton is off to a roaring start to his rookie year in Formula One.

Listening to: Black Boys On Mopeds by Sinéad O'Connor from I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.