One more commercial (and then I promise I’m done)

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

I just wanted to let everyone know I will be appearing in a musical in concert this week.

The musical is called Lorelei. It’s the musical based on the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The stage version starred Carol Channing, the movie version starred Marilyn Monroe. (Neither one is in this version.) It does have the song Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend if that helps give you some context.

We are performing at the Shadbolt Centre for the Performing Arts in Burnaby. April 15-18. Shows at 8pm. There is a 2pm Saturday matineee. Tix are $15-22 and can be purchased by calling 604.205.3000.

I am playing the very formidable, very English, Lady Beekman, the possessor of a tiara which Lorelei very much wishes to get her hands on.

The music is cute and the cast is really good. You should come–it will be fun.

Posted in Stardust | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Short Commercial

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

Just wanted to pass on a couple of sites that can generate quite a bit of traffic to your blog:

Alphainventions.com

Condron.us

These sites work kind of like channel surfing but for blogs. They cycle through a series of blogs and you can pause the cycling when you find something you’re interested in. It’s a great way to find new blogs to love.

We now return to regular programming.

Posted in Star Catalogue | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Bzzz. Smash! Bzzz. Ouch! Bzzz. Wap!

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

Do you ever have days where you feel like a bumblebee caught on one side of glass, banging yourself continuously in an effort to get through this invisible force field, when there’s a crack in the window just a foot to the side that would let you through if you could just find it?

(Whew! That was a long metaphor, thanks for sticking with me through that.)

I’ve been feeling like that poor old bumblebee lately. Okay, maybe since 1988. I’m still counting that as lately. 

I think I might need some kindly soul to take a rolled up newspaper and force me over to the crack in the window.

Because apparently, I ain’t going willingly.

Posted in Big Bang, Observatory | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

And while we’re on the subject of driving…

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

I have a few choice words for a few of you, if you can read, and I highly doubt that, but it needs to be said anyway:

  • If you drive a big-ass truck, you DO NOT qualify to park in the parking stall marked: “Small Cars Only.” Go find the sign that says “Big-Ass Trucks Only“
  • The way to turn right is NOT to wait until the light is amber, pull into the left hand turning lane then make a 90 degree turn to the right and cut in front of two lanes of traffic that are starting to pull into the intersection for which they have the right of way. You are not smart enough to be issued a Standard No. 5 HB pencil, let alone a driver’s licence.
  • DO NOT RACE! Not on the higway, not on the sidestreets. I don’t know what planet you live on that you think that it’s fun to risk the lives of everyone around you so you can dart in an out of traffic at speeds surpassing 140K, but I want you to STOP IT RIGHT NOW! Frankly I don’t give a rat’s ass if you want to take yourself out. Find a desert road somewhere and have at her. In all honesty, I’d be relieved if you’d get off our planet and go to one where this sort of behaviour is acceptable, but right now, you’re jeopardizing the lives of people who are actual contributors to society.
  • When I am driving a safe distance behind the car in front of me, that is NOT an invitation for you to dart into that space. That is my buffer zone, not a game of frogger. 
  • Drive further back from me. If all I can see in my rear-view mirror is your two headlights like some double harvest moon with agressive tendencies. YOU ARE TOO CLOSE!
  • If you realize you’re getting off the 91 highway at 72nd and you actually wanted to go to 64th–TOUGH LUCK! Suck up your insanity, drive a little ways, get yourself turned around, and try again. Do not stop in the middle of the intersection, back up, and try to merge back on to the highway from the left. ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!
  • See that little arm to the left of your steering wheel? That is a signal light. Feel free to use it once in a while. Did you know that we also use it to indicate when we are changing lanes? I didn’t think so.
  • I am not going to turn until I’m damn good and ready. I know that YOU think it’s safe for me to go. But I’m not putting my life at risk because you said it was okay. So, lay off the horn already. I already don’t like you, I’m not risking my life so you can get to work 30 seconds faster.
  • Speaking of which…why would you turn into my lane of traffic from a side street forcing me to use my brakes to slow down when there are no cars behind me? Why not just wait that 10 extra seconds?

This has been a terse public service announcement from the friendly but high-strung folks at Tentative Equinox.

Let’s all be as safe as we can out there folks.

Posted in Aliens and uncharted planets, Meteor Shower, Observatory | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

And to think that I saw it on 6th Avenue

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

Driving down 6th Avenue around Cambie and that godawful mess created by the construction of the Canada Line, a black limousine catches my eye. It’s driving in the fast lane–slowly. Very slowly. As I get closer, the reason for it’s leisurely pace becomes apparent. There is an artist’s canvas, about 6X6 in size, maybe larger, on the roof of the limo. It is not strapped down with rope or bungee cords, or anything of that nature. The windows in the back are rolled down just enough for the small, delicate hands of the passengers to extend out the window and hold the canvas “firmly” on the roof. Their knuckles are white with the effort.

A spontaneous purchase at an exhibition opening? An art auction with a no-holds on purchased merchandise policy? Minions on holiday?

I hope they catch up to the police car that I pass moments later. I would like to hear that explanation.

Posted in Aliens and uncharted planets, Observatory | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Applied Kinesiology — Woo woo or Real?

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

I’ve been going to a naturopath off and on for a few years, mostly off. But, since my mother got breast cancer, I decided it was time to see this thing through.

You see I’m overweight. Something shifted when I had kids that caused my body put weight on really easily and refuse to part with it, even when I was being “virtuous.”  And while I’m a bit on the fence about what our ability is to actually change our body makeup, I wondered if there might be a reason other than genetics and admittedly some bad habits, that was preventing me from losing weight. Because when you change the habits and you lose like 3 pounds, that is not exactly motivating to keep being virtuous. Additionally, I’ve been feeling like I had some blood sugar issues going on, and …. ohmigod, are you dying of boredom yet? Okay, let me get to the point.

I reacted well to the regimen that the naturopath put me on — too well, and in the wrong direction. My blood pressure went up, I started to get near constant headaches. My weight didn’t move. I realized I felt better when I wasn’t taking the supplements I was prescribed than when I took them. Now, in the past I might have just stopped going, that seems the reasonable course right? This time, I told myself, I’m seeing this thing through, even if that means I have to say I’m going to a different naturopath.

This is how I found myself on Friday with their ‘Applied Kinesiology” expert (I think that’s its name). Man that process is some weird woo-woo. Let me explain.

You hold a vial containing a supplement in one hand. On the other hand, you hold your thumb and index finger in a circle. The AK gal tries to pull them apart. If she can’t pull your thumb and index finger apart the supplement is one your body likes. If she can pull them apart, the supplement is one your body doesn’t like. Additionally, she has vials that can tell her where the problems are: the organs, the immune system, the hormone system, the intestines. AND she can also tell which problems are dominant–e.g., if the intestines are dominant over the immune system, problems in your intestine are creating problems in your immune system. So, for instance if you’re holding the immune system vial, and this has weakened you, she can then add in various supplements to see what strengthens you, or cancels out the problem. And it would seem that not all remedies are created equal–at least to your individual body. She tried about a half a dozen daily supplements and only one strengthened me.

I’ve done this process once before, when I did an anti-candida protocol. I had taken an over-the-counter de-tox kit and within an hour of taking the first dose I threw the whole thing up again. I then went to the naturopath who prescribed a different bunch of stuff, and the exact same thing happened. So, I went to this same AK lady and through this same process discovered that I needed a different kind of candida killer and some extra liver support. I didn’t throw up again while on that protocol, or even felt bad. In fact, within a week I started to feel better than I had in months.

After Friday’s whole process was complete we had a basket of about 10 things that were going to work with my body. The naturopath not wanting to overwhelm my body and my bank account put me on only two which should help with de-toxifying and regulating blood sugar. Then we’ll test again and see what next my body wants.

And here we are and after only a few days of being on the new protocol, I’m feeling better. It’s weird, but it’s like my tissues aren’t storing as much water. My fingers and wrists are thinner. Now if I could just get the body to follow suit.

Applied kinesiology is controversial. You can find it skewered here and here. I can only tell you that it’s worked for me in the past and I think it’s working now. But, as always, don’t get your medical advice from strangers on the internet.

I’ve seen this used in many different applications. Wayne Dyer talks about how certain music and foods will weaken or strengthen you. I’ve seen it done on video with the subject thinking postive and negative thoughts. Apparently it’s also sometimes used in chiropractics. The definitive book on the subject is Power vs. Force by David Hawkins. If you’re interested in getting it, read the first consumer review, it’s excellent (the one by this guy). When I read Power vs. Force, I was totally with the author until he waxed on for almost a full page about how moral Wal-Mart was, and that kind of cancelled out a lot of his assertions for me. Still in all, a very interesting read.

For me, I think it’s a way for the body to communicate with us. We take all kinds of other measures of the body to get information: blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, just to name a few. If my blood pressure is up, the doctor looks both numbers. If the top number is up past 140 but the bottom number remains at 80, he’ll say that usually points more to stress than a medical condition.  So, my stressful thoughts can result in an increase in blood pressure.  My thoughts and my body are inextricably linked. And my body has communicated with me through high blood pressure that I can’t keep subjecting it to stressful thoughts. Couldn’t muscle weakness in proximity to poisons, however mild, just be another way that the body can communicate with us?

What do you think?

(I’m interested in intelligent debate, but not name-calling, if you have something to say, argue your point, or just do what every one else does, agree with me. Believe me, it’s easier that way, just ask my husband.)

Posted in Aliens and uncharted planets, Observatory, Star Catalogue | 7 Comments

Small tribute to a fallen colleague

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

It’s been a bit of a rough go in the theatre community lately; too many stories of inoperable brain tumours, incurable cancer, and inescapable car crashes. One colleague was wise enough to re-schedule his flight and go to the hospital. He later learned that had he gotten on that airplane, he would almost certainly have died.

It’s made the world feel very dangerous suddenly.

 

Everyone came out to play today.
Except M. of course, because yesterday she died
“Was killed” was the exact terminology
Just like that.
Gone.
Wiped off the earth.
This life!
So strong. So fragile.
Contradictory states, yet both true.
Like light being both a wave and particle.
Like the egg that can’t be crushed when pressure is one way
And fractures irreperably when it’s another.
 
My mother voice wants to give an rss feed of continous cautionary instruction
  • Buckle your seat belts
  • Come to a full stop at all the stop signs
  • Go to the doctor when that voice says “Thing here aren’t right.”
  • Tape bubble wrap around your body
  • Put on  a helmet 
  • Look both ways before you cross the street.
  • Don’t swim alone
  • Exercise caution
  • Trust your instincts
  • Wear socks without holes so people don’t think I’m a bad mother.  
Okay, forget that last one.
The hard truth that my mother voice knows and won’t say is
You might do everything right and it still won’t be enough
To keep you safe
To keep you alive
To make your dreams come true.
Because safety is an illusion that we use to get through the day
And these things might save you, they also might not.
It’s a game of odds. Sometimes you do win the lottery.
But sometimes the prize sucks.
 
What I know is
I will miss your “Doing fine for an old boot.”
When you weren’t anything like an old boot
But I enjoyed the picture anyway.
I hope there’s a sunny softball field on the other side of that veil for you,
I don’t even know why I think you play softball.
Maybe you’d prefer a stage with a company that’s bringing a brilliant show that’s got their own technicians and whose reputation has assured you a sell-out house.
Whatever it is, I hope it’s there for you.
You deserve it.
 
The cherry blossoms came out today.
So did the evergreen clematis blooms.
The finches preened themselves before checking out the latest bird houses.
Sunlight sparkled on the water outside my office window.
Spring finally arrived.
And everyone came out to play
Except for M.
And a few others.
Posted in celestial beings, Vernal Equinox | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Everything new is old again

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

My extra-busy work season ended Sunday at 5:45. It’s nice to have a nice marker like that, a ribbon tied across the track to launch, or in my case, stagger, through, panting, red-faced, and sweating, and if not victorious, at least DONE. Yes, please take a picture of me now in my moment of glory. Damn that Scottish heritage and that high colour!

So, now that I’m no longer responsible for keeping the stars on their proscribed paths by standing on my back porch in the freezing cold using nothing but an out-dated chart, a pen-light and a series of threads that had to be held just so at just the right tension, well, you can just imagine, I’m exhausted.

Too bad the sunset of one, brings on the sunrise of the next. And seeing as the days are getting longer and the nights shorter and we’ve already sprung ahead, my moment to rest from my toils is far shorter than my druthers would like it.

And, of course, there is this alternate reality where I’m supposed to be “running” a great(ish) distance and appearing on stage, (that’s definitely not me in the picture) in the all too near future. So, of course I’m avoiding the gym and the piano like they’ve been infested with the SARS virus.

Other than that though, I haven’t been up to much. Everything is chugging along at a less than dramatic pace. When people ask me “What’s new?” I don’t know what to say. I want to say “What is this obsession with new!?” Can’t something be old or just middle-aged and still be interesting to you people?” But that doesn’t cut it with the social skills people so I just say some derivative of “Same old” and leave it at that.

I am thinking new thoughts.  Well, new to me. It’s hard to think completely new thoughts. Have you ever tried it? Really hard. My “new” thoughts are probably second-hand thoughts, or “pre-owned” if you must use the marketing term for it. Nothing that I’ve polished up enough to display though.

Oh, sorry, yes that was me humming.

Well, what have YOU been up to? For gawd’s sake, I can’t be entertaining every moment of day. 

Come to think of it though, I frankly don’t care about the new. (See how cavalierly I just did tossed that aside? I’m a revolutionary, I tell you, maybe even a revolutionerary)

Tell me what’s old with you?

Posted in Little Bang, Sun, Twilight | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Stages of Creativity

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

I found this on the internets and although it’s focus is photography, something I’ve never wanted or tried to be really good at, you could pretty much substitute any of the creative forms and it would be true: acting, writing, directing, singing, filmmaking, painting, scupting, dancing, choreographing…

(I can’t find the author to properly credit. If anyone else knows, pass on that info in the comments)

 

Progression of a photographer… The Steps!

1. You start out with very little knowledge
2. You start doing research and realize it is much more difficult than you imagined.
3. You begin to pick up knowledge, the technical side of things.
4. You begin to use the technical knowledge and it works.
5. You start to feel as if you are mastering the technical
6. You begin to feel you know a LOT.
7. You start posting images that you are proud of.
8. You KNOW your images are better than much of what you see.
9. Family and friends start to oooo and aaaahhh at your images
10. Pro’s don’t seem to acknowledge you.
11. You think it’s jealousy.
12. You reach a valley in your photography. You are starting to notice that your images aren’t quite what you thought they would be.
13. You start to notice that, in your images, the models hands, the composition, the depth…isn’t quite what you wanted.
14. Even your very favorite photograph isn’t as good as you once thought. “I should have . . . “
15. You are now completely dissatisfied with everything you have ever shot.
16. You begin to realize that your photography is NOTHING compared to the masters.
17. You begin to see the differences in your photography compared to what you see published.
18. Now you are beginning to learn. …

Posted in Observatory, Star Catalogue, Stardust | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Extreme Sheep Herding

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Tentative Equinox North

This is cute, but I’m not sure I believe it’s real. What do you think? Take a look…

 

I think it’s obvious they’ve sped it up in places to make the effect. But, other than that…I’m just not sure.

Weigh in in the comments.

Even if it’s fake, I think it’s a testament to creativity. All you need to make something pretty cool is some lights, some sheep and some well trained sheep-herding dogs, (and maybe some video editing equipment).

Posted in Stardust | Tagged , , | 2 Comments