Jet-setter

I did a little math today and tallied that I have been on 12 flights in the last four months. There are two more that I’m taking in the next four days. It has been a crazy whirlwind of a fall, and I count myself lucky to have been able to go to cities I’ve never visited in Canada.

I had been touring with a dance show since mid-September, stopping in places like Vernon, Salt Spring Island, Calgary, Whitehorse, Burlington, Kingston, Charlottetown, Fredericton, and Halifax. On top of that I also visited my friends in Chicago and St. John’s. Now I’m sitting in my cousin’s apartment in Missisauga, ON, writing this. That’s 12 cities in the last 80 days. I must be setting a new record!

I have met awesome local people, taken in beautiful scenery, and seen the inner workings of different theatre spaces. I am counting my blessings and am thankful for all the opportunities that were presented to me!

High and Low

I have a group of friends who come to Tofino to spend New Years every year, and when I met up with them I asked what their yearly traditions are, if any. They said that everyone takes turns sharing one high and one low point of their year. I thought that was a pretty clever way of thinking about your year. It makes you go through everything that has happened, filter and rank the good and the bad.

2015, arguably, has been one of the best years of my life. It’s been a year with lots more travelling than previous years: Hawaii, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Tofino. It’s been a big year for freelance SM work: Vancouver Spring Show, The Troika Collective’s Nordost (one of the best shows I’ve seen in Vancouver, I may add, though I could be a little biased), Vancouver Men’s Choir’s summer show MEN, Vancouver Pride Festival, and Unwrapping Culture in Montreal (Yes, I toured with a show as a stage manager for the first time this year). There were also memorable work assignments: FIFA Women’s World Cup at Roger’s Arena, the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival at Jericho Beach, and Vancouver Queer Film Festival – three of the city’s biggest cultural events, I’d like to think. I also went camping with work friends, snowboarded with the bestie, worked on a feature film, performed on stage in a skirt, fulfilled my bridesmaid duties for a high school best friend, sang at an open mic night and wrote a song with a friend.

I’m not so sure if I can sum all those things up and count them as one big highlight of my year, but I also can’t pick one event that REALLY stood out because there were lots of “firsts” in my career, and they were all very exciting.

As for the low… I am also unsure if there is really a low. Perhaps it is asking my ex to move out of our apartment because I’ve been paying her rent for a whole year. But there’s an up side to that because I get to have the apartment back. Maybe it’s that I worked months on end without taking a break, thus burning out constantly. I remember this instance over the summer where I was two hours late for work and thought that was it; I was sure I’d get fired. But I got lucky was given a pass instead. Sometimes things work out magically! I should probably take them for granted less.

Now, what are my goals or resolutions for 2016? At the moment it’s to finish the story I’m writing (which I’m eventually turning into a screenplay) and start pre-production so I can crank out a film next year (2017) at the latest! There are lots of things this year I’m looking forward to already. My commitments will probably look somewhat like the shows and events I’ve done this year, but hopefully I’ll also get my creative stuff out there!

Un Duex Trois

It’s been a week and two days since I’ve started my trip and there’s been a lot of firsts and discoveries.

This was the first time I’ve ever travelled for work with a company and taken a show across the country (okay I’ve done Fringe in Victoria and the ships but those don’t count). This was different because I worked with the same 3 people for 2 weeks in Vancouver first, had 3 shows at the Dance Centre, packed all the props in 4 suitcases, flew with the lot to Montreal, loaded in our props and toys at the Montreal Arts Interculturels, set-up and did another 2 shows. The theatre in Montreal had set us up in an apartment that was two blocks away and we each had our own suite! I even had a balcony with a 11th floor view. Needless to say I was ecstatic to be working and touring in a city that I’ve never visited. Because we only had 2 shows, I had a lot of time to play tourist.

Montreal is also the furthest east I’ve been in Canada now. Before that was Regina, Saskatchewan, for a regatta. (I used to be a competitive kayaker!) This was the first time I’ve been in a part of Canada where French is the primary language instead of English. It was fun trying and pretending that I could speak the language and communicate with the locals while ordering or buying stuff. I was able to learn the numbers and count to ten in French!

After 2 days in Montreal our lighting designer and my good friend Mark also made his way over. So this was another first: travelling and working with a pal! Mark has easily become one of my close friends in Vancouver since we started working together at SFU and the Dance Centre. We hang out quite a bit outside of work and has always talked about doing more trips together. We’ve had an adventure exploring Montreal on foot, walking almost everywhere and anywhere we wanted to go.

There was one night where we visited FIVE establishments in 6 hours. We had dinner at the famous smoked meat sandwich shop Schwartz’s, then went scouring for more meat -specifically Portugese Grilled chicken- and had a 2nd dinner. Then we met up with the artistic director of the dance company for a drink at Casa del Popolo. After the drink we followed my friend’s list of suggestions and made a stop at Le Cagibi, where we caught a small concert in a space behind their coffee bar. We weren’t quite done for the night so we decided to take the metro to the Village and stopped in at Cabaret Mado where 11 (or more?) drag queens took to the stage!

Another night we tried to go to an after-hours club to get some dance moves in, but the line-ups was long and only moved 3 feet in half an hour! The funnest thing we did that night though, was the 3am bike ride to the club. Mark and I decided to give the city rental bikes a try and we were both really excited from start to finish. There was just something about seeing something all over the city and finally trying it out for ourselves!

After Montreal we visited Ottawa, where Mark’s university roommate Micah and his wife now live. This was the first time I’ve seen and visited the nation’s capital; the first time I’ve been to the Parliament buildings and toured the House of Commons, House of Senates, the Supreme Court of Canada, and lots of government-related buildings. It was very educational, informative and impressive!

During the last week and day, I was able to meet up with four of my friends who I had all met in Vancouver and now resides in different cities. That was another first: seeing friends I made at home in different cities!

Now I’m on the train ride from Ottawa to Toronto – first time I’ve ever ridden the train in Canada! But I’m tired and ready to go home… exploring city after city has tired me out! Strange, though, because I’ve always loved travelling and can’t fathom why now a trip that’s 10 days longs is exhausting for me. Perhaps I just can’t wait to get to my other destination when I get home – Tofino, I’m ready!

Ten Thousand Miles

It’s finally the beginning of October. I have been looking forward to this month for many reasons. One, I am performing – and wait for it – in a skirt with my trumpet on stage (in front of a live audience)!!! I have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work with 3 other talented ladies on creating a project that was inspired by war stories, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

Two, I’m stage managing a dance show so my work is consistent for 3 weeks. It also means I can concentrate on getting one thing done really well, as opposed to multi-tasking and dividing my attention to work on multiple shows at the same time.

Three, I will be travelling with said dance show to Montreal for a week! I’ve never been east of Saskatchewan, so this will be a good opportunity to see other major Canadian cities such as Ottawa and Toronto (and with them some familiar faces).

Four, it means that Tofino is merely a month away! Yes, Tofino. I am going back for a longer stay this time – a soul-searching journey, if you will. Priorities are to write my next short film and find/ ground myself again.

Five, pumpkin carving, autumn leaves turning red and the fall! Need I say more? It’s the start of a beautiful season.

Wow, I think that trumps not having any days off until I leave for the east-ish Canada. Five whole reasons to be pumped about October!

Perspective

I was finally able to take a week off from work at the beginning of September for some much-needed vacation time. I had been working non-stop since March with only about a handful of days off each month, and I was burning out constantly. There were days where I’d be one, two hours late to work. Days where I slept through my alarm because I wasn’t getting enough sleep and I wasn’t taking the best care of myself. There were days when I wanted to write so much but didn’t have time to. There were mornings where sleeping in for 30 minutes to an hour could have made all the difference, and there were times where showers would have been appreciated.

Needless to say, I was more than ecstatic about my vacation. I was set on going to Tofino right from the start. It was a close-enough destination from Vancouver, and a week sounded about the right amount of time to be there. I’ve lived in the Lower Mainland for 16 years and had not been to the west-coast of the island: it was time. Friends also raved about the place; naturally I had to see it for myself!

My family and some family friends decided to join me at the last minute in Ucluelet for the September long weekend. I scrambled to find a camping spot -booking anything last-minute for the last long weekend before school started was a challenge, to say the least- but I managed to secure the Ucluelet Campground for two nights. Our destinations were spontaneous. There were tons of beaches to visit and activities to check out, but their time on the island was so short that I let them decide what they want to do.

It started pouring just as we pulled into our spot at the campground. It made for a very wet and cold first night. We were soaked just setting up the tents and tarps, and our wet clothes stayed wet even when we packed up camp. But we did get a morning’s surf in. Tofino waves were a lot harder to navigate the the mild, warm, and calm Hawaii waters. It was quite fun nevertheless, and I think I am going to give it another shot if i do go back.

The family rushed back on Monday because they’re people with real 9-5 jobs that start the next day (luckily for me I’m not), so I caught a bus to Tofino and stayed at a place called the Tofino Travellers Guesthouse. Let me rave a little about this guesthouse: it’s by far the best place I’ve stayed at, ever. It felt more like home than home for me because I didn’t have to hide who I am. I get to be myself and behave without feeling like I am being judged. Most of the people staying there is travelling by themselves, and everyone is super friendly and welcoming! It was like having the big family I never knew I missed. The waffle breakfast, of course, adds bonus points!

I spent a day by myself, biking to nearby beaches in Tofino and seeing the town. I stopped to have lunch at Tacofino (obviously), and checked out their brewery. My last full day in town was spent at Hot Springs Cove. The boat ride was fun, and the trip was nice. But I probably wouldn’t do it again for the amount of dough I dropped.

Now, let me try to illustrate how this trip was such a positive experience. I went to Tofino with the expectation that it’ll look like most small costal BC towns -and it does-, but it had a much different energy/ vibe. Perhaps it has something to do with being a surf destination, so most people who are there are there for the waves. I can’t quite exactly pin-point my intrigue with Tofino, and I’m surprised that I love the place as much as my friends said I would.

On the morning before I flew home, I went down by the water to clear my head and soak in some Vitamin D. It was there that my brain wandered to the deep dark side of “searching for one’s purpose in life”. Sitting on the dock and thinking about what to do with the rest of my life gave me a real kick in the arse.  Why do I want to make films? What are the stories I want to tell? Why am I telling these stories? What do I want to say with these films I want to make? Does my voice really matter?  Do I really want to keep doing this for the rest of my life? What AM I doing with my life? I was dumbfounded and caught by surprise at what I had asked myself. They are important but scary questions. I didn’t know what to do or what to think. It was definitely a much-needed perspective though; because I was able to leave my responsibilities behind for a few days.

Coming home was hard. I was sad and reluctant to go. There could have been so many new possible adventures had I stayed! I’d have time to think and write! I can’t stay in this rut of work forever…

I believe the experience at the guesthouse made my overall Tofino experience that much more memorable. If I didn’t stay there I probably wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did. I most certainly wouldn’t have made any friends if I stayed elsewhere. And if I ever go back for another visit, the guesthouse is where you’ll find me! The owner of the house was right; I definitely left a piece of my heart back in Tofino.