Empty chairs at empty tables

So the old place is starting to look increasingly bare. We made the decision last weekend to buy a new sofa. The one we had was still in fine old condition and we both still liked the look and the shape but it was a magnet for cat hair and even though cats are one of the few things that we're not allergic to there's something about always being covered in a light dusting of feline gray that makes you feel like an elderly aunt.

So we put in an order for a new sofa - to arrive end of May and posted the old one on facebook - looking for someone who needed it, would get the most use out of it and were willing to pay what seemed fair given their circumstances. It found a good home quickly, I loaded it in three parts onto their truck and we moved the garden furniture into the living room.

Then we sent the rugs away for cleaning. Threw away almost every CD and DVD, boxes and boxes of books and a host of electrical items that just seemed to be gathering dust. As a result things now echo in here.

But we are cleared for Canada. Quebec papers joined Federal papers and now all we need is to drive to the border and collect our work permits. Then drive to Montreal. Then change plates, insurance and driver's licenses. Get a social insurance number, open a bank account, sign a contract for my new company, set up a second company in partnership with some friends, move in the furniture, sign up for internet, phone, tv and cell phones. No worries. It'll be two days of standing in line. Or is that queuing in Canada? Or is it 'file d'attente' in Quebec... I'm not sure yet.

Anyway Star Trek calls

If you go down to the woods today

Yesterday I put up a fresh casting call

It read something like this

"I'm looking to shoot a series that's raw and animalistic and coiled and athletic and has a real sense of 'raised by wolves' about it.

Think mud, think snarling, think coiled, primed, pumped and ready to lash out and you're pretty close to where I'm heading with this.

Looking for people who are willing to push through the 'am I going too far here?' voice at the back of their heads and just allow that rawness beneath the veneer to be caught on camera.

It should be fun, it might be dirty (literally, I'm thinking forest and mud) but I think that we can get some really cool shots out of it...

What do you think? Worth an hour of your weekend?"


I rewrote it later to be a little less stilted but the idea stuck and the models came flooding in... I shoot the first today and another 12 over the next week. It should be fun. I've a group shoot in Rosemont on the 14th too, as well as a possible dads and daughters Prom thing tomorrow... all very cool. When Ann Arbor gives you Durian make smoothies, I say

An apology

Of late my blog spots have been thinner and spottier than a laxative loaded Latvian SuperModel. So here's a little of what's been going on chez moi.

Have been working hard on both the book and the body - in a routine of getting up, working for an hour, working out for an hour, eating, working for another hour and then taking the dog for an exhausting walk. It seems to be working - dog and I are exhausted, book is coming on leaps and bounds and I'm not the size of a McMansion.

Also trying to tie things up in and ahead of Canada. Lots to be done incorporating, lots of tax things to be looked at, lots of forms flying back and forth and lots and lots of old friends. colleagues, clients etc to call - letting people know that you're available feels kinda tacky to me but I'm getting over it to the extent that I dragged Judith 4 hrs to dinner with some ex-and potential future clients yesterday.

We're also in the middle of culling. More books, almost all of our CDs and at least half of the DVDs went last week. I sold the sofa to a lovely couple who brought their adorable young son with them, so ga-ga was I over him that I let them leave with it on the spot - so we're now sitting on garden furniture... albeit reclining, cantilevered garden furniture.

Today someone comes to take the rugs for cleaning - so the house will look even more bare... though as I'm spending yet more time and more money at the dentist getting this bridge / crown / implant situation sorted I may not notice; am booked for 3 hrs today, which is a hell of a long time. Maybe I'll get a bite block with my own name on it.

Throw in calls with people in London and Australia about brochures, business cards and websites and with people in Canada about missing Incorporation forms and numbers (all to be done before I leave for the dentist as after I may be unintelligible) and I really should be off the blog and elsewhere.

Ciao

Writing, writing

Sweetwater's
Originally uploaded by plumb-larrick

I'm spending the day working in various coffee shops.

Right now Sweetwater , which is right next to the gym and in the market where I want to buy my lunch (Korean, yum)

I'm surrounded by young people who seem to mistake speed of speech for depth of meaning and volume for persuasive argument.

It's frightening how self absorbed these kids are. They say things like

"We only just, like, you know, met and everything and like, I never, you know, like took a class where you are, but I know, I feel, basically that we're like totally the same, because I know me and you like me are never gonna like enjoy that class.. because I can sense that you're like a math person, maybe, you know, for sure, erm, it means, that you know, certain classes, you know, I guess, for me, honestly."

It's very Ms. Teen America...
And like totally scary, you know

Yesterday

The dog that peeked
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

I saw this dog in town
It was the day's highlight

Today I walked my dog to borders
It too was a highlight

Get us the fuck outta here people