Whew!

Alright blog
it is time that you and I spent some quality time together!

So I've been busy, busy, busy. Traipsing around, visiting, working and now I'm in Kamloops, for a few weeks, just doing the show.
Over a week ago now, I went to Ellison Park in Vernon to watch some colleagues take on the Xterra triathlon. So amazing! It is mind boggling for me to watch athletes in their prime accomplish such terrific feats. Mountain biking, mountain running and swimming in ice cold waters, and all before noon. I was proud of myself just for getting up so early to watch them! I felt very inspired by the whole event and had a brief thought that I would try the Kelowna Xterra, but by the next day I had come to my senses and thought, no way in hell. I think I would need a whole year of training to prepare for something like that, and really this summer feels exhausting enough already.
Still very amazing to watch.

I did also hit up Vancouver again to visit friends and offer my well wishes to the now newly weds. Fun times. Congrats to my former husband and his new wife! I'm sure you will both be very happy together. I was sad to miss the actual day, but I was thinking of you and from what I can tell from the pictures, it looks like everything went smoothly

Then came the long weekend. Happy Birthday Canada! I headed down to Naramata with my Kamloops roomie to get in some more visits and spend some time at the beach. Too cold for swimming yet, at least for me, but beautiful and relaxing none the less. We also explored the the Penticton night life while we were there (lame) but I did get some pool action in; so it wasn't a total wash. I think I'm too old for clubs now. Or too cool, or sophisticated, or something. Sticky dance floors, monotonous and excessively loud house music, super drunk children and bad beer, really don't do anything for me at this point.
K, rant over. It was an experience and at least I was in good company.
We did get a chance to check out some of the other fun happenings around the city too. The lovely used bookstore, Gyro park and a bit of sushi. It was a fun day.
The highlight in Penticton though was most definitely Cirque du Soleil's Dralion on Saturday night. I've never seen one of their shows before and holy crap! have I been missing out. So amazing! Again, amazing athletes, dancing and performing acrobatics that completely boggled my mind. Pure entertainment and spectacle and so proudly canadian.

So now, I'm back and focused on the task at hand, getting through the last few months of our little show. We're getting close to the half way mark folks! Very exciting indeed.
I'm feeling a bit tired, but motivated and capable; so I'll make it though. I need to vamp up my physical activity and get more running in, but otherwise I'm feeling a bit more balanced here in Kamloops.

Alright. Gotta jet and get this show going for tonight. Keep well friends and I'll blog again soon.
Peace
Cmax

More Travels

Greetings friends,

Well I'm off to Vancouver again tonight. YAy! going to see some friends and get some errands done in the city. I'm feeling a bit exhausted from all this traveling around, but tis the season (being wedding season and all).
I was in Edmonton this past weekend for another wedding and I turned out to be a big cry baby. Who knew? Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age. It was a fun trip though and I wish the happy couple all the best.
Tomorrow I'm crashing another wedding party and I'll try to better keep my composure. The actual wedding is on Friday, but a I have a show that night; so I'm pre-wedding partying.
This upcoming weekend I'm going to try to get to Vernon. A couple of my colleagues are doing a triathlon I'm thinking of going to cheer them on and take pics for them.
People who do marathons and triathlons amaze me. I would really love to give one ago myself, but I don't know that I have the guts for it.
So, life here continues to go along.
It has settled down again, or so it seems. I really should stop saying that though cause I seem to just be asking for trouble when I do!
Oh AND.. Yay! to all the lovely PT and Atrainers for their success at last night's Jessie awards in Vancouver! Good Work!
Talk to you again
peace
Cmax

I'm a grown up

So this really has nothing to do with Kamloops, but rather my life in general.

I recently left my twenties behind to join the world of grown ups and I'm feeling quite good about it.
Now the truth is, that I've been telling everyone for years that I'm practically 30 (much to my friends chagrin) ; so now that I'm actually 30 it doesn't really feel like much has changed.

When I turned 29, that felt scary. It felt like there was some sort of looming/ inevitable midlife crisis that was bound to happen. I came across entire self help sections in bookstores, lined with titles about the trauma of turning 30. Yikes! "Is it really going to be that bad," I thought to myself?
No.
I simply feel like I finally belong in my own skin. Having felt like a grown up for so long, now I just feel comfortable.
I did have lots of plans that I figured I would have finished by the time I hit 30, but now that the deadline has past, it feels like the pressure has too.
I thought I would be all finished with school at this point (also thought I'd be a lawyer). Thought I would have gotten my driver's licences, dropped a few of my bad habits, shaved my head once, gotten a tattoo, be making plans to buy a house, have written a least one play, finished reading 'war and peace' and the 'complete works of shakespeare'.
Really, not a big deal that I've missed the date, for the most part. And really, I don't regret how I chose to  spend my time in my twenties. I traveled some, did some school, am on the right path as far as my career is concerned and that feels like enough.
I'll get to the rest of it. It's still all on the list, its just that now I don't feel so rushed. So now that I don't feel so frantic about trying to get everything accomplished,  I'm going to try and enjoy myself a little bit more.
Now with all of that said, I did feel a need for some change. Call it vain or superficial, but I have put some significant effort this past year into updating my wardrobe. Getting rid of clothes left from my teens, and ones that don't fit. I've have also made a  concerted effort to go shopping for grown up clothes and clothes that actually fit. And today, I cut my hair and said goodbye to my uber long plain jane locks that looked like they belonged on a 12 year old. So now I have grown up hair too.

So see ya later 20's ! No midlife crisis here, just a bit of an upgrade and on we go. 

30's I can't wait

peace

Cmax

An exercise in Gratitude

I am loved
I am safe
I am free
I am want for nothing ( I have a roof over my head, a job, money in my pocket and a sense of purpose in my life)
I have some of the world's greatest friends. They help me find reasons to laugh, they hold me up when I falter and they help keep me in check with myself.
I still get I.D'd
I have seen only two spiders in our new house.
I am grateful for road trips.
For fans on hot okanagan summer nights
For freshly mowed lawns
For stunning rainbows and desert rainstorms.
For hymn book sing alongs
For buses that run on time.
For art supplies and handmade cards
For roommates who clean the kitchen so I don't have too.
For stanley cup excitement
For my sense of faith
For sisters who I love more than anything in the world
For my magic bullet blender and my Nori steamer. I know right?
For Mario parties and board game nights
For music, in all its varieties, but especially Sondheim, Fiona Apple and Jethro Tull
For my curiosity and my insatiable thirst for learning
For teachers who put up with me
For convenient running tracks that are kind to these old bones.
For forgiveness and second chances
For queen sized beds
For Greyhounds and good beer
For Naramata Centre and the people I've come to know through those doors
For blogging
For the poor suckers reading these posts.

Not a complete list. Just an exercise.
Peace
CMax

Not a happy Friday

So I lied.
thought it was getting better, but I don't think it is. If anyone has need of a stage manager, I'm officially looking.

Happy Friday

Well folks,

its been a fairly easy week. It feels strange to even type that. We've been rehearsing all week, and despite the normal theatre troubleshooting and antics, we've done well to get the understudy shows sorted.
We have a few more tech adjustments to make next week, but it feels like this show is finally on the right track.
Guess I'll be staying on.
Tomorrow is my day off and I intend to do a whole lot of nothing. At least, nothing crazy.
I apologize for the lack of interesting blogging stories this week, but trust me that is a good thing.
It was recommended that I do at least one irresponsible thing each day, as I count down the end of this decade, but that's been a lot harder than I imagined.
I've stayed up late, does that count?
Maybe I'll try to come up with something entertaining tomorrow.
Maybe I wont make my bed in the morning.

peace
Cmax

TWO MoNthS!

So folks,

we've made it through one more month of this adventure. YAy! Only 4 more to go...
We are also in our final week of rehearsals, here's hoping. We are working to get all the understudy bits in order and then the show should be set in place and running. This has felt like the longest rehearsal process/ Tech process I've ever worked on and I am really starting to feel the fatigue of it. Soon I should have a more normal routine and some more down time to do other things. Whew!

The sad part about working this week is that I am missing all the hockey festivities. Maybe the Canucks can make the play offs again next year too?
Though I did make it to Van this past weekend and had a jam packed fun and festive day off.
My Kamloops roomie and I road tripped out to Van after Fridays show (rockin out to an eclectic mix the whole way) and arrived in the wee hours on Saturday morning. Then we had a little sleep and then got up and made our way to the Mall to do some shopping.

Now, I hate shopping and I hate malls, but it needed to be done and I was very grateful to have a friend along with me in order to minimize the tediousness of the ordeal.

Kamloops Roomie joining the adventure

Some people didn't care for my sack dress aesthetic... judgement! 

quit taking photos of me!

And then we found some nice summer wear and more work blacks

Overall it was a successful shopping trip and now I do not need to go shopping again for a good long while. THANkS E!

Then we busted a move to the Legion near my house to watch the hockey Game!! Good times and beer were had by all. L won the veggie basket raffle. YAy. (Cmax was crossing her fingers for the meat basket, but it wasn't meant to be). There was a band afterward; so we stayed and danced with a few of the seniors and then headed out (despite much lamenting) to check out the party down town.

The Down Town core is ridiculous!! Tons of people, tons of music, police, costumes and celebration. It was also apparent that the Canuck franchise has done very well with merchandising this year.

We made some more new friends, drank some more beer and then finally rolled back home to bed just after 3am.

Crazy fun.

Thanks friends for such a rambunctious day off. It was much needed. And though work felt somewhat painful on Sunday, it was soooo worth it.

So now on to Month number 3! Bring it on!

peace

Cmax