Thursday, December 14, 2006
FLIGHT TIMES
from Brussels to Frankfurt 845-945
Frankfurt to Toronto 1100-1400
Toronto to Saskatoon 1625-1900
In other words, I will be home on the 17th, Sunday at 7pm.
I will leave at 645pm on January 9th.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
MSN=Creativity
1)
Brennan says:
This week is so insane I could stick a label on it and call it crazy
2)
Sarah says:
i want the long story of why *this happened*, i just dont understand!
Brennan says:
I know
Brennan says:
It's so long, you could fit it in the Bible
3)
Sarah says:
well, how did the new play idea go?
Brennan says:
God
Brennan says:
I mean
Brennan says:
Good
Brennan says:
Wow, that almost came out wrong
Sarah says:
righto
Sunday, December 10, 2006
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Well.
It's finished.
I don't know how to feel. I'm so tired that I have no emotional strength left. It was all I could do to deal with tasks, and not how people felt. (Although considering everything that happened, I think I handled the feelings side of things pretty well.) It was something that really mattered to me, but in a way I can't explain just how important, or why it was important that I try to help these people put on a play for themselves, to act...I felt similar after the last play. The last play I was sure of its success, at least a little. This play was a success because of random acts of I-don't-know-what, it seems, but also because it was good in its own way. Not perfect, but alright. I was satisfied.
The things I wasn't happy with:
1) Communication with me from people who should have been communicating with me, and putting the wrong people in charge of things. Sometimes my mistake, and I take respsonsibility first. There are so many mistakes that I made that as soon as the day of play came I knew what they were, and I wanted kick myself. And my legs don't bend that way, which is really too bad. And nothing is more frustating than seeing where communication broke down. Especially when it didn't need to be. Totally my fault.
BUT.
There is a point where I just have to believe that people are capable. And near the end, people almost had it, almost acquired this skill of being independently capable. Next semester. I believe they can. =) And I know that unless I leave a margin for failure I'll never turn other people into leaders. So, to solve this, we are going to really work on that next semester. I relied too much on older members of the theatre to do everything. That was my biggest mistake, I think. I should have trusted and taken the people who I thought were capable from the start and used them properly. I really wasted the HR this semester.
2)Technical stuff. This was a disaster. I should have been micro-managing this much better. Again, because I know a lot about how lights and sound work, I know the best thing is to stay out of the way, and things go much faster.
BUT.
There is a difference between staying out of the way, and making sure tasks are done to your satisfaction. Even if I don't know everything that I should about technical stuff, I know what works and I know what I want. And I should have been clearer about this. This would have made my life a beautiful thing. And we would have had extra time. Maybe I could have eaten a real meal today. Since I didn't eat anything except cookies, a piece of bread, candy, and chocolate. By the end of the day I was so spacey I had to ask every single person to repeat what they said at least once, sometimes twice. That's how tired I was. It was great. It would have been worth filming, my complete and utter inability to understand after many, many hours of, just, everything. =)
3)The space. I will never, ever, ever ever play a play from a small stage like that again. Not even if they pay me. Never again.
BUT.
It was a free stage. =)
4)That we could have charged an entrance, and we would have probably have made some great cash. Given the financial...issues this semester, this would have made things a lot better. However, this is not so much a problem of me, as me believing this gave us a bigger crowd. Maybe yes, maybe no. Overall, we wait and see for finances.
5)Being unsure of how many people to expect. We actually ended up with a full house. Nice.
BUT.
Advance tickets. I couldn't find a way to put everything together for the audience in a way which wouldn't be annoying because I had literally no idea how many people would come. Also, Pangaea, as much as I love it, (now and then) is not a venue for theatre. And frankly, I don't think the building can take many more plays there. It's like being forced into a little can of sardines for the audience. And it smells similar to that. No one can see anything, there are too many people, too close, and there's just no way to be happy and sitting and comfortable and have a big audience there. Literally, no way.
The big picture:
Overall, this play was inherently more successful than it deserved. Whether it was as successful as last play, I don't care. The fact that I took people with a much lower level of english, and, for the most part, single-handedly molded them all into little actors and actresses and people who could put on a play, against all odds. And, believe me, there were so many odds, that frankly, it shouldn't have worked. It should have been horrible. There should have been people crying. Like me. But no crying. The people in the play were smiling, laughing afterwards, and people all said they had a good time out of the many I talked to. I acted in two of five scenes, and I managed to have peanuts thrown at my head by the end of the night, so all in all, that smells like success to me. To turn around a dying murder mystery, and for everyone to come together and make a small play in two weeks that can be something we can be happy to be in or your money back and crucify Brennan, it's a success. (It's also a miracle. Thank the Jesus.)
I think the biggest success I had was that I didn't crack. I really should have cracked. I should have gone nuclear. I should have told everyone to stuff their Christmas stockings up their butts, and then murdered everyone with a hatchet. I should have. I was absolutely crazy today, and I honestly could not have been less sane, but the tasks were finished to a degree that was acceptable, and that was acceptable. It was so disorganized that I despaired, and I quote the ever-wise Colin when I say, "I don't have the words to describe the despair on your face, but if I did...", but it could have been much worse. SO. Stuff it up your butt.
It's funny like that. You never know how capable you really are until everything around you becomes incapable of being any more of a disaster. And this play was the epidomy of disaster. The only way it could have been more of a disaster is if I had lost it. Although I'm sure most people said I lost it, I tried my best in some ways. In some ways, I didn't because I just couldn't care anymore or I would have just given up. So, I am proud of myself, and I feel alright about everything. I just directed a play. It was a success. We-ird.
Anyways, I should have been asleep hours ago. Frankly, all I wanted to do today was sleep. And kill. But I would have taken sleep first. Then kill. Now, I just sleep. And we have dinner sometime this week. With theatre people. We will.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Busy?
The most exciting was that I am using IE 7.
I cant' decide if I like it or not. It looks like it was made specifically for Firefox users, so that they come back to the lost fold of IE users. Seems pretty lame. Also, all the buttons are so small I can't even use them properly. And tabs, while nice, are so anti-Internet Explorer. I kinda liked all the annoyances that the previous version had. They grew on me.
Well, my internet just gave out AGAIN. I will take this as a sign. I am tired anyways.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Milestone 1
However, my boss called and said he wanted another course with me...so I can't be that bad of a teacher, so I feel good about that. I feel like at least one thing is going right....now all I have to do is deliver quality English. Eh heh. Heh.
Sigh.
Sometimes I feel like a language machine.
Weird, eh?
In other news, I think I want this year to go slower, and I feel like it just keeps going faster. Nothing seems to be slowing down anymore, and last year felt like everything moved so slow I couldn't make it move faster if I tried. It's funny, I kept wishing for things to move faster last year, and now I keep wishing for things to move slower. Like, MUCH slower. However, I'm sick, so now I am forced to take time for myself. I literally can't do much more than walk from the bus to my house this week, so any actual work I'm not allowed to feel guilty for not doing. All I feel like doing is sleeping all the time. I got my appetite back today, so I think I'll be better by tomorrow or Saturday, so I can go full to the max for the next two or three weeks. Good stuff.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
It's a Mystery




I did.
After doing several scenes and realizing that it wasn't going to get any better, at least not within two weeks, we are now moving in a different direction. Instead of trying to put on an hour and a half murder mystery, we're going to put on some short sketches, maybe 15 minutes to25 minutes, and have a party. The sketches are pretty much finished, we'll do a dress rehearsal next week, and that's it. No more stress for me about theatre.
I feel a lot better, and I think it was the right thing. That didn't make it any easier, but it did mean that I can feel at least somewhat justified. I owe a lot to my friends, especially, for their support more than anything. The last thing I want theatre to be is the reason my friends all hate me. And the second last thing I want to is try and put on a play that I'm not happy with, and that I think doesn't do justice to how good of actors the people in theatre are. We were halfway through scene 2, it was 8'0'clock, and the first two scenes, which were written, were supposed to be quick, and played within a minute or three. It took two hours to do two scenes which were each approximately 10 minutes long. We still had three other scenes we were going to play that night, two of which required choreography, where the music wasn't chosen, the moves not yet in place nor practiced, and the costumes were nowhere near ready. I thought that writing out a script point by point might make it easier, and we tried that as well. No dice. It was too hard, I think.
I guess I really learnt the lesson of 'keep it simple' today...I asked too much of myself and put too much on other people for such a short time. On the bright side, I think I still have my friends, and I still have a lot of my pride.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Update






This isn't a cry for help or anything, but I've been too busy to do any of my personal necessaries lately, like updating on my blog or make cartoons and things like that. Next week should be better, I think. I need to go to bed so bad it hurts, so I think I will, since even this was an hour I couldn't spend messing around. (Most of the hour was spent thinking about how much I'm going to pay for it later.) On the bright side, I updated my blog, so that's positive. There are so many things I want to say, but the time, the time. =P Anyways, Once I am back home for Christmas, I will be happier, I think, but until then, I think I'll be considering sleep a luxury.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
It's all Evil
Blogging evil-spam and how be to evil with it.
My mom is evil-A blog literally about how a daughter thinks her mom is evil. It even has fiery ratings of death on how evil each post is from the e-mails her mom sends her. I think I get why she feels this way, but still, dude, her blog is 'My Mom is Evil.' MY MOM IS EVIL.
How evil are you?-Nothing like a little evil quiz rating to start your day. I'm sick of doing these, so I skipped this one, but try it out. The first question asks you what browser you're using. Clearly the sign of evil.
IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK THAT THERE ARE SERIOUS ACADEMICS THAT TALK ABOUT EVIL NOT IN REFERENCE TO GEORGE BUSH???
Thank you, rant now finished.
Back to work.
Saturday, November 11, 2006

Although a three-minute sketch won't do it...please, remember that today is a day to remember those who died. They don't celebrate this holiday everywhere in Europe and the world. So, I remember for what I can, and I hope you all had good Remembrance Day ceremonies in your own way.
Happy Remembrance Day.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
I just discovered that I have Windows Movie Maker.
This may have Master's Thesis implications because this is SO FUN.
Although I don't have any more videos I can make because my camera is really bad at it, I'll have to find another way to make movies. Maybe I'll do a live show of....something.
Anyways, I'm going to mess around a bit on the Net, and then off to bed. There's a lot I need to do this week. And I was supposed to do all of it today.
But I slept until two instead, and thus did nothing except read one article. Granted, it was 30 pages, and about as moist as Melba toast, but still. One article. Not cool.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Lameness
I am so lame.
On the bright side, it was for a good cause. Birthday present.
On the negative side, I stayed up until 4 in the morning because I didn't want to think about theatre. Because I just ran the second meeting in a row all by myself, and I think I'm doing a terrible job. By myself. And it's stressing me out a bit.
That's lame.
On the neutral side of things, I have a thesis to write, starting this week.
That could be negative or positive at this point.
Also on the bright side, I'm halfway done two of my art things, I think. Not so lame.
I...should go to bed. OK. Bed. Going. To bed.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Halloween!

This was us making Jack-o-Lanterns. We made about 15 of them. It was insane. There was pumpkin everywhere. But I'm really happy how mine turned out. I made about 4, but this one was probably the one that was the saddest pumpkin there...literally.


This is Alejandro, a very close friend of mine, who's dressed up as a real witch...the kind with the flippy cell phone, as he calls it.

These are the Italian/Spanish evil santa troupe. There was also a matching Chinese ghosty sheet troupe. Very cute. Apparently these scary santas are from some movie I should have seen. I'm behind on my horror movie watching. Really.

This is Bart, dubbed, DJ Spooky Monster by Colin. Colin thought he was soooooo smart. Typical. Bart eventually took his shirt off. He had plenty of paint on his chest as well. Also very typical of Bart. (The randomly taking off his shirt, not having paint all over him. Uh, I guess.)

This is Jeanne, the police officer. Even the fact that she's holding a toy gun is scary and makes me want to run far, far away. The fact that Jeanne is supposed to be the long arm of the law and she is only 5 foot nothin' makes me think that this particular arm of the law won't be able to reach much.

Montse and Patrick dressed up themed as Frankenstien and bride of Frankenstien. They're blowing up balloons for decorative purposes. Or for spare parts. Eh heh.
As for the decorating, it actually turned out really excellent. It leterally looked like a different place. We had a lot of people come, which is really great, since this was a fundraising party for Janus Theatre.

Overall it was a really great party, and I can't think of the last time I enjoyed myself so much on Halloween. Much better than last year, I think.
OK, later!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Halloween for Your Ears
I will post Halloween pics when I can. =)
Home!
I booked my flight home, and I will arrive in Saskatoon at 7 pm on December 17th.
I'm super happy.
If Sarah still reads this, I couldn't find a way to come visit you this season where I thought you would be done finals, and without me spending time away from my family and also so that work wouldn't kill me (I'm kinda already taking three weeks off...and even that's not enough.) so next time, or maybe during some kind of holiday.
Anyways, just thought you might want to know. I'll post this info again in early December.
Friday, October 27, 2006
200?
Kermit the Frog You scored 60% Organization, 61% abstract, and 69% extroverted! |
This test measured 3 variables. First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean. Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type. Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself. You are mostly organized, both concrete and abstract, and more extroverted. Here is why are you Kermit the Frog. You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Kermit is also reasonably tidy. He'll even dress up for interviews. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Kermit starred on Sesame Street years before The Muppet Show. The other possible characters are If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win! |
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Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test |
The Monster Mash
The BBC banned the song in 1962 on the grounds that it was "too morbid".
This song has been used to help start a campaign against over-using the environment. You can hear "The Climate Mash" here. This song is performed by the original singer, and the flash animation is quite funny, considering how serious they are about climate change.
There's been a movie made out of it, also with Bobby Pickett. It's a musical.
Mike Tyson appeared with Bobby Brown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing a duet of the song.
(Now that IS scary.)
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Germatriculated for evil content

Yay! My evil content is below average!
Although, really, it's like I get a C+ in goodness. That's so not good.
I'll try and post more Halloween goodness as we count down! =D
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
In other news, I finally have managed to give back most things which people have lent me, and I have also managed to re-acquire my suitcases! =D And I got a free dinner out of it! Good times!
I have one more book to send to someone in the States, and some German cookbooks and german dictionaries to give back, and then I'm duty-free of other people's items! Score-ness!
It drives me crazy having other people's things sometimes.
OK, bed! Ack!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
The Metro

In China, they put babies in tiny little water tubs, with life preservers around their necks in hopes that they will one day swim. This would seem interesting if that baby's face didn't look like it belonged to a sumo wrestler.

Also, they have people walk around in cute costumes of random coloured condoms, which will help people to understand the evils of AIDS. Yes, you too might get AIDS if you shake hands with the orange condom instead of the yellow one. Clearly, the moral of this story is that giant condoms with happy faces will one day rescue you from a sexual epidemic.
The rest of the articles are equally strange.
OK, bed time! Bye!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Fried Chicken?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDsHp3K1ZBg
This is funny. But scary.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Time, Time, Time
Monday, October 09, 2006
Small update
The only thing that was bad today was that I was on the metro, being as depressed as every human being should be when the ride the same metro every day for two weeks the exact same route with people too close who are sometimes smelly and sometimes loud and who speak much better french than you ever will, when a man walked onto the metro car with his guitar. He said something in french which translated as something like, "Please, if you want to give me money for my singing, please do, especially if you like it, please give" and he began to sing bawdy italian songs and play his guitar.
Very, very loudly.
On the metro.
In my personal space.
I think I understand in big cities why some people get jaded. There's so much poverty, so much everything else that you can't deal with when you feel really tired, everything that's bad and sneaky and troublesome, and you can't be yourself in a big city without someone wanting to sell you what they have, whatever is it that they have. It's too much. You just want to hide from it all.
I was very tired.
I still am very tired.
Anyways, I will put up pictures later, but for now, I must go and prepare thanksgiving dinner. If I don't post until later this week, then Happy Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
I think I'm going crazy. =D
I have been doing job training for teaching english for the past week and bit, which is why there haven't been updates on here. I will try and update when I can, job training finishes on Friday, acting on Thursday, friend comes to Leuven at the same time Thursday night, leaves Saturday, Thanksgiving dinner this weekend, parade this weekend, first Janus Theatre meeting this weekend, still need to buy a turkey. (Going to try a turkey.)
Wohoo! Definitely back to normal around here! =D =D =D
Friday, September 29, 2006
Winners!
1st place: Andrea!
2nd place: Patrick!
3rd place: Travis!
Each winner has been sent an individualized e-mail from Brennan Industries, Ltd. and notified of the possible winnings. Anyways, I will hold another art contest sometime in November, so watch for that! =D I was surprised no one from my family entered...then again, I guess not. Oh well. Family. Can't force them to do anything. Without enforcing the law with a beating stick. Sigh.
OK, night!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
So
I just finished my first day of training for teaching English. Seven more to go. I'm so tired it hurts, but I'm really happy because I'm going to be teaching again. (Er, hopefully. As long as I get the contract. Not really an issue but I always worry incessantly about things like this. I'm such a what-iffer.) Anyways, I'm keeping busy, and that's good. I just downloaded a french album off of iTunes for no reason whatsoever, other than I could kinda get what they were saying, so I'm hoping that it will help improve my french. I want to take a french course this semester, and as long as everything is alright, should be able to. I have classes only on Tuesday now, so the rest of the time I will either be working, working on my thesis, studying languages, or at theatre. I'm crazy busy. YAY! IT'S LIKE I"M BACK IN CANADA!
Anyways, I am happily awaiting contest enteries, and I will post the winners sometime around 2PM on Thursday, as long as all goes well. Otherwise, I will post them on Friday...uh...probably around 2PM.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Three is a lucky number!
As usual, there will be three prizes (all of which will be art this time, to be explained in the rules). I'm very excited about this! =D =D =D
So, there will be three parts to this art contest! There will be the usual visual art test, this time with three clues! New to this go around, three questions to test your not-so-general-knowledge! And, lastly, a bonus section where you have to try and persuade me why you should win in one sentence or less! Yes, so you will have to use your brain for this one! Maybe! Or, if you grew up even remotely in the eighties and/or enjoy watching cartoons even now, this will probably be very, very easy And if you know anything about me, this can be very, very. very easy, I'm sure.
READ THE RULES BELOW
1. I will accept the first submission for answers and such at 7:30PM, Wednesday, September 27, 2006, Saskatchewanian time. If you don't know what time that is, look it up on the internet. Very easy.
2. Anyone who has ever perchanced on this blog is able to enter, and I like it when random strangers e-mail me. ;D OK, well, in a very Platonic way. Eh heh. Yeah. Eeep. So, to enter, please send your entry to my e-mail address, which you can get from any one of my friends, or from me. If you would like to enter, and you do not have my e-mail, just say so in the comments box, and I will post it in the comments. I will be checking really regularly, so don't be shy! The more the merrier!
3. I will assign a point system for this particular contest, all points out of ten. The point system is completely arbitrary and really, is just there to make you think you can win more points than other people...sort of the way Kool-Aid points or Popsicle stick points are useful for buying things like video games or boom boxes if you saved up enough of them. Like, thirteen million or so. In other words, this contest is out of thirty points, ten points per section (Art, quiz, ego-massaging of Brennan)
4. Please do all three parts if you would like to increase your chances of winning. I'm trying to make this fair so that people have a good shot at this! =D
5. No spamming me with answers, and no taking of other contest player's lives, please. That's not very nice.
6. The prizes possible will be listed at the bottom of this post, and I will mail the prize if it is physical, or if you want digital art, I will post it on here, and if time/resources allow, I will also make a physical copy as well, that will look nice. Very nice.
Contest
Part one-Art



You shouldn't even need a clue, but if you do, Nintendo era, high scores, and dancing Russian men. Or maybe Ukrainian, now that I think about it. Help? Anybody?
Part Two-Quiz
Since I have a variety of friends, and each and everyone of them is, uh, different...or...special, as I like to think, I'm going to have a quiz that tests your pop culture, mathematical, and linguistics and world culture skills! (Note: Any possible mistakes I make are not mistakes. They're really just correct answers that you failed to comprehend, and therefore, you should have gotten the same answers as me. So there.)
1. Math-How many kilometres did I run around the track yesterday? Let's say the track is 400m around, and I ran 37 laps, just figuratively speaking, for sure. How many kms would that be?
2. A man who is clearly drunk walks up to you and says, "Vive Le France!"
Do you
A) Explain to him that it is no longer WWII, and that sort of attitude really isn't supported here.
B) Shout "Vive le Québec Libre!" in solidarity, as if you were some sort of strange French politician that failed to comprehend Canadian political and social trends or
C) Slap him and yell, "Je vous tuerai et le crachat sur votre tombe!"
3. There once was a show called Powerpuff Girls produced in the later 90s, early 2000s. Who do you think is my favourite Powerpuff Girl? (You can watch some clips on YouTube if you need a reference, I'm sure.)
a) Blossom
b) Buttercup
c) Bubbles
Part 3-Persuasion
Persuade me why I should give you first prize. Something short, about a sentence long, or shorter, or something else you can bribe me with. Donations accepted in forms of food, shelter, water, clothing or general amusement. (Aka. Anything that makes me laugh.) Will also take monetary bribes. Nothing is too shallow for me! =D
OK, well, that looks like the whole contest, ready to go! I will be happily awaiting your interesting and creative replies. The prizes are:
1) Grand Prize-Your choice of any form of art. Anything. I will provide suggestions should you want or desire guidance.
2) Semi-Grand Prize- I will give you a choice of thee possible things that I can make that you will be forced to like! And, you'll like it. Yes. Yes, you will.
3) Not-so-Grand-but-could-be-worse-Prize-for-Third-Place- I will make something for you. It will probably involve macaroni and glue. I might eat the glue, which might force me to eat the macaroni, which might force me to send a letter of condolence. Hopefully you don't get third prize. Uh, but still, could be great! =D
OK, so guess away! Comments and suggestions or requests for e-mail, leave them in the comments box, please!