Costume Party: Oct. 29/04

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Click for a larger version.

Which Erica?

Cupcakes

Spider-Boys

Cat in the Hat

Pumpkins

Carving

Pig-i-let

Principeza

Heroes

Three-Headed Monster

Jack-o-Lanterns

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Next project and hugs

Of course I *do* have many "next projects" already (including my new job!). But what figures most prominently in my schedule now (almost all evenings for a while) is "The Hound of the Baskervilles".


Yesterday Gabe the director addressed what I expected that he would have to: the scene in which my "wife" cries and so far I stand there and do nothing. I wasn't offended when he said I was a heartless so-and-so; I told him that I *do* need direction with this.


Now, when I say that, because I've never been married or even close to it, I don't know how to react to my "wife" crying, I realize that many of you married guys might say, "Neither do I!"

But anyway, when one of the cast well-meaningly said, "You're not a touchy-feely type" it was close enough to the truth that I let it go (and that wasn't the time for discussion anyway).


In this instance, I *have* been feeling for her, especially as each time she cranks up the emotion more and more. I actually feel as if I should hold her much sooner than Gabe has now directed me to do -- and I think I would with a really good friend and imagine I would try with a wife. But in this case she would have to do this entire speech clutched in my arms. In response to this I suspect Gabe would say, "If you feel like doing it, do it and then *I* will tell you to back off." (or maybe my "wife" will!!)


As for not being a touchy-feely type, for some reason I do have that rep and I don't feel it's entirely fair:

First of all, I *do* like being hugged. As a matter of principle I do appreciate the "offer-to-hug" pose as an invitation. This allows for the hypothetical refusal of the offer, but I don't think I ever refuse.

I don't go around initiating hugs often because

1) Something in me does feel as if it's (potentially) invasive. (This is the way in which my rep is accurate.)

2) I'm not entirely sure of my motives, especially when hugged by a woman, because that *is* pleasant. With very few exceptions in my life, so far, these times are relatively brief. As well there are no other actions involved which could be confusing. And so this is mostly a theoretical issue and needn't bother anyone else, since it's always over so quickly.


(The exceptions BTW are mostly some times of extreme grief in my life and the non-confusing comfort of a long-time *married* friend and relatives.)


Maybe this is not fair and sexist, but I tend to be suspicious of boys/men who go around often hugging girls/women -- but maybe that is simply my own projecting of my mixed motives onto them.


OTOH I don't have the same suspicions of girls/women. This bothers me because it is actually *not* a compliment to an entire gender to consider them naive, well-meaning and always pure in motives.


It may just be that whenever I of any *specific* huggy women I hate to think of them as impure in motives at all. And then I generalize.And any of the guys I think of were going around hugging the women I'd like to.


So maybe I'm just jealous.
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And maybe some of you think, "Stop thinking about this so much, Richard." Just take things as they come and enjoy yourself. Well, there's something to that and maybe the fact that I have been

philosophizing about this so much shows that I am indeed not a (naturally) "touchy/feely" person. But I am what I am.


I need a hug.

No replies - reply

IV/ISCF 60th Anniversary Banquet: Oct. 22/04

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Not in chronological order:

Here are a few pix of the earliest days from the presentation made that night. Others are scattered throughout this blog, usually tagged "iscf".

The 20s - 40s

The 50s

Mrs. Plunkett

Miss Moyer

Don Merritt

Donna (Beer) MacMaster

The 60s & 1971

1979

The 90s

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Coffeehouse: Oct. 17/04

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The Crowd

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Busy

Sorry to all my blog fans. I am quite busy these days with prepping for the IVCF Fundraising Banquet on Friday. We're putting together a retrospective on IVCF in Thunder Bay (c. 60 years) and I (with help from the programme committee and Annika the ISCF worker) have been writing the script, scanning (and vidcapping) pictures and doing some work on the music. It's been stressful at times, but others are working hard too and there are pleasant aspects to it as well.

Later.

Skating: Oct. 8/04

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Father and Son

Pink

"My solicitor will contact you in the morning."

Another Another Father and Son

Hockey Mums

Canuck Family

Girls

"Keep your stick on the ice."

Fedorov

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Hike to the Cascades: Oct. 3/04

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Father and Daughter

Husband and Wife

Visiting Uncle

Archer in camo

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My Crappy/Hockey Life Skills

Okay, I'll do this later. I'm supposed to be working on something else. Stay tuned.

Love in "The U.S. of Leland"

Yday Tim and I watched "The United States of Leland". In it a character (a teenager written presumably by an adult) says that "love" (or was it "being *in* love")is thinking about someone constantly, waking up and going to sleep thinking about him/her.

Now I was influenced years ago by M. Scott Peck's Road Less Travelled in which he theorizes that what is being described above is actually more of a necessary temporary obsessive insanity (involving chemical reactions) intended by "Nature" for the continuance of the human race. So I'm going to call that "being in love" rather than "love" as such.

Don't forget that Peck and I did say "necessary".

OTOH I'm just going to lob the idea out there to my millions of readers that my observations thus far lead me to suggest that a better def'n of love itself would have to do with whom you can't help but think about when you are faced with death, even if it's someone you're not obsessing over every minute prior to that.

This hypothesis is fairly difficult to test under experimental conditions.

But anyway, what do you think?

Sylvia's Eighth Birthday: Sept. 24/04

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Hound of Baskervilles First Reading

Last night was the first read-through of Cambrian Players' "The Hound of the Baskervilles". The stage directions described my character as tall, handsome and bearded. Norm ("Dr. Watson") said, "Well, you'll have the beard." ha ha Norm. I replied, "What? I'm not that short." ha ha

Lots of laughs. However, it's not a comedy.
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I mention Norm by name, because some of you had him as a teacher, I believe.

Greg's Birthday Party: Sept. 17/04

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Karen M.'s Birthday Party: Sept. 11/04

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Other blog

I am blogging at http://reppepper.mindsay.com occasionally as well. A followup to 9/11 thoughts is there today.

Do You Remember What Day It Is?

Well, likely you do if you have occasion today to say the date out loud since the words "September 11th" or "Nine Eleven" have been seared into our memories, evoking a Pavlovian response of "oooo". (I prefer to say "Eleven of Nine", but maybe that's flippant.)

The story of this year's memorial ceremony was the lead story on CBC news, but it's not as if this year the whole day is being dedicated to broadcasting the reading of the names etc.

I suppose it's part of moving on. Friends and family members will always remember this date, but a time will come when it's a footnote in the news broadcasts or relegated to "This Date in History" features.

And, of course, in other parts of the world other dates have been more significant, which we have already forgotten if we ever knew them. In Southern Russia they have a new date to remember for the rests of their lives. I likely will forget. They likely don't care much about today's date.

I'm blabbing about this in an attempt to break free of my own focus on my own personal set of dates and to connect with tragedies beyond myself.

I've Got a Job

So do you. It's right there in your Bible just before Psalms.

But seriously folks

I was interviewed on Wednesday for the job of part-time (25%)Youth Facilitator for the Anglican Deanery of Thunder Bay and today they phoned and told me that I have been chosen for the job. (The initial contract lasts only until Feb. '05.)

So next week I'll have some mtgs and sign paperwork and so maybe I'll leave it until then to describe my duties.

Yeah, so it had been a long time since I've had a job interview. I had one for my 2 year job at TBay Christian School in 1983. I remember having a little interview at the end of summer '86 when I came on with CSSM (part-time at that point), but I don't recall ever having to anything about an application or references. And I wasn't asked to get a police check until '03 (but I was getting one for ISCF anyway).

(But Elaine through her Camping Association work tended to be up to speed on such issues and so yes during the past several years many of the volunteer staff were referenced and checked for what that's worth.)

One interview question was to give my favourite scripture. I quoted several from Psalms, including 40, due to its connection with ISCF/Frontline (and my listening to U2's version recently). For the NT I gave 1 Tim. 1:7 "Fo-o-o-o-o-o-r, God has not given us a spirit of fear etc. etc." I didnt do the actions.

A tough (but standard) question was what I liked the most and the least about my past job.

Basic answer: the summer and the winter (respectively) because in the former we had focus and teamwork and the volunteer staff. I knew where I stood (or thought I did), but in the latter season I tended to feel left out and unsure of how my contributions were regarded. (I believed in their value, however, if I may say so.)

At one point I was explaining my preference for Hegelian thinking in teamwork (thesis vs. antithesis resulting in synthesis), meaning that in a teamwork setting I wish we *would* sit around the table at regular intervals and hash through the issues, *expecting* and *valuing* a diversity of opinions. I explained that I learned this in my highschool Communist history class.

Then because I was sitting at a little table in front of a row of three interviewers, I added "But I am not now, nor have I ever been a Communist."

But I've got to go have lunch with Tim and Kia and Juliet and do some more prep for my "gig" this afternoon leading games for the Homeschoolers. I'm also doing something similar on Sunday for St. Michael and All the Angels.

I hope that at least most of the angels appreciate it. :)

I'm Proud of My Mummy

Last night my Dad said "free food" so I jumped. I knew I was attending FW Rotary as a guest on the occasion of his and my mother's receiving some extra pins for donations to the Rotary Foundation.

But I didn't realize that my Mum was also being awarded the FW Rotary Club's highest honour: The Gordon and Vance Judge Award.

This was exceptional as my mother is not actually a Rotarian herself.

(Yes, women have been Rotarians for years!)

The award was particularly in recognition of the loyalty, perseverance and determination she showed in supporting my father through his year as District Governor, despite the recent amputation of his leg.

My father, of course, showed a lot of grit during that year as well, but I know he would say he could not have done it without my mother, who, in addition to many other tasks, did all of the driving around the district. In all our family trips my mother's preference was that my Dad be the long-distance driver.

So congratulations, Mum. I'm proud of you. I wish I could have hugged you longer, but it really did hurt my bruised ribs.

That I'll explain at some other time.

"I'm like"

I find the "I'm like, 'What'd you do last night?'; He's like, 'Nothin''; I'm like, 'Really?'; "He's like, etc." style of reporting a conversation so annoying

BUT

then I think. How do I report conversations (and how did I do so when I was a teenager)?

Is "I said...he said...I said...etc." that much more interesting?

And likely I said/say "I say...he says...I say", using what I will call the Narrative Present. (If that's not its real name, it should be.)

Note that we use the present for the future as well: "I'm meeting with Oswald tomorrow."

I'm considering resolving to report conversations creatively from now on:

"What did you do yesterday?" I queried.

"Nothin'" he muttered disconsolately.

"Really?" I probed inquisitively.

"Yeah, really!" he spat venomously.

"Hey, calm down. That's cool." I offered diplomatically.

Now that would never get annoying.

Cutting Edge Praise Song

More news about great but rainy time at MPC for "ISCF" Leaders Camp later.

But for now the cutting edge praise song I wrote while there inspired by something annika.mindsay.com said and a bit of Strong Bad.

Oh, God, You're so freakin' awesome.
I'm like, "You da bomb!"
You're like, "I uber love you."
I'm like, "You make me say 'woot'."

Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).

Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).

Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).

Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).
Men: Woot (Women echo: Woot).

Return to start. Sing ad nauseum.

If you're Bad, I'll give you the chords.

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ISCF Leaders Camp at MPC: Sept. 2004

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This photo (by Brian Jones?) may actually be from 2005. I'm not sure.

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