This will be my last post for about a week, since the DP and I are heading out of town for a wee vacation. Mentally I've already left the city limits, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through work tomorrow. I've been playing Suzy Homemaker tonight, doing the laundry and cleaning the apartment before our departure. (I *hate* to come home to a mess.) Because I knew that there was much to be done, I couldn't resist stopping and buying some dinner at the grocery store. I know, I know! It was not in the budget. But it was tasty - chicken, scalloped potatoes and some Asian greens. Yum.
I'll do my best to keep track of things while I'm away! Take care everyone.
Total debt: $6600 and a bit (I fear there will be some interest added on before long...)
Spent today: $9.36
Weekly total: $93.13 (Not bad!)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
I'm working it out
Yesterday evening I was out with some of the lovely ladies that I did my post-grad degree with, so my late arrival home meant that I never got around to blogging. It happens!
Anyway, I hadn't seen one of the ladies in way too long, and little did I know that she is a fellow blogger. She's also a fantastic jewellery designer! Check out her blog and drool over her creations. (Try using the links to various types of material to see some of her wares.) I am going to put "Buy pretty jewellery from pretty friend" on my post-student loan to-do list!
This evening the DP and I took a trip to the gym. Did I tell you guys that he finally joined my gym? And they're giving us a "couple's rate," so I'll actually save a couple bucks a month. PLUS I finally got them to do the proper paperwork to give me the corporate discount that I can get because of the company I work for. I looked into this last year and the guy at the gym sort on intimated that it was going to be more paperwork than the discount was worth. And for some reason I just rolled over. Just like that! (I am in dire need of assertiveness training. I seem to have an instant politeness override.) Turns out that the corporate thing saves me $2 a month! $24 a year!! That isn't small potatoes. That's, like, several cheap T-shirts at Joe Fresh!
Anyway, the paperwork is done, the DP and I worked out together tonight (way more fun that going alone), but we missed a few of the routines on SYTYCD. Luckily they re-air the show repeatedly all week long, so I'm not too worried.
Okay, I need to crawl into bed and finish "Me talk pretty one day." That David Sedaris is one fu*#ed up motherfu@%er, but he makes me laugh.
Total debt: $6600 and a bit (Gah! I'm stuck there for another week or so. I'm beginning to hate the number.)
Spent yesterday: $13.93 (Kitty litter and treats.)
Spent today: $1.05 (A single orange almond biscotti from St. Lawrence Market. Yum!)
Anyway, I hadn't seen one of the ladies in way too long, and little did I know that she is a fellow blogger. She's also a fantastic jewellery designer! Check out her blog and drool over her creations. (Try using the links to various types of material to see some of her wares.) I am going to put "Buy pretty jewellery from pretty friend" on my post-student loan to-do list!
This evening the DP and I took a trip to the gym. Did I tell you guys that he finally joined my gym? And they're giving us a "couple's rate," so I'll actually save a couple bucks a month. PLUS I finally got them to do the proper paperwork to give me the corporate discount that I can get because of the company I work for. I looked into this last year and the guy at the gym sort on intimated that it was going to be more paperwork than the discount was worth. And for some reason I just rolled over. Just like that! (I am in dire need of assertiveness training. I seem to have an instant politeness override.) Turns out that the corporate thing saves me $2 a month! $24 a year!! That isn't small potatoes. That's, like, several cheap T-shirts at Joe Fresh!
Anyway, the paperwork is done, the DP and I worked out together tonight (way more fun that going alone), but we missed a few of the routines on SYTYCD. Luckily they re-air the show repeatedly all week long, so I'm not too worried.
Okay, I need to crawl into bed and finish "Me talk pretty one day." That David Sedaris is one fu*#ed up motherfu@%er, but he makes me laugh.
Total debt: $6600 and a bit (Gah! I'm stuck there for another week or so. I'm beginning to hate the number.)
Spent yesterday: $13.93 (Kitty litter and treats.)
Spent today: $1.05 (A single orange almond biscotti from St. Lawrence Market. Yum!)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Pardon me
Every since I "updated" the look of my blog a few months ago, I haven't been getting any reports on my site traffic, even though the proper code is embedded. So I'm going to remove some of the newer elements to see if they're contributing to the problem.
Please excuse the random changes while I figure this out.
Thanks!
Please excuse the random changes while I figure this out.
Thanks!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Money in the mail
Many years ago, when I was still "earning a living" as a professional performer, I used to do extra work on movies, TV shows and commercials. Since I was a union member, I could make a decent amount of money in one day just for sitting around drinking tepid tea out of Styrofoam cups for 14 hours and then walking down a street a few times in the rain at 1:30 a.m. for an exterior establishment shot. Seriously. Generally the work was deadly boring, but the paychecks were nice.
(I refuse to do the math about what I make now in comparison to then. It would be too painful.)
Some highlights of that life included meeting William H. Macy on set (Very Nice Man!); watching Liev Shreiber play the guitar just off camera while Jeff Goldblum got down and did push ups just before they yelled action, so he would seem out of breath; and eating many a delicious buffet meal. (On set catering is generally very good.)
One of many low points: Having to be the stand-in on a sex scene where the male stand-in (who was lying on top of me at the time) tried to chat me up. Ew. Gross. No thanks.
Anyway, one hot summer night in 1999 I got called to do an overnight shoot on some U.S. TV movie called "Chippendale Murders." I can't say I was looking forward to it. There were 200 extras on set. I can't remember exactly how the rules work, but I believe only the first 10 or so extras have to be union, everyone else can be non-union. Non-union extras work for $8 an hour and don't get overtime. (At least back when I was doing it.) They were universally known to be a bit crazy, so I was dreading being stuck with so many of them all night.
However, about an hour into the evening, they put out a call that the director needed to see all the non-union girls. Turns out they needed to cast a "best friend" for the female lead in the movie.
*Oh, I forgot to mention that the movie was set in the 80s, so at this point I've been costumed in electric blue Hammer pants, red flats (before flats were cool) and a big belt. The makeup women had teased up my hair and applied some blue eye shadow. I was feeling pretty hot!
So I joked with the director - how could he not pick me! Look at my Hammer pants!!
He totally picked me.
My night changed entirely. I was suddenly whisked off to Honeyland! (That's where all the main trailers are. Much better than any extra holdings.) My hair and makeup was redone by the main hair and makeup people. I was shuttled around with the "actors" and got to eat from the Kraft truck rather than compete with 200 others for a couple of slices of white bread and peanut butter. It was a very exciting night.
My scene involved walking into a strip club with the film's leading lady, stopping at the door to make eyes at the half-dressed man, and then continuing on my way. I didn't even get to say a line, but I did get upgraded to "actor," which is a big step up from extra, let me tell you.
During the first couple of takes I was really nervous. All of the extras were on set, plus the crew, so my audience was extensive. The camera was behind us. All went well.
Next, they reversed the shot, meaning that the camera came around in front of us. I was calling upon all my years of theatre training to do a good job, chanting "be in the moment, be in the moment, be in the moment," to myself. I concentrated so hard that I walked right into the camera. In front of about 250 people. Generally there's only one person on set that's allowed to say "cut," and that's the director. When I heard the cameraman say it, I knew I had really screwed up.
I earned a nice paycheck that evening, which included a 5 year buyout, meaning that they could air the movie as much as they wanted for 5 years before they'd have to pay me anything else. Today I came home to a cheque. I am still earning money off of that one evening. Unbelievable. I've never even seen the movie, so I don't know that I even made the final cut!
It's not a big cheque, so I hardly get to do a happy dance, but considering that it's basically free money at this point, I'm not going to complain. I'm going to put some of it aside for taxes (income is income) and then I'm going to put the rest on my credit card, to help pay off my trip to the dentist last week.
If only I'd done more gigs like this one...
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $18.95 (Some food, plus I rescued my favourite dress from the dry cleaner in a timely manner to avoid his wrath.)
(I refuse to do the math about what I make now in comparison to then. It would be too painful.)
Some highlights of that life included meeting William H. Macy on set (Very Nice Man!); watching Liev Shreiber play the guitar just off camera while Jeff Goldblum got down and did push ups just before they yelled action, so he would seem out of breath; and eating many a delicious buffet meal. (On set catering is generally very good.)
One of many low points: Having to be the stand-in on a sex scene where the male stand-in (who was lying on top of me at the time) tried to chat me up. Ew. Gross. No thanks.
Anyway, one hot summer night in 1999 I got called to do an overnight shoot on some U.S. TV movie called "Chippendale Murders." I can't say I was looking forward to it. There were 200 extras on set. I can't remember exactly how the rules work, but I believe only the first 10 or so extras have to be union, everyone else can be non-union. Non-union extras work for $8 an hour and don't get overtime. (At least back when I was doing it.) They were universally known to be a bit crazy, so I was dreading being stuck with so many of them all night.
However, about an hour into the evening, they put out a call that the director needed to see all the non-union girls. Turns out they needed to cast a "best friend" for the female lead in the movie.
*Oh, I forgot to mention that the movie was set in the 80s, so at this point I've been costumed in electric blue Hammer pants, red flats (before flats were cool) and a big belt. The makeup women had teased up my hair and applied some blue eye shadow. I was feeling pretty hot!
So I joked with the director - how could he not pick me! Look at my Hammer pants!!
He totally picked me.
My night changed entirely. I was suddenly whisked off to Honeyland! (That's where all the main trailers are. Much better than any extra holdings.) My hair and makeup was redone by the main hair and makeup people. I was shuttled around with the "actors" and got to eat from the Kraft truck rather than compete with 200 others for a couple of slices of white bread and peanut butter. It was a very exciting night.
My scene involved walking into a strip club with the film's leading lady, stopping at the door to make eyes at the half-dressed man, and then continuing on my way. I didn't even get to say a line, but I did get upgraded to "actor," which is a big step up from extra, let me tell you.
During the first couple of takes I was really nervous. All of the extras were on set, plus the crew, so my audience was extensive. The camera was behind us. All went well.
Next, they reversed the shot, meaning that the camera came around in front of us. I was calling upon all my years of theatre training to do a good job, chanting "be in the moment, be in the moment, be in the moment," to myself. I concentrated so hard that I walked right into the camera. In front of about 250 people. Generally there's only one person on set that's allowed to say "cut," and that's the director. When I heard the cameraman say it, I knew I had really screwed up.
I earned a nice paycheck that evening, which included a 5 year buyout, meaning that they could air the movie as much as they wanted for 5 years before they'd have to pay me anything else. Today I came home to a cheque. I am still earning money off of that one evening. Unbelievable. I've never even seen the movie, so I don't know that I even made the final cut!
It's not a big cheque, so I hardly get to do a happy dance, but considering that it's basically free money at this point, I'm not going to complain. I'm going to put some of it aside for taxes (income is income) and then I'm going to put the rest on my credit card, to help pay off my trip to the dentist last week.
If only I'd done more gigs like this one...
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $18.95 (Some food, plus I rescued my favourite dress from the dry cleaner in a timely manner to avoid his wrath.)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I could tell you how to solve the problem(s)
Quick pre-bed post for me. Just wanted to let you all know that the tea was incredible! Smells heavenly and tastes divine. I am saving it for special occasions, so I don't use it up too fast.
Was very disappointed by the reality show I was eagerly anticipating this evening. The contestants were fantastic, but the show itself didn't seem to have anything to do with what it's supposed to be accomplishing. Sad, really, since the first two episodes last week were quite slick and enjoyable. Why does Canadian television sometimes get it so wrong?
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $19.53 (more groceries...)
Was very disappointed by the reality show I was eagerly anticipating this evening. The contestants were fantastic, but the show itself didn't seem to have anything to do with what it's supposed to be accomplishing. Sad, really, since the first two episodes last week were quite slick and enjoyable. Why does Canadian television sometimes get it so wrong?
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $19.53 (more groceries...)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Tea for two and two times tea
It was a lovely, lovely day. A nice lazy morning with the paper and a cup of tea followed by a gym visit. Then lunch with the DP and off to meet a dear old friend for another cup of tea.
We decided to avoid the chains and try something completely new, so we met in a somewhat sketchy area of Dundas West to go to a place called Ella's Uncle, which I found online. It was a charming little indy place, with just a few stools in the window and nary a bathroom. (The indy restaurant across the street let me use their loo, thank goodness!)
My friend bought my tea and some cookies for us to share before I could even pull out my wallet. It was very sweet and generous. She even brought me some incredible loose tea from a place called Tealish. Here is the flavour that she gifted to me:
Walnut Ave - Green Tea
A sweet and rich green tea blend that is one of our most popular. Walnut Ave. green tea is a blend in honour of the coolest street in Toronto, Walnut Ave. – home to the Tealish modern tea boutique! The blend features fine organic green tea with walnuts, almonds, pineapple bits, coconut shreds, and brittle bits. An absolutely delicious infusion with an incredible aroma and a sweet nutty aftertaste. This green tea is amazing and many of our customers say that it’s like dessert in a cup!
People, I cannot explain to you how amazing it smells! The DP and I are saving it for a Sunday morning treat. I'll let you know how it is. I suspect it will be heavenly! (Thank you tea gifter, for both the tea and the conversation.)
After a trip to my local library branch - where I picked up Douglas Coupland's >The Gum Thief and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking for my upcoming holidays - I did a bit of grocery shopping and then came home to watch a sappy, girly movie that I didn't have to rent, because one of our wonderful neighbours offered to lend me their copy. So I watched and folded laundry and worked on the big Sudoku in the paper (which I screwed up) until the DP returned home from his tea date with his friend. After a quick recap of our afternoons, I went back to what I was doing and he made me dinner. Not a bad deal, eh?
Afterwards we finished a movie that I'd picked up at the library early last week. It's a stylish film created entirely with green screens that was sadly boring. It took us three sittings to get through it.
And now it is Saturday evening. Traditionally we are supposed to be out whooping it up, but instead we're each at our computers in the office with our sometimes cranky cat on the sofa behind us and the new Coldplay album playing. Not exciting perhaps, but happy making for me right now. What more can I ask for?
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $17.34
We decided to avoid the chains and try something completely new, so we met in a somewhat sketchy area of Dundas West to go to a place called Ella's Uncle, which I found online. It was a charming little indy place, with just a few stools in the window and nary a bathroom. (The indy restaurant across the street let me use their loo, thank goodness!)
My friend bought my tea and some cookies for us to share before I could even pull out my wallet. It was very sweet and generous. She even brought me some incredible loose tea from a place called Tealish. Here is the flavour that she gifted to me:
Walnut Ave - Green Tea
A sweet and rich green tea blend that is one of our most popular. Walnut Ave. green tea is a blend in honour of the coolest street in Toronto, Walnut Ave. – home to the Tealish modern tea boutique! The blend features fine organic green tea with walnuts, almonds, pineapple bits, coconut shreds, and brittle bits. An absolutely delicious infusion with an incredible aroma and a sweet nutty aftertaste. This green tea is amazing and many of our customers say that it’s like dessert in a cup!
People, I cannot explain to you how amazing it smells! The DP and I are saving it for a Sunday morning treat. I'll let you know how it is. I suspect it will be heavenly! (Thank you tea gifter, for both the tea and the conversation.)
After a trip to my local library branch - where I picked up Douglas Coupland's >The Gum Thief and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking for my upcoming holidays - I did a bit of grocery shopping and then came home to watch a sappy, girly movie that I didn't have to rent, because one of our wonderful neighbours offered to lend me their copy. So I watched and folded laundry and worked on the big Sudoku in the paper (which I screwed up) until the DP returned home from his tea date with his friend. After a quick recap of our afternoons, I went back to what I was doing and he made me dinner. Not a bad deal, eh?
Afterwards we finished a movie that I'd picked up at the library early last week. It's a stylish film created entirely with green screens that was sadly boring. It took us three sittings to get through it.
And now it is Saturday evening. Traditionally we are supposed to be out whooping it up, but instead we're each at our computers in the office with our sometimes cranky cat on the sofa behind us and the new Coldplay album playing. Not exciting perhaps, but happy making for me right now. What more can I ask for?
Total debt: $6600 and a bit
Spent today: $17.34
Weekend mornings are lazy...
Good morning all.
I realized last night that I forgot to post my weekly total on Thursday. It's higher than it should be. I have no excuses, just frustration. And a renewed sense of focus. Hopefully.
Didn't post yesterday because I got home late from a BBQ with friends. It was one of those nights when you laugh so hard it sort of physically hurts. I love that. It's pretty much free.
Total debt: $6600 and a bit (I fear I'm stuck here for a while)
Overdue weekly total: $127.95 (Ouch!)
Spent yesterday: $12.95 (on wine for the BBQ)
I realized last night that I forgot to post my weekly total on Thursday. It's higher than it should be. I have no excuses, just frustration. And a renewed sense of focus. Hopefully.
Didn't post yesterday because I got home late from a BBQ with friends. It was one of those nights when you laugh so hard it sort of physically hurts. I love that. It's pretty much free.
Total debt: $6600 and a bit (I fear I'm stuck here for a while)
Overdue weekly total: $127.95 (Ouch!)
Spent yesterday: $12.95 (on wine for the BBQ)
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