The familiar
The comfortable
The exciting
The ease
The happy

Yeah I know I’ve been negligent about journal-writing. It’s unexplainable. The weekend has been busy, of course, as it always is. I got up early on Friday to do some work visiting clients. Then Jen and I drove to Gravenhurst to take a dinner boat cruise that was put on by one of my suppliers. Well, we didn’t intend to drive to Gravenhurst. We were supposed to get a bus ride, but we drove all the way to Markham and got there 20 minutes late… just in time to see the bus leave without us. Yeeaaah. So we drove another 2 hours to Gravenhurst and barely made it in time to catch the boat. The cruise was nice. It was on Lake Muskoka and we looked at a lot of ridiculously expensive cottages.

On Saturday I met a client at home in the morning, then had the devmeet in the afternoon. ance: :boogie: It was good to see some of my favorite deviants there. After the devmeet I drove to Mississauga to Nick’s housewarming party. It was great to see that bunch of friends too. I didn’t get back until after 2, and then stayed up talking to Jen until about 4. She’s a bad influence on me! hehe

I had a shoot on Sunday with my little cousin Lauren. Her agent didn’t like the last series of headshots I took of her, and wanted some new ones. Ok. Anyway, I got the photos done, and they’re not exciting, but whatever. This agent’s main problem is that she didn’t like looking at the proofs online. She wanted to have an actual contact sheet. I explained to her that the contact sheet is gonna suck, and that the online versions are bigger and clearer, but obviously she wants it done her way. So, gotta print and ship the stupid contact sheet to them. Maybe I’ll send a brain to her as well. Clearly she needs it.

Holy crap. Another building in my neighborhood burned down last night. It was a kind of junky four-storey apartment building. It’s only two blocks away, just like the other one. Can’t people friggin stop smoking in bed? No one was hurt, apparently, but there was a huge plume of smoke coming out of the top of it that covered the whole block. I woke up this morning and wondered why it smelled like camping. Our power was out from about 4AM until 9:30AM, which didn’t bug me too much because I went to the gym. Anyway, I considered grabbing the camera to take some pics, but it’s becoming so commonplace that it hardly seems worth the effort. I’ll wait for the next one.

I just invented the word. I needed a subject, so why not make up a new word? Anyway, life lately has been pretty relaxing in general. The weather is beautiful, and I’m taking it easy at work so I have more time to get Jen familiar with the city and her new environment. We’ve spent a lot of time visiting different places, and making my home girl-friendly. For instance, I bought this three-shelf cart thing for storing girl bathroom stuff. Before this week, I only had to find a place for my one extra bar of soap, and a few disposable shavers. Now things are a bit more complicated. We also hunted down some foods and drinks that would make her feel more at home. Anyway, it’s a fun process, and in between we’re spending a lot of time talking about photography and movies and stuff.

I’m starting to ramp up my normal life again though. I’ve booked an increasing number of work appointments for later on this week. It’s also a pretty full week of improv too. I’m teaching a drop-in workshop on Wednesday night, and also performing in the “Battle of the Sexes” Theatresports show on Thursday night.

Tonight I had two shoots scheduled. The first was a paid headshot shoot. The girl didn’t bother to show up, or phone to cancel. So, yeah. I had a couple extra hours to lie on the couch and watch TV. At least I got to eat dinner too. The second shoot was with Allison, who’s a girl I’ve wanted to photograph for a while since I met her at the theatre. She’s uniquely beautiful, with a look that is filled with contrasts, and eyes like an anime character. I reserved tonight to shoot her for my Femme Elemental series. The photo of her in this journal is not for the series, but I thought it was a nice portrait of her. I got quite a few shots that are suitable for the series, but not many of them show her whole face.

Anyway, I’m heading to bed. I’ve been up late for the last couple of nights. Tomorrow is a gym day so I want to be at least a little bit alive.

Jen is here! I picked her up from the airport today. It’s amazing to finally meet her in real life, only after having become such close friends. I was quite nervous about meeting her, and I don’t even know why. I don’t often get nervous. Maybe it’s the fact that this person I’ve never met in real life was suddenly going to be changing my life by living with me until the end of November. It’s definitely not normal, but then again, since when do I do things normally?

I only had to wait at the airport for about five minutes before she came out, and it felt like an eternity. But after spending just a few minutes with her I knew it was going to be fine. My first impression is that Jen is exactly as she is online. It’s funny how real life translates to online life. Anyway, I’m excited about showing Jen what it’s like to be Canadian, and getting to know a great friend even better.