Cheeze whiz adds personality

Lisa and I walked to the park to see Ron Paley and his band play at the Lyric theatre. Just before the footbridge, a guy in a black suit and dark hair that touched his shoulders crossed in front of us. I immediately knew who he was. It was Jeremy, a local talented singer who I first discovered a few years ago at a charity function, where he sang with the Ron Paley Band. He had that look like he could be shy, but his stage presence and voice was amazing.

That first time I saw him I actually walked up to him and started a conversation. He then invited me to come check out his band playing a Halloween party the following weekend at Earls on Main. I got Lisa to come and sit with me while I kept an eye out for him.

He walked by us once. I grabbed her arm and squeaked, "he's here!" Later, we passed in the hall on the way to the washrooms.

"Hey! You came!" he said when he spotted, and OH MY GOD recognized me. I think I said something like, "Yeah! This is great!" Or I hope I said that, I just remember that the night was pretty much a failed opportunity and I was so disappointed with myself.

So it wasn't a total surprise when I saw Jeremy tonight at the park. I didn't realize he was still doing gigs with the jazz band though.

Lisa and I found a spot to set up our chairs. Just as we were getting comfortable, Guess who walks right in front of us? Yeah, nice view.

Some how Lisa and I got to talking about love, boys, and the ones who confuse the hell out of us. I told her the Jeremy story (she had forgotten all about that Halloween night). We ask ourselves how we can go about meeting guys. Jeremy walks by again. Seriously, there's a whole freakin park for him to wander, couldn't he have taken his dark suit and sunglasses around behind us?

I bopped my head along to the music and continued ranting and sympathizing with Lisa about the guy thing--why do they play games? Is he interested? Should I make a move?--waiting all the while for Jeremy to take the stage and do his number. Then, at 8:45, Ron announced that they were supposed to be wrapping up, but oh, he almost forgot about Jeremy! Finally, the moment I didn't know I was waiting for.

All it took was the first few bars and quite honestly, there were some tears in my eyes. He was going to sing, "(Everything I do) I do it for you". I love that song (sorry Nigel, you can take the girl out of the bad music, but you can't take the bad music out of the girl). And he did an awesome job of it.

There's no love - like your love
And no other - could give more love
There's nowhere - unless you're there
All the time - all the way

Oh - you can't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
I can't help it - there's nothin' I want more
I would fight for you - I'd lie for you
Walk the wire for you - ya I'd die for you

Bryan Adams (Everything I do) I do it for you

That's love. That's what's worth waiting for. That is what every lousy date and heartbreak is worth enduring for. That's what I want, and I will settle for no less. I would walk down the aisle to that song, I'd make those lyrics my vows. It's Cheeze Whiz, but I like it.

Lisa turned to me and said, "I don't believe in destiny, but if I did, I'd say that Jeremy was yours."

I laughed. I don't think Jeremy, beautiful and talented as he is, is Mr. Destiny. But he did sing my song.

I needed that.

The Lil things

I went to feed Bill and Lil this morning but there was only one hungry little fish to greet me. Lil had died.

And then my bus didn't come.

Zipity do da! Part II

On Saturday afternoon I had plans with a group of friends, including Rob, Vince and Lisa, to visit Manitoba's first zip line park. Having never done anything like it before, I had no idea what to expect. The park is a good two hour drive from the city, located in the Pembina Valley area.

No doubt, many people think that the prairies are nothing but flat grasslands. While we don't have the topography of BC or even Alberta's foothills, Manitoba does have some picturesque areas of higher elevation.

Another thing I love about Manitoba is the hot summers. Saturday was a typical hot summer day, getting up to 29 degrees. While we waited to get our safety checks done after we geared up with harnesses and stylish helmets, we were already feeling the heat.

Hy-Wire Zipline Adventures park consists of five zip lines that circle you back to the start. The cables range in length from 500 to 1400 feet in length. The longest ride takes about 30 seconds. Our guide, Allen, would zip across ahead of us to the other side so he could help bring us in. Another guide stuck with us to hook us on to the cables. On my first ride I nearly took Vince out and I thought I'd miss the landing table altogether. I wish I had a picture of that.

After the first zip we had to hike. Man, did we have to hike. 150m straight up, in 10lbs of gear, in 29 degree heat.

"That's the worst hike you'll have to do," Allen assured us.

Some people took their zipping casually and just enjoyed the ride. Some inverted themselves for a different view. I decided to just enjoy the ride but try to capture some of the scenery with my camera. I got videos from the last two rides, but I don't think they really captured the full awesomeness of it all. I mean, it looks like my feet could nearly touch the ground!



More pictures of zipping here.

After our two hour adventure, we wanted to stop in at a good burger place for some food before heading back. We headed to The Burger Shak in Manitou. Being a sucker for ice cream and clever marketing, I had to order a Broken Heart parfait. I went up to the counter and said, "I'd like a Broken Heart, please." The girl replied, "a small or large?" I went for the big broken heart. Lisa was kind enough to help me out with it, because that's what best friends do. If I really wanted to push this metaphor I could add that I couldn't actually finish my broken heart because near the end it was just too sweet.

On the way home we played tourists and stopped to snap some pictures of the windmill farms.
We also jumped into a farmer's field of canola for a few fun shots.

For our last stop we swung by Miami. Didn't you know that Winnipeg is just a short drive away from Miami?

Zipity do da! Part I

First, I will tell you that my bad day on Friday turned itself around. I went to a family barbecue where the guests of honours were a three-year-old boy and his father, visiting from Victoria, BC. I got to play cars and blow bubbles with the little fair-haired impish one. When was the last time you dipped a wand into a bottle of liquid soap? Let me tell you, it was not recently enough. Get yourself down to the dollar store and pick yourself up a bottle of bubbles. You really can blow all your troubles away.

After dinner and playtime I was feeling like the stresses of the day were safely behind me. Vince, home again for two weeks, had called me earlier (which totally caught me by surprise. I didn't recognize his voice on the phone at first, and when I asked who it was he replied, "Brad", which immediately made me think of my last one-date-wonder guy from two weeks ago. A nanosecond after I wondered how the guy got my number, I figured out who it really was.). On a roundabout way home I swung by his place and picked him up, with the plan to go see George's improv show at the Fringe Festival.

I guess usually it's a two-man show, but for some reason we were fortunate enough to be there for a special guest appearance by a third guy. George introduced his third by saying, "and this is our annual one night stand with Ed Cuddy."

I laughed knowing that I'd have to tell my friend that I got my one night stand after all.

George's show was hilarious. As we were leaving, Vince said, "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time". I couldn't remember the last time I laughed like that either, but wow, did it feel good.

We ended off the night with drinks on a patio on Corydon, yet another Winnipeg thing that Vince had never experienced before. I got home late, went to bed late, and woke up early, ready for a zippy adventure.

Once upon a lousy day...

A twenty-something year-old girl nearly had a breakdown. It was just one of those days really, that everyone has, and that looks not so bad when reflected upon from the bottom of a few glasses of alcoholic beverages. Work was overwhelming, she had lost a pearl from her ring, and a transit strike was looming but she was left without a plan B. She was cranky, oh yes indeed. Thank God she has supportive friends.

11:48 AM me: You're having an overwhelming day at work, don't have a plan B for when transit goes on strike next week, and just realized you lost a pearl in your ring. While in the grand scheme of things, this doesn't add up to much more than a rough day, you're looking for some kind of quick relief. What do you do?

11:49 AM he: One-night stand, definitely.

She laughed, and then thought about how much work it would take to find a one-night stand that was A) not scuzzy and B) not clingy on her lunch hour. Impossible.

She met The Girls for lunch outside and clunked her head on the table. Someone had a bag of cherries, a very Jillish thing, and suggested she try shooting the pits for distance. She blew, and frankly, sucked. At 12:30 she announced she was going for a walk. She had an idea that some music therapy would help, and headed for Music Traders, the Village used CD store.

Judy kindly (oh so kindly, given the girl's foul mood) joined her. The girl picked out Collective Soul to sooth her soul, paid, and headed back to the oppressing office.

Upon her return, she smiled at the cupcake on her desk. Someone, not even consciously knowing she was having A Day, had thought of her. That was super nice.

Choosing to spend a few extra minutes obsessing over whether "set up" was one word, two words or hyphenated, she missed her bus home.

Finally, she arrived home, grabbed a beer, popped in the new CD, and told the world about her day. The sun was shining, it was the weekend, and Monday, although she was already dreading it, was a safe distance away.