Shatner & Halloween aftermath!

November 3/11.

Tonight, I'm boldly going where I've never gone before! - To see William Shatner's one-man show at Massey Hall!

Bound to be entertaining in every way! The man is magic.

Whether he's Captain Kirk of Star Trek,

T.J. Hooker,

or my favourite character, Denny Crane, (Boston Legal), Shatner is bound to beam me up no matter what he does! At age 80, he has more energy than most men half his age, and his current mantra is, "Just say yes to opportunity!!" (I need more of that in my life). GIVE it to me Bill!

I'm going to meet my pal, Pam at Fran's for dinner, beforehand, so she can tell me all about Steve, the fantastic new man in her life!

And about her son, terrific teen, George, and their wild Halloween weekend at Fern Resort (where Pam & I first met, poolside, a number of summers ago). Check out George's killer carved pumpkin with a dagger in its head! (George CREATED this and won the award for scariest pumpkin!) LOVE it, - but maybe that's just me, - (Queen of horror movies since the age of 13)!
Are you following in my footsteps, George?

(Where's Freddy Krueger when I need him??) Robert Englund was always one of my fave interviews! Who KNEW??

Or Jason Voorhees?

Or Michael Myers??

Pam with her screamer Fern pal! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!

Scary Halloween characters aside, Fern Resort in Orillia is gorgeous in any season!

My stunning 19-year-old daughter, Kate, dressed for Halloween as a va-va-voom-vampy gothic gal!

(purple hair, fishnet stockings & all! - YES!!!)

She and her adorable boyfriend, Damian, did "door duty" on Halloween, giving candy to all the kids. (this pic taken B.C. - before costumes!)

Meanwhile, my son, Max went cinematic as Danny Zuko from Grease, with gorgeous girlfriend, Robyn, as sweet & sexy Sandy! Wow! (Hardly recognized you as a blonde, Robyn!!! - Systematic! Hydromatic! Electrifying! - GO greased lightning!) Insert wolf whistle here!!

Sunset on Halloween evening. - (Appropriately orange)!

Here are a few of the scary houses decked out in our neighbourhood!

Then, there's MY door! No time to go all-out, but at least there was a skeleton doing a dance, a few tiny decorations and one rather lame pumpkin! Boo!

The day after Halloween, met up with my old high school pal, Dean Rogers at The Friendly Greek for lunch. Always great company and the food, better than ever. (yes gang, I actually had lunch!!!)

Thanks for coming downtown Dean! I like our colours together. Very "pastel-ish"!

And speaking of colours, hard to believe they're still so vibrant in early November. Took these shots at Withrow Park, just down the street from our house. Beautiful!

This one shot at the bottom of our street, one of the loveliest avenues in Riverdale!

I hate saying goodbye to fall. Always my favourite season. (still wearing open-toed, pink sandals? Why not? You only live once!)

On Wednesday, went for a visit with the fabulous Auntie Ray at her condo. Raided her hat collection for this pic. She will be turning 92 on November 12th! We had a three-hour visit, talking about everything under the sun. The woman is a true wonder with so much insight into any subject you can name. She gave me plenty of advice and lots of love. She calls herself my surrogate Mother, (filling in for the love I'm missing from my late Mum, her sister). What would I do without her? We talked so long, she almost missed the meal in the diningroom, but I managed to get her there just in time for soup!

Then, later, onward to the "over-the-top, can't-handle-it, grocery excitement", - shopping at No Frills! (be still my heart). $120 later, home to cook something-or-other for the kids and watch an episode of House on DVD - a gift from a friend. (thank goodness for Hugh Laurie, who managed to spice up my evening quite nicely)!

Rad day

July 12/11.

No time for a "photo shoot" today, LOL. Here's a pic from yesterday.
Since I've put off reading info about radiation, (in preparation for today's first treatment), spent quite a while this morning checking out the details of what's going to happen. Now, I know all. (why do I do these things to myself?) - Do I look scared? Well I'm NOT! Bring it on technicians!!

I'm actually just mad that I can't get permission to shoot a blog pic in the treatment room! Even with friends in high places, can't win that battle. Oh well, I tried. As my cousin, Kevan ("Mr. Rough Trade") would say, "Vamp until ready", - then improvise!

All I can tell you right now is, despite being "quite prepared for this eventuality" (to quote George Harrison in A Hard Day's Night), there will definitely be SOME kind of wonky surprise I can't anticipate or predict. (already told you I LOVE surprises in real life - and have been treated to some hot ones over the past months! - but NOT likin' them during medical procedures thanks! - Sadly, have had plenty of those too!) Like, "Oh, didn't I TELL you we don't use LIDOCAINE for this painful procedure??" Yikes! - or, my favourite line, (just before going in for the lumpectomy when I asked for a prescription for Percocet), "Why would you need THAT? This procedure is not generally associated with pain!" (you're KIDDIN' me, right Doc? - "You oughta see it from MY side"!! - yep, another movie line - Lee Marvin as "Kid Shelleen" in Cat Ballou). ***FYI, the Doc is a masterful surgeon, - the best, - but dead wrong on that pain point I'm afraid!

And on the subject of pain, not looking forward to keeping my arm up over my head for 20 minutes on the table. It's sore enough as it is! (Which reminds me, gotta go shave). And lemme tell ya, it's not easy to shave when most of your arm is numb. Be very careful!

Hey, maybe I'll give the technicians a few surprises of my own. Not sure what yet, but for starters, might wear my new kickass silver stilettos, - you know, so I can "kick cancer in the butt," as my friend, Cynthia Mulligan of CITY NEWS always says! We'll see.

Back later with a "Newflash". (I so miss the news biz! - Can you tell?)

Variety is the spice of life!

June 7/11

So, it's after 4 in the morning and I'm still buzzed, charged, heart racing, brain in overdrive, ideas flowing, I'm pumped. Whatever.

Ya, I know this pic is from yesterday, (and obviously NOT in the middle of the night!), but it's tough to do a new photo shoot every day!

So, let's see. What's inhabiting my brain at the moment? The usual.
(ha ha! - If you've READ this blog, you know there's no such THING as, "the usual!")

Here's something I find strange. When I worked at Global TV, the thing I liked best was that NO day was EVER the same! There wasn't a chance in hell of ever being bored. (or even time to CONTEMPLATE that concept!)

One day, I'd walk in and be told I have to host the show because McAdorey called in sick. Another time, I was sent to cover the retirement party for my own Dad at the CBC! (now THAT was an emotional report!)

Once I lucked out and covered the news conference for George Harrison and actually made all the reporters (AND George) laugh with the one crazy question I was permitted to ask. It was around the time George did the music video for "Got My Mind Stuck On You," in which he suddenly jumps out of his chair does a back flip and performs some raucous gymnastics and gyrating dancing - very obviously done by a "double".



The nutty dance is at about 2:00 into the video. and lasts all of 12 seconds.

I asked, in a very straight voice, "HOW did you manage to DO that"? George laughed and quipped back that he'd been practising with a trainer for WEEKS to get those moves down and he was very glad to know I was suitably impressed! So funny.

Same thing happened at a Toronto Film Festival presser for Dennis Hopper. My question got the most entertaining answer of the day and all the reporters in the room wanted to use it, (except that in order to do so, it would have to be bleeped!)

I stood up and asked Dennis about the movie Blue Velvet (1986) - in which he played the villainous Frank Booth. I wanted to know if it was true that he originally wanted his character not just to inhale nitrous oxide before attacking Isabella Rossellini (Dorothy), but to push it farther and have Frank breathe in HELIUM to change the sound of his voice!

Dennis broke out laughing and admitted that director David Lynch wanted the gas to be helium. Dennis (who said he was an experienced taker of drugs), didn't like that idea and suddenly got it into his head to prove to all the reporters, why this wouldn't have worked! He went into "Frank Booth mode," pretended to grab a gas mask, put it over his nose and mouth, started breathing deeply, then eyed the crowd menacingly and launched into an hysterical, high-pitched, helium-induced voice, quoting his most famous line from the film, - "Don't you fucking LOOK at me!! Don't you fucking LOOK at me!!"

The room full of reporters roared with laughter - and I felt great!

But believe me, things didn't ALWAYS work out quite that well or go my way. Another day, I was about to interview Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows in a hotel suite.

While helping the cameraman with lights and tripods, Adam suddenly grabbed my notebook off the coffee table, peaked at all my questions and then proceeded to instruct me which of these questions he would or wouldn't answer! I was mortified.

Still another time, I was interviewing actor Beau Bridges, (an actor I've always admired). Having never met him before, I had no idea he had such an intense and steady gaze. It was as though he was seeing into my soul while he talked.

All of a sudden, I started to blush. It just wouldn't stop. Nothing I could do to keep my face from burning bright red, and it was CLEARLY visible to Beau, who must have realized the effect he was having on me and wondered, "What the HELL?"

The more he talked, the worse it got, until finally, I just had to wrap it up! (after that, whenever the opportunity came up to talk to Beau again, I had to back off and get someone ELSE to do the interview!)

As you see, every day was SO different from the next, each presenting its own challenges or delights.

So, my question to myself today is this.

If I was so enthralled with a job that offered this kind of variety every single day, - then why am I so afraid of CHANGE? I LOVED change at work, so why be so reluctant about it in OTHER areas of my life?

I don't get it. I need to get a grip!

How can I persuade myself to learn to embrace or welcome change?