Emotions

Hey!  Start jumping!

It's Leap Day! - Only once every four years. I keep forgetting there's a February 29th to contend with this year. What to do with an extra day!

In honour of this special day, (ha ha), my daughter Kate's boyfriend, Damian Sommer, (independent video game developer), jumped over lilypads at the chance to come up with one in tribute to Kate! In his own words, "It features ukelele playing and giant evil bats!" He stressed to me that it was created in only two hours. If you play this game, you'll hear Kate's songs, singing voice, ukelele strumming AND be able to kill bats, all at the same time. Awesome!
Check it out. (might take a minute or so to load).

Damian made a game for Kate!

I'm amazed by Damian's creativity. He has lots of other games on the go too. As for my OWN creativity, good grief. I love to write, but why is it I can't EVER take good auto-pics, (let alone create online games!) Tried to take some shots today. All horrible.

Either WAY too light,

MUCH too dark,

way too heavy on the devil red-eye,

insanely blurry & over-exposed, - ai carumba! I mean, come ON!  Just ONE decent shot please!!!!!!!!!

I friggin' give up. Books, instructions, tripods, photography, just NOT my forte!

I keep listening to Howard Stern on SIRIUS, talking about his current photography lessons, (when he's not swamped with America's Got Talent),

his Nikon, all his success with celebrity shots,

calendars featuring his gorgeous wife, Beth, you name it. Guess all it takes is money to finance major-league lessons. Not altogether true though. Howard can just do ANYTHING he puts his mind to.

This one was about the best I could do. Oh well. Whatever.

After all these failed attempts, headed off to visit Auntie Ray at Christie Gardens. Has been far too long since she's held court with me. This is the parking lot, on the way up to see her.

Sam loaned me his iPad, (after giving me a crash course lesson on how to use it - no easy feat, as I am severely iPad-challenged), so I could show Auntie Ray the "squirrel/porcupine" videos shot by my sister, Carrie. I had a sh**load of notes jotted down to try & follow to make this happen.

Miraculously, managed to put the contraption in front of Auntie Ray and actually SCREEN Prickles the Porcupine in action! I knew in my heart, she HAD to see the tribute to Uncle Ev, so lovingly and beautifully put together by Carrie. (between the two of us, I think we were Uncle Ev's BIGGEST fans).

 
 I kneeled beside Ray to watch the video "Imagine the Possibilities", (knowing she would be in tears by the end), when Carrie sings the number she composed and performed, in honour of Uncle Ev, and Stella, the squirrel. Yep, Auntie Ray cried. And so did I. Then I hugged her. Haven't even told CARRIE yet that I gave Auntie Ray a private screening! She raved on & on about Carrie's talent, as a singer, composer, puppeteer, voice artist, etc. And I second ALL of that in EVERY way. After the show, I took her down to the dining room, made sure she got seated for dinner, and cried when I left.

Ray Staples is a very special person. I love her.

Whistle while you work

June 16/11

Heading to Mum's place again today, to do more work with Carrie. The fun never ends. Appears, if all goes to plan, the place is sold. (will believe it when we see it!)

Our mission, now, (should we decide to ACCEPT it Jim!!), is to finally finish getting it cleared out.

"Hey Carrie! What if I decide NOT to accept it??" - Well, Jim, - Carrie asked me to tell you, if you DON'T, your tape recorder will self-destruct. (But you should damn well KNOW that by NOW!! - Get a GRIP man! - you've been featured on this blog enough times to recall what happens when you turn missions down!!)
First, an estate sale. Should be interesting. Both Carrie & I are feeling major league stress. (Not even sure how Carrie is doing it at ALL, what with her many jobs, helping Lee with a crazy schedule of baseball, exams and projects during these final days of school, (he apparently did his David Letterman presentation in class the other day and was a big hit! - "TreMENDOUS"!- (as Dave would say!), plus all her meetings and rehearsals.

Carrie & her baseball boy, Lee!
As for me, trying to roll with it all as best I can (in between laughter, tears & fears). Got a phone call late yesterday from the radiation oncologist's office telling me I need to come in to see her and set up my treatment schedule (which will most likely start right in the middle of the last clean-out days at Mum's).

Haven't been sleeping well at all lately, and even "Intensity Entity" seems to be bailing on me from time to time. Last night took a break to sit outside on the front porch. Love it that one of my favourite shirts features the Power Puff girls! We gave this shirt to our niece, Jenny, years ago. Then, Kate inherited it back, but I confiscated it to help me feel empowered! On top of that, I have this "bling ring" - (fake diamonds, but HUGE). One day, Auntie Ray came to visit, stuck this massive ring on my finger and said, "Wear it when you want to feel empowered!" (Now, I wear it EVERY day!!)

Lucky for me, I have these two AMAZING kids who fill the house with music and fun! When Max isn't drumming, he entertains me by playing guitar and singing, sometimes in the kitchen!
As for Kate, when she's not playing piano, ukelele or guitar, singing original compositions, she does wardrobe photo shoots. Here, she's modelling a new blue top (in her fave shade). Bought it for her at Winners. Looks GREAT!

Sometimes, even just listening to or watching the two of them play games can be entertaining! Here they're playing a game called Flew the Coop.

The art for this iPhone/iPad game, was created by Kate's boyfriend, Damian Sommer.

Damian Sommer! - Check out Damian's blog at: damiansommer.tumblr.com
Flew the Coop is hilarious! (apparently, it costs .99 at flewthecoopgame.com)

The description for this game says - You are a very angry chicken and you are running away from the farm! Navigate the terrain and other animals to avoid the farmers! Fun for people of all ages!

On top of the LIVE entertainment around here, both my kids are constantly introducing me to new music or videos online. My obsession du jour is a version of Jason Mraz's Lucky, (seems Lucky is the theme of the day!). It's performed by Wes Taylor & Matt Doyle.



These guys are both Broadway performers. They were in love at the time, and performed this at a New York party. The CUTEST, TRUEST, SWEETEST performance and, in my opinion, absolute perfection!! Kate and I have watched it over and over. Weird how these obsessions get me through the days! OK gang. I'm outta here now to face another wild and wacky adventure! (or as Paul Shaffer would say, "NUTTY!")

Thanks Paul! - (See you later tonight at 11:30!)