The Gut Girls

Im working as a production assistant on the Concordia University production of "Gut Girls" which is the story of 5 girls who work in the gutting sheds back in the 1800s. Its a great production and I'm learning alot about the behind the scenes of showbiz, like how much I can score in Family feud on the computer....sadly not much because the Americans are so limited with their words, I wrote the word cleaner and got it wrong cos it was supposed to be Janitor, geez! Show biz is tough.
I love being back in the theatre though, God I missed that smell! I can't wait to get back on stage again! I'm meeting alot of people who are wanting to start up their own companies so hopefullyI can get in one of those....hmmm I should probably check with my agent, sometimes you arent allowed to work for anyone else in the industry. I'm going to take some pics this week of the actors etc so watch this space.

Autumn is upon us and I am loving this brand new season (lets face it, it only rains in Vancouver and Auckland during Autumn) I had my first thanksgiving dinner on Monday yum. The trees have turned many shades of the sun and I even carved my first pumpkin. Oh Autumn, how wonderful you are, if only you didnt mean that Winter was at our doorstep.

Jess and the turkey

A beautiful Autumn day in Montreal

Meet my pumpkin, hes really friendly and made a yummy pie

Me and my pumpkin

A conversation with my knees

Dear Knees,

Please don't give up on me! I neeeeeeed you! The lovely physiotherepist is going to pull, twist and crunch your way back to healthiness.....actually you were never really that healthy. What's up with that? Did I not walk you enough, Should I have done more? Why did you not grow properly? Why did you fight with the thigh muscle and seperate? I'm afraid that because of the bad job you've done at being you we now have to work extra hard 3 times a week to get you "normal". But because I love you I will go to the sessions too and give you support.

Love the rest of the body.

P.S do you have any idea why the hips are being mean too?

Les St-Laurents et moi

Me and the frenchies (Alex and Guillaume)

Bonne fete a moi

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for such an awesome birthday. Alex took me and some friends out to an amazing medieval restaurant. It was so fun! I had the best birthday ever.
















Alex and I at L'auberge du Dragon Rouge














Alex and Guillaume enjoying ony of many glasses of wine

Jess and our medieval waitress awaiting our dragons blood drinks, oh how ignorant we were

Charles and Jess suffering from the dragons blood drinks which consisted of JDs Tequila and tabasco sauce, it burnt for 10 minutes straight!

Thanks Beyonce

Ive been listening to Beyonces new album Bday and theres a song on it that I love, even though the lyrics dont apply to me so much I think its a great power to the woman song. So I just wanted to put it on my blog and send it out to every woman who is in a long term relationship, a failing relationship or single and to remind you all that youre beautiful and unique and that if your man isnt treating you right then remember that he is oh so replacable.

to the left
to the left
to the left
to the left
mmmmmmm
to the left to the left
everything you own in the box to the left
in the closet, thats my stuff
yes, if I bought it, then please don't touch (don't touch)
and keep on talking that mess, thats fine
could you walk and talk, at the same time?
and- its my name thats on that bag
so go move your bags, let me call you a cab
standing in the front yard, telling me
how I'm such a fool, talking 'bout
how I'll never ever find a man like you
you got me twisted
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact, he'll be here in a minute (baby)
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could another you by tomorrow
so don't you ever for a second get to thinkin'
you're irreplaceable
so go ahead and get gone
call up that chick, and see if shes home
oops I bet you thought, that I didn't know
what did you think
I was putting you out for?
because you was untrue
rolling around in the car that I bought you
baby, drop them keys
hurry up, before your taxi leaves
standing in the front yard, telling me
how I'm such a fool, talking 'bout
how I'll never ever find a man like you
you got me twisted
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact, he'll be here in a minute (baby)
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could another you by tomorrow
so don't you ever for a second get to thinkin'
you're irreplaceable
so since I'm not your everything
how about I'll be nothing? nothing at all to you
baby i won't shed a tear for you
I won't lose a wink of sleep
cause the truth of the matter is
replacing you was so easy
to the left
to the left
to the left
to the left
mmmmmmmm
to the left to the left
everything you own in the box to left
to the left to the left
don't you ever for a second get to thinking
you're irreplaceable
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact, he'll be here in a minute (baby)
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could another you by tomorrow
so don't you ever for a second get to thinkin'
you must not know 'bout me
you must not know 'bout me
I could have another you in a minute
matter fact, he'll be here in a minute
you can pack all your things- we're finished
cause you made your bed now lay in it
I could have another you by tomorrow
don't you ever for a second get to thinkin'
you're irreplaceable

Comment dit-on "Arrogant jerk" en francais?

The battle of the languages has been happening since humans began, and probably even before that. Sometimes it can be awkward, sometimes funny, and sometimes someone crosses the line.

Living in Montreal as an Anglo can be slightly difficult, there's always this guilt about not speaking french. What makes it worse is that most of the Quebecois speak both french and english. However, Montrealers are very tolerent of Anglos who are learning french, they are understanding, patient and kind.......well at least until last night.

Alex and I were at a party at this friends place. We were all having a great time. 90% of the people there were french but most spoke english. Being from New Zealand I do have a sound excuse for not being fluent in french, we're sooooo not french down under. However whenever I mention that im doing a major in french everyone gets really excited. The more drinks I had the more I spoke in french, I guess you just care less about what people think when you've had a few cocktails. But it's still really hard to try and speak a language that you're not comfortable in, to a room full of people that speak it. Anyways, Alexs best friend Simon doesn't speak English. So later in the night we started having a conversation in french, I managed to conjugate the verbs I could remember, I think he understood most of what I was saying. We talked about how lovely everyone is in montreal, and about my family, you know, all the things I've covered in chapters one and two. I was really enjoying talking to simon because he's a shy guy and I was glad to have the opportunity to get to know him a bit more.

All was going well until another guy joined the covnersation. He asked me where I'm from, I told him, I also said I'd just started a major in french, and then I went back to talking to Simon. Then this guy stops me and tells me Im saying the sentence wrong, I ask him to help correct me. Then he starts going on about how bad my french was. I was a little taken back because no one in Montreal has ever mocked me for trying to speak French. But I guess the guy wasn't done because he starts grabbing at my hands and tells me to stop using my hand gestures because it's taking away from the French. Ok, now I'm offended and feeling a little like crying.

Luckily Alex showed up at that point, I told him the guy was mocking my french and alex starts asking what his problem is. Then a few other people join the group as the guy's mocking my hand gestures. I explain, in french, that I use my hands to speak in english, im an actress, my hands are my job, and that when you don't speak well in a language then hand gestures are a great way at aiding you. Well he wont let it go. Everyone around was getting a little angry at this guy for his attitude, especially Alex. Someone started pointing out that the guy was using hand gestures himself as he was mocking my own. Now I want everyone to know that this was the first person to be like this, Montrealers are usually really sweet and understanding, and in this case, were really supportive of me as this guy continually tried to pull me down. For those of you that know me you know that I only take so much attacking and then I pounce back. After the guy had mocked me as much as I could take I looked at him and asked him how dare he be so judgemental, Im from a country far away where we don't speak french, Im here, in Montreal, trying, learning to speak french, I come to a party and put myself in a vulnerable position and he dares to attack me, if he wants his language to be preserved he better start thinking about how he treats people who want to learn it. Then I told him that if he were to go to Australia or New Zealand then he'd be eaten alive with an attitude like that. I also said that his english would not survive where I'm from, I told him we speak alot faster with our own slang and he would not get far.

I think he got what was coming to him, everyone pretty much told him he was being a jerk. I just think it was so unneccesary to mock someone who's trying. I really love the french language and hope to live here for a long time, I may be an anglo, I may not fully understand the language yet, but Im trying, I want to learn and thats more than most monreal born anglos are doing. so next time someone wants to try attack my for trying something new just remember that the tables can be flipped really easily.