Sunday, October 19, 2008 - Part 2 Celebration of Life and Friendship

Cont'd from Part 1 Celebration of Life and Friendship (Read Part 1 first)


.... ok so now we will continue on with the party itself, after the show.

Again... what can I say! Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought that I would just be a social butterfly and bounce around from people to people... and it never dawned on me that there would be so many people that there wasn't a chance that I'd get to everyone! As a matter of fact, the party was happening both upstairs in the lounge and downstairs in the lobby and it was after 11:30pm before I ever made it up to the lounge. So I'm sure there were more than half the people that I didn't get to actually talk to, and those that I did, I was lucky if I got to talk to them for 5 seconds. Hahaha... I must have done a lot of talking because the next morning my voice was pretty hoarse.

Again... how does one even begin to describe what it was like to literally spend a whole evening from 6pm onwards with approx. 200 of the people who are a huge part of my life? Then, when I got home, there were voice mail messages and emails waiting from approx. 50 or more people who apologized for not being able to attend due to sickness, work, rehearsals, etc. Unbelievable!!

My friend, Susan, from Issaquah, WA got close to explaining the feeling. This was at the end of the show, after I had been called up to say a few words and ended my babble with something to the effect of... "Let's party!"

About the EVENT of the century - Words can only fail. The actual experience was above and beyond anything I could have imagined. Picture 200 people all singing "You've Got a Friend". Tears were flowing (not just from Cheryl) it was just so moving. I've never felt the real power of love until that moment. Cheryl had just finished her speech (quite the orator, by the way). The performers started singing then the whole audience joined in.

You just call out my name,
and you know wherever I am
I'll come running, oh yeah baby
to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall,
all you have to do is call
and I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got a friend...

I'll write more later, but for now, suffice to say. WOW!

Love and many hugs, Susan

Soooo, in no particular order... here are some pictures that my friend, Bonnie took on my camera (the show pictures that are on the Part 1 entry, were taken by my friend and co-worker, Dan).


Amanda and I have been friends for some time now. We met, gee, in the theatre community... imagine that?? :D


Here I am with Alan Black, one of the most sweetest, gentlest, compassionate, generous men I think I've ever met... and to boot he has the best sense of humour!! Love ya, Alan!!


Wow.. here I am with Keith Fowler... and Keith, you are going to have to help me out here. I'm thinking that we met in the early-mid 70s, but I couldn't tell you when. But we were definitely part of the Metro Theatre Brat Pack :D


I have no idea what had just been said or by whom, but we both obviously found it quite funny. I was in the process of "Shave Dave" and we passed the baskets around and collected $510 for colon cancer Research!

I'm really feeling the love Sunday night!! Here I am getting a wonderful bear hug from Jay Brazeau!! I got the warm fuzzies!!

Wow.. three different friends from three different periods in my life! Kevin Bryan and I have been friends since Junior High School; Bernice White and I met just this year during the summer down at TUTS and clicked; and Phil MacDonald and I have been friends throughout our years working for the Provincial Government. It was just so fabulous to have so many different friends from different parts of my life all mixing and mingling and having a wonderful time!

Again, call it faulty memory but some friends and I just go back so far, I don't remember when we actually met. They've just always been in my life! Pat and Audrey are two of these long term friends!!

Pat Patterson and I knew each other back in the Vancouver Musical Theatre days... when we'd do shows like Hair :) Steve Oben is one of my dearest friends who has also been one of my main caregivers since this journey has begun.

Shel, myself and Naveen... can you feel the love?? Oh wait.. that's my turtle necklace... nebbermind :)

My friend, Susan from Issaquah, WA who was also on the afternoon decorating team. We are taking a wee break here before the friends start arriving :)

Here I am with one of my TUTS Box Office buddies! Val Voth and I met last season and had so much fun in the Box Office, she joined us again this year... and I've already told her she has to be with us again for the 2009 season! :)

This picture makes me laugh!! It seems no matter what the occasion, what the party, what the year... the last people to leave are always the same ones!! LOL!! Steve Oben, Pat Patterson, Jo Leary, Kevin Bryan and Erin Sweeney. Ya, I'm there too... but I'm behind the camera


Oh, but it gets worse!! We are finally kicked out of the theatre... tailgate party anyone?? Hahahaha... the last of the diehards - Pat Patterson, Steve Oben, Kevin Bryan and me behind the camera

And this just gives you a taste of what this night was all about. I'm in love with all my friends... but there wasn't enough time to talk to everyone, let alone get pictures with everyone, and then there were the people who sent apologies that they couldn't be there (which was about another 50 people) and of course, for those of you who are reading this blog but either are not in town or weren't at the party... you know that you are included in my circle of absentee friends :)

After typing up both these blog entries and uploading the pictures, I still haven't been able to come up with the proper words to really describe what this event meant to me. It was pure magic, pure love, and the air was so filled with positive energy and love, that I know I will get through the next leg of this journey with a smile on my face!!!

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - Part 1 Celebration of Life and Friendship Party

Dearest Bloggy,

I must put a warning at the beginning of this blog entry -- WARNING: LONG, LONG POST WITH LOTS OF PICTURES! I'm not sure if Bloggy will be able to hold everything in one entry, so I may have to chop this up into two entries. But seriously... anyone reading this entry may want to grab themselves a pot of coffee and sufficient edibles to tide them over through the reading of this entry :)

I have a small problem (grin)... I don't know where to start with this entry, nor do I know the right words to describe it. To say this whole day/evening was absolutely fantastic, is not giving enough credit.. it was beyond fantastic, it was truly magical!

Let me backtrack... on Sunday night (Oct 19th), friends got together to celebrate my life, love and friendship. To say I was blown away, is an understatement! My dear, dear friend, Kevin Michael Cripps was in charge of the "entertainment"... of which he kept secret from me. The only input I was allowed to have was to send him a "wish list" of friends that I would love to invite to sing at this event... but he would not tell me who he invited, who had accepted, who was in town and who wasn't... or what they would be singing.

During the afternoon, a group of gal pals came early to the theatre to decorate the lobby and the lounge upstairs. I had supplied a heap of pictures of friends over the years. Hahaha... try as I might, there was no way I had a picture of everyone that showed up. We had so much fun doing this decorating!






My good friend, Shel Piercy, was the Emcee for the evening's entertainment... and he was delightful, funny and the perfect Emcee for the evening!



Now, this is where I'm not sure what to talk about... the incredible, overwhelming feeling of love as friends kept arriving at the theatre, or the absolute magic of the show and feeling of love from everyone involved. It was a pure fantasy of mine to have some of my dearest friends be up on a stage, singing a tribute to me, to help me along in this battle I've been fighting for 2 years. There are absolutely no words to describe the overwhelming feeling of love.

I'm going to start with the show... and some show pictures of the 20 performers who performed Sunday night. They used the set that was currently on the stage and turned this into a real, comfy, living room experience... as if we, the audience were all sitting around in someone's living room and different friends would sing or entertain.

Tracey and Janet opened the show and were absolutely wonderful as a powerful duo!

The next number was done by two of my young, young friends, Jaime and Natalie and this overwhelming sense of pride came over me to see just how much these two girls have grown into gorgeous young women and are our next generation of musical theatre people.

Natalie Aspinall
Jaime Piercy

Steve Street is an old, old friend of mine and we go back so far that I don't think either of us can really remember when we met. It would have been at Metro Theatre... the theatre where we were lucky to hold this wonderful evening.

I may have a few of these next people and songs out of order, but here goes.

Shawna and Jenn did a duet from one of my favourite musicals, "Wicked". Two best friends singing at this celebration of friendship! Perfect!

Jay Brazeau and Josh Epstein were absolutely hysterical!! I had tears in my eyes just because they were so funny... it was one of those natural kinds of wit that comes when two people just click and have the same sense of humour. They did bring the house down with their number.

The beautiful, young, gorgeous Anna Kuman who was absolutely brilliant in a recent Fringe show called "Musical of Musicals". I swear Anna is destined for stardom!

Alison MacDonald and I met a few years back when she first moved to Vancouver from the Island. There is no doubt in my mind that Alison is going to be a mega-star... how is it that I am so blessed to be friends with such incredibly talented people??

Nancy Herb and John Payne... two friends of mine who we have known each other for years... way back to the late 70s! Love you both dearly!!

My dear, dear friend Kevin Michael Cripps who not only put together this group of friends, but sang himself, accompanied everyone on the keyboards and I love him to pieces!

I LOVE tap dancing.. always have!! That is why I love the old MGM Grand Musicals. Well, dear, sweet Troy did the most phenomenal tap number to the song "Mr. BoJangles"... that blew everyone away... especially me!

Seth, who has the most wonderful singing voice, sang a song that was both beautiful and hilarious... and he did the whole thing with a straight face! :)

My dear friend, Karen Kelm!! Not only is she a wonderfully talented singer, but Karen and I go back to High School days... yep, we went to high school together!!

This was a highlight for me! Shelley Stewart Hunt is a super talented choreographer and it's been a long time since anyone has heard her sing. Well, she sang "You've Got A Friend" by James Taylor, with backup by both Kevin and her husband, Stefan. Shelley has one of the most marvelous voices!!

Here is my friend, Susan Skemp, who belted out her song which ended in huge applause for the whole cast up on stage.

It was at this point that Shel asked me to come up and say a few words, and to tell you the truth... I didn't have a speech prepared. I had fully intended to go up to remind people that there was a Friendship Book in the lobby for signing and that a little later we I would be shaving my boss's head and two friends would walk around with baskets to collect donations for colon cancer Research... but it seemed that the moment needed more than just two announcements. So I have no idea where it came from, but I did seem to babble out a speech... of which I do not remember what I said. I will get to hear it again since my friend, Brian Campbell, has video taped the whole show.

After I finished my babble, Kevin started playing again and the whole cast moved to the front of the stage where I was and they all sang "You've Got A Friend", and then the audience joined in. I don't know if there are even words to describe what it is like to have 200 people who show they love you by all joining in and singing "You've Got A Friend"... it is a purely stupendous moment.

Ok... this is really long and I haven't even mentioned put up the pictures of various friends, etc.... so I think that is going to have to be in a separate entry :D

.... to be cont'd.

Friday, October 10th, 2008 -- Doing the Happy Dance!!

Dear Bloggy,

YAYAYAYAYAYA!! I'm doing the happy dance!!! I'm so happy tonight, I could just explode :D

Today was my appointment with Sharlene (oncologist) to go over the PET scan results and what our plan of action will be with the chemo, etc. I have to admit, it's not like I'm looking forward to going on chemo again, on the other hand, I'm a real fighter and if it means going on chemo to fight this beast, then chemo it will be!

Well, for starters... the PET scan. I was thrilled to hear that the scan was perfectly clear except for the lung nodule that we already know about. The other lung nodules that showed up on the CAT scan are just too small to light up on the PET scan, which explains why we didn't see them on the first PET scan, until we had an actual CAT scan done of the lungs.

So then Sharlene sat down with me to discuss our options. She says that even though, as an oncologist she is a chemotherapist, she would rather us get a third opinion rather than rushing in to go on chemo. There is this Radiologist specialist who works at the Radiology program out at Royal Columbian who is the only one in the lower mainland to do "ablations" on the lungs. An ablation is when he would use the CAT scan and with a needle and instrument, would go in and burn the small tumours/nodules. So rather than shrinking them with chemo, where there is the possibility they might come back, she would like to see if this Radiologist would feel I'd benefit from ablating the small nodules. I'm not sure what the criteria is, but if he doesn't think it would be possible, then we can always fall back on the Chemo plan. Only, this time, we would be replacing the Oxipilatin chemo that caused me so many problems with sensitivity to the cold and neuropathy in the feet, with another chemo drug.

Soooooo, I'm not exactly sure what the plan will be yet, but as Sharlene said, there is no need to panic or worry if we give ourselves some time to come up with the right treatment. These nodules, including the somewhat larger one, are growing so slowly, there is no rush to take the first option we can think of.

That is why I'm doing the happy dance tonight! We haven't run out of options at all!! :D :D

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

PS: I have managed to figure out how to put the excerpt of my reading a child's audiobook so you all can have a listen. If you click on this hyperlink it should take you to a page with a bar that you can click the play arrow and the sound file will start.

Sunday, Oct 5, 2008 -- The Sun Is Out!

Hiya Bloggy!

Yes, after what seems like weeks of rain (ok, so maybe it's only been about 5 days or so), it is a lovely sunny Sunday! Hehe... if it wasn't that the outside of my windows are so dirty, it would actually be lovely to look out on this gorgeous day. At least, it is so mild, I can have the windows open and fresh air coming into the apartment :)

I'm going to be meeting my friend, Nancie, this afternoon and we are off to see a movie, perhaps dinner, then again, maybe we'll drop in to the Arts Club's Backstage Lounge where they are celebrating their 50th Anniversary (not 50 years on Granville Island, but 50 years with the Arts Club).

Anywho... I thought I would drop in here and take a poll . You see, I belong to an Amateur Photography Group on Facebook. Every week there is a different theme and we all submit one photo that matches that theme... and then everyone who submitted a photo gets to vote and pick all the photos that they really like (excluding their own). It's all just for fun and enjoyment... and certainly is fun to see what photos others submit.

This week's theme is "Black and White". My problem... I have narrowed down to 8 photos that I wouldn't mind submitting but I have to pick only one of them. So, I figured I would put them up here and you all can tell me which one you like the best. Just add your choice by adding a comment at the end of this entry :)

Beacon Hill Park, Victoria BC

Stone Bridge, Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC

Bridget down at English Bay, Vancouver, BC

Duck in a pond at Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, BC

House #1 out by Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver, BC

House #2 out by Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver, BC

A lighthouse on one of the Gulf Islands between Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

The West End in Vancouver, taken from the park next door to my apartment building.

So there you have it. I'm not sure which one I'm going to enter for this week's submission... let me know what you think :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

Thursday, October 2, 2008 - This and That

Hiya Bloggy,

Yes, it is 3:36am as I'm typing up this blog entry. It's one of those insomnia nights. I have taken a med that will hopefully kick in soon and make me sleepy so I may have to leave in mid-blog to go to bed ;)

I guess I should really always read the last blog entry before I start a new one so that I don't repeat myself, but alas, I forgot to do that this time.

But, from what I can remember, I had reported on the visit I had with Dr. John Yee, my lung surgeon. He went over the CAT scan report which showed 4 small nodules, as well as the one 1/2 inch nodule that we knew about and that will have to be surgically removed. The plan was to go in and do that surgery this Fall, but now, because of the 4 small nodules, that plan is on hold. These 4 nodules are very tiny, all of them under 5mm in size (1/5 of an inch). So he is recommending that I go through 6 more cycles (3 months) of chemo to see if the chemo will shrink/kill off those nodules. There's no point doing the surgery and taking out the 1/2" nodule if these other ones are growing and they may just be the start of a bunch more. But if the chemo kills them off, and kills off any potential unseen cancer cells from taking root, then it makes sense to do the surgery. This is very scary for me because if the chemo DOESN'T affect them, I will be in very big trouble... and when cancer spreads from one area to another, it is tougher to eliminate it.

Today, I went into the BC Cancer Agency and had a PET scan. The last PET scan I had was 6 months ago. So this scan is to see if there is any new growths in the abdomen/liver/surrounding organs. So, everyone must keep their fingers and toes crossed that this scan doesn't find anything.

Next will be an appt. with my oncologist, Dr. Sharlene Gill on Friday, Oct 10th. It will be at that appt. that she will go over the results to the PET scan and then we will also go over the plan for the chemo treatment, if that's what she suggests, etc. It will mean scheduling an appt. at the hospital to have another portacath inserted under my collarbone, then a few weeks for that to heal before we start up with the chemo again. I would think that we'd probably be doing the chemo Nov, Dec, Jan and then maybe the surgery (if still needed) in Feb.

So, the battle continues! Meanwhile, to keep me distracted, my friends are throwing me a support party/celebration on Oct 19th. Theatre friends... they are just the best! There's even going to be a show of musical theatre performers, but I'm being kept in the dark about that. Hehehe.. my dear friend, Kevin, will not tell me who is involved in this so it will be a surprise :)

Now, last weekend... I simply must tell you about last weekend! I took a two-day weekend workshop in Voice Overs ... or "Voice Acting". This is the field of radio/tv commercials where you don't see the actor, you just hear them; PSA announcements; audio books; GPS Walking Tours; cartoons; characters, etc. I took the course just for interest's sake. I thought it would be neat just to learn about the business, how it works, the equipment involved, etc. I had no idea that I would totally fall in love with it! Seriously... I loved every single moment of it and didn't want it to end! I also found a niche for me... one that totally surprised the heck out of me and that is that I have a voice for children's audio books. Taking children's stories and putting them in an audio book form. It is so much fun because the narrator can be a character of it's own and then of course, there are all the characters in the story so these can all be different voices. It is going to take a lot of practice but I got great feedback from the vocal coach/director (Pam) and the sound engineer (Bill). I can't believe how much fun I had with this. Here is a picture of me in the sound studio:



Hmmm... I do have a couple of demos of the voice over work I did but it seems we can't upload audio files to the blog. Only images or video. I'll have to work on seeing if I can do some sort of html coding and setting up a link to a server or something... but maybe when it's not quite so late/early in the morning ;)

Here is a picture of Pam, my vocal coach for the weekend...



And a picture of Bill, who did the sound engineering:



And my friend, Alison, who I went to the workshop with:



Oh, and here is Paul, one of the other students in our workshop. He was really, really good! Had a great voice for audio!!



Well, it's now after 4am so I'm going to attempt the sleep thing :) I'll report more here later... both updates on the next plan for the chemo, etc. as well as just stuff I'm doing around here :)

Ta ta for now!

Cheryl

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Dear Bloggy,

Yet another week or three goes by and it suddenly dawns on me (ok, maybe I was nudged a little bit) that I hadn't put in an entry here on Bloggy for some time. The good news... I've been busy doing "stuff". When I think back on the last couple of weeks, I can't really even think of anything in particular I've been doing, but whatever it is... it's kept me busy and out of mischief. Unfortunately, it's also kept me away from the computer so not only is Bloggy out of date... you should see my email inbox!! Hahaha... I really and truly have to just get in there and delete, delete, delete since I'm obviously not going to be able to respond to all the email that's in there. I mean, I've already weeded out the ones that didn't need responding to.... and still, it's getting crazy! I figure, if I delete them all now, then only deal with incoming recent mail, maybe I stand a better chance of keeping up on my email. Hahaha... and before anyone says, "To heck with email... the fact you are out and enjoying yourself, that is the main thing!" Well, yes it is... and yes, I have been enjoying whatever I'm doing... but I also enjoy sitting at the computer on those cozy evenings (or days) where it's raining and nasty out. On days/evenings like that, I don't want to go out in the elements... I totally enjoy getting into my comfy jammies, making a nice hot cuppa tea, and losing myself in email or getting lots of chuckles from lots of you who are on Facebook :)

Sooo, basically what I'm saying is, up to now all has been fine and I feel great!

But... whenever there's good news, it seems it's not too long before some not so good news follows. I have to admit, I'm getting real tired of hearing the not so good news :/ I will fight this to the end, but still, it can bring a girl's spirits down when told the battle is not over yet.

I was in to see Dr. Yee, the lung surgeon today. He, of course, has the more detailed report from the CAT scan I had a couple of weeks back. If you recall, I was jumping up and down with the news that he had not received the report from the CAT scan dept. but from what he could see on the software he has access to, the one lung lesion had not grown much at all in the 5 months. Well, that may be true, but the CAT scan doctor feels that since it IS growing and since it did light up on that first PET scan, there's a 90% chance it is cancer... spread from the colon cancer. Then there were other spots... granted, they are very small in the scheme of things, but there are 6 other small spots. 2 of them have not grown or changed at all in the 5 months and Dr. Yee is pretty sure they are just scarring from when I had pneumonia. Another spot that we had before which is 4mm in size, has not grown at all... so it's quite possible that it is scarring as well. But there are 3 spots around the 4mm size that have grown since the last CAT scan 5 months ago. They are agonizingly slow growing, so at the moment, all we can do is keep an eye on them.

So what does this mean?? Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to go back on chemo for 3 months to see if the chemo will kill these small 4-5mm spots. We have the chance of having the lung surgery to remove the largest growth... the one that we know is cancer either before getting chemo or after the rounds of chemo. Dr. Yee prefers after because if the chemo does not kill off the small growths/spots, then there's no point in putting me through the lung surgery which is a major surgery with risks involved.

So, once again, I am having to hear those words "Metasticized", "Chances of success not being really high", etc. So, I am going to be going in to see my GP and have him go over this with me again and how does he interpret the results, as well, I will be going in to see Dr. Gill (my oncologist) to talk over what our chemo options are or if there's any other plan. I have a PET scan scheduled for Oct 1, so I will wait to see Dr. Gill until after the PET scan. I thought this PET scan was to see if the lung lesion lit up on the second scan, but apparently that's not the case. They already know it lit it up... the second PET scan is to see if there are any signs of cancer showing up in the intestine, abdomen, liver, etc.

Well, that's the latest and not so greatest... but I am going to go somewhat into denial and just continue on as if all is just fine. It's either that or I could drive myself into a panic... and I did that the last time and it was NOT a good thing.

Soooo, I know I keep asking this, but everyone put together that positive energy. It has gotten me out of past scares and I see no reason why, if I have everyone sending out positive energy it doesn't continue to work for me!

I'm off for a quick visit with my Dad, and then will be meeting my good buddies, Peggy, Doug and Marilyn for dinner and catching up tonight!

Ciao!

Cheryl

Friday, September 12, 2008 - Gorgeous Weather

Hiya Bloggy,

So sorry not to have been here a bit earlier. I can't believe Aug 29th was the last blog entry! Wow!! I guess it goes without saying that it's been busy, busy, busy around here. I don't think I can even report on everything that has happened since Aug 29th. Nothing earth-shattering so I'm not withholding any news one way or the other. Busy has just meant that for the first time in almost 22 months, I've actually had a taste of what my life was like prior to all the health stuff! Amazing!

Seriously, I was wondering if it was even possible to ever go back to a life that is normal and there isn't that cloud over my head that every day may be the first of the last days on this planet. The concept is just so damn surreal and yet, it was a reality! I suppose that is a reality for all of us since no one knows when their last day will be on this planet... but that sounds so cliche. Of course we don't know, short of taking our own life and knowing when we'd do that, no one knows. So it is of no comfort when someone tries to lessen the seriousness by saying, "Well, none of us know when our time is up, so you just have to make the best out of each day you have left, whether it is only a couple or whether it's years to come." That is very easy to say when you don't know and can pretty much assume you have a long life ahead of you. But when you have been given the "Prognosis would not be good --- 2 months to 2 years max." I don't think I will ever, every forget the moment I was told that. Everything else may fade with time, but that will always stick with me. And now, here I am with still a 5 year period to get through before I can say we beat this monster for sure (never knowing if another monster is around the corner).

Soooo, how's that for some serious babble to start this entry off with? Now, before you all think I've gotten morose and am going through a down period... let me make this clear... I am extremely happy and more positive than I have been for a long time. I can see a possible light at the end of the tunnel and it is a very positive light... not a light on the other side :)

I have soooo much I want to do that is new and to continue on with stuff I'm already involved in. TUTS is now over for the season... for the 2008 season. But with the Fall almost upon us and winter to follow shortly behind, I am looking forward to spending time in the office with James and Jill working on the upcoming season and puttering around with administration type stuff.

This week we are in has been the week of the Fringe Theatre Festival on Granville Island. I am sad to say I have not taken in as many shows as I had planned on seeing this year... because I can! But, I simply have to say that the one show in the Fringe that totally blew me away is Musical: The Musical of Musicals. OMG! The script is sooo clever and this cast of 4 people is unbelievable. Every now and again you get a show that just clicks. It doesn't have to be dependant on huge sets, detailed costumes and an abundance of props. You know it's a real gem when, as with all Fringe shows you have the barest of everything since you only get about 45 mins to set up and you have to pack up your show in 2 minutes so the next show gets their 45 mins to set up, you still manage to have the audience in the palm of your hands!! Kudos to the cast of Musical: The Musical of Musicals and director, Ryan Mooney.

Oh, now here's something really new for me! My friend, Alison, and I had lunch the other week and she happened to mention that she was going to be taking a class in "Voice Overs". This is a class on how to do commercial or even cartoon, voice overs, how to record yourself, put down a track or two, the industry and expectations, how to break down a script, etc. There are only 6 seats per class so that everyone gets plenty of mike time. Anywho, it is a 1 1/2 day class and I decided that *I* would like to take this class as well! It is something totally different for me and probably something I would never have thought of trying myself before. But it's time I started thinking of doing things that I am interested in... whether I would be good at them or not remains to be seen. But no more attitude of "Oh, I don't think I could do that." :)

So, that class is at the end of September. Meanwhile, I'm still super busy here at home getting all the new season information put up on the Metro Theatre website... and having just finished the Sept 1 issue of the Community Theatre Newsletter. Soon, I'm going to have to start thinking of organizing the annual Letters To Santa volunteer team for December. Lots to think of and do in the next little while!

Well, I just know there's a whole bunch more to yak about. For instance, I went to the dental surgeon today and had to get a tooth extracted. It had broken.. split in two right down to the root, but had a crown on top of it. I have been in pain with it since the end of July but hey, it seemed to be the least of my worries so I just left it. Well, it was very painful to remove it today since that side of my face does not take to the freezing. I sure don't want to go through too many of those, let me tell you! It also required stitches to close it up... I think you can imagine stitches in the gum without freezing!! OWWWWWW! It's not like they didn't give me freezing... they gave me the most that they could and still keep it safe, but I just didn't take to it. Anywho... the freezing is pretty much out now and I feel fine. I guess I was living with more pain than I thought... because now that it is gone, a little old yanking of a tooth without freezing is nothing!! I may bruise over the next couple of days, but that is nothing either. I can already feel the difference!!

Now, I must run... I'm off to catch a movie! So I will try to get back in the next few days and see if I can catch up on other stuff :)

I want to send out good, safe thoughts to friends down in Texas. Be safe with this nasty hurricane. I can't believe the weather warning was "You must leave your homes or you WILL die!" I have never heard such a dire weather warning ever... even on CNN who loves to make a huge drama out of everything. But these were the weather people who were issuing this dire warning. It now seems like a given that Hurricane Ike is going to create huge amounts of damage once it hits land :/

Take care!!

Cheryl