The Start of Summer

Wow, it’s been so busy it’s been unbelievable! Lots of going out to take photos, and I’ve been really slow in uploading them, but I have some up. I’ve been going out taking pictures, exploring different places, and playing around with different photographic methods.

I even went to an abandoned prison in the end of May. Steve had been seeing it a lot and kept saying he wanted to go and explore, and the thought actually scared me. It’s an abandoned prison...too creepy! :/ We went, and it was pretty scary. I didn’t know what to expect, so it was really nerve-wracking, that’s for sure. We walked through a lot of the property and just took pictures, though there were a lot of dead animals in the interior, which surprised me. That was the scariest part for me actually. We went through the cafeteria, the barracks, the infirmary, a lot of different cells, prison rooms, and different things like that. It was pretty disgusting as it was really falling apart, but at the same time, pretty cool. You could see all those dark moldy marks from where the inmates rested their heads on and of course there were mold growing in those areas, showing where the inmates slept or leaned against on the walls next to the beds.

It’s funny because I was going around some buildings, and some of them had plagues on them, and a lot of them said 1985. It was surprisingly new, and it was really falling apart. Ew, is all I can say. I have actually not been to a prison inside, so I was kind of curious (and at the same time, not really) what it was all like. The only time I have seen the inside of a prison cell was when I was in elementary school and getting shown what a prison was all like, but it was mostly just seeing a room, a cell for prisoners and the such like, and that was a really long time ago. It was just interesting, but jeez, I really didn’t need to be surprised by the dead animals lying on the ground in the prison. Yuck! Oh well. It was interesting but pretty appalling for me. I have some photos of it on my photos page. And Steve has a video on it:

Prison from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

I’ve also gone to Kingston occasionally – I had to go and pick up my summer shorts at one point as it was getting hotter and hotter by the time May came around, so I went to my mom’s to pick them up and was surprised by Jase and Kelly with their baby Zaiden; so it was a good visit just catching up with all of them and just talking about stuff. Zaiden keeps growing every time I see him, so it’s funny.

Steve then dragged me out to go do HDR photography in the countryside outside of Brockville another time, and it was a bit weird trying to figure out how to work the whole thing, but it was actually pretty cool. I got some pretty god pictures and I do love the colour that turned up by doing the HDR settings, really vivid. Heh. We were mostly in the countryside and out in the farms and the fields just taking pictures, and one exciting part about it all? I got bit by a tick. Ouch! I didn’t even feel it come up my leg and bite me...I just noticed there was a bug stuck on my thigh when I went to the bathroom after I got home, and tried to flick it off, and it wouldn’t go. I was like, wow, it’s really stuck in my skin? I didn’t know what it was to start with, so I just had to actually grip the bug (that was an eww factor for me! *laughs*) really pull it out of my thigh and the whole idea that it was right into my leg kind of freaked me out that I threw it across the bathroom. When I got out I told Steve about it, and he was like, oh, it isn’t a tick, is it? I had no idea, so he had to look for the bug and check it, and said it was a tick, and told me I had to bring it in the doctor’s and have it checked to make sure it didn’t have Lyme Disease. I was confused, it’s a bug, and now I have to get it checked? Grr. It wasn’t much fun, and it sure hurt to peel it out, it really bit down hard on my leg. Ouch...but once it was out, my leg got better. Steve then put the tick in a plastic baggy and put it in the fridge, to keep until we had to go to the health clinic to get it checked. We finally brought it in and I got a letter a few weeks ago which told me it was just a dog tick and it was all good. Thank god...but it was just gross. I do not want to be bitten by a tick again...ouch! The funny thing is I grew up in the country most of my life and never got bit by a tick...though my dad did twice, and my mom was telling me about how gross it was, as she had to help him take the ticks off his skin. Heh...it really is gross anyway. *laughs* You can see Steve’s video here:

Country from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

You can see me in one shot in the video, and it's likely it's where the tick got in my leg, as I was standing in very long grass that reached up to my hip, shooting pictures.

As the heat got hotter and hotter, Steve finally found it was hot enough for him in June (it was way too hot for me starting in the beginning of May! Haha...) so he took me to his favourite swimming spot in the St. Lawrence River in the beginning of June. I have gone there a few times but not to swim yet, so it was interesting. I went there for one of Steve’s videos, Wind. The water was not too bad at all, cool but still pretty nice for so early in the summer. We have been swimming there a lot this summer. And he finally was willing to let me get one of my A/C’s from my mom’s garage to use in the apartment, as he generally doesn’t like air conditioners, as it’s too cold for him normally. Sheesh...but he finally was willing to let me bring one in and pay for it myself...it’s been so helpful here, that’s for sure. It’s been a really hot summer this year. Yikes.

In the end of June, one weekend, Steve and I went to Charleston Lake for camping, I had booked it to hang out with Kat and her family, but unfortunately the day before they were to leave for camping Kat was feeling really sick and was unable to make it, and went to the hospital to see what was wrong – and they told her that she had to do surgery for her gall bladder, as it had a stone blockage. I hate stones, I know what they feel like, as I get kidney stones occasionally, but not a blockage, thank God...so I just went there with Steve and camped. It was just okay, it was really hot though, but we were right next to the lake so that helped, we went swimming a bit, though the beach was public and shared with everybody, and I wasn’t a big fan of that part. Heh...funny. We did a lot of exploring on some of their hiking trails there. The first night was fine there, but the next night was a Friday night, and my God, how noisy was it? Steve was unable to sleep. Wow. I do remember that there was a lot of people arriving on Friday, lots of people talking, and all that. Our campsite was too close to everybody’s so Steve could hear everything and all that. There was one campsite across from ours and Steve was hearing them having sex while we were having supper over the fire, and he was uncomfortable with that along with me, and then later that night when we were sleeping, Steve said that he could hear someone arrive on the campsite next to us and setting up camp. What? It was like 11pm at night so they had air compressors running for a long time and it was loud. He was so mad, that we just decided to go home a day early, as it was way too noisy there. *laughs* He hated it majorly. When we got home, he actually crashed. Funny. It was pretty bad there, that’s for sure. Wow. He still likes the Sharbot Lake campsite better, as it’s much more private and quiet. Here’s the video for Charleston Lake:

Charleston Lake from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

It’s funny when we got home, and I was cleaning up the bedroom. I was vacuuming in the bedroom and the vacuum somehow hooked on my bookshelf and I was trying to move the vacuum so it wasn't stuck anymore, and then bam! My bookshelf actually collapsed and broke. Wow. *laughs* Yes, there were a lot of books in that shelf, but still! Haha...I had to take all the books out, take apart the shelf, and go to Walmart to find another set of bookshelves to use, and then went through all my books to get rid of books I won’t read anymore and just sorted through it all and tossed a lot. The new bookshelf looks a lot better now, that’s for sure, and there’s a lot less books in there now. *laughs* I really don’t need a bookshelf to just collapse on me again!!

It’s funny, once Steve’s holiday started, in the beginning of July, we went to my mom’s for Canada Day’s dinner and saw Jase and Kelly again along with Zaiden, so that was good. All Steve wanted to do was buy a bunch of new stuff, so he got himself a new water videocamera, where he could film underwater with, and a couple of new Blackberry Playbooks just to play with. I picked up some swim goggles and snorkel so I could use it for swimming, as Steve already had himself a set, so I was becoming pretty poor already with all the purchases. *laughs*

We also tried different restaurants and places to eat at, the first one we went to was Buds on the Bay, that was interesting, not bad at all...we have been to that restaurant twice...the first time we stayed indoors as it was so hot outside, and the second time was just the other day and we were up on the patio just enjoying the view on the St. Lawrence River, so it was nice just eating and looking at everything. The last time we went, Steve was having his kicks on watching the parking cop put tickets on cars parked in the parking lot next to the restaurant, so it was a little funny, seeing the people come back and react to the tickets they had just gotten. Heh.

Steve also wanted to do a lot of swimming, and he was talking about checking out some sunken ships and I was a bit surprised, like, really? I have never dreamed about exploring sunken ships before so it was a little weird for me. I went with him to one ship he read up about online, the Conestoga, and it was something that made me a little nervous. But then again a lot does! *laughs* Well, it also didn’t help that when we first got there, and while Steve was putting on his fins and swim masks and snorkel on, and started to go in the water, when he was faced with a dead fish with its insides coming out. on the bottom of the shore of the river. *laughs* That was gross! *L* I could see it standing up but didn’t notice till Steve jumped up and moved around it...ew! He did some exploring and then I was half-willing to try the exploration as well...I wasn’t sure about exploring it, in case I accidentally hurt myself around the sunken ship or something, so I was a little weirded out by it. Steve helped lead me around the ship and showed me different parts of it...the ship had a bit of it sticking out of the water, so I knew that part was high, but the rest of it wasn’t too bad, all way down there, and pretty disintegerated, that’s for sure. I just stayed up on the surface, while Steve did some diving with his breath held to explore with his new water camera. I didn’t do very much swimming over there, I was a bit uncomfortable and the current around the boat was pretty strong and it was easy to get swept up with the current if you got distracted and looking at the boat...I really had to swim to stay in one spot in the lake, which was nuts. At least it was really, really close to the shore, so it wasn’t too bad really. I didn’t do much exploring, just a little bit, and when I really felt myself getting tired swimming against the current a bit, I stopped and went back to the shore and rested and watched Steve explore more and more. He was so excited about it all, that he kept wanting to check out different sunken boats. I think he went to the Conestoga three times to explore, which was insane. *laughs* There was also another sunken boat, Weehawk, further away in the same area, but Steve didn’t get much good footage, and the ship was less interesting for him. I know he was really into the Conestoga ship for sure, he kept freediving in the water to film more and more parts of the boat...I don’t know how he didn’t get tired, but it would have killed me, that’s for sure. He has two videos, the first one of him holding his camera by hand, but the video ended up looking rough. Here it is below:

Freediving The Conestoga from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

The second video actually turned out better, he used a different method of filming underwater and it turned out better. You can see the result here:

Freediving The Conestoga v.2 from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

It was pretty tiring keeping an eye on Steve while he went there diving...he tried diving in the night, but couldn’t get enough light to really see the ship in the night, so that didn’t work out, but it was crazy seeing Steve try so many different methods for that ship, that’s for sure!

I still had the gift card to go to the movies that I got from Jase and Kelly last Christmas, and Steve finally said he wanted to see a movie – The Amazing Spiderman, that I could watch. Normally we don’t like the same sort of movies, and don’t watch movies together, which sucks. So we went out to Ottawa to watch the movie with captioning for me. It’s funny because the last time I went to theatres, they had rear-window captioning, but this time it was more done electronically in my own tablet, so that was cool. It was all computerized now, and there’s captions for most movies now, so that was a plus, for sure. I didn’t know that they had changed it recently. It was a lot better for me, because when I used rear-window captioning I had to make sure my window was aimed right to where the rear window captioning would be, which would be the back of the theatre. Sometimes I’d miss parts because people would get up and walk, and block my window from capturing it...this time it was a lot different, I could understand the whole movie and sit comfortably, so it was a lot better now. Definitely a plus!

We also have gone bowling at Brockville Bowling Centre – haven’t done that in a while, so it was fun. I lost two games out of three, which wasn’t surprising...I suck at bowling! *laughs* We had some poutine while bowling so it was nice...a nice way to get out of the apartment, that’s for sure. We then went swimming at Centeen Park, which was interesting… I’m used to swimming at the spot that Steve likes, but it’s quite a distance away, so oh well. So checking out Centeen Park and swimming there was different...there was just way too many people there, and of course I get a bit nervous when there’s a lot of people around when I go swimming. Steve likes it as he gets to go diving there. Not for me, so nah. It’s a good spot if you want to jump in the water, but I haven’t tried. I did go swimming though, and the water was definitely colder in that area than it is in the shore that Steve likes going to. I thought that was a little weird actually. Oh well!

It’s funny too, because I decided to renew my passport recently, and as I was reading up on it, I had to renew it within a year after it expired otherwise, I would have to do it all over again, and I didn’t want to...so I decided I should get my pictures taken and send in for my passport to be renewed. It had expired like six months ago so I figured I should get it renewed and get it over with, so I had to find someplace that would take my passport photos, so Steve and I went to Walmart to take them, and for some reason they had a special on where if you wanted a passport you could pose for a few pictures free for yourself, to put up at home. I wasn’t expecting that, so we went ahead and did that. I took my passport photo, and then one of the women took us in the back to the studio and took some pictures of us. Some of them turned out good, one I didn’t like, but generally got some good photos. *laughs* I know we both weren’t expecting that, I didn’t even know they were having a special on! Funny. We’ll be picking up a couple of photos in the end of July. So all wait and see.

Thinking...

Hi everybody…I’ve been asking all over the place whether I should keep my blog. After all I don’t update it as much as I should, as Steve has mentioned to me, as I’ve been really busy. I still have to add one or two more entries but I’ve just been so slow in doing that, unfortunately! Oops. Heh. So I’m just wondering if I should even keep it – I know family tends to like to read it so to stay updated on me and my goings on, but what about anyone else? Friends or people who barely know me? Just wondering about that.

Let me know! Leave a comment if you want. Thanks a lot! I may just keep it for family, which is just nuts. Heh. I just need to find something else to talk about and the such like, so if anyone could help me out, it’d be great! And I’ve also updated the pictures page which I have been so slow on doing – I still have to add the camping photos but I’m still working on them though. *sigh* Just so busy these days!

The Heat, Photos, Friends and Babies

It's been a busy month since I last logged an entry. Wow. I've been trying to go out and enjoy the warm weather, but I was suffering allergies here and there, so that was a bit annoying at times. I was noticing that the apartment was getting warmer and warmer as the temperatures rose in the spring, and Violet was having trouble letting me pet her, and I was wondering why. When I got chances to pet her, I would feel all those hairball mats in her. I realized that she was practically covered in them, and knew I had to cut them out. However, whenever Violet has mats, and I try to cut them out, I often times need another person to help hold Violet still and soothe her while I cut her mats out. My mom used to do that, and now that I'm in Brockville I couldn't get the chance to, so I was wondering how to do that. Since Violet is pretty resistant of Steve generally, Steve really didn't want to help me with Violet. He really didn't want to be swiped or clawed by her so he was leery about doing it.

I had to make him do it, and so we brought Violet in the bathroom with us and shut the door and worked through some mats until Violet really had enough. We got a bit out of her the first chance, and the second chance Violet was less willing, and because of that, we were talking about using one of Steve's shaving kits to shave the mats out to make the mat removal go faster...I wasn't sure if Violet would be okay with the feeling of the vibrations from the machine shaver. She wasn't a big fan of it, but let us shave a lot off, and now she actually looks funny. Most of her butt and lower back was shaved down to nothing and the rest of her is long haired. *laughs* It looked funny for a while, but I got to get a lot of her mats out. She still has more, but she usually lets us know when she's had enough...I hate that. I usually want to get it all out at once, but ugh... lately I have been thinking about the heat, and how hot it was, and started to realize that that's why Violet was matting so much - because of the heat...she tends to sweat more, then matting a lot in the summer. So, ugh. Oh well, soon I'll get it all out.


You can see how she looks here, all shaved off, half-long haired, half-bald. A little sad, I think. But at least I'm sure she feels a bit more cool now, not so hot! Heh...

I was also getting restless during the week that I kept wanting to go places all the time, with it getting warmer and warmer by the day. So Steve and I took some walks out in Brockville so I could check out the area and see more of the town. We went out to the waterfront by the model plane and walked around there, I think it was the Brockville municipal marina...it was interesting. The temperatures were really nice that day so we both just decided to go for a walk and check things out. We have also gone back to Raxx's for another of their meals, and just to hang out.

In the beginning of May, Steve wanted to go back to this one industrial boneyard that he had found a couple of months back, and take me to go take pictures there. He wanted to do a whole thing where he films me taking pictures and checking out the area. He mentioned to me later that I would find things that he had missed the first time out there, so it was like a whole different trip for him. There were also some things I was checking out that Steve had checked out before for his first film, Industrial, on Vimeo. There's this one scene where he props up a pail so that he sits on it, and when we went looking at the machines and stuff, I noticed some mangled metal on the ground and was talking about it, and he told me it was the pail he had set up to sit on for his earlier video, that was all destroyed. I thought it was a little funny...got to check out a lot, and there was a lot to look at, so it was cool. It was funny because I was shooting and I turned around and saw a little bird who was eyeing me on the ground in a distance, and I was all, oh, got to take a picture and the bird just began barreling towards me with it's wings wide open, like he was going to attack me and I had to jump back in surprise, never saw a little bird get so angry before! It sure surprised me. *laughs* Steve said that I actually screamed, but I think he may be exaggerating...I know I was surprised, yeah, but I don't think I screamed, maybe I yelped but screaming seems a bit extreme...the bird did get right against my leg before turning and running away from me...It was really strange. It's a little bird, why would he be doing that? *laughs* Steve thinks it was a female and was protecting her nest, as we had seen a nest in one of the machines earlier. It was really funny though. Was a bit unexpected, that's for sure. I have pictures of that little bird in my photos here. We were out there for maybe a hour, just shooting and checking out different parts of the machine. It was different.

You can see Steve's video here:

You may remember I changed my name back to my maiden name over a month ago? I finally got all my cards in, and then proceeded to change more in the rest of my other items and memberships. It really hasn't been much fun, but hopefully it's almost all over. *smile* There has been some places that like fighting me on changing my last name, which has been insane...but they are being changed slowly though.

Anyway, my friend Kat had her baby a few months ago and I hadn't actually met the baby yet, so I thought I should drop in on Kat while Steve came to Ottawa to pick up something he ordered for himself, a new Glidecam. He's been dreaming about having one for a really long time, and a new affordable Glidecam came out and he wanted to grab up the chance to get it, and in the meantime I thought I should visit Kat and meet her new baby. So we headed out to Ottawa one Tuesday in mid-March, and went to pick up Steve's new Glidecam, and he was all excited, but couldn't use it yet until he came home. It was a little funny, and then we headed over to Kat's place. We went to her backyard and then mellowed outside on her patio with her, her baby Arianna and her mom, Linda. It was good, just talking about everything and just catching up with everybody. I also had to introduce Steve to both of them as they hadn't met him yet, so it was not too bad. Kat was just too busy telling me about the birth, Arianna, and being a mother, to actually officially meet Steve in actuality, but he was kept busy talking to Linda anyway so that was okay. *smile* Nothing new with that. Arianna was pretty cute, and a very happy baby, so that was a little funny. I'll just have to see as she grows up and all that, and see how she'll be as she gets older. That'll be interesting...like all the other babies I have known and gotten to know in the past couple of years - there's just been a big boom on babies lately for me, for my friends and family, so it's a little crazy. Heh.

The holiday weekend, the Victoria Day weekend was interesting. It was a really, really hot weekend, unfortunately! Wow... :/ And Steve had been telling me that Brockville actually did have a beach of a sort around the waterfront, and I was a bit surprised about that. It's such a small town, and it has a beach? It was over at the St. Lawrence Park by the waterfront, so it was cool. Just going there and checking it out. I even brought my camera with me for that so it was interesting that's for sure, and Steve had fun filming. Though, when we went to the water shore, to check out the temperature of the water, there was a lot of little kids running around in the water, not quite swimming as the water was still pretty cool, and one little boy came up to us to talk about Steve's videocamera. He seemed to be very fascinated by it. *laughs* It was a little funny actually. After we went up and talked to the boy's mom, and there was something about Steve where everyone just knew him and the people that worked at his work. So it was crazy. It was cool checking out the beach, and I know it's there, but it was certainly very small so it may be a little cramped. Yikes, just have to see what it's like through the summer at least. We then finished up at the beach and started shooting around the park and different locales, and in the large gazebo, I started shooting pictures. It was interesting, that's for sure. I'm still getting used to Brockville, that's for sure. *smile*

My mom finally came by over the holiday weekend to bring over my fans that I could use in my apartment as it was getting to be unbearably hot with the humidity being so high - if I wanted to use A/C's, I would have to let my landlord know and pay extra to have my A/C's installed. So I wasn't too sure about that at all, so I opted out on that part for now, and just going to stick with my two fans. I may pick up another one for the third room in the apartment, but otherwise, it's beginning to feel better here now. My mom just came by to drop off the fans and to talk to me about all the stuff going on, she was only over for a few minutes. But the place finally feels a lot better, and Violet seems to be feeling a lot better, and hopefully she'll let me cut more mats out of her, and brush her more. Heh...all wait and see. But I'm hoping she will sweat less, and get less mats soon.

One day Steve decided to take me to join him with his co-worker, Matt and Leigh, for drinks. I have met Matt here and there, as he lives in the apartment below us, and Leigh, I hadn't met before, but had seen him on his TV show that Steve produces and works on, Critical Thinking. They all tend to go out for drinks after they finish the show, and he actually asked me to join them one night, so I was willing to, because I had been cooped up in the apartment and wanted to get out. So we went to Boston Pizza to join Matt and Leigh, so it was interesting. They both were pretty nice. Matt and Steve were tired, and Leigh was late, and when he finally got to the restaurant, he was in a goofy mood. It was good, they all were nice, so it was fun. *smile*

When I was over at Kat's place, she was talking about going camping and stuff like that, and also about Mayfest, and how I should come by, but because Mayfest was the next weekend, and I wasn't sure if I could come back to Ottawa again the next weekend, I told her I had to think about it, and Steve couldn't make it because of work anyway, so we started talking about camping, as Kat was going to go camping in Charleston Lake the coming summer, in June, and I was willing to...talked to Steve about it, and then we decided to book times at two parks for the summer. One at Charleston Lake in the end of June, from the 21st to 24th, so to hang out with Kat and her family and just enjoy the place. Neither one of us, Steve and I have ever camped at Charleston Lake before, so we're hoping it's nice there. Steve has always liked Sharbot Lake Park, so we're also going there in August, to the same campsite we went to last year, so that'll be good. *smile* Two camping trips over the summer, which is going to be crazy - and busy!! Wow... Oh well, I'll get used to it eventually, and I hope my allergies won't be too bad for those times. My allergies were bad for a while, but they seem to have gotten better lately, so I'm glad about that. *smile* I want to start enjoying the warmth! Heh...It's just going to be crazy. Sheesh.

The Senators Playoff Game, and the Jones Creek Trails

Hmm, let's see...I've gone to the Senators playoff game in April, and that was a lot of fun actually. Steve wanted to get tickets for Game 6 as it was in Ottawa, and of course it was going to be right smack on the day of my mom's birthday, so that was going to be interesting. He ordered the tickets and was all raring to go. It was funny to see him talk and all that about the game, and if they won, they would move on to the next stage of the playoffs and so on, so he was really wanting to go and see them, as he loves the Sens. *smile*

Anyway, so the day of the Sens game, Steve was working, and then took off from work early so that we could go driving to the Scotiabank Place where they were playing, and we did. I have personally not gone to a NHL game live before, so it was something I was looking forward to. I have gone to the Blue Jays game at the Skydome, but never to a NHL game, so it was something new for me. *smile* We ended up with tickets that landed us in the very back of the stadium, and it was crazily full. I wasn't expecting that. *laughs* But it was cool, and being there for the first time for the playoffs was pretty cool too. We got there, got our seats and then ordered something fast for our dinner there, as we didn't eat before we left. We left around 4 something so we hadn't eaten supper yet. So we just ordered some pizza and munched on it before the game started; and the stadium was crazily full. I was not used to being so cramped up with other people, but after a little bit I got used to it. Steve was yelling the entire game and I wasn't used to seeing him like that, as he's not exactly the most out there type of guy, but when it came to the game, and his team, the Sens, he really was out there, so it was interesting for me to watch him be like that in public. I knew he was like that normally, as he's always like that at home when he watches the game, all gung-ho about the Sens and them winning, and so on. It was just funny to see him like that at the game, yelling along with other really loud fans, so it was crazy. I really am glad I cannot hear. *laughs*

After a little while I had to join in with everybody yelling for the Sens...(I mostly just waved my towel, not yelled) but of course they lost the game, and much to Steve's sadness, they also lost the last game, so they aren't in the playoffs anymore. So it's all okay. It was still fun to go and watch the game, and see how full the stadium was, full of people waving the towels that were provided in each seat and just seeing everyone go wild. Steve even made up signs that he picked up at the dollar store, and just was being silly. One sign was a For Sale sign, and below it, said: "One NYR Team"...figures, and the other sign said "Hey, New York...Got Your Golf Clubs Ready?" Sheesh. It was nothing new, and he made me hold one of them up, so it was just silly. He even had me wear one of his Sens shirts, which was signed by Chris Phillips before, and one of his Sens caps, and he wore the same, just not a signed jersey. He even bought some stickers from the dollar store and made me wear them on my face. That wasn't much fun, as it was very itchy, but it was just silly and what he wanted to do... Normal!

Leaving the parking lot from the game was crazy, I think it took us 45 minutes to finally get out of the parking lot. Then we finally headed back home and just crashed. It was an interesting night that's for sure. *smile*

The next little bit was a little bit busy, with me visiting my mom here and there for dinner and just saying hi, and the such like, so it was not too bad. I was also always so tired and was a little frustrated with being so tired and sore all the time, and I had noticed that I was gaining weight again, and my mom was asking if it was the same medication that I had taken before that didn't work, (which I do believe it was) as it wasn't the same brand that I used before for my thyroid, which was Eltroxin, it was a different one but they said was similiar and should work the same...I had it for the past three months, and I was slowly going downhill and when I told my mom how much I weighed now, she said that I had gained weight, but I couldn't remember, as I was so tired and so disoriented all the time, and it was hard to keep track of anything. When it was time to refill my medication, my mom called my doctor to get it refilled, and she was telling them about how I felt on the other medication and if I should go back on Eltroxin. I wasn't sure if the pharmacy I went to had them currently, so when they refilled it with the brand they had and I went in to pick it up, and they told me that my drug card didn't cover it, and I was like, what? They don't cover the ones that don't work for me, so nah, I'm not taking it! *laughs* Why pay for something that was not exactly making me feel good? They did say that the brand that works for me, is free under my drug card, so it's something to consider, so I told them to start ordering that brand, because I wasn't up to paying for the other brand, especially since it didn't work that great for me. I wasn't sure if they would switch as they didn't really specify, and when I called the Walmart pharmacy to see if they provided it, and they did, so I checked with my doctor to switch pharmacies, and when they called the Shoppers to transfer my prescription to Walmart, they found out that Shoppers did order my medicine for me, and that it was ready. Um...no one told me they were going to? *laughs* So I was okay with it and picked it up there. I started it the past week and after the first day, wow, I could really feel the difference. *laughs* I kind of perked up, woke up more, so it's quite a difference. *laughs* Oh well...so it's better, and they have to keep getting that medicine as it works for me, not the other one. So I feel a lot better now. I have actually begun to wake up and wanting to work out, usually I wake up feeling tired, but not these days. I'm waking up and wanting to work out so it's good, I'm going back to my old routine. I hate the times when I'm so sleepy and lazy and exhausted, it really sucks. I've actually found more of Zuzana's workouts so I downloaded a lot of them and been working out with them so I'm starting to feel better. And now, this time, when I work out, I don't hurt as much as I used to. I used to hurt all over for like a few days after doing one workout and when I did the workouts, it would kill me and I'd be gasping in the end of it and be in a lot of heavy sort of pains and aches. I thought it was weird that I was so out of shape so suddenly. I figured it may have been because I haven't worked out often enough lately, so it was harder on me. But it wasn't the case, it was the case of being on the wrong medications. :/ So weird. Working out now is a lot easier again, so it's a little crazy.

One Saturday Steve wanted to go filming again, and wanted me to go with him, as I had sort of stopped going with him when he went out to film, and wanted me to go with him for this one place and since I was feeling a bit better, not so tired being back on the Eltroxin pills, I went with him. It was down at the Jones Creek Trails, a hiking trail. I wasn't sure how I would be able to go through the trails, as I have been so tired lately and so on, so I tried with Steve, and it was pretty fun. The trails are huge, and there were a lot of people, and it was a nice day even, a bit brisk, but still a nice day. I started taking pictures and going along the trails with Steve just exploring and checking out different parts of the trails. At one point I actually lost Steve as he kept going out and around off the trails and I lost him, so I tried to go and look for him along the trail, and he started freaking out and started looking for me. I had walked by a bunch of people that I had walked by earlier with Steve and he asked two ladies that I had just previously walked by, if they had seen me, and they told him where I had gone, and Steve was surprised I had gone so far, and he was afraid that he would lose me being apart like this so he went running after me. *laughs* It was a little funny though. I had no idea where he was so when I got to one point, a fork in the trail, where signs pointed to the parking lot or continue on the trails, I wasn't sure if Steve would have gone to the parking lot or continued on, and I figured that since he tends to get lost in his filming he would probably go ahead so I tried to go ahead, and soon after Steve caught up with me with the help of the two women that I had passed by at the turn. *smile* On Steve's blog he said that he had his eye caught by something off the trails and was busy filming it and he said that I "used" that opportunty to go ahead without him on the trails. I didn't use the opportunity, I was looking for him then. *laughs* I thought he was up ahead of me, I didn't know he went off the trails. :/ Typical man. It was a little funny actually. He mentioned this: "I could see her ending up sleeping a night in the woods, having to cuddle up to a black bear for body heat. ;)" I really don't think I would have gone that far! *laughs* Oh well. But it was a fun outing though, it was quite the place to explore. *smile* Steve wants to go back when it's warmer to explore it even more. It's a huge trail system, that's for sure. Here is the link to his video of the Jones Creek Trails:



I had an appointment for the Pacemaker Clinic and realized that I made the appointment where my mom couldn't make it, as she was working the entire time then, so I had asked Steve about it, if he could go to the appointment with me, and help tell me what was going on. It was pretty much the same sort of appointment as it is every time, but, there was this one weird occurence that went on in the testing room. An unfamiliar doctor came in and looked over my file, and said that it would be better for me if they lowered my heart rate range on my pacemaker, and I was like, huh? What? They just raised it just under a year or so ago, saying that it would be better for my heart if it was to a more normal range, and I actually do feel a lot better now, I have more energy and it's a lot better, I have not had any problems in all this time since then. So that's why I was surprised that this doctor said that, but it was also a doctor I had never seen before, he wasn't my regular doctor so I was like, oh jeez... So for a bit the doctor and the nurse who was working on me, was talking about it and I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was that the doctor wanted to lower my range which I really didn't want. I think the doctor and the nurse were arguing about it, and all that, Steve was having a hard time understanding the whole conversation so he couldn't really pass on the conversation to me. *smile* So I was like, freaking out at one point, and when the doctor left looking a little grumpy, the nurse then turned to me and told me what was going on. She said that he was just a resident, so he's still learning so it's okay, they weren't changing anything on me, since I was doing well right now, and was having no problems. I was like, jeez...good thing. It scared me for a minute there. *laughs* I hated the range it was on before, as I was always so tired...heh. Funny. It was a good appointment, pretty quick and then I headed to my mom's place, as she asked me if I wanted to go out shopping with her in the afternoon after the appointment, and I agreed, and she'd drive me back home when we were done.

So I went out and went shopping with my mom, looking around for some summer clothes and I ended up getting a lot. *laughs* Oops, but it'll come in useful when the weather warms up. *smile* I also got some groceries from my mom, as I normally get food for both Steve and me as he covers the bill for the TV, phone and internet, but it was getting a bit expensive, as you know, with how expensive food can be. :/ So my mom offered to buy me one batch of groceries to help tide me over for the next few weeks of May. It was a good afternoon, we even went out for an early supper, late lunch at Denny's. It was a good afternoon just catching up with her and seeing what was up. When it was over, when we both were all shopped out, John then drove me home with my mom, and Josh. It was a good day, though I was really tired by the time I got home. *laughs* Oh well.

The start of May has been generally pretty quiet with me just going back to my normal activity schedule I used to have before I moved to Brockville, with me working out here and there, and just cleaning up, and doing odd stuff around the place. *smile* With some odd outings here and there. It's been good.

I'm a Smith Again!

Finally I’m a Smith again...I went out and changed all my cards (my drivers license, health card and my SIN) to be a Smith again instead of being a Stagg. I don’t have the official cards in yet, but I should have them soon enough. I’ve been working on changing my name elsewhere online too, so that’s taken up a bit of my time for the day today.

I didn’t think I would feel any different changing my name back to Smith from Stagg, and I wasn’t too sure because, well, Smith is such a common last name, so many people have that last name and I liked Stagg because it was different, and I don’t often see that on people’s names. Though Steve keeps telling me that I am more suited to be a Smith, because that name just sounds better with my first name, instead of Stagg. So okay then, if he says so. So it’s been changed...I believe that if I ever get married again, it’s not likely I would want to change my name again. It’s just too much hassle to do it, seriously. :S I think when I first changed my name to my married name, it took nearly a year before it was actually changed everywhere. Yikes, just insane. *laughs* So it’s not likely I would change it again. Oh well!

The other day Steve was asking me if I wanted to do something fun for one of his films, it was a really warm and really windy day (around 28 celisus as said on Steve’s car) and he wanted to take advantage of the wind and took me to his favourite shore that he tends to go to along the St. Lawrence Seaway. He wanted me to dance and just move around for the camera and I thought it was a little weird…why would I dance in front of a camera? *laughs* It was a bit awkward, that’s for sure, and he wanted me to wear loose clothing, like skirts, loose shirts and stuff like that. He wanted to do some sort of fun video, where I move around along with the wind and so on. He even had me bring along my exercise elastic bands so they could whip around behind me. When he suggested all of this before coming back from work to pick me up to go to the Seaway, I thought it sounded weird, but didn’t mind as it was a really nice day after all. Heh… You can see the video here:



It was just an interesting video. *laughs* Oh well. This is just ironic for me to be doing – I’ve always been the kind of person that didn’t like being in front of the camera, ever. But since I’ve been with Steve and I’ve been in front of the camera so many times that I cannot count, that I just have gotten used to it. I still am not a huge fan of it, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to, with Steve always having the camera and always talking about filming something.

Oh, yeah, just last night, Steve was talking about getting tickets to the playoffs for the Sens and the Rangers, as they were playing in Ottawa on Monday and he wanted to go and see them live, so he ordered a couple of tickets for me and him to go to so to watch the game. It’ll be an interesting game, as I have never been to a live NHL game before…I have been to local hockey games, or for OHL games, they are fun to watch, so NHL ones would be pretty awesome. It’ll be an interesting evening. Just have to see how it turns out – if the Sens lose Steve would be very, very sad…but it’s funny anyway. He really wasn’t expecting them to end up in the playoffs in the first place anyway.

It would be interesting, that’s for sure. Heh.

Northern Trip, Easter Weekend, and Miscellaneous

What has been up with me lately? I just realized the other day that I hadn’t written a blog entry since March 9th, which is pretty ridiculous. I’ve been having both busy days and very slow days, so I don’t know why I didn’t write in a blog entry earlier, but oh well. I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to the last time I talked here. Heh.

Everything I had to do before, for disability, for taxes, and all that, got all done and over with. Everything looks good now, no more requests have been sent so it’s all good. Now the next few things I have to worry about really is finding a local family doctor here in Brockville, and getting my last name changed back to my maiden name on all my cards. I don’t know when I will be able to do that, but it’ll probably be when things slow down for Steve at work. I keep having to do stuff for my mom as well, as her printer doesn’t work so she keeps asking me to print stuff out for her. Figures! And I also have to find a job as well but looking has been tough, there’s not that many jobs here with it being so small.

Steve and I went out to North Frontenac County one day in mid-March, he wanted to go out and film and explore. I just wanted to get out of the house, but wasn’t really in the mood to take pictures I don’t think, but I still took some and it turned out to be fun. Just went out exploring different areas, the water, the beginning of spring in different areas of that area. We went filming and taking pictures along a river, Mississppi River, it used to hold the old railway there, and as I was taking pictures you could see some of the rails underneath the river that we were taking pictures of. It was cool, but a little strange, seeing that there used to be an old railway there under the river. We also went to another area, and found a swamp area covered in melted snow which actually looked pretty. It was a really warm day that day, around 23 celisus, so Steve was going without his coat a bit there along with me, but I don’t have any pictures of me in any of the pictures I have. We also found a waterfall behind a house, and took pictures of it in the distance, and that was surprising. It’s not too common to find waterfalls around here, that’s for sure. I like them, but they are hard to find. As the day wore on, and the sun was setting, we then stopped at one wide open space while driving back home, and took pictures of the electronic towers with the sunset, so that was colourful. You can see Steve’s video for that trip in this link:



Oh, yes, Steve and I found that Raxx’s in Brockville had just opened in the end of March, so we went there a few days or a week after the grand opening to check it out. It was actually pretty nice, very similar to Kingston’s Raxx’s, but somehow there were more murals all over the walls so that part was cool for me…there was more light, and it was just a bit different. It is quite nice there. I told my mom she’d have to come to see it one day. She likes it in Kingston after all. They had the same food, so it was good. Heh… and the owner of Raxx’s, I have met him before in the Kingston’s Raxx’s… he always has this thing where he greets all visitors and talks to them, and Steve was telling him that we used to go to Kingston’s Raxx’s as I was from Kingston, and we loved it there, so it was great that there was one in Brockville now. It was pretty cool talking to him. We just came to eat supper there, and we had the steak special that night. We went on a Friday night and that’s their special of the night… it’s always good. One day we’ll have to go back there to play pool. Steve has just been so busy with work so it’s been tough for him to go out and do stuff, because he has been so tired most of the time, with the stresses of work. I’m still working on the pictures from Raxx’s that I took with my cell phone – a lot of the pictures are just so dark. *laughs*

I had been saying to Steve that I still felt that I didn’t know Brockville well enough, as we kept going outside of Brockville to take pictures and stuff like that. I hadn’t really checked out the city to see what they had. I did go to Giant Tiger with him one day, but that was it… I never really got to check out downtown and see what they had, the water, though I did go sit by the water and watch the sunset go down at one point before near the plane statue, but I still felt I didn’t know Brockville well enough. So we went walking down downtown the other day, to see what they had… they didn’t really have that much, but it was good to be out in the fresh air and seeing what it was all like. They had some places where I could go in, but not a whole lot, but at least I got some ideas. Brockville is small, I can definitely say that, but then again that’s Brockville for you. A small town. Heh. Though we did check out Luna’s Pizzeria a bit ago, and that place was pretty good, along with returning to the China Buffet restaurant at the mall the previous Friday when we went shopping at the mall. One thing that’s too bad about the mall is that they are tearing down part of it, so to make big box stores, and that’s just too bad. They should keep it as a mall, not big box stores. They are too large and too many cars all around. :S Yuck. Oh well… all wait and see, but when I went shopping there on Friday half of it was pretty much closed down so it was not much fun. :/

I had been trying to keep active, but I was not entirely happy with how Bodyrock was like now. The new girl was not too bad, but the videos just felt too fast and a bit too much for me, so I wasn’t sure about sticking with her and the website, so I went looking online and I found Zuzana, the woman who used to be on Bodyrock, she was now running her own fitness routine on YouTube, so I was really happy about that. I like Zuzana’s videos…she’s hard, but the exercises can be fun. The other girl on Bodyrock was just too fast, and some of her exercises seemed too complicated at times and at others, too simple, so it just threw me off. I do like Zuzana much better, so I was really happy to find her online, though she only posts videos once a week so it’s too bad. But some is better than nothing. *smile* But I do really like her. She’s so much fun. You can look at her videos in her channel in YouTube which is here: Zuzka Light’s channel. Heh… Funny though. So I’ve been trying to keep active, but with her exercises I tend to get extremely sore and I cannot move for a few days, and then continue. *laughs* I’m just that out of shape again. I’m sad about that though, but hopefully I’ll get better soon enough. Heh.

Oh, yes, back in February/March, Steve had asked if I wanted to post some photos that I had taken of different winter scenes for his TVCogeco billboard program, as he was not getting a lot of winter submissions of photography for that one square in the billboard, so he asked if I wanted to leave him some, so he could add them to the billboard. I wasn’t sure, but gave him some, so it was a little weird for a while, a month or so, seeing my photos occassionally up on the billboard along with a few other people who tend to send in photos.

Steve at one point asked if I wanted to go night filming with him and I was exhausted that night so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take pictures, but he was just overeager to do his filming and experiment with night filming, that he just went and I went with him to one abandoned house that he went to before, and it was pretty much empty and he wanted to try. So I stayed in the car and watched him go through his patterns of setting up light and taking pictures of different objects and parts of the house. It was interesting, but I was just so tired and cold that I just stayed in the car and waited for him to finish. I did bring my camera with me, but because I was just tired and cold I decided to opt out. Heh. One day maybe I’ll be able to, but that’ll more likely be in the warmer seasons. He had that video up on his Vimeo and it’s pretty cool actually. It’s here:



Around mid-March, end of March, my mom invited me and Steve over for dinner, so we came down and did laundry at the laundromat here, and Steve had his fun filming me doing laundry, and I have no idea when he would post that up. I’m hoping he will, it was full of really weird shots of me doing laundry, so it was a bit funny, though I don’t like seeing myself on video, but it was still funny seeing all the angles and stuff like that. All wait and see, of course. It was a good dinner, we finished up laundry and then hung out outside and talked to John and Mom who were in the backyard when we got there. It was a nice day out then after all.

The Easter weekend was pretty good for me as well. My mom was having Easter dinner at her place and my brother was going to be there with his family, so it was something I wanted to do. So Steve and I drove out to Kingston after getting his car washed, and then just got there, and hung out, talked and caught up. Jase and Kelly arrived around half a hour or a hour after I got there, and then I go to see Zaiden, who I haven’t seen since he was a few days old or was it a week? But he’s 6 months old and it’s been a while since I last saw him and he’s definitely bigger than I remember him to be. It was cool seeing him though he had just woken up from the car ride from Belleville to Kingston, he was a little disoriented and a bit grumpy. But it was cool to see him again anyway. Everyone was just talking about their lives, catching each other up, and etcetera, so it was good. Dinner was good – we all had roasted ham and the dressings that go with ham. It was a good dinner, though everyone was full when it was over. I ended up taking too much pictures of Zaiden, but that’s normal. Heh. I was the only one with an official camera, and everyone else was using their phones and Playbooks to take pictures. :/ Why doesn’t anyone have a normal camera anymore? *laughs* So I was busy taking pictures of Zaiden mostly and just some of everyone, and so on. It was not too bad at all. I went to my mom’s on Saturday, and then on Monday, Steve and I were invited to Vince’s, who volunteers at TVCogeco where Steve works, family’s house again for Easter dinner, and it was a good visit. Everyone was more comfortable with me and everyone was just talking so it was good. Food was good as well, and everyone was friendly, though Steve was helping Vince out with his computer a bit installing Premiere for him. But it was still good anyway. I got to see Vince’s daughter’s animation, as she was interested in doing it, so that was pretty fun to check out. *smile* I know I can’t do animation, I have never tried it, but it looked like a lot of fun, in what she had done. I also have had ham twice in one weekend so I was pretty full and sick of ham by the end of it… Heh. But it was still good anyway. Nice Easter weekend.

I think this is all that’s been going on, but it’s enough. It’s been a while since I have written here. :/ Oh well… Heh.

Time Creeps On By

I have no idea what I have been up to, but I do think it’s been enough. I’ve just been busy back here, keeping busy with Steve and doing things around Brockville, and getting things done with here in Brockville and so on. My friend Kat had her baby, Arianna Dawn, a little bit ago so I’ve been keeping updated on that, and it’s pretty exciting for her. Heh. One day I’ll have to go visit her and her new baby. I’ve been working on my website as well, along with my work portfolio website, so it’s been keeping me busy at most. Steve has not been out filming that much lately, he’s been working like crazy so his time for filming has been cut down lately. Fun...though we both decided to go out to Prescott to film and take pictures, and I do remember being totally not in the mood to do it at all, though it was a nice area. I think I probably wasn’t in the mood to take pictures, as I wanted to do something different, but it can be hard to sometimes. Heh...funny. I got some good pictures though, going at the waterfront in Prescott and taking pictures of the lighthouses in the area.

I’ve also been trying to keep the place clean, as I really didn’t want to get sick again but it’s been tough. I’ve also finally got WordPress to automate my blog entries so that I didn’t always have to copy and paste them to my website, but I just added it on and I’m still seeing if I like it so far. I’m not used to the design but I’ll figure out how to make it more mine after a while, after playing around with the code. Hopefully I’ll get somewhere. Heh.

The other day I went to Richmond with Steve so he could get his car worked on, as his trunk was not able to be opened, his trunk latch was broken and then his key wouldn’t work in it. So we went out to Richmond, and grabbed something to eat for brunch at a nearby local diner while they looked in his car and just talked. It was a nice brunch, and now he has to go back the following Tuesday to get the trunk latch replaced. Oh joy. I have to go with him so it’s not much fun, but it has to be done. I’ve also been keeping busy watching movies and TV episodes, and running errands for disability getting my affairs in order and the such like, and just trying to figure out what else I like doing for my free time. I’ve been getting restless lately and I keep wanting to do something, only I can’t think of what I want to do, unfortunately. I think it’s because it’s the weather, it’s almost summer, but it’s still winter so it is making me a little stir crazy. I can’t stand the winters unfortunately, I often don’t want to go out in the snow so it sucks very much. *smile* And for a long time I was doing stuff that my ex-husband liked, so it’s hard to figure out what I want to do and what I like to do. I have to figure that part out. I know what I like to do for my quiet times, reading, writing, catching good movies and TV, and the such like. I also clean, but I can’t really think of something that really gets me passionate and really wanting to do. I used to love going out with buddies and friends and having fun, but now it’s a little hard because my friends aren’t local, they haven’t been since I moved to Kingston. So it’s tricky. I do need to figure out something I want to do truly, which is a true challenge. Heh.

What else? Not too much I don’t think. There’s been a bit of craziness with receiving letters in the mail, where the government wanted to confirm I was still separated and not living with my ex husband again, for GST information. Oh well, so I received it from my mom who came by to visit a couple of weekends ago, in the end of February I believe, she dropped it off for me. We all went to Swiss Chalet for supper and just caught up and told them all about what was going on back here and so on, and then had a quiet night in. Then after that I had to read the whole tax envelope I got, and it said to get two written letters from two professionals that knew me personally, to confirm that I haven’t lived with my ex in the entire time we were separated, and so on. My mom got one letter from my family doctor already for me, so that was easy enough, but I had to figure out who else would know. I could go and see Kat and have her confirm but because she was busy being pregnant and I didn’t want to drive back to Ottawa when I had just come back from her shower; so I thought of disability – I have been paid monthly with the exclusion of my ex-husband and they would know. So I went in and had them sign the papers, and that was all done with. I had to enclose my separation agreement papers as well as those two letters, along with bills that showed how much it cost before and after the separation, which was ridiculous. It was a lot actually, so oh well. :/ But I got it over and done with, and then soon I got a letter from disability to make sure that I was actually roommates with Steve and so on, so it was interesting, but that part is almost over and done with and will be dropping it off on Monday. I’m so tired of all the forms and letters I have to fill out. *laughs* There’s just so much! Let’s see how the last one will work, so yay me. I need a load off my mind, that’s for sure.

I sure don’t have much to say, but it’s been quite sleepy back here other than a few trips and visits out of town here and there.