floor-bed

Norman's out on the town and I'm not out with him, which is pretty bizarre! Although one time earlier this week we were out and he stayed in. Even stevens we are.



Speaking of-- Norman recently wrote a really remarkable blog about his long-time love of rap. Norman's blog is actually always worth the read. I'm not just saying that because our love springs eternal.
Oh, I just looked at his site just now and the newest one about his great-grandmother is just so, so lovely.


I bought clogs. I don't remember ever even thinking about wanting to buy clogs. These were very cheap. I'm into them. Weird decision, certainly.

(a ghost came and the ghost was like "heeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy")



Comedy is hard. Do I talk about comedy enough? It still feels very foreign to me that I'm a comedy performer. A "comedian". There's only so long I'm going to be allowed to feel new about it.
I used to think I'd hate the part where I'm constantly examining why something is funny and how and so on. I don't hate it. I find it interesting. I can't imagine feeling more sure and unsure at the same time about something.


(birthmark back)


I would pay all the money I could find/borrow/steal to just buy a shitload of confidence to use at my convenience. I'd pay it no problem because I'm certain that's the only thing keeping me from doing all the things I should be doing.
Getting there, getting there.

I've always been a late bloomer, in pretty much every way. I lost my last baby tooth just before entering 9th grade. It takes me awhile to get to things, sometimes. Most times.
So it's okay that now I'm a comedian. It's okay that I'm still scared of it and nervous about it and figuring it out. It'll be okay if I finally really do stand-up at 40 (or in a week or two, whichever).
It's hard to remember that youth is just the tiniest section of my life and everything that happens enriches and adds to what I already know and can make me better.

Not having dealines isn't a good excuse not to work, Meredith.

It is strange, also, to go from being an avid comedy watcher and enjoyer and supporter to being a performer and working with people I've admired. Going from being a fan to a peer, basically. And it's hard to imagine talking them into working with me, because of course I'm just the person who goes to shows, not the person who does them. Not now, though.
Oh, I'm so jealous of the easy, sturdy confidence so many people seem to ooze. So remarkably jealous.

But also, while we're on the subject, being a "comedian" isn't making me less bratty, I'll tell you that for free. It's (embarrassingly) making me much worse about pointing out what I don't like about other people's jokes. It's making me far more annoyed with how people go about humour sometimes. It's making it impossible to think about falling in love with anyone because they would have to be the funniest but then also that probably somehow wouldn't be enough or I'd just feel furious about not being as funny.
I'm not satisfied with my own level of comedy and so I'm remarkably hard on everyone else. COOL MOVE.



I'm still revelling in loving the jokes I love, though.  Lately I've been working a lot with one of my bffs, Flash Gordon, and we frequently fall over laughing. And the jokes aren't ones I can relay, I can just guarantee that to us they are pure magic. I wouldn't know how to bottle our interactions, explain them, or write them in a screenplay, but I wish I could because it's very nice.

Anyway.
Second Cottage Friendship Retreat Weekend this weekend. Where is time going? Looks like it'll be at least 12 (!) people up there at some point and I'm just so excited because we're going up for several days and lots of people are coming at different times and mannnnn do I like socializing.


(such a young-looking one, still. I wonder if I'll become a creepy old-young faced guy soon.)

I put my bed on the floor. Sometimes you just lose patience. This was one of those times. I have bigger plans for this set-up and I need my tablecloths back from Mrs (ohh yeah, Mrs is now ACTUALLY a MRS now. so bizarre) that she used at her wedding. Mrs and Arrow's weddings was one of the most lovely, tasteful, perfect parties I've ever been to. Aaaaaand I love them.

Also, guys, I'm taking the train back to Saskatoon real soon and I'm actually ridiculously excited for that adventure, and on the train I'd really like for there to be:
a) a mystery I get to solve
b) sweet babes
c) secret booze I don't get caught with
d) fun surprises

dock's a-waiting!

Quick Q! How many bikinis is too many to pack?? haahhaaaa just kidding I'll only take three.



t minus some minutes before I leave for FRIENDSHIP RETREAT COTTAGE WEEKEND. ughgughgghhh. I'm so excited!


stone cottage dreamhome. who wants to pitch in and buy this with me?? come on. let's get serious.





oh yeah, so I met my new roommate, Chanel:



Oh yeah, she came with a human. The human seems nice. hahahaaaaa awww I love cats. Chanel purred around my legs already this morning.
I wonder what my new lady-roommate's nickname will be. She's a stranger I met for the first time yesterday so we'll have to give it a moment to figure it out!

Got a headache in my brain from drinking and not sleeping enough but last night was a whole lot of fun. Remount of the Book of Moron.

Guys. on a semi-related note, all of my hardwork in friendships has really paid off for me. I have the BEST friends. Honestly. I have friends that I want to cry when I see them because they are that nice and great and love me so much. Anyway, thanks to everyone who came out to this show. A year of work!
I can't believe that it's done. I'm quite sad. It's crazy when something this intensive is over.
Such good work we did. We came so fucking far. I love that some of my friends came to our first class shows and got to be amazed at how far we've come.
nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice nice



BRB GUYS HERE THIS IS WHERE I'LL BE!



I can't wait to get into my bedroom!!! I can't wait! I can't wait to look out my window (oh yeah, also this is definitely Dollface's family's cottage but I definitely pretend it's for me only mostly. haahahaha yeeeeeahhhh)

harm reduction chair

Remember when I wasn't ever busy and only worked like 20 hours a week and my only hobbies were blogging?

Is this the longest stretch of time I've ever gone without updating this? Possibly. I'm filled with good intentions of getting back into it. FILLED TO THE BRIM.

here's a video I made a couple of months ago that's good voice work on my part. YOU'RE WELCOME.

I made it in a few hours for the Second City training centre's weekly video competition based on the word "potato".

Hey, guess what! I left the country!
Yeah yeah for the very first time ever in my life I crossed the border into the united states. Hey today is the 4th of July. That's their day.




this is me at our first rest stop after crossing the border. I was pretty excited. Goddamn that's a long drive to NYC, hey? I don't know how some people do it super fast. Speeding, I guess. We did it long.

I have a new stranger roommate coming tomorrow. The last time a stranger moved in it was Yulie, so I have high hopes.
It's too hot to clean but I need to clean so badly. It's hard with everyone coming and going, but once this roommate is officially in we can start making it like a real proper home. HOPEFULLY!


Hey look, it's Sass aka Joey aka my old Toronto bud who is currently living in NYC. In this photo she is my boyfriend and we are in the secret garden of the air b n b my team stayed at.


my good-looking improv team and I did our show at 10:45 on Sunday morning. We had a small house (some of our buds came to our show. thank you, buds!) but did a solid set. I was actually really pleased with how we did. It was nice having a low-pressure time slot and a clock that was counting down our 30 minutes. I relaxed.

It's dumb how much my nerves and lack of self confidence ruin my life. Working working wooorking on it.


I feel like I'm getting better looking these days. I would say forsure it's because of my curling wand, my interest in dressing slightly better, and possibly how I've lost quite a bit of weight (though I get defensive on that point because I don't like the idea that one's weight dictates one's level of attractiveness).
But for sure the number one thing is how I'm less nervous of everyone. I'm just more happy in my own body and brain. That's a thing that's obvious and appealing, I think.


new (old) computer that I bought for $300 because I spilled tea into my macbook pro. I kind of love this guy, so far. And he doesn't feel too fancy for me!

work tonight and then rehearsal tomorrow and then we remount THE BOOK OF MORON my Second City conservatory graduation show.
I can't believe how much I've not written about on here. Upsetting.
Anyway, I'm done conservatory now and we HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK with our grad show. I'm very pleased with what I got in the show in the end (despite some rough patches in the process for suuure).
awhile ago I wrote a list of things I wanted for myself in the show:
-scene where I am an engaged and realistic actor
-scene that showcases how dynamic and energetic I can be
-scene where I get to play a big and playful character

I get to do all that and a bunch more. And I get to support some fuuuuucking hilarious performers in their work. What a process. What a time this has been.

Anyhow, if you're around tomorrow (July 5th) at 11 p.m. come to the Second City's mainstage and judge for yourself. You might as well, really!

If you don't follow me on twitter then you're missing out. That's what I do instead of blogging. I'm a big fan of twitter.

 This weekend is the first of COTTAGE of the 2 cottage weekends Dollface and I have planned for ourselves. I am very, very excited. I feel like I've earned all of the relax time I'm going to enjoy this weekend. Hahahahahaaaa earned.

dating advice #4

hey guys! look how romantic I am. aaaaand I'm giving you some sweet advice.

less worried about being cool

I'm a really good mood today for the first time in weeks!


Making refried beans? add beer and a bit of curry powder. Catdad's best tip.
My best tip? Quinoa on your tacos. Better than rice!

My body is doing a pretty good job of being a hormonal nightmare lately for no apparent reason? Seems a bit unfair, if you ask me. Maybe it's just getting everything out of the way and now will work like a dream for the rest of my life? HA.


I'm working quite a bit these days. I don't know how much I've said here but I'm working very part-time in the office at a small theatre close to my house. I like this job more than I expected but mostly WEARING MY OWN CLOTHES is the best. All my other jobs require black pants and MAN, there are only so many days in a row I can make black pants work.


office outfit!
Watch Peever bought me in the St. Catharines Salvation Army. I'm prettttty into it.

Blogger has a whole new format and it's annoying and sorry there were no line-breaks in the last entry but hey, I didn't lose any sleep over it.


(look I actually made a craft that I'd pinned on pinterest! ooohhh man, so many tasteful things on pinterest!!)

One of the reasons I resisted actually getting into comedy for as long as I did (and probably if there's a reason I'll shy away from it in the future) is that it's tiring to keep track of what's funny and why it's funny and how you can translate it later into a way to show other people that it's funny. It's tiring. Not awful, but it is a bit of work.
I can't count how many times in the past few months I've asked people, "what was that thing I thought was so funny earlier?"


(Aunties for the first time in forever and it was as good as I thought it'd be.)

But now hanging around most of the time with comedy people has advantages. I think being an funny/obnoxious kid parlayed into me being an obnoxious teenager and the people I hung out with in high-school valued out-cooling each other over doing voices or accents or silly fun bits.
(and obviously people doing accents/voices who are not funny is the MOST ANNOYING)
It would have mortified me to have tried accents or characters in front of them, I think. It was hard trying to be cool. I've been caring way less about being cool with every passing moment of my life.
I'm feeling way more free these days to say every stupid thing that comes into my head. And, luckily, not all of it is horrendously annoying.
Lately I'm getting really into talking in whichever weird way I goddamn feel like! I let myself go off on tangents about whatever I like, I talk to myself in my room about whatever fictional shit I feel like.



That's probably what one needs to do if one wants to be a character comedian. I can't just think about things in my head and then present it fully polished. Everything needs to be worked out and felt-through.
I'm already a good actor, I have a nice sense of honesty and I trust in being able to act out a scene, whether serious or comedic, but really big character work? it's hard! And maybe because of that is the most amazing?



My voice-memo recording on my iphone has been particularly useful! I usually forget what voice I was talking in immediately after doing it, but if I record it I can recreate it, no problem!  I made a video for the Second City training centre's Naked Fridays 7 Day Shorts competition purely because I thought to record the stupid shit I was saying to myself while getting ready for work. The voice-memo app also transfers your memos into mp3s and so I could just edit it directly onto a video in imovie!! COMPUTERS ARE THE BEST THING!!
I want them to put the vid up online so that I can post it here!! It's notbad notbad. And it's one of the first character voices I'm really into/proud of.

I'm so, so happy my mum's coming out for my Second City conservatory's final show in mid-june. Especially since now I'm getting a handle on being a good worker (yeah right) and figuring out how to present/perfect/defend/polish my ideas!
Exciting times!




these chocolate tools cost 28 cents with tax and Norman bought them for me, so they are the best. easter candy sales!!

mixtape club march 2012

Mixtape Club!

we've not really been meeting as much as we'd first decided (monthly) but when we do manage to unite it's always fun and always delicious.


aperole cocktails!

Sweet, sweet beastly!

our lovely host


handsome men I know

fine times, wine times

twins. (not actual twins)


requisite self-photo dumb-face


digging in
we were treated to pasta with a really nice chickpea sauce kind of, I should get that recipe I thought it was real nice...


gluten-free donuts with mint julep ice cream. WHAT. whatwhatwhat.


phone break



classic face. I dig that necklace.




here I am in heaven. obviously.


Yep. I don't know what else to tell you except, get yourself a group of amazing humans and then meet with them for dinner parties and cocktails. then your life will be good.
you're welcome.





look at my dumb smug face.


I'm such a little gremlin pretty much all the time. It's okay it's okay.

Oh yeah guys,
White Panther Girlfriend has a set this Friday (April 20th) at the John Candy Box theatre at the second city training centre (70 peter street) at 9 p.m.
come on over and stuff thankyouuuuuuuu