Al Zylstra

Covid-19 has caused such an upheaval in the Theatre Community. Most of the smaller theatre companies have had to shut down and wait the pandemic out. I was fortunate to secure the one gig at the Fringe Festival – TrudeauMania. That show was so much fun and when I emailed the show details to my personal contacts, I made a connection with Peg Keenleyside. Peg and I worked on a show at the Metro Theatre: Calendar Girls.

Peg was happy to hear from me and we emailed back and forth about the Project she was working on called Then and Now – and asked me if I wanted to be her Stage Manager. I jumped at the chance to work with Peg again. We finished our workshop a while back and I was able to get a video of the event. Sit back and enjoy!

Alex and I had some big plans for 2020. We were going to head back to Europe for three weeks of exploration. Alas, the pandemic put a grinding halt to those plans. Fortunately, I took out cancellation insurance. While it took four months of emails and phone calls, we eventually received a full refund (less $100 processing). I was so relieved.

We decided that since we couldn’t go anywhere, we would take on some renovations in the house.

First and foremost, a larger bed

We found a beautiful King Size Bed on Amazon.

Alex repainted the ceiling in the bedroom and the walls. So much more soothing now.

Then, he tackled our master bathroom

Then, we had a bit of a disaster in the plumbing so we had to replace the floor. The floor was easy to install but no longer went with the wall colours.

We have new colours, new floor and we couldn’t be happier.

Next, he tackled the dining room

We then changed everything in this room

We will be tackling the office, laundry room, kitchen and guest bathroom next. Keep checking for updates

This is my sister Anna’s birthday today.

I miss her.

That is all.

Well, this year has been a real treat, to be certain. I am glad that it is almost over but, I am astounded at how quickly it wrapped up. There have been so many things that have befallen us in the past 12 months, it is frightening.

Rather than breakdown the photos by month, I just chose the images that made me smile

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Hello everyone! So, I am sad to report that the two shore encore scheduled for next weekend has been cancelled due to the updated Covid-19 pandemic safety measures.

Hello reader(s): So, after a six show run at the Mini-Fringe on Granville Island, I thought that I would be putting this show in my treasured memories scrapbook or at least on this site. We got word last week that the Mini-Fringe has asked us to do a two show encore! I am so thrilled to be able to revisit this production, even if it is for just two more shows.

If you are interested in coming to see this show, tickets are available here. The performances are Saturday, November 28 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, November 29 at 2:00 pm.

I hope to see you there.

It is with a real sense of sadness that I am writing this. TrudeauMania closed last night after a great run. I cannot begin to thank the cast and crew for including me in this production. Kudos to all for putting on a stellar production during this pandemic.

TrudeauMania – the song! The Legend!

You gotta love the sentiments from a great cast.

I am beyond ecstatic! Last month, I got a message from a friend who I worked with at the Metro Theatre. She told me that she knew of a production that was looking for a Stage Manager and wanted to know if she could pass my info on to them. I said, “Sure! Why not?”

Two weeks ago, I got a message from the Producer of “TrudeauMania, the Musical”. We chatted via email and the next thing I knew, I was hired! Hip-Hip-Hooray!

A fast & furious musical trip through the life of former PM Pierre Trudeau. We meet his loves, friends & enemies and see his youth as a radical Quebec separatist, his arrest at the Asbestos Strike, capture of the Liberal leadership, battle with the terrorist FLQ and fight with US President Reagan for nuclear disarmament.

The show runs from October 30 – November 8 at Performance Works on Granville Island. Tickets are $15.

To order tickets, click here.

If you are planning on coming to this show, please be aware that there are safety guidelines in place.

It’s OCTOBER?????? When the heck did that happen? Was I asleep and missed it? 2020 has certainly been a roller coaster, to be sure.

Let’s recap, shall we?

In January, I was supposed to Stage Manage a Play at the Metro. I left that production just before it went on stage. Don’t ask. It was not a good situation that resulted in my withdrawing from that production and all subsequent productions at the Metro. Suffice to say that there were issues. More issues than Time Magazine.

In February, I started production on Next Fall. A wonderful play that renewed my passion for Stage Managing. It was a gloriously funny, touching, moving and inspiring story.

Then in March, the world just dry-heaved and we just stopped EVERYTHING! Next Fall was shuttered *temporarily* (which appears to be indefinite now).

April saw me working from home and I remained there until the first week in July.

This became my office for the next three months. While it was perfectly functional, it was also challenge to get stuff done with all the animals suddenly rejoicing that I was home ALL THE TIME!

June saw the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival cancel their event for the FIRST TIME EVER!

July saw the Canada Day Celebrations on Granville Island get cancelled

August saw the Steveston Dragon Boat Regatta get cancelled.

There went all my stage managing gigs for the year! On top of that, in March, I got laid off from the Pet Food gig and the Clothing store gig. *sigh – Bye Bye extra money.

September also saw our scheduled trip to Europe disappear, too. *sob – on the plus side, I was smart enough to get cancellation insurance when I originally booked this trip. I was able to get 98% of my money back. Hooray!

So, July allowed me to go back to work. – WHEW! I was getting ready to audition for “Divorce Court” – or at least Alex was. I think that I was starting to get on his nerves – A LOT!

I was so happy to get back to my office. I was able to set up all my plants and get my aquarium back in. Hooray.

However, the joy was short-lived! About three weeks ago, I came in to work and found my aquarium was damaged and water was leaking EVERYWHERE. So, off to the local pet store to buy a new home for Blue (for lack of a better name for him)

All this now leads me to October! Life is still slowly returning to a degree of normalcy. I haven’t found any new Stage Managing gigs and I don’t know if I am in any fired up hurry to get back to that. I love the theatre but, I also love my evenings to myself again. Same with the two part time jobs. I didn’t make a lot of money at either of the, but, not having to work 7 days a week is a bit of a bonus, too.

If I start to get bored this winter, I may look for another part time job but, until this pandemic is under control, I am prepared to play it safe. Alex and I don’t go out. We go do Grocery Shopping on Saturday mornings – always wearing masks. We have hand sanitizer in the car which we use all the time. We do erranding on Sundays. That pretty much sums up our outings.

I still walk ever day – now twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

So, happy readers. That is all for now. Hopefully, I will have more interesting stuff in the coming weeks but, don’t hold your breath.

Haven’t written for a while but, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t have much to say. Even now, I am struggling to find something to write about. Covid-19 is still here. The American Elections are still looming. The Canadian Government is still embroiled in a “scandal”. There are forest fires across the West Coast of the USA and they are bad; the smoke has drifted north and it is blanketing the Lower Mainland. If not for this pandemic, Alex and I would be in Europe right now having a great time (*sob).

So, what is there to write about that will hold the interest of my 11 (yes ELEVEN followers)? Not too much but, I will endeavour to write something witty, pithy and erudite (ewww…. big words!)

I am still walking every day. I have increased my number of steps. I was told that 10,000 steps is the benchmark to good health and weight loss. I found that 10,000 just wasn’t cutting it.

My doctor’s appointment in April was a wake up call. While I was proud of myself for doing all this walking, my doctor advised me that I was borderline diabetic! Yikes! So, I decided that I had to make some wholesale changes in my lifestyle. Okay, not wholesale. Maybe retail. I increased my walking distance by double. That seemed to have done the trick. I reduced my calorie intake – not by much, mind you. But, enough. I started walking 12 – 15 km a day.

I was stuck at around 107 kg (236 lbs) and it just wasn’t going anywhere. Then, once I hit the increase in my steps, the weight started coming off again. I weighed myself three days ago and I am now 102.1 kg. (225 lbs)! It is working. I need to lose another 7 kg (15 lbs) and I will be at an optimal weight. My doctor has also advised me that I am no longer in danger of diabetes and that all my other blood tests came back with excellent results (hooray, I don’t have tertiary syphyllis!!!!). I do have to go in for a colonoscopy, though. *sigh. Scheduling that for sometime in the next couple of weeks.

Alex and I are good, though. We have been keeping our distance, making sure that we wear masks whenever we go out in public, staying pretty close to home. I have been working just at IRIS. I miss the other part time gigs and gawd, I miss my stage managing gigs! Everything got cancelled for 2020! Hopefully, next year will bring everything back (fingers crossed).

In the meantime, we are getting ready to build a greenhouse in the backyard. Our neighbour, Dave has offered to help Alex construct it. That is a good thing because I dread helping Alex do this. I am not the best construction-based worker. Plus, Alex helped Dave construct Dave’s new decks (yes, decks), paint his house, landscape his yard and fix his driveway, so he owes us!

We have most of the wood already for the frame. Now, we just need to find the walls, roof, door and potentially a floor. I will start scrounging for those items in the next couple of weeks. Craigslist is gonna be a good resource, I suspect.

After that, we will look at replacing all our windows – the current ones are single pane and about 35 years old. We have gotten quote and they are rather reasonable for what we would get. Then comes the kitchen. I want to re-do the kitchen, dining room, laundry room. That is going to be the big expense. So, have to start saving for that quickly.

In the meantime, we will continue to try and come through this pandemic unscathed. Below are some recent pictures taken over the last couple of months. Enjoy!

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I am back at work! Hooray! I am so happy to be back in my office. It isn’t the biggest office but, it is all mine.

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As you can see, I have a number of plants in my office. I don’t have any natural light coming in but, all these plants seem to do reasonably well. The two fig trees are, surprisingly, doing really well. They haven’t dropped any leaves and in fact, have a bunch of new growth. That makes me happy.

Since the start of this Pandemic, I have been working from home and during that time, I was constantly stressing about potentially gaining a lot of weight. I saw all the memes on social media about people sitting on the sofa watching Netflix and gorging on snack foods. I sword that wasn’t going to happen to me. I kept up with my regular routine but, I delayed everything by an hour – a small concession I had given myself.

So, I still went for a morning walk with the dogs every day. We would leave around 7:00 am and head out for an hour and a half (minimum) walk. I am happy to report that I actually lost weight as a result of the pandemic. My weight is now roughly 103.5 Kg – a loss of 5 kg from the start of March! Yay ME!

I do have to admit, though, that I haven’t been as good with my photo taking efforts during this past 6 weeks. I have been spending my time walking the boys, listening to music and finding recyclable bottles / cans / beverage containers. I have made almost $125! We are going to use that money plus any additional funds I collect to construct a new greenhouse in our backyard.

We have a new neighbour who Alex has been helping build a new deck, do major landscaping and more. He has graciously offered to help Alex with the construction of the greenhouse in the fall. We have to supply the materials and he will help Alex build it. I am thrilled with that. Saves me from doing it. I have to admit that I am not the best when it comes to manual labour. I keep throwing my back out. The last time I threw it out, I was laid up for almost two and half weeks. Eeek!

Alex has been working feverishly in and around the house with all the landscaping and gardening. It is definitely very therapeutic for him and he seems to be happiest when he is digging in the dirt. Hence, my want / need / desire to get him a greenhouse so he can continue to work in the off season.

Our trip to Europe has been officially cancelled and we are waiting, very, very, VERY patiently for our cancellation insurance policy to kick in so we can get a refund. I submitted the request back in March and it is now July. I guess it is time to call them AGAIN – for the the 6th time to find out what the status is. *sigh

We talked about rebooking for next year but, after a rather lengthy discussion about the pandemic and what the new “normal” is going to look like, I somehow doubt that we will be going back there any time soon. So, we are going to look at renting a small motorhome and driving up to the territories (NWT, Yukon and Nunavut) and checking that out. For the same cost of a trip to Europe including accommodations and car rental, we can rent a recreational vehicle and spend up to three weeks exploring Northern Canada. So, it is definitely worth considering at this time.