every direction at once as long as it’s up

I feel like I haven’t written anything in a very long time. Ever since the computer went critical at about the same time as my employment status doing anything so frivolous as blogging has seemed a tad decadent.

Lots going on, yes. Not least of which is the marriage of two of my favourite people. In a pyramid. By candlelight. Once you get past the awe factor of a wedding in a pyramid you quickly run up against the brick wall of the candlelight thing. Try being the official photographer for a candlelit wedding in a pyramid, seriously. No really. I dare you. We’ll see what kind of a wizard I really am, I kid you not.

A western-tinged minimal break-beat theme comes in and the scene fades up: It’s a blindingly hot day in a desert ghost town. At one end of the cracked patch of hard-pan stretched between a double row of dead and hollow clapboard buildings is me, with two gigs of low-light photos clutched in a dusty, sweaty fist. Facing me: Photoshop mounted on a narcoleptic computer the functional age of a seventy year old man, like a wily demon perched on the wizened shoulders of an ancient gladiator.

Man. I do know how to mix a metaphor.

Yes, I do still play the photographer. I haven’t taken a gig since moving over here but I am still a gun for hire. Most of my potential market is still on the island, I think, but I intend to see what I can do over here as well. I have a lot of justifying to do with this gear yet. I hope to make a presentation piece out of this wedding.

So. You’ve probably heard. Maigen has to leave the country. It sounds so exile-ish when I say it like that. For all of you wondering how it works I’ll bus’ it down thus far:

– Visitors can stay up to six months. You cannot earn money while you’re here.
– After five months, if you want to stay, you can apply for an extension of three months (a total of nine).
– This application has to show a good reason for wanting to stay and most importantly it has to display an intent or obligation to leave. Apparently.
– declaring your love for a Canadian citizen and plans to marry him do not constitute an intent to leave. Apparently.

It’s really hard to get complete and reliable information about immigration. I don’t think that’s an accident. If you have the money to pay for someone with the knowledge to handle all the details for you then here’s the keys, you are a welcome addition to our wonderful country. If you are a couple of love-smitten love birds in love and nothing but five dollars & a border between you then you’d better really really mean it.

So she has to leave. We don’t know how long she has to leave for. Various reports suggest 48 hours, two weeks or two months. We’ve decided to turn this train-wreck into a tap dance and send her back to Charlotte for a few months. She’s salivating at the thought of earning an honest wage and having a real bank account again. We’ll miss each other pretty fiercely but we’ll have Skype to stay in touch and it won’t be forever. If work goes well for her down there she may stay right through til August, which would make the wedding a doubly fantastic occassion. I suppose if we were real die-hard romantics our first night back together would be our wedding night.

Did I just say that?

Shnykees, what has this relationship done to me? Mister Sappy McSapperton.

Meanwhile you are probably aware that Da Vinci was dropped by CBC in favour of Chris Haddock’s other project, Intelligence. I really enjoyed Da Vinci but if I had to choose… well, I can’t say as I blame them. CSIS is all kinds of interesting for me, and the world hasn’t done much with the idea so far.

The trick now will be to make sure I get employed. I reckon I’m ready to edit on the front lines now, with a bit of coaching. I grudgingly have to admit that it’s my work on Air Buddies that has brought me farther faster with the core software than my six months with DVCH. We were just too busy. It’s a similar fast pace now, but the staffing is structured differently, with more hands-on work coming my way.

Not sure how I’m going to secure my position there. Miguel may be relocating if his exploratory foray into LA goes well. My relationship with the others directly involved in hiring on the Chris Haddock side has been sparse but positive. I will let them know I’m avidly interested and see what happens.

Strange days. Some small part of the financial pressure is eased off with my new appointment to weekend relief manager (with Maigen) of my apartment building. Evidently it means having the phones with me in case something bursts into flames and showing the occasional suite. Training begins Saturday morning at 8:30. I’ll let you know if I’m required to chew a toothpick, wear a greasy wife-beater, and sport a plumber’s butt. The company owns forty buildings, all respectable, so I’m looking at this with an eye to the future, living space wise. Ahh, the checkered life that is me.

I think I could go on for another couple hours talking about what’s new but I really have been here at the studio long enough. There’s a girl needs snuggling at my place.