The Hermit Poet

August 27, 2006

Catching Up

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 10:02 am

Sorry for the absence — it’s been a busy few weeks here. A brief recap of events, projects, and news follows:

1. Family Shuffle House Swap. Went back last week end to Penticton spend a few days with my father helping out around the house. My mother is away in Calgary watching my nephew while my sister and her husband are getting ready for their move to Victoria. I returned on Monday (this past week).

2. Continuing Car Canadianification Blues. Spent this past week driving down to Bellingham to have the outstanding recall work done at the Nissan dealership there (evidentally some recall work can only be done in the US?!). That taken care of, I returned to Canada without difficulty. I then was told that the windshield needed to be replaced (small crack in the vision area) and that the daytime driving lights needed to be installed. About $780 later and an additional trip to the local Nissan dealer to install an infant seat restraint bolt, the car successfully passed both federal and provincial inspections. Done? Not quite. The insurance company wants a copy of my claims history from my previous insurance company in California — for some reason I forgot to obtain that (call that my own studipity if you will). So Monday morning I have to call to my old insurance company and have them fax that info to the new one. And then I’ll be done — but have a chunk of change to pay for the insurance itself.

3. Joining a Gang. Well, not quite. I’m applying to join the Vancouver Artists Collective — a local multidiscipliinary arts organization which mainly exists to network and find ways for artists to assist each other. On paper it sounds pretty cool. I meet with the head person on Tuesday for an interview. I will not dress like a Triad or a pimpl

4. Office in Gas Town. Well, it turns out that I’ve been offered a free month membership with WorkSpace (www.abetterplacetowork.com). It’s an open concept work environment geared toward entrepreneurial and creative types. Which seems like a good fit as a temporary base of operations for Boxcar Poetry Review and some current writing projects (Babbage’s Dream and a series of writing & publishing guides I’m working on). I took the tour on Friday and like the space. I’ll be there in the evenings and perhaps will make some new friends in the process.

5. The Hermit at Table 13. I went to a wedding reception on Friday night in Abbotsford for the younger brother of a friend of mine from Regina, Saskatchewan. This was definitely a reception for friends of the bride’s parents and a few of the groom’s parents. Some of the younger folk were there for the bride and groom. Still, the food was excellent, as were the desserts and the wedding cake itself. What was truly phenomenal though was the entertainment. Someone described it as Canadian Idol — and he wasn’t too far off the mark. The father of the bride sang a song he had written for his daughter. Then one of the sisters sang a song for the bride that she had written and composed. Then the groom sang “Honestly” to his new wife. And later, the groom’s father (a rather well-known Filipino singer/entertainer in Regina and area) also sang a Filiipino love song. So all-in-all quite the spectacular event.

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