The Valley Rash

Back in White Rock, B.C. after a week's sojourn at the Gladstone Family Cabin in Windermere, B.C.

I got a call from the Professor. He's just had some plumbing issues that need attending to. Who can predict an exploding toilet? That's usually not even on the list. Roaches the size of your neighbors? Maybe. Neighbors the size of elephants? Sure. But an elephantine lake of fetid water in your kitchen is not generally considered by the new tenant.
What does this mean for the Professor and FieldZee? Well - when he finds a dry, stink-free hole to plug his laptop into and get his blog up and running, I'm sure he'll be only too happy to tell you.
All this action in the 'Couve means that the morning was a write-off, but there will be a Monster-Summit later in the day, and I'll probably end up in the same situation that I've been finding myself in for the past two weeks: in bed early, with the lights off, sleeping sound with the knowledge that our government processes are working exactly as they should be.

This Strike business has led to some good things, though.
Three strikes in a row at the Valley Alley, a lucky spin, and the next thing we knew, FieldZee was the proud owner of an actual Turkey.
Thankfully, the vegetarian streak she's been on for the past little while goes unbroken by the house rule that only "league" members can win the turkey. She didn't go away empty fisted, though. The Valley Alley folks were kind enough to give her a ten-dollar gift certificate which I'm sure she'll spend on good stuff, like Chocolate for Mr. Sanchez.
Ah...Chocolates for Mr. Sanchez. That's a week I won't soon forget.

Just finished reading "Why I Hate Canadians" by Will Ferguson. He's also the author of "Canadian History for Dummies" - the essential reading material of Monster Theatre. This one was really quite good. It was recommended to me several years ago over breakfast at B's diner in Edmonton by Chris "the funny English guy" Gibbs. We laughed for hours when we both realized that Canadian and English are almost the same language. My rough translation of his description of Ferguson's book is something along the lines of "it's a jolly good read, eh what?" And, I agree. Some very funny points get made about Canadians, and I still managed to feel mostly proud at the end of it. Mostly.

Don't think that it was all fun and games at the cabin. The Professor and I wrote and rewrote the first act of Canada Show 2. Look for it at the Waterfront Theatre in Vancouver from November 10-20th. We're delving deeper, and it looks promising. The second act is going to kick ass on the first one. I believe it may feature exploding toilets and striking teachers.

Two new songs for the History of the Future are: Back on the Boat (a post-flood song) and Sexual Chances (the tale of post-industrial finance). Both were penned at the cabin in the same evening after discussions of where we might end up if we had our own way. Of course, nothing is concrete, so they may end up as rarities on the next Monster Compilation. Look for them in the box set, at any rate.

With any luck, we'll be back on the road next week with the show - educating and entertaining across the province. If not, I'm considering a trade school. Plumbing?