Return of the fat bastard - There's nothing glamorous about making TV!

October 3rd and 4th and 5th 2016

Take that broken phone!

It wasn't cracked until I dropped it trying to take the picture

      Gloom Despair and Agony On Me! The words to that old country song from Hee Haw have been running through my brain since 7 o'clock last night. That's when my phone died. I didn't drop it, I didn't drown it, it just started showing the screen backwards, then half the screen backwards, then lots of lines and no functioning buttons! Up until that point I had been having a pretty good day. Michelle with one L was at work I was home by myself doing general House Squatch duties like vacuuming, washing dishes, doing laundry,watering the plants. Chef Boy R Lisa may work from Dusk Till Dawn but a House Squatch's work is never done! Don't tell the lovely Lisa I said that! Besides not being true, which as you know has never stopped me before, I couldn't do her job. Crazy hours! Anyway everything was working great. I had received several texts and phone calls. I was on Wi-Fi with my phone and had no problems.
      Chef boy R Lisa arrived home from work with dinner. Chicken & Ribs and a healthy portion of mac and cheese. The lovely Lisa and I ate our dinner in front of the TV. I don't even remember what we were watching. Yes I do, it was the Global local news. Once again no good news in the news today! The lovely Lisa was totally bagged she just came off a 16-hour shift. On the upside her call time tomorrow is 4:30 a.m. so she doesn't have to get up until 4 a.m. "Life of Riley!" The lovely Lisa went to bed and I packed up my guitar and headed to the Heritage Grill in New Westminster. I was there ten minutes after the start of sign up. That made me 15th on the list or as everybody calls it, last! Maybe!
      Over the years and through the music I've made quite a few friends at the Heritage Grill. The ukulele ladies Sue, Maxine and Linda were there. Gord runs the massive Ukulele Club Jam / Sing Along before the open mic starts. I hung out for a while with the Ukulele gang chatting in front of the Army Navy store across the street from the grill. It was going to be hours before I hit the stage so I said my goodbyes and headed over to the Great Bear pub on Kingsway for their Open Mic.
      Turns out they won't start the open mic if the Canucks are playing. Come on! It's an exhibition game!This open mic is run by Steve, who also runs the open mic at the Fireside in Sapperton on Sunday nights. It was back of 10:00 when we got started. Steve often puts me on first because people are shy about going first. I've never been one to scare easy! I got on stage at 10:20 and played with Bill Taylor on lead guitar and a bass player and drummer I don't know. The secret to jamming with people you don't know is keep it simple! Three chords. Maybe four if you have to. It was a lot of fun Bill is always great to play with and the Bass Player and drummer play in Steve's band. After a twenty minute set I got off the stage. By the time I was back at the Heritage Grill it was well after 11:00 but not to worry I was still three names away from the stage. Greg, who runs the jam that ends at midnight said not to worry he would get me on. He did. At 11:55 we hit the stage. Greg on bass, Steve on lead guitar, Gerry on Sax, Maureen on drums and me playing rhythm guitar and singing. When you have a guitar player and a sax you end up with a lot of solos! We played until 12:30. I thought we really kicked ass. I really dig playing with Gerry. All the guys really, but there's something about playing with a sax that turns my crank!
      The lovely Lisa was up at 3:45 for work so I slid into bed unnoticed about 2:00. I was up 6 hours later getting ready to Chaperone Bella on an episode of Frequency. I pounded a couple of cups of Jo with Michelle with one L who was waiting for her daughter Krista to drop off her Grandson Evan. Krista's new baby Ivy is apparently on a one hour schedule. Every hour all, night long Ivy wakes up to feed. Krista needs a break.
      I picked up Bella at her home and had a chance to visit with Abolita Marina. Christians Mom. She's visiting from Puerto Vallarta for a couple of weeks. Abolita means Grandmother. Marina is her name, also a place to dock your yacht! That makes no sense but when will I ever get to use that sentence again? We chatted about the family back in Mexico for about ten minutes then it was time to get Bella to work. She's doing background on an episode of Frequency. A new show that airs on the 5th of November. I am her chaperone. All minors must be accompanied at all times on set.
      The drive to the location took 25 minutes. We parked at the crew park. Then waited a few minutes for the shuttle to take us to the extras holding area.

Just a little bit excited!

We drove deep into the forest in Belcarra and found ourselves at the circus right beside the lake.

Not so excited?

Darlene was the Crafty and a good friend of Jen's. Darlene does main unit Crafty. No comparison to Extras Crafty  She came down to extras holding and took us up to her Crafty table where she loaded Bella up with treats paper and a bunch of markers. I grabbed a coffee. There was none at the extras Crafty.

Tada

      Truffles were the caterers. That's the same company that Chef Boy R Lisa works for so I stopped by to say hello. They all knew Chef Boy R Lisa and I had met a couple of them at various functions. A quick hello and I was back to extras holding for the wait I knew was coming.

Having a good time with Mia Bella

There's nothing glamorous about making TV! A lot of hurry up and wait. Bella asked me two dozen times when she was going to get on camera.You could see the disappointment on her face when I told her the truth. She was expecting to walk on, do her thing, have her lunch and go home.

Just a little too much Crafty sugar!

She drew a picture for Darlene while eating way too much sugar.

Then she wrote Thank You Darlene on it. I forgot to take a picture

Then they broke us for lunch. Jen came out for lunch time and we sat down and had lunch together.

Mother and Daughter

Well Jen and I had lunch. Bella was full of junk food. Bad Papa!

Yet still strangely smug!

Jen pulled out Bella's tablet which made the next few hours go by a little quicker. Then she left to go back to the office. Gotta keep the wheels turning.
      It was a beautiful spot right across the water from Deep Cove.

Bella on the rocks

 I sat out by the lake while Bella ran around with the other kids. At 5:30 we were called to set. I can't tell you what they were shooting other than to say it seems to be a very interesting show. Bella was a Rock Star! Followed direction and did a great job.  We are not allowed to take pictures of the set or talk about the scene or who is playing whom. I was taking a few pictures of Bella on set. Just her. Not the set. Still not allowed,apparently. I got a text from Jen. Stop taking pictures. Her spies are everywhere! The AD on set should have straightened me out. Not Ratted me out. Writing that might piss Jen off but I'm her father, she has to love me! An hour later we were done and waiting to sign out. Then while we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the crew park Bella hit Darlene up for a Go Bag. It was like Trick or Treat a month early. That's show biz! It was kind of cool driving out of the Camp Howdy in the dark. The shuttle, jammed full of Backgrounders weaved it's way for about five minutes on a one lane dirt road. Hitting every pot hole and squeezing by the occasional oncoming vehicle. Half way to crew park and a dozen pot holes later I was wishing I'd taken a leak before I got on the shuttle!
      Bella had a blast and I enjoyed getting to spend time with her. She's a great kid. I read a little of my novel, Tom Clancy's Op Center, he doesn't write them anymore, just puts his name on them. Just like Donald Trump! Managed to poach wi-fi from Camp Howdy and wrote most of this with my new phone. Which has all my stuff intact because I use Google Plus. Yay. Anyway Bella started off talking my ear off on the way home but by the time we got to IOCO road I could feel the energy melt out of her. A Big day for an eight year old, and she was a Trooper. I dropped her off at home said a quick hello to Christian, Christo and Abolita Marina and rushed home to the lovely Lisa who only worked a twelve hour day today. That's the shortest day she has done on that show. We sat and talked until she started nodding off. I sat and wrote this post while CNN dulled my senses with drivel of the endless variety. Now before I put in some pictures I'm going to watch Designated Survivor. One of my new favorite shows.
P.S. I only have pictures from my new phone. So that's like, today. Except for the one of the broken phone. I took that one yesterday.

That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all