A SMASH hit!!!

Smash, the television show (2012-2013) revolved around a theater community and the creation of a new Broadway musical revolving around a group of characters (featuring an ensemble cast with the likes of Katherine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Leslie Odom, Jr., Raza Jaffrey, Christian Borle and Anjelica Huston to name a few...) balancing their lives with their life in theater.

The Smash Reunion, Bombshell in Concert occurred Wednesday on people.com with the original cast!

Both Megan Hilty

and American Idol alum Kat,

were the two leads in the amazing troupe.

Leslie Odom Jr.!!!

There was a group chat gathering that took place during intermission.

Also taking place last night was Red Nose Day that included many celebrity performances such as Gwen Stefani and Black Shelton,

John Legend sang one of his hits while Chrissy Teigan and their kids Luna and Miles made snapshot appearances.

America's sweetheart, Julia Roberts also plugged Red Nose Day.

Today was also the first of GMA's Friday summer concert series with Katy Perry as the act before she enters into motherhood!
WHAT a SMASH!!!

School Voyageurs, the arts and traveling flashback

As I'm reading articles about the fact that 'Travel will never be the same again thanks to covid-19' this has led to nostalgia about my past loves of travelling and education. Specifically regarding spring 2007 when I was a tour guide with School Voyageurs (whose name changed to New Dimensions Travel) thanks to the recommendation from fellow Ry U classmate (Ana), for the end of year school trips with middle school classes travelling to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.

Due to the training sessions that were mandatory for employees, I learned soooooo much information about the locations we were going to with the students and their teachers as we were the main tour guides on the route (except for when they had signed up for actual museum tours such as the National Gallery of Ontario where we could actually take part in learning from the tour). We actually even literally had thick binders that we carried with us on the trip to help us (like a cheat sheet) when we were guiding.

I'm not going to lie, this was a great teaching experience that I had gone out of my way to embark on my road in communications!

Sadly, especially due to the new environmental situation so many past teaching methods are now bygone. I've seen through many of my past piano teacher colleagues that they have now turned to online teaching via zoom/skype-ing sessions. I mean it's lucky that our society has become so able to take on this type of challenge but I must say that due to my past teaching experience it would definitely be a change in teaching methods with all this change.

Teaching and piano also leads my thought process over to the arts side as I see that already many performances have online as well. Sure, it seems more intimate for the viewers but as a past performer, it definitely leads to a very different performance vibe for artists. shame...

However, even though I've been out of the travel game for some time, it hurts to see the hit all of tourism has taken. It's such a tragedy...Mais, c'est la vie, non?
Time to get with the times...

We all play our part

I watched an Instagram chat between Sandra Oh and a representative from Elle Magazine as well as took some amazing photos of a beautiful robin shot from a discreet location in the garden yesterday afternoon!

These are shots from the broadcast of 'We All Play Our Part: A Benefit for MPTF' (Motion Picture & Television Fund) that aired Friday night as a salute to Hollywood and the people who work behind-the-scenes to make it all come to life during this time that was hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown and Tom Bergeron.

There were many performances and celebrity appearances including Leslie Odom Jr., Brad Paisley, Rachel Platten, Pierce Brosnan, George Clooney, Taye Diggs, Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Brad Garrett, Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Ken Jeong, Ray Romany and Wanda Sykes to name a few.

Also, last night there was an abbeyite zoom meeting with a couple of us in both oz (Tanaks representing as double K were unable to make it this time) and tdot (Fayewood, Maija and myself). It was a nice catch up and update between us girlies with even an early appearance by Emmi!

Mother’s Day PTSD...

So we’d gone over to Ames’ place to celebrate the day.

However while we’d almost just arrived, mom was helping her with chopping some onions for her upcoming hotpot cooking session when she’d accidentally cut herself with the knife.
While she was quietly inspecting the ‘damage’ (no one noticed), Ames came to review...and as soon as she noticed the injury, panic ensued!!! The panic involved the suggestion of calling 911...(unnecessary)

Outcome is that even though mom did injure herself...however, a couple bandaids (more than one as dad apparently contaminated the first one 😉) did the trick!
If anything, Ames was much more traumatized by this than mom!!! (Mom’s fine! Dad & I were simply spectators...)
Crisis averted...whew!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Final ‘Together At Home’ & GhostLight

I caught Chris Martin playing some Coldplay classics on guitar and piano yesterday to wrap up the ‘Together At Home’ Series off Instagram yesterday.

Then I watched a Ghost Light special hosted by Graham Abbey who spoke with the likes of Dylan Trowbridge,

featuring Colin Mochrie and Deb,

Showing off his own Colin hand puppet!

Torq (Torquil Campbell) from Stars, who happens to be the son of Douglas Campbell

chatting with Margaret Atwood and former GG Adrienne Clarkson,

ending off with Broadway singer, Chilina Kennedy

I Dare You

Just so I NEVER forget..... on April 3, 2020

Gas price a mile from home was $0.70
School cancelled - yes cancelled
Self-distancing measures on the rise.
Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.
Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons cancelled.
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.
Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.
No masses, churches are closed.
No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less.
Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
Children's outdoor play parks are closed.
We are to distance from each other.
Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.
Shelves are bare.
Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.
Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.
Fines are established for breaking the rules.
Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
Government incentives to stay home.
Barely anyone on the roads.
People wearing masks and gloves outside.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.
This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.
Why, you ask, do I write this status?
This will be a reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted.
We have so much!
Be thankful. Be grateful.
Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone.
We are all one! ❤️

I'm including these comments from Kelly Clarkson to a new song she had put out (I Dare You) to represent how she feels about all this. As she puts it:

“This is my favorite/hardest project that I’ve ever worked on. It has always been a dream of mine, as I grew up singing in different languages, to find that perfect song, with the perfect message, to connect us all globally and then record that song with several other artists around the world in their native languages. We have put a lot of work into this as a team and decided to continue with our release date of this project because we feel like we all couldn’t be more connected right now across the world, and maybe this message will bring a little hope in this sometimes dark, and isolating time. Thank you so much to all the artists that worked on this with me. We hope everyone out there connects with this message and chooses love instead of fear. I dare you.”

Canadian Film Day April 22, 2020

Even though this occurred two weeks ago, because of the social distancing strategy the entire show was posted online to catch after the fact, yay! Hosted by Peter Keleghan and Ali Hassan, it was both entertaining and a great alternative strategy in audience viewing pleasure! I'm including some fun screen shots. #CanFilmDay

Megan Follows, Peter Keleghan and Yannick Bisson

Mena Shum, Ali Hassan and Sandra Oh

Sandra Oh, Ali Hassan and Don McKellar

Sandra Oh, Don McKellar sharing wine with Ali Hassan

The hosts finishing off with Peter introducing his pet!

Virtual TM & Kids' Choice Awards 2020

Participated in the virtual Yonge-Eglinton Toastmasters meeting again this
Thursday April 30, 2020 where the evening's meeting theme was Walking Tour.

Cathy was the
wonderful toastmaster.

The first speech (a persuasive influence type) was given by Mani whose topic was Decisive Victory, where the one part that is completed (in a military battle) is the decisive victory but the war is not over.
My two takeaways from his speech was:
1. Best way to get people to do something is not by force but by heart and some humor.
2. Life isn't a war, it's a collection of decisive victories.

Corey shared his 3rd special/occasion speech on our PM, Justin Trudeau where he spoke of his background as an inspirational teacher and toasting his leadership skills in his election.

The last speech on Dynamic Leadership was given by Alphie with the most enticing title teaser of Be Like a Goofy Lumberjack Evaluation.
The main takeaway from the speech was to reinvent the wheel by remembering all the people who have helped along the way of maintaining his position (just getting up, not to be scared and just go!) as well as giving back as a mentor (with a lovely description of his own mentor who had a bushy beard and a goofy smile!). The speech was concluded wonderfully through his feedback of leading the boat and mentoring other people.

Winnie was the evening's
Quiz Master

As well, Kwanta,
the General Evaluator.

I also caught this evening's hour long virtual Kids' Choice Awards 2020: Celebrate Together May 2, 2020 where BTS won Favorite Music Group (woo!!!) and have included a snapshot of the Avengers Cast after they assembles for a virtual appearance!!!

Mind Control: Managing Your Mental Health

I've been taking an online class that's given by Prof Steve Joordens Professor of Psychology University of Toronto Scarborough in the past two weeks on Coursera Together: Keep learning with free resources during COVID-19 For Universities & For Learners given to alumni where we can go at your own pace with video lectures, readings, quizzes etc.

It's really nice as this professor has put this class together to help us understand and deal with the anxiousness of this strange time and to be given some understanding and strategic ways to manage our/my mental health during COVID-19.

Topics covered include understanding and dealing with anxiety response, achieving relaxation, mental distraction, physical distancing, isolation, physical distancing, guarding against depression, strategy and techniques for exercises.

At the end of each of the three weeks that I've covered (there's one more week), there's a little quiz section to test the knowledge that was imparted.

Now I'm following the 90 minute national salute where Iconic Canadian artists, activists and athlete sharing hope and inspiration salute to our country's front-line workers.
Thank you to ALL of the frontline workers and first responders!!! #STRONGERTOGETHER #TOUSENSEMBLE

Virtual TM April 23, 2020

I participated in my first virtual toastmasters with Winnie’s Yonge-Eglinton Toastmasters last night.

As I am a guest to this TM, I had the opportunity to enjoy this meeting without the additional stress of presenting a speech (an advantage in membership) that guests are not privileged to.

It was nice to see Ruth and Eman, Mr. President

The speeches were fun, beginning with Bobby's icebreaker speech sharing his preference to not being a chatty katty, thereby avoiding conversations if possible (which is ironic as he was at a TM, lol). He shared a fun example of when he worked at a 'tickle', thus engaging in small talk.

Another speaker, Garry shared a motivational speech on maintaining consistent movement routine. His speech included mentioning that he'd climbed the CN Tower 3 times which brought on my own flashback memories of my own climb back in the day...

Corey's speech was the most fun as he was so excited in presenting his speech that he was unable to distance himself properly from the computer camera, thus was in all our faces the entire time! His speech was praising a fellow church pal, Danny whose positive influence works magic with the church community through his take on focusing on one's inside while appreciating the simplicity and generosity of any person!

Abbeyites 'zoom' get together

The first of many to come with us ladies between Canada & Australia!!!

What a great experience within the six of us that Maija so graciously helped to set up for us yesterday evening. The cool thing about zooming is that whoever is speaking is on the large screen while the others are lined up in the little boxes on the top of the screen.

Kristy & Karina both dropped in what would have been Sunday morning from oz.

Darling Maija graced us with a wonderful looking hat.
As well, Emmi, James and Jonathan
graced us periodically with their presence!

Fayewood also had Marc drop in for a quick 'hello'!

We were all excited to celebrate Dr. T's new position in Melbourne. Not to mention seeing what wonderful furnished digs she has. *thumbs up* It's excellent incentive to come back to visit her in the wonderful city, yay!!!

It was a nice occasion as we also all sang Happy Birthday to our buddy ,Tanaks!!!

The 77th annual golden globe awards two highlights

So I'd actually finally saw the tape on the weekend but I've ONLY just gotten around to posting that I've seen it. Yassss, I know this was from way back at the beginning of the year...Jan 5, 2020 (don't judge!!!)

The two highlights of the show for me was especially when:
Kate McKinnon presented Ellen Degeneras the Carol Burnett award emphasizing that Ellen:
- gave her a sense of self, especially when she came out at that time, which gave her courage as well as that 'only thing that made it less scary was seeing Ellen on tv. I would have gone on thinking that I was an alien and that I maybe didn’t have the right to be here.'

As well as when:
Charlize Theron presented Tom Hanks with the Cecil B. DeMille award saying:
- 'I was in love. Rita, you SHOULD file a restraining order against me.
They called Tom an ‘every man’. And while Tom does give us a chance to see ourselves on screen, he also gives us something more profound. He presents a vision of who we COULD be.
- Tom gave ME one of my first roles when he directed ‘That thing you do.’
- I remember my audition after my first read I thought I completely blew it, I didn’t know where I was or WHO I was and I had SOMEHOW forgotten to BREATHE.
- And Tom just kindly looked at me, took a beat and said ‘I’m so sorry Charlize, do you mind just giving me five minutes? I have to just step out. I’ll be RIGHT back and then we’ll do that scene again.’ Tom didn’t need five minutes. I needed five minutes. Those five minutes were a gift to me because he saw a nervous sweaty young actress, failing to master a panic attack and a THICK South African accent. THAT’S the kind of man he is.
- This is why we love Tom.
- He stands for all the qualities we stand for, both on screen and off.
- He gives us enough laughter to whether our storms and while there is not crying in baseball!’, he has made easy work of breaking our hearts and stealing our tears. The most undeniable thing that can be said about Tom Hanks is both deceptively simple and overwhelmingly true.
- He just makes the world a better place.’

Tom's acceptance speech included:
- You know, you’re a dope if you don’t steal from everybody you’ve worked with. And I have stolen from the likes of the people that only need ONE name. You know? Like Meryl... like Denzel...like Antonio...Like Meg... like Julia... like Sally Field, even thought that’s two names, it’s still one. But I have also been made better by watching the examples of some of the greatest actors that have ever walked the stage. And Charlize who is actually one of those one word names. The reason I had to leave the room, the reason I had to leave the room for five minutes was because I was going to tell all the producers that this woman that I’m auditioning right now is going to be in this movie somehow so we’ve got to figure out how it’s going to work. And she WAS.

- In 1977 when I was an intern at the Great Lakes Shakespeare festive my first professional job. We ALL got yelled at by Dan Sullivan, the director. We had all partied a little too much the night before, we were showing up for rehearsals and he screamed at us. He said ‘hey, look you actors. You know what your job is? You have GOT to show up on time and you have to know the text, and you have to have a head full of ideas. Otherwise I CAN’T do my job.’ That was the greatest lesson a young actor could possibly ever get. First of all, the head full of ideas. Bring anything, try anything, they might not use it. If it stinks, they won’t use it. Am I right, Marty Scorsese? If it’s not good, boy, let’s see the outtakes from that movie, by the way...

- And it’s NOT just the lines. It’s the WHOLE thing. It’s the red dot. It’s the theme of the movie. You’ve GOT to know it. You might not be RIGHT in what opinion that you bring to it but you’ve got to come at it with SOME direction. And as Charlize might know and some of the other people who’ve worked with us through the playtone galaxies of stars...showing up ON TIME. Is ONE of the GREATEST liberating acts you can give YOURSELF in a movie. That means those people with radios in their ears don’t need to knock on your door to say they’re ready for you. They’re actually all ready for you...and you have liberty and you have the freedom to be early enough to settle down because when the time comes, you have to hit the marks...and you have to GO there.

- Thank you all here, thank you all for your inspiration. And all of your work and all of the struggle that you guys go through in order to hit the marks and tell the truth. I have checked the gate. The gate is good. Thanks!

#goldenglobes

Comedy Gives Back Laugh Aid 4 / 4 @ 4 pm PT

Laugh Aid is a comedy live stream showcasing A-list lineup of comedians raising money and awareness for an emergency relief fund benefiting working comedians.

Instagram workouts

Even though I try to keep a regular workout schedule, as our facilities are closed for the moment I’m maintaining my exercise via morning walks in the park and now I’m following Twitch and Allison’s m/w/f Instagram workouts that they post.

I’m including their ‘live’ screenshot of them posing after the day’s workout.

It’s called ENCOURAGEMENT!!! 😉