My transaction failed to go through and the prompt referred me to the nearest branch. I knew something is up.

When Bruce the teller handed me a list of recent transaction to verify, I glanced at it from top to bottom. It reminded me of those looong shopping lists you see on TV that could almost touch your knees. Blah! Blah Blah! Ikea! Good! Staples! checked! WHOA! What the fuck is this? $500?! There were two of these withdraws from the Green Machine on the receipt. Ones that were made while I was at work. Bruce then explained to me that I was the lucky winner of a debit card fraud.

Whoa! whoa! whoa! This has never happened to me in my life. What an honour! These tech-savvy thieves think I am rich!

I called up the loss prevention department and played 20 questions with them to verify I am the man I say i am (Dare da tomotte yagaru??). Then, this voice on the receiver assured me my case would be submitted to their Security and investigation team, and if everything checks out, they would reimburse me in a week's time.

I hope so since going from a meager withdrawal of $80/week to a $500/day rampage is a little out of character for me (even for a Con)!

There is one thing that's bothering me though. The money has gone missing ON payday and the day after that. Isn't the timing awfully spot on? They could have easily hit me before payday...It's as though they knew when and exactly how much...and there are only two places that know about my pay period. The bank and the company I work for...

REVIEW: Year of the OX

JUNE – I reviewed my VISA statement with utter clarity one day and thought to myself, Shit! I might have to declare bankruptcy for real. I’m in way over my head…

Well, I’m jumping ahead. My year of trials and tribulation began in January, where I attended a Trump wealth building seminar. I so desperately wanted to be rich. I wanted to live in my own condo, own my own businesses and vacation whenever and wherever I wanted. So, it seemed ridiculously rational that I should give this Trump thing a go, no?

I was so moved by the success stories they spun at the freebie seminar that I signed up for a weekend course that cost as much as a MacBook. I had made some questionable choices living on this planet, for instance, um…destroying friendships by gunning after someone else’s girlfriend and watching 2 Girls 1 Cup over and over again to discern what’s real and what’s fake? This time, however, I managed to top my own record. I got suckered into these things two more times and with nothing to show for it…

LATE APRIL – A couple of convicted charges from 2007 caught up to me. A speeding ticket and a count of driving without a license had booted me out of my existing car insurance. Luckily, my insurance broker found someone who would cover me for a fee. It’s only over $290… Supposedly, these things stay in your record for 3 years, so I should be free by May or June-ish this year.

MAY/ JUNE – Where do I begin? The awkward run-ins with some wonderful friends at Anime North or the part where I turned my back on them in late 2008?
After much deep reflection, it all boiled down to a lack of integrity with me. I didn’t have the balls to tell these friends I was dating this girl in 2008. I was so ashamed of my action (or rather Inaction) that I dared not face them. I left them in the dark and ran so far away, wishing I would never cross paths with them again. I couldn’t be more wrong…
When I finally saw them again at Anime North this year, I couldn’t bring myself to look them in the eye. How could I? I broke their hearts. All because I didn’t have the wisdom to own what’s true for me and didn’t have the courage to express it.
The truth is I love them and I wasn’t brave enough to communicate that to each and every one of them or my girlfriend. Well, Ex-girlfriend now. I broke her heart too…but that's a different story.

Take it from a fellow bridge-burner! Fear and Cowardice make terrific kindling!

AUG/SEPT – Began training in Acting and re-embracing my comedic improve roots. Later I learned that I would much rather hone my skills in acting instead, since I have no problem making stuff up as I go along. Acting seemed more challenging; its concept is easy to grasp but putting it to practise is difficult…for me anyway. Who knows? I might return for another foundation course this year. Late September, I started studying Buddhism.

OCT – Two friends from the cosplay community got hitched. As a fly on the wall for so long, I never thought two conventioneers could actually meet and fall in love with each other. It’s beautiful and certainly inspires hope for us all. I was fortunate enough to bare witness of this momumental day. I was the camera guy and the priceless footage that contains a sliver of eternity did not survive the transfer to my friend’s laptop. HE lost it all...ANYWAY, marriage is no small feat especially of the cosplay variety. To me this is like going back in time in the Tardis to meet Leonardo Da Vinci and tell him, “You’re not crazy, sir! You’re brilliant! Now how much do you charge for a sketch?”

EARLY NOV – Fully converted to a vegetarian and continued to study and practice Buddhism.

Also got a chance to experience the warmth and joy of a big family. It was strange for me since I haven’t had that since I was a child. I’m ashamed to admit that I felt uncomfortable in that blissful atmosphere. While I was surrounded by his relatives in the house, the same questions surfaced in my mind over and over again as I looked on, “Would my life turn out differently had I been brought up by these people? Would I be more socially savvy like him?” The dynamic of that night was very Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent for me. Even so, their welcoming me as part of the family had touched me deeply; I felt a spark of loving friendliness in my heart.

Would a Vegetarian-Zombie feast on humans?

I would imagine said zombie would shove the fleshling aside and sink his teeth into the tree behind him/her. Oh! It's the end of the world for tree-huggers!

Having said that, I have successfully gone meat-less in my diet for 1 and a half weeks thus far. Only side effect is that I get hungry easier and faster after every meal, usually within 3 hours. I can deal. It only means I need to eat more at each meal.

However, it's not until I initiated this conversion to vegetarian-ism, that I realize how difficult it is to hunt down a single meal without meat in it. Everywhere I go, I'm surrounded by flesh (excluding females in low-cut tops). Part of my practise in Buddhism is to end suffering and to cherish life, so killing of anything is verboten. It's very 'Vash the Stampede' like which I dig!

Now my goal is to go veggie for 30 days, so this change of lifestyle can be successfully locked-in. Man! I am hungry again...

Acting is?

I am still not entirely sure what that means, but I did it in front of the whole class. It felt effortless. Although I didn’t have the whole monologue memorized, but for the half of it I did, it felt very natural. Didn’t seem like I did any “acting” at all.

Monday night. Upon setting foot in class, I had but one objective in mind – to maintain a high level of nervousness! So when the time came for me to show my instructor my “homework”, I would have already embodied the very emotion and energy required in the text and my performance would come across as genuine or convincing.

I stood in front of the whole class and went “method” on my monologue. Right off the bat, I noticed my body, more specifically, my hands were doing things that wasn't included in my visualization of the character. Still, I continued to stumble my words. "Acting" nervous and uncomfortable. The more I talked the more excited my hands got! It was this moment the left side of my brain tried to make the rest of my body match the preconceived image of my character. So I tried to suppress my movements. The experience is comparable to taking a bra off with your teeth but you wind up hurting the girl! Awkward!

Having sat through my embarrassing "act", Tom the instructor roasted me in front of everybody. He did warn us that if he caught anybody "acting" he would slap them! Tom pressed me for specific answers that would give me a clear character objective in the scene. I gotta tell ya. His method of coaching is part interrogation and part humiliation. I felt so uncomfortable. Then again, if I can’t even stomach this kinda criticism, how could I ever stand to face any auditions and shit?

I understand this is all part of my learning process, and unfortunately, I learn best from my failures…This no pain no gain thing is very taxing sometimes.

After Tom had accomplished his objective on beating my character’s objective into my fragile mind, he told me to do my monologue again. With that, I entered the class room once more and started moving my lips. The text naturally poured out like they were mine. It was me up there saying those words. No character. No method acting. Just me talking as myself. I had no conscious control over my body and limbs. I didn’t plan how I should enter the room or move my body. I simply let go and watched the whole thing unfold before my eyes. The whole process felt organic. I didn’t even have time to ‘think’ about my lines. The words just came out. It was quite magical!

In the end, Tom was thrilled with my performance and gave his seal of approval. I candidly responded with, “But I didn’t DO anything up there! I was just talking!!”

Even now I am still puzzled by what I did with my non-acting on Monday night.

I have finally watched this movie and it did a pretty good job keeping me awake til 2 a.m. Thankfully, when I finally did sleep! I didn't have any nightmares.
After this movie ended, Megster, Mandy and I ducked into the adjacent theatre and watched "This is it", so that might have softened the blow for me or else i would be up all night....

I do have more to say about the movie but I am too tired to write out a lengthy commentary. Maybe I'll add to this post tomorrow.