So, it looks like I'll be freelancing for Julian at the ROM. It's scarey ! My web skills are going to have to get a serious overhaul ! I'm excited. Nervous, but excited. I've got about two weeks to get, what needs to be done, finished. Eek ! I can do it, right? Sure. :)

I guess this will put my own site's updates on hiatus for a little while, but what's another couple of weeks in the grand scheme of things? Exactly.

I've sent some updates to my Elfwood sites, though, if you haven't already seen them. My Lothlorien (fantasy) gallery has some new stuff and some old stuff, and by request... scantilly clad women and dwarves ! Woo. Also, my Zone 47 (sci-fi) gallery has been updated as well. Check it out !

Last night, Rick and I went for dinner at the Montreal Bistro. The Don Thompson Quartet with Barry Elmes, Jim Vivian and featuring Roy Styffe (alto sax) played, and they were pretty good. I wasn't terribly keen on Roy Styffe, but I'm not big on the alto sax, but he seemed hard-pressed to keep up through some of his solos and he spent more time than I approve of staring at his music. The rest of them were fun and great. The food was excellent. I had the linguini with goatcheese and Rick had the seafood cocotte. It was expensive, but really nice. There are some excellent performers coming up over the next month, too, so I'd love to go back. Aside from all that, last night marked two and a half years for Rick and I. Wow.

Performs other duties as required. That's what it says at the bottom of my job description, and today, that's what I seem to be doing. Go me ! I've spent about half of my morning trying to help Stacey make a comment card template using QuarkXpress. I haven't used the programme in four years, and never was very savvy with it, but apparently, I am now the Quark Master, or some such. I hadn't really thought about how much I've learned through various graphics and desk-top publishing programmes over the years, but clearly enough so that I can sit down and say, "If you move this here, now click this icon (that will let you move the whole text box and its content together), and move this up a little - THERE. Now adjust the framing here..." and be of a great deal of help. Stacey has now professed her love for me at least four times and has hugged me and rubbed her head on my shoulder and purred like a cat. I guess that's a good sign. It's nice to be validated, even if it isn't coming from a manager.

Speaking of validation, as you may (or may not) know, I'm working on a Star Wars fan film. It was written by Ishyko and Lady Viola of Sith Academy fame, with the screenplay by Ishyko and to be directed by her husband. They've amassed a sizable CG department, officially ten people, I think, which is also the art department for the film. I've felt very out of my depths as far as the computer stuff has been concerned, seeing the work done by some of these people. For instance, check this guy out. He modeled my concept for the Jedi Temple (not viewable outside the group) and he made it far better than I was able to do in several hours of trying. I've forgotten so much of what I learned. Anyway, I have put my effort into costume designs, concept art, and storyboarding (three areas that are closely related and really what I want to do) and finally uploaded the stuff to the group last night. Anyway, I was more than pleased with the reactions I got. If it means that I work more heavily involved in the two-dimensional stuff, so be it. I will offer my computer skills where ever necessary, and I do want to be involved in some of the modeling and certainly the lighting, but if this is where I'll be the biggest help, then I'm very happy to be there.

Anyway, later this afternoon I'm meeting with Julian from the New Media department at the ROM to discuss the possibility of me working with him to promote the ICC's co-operative work with the museum, or something. The details are not yet clear, and I suppose that's part of what we'll be discussing. I am a little nervous as Julian is sort of a ROM celebrity, having done many shows with the Discovery channel and whatnot. He seems like a nice man, though, and hopefully this will be a good way into his department. We shall see.

I had a great weekend. Saturday afternoon and evening was spent in Stoney Creek with Rick, celebrating his parents' 25th wedding anniversary. His sister, Anna, seems to not dislike me anymore, which is nice and leads me to suspect she was just taking out hostility on me in order to goad him. She came with Rick and I in order to buy presents for his family. Rick and I went in on a gift certificate from Home Depot and he went in with Anna on a small entertainment centre for the living room. Dinner took us to the Mandarin in Burlington, which is fun, though if you're looking for Chinese food, that isn't where you'll find it. You will find, however; a wide array of scrumptious seafood such as mussels, crablegs (hot and cold), shrimp (breaded or chilled in the shell) and other tasty things. They actually had a very passable Cocquille St. Jacques all saucey and seafoody good. It's nice to have two pleasant visits in a row, since in the beginning of our relationship, I could hardly go out there when they weren't fighting.

Sunday, Rick and I went to Red Rose, the most delicious Indian restaurant in Toronto, as far as I'm concerned. This was to be my pre-Yom Kippur dinner and it was perfect. I doubt it was kosher, but it was delicious and filling. I had the curried goat and Rick the lamb vindaloo. Yum, yum, yum. It was great and I didn't get hungry until after midnight that night. All in all, I fasted from about 6:30pm on Sunday until 7:30pm on Monday. It was relatively painless as far as fasts go. First of all, I do cheat, drinking water and whatnot, mostly because it's really BAD for you to dehydrate like that, and also because I've cut down my daily food intake by probably about a quarter. Yes, poverty will do wonders for one's figure. I can actually see that my face is thinner, though not so much for the rest of me. *laugh*

There's more to say, but I'm not feeling very talkative right now. I'd rather get back to storyboarding and whatnot. Oh, I've updated my Elfwood Lothlorien gallery again and in the next couple of days there should be some new stuff in my Elfwood Zone gallery. I have to actually get down TO it with my real sites, though. I've been very lax.