The New Floodgates of the Mind

I wanted to post a summary of Spring Break with the kids but kept putting it off as I had wanted to upload some photos first. Unfortunately, not having been able to make the time to update the website, the post got delayed. (Heck, speaking of delays, my “daddy” icon shows Kyle even younger than what Charlize is now!! I need an update FAST!! 🙂 )

Anyhow, here’s how events rolled out:

On Feb 28th, I gave Chantale a copy of The Outsiders Complete Novel Special DVD as a “cool” gift for her Champagne birthday. That evening, her parents came over so we could all celebrate with Ice Cream Cake 🙂 We had a meal consisting of sushi, brie, camembert, smoked salmon, and lots of champagne 🙂

I had taken Feb 29th off and let Chantale sleep in before presenting her with a beautiful Swarovski diamond pendant necklace. Unfortunately, her skin was extremely sensitive to the chain so I’ll have to change that. Kyle and I picked up James and Melyssa right after school and headed back home where we all changed before heading out to Chantale’s birthday supper at Au Vieux Duluth on St. Jean’s. It was a really great meal and night and we all had such a great time!!

Saturday March 1st is a blur to me right now and the 2nd we went to my parents for a birthday lunch for both Chantale and Melyssa. On Monday March 3rd, Melyssa’s 11th birthday, we gave her High School Musical which she had been wanting for a while. And then, getting all the kids in the car without telling them our destination, we headed to the Ottawa Science and Technology Museum!! A great surprise and Kyle really enjoyed his first visit there. He was awestruck with all the trains and loved seeing all the boats and running around everywhere 🙂 We got a huge kick out of the Crazy Kitchen (as usual) 🙂 I’m looking forward to sharing those photos!

Tuesday, I took James and Melyssa to see The Spiderwick Chronicles! It was great! I made an agreement with Melyssa that I would take her if she read the first book and she finished the first two 🙂 Of course, seeing as the movie actually covered the series, I got her to agree to finish the other 3 books by the end of the week 🙂

We had made plans for Wednesday but the storm kept us home so it became Laundry day 🙂 Again, I forget what happened Thursday. Friday, I took everyone to Boston Pizza and then brought James to get his hair cut 🙂 Saturday we visited friends and Sunday we relaxed! 🙂

The kids were tossed outdoors on numerous occasions to take advantage of the HUGE snowfall (Sunday we were locked in until about 8pm when the snow removal finally made its way to our streets – and took 90 minutes to clear it!!). James finally finished reading LOTR Return of the King so we let him finally watch the last movie 🙂 Also, we gave him The Outsiders to read and he finished it quickly enough that he was allowed to watch it with Chantale and I on friday night.

This past weekend, Chantale and I finally opened that Heineken mini-keg that I had since New Year’s and enjoyed some cold beer, hot pizza, and Across The Universe! 🙂

We also started clearing out our basement in preparation of continuing the renovations! On Thursday morning I brought my parents my old kitchen table and chairs for them and on Friday morning I brought my best friends an old changing table for their son who’s about to become a father 🙂 Is there anyone who would like a 10-gallon aquarium by any chance? I’ll eventually get a smaller 5-gallon one but I don’t want to just throw out the 10g (although I will if no one claims it).

All-in-all, it was quite a full week 🙂 We haven’t fully recovered from it, that’s for sure!

So, here I was, continuing my edits of the upcoming Mysterious Minute-Men Omnibus… I’m laughing out loud and giggling to myself as I re-read the words I’ve read hundreds of times and *still* getting a kick out of the crazies that I see in my head.

So, I figured I’d pop online quickly and see what’s what.

And then read Lea’s note about Dave Stevens passing away… aw, shoot… 🙁

RIP, Dave. Your stuff will always be special to me and bring a smile to my face… especially The Rocketeer and that Crossfire “Marilyn” cover…

It’s strange that it feels like SO many things are going on… and at the same time that not much is going on? Familiarity in the busy-ness of it all, I guess 🙂 Anyhow, I thought it would be worthwhile to put up a mini-update on all things Mike.

1- Comicopia 105 came and went a couple of weeks back. I haven’t had time to scan the covers yet to put them online but plan to do so in the next couple of days.

2- The Mysterious Minute-Men Omnibus that I had originally planned on publishing next month will instead be released on May 14th – my 41st Birthday 🙂 Oh why not 🙂 I’ve just had a lot of trouble making the time to work on the edits. I also decided that the follow-up novel to TMM (Ready for the Future) will be released on my birthday next year. Makes it easier to plan… 🙂

3- For those who don’t already know, my wife, Chantale, has been working on a book about Charlize’s story. I do believe the final first draft will only be ready by end of June after which we’ll work together to “shape” it. The original goal has been to release the book on August 30th, 2008 (being both our 5th Wedding Anniversary and the 1st Anniversary of Charlize’s “re-birth”)

4- I picked up my SADelite from Northern Light Technologies yesterday (it’s big!) and used it for the first time this morning. I must say that considering the really crappy/ restless night of sleep I had, I found myself full of energy this morning.

5- At 4pm today I begin my Spring Break vacation!! 🙂 Tomorrow (as you already know) is Chantale’s official birthday, so I decided to use my last remaining vacation day to stay home. Next week is Spring Break which James and Melyssa spend with me so my reserved vacation week kicks in and the entire family is together! A whole 10 days away from work! Woo-hoo! 🙂

6- I still have a ton of things to do but just don’t have the time to list them right now! So, they’ll have to wait 😉

What’s up with the rest of you?

Happy Birthday to my Leap-Year Love!!!

Yes, Chantale’s true birthday is actually tomorrow, but she’s celebrated it on the 28th 21 times already! So, as far as I’m concerned, her birthday lasts from today until Saturday!! 🙂

Were there nerves involved in being on stage yesterday during the Heart of Life benefit show at the Leonardo da Vinci center? Yup, some, but not overwhelming! 🙂 It turned out to be quite something, though!

We got there at 2pm so we could do some walk-throughs and watch the singers rehearse. I had practiced my speech in english but when I got there I was asked to do it in french! ack! Okay, no problem, it sounded fine in my head… and then we got to the practice and I stammered. bleah. The singer (Guy) who was going to lead us into the speeches just told me to do it in english and he would translate afterwards 🙂 Deal! 🙂

We went downstairs to the changing rooms/ lounge and waited for the show to begin. Kyle was with Chantale’s parents and Charlize was with us being a really sociable little 8-month old 🙂 The show was set to begin at 3pm and she was actually started to get tired/ finicky at that point but the action kept her awake. We lined up behind the curtains and midway into the first song, we followed the head of cardiology and our nurse onto the stage, singing along to “All you need is love” 🙂 The opening was to have the children and families who’ve undergone heart surgery interacting and “showing” that we’re all just regular people.

At the end of the song, we walked off the stage and took our seats as the “story” unfolded on the stage. Chantale and I took the opportunity to go to our purchased seats (as opposed to the ones in the front of the stage reserved for us) to see Kyle and get some milk and crackers for Charlize. Before we knew it, song #3 – What a Wonderful World, came on and we made our way back to the stage.

The song ended and Guy welcomed everyone and introduced those of us who were to speak. During the rehearsals and talks, I had cut down my part in order to keep things moving and lively, but this is what the full speech was to be:

“Hello. This is Charlize. At 9 days old our lives were shattered when we were told she would need surgery to fix a defect with her heart. After living with a Smurf-Blue baby for 2 months, she became part of The Zipper Club on the date of our Wedding Anniversary when Dr. Tchervenkov and his team repaired her heart during a complex surgery. Today, at 8 months old, she’s a regular, feisty little girl who tries to chase after her puppy and older siblings”

In the update, I simply left out the Smurf part and the Wedding Anniversary note. The rest stayed in and let me tell you that I spoke while looking at the Doctor (Beland) and Nurse (Devon) because I knew they would flip at The Zipper Club mention and sure enough they did! 🙂

After my bit, we walked off the stage while Guy translated quickly. We took the first seats by the stage and watched the rest of the show that way with Kyle sitting in Chantale’s lap and me rocking Charlize by the side of the speakers. I finally managed to dance her into a nap 🙂

The end of the show came way too quickly and we once more made our way up there to be joined by all the singers, dancers, and other children/ families to sing along to the theme song: “Heart of Life”. The curtains closed and we all thanked, chatted, laughed, as we said our good-byes. It was great having the eldest girl who spoke come tell us how much she laughed at the Zipper mention. “Well, you’re all part of that elite club after all” I told her and the eldest boy 🙂

After collecting our jackets, we decided to go visit my parents. We had a great meal – lots of fresh wine, meats, fruits… we stuffed ourselves and my parents had an absolute blast seeing the kids 🙂 When we finally left at 7pm, they immediately fell asleep in the car…

A really, really, really great day… 🙂 I’m SO looking forward to seeing the recorded show on DVD!!! 🙂

with all this quiet, i’ve spent a lot of time “talking to angels” so I figured I’d post the picture I drew on Kyle’s Magna-Doodle of his Angel 🙂

We sing “Talking to My Angel” by Melissa Etheridge every night and point to an angel painting hanging over his bed 🙂

Where is everybody today?? It’s quiet everywhere! Online, on the streets, on the trains… was everyone invited to a big shindig and my invitation got lost?! sheeeesh!

In other news… I ordered my Sun Lamp last night. Should get it next week. Yes, we’re already very close to the end of the darkness, but it will still be a welcome relief. I had googled a site that lists the sunrise and set in Montreal on a weekly basis, and it was very happy news to see the daylight time extend so much… small pleasures 🙂

Let’s see…. what else…

I got my copy of Zodiac Killer signed by Gabriel yesterday afternoon and read it on the train home last night. Wow. Chilling stuff. The book itself is nicely produced except for one big thing: the fonts they used for the lettering were TOO large. Ick. Very much distracted from the story and the artwork. Of course, the fact that I found 2 spelling mistakes was both jarring and surprising. At any rate, I’m happy with it (even if Gaby’s drawing to me was a little “scary” 🙂 )

Speaking of upcoming work by Gaby, he sent me the link for Egide – his upcoming work with Editions Delcourt. You can see some interior work as well as the great cover Gaby provided for T.1

I read a couple of books earlier this week that my buddy Francisco gave me: a couple of volumes of Torpedo 1936 which were highly entertaining and quite fitting to the “era”, as well as t.2 of XIII which turned out to be really gripping! I’ve gotta get some more of those tomes!