Tuesday, June 29: What shall I do?

It's still raining around these parts. My camera gear is (for some strange reason) opposed to rain. I tried to use the underwater camera bag for some above-water shots, but they turned out less than stellar. I'm off plover watch until this endless rain stops!

Trying to make the most of my day, I lined up 2 more redhead interviews and a tentative shoot for the evening. The redhead shoots went perfectly (after kittens were corralled for one and a garbage truck slowly meandered away for the other). I am so happy with how my interview portion of Anne is turning out! 5 redheads down. Ideally, I'll have 4 more. You'll see why.

I went Halloween costume/decoration shopping for another Anne shot afterwards, but decided against purchasing anything. Chances are it'd run a little pricey for a few second long scene, and I'm not exactly working with a big budget. I'm going to see if I can borrow some instead.

Then, there was the always fun mind game of WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MYSELF. I have so many interests and they all drive towards the same things. I've taken career test after career test. I think I'm coming close to figuring it out. Unfortunately, UPEI has NOTHING to offer me. I'm thinking of applying off-island. It's a smart move education wise, but it'll be hard. I'm so rooted here. I have a fiance here and we have a daughter together. OK, so it's a cat daughter. But still! I'm getting married next June. Everything seems to be happening so fast!

All I can do is take a step back, stop trying to control every aspect of life, and just enjoy the ride.

Photo of the day: A face only a mama could love?

Monday, June 28: Take THAT, graphic design!

I FINALLY FINISHED THE MINI-DESIGN PROJECT! Well, sorta. Pictures still need to be placed, but who cares? The tedious work is behind me!

This is an extremely short week; weeks go by fast enough! I can't believe it's almost July.

Will Marsha pull off 3 full videos in 1 month?

Will she find enough redheads?

Will her sanity leave her before the Torngats come? STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT!

One of my regular annoyances every day is the drive to work. Don't get me wrong, I usually LOVE driving to and from work; Island Morning on CBC Radio blaring, sunnies halfway down my nose, extra large black coffee aroma wafting through the air, it's all fantastic. Then, construction began on the Charlottetown bypass, and that has successfully added on average 18-20 minutes on my trip one way. If it was a detour that took that long, that would be alright. Marsha's happy as long as she has new and interesting things to look at out the window. Unfortunately, it's the kind of construction you just have to grind your teeth and not throw mind bullets at the walkers passing you.

Then you pass the hospital and can finally make some headway. Thank goodness Dalvay is about a half hour drive away from home; it gives me time to calm.

Photo of the day: My record breaking 24 minute wait in construction tonight. That's what I get for attempting it at "rush hour" (I use that term loosely on Prince Edward Island).

I sat in front of a "please drive slowly" sign for about 5 minutes but only noticed the irony when I was almost by it. 

You see that long line of cars? Ugh. By the time I got home I felt a strange need to get gas purchased at an Irving... 

Sunday, June 27: Oops.

I didn't blog yesterday. Alright, before you issue the "off with your head!" order, let me explain.

It's hard to blog every single day and, though I had thought about it all evening yesterday, I got caught up in a movie and fell asleep last night. No grand explanation, just the simple honest truth. I broke my "blog every day" pact, but I'm OK with that. Let's face it, there are some days that ooze evidence of Marsha-just-wrote-what-she-wrote-to-be-done-of-a-blogpost-for-the-day-and-not-miss-a-day. I've noticed my quality has gone way down, and I'm going to do my best to bring it up to where I feel proud again.

Today I attended the high school graduation party of my 10 year old cousin, Evan. Wait, that can't be right.. OH YEAH. BECAUSE HE'S OLD ENOUGH TO GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL, EVEN THOUGH IN MY  HEAD HE'S A LITTLE BOY. The Robertson crew got together at my aunt and uncles for BBQ, cake and great conversation. As everyone was socializing inside, I took a moment to take a step back and really look at my family. There they were, tightly packed in a small kitchen, conversation flowing with ease, food disappearing at a rapid pace, no lack of smiles or laughter. We were all so different. We were all so busy. Yet we continued time and time again to come together for birthdays, graduations and holidays to catch up. I took a mental snapshot of my amazing relatives and joined in the nearest conversation.

Photo of the day: Oops. Embarassingly, this is the only photo I took today. I sent this to my friend to prove to him that I was wearing his Maiden t-shirt to a family party. It has no actual context in the post, so enjoy the awkward angle and vacant expression.

Friday, June 23: Tired.

This is my official "I blog every single day so I deserve to only write a sentence once and awhile" blog, where you, my non-loyal non-readers must deal with my laziness and dread of typing out my day when I have a purring kitty waiting to be cuddled and a warm bed to curl up in.

Photo of the day: Alan Alda. What a man.

Thursday, June 24: More plovers!

This morning as soon as I got to work, Jessie grabbed me and told me that she was herding plover chicks and parents away from oncoming tractors which were placing lifeguard houses.

BEST. SHOOT EVER.

I've finally learned how to shoot plovers. Don't try to follow them; they're spastic and they follow bugs that you can't see. Instead, go to where they might go, and be patient. You'll get your best shots that way. Don't move until they leave the shot. I got a remarkable shots of the birds brooding. It was terribly shaky due to wind, but I'll take it.

After Cavendish, I went with Jessie to the Sandspit to look for scrapings and plovers. She had seen a few mating there the day before, so chances were good that we would find more. It's so incredibly beautiful there. She showed me what they called the bowl, which may be my new favorite place on earth.


When I walked into the bowl, it felt like no other human had ever stepped there before; it felt like I was discovering a new land. I haven't felt that way since I was about 12 years old, and my dad took me to the dunes below the Whelan house. I still forget what it's called; something about monsters? Am I remembering something so vague that I'm making stuff up?

Wednesday, June 23: I'm famous on that there television.

This morning was my big interview with Sally Pitt, and it was a blast. Myself and a woman from PR travelled to Green Gables to get some b roll for my video and have the interview. When it was all over, the camera man needed b roll of me doing my job, and while we were walking between locations, I picked his brain about working for CBC, and the business in general. What an experience!

In the afternoon, I did what turned out to be a trial run on a video about how dangerous it is to jump off Covehead bridge in the Prince Edward Island National Park. The bridge looks like fun, but underneath are huge shards of rusted metal from past repairs and general badness. It's easy for us to tell people not to jump off the bridge, that it's illigal and that they can hurt themselves. It's another thing to show them.

My job? Show them what could potentially seriously injure them.

Today we got the senior lifeguard at the park and a few park employees and set out to film underwater underneath the bridge to show everyone what was down there. We thought we could do it in one afternoon, but it just didn't work out with the current and the mucky state of the water. It did serve as a test for my underwater camera bag and a trial run of what was to come when we can actually successfully shoot the video though, so the day wasn't a total loss. And I got to go out on a zodiac boat!

When work was through, I almost crashed the car because Matt Rainnie ♥ said my name on the radio when I wasn't expecting it. That's all I have to say about that.

I rushed home, caught my radio/television interview and horray! I didn't sound like an idiot! Things weren't as bad as I remember, and one shot that I was sure was going straight up my nose wasn't at all!

Here are some screen shots of my television tuned in to me on CBC news, because I was way too paranoid to take my iPhone out on a boat to get a nice picture.

Tuesday, June 22: Toy Story!

I have such a busy day tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it so much. In the morning I'm being interviewed at Green Gables by Sally Pitt, and in the afternoon I'm shooting a public service announcement to enlighten people to the dangers of jumping off Covehead bridge. I can't WAIT.

Today I worked some more on the designs Mike left in my hands. I've gotten all the English done, and I'm working on the French. Placing type in a language that you do not understand is very difficult and it's taking me awhile, but I think I only have 6 left so HORRAY!

We had a big External Relations/Visitor Experience meeting today, which caught everybody up on what everyone else was doing. Work has been crazy busy with the park opening on Friday, so it was great to touch base and hear all of the exciting things happening.

There was talk of many, many Anne's in one place. This made me excited. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I went to see Toy Story 3 tonight, and I cried. I won't give anything away, but it felt like it was made for people our age; people who first discovered the story when they were still playing with toys. The franchise grew as Andy and I grew, and this (hopefully final) chapter was the perfect melody of nostalgia, progression and hilarity. Two thumbs up from this uneducated movie reviewer with no credentials.