September 5, 2011: It's an all Alex weekend!

September 4, 2011: What a day! September 6, 2011: Memories of SG-1′s...

September 5, 2011: It's an all Alex weekend!

I woke up this morning unable to move, my dogs clustered around me like a Cruella Deville topcoat. I figured it was one of two things: 1) Like animals who sense earthquakes or similar natural disasters, my super-sensitive dogs were consoling me ahead of inevitable catastrophe, or 2) Winter had arrived. Today's weather convinced me to go with option #2. Wha- happened? I could have sworn it was still summer yesterday!

September is shaping up to be a busy month as I count down the days to my Vancouver return. Just received an email from Jen Spence (SGU's Lisa Park) who will be in town for a couple of days next week, so will have to make time for her. And my buddy Steve. Plus Anne-Marie, Carl, Marty G., Mega, Ryna, John, Nancy, Alan, Ivon, Alexander, Sarah, my aunt Antoinette, and many more. I may have to stay an extra month just to squeeze in all these dinners.

As I've already mentioned, I'll be taking the rest of the years off. Sort of. There's a pilot script I've been meaning to get around to finishing and I have a fun, comic-related project (not Dark Matter, my Dark Horse comic book series, that hits the shelves January 2012) for this blog. Also, with Akemi's October 18th visa expiration fast-approaching, I'm hoping we can find a way to extend that looming deadline. It would be very sad to bring her back to Van for only a couple of weeks and then have her leave two days after my birthday (start working on those cards now!). Well, all I can say is I'm working on it. Tick, tick, tick.

Some highlights of my (apparently all Alex) weekend:

Friday night – dinner at Trevor Kitchen with….

Trevor, Sarah, and Alexander

Ryan. So awesome. He has FOIE and GRAS tattooed on his knuckles.

Akemi and I.

Also in attendance were precision driver David Julienne and stunt wizard Mohammed Elachi (not pictured clutching the requisite menu).

Then, Saturday night was BBQ night hosted by the lovely Sarah – and her boyfriend the German guy. I brought sliders: buffalo, wild boar, camel, and kangaroo. All surprisingly good and, frankly, hard to tell apart once you lead 'em up with caramelized onions, avocado, barbecue sauce, and bird's eye chilis. I lean toward the buffalo…

I find that camel goes down easier with beer.

Sarah mans the grill. Seriously. Who else is going to do it?

Trevor shows up, sweating like he's just run a marathon. The boy is sensitive to humidity!

Alexander shows off his latest purchase. I know nothing about guitars but I believe it's a big deal considering how much he paid for it! But who am I to criticize? I collect supervillain statues.

I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this hideous lamp in Alex's office. I figured no one would actually believe me without photographic evidence.

Alexander lights up Tokyo Tower. Or, as some people in the rest of the world call it: The Eiffel Tower.

The trio see us off. Then, five minutes later when I'm in the car, I get a call from Trevor who apparently remembered he doesn't live there and needed a lift.

And then, Sunday, we checked out the Spicy Food Festival which sounded a lot more interesting than it actually was. We wandered about for the first twenty minutes, ravenous, and finally located the (all of six) food stands. Had some not bad ox-tail, a great curry goat roti (would it have killed them to remove the bones before wrapping the sucker up?), and plenty o' plantain. Then it rained. And we went home. Good times.