So last night, I played a voracious bout of EWR.
I mean, I met with Ana (and Becky and Steph) to discuss the script. She gave me some thoughts and we talked about them, and discussed what was going to change about the script. Then she paid me, and we talked some more. Also, we held the meeting at Williams Coffee Pub (I wonder if I'd shown ID they'd give me free coffee?) It was the worst coffee I ever tasted, including the time we was in Quebec and were given a free packet of coffee to make and I used about 4x as much water as there should have been. Worse than that only because they get paid to make coffee and I was a dumb 14 year old who'd never even tasted coffee.
Then we went and saw Farenheit 9/11. It was kind of a downer way to go in the evening, but the film was enlightening info-tainment. I can see why the Republicans don't like the film - because they're dicks. The film exposes some of the probable ways Bush extorted Florida out from under Gore, and works its way through the presidency riddled with corruption, ignorance, greed, and abuse of power up to this current date (my personal favourite, Condoleezza Rice's "I believe the memo was entitled
Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States." Instant classic.) There was some stuff which was funny, shocking, mortifying and sad. It was a lot like Columbine. I can't say which I liked better. I saw Columbine at a point where I was writing a Docudrama based around it, so I felt more of an attachment to it, but man I do hate Bush. **** 1/2 of 5.
The movie ended at 12:30, we got home around 1. I fell asleep cira 4:30. 4:30! Agony! I can't even fall asleep without the TV on (my brain buzzes too much.) So I watched Conan, Steve Matin's The Jerk, VH1's Saturday Night Live 25 Years of Music part 5, and ultimately fell asleep during a Teletoon rerun of Ned's Newt. I liked that show, and continue to, because it stars the voice of Harland Williams as a shape-changing 6' blue amphibian. It has the same spirit as great shows like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and to a lesser extent Bobby's World. I woke up, in agony, at 9:45, cursing the fates that caused my to remain conscious at such an ungodly hour, contemplating what changes I'm going to make to my script.
So today, I got bored and went out on my bike. As I often do, I found myself in the old River Oaks neighbourhood. I went up to the old Public School, swung on the swing and remarked to myself about how that park "ain't what it used to be," then noticed something queer.
At the side door, the one opening onto the blacktop, the window was completely smashed in. No wood/cardboard. No-one had cleaned up the shattered glass. It was really dangerous. It had probably happened recently as no janitor would be around to see it. Also, the door was unlocked.
The door was unlocked.
My great sense of nostalgia has been asking me to make a return trip to ROPS ever since I left that hellhole in 2001. to say "Hi" to the teachers, wander the halls, etc. The closest I'd been for a while was in the summer of '01 when Luke, Daron and I went and pissed on the newly named "Nature Nook," the government-mandated nature area with the dumb name. Today, it's just rocks and wood chips. Looks like we won.
So I never took the chance to revisit River Oaks. Time wore on, I'd hear about teachers leaving here and there. The idea got less appealing. Then today's bizarre opportunity presented itself. I hesitated. Technically, I think it's a felony. Definitely some crimehas been committed even if not by me. If I was caught wandering around a supposedly locked school with a smashed window, it wouldn't take much thought to create a scenario where I look like the bad guy.
But eventually, after making sure the coast was clear, I nudged the door open. Okay, so I got through one door. The other doors
must be locked, right? 'Fraid not. I walked down the main hallway (what we called "Gerry Smith Street" named after the inaugeral Principal and toupee enthusiast Mr. Smith, a name today's students are doubtlessly unfamiliar with.) before realizing that was boring. So I went back to the door and up the stairs, just to see... and wouldn't you know it, the upstairs was easy-access too. It was too surreal. I hadn't set foot in that building for 3 years and here I was, all alone, in the Ghost school. As I walked past the rooms, I could hear Mrs. Martynuik commanding us to clean up after Art class, or Ms. Mainville's vain attempt at approximating the French language, or Mr. Marks yelling at students just for fun... or, dare I say, Mr. Pritchard, staring, hissing, staring... it was too bizarre. It was like I had become Joel Larkin on "Do Over" (a great show which was never given a chance.) So I hurried out of there. It was the strangest experience I can even recall. Like vertigo combined with riding a flying DeLorian.
So merrily I continued on my way. Earlier, I had another time-warp experience by going back to my house of 12 years, 2140 Madden Blvd, just in passing. I was glad to see they kept my Basketball Net. It's mine, y'know. Not theirs. Well, the way I see it. I haven't been by there in 4 years. So strange.
This has probably been the longest Blog entry I've ever done. I'm thinking what updates I can do to Interneta. The "Half-Past Eight PM" page will probably be coming soon.
Keep on Rockin'
Scott Williams~~ Wanted for Bootlegging
