NOVEMBER 2009

Dear Stephen,

Tired. Happy belated Halloween, BTW. We ran out of candy early yesterday evening; there are a lot more kids in this neighbourhood than our last. We hung out with the downstairs  neighbours a bit, Anne-Laure and Christophe. Decorated the stairs with a very impromptu Spider-man lumberjack. Went to a party that Jerome and his partner Eric were throwing in the studio building of some arts council on St. Urbain. They had great costumes made of cardboard; a huge owls head and a tree trunk.

Was up super early to take a final load from the studio. Forgot about the time change, which helped out actually because I needed to return the van. Had brunch with Anne and Kent to celebrate his thirtieth birthday at a new restaurant on St. Laurent called Sparrow, in the old Mile End Bar location. Clo andI had a minor crisis while trying to find parking so we could walk on the mountain, which we never did. Csme home and made a nice baked macaroni and cheese. Sarah came over for supper and then we watched a bad movie, Disturbia. It was disturbingly bad.

I voted today, for the Projet Montréal team. I understand very little of municipal politics, and assume all the parties are corrupt, but this third place party seems the least corrupt. For some bizarre reason Clo was not on the electoral list and was told repeatedly that after the September 30 deadline if one was not on the list, one could not vote. I voted in my old riding, which is that same arrondissement.

Now my eyes are very, very heavy.

Do you know where one can buy those lightbulbs that have the metalic frosting on just the bottom?

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

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cc Sophie De Weweire <info@netwerk-art.be>

date Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 11:49 PM

subject Québec ressere le processus d’attribution des contrats; Single vaccine supplier no handicap, feds say, despite program hiccups

Dear Stephen,

Well, Tremblay managed to eek out another mandate from Montrealers. He seems a bit contrite, what with a reduced majority, and has frozen new construction contracts until after the swath of criminal investigations into corruption are finished. I’m surprised the MacLeans article didn’t help dethrone him. In the end I voted for Projet Montreal, even though Bergeron has been criticized for surmising that 9/11 was an inside job. Heck, I kind of believe it was an inside job, too. But enough about municipal politics or outlandish conspiracies.

Work is going well on the apartment; I finished the lights in the kitchen (needed to cover the massive hole in the ceiling and fasten the exposed cords), as well as re-built the frame for the doors for the washer/dryer, then installed the doors. My wood is still at the studio, but Clo and I spent some time drawing out plans for the shelves and bookcases. I’m going to try to borrow the van from work tomorrow evening to retrieve some of the wood, otherwise I will use the car; I finally put the roof-racks on it, the ones I found out in Lasalle on a visit to the DHC storage facilities.

Tonight was my first meeting of the CA at SKOL. It was long and tedious, like most CA meetings of ARCs. I feel I participate less than I should, but I feel self-conscious about my poor french. I hate the idea of slowing or dumbing down conversation. We are coming up to our “levée des fonds” time of year. Would you like to make a donation? Donations are tax-deductible.

Clo is still out at Kent’s birthday supper; she was up super-early to work on contracts or some such thing. She’s getting bigger every day, I swear. She looks good, has good energy, she positively glows. I worry internally about every little thing; about her falling, contracting the Grippe H1N1, crossing the street, taking the metro or passing under bridges; mostly irrational thoughts (except here in Montreal the infrastructure is worrisome, and the motorists a danger). I still worry. This is what it must mean to be a parent. Do you worry all the time? Do you worry about pandemics and elections and polls and the like, or things like death, old-age, obscurity, or becoming obsolete, or do you worry about doing the right things, spending time with your family and loved ones, or do you worry about eterneal damnation, or anything eternal for that matter?

-chris

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cc Sophie De Weweire <info@netwerk-art.be>

date Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 7:31 PM

subject Grippe A (H1N1) : «évitez les urgences»; Friends and family bid farewell to soldier killed in Afghanistan

Dear Stephen,

TGIF; I’m exhausted, again. Yesterday, Friday, I was off to work, despite being back on a supposed 3-day work week. I needed to return the keg. Sorry I didn’t get a chance to let you know in advance that we decided to get a keg to celebrate the end of Kelly Mark’s 8-hour performance of an artist-talk; which worked splendidly, I thought. Of course, Kelly doesn’t drink beer, but we did get a bottle of Jamesons’ for her, though some of the younger artsy crowd skinny stylish kids drank most of the bottle before she came back. She did her performance / talk between 9 – 5 and then came back for 8 in the evening, just to hang out. Raf and Ryan had arrived with musical instruments and costumes and performed a half-hour set mixing up her “I really should” audio piece. It was a fun evening. I was a tad tipsy by the end, having only eaten chips and generous servings from the keg for supper. I had also been at work since 8am, and had dropped Clo off at the hospital for diabetes blood tests at 7am. And how did I end my day? Lugging all the rough timber out of my studio into the van. Lugged it all up the stairs into the apartment this morning before dropping Clo off at Oboro (opening today) and then returning the van.

Chopped, cut, removed nails and screws from the wood and started the bizarre shelving unit in the studios. Incorporated one of the windows my parents brought with them from Mark and Margo’s; there is at least one more that will work in the other side, maybe two. I hope to finish tomorrow. For now, I have leftovers heating in the oven, need to take a shower, and then off to the opening at Oboro. Afterwards we are going to see Avec pas de casque perform.

Oh, and I have fewer reservations about the vaccine for H1N1. We watched some YouTube videos Amir Khadir, the sole representative for Québec Solidaire in the provincial legislature, and he is all for the vaccine. Since he is not only a member of the most left-leaning political party, but also a doctor who specializes in infectious microbiology, I trust his opinion. So we’ll try the lineups on Monday.

-chris

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cc Sophie De Weweire <info@netwerk-art.be>

date Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 12:50 AM

subject Élections partielles: Daniel Paillé l’emporte dans Hochelaga; Tories take two of four seats in byelections

Dear Stephen,

We got vaccinated for H1N1 today. The lineup wasn’t too bad; we arrived just before 8am, waited in line for a coupon for 9am, then waited inline again, then got inside, took a number and waited again,but from then on everything happened quickly. There were eight stages in all, including the 15-minute after-shot waiting period. Outside I was told I wouldn’t be able to get the shot, as even a conjoint to a pregnant asthmatic I was still not individually high-risk, but once inside nobody asked and I received the shot quickly.

Took the rest of the morning off to do some grocery shopping with Clo abd cut some more wood for the shelves during lunch at home. Went in to work for 1pm; I have lots to catch up on for the Eija-Liisa Ahtila floorplans, an internal deadline tomorrow.

Meghan arrived by bus from Ottawa this evening; she has been in Seoul for the past year, teaching English. We went to eat at la pizzeria Neopolitan, drank a bottle of red wine and discussed love, sex and life and death. She has been staying in Ottawa with her best friend who has pancreatic cancer, which is a terrible thing. Kind of makes all our little worries petty and unimportant.

-chris

from chris lloyd <dearpm@gmail.com>

to pm@pm.gc.ca

cc Sophie De Weweire <info@netwerk-art.be>
date Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:52 PM
subject Les manifestants retardent l’arrivée du prince Charles; Minister ‘disturbed’ at report of flu shots for Afghan detainees

Dear Stephen,

That vaccine shot really made my arm sore. It still feels like someone used it as a punching bag. I also feel exhausted, but that could be from the vaccine or too much fun at work. I’m kidding, work has not been so much fun this week. We are preparing for a contemporary African dance performance by Zab Maboungou, and I am not feeling connected to the project. We are spending so much time and energy building a makeshift lighting grid and theatre scrims to hide the performers. That emphasis on the charade really bugs me; the audience is not stupid, we know that the performers need to get to the stage somehow, just deal with the fact that this is an art gallery (an under construction art gallery at that) and stop trying to treat it like a theatre already. Perhaps my dislike of the medium is becoming apparent, but I am still trying to act professional and get the job done.

Made a beer/tomato chicken dish for supper tonight and set the oven on fire. There was too much liquid in the pot and it boiled over. The fire didn’t last long; not enough air in the oven. Meghan is out with Tamara Henderson; they spent the day together, now theya re working on Tamara’s show in Jon’s basement which opens this Saturday. His space is called Holding environment, and her show is called Le jour et la nuit: A murder mystery. Should be fun.

Tomorrow morning I am taking the car to work, early, to stop by our lighting supplier to try to get 2 small Lightolier track adaptors to wire into the grid. I just love the theatricality of it all.

-chris

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date Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 12:20 AM

subject McKenna dit que les libéraux devront s’armer de patience; Most healthy kids don’t need second flu shot: officials

Dear Stephen,

Had a good day off; worked on some Third Space stuff, catalogue texts, and built the framework for the hall closet. Meghan helped; she was out late last night with Tamara, helping on her exhibition for Saturday night. And drinking. But you know how the social element fuels so much of artistic and creative practice, right?

So after the day of framing up the closet, Meghan and I went to Vices & Verses On St. Laurent where I drank dark, stout beer. Clo met us there, we walked to pick up Tamara, then walked to La Depanneur Pick-Up for supper but it was closed so we ate at a random Vietnamese restaurant on Jean-Talon. Afterwards we went to Peter Flemming’s studio for a Dorkbot presentation. This is where artists who use technology present their processes or inventions or modifications or findings. It was fun but maybe a bit too techie for me.

Do you consider yourself a techie?

-chris

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date Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 11:51 PM

subject Khadr: Ottawa invite la Cour suprême à se mêler de ses affaires; Canada can’t cut emissions in isolation from U.S.: Prentice

Dear Stephen,

I work up during the early morning and couldn’t fall back asleep; it was like having an anxiety attack of some sort. I was full of worries and discomfort. I tossed and turned for what seemed like an hour, then graduallly drifted off, but even then was semi-conscious. Weird.

I worked on the hall closet most of the day. Meghan helped a bit in the moing. We drove to Home Despot and bought a sheet of drywall which fit rather nicely on the roofracks on the car. It was a bit tricky getting it up the stairs but we managed. Later in the day I dropped the car off at Canadian Tire and had the winter tires put on, finally. Later on while plastering I picked at a section of wall in the hallway and before I could help myself I had stripped off half a wall’s worth of decaying old plaster. Now the extra coats of plaster I added are drying; I hope to get some paint on the walls this weekend. It will be tight, however: I promised Jesse I would play wheelchair basketball at a tournament tomorrow afternoon, and of course Sunday afternoon is the surprise baby shower for Clo. I plan to take Nataniel for a good chunk of the afternoon. The shower is for girls only.

-chris

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date Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 12:11 AM

subject Harper en Inde: terrorisme et coopération nucléaire; Feds can’t promise H1N1 shot for all Canadians by Christmas

Dear Stephen,

Just came back from a pre-natal class. It not the CLSC class, which was canceled due to the swine flu, but a shorter class offered by Nourri-Source, a non-profit composed of volunteer midwives who specialize in assistance in breast-feeding. The woman giving the class is quite cynical of birthing at hospitals, and gave us quite a few tips to watch for.

What else is new? I have been spending almost all free time working on plastering in the apartment (the old plaster walls are in terrible shape and I made the mistake of picking at a few areas, revealing big cracks and pulling off huge chunks). The hall closet is almost done; just some paint touchups.

Meghan left on Monday. She came to the surprise baby shower at Cousin Mimi’s on Sunday. That went off almost perfectly; Claudine had not suspected, and had been convinced by her sister jo to arrive at mimi’s at a certain time. Unfortunately Jo couldn’t make it; Nataniel was too sick to travel, and Phillipe was working, so she was stuck in Île Perot. Everyone else on the list came, however, even Fannie. It was very emotional, lots of tears. I left to run errands but was there for a good hour, the only fox in the henhouse. Showers are indeed strange rituals.

Saturday night was Tamara’s opening in Jon’s basement, a completely different kind of art-hipster ritual. Her show looks good, though maybe the work is a bit dense. The little gallery space is cute in the basement, and has lots of potential. Drank some beer, chatted mostly with Meghan, thought mostly of home renovations and whether we will get everything done before the end of January.

Work  has already been full-on the past two days, I feel like I am not slowing down, there is always so much to do.

Going to read more prenatal books. Am feeling a little uninformed and ill-prepared.

-chris

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date Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:32 PM

subject Stéphane Dion réaffirme son soutien à Michael Ignatieff; Stéphane Dion réaffirme son soutien à Michael Ignatieff

Dear Stephen,

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile. As per usual, it is a mix of being busy and being complacent. Last week I didn’t work too much overtime, and stayed for the last Session, which was a presentation by Guido van der Werve. He showed a selection of his films, from student work to his most recent. Quite amazing work, actually.

Friday I was up at 5am to drive me, Stacy and JZ’s son Jack to a film shoot in St. Hubert. We were extras for Pedro Pires’ film “Jimmy”. We spent the whole day-twelve hours or so- dressed as wounded Korean War soldiers on an airplane. I had to go back Saturday, same time, as they didn’t get all the shots in on Friday.

I kept hard on the plastering in the baby room in just about all my spare time. I can’t even remember what I did Saturday night. Sunday was a day full of errands, plaster, and visits. Jen, Stefan and their daughter Thea came over for a visit; Jen is due in about a week and more than ready. Melissa and Colin came over as well; she was visiting from Toronto and he from Boston. Their mothers were meeting for the first time. We were invited to Sarah and Stephane’s apartment for supper where she cooked an amazing jeau de veaux. We watched the Habs come back to tie it in the third but go on to lose their first in shootout this year.

The Sessions de-install started today. We’re almost done. Next step: demolition of a couple walls in 451. Should be fun.

Watching Sixth Sense. Great movie.

-chris

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date Wed, Nov 25, 2009 qt 12:21 AM

subject Aéroports: la fouille des bagages à main sera améliorée; Harper promises to divulge info on Afghan detainees

Dear Stephen,

Had our second pre-natal class tonight after work. It was and felt longer this week. Same intensity on the part of the instructor, it just felt less shocking this time around. She’s actually a wealth of information;  and as the more I learn about all the different details surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, pre and post-partum, and breastfeeding all stresses me out, and causes almost constant worry, I look forward to it all, and feel we’ll be able to deal well with everything. There is just so much to think about, imagine, plan for. Did you go through all range of emotions before you were a dad? Just wondering.

Work is going well. The building is prepped for demo; I was hoping we’d get started on it today, but there is a fair bit of flexibility in this de-install. Plans are going well, there are lots of little things to do, but it feels under control. The days pass quickly. Too quickly?

Gilles left today, after finishing the baby room, the hallway and Clo’s studio. Tomorrow night I’ll start putting things away, organizing some of the secondhand baby gear he brought from Jo’s, and getting things off the balcony that he put there to keep out of the way. I’m feeling antsy to get the lighting and electrical all finished, and put up some pictures, make the place more livable.

Anyway, we are currently watching Twilight, ensuring that we stay current with adolescent and teenage girls’ lingo and obsessions. Gives us the chance to hear great lines like “your mood swings are giving me whiplash”, “James, let’s not play with our food” or “I don’t have the strength to stay away from you any more”. Fun stuff. Have you seen it?

-chris

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date Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:45 PM

subject Les conservateurs à la défense des droits des homosexuels; Linhout ‘in shock’ after Somalia kidnapping ordeal

Dear Stephen,

Am home alone this evening; Clo had supper plans with Caro and then a show at Casa del Popolo. I re-organized and cleaned up a bit and cooked a roast in the oven, then watched the special features on the Sixth Sense video and some cheesy TV. Had a bit of a bum day at work, a mix of some things working out and then other things not. Like being the only one on the job today with a license to drive, and going to the hardware store not once but twice to get ShopVac filters, only to realize too late that we have a RIGID, not a SHOP-VAC, and of course these things are different sizes.

Received an email from your party concerning my pledge:

“Dear Mr. Lloyd,

I am sending you this email to thank you for your generous pledge of $200 when we spoke to you on the phone on .

Thank You!

Unfortunately, on reviewing our records, it appears we have not yet received your gift.”

That is correct, you have not, and most likely will not, though I will do my best to string along whoever calls next. Either that or I get sick of the game and come clean, admit I am not really a big Conservative Party supporter, and even though my membership is good for another 4 years I don’t foresee myself helping to fund policies I don’t agree with.

Clo still not home. Not unusual, as most music shows don’t end this early, but still, I worry.

-chris

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date Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 12:48 Am

subject Des sites sur la tuerie de Polytechnique sèment l’inquiétude; Federal governement ready to consider HST for Ontario, B.C.

Dear Stephen,

Just came back from a birthday supper at a café in Outremont for Janine, one of Clo’s close friends from university. I was not in the mood to be social, especially with a group of people I don’t know, but I managed to not be too much of a stick-in-the-mud and it was a pleasant evening. The week of work has worn me out a bit, I’m feeling run-down. Last night we had Kent, Anne and Eric over for supper, we cooked a couple large salmon filets and drank wine and talked about Kent’s recent trip to Egypt. Dinner parties at home I enjoy a little more, but they too can be tiring. Tomorrow we have an afternoon booked for massages and floating baths, then Mohanad will come over and help with shelves. Sunday we are meeting our potential doula-to-be, then Philippe, Jo, Nataniel and Dorion are coming for an afternoon visit. And then Gilles may arrive again to help finish the painting in the apartment. Apparently he is worried we won’t have time to finish everything before the baby arrives. Hard to believe that it is almost December. This mild weather has lulled me into a state of complacency.

I visited the hospital St. Luc this morning to get the tickets to view the birthing rooms but visits have been canceled due to H1N1. First the pre-natal classes, now visits to see where the baby will be born. Just great for the preparation. Do you think the whole swine flu thing has gotten a little out of hand? Sure it is contagious and all, but what will canceling visits do? We’ll be at the hospital to deliver, unless that gets cancelled too. Then what do we do, give birth in the metro? In our apartment?

-chris

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date Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:32 PM

subject Détenus afghans: Harper affiche son appui aux soldats; It’s official: Canada’s recession is over