T-Minus One Month

'Til I'm home in Halifax. Well, home for a rest, so to speak.

"Home is where your rump rests" - Pumbaa The Warthog, The Lion King, 1994

A lot regarding my living situation has been altered since last I wrote. In trying to get out of a place I couldn't afford, I found a replacement. Set to move in at the end of October, I was ready to move out. Didn't take long to find a new living arrangement, which I came across by chance having only concentrated on getting out of one place and not getting into another.

I met with my friend to apply for the lease, and an hour later I was on my way. I said goodbye and awaited the call from the rental office saying all the references have been called and everything was in order.

At work on Saturday, October 25 I had stayed later than planned. Being cheesed that I was missing a photo shoot with my Theatre Company, one of the hostesses came to me saying there was "some cop on the phone" for me. Odd, I thought. I hadn't done anything illegal lately, as far as I knew.

"Hello William? This is *cop's name* calling from the Vancouver Police Department, how much longer will you be at work?" I told him, and he said he was going to meet me there, because he had to talk and it was an emergency.

He met me there with his partner and asked me about the roommate that my friend (the one I was moving in with) was living with. I told them the limited information I had, having only "met" her last week. I say "met" because I never actually saw her, I just heard her voice coming from the room I was moving into. She was just some woman that he found on Craigslist to live with him for one month.

After questioning, they told me: My friend was seriously injured and was in the hospital. I had the feeling something was wrong as they were questioning me, and in the end I was glad he was in the hospital, and not somewhere worse.

After work, I went with a friend to visit him, but he was in the Intensive Care Unit, and therefore could only be visited by immediate family. The nurse told us that if he makes it out of The ICU then he'll be moved to the Burn Unit. Burn Unit?

Having little information, I called some friends who told me more: The roommate I "met" was murdered, and my friend was an innocent bystander. I found out more information from the paper, which reported that the apartment I was supposed to move into a week later had exploded. An ex-boyfriend of the woman living there was caught and charge with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

My friend remains in The ICU, receiving skin grafts and dialysis and battling Super-bugs. Another friend of mine has been visiting him regularly, and reporting on his progress.

The hardest part through all of this is seeing the story in the paper. He was just another person you read about, between the murders and the robberies and the car accidents. But he was my friend. He is my friend. One of the nicest, most self-less guys that I know, and if anyone is getting through this, it's him. I can't wait to see him again.

After all of this two of my roommates up and left the townhouse, moving back to Alberta for a few months. My remaining roommate told me to tell the guy I found to replace me to forget it; he wasn't going to live there with strangers. Rather than dash on the lease, we were left to find new tenants, which luckily didn't take long. The landlord showed the place to two groups, and the second group said they'd it. So now I had my out again, with no in. Well, I had some friends offer me a couch to sleep on, but no new place.

A slight upgrade from the couch is an entire room to stay in. I'll be staying with a very generous person for December, which works for me, because I'll be gone for a week anyway, so no point in paying a whole month's rent. But come January, I'll be wanting a place for my own. And just my own. No more roommates for me. That last sentence isn't carved in stone, but if you want to take care of yourself, you just gotta do it yourself, I guess.

November's been rough: No auditions, occasionally reading, but no full time projects. I was asked to read for next week, but work got in the way. Luckily I have one thing keeping me going: High Horse Theatre.

A couple of buddies of mine from back home finished their Theatre school, moved to Vancouver and two weeks later had an entire company up and running. Talk about efficiency. They asked me to be in their production of "Fool For Love" by Sam Sheppard. I love being asked to do things. I was more than happy to do it, and we've been rehearsing steadily ever since.

We'll be putting on our shows (three one-act plays) at Havana Theatre, 1212 Commercial Drive, Vancouver BC. The shows are on December 9-13 and 16-20. Curtain rises at 8pm each night. Don't be late. Buy tickets or donate at our website (copy and paste it):

http://www.highhorsetheatre.com

Despite how not fun it's been to recollect on the last month, I figure:

"The night is darkest before the dawn, and I tell you the dawn is coming!" - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight, 2008