The Year of Celebration

What a week of loveliness. London has been good to me thus far. Yes, there are ups and downs of moving countries, especially as I'm jobless and homeless, but London has so much going on that there are fantastic distractions. Those distractions this week were two amazing concerts. The first one on Tuesday was Langhorne Slim & The Law and The Lumineers at Brixton Academy. The second was The Avett Brothers at The Forum supported by Grace Potter and The Nocturnals. I had intended to review the first gig the day after, but I was up until 3am the night before and then life took over (coupled with a good amount of exhaustion) and I kept starting the post and failing to finish. So here we go: A phenomenal displ ay of musical genius. That's how I would describe Tuesday night. Those two class acts deserve nothing but praise. Before I continue I should admit, as a disclaimer on any grounds of bias, I do call Slim and David (his banjo and keys player) friends. So

Today is March 4th and it is the birthday of my late father, Julian Hall. As a result of the date of his birth, his motto for life was his birthdate itself: March Forth. The photo is a picture of my tattoo I got this past summer. The squiggle underneath is my dad's signature.  My father was a brilliant, intellectual giant of a man. Although not in really in stature - he was tall and very, very skinny. He was a barrister and Member of Parliament in Bermuda. He was an imposing public figure who believed strongly in social justice, but was not without his own demons. He also suffered from depression and anxiety and he was from a time where the stigma of mental illness meant it was unlikely for him to get help. Since I've found some level of peace in myself after seeing the right psychiatrist, I wonder whether it would have worked for him. Then in floods regret. Coco Chanel once said "guilt is the cousin of death" and she was absolutely correct. I felt so much gu

I can't believe it's been a month since I last wrote. Time has certainly flown by and life has changed dramatically. As of a couple of days ago, I am officially a London resident. I said farewell to the Vancouver rain and hello to the London fog (no doubt the rain is not far behind).  Why did I leave the west coast? Well, both Canadian and American immigration processes are nightmares. I got far along in the process with the US, but need to put together more evidence. I haven't even tried with Canada as the waiting process is two years. And I need to be working now . So I'm now ensconsed in the joys (ha!) of job-hunting. I so wish that my acting and writing paid all my bills, but alas, that is not the case (for now). I've been applying to all sorts of things, legal work included, but I'm really looking for something that will spark my creativity. So that I'm not dreading the work day and I feel like my 8 hours per day are spent doing something I enjoy.