Planting Pansies & Daytime Raccoons? 10.17.09

I thought it would be fitting to plant pansies since my roommate and I were both members of Delta Delta Delta.

 One day while planting pansies I heard some critter noises. Turns out there were some raccoons knawing on the neighbors grapes.

Eagles In The City of Vancouver

 In the middle of all my twistalking I would try to always take some time to myself in Vancouver - walking the city, eating the food, taking in the sites, etc.

 On this day in October I started to notice all these painted eagles across the city.

 It took some time to find out, but they are all a part of Eagles In The City.

"What is Eagles In The City?

Every winter from November to February literally thousands of Bald Eagles arrive to migrate on the West Coast of British Columbia to feast on Salmon on the banks of our rivers and tributaries. The Bald Eagle makes a statement of strength, striking appearance, grace and personifies freedom.

With this in mind the Bald Eagle will now migrate onto the streets of Vancouver, Vancouver Island and beyond to complete the trilogy of public arts projects by the BC Lions Society. The first being the Orca coming out of the Pacific Ocean, then the Spirit Bear coming out of the forests of Northern BC and now the Bald Eagle soaring through the skies of the West Coast from April 2009 to April 2010 in support of the BC Lions Society’s Easter Seal Services."

 I hope to see and photograph more of these in the city in my future visits.

 I can't even imagine how much time and effort each eagle takes.

My 100th Twifans Blog! An Exclusive Look at Tuesday’s (10.06.09) Eclipse Filming

My 100th blog for Twifans!

Okay people, so I was LITERALLY the only fan next to Tuesday’s Eclipse set. Very exciting for me! Later in the day I was asked by the PA in front of the parking lot how I found the set. I mean really, the movie arrows and signs (even if they have nothing distinguishing them to be Eclipse) as well as the huge camouflage trucks and trailers are kind of a giveaway. I was told by a driver that it was filming for a “pie commercial.” They can’t fool me! Bwahaha!
Before I go on -- Disclaimer: I do not live in Vancouver or even Canada. I don’t know of any sets that aren’t online already. Please do not ask me were this set was (as they are gone already) out of respect of the movie production. (Plus, after yesterday, they know who I am.)
Moving on – I came across the set on Monday night. There was nothing more than a few actor trailers and trucks, including the camo ones of course. I came by Tuesday morning to see if anything was happening. Not much. I’m glad that director David Slade tweeted about it being a night shoot, so I took a few shots and went about my day. Thanks go to Alison for some photoshopping!

I came back Tuesday afternoon about 3 pm right when cars were beginning to arrive. I stayed until about 8 pm or so. The location was an old shipping yard with a dock in the back. Still active, but looked to have some unused wherehouses where they filmed. When I saw it in the morning, I knew they would be filming. I love how the buildings are old, dilapidated, and the white paint has really peeled off.

So how do I know (or think I know at least) that it was a newborn scene? Good question.
+ The only car of notice was David Slade’s black SUV arriving about 6:30. His usual driver and very young looking assistant were up front. No other recognizable cars like Kristen or Rob’s were there, so not the main stars.
+ There were an unusually high amount of regular cars, like 80-100 (no joke), meaning not only a lot of crew, but extras! And probably newborn vamps. The number of cars doesn’t even include the trailers, trucks, or transport vans.
+ There were 2 if not 3 mobile dressing room trucks, meaning lots of costumes for lots of people.
+ The background was an old wherehouse and dock, I’m thinking Seattle.
+ There was an ambulance on set, meaning stunts!

So here’s the river behind the building.

And here’s the dock. I think it’s funny how the ship has the name Victoria on it. Not sure if that was done on purpose or just a coincidence.

The dock at night. Malicious Mandy got some good shots from across the river after my tip.

Another wherehouse at night.

Interesting things:
+ There was this huge light across the river from the shoot. A neighbor explained to me that the lights were on a sky jack and the lights are called the “light of God.” They are usually used during nights because the light will be the sun once they convert it to daylight. I was just not too sure about this because that would mean a lot of sparkling.

+ At one point a black Porsche came into the parking lot, but it drove out after awhile. I wonder if it was being diverted to another set.

+ A young PA told me that they’ll be filming in studio “all next week” and I believe him. The original wrap date is Oct. 31, but I think they’ll be done sooner. My guess is as early as Friday of next week. Otherwise Fri. Oct 23 because 100Monkeys have another show downtown and it might mark the end of their time in Vancouver as well as the other actors.

By the time they started to film around 7 is when I was finally approached. It was Charles, a usual crew member on set. You can't miss him. He's always in shorts. Even at Bella's house in the middle of the night, when it's 40 degrees out. He seems like a cool guy though. He asked me if I was a paparazzi. LOL If only I could get paid for this! He told me that I was welcome to stay all night, but it wasn’t advised as I wouldn’t be able to see anything. He also said that there were no major actors. He mentioned how the only actors would be “like number 12” down on the list. (I would even care. I would just be happy to see anyone really.) = I was thinking Bryce, Xavier, or even Jodelle. I don’t have any expectations anymore, but I was still a little bummed that since I was the only one I didn’t even get a hello. I did, however, get a New Moon poster and a bunch of trading cards, which was nice. And that is really because I believe that I kept it low key. I was asked not to twitter about the location and didn't. I didn’t take flashing pictures at cars. I didn’t get in their way. I was just pretty quiet and stood in the same area. I hope this is a little bit of a lesson to other fans. So no actors seen, but I had a good time.

San Diego 10.03.09

So what’s a year in the pharmacy world without a conference. The only reason for going really was to gain a little bit of pharmacy knowledge, to network a little bit, but really to see old friends. How random is it that I was able to reconnect with people rom such differet phases of life. Shayna was my nieghbor when I was 6 years old, Vanessa was a fellow flute player with me in middle school band, and Enjoli was a friend from high school.

I met up with Vanessa in between pharmacy continuing education sessions.

Messing around Target with Enjoli.

Meeting up with Shayna at a nightclub.

Saying goodbye after spending the weekend at Enjoli's instead of a hotel.

Portland V.A. Hospital Fall 2009

For nearly 9 months I had the pleasure of working for the V.A. Hospital atop the city of Portland. Even having worked for years in different pharmacies already, I had no idea what I was getting into. I could not believe the receptiveness of the patients. Maybe it was because many of the men were Vietnam vets would had no one left in their lives. It was rewarding to feel like I was giving back to those who served our country. It was also pleasant to hear a thank you here and there which is more than I had received by working in communities where every prescription to most patients was provided free to the patient by state aid. It is a constant challenge working a tireless and mostly thankless job, even more so since I happen to be a very giving person. It was a long nine months, working sometimes an exhausting amount of hours and usually waking up much earlier than the sun, but I learned so much. I will always value the time I spent working at the V.A. and hopefully one day I will have the chance again.

When I didn’t have to commute by the bus-train-bus route to the Vancouver campus, I would walk down the hill from my rented house to OHSU, the university hospital, and walk across the skybridge to get to the VA hospital. The pedestrian bridge happens to be the longest suspended skybridge in North America at a length of 660 feet. Here are a few of my views from the sky bridge:

Bella's House Again 09.26.09

So after the Sam Bradley show on the 25^th, I had to head over to Bella’s house in Surrey because I knew they were shooting that night. No actors stopped after filming, but Alice’s car was spotted.

The next day I figured I would take the time to check out old shooting sights I had missed before.

Kyle Center – where they had the police station

Belcarra Regional Park White Pine Beach – where the bad vampires come out of the water in Eclipse

 Jacob’s House

 A black bear in the trees by Jacob’s house

Belmont Farms - The barn where they filmed Jacper's flashback scene

 Tim Horton’s – a snack during all the driving

 Finished off with Bella’s house again before leaving Canada

 Back in the states