Our Ultimate Date

WE'RE LIVE!

2008-10-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Date Night - Fluid thoughts

2008-10-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

CeCe and I have a lot on our minds right now: The economy, our wedding, where we want to go on honeymoon, and launching AreYouMyPartner.com next week. But often taking a break helps. So I asked CeCe to meet me in central London for Date Night – where we unplug from the world.

She had no idea where we were going, but together we jumped on a Double Decker and I rang the bell to get off at an area of London known as Little Venice; named so because of house boats on water.

I always find that when the mind is full being near water is a great relaxant. That, and walking. And eating.

Right above the Little Venice canal at one end is a cute little Italian restaurant, and so we started there, grabbing a canal-facing window seat to wave at long boats passing below us.

Phones off and wi-fi banished, we enjoyed a romantic meal until we were both stuffed. We then left and walked along the canal, kicking autumn leaves and talking about nothing in particular. We then hopped another Double Decker to get us home.

All in all it was a relaxing Date Night. But then I remembered: we’re bringing AreYouMyPartner.com to life in under a week!

Think of water, think of water, think of water, think of water, think of water…

We're legal!

2008-10-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

On Saturday CeCe and I went to town hall to get all legal. What a day!

We walked into our city council building to the sounds of Bob Marley and Buffalo Soldier. Our registrar was a lovely lady of Caribbean descent who spend the whole time chatting as she put all our details into a computer. Only issue was, her office was reallllllyyyyy hot and the sun was beaming straight into my eyes, literally blinding me.

After some chat, paperwork, laugh, chat, laugh, paper, CeCe and I signed off to city hall our intent to marry each other. Now get this: The registrar pins our paperwork up on the city hall board for 16 days so that anyone in our borough can raise objections as to why we shouldn’t marry! This tradition harks back to the day when a town crier would have let everyone know CeCe and I’s news, and see if anyone took umbrance to it.

Nowadays, if you got an issue, you can comment on my blog. Isnt’ technology wonderful?

After 16 days – provided no one in north west London objects to our marriage – our papers come down and its all official. (I found out later that the only people who look at those boards are wedding photographer touting for business.)

So barring any spam mail from wedding photographers, CeCe and I should have our intentions enshrined by next month.

And so as the Whalers backed Bobby’s chant of “dreadlock rastas” up, CeCe and I left city hall with big smiles and headed home.

That same day, I contracted food poisoning and spent the rest of the day in bed with a bucket by my side. If anything, I know CeCe is with me through sickness and health!

More soon…

The FAQ...

2008-10-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe that only five weeks ago CeCe and I were in Montreal relaxing. Since we’ve been back to routine in London, we feel we’ve gone nowhere! Jobs, planning a wedding, getting ready to launch AreYouMyPartner…. Where has the “us” time gone?

One of the most asked questions I have received lately is “how do I know CeCe is ‘the one’?”

That’s a pretty heavy question, but the short answer is that I never would have proposed to her if there was a shadow of a doubt in my mind. During AreYouMyWife I said I would not compromise. I had been single and adventurous for eight years prior, so I wanted someone to share the adventure with, no excuses.

The slightly longer answer is that I'm not one who believes in love at first sight. (Attraction yes, but not long lasting love). I believe in evolution in a relationship: doing things over time, seeing how we go, setting goals, dreams, benchmarks, and growing together or apart.

Over the past 20 months CeCe and I have been growing together and stronger. As a team we’ve been through lots of lows, and lots of highs, so we’ve seen the worse and best of each other in many situations. Marriage was the next step for us: a whole new challenge to face together.

I think this whole “one” question is a bit of a Hollywood thing. There are so many rom-com movies out there (usually starring Matthew McConaughey and his non-existent shirt) that end in a dramatic flagging down of “the one” before they get on a plane. That’s a bit far fetched (especially with airport security being what it is these days.)

For CeCe and I a relationship is about getting through a day, a week, a year, and many years while keeping things fresh and challenging and working as a team. As long as we stay on that path, then there should be no questions.

And on that note, tonight CeCe and I are going to have our first Date Night in a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnng time.

More soon…

Inspiration...

2008-10-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some analytics reports the other day for this blog, and something caught my eye. I was getting some traffic from another blog that had a name that had me doing a double take:

http://areyoumygayboyfriend.blogspot.com/

So I went to have a look and found Dey, a man in Portugal who has taken it upon himself to start blogging for love. At the time I write this post, he's on day 8 and just posted a very personal video about coming out.

Suddenly I went back in time to day 1 of AreYouMyWife... July 24, 2006. I remembered all the trepidation I felt, the worry, the anxiety, the stress about launching my blog. What would people think? Who would visit my blog? Where would it take me? How? Why?

But I overrode all those feelings and simply pressed "CREATE BLOG." Then, I wrote my first post and clicked "PUBLISH."

Then my blog grew, and I began posting more stories, more photos and then making videos. I used to average a post a day, if not more.

Flash forward to today, and this current OurUltimateDate blog. I write about a post a week, and I haven't made a video in months. I sort of miss the exhilaration that Dey is going through right now: making personal content for the web, being honest, being raw, expressing day to day concerns in the hope that one person in the world will "get it".

So to Dey and http://areyoumygayboyfriend.blogspot.com/ - I am an adoring fan. I applaud your decision to press PUBLISH, come what may. At worse, you'll stay single and think "I gave 100%". But I suspect that you will have a better outcome than that :-)

And for me... well, the 22nd of October can't come soon enough. I will get back into my old ways on AreYouMyPartner.com: updating a story daily, making videos, delving into honesty and being real, but this time on a much larger scale and for the benefit of others.

Inspiration can certainly go in circles...

(If you are reading this right now, it is because I once again pushed PUBLISH. It felt great!)

The day we went numb

2008-09-29T06:11:00.000-07:00

Usually my (sporadic) posts on this blog are up-beat, short and breezy. But not this one. This one will be a bit heavy.

Since arriving back in the UK almost a month ago, CeCe and I have slotted right back into the busy London grind/wedding planning/AreYouMyPartner launch routine and thus Date Night – our former practice of doing something interesting and creative together at least once a week – has slipped by the wayside. So this past Sunday, we decided to get out of the house and go to the Imperial War Museum.

All well and good when we got there: planes hanging from the ceiling and tanks on the ground. Pretty fun stuff. Then we learned that three World War II veterans (one with a chest full of medals) were to be guest speakers, and the crowd fell silent and humble as they recounted their youth in war time.

To further compound this sense of sadness, we ascended to the Holocaust wing after the talks and were thrown into a world of evil, hate and carnage. I had been to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem previously, and found that tough to stomach at the time. The one here in London brought back those feelings in horrific waves.

CeCe and I both left the museum with heavy hearts and didn’t speak much on the Tube home. Ironically, when we did get in, some old Clint Eastwood war film was playing on TV. Clint and other actors were mowing down Germans with machine guns. Compared to what we had just seen in “real” pictures and heard from real veterans at the museum, we couldn’t stomach Clint Eastwood’s Hollywood portrayal, so he got switched off.

What amazes me most is that the horrors we saw in that museum are today – in the world of iPods with touch screens – still in living memories.

If there is any silver lining to this post, it might be this: human conflict and war accelerates technology development – especially communication – and the internet was a product of war, and also the means by which I met CeCe, the platform I continue to blog on, and integral to AreYouMyPartner.com.

I won’t pretend that the internet is any consolation or balance to the sacrifices of our grand parents, but one thing the war veteran did say at the conclusion of his speech is that when you’re looking a massive pile of evil in the face, sometimes you got to look for the good, and hope that beyond it there is something – anything – that can mean a better future for those ahead.

I will definitely be wearing my red poppy next month, this time with eyes more wide open than before.

Blast from the past ... and a future blast

2008-09-26T01:46:00.001-07:00

A lovely woman by the name of Megan - who is from California, and whom I dated during AreYouMyWife - is in London on her way to Africa. CeCe and I are going to see her for lunch today, so it will be real cool to catch up with her. She is quite the worldly gal, and one who permeates peace and forethought and is heading back to Africa for charity work.

However, shortly after I spoke to Megan last night I got a boisterous call from the west coast of Canada, from a good friend named Jordan. He's coming next month to London with a crazy Armenian friend of ours, and together they are taking me to Amsterdam for a weekend. Apparently they have taken it upon themselves to be my official "stag" crew - two wrecking balls if ever there were. So I'm worried, because they said I would not return from Amsterdam in one piece!

I better enjoy my peaceful lunch with Megan this month, because next month AreYouMyPartner launches, and the wrecking balls are taking me to Amsterdam.

Eeeek

Meeting of the minds

2008-09-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend my parents were visiting from Canada, so it was the first occasion for both CeCe and I's parental units to meet.

And we had a good laugh and a great meal at a pub/resto near our house that we otherwise would never have gone to.

The planning for our wedding continues, but unlike in the movies there have been no huge dramatic arguments. CeCe and I will do things our way, do what works for us, and hopefully - like our parents meeting for the first time - everyone will have a good laugh.

I just found out through a friend who got married that if you call a florist and say you need flowers are for a wedding, they double the price. But if instead you call the florist and say you need the same flowers for a funeral, they halve the price. That's a bit like the idea of dressing like a bum when you set out to buy a used car. Does the marriage industry really operate like that?

Meantime, its Monday so we're back to work. Cause weddings don't pay for themselves!

Allan

The beginning of …

2008-09-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

CeCe and I arrived back in London one week ago, and landed right in it: back to work for me (1,000 emails), CeCe’s first day at the new job, a bit of Canadian press and we also caught up with her family. We even managed to get our apartment cleaned and my pile of ironing done.

But aside from the big launch date of AreYouMyPartner.com in October, CeCe and I have also started to look at actually getting married. And it’s complicated!

No firm dates yet – but we have agreed that we like the idea of a ceremony in the UK and a party in Montreal and a honeymoon somewhere in there as well. Maybe next year. So much to work out, and despite what I consider a heavy lead time, CeCe thinks there is not enough time…

But I have no doubt it will all be worth it on the day. Just gotta figure that day out.

More soon…

We're ENGAGED!

2008-09-07T05:44:00.000-07:00

CeCe and I left two weeks ago for a holiday, and we’ve come back engaged and enthused.

Yep, I did it: I proposed and she said yes! So one year after AreYouMyWife wound down and OurUltimateDate began the “?” has come out of AreYouMyWife!

Needless to say we’re quite over the moon. I started my little internet experiment over two years ago – initially there were no timelines, no limits and no expectations. Back then I had no idea what would happen, where AreYouMyWife would go, nor could I predict all the wonderful people who would come to write themselves in.

It’s all well and good meeting someone while travelling and during a high-adventure, so CeCe and I had decided to take this OurUltimateDate year to ourselves to really lay low, let our relationship breathe naturally and see what each other were like when the chips were down.

And I suppose – in going full circle – I got what I set out for to begin with: when I launched AreYouMyWife I said I would like to meet someone in circumstances where we could really get to know each other – no make up, no pretence, no expectation – then build an adventurous relationship on a solid foundation.

This time last year CeCe and I had known each other for six months, and she had literally gone the distance for me as I had for her. However, when I moved back to London I was broke, homeless, jobless and out of shape. Then my bank account got frauded. Meantime, CeCe and I had some dreams we wanted to work on. So began OurUltimateDate.

However, we rose up together. After much toil and frustration with wheeler-dealer recruitment agents, I landed a great job and am still going strong there today. Over time, my bank account balance once again became positive. Together CeCe and I wrote a print-on-demand coffee table book. After four years with a great company, CeCe has decided to pursue a new career challenge and she starts that tomorrow.

And finally, after more than a year of trying to get a dream out of our heads and into a quality form for the internet, we are proud to announce that www.AreYouMyPartner.com will be opening on October 22nd, 2008 (more on that in a moment.)

Two weeks ago we went on holiday in my home city of Montreal. We’ve come a long way, and as a couple CeCe and I have known each other in the best and worst of times for 20 months. There was no doubt in my mind about how I felt when I took her to Mount Royal and proposed (she had no idea, so I really surprised her). And to my great relief, there was no doubt in her response.

As for a wedding, we have no idea when, how, what and where will be our special day… still working that out. We just got back to London yesterday, we’re jet lagged, and we go back to work tomorrow (Monday… ew.) But, the story isn’t over just yet…

What is AreYouMyPartner?

While writing the AreYouMyWife and OurUltimateDate blogs, I kept getting emails from all over the world asking me how to “login” and use “the site”. The idea was born: Could I make AreYouMyWife into a tool that anyone in the world could use?

One of the many reasons I launched AreYouMyWife was because most of the dating websites I tried had blunt interfaces, questionable membership schemes and I didn’t like the idea of putting myself – or others – in tick-box driven databases combed by match-making robots.

But could I do any better? After the story I lived over the past two years, I feel that the answer is now a resounding YES.

AreYouMyPartner.com will take the tools and experiences of AreYouMyWife and make them available to anyone who wants to use them. The new site will indeed have a dating application, but it will allow much more individual expression and the journey will be experientially led, instead of data-base driven.

Initially, I used a Door as AreYouMyPartner’s symbol, and this Door travelled all over the world, just as I had once done. AreYouMyPartner will be an organic story: it will grow, take shape and expand based on the people that write themselves in. Like AreYouMyWife, it will go in the direction that is right for the users and the times.

I’m still going to blog and make weekly videos for AreYouMyPartner. In a way I’ll be passing the torch to anyone who wants it, but I’ll still be around to make sure the flame burns right.

See you when the Door opens on October 22nd, 2008.

New adventures

2008-08-22T04:28:00.000-07:00

We're finally leaving the green isle for a couple of weeks... it's been a hell of a year: AreYouMyWife ended, OurUltimateDate began, and one year later another self imposed deadline is looming: September 6th.

More new adventures to come after that date... time to raise the game again after a year of laying low...

Not long now...

2008-08-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

One week until we head to Montreal... and while we are there, the one year anniversary of this blog, and the two year anniversary of AreYouMyWife... I have a feeling things are going to get a lot more interesting!

Dancing through Life

2008-08-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it came and it went: six weeks of Date Night dancing lessons. Warm up with some basic Salsa, then learn: The Waltz, Rumba, Foxtrot, Cha Cha and Tango.

Amazingly the Salsa is what I struggled with, and the Cha Cha and Tango were what I mastered fairly easily. But then talk about a mind-mess. On the sixth night we spent ten minutes reviewing each dance!

Literally, back to back – “remember this? Remember that?”. And before long I was so lost and muddled that my sole focus became not to smush CeCe’s toes with an errant step.

So all in all, it was a fun six weeks and great regular Date Night activity. We got tasters of each dance, but without practice we won’t necessarily retain any of those steps. And that review session really messed me up.

So with those lessons over, we’re back to creating Date Nights every week on the fly. However, in just under 19 days, CeCe and I head over the Atlantic, and boy can we not wait for that vacation!

T-A-N-G-O

2008-07-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

For last week’s Date Night CeCe and I attended dance lesson #5 of 6…

Last week – with butterflies in my stomach – I actually mastered the basic steps of the Cha Cha, and was pretty proud of myself, except of course for my “concentration” expression.

So when I heard that this week was Tango, I thought of those twirly people on competition programs, and worried once again. But yet again, I mastered the steps! Well, the basics anyhow.

And the teacher told us that Cha Cha and Tango are the hardest of the dances we’re doing, and yet old double left foot here gets them in under an hour!

So I’m pretty proud of myself. Then I heard that next week (our final class) we’re going to review everything from day one.

S**t. And things were going so well!

The Cha Cha

2008-07-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last night was Date Night dance lesson #4 of 6, and it covered the Cha Cha… I had knots in my tummy. I’m a pretty poor dancer at the best of times, and watching the dance teacher demonstrate the Cha Cha, I thought to myself “how can I minimise embarrassment on this one?”

But amazingly, I got it! Or rather, CeCe and I got it. Never mind that we warm up with Salsa and for four weeks I’ve been out of step and frustrated all that time…the Cha Cha just clicked.

Mind you, CeCe did point out that I had a peculiar look on my face the whole time. I told her it was my concentration face. All my mental resources were being deployed elsewhere – like not stepping on her toes – and so I had no RAM available to think about smiling. So I just wore an expression that looked “peculiar” while I danced the Cha Cha.

Hey, Michael Jordan stuck his tongue out a lot, and got lots of Slam Dunks. Maybe next week I’ll stick my tongue out more…

More soon…

Ten month shuffle

2008-07-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last night CeCe and I attended our third out of six dancing lessons for Date Night. I’ve still got two left feet!

But on another topic, we both considered how we had arrived here over the past ten months…

Yep, it was ten months ago that AreYouMyWife ended, and OurUltimateDate began with some big struggles and latent dreams.

The early struggles were mostly adjusting and finance. After saying things like “I’ll go anywhere in the world for the right date” and “there are no rules” and running a blog to back that up, I had essentially been homeless and jobless for eight months! Moving in with CeCe in London finally gave me a place to hang my hat, and take stock of the journey.

Financially I was depleted – in fact quite in debt – and it took nearly four months to find a job. Meantime, CeCe and I had all kinds of ideas and dreams we wanted to work on, but the finances and time just weren’t there, so we built things up in our spare time.

But that was then, and this is now. And now I have paid off most of my debt, I have a great job, a scooter and CeCe and I make an effort every week with Date Night to keep things interesting. To boot, one of our major dreams (the project behind AreYouMy...?) is coming along swimmingly.

Since the brainchild, this particular dream has grown in scope and international involvement, and I had to resign myself to the fact that CeCe and I couldn’t cover all the bases on our own. However, along the way we’ve met lots of people – many unreliable, and a few pearls. And for months now we’ve been working with the good, reliable people, and finally things are taking shape.

That dream is still a few months off being ready to reveal, but on our one year OurUltimateDate anniversary, CeCe and I are flying over the Atlantic to Montreal. Once there, things should get interesting.

Meantime, I’m going to keep working on my pace and stride, because I got lots of work to do to become truly graceful.

The Anniversary - and beyond...

2008-07-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

September 6th will mark three special occasions:

1) The two year Anniversary of my experiment AreYouMyWife
2) The one year Anniversary of OurUltimateDate
3) The launch of a new project that has taken a long time - with good reason - to get ready: are-you-my.com

And its just around the corner...

This week I'll talk more about what has happened, what is happening now, and our hopes for what happens next...

Date Night - Fancy Feet

2008-06-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

My first instinct was to go for a double leg take down, or a flip, or put her neck in a clinch, or start pummelling for double under-hook with a view to execute a belly-to-belly suplex. I was calculating all the angles, but I stopped because I realised that it wasn’t that type of scene.

The last time I stood face to face with someone in a gym full of onlookers was when I was doing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training. But this time I wasn’t facing an opponent – I was facing CeCe, and we started to Waltz.

Last night began the first in a series of weekly Date Night dance lessons that mainly involved re-programming my brain.

Prior to going to the first class, I had had some beers with my work mates. They found out that I was off to dance class, and I feared a rousting would begin, but to my surprise they all told me they liked the idea, and two even confessed that they wanted to learn to dance in secret.

Then it got me thinking: why had I done all this MMA training if all I had to do to get out of a potential bar fight was tell a bunch of beer-swilling guys that I was going to learn the waltz? The best way to avoid a punch is to not be there.

One-two-three, one-two-three…

It was fun. And CeCe and I smiled a lot. Can’t wait til next week, and I don’t care who knows…

More soon….

Date Night - Local Adventure

2008-06-20T01:16:00.000-07:00

CeCe and I have been like two ships passing in the night this past week. We’ve both been working flat out, and occupied most evenings, so the solution to see each other was simple: Date Night.

A couple of weeks ago CeCe and I had a Date Night where we went out to discover our local cinema. It’s quaint, hidden, cheap and everything a proper date cinema should be.

Yesterday was the last day that they were showing the latest Indiana Jones film, so curious so see how Harrison Ford would take a beating at age 65, we went.

This time the project didn’t jam halfway through, what a shame! But it was a great night out, even though the film was a little cookie cutter and predictable. Maybe that’s what the kids are into these days: same story.

In any case, as of next week CeCe and I have six Date Nights set up in advance. We’re off to learn how to dance!

More soon…

Date Night - Hands on the back, eyes to the future

2008-06-12T02:53:00.000-07:00

This week’s Date Night came early – on a Tuesday. I felt that CeCe and I needed a relaxing evening in, but with a twist. And given that CeCe is driving forward on a new business idea, I thought we could also use some energizing.

So I asked a professional friend of mine who specialises in massage and Reiki to come to our place. She arrived with a massive fold up massage bed, then established herself in our living room with candles and by mixing bespoke oil fragrances for both of us.

For one hour each CeCe and I had lovely massages in the comfort of our own home. It was heavenly – I left like Linguini afterward, and if I had the gall to command my muscles to do even the most basic tasks, they protested. They were on strike.

But there was a twist I didn’t anticipate: my masseuse friend is also on the path of creating her own business, and it turns out her plans are synergetic to what CeCe is doing. So next week we’re meeting her again to talk shop.

Meanwhile, I’m still enjoying the after glow.

More soon…

Date Night: Sex, The City and Spring Cleaning

2008-06-09T08:01:00.001-07:00

Last week CeCe and I had no time for Date Night, so it got rolled forward until this past weekend.

CeCe brought home some episodic DVDs of that show "Sex And The City". Over here in the UK, the movie recently came out and all the double deckers are sporting the poster. CeCe really wants to see the film, I'm indifferent, however she does want to "catch up" on the show first.

So, in between cleaning our apartment and CeCe preparing herself for a big Ebay sell off of lots of her stuff to fund her new fashion business idea (which I can't describe... yet), we watched some episodes of Sex And The City.

It's not a bad show, all told. Somewhat repetitive, but I guess it was ground breaking for its time. But what really sold the show to me was that it forced CeCe and I to stop and spend some time together when we were (once again) living busy London City lives. And of course that is the goal of Date Night.

Well, that and the fact that British television is so crap and overloaded with the stupidest of reality TV franchises (one involved thinning out fat women using diets from the 1700s), that it was nice to see a well written show with some pretty good acting.

In any case, this week will be different. Date Night will not be delayed, in fact it will be early: tomorrow.

I've invited a woman to come to our home to perform a special service. And CeCe and I can't wait!

More soon...

Sold!

2008-06-03T02:22:00.000-07:00

Well CeCe took a bold move towards her Dream over this past weekend – she sold her car. And this weekend she’s going to go through all her stuff and prepare it for an Ebay sale.

Now just a quick re-cap: When we set up OUDBOD CeCe’s dream was to work in the fashion industry. Since then, she’s gone hell for leather to find her way in that industry: she’s taken courses, exhausted contacts and read piles of industry magazines.

But then she became a little disillusioned with the instability and potential financial steps backwards she might have to take. Was there a balance? So CeCe eased off the throttle for a bit, and reflected on many things. And strategised.

But now the throttle is dropped again. Hence her selling her car and soon a bunch of other stuff.

All proceeds are going to go into a new idea she has come up with.

And yes, her idea is separate from the one I’m working on.

It was a good time to sell her car, because apparantly IKEA is now getting into the game:

More soon…

The City of Love

2008-05-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

CeCe and I have this much in common: we explore the ends of the earth before our own backyards.

Despite being raised near New York City most of my life, I never went there until I was almost 30.

And despite being near Paris all her life, CeCe had never been to the City of Love until last week.

My brother and dad were over on vacation, and we all took the mega-fast (300 km/h +) Eurostar train to Paris (2hours 15minutes!) We had some days together, but then CeCe and I stole away for our own little romantic getaway with a nice hotel in Monmatre district, right behind the Moulin Rouge.

And Paris sure was romantic – the streets, the architecture, the language, the cafes, the music and the glimmering Eiffel tower.

Mind you, Paris is PRICEY (even by London standards), and those who live there become jaded very quickly. And the trains were on strike a couple of days, and some other industries were rolling out their strikes. Ahh Paris – life before work!

Light on our feet, we arrived back at the Eurostar train with the sun shining and big smiles for time well spent. Then we went in the tunnel under the English channel.

When we surfaced again the sky was angry, the winds strong, the rain heavy… It was dark and stormy. Yep, back in London – work before life…

…Back to a pile of emails, projects in arrears, trying to get back on top of everything and gloomy weather.

But Paris’ spirit is still within us, for after doing a pile of laundry, CeCe asked me “What are we doing for Date Night this week?”

More soon…

Tree Top Tricks

2008-05-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! For a rare second time, two events aligned: London had nice weather AND it was Date Night.

The last time these events aligned I took CeCe to a roof top for a Lady and the Tramp date. This time, I went for a similar theme – figuratively being on top of the world in a storybook manner – with a twist.

Some who might have read my blog a looooonnnnng time ago might remember the “Magic Tree”. (Brief flashback: I had set up a date there once using a magician and a treasure hunt that culminated in meeting someone beneath the Magic Tree.)

The Magic Tree is in Hyde Park, and I call it this because it looks like a storybook Wizard’s house – complete with mysterious entrances, mystical branches with engraved runic symbols (actually, its carved graffiti) and generous real estate beneath the canopy.

So I asked CeCe to meet me in Hype Park where many others were taking advantage of the sunny weather. I lead her to the Magic Tree, then beneath it, then pointed up. It was a good date, because it involved me convincing CeCe to trust me. With much hesitation, she started climbing, but I was right behind her in case she slipped, and we even hung her purse on a branch about mid-trunk to ease her mind against robbers.

But once we got to the top of the tree – where the leaves break and we can literally see all around us – CeCe was a happy girl. Then I made her happier by opening my bag and producing a punnet of mixed blackberries, raspberries and blueberries I had prepared earlier in the day.

And so we sat there at the top of the Magic Tree and just watched the world around us. A sunset would have been nice, but sunsets happen really late this time of year, so when we felt content, we climbed down and headed home.

I won’t be blogging much over the next two weeks as my brother and dad arrive in London tomorrow and I take a vacation. But to CeCe’s delight, our vacation takes us to somewhere she’s never been but has always wanted to go: The City of Love.

More in a couple of weeks…

Vegas Date Night – Hidden Treasure

2008-05-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

I had ideas for this week’s Date Night that were all similar to last week (last week was dinner on the roof.) My ideas all involved being in London’s great outdoors after work, but the weather has not been co-operating. The thing is, London is expensive indoors, and this month CeCe and I need to pinch pennies because we’re having a vacation soon.

So CeCe proposed that she would figuratively take me to Las Vegas for Date Night. We met at home after work, and then she guided me to our municipal library.

Now, I had always known it was there, but it was one of those things you hardly take notice of: Our municipal library has a cinema. Usually it bills obscure, unheard of films, not the big block busters, so that’s probably why I never took full notice of it.

But last night “our” cinema had the movie 21 playing. The movie was good (I had read the book and it was even better, of course), but what made Date Night great was that CeCe’s gamble of going to this cinema paid out big time.

The ticket sales desk, concession stand and guy who collected the tickets were one, and the price of a ticket was £5. Let me say that again: Five Pounds! In London, a movie with a pretty big title and all-star cast. Five pounds! Unheard of!

And it only got better. Despite the staff being one man, the viewing room was HUGE! But it was also really charismatically OLD. The velvet chairs were in tatters, and the first seats we chose wouldn’t fully fold down under our weight. On top of that, CeCe and I had the whole cinema to ourselves. (Well two other punters did float in during previews, but basically we were alone.)

About half way through the film the screen went blank and the lights came back on. The projector operator (probably the same guy that did the tickets, concession and ticket taking) yelled out:

“Sorry ladies and gentleman, there’s a problem with the projector motor, it’ll just be 10 minutes to fix.”

I can’t be sure, but I’ll bet he used duct tape to hold the film reel together and kicked the projector (no doubt named “old Bertha” among the inner circle of municipal library employees) back to life. It was just so classic, and how dates in cinemas should be: cheap, cheerful and charming.

Sometimes when you gamble in unlikely places, you find hidden treasure. We’re definitely going back to that cinema again (provided the films they present are in English).

More soon...

Date Night – Lady and the Tramp

2008-04-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

I’ve never actually seen the film, nor has CeCe, but everyone knows the scene: a couple of dogs having spaghetti in the evening on the roof of a building in a big city. All so very romantic.

So I decided to create the same scene for this week’s Date Night. I asked CeCe to show up after work at my office. She had no idea what was in store. Our first stop was this authentic Italian joint complete with the legit italiano décor, a Fiat 500 parked out front, passionate Italian staff with little English, and an old fat guy wearing an apron (I’m sure he’s named Mario, or at least Luigi) beckoning us in.

But instead of taking a table, we got two Spaghetti Bolognese to go. Then I took CeCe up to the roof of the building where I work (which overlooks Smithfield markets and the St-Paul’s Cathedral Dome), and with a little table, some wine, music (iPod with speakers) and some candles, the scene was set.

Well, almost. We didn’t accidentally (or purposely) end up drawing closer to each other by chewing on the same strand of spaghetti, but life ain’t always a Disney film, is it?

But looking down on a busy city as dusk closed out was – as they say in credit land – priceless.

Maybe we should rent the film now to see how it ends between those two canines.

More soon…

The Tortoise Versus the Hare

2008-04-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

It is now officially a fortnight that I’ve been riding around London on a scooter. It’s great. I love the feeling of advancing through standstill traffic like a tiny, slick fish among lumbering whales in a narrow straight.

Mind you I don’t take risks, like some high-octane bikers. I ain’t got the power. But I’ve noticed something since becoming a road regular: a black Porsche.

Like clockwork, most mornings I pass this black Porchse 911 Carrera with tinted windows. I can never see the driver – kind of like those gangster films where you can never see the Kingpin. But I can hear him.

Like roaring thunder the driver revs his engine to what sounds like 6-billion RPMs without going anywhere. It sounds like the horses under that hood could get him from 0 to 1,000mph in under a second. Maybe it’s a mating call.

Every time a space in standstill traffic opens up, the Porsche jumps in like lightening, and inevitably brakes hard. He seems to love the “hurry up and wait” game.

And there I am, watching all this, and slowly and methodically I rev my engine to match the pitch of a mid-sized lawnmower, and then weave through all the cars and get miles ahead of him. In the background I hear his engine roar, and he jumps a lane or makes it past a traffic light, and then jams the brakes. Repeat.

Repeat until I’m so far ahead, I can’t hear his engine anymore, and I arrive at work in Central London without paying congestion charge, easily park my scooter in designated free parking, and casually stroll into work.

But yesterday I pulled into a gas station right behind him. I tried to catch a glimpse of the driver, but he was pulling out. As he roared off to hit the brakes five seconds later, I saw the pump price he had just paid to fill up. I nearly fell off my scooter.

I filled my tank for £6. Then, I took my time to pay, scanned some magazines on the rack, got back on my scooter, casually revved the throttle and moseyed slowly into traffic until once again I came upon the Porsche, passed the Porsche, and put him far behind me.

Yep, I love being on a scooter in London – it just makes sense. And as of yet, there are no small genital jokes about scooter riders either.

More soon...

Interesting viewing

2008-04-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

I use the computer, and it was nice to watch the man behind its design. Good words to live by.

Enjoy
[YouTube Video]

Back to the Future

2008-04-14T03:35:00.001-07:00

Last week and this past weekend two big progresses happened.

Firstly, it took seven weeks but I finally got my plate (and an apology from the DVLA for taking so long) so I can legally ride my scooter!

I've ridden it to work and back three times now, and to the corner shop once, and boy is it fun! Sure beats the Tube, and I feel like I'm sharpening my long dormant driving skills again. I'm still coming to terms with how some other Londoners drive, but I play it cool and try to minimise the risk of getting hit.

The other piece of progress was a page out of Back to the Future: it involved people from my AreYouMyWife past who are helping me with some major pieces of what lies behind AreYouMy...?

The lovely Margaret Yescombe, my first ever AYMW date and also a great photographer, came out to do some photography for us.

Martin, Jason and Sam were part of the team that helped Niki and I make short films in the UK and USA as part of our dates last year, and they too came out to help me make some videos for the new project.

So yea, we're getting there, and I'm really happy to still have great, energetic contacts from my past still very much involved in the future. Things are finally taking shape, and hopefully the other pieces will all come together in the coming months so we can get that Door open!

More soon...

Opportunity Cost

2008-04-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

Seemingly a long time ago, one of my University professors seared a premise into my mind that I remember to this day: Opportunity Cost – all the options you forgo in future by spending something right now.

The prof used a crisp $5 bill to explain that instantly he could get candy and soda pop, but it meant giving up a movie ticket, or a small debt repayment, or a beer or two, or a couple of lottery tickets, or putting that fiver into some investment with X% growth potential that could turn into $1,000,000 in Y years.

Of course, Opportunity Cost extends to other things beyond fivers, such as time.

Last Thursday (after a hiatus due to Easter break and other busy things) CeCe and I re-ignited Date Night (when we dedicate one evening a week to doing something special and creative for one another.) It was CeCe’s turn, and she looked into many options:

Restaurants: Expensive
Museums: Closed after 6
Art Galleries: Closed after 6
West End show: Booked out
Cinema tickets: Sold out
Pub: Too much noise and too many drunks

So CeCe opted to bring my home town to me… Well, that was her premise.

She got tickets to a play written by a Montrealer that had been translated into English. The plot (well, there wasn’t one) involved Wal-mart employees talking about the most famous Quebecoise warbler of all time: Celine Dion.

The play lasted one hour and 20 minutes with ample warning that there would be no interval, and we figured out why; they didn’t want to give punters an excuse to bolt. When we finally got let out, we both agree that attending that abysmal play was time we were never going to get back in our lives.

We headed for the Tube to find that our line was closed, so instead we took a lovely big red double-decker bus home. The next day the paper announced that a blown power box had kept 7,000 rush hour commuters crammed in the dark tunnels of our Tube line for hours before having to evacuate them… It all happened at the time we headed for the play!

So, had we not had Date Night, we would have suffered the same fate going home.

Ergo (as my Uni professor might say), by re-investing in Date Night, we avoided a potential disaster.

Maybe going to University was worth it after all.

More soon…

Spring Forward, Fall Backwards

2008-03-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

It’s kind of interesting to be living at GMT=0. I suppose at some point in the past London was the centre of the world, so everyone has to set their clocks around it. And I find that fact fascinating, because marking time in seconds, minutes, hours, days and time zones is a very flawed process.

Time has checks and balances: leap years and overtime and daylight savings time and early Easters, etc., which means that at heart “time” is imposed, not intrinsic, and needs constant adjustment to fit human lifestyle.

Wow, getting all philosophical in this post, aren’t I? Maybe I should get a toga and diadems and chisel thoughtful bollocks into tablets. But what got me thinking about time is two-fold:

Firstly, despite getting my scooter nearly six weeks ago, I STILL have no registration plates for it (and thus cannot ride it) because the British license people keep asking me to fill in more forms, mail them into somewhere where nobody picks up the phone, and then wait for them to mail me back… more forms. Next week I get my scooter road tested and I have been told that this is definitely the last step. But that is the third time they say that, so we’ll see.

The second thing is the realisation that CeCe and I have been working on Dream#3 since OurUltimateDate started last September. And each time we think we’re close to launching our idea, we suddenly realise that the idea has grown so much bigger and now involves people from all over the world in different time zones.

For the longest while I’ve said that I want to open the Door around Spring, which according to a Gregorian calendar (and some tweeting birds) is pretty much now. Today we had to “Spring our clocks forward” an hour, so now we’re actually BST (British Summer Time), and BST is GMT=+1.

Time is a strange thing. Although it in theory it is precise, time escapes you when you need it, and hangs around too long when you don’t. And although I feel frustration waiting for my scooter plates but on the other hand joy that the Door is growing in scope, I’ve come to accept that both endeavours may take longer to complete, and there is nothing I can do to rush them…

…Above all, CeCe and I’s goal is to make sure that what is behind the Door is built to withstand the test of time.

More soon…

Allan

Easter Break

2008-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flies. Long time no post.

Last week we didn’t have Date Night because of the super-duper long weekend for Easter break. CeCe and I had lots of plans, but because it snowed in London (well, it’s what Canadians might refer to as “a sprinkle”) the country got locked down and lots of people couldn’t get transport to come and see us.

So we stayed in, rented movies, got pizza and ate too much chocolate. And that is what Easter is truly about, right?

But Date Night is delayed this week because of a company night out... so I'll have to think of some alternative...

More soon

Jiggy Date Night

2008-03-14T06:09:00.001-07:00

I’m sore in places I didn’t know I had places.

Last night’s Date Night was physical. CeCe invited me to do a Power Plate session. When I heard “Power Plate”, I figured it would amount to learning some circus tricks or something, but in fact I had to eat some humble pie.

Power Plates is a Madonna-approved exercise on a vibrating platform that is designed to increase muscle contractions by fourfold, so it’s like doing 1.5 hours of gym work in 25 minutes… Well, so says the trainer, a ripped dude, and my logic tells me that if his biceps are bigger than mine, then he knows more about this stuff than me.

The place we went was called Good Vibes and operates out of busy Oxford Circus. For 25 minutes CeCe and I went through the movements, jiggling all the way. On some exercises I did fine, but some movements had me gasping. When it was all said and done, my muscles seemed uncertain as to what had just occurred. I walked on legs of jelly, and swung loose arms.

Our Date Night concluded with a healthy meal. Today I’m in mild muscular pain. But man, do I feel firm.

In sad news, I am still not riding the scooter I bought weeks ago. The DVLA (British license people) are making me jump through more hoops than a circus lion, and in this country they still do lots of stuff by post while the government shuts down more and more post offices.

I would love to strap these bureaucrats to a power plate, set it to full, and say that the exercise will stop once they sort out my registration without more delays.

I guess Power Plates helps the imagination too…

More soon…

Aussie Memories

2008-03-12T05:01:00.001-07:00

Hard to believe that about this time last year I was donning a kilt that I got on a date in Scotland to attend a Bachelor & Spinsters ball in rural Australia. But hey, there you go... The newspaper from that region wanted to do a follow up story to compare then and now, and you can see it below.

Meanwhile - in the now - CeCe has told me that tomorrow's Date Night idea involves "shaking my ass big style."

Now where's that kilt?

This week's Date Night - Asian Defrag

2008-03-07T03:20:00.000-08:00

It’s been one of those weeks; manic at work for both of us, clients wanting a pile of stuff yesterday, and in CeCe’s case a mass blackout of her phone network. Oh yea, and in my case the British license people (DVLA) screwed up my scooter registration again, and now I'm assured I'll get my scooter plates next week. So I'm still a mole with no eyes but a nice new toy.

So when Date Night rolled around this week, CeCe decided to just open the stress valve. She started by taking me to a place I love: The Apple store on Regent street.

Satisfied with having played on the new Mac Book Air (I realised it was useless Mac-bling: my three year old mac laptop is more powerful), CeCe then asked what kind of food I was in the mood for. We went to a nice Asian restaurant.

Then we took a long walk and “defragged.” Usually you defrag a problematic hard drive on your PC, but defragging for humans means taking a long walk and venting all the bugs that cropped up during one's day. Because there were two of us, and we both had lots of bugs to vent, it was a long walk. We almost ended up in Scotland.

But I tell you what: once we got home with bellies full of Asian food and defrag-weary legs, did we fall asleep fast.

More soon…

Bite Size - internet ready!

2008-03-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

The coffee table book about AreYouMyWife is now available through the Blurb Bookshop. So that means anyone in the world can just go on, order it and it goes straight to their door.

So if you haven't got a copy already, it's never been easier. Just click the cover on the left side and away you go...

Date Night #7 – Back to the Future

2008-02-29T06:46:00.000-08:00

On last week’s date night CeCe took me back; to our second date in Thailand. And her idea was a good one, because for that night we got lost in reverie. So this week I copied the theme, but went further back in time: to our first date.

And our first date was right here in London. So last night I asked CeCe to meet me by the Monument, and then together we walked to Tower Bridge. CeCe loves Tower Bridge for so many reasons, king of which is that just looking at it makes her smile. And on CeCe and I’s first date – which involved using Tube stations to express ourselves – Tower Bridge was one of her stops.

So we admired it, she smiled, we reminisced about our first date, strolled along the South Bank talking about life and capped it all off with a great meal. Another successful Date Night.

Then when we got home I found a letter from the DVLA (British license bureau) which – to sum it up – was a screw up of my application (for one thing they called me Mr. Wallis) for the license plate for my new scooter. So yes, despite the fact that I now have a scooter, I’m still taking the Tube because I’m waiting on bureaucrats to get their act together and make me road legal.

I went into the DVLA offices this morning and gave them a good bollicking. The result was a prompt apology from them, a promise to rush the process, and I should get my plate next week.

I just can’t wait to ride my scooter around town and be done with the Tube, even if the Tube was the network for CeCe and I’s first date. We’ve moved on since then.

More soon…

New Wheels!

2008-02-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

All about the "special delivery" that CeCe was good enough to take for me. Will change the way we see London.

AreYouMyWife Video#68 - New Wheels(Video not working? Click here)

Date Night #6 – New moves

2008-02-22T05:52:00.000-08:00

Last night it was CeCe’s turn to come up with an idea for Date Night. She asked me to meet her in town, and handed me an envelope with the #1 on it.

As we walked, she kept feeding me more numbered envelopes. Each one had a paper with a photo and questions on it. They all had one theme: remember our second date in Thailand? I was holding memories.

Finally, we arrived at a Pizza Hut and I laughed. During our time in Thailand, there was this incident with a Pizza Hut that we’ll never forget. CeCe wanted to feed me, but remind me of the careless times we once had.

What resonated with me was the fact that CeCe and I both had lately been thinking about Thailand, and specifically our time there. For my part, I made a major move last week towards making London a bit more like Thailand.

In fact, I asked CeCe to take today (Friday) off work just to be home… so she could accept a special delivery…

And today, it did indeed arrive!

I’ll make a video about it shortly…

Date Night#5 - V-Day

2008-02-15T01:29:00.000-08:00

I’m not cynical (I think), but Valentine’s Day? C’mon, commercialism at its best and a great day for card companies – paper and plastic.

Given that CeCe and I have every Thursday earmarked as “Date Night” (a night to do something different and special), Valentine’s Day is kinda every week for us – with no advertising.

Mind you, CeCe did drop a hint that in her entire life she has never once received a Valentine’s day card. So instead of picking from a pile of overpriced cardboard, I made my own personal card for CeCe using Photoshop. A gift from the heart, not Hallmark.

But as resistant as I am in principle to Valentine’s Day, I did indeed use my plastic card. The other week I got a new credit that came complete with a familiar Door on their literature. I used the card for the first time to buy tickets to the Musical Wicked, and kept it a secret from CeCe until the last minute.

I met CeCe at a busy train station and a huge line had formed to get at a florist selling roses. As we walked by the line of very guilty – yet rushed – looking men, CeCe commented that she was glad I wasn’t going in for that kind of extortionist spending. Then I told her we were going to see Wicked.

CeCe loves Wicked. Our apartment is forever flooded with the soundtrack. This was our second viewing of the show, and once again we left with massive smiles on our mugs.

So in sum – and to borrow from a well known advertising campaign – here is a sum of our Date Night / Valentine’s Day:

Valentine’s Day card: My time
Tickets to Wicked: (Right now that's my credit card's problem)
The smile in CeCe’s eyes: Priceless.

For everyone else, the Door will open sometime in the future.

Glorious Hastings

2008-02-13T02:33:00.001-08:00

What a glorious weekend! The weather was nice, we got tans in British winter and got out of London.

“A” – a woman who had taken me out on a cool date (visit an art gallery and play a psychological art game) in the early days of AYMW is today very much a great friend of CeCe and I’s. This past Saturday A, two of her friends, CeCe and I decided to go down to Hastings.

Originally, a day out at Hastings was one of CeCe’s “Choose your own adventure” offers when she first contacted me over a year ago. We never got around to it because I was off to Australia at that time. Well better late than never, and better with good friends too. (Also I live with CeCe now, so all’s well that ends well.)

We saw the Hastings castle, enjoyed a day by the sea and played crazy mini-putt (which I won.) And the most supreme part of the day was finding a boat named BloodAxe.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s day, and Date Night… As I said last post, this is a conflict of interests for me… more soon.

Date Night #4 – Old Skool

2008-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

For last night’s Date Night we decided to go old school: the 1950s!

Well, sorta. We went to an old school American Diner called Ed’s in Leicester Square. It was the real deal: silver flare, curvy juke boxes and red leather stools. The cook and main server were authentic Americans; talking trash, spinning the order wheel and yelling at customers.

I had an Ed’s cheeseburger, strawberry milk shake and CeCe had a hot-dog and a Coke with two straws… All that was missing was a hoop skirt and servers on quad skates.

But CeCe and I did talk seriously about a recent event in CeCe's life: her Dream#2 of working in fashion. CeCe came real close to getting some great experience that – after almost eight months of searching – seemed to be what she was looking for. But then all was not as it seemed so she decided not to pursue it further.

So now CeCe is re-thinking her dream....!

Ed’s Diner was so authentic that I could almost believe that after the fine meal I could whisk CeCe off in my convertible 1950s car. But this being central London, we walked and took the Underground. But I have made a decision to indeed get a convertible machine to whisk CeCe and I around London on – more on that in a few weeks.

Meantime this weekend CeCe and I have a date with one of my former dates using an idea CeCe tried to first get my attention with… more on that soon as well.

Oh, and I’ve realised that Valentine’s day – a day I don’t believe in much – falls exactly on next week’s Date Night. What a conflict of interests.

Date Night Re-Dux

2008-02-04T03:11:00.000-08:00

My idea for last week’s Date Night (which was moved to Saturday because of a neck sprain) was to stop being a mole in London for just one night.

Someone at work told me that all working Londoners were moles: forever travelling in tight dark tunnels under a teaming surface. She was right: Everyday to and from work I feel like a mole (or maybe a groundhog given the seamless repetition of some days), but at least my office is three floors off the ground and I see daylight when I surface. Poor CeCe’s office is in a basement, so she hardly sees light… ever.

However, along the London tunnels is advertising with one overwhelming message: London is a world class city to be enjoyed.

I told CeCe to meet me at Primrose Hill: a famous mound in London from where one can see the whole city. In the summer, it’s a favourite picnic spot and place to spot a few celebs. But in the winter its cold. So I brought a sleeping bag and an air mattress.

CeCe and I snuggled under the blanket and just stared at London in the distance. It was a good way to step back and see the big picture, talk about life, our dreams and how we’re doing.

For weeks I’ve had a new idea on how to become less of a mole and really enjoy London more from an above-ground perspective. My idea is based on CeCe and I's second date when we were on an almost-deserted island in Thailand. There on Primrose hill CeCe and I have weighed up pros and cons of my idea, and shortly I’m going to get a new machine…

More soon…

Pain cheque

2008-02-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

I had it all planned out; my surprise for last night, which was Date Night. But sadly CeCe developed a muscle problem with her neck and had to go home from work. So we've taken a "pain cheque" and I will execute the plan this weekend.

Otherwise some interesting news; one of my former dates (the one who in the early days of AreYouMyWife invited me to play an psychological art game), her friend, Cece and I are all going on a big adventure next weekend. Oddly enough, this adventure is based upon one of CeCe's first dating offers to me, which we never did.

More soon...

Up the Game?

2008-01-29T04:37:00.000-08:00

I feel that perhaps lately I've been a bit slack. I perhaps haven't been myself. Then I got this email that woke me up a bit:

"Oh boy Allan !! After following your adventure since the very beginning, this is the first time I've felt compelled to post... I know it's winter (here too) and that means($) are sometimes a drawback; ater all the experience you acquired in AYMW I JUST CAN'T believe you couldn't find anything more creative that that !!! Please, for next Thursday, try and redeem yourself !"

This week it's my choice what to do for Date night. I think it owe it to myself, to CeCe and to others to raise my game a bit...

I have an idea...

A Special Date Night

2008-01-25T01:44:00.001-08:00

Last night – our third official Date Night – was a special one. This time last year was the first time that CeCe and I met in person.

Prior to our first face-to-face, we had been in virtual touch for about four months because I was always busy or overseas on some wild AreYouMyWife adventure. But at that time I was also teetering between decisions to either shut AreYouMyWife down or go to Australia, and I decided to meet this persistent CeCe character for the first time.

And then I left for Australia… but not because of her. And now here we are, living together in London going on five months now, and using every Thursday as Date Night to keep the embers burning as we lead stable lives (for now).

Given the significance of the date, I started to think of how I could surprise CeCe with something special and unique. Meet her underwater? Go to the Magic Tree for a pic nic? Set up a treasure hunt? That’s what I would of done this time last year, because that was the scene I was living in back then – full AreYouMyWife creative date mode.

But this being London and this being winter, it gets dark early and its cold, so outdoor stuff is pretty much out. Maybe something more traditional: Flowers, dinner, wine?

The flower shop near our apartment – which I’ve never seen closed – was closed. And despite a list of restaurants, we agreed to meet at home. I got the wine. I lit some candles that had been given to me on my date with a Sexpert.

And then…

We got Chinese takeaway, had a living room pic nic and watched a movie.

Because one year later this is the scene we are living in and this date sums up our current situation: we are home.

The Most Depressing Day of The Year

2008-01-21T07:29:00.000-08:00

It’s official – well, at least according to the BBC; today is the most depressing day of the year. They said it on the BBC morning news, and everyone trusts the BBC right?

In collecting data to make this assertion, the BBC took into account:
- How dark and crap the weather is
- People having to stretch a paycheque since before Xmas
- People opening their credit card statements from Xmas

This morning, as I listened to the news, I almost got disfigured by a cereal bowl that flew out the cupboard. It missed me but smashed on the counter, and it was part of a set CeCe had just recently bought.

I then went to the Doctor’s for a check-up (nothing to do with the bowl), and had to sit in the waiting room next to a guy that smelled like a brewery cussing about the loss of high net worth personal jewellery (and blood from a skull wound) from Irish gypsies which – like his jewellery and skull wound – probably never existed, judging from the state of his dilated pupils.

Then I learned that one of my family members has had a tough time with their business, CeCe’s Dream#2 is taking longer than anticipated and a co-worker had a motorcycle accident (but she is fine.)

Oh yea, and the weather sucks.

But see, I’m not down. Not at all.

Yesterday CeCe and I helped out some people that helped me during AreYouMyWife (and will be helping me again with Are-You-My), another of my family member’s business is doing really well and now every Thursday is a special day: Date Night.

Yep, Date Night is official now too, but not with BBC backing. Every Thursday CeCe and I will do something after work that will remind us that life is good. It’s almost like AreYouMyWife all over again: being creative, looking forward to the unknown and seeing if we can raise the bar each time.

For the past two Thursdays CeCe and I have gone to have a nice dinner and see West End shows. West End shows are great if you’re blue because stage characters have problems too and everything gets nicely sorted out with a few songs and some quirky dance numbers.

So I can’t wait till this Thursday, because life needs to be sipped a day at a time, and I don’t trust statistics if they’re compiled by people who might lose their BBC jobs anyhow.

Is it a sign?

2008-01-18T06:46:00.001-08:00

Now I'm not the most superstitious of people. I pet black cats often, step on cracks routinely (mum's back is fine, incidentally) and laugh at astrological predictions. But every now and then I wonder: are there signs?

The past week has been a bit tough for Cece, which obviously can affect me as well. In pursuing her Dream#2 she has hit some walls, mainly to do with people who don’t share her sense of urgency.

On my front I’m still working to meet my self-imposed deadlines to get that Door open in Spring, and sometimes I feel the same about people not sharing my sense of urgency.

But a couple of things keep my spirits up; one is that people are still sending me creative entries for Are-You-My.com. And then there is my new credit card company.

Yep, they surprised me. I had applied for a new credit card and I got it in the mail just today. But that is not the good bit. Below is a picture of the first thing I saw when I opened the envelope… And what do you think, a sign?

On the brain

2008-01-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, days are just bleeding together and time is flying. I guess that's what happens when you do the 9-5. But still, it's what Cece and I want for now.

Meantime, in my spare time, I'm scrambling to get my new project ready for Spring. You could say I got Door on the brain like this guy...

What’s in a name?

2008-01-11T03:02:00.000-08:00

CeCe and I have met up with a number people – some from my AreYouMyWife past (dates and friends alike) and some new faces. And many people ask me the same thing in hushed tones when I present my girlfriend: “How do you pronounce CeCe? And who is Claire?”

Claire is CeCe, and CeCe is Claire, and they – sorry, she – is my girlfriend. CeCe is her nickname, Claire is her legal name. It’s like Allan and Al, or Richard and Dick, or Andrew and Drew, or Michael and Whacko, or Brangelina.

I’m starting to wonder if nicknames are a cultural thing? When I lived in Australia, you get issued a nickname upon greeting someone for the first time. In Britain, it takes a few “proper” sessions at the pub and a string of embarrassing incidents before your title is issued. In Canada, everyone is just stuck by their tongues to metal poles and can’t speak. In the USA, depending where you are, you’ll either get shot for saying the wrong thing, or land the biggest movie deal of your life.

Anyway, so how does one pronounce CeCe?

Well Italians seem to say “Chi-Chi”, French say “C’est-C’est”, a Scandinavian said "Kiki" and I have heard (but not been able to reproduce with my own larynx) some versions in Danish, German and Slavic, and other incarnations have come along. Claire and I pronounce it like the short for Carbon-Copy or two Spanish yeses: si-si.

Mind you, this confusion over her name and nickname – and pronunciation – might bode well if we take advantage in situations that involve traffic infractions and the revenue department of Her Majesty the Queen. That Shaggy song “It wasn’t me” comes to mind.

Changing gears, this weekend CeCe/Claire and I are meeting my French “little sister” Ada – a woman who played a huge role in my dating life in Paris. Ada speaks several languages (including Arabic), so I might yet learn a new way to summon the attentions of my girlfriend.

More soon…

Press On During Indecision

2008-01-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

The saddest part of the new year period is seeing Xmas trees on the curb with the garbage. It means the party and resting period is over, and business better be got on with.

In London, the days are short and sun is in short supply. The first couple of months of the new year period is when people get “the blues.” CeCe and I have taken to renting more movies, but this endeavour has proven divisive.

We never agree on anything. CeCe likes movies where people are hugging or kissing on the cover, often lit by sunlight. Most of the films she likes end with men using all form of transport in a hair-brained scramble to get to airports and scream out “I love you” a fraction of a second before a woman’s plane is scheduled for takeoff.

The movies I tend towards often involve covers with hard looking men holding powerful handguns near their heads and looking over their shoulder. These movies end with more sequel possibilities, usually involving sweeeeet revenge.

And so when the “rent three-for-two” specials are on, the division grows. We meet halfway by renting one of her dribbly movies, something with Optimus Prime (or a light sabre), and then spend hours trying to find a third film that we both can enjoy. But there is never a Romantic-Action section. Ever.

One time, this other guy and his girlfriend were also in the video shop, and he and I exchanged a knowing glance. We didn’t speak, we just knew we were in the same boat: being denied films with big pyrotechnic budgets and trim, emotive dialogue.

Anyway, one thing CeCe and I do agree on in the new year is that we must get on with or OUDBOD dreams. In fact, like renting movies together, OUDBOD involves the magic number three – a Dream of mine, a Dream of hers, and a shared vision.

Dream#1 was mine, and I moved forward on that with the book.

CeCe has renewed her efforts on Dream#2 to land in the fashion industry. She came real close just before the new year, and some doors have opened, but she will continue to push and open more doors.

On the topic of Doors, Dream#3 is the one that will take the most time and on which we both must agree every step of the way – like a third movie choice.

So we are both ready to keep working hard, except on Sundays, when we spend the whole day quibbling in Blockbuster.

More soon…

To Make A Resolution?

2007-12-31T04:34:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of year, isn’t it? That time when you look back over where you’ve been and where you want to go, add it all up... And make resolutions, or not. So I’m going to time-warp back to this exact time last year: end 2006/start 2007:

I was five months into my experiment called AreYouMyWife. I had been on about 30 dates all over the world, had left my job, and I was living in my own self-started story: impulsive, imaginative, open horizons, tethered no where. From the outside it appeared that I was on a carefree road trip, but at some point on any road trip the fuel does run out. And I was on a plane.

Yep, I wasn’t with friends or family (or on a date) raising a champagne flute, I was somewhere over the Atlantic ocean as 2006 transitioned into 2007. And that was because it was the only time I could get on a standby flight back to London where I still had my material possessions and paid rent, but no job. My fuel tank was on “E”.

At this time last year I had almost ended AreYouMyWife as I considered four major life changing choices – two stable, two unstable. I made my choice, and almost felt foolish. But in the end, I met CeCe… and then promptly left for Australia.

So here we are: 2008. I’m in London, having gone a full circuit around the world to end up back where I started. I’ve just had my first Xmas with CeCe and her family. I now share an apartment with her, and bills, and I have a full time job, and we’re giving ourselves time to see how we go.

What a year it’s been: one of the most successful of my life to date, but also one of the most unpredictable and draining. So in looking back, I have to ask myself: do I have any regrets?

For now, I certainly don’t, especially after taking a step towards one of our OUDBOD dreams by bringing out The AreYouMyWife Story… Bite Size.

But I may well have regrets this time next year, if I’m not careful. The thing on my mind going forward is marriage… but not between CeCe and I just yet… We still have a long way to go on that front.

I’m hoping to marry the impulsive, imaginative story I once lived with the stable reality I’m currently living. I want to balance the creative with the routine, the road-trip with being stationary. That is a big hint as to what is behind the Door on Are-You-My.com.

As for new year’s resolutions, I don’t believe in those. You either do, or you don’t. You either talk about something, or you act on it.

This time next year I’ll be reflecting once again. And I wonder how it will all look in the rear-view mirror: a regret? Or a triumph? I guess we’ll see.

Happy new year everyone!

Seasonal Crunch

2007-12-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, this time of year is expensive. Next week I get my first paycheque from my new job, and it is all pretty much spoken for already. So like most people, I'll be hoping 2008 is more profitable ;-)

Mind you, in 2006 I started AreYouMyWife, in 2007 it went full circle and I moved in with CeCe (and we're having our first Xmas together) and around Spring 2008 I will reveal what is behind the Door.

Good things take time, I guess. And on that note, I have an announcement.

By the end of this week I will be putting up a video about the fact that a book about AreYouMyWife will soon be available to the world... Stay tuned!

100!!!

2007-12-10T01:46:00.001-08:00

We just broke over 100 slides of photos and digital artwork submitted from all over the world for Are-You-My.com. Soon I’ll start giving some more clues as to what exactly we’re up to.

A big thanks to all the people out there streaming in the creativity from Dream#3. And in a couple more weeks, ladies and gentlemen, Dream#1 takes a big step forward. After the past few months, a few victories heading into 2008 will be very welcome.

And I took the photo below in a museum the other day. CeCe and I are arguing over whether it’s rude or not. I say no, she says yes. What do y’all think?

The First Week

2007-12-04T02:17:00.000-08:00

I’ve been at my job for one week, and I’m still loving it. And that is because of intimacy.

The firm I work at has 10 people and we’re all on the same floor. We’re like a Mediterranean family: always yelling, always passionate, but things get done. Because I have changed jobs three times last month before landing this role, I’ve had the opportunity to see the opposite of office intimacy: heavy, multi-floored, cubicled companies with so many people that left hand and right hand don’t speak with left toe, right eyebrow, third eye and everything gets slowed down.

There’s no politics in my new role. If I need something, I holler. If my co-workers need something from me, they holler. Nice tight unit, we are. No need for “open door” policy with the Managing Director; he doesn’t have a door. So I holler at him, too. Sometimes just to holler. Because I can.

And this job marks a milestone for CeCe and I. Since I moved in with her in September and we set out our goals for Our Ultimate Date, I hit one pitfall after another trying to find a job that both pays well and fits my skill set. I’ve had a rough couple of months, plagued by financial uncertainty, but it seems I finally found my feet.

And that has a knock on effect on our dreams. As for Dream#01, I have news… and a visual. Coming in 2008:

What a Sight!

2007-11-29T01:29:00.000-08:00

CeCe and I went back to our roots: a place where we once really got to know each other – Devon. Friends of ours were getting married, and plus we will take any excuse to get out of London.

But while we were in Devon we saw something amazing. We came out of a café to see a massive 8-foot robot walking the streets and singing! I photographed what I was looking at:

And I’m sure you guessed what I asked the Robot to do:

Duly refreshed with the country air and spirit, CeCe and I spent the long journey home working on Dream#1. I’m hoping to have some news just before Xmas break.

The Honeymoon is Over… Or Starting Anew?

2007-11-23T03:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a week. The times they are a changin’, and how!

Just as the dust was settling in Soho on my new job – which I started last week – I got called out of the blue with an offer I couldn’t refuse. A digital agency wanted me as an account manager (permanent role) for a well known world wide brand.

Oh the dilemma! I considered everything, and because the Soho role was only freelance with a contractual week’s notice, I decided to accept the permanent role which was much more up my alley.

The Soho people were gutted to be sure, but understanding. Above all, I explained that I did not want to sit still in one role if it meant I would be living everyday full of regret for not having chased an opportunity.

So this month – November – I’ve changed jobs three times, but I feel as if I've landed right where I want to. Like the AreYouMyWife journey, random events contrived in my favour after I put myself out there to the world with no expectations.

Accepting a permanent role also means that CeCe and I are one step closer to being “settled” here in London for a little while.

And I’ve also come to realise that if I want to grow my relationship with CeCe and have a life outside work, one of two things must happen regarding OUDBOD dreams. I either:

1) Scale down my efforts which will delay a lot of things, or

2) Get some help from the outside and work smarter, not harder

Obviously people are already helping me by submitting photos and digital art of the Door in locations all over the world. And another friend is helping me behind the scenes by maintaining Are-You-My.com. But I’m going to need more help to achieve Dream#1 and Dream#3.

Amazingly, through the process of finding my new job, I think I might have met the right person to help me with my big targets.

There is no “I” in Team, but there is in Time

2007-11-18T02:56:00.000-08:00

I sometimes hate time because it slips away so damn fast when you need it, and hangs around too long when you don’t. Lately, it’s been slipping real fast.

Around all the things that have been happening since AYMW calmed down – moving in with CeCe, finding work the hard way, a few assaults on my bank account and spirit – CeCe and I have been trying to push our own ideas and OUDBOD dreams forward.

And I think I may have got lost in the nitty gritty of some of those dreams, to the detriment of our relationship. It’s true, good relationships are built on time-tested foundations. And to be sure, there is no shortcut – you gotta spend time with each other.

Living together obviously helps. But I must confess that on many occasions I’ve had my head buried in my laptop when CeCe gets home, and lately I have been very unlike the way I once presented myself to the world on AreYouMyWife: outgoing, adventurous, spontaneous.

The new quieter routine and slower pace of life I find myself in partly comes down to a lack of funds (and the urge to save up again), partly because we do need some down time after AYMW, and mostly because I imposed some deadlines on myself to get certain things done… Deadlines that came and went and had to get moved forward.

I guess life happens when you make plans, and it’s important not to miss life. CeCe has brought me a lot of balance, and with open dialogue we make sure to let the other know what’s on our mind all the time.

Ah, time. If only there was more of it to spare. On that note, I want to take this opportunity to thank a lot of people all over the world for investing their creativity and time into Are-You-My.com… just look at some of these:

Soho Strollin'

2007-11-15T03:23:00.000-08:00

Started the new job today, and all is well. I know all too well about “honeymoon” periods with new jobs, so I won’t be prone to exaggerating, but it feels right at the start.

I have been getting such awesome “Door submissions” – which I’ll add to the collection up after this weekend (it’s become a “batch” thing.)

Duly inspired, I decided to make the Door a part of my stroll on the way to work in Soho.

Touchdown!

2007-11-10T04:44:00.000-08:00

What an exciting week. After what happened last week, CeCe and I are both feeling big time jubilation once again.

In CeCe’s case she – like me – has been through the ringer in terms of dealing with recruitment agents that just don’t give a *&^#. So she decided to take a more direct – and old fashioned – approach to chasing her dream industry, and it bore fruit. She’s just waiting on a follow-up, and hopefully we’ll have good news in the coming weeks.

Meantime she continues her part time studies at the London College of Fashion, learning stuff every Thursday about an industry I can’t even pretend to understand. I’m a jeans and t-shirt man. Fabrics scare me.

On my front, I can safely report that the news is nothing but good. Next week I start an exciting freelance role in the digital realm with a big firm. And talk about location, location, location, they are based in the Soho district, which is easy to get to from where we live AND where I want to be: in the heart of Creative London!

It seems as if our patience and persistence have finally been rewarded and we are now striding towards where we want to be on individual levels, and well as a team. And this weekend I plan to take a major step towards OUDBOD Dream#1.

And as you probably have noticed, people are really getting into the teaser campaign for Dream#3, which is located on Are-You-My.com. Not only am I getting lots of cool photography of the symbol of my next endeavour, but also digital artwork! So get involved… It’s looking like I’ll be in a better position soon to really reward creativity in 2008.

<- Click here if your into FaceCrack

Doors Glorious Doors

2007-11-07T01:46:00.000-08:00

AYMW Video#66 - One Door Closes, Millions More Open

(Video not working? Click here)

Shuffle, Shuffle

2007-10-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

They say money isn’t everything. Who the heck are they?

The other night Cece and I were prancing down Oxford street with a bag full of clothes; a pile of new threads to wear for my new job. We were jubilant because both of us were feeling as if finally – after a rough couple of months – we could move forward on some OUDBOD projects as proud DINKs.

Well, as of today, we’re SINKs (Single-Income-No-Kids) again. I’m back on the market. Not for new clothes, but a new job.

To say I felt a bit numb on the train home yesterday is pretty accurate. The details of what happened are long, but basically the role didn’t work out. The upshot was that I took home some Tupperware that no one at the office wanted and I also made a great contact. On a scale larger than Tupperware, however, the budget Cece and I made for ourselves needs a re-look, taking into account the new clothes I splashed on and my sudden lack of a permanent job. Some of the OUDBOD dreams may suffer delays.

But not all is lost. I called my old temp job and they were happy to take me back for a few weeks, so at least I’m still employed – and I guess that means that we can move from SINKs back to part-time DINKs. I re-contacted all the recruitment agencies and they’re out looking for new roles for me.

Last night as I left that office I was dressed to kill, but inside my new clothes I was pretty down. However, all I know how to do is get back on the horse and try again. So I will.

Tripping doesn’t mean you have to fall.

Moving Ahead

2007-10-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

AYMW Video#65 - After a Hiatus

(Video not working? Click here)

Blast from the Past

2007-10-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Well it certainly has been!

The other week CeCe and I went to have dinner with “A” – Date #3 from AreYouMyWife who’s date idea had been to tax me mentally in an Art Gallery. I also got to meet A’s friend, “D”, who was the person who convinced A to ask me out back in the early days of AreYouMyWife.

And remember Tamara? She’s the lovely Slovenian girl who met me in Budapest on a date that – among many other adventures – saw me wandering through catacombs and hot springs in Hungry. Well Tamara was visiting London this past weekend with her boyfriend, and they joined me on a London Skate and had some drinks with CeCe and I.

Tamara also became the first person to physically receive something from me that is a hint of what I’m working on next. Here is that “thing”…

And I will be telling you more in a very visual way very shortly, because it involves a lot of people from my past!

More soon…

Time Warp

2007-10-19T05:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it’s official: CeCe and I are now DINKs: Double Income No Kids. Yep, after a lot of bumps, I landed a great new job which starts in a week. This is a big step for CeCe and I, as it means a bit more financial freedom to work on OUDBOD. But recently I worried: Have I lost my groove in the past few months?

This time last year two major things happened.

The first was that I was flying to Montreal to attend the Fest of Evil, and a wonderful girl named Megan was flying in from California to be my date. The Fest of Evil is a creative event put together by my friend Harry (in photo next to horse). Harry can only be described as “unique”, “eclectic” and “legendary”. Every year he takes Halloween to a new level for all the people who come in from all over the world to attend the F of E.

The other major event is that it was this time last year when CeCe first read about me in the newspaper on her way to work, and emailed me. At the time she was going through a major struggle (something we still keep private on a blog), but she was also looking for a way to “shake life up a bit”, and to her AreYouMyWife looked to be in full swing: I was jitterbuggin’, life was unpredictable and zany, and creative execution was on high.

So one year on, I’m with CeCe and things have kind of sunk into a bit more routine. We leave for work in the morning, and it’s dark outside. We take the Tube to our jobs, and it’s dark. We come home, and it’s dark. We’re living the London life. Effectively, the difference between last year and this year is that CeCe now lives with the man she picked up in the newspaper one morning.

When we do get home we’re exhausted and most often just crash on the couch and watch a bit of mindless TV, then repeat until the weekend. The other night a show came on TV about people who get married and fall into dull routines and out of love with each other and life. The next day in the morning paper there was a story claiming that when men settle down, they lose their libido.

Well I don’t believe any of that. No matter what life hands you, you can always find a way to have a laugh. Especially if you’re a DINK. And as soon as I start my new job, CeCe and I might well be laughing… to the bank, then onwards through OUDBOD. We got some ideas we wanna rock before Xmas and into 2008 that seem a lot more possible now.

And in the future if someone frauds my bank account again, at least they’ll have a better time.

Visual Improvement

2007-10-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well, once you’re down you can only go up right? Despite the struggles and tribulations of the past few weeks, Cece and I haven’t lost focus and things are looking up.

Nevertheless, time does bleed together and fly by when one works full time, even as a “temp.” The old 9-5 routine I’ve been in for the past two weeks is nothing to be excited about save for the fact that it tops up my bank account as I interview for roles I really want and work on the OUDBOD.

However, I will divulge the following visuals about steps CeCe and I are taking towards Dreams 2 and 3.

As you can see, this is a pink notebook. It is new. It’s pages are blank. It sits waiting for November … which is when CeCe will start her part-time course at the London School of Fashion!

As you can see, this is a Door. It is new. The card it is printed on was at one time blank. It symbolises the idea I’m putting together for Dream#3.

This weekend – barring any laptop disasters or other struggles – I think I’ll go old school and make my first video in months telling you a bit more!

More soon…

Less Bumps and Some More Progress

2007-10-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog post.... but that is because things look to be turning around and I've been busy.

The postal workers have gone back to work – well, some of them – but my new bank card isn’t in yet, among other post. My temp role is going well and still flexible enough for me to get out to interviews for bigger roles. My overdue cheque came in, and the fraud department at my bank got me my money back!

And, as promised, CeCe and I have taken some steps towards dreams:

Dream#1 – Tell the whole truth
Cece gave me an idea to create something visual. I have an idea that I would like to achieve before Xmas, but it will involve some more R&D over the coming weeks.

Dream#2 – Cece in the fashion world
CeCe has signed up to the London School of Fashion to take a part-time course.

Dream#3 – Pass the torch
I’ve been playing around with some ideas lately, but next week I will give everyone a sure sign about what I’m going to do about it.

Anyway, I’d better get back to work!

More soon…

More Bumps

2007-10-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

Things got a lot worse this past week, but there is huge promise that they’ll be getting a lot better next week. Well, maybe.

It’s amazing how much of our lives are driven by computers. I just got mine back from the iHospital and I feel a whole person again. But then another computerized disaster struck. I got a phone call from my bank.

“Mr. Wills, were you in Croatia yesterday?” asked the bank rep.

If she would have asked me that a few months back – when I didn’t always wake up remembering what country I was in or if I was coming or going – then I would have had to think hard before answering. (I often forget what I have for breakfast.) However, for the past three months I’ve been very much resident in a tiny shared apartment in a large metropolis on a small, rainy green island. Of this, I am certain.

“No, I wasn’t in Croatia yesterday,” I duly replied.

Turns out that someone (who I assume dresses like the Hamburgler) cloned my bank card and withdrew what little savings I’ve been surviving off of, putting my bank account into the red.

In consequence, my bank card had to be shredded, and I was told I’d get another in the post in 5-7 business days. I was also told that – following an investigation of the fraud – I would get my funds back, but it might take awhile.

Then suddenly I remembered that a company actually owed me some money from last month. With a sense of urgency given the circumstances, I called up the accounts department to enquire about my late cheque. Due to some sort of paper snafu, my cheque was never issued, but the accountant apologised and said it would go out in a cheque run next week.

Then I opened the (free) newspaper to discover that the post office is on strike for all of next week, which means both my cheque and new bank card will soon become be members of a massive backlog and be delayed for another fortnight.

This prompted me to wonder if the phone systems were down – though surprisingly they weren’t – so because a few eager recruitment agents hadn’t called me back regarding some job interviews, I called them. As it turned out, some office-virus is going around and most of the agents I like were off sick this entire past week! To boot, two of the employers they have been speaking with on my behalf are short in the HR departments either for sickness or vacation. Then when everyone (hopefully) comes back, they’ll have a huge backlog of their own to deal with, as well as the postal strike.

But I guess the world is getting smaller. I live in London where Croatians get to tap my meager savings, British civil servants act as if they are in France and viruses know no borders.

But it isn’t all bad news. On the upside I got a temp job that will last for a month and is flexible so I can squeeze out for other interviews.

And next week CeCe and I are going to take some massive steps forward on all three of our OUDBOD Dreams!

I’ll tell you more next week, provided my laptop doesn’t get shot in an altercation with someone “going postal”, I don’t catch some devastating virus from a recruitment agent, and – above all – Apocalypse doesn’t happen.

Worms and stuff

2007-10-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

It’s been raining and damp and cold the past few days, and there is nothing more sickening then the smell of fermenting dead worms on the street. I tried something men really shouldn’t: multi-task. I was typing out a text message to CeCe while walking, when peripherally I clocked the rotting carcass of a huge worm on the sidewalk, and my foot was on course to land on it. In jumping to avoid stepping on it, I stubbed my toe on someone’s brick wall.

The pain was intense. I saw red. I tried to type out how I felt in the text message, but because predictive text was on, I could only cycle through word options as I hopped madly about - eventually landing on the closest permutation: Duck.

It’s been one of “those” weeks. My trusty laptop comes out of the hospital tomorrow, so that is good news. Still no solid job yet, and I still don’t like the process of waiting on other people (i.e. sales-reactive recruitment agents) selling me instead of me selling me. I half dabbled with the idea a few posts ago of launching an AreYouMyJOB blog to do exactly what AreYouMyWife did: cut out the walls and masks.

But the last thing I need to do right now is wing off on another zany and unfunded adventure. Not just yet. There is two of us to think about now, and the idea is to get steady, so I’ll have to play the recruitment game… for now … and maybe improve it later. And on that note…

Someone asked me a question in an email: If I had been on an internet dating site before launching AreYouMyWife, would I have met CeCe? The honest answer, I think, is no.

Long ago I didn’t think I had an affinity with blond, blue-eyed and tall girls such as CeCe. I have all those traits myself, so part of me figured I would end up with someone opposite: perhaps petite, darker features, etc. Opposites attract, right?

But let’s get hypothetical for a second. Say I never started AYMW and instead CeCe and I happened to sign onto an internet dating site at the same time. Firstly, we would have had to tick a lot of boxes about ourselves: height, hair colour, religion, politics, etc. etc. etc. not to mention write a “blurb” (or better said “product placement text”) about ourselves, and put our digital photos up.

That, pretty much, is how most internet dating sites are structured. The way people meet is either by having “love software” run statistical analysis and suggest other users to you, or you simply browse, or do a refined search where you tick what you are looking for in a partner.

I met CeCe because I dropped all labels and pre-text and we had experiences together and discovered each other as whole people, as opposed to binary packets that our minds might pre-label.

I’ve received a number of emails asking what my ideas for Dream#03 are, most of them opening with “I’m tired of internet dating sites, you gotta help me based on what you did.”

I get my laptop back tomorrow. We’ll start with that, provided I don’t slip on a worm.

The Two Month Itch

2007-09-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

(I was going to go old-school on this and make a video instead of a write up. I haven’t made an AreYouMyWife video in awhile. But I had an accident with my laptop and it’s in hospital. The dent is in the most tragic of places: the place where I plug the power in. So my laptop has lost it’s life line. Thank goodness my battery was fully charged and acted as life support. So back to an internet café for now. But here’s what I wanted to say:)

Depending on which magazines you read, married couples get “the itch” three, five or seven years after they say vows. Well CeCe and I are not married, but we both have the two month itch.

It has been pretty much been two months to the day since I finished AYMW, and just under a month since I moved in with CeCe to live our Ultimate Date.

To be honest, going through the AYMW journey to get to where I am now has been complete down shift in terms of speed. One minute I lived for the day, didn’t know where I would end up in the big wide world and was constantly dating and meeting new people and having adventures.

Since moving in with CeCe, I’ve been tethered to our very tiny apartment, my clothes are in a wardrobe and I’m back on the London job market.

However, every night CeCe and I talk about where we’re at in terms of our relationship and our OUDBOD dreams. OUDBOD is kind of like our bible; a source of inspiration, but we also use it as a tool to constantly remind ourselves of what we want, and hold each other to account. (To boot, we’ve decorated our apartment with some of the Grains of Sand I collected from all over the world.)

I have come to realise that when I set up AYMW my goal was get to know someone naturally, see if we work as a team and see if they – like me – strive to keep life interesting. And what better way than to live with someone in a tiny apartment, struggle with them financially but still harbour big hopes and dreams that we want to pull off within a year?

So I’m definitely have the two month itch, but the itch is not to get married quickly or – on the other hand – to be single again and back doing the wild AYMW process. I’m itchy to get a good job right now, be stable and work on OUDBOD dreams.

Whether or not we achieve our main mission – to remove the ? from AYMW – remains to be seen. But for now, I’m happy to be downshifting the speed. Living out of a bag is only fun for so long, but having a nest to come home to and contribute to is an awesome feeling.

And if Cece and I do well at these slow speeds, maybe next year we’ll up-shift and speed off in some new and wild direction. And of course, everyone reading this is invited to participate.

I’m also very itchy to get my laptop fixed, so I can make another video!

More soon…

***

Other Stuff:

A few folks don’t want to come all the way here to OurUltimateDate.com. They like the old AreYouMyWife blog just fine. So I decided to mirror all posts on the old blog as well. That way nobody has to re-shuffle their bookmarks, RSSs and email update feeds. The customer is, after all, always right!

Oh, and if your wondering why I took my UK contact phone number down, it’s because a woman in Sri Lanka was harassing me at all hours of day and night to get her out of that country.

WMDs and Other Battles

2007-09-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

The couple who battles together stays together, right?

Every night CeCe and I discuss how our personal battles are going, and what progress – if any – we’re making on our OUDBOD missions (dreams). Two of my major – and recent – personal battles have shared logistical challenges: masks, walls and doors...

On the first front: getting a job. I’ve been gritting my teeth and squeezing the auto-fire in shelling my CV out over a wide target area. However, after a month of battling the teeming masses of elusive, cold-calling London recruitment agents, I feel that I have finally broken down a few walls to secure a small group of “good” agents.

This, in turn, got me through a few doors onto the field where I soldier at my best: interviews with decision makers. Me, them, no masks.

I suppose you could call that “covering fire” for CeCe: If I get a job, she can worry less about rent and focus on her core mission: OUDBOD Dream#2 – Fashion World. Already she has plans to go back to school part-time! CeCe is a soldier who wants training.

On the other battle front: Dream#3: Helping people around the world find their soul-mates. Same logistic challenges: masks, walls and doors. In my search for a soul-mate I did it my way with the AreYouMyWife blog. You could say I created a WMD: Weapon of Mass Dating. My AYMW-WMD smashed down several walls, opened many doors and removed a lot of masks, on a global scale.

And that got me here with CeCe: The Ultimate Date: an even bigger challenge with more soldiers and a mandate that grows with time, small victories and (potentially) additional OUDBOD missions.

However, as many people have pointed out to me, I’m not longer using my WMD. Now I’m thinking about how I might share this instrument, modify it for the good of planet Earth, and make it user friendly to all. That – in military talk – is OUDBOD Mission Dream#3.

I have a two-tier strategy (I love saying that) for both battles. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be going to some interviews and meetings. Hopefully the interviews will get me a good job, and the meetings will lay the ground work for a public Weapon of Mass Dating that not even George W. Bush could miss.

Over and out... More soon...

Media and their icons

2007-09-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

The other week CeCe and I did a cool interview with Lorraine Kelly. Her production team made an icon for a vignette that made me look like this:

And here’s that interview:
VIDEO: Lorraine Kelly Interview on Sep-06-2007
(Video not working? Click here)

Here’s what CeCe thinks the logo should look like now:

And I’ve got some job interviews this week. As soon as I get a job, we can start working harder on our OUDBOD Dreams…

Or buy a plane.

Mountain Bike = Job?

2007-09-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been a bit down. I’ve been waking up every day in a nightmare that I faced two years ago: Dealing with London recruitment agents.

When I first moved to London in January of 2005, I hit a series of walls. In order to find a job, I trawled through hundreds of internet sites, fired off thousands of tailored CVs and made – as well as received – hundreds of cold-calls from high-octane, fast talking recruitment agents.

But back then – and again now in deja-vu – these agents rattle off briefs and specs and speak as if I already have the role they’re pitching. They use words like “fab location”, “stunning offices” and “brilliant benefits.” Sometimes they get so excited I feel as if I could write cheques on what they say. But bounce, bounce, bounce.

They never call back. Or their PAs tell me that are always in meetings (despite one incident where the PA forgot to cover the mouthpiece when asking the agent if he was in.) Or my email inbox fills up with thousands of “AUTO-REPLY” messages, cut from a templates about “not right at this time” and “keeping me on file.”

For my entire 28 years of pre-London life, if I wanted a certain job I would just walk into head office, speak to the boss, make him/her laugh, shake their hand, and get the job.

But not in London. They like things to be complicated here. In a funny way, using a CV and an agent to get a job is kind of like dating: there are a lot of games involved as well as masking of true character.

So how does an employer in London see the real me and all my skills instead of my CV in a pile?

Oh my! The last time I asked a question like that, I set up AreYouMyWife.com, went around the world, asked CeCe out on the Ultimate Date and came back to where I started.

So maybe I should set up AreYouMyJOB! Yea! I could make it no rules, worldwide, dare bosses to interview me instead of trusting a potentially BS-CV and some Redbull-chugging, quota-having, sales-driven recruitment agent!

Hmmmmm….. so many ideas here.

But finally history repeated itself. Back when I first got to London I would finally meet a quality recruitment agent in the teeming masses of crappy ones who believed in me as a person, not just as a paper, and told me what my problem was: my CV. It wasn’t “Londonized.”

One day, she invited me to her office and sat me down with my CV and a red pen. Where I might have written “answered phones”, she wrote “liaised with suppliers and operations in a client facing role.” I hadn’t “written a book” but “produced copy in an agency facing role.” I hadn’t been a “CSR” but a “Team coordinator in a front line consumer facing role.”

Systematically, this wonderful agent “buzz-worded” my CV. Because in London, it’s all about titles. With that, she got me onto a playing field on which I never lose: THE INTERVIEW.

I love job interviews. I thrive on them. I treat them like friends having a discussion: I have fun, I make people laugh, and I handle questions and objections and always get offered a job.

Back to the present: Yesterday a recruitment agent who is a friend of a friend called. He sounded bored. He was going through the motions asking me routine questions about my CV when… SUDDENLY! ... and excitedly, he asked: “What kind of bike do you have?”

He had come to the last section of my CV: Hobbies/Sports. The first entry was mountain biking.

Next thing I knew he invited me to his office to show me his mountain bike. Then we went to the pub. Between talking about suspension, fat tires, cranks and Z-frames, (but never mud-guards), this wonderful agent once again tailored my CV to what he needed to get me into the interview room.

I guess it’s not just who you know, but what you know… about bikes.

The Job Hunt

2007-09-10T03:51:00.000-07:00

In order for CeCe and I to achieve some of our OUDBOD dreams – and especially Dream#2 – I’m going to have to find a job. Right now, only CeCe has a solid paycheque. Since I came back to London and moved in with her, my income has been the hilly freelancer kind.

To be sure, there are lots of projects I want to work on and launch, but the AreYouMyWife journey put quite a dent in my savings, so topping up the coffers (not to mention chipping in on groceries and rent) is a priority.

And this is exactly what I set out to do initially: Cut the red tape of dating and find situations that test myself and someone else to see how we do as a team.

Some may remember that the AYMW blog not only got me dates and adventure and new friends, but also job offers. How this worked I don’t know, but around the November to December 2006 mark about ten offers of employment from across the world rolled in via AYMW, four of which I would say were serious. They were:

1) Financial Controller for a swank hotel chain in Dubai, UAE.
2) Project Manager for a firm in New Jersey, USA.
3) A volunteer organisation in Kenya, Africa.
4) Reality TV offers to make AYMW into trashy Big Brother competition.

Reality TV quickly got the rejection, but the other offers certainly were interesting. Being the way I am, for the right offer I would have happily decamped to UAE, USA or Africa without batting an eyelash, but I stuck to my original goal of Ultimate Date by July, and then ended up back in London.

CeCe certainly has no qualms about decamping to anywhere in the world, but in our discussions on what to do next we thought staying local for a year and working on OUDBOD together would be wise.

So I presently face a huge challenge: getting back into the London job scene – the same crazy scene that I left last October.

I’ve had to write a new CV (what Americans call a resume). And I’ve had figure out how to make AYMW into a CV entry. That was interesting.

Next I’ll write about an altogether scary experience – dealing with London recruitment agents.

Outside Interference Welcome

2007-09-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

I’ve been getting some real interesting emails and phone calls since I launched this blog.

Most people just wanted to say they support what CeCe and I are doing for the next year. My friend Niki made a cool comment on my last post: “This is exactly how ‘areyoumywife’ should end... with a beginning!”

Some people wished to add to our Grains of Sand: One guy offered a free pick-up from Montreal airport in a red Bentley, a UK-based spiritualist offered free “soul consultations,” and some guy in east Europe said he’d give us a free carpet if we got married.

However a couple of folk wished to let us know that they were hoping the Ultimate Date would involve us going into space. (We still might, but just next year. Our relationship needs to learn to walk before it can run, or for that matter blast off.)

Some of the calls I get put 17 digitals on my call display – places like Tunisia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, WhoKnowsWhereIstan and India. When I answer, I either get hung up on, enter a fascinating exchange that taxes my Apache-English skills, or sometimes we just swap sounds.

Today the phone rang again, and a woman claimed to be calling from Sri Lanka. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Hello?

Woman: … [breathing]

Me: Hello?

Woman: Hello. I want call about AreYouMyWife.

Me: Um, ok. What do you want to know?

Woman: I email. Send photos.

Me: You do understand what AreYouMyWife is right?

Woman: …

For reasons known only to me, I entered “media-explain-mode”. I outlined what I did for the past year, included a selection of highlights from the road and then rounded out with a few zingers and a bit about OurUltimateDate.

I heard more breathing. Then she said “I send photos. Email.”

And it ended there.

So I guess the next logical question is: why do I keep my contact details up if I’m with CeCe? (Hey, I’ll make that my first FAQ question.)

Well aside from taking offers that involve red Bentleys, soul-consultations and Eastern-Block rugs, I still think: “Why not?” In the UK, incoming calls are free.

And most importantly, OurUltimateDate is still based on the principles of my previous blog: Someone in the world might know something, or have a cool idea, or help us with OUDBOD.

In the case of the woman under the impression that AreYouMyWife might be a hook-up site, well… it’s not…

Just yet.

I’m working on that (its Dream#3 in OUDBOD). But I can’t reveal any of that just yet.

And anyway, right now CeCe and I are more immediately concerned about me getting a job.

CeCe and Allan’s Ultimate Date

2007-09-06T09:07:00.000-07:00

For a few weeks now CeCe and I have been talking long into the night about what exactly “Ultimate Date” means to us, how to go about it, what we want out of it, etc. In our deliberations and the big picture, we considered three things:

THE PAST -- The AreYouMyWife journey was random and exciting. Many entries got made into the Book O’ Dreams and many Grains of Sand got gathered. I literally went anywhere, anytime, anyway and met so many people. I had no home for a long time, lived out of a bag, and had many adventures. Life was good.

THE PRESENT -- CeCe and I now live together. We don’t have much. We pay rent, buy food and have bills. But we each have big dreams and we want the Present and the Future to live up to the standard of the Past: We want life to be good… unforgettable, even.

THE FUTURE -- A house? A car? Start a business together? Marriage? Children? A trip around the world? New careers? Achieving our dreams? Going into space?

For us, the Ultimate Date is: September 6th, 2008. Yes, that’s one year from the day this site starts, and two years (and change) after I started my AreYouMyWife experiment.

Our main mission: To see if we can remove the “?” from AreYouMyWife?

How we get there, and what happens along the way, is still very much to be determined, and to be discovered. We are both starting with nothing, from scratch, and will have to build it all ourselves.

But there is more…

The OurUltimateDate Book O’ Dreams (or the nifty sounding “OUDBOD” for short) will be open to everyone in the world with an internet connection. Anyone can get involved: suggest, advise, help, etc. And if CeCe and I can help you with your dreams, that works for us too.

At the top of this site is a panel that will be updated as we progress and dream up more stuff. But here are the first entries into OUDBOD:

Dream#1: CeCe and Allan want to tell the whole truth! Read more...

Dream#2: CeCe would love to work in the fashion world. Read more...

Dream#3: Allan wants to keep the AYMW torch burning, but light flames across the world to
help people find their soul-mates. Read more...

Here we go!

Inside OUDBOD

2007-09-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

OUDBOD stands for OurUltimateDate Book O’ Dreams. (Based on the AreYouMyWife Book O’ Dreams, for that story click here)

Dream#1: Tell the whole truth!
ADDED: Sept-06-2007

Although AreYouMyWife.com lasted a year, took Allan around the world and got featured in the media – and although the blog would come to house 191 posts, hundreds of photos and 64 videos – only 10% of Allan’s story got told. And 0% of Cece’s back-story got told.

One can’t exactly develop characters, reveal intimate details or foreshadow on a blog (or for that matter in media “grabs” and “sound bites”), so Allan kept each AYMW post and video like a postcard: short, sweet, and self-contained.

But below the surface, so much happened: Strange, seedy and wonderful characters came crashing in and out of the journey, money (and often hope) ran out, Allan got stuck in certain countries, not all dates were created equal, and the bizarre became reality. He could never talk about the circumstances and stress under which he made certain decisions – such as the swinger’s club invite, the pushy wanna-be bride, the paranormal medium, the men who sought to convert him or why he shoved keys up the exhaust of his company car at Heathrow.

As for CeCe, why did she get in touch with Allan really? And what struggles was she facing at the time?

In sum 190% of the AreYouMyWife story remains a secret.

UPDATE:
Dec-20-2007
We launched "The AreYouMyWife Story... Bite Size" book. To read more, click here.

^Top
***

Dream#2: CeCe would like to work in the fashion industry.
ADDED: Sept-06-2007

I love fashion, everything about it, the shows, the fabrics, the models, the magazines, the good old British High Street. I am hoping to make a long ambition come true and work in the fashion industry.

I would love to work within any aspect of fashion although my top 4 would be:

* A fashion magazine
* A designer
* A model agency
* A luxury brand

UPDATE:

Apr-16-2008: CeCe is starting to believe that this industry may not be where she wants to be. So she's looking into things more.

Oct-15-2007: CeCe is currently studying part-time at the London School of fashion as well as taking on-line courses.

^Top

***
Dream#3: Allan wants to keep the AYMW torch burning, but light flames across the world to help people find their soul-mates.
ADDED: Sept-06-2007

I have a great idea to do just that, and I'm putting it together. It just might take a few months to set up.

UPDATE:

Oct-27-2007: This is the symbol of what I’m working on next, but it won’t be ready until sometime in Spring 2008.

Mar-31-2008: Minor delays for a good reason. Click here to find out more.

^Top

***

Contact us
areyoumywife@gmail.com

The Story in a Nutshell

2007-09-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

AreYouMyWife – Fed up with internet dating sites
July 24th 2006 to September 6th 2007

The internet, huh?

Banking, yes. Shopping, definitely. Browsing and research, of course. But actually trusting the internet to find a soul mate? All the dating sites I tried had blunt interfaces, questionable membership schemes and I didn’t like the idea of putting myself – or others – in tick-box driven databases combed by match-making robots.

But could I do any better using the internet?

I tried a very simple experiment to remove barriers: I started a blog called AreYouMyWife? I put my picture, phone number and email up for all to see, and just wrote a story. My story. That’s all – straight forward, no flashy design, no gimmicks … no limits.

Anyone could ask me out, anywhere in the world, or alternatively offer help in different ways. At worst, if I didn’t meet that someone special, I would chalk up some amazing life experience. At best, I could meet someone amazing. AreYouMyWife was a win/win proposal.

Well, my story grew beyond my wildest imagination as people everywhere wrote themselves in. Suddenly the internet was an exciting and honest place not only to date, but to open new doors onto friends, adventures, ideas, opportunities and self discovery. Here’s what happened:

(Video not working? Click here)

OurUltimateDate – Let’s take our time, and do it right
September 6th 2007 to September 6th 2008

As the story threads grew into a thick rope, the obvious question got asked: when would AreYouMyWife stop? Truth is, I didn’t know. The thought of a deadline or a stop-point seemed like a good idea, but certainly not something desperate or weird like “be married within a year.” I wanted to take my time, and do things right.

So I announced that by the one year anniversary of AreYouMyWife I would stop – wherever I was in the world – and consider: Did I feel ready to go to the next level with someone I had met? The Ultimate Date would be the product of myself and someone else; a new joint adventure, perhaps.

I did indeed ask a wonderful woman named CeCe out on the Ultimate Date. And to us it meant this: Close down AreYouMyWife (but continue telling a story), live together for a year, pay bills, hold down regular jobs, all the while working towards three dreams as a team. If we could do that as a couple, we could do anything, and the “?” in AreYouMyWife? could go away.

Over that year, and throughout many challenges, CeCe and I did indeed achieve our dreams in roundabout ways. Then, while on holiday in my home town of Montreal, I took CeCe to Mount Royal shortly before her 30th birthday and got down on one knee. She said yes.

We returned to London on September 6th with lots on the horizon… CeCe is starting a new job, I am confident in my current role, and after a year of slogging, one of CeCe and I’s dreams will take flight….

AreYouMyPartner – A whole new story
October 22nd 2008 until…

“Partner” can mean a whole lot of things: Travel friend, confidant, business partner, partner in adventure, lover, potential spouse… It all depends on what kind of story you live, what kind of question you’re asking, and who you want to write themselves in.

Visit AreYouMyPartner.com

About us

2007-09-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

About Us

Allan was born during a 1977 snowstorm in Montréal, Canada, and mostly grew up there, except for when he lived in South Korea, India, Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia and Britain and travelled to a lot of points in between. He holds Canadian and British citizenship.

If you ask about his Pedigree, he assumes you mean a brand of dog food, though he does actually hold a degree in Policing/Criminology and a Bachelor of Commerce. But that’s boring. Everything he does today is mostly self-taught or gleaned from the school of real life.

Most of his life he has been employed, starting with selling lemonade, washing up and shovelling snow (when you’re born in a snowstorm, its an obvious line of work.) He doesn’t sleep much, but he does cat nap often, especially during snow storms. He likes fruit.

CeCe was born and raised in Essex but refuses to be called and Essex-girl! She is 29 and has done a lot with her little life, she has travelled coast to coast and border to border in the USA in a van with random other Europeans and had a fab time!

CeCe's education is varied and diverse and as a result she enjoys life to the full and can tackle anything sent her way. Her number one passion though is Fashion! Don't let her near the shops! CeCe sleeps way too much, loves pizza and chick-flicks!

Press / Media

2007-09-06T05:30:00.000-07:00

Previous Press:

Newspaper/Magazine ***********************

09-Sep-2008: The Montreal Gazette - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: Canadian Press - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: Canada.com - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: The Sun - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: The Globe and Mail - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: The Edmonton Sun - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: The Daily Gleaner - Click here to read it

08-Sep-2008: 24 Hours - Click here to read it

11-Mar-2008: Campaspe Valley News - follow up article. (To read click here)

23-Aug-2007: Kazakhstan paper (To read (if you can) click here)

Aug-21-2007: Grazia Croatia

Aug-20-2007: Closer Magazine (Read it! Click: Page 1 | Page 2)

Aug-09-2007: The Ottawa Sun (click here to read it)

Aug-09-2007: La Semaine Magazine. Click here to see: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Aug-07-2007: Turkish Press (To read click here)

Aug-07-2007: Slovakian News (To read click here)

Aug-03-2007: The Windsor Star. Click here to read it.

Aug-01-2007: Chinese/Canadian Press (To read, click here)

Jul-30-2007: Vietnam Press (To read, click here)

Jul-29-2007: The Daily News, Halifax, Click here to read it

Jul-28-2007: Hong Kong Press (Click here to read it)

Jul-28-2007: The Montreal Gazette, click here to see the article

Jul-27-2007: Croatian Press (Click here to read it)

Jul-27-2007: Journal de Montreal, click here to see it

Jul-26-2007: The Daily Mail

Jul-24-2007: Grazia Magazine, click here: Click here: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Jul-19-2007: Journal de Montreal, page 4 - click here to see the article

Jun-17-2007: Ute Action Magazine, Australia. Click her to read it.

Jun-07-2007: Shanghai City Weekend, click here to read it

May-25-2007: Bendigo Magazine, VIC, Australia, click here to see it

May-24-2007: Interview with Blogger view, click here

Apr-01-2007: UK Metro - AreYouMyWife shortlisted for Best British Blog...
* Click here to see the article

Apr-01-2007: Scarlet Magazine, my date with a sexpert.
* Click here to read Page 1
* Click here to read Page 2

Mar-23-2007: The Bendigo Weekly, click here to read it

Mar-21-2007: Follow up interview with Nicole of the Weekly Times, Australia

Mar-15-2007: Country Living, Australia, click here to read it

Mar-14-2007: Weekly times, Victoria, Australia, click here to read it

Mar-14-2007: Riverine Herald, Victoria, Australia, click here to read it

Mar-13-2007: Front page of The Campaspe Valley News, Australia - click here to read it

Mar-09-2007: BEO Weekley, Victoria, Australia, click here to read it

Mar-06-2007: North Central Review, Victoria, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-26-2007: Article in Country News, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-22-2007: Article in The Campaspe Valley News, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-21-2007: Article by Tiago Griff, Observatorio Do Algarve, Portugal,
* Click here for Portuguese version
* Click here for English version

Feb-21-2007: Article in The McIvor Times, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-20-2007: Article in The Riverine Herald, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-17-2007: Article by Tiago Griff, Observatorio Do Algarve, Portugal, click here to read it

Feb-16-2007: Article in The Bendigo Weekly, Australia, click here to read it

Feb-14-2007: Interview with Ann Marie McQueen, Ottawa Sun. Click here to read article.

Feb-10-2007 - Interview with columnist Elizabeth Renzetti, The Globe and Mail - Canada's National Newspaper, Click here to read the article

Feb-09-2007: Article in the Riverine Herald, Australia. Click here to read the article.

Jan-03-2007 - German Magazine "Tomorrow", 4-page spread. See: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4. (Thank you M. Schnitzler for forwarding me this.)

Nov-something-2006: Some random French article, click here to see it

Oct-17-2006: La Presse de Montreal, Hugo DeGrandpre, click here to see the article

09-Oct-2006: Some foreign newspaper... click here and also click here

09-Oct-2006: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Something from Austria ... click here to read it ...

07-Oct-2006: Something in GERMAN... click here to see it...

06-Oct-2006: Article on www.intouchfm.com ... click here to see it...

06-Oct-2006: Article on MSN (IN FRENCH)... click here to see

04-Oct-2006: A web article, click here to read it

04-Oct-2006: The UK Metro... click here to see it.

27-Sep-2006: Journal de Montreal, Patrick Lagace, Read his article by clicking here

^TOP

TV ***********************

10-Sep-2008: CBC Newsworld, To watch, click image

09-Sep-2008: Canada AM, CTV (no video available)

Sep-06-2007: Lorraine Kelly Show, GMTV, To watch, click image.

Aug-24-2007: Reuters International. To watch, click image.

Aug-21-2007: Kay Burley on SkyNews. To watch, click image.

Aug-2007: Today Show in New York. To watch, click image.

Aug-01-2007: This Morning Live, Global TV. Watch by clicking image,

Jul-31-2007: Canada AM Morning Show on CTV (no video available)

Jul-30-2007: CBC News follow-up story (no video available)

Jul-30-2007: L'émission Caféine à TQS, Watch (click image)

Jul-27-2007: CTV News, Canada (no video available)

Jul-26-2007: TQS news, Montreal. Watch it (click image)

Jul-16-2007: Live cross from London to Toronto, CBC TV. Watch it by clicking image

Jun-05-2007: Today/Tonight Australia. Watch (click image)

Mar-08-2007: NORTHWEST AFTERNOON, komo 4 (ABC), Seattle, U.S.A. Watch (click image)

Mar-01-2007: "Tu m'étonnes!" TV5, Quebec (no video available)

Feb-24-2007: Story about Haidji and I on Portuguese National News, TVI (no video available)

Feb-14-2007: Interview on CBC News Today, Watch (click image):

Feb-10-2007 - Interview with FuelMyBlog.com Here is the Video:
Watch (click image):

Jan-28-2007: Soft news piece on Global TV, Canada, by Stuart Greer. Watch (click image)

Oct-26-2006: La Fosse aux Lionnes, CBC Radio-Canada. Watch (click image):

Oct-23-2006: Soft News-piece on Canadian CBC Newsworld.
Watch (click image):

Oct-23-2006: Newspiece on Mexican Televista. Watch (click image):

Oct-19-2006: M6/ Morning Café, French TV; I was on via live phone connetion. Visit web-site by clicking here.
Watch (click image):

Oct-15-2006, French media, click here to see it...

10-Oct-2006: The Lorain Kelly Show, GM TV, Watch (click image):

02-Sep-2006: CTV News piece. (No video available)

01-Sep-2006: Much Music Speaker's Corner (No video available)

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Radio ***********************

20-Oct-2008: CBC radio - The Point

10-Sep-2008: CJAD 800 Montreal - Laxer Live with Dan Laxer

10-Sep-2008: EZ Mornings, 97.3 EZ Rock

09-Sep-2008: Windsor Now, AM800 CKLW

09-Sep-2008: Adler On-Line with host Charles Adler, Corus Radio Network

09-Sep-2008: CBC radio with Aamer Halem

21 to 15 Jan-2008: Rick Zamperin for a radio documentary called “Mev vs. Women”. 900chml.com.

Aug-31-2007: CBC radio discussion

Aug-31-2007: BBC Essex

Aug-29-2007: Anthony Crank Show, BBC Manchester

Aug-28-2007: Nik and Val, CFUN Vancouver

Aug-28-2007: BBC World Service, Outlook

Aug-01-2007: The Andrew Carter Morning Show, CJAD 800 AM Montreal

Jul-31-2007: Charles Alder show, Corus Radio Network, www.charlesadler.com, Winnepeg

Jul-31-2007: The Last Word Irish radio

Jul-31-2007: BBC 5 Live in Manchester

Jul-31-2007: Maurice Boland, REM fm, Spain

Jul-30-2007: "Homerun" on CBC Radio

Jul-26-2007: 93,3 FM de Québec, www.le933.com

Jul-24-2007: Mint FM Belgium, Radio 106.1 FM, http://www.mint.fm

Jul-24-2007: The Nik and Val show, CFUN radio, Vancouver, Canada

Jul-24-2007: Radio-Canada "Sur La Route"

Jul-19-2007: 940AM in Montreal

Jul-11-2007: Jeff Kelly, THE NEW 1031 FRESH-FM, Toronto, Canada
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Jul-10-2007: Kerrang Radio, www.kerrangradio.co.uk/breakfast

Jul-06-2007: Keith Middleton on BBC Radio Shropshire, Log on here & click 'Listen Live' or find out more: www.keithmiddleton.com

Jul-05-2007: The Nik and Val show, CFUN radio, Vancouver, Canada

May-03-2007: The Nik and Val show, CFUN radio, Vancouver, Canada

Apr-30-2007: Kerrang Radio, www.kerrangradio.co.uk/breakfast, 6-9am London time.
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Apr-14-2007: The Phil Show, BBC Manchester radio

Mar-21-2007: Interview with Harry from Crakajak on Balls in the Bush radio, Australia

Mar-13-2007: Second interview with Matt Dowling on ABC Radio in Shepparton, Australia

Mar-05-2007: 8:30AM EST, Keeler in the morning, WSKS Kiss FM

Feb-25-2007: Interview with Matt Dowling on ABC Radio in Shepparton, Australia

Feb-16-2007: Jimmy Franks, BBC WM/BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Late Show. www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/local_radio

Feb-14-2007: Interview with Lesley and Lorna on BBC Three Counties Radio (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire), www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties

Feb-14-2007: Rick Jackson and Donna Alos, The Power FM Breakfast Show, www.powerfm.com/breakfast

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Feb-08-2007: Interview with Eamonn and Dianne on BBC Radio Manchester, http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/

Jan-23-2007: Interview with Ronald News: Ronald Lewis, a social media producer, is the creator of Interviews, an audio magazine of conversations with some of the world's most admired personalities in business, technology, entertainment, and more. Click here for link or listen to our interview below.
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Jan-17-2007: I was on with Twitch and MJ on Z-103, 103.3FM (WXZZ) in Kentucky, USA. They're cool. http://www.zrock103.com/

Jan-16-2007: Tried to get a word in edgewise on the the high-octane New York minded JV and Elvis, "The Dog House" (Their motto: In your face whether you like it or not.) http://www.jvandelvis.com/

Jan-05-2007: Nat and Drew in the Morning, Z95 Vancouver, http://www.z95.com/

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Jan-04-2007: Beth Ann McBride, CBS radio, North Carolina, USA, 600-1200 WSJS/WSML

Dec-20-2006: America's Country Station, US99*5 WUSN-FM/CBS Radio, Chicago, IL http://www.us99.com/

Dec-19-2006: Jimmy Franks, BBC WM/BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Late Show. www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/local_radio/

Dec-12-2006: Talk Radio X in Connecticut with PhD Guy and Airbird. http://www.talkradiox.com

Nov-29-2006: BC and Clint, Afternoons on Rock 105.3 - KIOZs http://www.rock1053.com

Nov-13-2006: Beth Ann McBride, CBS radio, North Carolina, USA, 600-1200 WSJS/WSML

Oct-30-2006: The Kim Fraser Show, Montreal's News/Talk Leader CJAD 800

Oct-27-2006: TagBBQ, 96.5 TagRadio, Gatineau, Quebec

Oct-27-2006: CD le passage, M103.5, la radio de Lanaudière, Quebec

Oct-25-2006: Blue Sky, CBC radio Saskachewan, www.cbc.ca/bluesky

Oct-15-2006,Valerie McTavish and Shane Foxman, CFUN 1410 am, Vancouver, BC, http://www.cfun.com/

Oct 12-2006, Jimmy Franks, BBC WM/BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Late Show. www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/local_radio/

09-Oct-2006: BBC Radio Newcastle with Paul and Ian, link here

05-Oct-2006: BBC Scotland, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland

04-Oct-2006, The Chris Evans Show, BBC Radio 2. www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/evans

02-Oct-2006: Darren Wray in the Morning (and he'll play it on other stations in the evening), Frankfort, Kentucky, http://www.star1037.com/, http://www.hometownradio.com/, http://www.capitalcountry1049.com/

02-Oct-2006: Fraser and Rosie morning show, Rock 106, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, www.rock106.ca

17-Sep-2006: The Andy & Alison and the Morning Crew Show, WIVK-FM Knoxville, TN, http://www.wivk.com/

27-Sep-2006: Monte, Chris and Zeke, Y108 - WDSY, Pittsburgh, PA, USA http://www.y108.com/

26-Sep-2006: Stevens & Medley Morning Show, CBS Radio - Washington D.C., WARW - Classic Rock 94.7, http://www.classicrock947.com/

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26-Sep-2006: The Maurice Boland Show, REM, Malaga, Spain, http://www.rem.fm/

25-Sep-2006: The Shauna Rae Show, London, ON, Canada, CJBK, www.cjbk.com/shows/shaunarae

22-Sep-2006: W-radio, Colombia, http://www.wradio.com/

21-Sep-2006: Moncrieff with Sean, Newstalk 106, Ireland, http://www.newstalk106.ie/

21-Sep-2006: Spin 1038 with Johnathan and Clare, Ireland, http://www.spin1038.com/

06-Sep-2006: Freestyle, CBC radio, Canada, http://www2.blogger.com/www.cbc.ca/freestyle

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