Climbing The (Extinct) Volcano–Mt Schank, South Australia

Bad Timing

A lot has been happening around here since I last posted, and only a few of them have been good. We performed at the Hamilton Outdoor Adventure Fair on the 5th and 6th, which was great and the rain held off until the end of our last show. The crowd loved it so much that we have been invited back for next year. Sparkie and me are working on a new, fun project that doesn’t involve Roy in any way, which at some point will get a blog post to officially announce it. We went through Casterton last week and got some photos.

Bad Thing #1 Suzanna caught some really odd stomach bug the day before Hamilton that then took Gabrielle down the day after Hamilton, and proceeded to slowly hit us all in very different ways. Most of us got lethargy, diarrhoea, nausea, sore tummy, and a high temperature, at least one thing off the list, but only the three youngest actually threw up. And Gabrielle was sick all of the 7th, then fine and running around on the 8th, only to stay in bed all day and throw up some more on the 9th (Jireh’s birthday, which was also the day he spent in bed, throwing up.) Suffice it to say, nobody felt like eating party food.

Bad Thing #2 I can’t remember if I mentioned we had an agent or not. When we met Roy at Mt Isa in June he gave us the email address for his agent, who also has a lot of other entertainers she works for. Of course this was really exciting, especially when her response to my contact email was “We'd love to include you in the next round of promotions.” Roy told us not to take on any shows ourselves, and to let our agent, Joy, do all the work now. It worked ok for a while, but I got frustrated at how slow she was to reply to my emails, and get anything organised. While she was organising the Hamilton event for us, she told us she’d booked us into a cabin and that we should just sneak the dogs in, even though the rules of the caravan park were clear – NO DOGS IN THE CABINS! Of course I said no, and other arrangements were made. So I was feeling a bit annoyed about that. And then, she mentioned in one email recently that she was looking forward to seeing me perform at Whittlesea and Roy’s Speakeasy. That was odd, because I had never told her about it, and at the beginning when I asked Roy how our agent would feel about him inviting me to perform, and he basically said to forget about her and that it was none of her business. So anyway, I told Joy I wasn’t performing there anymore because, “Roy changed his mind and said we weren't wanted after all.” That afternoon I got a long winded email from Joy that started “I want to start this email with a tone that allows you to understand that I'm very concerned about what you sent in your last email…” and so on it went. She told me “I didn't want to represent Superdogs to begin with. I find that as a business the best returns are made on artists who can deliver heaps of variety in their show, travel easily to wherever the work is, are self contained and who are easy to deal with.” Apparently Roy had insisted that she be our agent and so she agreed. And was she inferring we were hard to deal with? And so she told me not to speak poorly of Roy, and that he should not be subjected to unfair comments “such as you made to me this morning.” After some discussion with the family, I emailed back that night and said I was not speaking poorly of anyone, just saying what had happened about the shows in question, and that if she didn’t want to be our agent then we’d just go back to working on our own or whatever (I wrote it very respectfully, of course). That was over a week ago now, and I haven’t heard anything from her since then.

Bad Thing #3 Our computer is barely hanging on to life – USB ports are busted, CD drive went long ago, SD card slot doesn’t work either, and the sound comes and goes. So all our internet is done on the phone or occasionally using the phone as a wireless “hotspot” for those things that HAVE to be down on the computer, like posting this on my blog. And there’s no way to get any photos from the camera onto here.

Bad Thing #4 We were going to go to a Sci-Fi convention on the 20th of this month, and had been planning it for nearly three weeks. Some actors from our favourite TV series would be there and it was going to be awesome! And then the van’s windscreen cracked and needed replacing, so there goes our convention money.

There are several other bad things that aren’t even big enough to have their own number on here (a broken DVD player, rotten patches in the bus floor, having to put seatbelts in the van or sell it due to the crazy laws around here, etc), but put them together with these four bad things, Roy’s previously mentioned behaviour, and, for the first time all year, an empty “upcoming shows in 2013” list, and you can probably understand while I’m feeling somewhat depressed. It feels like all this stuff happened at once – one at a time every few months wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but all these things have happened in the last few weeks. It’s bad timing, like that thing with Roy set off a chain reaction, with all the bad things happening at once. I know it will get better, but when?

Five Years

Won’t Get Fooled Again

Today, I learned something. Actually I was reminded of something I’d already learned and let fall by the wayside as I moved on.

 

In May 2010, just after our second Gympie Show, we went to a dog training club to see if we could sign up for agility class. They told us we had to do about two months of basic obedience class before we were allowed to do agility, no exceptions. We felt very unwelcome. That night, after I’d cried and felt awful about it, I was just even more determined to make it in the world, on my own.

 

Today I learned that people are still untrustworthy. Even Roy Maloy. He’s just changed his mind about having me at the shows, because I asked too many questions about them. The reason I kept asking so many questions was A. I’ve never done anything like that before and wanted to know what to expect, and B. he kept changing the rules. First he said my whole family was welcome to come along, and then when I asked again he said they weren’t. First he said he wanted me to do one performance at night, then when I double-checked he said two. First he said I needed to do my own hair and makeup, then he said he’d get someone else to do it for me. So I kept asking, checking and rechecking the facts just to be sure what would happen on the day. I don’t know if I was too annoying, and he just got fed up with me, or if something else is going on. Roy also said he had a list as long as his arm of famous/world record holding entertainers offering to perform for him for free, whereas I was going to be paid for my part. He was the one who offered to pay me, I didn’t ask for it! I was very upset at first, but now I’m just angry. How could he let me get all excited, for two weeks, and then pull the plug? So I’ve decided not to rely on anyone else to get me where I want in life, I can do it myself. If anyone else offers me something, I might take it, or I might not. And I definitely won’t be so trusting. I won’t get fooled again.

 

The podiums we made specifically for his events will still be used in our own shows. Roy spent his own money on my costume so that’s his loss, not ours. In the long run, this will just make me stronger, more determined to make my career with Superdogs work. I’m already writing up a list of goals for the future, that I’ll be working towards on my own without relying on anyone else. I’ll train my dog myself, get my own shows organized, never depend on anyone but myself to get me where I want to go.

Project Podium

We now have four podiums in two sizes, just waiting to be painted and get a non-slip bottom before going to their first show. All the dogs have now had a go on them and it didn’t take long for them to gain their confidence!

Opportunity

I have some big news. You remember Roy Maloy, a circus-type performer we met at Winton and then Mt Isa? Well, this week he messaged me and offered me a spot in a show he’s in. Actually, two shows. Sort of. Ok, that didn’t really make much sense, did it?

 

First of all, I’ll be performing once at the Whittlesea Show on November 2. Last year, 50,000 people were expected to come through the gates. It’s one of the biggest agricultural shows in Victoria. Then, that same night, I’ll be doing two performances for a wine and cheese thing in the city, performing to a live band. It’s a big deal, a high-calibre event with a line up of “best in the business” entertainers. The whole family’s coming along, but it’ll be just me and Sparkie actually performing. Roy’s helped me pick out a costume, which really drove home what I’m getting myself into – jeans and a t-shirt won’t cut it here!

(every blog post needs a picture!)

Oh, For Crying Out Loud…

A few days ago I was driving to Gawler, South Australia, from our camp half an hour away. I wasn’t keen on driving into Gawler – it’s busy and crazy and has traffic lights, and roundabouts with five or six roads out of it – so the plan was to pull over just before I got to Gawler and let Daddy take over. But I missed the stopping bay and ended up at the first roundabout. Ok, I could handle a roundabout. Except when I tried to take off again, the van stalled. That’s not unusual, and I’ve done it before, and I can handle it. But this time there was a line up of cars behind me, and the first one in the line was in such a hurry he blasted on his horn the moment he saw a gap in the traffic and I didn’t go. I quickly restarted the van and tried to drive forward, only to stall again. The impatient driver behind me slammed his hand on the horn again. And I’m thinking as I re-restarted the van and finally got through the roundabout, for crying out loud, don’t my L-plates mean anything to you?

 

When someone is learning something new, do we expect them to do it right? Or are they expected to make some mistakes along the way? When I was teaching Sparkie to beg, she’d only lift one paw up for starters. Imagine if, while I was gently encouraging her to lift both feet up, a stranger yelled at her for not doing it right straight away. She would have baulked, refused to do anything, been confused. Nobody would do that, nobody would yell at someone else’s dog like that. And yet when I didn’t do the right thing fast enough, I was tooted at repeatedly. People say how the younger generation has no manners, no respect for others. And yet, both negative experiences I’ve had on the road have been with adult drivers. The “I own the road” attitude from older drivers needs to stop. How else can new drivers learn respect for other road users?

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In the meantime, the bus fit out has started. The black rubber flooring is getting pulled up and new vinyl tiles laid.

We’ve finalized the change of ownership and today we break camp (not literally) and head to Victoria. We have two shows lined up now – the fundraiser next week, and the Hamilton Show in October. Sparkie learning another new trick, as is Freya. Sparkie hasn’t done any agility since Quorn but the rest of the team has.