Author Archives: manpans
First Impressions- Twin Peaks Pilot
I have a new vlog series I’m trying out! I call it First Impressions and it will involve watching the first seasons of various beloved shows! Take a look! this week I am joined by my friends the Video Ninja and Mai Sheri!
My Neighbour Errol- Escape
Oh dear…oh oh dear…
People…I am lost…I am utterly gone…
There is a new addiction in my life. A money sucking addiction that promises to ruin my bank account and steal my life away. Friends will wonder whatever happened to me. My family will worry and fret. Interventions will inevitably follow.
You see, I have discovered….Escape the Room.
For those that don’t know, Escape the Room is basically a live action adventure game modelled mostly after the actual virtual Escape the Rooms that are popular on mobile devices. You and a group of friends are locked in a room, usually with a theme (Mayan Temple, wine cellar of doom, vampire room, you name it). In the room are clues and puzzles that you have to solve in order to finally find your way out. You have one hour to solve it.
These things are popping up everywhere in Toronto now and are exploding in popularity. It…has pretty much consumed my life. And of course who else could have brought this amazing doom down upon me than Errol.
Pictured here as a creepy coworker
Being Errol though and being unable to do anything by halves, it only makes sense that his obsession runs even deeper than mine. I have so far been to four rooms. He claims he has been to six, but that’s either because his fish brain can’t retain the actual information or he’s actually a little embarrassed of the actual figures.
But in this case, I can’t really blame him for the obsession. They are an adventure game come to life. Who WOULDN’T love them? Well…probably many people…but for us gamers, it’s a dream come true!
There are simple puzzles, there are ridiculously complex puzzles, sometimes the room is fairly simple with nothing more than a table chair and a bed and some posters, sometimes it’s super involved with secret compartments that slide open when you place an idol on a pedestal or a bookcase that moves to reveal a secret room. Sometimes you’re even handcuffed!
Our states of mind are oh so subtle.
But that’s not the most fun part about the rooms. The most fun, by far, is that you get to see Sergeant Errol.
Sergeant Errol is a far cry from the happy go lucky egg loving maniac the internet knows and loves. Oh, certainly, outside the escape room he is all laughter, teasing and loudness. But then he gets inside the room, and the moment that timer turns on there is a mission that must be done. And he will tolerate no dilly dallying.
NOOO DILLY DALLYING
There we were, trapped in a tomb with locked chests, doors, strange wall paintings and panels to explore. Sergeant Errol immediately got to work.
“You, examine that chest. You, find out what those symbols mean. You, hold this lantern. I need to look at this padlock.”
You would think that someone that insane would simply be running around the room screaming at all the pretty decorations. But when it comes to puzzles, the jokes stop and the extreme focus starts.
EXTREME focus
Sergeant Errol has no time for crackpot theories or insecurities. Even his sister wasn’t safe from Sergeant Errol, which led to one of the many hilarious exchanges of the evening:
Errol: Lizette, I heard a voice coming from over there. Go and listen to what it says.
Lizette: You heard a voice? Really?
Errol: Yes! Go and listen! I heard “three” and “six”. I have to work on this!
(Two full minutes pass)
Lizette: I HEAR SOMETHING!
Errol: What did it say?!
Lizette: Um…I forget!…I think I heard “six”
Errol: THAT WAS WHAT I SAID EARLIER! YOU HAD ONE JOB!
It’s funny because I sometimes forget that people don’t really see all that much of Focused Errol. For all his insanity, when it comes to working and puzzle solving, Errol suddenly gets SERIOUS and is freaking machine of efficiency.
Which is very good, considering that there are people like me who are not exactly the best when it comes to things like time limits:
Errol: Okay, we have to figure out this code…
(30 seconds pass)
Me: We need to ask for a clue!
Errol: What?! We barely started!
Manda: I’m stuck!
Errol: Me too, but that doesn’t mean we can’t figure it out!
Manda: We only have 35 minutes left!
Errol: That is more than HALF THE TIME LEFT! WE DO NOT NEED A HINT!
Manda: Okay…fine…
(30 more seconds pass)
Manda: We need a hint.
Errol: AAAAARGH
It’s a weird sort of role reversal where instead of us “putting up” with a bumbling Errol, Errol is suddenly surrounded by incompetent and neurotic fools.
He is the Eddie Valiant to our Roger Rabbits
Escape the Room is all about the team you gather. And I’m not just talking about who is “smart”. I’m talking about who you can work with, who you can collaborate with, who might take things too seriously, who you won’t try to strangle on the way out.
We are like henchmen 21 and 24! And about as useful
Luckily, Sergeant Errol is an ideal Escape buddy to have around. Sure, he orders you around and probably has the urge to smack you when you spend too much time spewing crackpot theories or panicking, but even if you were to fail, he would still have had fun and doesn’t take it to heart.
Besides which, it’s one of the few things I can actually exasperate him. I mean come on, who WOULDN’T take advantage of that?
Now…if you’ll excuse me…IjusthavetogoandseeifescapeisopenyetSEEYA!
I have a problem…
Gibb
It’s been a while since updating. I wish I had a happier entry to start back on, perhaps a post mortem about Sidekicks (which finished last night) or something stupid Errol did…but I got some sudden news, and there are thoughts that need to get out. So be ye warned. Manda is sad. Read the rest of this entry
My Neighbour Errol- Comfort
Okay, so this is a bit of a lie. It’s not reaaaaaallly a My Neighbour Errol. But it does involve a conversation with Errol AND it’s about the play I wrote with him so I’m putting it under this category. Because it’s my blog and I can do what I want!
Ahem…anyway, so this week our play opens. It’s called Sidekicks and Secret Identities, a collection of three plays about superheroes performed in one evening. Errol and I ended up doing a theatrical adaptation of our webseries.
Our poster design is AWESOME
Opening weeks…are not my friends…they are in fact the worst thing for a naturally nervous person to have to endure. This experience has been especially odd in that basically my job for the show was done two months ago, and I have no clue how things are looking so far although I do know that I like the cast and that anyone who can handle Errol’s dialogue deserves a medal.
At any rate…we’re opening. I’m extremely proud of this accomplishment, but with my personal pride comes all of the worst case scenarios that could possibly happen in a play, up to and including the audience throwing rotten eggs.
Or eggs with spiders! that would be TERRIFYING!
Errol has now dealt with my nerves for every one of our projects. The worst was perhaps NaNoMusical, where I was certain we would be banned from the internet by angry NaNo fans everywhere. It wasn’t until he told me to log into a chatroom and see the reactions that I was convinced otherwise.
Comforting words and empathy are not really Errol’s thing to begin with. They are even less so when he has a creative partner who has the same panic attack every time a big project is about to launch. And so these are the comforting words he offered this morning upon learning of my anxiety:
Errol: Think about it this way. If you’re right, and the show does fail, I don’t get to be smug about it.
Me: Hooray?
Errol: But if you’re wrong, then I’ll be smug.
Me: …I really don’t know how to feel about this.
Errol: But if it fails, you get to be right! And I’ll be sad I can’t be smug.
Me: So no matter what happens, I’m still going to feel bad and guilty at the end of it.
Errol: (happily) Yup! Have a good day at work!
And then he made this face
But yes…regardless of the “Errol is a smug jerk” story…we have a play this week. If you are in the Toronto area, you should come check it out. You can also check out a blog I wrote for Monkeyman Productions about some of the process here. If you would like to see Errol’s smug face firsthand, I would highly suggest coming out. Wish us luck!
Geeky ramblings- Doctor Who- Kill The Moon
Things have been back to crazy busy mode this week for both Errol and I, and so it wasn’t until last night that we got to sit down with him and his kids to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who. Somehow despite the wait I managed not to be spoiled beforehand on this absolute gut wrench of an episode.
So…let’s talk about “Kill The Moon”. Oh yes, and this goes without saying, but spoilers ahead.
Manda’s Workout Diary #6
I swear I’m just numbering these arbitrarily now. That’s what a lazy mindset does to you. At any rate, here we are! A couple of weeks later! And still managing!
The Workout: Boot Camp and Jillian Michael’s Fat Burning Metabolic workout
Sadly, because my Groupon ended and I couldn’t afford even a discounted membership to the boot camp, my last boot camp class was last week. Read the rest of this entry
My Neighbour Errol- Pie
You know…despite what this blog might suggest, I have always considered my pal Errol a decent sort of person.
Yes, he has a love of teasing and pushing buttons. But that has always been in good fun and I have never, ever thought of him as an actual jerk.
Until last week. You see, Errol has deeply and maliciously wounded me. Read the rest of this entry
Manda’s Workout Diary #…5?…6?
Woah! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
That isn’t to say that I haven’t been working out. I have been. But it’s been rather sporadic with little results (other than the fact that I can run 5km now without dying, huzzah!).
BUT I want to start these little progress journals up again. Why? Well, I bit the bullet and decided to start up with a Boot Camp class. Boot Camp is hard. Which makes sense because why call it Boot Camp otherwise?
Yup.
So I figured why not document this arduous process so that all of you, the people, can get amusement from my pain? So here we go:
The Workout:
Boot Camp. It’s Boot Camp. So far I have done both an Interval/Metabolic workout and a Circuit workout. Both are intense. The interval workout is usually a warm-up, then twenty seconds of some excruciating exercise (I’m looking at you, jumping jack pushups!) followed by 7 seconds of wishing for death on repeat for about 45 minutes.
My desperation levels though about match this
The circuit training is another warm-up, then moving to different stations around the room like punching bag, chin-up station (surprisingly fun if not difficult), push-up station (blurgh), some weird weight thing you swing around and “The Ladder” (jumping in out and out of the rungs of a ladder) with a two minute break in the middle so you can wish for death.
The Fun Stuff:
I always like doing fake speed skating. And the chin-up station can be surprisingly fun…most of that is because you are hanging in a giant elastic band. Don’t ask me why, I love it. The punching bag is also one of my favourites. And I am slowly but teaching that bag who’s boss. One tiny punch at a time.
The Not So Fun Stuff:
I will always hate push-ups. Always. My weak little wrists can barely stand it. And anything with jumping. I am not the strongest jumper, so any movement that requires more than 6cm off the ground has me almost collapsing after ten seconds.
The Meal Plan Report:
I am also on a meal plan! Sadly, many of the meals on it are things that are either too pricey for me (weird ingredients) or require a blender. So I am making do as best I can and at the very least, I have changed my diet significantly. A lot more green veggies and fruit, a lot less rice and bread. And it’s made me very aware of what I consume, so that’s a plus! If I cheat, I try to limit it to once a week, figuring that it’s better to cheat a little bit every few days rather than binge when the agony gets to be too much.
Somebody in my office made Pop Tarts yesterday…POP TARTS…it was torture smelling them…I don’t even like pop tarts that much
Percent I want to Murder the Instructor:
Only 30%. Unlike Jillian Michaels, he’s not on a screen and so is a lot harder to hate. His name is Rob Gordy and he seems pretty groovy so far.
How Much My Body Hates Me:
A lot. I’d say about 85% of my body hates me. If it’s not the waves of nausea I’ll feel during the workouts themselves, it’s the sore muscles who are suddenly being made to work overtime. It doesn’t help that I haven’t quite figured out how much I should eat before a workout or WHEN I should eat it so I don’t feel like fainting. Most of the workouts take place over my normal dinner time so it’s been a tough go so far.
The Encouraging:
As much as it hurts the next day, the sore muscles always give me some satisfaction that it was a job well done. And it feels good to be able to say “I’m trying” rather than complain endlessly about how out of shape I am.
The Results so Far:
Sadly, I have only been to 3 sessions in the 12 days I’ve been a part of the program. This isn’t so much due to laziness as it is the fact that I got sick with a serious sinus cold about five days after I joined. My sinuses got hit really hard and have been trying to explode out of my head for the last week or so. Today is the first day that my face doesn’t feel like somebody shoved a dirty towel inside it.
Or a hedgehog
When I went last night, my body was clearly still recovering its energy from the week long battle with my sinus cavities and it was a pretty dismal affair.
Still it’s good to have someone who actually follows up with you and holds you accountable for your progress. Like the gym, most people don’t actually care what you look like in boot camp. They’re too concerned with themselves. Hopefully though it can only get better from here!
My Neighbour Errol: Kari
I have this friend named Kari.
Seen here in comic form!
I met Kari through Errol. Much like myself, it was a bit of a shock to be the subject of such enthusiasm from a complete stranger. And also much like myself, she was suddenly sucked into the vortex of Errol’s friendship. Read the rest of this entry
My Neighbour Errol: Ads
In this First World of ours, there are a few things which we know will never change. Milk will never go on sale. The PlayStation will always have better graphics but Nintendo will still kick its butt. And internet ads will always be a mildly annoying presence in our lives.
I am seriously sick of this one.
We know that to a degree, advertising is a necessary evil. People have got to get paid somehow. They need to get their product out there. Heck, it’s how most actors manage to survive in this world.
Even Meg Ryan
But that doesn’t stop us from sighing in exasperation when our Youtube videos are rudely interrupted by the same Cheerios ad for the twentieth time in ten minutes. Even the mildly funny ones lose their potency fairly quickly. Yes, it can be safely said that most people dislike internet ads.
My friend Errol abhors them.
Not just abhors them. You might as well be pulling his nails out.
No…not that kind…
The other day we were watching the latest episode of Doctor Who. There was the Doctor, spouting some whitty quip that would more than likely be quoted for years to come, when suddenly, BOOM, a Yellow Pages ad pops up.
Based on his reaction, this was the greatest betrayal in Errol’s life.
There was moaning.
even more than when he has a milkshake
There was wailing.
There was gnashing of teeth.
Keep in mind that this is Errol. The happiest man on earth.
If he doesn’t get to eat eggs, he might be a bit sad but then he’ll see a Totoro and be happy again.
Well, he would make anyone happy.
If a concert goes terribly? He smiles and shrugs it off.
Smugly
If some personal tragedy happens, he somehow finds a bright side and talks about how important it is to move on in life.
Like when he jumps out of a tree like an idiot
If a Youtube ad comes on, it’s the end of the world.
This is terrifying enough to post twice
If it has no option to “Skip” it, God help you.
Once I had decided to try and monetize our Youtube videos (you know, because I needed an extra 5 cents just in case).
Of course those of you with a channel of any sort know the deal with monetizing. It enables advertisements.
About three hours later I got a google chat from Errol.
Errol: There are ads! Why are there ads?!
Me: I thought we could monetize…
Errol: No! We can’t! Take them down!
Me: But they don’t actually play a video…it’s just a pop-up you can exit…
Errol: NO ADS! GET THEM DOWN NOW!
It remains to date the only time he’s ever been sincerely upset with me.
That, and when I made him film outside for 8 hours
I’m not sure what internet ads did to Errol. I assume they hurt his children somehow because “crazy protective parent” is about the only explanation for the Shakespearean rage that occurs every time they are on.
Or perhaps it’s simply that the repetitive, lengthy sequences have stripped away all patience and joy from the happiest brain on earth. That’s a feat.
Whatever the reason, watching television online has become a new sort of experience with me. I play a game now. It’s called “Can I guess when the ad will pop up and brace myself before Mount Errol erupts?”
The answer is almost always: No.
Thoughts from the Test Chamber 