I have been a little quiet for the past few days and must needs pick myself up and continue on, but not before sharing with you a little about why. One of my dearest friends, Calvin Siems, passed away peacefully on Friday evening. He was young but had lived a wonderful and full life, and had made so many people happy.

I am still in a state of disbelief - not overtly, though. I have never lost a close friend before, and so it was an entirely new experience. Calvin meant an awful lot to me and we had some wonderful times together.

I met Calvin the first time I travelled to Canada, and we performed together in the Wildfire Dance Theatre, based out of Stratford, ON. I have so many stories about Calvin, all of which show his kindness, his deep and profound desire to help others, and his incredible sense of humour. It was Calvin who introduced me to the humour of Eddie Izzard, who supported me when I needed it the most and who showed me so much about living life honestly and with purpose.

I am now ready to push on. Thank you all for your support, and please do send your thoughts and prayers to Calvin's family.

Oh, and one last thing. One of my favourite Calvinisms: adding 'superfluous/so many layers of ___ " to a sentence. Like, "I am so many layers of ridiculous right now", or "That's superfluous layers of awesome!". Grammatical rules go straight out the window in true Calvin style. You should try it sometime!