A New Career? Found this while randomly visiting Blogger blogs: http://job.yslive.com/main.html $45.00 US an hour and I only have to keep men chatting with me. I am nothing if not articulate and well read. And I have boobies....Sounds like easy money.

What a Tomata!

What a Tomata!

After over two weeks in the country, I came home to discover tomato plants that are taller than me. I've been enjoying one every day, and today it looks like two are ripe enough to eat. Salt, pepper, a little olive oil...my kind of cooking ;)

This Just In.... http://tinyurl.com/3ofsz (http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,64596,00.html) "Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet. At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net." picky, picky, picky...my god! i stopped using capital letters ages ago. i also think spelling is borgois...

You must be joking....

If I spread cat nip on the kitchen floor, how long will it take three cats to lick it clean?

The Birds and the Bees

Okay, I know it's a wasp... Hummingbirds actually sound like Jedi Knight light sabre swords when they swoop in for some nectar. They don't mind the occassional wasp, but they'll attack any other hummingbird that tries to share the feeder. They're small, but they're mean.

Punkin 'n' Me

What do you do on a rainy afternoon? You lie around on the floor with your cat and count the number of hairs on his neck.

Cats in the Country I've been at the cottage for a couple of days now. Today, it's quite cool, so I have a fire going and am happily reading Felicia's Journey by William Trevor. It's one of those books that you want to finish because you want to know how it ends--but, you don't want to finish because you're enjoying it so much. It's satisfying my love for a great story and my attraction to serial killers. I say no more; read it yourself. (I haven't seen the Egoyan adaption of the novel, but the review on IMDB indicates that it's strayed from the original focus of the story.) Accompanying me in the cottage are my three furry friends. I managed to attract them into the kitty carriers for the drive up here by using liberal amounts of cat nip. Rosie sat happily in her private carrier, quietly watching the mountains appear as we hurtled up the 15 north. Punkin and Nomar had to share a cage. Nomar insists that he'll never do that again, as Punkin had a rather stinky accident, from which Nomar could only escape an hour later. Rose-scented perfume did little to mask the smell coming from the back. All stayed in the cottage for the first day, but the call of the outdoors was too strong, and they've begun exploring the gardens around the cottage. I lure them back inside with a trail of kitty litter and we all fall asleep to the sound of nothing. Purrrrrrrrrr....

The End of an Era?   Finally recovered from my intense week at Humber. I can't remember the last time I managed to wake up joyfully for daily early morning appointments. Ninety participants ranging in age from 18 to 80 came to learn from published authors and fellow writers. Mornings were devoted to workshops and the afternoons to talks from the author participants (Edward Albee, Nino Ricci, Alistair MacLeod, to name a few) and various kinds of publlishers and agents. The latter had the tough job of painting both a rosy and realistic picture; your chances of being published are slim, but keep writing anyway!  I attended this workshop 72 hours after I was laid off from Softimage. After almost seven years in their employ, my position was eliminated, giving me the opportunity to truly dive into the week at Humber and be in the enviable position of actually having the time to flex some newly-honed creative writing muscle. Opportunity knocks in the strangest ways sometimes.

I've been at Humber for two days now. They've been filled with fun talks from literary agents, publishers and authors (notably Alastair MacLeod, who, among other things, compared writing to the the stuff of grocery store carts and suggested that you write the end of your story before you actually finish it).   Took the streetcar from the college, which is the in the southwestern part of Toronto and travelled all the way to the Kensington market and on to College street. If you thought St-Laurent was bad on a Saturday, you should trying wading through the corner Bathurst and College.  Had passable food and excellent ice cream.    The first two chapters of what I am far-too-hopefully calling a novel are being reviewed tomorrow. I pray that the few pages I've submitted don't suck.

Cocktails with Edward Albee Next week I'll be attending a week-long workshop at Humber College. In attendence will be Edward Albee, Guy Vanderhaghe, D.M. Thomas, and a host of other published writers. My mentor will be Wayson Choy. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. After getting really encouraging feedback on some of my short stories, I'm hoping that this workshop will help me focus on my current writing project, a novel about a girl and her time-travel machine. I'm hoping to capture some pictures for posterity, which I will post, time and wireless connections willing.