Today was spent catching up on reviews, and researching my new assignment for late June. It will be a very exciting summer review-wise.
My garden has doubled in size over the weekend. If you don’t hear from me, I was eaten by mutant cucumbers.
Tomorrow may be a productivity neutral day. Might be good for business, may also be encouraged to resume work on my d&d campaign, which has fallen low on my priorities list.
This weekend my boyfriend and I had hoped to make a bunch of fake blood, soak ourselves in it and make book covers. Sadly, the rain would have made it rough to do our favorite idea with his good camera, so that’s on hold. I need to come up with more excuses to drench myself in fake blood. (No, not writing vampire stories. I’ve read Dracula and some old book by Christopher Pike, which is about as far as my interest in the subject goes.)
I received an excellent critique on Friday. I’m supposed to get a few more back Monday, and I’m excited to get to work straightening things out and polishing off my draft. It’s been a busy few days so my interesting work productivity has been low. I find I don’t take criticism personally. I’m only human, and after staring at the same piece for so long I’m bound to miss a lot of things, in addition to never having written fiction before. I really appreciate all the support my friends and family have been giving me, they’re very literate people and I’m lucky to have their help and patience. You guys rock. Especially you, Mom and anonymously-obsessed-boyfriend.
Friday night I went to review the punk bands Dead and Divine and The Architects UK. The review is live on Orcasound. Thanks again to my awesome boyfriend/cameraman for getting pictures for me. I’ve been trying to convince him to get a blog of his own, so many amazing shots go unused and it’s a real shame. I’ve been tossing around the idea of writing a “What I really think while reviewing Punk Shows” blog entry, but it just might get me lynched.
The more interesting part of the evening was when I was approached by the manager of Calgary band Fall City Fall and was requested to do an interview. This was my first solo interview, and it went very well. I was impressed by their thoughtfulness and very insightful answers. I’ll post a link to it once I have the audio and transcribe it. It was such a cool experience. I’ve assisted/sat in on interviews before, but this time I was asking the questions. Maybe someday, somebody will be asking me the questions. That’s a scary thought.
Rain is nasty, I have a bunch of plants to go into the garden and now it’s supposed to drop to 9C tomorrow. I guess they’re coming in for the night. I don’t want my tomato, cucumber and super chili plants getting chilled and dying. I need my sunny day outdoor ambiance.
A new week is coming, and I’m going to rock it. Maybe I’ll even have time for some yoga.
I got a bunch of plants into the garden. Funny how simple planting can be, compared to the rest of life. It feels pretty good. Next weekend will be tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. I should start a gardening and cooking blog.
Lots of work today. I sent in my first proposal for my writing internship. I have yet to hear back, I’m hoping for good things.The also sent something my way, so I need to get in touch with somebody. More theater! I have a film review and a concert review coming up as well, I will post links as soon as they’re live, of course.
I managed to build two computers over the weekend. My older computer has become a linux machine for my eternal linux hobby and fascination. I already had my laptop for that, but you can’t beat the charm of a desktop. I just want to know what the hell Ubuntu was thinking with its new user interface. It’s clunky, awful and inspiring me to switch to Fedora or SUSE. I always did like the Red Hat flavours, back in the day.
The new computer is pretty great. I resent Windows 7 for existing, but in the end the switch is probably good for me. My old Vista build was unstable. But I need to spend a lot more time neutering Win7 into something I can stand to look at. I do most of my creative writing in linux. I find the positive feelings I have towards the open source movement to be inspiring, and it feels cool to say I work in OpenOffice or (now) LibreOffice.
I was born to be a rebel. And I need to finish my damn draft before my revolution grinds to a halt.
More geek news, I have an AOC Android tablet courtesy of my darling boyfriend. I love my toys, and this one is utterly fascinating. I’ve never been able to indulge my technological lust this much before, and he can get the coolest toys.
In other news, I beat Portal 2 after making it last. I can’t believe how it ended. I still question my sanity.
I expanded my garden today, in anticipation of planting in the upcoming weeks. I wanted my plants to be less cramped, preferably with spelunking not being a harvesting skill.
Later on, I noticed a spike in creativity, to the point where I solved a major issue with one of my writing ideas. It seemed so trivial, as I was showering and the thought struck me.
I just might sit down and start editing tomorrow, providing I can get this project done.
This one is easy. Plan a surprise roadtrip, show up and watch the Blue Jays game with her.
Bonus: The look on Mom’s face when you interrupt her own visit by accident.
Grandma’s garden is already gorgeous, and it hasn’t even begun yet. Small mayflowers dotted the beds, each so tiny but so detailed. A big woodpecker made some very awesome holes in a nearby tree. I love the country.
We also took a long walk with my mom up around some of my old haunts. It was sad to see my dad’s old house again. The new owners really neglect it. The two-story shed/garage where I made my fort seems to be on the verge of collapse, the brickwork is crumbling on the house and they’ve let the raised vegetable gardens that my dad had built for my brother and I utterly decay, or demolished them completely. The balcony is sloughing off the front of the place.
Then went back and hung out with mom and the stepdad for a bit before packing it in for the four hour drive home.
Going back home is nice, but there are some things that should just be left alone.
Thea Gregory's Zombie Bedtime Stories 