whatcha talkin' aboot, eh?

So I'm being teased at work about my Canadian accent! It secretly pleases me to have an accent, though I pretend to be offended.

"What are you talking about? I don't have an accent!" I exclaim.

"HA HA HA!" the Americans crow, "'What are you talking aboot?'! HEE HEE...Say it again!! Say it again!!"

"No, I won't!"

"Say 'process'! Say 'schedule'!"

"NO NO NO!" I shriek, and go jump out the window.

Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating slightly.... ;-)

Did I ever mention that I once talked to a business associate (whom I had never met) who asked me if I was Irish?

"You sound a bit Irish," he said.

"You've never seen a picture of me on the Web, have you?" I asked, trying not to guffaw too loudly.

Though I guess even if he knew my last name, he might still get confused. O'Mallory. O'Toole. O'hi. :-)

Today's blatherpic: Tanya, Rand, and Paul making a fire on Center Island on 4th of July weekend.

cams and chickens

Hey, I'm giving a Book Chat tomorrow at 1 pm EST at the Xlibris site (Community section, you will have to do a one-time registration, location: The Library). If you're free for a few minutes then, please do drop by! I'm paranoid that no one's going to show up!

Jeff and I set up Kritter Cameras last night. I launch iVisit and pow, Jeff's picture is up in one corner of the screen, updating live. The motion's a bit jerky, but I can still see him talking, moving around, etc. I press my CTRL key and he can hear whatever I say (and vice versa). Or we could use the live chat window.

I made a roast chicken last night. I didn't know what size of chicken to get and only made the decision to have roast chicken whilst standing in the chilly fresh meat aisle, so grabbed a bird I figured was big enough to give me some leftovers as well. I bought an 8-lb chicken to feed one person. I didn't clue into the fact that it was waaaay too much until I decided to check a cookbook after I got back and found that a 2.5 lb chicken is enough to feed 2-3 people. Yikes.

Anyway, I now have enough leftovers to last me a while. Chicken pot pie...chicken stir fry...chicken sandwiches...chicken salad...

I let myself play The Sims for two hours this weekend. KK and Gomer from next door have become romantically involved, woohoo! He brings her chocolate when he comes to visit now.

As you may have noticed, I've revamped my Blatherings page. I'm also going to start archive the blatherpicture along with each blathering, in response to feedback from those who don't always check my blatherings every day and sometimes miss the pics. I've also moved the Blatherchat page over from the Inkspot server...if you notice any problems, please let me know.

clowns

Staying in Philadelphia this weekend to do prep for the writing workshops I'm giving at the Surrey Writers' Conference next month. I'm giving three workshops: e-publishing, online markets, and online promotion.

Hey, I'll also be at Toronto's Word on the Street with an Inkspot booth next weekend...if you're in the city, please drop by the booth and say hi! Amanda will be there, too!

Went to a live sketch comedy show called HAZMAT last night; a co-worker in my group was performing in it. Lots of fun. :-) I tried to take some no-flash digital pictures but they turned out a bit blurry.

Topic for today: CLOWNS.

Had an interesting conversation about clowns with some coworkers at lunch the other day (at a Philadelphia sushi restaurant I hadn't tried yet called "Kisso"). Do you find them scary or funny? I've always been in the "scary clown" camp myself, and have always been somewhat bewildered by their reputation. Clowns are SCARY! Just take a look at this website.

urban rebounding

Went to my first Urban Rebounding class at my health club early this morning. I was the only first-timer, so the instructor took a few minutes to show me the basic moves, which consisted mainly of jumping on a small trampoline in time to music. Sounded pretty straightforward.

"Hey, this is fun," I thought at the beginning of the class, bouncing around enthuasiastically on my personal trampoline. I want a trampoline at home!

About 10 minutes into the class: "Hey, I'm starting to get pretty tired". It took real focus to make sure I didn't bounce off the trampoline, and there was no break to catch one's breath.

20 minutes later: "Hey, I think I'm going to throw up!"

I wanted to stop, but the thought of being the only one to give up kept me going. Ah, the joys of self-imposed peer pressure. The others were probably feeling the same way. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

Finally, we were allowed to stop bouncing. Woohoo! The instructor congratulated me on getting through it. "I can't believe it's your first Urban Rebounding class!" She probably meant she was surprised that I didn't throw up, like most first-timers.

But then came weights and abdominal exercises. Weights were ok (though my arms are still a bit wobbly as I type this), but the abstuff finished me off. I lay there, quivering like a jellyfish, while the others dutifully went thru various tortuous crunches. "COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT!" the instructor yelled through her microphone, obviously meaning me. I would give a few half-hearted twitches and then collapse into jellyfish mode again.

Why, after all that suffering, am I drawn to attending this class again? It must be something in the Philadelphia water.

my book, gary, cottage visit

Hey, MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON NOW!!!! Check out this link. I got to see the cover for the first time. Apparently it's being featured in the current Writer's Digest brochure, but I haven't seen it yet. If any of you have an extra copy lying about, I would be immensely grateful if you could send it to me.

Gary Ehrlich came to visit my office yesterday! Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any time off work to hang out with him, but I gave him a quick tour of my half the cubicle and the rest of the office.

Went to the cottage with my sister and her family this past weekend. Lots of fun, though short. We still managed to get in a hike, swimming, fishing, sauna, bonfire and marshmallows, feeding chipmunks and birds, crafts. Sara got 42 mosquito bites on her legs on the hike. :-( I didn't get nearly as many good photos this time around...Sara's at the stage where she hates getting her picture taken, and will twist her face up whenever she sees a camera pointing her way. I have a lot of good grimace pictures. :-) Annie's still camera-ignorant, yay!

Had another harp lesson tonight. Sadly, I hadn't done much practising (I felt incredibly guilty) because I was in Toronto from Thursday through until Sunday night. Kim was immensely patient, however, and I still learned lots. It's a bit frustrating, tho...I understand what I need to do to improve, but my fingers haven't yet coordinated with what's in my head yet. :\

Looks like I'll be missing out on the Toronto Film Festival completely this time around. My friend Craig has a press pass this time. He got to interview Gwyneth Paltrow, and was interviewed by Roger Ebert!!