queenvisit

So the Queen's hangin' out in my neighbourhood today.

I hadn't realized that she and the Duke of Edinburgh were in Toronto until I saw barriers being set up along our street and Jeff told me she arrived yesterday. Here's a Toronto Star article about her. My goal for today is to see the Queen. Heck, it'll probably be the only chance I get to see her anywhere, let alone Toronto. I told Allison and Jodi that I was opting out of Urban Tapestry practice tonight (not that we have anything urgent to practise for, since our next gig isn't until next March at Ad Astra ... more often these days we go out for dinner and/or see a movie).

Apparently the Duke will be attending an awards ceremony at the Metro Convention Centre this morning. Both he and the Queen will attend some event at the CBC (whose building I can see from my office window) in the early evening, then attending a "gala performance" at Roy Thompson Hall, which is right across the street from where I live.

Why do I want to see her? Because I'm curious.

I know most of you are cynical about the Royal-types, and I don't blame you. I'm still not sure exactly what she does for Canada other than give us one more thing to argue about.

But what a life she must have. I say that with pity, not envy. I mean, take a look at her official schedule for today. Every minute of her life, or at least her visit here, is precisely marked out for her. No "Hey, I think I'll duck out for a minute and go for a walk along the lakeshore and watch the birds" or "Y'know, I feel like seeing that new Lucy Liu movie tonight." I think I'd go nuts.

Speaking of royal scheduling, I'm baffled by the following bit, which is listed under 12:15 pm at Sheridan College:


In the Centre, The Queen is met by the Journalism New Media Program Coordinator, Ms. Sherine Mansour.

The Queen observes the linking of the Sheridan College Web site with the Canadian Heritage Royal Visit Website.

The Queen exits the control room, re-enters the Media Centre and observes students using the newly created link.


Gimme a break. They're making the Queen watch someone make an HTML change? And then someone CLICKING A LINK on a Web site?

No wonder she rarely comes to visit.

Poll (especially for the Brits):

What do you think of the Queen? Do you respect her? Envy her? Despise her? Pity her? Ignore her? No political tirades, please.

Links/news:

Did you know that the Queen has her own official Web page?

One year ago, I had an editorial rant.

Two years ago, Annie was nervous about Thanksgiving.

Five years ago, I posted a horrible-looking ascii turkey.

NaNoWriMo

So call me stark raving mad, but I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo), an annual challenge to write 50,000 words in November. Yes, I know I'm still working on another novel, but this will be even more incentive for me to finally finish revising my current novel before the end of October. There are no prizes, no promises of publication, authors keep all rights, no entry fees (though a $10 donation is encouraged), not even an obligation to post your entry unless you want to. The main incentive is just to see if you can do it or not.

Yes, I'm sure 50,000 words written in a month won't be particularly well-written, but then I figure I can revise and edit it to death after it's done. 50,000 is short for an adult novel, but a pretty good size for a young adult novel. I might also make my novel consist of a bunch of shorter sections, each of which I could turn into a chapter book for younger readers. I have too many ideas; it's a matter of choosing between them.

The creator of the NanoWriMo stresses that the winning strategy is "quantity, not quality". :-) 50,000 words in a month means I have to write an average of 1,666 words a day. For my fiction novel writing, I find I generally can write about 800-1200 words on a good day (I can write non-fiction more quickly). Heck, I usually write 600-800 words every day in my Blatherings. However, when I was under deadline pressure while co-writing the fantasy short story with Michelle, I found I could churn out 1500-2000 words a day. It made me realize how much more productive I can be under deadline pressure.

Can I write 50,000 words in a month? I'm looking forward to finding out.

Anyone else out there going to sign up for National Novel Writing Month, too?

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Movable Type has a new release available, woohoo! I downloaded and installed it immediately, of course. One of the cool new features is the search function. I was using Picosearch, which is great but will only index up to 1500 pages for free. This is fine for most personal sites, I know. In fact, if you're at ALL interested in making your site searchable, you should take a look at Picosearch. It's really easy to implement (you don't have to be a techie). I told Moira Allen about it a while back and she put it on Writing World with no problems.

Over my five years of online journalling, however, I've accumulated nearly 1500 entries, and anticipated running into my indexing limit sometime next year; the cheapest pricing Picosearch option is US$250/year, so I was wondering what else I could use. Now that Movable Type has integrated a search function, I don't have to worry anymore.

The search function looks pretty flexible. I've only implemented the simplest version so far, and am experimenting with the different options, and also plan to modify the search results template.

By the way, I have to say that I'm super-pleased with Movable Type so far, and it keeps getting better. The most recent version of MT had 85 changes or additions, making it clear that the authors are constantly improving the software and listening to user suggestions. And it's free! (a $20 donation is encouraged)

I rarely have to rebuild my site (one of my initial complaints about MT), and when I do, it takes less than a minute. The MT authors encourage outside users to contribute comments and additions, so there are also plenty of plug-ins available. I decided to implement the word count plug-in when I upgraded, just out of idle curiosity to see how many words I write for my Blatherings.

I'm highly intrigued by the TrackBack development, which encourages linking and interaction between different blogs. I might implement that option as well.

So little time, so much to experiment with!

Speaking of experimentation, I've started to add things to my CafePress store. I don't expect to ever get rich off this (I get about a dollar for every t-shirt purchased), but it's fun to be able to put some of my cartoons on t-shirts and other stuff. Some Waiting For Frodo fans recently wrote and asked if I could put one of their favourite strips on a t-shirt, so I obliged.

Links/News:

One year ago, I took nature pics at the cottage during Thanksgiving weekend.

Four years ago, Allison and Jodi took me to be tortured.

Five years ago, I saw The Full Monty.

Do you sneer at children's books? Perhaps these Fairy Tales For The Erudite are for you (or your genius children).

Blatherphoto:

I took this picture of a reflective mirror (I'm in the bottom left corner) while waiting for Jeff, who was in the changeroom, in the Men's Clothing department in the Bay a few days ago.

poll: poetry

For the longest time, the impression I had of poetry came from one tortuous day in high school when our English class spent an entire day (maybe it was more than one day) studying The Red Wheelbarrow, an 8-line poem by William Carlos Williams. We were forced to laboriously dissect, analyze, masticate and regurgitate each line in so many different contexts that by the end of the project I hated red wheelbarrows and modern poetry with equal amounts of passion.

The only reason I never gave up on poetry completely was I Am A Sensation, a school textbook poetry collection that I actually liked. One poem I especially enjoyed was about a little boy whose teachers didn't like his imaginative use of colour in his drawings (I can't recall the name of the poem...do any of you remember this?).

It's only been within the past few years that I've started reading poetry again. This is due in large part to my friend Rand (who has edited several poetry collections and is a poet himself). Our initial e-mail conversation on the topic went something like this:

ME: I hate poetry.

RAND: You might like some poetry out there.

ME: No way. Poetry's dumb and pretentious.

RAND: Well, what about this poem? (includes text of short poem)

ME: Hm. I actually like that.

RAND: How about this one?

ME (suspiciously): I like that one, too. Are you sure this is poetry?

etc.

I still don't like a lot of poetry, especially the type that is obviously meant never to be understood. I'm sure Real Poets would consider me unsophisticated in my tastes. But from time to time I come across a poem which captures an image or emotion or experience perfectly, at least for me. Some poems make me cry. I sent one related to parenthood to Ruth, and it made her weepy, too. It was called For My Daughter In Reply To A Question, and you can find it on this page about the poet David Ignatow (halfway down the page). If you like it, be sure to check out some of Ignatow's other poems from the links at the bottom of the page.

Even though I know I'll never be a poet, poetry is helping me become a better writer. I've become much more conscious of the sound of words, as well as the value of taking the time to pare down to the essentials rather than ramble on for a hundred extra words that say exactly the same thing just because I can.

But I still don't like red wheelbarrows.

Poll: Do you ever read poetry?

Do you enjoy poetry? Do you have any favourite poets? Do you own any poetry books? Do you prefer modern or traditional poetry? Do you write poetry? (and if so, do you show it to anyone?) Do you own a Fridge Magnet poetry set? If so, what is on your fridge RIGHT NOW? To you songwriters out there: are you conscious of the poetry in your lyrics?

Links/News:

Here's a Toronto Star story about Sunday's Run For The Cure. Apparently 26,000 runners participated in the Toronto event, and raised $2.5 million dollars for breast cancer research.

One year ago, our cottage was invaded by ladybugs.

Three years ago, Luisa and I went looking for Patrick Stewart.

Five years ago, I conspired against Allison and Jodi. With help from several of you out there, I might add. :-)

cibc run for the cure

The photos on today's page were taken at the CIBC Run For The Cure yesterday morning. Click on the photo above to see a bigger version.

Jeff and I were both blown away by how many people there were at the event. I'll be curious to hear the numbers for this year's event; last year, over 115,000 people participated across Canada. The weather yesterday was perfect: sunny, clear, cool but not cold.





Our registration kits came with an optional "I'M RUNNING FOR..." sign to pin to our t-shirts. I was moved by how many of these had been filled in with the names of friends and relatives, and nearly started outright bawling when I saw the name tags on one family waiting near us before the race began: a man and his two young daughters. Under "I'm running for...", the father had written "MY WIFE", while his daughters had each written "MOMMY" in their own handwriting. The girls were about Sara's and Annie's age.





After the race officially began, it was about ten minutes before the crowd thinned out enough for Jeff and I to actually start running, and by then it was obvious that more than half the crowd were planning to walk, not run. Some athletic parents were running with jogger-type strollers. One super-mom was pushing a stroller with THREE children in it!

Some of the crowd did the 1k; Jeff and I opted for the 5k route. We were entertained along the way by steel drum bands, fire engines wailing their sirens and flashing lights, the Lady Godiva engineering band (I think that's what they're called) from the University of Toronto, scantily clad cheerleaders, other musical and visual diversions. Actor Jon Voigt cheered on the walkers and runners at the corner of University and Bloor.

I have no idea who won the race or what place Jeff and I came in. Neither of us really cared. It just felt wonderful to be participating, especially on such a gorgeous day and with so many others who were out to support a good cause.

Thanks again to Robin Scanlon, JeffB, Rand, Parki, Ruth and Kaarel, Andy and Christine, my Jeff, Luisa and Reid, and Allison for sponsoring me in this event. And thanks to my pals in Cornucopia for helping calm my pre-run jitters. :-)





Links/News:

Three years ago, I was going through Compuserve hell.

Four years ago, Allison and Jodi took me on an ear-piercing expedition.

Five years ago, I was puzzling over the spelling of "Hallowe'en" vs "Halloween".

chances

Happy anniversary to Ruth and Kaarel! They've been married 11 years.

Jeff and I are both participating in the CIBC Run For the Cure today. THANK YOU so much to Robin Scanlon, JeffB, Rand, Parki, Ruth and Kaarel, Andy and Christine, my Jeff, Luisa and Reid, and Allison for sponsoring me. With your help, I raised $335 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.





Last night, Jeff and I went out with his dad and a man who had served with the Israeli Army Intelligence for several years. He told us about growing up in Israel, where children were routinely taught not to pick up pens off the ground or drive their bikes across pieces of cardboard on the street in case they contained bombs.

And as I listened, I became aware of how often I take the relative comfort, safety and freedom in my little corner of the world for granted, and how lucky I have been in my life.





Good news re: our recording project. Both Julia Ecklar and Susan Cooper have given their permission to include "The Dark Is Rising" on our CD, yay! Looks like we're going to have 13 tracks, and Beckett Gladney is doing the cover. Our release date is still set for Worldcon 2003 (Labour Day weekend).

Links/News:

Today's the last day of Allison's and Jodi's Virtual Birthday Party!

Three years ago, I was planning to move into the new Inkspot office.

Five years ago, someone used our credit card number to buy $15,000 worth of pizza (ten separate charges of $1500 each). I still think this was unbelieveably stupid of the thieves. Didn't they think the people at Visa would notice this unusual activity?! Before they told us what had happened, Visa called Jeff and asked, among other questions, if we had bought any pizza lately. He said no. They ended up catching and prosecuting the thieves.

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Gaming dice. I took this photo on Friday night when Jeff and I were at Vartan's and Hrach's place. Jeff gamed, and I updated my online comic strips and Cafe Press store.
	A pretty disturbing mannequin display in The Bay department store downtown. Yes, this mannequin is missing the top half of its body.
	I was looking out my office window early yesterday morning and saw this scene, figured it was some kind of memorial to a policeman who had been killed. When Jeff woke up, I told him about it. He peered out the window (the memorial had been going on for a couple hours) and he commented that the police cars weren't Toronto police. Duh! Someone was shooting a movie. :-)