hallowe'en report

So Jeff and I went trick-or-treating with Sara and Annie last night. Sara was Sarah from Sarah, Plain and Tall, a book by Patricia MacLachlan, and Annie was Arwen as portrayed in the Fellowship of the Ring movie (she has on her "If you want him, come and claim him" expression in the photo above, taken by my dad). Note that Annie even has the scar that Arwen suffered as she fled the Dark Riders on the way to Rivendell!

Here's a photo of Jeff with Sara and Annie during trick or treating:





Jeff's holding Annie's umbrella. What a cool umbrella; I want one like that!

Ruth and Kaarel had tons of extra chocolate bars left over, but I said I didn't want any (because I KNOW I'll eat them!). While Jeff and I were upstairs with the girls doing their bedtime reading, both Ruth and Kaarel hid treats in our coat pockets, bags, anywhere else they could stuff them in.

When we got home, Jeff and I emptied everything out. Here's how much loot we ended up with:





I told Jeff to eat as much of it as he could before I get home from OVFF next week.

NaNoWriMo starts today, woohoo! I'll be posting some NaNoWriMo updates in my Blatherings from time to time, but the gory details will be posted in this Livejournal (thanks to Threnody for the Livejournal code). I figure that even after NaNoWriMo's over, it will be handy having the Livejournal id so I don't have to post as "Anonymous" when adding comments to my filker-friends' Livejournals anymore.

Leaving for OVFF today, but I'm not sure how much posting I'll be doing until I get back. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Links/Updates:

One year ago, I got a letter from the Weta Digital team in New Zealand.

Two years ago, I went to Pagoda with some from Xlibris, wrote about OVFF.

Three years ago, I loved my new Puzzlebox CD.

last run

So I've given up trying to run outside until the spring. I had fantasies (see my illustration above) of being one of those avid runners who runs outside in all seasons, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I used to have a bit of asthma, and I've found it comes back when I run in cold air. Rather than go back on inhalers, I think I'm going to stick to treadmill running until it gets warm again.

Unfortunately in Toronto, this means probably not for another five or six months. :-( Sometimes I do envy you Californians! Canadian winters last waaaaaaaay too long.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. So does OVFF. Instead of trying to keep up with my Blatherings over the weekend, I'm going to be writing my NaNoWriMo novel, so it's unlikely I'll be posting much (if anything) until sometime next week.

Going trick-or-treating with Annie and Sara tonight!

Links/News:

One year ago, I started my first official day as a freelancer since Inkspot was shut down, and I posted a thank you to concoms.

Two years ago, Dave Clement, Tom and Talis sang the Hockey Monkey song at me over the phone.

Five years ago, Jeff was featured in the Oct/Nov issue of Profit magazine.

butterfly fiasco

Went to see Tuck Everlasting last night with Jeff, Kristen, Christine and Christine's sister Jen. I thought the film was okay but not great, more like a made-for-tv movie or an after-school special, not nearly as good as the book. Had some nice music, and I liked Sissy Spacek.

The photo at the top of today's Blatherings was taken last week. The cocoon appeared one day on the corner, with no explanation. A few days later, it "turned" into a butterfly:





Note the lurking feet behind the Roy Thompson Hall sign. As soon as anyone got near the butterfly, one of two marketing people ran out and gave them MSN fridge magnets. I took one out of curiosity.

"It's better with the butterfly," the guy told me with a grin as he handed me my magnet.

Dear lord.

Is that what marketing/PR has come to? Who CARES what the product is actually for? What happened to the days when companies tried to lure in customers by promising them (gasp) a good quality product and reliable service instead of relying on gimmicky (and IMHO, somewhat arrogant) promotion of the marketing logo itself?

Links/News:

See 20 minutes' worth of clips from the Harry Potter movie here (15 scenes).

While doing my daily surf for publishing news, I came across this story entitled "Microsoft butterfly promotion doesn't fly in New York. It was only after reading the story that I realized that MSN is promoting a new Internet service.

Yay, the Internet Registry of Canada is being charged for fraud. The company had been mailing out official-looking "renewal" notices to anyone whose domain notices had been about to expire.

One year ago, I was going home from OVFF. Lots of photos in this entry, including one of a United Airlines security guy wearing plastic gloves while going through my carry-on luggage post 9/11, including checking the lining.

Two years ago, I posted that year's OVFF report with photos.

Five years ago, I was being interviewed by the Winnipeg Free Press about Inkspot as well as looking forward to Scott Snyder's CD release party.

NaNoWriMo/OVFF prep

Hey, Allison has a brand new spankin' online journal! Do check it out.

Today's artwork was provided by my 5-year-old niece Annie. The picture at the top is a drawing of Sara, and one below is a self-portrait. The clothing and hair is accurate to life (Ruth says it's what the girls were wearing that day).

You'll all be relieved to hear that my Blatherings will probably start getting shorter for the next while as I frantically finish NaNoWriMo prep, some other writing projects due this week, and prep for OVFF on the weekend. Looks like I'll be performing in Andrea's & Graham's concert, the Pegasus Awards concert (helping Daniel & Melissa Glasser perform Dark Man and The Lady), and recording stuff for Andrea's upcoming CD. Sadly, neither Allison nor Jodi will be attending OVFF this year. :-(

For those of you who have been tempted by the idea of writing a 50,000 novel in thirty days (I know you're out there) in NaNoWriMo, it's not too late! Sign-up is free, there's no obligation, and you can back out anytime. You don't even have to idiotically put your neck out on the line and tell everyone about your commitment, like I'm doing.

Plus I just got my first NaNoWriMo newsletter, and it looks like they're offering free NaNoWriMo stickers and pencils to all participants (and if that isn't incentive enough to write a novel in a month, what is?). The site will also be offering an optional escalating word count tally and novel excerpt post for those who want to make their efforts public. I plan to post my word count tally but not excerpts.

The NaNoWriMo site added a message board this year, where you can get advice from old pros, find out better ways to procrastinate, get recommendations for good background music, etc. Lots of entertaining reading, though one of the earliest pieces of advice from experienced types was "Don't spend so much time reading the message board!" There's also a private messaging facility which I've been using to contact people I want to interview for my NaNoWriMo article. I've also been getting some private messages from people who recognize my name from other online projects, like the following:

Does this mean no more "Waiting for Frodo" in November? :-)


One of the things that appealed to me about this insane worldwide project is the tongue-in-cheek writing by the creator throughout the site. Here's an excerpt from a little last-minute pep speech on the main page:


Ok, now get back to your sweet, succulent, novel-free lifestyles. Spend time with loved ones! Gaze emptily at walls and park benches! Share a final Pabst with your buddies at the dive bar! Go dancing! Prank call your boss! Build a hobo encampment in your backyard! Buy a monkey and teach it to kickbox!


:-)

Check out NaNoWriMo at www.nanowrimo.org.





Links/News:

One year ago, I talked about buffet strategies.

Five years ago, I updated the short-lived Urban Tapestry comic (sorry, no longer online).

poll: trick-or-treating

Worked yesterday morning, then had lunch/brunch with Jeff, Parki, Lindsay and Wendy. Lindsay, Wendy and I went to Parki's afterward to sample some a chocolate Sacher-Torte that a friend had brought him from Vienna, drank tea, chatted. Okay, so my sample was somewhat bigger than the others. Parki loaned me a honking huge PHP Programming manual (Wrox).

I had planned to indulge in a decadent Sunday afternoon nap when I got back, but ended up writing instead.





Jeff and I are going trick-or-treating with Sara and Annie this Thursday night. Sara is going as Sarah from Sarah, Plain and Tall, a children's novel by Patricia MacLachlan that she read a while back and really enjoyed. Annie is going to be Arwen from the movie version of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Remember trick-or-treating strategy when you were a kid? How disappointing it was to get an apple instead of candy? How houses that gave out chocolate bars instead of the orange-and-black wrapped tooth-loosening candy were way more popular? When people put pennies into Unicef boxes?

The picture below is of me at age 4, about to go out trick-or-treating dressed up as Snow White. My mom sewed my costume. I'm not sure exactly why Ruth is wearing that scarf. Whatever the reason, it looks pretty pitiful that I'm sitting there in my cool Snow White costume while my little sister probably thinks she has a cool costume, too, even though it's just a scarf around her head. I look reprehensibly smug about it, too.

Poll: Are you doing anything kid-related on Hallowe'en?

Handing out candies? If so, what kind? Are you taking your kid(s) out trick-or-treating? What are they dressed up as? Are you going to any Hallowe'en parties in costume? If so, what costume?

Answer in Blatherchat

Links/News:

I've updated Waiting For Frodo today and yesterday.

One year ago, I posted my OVFF report.

Three years ago, Allison, Jodi and I were practising before leaving for OVFF.

Five years ago, Jeff and I went to a U2 concert but left partway through.

Today's Blatherpics:

	Parki and Lindsay and Wendy on Parki's couch. I told them not to smile, to make the photo look like a album cover. I asked them what they wanted to call themselves. Their answer: "Sphincter-hosen".
	Another couch shot.
	Ruth and me in 1966. Ruth looks darned cute, don't you think?