elance

Saw A Beautiful Mind with Parki, Jeff, and my dad-in-law at the Paramount last night. Quite liked it, and feel compelled to read the book...I had no idea it was based on a true story. It was my first time outside in a few days. :-) I sat near the end of the row because I still have a cough.

Having fun with my Market Watch column on WritersMarket.com. If anything, I have to forcibly stop myself from working on it after an hour or so each day. I've started to get e-mails from people I met through Inkspot congratulating me on the column and saying, "Hey, you're back online! What are you doing these days?"

I'm letting everyone know that I'm always looking for freelance writing work, of course. :-)

I'm finding there's a lot of decision-making involved in looking for new assignments, juggling my time between looking for top-paying markets, lower-paying but good for accumulating clips and contacts, and doing the market research itself. So far I've been good about always devoting some solid time to my children's novel every day, as well.

I've also been intrigued by auction sites like eLance, but am hesitant if the pay-off will be worth the registration fee. eLance is sort of the opposite of eBay, where clients post information about what type of job they need done (in the writing section, this could be a resume, text for a Web site, a book, whatever), and then freelance writers bid to get the job. Instead of bids gradually increasing, they gradually decrease.

Going to Metro Reference Library to do some market research and work on my novel, so will be offline most of today.

Today's Blatherpics:

- My dad took this picture with his new digital camera.

Today's Poll:

Do you usually remember your dreams?

babies & movies

Congratulations to Talis Kimberly and Simon Fairbourn, who are proud parents of a new daughter:

Philippa Freya Zo|AMP|euml; Fairbourn
Born yesterday morning at 05:44, weighing in at 7lbs 7oz

Thanks to Andrea for posting the news in Blatherchat.

While Ruth and Kaarel saw Lord of the Rings (Ruth's 3rd time, Kaarel's 2nd) and Jeff took Sara and Annie to see Jimmy Neutron at the Paramount yesterday, I stayed at home and slept. I did a lot of sleeping on the weekend, so haven't got a particularly exciting weekend report.

I did catch part of G.I. Jane on tv, which I watched mainly to see the actor who played Aragorn in LOTR. His character in G.I. Jane was somewhat despicable in the movie, so any drooling Aragorn fans out there might think twice before seeing it. :-) Also saw part of Goldeneye, which I watched mainly to see Sean Bean, the actor who played Boromir in LOTR. Wasn't nearly as appealing in the James Bond flick.



LOTR is doing really well at the box office, according to Reuters. As of Friday, the movie had grossed $350 million since its opening. Meanwhile Harry Potter passed $800 million worldwide on the weekend, setting a new record Warner Bros Pictures in North America. I anticipate a lot of bad copycat fantasy movies coming out over the next few years...I'll likely go see them all, no matter how abysmal the trailers. :-)

My dad is reading Lord of the Rings as a result of seeing (and liking) the movie. Except he's skipped ahead and is reading the last book in the trilogy FIRST, argh! He says he wants to find out what happened at the end before reading the entire trilogy (he also bought The Hobbit).

As a writer who thinks carefully about plot and building suspense and so forth, this makes me want to tear my hair out, of course. But then again I know of several friends (one of whom is a professional writer) who make it a regular habit of skipping ahead to the end before reading the entire book. Who am I to dictate other's reading habits? :-)



I'm bad at enduring suspense in the movie theatre. I cringe, I gasp, I sink down in my seat and hide behind my hands. I also sometimes grab the arm of the person next to me. Jeff claims I've drawn blood. Some of my friends won't sit beside me in theatres anymore.

What about you? Do you let yourself be emotionally manipulated by movies? (Do you even enjoy it sometimes, like I do? :-)) Feel free to answer in Blatherchat.



Today's Blatherpics:

The first three photos were taken in a grocery store in Chesapeake, Virginia, when I was visiting Moira Allen. The first photo is apparently some kind of flavouring that you insert into a chicken's back end before cooking (hence the name "Brew Butt").

One of the photos is of a whole cheeseburger in the frozen foods section. I know you Americans are probably used to this sort of thing (I recall seeing something similar when I lived in Philly), but I've never seen a Toronto grocery store offering an entire burger (with the bread, trimmings, etc.) you could just stick in the microwave. I'd be curious to hear from any of you who have actually tried this.

The last photo is of the Get Well card that my niece Annie made me yesterday. :-)

Today's Poll:

Have you ever skipped ahead to read the end of an engrossing book because you couldn't stand the suspense?

fever dreams

My spam-of-the-day was an e-mail with the subject header: "I AM YOUR SLAVE (FREE)" from someone I don't know. I delete obvious spams without opening the messages. Over the past years, I've gone through several stages with my attitude towards e-mail spam. First irritation. Then (as my spam volume increased) outrage and dogged attempts to report the spammers, get my e-mail address taken off lists. I'd spend hours working on elaborate filter systems which never really worked. Now I'm back to mild irritation again and find that in the long run, it's just easier to delete spam as soon as it comes in.

Still sick, had a fever yesterday. This cold has gotten me a bit down since it's lasted so long. I'm at the stage where every time I cough, it feels like someone's kicking me in the chest with cleat boots. I spent most of yesterday sleeping. Brief moments of Nyquil-hazed consciousness were spent playing my harp or reading (I just finished Gael Baudino's Strands of Starlight).

Did I mention that I love my harp? I've had Gwyneth Paltrow for about a year and a half now. One of her strings seems to have gone dead. I've asked the people on Harplist for advice; most advise me to just go ahead and change the string. Some say they change their strings on an annual basis; others say they just change them when they break (or go dead).



Today's photos are more from my "family photo CD" project. At first I had figured that these photos were taken when my mother left Japan to come to Canada to marry my Dad. But Dad says that Mom came here on a Vicount turboprop plane via Alaska, with one stop in the Aleutian Islands for refuelling (and Mom had always told me that she first met Dad in the airport).

Neither of us can figure out what was happening in these photos, especially since another photo in the group was obviously taken from the ship, looking down at friends or family waving good-bye. Maybe these photos were taken by one of my mother's friends and sent to her later. Curious about the ship name "Orsova" in one of the pictures, I did some research on the Web. According to this page of P&O post-war liners, the Orsovo was an Orient lines trans-pacific liner making crossings between Sydney & Vancouver & then onto San Francisco. "She then became part of the merged Peninsular & Oriental shipping line and continued in service until†1974 upon which she was broken up."

More than anything, going through these old family albums is a fascinating experience, each page of photos heavy with untold stories.

Today's Poll:

Have you ever gotten seasick?

gilligan & infomercials

Still trying to get rid of this cold. Woke up early this morning with a coughing fit and with more of a stomped-on-head feeling than usual, couldn't get back to sleep. Trying not to wake Jeff up, I slipped out of bed and made myself a drink with hot water, lemon slice, and a squirt of Billy Bee honey.

Then curled up on the couch to see what was on the tube. Saw the end of a Battlestar Galactica episode guest starring Fred Astaire (!?) as well as a frighteningly large number of fitness-related infomercials. One infomercial was pushing WALKING as the greatest way to lose weight, and offered a special video of walking exercises you could do at home, walking in place while watching the video. The spokesperson actually said, "Why GO OUTSIDE when you can walk AT HOME?" The video was ONLY $100.

Another infomercial offered video guitar lessons, guaranteeing that you could be playing like a rock star in no time. Eight video lessons PLUS a Fender guitar strap PLUS (get this) ** FOUR FENDER GUITAR PICKS **, all for just $40. The special shot of the four guitar picks almost made me laugh out loud (but I didn't in case that triggered another coughing fit that would wake Jeff up who would stagger sleepily out into the living room asking why I was watching infomercials instead of sleeping in). You can get guitar picks (yes, even Fender) at the Steve's Music store a few blocks from our place for about a quarter apiece.

While I mock infomercials, I should also be honest and confess that there have been times when infomercials have offered products that I actually have found intriguing, especially if I'm really tired and watching tv late at night. The food dehydrator infomercial, for example. I find myself mesmerized as one of the hosts chow down on a magically dehydrated strawberry, licking her fingers and uttering orgasmic noises of appreciation. The only thing that keeps me from grabbing the phone and ordering one right then is the sure knowledge that we have no room in our small kitchen to store the thing.

But I digress.

Anyway, I was ready to go back to bed after the Fender Guitar Pick commercial when an old episode of Gilligan's Island came on, and I found myself riveted. Geez, I hadn't watched Gilligan and the gang in ages. Amazing what we used to watch as kids, isn't it? (Ok, so maybe some of you out there are too young to remember Gilligan except in reruns :-)) Can you imagine what a Gilligan-type show would be like if it was produced today? Oh wait, there already is...Survivor and its sequels.

My favourite Gilligan character was always Mary Ann, even though I started finding her a bit too perky as I got older. And I always had a mild crush on the Professor, of course (technonerdboy lust foreshadowing, I suppose). I actively disliked the Skipper - he was always too mean to Gilligan.

Back then, I ate it all up. Now, the episodes seem incredibly contrived, unrealistic, and incredibly dated. Even through the layers of tv formulaic clich|AMP|eacute;, however, I still find the innocence of the characters appealing. One of the reasons I enjoy sappy romantic musicals with happy endings, I suppose. :-)

What will Sara and Annie think of our television fare when they're much older, I wonder? Will they feel the same way? Or will media offerings have changed so they see our tv shows as incredibly barbaric and violent?

Today's Poll:

Have you ever made a purchase as a result of seeing an infomercial or "not offered in stores" tv commercial? (i.e. you actually did call the number on the screen)

online journals

I recently heard from family/friends who called out of concern because I hadn't written a real Blathering in a couple days (or who said they knew I was okay because I Blathered yesterday).

Interesting that I've gotten into such a regular habit with my online journal that people notice when I break out of my posting pattern. :-) I used to hate being predictable, but now I'm starting the value of a certain level of predictability. I like knowing that I'm not going to sell a business this year. I like knowing that I'm not going to be moving my office, or moving to the States (NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH LIVING IN THE STATES, MIND YOU), or having to depend on a corporate committee to approve every plan and decision in my work. I like knowing that I can work on the computer all morning in my flannel pajamas and no one will ever know.

(um, unless you read my Blatherings, that is :-) )

For the first time in years, I feel as if I'm actually getting my life under control again.

But I digress...I want to talk about online journals today.

Despite the decline of Dot-com Mania, the popularity of online journals continues to grow. I've expanded the list of personal journals of people I know (and don't know).

Several different types of journals have emerged:

-- Confessionals: Intensely personal, these authors don't hold anything back. Or at least give the illusion of not holding anything back. Sometimes stream-of-consciousness, sometimes emotional rants about personal issues.

-- Shopping lists: Entries tend to be a shopping list of everything the author did in a particular day, with very little personal insights. "First I woke up. Then I washed my face and took the dog for a walk. For breakfast, I had Cheerios and a glass of orange juice. Then I called my friend Helga and SHE said blabla and then I said blabla and then SHE said blabla...etc."

-- Humour: These tend to focus on humorous personal essays a la Dave Barry style.

-- Hybrid: Some mixture of the above.

-- Other: Experimental, excerpts from written works-in-progress, anything else not covered by the above.

I find pure confessionals too intense for regular reading, shopping lists too boring. In terms of what I like reading, my favourite type of journal tends to be the hybrid type...I like knowing what's going on in the person's life, but also like getting some insight into what's happening in their heads as well, finding out how they feel about a certain event rather than just a description of the event itself. Other things I like seeing in a journal: a good sense of life, passion, sense of humour, variety, strong writing.

These are just my personal preferences; others may prefer different types of reading. (if any of you have favourite journal links you're willing to share, please do.)

I used to check every journal in my links section on a daily basis, but the list has grown to the point where I usually can only check most once or twice a week.

Journal-related links of interest:

The Bleat: Journal by James Lileks. My favourite online journal.

Diarist.net: great source of journal-related information.


Blatherpics:

- My mom, obviously very young. As I mentioned in yesterday's Blathering, I'm starting to scan photos from old family albums and burn them onto CD (I always shrink graphic files before posting them in Blatherings, by the way, so the stored images are of better quality than those I use in my column). However, it's been pointed out to me that this is not a good longterm solution...other (not too expensive) suggestions welcome! :-)

Today's Poll:

Are both your parents still alive?