It was FIVE degrees and sunny here this afternoon (that's 41 for those of you who haven't embraced metric). Yes, it felt almost like a spring holiday from January and if the local weather forecast is right this spring interlude will last through Monday!
What else has been happening? For about twenty-four hours we thought about possibly getting a bird. I have a feather allergy but it's not one of my worst allergies and, you know, how much could one small bird make me sneeze? But then I started doing the research, stuff like wing-clipping vs. not clipping and I learned that birds crap every twenty minutes. So, when you let the bird out of the cage, there is almost instantly poop everywhere apparently. That could be okay if we had an extra room to dedicate to the bird's exercise, I suppose, but that's not the case. Farewell bird idea.
Like alot of other Canadians I feel very strongly that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent suspending of parliament was undemocratic, a strategic move to gain a majority on Senate committees while avoiding criticism over the Afghan detainee abuse issue. This is something that's definitely had me preoccupied lately. I know that many people have become politically disengaged (for various reasons) over the last ten years and it's easy to become cynical and think that we believe—and what we hope for—doesn't matter. In fact, I think this is what Stephen Harper counts on, that people are too tired and cynical to take a stand. We can't let him get away with it. Otherwise we end up with more Copenhagen type failures and more human rights abuses being shoved under the carpet. As a country, do we want to be better than this? Or, as Stephen hopes, are we happy to plop down on the couch and watch the Olympics while he does whatever the f@#% he wants?
Let me see, five degrees, pet birds and wannabe dictators...okay, that brings me to the new manuscript! I finished a new YA novel in the fall and in time hopefully I'll be able to say more about that. This past summer I actually started out writing a zombie novel and got the first four to five pages typed in but I just didn't feel any momentum happening. I think it probably would've turned out okay, maybe it would've been good even, but I just didn't feel as excited about it as I should've. So I stopped. And the same night I stopped another idea struck and held. I got about halfway into it before I realized I was actually writing a book that feels like this:
Which is kind of scary because I love the Airborne Toxic Event song Innocence with a passion. In fact, that song has hit me harder than anything else I've heard in the past five years. It kills me every time. Every time. So that's a hell of lot to live up to.
Anyway, it wasn't a fun book to write and at times it really emptied me out but now I kind of miss it. And isn't that just the way things go?
What else has been happening? For about twenty-four hours we thought about possibly getting a bird. I have a feather allergy but it's not one of my worst allergies and, you know, how much could one small bird make me sneeze? But then I started doing the research, stuff like wing-clipping vs. not clipping and I learned that birds crap every twenty minutes. So, when you let the bird out of the cage, there is almost instantly poop everywhere apparently. That could be okay if we had an extra room to dedicate to the bird's exercise, I suppose, but that's not the case. Farewell bird idea.
Like alot of other Canadians I feel very strongly that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent suspending of parliament was undemocratic, a strategic move to gain a majority on Senate committees while avoiding criticism over the Afghan detainee abuse issue. This is something that's definitely had me preoccupied lately. I know that many people have become politically disengaged (for various reasons) over the last ten years and it's easy to become cynical and think that we believe—and what we hope for—doesn't matter. In fact, I think this is what Stephen Harper counts on, that people are too tired and cynical to take a stand. We can't let him get away with it. Otherwise we end up with more Copenhagen type failures and more human rights abuses being shoved under the carpet. As a country, do we want to be better than this? Or, as Stephen hopes, are we happy to plop down on the couch and watch the Olympics while he does whatever the f@#% he wants?
Let me see, five degrees, pet birds and wannabe dictators...okay, that brings me to the new manuscript! I finished a new YA novel in the fall and in time hopefully I'll be able to say more about that. This past summer I actually started out writing a zombie novel and got the first four to five pages typed in but I just didn't feel any momentum happening. I think it probably would've turned out okay, maybe it would've been good even, but I just didn't feel as excited about it as I should've. So I stopped. And the same night I stopped another idea struck and held. I got about halfway into it before I realized I was actually writing a book that feels like this:
Which is kind of scary because I love the Airborne Toxic Event song Innocence with a passion. In fact, that song has hit me harder than anything else I've heard in the past five years. It kills me every time. Every time. So that's a hell of lot to live up to.
Anyway, it wasn't a fun book to write and at times it really emptied me out but now I kind of miss it. And isn't that just the way things go?
