Category: Writing

There was an immense salmon made of clouds across the sky in Burnaby this morning. As a day sign for Earth Day I hardly think it could be improved upon.

somebody on twitter had to rehome a puppy (sadface) and I cheered her up with a pic of Miss Margot.

Barbara Ehrenreich gives up on doctors.

mOm that one was for you, since it’s slyly funny.

I JUST HAD SOMETHING MAHVELLOUS HAPPEN Alex told his mama that he wanted to go to a friend’s house and I AM THAT FRIEND.

I feel like I hit the grandson lottery. He’s already complimented me on a dress I wore (I wore red because he likes it) and now I’M HIS FRIEND. I feel like running around yelling, but I think M would object (we are very mismatched re sleeping cycles – I’ll be amazed if he stirs before 10 and given his insomnia I’d rather hack off my feet and eat them than waken him).

Anyway I get to see my grandson this afternoon and I’m a happy camper.

I saw this on twitter today and told Jeff if it wasn’t on the basement bathroom door by the time I got home I would be ‘disappointed’.

mOm next time you’re talking to Katie ask her about her ‘sexual harassment incident’ at work. Not as bad as it sounds. Tremendously happy ending, although possibly not what her coworker was expecting in that regard.

 

Nothing caught fire. I’m hoping the fire in my belly comes back, but now that I’m used to why trouble with writing is happening I think editing is a better go. I’m whistling in the dark at the moment.

Expanse continues to be the best thing on new TV.

Loving Bosch, hating my love of police procedurals.

Happy 4/20 everyone.

It’s kind of regrettable that there are like two people who read my blog who will get why that link is funny, but that’s my life. Everything is funny or nothing is. Life without funny is not on, so I’m going with the former contention.

I have now walked 2k (at least) every morning before 7 am since Saturday when I bought my boots. Paul heard me bitching about my blisters and gave me the biggest package of moleskin I’ve ever seen, and I am glad to report that my feet only hurt a teeny bit now. Also, I need better socks.

We are continuing to enjoy the reboot of Lost in Space (family friendly SF on Netflix, suitable for bingeing) and I am enjoying the current Bosch season although I’d enjoy it if the source material didn’t have ‘the ex wife dies and the killers must be caught by our intrepid cop hero’ as one of the main plot pivots. ah well.

Today since writing still feels far away: laundry and edits.

 

Someone tell GroovyBruce.

Isabella!

Notice that BC Indigenous don’t even rate a freaking mention.

If the cops would do their fucking jobs with compassion half assed semi solutions like this wouldn’t be required.

 

I am thankful to have experienced a good night’s sleep on new high thread count sheets.

I am grateful that my mother and father had two children, because Jeff is awesome.

I am grateful for my grown children, who are challenging and fun and annoying in all the ways family members are, but mostly for being really loving and supportive of late.

My parents I try to thank in person when I remember.

Grateful for the intelligent and loving friendships which have been other people’s gifts to me my whole life.

Grateful to have my brain, even if it wobbles, because it thinks such interesting things.

 

I met somebody who lives in SW Iceland on twitter and she and I are going to share a bevvie at some point.

Checked my itinerary – I’m departing May 14 not May 15.

• Antibacterial wipes  NOT

* Batteries … buy there if I have to

* Binoculars (optional) – borrowing a pair

* Camera (With extra memory cards and batteries) – we’ll wee

* Cash, credit and debit cards – cash is not necessary in Iceland. Credit card penetration even in tiny places is almost 100% and the credit card companies are offering better exchanges in most cases.

* Day pack (Used for daily excursions or short overnights)

* First Aid Kit (should contain lip balm with sunscreen, sunscreen, whistle, Aspirin, Ibuprofen, bandaids/plasters, tape, anti-histamines,

antibacterial gel/wipes, antiseptic cream, Imodium or similar tablets for mild cases of diarrhea, rehydration powder, sewing kit, extra

prescription drugs you may be taking)

* Flashlight/torch (This item is optional and is only useful through the months of August – March)

* Fleece top/sweater DONE

* Hiking boots/sturdy walking shoes DONE

* Hiking pants (Convertible/Zip-off and quick dry recommended) DONE

* Long pants/jeans DONE

* Moneybelt    I’ll have to find it

* Nicer outfit for an evening out SCREW THAT NOISE I’M A TOURIST

* Outlet adapter – need to borrow one if I can

* Personal entertainment (Reading and writing materials, cards, music player, etc.)  DON’T I WISH I COULD TAKE ROWENA  I will take a deck of cards though

* Pocketknife — say what

* Reusable water bottle

* Shirts/t-shirts  yup

* Small travel towel —-have got

* Socks

* Sunblock need

* Sunglasses have got

* Sun hat/bandana  have got

* Swimwear have got

* Toiletries (Preferably biodegradable)   HA HA I AM NATURALLY BEAUTIFUL

* Warm gloves have got

* Warm hat – I’m going to take my nyancat hat

* Watch and alarm clock – my phone, you mean

* Waterproof backpack cover

* Waterproof pants  DONE

* Windproof rain jacket   DONE

This experience, which lasted about ten minutes in total, is probably migraine related.  I render it as a poem because I wrote the first line and my ancestors took it as an invite and piled on. Like I said. Altered state of consciousness.

Continue reading Migraines sure are weird

Encounters with Wildlife in East Burnaby, part the nummptyeth. So I’m walking in the dark in my new boots (ow, incidentally) back from Timmy Ho’s just now with a bag of croissants. I hear the crow above me give an alarm call and look around for the source. (Vancouver crows are forgetting how to be diurnal – there are a number of places in town where they stay up all night, for example at the Casino next to the highway.)

One, two full-grown raccoons lollop across the street at 6th and 11th. They vanish, but they’re on the street I intend to walk down and I’m immediately uneasy. No raccoon has ever hurt me and these two don’t look sick, but two raccoons is 30 kilos of teeth and claws.

On cue, they *come out of the bushes toward me*, about three metres apart, not looking at me but at the frickin’ full’o’goodies Timmy Ho bag. I grabbed my open jacket front and wave, yell NO I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING and the lil ****ers do a Homer fade into the bushes again.

So …. yesterday I posted a tweet mocking a raccoon AND YOU KNOW THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES.

 

The absurdly pretty Jensen Ackles doing voice overdubs for work.

The eyebrow raise at the end made me think of Nathan Page.

Little bit of writing yesterday. A fair amount of thinking of plotting. Overwatch is an issue; fixed that by using an operative already in place. (Just imagine how the Oldest feels about that…. Nereus came through.)

 

no writing, but an absolutely exquisite walk down at the Quay including a circumhorizontal arc that lasted over two hours

Here’s an article about Facial Feminization Surgery.

It’s something you do if you’re a trans woman…. and you can afford it. Someone I know on twitter is crowdfunding FFS and so I thought although I consider myself to be a trans ally and have a smidge of street cred I’m not really educated about it.

And this made me fall down a gender essentialist fucking rat hole.

WHY do men and women have different facial structures. WHY?

Wellllllllll,

the first thing is that in real terms they don’t. Everything on a boy’s face is on a girl’s face. With the fractal warping of exterior features that occurs with the genes themselves and the proteins that express them, one starts in one place and ends up someplace else. So bony ridges are masc

BUT WHY?

Eye placement — why?

Then I start thinking about neoteny. Women’s bone structures remain closer to children’s bone structures throughout life. I mean, if I’m reading this article correctly.

Women on average live longer than men.

Men’s head bones  are denser and better able to handle being punched.

It’s science.

BUT WHY? WHY ARE MEN’S FACES SO PUNCHABLE? I mean, better able to take a punch, not pulling me in like a black hole with desire to punch. Only Ajit Pai Martin Shkreli and Ted Cruz affect me like that. Trump? I don’t actually want to be that close to him in all candour.

 

 

 

So yesterday I literally could not keep track of my grandson at the Aquarium (his mother was with him every instant) and an enormous gulf of misery passed over me that I couldn’t keep track of my kin any more. Keith appeared from nowhere and we listened to the symphony of sea lions – one in particular was trying to set records for volume, purity of tone and likeness to the vocalizations of Chewbacca, to tremendous comic effect, which was immediately stripped away when I realized that it was the self-expression of a trapped intelligence. Not a great intelligence, but smart enough to know that it’s swimming around in it’s own shit all day every day.

There were many little gems scattered in the hum of commerce and children. All the moms looked perfect – and miserable. All the dads looked comfortable – and blank. All the kids had expressions that were ready to veer into terror at any time.

Alex seemed to have a good time. He was running around like a fool for most of it.

Four times now Katie’s been to the Aquarium and the octopus has not come out. I come and she’s not just out, she’s clinging to the glass so you have a lovely view of her suckers if you’re an 18 month old toddler. Seriously, she was doing everything but ‘show the beak’ (you never see that unless you are very very intimate with an octopus for months and months and feed it etc).

It is possible I have some octopus-fu. If I do it’s inadvertent.

Another little tweak – passing through the gift shop without the slightest desire to purchase something.

Another little tweak – Keith saying ‘that was fun but exhausting’ afterward.

Another little tweak – being so annoyed with poor little Alex when he was kicking the seat at the restaurant, and seeing that reflected in Katie and Keith. We left soon after.

Feeling topped up with family love but also uneasy at how useless I am as a grandma.

 

45433 is wordcount for HOTM

 

I now know what vinegar strokes are. Do not look it up if you don’t know what they are and definitely do NOT do an image search. Thoroughly researching human sexuality is a challenging activity.

I’m finding it amusing that I have written full on porn for these two characters but will not be directly referencing it in subsequent novels.  So you see the characters before sex and after sex but not during sex.

 

MICHEL IS BACK

I post all fucking day every day on twitter but as soon as I made a comment on a movie in a movie thread my notifications blew up.  Perhaps I should actually try to review movies.

Lovely lovely brekky yesterday morning at the 6th Street Grill with Jeff and Katie. Later that day Katie went out and did something she hasn’t done since she hit menarche – she cut off ALL HER HAIR and now she looks like an anime heroine it’s a super cute cut.

I did precisely one load of laundry yesterday. It’s sitting (dry, for a wonder) downstairs.