Random Channel Surfing

November 30, 2015 will go down as the day I reached 50K words after a thirty-day endeavour to write my first novel. November 30 is also Lucy Maud Montgomery's date of birth. As anyone who knows me can attest, I've always wanted to be LM Montgomery.  Having achieved this goal, I feel like I have a leg up on my writing career. 

This year, I was very lucky to be able to take several trips. I went to Orlando in February. Vancouver in April. St. Louis (and Chicago!) in July. New York City in October. And, next month, I'm going to Frankfurt for Christmas. So, after a someone on Twitter posted an article on the impact of carbon emissions from planes and jetliners, I was appalled at how I had contributed to the carbon emissions in the air. I factored in all the flights that I took (over ten throughout the year!) and, after some soul-searching, realized that I couldn't -- in good conscience -- take any more flights for a year. It was a hard choice to make. I love traveling and had already made plans for trips I could take in 2016. There was Prince Edward Island in June. Possibly Las Vegas in the fall. And, if I was lucky, a trip to see my older sister in the States again. Sure, it was only three trips, but three trips I had already semi-decided on taking. Now, after realizing that all the fligh

This month is National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. I've been a member of NaNo for close to five years and have attempted to start writing a novel three times already. Each time I started writing my novel, however, I would give up because the words felt forced and the story wasn't flowing and I was too hung up on how awful everything was coming out. Instead of just letting the words flow through, I was fixating on my shortcomings and, regrettably, gave up a few paragraphs, sometimes sentences in. This year, Tamara and I decided that we would participate and that we would write a novel by the end of November. In this case, a novel is the equivalent of 50 000 words and, so far, I'm at 36 666. SAY WHAT?! It's funny, but the story is flowing and the characters have a life of their own; they're behaving in ways I never intended them to and they're doing things that are morally repulsive to me. I love it! But I think the reason why this story is f

I saw First Him at Southgate mall yesterday. I was walking into the mall, scanning the people on their way in and out, when my eyes landed on an average height dude, wearing a navy blue sweater and skinny jeans. My first thought was, "He's cute" and my eyes flitted away when I thought, "Wait, was that him?" I did a double-take, craned my neck back to look again and realized it was First Him. He hasn't changed. He even has the same haircut. His sense of fashion has improved, though.

I love eating by myself. I can be as loud -- slurping, gnashing, moaning -- as I want to be. I can be improper and unladylike and as gross as I see fit. I can devour a banana in two gargantuan bites. I can savour pudding for as long as I like. I can use utensils if I want to, forego them if I don't. All in my own company. No one to gawk or chuckle at my less-than-stellar table manners. No one to rush me, no one to make the usual "were you raised by wolves?" comments. Sweet silence, sweet solitude, sweet food. I love going for long walks by myself. I can people-watch -- imagine that two strangers fall in love under the city skyline -- to my heart's content. I can pop into shops and peruse new book titles, clothes, albums, etc. I can saunter on a lazy, glum-filled day. I can walk at my own fast pace on happy, loved-up days. All with only me for company. No one can tell me to "slow down" and that I "walk too fast for a short girl". No one

As I mentioned in previous entries, Rylan's actual birthday is October 31st. To celebrate his lovely life, Nicole and Rylan always throw what is, in my opinion, the best party of the year.  There's yummy food, amazing people, tasty booze, bumpin' jams, and hilarious costumes. Really, I blame Rylan and Nicole for my new-found love and appreciation for Halloween. As is always the case with me, I took a buttload of pictures. I'm sharing a few of my favourites with you.  Hipster Ariel and (Ashley) Spinelli. Two Disney heroines who are out to fight the patriarchy. Beautiful Char - This girl is so amazing. Mary Poppins and "Chip On-his-shoulder". Swingers! Sch-wing! Professor Chaos and Spinelli. Two animated badasses.  I truly love Seth. Not only is he the kindest soul, but he's all kinds of fun!  Our lovely hosts: Grandma and Grandpa! (Side note: Don't my friends clean up well??? For senior citizens that is...) Grandma