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 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...

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 ...

I used to loathe having to dress up on Halloween for work. My coworkers thought I was a killjoy and would be annoyed if I didn’t participate, but I just wasn't comfortable. I mean, sure, my boss and everyone else was decked out in their costumes, but I just didn't want any part of it. Although, to be fair, I used to loathe having to dress up for Halloween in general. After my 14th birthday, I just didn’t see the point to costumes and make believe if I wasn’t getting anything out of it (and by that I mean candy. I do a LOT of things of things I don’t want to do for candy). So I would go as "me" to parties, opting to spend the night in, watching horror flicks or my favourite Halloween movies. The last three years, though, I’ve really gotten into the Halloween spirit! I blame Rylan, who’s birthday is on October 31st, for this. The year Nicole officially moved into her house, she hosted a birthday party for Rylan, which started the tradition of celebrating Rylan'...

Going through this blog, I know who I was smitten with by the content of the things I would post. First Him was for the first few years. I know this because the first few years are littered with posts in which I confess to starving myself or wanting to escape Edmonton because everywhere I looked, there were memories of him. Second Him was from the summer of 2008 and onward. I was constantly fretting over not seeing him, or seeing him, or knowing he would never feel the way I did. But liking second Him wasn't only about him per se; liking and thinking about him was also tied to my one true love: Montreal. Montreal is the one constant in my posts. My love for this city has never wavered and you'll find posts sprinkled throughout this blog as odes to the city; it may just be my one great love, seeing as I've gone through bouts in my life where I hardly notice men, but my adoration for Montreal is ongoing. I had a bit of a break from getting random crushes on men when I...

For close to fifteen years, September 21 has been a day of big events. I've had my heart broken on September 21 (twice); have moved clear across the country; have celebrated loved ones' happy occasions. But this year, nothing happened. In fact, I'll go as far as saying that today was a happy day. Thank goodness today was a good day.

Now that I've compiled a list of all the tv shows and movies I need (yes, need ) to watch before the end of this year, I'm realizing that I should have had a stay-cation this year. Ah, regrets. Television Shows -My Mad Fat Diary (series three) -Firefly -Chuck -Parks and Rec -Les Revenants -Veronica Mars -Castle -Call the Midwife -Psych -House of Cards -Daredevil -Sense8 -The Walking Dead (seasons three to now ugh) -Leverage (season five) -Vikings -The 100 -Poldark -UnREAL -Girl Meets World -Game of Thrones (season three onward...) -Extant Movies -Ruby Sparks -Thor -Hulk -Crazy Stupid Love -Friends with Benefits -No Strings Attached -Spy -Ant-Man -Jupiter Ascending -The Lovely Bones -Guardians of the Galaxy -You're Next

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Chantal married Ryan last night and it was a beautiful ceremony. They're so smitten with one another. Funny, but the first time she was engaged, I knew I wasn't going to be invited. Tarek never liked me (I am very aware of that) and she and I had grown so apart, that I kind of figured I wouldn't be there on her big day. Fast-forward to last night where I witnessed just how much she loves Ryan and how much he loves her. They're so adorable and they're so in love and it warms my heart. I fucked up, though. I won't document the reasons for said fuck-up or what it is I fucked up, but I will say that the shame I feel right now will likely persist for a long while and, well, that sooks. I'm updating this to include the only selfie Nix and I took. Look at me! I'm a highlighter!

It's that time again... the time where I write down a list of the media I have to consume. Is it just me, or are my lists getting bigger? Television Shows -Firefly -Chuck -Parks and Rec (rest of it...) -Les Revenants -Veronica Mars -Some Girls (series 3 on) -Castle -Teen Wolf -The Newsroom* -Damages* -Call the Midwife (series 2 on) -Downton Abbey (series 3 on) -Vikings -Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -House of Cards -The 100 -Walking Dead (season 4 on) -Game of Thrones (season 4 on) -Breaking Bad -Agent Carter -Gotham -Friday Night Lights (season 2 on) -Outlander -Marry Me -30 Rock Movies -Ruby Sparks* -Brief Interviews with Hideous Men -Thor -Hulk -Crazy Stupid Love -Friends with Benefits -No Strings Attached -The Giant Mechanical Man* -The Mist -Captain America: The Winter Soldier -Gone Girl -Birdman -Annie -Focus -Chappie -Horrible Bosses 2 *Stupid Chris Messina. Documentaries -Living on One Dollar

And, it's off to a really happy and loved-up start! The following is a list of lovely, loving, wonderful things that happened today: 1) Woke up to:         -my parents singing happy birthday to me ('cause they're sweethearts) and         -a few texts from some of my night owl friends. 2) My older sister called while I was getting ready for work. 3) My father's brothers phoned me on my way to work. 4) Happy birthday tweet from Tracey! 5) Morning text from Janny! 6) Morning text from Nix! 7) Morning text from Nic! 8) Morning text from Clea! 9) Morning text from Anna! 10) Morning text from Zee, which included:         -us making plans to go for Bday drinks next week!  11) Morning text (and song!) from Elizabeth! 12) Morning text from Tasha! 13) Morning text from Ross! 14) Birthday phone call  from Ivan! 15) Birthday email from Aaron at work (he even found a cake online that has my name on ...

This questionnaire has been in my drafts since 2013, when I was going through a bit of a "reading crush" on Thought Catalog, particularly articles written by Ella Ceron , Kovie Biakolo , and  Brianna Wiest . Their articles were usually on feminist issues and self-love and relationships and, more importantly, self-care. So when Brianna posted this questionnaire, I figured it was a good idea to poke at these issues to gain a better understanding of how I feel about my life. Anyway, two years ago, I completed only the first question but, as I said in my last post , something about 2015 makes me tingly on the inside with an admittedly over-optimistic anticipation for this year, so I figured I should complete this questionnaire. I hope they'll be a good reminder of the things that matter the most to me--a bookmark on the things I should cherish for the entire year. Here's hoping, at least. 1. What would you do with your life if you didn’t have to pay the bills? I woul...

Now that the new year is more than a week old, I feel that I need to document the promises I plan to keep to myself this year. These aren't resolutions per se; they're more like vows I'm committing to because I'm terrified I'm going to have a relapse of sorts, and something about 2015 tells me that this is going to be my year. After all, 2013 was all about experimentation and personal growth and 2014 was all about learning. What I hope is that the promises I list here, will help me commit those experiences, that maturity, and those lessons I learned to memory. These promises I make to myself. Stop calling myself mean names. Stop fixating on any one person, place, or thing. Live outside my own head. Do things because I want to do them, not because I feel I have to. Be open to new experiences, people, places, and things. Renounce self-sabotage. Be brutally honest about the things I want. Keep the promises I make to myself. Practice self-love. Write unt...

My sisters are both here for the holidays. So is Connie. And my beautifully adorable niece Juliana. But we're missing Patrick, Claire, and Brad and, to be honest, we can feel their absence. These holidays have been incredible, though! I've spent a ridiculous amount of time with my family and I've been able to snooze as much as I want. It's all felt so  good . I'm feeling energized and happy and I just know that 2015 will be worthwhile in that naively innocent way I feel when I'm at the cusp of finishing something big. And for the first time in months, after arguing with my mom and Mel about the varied reasons I felt the way that I do and after having Tasha reassure me that the way I felt isn't criminal or wrong, I'm hopeful . I'm not angry or frustrated or confused, but hopeful to the point of delusion! And it's wonderful. When I visited Mel in October, I was content in my self-righteous anger, basking in it and breathing it all in. But e...