Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2012

and then a giant box arrived

Oona recently received a christmas parcel from her grandma and auntie mary ann. Carnage ensued. The videos are here . Otherwise, have a good holidays.

sugar plum faeries

We went to the Nutcracker at the Grand last night. If you'd like to hear a lively and intelligent discussion of the Nutcracker (and Tchaikovsky), please visit the first link here . If you enjoy a somewhat less informed opinion, then keep reading. Of course this was C's idea. Of course I don't understand ballet, and why a certain subset of people would dedicate their entire lives to perfecting the ability to dance on their toes without showing the slightest amount of effort. Like synchronized swimmers in the air. And why are so many of them Russians? Strangeness. But we had good seats (what *should* have been the front row, only the Grand cheated and added three more rows) with room for my limbs to slacken and extend a bit (the only empty seats were right beside us, dead centre, which C told me had been bought first, as she'd been second in the online queue, and yet there they were, not there at all), and I could see all the dusty magic of the production, the inc

the year in review not really

What is there to say about 2012? I almost don't know. This might be a function of age – as you grow older, time seems to undergo a certain kind of flattening , with distinctions of recent history getting compressed, and losing all their colour-coding. Every so often C will ask me how long we've been together now, and instead of being offended (another product of age -- lack of outrage) I simply take it as the vanishing of her near history (or maybe she wishes it would vanish). As for myself, I can tell you a lot more about specific episodes (last month of university, first summer working at a mental hospital, the year I moved to Kingston, the months before and after Oona was born, etcetera, etcetera) than I can tell you about this last year. The only sense I do come away with is that I spent a great deal more time thinking about course correction, which is a technical way of describing the ability to turn with circumstances (or at least trying to ). When I was younger I used

yesterday it snowed

It snowed she said and then much talking about the snow on the way, we both agreed that it came from the sky, and from the clouds in particular, and then asking about the tracks on the road, and the footprints, new and nearly perfect as if in damp talc, and we guessed that these were from people, and even some little people, maybe on the way to school, maybe even her friends, in fact probably her friends, which caused a spontaneous round of Jingle Bell Rock, all in chorus, she said it was a Christmas song, and did I know what its name was? It's name was Jingle Bell Rock. Santa would come visit her because she was good, although the bunny rabbit that I pretended was trapped in mommy's purse that morning was bad, because he bit people, and rubbed his paws together in an evil way, so Santa should be careful. He will be careful, right dad? Of course I said. I want to be good she said, and I told her that was a grand idea.

daybreak, by brian ralph

I sent this to one of my nephews for xmas, in what now seems like a tradition of sending graphic novels with the hope of keeping reading alive. Of course, I also sent along a wrestling video, but you have to mix the medicine with the candy.  But this is hardly medicine. I came across it in a bookstore about a year ago, and then stood there until I'd read the whole thing (something I'm sure they just love , down at the ol' bookstore). It's a phenomenon between covers, a story told from a first-person perspective (you) about a zombie apocalypse (perhaps) in which we never really see the zombies (because if we did, you'd be dead) and our only friend is a like a tour guide where you're never really sure of what he's showing you. The artwork is arresting and dynamic but entirely restrained in its service to the story. For anyone between the ages of 8 and 80, I could not recommend this enough.

the next big thing meme

My friends Michelle and Ariel have both warned me that I'm about to be tagged with the Next Big Thing blog meme so here I am getting right out in front of it. Ha! Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing: What is your working title of your book? It's called Dark All Day . Where did the idea come from for the book? It's a short story collection so the ideas are from all over. Who the hell knows? Most things come to me (at me?) as I walk to work -- then, like a crazy person, I go over to a post or a tree and write myself notes in one of the little books I carry. People stare as they drive by, what's that guy doing? And then sometimes things just come right to/at me. Like the note that literally blew up against my boot this morning. I've blurred out the names of the parties involved but, from what I can make out, someone *really* needs to stop making threatening remarks at work. Just before that I found a toonie, staring up at me like a mil

cigar-tin story #138

Cigar-tin story # 138 . Contains the story, "Cheer Up, Chickie". Also, painting birds relaxes me, which is important around Christmas.

cough cough cough

Cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough. One cubicle over. At least two weeks now. Cough cough cough, cough cough cough. Almost recorded it this morning, sitting there stunned at how long it went on, seven minutes and change. Cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough ... cough ... cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough, cough cough cough. Cough. No illusions of safety behind my cubicle wall, especially when I noticed the room smelled different.

das tigerthier

felis tigris linn le tigre das tigerthier the tiger

science you forgot

My friend Jeannette has published a little illustrated science book , and it's full not just of science that I forgot, but stuff I never knew in the first place -- like the centre of every galaxy being a supermassive (yes, that's the term) black hole, ours being known as Sagittarius A. Or that the dark spots on the moon are called Maria. The cover is a nice heavy matte, the insides are super glossy (my term) and it's only five dollars. Stocking stuffer!