Category: Of Interest

Of Interest / Updates

Resume writing a new résumé

I recently trimmed a bunch of stories from the “Library of Stories” page as many of these are going into a collection of stories I am working on publishing. At that point, I’ll have to overhaul this site, but that will come in time. I was kinda hoping that as a writer, I wouldn’t ever have to worry about writing another résumé but alas… grant writing means a resume, plus a whole new level of paperwork. I guess I’ll have to be a successful writer sheerly for the goal of never, ever having to write another résumé. Either that or

Continue reading
Of Interest

Real life versus fiction: trauma recovery

At the end (well, multiple ends, but I’ll let that one go) of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings epic, Frodo mentions he feels the pain of the wound on the anniversary of the attack, and he suffers from recurring weakness and shadows of fear tied to the traumatic events he endured. On one hand, I understand it was a way of framing PTSD and trauma recovery at a time when it was just called “shell-shock”. But it always struck me – in my youth – as unrealistic. I’d think “oh, get over it already!” And ever year around April since

Continue reading
Of Interest

The “Dark Matter” of Domesticity: A Paperclip Odyssey

I’m cleaning up and sorting through paperwork, allowing my brain to contemplate the digital revolution. Remember paper? That ancient forest-based communication method our ancestors used? So, story time. Back in my Shell days, I worked with a team providing support to various teams. One individual… let’s call her a “procurement enthusiast.” She had, over the course of her time with the company, ordered paperclips like she was preparing for a global paperclip apocalypse. We’re talking a drawer so full of paperclips, it could’ve been a metallurgic museum exhibit dedicated to “Bureaucratic Hoarding: A Modern Study.” Fast forward to today, I’m

Continue reading
Of Interest

New study suggesting people with ADHD have shorter lifespans

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/adhd-deaths-1.7442958 Since Facebook has blocked Canadian news and also FUCK THEM, I thought, “Let’s experiment with linking to news on my site, then linking to Facebook”. Anyhow, interesting article, relevant to my interests, and I will add (not seriously) the reason people with ADHD die sooner is that everyone else is running at 33RPM, we just run at 45RPM.

Continue reading
Updates / Of Interest

So, I’m Still Here…

[looks at the last time I updated my website…coughs nervously] I think in the future, people will look at the years of the pandemic as a really rough decade. It was a difficult time, but to quote Michael Caine, I “used the difficulty”. Background: Actor Michael Caine was rehearsing a play early in his career. He was to enter a room where 2 people were arguing. But the two had gotten so into the characters one had thrown a chair and partially blocked the entrance. When he stopped rehearsal by mentioned to the director the chair was blocking him, he

Continue reading
Updates / Of Interest

COVID-19, Writing, and Edits

April 2021 will always be the lost month, as I was hospitalized with double pneumonia due to being infected with the South African variant of COVID-19. I was hospitalized for 13 days at the Rockyview hospital here in Calgary. It gave me time to think about my priorities in life. I will be doing more writing, pushing myself to find ways (grants/online work, other) to live as a writer, even though I may have to work part-time at other jobs. There is a casualty to this – the whole “Alone Plague” journal I was writing (and then – nervous cough

Continue reading
Of Interest

You can’t always get what you want…

First off, some music by the Rolling Stones to set the mood. Today, even though it was smoky, I decided to walk to the East Village Superstore for some groceries and also to get some physical activity. In preparing for it, I contact two friends to see if either they want to go for a walk there and back, or if they are at home (one lives nearby). Unfortunately, both were busy/unavailable. As I’m walking downtown, I remember I’m walking by ANOTHER friend, and call him. He’s not home. So I get to Superstore, and I see my neighbor shopping.

Continue reading
Of Interest

Dust – Science Fiction

Dust is an amazing channel on YouTube – and this video almost feels like what the Matrix would feel like if it were filmed in 2020. Social media and desperation to be liked when it’s all revealed to be fake. And it’s starring Gigi Edgley (Chiana from “Farscape”).

Continue reading