Caving In...

Maybe it is the exhausting weekend I have just had (Nuit Blanche in Montreal; Academy Awards disappointing me often and again, etc.), but I have decided to resubmit my work to an old web site that once published my weird and wonderful work, until I had a serious falling out with the publisher's misunderstanding of my blogging.  All is forgiven, but I am still am wondering whether I made the right choice. 

I do love to write.  I have piles of notes in my books and I carry a notebook whenever I think I will have the urge (a cheap dollar store hardback works well on many subway/bus rides).  But there is a sort of fear that creeps in when I put my work out there and I start to get comments.  Yeah, a childish fear, but one that has not gone away. 

I still have to review a lot of the material promised to this particular web site, but I am going to review and hope that things do work out again without any sort of conflict between me and the publisher.

Oh, and Christopher Plummer is still kicking and winning...  What a great night!

Toews against the Machine...

Okay, dear friends and frenemies....
Those of you outside of Soviet Canuckistan have probably not heard a single thing about one of our very dear Conservative MPs and the plans he has for our Internet.  Vic Toews, MP for Cloud-Cukooland, is the very fine Minister of Public Safety who has suggested a law that would give the police more power to search our searches online.  When his plan was criticized by privacy advocates, the general public and anyone who wants the government to mind its own business, Toews suggested that anyone who opposed his plans was supporting child pornographers (a logic statement that I am not going to pursue here; fill in your own blank).

Yes, I am shocked without the necessary awe.  I expected that when this government finally got their sticky paws on the levers of power, something like this would happen.  I have just read that Toews is going to back down from his plans, but I would like to encourage those of us who are not that forgetful to harrass him out of any position of power (guess I am going to be interrogated and numbered for that one).

Look folks: the Internet really is the Wild West, and it should remain that way.  I write this and other pieces online without any expectation that I going to keep things private.  And I am fine with that.  I think that you should be too and let any so-called authority out there know that we are all big boys and girls - well, most of us are - and we are just fine with the big ole world of the World Wide Web.

Oh, I am not alone with these ideas.  Read this out.

Where I Am At...

In about one hour, it will be Valentine's Day (or St. Valentine's Day - take your pick), which seems like a good moment to begin tapping my thoughts out here once again.

Still in the same box; still dreaming of bigger things.  I have to admit to my own laziness with the idea of moving on.  I am in a neighborhood with easy access to a park, a gym, shopping and a general air of leisure that I love.  If I do find another place, it will have to be in serious competition with everything that I have been spoiled with over the last five years.

Yes, five years...  Five years with at least three other roommates sharing my space.  Five years in a windowless room that provides no soundproofing against the happier noises in the other rooms (both on this floor and above).  Five years thinking about where my life went...

Okay, the five years will actually be up by the end of June, but I am looking at the calendar and dreaming of the summer and how this province has a synchronized moving date and the chance to obtain a lot of unwanted furniture.  And there has been another change in my situation: I have money and I am actually saving my pennies much better than before.  And with the debts that I have been paying back, my credit rating may get to the point that I will not be laughed out of an apartment once the landlord checks my background.

I have to thank one of those roommates for this.  It is amazing how someone can point out the obvious when you think you have been noticing a particular truth all along.  I want to move, as does she, and we both have plans for a new space.

But if anyone reading this (all four followers) knows of a place in Montreal, please let me know.

Okay, I am back!  Much easier to get the words down on this new Blogger/Google thing.  Much more fun to type and less exhausting than surfing for porn.

Expect more to follow...

Oh, and for no reason whatsoever, here is a picture of a young Helen Mirren in the nude.  Enjoy!