The New Floodgates of the Mind

I tried very hard to get online yesterday but, alas, could not do so. And thus, I must save my wishes of that day for today. So, do a little timewarp and pretend it’s yesterday!

First off, I hope all you Moms out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Special hugs and kisses for my wife Chantale, Mother to Kyle Ethan and StepMother to James and Melyssa 🙂

Secondly, Happy Wedding Day to Taras and Jan! Getting married on my birthday… sniff… how touching 🙂

Thirdly, Happy Birthday to Jeff (ya old coot!) 🙂

Finally, yes, Happy Birthday to me 🙂 I told the kids on Saturday night that I didn’t want anything special for my birthday since I’ve already celebrated so many of them. It was Chantale’s FIRST Mother’s day and thus I wanted to dote on her 🙂 Melyssa just went ahead and made the both of us breakfast in bed, waking us up at 9am with Casey the Wonder Puppy’s happy bouncing. Considering Kyle had woken up at 5am screaming in pain from teething and that I got up with him and finally got him back to sleep for 7am, I was strangely awake enough to appreciate the breakfast 🙂 James woke up at the same time, headed into the bathroom, blew his nose loud enough to wake Kyle, and thus we all ended up in bed. Many Mother’s Day cards later, we surprised Chantale with a gift. Something she’s been wanting for a while now and did not expect to get 🙂

As for me, the coolest gift I got was a Venus Flytrap! Really! 🙂

Now, as per my posts of last year, I was going to upload a Vanity Shot again, but my digital battery needs recharging so it’ll be on another post. The shots of me at 33 and 38 are still in my LJ bucket photo so I’ll probably just add it there and link it here when it’s done 🙂

Until then, speaking of photos, here’s the one from the PCTCC2006 of James’ meeting with J. Torres 🙂

Wow. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. I must say that it feels almost as though it’s been 2 months! Lots to say, not lots to say, but the only way I’ll ever say, what I need to say, is probably best via a list (hey, if it’s good enough for Moggy… 😉 ) You’ll forgive me if I shift from one topic to the other, however. Such is the brain.

1- Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon was great! James was totally thrilled to go and loved his first comic convention experience. I don’t think you can even imagine how he felt to be able to meet, talk with, and get his picture taken with J. Torres 🙂 He was especially thrilled to be in there when J. won a Joe Shuster Award for 2006 Canadian Writer

2- Speaking of the Shusters… they were great. I pretty much laughed the entire time there. Lot of jokes and good humour and just hearing Dave Sim belt out “My Way” after his induction into the Hall of Fame was hysterical. I had sat with JMS and Sara Barnes who always provide a laugh 🙂 I love the fact that even after her accolades, Sara still gets nervous having to go up and give a speach (or in this case present an award).

(by the way, t! As promised, I told JMS about how Babylon 5 and I were indirectly responsible for you and Jan getting married this year and he was all smiles – rocking in his chair saying “Excellent! Excellent!” 🙂 )

3- I have to start contacting folks again as I’m now actively looking to build up the 2006 Joe Shuster Awards Nominating Committee. Canadians only, of course 🙂

4- It was a really nice touch for James Waley to dedicate the JSA ceremony to Francisco this year. He may have been unable to attend, but he was definitely there in spirit.

5- It was great seeing Ronn Sutton and Janet Hetherington at the PCTCC! It had been WAY too long since we last spoke! I’m glad we had the chance to chat. I was also really thrilled to meet Raina Telgemeier! It was just unfortunate that I still hadn’t received my copy of The Babysitters Club Graphic Novel. At least I got a chance to pick up her mini-comics and chat for a bit.

6- All the anniversary events Chantale and I celebrated were incredible. We had the most amazing times together and it was great to be in our own “cocoon” world. Really beautiful family moments with ourselves and with Kyle and we’ve also been spending a lot of time getting the garden ready, getting rid of weeds, etc. We finally ordered a fence which should begin being set up Friday! Which reminds me that I need to pull out more money from the bank…

7- Kyle is amazing. Ever since his top two teeth finally came out last Friday, he’s been a wonderful bundle of joy and giggles. With Chantale working on weekends, we get to spend a lot of time together and it’s been really great finding our own “pace”. He’s grown so much and it’s just amazing to see it. He just loves to stand and has started climbing stairs like a true pro. In fact, it feels as though he’s grown intellectually by leaps and bounds in these last two weeks! 9 1/2 months and what a little whirlwind 🙂 If you haven’t gone to Chantale’s website recently, go take a look at the new pictures 🙂

8- APACon 1 is still a big possibility. That’s great. The tentative date would be the weekend of April 27th, 2007.

9- AMOCK is still in the planning stages. I may run a few test scenarios with that one first to see how we can make it work in a group setting.

10- The story I sold back in October might be back on the schedule. The editor had been having some issues that kept him incommunicado for a few months. I’m hoping things get back on track. I’m reworking some other pieces for submission at another place but found myself in a strange situation. I took a story that i had really liked and made some adjustments. It flowed a lot better and then I looked at the whole and said to myself: “Ok, such and such happens, and then we’re left with this part of the mystery cleared up… so what? who cares? why should anyone want to read this?” Probably the harshest criticism of one of my stories that I ever gave myself. Sheesh. If you’ve made it this far and are interested in seeing it, let me know and I’ll think about sending you a copy to review. Just need someone with the “right” eye.

11- I’ve been WAY too busy at dayjob lately that much has fallen by the wayside. I have at least begun catching up on some reading and reviewing.

12- This is nuts. I have way too much in my head to be able to get it all down here electronically. I’m going to have to stop here – now – before I lose it all again…