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MAB!
Hey Marc-Andre!
Happy Birthday buddy! 🙂 Have a great weekend and POST darnit! You’re disappearing!
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Better News
After all the downs from the last few weeks, it’s nice to be able to share some good news. Mainly, that I was given an early birthday gift from my in-laws last night. They are paying for my overnight stay in Toronto at the end of the month! This means that I not only get to enjoy at least 1 day at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon that’s running April 28th through 30th, but I won’t have to do an insane day-trip in order to be at the convention for the handing out of the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards!!!
Needless to say, I am thrilled.
And, although I won’t be going with any of my regular troupe of convention travellors, I will be introducing someone new to the joys of Comic Convention-going 🙂 I don’t want to say more as it is a big surprise for him (and he doesn’t know it yet!) but it will be his first convention 🙂
Really, I’m so happy about all this and it’s such a load off my mind! It’ll be great to see some of the guests and meet up with some old friends as well! At the same time, I know Chantale is relieved that she won’t have to worry about me driving while fatigued 🙂 (yes, I seriously was contemplating driving down in the morning and driving back to Montreal after the awards. in my defense, I will say that I’m also quite certain I would not have gone through with it simply because of the danger).
Now to start packing the signing material! 🙂
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Beatles Live
The talented and very Beatles-Knowledgeable Alan J. Porter has started a Beatles Blog. As he put it “Development is continuing on the new Beatles Blog. The graphics and page design are still being worked on, but we’ve posted around 75 pieces of content to get things going. We are now looking for feedback, thoughts and general observations from Beatles fans before we do the full roll out. So please click on over to BlogMeDo.com, and let us know what you like, what you don’t and what sort of things you would like to see in a Beatles blog.”
The blog is great, and for those of you who want to read the content from here, I’ve set up a syndicated account for it. You can find it on LiveJournal via http://syndicated.livejournal.com/blogmedo/
The graphic used on the blog is from Gabriel Morrissette and is also on Alan’s book Before They Were Beatles. Head on over to http://www.beforetheywerebeatles.com and read an excerpt, get merchandise, or order yourself a signed copy! Tell him Mike sent ya 🙂
Lessons
I wanted to start this Friday with a Lesson Learned that’s sometimes tough for me to keep in practice:
:Stop beating yourself up over what you COULD do, SHOULD do, or can’t get around to do. Instead, be proud of the stuff you CAN do, HAVE done, and CONTINUE to do:
And now, with apologies to the Ramones:
“Do you remember lying in bed, with the covers pulled up over your head, radio playing so no one can see? We need change and we need it fast, before Rock’s just part of the past, cause lately it all…”
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Finally Friday!
I’ll be glad to see the backside of this week. Not to say I’ll be getting much rest this weekend, but at least it’ll be stuff “at home” as well as some socializing. I do hope I can stick to my guns though and clear off my desk at home. I seriously need my workspace back as I have too much writing backlog just sitting there…
Not much else to say at the moment except that to continue on yesterday’s post, I added a couple of my favorite flash games to the game site I put online for the kids. As much as I enjoy the mindlessness of tic tac toe, I’m addicted to Frogger 🙂 You can see them at http://www.savageland.com/games
be good.
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Much Ado.
This year has been a continous challenge and it doesn’t seem to stop. Some days it’s all downright frustrating which is why I’ve tried to stay offline a lot. I remember having a chat with a friend (hey friend! i miss you!) about how journals in particular are not really “set up” in such a way as to share Good News. Maybe it’s just the makeup of it all, but there’s a feeling of sorts that comes over a person sitting at a computer typing out a journal entry. Venting/ sharing/ just letting the crap out seems to come much more natural than being all crazy/ happy. Note, I’m saying “normally”. I’ve always tried to keep the positives flowing – even though I do find it easier to whine/ bitch/ moan/ complain through a journal. Heck, it was how I used to do it offline via a private electronic “diary”. That’s probably where it all comes from. Anyhow, all this to say that I might ramble a little… and it won’t all be positive.
First, an adimission. I’ve been an Ass. Yup. This past week especially – I’ve been very irritated and irritable. I’ve been trying to stay calm but I’m constantly frustrated/ angry/ hateful at shit flying around and it’s making me beyond grumpy. Unfortunately, some of my growling has happened at home which unfair. Sorry, love.
A second admission. I had to face facts this week. The blinders were unceremoniously ripped from my eyes and I took a hard and painful look at my finances. There’s much I can’t afford and many bills to pay. Two weeks ago I cut my LCS pull-list by 15 titles. That’s quite a number and it was painful but probably not painful enough. I’m taking another look at it this week to see what else can be trimmed. Every little bit counts.
Yesterday, I cancelled my hotel reservation for the PCTCC. This means I won’t be there when the 2nd Shuster Awards are handed out. That stinks and stings. It can’t be helped. I normally calculate a max of $500 (to keep myself in line) for a weekend convention out of town – thinking $300 for lodging, $100 for gas, and $100 for spending. Unfortunately, that money is needed elsewhere. Sure I can make other arrangements, but there’s too much other stuff going on so I’ve made the harsh decision to bail.
Update on Francisco: He suffered another relapse last week. Again, a similar situation where he was in much improved health and then attempted some solid food. Next morning, bam. Unfortunately this time his psuedo-cyst got infected and they had to hook him up to drain it. He’ll be carrying that drain for at least 6 weeks. He’s also on blood thinner in hopes to get that embolism in his lungs to shrink away. He’s obviously very very fed up but again… all we can do is wait.
Speaking of illnesses… I have found out that a lot of folks I work with are suffering through family health issues. Some of them nagging, others quite tragic. It’s emotionally draining… I just care too damn much.
On the good side, at least I can state that my own work’s been rather involved. Tough, busy, but constantly learning and being involved. I spoke with my Manager to iron out my role which was a very positive step. Things are finally falling into place even though there’s an immense amount of activity going on around me. Can’t say I’m not looking forward to a short break, though. I had already booked the weekend of the PCTCC 2006 so although I won’t be in Toronto, I’ll at least not be at work either…
One final note before I go offline again: I was putzing around yesterday and decided to add a few online games to The Savage Land. This was mainly for my kids but you know… sometimes you just need to play Tic Tac Toe and can’t find a partner… 🙂 Anyhow, if you head over to http://www.savageland.com/games/ you’ll see what I mean. Speaking with Chantale this morning she reminded me that I also have access to a number of flash animation games. I’ll probably add those tonight if I can make the time 🙂
Okay, that’s it for me. Coffee beckons.
Perspectives on Life and Things of Import
So I got to thinking about perspective today. It’s all quite funny in a way. See, I recently spent a number of hours doing some research on Book Publishers, Agents, Queries, Editors, etc. You know – typical “writer” stuff. This was all done on my own time (ie; weekends/ evenings) and at the end of it, I found myself pondering about the time spent and how charges could apply. It comes out to this:
If this was part of my tech project, the client would be charged about $332.00
If this was part of my daily tech work, the client would be charged about $160.00
If this was part of my old networking tech contracts, my client would be charged about $300.00
If this was part of my old technical contracts, my client would be charged about $140.00
If this was part of my copyediting services, my client would be charged about $220.00
(please note that these numbers are estimates only that do not reflect reality – because reality often fluctuates 😉 )
It’s fascinating to see how it would be possible to live on doing what I love versus doing what I need to do. Which means that one day it will be possible. On another note, it’s also scary how much some of the Pro Bono work I do(/ have done/ will continue to do) could have helped contribute to my personal bottom line, alas.
In the end, there’s no one to charge anything to. However, I have gained invaluable KNOWLEDGE. And as anyone who’s grown up with SchoolHouse Rocks knows – Knowledge is Power 🙂
Now I’ve just gotta keep working on turning that Power into Money… sooner rather than later… of course, if I could bottle time, then I’d have it made!
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