The New Floodgates of the Mind

Hey Everyone! I’m back from Toronto and still alive and kicking! It was a great convention and I got to meet, chat, and hang out with some really great folks! Today’s been an incredibly busy work day and thus don’t have time to do anything but send out a quick hello to everyone.

The Shuster Awards turned into an incredibly moving event. It was all captured on film and I hope to get a copy some day. There is a new website available now at www.shusterawards.com which will be the place to read news of the event and future ceremonies. Some quick highlights:

I just reviewed all upcoming events and was amazed to see how many anniversaries I’m celebrating in just a few short weeks! Here’s a breakdown:

I realize I haven’t been around much but I hardly know where the time has gone! This weekend was deadline for Comicopia 88 so I spent the Friday night and Saturday putting it all together and shipping it out to the members and various others. Things are going really well for us and we’re increasing copy count for next issue. That’s something that hasn’t happened in 13+ years – and at that time it wasn’t done due to need, it was done due to desire. We steadily reduced count over the years so it’s quite a thrill to increase it again. Heck, two days after the mailings, I got confirmation of another member joining us. Wonderful news 🙂

This weekend is the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon. Finally! The culmination of months of work on being part of the nomination panel for the Shuster Awards arrives on Saturday April 30th at 4:30pm when the winners of the first Canadian Comic Book Awards are revealed! I haven’t been to a big comics convention in something like 5+ years so it will be quite a “rediscovering” event. I’ll be dragging a notebook around (of course) and will be sure to take as many notes as possible in order to write up a detailed Convention Report for Comicopia 89. And it all begins with a roadtrip early Friday morning as The SnatchMaster Trio takes to the highway 🙂 Yes folks, The Snatch Patrol is no more as a newer, more mature, group of Masters take to the streets. We’ll see what kind of antics ensue 🙂

Work-wise, things have been somewhat crazy. I would have something to report on Friday, but as I’m out of town I will only be able to report on it Monday morning 🙂

Home-wise, things are fantastic. I’m so in love with my wife that I can’t bear to be apart from her. It’s so wonderful to be able to look at early photographs of us together (as often pop up as part of my random system wallpapers) and still feel the same tugging of heartstrings today as I did then. I’ll come across a picture and not only remember, but feel the emotions I had on the day I took the photograph and the moments surrounding that memory. [Happy Sigh] In fact, I reminded Chantale just this morning how tomorrow (April 27th) will mark the 4th Year Anniversary of our living together 24/7. Before that time, we’d spent about 6 months living together a few days at a time (either at my apartment in the East end or at her apartment in Longueuil). But the last weekend of 2001, we moved the last of her stuff in to my apartment and it became OUR apartment. Coincidentally, two years after that, we moved into our first home together.

Life is love and love is life. And boy am I ever glad to be sharing it with her 🙂

I find it a little difficult to believe that it’s almost 2am and I’m still sitting here on my computer. But I must admit it is refreshing.

Yesterday was Comicopia 88’s deadline which meant I spent the evening doing the final collating, binding, and envelope stuffing, followed by file updates of who got what, what went where, what’s left, as well as preparing the template for next issue in 2 months. Numerous emails followed and backups were taken as well. Chantale kept me company in the basement. I worked while she kept busy on her computer.

Tonight, again, after the kids were in bed, I came down to update a couple of programs on her system and then verify a few more files on mine. Chantale got to playing games on her computer while scans were being run and I found myself trolling my writing directories. I had time to go through a massive directory and file clean-up – enjoying myself tremendously as I came across all the short stories, poems, songs, scripts, proposals, etc that I had littered everywhere. A solid cleaning was done (along with some new work) which brought to light a number of scripts and stories I had started but didn’t continue, as well as a few forgotten proposals. What a wonderful trip down memory lane 🙂 Best of all, it reminded me of a select number of stories I wanted to rework and pitch at a few places.

What I find really nice is that this is something I’ve had to do for the longest time and never made the time for it. Being able to do it tonight, while so much of my writing/publishing work has been going around in my brain, was something really and truly appreciated. Almost as much as being able to get all that Comicopia work done last night. It might seem silly or minor, but to me, being able to do all this while still having Chantale near and being able to talk with her really made it special.

That’s the best part of having your Best Friend/ Lover/ Confidant as your Wife. Being able to have one person complete and complement your life. 🙂 So here I am feeling lucky and blessed and in the best of spirits 🙂

Ah, the sun and heat is such a beautiful combination… Spent quite a number of hours yesterday morning raking the lawn to remove dead grass. Somewhat sore this morning, but in a “good” way 🙂 Still have half the lawn to do but we’ll see in how much pain I am tonight 🙂

I got confirmation that my cousin did sign with the Ottawa Lynx! I headed over to the Ottawa Lynx website and checked out the roster and news. Sure enough, there he is 🙂 Guess I’ll be going on a few more road-trips to Ottawa this year 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be able to get the kids to a game, too. They used to enjoy the Expos, but should get a bigger kick out of being able to see their cousin play ball 🙂

Chantale Beauty in Curls Here’s a picture of my glowing and pregnant wife at the Standard Life annual dinner dance 🙂

I would have liked to have had a few more pictures of the two of us at the dinner dance, but we just never got around to it. Unfortunately, the photographs taken of the entire table have me looking like hell so I simply cut myself out of it in order to have this close-up of Chantale 🙂

It’s Friday and I’m glad. Walked to the train again this morning, making it two days in a row. Very nice to be out on the streets at 6:30 in the morning. Clean, clear, crisp air… ahh. I need to get new shoes. The New Balance ones I have suck garbage. One really cool thing about the walk this morning (besides the fact that it feels good to be moving and helps wake me up!) is that I found $10 on the street. Nice way to start the day 🙂

Last night’s Meditation Circle was… different. I’ve been in a number of circles before, but not one in which we consciously worked to link our energy. Not used to being around so much grey and brown… I’m much more comfortable with the familiar blues, greens, and yellows linked to Chantale and my guides. I really needed that time, though. It finally helped me shed the large poundage of stress from off my shoulders and definitely helped me sleep last night.

This morning on the train, I was a writing machine again. wow. I was quoted Shakespeare last night about how he wrote was was shown to him (write what I know) and this morning my fingers were definitely linked to my inner eye. tres cool.

Well I’m all over the place this morning but that’s because (a) it’s Friday! (b) I’m leaving early to pick up my kids with Chantale and see their project work of the past year, and (c) this weekend is for relaxing and lounging around the house and garden! I’m SO looking forward to “hanging” with my kids… 🙂

Q: what’s the difference between: “You can get it tomorrow. There will be someone here in the afternoon” and “You can get it tomorrow. There will be someone here from 1pm onwards”?

A: Mike stuck sitting on a chair waiting for 40 minutes for the Secretary to finish her first duty assignment and start her other shift.

Have I mentioned I hate Hospitals?

It’s Monday again. Boy that day really sneaks up on you. But I guess it doesn’t help that I only got to bed shortly after 2am… 🙂 Karine! I realized why you were so confused when Adam told you it was 1am! The clock you were looking at had stopped at 11:30 since its battery died! 🙂

So, Friday night was a blast. Even though I was so whacked out on caffeine after having literally slept only a finger-full of hours (as opposed to a handful 🙂 ) the night before, I was conscious enough to really enjoy myself. It was great seeing everyone again and thank you all for making it down there! Lu, thanks for keeping me in stitches 😉

After that party broke up, Chantale and I went to visit with Karine and Adam. It was a very nice end to the evening and also quite funny how it only took an hour to move from the kitchen to the front door 🙂 All that mainly because I had to get up early Saturday morning to be there for my kids’ catchechism course. Unfortunately, I didn’t sleep well that night either and thus went through the day in somewhat of a daze. After the course, I met up with Francisco and we had lunch at his restaurant. From there, we headed downtown and after some walking around settled in for SIN CITY (oh yeah!). We spent the next few hours on St. Denis first at a BD shop and then at his cousin’s restaurant (Chez Le Portugais – beautiful!) where we chatted with the owner and the sommelier, tried some wines, and ate some food. Ended the night at Timmie’s (what did you think of your first French Vanilla?) and then I headed home to my darling wife whom I missed very much.

Sunday, I tried to sleep in. Didn’t work. Just wasn’t comfortable – my neck and shoulders ached. The week of stress obviously affected me. Still, got started on domestic chores including bringing the patio furniture out of storage. Considering how beautifully sunny it was, being on the deck was wonderful 🙂 Karine, Adam, and Mathieu showed up in the late afternoon and we spent the next several hours just chatting once Mathieu was happily settled down in his soon-to-be-born friend’s playpen 🙂

Today so far has been one scheduling nightmare after another. My calendar is one big blotchy mess and I can almost feel the small stress calm before the big stress storm… 🙂 I need caffeine. Now.

“Hello everybody out there in radio and tv land!”

Ok, not quite. For those of you wanting an update, bear with me as I’m fighting off a massive migraine which both food and pills could not alleviate:

Chantale finally got in touch with her doc yesterday who told her to go in. We headed out and eventually found out that all the blood work showed nothing. She was fine. Her blood pressure was fine, not suffering from diabetes, everything was good. And yet, she wasn’t. The doc was very perplexed, stating that she’s never seen anything this bad before. So, she had to set up an appointment with a cardiologist and a neurologist as well as being confined to bed-rest. While she was working out the details for that, I headed over to the Medi-Plus building to visit my own doctor who ended up referring me to a specialist at the JGH. Since I was heading over there to pick up Chantale, the nurse made a call and arranged for me to be seen right away.

I meet Chantale and after we settle with her doc, I head over and see the specialist. After consultation, examination, and filling of two bottles, we got to go home – but I need to see him at 7:20am Friday morning with two more samples. Ah, the joys of tests. We slowly make our way home and Chantale is obviously exhausted and feeling somewhat depressed. The cardiologist appointment was scheduled for this morning at 8am. To get her mind off of everything, I took her to a really nice supper and then we headed home.

This morning, we were back at the JGH at 7:30am and were seen shortly after 8am. The doc was a really nice guy. Wonderful bedside manner and quite the contrast to her ObGyn. Anyhow, in the 2+ hours we were there, Chantale got an electrocardiogram done followed by an ultrasound of her heart. Everything seemed normal. Finally, before leaving, she was hooked into a heart monitor that she has to carry around the rest of the day and into the night. She was told to bring it back tomorrow at 8am, but since I have to be there already (plans are to catch the 6am train at ile perrot) they were okay with me doing it. Why should I force Chantale to get up at 5:30am just to drop something off? It’s gonna be a hell of a day for me with three scheduled meetings, but what the hell. Having Picasso’s to look forward to at night should give me the boost of energy I need. 🙂

Picasso’s GT Yes, it is still on! See you there any time after 7pm!

So, Chantale is now resting/ sleeping upstairs while I came down here to catch up on my work emails and make sure everything is under control. (Muad_ib, I’m really sorry I missed your birthday lunch. Happy Birthday at any rate! I’ll take you to Cora’s next week or something 🙂 ) And now that everything looks good, I’m gonna go see if sleep can help get rid of this pain in my head…