Skip to main content

Eleven Years

Image by Larisa Koshkina from Pixabay.

Eleven years ago I made a tough decision and got out of a bad situation. Five months later, I moved to Ottawa and began rediscovering myself. The following November, I began writing the first novel of a series. I'm still editing that novel, but in that time I:

- Attained a blue belt level in karate
- Bought a condo.
- Got my full G license.
- Played a season of roller derby on a championship house level team.
- Got to Nidan level in Iaido.
- Got to Ikkyu level in Jodo.
- Won 2 bronze medals in Iaido tournaments.
- Had some short stories published by small presses.
- Was restructured out of the job I had moved to Ottawa for.
- Returned to school for Scriptwriting.
- Tried some other martial arts.
- Attempted piano lessons with several instructors.
- Got into guitar and ukulele for a bit.
- Reached a semi-final level in a screenplay contest.
- Got a new job with a wonderful team of people.
- Had a number of relationships.
- Survived the pandemic.
- Survived the never-ending bathroom reno.
- Had my "gay awakening."
- Lost my mother.
- Found two sports I enjoy
- Made a lot of memories with friends.
- Read a lot of books.
- Crafted a lot of things.

So yeah, I might not have that novel quite ready for readers yet, but I found my way back to myself and I think that means more than any one goal.

I'm not where I want to be yet on some things, but I'm heading in the right direction.

Popular posts from this blog

The Gauntlet That Was October

I had a lot of things happen in October. I watched Frankenstein in the cemetery with friends. I had tea with a friend. I started a new sport: curling. This is really fun and I'm enjoying the level of activity it provides and all the strategic elements. I'll do a separate post on it soon. Unfortunately, soon after my first game, I came down with Covid and so did the friend who I had tea with, so I think we both caught it at the place we went to. That wasn't fun. I already posted about that. I was fortunate to be free of it in time to attend Can-Con where I took in lots of panels, saw some of the wonderful writer community, bought many new books, and volunteered to help out in the rooms. The following weekend, I went to the livestream for Danielle Allard's new album release, followed by the in person release. As part of this, she has a 6 video series that releases every Sunday on her YouTube at 1:15 PM EDT. Video number 2, Falling Into Place, is one that I feel fortunate ...

Frisky Friday - Maple Syrup Porn

[caption id="attachment_10523" align="alignright" width="300"] Image created using Bitmoji[/caption] While delving into some Canadian film history this week, I learned that there is a thing called Maple Syrup Porn. I laughed when I read the term. I thought, "Is our adult film industry really called Maple Syrup Porn?" It's not. Some is Canadian, but it mostly refers to getting around censorship of sex. It was not only common in Quebec due to religion, but several places in the US. You can read more about it here . If you're looking to heat things up this weekend, consider a sweet old film from the early days of the sexual revolution. Maybe even drizzle a little syrup on your partner ;) Guid cheerio the nou, R~

2024 - Week 5

It was still January for most of this week, a.k.a. The Neverending Month. Then it became February!  Each month, I do pull a card from my Music Oracles deck. Last month was Bob Marley. February's card is Nina Simone. A piano playing rebel & multiple genre legend will hopefully make for a phenomenal month ahead. I still haven't done a goals post for 2024. January was a lot. My goals for this year are: - Complete Sparker  and query agents. - Complete The Curse of...  and submit it to a screenplay contest. - Complete the declutter of Tiny Condo. - Blog at least once per week. - Cross train for curling and softball. - Learn piano. - Self-care with crafts, reading, gaming, and sports. I've tweaked my schedule to make this happen. I'd also like a partner, but I feel weird about setting it as a goal.