Poppin' the Happy Pill

No. Alan has not turned to pharmaceuticals to help him get through his day. I'll get to the 'Happy Pill' business in a minute.

It was another amazing day here on The Rock. It maxxed out at about 10C (50F) or so and was sunny for much of the day. Hard to believe that Christmas is only 17 days away. Guess I should start shopping. And decorating. And whatever else the season requires. The photo to the side is from the steps of the Confederation Building (our provincial House of Assembly) looking towards the harbour. It was taken two days ago and, as you can see, there was a bit of fog but not a flake of snow. I am knocking on wood so as not to jinx this unseasonable phenomenon.

The news on the television tonight showed people golfing at the local golf club. They promise the course will stay open until the snow flies. This was in sharp contrast to footage from Florida that showed children going to school in winter coats, toques (Tooks?) and mittens. Apparently some regions of the state are under frost warnings and are worried about their citrus crops. Quite a role-reversal indeed.

Speaking of Florida...the lovely Laura Eno, one of my longest online pals, passed along a new award to me. It is called the 'Happy Pill' award and was recently created by Lydia Kang. My last post, regarding my stupid unfortunate hand injuries over the years, had her thinking that I could surely benefit from the Happy Pill because I sure is a mess! Can't hurt, might help...and I thank Laura kindly for the award. She didn't specify that I have to do anything special, such as divining the future or eating Naga Viper peppers, so I assume I can smile and pass it along to another person without the usual revelation of personal information. Besides...you guys already know everything about me. Right?

For those of you out of the loop, Laura is one of the most productive people in the #fridayflash crowd and she's the author of Prophecy Moon and Don't Fall Asleep: A Dream Assassin Novel. Drop by her blog, A Shift in Dimensions and say hello. Perhaps lend her some warm clothes, or buy her a hot chocolate even. I understand the cold is making her snake, Jezebel, is a bit sluggish so bring a warm rat with you.

Without further ado, I bestow this fine Pill of Happiness on the hilarious Kathryn at From the Inside...Out because when I leave her blog it's always with a smile (and after reading about some of HER situations I'm feeling a lot better about MYself).

Sunday Pimpage

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (1883 - 1931)

What better way to start off a post than with a friendship quote by Kahlil Gibran. I'd like to thank all who commented with their kind comments to my previous post regarding malaise, or ennui, as my friend KC Shaw better described it. And what better way to lift one's spirits than to pimp out the accomplishments of one's friends.

My friend and fellow islander Laurita Miller has had her blog Brain Droppings nominated for a Canadian Blog Award. I'm really excited for her and hope that all of you #fridayflash people (and those of you who aren't) who enjoy reading her work go to the website and cast you vote. She can be found in the Culture and Literature voting section. The catch is you need to do it by noon today the 17th of October (I'm assuming that's EST).

I would be extremely negligent if I didn't send a shout out to the talented Laura Eno (or as I prefer to her, Queen of Cyberspace Who is in All Places at All Times. She held a virtual book launch at her blog A Shift in Dimensions this work for her most recent work, Don't Fall Asleep, the first in a series of Dream Assassin Novels. I was a bit late in attending and all of the snacks had been scoffed up by the guests and Jezebel had nearly throttled two of the merry-makers. If by chance you have been living under a rock, or are just plain 'clued-out' like myself, it's not too late to throw your support her way.

And finally, I'd be really negligent if I didn't pimp a wee bit for my oldest internet friend Cate Gardner. Her book Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits, a collection of short stories, is now available at Strange Publications and at Amazon.com. Check out a trailer for the trailer at her blog.

Me, YA and a Little SciFi

Laura Eno at "A Shift in Dimensions" provided a neat link yesterday to an amusing little test (11 quirky questions) to determine which science fiction writer you are. You can find that here. I discovered that I am, in fact, the late Stanislav Lem (shown left). I must admit that I have heard of Mr. Lem before, but could not name any of his books. According to Wikipedia, his books "explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe." That sounds very deep...I aspire to fitting those themes in my stories in the near future. His novel "Solaris" was twice made into a motion picture.

We were out at the mall last night, shopping for items we'll need on our holiday in about 4 weeks (more about that soon). While waiting for V to try on stuff at Winners (do they have them in the US or the UK or OZ?) I was skimming through the YA books on the bargain books table in the children's department. I found three books that either myself or Sean would like:

The first is an account of Phineas Gage of Vermont. He was the unfortunate railroad worker who, in 1848, had a 3 foot spike go right through his head. He lived for another 14 years but, sadly, had changes to his personality. The book is called "Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science" by John Fleischman. We had barely made it through the door before the ghoulish child had hold of the book and was devouring its contents. Oh, and it was a thin hardback for $3.00.

The second book was a paperback called "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer. What's not to like about a book who's back cover says: "Twelve year old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius--and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy..." That book was also $3.00.

The third was a hardback called "Skullduggery Pleasant" by Derek Landy (yes, another Irish author). The novel's protagonist is an undead wizard and detective and the book combines the horror, comedy, mystery and science fiction genres. I'm just a big kid at heart and I'm sure I'll enjoy all three of them. That novel was $4.50.

I was inspired by my last post to write a first draft of a flash story about UFO's. I have tomorrow off work (work slow down) and hope to finish it for Friday. Maybe.

Awards Night

It's late Saturday night and what could be more fun than getting dressed up in my tux for the receiving and giving of awards. Note that the Oscar nominations will be announced at 5:30am PT Tuesday. The awards I refer to are not quite so dramatic and, to be honest, the photo was taken on my wedding day over 15 years ago. My hair was a lot longer back then...and the tux was a rental. I may have posted the photo on my blog months ago but honestly can't remember. I know that I have it on FaceBook. Anyway, I've poured myself a wee Glenlivet (a double) and will move on with the show. Please forgive me if I schlerr my words or if I create a few tippos.


On Thursday, the very talented Laura Eno at A Shift in Dimensions with the 'You are my Sunshine Award'. The purpose of it is to acknowledge those that have a blog and spend endless hours ensuring that other bloggers get feedback on their blogs by leaving comments, adding themselves as a follower or dropping by just to let you know there are people out there. It was very kind of Laura to consider me worthy and I thank her very much. There are so many folks that frequent this blog that are quick with humour and a kind word. Two stand out for me that have been commenting here since my first couple of weeks blogging last spring. The award goes to:



KC Shaw at The Knotted Thicket and Natalie L. Sin at Written by Sin.

We now move on to the entertainment for the evening. I am playing a medley of David Hasselhoff songs with hand farts. I'm sorry that you at home can not enjoy it as much as I am.


The second award, the Honest Scrap Award, was presented to me on Thursday as well (suffice it to say that I was giddy with excitement at receiving two different awards on the same day) by Courtney Reese at her blog. Courtney and I are fairly new to each other's blogs but we both recognise the effort and honesty that each other puts into our blogs. Please check hers out, I know that I will continue to do so. Now, the easy part of this award is passing it on to a couple of worthy parties. Drum roll, please *my greyhound is entering the room carrying the envelope in his teeth. I remove said envelope, wipe off drool on sleeve of tux and smooth it out* The Honest Scrap Award goes to:


Katey Taylor at SpecFic and Nonsense and Catherine Gardner at The Poisoned Apple.

The more difficult part of this award is that I have to reveal 10 honest facts about myself. This may be difficult as I've been revealing a lot about myself (perhaps too much some of you may say) on this blog. I'll see if I can come up with some new lies stuff about myself.

1. I had a rock collection in the 5th grade and expanded to minerals and fossils and aspired to be a geologist. I was fascinated with the subject, but couldn't handle of the other 'stuff' that one needs to take in university to meet the requirements of a science degree.
2. In 1990-91, I was on a 16 week overland expedition from London to Kathmandu in the back of a Bedford truck with 19 other travellers.
3. I was once a dog catcher (note: this also includes cats, owls, raccoons, muskrat, a blue heron, a possum and pretty much anything else needed restrained or captured).
4. I once had to get the rabies series of shots after being bitten my a rabid cat (refer back to item #3). Side note...I used to be terrified by needles, but I'm not too bad now...)
5. I enjoy live theatre and had season's tickets to the Grand Theatre in London (Ontario) and saw shows in Stratford and Toronto.
6. Tattoos? No way, as I had always been scared of needles (see item#4).
7. Quirky movies I could watch 100 times? Hmm, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, A Christmas Story, Fargo, Diner...the list goes on.
8. I was raised Roman Catholic, but my parents stopped taking us to mass as they grew weary of listening to 5 kids whining about it. I subscribe to no particular religion and think that they all have their merits and drawbacks. I keep an open mind and listen to what they all have to say.
9. I am probably one of the most patient people that I know. I'm easy-going and some would say 'laid back'. I am quiet by nature and some mistaken this as having nothing to say. This is not true as I will speak my mind if and when the topic warrants it.
10. I once saw an object floating above a farmer's field at 5:30am driving from home in London to work, at the time, in Aylmer Ontario (no, I hadn't been drinking or any other such thing). I believe that we are not alone in the universe and we would be arrogant to think this small blue island in space is the only one of its kind.

Umm, sorry about #10. Ish probably the single malt talking...Actually, it's a crafty segue into my next post.

Snippets of this Week

Just a blog of little bits & pieces of this week. Nothing startling or earth shattering. I would be remiss if I didn't refer to the Leno vs O'Brien business. Townie Bastard (a Newfoundland blogger who now lives in Nunavut) had a link to a site where one can 'Conan Yourself''. The results of that are on the right. I'm sure that you are wondering, "Who is Alan, really? Last week he's trying to be Bob Ross, this week Conan." This is true, I may have a bit of an identity crisis going on.

I was always a Johnny Carson fan and Jay Leno grew on me after a while. I have watched Conan in small doses but found a lot of his shtick a bit juvenile. That being said, I think mock commercials and his skits on his resemblance to Finland's first female president Tarja Halonen were hilarious.

My writing productivity this week was non-existent. I attribute this to an on-going job for work that I still haven't finished, a couple of bouts of snow shovelling and general laziness. I was shovelling this morning and thought that a body part or two were about to drop off as it was -13 Celsius with a wind chill of -25. Winter is finally here, though there are many other locations in North America who have it worse, so I'll shut up now...

We got out to the Revue 2009 on Wednesday night. This is the 25th annual production where local actors/musicians/comedians perform non-stop skits for about 3 hours, mocking municipal, provincial and federal politicians. A great evening's entertainment. We also took the boy to see 'Daybreakers' last night. A few minutes into that, I was wondering if we had made a big mistake. He is a bit prone to nightmares and I thought the subject matter and gore would bring them on. He seems to have slept well last night (knock on the proverbial wood). I thought that the storyline was original and showed a lot of promise, but it seemed to slip into a gore-fest and relied on cheap scares throughout the movie. It was a bit short at 98 minutes and the story could have been expanded a bit more.

I'd like to refer you to a couple of insightful blogs from this week: Katey Taylor had a great blog this week regarding writers and genre, expanding on what Aaron Polson had started earlier in the week. She provides a link to WD Prescott's piece about "what horror is." Mercedes Yardley at 'A Broken Laptop' had an insightful blog about writers juggling the demands between work, family and, or course, writing. The funniest thing I read this week was an interview of the talented Laura Eno over at Miscellaneious Yammering by Karen Schindler. Hilarious stuff. Check those out if you get a chance.

I've got a few errands to run, so I'll stop rambling now. Perhaps this week I will write.

My Head is Swelling...

The title is not a reference to the ongoing coughing or plague-like symptoms I may be exhibiting, or to anything evil your minds may be thinking up. This is a new week and, yes, another fine award bestowed upon yours truly.

Laura Eno at A Shift in Dimensions kindly passed on the Kreativ Blogger Award to myself and a few others. We have recently become fans of each others blogs. I especially enjoy her #fridayflash and encourage you all to go check it out.

I must, of course again cite the somewhat (in)famous Anton Gully rule of probabilities and only award this to one person lest we have several gazillion of these babies floating around by Halloween. Another blog I have been frequenting recently, and whose humour and visuals I have come to enjoy, is Jeremy Kelly's Join The Birdies. I hope that he covets this award and admires it in a locked, dark room as much as I. Congratulations, sir!

Of course winning this prize does come with a couple of responsibilities...you must please provide a link back, pass this award on to another person or persons whose blogs you enjoy and notify your recipients.