And another week disappears into the ether…

Not quite sure where the time is going, but I’ve obviously lost control of it somewhere. I even tried pausing time yesterday, and failed.

But it was a hectic yet fun week anyways. Lots of things going on writing-wise, and lots of things going on around the home too. We hosted our annual Canada Day party on the Sunday as having it on July 1st, which was a Wednesday, didn’t make a lot of sense–meaning we didn’t want to host 30+ people and work the day before, so Sunday gave us an extra day to prepare.

Besides the weather being somewhat questionable with cloudy skies in the morning, the sun came out and gave us some warm weather when people started arriving. After dinner the clouds rolled, letting the rain fall for about an hour, but luckily enough they moved along and allowed us to light off our fireworks display without issue.

Then the week folded into day jobbery and running around here and there until Wednesday–Canada Day!

We took the kids to a local park, where a company was hosting a huge bash. We met up with some family (who got us tickets into the festivities), and had dinner and such. The kids had a blast, playing around and getting temporary tattoos. We packed up just as the rain started to fall, making a quick escape.

Here are a few pics of the girls having fun at the park.

That’s it for now. I need to go find where the sun disappeared to.

There goes another week.

I’m having a really hard time managing time right now, something I have usually been pretty good at. Day jobbe has been very busy and very stressful as of late, things at home have been very busy, writing has been busy, agent chats have been good–which means I’m busy.

Just everything is BUSY.

So excuse me while I catch my breath for a moment.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, a day I’ve come to appreciate and look forward to since becoming, well, a father. I had a wonderful day with my kids (and wife!), where we got up early and headed out to our favourite local greasy spoon for breakfast with other family members. We then headed home where I got presents! For being a swell dad! Crazy-talk. And there were some cool things under the wrapping paper, like Depeche Mode’s new album, and a copy of Forgetting Sarah Marshall…and…and…a new mp3 adapter for my car! Something I’ve wanted for a long time. I can now listen to audio books on the way into work. Huzzah!

Then I took Charlotte to see Up. And wow, what a FUN movie. Really loved it. The story really hit home with me, how it deals with mortality, family, age, growing old, time, love, disappointment, LIFE. I think, to be honest, this may have become my most favourite of favourite Pixar films, knocking out the beloved The Incredibles.

Up is that good.

And this was the first time I was able to do something with just Charlotte, where we could go out together and talk and have fun. I mean, we’ve done lots of things before like go the the mall or the Aveda salon or whatever, but not like this. We grabbed a show, went to Starbucks, had a drink and talked and joked, and looked at books. It was fun.

After a great Father’s Day, the chaos of the week began with Charlotte’s dance recital. Monday was dress rehersal and Tuesday and Wednesday night were performances. It was crazy, and Erika did an amazing job getting Charlotte ready in time and running her here and there.

We had a bunch of family come to see Charlotte dance on the Tuesday night, which Charlotte loved. She is a real performer and adores the limelight–what a surprise! She’s been accepted into the competitive dance program next year, so she will start dancing 3 nights a week doing jazz, ballet, and tap. She’ll also continue with her gymnastics and swimming as well. She is very much looking forward to the new season–and so am I.

I really love seeing her enjoy the arts.

The rest of the week disappeared into a chaotic wash of running around, which I will get to later, once I try and get some sleep or something.

Check out more pics in the photo section.

I was hoping to wake up this morning and that the death of Michael Jackson would be nothing more than a bad dream–but that was obviously not the case.

I’m not going to dwell a lot on this, or do some long post, as others have done it much better than I could, but MJ’s music was definitely a significant part of the soundtrack to my youth. Growing up in the 80s, he seemed to be everywhere. You couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing his music, or a TV without seeing a commercial or music video. I had a glitter glove. I had the albums. I tried–and failed gloriously–to do his moves, tried to copy the moonwalk across our hardwood floors a thousand times over.

From Thriller to Bad, Dangerous to HIStory, each album corresponded to a different time in my life, from grade school to middle school, from high school to college. I have specific memories from each album, of specific songs and places, of moments in time, of recreating the Thriller video on the play ground or eagerly awaiting the new Scream video that he’d done with his sister Janet.

And lets not forget the red leather jumpsuit.

I’ve been listening to a lot of MJ today, and in doing so remembered an arcade game I played a lot in the 90s at a local arcade near my high school. Ah yes, the classic Moonwalker.

For anyone who played a lot of arcade games, I’m sure you’ll remember this one fondly:

I’ll have to do some thinking of what my all-time favourite Michael Jackson song/video is. It’s a hard question for me to answer. Kind of like asking me to pick my favourite sushi item. They’re all so good! But when I do, I’ll be sure to post it.

This is one of the best mash-ups I’ve seen in a very long time, and not just because it includes one of my all-time favourite television shows, Magnum, P.I., and one of my favourite films, Star Wars, either.

It’s just so well done. Check this out!

(direct link)

And then check this comparison video out, between the original Magnum opening and the mash-up. Amazing!

(direct link)

via The Retroist

Last weekend was made of awesomesauce.

For Erika’s birthday, I decided to take her to Niagara Falls for the weekend since her parent’s graciously offered to babysit. And what a fun time we had!

We checked into our hotel which overlooked the falls (and had this wicked “window to the falls” jacuzzi) Saturday afternoon, and then headed off to actually see the falls up close. And as usual, I was tempted to re-enact the scene from Superman 2…but wisdom prevailed and I stayed on the “right” side of the railing.

We then acted like tourists and headed into the Clifton Hill area. There we played Dinosaur Park mini-golf–something we played about, oh, eleventy years ago on one of our first day trip dates. It was fun to do it all over again.

After golfing we grabbed a patio seat alongside one of the main roads and chatted and drank beer and cocktails and ate tasty nachos. The weather was gorgeous as we walked back to the hotel and casino, toured around, saw this great bar (must go next time) called Coco’s that was all neon and art deco and pastels, and reminded me of something I’d see in Miami. And they were blaring Lionel Richie. So retro-cool.

Later that night we had a fantastic dinner, hit the casino, drank lots of wine, and just relaxed without the kids around. It was fantastic.

After checking out Sunday morning we headed into the US to do some shopping at the outlet mall, where we filled out trunk full of great deals. Even with the dollar exchange we couldn’t pass up on some of these deals, especially kids clothes. We also scoped out 3 new Doritos flavors that we don’t have in Canada, so zoink, those went into the shopping cart too. (Not that I need Doritos or anything, but yeah, addicted.)

After shopping we headed to Erika’s parents to see the kids and have a barbeque with family etc.

It was such a fun weekend. One of those weekends that you don’t want to end. Fortunately for my bank account, it did.

But now it is back to day jobbery, watering the newly landscaped backyard, and working on more and more writing projects. No rest, I say, no rest!

You can check out more photos here.

Wow. Time is disappearing faster and faster. With all of the renovations going on in the backyard (pics coming soon! It is almost done!), day jobbery chaos, writing work, synopsis revisions, YA project progress, and my Left 4 Dead stress relieving, I don’t know which way is up at the moment.

So, that is why I’m off tomorrow with Erika for a kid-free weekend in Niagara Falls. Can’t wait. It is very needed.

And then, once back, it will be more of the same, though hopefully I will feel refreshed and ready to dive into (and post more of) the various cool things going on.

Have a great weekend and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. *g*

I’ve been playing a ton of Left 4 Dead lately, a zombie-filled FPS on the Xbox 360…

And for anyone who has played this game, they can attest to the following video.

Priceless…

Direct link to video.

Ah yes, June 1st marks the start of summer to me. May is just a tease with the odd nice day, but June, yes June is when the real summery weather comes. Well, it is supposed to anyway. It is bloody frigid out today, and raining. But usually, today is the day. Don’t let me down June.

And with summer weather comes summer diets. Earlier this year–January I think–I gave up fast food for a month before I went on a cruise. I was able to do it–and I survived. It helps I am not a fast food addict, and I don’t crave it all the time or very regularly for that matter. Sure, I like the odd item here and there like most people, but I’m not going to go all Big Mac Attack or antything.

So to spice things up as I get ready for the beach and making public appearances at Worldcon in August, I am going to stop eating fast food again with one exception. If the fast food restaurant offers a “healthy choice” menu, meaning whole grains, grilled items, etc., then I may cautiously indulge. If not, then no can do. No Big Macs for me, no chicken nuggets or deep-fried fishy sandwiches.

Which brings me to the “upping the ante” part: I am also going to stop eating deep-fried food. At least until September–just to see if I can do it. This one will be slightly harder than the fast food avoidance measure, as dining out at decent restaurants could be affected. Lots of sides and appetizers have deep-friend components. But I must remain steadfast. I think I can do it, and I will report back September 1st so you can see how I made out. If I fail, then I will post about it too. But don’t count on it.

All this bad food avoidance, coupled with the gym, and I should be well on my way to–well, I don’t know. Somewhere good I guess.

And no, I will not stop drinking alcohol. Nice try.

Woah. Where did the week go? So much for keeping up with the blogosphere like I said I would.

Seems like I’ve lost my free (ha!) time. Where oh, where could it be?

Anyways, things are busy around the homestead as we get ready for “major renovations” to the backyard. Landscapers: check. Designs: check. Trees and bushes ordered: check. Armor stone  ordered: check. And now we wait for Monday when things turn into a construction zone for 10-14 days. Exciting. Pictures shall be forthcoming.

I’ve also  managed to finish off the 3 synopses for a series I’m working on and passed those along to my agent on Monday. But does that mean I’ve stopped working? Hell no. It means I have time to work on another synopsis for a YA project. Hopefully that synopsis will be done by early next week and then I can pass that one along to my agent as well.

My new diet of only alcohol and water fell apart rather quickly as I realized I needed some form of sustenance. But I have been able to eat well, and healthy, and have been at the gym 4 days this week, so all is well on that front too.

And now, I am working towards the weekend where I can continue to be bitter that I am not attending Book Expo America (BEA). Maybe next year? Let’s hope so.

Have a dandy weekend people.

You know those weekends that are just perfect? Those weekends you don’t want to end, that everything is just clicking along and that nothing could derail your spirit? That was last weekend. True, it happened to be a long weekend here in Canada, so that made it extra good, but still–it was just fun.

Friday night I met my brother-in-law to go look at trees for our backyard as he is a landscaping genius and did some awesome drawings for us. After trees were decided on, we headed back to my place where Erika’s sister joined us and their little guy, Owen. We put the kids to bed and ordered in Chinese food, chatted over chow mein goodness, and then watched TAKEN–an entertaining albeit short film. It could have used another 10 minutes on the end, but Liam Neeson rocked it like Jason Bourne.

Saturday I took the family to the tree farm to confirm the selections from the prior evening. It was crazy-muddy, but Charlotte liked splashing in the puddles. Then that afternoon Charlotte had a birthday party to attend in a nearby town, a town that Erika’s cousin Marcy lives in. We dropped Charlotte off at the party and went for shawarma with Claire and Madeleine. After the party we headed to Marcy and George’s so the kids could play with their kids and us adults could–well–drink and be merry. Dinner and conversation were great, even though I failed in my attempt at getting the ladies to cover themselves in green body paint so I could live out my Star Trek fantasies.

Sunday was a stay-at-home day, where we got caught up on chores, watched the Grey’s Anatomy season finale, and pretty much relaxed.

Monday we got up early (like every day) and headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake for the day–one of my most favourite places to spend a day. The weather was drop-dead gorgeous, with a perfect Spring breeze and clear blue skies. We did our usual walk of hitting all the shops, like the fudge factory, and the bakeries, jam shoppe, the Christmas Store (where it is Christmas 365-days a year), one of the countless ice cream parlours, wine stores, well, the list goes on. It’s a wonderful place.

We took a great picture of the girls standing in front of some flowers while we were walking around.

And then Charlotte volunteered to take our picture, so we gave her the camera and she took two great shots of Erika and I. All that time she has spent with her own camera has paid off. Maybe now we won’t always have single pictures of us while travelling with the kids. 

More pictures here.

After we got home from Niagara-on-the-Lake, we put the kids to bed and I fired up the BBQ. Grilled some steaks and asparagus and enjoyed some quite dining time with Erika over wine.

So that was the weekend. Fun. And one I wasn’t quite ready to let go of. Maybe next weekend will be just as entertaining.