Brightspot – Kitten, Cat, Beloved Confidante

by tag Posted on July 17, 2005

Brightspot
Brightspot Goold
Today is the first anniversary of Brightspot’s death. I found myself a bit worried about how I was going to handle the day, considering how much I still miss her.

As it happens, it was also Day 3 of Toronto Trek, and I managed to keep busy enough that I didn’t even think about it. I don’t think Brightspot would have objected – in fact, I know that she would have wanted me to be happy, to celebrate my memories of her life. She was like that.

I still miss her dearly. I shall always miss her dearly; she holds a special place in my heart. We grew up together throughout my adolescence and young adulthood, and she was (as the subject states) my confidante as well as my beloved friend and pet. But the fact remains that life does go on, and I have two other wonderful cats who are special to me in their own ways. No other pet can or will take Brightspot’s place in my life – but I have other places for them to occupy.

Kitten, Demon-Child, Sweetheart… I shall always love you and miss you, Brightspot. You are in my heart forever. And I think you would (do, perhaps?) approve of Aspen – she certainly keeps Mitzy on her toes!

Posted in Cats, Grief | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Toronto Trek Day 1 & Swordplay Workshop

by tag Posted on July 16, 2005

Well, just finishing up on the first day of Toronto Trek (got to leave my post a bit early because I’m exhausted at the moment – going to bed pretty much as soon as I finish this post…).

Got to the hotel later than I originally intended, but in reasonably good time. Had the definite pleasure of seeing mickeyk there, whom I haven’t seen in person in over a year, due to various events and my strange work schedule; we had a pleasant (quick) takeout dinner in my room, and she’s going to be back on Sunday…

Then went to the Swordplay Workshop, and had a great time. It was only an hour, and we worked with sticks rather than bokken or shinai (partially because of the size of the room it was in), but it was great fun. Learned and practiced four attacks, a block, and a disarm, and were instructed on four or five other attacks and seven other blocks. All of which can be used with swords as well, as long as you’re careful not to touch the blade… Very enjoyable. Think I’m going to see if I can sign up for one of the other three (or possibly four) workshops that will be on this weekend (assuming I can get away from Ten Forward [the con suite] at any of those times). But even if I can’t, I really had a great time.

Then headed up and did my work at Ten Forward until exhaustion pushed me into needing to go to bed (which I still need to do… ASAP…). Going to be a big (and long) day tomorrow… (8:30am to 2:00am Sunday…).

Later, all!

😉 tag

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Toronto Trek & New Work Schedule…

by tag Posted on July 13, 2005

Well, it’s only two days until the start of Toronto Trek 19… I’m looking forward to it! If anyone reading this happens to be attending, you’ll undoubtedly be able to find me in Ten Forward (the Con-Suite, Rm. 1157) most of the time, given that I’m partially in charge of that… Hope to see some friends there!

Currently bloody hot here… At 2am, it was 26°C, with a humidex of 32°C (that’s about 79°F and about 90°F, for those in the U.S.). That’s 2 AM! You know, about 5 hours after the sun set? And it apparently went up to at least 41°C (about 106°F) humidex this afternoon… Yuck!

Anyway, when I got to work, I found out that my supervisor has handed in her 2-weeks notice – she apparently got a better job. We were already looking for a replacement security officer for the day shift; now we’ve got to find a replacement security supervisor as well! Here’s hoping that whomever they get will be as easygoing for us security staff as I found my current supervisor to be…

As a result, however, schedules have changed. So starting on my shift the night of Monday, August 8th (to the morning of Tuesday the 9th), I’ll be working until noon (i.e. 12 hrs, or 12-1/2 hrs on Sunday nights), the same way I was two weeks ago, quite likely until we’ve got a new supervisor. Here’s hoping the temperature will go down to a more reasonable level, and whoever I’m working with during the mid-morning will be willing to do any necessary patrols… It’ll be nice for my bank account, but hopefully won’t last too long…

Later, all!

😉 tag0

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General (Well, Writing Mostly) Update…

by tag Posted on July 6, 2005

Ah… cool weather. At last.

Yes, Toronto is finally having a bit of a break from the heat wave that is our (unfortunately) usual summer weather… Started yesterday, and is currently due to last until Saturday or Sunday. (Here’s hoping it lasts longer!)

Remember two weeks ago when I wrote down my list of goals for that weekend, among which was included: “Finish Chp. 4 of RuroSen“? Well, I didn’t get it finished that weekend (due mainly to the fact that I woke up after 1 p.m. that Saturday)… However, last weekend, despite the pleasant distraction of my Mom being in town, I managed to get it done. (There’s a reason I don’t mind taking buses and subways… the TTC [Toronto Transit Commission, for those non-Torontonians] is an excellent way to get writing done on the way to and from places.)

I’ve spent the past week doing revising and working on that nagging open question I mentioned in my post of June 24th, 7am. And I have finally got a solution to it, thanks it part to Vathara’s tireless efforts at figuring things out for me… (and also to my habit of thinking of story plot-lines while patrolling at work). So, with any luck, I’ll re-start posting RuroSen soon, and may even be able to go back to getting more work done on RuroBatt.

Oh, and went to see “Bewitched” last night with some of the TorFen/Blackfly Presses group (really got to get the Blackfly website updated!). To quote one of my friends, who came up with what I think is the perfect description for it: “It’s fluffy summer fun.” It’s an all-around amusing movie that isn’t terribly serious and that pays a rather interesting tribute to the original TV series.

Later, all!
😉 tag

Posted in Fic, Life in General | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Goal-Setting

by tag Posted on June 24, 2005

(Wow – bet you didn’t expect me to post again so quickly! Well, neither did I, admittedly…)

Goal-setting. A very important topic. One needs to have goals to work toward.

Example: I want to be a successful SF/Fantasy novelist.

However, one also needs to make sure that the big, important goals are divided into smaller goals that will be easier to reach, so as to achieve the big one step-by-step.

Example: I want to become a published SF/Fantasy novelist. (Then I can move towards the success part…)

And then divide those goals even further, into even more manageable goals.

Example: I want to get an original SF/Fantasy story completed.

So, what are my goals for this weekend?

1. Finish Chapter 4 of RuroSen.
2. Watch my DVD of “Sum of All Fears” (so that I can lend it to Auntie Glo on Sunday) if I get the chance.
3. Work on the original SF/F story idea (assuming Saitô and Kenshin let me, that is…).
4. Get my hair cut.

Well, so far #4 is a success…

Posted in Life in General, Rambling | Tagged | 4 Comments

Hello Again, Everyone…

by tag Posted on June 24, 2005

Well, it’s been a while since my last update…

Life is getting back to normal (well, as normal as my life ever gets, that is… *smirk*): Work, write, sleep, go to the occasional movie…

Yep! Been to see a couple of movies over the past week! Last Friday it was “Revenge of the Sith” with Auntie Glo (definitely the best of this SW trilogy), and on Tuesday it was “Batman Begins” with the TorontoFen (AKA the “TorFen”), which was actually quite well done. Certainly better than how a few of us were afraid it would be – and talk about all-star support! Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer… And the actor playing “Dr. Crane” (can’t remember his name – would have to check) had “creepy” down pat, and whoever did his makeup did an excellent job.

On the writing front… getting more of RuroSen done – I’m onto Chp. 4! Unfortunately, there’s an open question about the characters at the moment that, once I receive an answer, may mean some extensive changes to the beginning, so I won’t be posting any of it until I get that bloody nagging question answered. (Which will hopefully be soon – I’m getting tired of wondering, and Saitô and Kenshin aren’t talking about it…) Plus, for those of you who enjoy Vathara’s writing and aren’t yet aware of it, she has a new story up (5 out of 6 parts at the moment) – “Blades of Blood”, a RuroKen AU set in the world of “Nightlife” (which is, I believe, a horror RPG game). Fascinating story (and I’m not saying that only because I helped beta it… *g*).

Work… work’s going well enough. I’m going to be doing overtime next week (working until noon Tuesday through Friday – at least, that’s the schedule at the moment – which gives me an additional 4-1/2 hrs. per day, plus the extra statutory holiday pay for Friday, which is Canada Day), so no idea how much writing I’ll get done during that (though it may end up being quite a bit, considering that I’ll be here for a total of 12.5 hrs for 4 days). May even get some more cross-stitching done as well (yes, I’m getting back into my old cross-stitching habit – gives me something to keep my hands busy while I’m thinking of things, usually story plots).

Anyway, should be posting again soon… sooner than two weeks from now, certainly.

Later, all!

😉 tag

Posted in Fic, Friends, Fun and Games, Life in General, Rambling | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Safe & Sound…

by tag Posted on June 7, 2005

Well, I arrived back safe and sound Sunday morning, in time to go to brunch with my aunts here in Toronto. Got home, and crashed until a couple of hours before work.

Somehow, while I was gone, Toronto had its spring and jumped straight to summer. My sister was saying Sunday morning (it was at least 28C, and the humidity made it even worse) that it wasn’t late enough yet in the year for the nights to be hot enough to cause a problem for me at work (my uniform for the school year is a long-sleeve shirt and black pants). Well, she was wrong about that… at 9pm here, the temperature was 26C and the humindex was 29C… Luckily, we’ve been given permission to wear the polo/golf (short-sleeve) shirts that are part of our summer uniform, so tonight should hopefully be better than last night (as I didn’t know before I left for work that I could wear the short-sleeve shirt).

Emotionally… I’d have to say in some ways, I’m still numb/coping. *sigh* It’s going to take a while.

Posted in Family, Grief, Trips, Weather, Work | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Coping…

by tag Posted on June 3, 2005

Well, my grandmother’s funeral was yesterday.

The service was lovely (the priest was excellent, which is not something I’d say very often – I’m not Christian, much less Catholic – but he gave a very tolerant homily, and made us all laugh more than once), and then we had a reception back at the house for family and friends, which was surprisingly easy for me to handle, despite the fact that I hate social situations like domestic cats hate water (or perhaps even worse!). The sun was shining brightly, and it was the warmest day St. John’s had seen so far this year… the priest joked that Granny must have more pull than he did, to have arranged the weather so well. She would have loved it.

I’m coping. Writing definitely helps, so I’ll be doing more of that today, tomorrow, etc. Even likely to be doing some work on original stuff…

Going back to Toronto early Sunday morning (will, in fact, be arriving in time to go to brunch with my aunts).

Later…

Posted in Family, Grief | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Grieving

by tag Posted on May 30, 2005

My grandmother passed away this afternoon.

We knew it was going to happen – despite my hopeful message of Thursday morning, they discovered when they ran the EEG that the right side of her brain was entirely destroyed, and the left side was damaged, so my Mom and her sibs were trying to get her moved into palliative care (what they do for terminal cancer patients) because Granny would never have wanted to be kept alive as… well, a vegetable, essentially.

The next few days are going to be hard. There may end up being some rather sad fic written because of it… writing tends to act as a catharsis for me.

I’m just glad that I managed to get down here, and was able to see her – and she knew I was there. It counts for a lot.

Just wish Brightspot was still alive – hugging her always made me feel better. I’m missing her more now, because I could really use her help to deal with this; she’d always let me cuddle her, and cry into her fur, and she’d purr to help…

Got to at least get the worst of the tears over with before Mom gets back – she’s going to need me.

Later…

Posted in Family, Grief | Tagged , , | 9 Comments