Money Where Your Mouth Is

My brother writes the bar exam to practise law in a few weeks. Shortly thereafter he starts to article at a very good firm here in Ottawa. The day after that I am filing lawsuits against two people for slander. I would suggest they get their stories straight as we are about to tell it to the judge. My lawyer is free.

The funniest moment in politics I have ever observed happened on CNN the other night. Hillary Clinton, battery operated carpet licker that she is, was talking about restoring America's moral high ground in the world. Half the Governors in the north east admit going to brothel orgies on acid. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Meanwhile the staff in the Clinton household are hiding the cigars from Bill, and this woman is talking about American moral authority.

Dexter

I mentioned I applied to the Ottawa Police Service? Funny on so many levels. Haven't heard back from them. (civilian job)
Appears I will be based out of Montreal shortly. I feel strangely at home when I am in that city. Like it's where I'm supposed to be. Ottawa has the opposite feeling for me. Spent part of today in this cheeky little cafe www.soupecafe.com The owner is a former nutritionist/ nurse. I'll probably be there quite a bit once Montreal is officially home. I have spent so much time abroad that I often feel more comfortable when it seems like I am not at home. Montreal is the perfect fit for that. Some areas of the city might as well be Europe and you still get all the benefits of life in this best country on the planet.

Easter Meal

Had a really good family meal out at a farm owned by my aunt yesterday. Enjoyed all the traditional Easter foods. Generally good human company and some very good canine companionship. I always go for a very long walk with the dogs when I go up to this farm. There are certainly no lack of ghosts when my family gathers as a group.
The novel about a character named Davina and The Wicks Crowd is on the back burner. The story of the guy in the paper who got away with a bunch of crimes because the police were reading his email without getting a warrant is going to wait.
I am now working on another screen play. This will make number four when it is done. It is flowing out of me very quickly. I don't have any real control over it. Good compulsion to have.
True events led to this latest creative endeavour. There is a homeless woman here in Ottawa who I have contact with on occassion. If the homeless person is male I could just as soon kick him in the head as walk past him. Almost completely desensitized to the male homeless. When the homeless person is female there is still some concern there. Imagine the vulnerability of that. There is a real, live homeless woman in Ottawa. She is Asian. Her name is Kim. If I see her I get her a coffee and a muffin. She was terrified of me at first. She sort of knows me now and accepts my offerings without fear. My latest screenplay is based on my interactions with this poor woman. It's just called 'Kim'. Happy Easter.

Make A Killing

Vancouver is having an average of one homicide every three and a half days for 2008 so far. You also have an average of one fatal drug overdose per 24 hours in the city. I will NEVER forget the smell of a rotting drug addict. Canada's national crime stats were released last month and Vancouver and it's suburbs have an exponentially higher crime rate than anywhere else in the country. Per capita Toronto is a fairy land compared with Van. And due to some cultural and transient realities out there more crime goes unreported than anywhere else in the country as well. They listed the top cities for certain types of crime. Vancouver proper was in the list but then three Vancouver suburbs which are essentially part of one large city were also in the list. The realities of the crime rate boggle the mind. So, like I always say about these things, if you can't do anything about it, get in on it. You set up a company to clean up all the bloodshed happening out there. The police and municipal employees can't keep up with all the bodies and body parts going on out there. Call it 'Vancouver Crime Cleaners: Making A Killing Off All This Killing'. All you need is a white van. A couple of biohazard bunny suits and a map to the morgue.
I'm off to Montreal again on Tuesday for a job pursuit. The company also has operations out in Vancouver. It isn't out of the question that I may end up out there again for a year. Montreal for at least a year first, then I'll see. Would like to be out West again for the Olympics then head somewhere else. Calgary actually has a ton more world class skiing in relatively close proximity to it than Vancouver does. There'll be more work than the labour market can meet in Calgary for quite a while yet. There is however the small detail of having to deal with Alberta culture if I decide to try a year in Calgary. I think not.

Photos Ottawa

Ottawa Photos

Montreal on Friday

It's back to Montreal on Friday. Going with my comedian uncle. We both have lady friends we plan to visit after our respective business is sorted. I'm going to get a job. He's going to see one of Canada's premier comedians perform.
You know the gay New York governor who was caught after going into debt to a female escort service? You know this story? The tough on crime governor of New York was tangled in an escort service sting. He owed the service money at one point. He used tax payer dollars to solicit sex and gave the money to an IRS employee who ran the service. The service charges between $1000 and $5000 an hour. My comedian uncle joked that he would love to spend the $5000 just to see what in hell they do to you for that kind of money.

Amigo Processes

'So describe it.'
'Could you be more specific?'
'This novel you claim you just finished.'
'First draft. I just do it for shits an giggles.'
'Nice. What's it about?'
'Buy it and see.'
'I promise. Give me a hint for now.'
'It's a drug laced robbery story about an emotionally incestuous pair of cousins and a late entry lover who become entangled in a pretty good idea that goes bad due to drunken, stoned timing.'
'How bad do things turn out for them?'
'I end it without completely clarifying that. Cliffhanger for sure. It's not complete crap. There's pretty good character development with the two protagonists. It reads like a movie in prose. Most of it is visuals and dialogue.'
'When do you start on the second draft?'
'I'm going straight into my third novel. Starting after I end this blog entry.'
'What's that about?'
'It's called 'The Wicks Crowd'. About a woman named Davina Wicks. She lives in a small town with many, many secrets. Almost every secret of every sort involves Davina in one way or another.'
'You just make this stuff up?'
'I do. Gotta go, Amigo. Oh! You'll like this. A guy expressed concern about our last dialogue exercise.'
'Expressed concern how?'
'He thought I was talking about myself with the guy who had the episode in the mall with the handicapped woman we were discussing.'
'I thought that was real.'
'It's FICtion, Amigo. And so are you.'
'I am not!'
'Are too. Deal with it. I'm off to start my next novel. Talk to you soon.'

Done

Finished first draft of my novel this evening. Nice feeling.

50 cm

Ottawa is set to get 50 cm of snow in a storm this weekend. 50. CM. In one weekend. People around here get grumpy at this time of year as the Canadian winter drags on and on.
F1 racing starts in a few days. The bold and the beaufitul and the more beautiful come out to play and watch guys go a few hundred km's faster than the rest of us get to go in a car. I am laying the ground work to attend this year's race in gorgeous Montreal.
I scrapped the comedy routine I was working on. It was all over the map with almost constant profanity. Write what you know I suppose. Plan to have one specific element to the routine and add variations on that theme.
Almost finished the latest novel. I have no delusions about ever actually making a decent living at it. Still a nice diversion in my down time.

Amigo The Critic

'So what's the latest?'
'On what?'
'That 'creative a day' crap you go on about.'
'You're going to be paying to get access to my creative a day crap, Amigo.'
'Yeah, you mentioned.'
'OK, I read in the paper the other day how the police can't charge this guy for crimes he did because they were reading his emails without getting a warrant. It's kind of serious. So, in the screenplay, the character finds out they're reading his emails illegally and he goes on a crime spree knowing they won't be able to prosecute him.'
'That's it?'
'You don't like?'
'You got anything else but that?'
'The guy who can read other people's thoughts and project his own thoughts has a bad time of it in the mall in one scene.'
'What happens?'
'He walks by a woman who is handicapped and projects a bad word for a handicapped person. The woman looks right at him like he slapped her in the face. She looked close to tears.'
'Based on true events?'
'I felt like crap for about twenty minutes. The character says he's sorry mentally to her as hard as he can. She accepts.'
'That's it?'
'What creative stuff are you working on, that's it?'
'Nothing as always.'

Cracks in the Cosmos

Just, just south of Syracuse, New York last Thursday there was a light shining straight up into the night sky. Thought for a moment it was that thing they have at 911 ground zero in New York City, with the light going straight up. Then the lights in the night sky started to shimmer and wave. It turned out to be the Northern Lights. Only the third time I've ever seen them in my life. That phenom is truly awe inspiring. It looks like the fabric of our dimension is being torn and light is streaming through from the other side.
The city of Charlotte, North Carolina has a very impressive skyline at night.