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Mendalla
1 hour ago
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Quote by verbal

Uh, oh. Where's Ping? We'd only had the One True Ping back for like two days! Dude, come back! Back away from the light!


Given the current weather in Western Canada, poor guy might have just crawled into an air conditioned hole or melted or something. Lytton, BC was within a few degrees of Death Valley's record yesterday and much of the BC Interior and Alberta isn't far behind (though I hear things have improved on the coast).

We continue warm and muggy here but nowhere that bad. They keep saying tomorrow ... tomorrow. Then tomorrow comes and the humidex is like 38 again (on a temp of 28). Now it look like Friday may be the end of it.

I know what I want to write for the comp at a high level, but I am having problems with the details. In particular, there's a story element that pushes things way over into sf/f and I am not sure I want to leave it in. Got my national holiday tomorrow to think about it, anyhow.
Hello, all! Grey and muggy here. They keep promising us it will break but it just keeps on keeping on.

So many goodies in here, we may just rename the place "The Sugar Shack".

Roland, nice to hear that your wife might be writing something for the comp. Did not realize she had some history on here.

Lunch time. Kettle is on.
Hey, Sara, for Thursday (Canada Day), can we have maple leaves? With orange icing (the colour we have adopted for mourning the children who died in the residential schools)?

I will let the Americans decide what we should have on July 4.

Back working from home today. At least one more hot, muggy day to go here, then it is supposed to be cooler going in to the weekend.
Quote by rolandlytle

I suggest you use the one that will win the contest.


Wiseguy. There's one in every crowd.

You would think that after two good finishes in comps last year, I would have some sense of that, but no such luck.
Quote by rolandlytle
Yesterday my calculator died. I will have to get a new one. My number-cruncher gave me 31 years of service. I used it for more than half of my adult life. So long, my good buddy.


I think we have one about that age. They are all solid state, unlike computers that have fans and (formerly) spinning hard drives that can fail mechanically, and don't have to deal with escalating requirements to run the latest software.

Muggy again here and I had to go into the office, only to find that the HVAC is out.

My comp entry is flailing. I can go two ways with it and can't decide which to follow... Or there's another idea I could pursue but it is so vague and high level that I am not quite sure what to do with it in terms of actual writing.

I shall take some tea and cookies to ponder these matters.
Quote by Survivor

Victor was sleeping with me and didn't hear a thing.



The beagle my family had when I was a teen was like that. If he was awake, even things we didn't hear would set him off (he once freaked out at dinner and we finally discovered there was a hot air balloon passing over the house so we figured he could hear the burner firing) but he could sleep through storms and such no problem.
Quote by etairay

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.


This one has been generating a lot of local buzz. Star Simu Liu (who was also in the cast of recently cancelled sitcom Kim's Convenience) is an alumnus of the local university so the university has been playing up that connection.
Quote by rolandlytle
Dune is one of my favorite sci-fi universes. I hope the 2021 version lives up to its hype. This film only covers the first half of the book 'Dune,' so it is probably the start of at least a two-part film series.



It's been delayed again. General release date is now October 22 of this year. World premiere will be at the Toronto film festival in September, though. Variety made the interesting point that Dune star Timothee Chalamet now has two films booked for general release on October 22 as his latest, The Many Saints of Newark, is also due out that date.
Quote by itsxanderkaidyn
At first glance, "toothpaste" sounds like paste made from the ground up teeth of dead people or something and not something used to clean your teeth.


You probably have the germ of a really weird horror story there.

Power went off right at bedtime last night and was out for a couple hours. No idea why, the local utility just shows that there was an outage and what area was affected. At least it happened at a time when we didn't need it. Our AC had just shut off for the night.

However, we have a CO alarm that beeps loudly whenever the power so much as flickers, so probably need my tea a bit strong than usual today.
So what happens when Finnish folk-country-bluegrass act Steve'n'Seagulls teams up with former Nightwish lead Tarja Turunen to cover a classic from her days in Nightwish? Music. Beautiful music. Just discovered this recent video from S'n'S yesterday.

Quote by yurigagarin
Still raining off and on today - so I still can't persuade my two cats to let me sit on my own sofa!


Just makin' sure you know who's boss.
* pounces on some butterscotch marshmallow cookies *

Good afternoon. No bike. There was a long lineup at the store (Ontario has non-essential retailers at 15% capacity) so I decided to wait until tomorrow.

Still muggy, but improving a bit as the day wears on.
Quote by Ping

Hot. Melting. Need ice.


So I heard from some other Westerners of my acquaintance. Here it's just muggy. The temp isn't bad but the air feels like you could cut it.
Given the length range and the story I have in mind, don't expect mine until a week or so before the deadline. I usually shoot for earlier but long stories mean lots of agonizing over proofing and editing for me.
Quote by yurigagarin

I think The Norse God Thor was a little angry last night !

Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of mankind and also hallowing and fertility.



No thunder here, sadly. Just enough rain to fill a swimming pool or three. Or so it sounded like at times. Supposed to continue through today, too.

Oh well, just means I'll be stuck indoors. It's cleaning day so I can get that done. Supposed to be nicer tomorrow and my bike is fixed and ready for pickup from the shop so maybe I can get in a ride tomorrow.

Kettle and coffee are on.
I am working on one but it's not coming together quickly. We'll see how things go on the weekend. Given the length, this won't be a quick one for me. If i stick with the story I am pondering, it's going to be at the 5000 words end, not the 1001.

Weather is meh and getting worse. Basically a week of cloud and showers ahead.

Some Scottish Breakfast tea will go down nicely.

Have a nice day and I'll probably pop by again later.
Quote by verbal

If I may be allowed to crow a tiny bit: I sold a story I REALLY like to Dark Moon Digest - it'll be out next month. AND a story I wrote a year ago is going to be reprinted in an anthology. I'd sold nothing all year long, and then BOOM! two in one week.


Cool. Looking forward to having the time to pursue things like this myself someday. Looking at retiring at 60 (4 years) so not that far off.

So my province moves to stage 2, which means indoor gatherings of up to 5 people from different households. Meaning I can legally have my son and his partner in the house. Last time they visited, we had to stay out on the deck.

Struggling a bit with my comp entry. Needs more thought. Might take July 2 off to get a four day weekend to work on it. We shall see.

A green tea with cookies shall end my work day.
And as quickly as it started, Micro of the Day is going on pause for a month while I tackle the new comp. Depending on how I feel after that, maybe I'll start it up again.
I saw that beaver pole thing. The first pic of the beaver standing under the Maple Leaf flag is so ... disgustingly Canadian. We just need to add a Mountie holding a hockey stick.

I, too, am working on my comp entry, or at least trying to piece it together. I am using some surviving bits of a story I started a long time and abandoned. The survival aspect fits, just means I need to take in a different direction than originally planned.

For now, though, some tea and cookies (orange vanilla for the win) to wind down my day.
Quote by verbal

We went on an assemble-it-yourself furniture spree on Amazon - I've assembled a dresser and a coat-rack in the last few days. I love following the little pictures, making sure you have the right pieces, in the right arrangement. AND A BOOKCASE JUST SHOWED UP!!!


Ugh. Most of my son's current furniture is from Ikea but he had to do his last move on his own (well with his partner since they were moving in together) so got the joy of assembling it. I don't think I've had to do the furniture assembly thing since the move before that when we bought a lot of the Ikea stuff.

The comp is good news. Gives me something to really sink my literary teeth into, too. That's a great theme. Just need to decide where to go with it.

Kettle is on for some late day tea. Some Japanese sencha would be nice.
Cool theme. Micro of the Day is over, I think. Got to work on something for this.

One question: My comp win last year is more than six months ago now, so I am safe to enter? Even though the six month rule was kind of moot since there were no comps after Cheers to 10 Years?
Happy Summer! (11:30pm Eastern is the official time of the solstice) Kind of a mixed day here. Weather sucked. Rain let up in the morning but it was incredibly windy. Heard there was a tornado near Montreal this afternoon and that was probably the same system. Tomorrow is V-day for me (Vaccine Day). Looking forward to being fully vaccinated but not sure how I'll fare. My wife isn't doing too badly after a day and a half but her cousin was quite ill after his second.

Kettle is on. Anyone else for an evening tea?
Quote by DenimAngel

It was a super busy morning then I came home and took a long nap them kids in the Church nursery kicked my butt


Ah, those Church kids are a rough bunch (Yes, I was one once. And my Dad was a PK.).

Been kind of blah and low energy this evening. Went for a walk but I was just kind of plodding along and couldn't really enjoy what I had to listen to (a podcast and a bunch of music). Weird because I was in a pretty good mood for most of the day.

Anyhoo, it's getting late so an herbal tea is in order. Lemon ginger is a fave.
Bike taken in to the shop, some more shopping done, floors washed. Now it's Mill...er...tea time. Green tea and cookies time, to be precise.
First track from the next album from Auri. Same lineup but apparently Kai Hahto from Nightwish was brought on as a session drummer, making 3 Nightwish members involved now.