Twenty years ago, or thereabouts, I had a collection of mix CDs which each bore a label according to the mood of the music contained on the CD1. I can’t remember all of them, but I’m pretty sure they included things like “Giddy,” “Silly,” and “Angsty.” Nowadays I keep my music on Apple Music playlists. And although I do often listen to entire albums, I have two main playlists that I will turn to when I’m not in the mood to do that. The first… Read More »Mood Music
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. Imagine this. For the sake of argument, you are not a very strong swimmer. But you do like to be in the water, so you get yourself an ENORMOUS flutter board and you take it out to the lake or the pool and you flutter your way out of the shallows. Then you stand on your enormous flutter board. And it’s… Read More »Out of My Depth
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. I wouldn’t want to lose a number of the things I own. My wedding and engagement rings, obviously. My signed edition of Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men. Certain pieces of clothing or jewelry. But one of those things that a lot of people might not guess holds such importance is a pair of headphones. A pair of comfortable, Bluetooth-capable, noise-cancelling headphones. Typing. Chewing.… Read More »Quiet
You ever feel on such creative fire because you’re more than 30,000 words into a manuscript and almost through the demo process for your second EP and then you started a writing workshop facilitated by your favourite teacher from high school and you forget about your blog and don’t write anything for six weeks? Maybe? No? Well, that’s where I’m at. Let’s break it down by project. First off, the novel. I’ve done NaNoWriMo (https://nanowrimo.org) twice before and, although fun, the output from that has… Read More »Fire
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. You may (or may not) be familiar with some version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen. The story begins, We’re going on a bear hunt.We’re going to catch a big one.What a beautiful day!We’re not scared. The terrain is varied and difficult, and at each point the children have to decide how to tackle it. I learned a… Read More »Bear Hunt
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I have an extremely hard time doing two or more “big things” in one day, especially if I’m wholly responsible for getting them done, and even more especially if they involve leaving the apartment. This means, typically, appointments, shopping trips, any [currently theoretical] shifts at work, any significant cleaning tasks, they all get their… Read More »Trouble with Things
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. I’ve been reflecting on my creative output over the last year. Yes, we put out an EP and we planned and executed a release event. But as far as writing, which I consider kind of a core aspect of my personality and sense of self, I only wrote about 30 non-EP blog posts, and I don’t think I finished a single… Read More »Spark
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. I really like Christmas music. It’s probably my favourite (genre-crossing) “genre.” I like the sleigh bells and the half-diminished chords and the general preoccupation with nostalgia. I like the self-indulgent arrangements just on principle. I like that Christmas songs pull at your emotions, especially because, at this time of year I tend to get a little1 overwhelmed and sometimes have the impression… Read More »Christmas Makes Me Cry
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. Leading up to the show, I had so many things on my mind – more than once I drew the comparison between organizing the show and planning a wedding, and I don’t think I was exaggerating as much as it might have sounded like I was exaggerating. My poor brain was packed full of details, most especially because this was our… Read More »More Room in My Head
2026 NOTE: My diagnostic situation has changed since I wrote this. See this post and the series of posts starting here for more information. (Written mostly on Monday, Oct. 30) I love Hallowe’en. My “favourite holiday” is a bit of a moving target, but Hallowe’en often appears in the crosshairs. (Other contenders include the secular part of Christmas and also whichever one is coming up next.) I hate being scared. I really do. I take no joy in haunted houses, think jump scares are one… Read More »HALLOWE’EN (Or, And now back to your regularly scheduled programming)