Checking in After a Long Weekend

Good morning everyone!

It is still morning, correct? *checks computer clock.

Yup, still morning. Though this computer is so slow it wouldn't surprise me if it was afternoon by the time it decided to load this page.

So, the Labour Day long weekend went by much too quickly. In it, I achieved very little. I managed, in one marathon sitting, to finish watching season 2 of Rush (an Australian cop drama that happily replaces Blue Heelers). It's a great show, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes cop dramas.

Also, I might be slightly in love with the character Lawson Blake. Just sayin'.

I also managed to clean house a little bit this weekend. That was nice. The house feels 1 000 times better now. However, while cleaning, I neglected the cat (Persephone) who desperately wanted cuddles and was, therefore, in disfavour when I did finish cleaning. So much in disfavour was I, that she spent the whole night in the living room where usually she cuddles up to me while I sleep. Le sigh.

Some exciting news - I've signed up for violin lessons! Finally! I think I've told the story of always wanting to learn only, the very year I was old enough to learn, the only string violin teacher in the town upped and moved away. I was very disappointed.

Well, fairly recently, I'd been given a violin and I swore I'd learn. Only, every time I went to pay for lessons some sort of financial crisis occurred. It was vexing. Well, this last pay, I took the plunge (I hope there will not be any financial emergencies coming up, or I'm screwed) and lessons begin this Friday. Eep! I'm very excited. I just adore music.

Writing wise, I'm so far behind target I don't even want to think about it. I have to write 8 000 words today to catch up. Obviously it's not going to happen. Worse still, I neglected to factor the long weekend into my estimated word count, so to keep from falling further behind, I'll have to write Friday. Looks like I'll be writing for a few Friday's actually - just to catch up.

I'll already well behind schedule for the day, as well, so I'll leave you alone now. I hope you all had a marvellous long weekend!

Flutter the Dovecots

To cause mild excitement in society. Shakespeare, Coriolanus.

- Albert Hyamson's Dictionary of English Phrases, 1922

A Sad Morning

After a wonderful weekend away, I woke this morning to find that last night, a tornado ripped through the city of Goderich, destroying much of the scenic city.

This morning, Jack Layton, former leader of the NDP party, passed away after a fight with cancer. He was 61. I'm upset about it to say the least. Whatever one thought of Jack Layton personally, one could not argue that he was tenacious, intelligent and one of the few people who posed a serious threat to the Conservative Axis of Idiocy.

Can you tell I'm not a Conservative?

In any case, Mr. Layton, you will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to the family and friends who are mourning now, and also to Canada, for whom I am always concerned.

Right, that's enough of me being political. I usually reserve that for election time. I must get on with writing... if I don't get so depressed I can't move.

Wishing you all a better Monday than I'm having.

Free! ... to Catch Up

Well, it was a lovely long weekend! I spend a lovely time with friends and being outside in the sunshine has done wonders for my disposition. That and

I'VE FINISHED BOOK 5!!!! FREEDOM!!!!

I'm thrilled to be finished for several reasons. The first is that it's always exciting to be done a project. The second is that this particular project was very hard on my psyche. No, seriously. It gave me nightmares several times. And there were far too many tears for my liking. Uh! So much crying over this one. This leads nicely into the third reason.

I shall be leaving behind The Great Man series for a while and work on a project that is pretty silly, much, much lighter and actually has a happy ending. It shall be set here in Ottawa (my current home town) and along the lines of Charles de Lint. For those not in the know, Charles de Lint is a Canadian author who set many of his fantasy novels in Ottawa. I heard about him last year when discussing books with my friend and senior Kung Fu brother G.S.

That might be where I got the idea for this. I'm not sure.

In any case, I'm quite looking forward to this, because there are some pretty funny scenes that have popped into my head of late, and I can't wait to get them down on paper. Several people from actual real life will be making an appearance, and I shall be mentioned, but never appear; because it amuses me.

Basically, this book is for a select group of friends who will "get" the references and find them amusing. Still, I'm quite looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it.

Before I can, however, I have to do a whole lot of catch-up on everything computer-related that I had neglected all long weekend. Thus, without further ado:

Nake

To make naked; [1300s-1500s].

- Charles Mackay's Lost Beauties of the English Language, 1874

To bare, unsheathe a sword. "Nake your swords." [Cyril] Tourner's The Revenger's Tragedy [1656]. From Middle English naken, to make naked.

- Walter Skeat's Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, 1914

Nakedize, to go naked.

- Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1908

Random Moods

I've had a very up-and-down week emotionally. I'm not sure why, after all I haven't queried anyone and so have gotten no rejections. Rejections always bring me down.

Monday I was fine, if a little tired. Tuesday I was miserable - all day. Even three hours punching stuff didn't improve my mood as it usually does. Last night and this morning it switched. I now feel great.

I don't get it.

There isn't much news on my end as I am still reading. I should be finished the book today, though. I think. We'll see.

It's a long weekend this weekend, so I'll not be posting anything except the Forgotten English word of the day on Monday. Speaking of Forgotten English....

Mopple:

To confuse. Halliwell says moppil is a mistake or blunder.

- Rev. Alfred Easther's Glossary of the Dialect of Almondbury and Hudderfield, 1883

A state of disorder.

- Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, 1898-1905

Of an overgrown hedge, "In such a mopple."

- Francis Havergal's Herfordhire Words and Phrases, 1887

On that note, have a great weekend everyone!