Cats!

I haven't done cat pictures in a long time. I have another cat now, you know... his name is Ron - short for Ronald Weasly. Violet and I adopted him from a friend who named all her pets after characters from Harry Potter. He's a lovely boy, and he's on my lap at this very moment!

Now, on with the pictures!

July

I have not been keeping my word. It's almost August now, and I haven't even touched on July.

It's been a good month. Better than most. I had a second job thanks to one of my temp agencies, and it lasted six weeks. I was therefore able to cut back on the hours at my phone survey job, which has been good for my mental health. Plus, one of the worst supervisors at that job has quit! Apparently he was upset that none of the other supervisors were trying to be as big of a jerk as he was. It will be easier to work there now that he's gone, but I still need to find something better as soon as I can.

Violet is working now! And as a bonus, it's at a place really close to where we live. It's a paint store, and there's a lot of physical labour involved, but she seems to be liking it. Not as stressful or as boring as her last job.

I attended Polaris, the big sci/fi convention I've been attending for the last few years. That was a blast; you can read all about my experience there on Worlds of Tim.

My writing has remained slow but steady. I've got nine chapters written on a new middle-grade novel, and I'm also well into a new short story in the Section K universe. I'm also contemplating sequels again; I have an idea for an Evil? follow-up, and The Cupid War is just crying out to be a series. And then there's my ideas for Epoch 2. I can see the story in my head; I just don't know if it's what I want to write next.

July's been good. Here's hoping for a great August!

June Blues

The less said about June, the better.

Well, okay, it wasn't that bad, but as you all have noticed I wasn't able to keep my promise of more frequent blog posts. I've been very busy, and very little of that busyness has been doing things I've enjoyed.

One thing I did enjoy was meeting fellow blogger Farida Dowler. Here's a picture of this epic blogger team-up:



The link to Farida's blog is in my list on the right. Do check it out.



So why am I so miserable? I'm currently working three jobs. That's right, three. Never rains but it pours. I'm still doing the phone surveys, though I've cut back on those hours quite a bit. That got me into trouble - I was given two written warnings for canceling one of my shifts. Apparently, the guy I spoke to didn't like my 'attitude'.

The second job I have came up suddenly from one of my temp agencies. It's a government position, proofreading documents for the Ministry of Health. You'd think that would be a fantastic job for me, but it isn't quite what you think. I'm looking at lists of drugs and drug numbers all day, making sure they are spelled correctly and noting any discrepancies. I'm doing well - they've extended my contract twice now - but it can be dull and hard on the eyes sometimes.

The third job, for those of you that need to be told - is my writing. That hasn't been going so well. Various life stresses have interfered with my output, and I've only been able to put pen to paper every other day. That includes my blogging, when I actually have time to sit in front of a computer. Things have picked up in the last week, however, and I'm feeling more creative again. My feeling is that July will be a lot more productive.

To end on a good note, I had the pleasure of spending Canada Day in Ottawa with my family. I took Violet to Parliament Hill to watch the fireworks - very crowded, but well worth all the trouble. I also got to introduce her to some of my old high school friends. All in all, a great four-day trip, and a positive cap to an otherwise less-than-stellar month.