July 5, 2001

(...blows the dust off the cover and opens to the next blank page...)

Well hello there. That's been quite the hiatus. 352 days worth. Yoink. I can feel myself trying to dust my mental cobwebs away to get back into the swing of writing this. It's making my brain hurt. Ow.

Like any exercise, I need to work the kinks out before I can go ahead full steam. I have grandiose writing ideas (well, two) swirling about my brain, but before I even consider putting them to form I need to remember how to write. That's where this forum comes into play. It will help with finding my written voice again. I hope. Just writing this re-entry is hard enough, sorting out scrambly thoughts and getting them down. When I was thinking earlier today about what to write, my mind spewed forth lines of glorious prose, all of which fluttered away on the breeze. I feel thoroughly de-pollenated right now.

So what's happened in a near year? Let's see, there's the new (to this) upstairs neighbours from hell with their trance music and thick heels and stomping feet at all hours who, despite our numerous conversations and letter from the landlord, continue to wake me up from a dead sleep every so often or drown us out with building-vibrating deep bass noise that they pass off as music.

There's the head gasket blowing at 160,000 kms; air conditioner going flooey; radiator dying; new tires, shocks, struts and exhaust system vehicular repairs that set one back more dinero than the vehicle's current trade-in value, and that's not including the new windshield, body work and reparation of the strange twanging noise from somewhere under the gear shift console that still have to get done.

There's the Finnegan cat developing a mysterious sneezing & breathing ailment that demands numerous veterinarian visits from which he has mostly recovered.

There's Ron & Lisa realizing that they're at least 18 months away from being able to buy a house and moving out of the too-small for us now 2 bedroom, despite finding the perfect house on a fantastic lot.

There's Ron's little sister getting married in a month, and his sister-in-law a year after that.

I'm sure there was more, but none springs to mind immediately, so thus it's left behind (at least for this entry.)

Have I padded this out sufficiently to be a legitimate entry yet?

I'm going to use the existing website layout and host for the time being, but I have ideas for a re-design that would shift it away from the frames and into a table based format more accomodating to the viewer. I'm thinking a change in the colour scheme and some font tinkering are also in order.

I think I need to rant more often. Serious, thought provoking rants too, not simply fly off the handle "this sucks!" ones. I'm going to expand on the writing ideas too as time passes. Maybe some life altering philosophy, some new poetry if I come up with some and, of course, the ubiquitous cat stories. "Find your voice!" screams out from other web places. I will too, as soon as I figure out what it sounds like. Hopefully it won't be a mid-pubescent squawk.

[looking back at what's written] Pah, good enough. Ta for now all.