The Best

For me, there is nothing, nothing, nothing better in the world than the feeling I get when I complete the last revision to a piece of creative writing and the product pleases me. I've been writing for thirty years now, and the feeling of elation at this point never changes.

This is why I write.

The undoing of the media

On-line media report that Gordon Lightfoot is not dead, Simon Cowell is not engaged, Brangelina did not break up, and J.K.Rowling did not plagiarize. We have entered the era of de-newsing.

Valentine's Day 2010

What appealed to me most about Valentine's Day this year was the sight of so many slightly embarrassed looking young men walking along the streets and onto the subway carrying flowers wrapped in cellophane and paper.

The Subway: A Metaphor

The other day at Rosedale Station A Voice asked everyone to get off the subway quick quick quick as the train had to return south to the Royal York. The Voice said another train would be along shortly. The Voice said, "We are closing the doors. Please exit the train." Everyone got off quick quick quick. They closed the doors. A minute later, the doors opened again and the Voice said we could all get back on. We did, and we continued our journey.

Was this the new train they had promised us?

This is a metaphor for my life, I think. I just have to figure it out.

A perc from the phone company

My elderly aunt passed away on Tuesday. On Thursday, I cancelled my aunt's phone. The phone company guy completed the request, then said that he and his family would pray for my aunt's soul to make sure it got to heaven. I thanked him, and later remarked to my younger son, "It's amazing what you can get from your phone company these days." He replied, "I think it's part of a bundle.

Gaggles or giggles of girls

by which I mean the early-teen variety, and sometimes including boys as well, should not be allowed to gather in groups in coffee shops. Do these young people ("Oh, my GAWWDDD!!!" "Oh, my GAWD!" "OH. MY. GAWWD!!!") not realize that some of us have abandoned our cherished spots in libraries, where no one says "Hush" any more, and fled to Starbucks or The Second Cup to get our reading and our writing done?

What Peter says about Paul....

People get aggravated because the mega-corps based in North America who sell them their computers, telephones, etc. are outsourcing the service contracts for those products to companies with offices in countries where the hourly wages are lower -- India being a prime example. What I don't understand (aside from why so many of us have such problems understanding people who don't speak English exactly the same way we do) is why the complainers seem to blame the people at the other end of the line--most of whom actually do have the answers they need, and are doing their best to help. They are not the ones who engineered this system.