Canadian girl out and aboot

1. We are having a snow storm here! A major, icy snowstorm with freezing rain. It kind of sucks, but at least I don't have to drive anywhere today. I am very happy about that. Also, I'm not going to complain because we desperately need moisture in this part of the province.

2. I am not on the road as much, and that is awesome. In fact, I'm getting caught up on older stories and working from home a lot. This allowed me to do some submissions yesterday and get more of my writing out there. Also, when I did my taxes I found that I drove 13,062 km for work.

3. Yesterday I went to see my accountant. I told him I would meet with him in May so that he could deal with clients that would have to file before the deadline. I am expecting a refund, so I would not have to pay. I was very diligent about keeping my receipts and claiming expenses for my writing business and I think it's going to pay off. I feel somewhat intimidated during financial things so it was very cool to play with my accountant's dog during our meeting yesterday. The dog just loves me. She snuggled up to me while I was waiting, and then sat on my lap and gave me little kisses on my hand while we were talking to my return. Yay for dogs!

4. Got my invitation to my cousin's wedding. I have to figure out if I'm going to fly into Victoria or Vancouver and who will drive me out to White Rock. The wedding is out at an apple orchard! Her future husband's parents' own a U-pick operation and the reception and party is going to feature a barn dance, wiener roast and s'mores. Fun!

So I spent most of the morning hanging out with [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], before getting ready to take off. It would take me about an hour to get to the Harbourfront, so I left early and then wandered up Bay street and looked at Nathan Phillips square and part of Queen St West before getting on the streetcar to get to Harbourfront. It might be the time of year, but I didn't see a lot of trees and green in Toronto. I also think it's weird that people bike in the downtown area without helmets. Seems that helmet wearing is law in Vancouver, but not in TO. I find it odd.

Finally, I got down to Harbourfront, where I took pics of some of the waterfront. It was okay, but not as interesting as the Harbour in Vancouver. I was more excited to see some of the areas where they have the International Festival of Authors. After getting lost, I managed to find my way to the Pearl Harbourfront restaurant. I thought this was kind of a dumb name, until I got there and realized that we were having Chinese food! My comfort food! Deliciousness! There were a bunch of poets there and so I sat next to two very nice women and we ended up chatting all during the dinner and I had a good time meeting some of the poets and the judge. Most of the poets were teachers or publicists or media types of some sort, which was pretty interesting to me.

After we were done eating, we wandered over to Harbourfront in a group. One thing that was weird was that most of the other writers said I "looked familiar" and asked if they had read with me before. Because I live in Edmonton and not Ontario, I was doubtful and had to negate them. It was kind of funny. There were a few people from Guelph, Hamilton and Windsor, but the majority of people were actually from TO.

We were ushered into the Harbourfront room, and then 2 of us went backstage to use the greenroom bathroom and pick up some things. I got to sign the archive book, which was signed by all the authors that had gone to Harbourfront. So I got to sign a few pages after Sherman Alexie. (I squealed with excitement internally)

Since I didn't know anyone in the audience (my friend was going to come but her neighbour/friend had a heart attack), I felt really awkward, so I was hiding backstage until the actual event. We read in alphabetical order, so I was 8th. I think I did a good reading, and a lot of people told me that they enjoyed my work. It was a very eclectic evening and there was a lot of different work read. People were nice and I ended up chatting to another poet and her friend in the line for the bar. However, after the entire event, we had to stand around to sign books, and I just ended up feeling very awkward because most people seemed to know a lot of other people, since they were from TO, and I am not. Still, it was interesting and I met a lot of neat people and it was fun to read in another city. They still didn't tell us who "WON" but said a short list would be announced in the next couple of days. Last year they picked 6 poets to come back and perform, so it will be neat if I get picked. I'm not going to think about it any more though.

So to sum up- great reading, awkward standing around after. This is my weak point. I'm really good one on one or in small group situations, but I tend to feel a little awkward at parties or in large groups because I never know who to talk to.

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed and here's why-

1. I've been working and driving a lot since the end of January. This is the busy season for ag conferences and so I've been on the go a lot. In the past 2 weeks, I have been to Leduc 3 times, Red Deer, and to a variety of meetings in Edmonton. Next week I'm in Morinville and Red Deer. The driving and the hours of listening do take their toll. However, I'm learning a great deal and it's hard not to get excited about my work and some of the things I do. Last week, I learned about the possibility of pennycress for biofuel. This plant is a weed, but produces better oil than canola, making it immune to the food vs fuel debate. The plant also has phytoremediative characteristics and can take metal out of soils. It's already been proposed as a growing project for Detroit. Actually, Detroit itself is very interesting right now. The destruction of the auto industry in the city has resulted in many opportunities for growth in urban agriculture. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears to the ground on this one.

Similarly, the urban sprawl in Calgary has also resulted in a variety of opportunities. I met a producer who is in charge of helping with the organization of a new farmers' market for Calgary- the Kingsland market. I'm going to do a story or two about it and am very excited about the project. So work is good, even though it's crazy busy.

2. My parents are in China. They flew there on March 16. My dad took a netbook with him, but I didn't hear from them for a few days, which made me a tad worried, mostly because my mom had a cold and I wanted to know that she was able to get into the country without getting quarantined. I wasn't sure if Dad could get through because of the Great Firewall situation. However, he managed to email from his gmail and he is getting emails from my hotmail, although he is unable to open my friend's Picasa photo albums. Parents are having a lovely time in China. However, it's weird to have so much limited contact with the parentals. I'll confess- I talk to the parentals almost every day. This is partly because they are my good friends and partly for security reasons. Since I live alone and travel all around the province by myself, it's good for at least one person to know where I am. When I go on long road trips, I call my mom when I am leaving and when I get back, so that she knows I am safe. I also email my parents frequently and send them links to interesting articles, youtube clips, etc. I feel like a bit of a baby because their absence definitely has an impact on me.


3. My computer has still not been fixed. It's with another tech and hopefully the problem should be resolved, but it does give me more challenges for working and I have a few deadlines that I need to meet. I might end up spending some time at an Internet cafe to get all these things done.

4. I need to sort everything out for my trip to Toronto, figure out what to where etc. This is a very cool opportunity, but it's basically a version of "So you think you're a poet" and I want to give a great performance and knock the judges' socks off.

5. One of my checks was extremely late. I was fretting a bit because I could really use that cash when I'm travelling to Toronto and have some expenses related to my dance recital and dance classes. Fortunately, it arrived and things will be good.

6. I have to acculturize Fergus to Henry and Mari. We went over there last week, and the two dogs were not best friends. Fergus is a very timid guy and Henry is extremely friendly. He jumped all over Fergus and Fergus growled, but as time went on, they sort of ignored each other and Fergus found some comfy places to sleep and hang out. I know that Mari will take very good care of Fergus and I hope that he does not cry too much when I leave him. He's a bit of a suck and a rather timid little guy, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Just writing this all out made me feel better. I'm also going to have a peaceful day alone, do some work, walk the dog, watch some DVDs, and go to the market. Tomorrow I teach my teen writing group and then I'm going to see Shanghai Express, which I've been trying to see for years. This is the movie that defined the concept of "dragon lady" and made Anna May Wong into a star.

So on Friday, I found out that my name was randomly selected for the Harbourfront Open stage on March 31. Twenty poets will be competing in front of judges to see who gets a spot at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto. It's pretty exciting! Last year, about 5 of the 20 poets got to participate in the Festival of Authors. Great promotional gig!

Unfortunately, I have to pay for my own airfare, but I knew that when I signed up. The other hassle was making sure that Fergus will be taken care of while I'm away. Mari has offered to take him for the 3.5 days that I'll be away.

I'm excited!

Now I just need a place to stay.

1. I got a raise! I'm happy about this.

2. Today I got an excellent compliment from a source. He thanked me for my good stories of his industry, and said that he is pleased that I've taken time to learn about his issue and to really write stories about it. It was high praise, and I felt really good about it.


3. My day has been extremely busy. I had a meeting and went to a presentation about healthy eating and pulse (chickpea, lentil, bean) consumption in Canada. The presentation on beans was interesting. Apparently Canada's consumption of beans is very low, even though we grow them, and only 20 % of people eat them on a regular or monthly basis. I had incredible cravings for Indian food during the presentation and then had to go out for channa masala immediately following the presentation.

4. On Sunday, I taught my teen writing group. I brought my friend Trisia in to teach the kids about chapbooks, since we're going to be making one for our end of the year project. The teens got really excited about self publishing and asked all kinds of neat questions. The workshop was a success and we got them excited for the chapbook that we'll be making, which is super cool.

I've got a poem in this anthology. It's called "north to south saskatchewan" and it's about my journey from Saskatoon to Edmonton and my relationship with the (north and south) saskatchewan river.


( Read more... )

Aah. I don't have to go to any more meetings until next week. I've been quietly working from home, which is blissful. I only have to drive to Red Deer once this month and I'm sitting on a pile of stories since I worked so much last month. It's blissful, it's great, it's all those things and I'm hoping to get some of my own writing done this month and next.

Yesterday the contenders for Canada Reads were announced. This is an annual debate contest for books, and so the literary bloggers were on fire and I was writing a bunch of posts, trying to get the books, and tweeting my head off. If you're in Canada (or want to read a bunch of Canadian books), you should participate in our Canada reads challenge at Roughing it in the books .

I have been rather stressed because I special ordered a bra for my dance recital at the end of October. The bra has still not arrived and if it doesn't arrive today, I'm going to have to go through my studio and see what else they have in stock. The bra must have gotten stalled at customs or something. This is really annoying. It rates as a two on a scale of one to 10 in terms of annoyance, but it still means I have to spend extra money. My recital is on Sunday. AAAAArgh.

Today my friend and I are going for a flu shot date. This means that I pick her up, we go for flu shots and then go for lunch. The lines for flu shots are a lot shorter and it's open to everyone now. I decided to make the date since I knew I would never get motivated to go by myself if I didn't set the date in stone and make arrangements. So there you have it.

This article was printed in my hometown paper. I'm extremely proud of the article, but I'm not so happy that they listed me as living in Grande Prairie instead of Edmonton.

Read more about Coops in the Philippines

This week, I have been participating in a national campaign called Random Acts of Poetry . Thirty one poets across Canada are participating in the program, which is sponsored by READ Victoria and is designed to encourage literacy and foster love of poetry.

So as part of this campaign, I am distributing poetry books to random people. I go up to random people, read them a poem and then give them a book. (In case you are concerned, all the poets are financially compensated and the program buys 50 books for us to distribute).

Since it is a literacy program, participants are supposed to make visits in ESL and adult literacy classrooms. I will be going to read some poems and do some writing exercises with students at Grant MacEwan university tomorrow.

I have performed about 20 random acts of poetry so far. I started doing it in Vancouver and have since been doing it in my neighbourhood here in Edmonton. I was very nervous to approach people, and many people are surprised when they are approached, so I tell them that they don't have to buy anything from me, and then go into my spiel. I think people enjoy the random acts of poetry because it makes them feel special. I've had some interesting discussions with people. I got into one discussion with a woman who was of mixed ancestry. Some people are very thankful and honoured to be chosen. Many people worry about the financial consequences of the endeavour. One woman asked me if she could make a donation to me. (I refused it.)

One student and his friend were quite enthused and had me sit down at their cafe table so they could enjoy the reading. Then the recipient of the book gave me a hug :)

I also made one woman cry because she was so incredibly moved by the poem. It was a very powerful experience.

All in all, it's been a very fruitful experience. I've used it as a way to reach out to places in my community and have performed random acts of poetry at my local video store and at some of my favourite stores in my neighbourhood.

(cross-posted to my writing blog)

I've been really crazy busy, but it's all good things. On Thursday, I went out for dinner with my friend Jenna. Jenna and her husband have some land and are starting a veggie farm on their land, so she has been out on the land since last May. She just returned to town and moved to a new neighbourhood and started a new job, working 9-5. So we FINALLY got a chance to catch up and had supper together. Then we walked over to a nearby bar to attend our friend Patrick's book launch. Patrick's dad was acting as paparazzi and was snapping pictures of everyone who walked in the door. He had a huge camera and made everyone stop and pose and smile for him multiple times. It was terribly cute.

His mom was in charge of the book table in the back. You could tell that his parents were extremely proud of him. The book was a tiny, beautiful pocket book called "Huge Blue." It was mostly haikus and haibuns about nature and the prairies, mountains and West Coast. I got a chance to chat with some nice people at the launch, and then Patrick read to us from the book. He and I traded books and he signed the nicest dedication inside my book,

"It has been wonderful having you in town. You are a great addition to our poetry family. I can't wait to read your book."

I read that when I got home, and it put a huge smile on my face. I definitely have felt very accepted and appreciated by the poetry community in Edmonton and was very touched by Patrick's words.