Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Teen angst through songwriting
I just came back from a session adjudicating the songwriting competition for youth on Vancouver Island. Holy cow we have some sad kids out there. Okay, as a teenager I don’t suppose I did a lot of journaling when things were going well; I saved my prose for the bleak midwinter of the spirit when I was getting dumped or fighting with my mother. But these kids are writing about parents who are drug addicts or convicts, or both, seething with the kind of anger that makes Columbine seem not so far away. Ikes.
Posted by Alexandria at 4:20 PM 0 comments
Monday, May 28, 2007
Is this me, back?
For a writer it sure is difficult to actually get around to writing. Sure, I write all the time: scripts, business documents, and emails but seldom to I sit and churn through these random thoughts and observations that whiz around in my head. It may be that I should go through my email archive and extract those little gems — or what felt like gems when they tumbled forth — and, well, make something of them. Right now I’m preoccupied by trying to get a new photo up on my profile. And that’s that.
Posted by Alexandria at 6:44 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 18, 2007
The ongoing saga next door
It’s been a heck of a week with lots of activity on the perimeter of the property next door. In a word, it’s sucked. My back yard used to be an oasis of privacy and calm; it’s felt like a major violation to have the neighbors and their contractors crashing around, stripping ivy from that back corner and acting like they own the place. Okay, so the property lines are in their favor but this is my house! They suck. As I write they are chopping the bamboo that hides that eyesore next door. Just heard them say the grape vine is coming down. There’s only so much bamboo trellis I can construct to try to shield it all. Based on the back neighbors’ experiences with those owners I’m not optimistic. The survey results have given me an idea where that back property line is and how it relates to the length of my lot. My real estate agent (who seems to have a history of some sort with the owners) should be coming by today to take a look. Am trying to remain calm, not project too much into what they *may* do if I actually leave my surveillance post on the deck for any period of time. It was helpful that Gabriel was out there yesterday being very quirky; I’m not at all above exploiting my son’s disability for a sympathy vote. Did I mention the roofers’ penchant for Rock 101 CFMI? There’s only so much classic rock one can take. Suppose it’s better than Celine Dion. Marginally.
Posted by Alexandria at 11:16 AM 0 comments
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hate mail? Me?!?
Ohmygod I just received the zestiest little piece of hate mail from some 25 year old gas jockey who I didn’t reply to quickly enough on Plenty Of Fish. (Shudder to think that I’m outing myself as involved in online dating.) I’m in total shock and before I could print it off for posterity I hastily blocked him which deleted his messages. He called me a "poser" and a "parasite". Aparently he hates my show on Shaw TV. Well, this is fun.
Posted by Alexandria at 6:52 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
4 o’clock Sunday afternoon
It’s 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon and I’m heading home through our own version of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side: Downtown Nanaimo. See, my son wanted an ice cream cone. So the the entry to the McDonald’s drive through is flanked by a sketched-out Honduran drug dealer on one side, a nodding alcoholic on the other. Waiting in line I can see the lane across the street. A couple of young junkies and a bleached blonde prostitute (crack head or junkie, tweakin’) stomp around shouting in anger. Down Terminal Avenue and onto Victoria Crescent the carnage continues. This is where things go Hastings and Main: doorways jammed with the homeless and a few doors down at the China Steps, a bustling open air drug market. Up onto Wallace Street a skeletal couple walk with the quick constipated steps of the meth addict. The final three blocks of our drive pass visually/spiritually unmolested. Until we pull into our own yard where one of last night’s passersby was kind enough to deposit an empty can of Lucky Lager. Classy. 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon. And it wasn’t even Welfare Wednesday.
Posted by Alexandria at 8:41 PM 0 comments
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Gabriel sets the schedule
I had to share this one… My monkey Gabriel pulled out his calendar book and began making very detailed entries setting out the schedule for a trip to Vancouver. (Note: we don’t currently have a trip to Vancouver planned. We were, however, over there during the same week of April last year.) It was amazing to watch… he kept flipping to previous pages to check spelling on words when he got stuck. He also mapped out a trip next October. And he made birthday and Christmas gift lists in July and December. My boy!!!
Posted by Alexandria at 1:09 PM 0 comments
Labels: autism