I can’t believe I’m still going strong this National Novel Writing Month. Some days are harder than others, tis true, but haven’t yet hit the mid-month slump as you can see on my brand-new NaNoWriMo Word Count Widget on the right sidebar. The Office of Letters and Light was a tad slow in getting the…
Category: Personal
Week One of NaNoWriMo
It’s November, so it must be National Novel Writing Month time. This year I’m writing a Sci Fi Time Travel novel set in the future and in Toronto, of course. NaNoWriMo, as it’s affectionately known, has done a major overhaul of its site, and so some elements have not been created yet, including the word…
Neck Traction for Whiplash — Relief
I know I talk about my brain injury as if it was the only injury I got from two drivers slamming into the back of the car I was in, but I got others too. That bowling ball on my neck, pulled that stalk one way then the other, straining and spraining it. The seat…
I Am A Survivor Journeying to Thriver
BIST (Brain Injury Society of Toronto) supports people with traumatic or acquired brain injuries (like moi) and their family members in the Toronto area and are affiliated with the Ontario Brain Injury Association. BIST asked me to write a survivor story for the BIST Beacon (PDF file), and my story appeared originally in the October…
Voting the Rejecting Way
I don’t want to vote. The First Past the Post system means if I want to vote for a particular party but don’t like the candidate, I have to vote for the candidate to register a vote for the party. And if I like a particular candidate out of all of them but not the…
Baked Good Deliciousness at the Vegetarian Food Fair: A Few Reviews
The Vegetarian Food Fair down at Toronto’s Harbourfront this year was a cornucopia of good food, good-looking food, fake grass, and lots and lots of sunshine and people, unlike previous years I’ve been. I grazed my way from booth to booth, filling myself up on free samples and emptying my wallet on specials and baked…
Value of Rest and Staycations to a Person with Brain Injury
One of the most frustrating things about a brain injury is the energy loss. The words “tired,” “exhausted,” “fatigued” don’t really convey the experience and frustration of this state, for it isn’t anything like one feels after a long day at the office, a hard-drinking night at the frat, an all-night study session for one…
Thoughts on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11
“I had finished breakfast, I was near the kitchen table, facing out I think, listening to 92.5 FM, Kiss 92, when Billy [sic], the female half of the morning crew, announced that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. I thought what are they joking about now, but when they continued to…
Identity
Identity. What is that? With the 9/11 anniversary imminent, Muslim identity is one of the hot topics on talk shows. With school starting again, African or Caribbean identity in our education system is on some minds although not as dominant as last year. And in cyclical fashion, First Nations identity is discussed amongst some Canadians.…