Roommates!
I've been very lucky with my choice of roommates. My newest roommate is no exception. Normally I get along with my roommates quite well, even though we're always both around. Therefore it seems strange that my new roommate and I hardly ever see each other. She goes to work early, and sometimes comes home late. I typically go to work late (getting out of bed after she's gone) and get home around the time we're both going to bed. In addition to this, my days off are during the week and hers are on the weekend.
Which makes what happened all the more hilarious. I got up late on sunday (the only day we're both home) and came out to use the one bathroom we have. The light was on under the door so I sat down to wait. I really needed the bathroom, but felt it rude to knock and ask how long she would be (I'm not sure why). Anyway, after sitting for about 5 minutes and starting to get desperate the front door opens. She'd gone shopping! I guess we could communicate a bit more though we don't see each other much. Still, I got a laugh out of it.

Sci-Fi Fan Letter

The World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto now has a Science fiction / Fantasy newsletter. And guess who the 'editor-in-chief' is? Yours truly. I need some nifty things to add to cover letters when next I send in stories and novel proposals. For the first issue I reviewed Mirror Prince by Violette Malan (a budding local fantasy author) and Armageddon's Children in anticipation for Terry Brooks's visit to the store. The main feature is a listing of most of the sf/fan titles coming out in October. I'm busy at work getting the next issue ready. Right now the newsletter is only one side of one page (I had to prove to management that I could do it and do it fast) but I'm hoping to make it longer and have it include more content with various co-workers writing pieces. We'll see if that happens. In the meantime, it's fun going on all of the publisher's pages and seeing what's new. I also get to read books I otherwise might not pick up, like Koji Suzuki's Paradise. Of course, I can only review books I liked (since this is for a bookstore and it sounds bad if I say, "Don't buy the Da Vinci Code, it sucked" even if that's how I feel). This time around I had to read several books before finding one I liked. Ah, a writer's life is hard.

Tofino Wedding

Two of my dearest friends recently tied the knot in Tofino, BC. It was my first trip to Vancouver Island, and I was very excited to attend the wedding. Before heading to the resort where family and friends were gathering, I took a jaunt through the temperate rain forest. I couldn't believe the mass of greenery so close to the ocean.
The night before the wedding, we had dinner at a fancy hotel. Here's the couple standing outside the doors. Delia is wearing a traditional Vienamese dress she bought while on vacation one year.
We were in Tofino during a drought, an otherwise unheard of event for an area that normally has more rain than Vancouver. Naturally, though it was sunny before and afterwards, it rained the day of the wedding.
Delia and Alastair were married on the beach just as they planned. The rain made it more mysterious and romantic somehow.
After the wedding we retired to the Sobo restaurant, where we had some of the best food I've ever tasted.
Congratulations to Delia and Alastair
Clarke!

Cyclecast:
Well, a lot has happened since my last blog. In July I broke my ankle. Most people in such a situation would stay home, where it's safe. Not me. Taking the subway was rather more difficult than I suspected in a leg cast so I did the only thing I could. I rode my bicycle!
There's nothing better than having hoards of strangers watch you ride by with looks of awe on their faces. I even had a few people say "Way to go!" and "That's incredible."
One of the only scary moments took place about 5 or 6 weeks into my 71/2 week convelescent period. I rode to the dollar store a few blocks from my apartment (until this time I was basically only riding to and from work). After shopping I paused next to my bicycle to put my crutches back into my backpack. A cop walked up to me, asking how I was going to ride my bike with a broken leg. Uh oh. Thinking quickly, I played nonchelant and rather dense. I pasted a huge smile on my face and said, in a cheery voice, "Easily! It's actually not hard at all. I just have to be really, really careful." He told me of his broken leg experience and how, after getting the cast off, he rode his motorcycle, and someone cut him off, causing him to step onto his bad leg. I nodded my head and told him of my experience doing the same thing, and having to step onto my cast. He winced and, with a rather hesitant expression, let me go. A few minutes later I waved to him as I rode past. Phew. I was afraid he'd tell me I couldn't ride any more, and then how would I get to work?
At the same time as I was learning how to manouver without one leg, I was also househunting. Trying to find an apartment can be tough at the best of times, but when you can't walk... it's a nightmare. Still, all's well that ends in a short period of time.
My doctor (a hospital doctor, not a family doctor) removed the cast and then gave the the dumbest advice I'd ever heard. "Go home and try to walk where, if you fall, you won't hurt yourself." Looking at my emaciated leg, I knew walking was out of the question. I ended up sitting outside the hospital for several hours, practicing walking between crutches. I eventually got up the courage to try riding my bike to the dollar store where I bought a tensor bandage to give my ankle some support.
Several weeks later I'm walking again and enjoying the fact that I no longer have to hop up three flights of stairs. My new apartment is larger than my old shoe box, and I finally have a full kitchen again.