news

April 16, 2006

For the latest news, check out my blog .  From now on, only brief notices will be posted under this section.

December 5, 2005

I just finished my essay entitled "Why I Am Converting To Judaism".  Download it here in Word format, or here in RTF format.

July 13, 2005

Half a year between updates...not very good.  Oh well.

Lots has happened in my life since December, but probably the most notable thing is that I stopped being a Christian, and am in the process of formally converting to Judaism.  It's kind of a longish, detailed kind of story, so you'll have to be patient and wait for me to write up a cogent essay on the topic.  There is some information about this development in the "Soul Food" paragraphs under my "about me" section.

Another notable thing is that I have started dating again.  That's been fun and scary at the same time.  Nothing serious.  Just casual, but I'm enjoying getting out there and meeting new people.

In other news, the school year has ended and I'm on vacation.  Yay!!  I'm just hanging around Edmonton, since this is such a nice place to be in the summer.  I've been busy trying to get caught up on all those little errands that teachers tend to put off in May and June, as well as with visiting friends and family.  Of course, I've got lots of reading/writing/music projects on the go.

In May, I started taking a beginner Tai Chi class with Carmen, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

During spring break I took a trip to Vancouver for five days, and had a relaxing time, managing to stay out of trouble, or at least not get caught.  I stayed at a convenient inexpensive B&B called Joyce Traveler.  One of the highlights of that trip was seeing Tyra (who I haven't seen since something like the late 80s) and her fiance, Randy, as well as visiting with my cousin Troy and his wife Sonya.  Another was seeing Dave and Sandy again, who were so generous with their time while showing me around the city.  I wish I could live in Vancouver---the city has a strong pull for me.

Sometime in the next week I will begin painting my living room red.   I'm a little nervous about that, especially since I haven't done ANY renovations now for a year and half.

On June 6, my littlest sister J* got married.  Congrats guys.  Mazal Tov also to Carmen and Rene on the birth of their daughter Katelyn; Laura and Duane on the birth of their son, Garrison; Dirk and Colleen on the birth of their son Colby; and Ted and Donna on the birth of their son, Miles.  Paige and Erik, you're next....

Some new people have come into my life in the last few months.  Hi Jessica, Joe, Tia, Colleen!

That's all for now.  Or at least all that I'm willing to post on the internet.  Call me and we'll talk if you want more info.

December 27, 2004

(Mark your calendars!  I will be reading as part of the 12 Days of Poetry Festival on January 12 at 7:00 PM at Tuxedo's Bistro #30, 200 St. Albert Road,  in St. Albert.)

Well, a belated Merry Christmas to you all!  Happy New Year!  (At least, I'm on time for that.)

Unfortunately, I have been remiss in updating this page as often as I wanted to.  Thank you Barb for diligently checking, though.  Honestly, I'm not conducting some sort of random behavioural conditioning experiment here.

I have been tremendously busy with school.  To those of you from T.D. Baker reading this, let me just say that I have really enjoyed getting to know you and learning to adjust to a new school.  I'm glad to be working with such fine colleagues and excellent students.  You make the busyness of teaching time well spent.

In October, for Thanksgiving, I made a trip up to Grimshaw to visit my family for a few days, and to drop in on Annette.  It was the first Thanksgiving in a long long time that all of my immediate family was together for the holiday, so it was extra special.

Not sure if I've broadcast this before but my sister Jenni is engaged to be married, to a great guy, Marc.  It turns out that he was in the grade ahead of me when I was in high school.  I just looked him up in my yearbook---I think I might have actually been in a class with him because I took PE and Social with the year ahead for one semester.  Small world.  Anyway, Marc, we're all looking forward to the official day, and you already feel like part of the family.

I spent a number of weekends out at Cindy's and Troy's acreage near Radway, and they came to stay with me in the city for one weekend.  I love being able to hang out in the country with them.  I love you guys!

The rest of my social calendar has been filled with visiting friends around the city--- Carmen, Paige, Barb, Holly, Tracy, Treena, Ray---and my relatives who've dropped in:  Tricia, Auntie Lesley and Auntie Marianne.

I made it out to a Halloween party at the bar in Egrement, as well, and a very nice Christmas party at Kelly's place.  Kelly is my new friend and colleague from T.D. Baker!  Hi Kelly!

A couple of Sundays ago I went back to my old church.  It was nice to see some people I haven't (regrettably) seen in a long time, and to begin to bridge across the divide, so to speak.  Jordan, thank you so much for what you did!  Janis, Jo, Dena, thanks for your warmth.  Ted and Donna, as always, thanks.

I got my Christmas shopping done on Tuesday, the 21st, and was able to accomplish this without a headache or a major surge of murderous intent toward my fellow shoppers thanks to the assistance of Paige.  Can I book you for next year?

I recently got back from a Christmas trip to Calgary.  (Thanks Jason and Colleen for the use of your spare bedroom again.)  To my relatives on both sides:  thanks for your hospitality, love, and company.  You know what you did.  Big hugs!

In my writing this fall and winter I have been exploring sad, dark areas; I've been writing about things I've been afraid to for a long time.   It's been difficult but quite gratifying.  As stuff comes out, please don't worry about me---I process stuff slowly so the emotions and crap being revealed are now past tense.  :-)

That's all that's new that I can think of at the moment.  See you in the new year!

August 9, 2004

I spent most of July visiting with friends and family.  Dad met me and my sister Tricia for dinner on his way back from visiting Grandma.  Cindy came to see me a number of times and I visited her and Troy on their acreage near Radway.  I drove up to Bonnyville to stay one Saturday with Connie.  I enjoyed spending time talking and eating with my friends Carmen, Tracy, Paige, Rose, Naomi, and Pat.

I've spent a good deal of my time visiting via phone as well--in particular with my Auntie Lesley.  We haven't really talked enough to really get to know each other before; I'm glad that we're getting there now.

I'm still busy decorating and unpacking after my move into this place in March.  I know.  I'm slow.  But I really like how things are looking and I feel very comfortable here.  There are some pictures of it now in the photo section.

After spending weeks reading and watching zero TV I've been on a movie watching binge for the last two.  My favourites of the last 14 days have been "Antwone Fisher" and "Fahrenheit 9/11".  Oh, and the entire second season of "Six Feet Under"---that is such a brilliant show!

Other highlights of my month included babysitting for the first time since I was a teenager.  Carmen and Rene's son Matthieu (4 years old) kept me busy with his games and his toys, and I got to play Doc Oc to his Spiderman.  He's a great kid and I had fun watching him.

I did a lot of writing of both poetry and songs, but didn't actually finish anything, a situation I intend to rectify soon.  Physically, I've been much more tired than usual this month.  Of course, I've also been staying up absurdly late.  :-)

I did finally get around to putting my music back on the net.  Since the demise of  Mp3.com I haven't had anything out there.  Check out my music section if you're interested.

I'm still reading The World According to Garp, but I've also got two other books on the go:  Breaking the Bondage of Legalism and Invisible Lives.

Well, that's the news fit for public consumption.  If you want the details and the private stuff you gotta call or email.  Or visit.

July 11, 2004

I'm busy working on this website, and hope to have the rest of the content up by the end of the week.

Please let me know if some things are not displaying properly.  This is my first time using Cascading Style Sheets, as well as that neat little menu JavaScript.

In other news, my cousins Laura, Duane, Jason, and Colleen were here to visit me for the first time at this place.  (Hope my personal remodelling wasn't too weird  for you...wink, wink.)  Thanks guys for coming!

To those family and friends who have been avoiding me...my door is still open, both in the real world and this virtual world.  I miss you and would love to visit with you.

Last month saw my last days at my old place of employment---eight years I worked there.  It was really hard to leave as I made some great friends who I will miss working with, and, well, I'm kind of a creature of habit and would likely have retired there twenty years from now if I didn't decide to embark on my little life renewal project this year.

I'm just hanging out this month at home, organizing, unpacking, reading, writing, visiting with friends.  I hope to get out to K Days for a bit, and get out on my bike a lot, and get lots of poems sent to magazines.

I'm currently reading The World According to Garp by John Irving. It's so nice to read a novel for a change.