Like most cats who meet me, my mom-in-law’s cat considered it a personal affront that I didn’t immediately rush over and shower him with loving attention. For the record, I -do- like cats; I’m just allergic to them. Anyway, Duffy heaved his bulk upright and waddled over to me to turn on the cat charm in earnest. When I still resisted, he retaliated by rolling over onto my foot and meowing. I steadfastly avoided his gaze and eventually he went away.

If we weren’t allergic and if we had room in our lives for a pet, though, Jeff and I would get a dog. Cats are too smart, and too good at manipulating people. :-)

Livejournal comments about this post

(Photo I took of Brooke and John at OVFF in 2006)

Brooke Lunderville (John’s music partner and close friend) has posted an update about what happened yesterday. She says that if people post happy memories of John in her journal, she’d print them out to show his family.

Here’s what I posted:

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I’ve been letting weather and a hectic schedule lend me an excuse for not exercising as much in recent months. Inspired by my friends Tanya and Ju at FilKONtario (I notice Allison’s been inspired by them, too!), I’ve decided to smarten up.

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I’ve had my iPhone 3G since July 2008, and I find more to love about it each day. I’ve read reams of posts about the iPhone: critiques and wish lists and so on. And yes, there are things about the iPhone I’d like to see improved but sometimes I feel like telling everyone to take a deep breath, step back for a moment and just appreciate the sheer AMAZING COOLNESS of this little gadget.

I mean, holy cow. Think about it…this is something about the size of a pack of cards, that I can hold in the PALM OF MY HAND. And thus far I’ve used it for:

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Thanks SO much for all your responses to my Birthday Post. They meant a great deal to me.

I received some wonderful gifts from friends and family for my birthday. Part of Jeff’s gift, for example, was focused on my obsession with tea.

And my friend Walter made me cry.

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Photo by Jeff.

I can’t believe that I only have a couple of days until I go back to Toronto! I’m soaking in as much sunshine and colour as I can in hopes that it’ll keep me sane until spring comes.

I have no idea when I’ll be able to post a proper convention report, but I’ve managed to upload some of the photos I took at Consonance, for those interested.

I’m still gradually uploading other California photos as well.

Yes, I’m still alive. I had two (yes, two) colds during the holiday season and am just now starting to emerge from the black hole of pestilence. I’m cutting down on blogging and cartooning for a little while until I catch up with work and life, plus I want to focus on finishing current writing projects.

I’m disappointed about missing GAfilk this weekend, but I am looking forward to attending the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York in a few weeks as well as meeting with my agent at Curtis Brown.

Blush Publishing recently told me that my Blush cards are being distributed in France! This means they’re now available in Japan, Australia, France, the UK, U.S. and Canada. I also just finished another four new designs, so those will be added to the card line as well.

Life is good — just very busy. :-)

I was out for a walk a few days ago, listening to one of my audiobooks (Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods, which I am -so- enjoying), when some impulse prompted me to look up and I saw about forty white balloons high in the sky, floating away.

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For writers on Twitter:

I’ve created a group called Writers Who Blog About Writing. Because the main page has a member list with websites, this is a great way for all of us (and other people) to find out about each other’s blogs.

If you’re a writer on Twitter who blogs about non-writing topics (or who doesn’t have a blog at all), I notice there’s also a general writers’ group on Twitter.

I just discovered Instructables, a site where you can find out how to make or do all kinds of interesting things with community-contributed instructions. Try typing something into the search field — be warned that this site is a potential HUGE timesink!

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Thanks for the feedback in response to my Scaling back and cutting costs at Christmas post. Here’s what some of you said:

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Above: I’m trying to get back into my habit of doing a Daily Doodle just for fun.

A while back, I posted about how I tend to be drawn to positive people. Thanks for all the feedback to this post! Here are a few of the comments (and a brief note about why I try to avoid public whining):

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Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans out there. Here are the last two instalments of my BGG.con report:

Part 4

Part 5

Zombies, Cylon paranoia cartoon, party games vs more complex games, Ghost Stories, Reef Encounter, Battlestar Galactica, and more. Check out Part 3 of my BGG.con 2008 report (with lots of photos) on Boardgamegeek.

I’ve posted the second part of my BGG.con newbie report on BoardGameGeek.

I’m in Texas right now, attending BoardGameGeek.con and having a wonderful time. It’s my first gaming convention ever, so wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

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(Update: More photos of me as a clown posted here.)

So one of the first things that I’m told by the more experienced Greeter Clowns just before the 2008 Toronto Santa Claus Parade is: “Don’t let the kids take your gloves!”

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Guess what? I’m going to be a clown in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade tomorrow! And not just any clown. A GREETER clown.

I looked over the five pages of instructions sent to me by the Santa Claus Parade people, and apparently Greeters are the only parade characters allowed to shake spectators’ hands along the side of the road. My goldfish costume was originally assigned to be a Marcher, which meant that I’d have to walk in formation.

But HA, now I’m going to be a blissfully unfettered clown, free to menace the general populace!

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So remember I said that I was going to be a Goldfish in the Santa Claus Parade? Well, yesterday the Santa Claus Parade people called yesterday and said that I’ve been reassigned to be a “Greeter Clown.”

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I’ve been doing more thinking recently about the kinds of people I’m drawn to. They tend to be positive, benevolent personalities: the “half-full instead of half-empty” types, who assume the best about people instead of the worst.

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