My friend Nikki has a cute little bunny who has been very sick. The vet bill is very expensive, and Nikki does not have a lot of money. If you can, please help out. Don’t think of it as helping Nikki pay a bill, because that’s not what it is. It’s helping save the life of a wonderful animal who loves, and is loved. Help Aji. //edit: I should probably point out that Nikki isn’t asking for money; she’s having a yard sale.
This came in the mail today from Maisonneuve: The hand-crafted wooden box contained: Issues 3-6 of the magazine (plus the current issue, because it was late) A one year subscription to the magazine Exposed Roots, a Canadian Aboriginal/World music 2 CD compilation (which is better than I thought it would be) An 18″x24″ wall poster A pencil and notepad All for just a touch more than a regular subscription. I am very pleased.
I totally forgot that I was interviewed by Northern Life on the issue of youth voting.
My Tom York Award winning story “A Story With No Title Whatever” has been picked up for publication in issue 16 of Carousel, a literary journal that I much admire.
My review of Rising to a Tension appears in today’s Globe and Mail.
I will have issue two of Wooden Fish up by the end of the week, or die trying.
Fellow Yayhooray member Rich Baran (known as Plastically) was killed in a car accident this morning. Respect and love. Rest in peace.
Yesterday was my last day of classes as an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo, and much to my displeasure, classes were cancelled due to the so-called ice storm. On a slightly better note, Neil Gaiman posted a message from me on his blog. Scroll down to near the bottom of the April 4th entry.
Tonight was the awards ceremony for the UW English Department Awards. I received the English Society Creative Writing Award for Prose, and read the first three and a half pages of my short story, “A Story With No Title Whatever.” It’s the same story for which I won the Tom York Memorial Award. I wasn’t sure how well it would go over; it was never intended to be read aloud. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so concerned. The reading went extremely well, and everyone laughed in all the right places, and were more boisterous than I could have hoped for. You know, of course, that this is only going to encourage me.
Every year, and lately every term, UW‘s English Society has a student/faculty mixer. It features a pretty good spread of food and an open bar. This term the budget was tight so the open bar became a cash bar near the end, but still: liquor flowed. Not many professors showed up this term, which was a bit of a surprise, but many of those who regularly attend have been rather busy lately. All the same, it was a wonderful event. I met some new and interesting people, and connected with a few of my peers whom I knew, but only vaguely. Several friends who are no longer students came. After the event a number of us wandered to a local pub called Ethel’s, and the good time followed us. I have posted a number of photos from the evening. I did not take them all.