I Can't Believe This Is Real!

There's a clothing store in India called.... Hitler.  Seriously!  WTF????  Click the link below for more information.

KiSS 92.5 | Toronto's #1 Hit Music Station

*I didn't include the picture because I didn't want it to appear on my blog.
**Seriously, how could this guy think it was a good idea????
***I had a difficult time even typing the name out.  So very offensive.

Good To Know: FREE iTunes U Courses for Writers and Readers

Did you know there are free courses you can take via iTunes U for writers and readers?  I didn't until recently.  Now I'm sharing the info.  I may take one (or more) of the courses....  Once life settles a bit.

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/itunes-u-courses-for-writers-readers_b47396

Maternity Leave Infographic, or I'm Proud To Be Canadian

I know this Infographic has been making the internet rounds.  I know that it's supposed to be for Americans because of their awful (sorry American friends) maternity leave policy.  It just made me realize how lucky I am to be a mother in Canada.  I thought that France and the UK had better policies than us, but apparently not.  Click the links below for more information.

How The Zero Weeks Of Paid Maternity Leave In The U.S. Compare Globally: pOut of 178 nations, the U.S. is one of three that does not offer paid maternity leave benefits, let alone paid leave for fathers, which more than 50 of these nations offer. Here’s how the U.S. stacks up to 14 other countries: In comparison, Canada and Norway offer generous benefits that can be shared between [...]/p

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/

A Little Bit of What I Wrote Today

During all this, I celebrated my twenty-third birthday.  I invited two of the girls who were a bit older and I was close with.  She overheard us talking afterwards.  She wanted to know why I hadn't invited her.  Seriously?  Why the fuck would I invite someone like that?  Was she delusional?  I could never relax around her at work; I was never letting her into my home.

I know it needs some editing, but I just wrote it, so there.

Update!

I have a job!  Yay!  I’ve been tense about being unemployed and that my money was going to run out soon, but I don’t have to worry about it anymore.  Thanks to everyone who sent me kind words.  It’ll be nice to finally relax and not wake up and job hunt every day.  I don’t start for another few days, so I’ll actually get time off to enjoy with my family!  Yay again!

I’ll miss the writing time though…

August Update: or, No Job = More Writing Time

August 1st, it seems like a nice day to do an update. 

I still have no job.  It's been just over a month since I was laid-off.  I've been on a few interviews, even got called back for a couple second interviews.  I've turned an offer down because of the distance it would take to travel there.  I'm waiting to hear back from a job that I think would be nice for me. 

Distance makes a difference.  Some of you know that I have two small children, three and one.  They are my priority.  As much as I need to work, I will not travel so far away that I can't get to them in an emergency.  I've heard of children who are spending eleven or twelve hours away from home in daycare.  I'm not judging the people who do that. It's necessary in many cases.  It is just not in mine.  If I'm spending eight hours at work, I plan on having my children only spend eight and a half or nine hours away from me.

Okay, I didn't plan on this being a post about how much I want to be near my children.

I'm using this unemployed time though.  I've been writing like mad.  I've gone through all the short stories I have for my collection.  I like them.  Actually, I love them.  I've also been working on my first non-fiction piece.  It's chronicling the journey I'm on, looking for work.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but this isn't the first time I've been laid-off.  It wasn't my fault (honestly).  It was work shortage.  The company I was laid-off from before this actually went out of business.  I think part of what I'm doing is trying to figure out how I could pick a job that would again put me in this situation. 

How long does non-fiction have to be?  Novel length?  Novella length?  I don't really know.  Right now, I have about ten thousand words.  I'm not aiming for a particular word count.  I'm just writing what I feel.  When it's done (or at least close to being done) I'll go through, edit and make it more coherent.  I know there is at least one passage that's just my mad ramblings.  I don't know if it'll be publishable when it's done, but I'm going to write it anyway. 

Wasaga Beach *

To refer back to my Image Use post, I've gone through a lot of my blog pictures, but not all.  I think this blog is good.  I've started going through my Pins and I've deleted a few pictures I felt unsure about (it made me a little sad).  It's still going to take me a while.  Honestly, if I'm feeling the urge to write or I'm in the middle of a good flow, I'm not stopping to check pictures or Tweet or anything else.  When I'm writing, all I see are the words on the page and images in my mind.

The summer is half over.  I wonder what the rest of it will bring.

A quick addition, the last sentence I’ve written (so far) this afternoon:  “The sad talks were taking its toll, the logic of his words made me feel a bit better, and a little less panicked.”

*image by Jok2000 via Wikimedia Commons