Day 3

So, Day 3 of the New Year and day 3 of my 90-day blogging commitment/resolution.

And Day 1 of being blocked.

So far this morning, I've written two and a half blogs. But they were written more in an effort to meet my commitment than from the heart. So I deleted them. And I'm starting again. And I'm getting annoyed.

The boys are behind me fighting over who gets the "controlling" controller in the two-man game of MarioKart. And that's pissing me off too.

I don't mind being pissed off when I write. It actually has produced some of my better stuff. But it's gotta be the right kind of pissed off. MarioKart squabbles are not the right kind.

So, back on track. A blog, after all, is little more than a journal.

I guess today I'm feeling a little out of sorts because my family, much of my family anyway, is together back in southern Ontario. I've seen the photos on Facebook of my brother, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews touring around Toronto, enjoying dinners out together and having a good time.

The photos made me smile, but I wish I was there.

I've mentioned here before, I think, that my two brothers, two sisters and myself are spread fairly thin throughout North America. Sister in Kansas, sister in BC, brother in New York, brother in southern Ontario. Me in Manitoba. We don't get together for Sunday dinners.

As such, I suppose, we don't get into the mundane little spats that many families do. But we do miss each other, especially during the holidays and during times of stress.

And right now, we've got both. The holidays are obvious, but the stress added this year is that my dad, who also lives in southern Ontario, is fighting stage four, metastatic, renal cell carcinoma. Cancer. And, if you can qualify this shitty disease, bad cancer.

And ya know, I really didn't want to go here. I'm not really ready to talk about it in a blog. There are so many factors, so much crap going on . . . let's just leave it here.

So, plans for today . . . it's garbage day. And I've already taken out the garbage. I plan to bake bread again today, as my minions have destroyed the first two loaves and are demanding more. I'm also hoping to get them over to the skating rink and am praying that the skates we bought last year still fit.

That's all I got for Day 3. Have a good one!

Blocked Again

Well, Happy Thursday.

-32C here this morning in the Great White North. That's -26F for my friends in the south.

I'm a little troubled this morning. For a couple of reasons. First off, I've missed posting for the last day or two. I sit down in the morning with my big cup of coffee and find myself blocked. Nothing to write about.

I know there is always something to write about, but I just can't find it or the inspiration to make it work. I've started a blog post each day, but it sits on my computer screen all day and I just can't finish. Hmph.

And second, I am sleeping better and I don't know why. What's more, I don't know why it bothers me. I should be thrilled, right?

But I have to question it. As I must question everything.

Nothing has changed in my life. I'm not getting any more exercise, any more time out of the house. Stress levels have not been altered . . . why am I sleeping so much better?

And, as I sit here right now, at 6:38 a.m., I am once again blocked.

Fight it.

Talked this morning on skype to an old high school friend. He was at the airport in the Cayman Islands, heading for Alberta for a family wedding. He wouldn't tell me the temperature there. I am grateful.

Steve was one of my best friends from about Grade 8 through Grade 12. He's now got a 17-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. Time flies.

The first time I got drunk it was at Steve's house with our other buddies, Chris and Doug. We'd purchased, and I forget exactly how, as we were all underage, a bottle of Peppermint Schnapps. The other three had a shot or two and decided they didn't like it. I finished the bottle and, a short time later, had a worship session at the porcelain altar.

But, as is so often the case, we all drifted apart after high school. I've never met Steve's kids, or Chris's or Doug's for that matter. Nor have they met mine. Steve is the only one I've been in touch with, sporadically, over the years. Never face-to-face, just over the Internet on facebook or skype, or msn messenger.

As far as I know, Doug is the only one who stayed in the Niagara area. Chris moved out to BC and Steve, as I mentioned, is in the Caymans.

See? This is what I mean by writer's block. I'm babbling on about irrelevant crap with no purpose, no real humour, no point. When I have a decent post, something to write about, it usually will start with an interesting, or catchy, opening line. At the end of my writing, I usually look back to the opening line and try to tie it to the closing line. That's decent writing, that's entertaining.

This is not. Sorry.

It's cold, I'm in Thompson, I have writer's block.

Happy Thursday.