Blurred Line

Well, until I get my sweet Blogography tees. I'm wearing it now, and it looks awesome.

Strangely enough, I've been extremely busy over the past week and a half doing stuff with friends - so much so that, not only have I been unable to find the time to write an entry here, I haven't even been keeping up with those blogs that I generally read on the daily basis. Weird. Anyway, some stuff that's happened since Tuesday:

My birthday: Wasn't all that exciting - I had to work. I did, however, get to come home and eat apple pie while listening to my neighbour rocked out in our living room (she's a great singer and she had her guitarist in tow, so they played some of their latest stuff). Fun.
My birthday party: Seemed like an awesome time. I'd tell you all about it, except I can't remember much. I do remember that there was a dance-off involved at one point. These are the horrors of drinking a twenty-sixer of rye. However, thanks to my "come-home-and-drink-water-until-you-wish-you-were-lost-in-the-desert" system, I was up at 7:30 the next morning, without a hangover.
Rock-climbing: I'm not an athletic guy, so going rock-climbing is a pretty significant thing for me. Of course, I'm not talking about indoor rock-climbing...no, I'm talking about climbing an actual vertical chunk of rock face out in the wilderness. Believe it or not, on my second climb I actual managed to get to the top - the first climb wasn't quite as high as the second, but was significantly more technical. Anyhow, had there been any sort of ledge at the top, I'd planned to pull a Rocky-style move, throw my hands up in the air and scream "I am all that is man!". Alas, I did not have the chance.
Concert: Went to a show and saw Acres, Relief Maps, and The Walkmen. A pretty decent show, considering that I'm not a huge fan of The Walkmen and had never heard of the first two acts. A big thumbs down to the lead singer and the guitarist from Relief Maps, who I'm pretty sure were drunk, and wouldn't stop screwing around with their tambourines during The Walkmen's set. They even managed to wreck the encore. Jerks.
Shopping: Got a big graduation present from my Dad and I cashed out my accrued vacation pay at work, so I have more money right now than I have in about five years. Bought myself a bunch of CDs, books, a sweet new blazer and an awesome new pair of shoes.

Other cool stuff, too, but that's more on a personal level, so forgive me if I don't tell all. Anyway, I'll be back on a more regular basis soon, with any luck. Also, I'm now aiming for a July 1st release on Fusion Fragment #2.

I haven't gone to see a big movie anytime near it's opening weekend in a long time, mostly because in a packed theatre, you've always got one or two idiots who just won't shut up. Well, I went to see Ocean's Thirteen tonight (decent, by the way, making it leaps and bounds better than Twelve, but still far short of Eleven) and the place was full. During the previews, there were these really annoying guys who you could tell were going to talk their way through the whole movie. Then, by the time the movie started, a miracle happened. No one irritated the crap out of me by talking. Sweet!

Also, it's my birthday on Friday. I tell you now so that you have time to pick out a gift.

For a variety of reasons (largely boiling down to the fact that I'd be bored out of my skull), I didn't bother going to my convocation, which took place a few days ago. So, my diploma was mailed to me instead. It was waiting for me outside my door when I got home today, and as I held my university diploma for the first time, I could only think one thing:

Holy %$&#, this looks cheap!

I mean, this is a diploma from an institution that myself and 25,000 other students pump thousands of dollars into each year. And they can't even print my diploma on thick, durable piece of paper. I know joke shops in town where you can buy diplomas of a higher physical quality for a couple bucks. I mean, this is one of the few pieces of paper that many people, throughout their lives, will actually take pride in. Is it too much to ask for it to look like more than a computer print-off?

Anyhow, enough of my griping. I'd like to blame it on the Sens losing last night, but frankly, by the time Teemu Selanne raised the Cup, all my animosity was gone - it's always nice to see one of the league's greats finally get his hands on the Cup. Oh, and also, the Stanley Cup could kick the ass of every other sports trophy, ever. Man, is it ever a gorgeous old mug.

And one piece of literary news: Apparently, the writer-director of Knocked Up is getting sued for plagiarism. Rebecca Eckler is suing, saying that the movie is based on her book of the same name. I mention this because, well, the movie looks awesome and because I remember reading Eckler columns through high school. Not sure if she still is (and I'm too lazy to look into it), but she wrote weekly lifestyle columns for the National Post (Canada's big national paper). They were usually pretty entertaining, and I actually remember her dropping the bomb that she was pregnant. Interesting how stuff like that pops up, huh?

Lastly, here's a fun article: Even if you get your dream book deal, your life will suck.

I've been busy over the past week, though maybe not quite as busy as my absence might suggest. Most of the past week has been spent working, looking for a job that'll actually pay the bills, trying to have a social life on a tight budget and, of course, watching hockey and endlessly analyzing every last facet of each game. The mood here last night was, for the first time since April, sombre and quiet.

Also, I've been working my way through the submissions for issue two of Fusion Fragment. So far, I've picked up two of the three stories I need for it, so I'm still on the lookout for one more piece of good fiction.

Finally, one note to writers: If you're writing something that shifts between past and present in your story's chronology (ie. flashbacks), make damn sure that each time period is clearly delineated. One of the stories I rejected was extremely well-written in every other aspect, but the chronology was jumbled enough that it was difficult to follow. So, if you're writing something like that, make sure you give it to someone else with fresh eyes before sending it around.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Saturday, June 30, 2007 - My Favourite T-Shirt In The World Well, until I get my sweet Blogography tees. I'm wearing it now, and it looks awesome. Cavan blogged at 4:27 PM \| 2 comments Saturday, June 23, 2007 - Huh...Apparently, I Have A Social Life Strangely enough, I've been extremely busy over the past week and a half doing stuff with friends - so much so that, not only have I been unable to find the time to write an entry here, I haven't even been keeping up with those blogs that I generally read on the daily basis. Weird. Anyway, some stuff that's happened since Tuesday: My birthday: Wasn't all that exciting - I had to work. I did, however, get to come home and eat apple pie while listening to my neighbour rocked out in our living room (she's a great singer and she had her guitarist in tow, so they played some of their latest stuff). Fun. My birthday party: Seemed like an awesome time. I'd tell you all about it, except I can't remember much. I do remember that there was a dance-off involved at one point. These are the horrors of drinking a twenty-sixer of rye. However, thanks to my "come-home-and-drink-water-until-you-wish-you-were-lost-in-the-desert" system, I was up at 7:30 the next morning, without a hangover. Rock-climbing: I'm not an athletic guy, so going rock-climbing is a pretty significant thing for me. Of course, I'm not talking about indoor rock-climbing...no, I'm talking about climbing an actual vertical chunk of rock face out in the wilderness. Believe it or not, on my second climb I actual managed to get to the top - the first climb wasn't quite as high as the second, but was significantly more technical. Anyhow, had there been any sort of ledge at the top, I'd planned to pull a Rocky-style move, throw my hands up in the air and scream "I am all that is man!". Alas, I did not have the chance. Concert: Went to a show and saw Acres, Relief Maps, and The Walkmen. A pretty decent show, considering that I'm not a huge fan of The Walkmen and had never heard of the first two acts. A big thumbs down to the lead singer and the guitarist from Relief Maps, who I'm pretty sure were drunk, and wouldn't stop screwing around with their tambourines during The Walkmen's set. They even managed to wreck the encore. Jerks. Shopping: Got a big graduation present from my Dad and I cashed out my accrued vacation pay at work, so I have more money right now than I have in about five years. Bought myself a bunch of CDs, books, a sweet new blazer and an awesome new pair of shoes. Other cool stuff, too, but that's more on a personal level, so forgive me if I don't tell all. Anyway, I'll be back on a more regular basis soon, with any luck. Also, I'm now aiming for a July 1st release on Fusion Fragment #2. Cavan blogged at 8:18 PM \| 0 comments Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - Silence is Golden I haven't gone to see a big movie anytime near it's opening weekend in a long time, mostly because in a packed theatre, you've always got one or two idiots who just won't shut up. Well, I went to see Ocean's Thirteen tonight (decent, by the way, making it leaps and bounds better than Twelve, but still far short of Eleven) and the place was full. During the previews, there were these really annoying guys who you could tell were going to talk their way through the whole movie. Then, by the time the movie started, a miracle happened. No one irritated the crap out of me by talking. Sweet! Also, it's my birthday on Friday. I tell you now so that you have time to pick out a gift. Cavan blogged at 10:49 PM \| 3 comments Thursday, June 07, 2007 - A Reflection on my Diploma For a variety of reasons (largely boiling down to the fact that I'd be bored out of my skull), I didn't bother going to my convocation, which took place a few days ago. So, my diploma was mailed to me instead. It was waiting for me outside my door when I got home today, and as I held my university diploma for the first time, I could only think one thing: Holy %$&#, this looks cheap! I mean, this is a diploma from an institution that myself and 25,000 other students pump thousands of dollars into each year. And they can't even print my diploma on thick, durable piece of paper. I know joke shops in town where you can buy diplomas of a higher physical quality for a couple bucks. I mean, this is one of the few pieces of paper that many people, throughout their lives, will actually take pride in. Is it too much to ask for it to look like more than a computer print-off? Anyhow, enough of my griping. I'd like to blame it on the Sens losing last night, but frankly, by the time Teemu Selanne raised the Cup, all my animosity was gone - it's always nice to see one of the league's greats finally get his hands on the Cup. Oh, and also, the Stanley Cup could kick the ass of every other sports trophy, ever. Man, is it ever a gorgeous old mug. And one piece of literary news: Apparently, the writer-director of Knocked Up is getting sued for plagiarism. Rebecca Eckler is suing, saying that the movie is based on her book of the same name. I mention this because, well, the movie looks awesome and because I remember reading Eckler columns through high school. Not sure if she still is (and I'm too lazy to look into it), but she wrote weekly lifestyle columns for the National Post (Canada's big national paper). They were usually pretty entertaining, and I actually remember her dropping the bomb that she was pregnant. Interesting how stuff like that pops up, huh? Lastly, here's a fun article: Even if you get your dream book deal, your life will suck. Cavan blogged at 5:32 PM \| 2 comments Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - This Week in Cavan I've been busy over the past week, though maybe not quite as busy as my absence might suggest. Most of the past week has been spent working, looking for a job that'll actually pay the bills, trying to have a social life on a tight budget and, of course, watching hockey and endlessly analyzing every last facet of each game. The mood here last night was, for the first time since April, sombre and quiet. Also, I've been working my way through the submissions for issue two of Fusion Fragment. So far, I've picked up two of the three stories I need for it, so I'm still on the lookout for one more piece of good fiction. Finally, one note to writers: If you're writing something that shifts between past and present in your story's chronology (ie. flashbacks), make damn sure that each time period is clearly delineated. One of the stories I rejected was extremely well-written in every other aspect, but the chronology was jumbled enough that it was difficult to follow. So, if you're writing something like that, make sure you give it to someone else with fresh eyes before sending it around. Cavan blogged at 4:45 PM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart