“…the idea that young adults can not be exposed to unpopular opinion in the classroom—that’s an idea that’s about as dangerous as an idea can get.”
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“The Overnight Shift”

My short story “The Overnight Shift” is now available on The Arcanist. Go check it out!
(This is the one that amassed 13 rejections before finding a home. Persevere!)
Goals, November 2017
Mostly, I just want to get close to NaNoWriMo wordcount numbers in my novel-in-progress.
It’d also be nice to make some time to work on the WordPress Multisite project I’ve got going.
Hallowe’en 2017 count
Here’s the tally for this year’s Hallowe’eners:
- Mad scientist
- Minion
- 2‑year-old (approx.) in a bee costume who was apparently scared of me because I’m a stranger, and had to be convinced by her mother to accept a chocolate bar from me
- Morty
- Zombie banana (however that works)
- Princess
- Witch
- Vampire cat
- Cowboy in a snowsuit
- Cat in a snowsuit
- 3 more cowboys
- Ghoul with flashing red LED eyes that made him look like a dire Jawa
- Jason Voorhees in a parka
- Princess in a parka
First doorbell: 6:15 PM.
Last doorbell: 8:45 PM.
Leftover candy: sufficient but probably not fatal.
Hollow Bean 2017
Happy Hollow Bean, y’all.
…“And what is the purpose of this celebration?”
“To collect the all-important food.”
“Which is?”
“Candy.”
The Weekend

Our last couple days in Ottawa, Kathleen had a cold and I felt the start of one.
Saturday
We got moving about 12:30, and headed out — for the first time since Monday — with no clear idea what we were going to do. I’d posted a photo to Facebook hinting that we were in Ottawa, and predictably many friends had many suggestions. Some of them we’d already done, some we had yet to accomplish. Continue reading “The Weekend”
National Gallery

We headed out around noon, and walked down to the Canadian National Gallery. We spent almost four hours touring the galleries, where I discovered that I prefer paintings of landscapes to portraits, generally, though I did find a few portraits interesting as well.
Museum-a-palooza

Thursday we got moving by 11 AM or so. We went to the Canadian Museum of Nature first off, and purchased a museum passport (3 museums, 3 days, 1 price!) which would also allow us access to the War Museum, the Museum of History, and the National Gallery. (Also the Aviation Museum, but that train had sailed.)
Canadian Aviation Museum / Rideau Hall
We had a lazy morning: breakfast in the room, showers, and so forth. We left the hotel about 11 AM, and drove out to the Aviation Museum, where I got to indulge one flavour of my nerdiness (including wearing a fighter-jet helmet during the ejection seat demonstration). Continue reading “Canadian Aviation Museum / Rideau Hall”
Ottawa: Parliament Hill

Tuesday, I got up at the crack of 8:10 to go stand in line for Parliament Hill tour tickets. I assumed the office would open at 8:30, but it turned out to be 9 o’clock. I was glad I got there early, though, when I saw how very long the line had gotten behind me. Kathleen joined me with my camera and watch before the office opened.