Funky Fridays: March 25th through April 1st

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I'd say I'm sorry I didn't post on March 25th, but it was Good Friday and I was traveling for Easter. That said, I'll try to briefly recap some things that happened. I apologize that many of them are depressing. I put the happy ones at the beginning in case you'd rather not read about the awful things that happened recently.

1. Relieved: I finished writing, editing, and submitting my short story Solarium, which is about a failing Mars simulation.


2. Excited: Camp NaNoWriMo starts today! Let's hope me and my cabin mates are ready to get some serious writing done. I'll be editing The Page & The Magician. I'm currently on Chapter 7 of 24.


3. Brave: Today also marks the beginning of April, which is Sjögren's Syndrome Awareness Month. I was diagnosed with Sjögren's recently and given the amount of misinformation there is about the condition, how prevalent yet unknown it is, and how much it affects me on a daily basis, I've decided to do my part in raising awareness. Check out my posts on the autoimmune disease with the funny name.


4. Indifferent: The federal budget was released. I didn't see anything particularly shocking, but I didn't delve into it either.


5. Busy: My coworker is gone to Florida for 3 weeks vacation, so I'm doing some of her stuff. I don't mind, though. It seems I have a lot more to do at work suddenly with many other projects starting at the same time.


6. I got to watch a friend read from her novels on Wednesday evening at Ottawa ChiSeries. I really enjoyed listening to SM Carriere and David Neil Lee. David was funny. My friend was a little nervous but did really well. She had some stumbles, which I think she's being overly hard on herself about as she soldiered on and the audience was never left in the lurch. I bought another of her books, which I only do if I really enjoy the way someone writes. I'm not sure when I'll get to it as I've been talked into joining a book club, but I'll find time somewhere.


7. Angry: There was a shooting in Bells Corners. The young woman succumbed to her injuries. There have been far too many shootings and stabbings in Ottawa this year. It used to be a safer place to live.


8. Thankful: A man lost his life on the highway not long before I reached that section while driving back to Ottawa after the long weekend. I'm thankful I wasn't speeding that day. The visibility was quite awful and I figured it's better to take a little longer and make it safely home.


9. Livid: The verdict was announced in the Jian Ghomeshi case. While I agree that the lack of evidence and the lying of the plaintiffs is not acceptable, there's still a problem and the judge recognized that the verdict didn't mean Ghomeshi is innocent. It's ridiculous that in 2016 people still get away with treating others in such ways.


10. Helpless: There was a bombing in Pakistan over Easter. Whenever I hear about such things, I feel helpless. Everyone recognizes how sad it is that things like this continue to happen, but this is one of those things that doesn't have an easy answer. When westerners try to help it only compounds the problems, so some gather from afar. Just a couple of days before there was a bombing in Brussels.


11. Disgusted: People awaiting sentencing are being forced to live like abused animals. An inmate's death seems to be the only reason anyone is trying to fix the overcrowding issue. The minister's directives seem to be falling on deaf ears.


12. Frustrated: A construction worker lost his life when ice fell on him. Even worse? The union raised the risk prior. This right here annoys me greatly as a project manager. There was absolutely no reason for this tragedy to occur. Safety should be paramount on construction sites!

More posts will be coming about Sjögren's in the month ahead.

Ciao,
R~