I don't know what it is; my writing juices have utterly dried up. There are several things I really need to write, including this, and I am just completely at a loss.
It's not as if there aren't things to share; we were back up in S'toon in June (hah!) to see my dad receive an honorary degree from the U. of S. It was really great to see that, as well as to catch up with many old friends and abuse their hospitality. We were able to get out to see R:tAG's parents, too, which is always a pleasure.* There was harness racing going on, so we went to see that (never having seen it before):
I really miss the SK skies.
Their town was very, very wet when we visited (an unusual thing by the standards of the past, oh, 20 years) and later, it got worse. R:tAG's folks, fortunately, live on relatively high ground.
And then Mr. Tall visited, and we all went to Half Moon Bay, to which none of us had ever been and which we found charming. Mr. Tall had the concept of micro-climates vividly illustrated; you go over the ridge and the temperature plunges and the sun disappears. We went to the beach anyway,
and had a meal at the Moss Beach Distillery that was awesometastic even though I was still recovering from a bad cold and mainly appreciated the textures.** Then we drove back, out of the dim, chilly fog, and into the warm golden sunshine of a California evening. The transition is quite startling.
We saw the Last Airbender movie and I'm not even going to link to it. Just watch the original TV series. The movie was really awful. On the other hand, I really enjoyed Despicable Me. Apparent key to me liking a movie; knowing nothing about it beforehand.
And now it's back to work and the never-ending patching and small improvements that are part of building an MMO. I'm finding it's not enough to (finally) learn that hacky shortcuts always come back to bite you, it's being able to persuade everyone else of that that's valuable.
* Best story of that trip; we went with R:tAG's dad to his regular Coffee Row haunt, so that he could show off his son from California, and of course every person we met asked what brought us back to Saskatchewan. I told them that my dad was getting an honorary degree from the U. of S., and on two separate occasions the questioner's eyes got wide and he gasped "You're Gordie Howe's daughter!??!" I did not have the presence of mind to say yes.
** I don't get sick very often, honestly, but it seems that when I do, it's when we have houseguests. It's a good thing I am not a paranoid sort.
I've seen more than my share of harness racing, having worked at Queensbury Downs while I was in school.
(ps. Note the new blog.)