tick tock

I CAN'T BELIEVE how fast time goes by. I mean, really. One minute you say to yourself "I've got plenty of time to do this, to do that, to see him, to see her," and suddenly you're wondering "what the hell happened?"

That is how I am feeling right now in my current state. It is alarming to see that January turned to February without even a minor delay, February became March and it was my birthday, then March suddenly turned to June and here we are... June 29, almost July, with a million things to do before I have to leave. But, if I wasn't so busy with all this nonsense I would be bored.

This blog has really no point to it at all right now. I wish it was a bit cooler in Ottawa - the humid 30 degrees has me sweating at all hours of the day - and even at night it's hard to get comfortable to fall asleep.

That is all.

internet madness

I am sitting on my computer today - again - trying to figure out how to avoid being so easily distracted by the internet. Because, let's face it, even though we try again and again to avoid facebook, myspace, twitter and perezhilton.com, it is virtually impossible unless one has a strong will.

Apparently, I do not.

I have stories I have to write for my deadline tomorrow - stories that are easy, with good quotes and solid information, that would be written within minutes if it were not for all these tempting distractions.

Can you imagine what life would have been like 20 years ago when all such means of communication did not exist? I could. I think it would be peaceful. Less consuming, where one feels as though they have to know everything about every one all the time day and night. Exhausting, right? Even saying that last sentence has me feeling tired.

I wish that for a few days I could do my job as a writer, as a journalist, without having to use the internet. 

First blog and my neck is swollen

Well, how does one start a blog? Does it begin with a greeting, sort of a "welcome to what will soon become confessions from my heart", or a "I hope my violent outbursts will not deter you from further reading"? I'm not quite sure. But I'll do my best to entertain and enlighten, and maybe even frighten.

This past weekend Ben (that is my long-time boyfriend) and I went to a cottage on Lac de la Mere Bleu in Quebec. Having grown up in B.C., I tend to forget the horrid tales that my dad, who used to live in Ontario, told me of the swarming black flies. But spending an afternoon in a canoe, with no head netting at hand, has taught me not to forget those tales again.

I was viciously attacked by black flies. They look like fruit flies from the Okanogan Valley, except for when you wipe the back of your neck and are suprised to see christmas red blood dripping from your hands. Yes, those tiny bugs they call black flies eat your blood. And they do it without mercy. Ben counted over 30 bites on my neck alone. By Friday evening, I had begun to swell up and turn red with little dots all over my skin. On Saturday, I was aching all over - sort of like you do with the flu - and by Sunday I was ready to take a bristle brush and rub it all over the bites.

Needless to say, I miss the days of Horse Flies from B.C., where at least you could hear them coming for you and have time to prepare for a painful bite. I most definitely was not prepared for this itchy, unbearable feeling. But... at least there is always Benadryl.