Valencia – Golden

By ad | Published: August 30, 2010

It’s amazing how quickly one adapts to the more leisurely-paced European lifestyle. By the time we reached Valencia on the fifth day of our vacation, I was waking up “late” every day, taking long siestas in the afternoon, strolling instead of striding, and eating dinner as darkness began to fall.

And once we discovered the silky sands and warm Mediterranean waters of Valencia, the conversion was complete.

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Bits of new fiction – Marie-Anne

By ad | Published: August 27, 2010

When Marie-Anne learned that he would be out of town for a week, at first she was relieved.

Since he had first entered her imagination as the most handsome and kindest of men some weeks ago, Marie-Anne began to see him everywhere. Once, she was biking to the studio and he was standing at the bus stop. Another time, she was on the bus and he was walking along the sidewalk, the sun bringing out the blond undertones of his hair. Marie-Anne remembers turning in her seat to watch him pull the tails of his plaid shirt flat against his thighs as he walked.

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Barcelona – Look up, look way up

By ad | Published: August 22, 2010

I spent most of my stay in Barcelona looking up.

In the city defined by Antonio Gaudí and other modernista artists, it’s not surprising to see that the edges of architectural innovation continue to be pushed.

The heart of Barcelona remains the old town – its narrow streets lined with creamy-coloured buildings that seem to lean in and look down at you. But as you begin to make concentric circles away from the core, new constructions rise in the landscape, creating a compelling contrast with the older buildings they stand alongside. Read More »

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Travels in Spain – August 2010

By ad | Published: August 19, 2010

In 2010, the year of questioning everything, I made a promise to travel every year from here on end. No more being satisfied with weekend road trips. No more “wait until I’m older” nonsense.

I chose to start with Spain, long a dream destination of mine. Between August 1-18, I travelled from Barcelona to Valencia and through Andalusia, collecting impressions and landscapes as fodder for new writing.

To feed my senses, I ate delicious local fare and imbibed thrist-quenching local beers. I also dipped my feet in marble basins carved by Moorish craftsmen centuries ago, saw flamenco in an out-of-the-way bar, dragged my fingers through silky-smooth sand and watched the sun set over the river that launched the ships of Christopher Columbus.

All of these experiences were entered into my notebook, as ideas that will soon pool together like droplets of water in a bowl. Over the next few weeks, I will be publishing the eventual waves of words on this blog, bringing you highlights from each of the four cities I visited.

Stay tuned.

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How to choose a good travel companion

By ad | Published: July 31, 2010

As I prepare for my vacation, I am most grateful to be travelling with my best friend, who is the perfect travel partner. Why?

* She likes walking anywhere.

* Doesn’t have to pee too often.

* Doesn’t want to spend every minute of our vacation together.

* Doesn’t feel the need to fill comfortable silences with inane chatter.

There is the fear of having to bail her out of a Spanish prison, but what’s a vacation without a little unexpected adventure?

See you in a few weeks, beloved readers.

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Show, don’t tell

By ad | Published: July 25, 2010

I was recently sent on assignment to cover the inaugural Summer Literary Seminars – specifically, to sit in on a workshop being led by Croatian-American author Josip Novakovich.

Being in the workshop was reminiscent of my days in the Concordia Creative Writing program. Sitting around a long table. Nervous fiddling with pens. Coffee in cardboard cups. The first comments delivered with trepidation, the gradual momentum towards more rapid debate.

The number one theme that all comments revolve around (that all comments have always revolved around) is, how much to tell? Each writer must decide how much to explain to the reader, but approaching the problem with the question, “How much does the reader really want to know?”, will not be of much use.

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The Facebook fallacy

By ad | Published: July 12, 2010

Anyone who follows me on facebook knows that I have a reputation for posting much-commented status lines. Perhaps sadly, fb status lines are the closest I come to composing poetry. I regularly have moments of inspiration in which status lines arrive perfectly (or almost perfectly) formed in my head. Sometimes – like in the case above – my mother or some clever friend will provide a gem, but otherwise, I have future status lines scribbled in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes, ready to be deployed when the timing is right.

I wonder sometimes what my status lines say about who I am and what I do. As much as they reflect my passion for words and my love of laughter, they are not an accurate reflection of how happy or sad I am on a given day. They are simply a moment of time, and not necessarily meaningful in any way.

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What kind of yoga teacher are you?

By ad | Published: June 30, 2010

A student of mine recently asked, “Do you find that yoga has increased your psychic power?”

My first reaction (spoken quietly, in my head) was, “Wow. You are asking the wrong person.”

My out-loud response was, “If by ‘psychic power’, you mean ‘intuition’, then yes.”

Since completing yoga teacher training last year, I’ve been trying to define who I am as a yoga teacher. That is, what message I am passing on to my students, or what values I’m sharing with them.

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It was a dark and stormy night…

By ad | Published: June 28, 2010

The skies over Montreal tonight before – and after – the rain. A great night to be catapulted through the streets on a bike!

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Tips for dealing with an angry girlfriend

By ad | Published: June 25, 2010

The issue of truthfulness – that is, how much to tell and when to tell it – continues to be a huge issue with couples. To help men better understand how woman react to truthfulness (or lack thereof), I’ve devised the following two charts:

CHART A: I know you’re doing your best to not get in trouble and you don’t like getting yelled at. However, telling the truth immediately will ensure that the anger is (relatively) short-lived. You may get yelled at in the short term, but you’d be surprised how quickly the anger will pass when you’re honest up front.

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