Blog Block

Every time I go to write a blog post lately, my mind goes blank. I’ve got blog block. I have ideas in my head, but can’t really think of ways to flesh them out and make them mildly interesting and worthy of your precious procrastination time. But, I feel compelled to post, so I’m going to do that thing where I just post a bunch of unrelated ideas all at once.

U2 is playing Moncton this summer. I think I’m in shock. I don’t know if they’ve ever played a Canadian show east of Montreal. I will, of course, be trying to get tickets. I wonder if Bono decided to do this as penance for postponing all the North American dates by a year?  Also, the whole U2-played-Moncton thing is really going to hurt Halifax in the Battle for Best Maritime City.  

This is old, but the changes to the astrology calendar took my by surprise. I mean, the whole thing is arbitrary because it’s made up. But now it’s more scientifically arbitrary? And are we just supposed to pick our sign now? Under the new regime I could be a Pisces. Fish! Me! When I read that, I admit, I had a moment where I thought “maybe there’s something to all this crap, after all.” Or, not. I mean, Alej didn’t become a Cancer, so maybe it’s not as apt as I [momentarily] thought.  I quite like being an Aries. I wonder who would win in a battle? The God of War or the…God of Fish? Who/What was Pisces, anyway? Is it bad that I don’t know this? Or admirable? Although, it’s moot because the God of War will always win.

I finally bought skates. I’ve been meaning to since I moved back there 2 years ago. Hali has The Oval now. It was built for the Canada Games later this winter and is open to the public for free skating. It was initially meant to be temporary but has become crazy popular, so there’s talk of making it permanent. Deb and I went skating on it while she was here for a visit. I enjoyed it, have resolved to skate more, and went out and bought a pair of girl skates. As an aside, I think my inability to accept current skate terminology is a sign that I’m getting older and resistant to change. I know they’re called “hockey” and “figure” skates, but girls in my generation (or, at least, my community) didn’t start playing hockey until late in grade school, and even then it was rare. They will always be boys and girls skates in my head.

A while ago, at one of my book clubs, my SiL asked if anyone watched the TV show Modern Family, because she’d heard it was The New Arrested Development. I have never seen Modern Family but I think I can say without a doubt that it’s can’t be The New Arrested Development, because Community is. How did I miss this show last year? It’s so incomparably awesome. It ranges from clever-and-amusing at it’s worst to laugh-out-loud-until-you-cry-funny at it’s best. It’s totally worth getting the first season on DVD and having a marathon. You won’t be disappointed.

I’ve read a couple of disappointing books in a row. The first was Her Fearful Symmetry by Andrey Niffenegger. It had the potential to be a great, dark, gothic novel. Instead it was ponderous and hard to connect with. The other was How to be Good by Nick Hornby. It wasn’t as funny as I expect books by Hornby to be, and it was surprisingly bleak and it really made me never want to get married, ever. Since he paints marriage as an experience that slowly suffocates your soul until you’re too complacent to change your life and accept your sad, sad fate. It did have this funny exchange (it’s funny, because it’s true):

"I mean it," says David. "I no longer want to condemn people whose lives I know nothing about."

"But...that's the basis for all conversation!" says Andrew.