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Previous post: Letter to Council – Supporting Fanshawe

I closed one of my last posts with “I say this every time I write and then there is a massive gap between posts, but…I hope that this will mark a return to writing. There has been so much to write about both locally and around the world, will aim to be here much more often.”

That was a couple months ago…

This year has gone by astoundingly quickly, with Molly born in April, and suddenly now 6 months old. I’m still adapting to becoming a father but enjoying every minute of it, though between work and Molly-time it has become very easy to revert to introversion and not make it out to Election 2014 events. Speaking of…

The election season has managed to both drag and blitz by – it’s hard to believe that election day is less than a week away, even as some aspects of the election have made it seem endless. The last weeks have been marked by some major upsets including that once-presumed front-runner Roger Caranci withdrew from the mayoral race and endorsed once-fringe Paul Cheng, who has been making massive gains on front-runner Matt Brown. Yesterday alone saw two racism controversies: a) Paul Cheng dismissing a campaign volunteer who wrote racist/abusive tweets, mostly to Matt Brown supporters, and b) three candidates running against presumed Ward 3 front-runner Mohamed Salih tried to ambush him on CJBK radio with bogus questions about Mo’s residency etc. that they have chased his campaign with since the start. As things have gotten frantic in the last days of campaigning there have been complaints on all sides of campaigns turning negative, and even many that are passionate about politics have been feeling burned out.

I’ve been thinking repeatedly about writing on the election but have struggled to find inspiration, even as my friend (and fellow Fanshawe ILPT graduate) Thomas has written excellent coverage in his blog. His posts have been referenced by many as he has thoroughly and impartially written about the council and mayoral candidates. It’s been great to be able to follow his posts, but has left me with little to do! I appreciate him encouraging me to get back into writing.

So: it has been great to get back to this blog, and hope once again to write more regularly. There might not be too much more to say on this election, but I’m very excited to see who we’ve elected, and what direction they will lead our city. After the disaster of the Fontana 8 I’m hoping for better days ahead… we shall see.

Next post: Cheng’s Campaign of Contradictions

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Can’t believe another year has passed already! 2013 was a very quiet blogging year compared to 2012, though we’ve had some major changes in our lives. By far the largest was Sarah becoming pregnant in the summer, due mid-April this year. The second half of the year has been a blend of anxiety, anticipation and excitement as we’ve prepared ourselves and our home for our first child. I’ve written a few posts about it, but despite/because of the rollercoaster of emotion I haven’t been really able to express all that I have been feeling about it.

The second has been a change in my work last fall. For about two and a half years I’ve been a self-employed CAD technician as an associate for a company in Milton, working from home. The summer was very stressful because my workload (always unpredictable) became very low, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to continue doing this work. Things picked back up in the fall though, to the point that the company offered me a full-time position with them, though thankfully still able to work from home in London.

Between these two things (and many others) I feel as if I’ve drifted somewhat from where I had been in 2012, both for good and bad. I feel as if I have life fairly together, but have stepped back from a lot of the things I enjoy/feel are important. Instead of setting extremely concrete goals (lose X lbs. etc.) I thought I’d make my resolutions a few major goals I can break down into single events/achievements.

So, here are a few of my goals for the coming year:

Reconnect:

• I’ve been away from a lot of the great things happening in London in the past year. I realized last year that I was trying to take on too many things at once and became burned out. This winter I hope to reconnect with all the great things happening and all the people I’ve been able to get to know who make our city great, especially before the baby arrives. Speaking of…

Rest:

• Not becoming overwhelmed again, and resting before the baby arrives is also very important. I hope to find a good balance between being active in the city/community and relaxing as well. I’m really not sure what to expect (despite reading a lot, while trying not to get too anxious about it), so I figure being in the best mental and physical shape I can beforehand is probably best…I’m told both will deteriorate rapidly after.

Stay active:

• I hope to stay involved in the city and Argyle community once the baby is born, if nothing else than by being online and writing/posting updates through the community social media and website (we’re currently working on a big communication overhaul, I’ll probably write a separate post about it once it starts falling into place). As Sarah reminds me, babies do travel as well, so we may be out later in the year with wee Gibson in tow, as well.

Write:

• This may be a tough one, but I’m hoping to write more often than I did last year, even if it isn’t all published here. Considering I meant to write/post this yesterday (have been caught up nursing Snoopy, who is sick with an ear infection and a GI stasis scare) this may not go so well. I realized last year that for some reason the enjoyment had been taken out of writing for me, and the thought of opening this to write seemed a lot more daunting than it should. So, I’m hoping to start the regular practice of taking time to write again, even if some of the posts are left as drafts, or revised repeatedly before being posted. I hope to write on London events and politics (specifically the 2014 budget and election) as well as life (especially our adventure through pregnancy and our baby), but as well I’d like to get back into writing fiction. I haven’t written much since high school, but always enjoyed it when I did…I may share some of my attempts here as well.

I hope 2014 will be an interesting and insightful year. I think it will be.

Wishing you the very best in the coming year, may we make it a good one together!

2013 in review

Can’t believe another year has already past! Here is a summary of the last year for my blog. It’s definitely been a quieter year than 2012, hoping to get back into writing in the New Year, though it may be frantically between baby naps after the spring. Hope that you have a wonderful end of the year, wishing you all the best in 2014!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,700 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

2012 in review

Thanks to everyone that stopped by and read my blog this year! I’ve enjoyed writing, sharing and discussing, and hope for many more posts and conversations in the year ahead. All the best to you now and in 2013!

Here’s a summary of my posts from this year.