My sister helped me, gave my resume a look over and some suggestions. She is the big business typhoon in the family. She really does know her stuff. Anyway, she was not impressed with my website. True, the front page does look amateurish, especially the layout. But what she especially thought I should get rid of is my Witchery stuff. Likely she is right, only a few people really understand all of that. Most have no clue and many would think I was crazy, gothic or a danger to society - maybe all three. So, I am thinking of making it invisible, just like my adult pages. I bet you didn't even know about those. I've only made one link to them and its not anywhere on my own domain.

So Witchcraft might have to do the same. Its not like I've been posting new content there anyway. I did want to, planned to, all that stuff but its never happened. The traffic it used to get has died off too, so its not likely anyone but me would miss it.

Magazines, Magazines, Magazines!

In the short time since I moved, is it a week already? I have bought over a dozen magazines. One book too: The Canadian Writer's Market. There is a story about that book now. The latest edition came out just 2 days after I bought the old one at Chapters. I noticed it was in need of an update at the time but I bought it thinking it would be of some use, since websites were included for most of the listings. But, when I went back to Chapters a couple of days later I noticed the new edition sitting on the shelves. It hadn't even been on their website yet. So, on Sunday I took the old edition back to Chapters and asked to exchange it. No problem, so now I have the latest edition.

Are you bored enough?

I had an idea this weekend too. Well, one of many. Anyway, I thought I would look at writing a bi-monthly/ monthly newsletter or blog or something column-like called "Tripping Around Ontario". Of course it will have to wait until I have that car. But, when my last name is Tripp and I enjoy travelling and I am a writer, isn't that just a combination too good to ignore? In the end, why not? So, if I can figure out how to pull it together and what to do with it once the string has been pulled... I think its a good idea.

the Spitfire Grill

When people ask what my favourite movies, music and books are I never have a ready answer. I just don't seem to keep names and titles in mind. But, The Spitfire Grill is one of my very favourite movies. It was on TV tonight. Even though its now almost 3:AM I'm glad I watched it. Likely I won't stay up and online to put out my BackWash newsletters now but thats how it goes. Maybe I will get them done sometime tomorrow, more likely tomorrow evening again. For now, I'm checking email and getting to bed.

I have the interview this afternoon for the job with the local newspaper. I don't even know what the job is but it sounds good. I've gotten advice from friends and acquaintences about the interview so its just up to actually doing it now.

I wish I felt better about how I look. My skin is clearing up, better than the zit farm its been. But its much harder to get rid of the extra pounds.

Do you ever think of your life as a team? I can remember my brother playing hockey against the garage door. He was always Gus, I guess it was a manly sounding name to him as a kid. Little did he know the full version is Augustus.

Anyway, he would always narrate the game for himself. Sometimes I would be tossed in as the adoring fan/ groupie. I love my brother, I'll spend the rest of my life cheering for him, back them it did feel a little silly though. I was the only fan.

Is it a man thing, the whole team narration type thing? Its kind of endearing. I've never done it out loud but there have been times when I've narrated privately, in my own head. Sadly, my narrations are never as uplifting as those hockey games between my brother and the garage door.

All this rambling today is taking up space. I'm scared. I don't think I can get back into living my life and all that trying again. I've tried a lot. To get into it would be reavealing too much of my life, some of the wounds scraped into your soul are just too sharp to share randomly.

So, I think this week my team is losing. Maybe I will sleep on it tonight and things will be all fresh and rosy in the morning. I promised one of the other BackWash columnists that I would find someone to talk to when I got back here. But, inside I really thought I could do it all on my own. I don't like talking to someone face to face and telling them all the really deep feelings, the fears and the fact that I don't even trust myself any more. I think I must be part drama queen, but how much is real emotion? Am I allowed real emotion?

Anyway, this week my team is losing it. But, somehow hope always springs eternal, I'm the eternal optimist. Each time I get really down some part of my brain clicks on and starts coming up with new ideas, new solutions and once again I'm not ready to give up.

Look at this!!!! On a day when I thought it would be dangerous to get much lower... this was waiting for me in my email. I only wish I had someone to tell. So, I'm posting it here for the world and all the randomness on the Internet.

I'm so glad I got the idea to ask if they wanted a column or articles about the Internet and sent in my resume to back it up. What a great thing it would be to have a job doing exactly what I love!!!

Hello, Laura. Ian passed your letter and resume on to me. I'd like an opportunity to meet with you in person to talk about your skills and experience. I'm leading the internet strategy team at our news group and perhaps there may be some mutually beneficial opportunities we could explore. Can you let me know what your schedule is like next week? I could meet you at our office, if that's most convenient to you. (In my job, I travel all over the region, so it's not an inconvenience for me.) Let me know if you can meet Thursday, Aug. 8 in the afternoon in. Thanks for sending your resume and letter. Regards,

I found these at Better Photo as I was looking for links to post to Bewitching Vagabond tonight. I started looking for tips for beginners using scanners.

"We look at a painting to know the painter; it's his company we are after, not his skill." - James McNeill Whistler

"A photograph is a most important document, and there is nothing more damning to go down to posterity than a silly, foolish smile caught and fixed forever." - Mark Twain

"You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it." - Pentax advertisement

"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." - Karl Heiner

"A good photograph is knowing where to stand." - Ansel Adams

Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. - Anonymous

Senseless photographers practice random acts of beauty; intelligent photographers practice consistent acts of selflessness.

"A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see." - Roland Barthes

I've just signed up for the 3 months of AOL Canada so I could get online. If it works out I could keep it. I think it will at least be interesting to explore AOL while I'm here anyway.

Best of all I am back online after the move back to Ontario. I can only get online in the evening and nights due to having just one phone line. That's a pain but I can handle it. Hoping it won't be long before I find a job, car and place to move to, my own place.