Blogger v. facebook: the Cage Match

Okay. I admit it. The title of this post is misleading. I'm just so excited that Blogger is once again allowing me to title my posts.

I'm back from a week of teaching and talking about books for young people. I attended a fascinating symposium at SFU on young adult literature. We all agreed it's a great thing. Unless it's being censored and generally kicked around.

I led a fantastic group of writers through an intensive course on writing for children and young adults. Look out publishing world!

And finally, I spent an hour with Chris, among the world's top ten most charming librarians, at the Vancouver Public Library and a group of girls who are part of the teen book club. The girls tore themselves away from their new Potters to attend and I will always be grateful.

I also experienced a little set-back with the new novel and an upcoming trip to Calgary. I'll provide more details here when I have them. I hope the issue is resolved.

Finally, one of the most excellent things about coming home, besides seeing James and Frank and Tango and my own bed, was being greeted with a fantastic movie poster for Alice created by Jessica. Are you listening Hollywood???

[I tried to post it, but once again Blogger is being uncooperative. In fact, I have another new tag line for the the developers: "Blogger: The Program That Only Functions Sometimes!"]

Thanks, Jessica! I'll post your Photoshop magic as soon as Blogger begins to function again.

And just so the title of this post makes some sense, it occurs to me that facebook is kicking Blogger's ass in a lot of areas. I wonder if Wired would like my opinion on this? Let me know, Wired, if you're reading this. I am aware one is a Publishing for the People Program and one is a social networking program but that's a mere detail. Don't nitpick. I have my thesis and I'm sticking to it.)

For some reason Blogger won't let me put a title on this post. I take this as evidence that July 7, 2007 (07,07,07) is NOT the luckiest day ever, in spite of what newscasters who are hard up for stories have been saying.

I've been carefully observing the world around me on this supposedly most auspicious of days and I see no evidence of unusual fortune.

Things that have gone wrong or not completely right on the luckiest day ever:

1. I forgot my wedding anniversary. It was yesterday, but I just realized I forgot today. James only remembered when I reminded him today.

2. Blogger won't let me title this post. Also, the songs I bought through the ITunes store are total crap. They won't play on my IPod if the battery isn't fully charged, which means that I have to write Steve Jobs an angry consumer letter, which will take hours.

3. I have a tan. A dark one. It has been developing since the warm weather arrived but I only noticed it today. This means that I'm going to be leathery as well as pasty-white when it fades.

4. I tried the Joy of Cooking recipe for cooked cucumbers and it was about what you'd expect. Quite cucumbery. And strangely filling.

5. No one offered me a large sum of cash or anything else in the way of unexpected largesse. I did not win the lottery. In fact, I forgot to play. I also didn't find any money laying on the sidewalk.

6. When I played tennis I won a few games but not by a huge margin. I still have no backhand to speak of.

7. I still haven't gotten around to cleaning my fish tank and that chore has been on my list for 7 (!) days.

So, July 7, 2007. Luckiest day ever? I rather doubt it.

(With apologies to all those who scheduled C-sections and got married today. I'm sure this was quite a good day. Just not the best day.