One of the lodgepole pine secrets is that the variety that grows near the Rocky Mountains is fire-dependant. Nature has designed the lodgepole cones so that high temperatures such as forest fires are required to open the cones and expose the needles to the elements.
Research, Write, Research, Write…
Research doesn't always go the way we plan, though. Back in the mid-90s I was writing a sci-fi novel set three hundred years in the future when sex work would be legal and respected. In order to give my character, Jazmine, an authentic voice, I travelled to Nevada to interview a sex worker in a legal brothel.
Telling Your Story: As Fact or Fiction?
You've lived an interesting/horrible/painful/amazing life and you want to share your story with the world in order to entertain/warn/help others. Cool! But you need to ask yourself a simple question (or two) first. The answers won't be simple, but the questions are. Will you be telling your story as a fictional tale? Or will you... Continue Reading →
Solar Garden Light Hack — Dollar Store style!
We have a simple back yard at the beginning of its evolution. We inherited a deck a rough shed, a patch of grass, and that's about it. I am many things, but at the top of the list is 'cheap'. I hate paying for electricity when I don't have to. I wanted to string lights... Continue Reading →
A Break in the Blog…
One of the projects is the reading of the proofs of the Podthology: The Pod Complex (requiring this entire weekend) and the other is the novelization of one of my screenplays, and this really needs to get done sooner rather than later.
The Cynglish Beat: What’s in a Cover?
I wanted to achieve a few things with this cover, besides keeping the pages together,
1. It had to draw a viewer's attention.
2. It had to have some class & a professional look (too many self-published books look like amateur shit).
3. It had to have a 'retro' feel, so as to harken back a few decades to the era of the real Beat Generation (Allen Ginsberg & Jack Kerouac, not Bongo Buddy & the Beatniks)
How to Freak Out a Street-Corner Crack Dealer in Toronto
I don't recommend testing this technique out. It only works if you're a solo act and some crack dealers I've seen would just as soon shoot the psycho down and strip him of his shoes rather than be terrified.
How to Use Your Prostate as a Teaching Tool
Having had this life-affirming exam before, I was mentally if not emotionally prepared for the necessary violation of my nether region.
Stepping in Poop, All Day Long.
6:20PM Rushing to get to the comedy club, stop at a red light, then turn right (legal here) just after invisible pedestrian steps onto crosswalk three lanes to the left.
How to Know When It’s Okay to Kiss a Corpse
I'm not going to tell you what my idea of 'too far' is for a corpse kissing any more than I would tell you to back it off a bit if you kissed a breather (unless the breather is me) but I would guess that if you keep it brief and tongue-free, you should be pretty safe in most situations.
The Tao of Tim 