Weather: Cloudy and bright. Music: Cat Power. Drink: Coffee.

I just finished my breakfast (scrambled eggs fried with white onions, on two slices of toast topped with fresh tomatoes and chili peppers, and accompanied by homefries) and now I can take a breath and enjoy my hot, sweet coffee and write an actual update.

Okay, for starters, there's a pumpkin the size of car tire in our kitchen, courtesy of Lisa. I really have no idea what to do with this sucker. Suggestions have been tossed around: carve it up for Halloween, make something tasty out of it, smash it to oblivion - we have a lot to work with here.

Writing is still keeping me busy. I co-authored two articles on boxing with Lisa, plus I finished a food review. On Thursday I interviewed Seth (he's published by Drawn and Quarterly) to coincide with his arrival in November. He was really nice and cordial, and had lots to say about comics and illustrating. The two short stories have been sent out, and I await the editors' (who, in fact, are the creative writing department) decision. Tomorrow evening I'm covering Alice Munro's reading and Q and A for the Vancouver Writer's Festival and I have a few ideas for the future. Oh, and the two plays I'm working on! The radio play is on the back burner for now, but I wrote some preliminary notes and "sketches" to get me started. The stage play will be workshopped after my two essays are finished. I also have to get in touch with a dramaturgist who provides feedback for amateur playwrights.

My two essays are very exciting. No, really. For my sociology essay we need to pick a topic of our choice and somehow apply social theory. I'm thinking of looking at texts by either Jean Cocteau or Charles Baudelaire and discussing Dorothy Smith's "The Everyday World as Problematic" in relation to those texts. This is just a foggy, ambiguous idea for now, but it will solidify after I meet my prof. My English paper is a kind of "poetry contest" where we have to choose one poem from a list - one that includes Shelley, Pope and others - and explain why the poem you chose deserves to "win." I picked Sylvia Plath's "Daddy" because I tend to lean towards modernist works, even though I adore Donne. I've read Don McKay's work and I really enjoyed his poem "Softball," and I also read some Wallace Stevens; his poetry is extraordinarily subtle and downtempo, but the poems don't become too delicate, or else they fall into the saccharine trap.

Who knows. Everything seems to be the same: people are getting married, people are breaking up and people are falling in love. We lost Nicky the farm dog awhile ago (her picture is here) and it was a sombre day when we got the news. She was found in the open barn, lying on the ground. She may have died from kidney failure, so her passing was rather quiet and she didn't suffer. It won't be the same when she isn't there to greet us with her bright eyes and wagging tail when we arrive at the farm. Poor Nicky. We miss her terribly.

Tonight we are going over to Chris and Carla's potluck Turkey Day. Minus the turkey, of course. Well, for me and Lisa anyway. I have to head out and pick up some ingredients for our contribution. Ciao.