I watched Lost in Translation before I went to bed last night. That movie makes my heart beat very fast. Every time I see it I'm struck by the contrast between what Coppola shoots from high above the city and what she shoots from the ground. It's an outstanding thematic technique.

I went to HMV today and picked up season 7 of The Simpsons since I've exhausted my Seinfeld collection. I also picked up Ben Folds' new album along with the special edition of Casablanca.

My goals today: read 100 pages of Gulland, study a chapter out of my French textbook. The second presidential debate is on tonight.

I'm turning 29 in one month.

I'm trying to make peace with the job situation as it stands right now. I've applied for a few positions but I'm nervous about landing myself a job that I don't want or that will be tough to get out of for a month while I travel next year. I think I'll be better off waiting until the Senate resumes after the election to make a serious effort at the hunt. I have a bunch of volunteer stuff to do soon, plus a trip out of town and a couple of reviews to write that work would get in the way of. For now I'm just trying to breathe and not panic. There's no need to yet.

I do have to set some goals. Today I'm going to get a working draft of the short story I just wrote off to Joe for his thoughts. I need to dig further into the Sandra Gulland book and read about another hundred pages. I've been working on a new Wire and Light track today that I want to finish off tomorrow.

Last night I watched the No Mercy pay-per-view online. The Jericho/Michaels feud has been stellar, the best I've seen in awhile.

I got up at 8 AM this morning after Andrea left and thought, this is great, I'm up at a reasonable time. I went out and bought some groceries. On my way to Hartman's this guy in a wheelchair was crossing the street and signaled to me. He asked me to help him to the bus stop at Bank and Somerset, so I gave him a push.

I did my laundry but I couldn't stay awake and ended up napping for close to two hours. I'm still tired. I did, however, finish the first draft of the short story I've been working on, which is pretty damned exciting - it's the first I've finished since September of last year. Once I get it polished I'm going to send it out to publishers outside of the city.

I went to The Works last night with Andrea and Erin and had the Hold the Phone burger, aka one of the burgers they serve with peanut butter as a topping. It was delicious.

I've decided that I want to travel around the world. I already knew I was going to, having scheduled a trip to Europe next year. But I've finally made the decision to, if that makes sense.

I finished The Robber Bride, which I found to be one of Atwood's weaker efforts. Parts of it are fantastic and offer valuable insight into how a person is defined through the different relationships they have with people, but almost all of her male characters are hurtful weaklings and almost all of her female characters are dull and spineless. I'm sure she did it on purpose, but these characteristics on a first read-through just irritated me. As hated as she makes the book's antagonist, at least she's interesting.

I'm getting tired of watching politicians playing games. All of them do it. They twist the truth, the person they're accusing responds and twists the truth right back at them. It doesn't matter what party it is, what leader it is. They all play games. Why? To advance a set of socio-economic beliefs and principles that people either agree with or don't. That's why I never understood why people who supported Hilary Clinton said they'd vote for McCain once Obama secured the nomination. Ignorant spite. I don't know how many actually made the shift, but it would have required a shift of principles, a far bigger one than would have been required to support another Democratic candidate. It wouldn't make sense.

A person has their beliefs. Education changes beliefs. I watched the Canadian leaders debate last night with an open mind, open to education, hoping to chip away through the game playing to get at the set of principles I most agreed with. I'm willing to give even Harper a chance, even though I lean left - pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-arts and social funding. I was most impressed with Elizabeth May, whom I agreed with on nearly all counts. She had her shit together. She'd done her homework, because she realized how important the opportunity was for the Green Party, and she didn't let them down. She shined.

But I can't vote for the Green Party, because at a local level I'm not as sure about Jen Hunter. Neither can I vote Liberal, because Dion didn't win me over on his views - calling the arts in Canada "fun," quibbling with Harper over which party was to blame for which failure over the last ten years. Layton always strikes me as a little too much like a used car salesman, but as vague as he was last night, I agreed with his principles - arts are the soul of Canada, the leash of big oil needs to be cut and the funding put into job creation and environmental technology advancements. The NDP are socially progressive with regard to discrimination that denies funding to groups vying for recognition. Centretown has a solid history of NDP leadership. So Dewar's getting my vote.

I'd love to see a Liberal-NDP minority, but I don't think it will happen. Harper will get re-elected. I think the NDP will end up with more seats. It interests me to see the advances the Green party will make after the campaign they're putting on.

As far as US politics are concerned, I think Sarah Palin is a joke. Golly gosh gee darn she ain't prepared to be on any stage.

Last night I watched the movie Juno before going to bed. It was the second time I've seen it and the first since I saw it in Toronto back in December, and it milked feeling I've had for the past couple of weeks or so: I'm nostalgic for the semesters I spent in Toronto. I spent everyday of the time I spent there defining the city as not-Ottawa, coming and going virtually alone from Keele Street to campus and back, and over time the city grew on me. I don't know what I miss about that time, exactly. Maybe it was the time I spent by myself in movie theatres (though I saw Juno with friends), maybe it was the hours spent in the stacks researching, the walks up Keele, the thought that the only thing I really had to care about was studying and completing assignments until I could move back and see my girlfriend again, all of these things. I've always been a nostalgic person by nature. Lately I've been thinking about the amazing things I've done in the past year and wondering how many more amazing things are in front of me, and what I have to do to see them through.

All this time in the basement gets me thinking. I need to get outside more. I took a walk today, down O'Connor to Gladstone and then back around up Kent. I don't get much sun in the apartment so it comes as a shock to realize that it's out there.

I wrote 1,100 words yesterday. I haven't had an idea take me over like this in ages. The further I chop into it the clearer the pathways to the other side become. Creativity is hitting me in waves. I've had a lot of energy to volunteer lately, but it's a matter of scheduling everything - I have a trip to Peterborough coming up, plus shifts for the Writers Festival, as well as keeping an eye out for a job. I want to spend my time wisely.

So many political debates to choose from tonight. Well, two, actually - the English Canadian leaders debate and the American VP debate. Do I want to watch Harper get gangbanged, or watch Biden and Palin try to out-gaffe each other? I'll see them both, ultimately.

Andrea left me a banana in my shoe. I was walking home this morning and ran into Laura, who apologized for not having a fruit to wave at me.

I started into the new short story, got about 400 words down. Not sure where it's going but I'm having a good time with it, describing a house in bad need of repair and a man on oxygen suffering from lung cancer, as good a time as one can have writing subject matter like that.

I really want to see Religulous. It's playing alongside Hamlet 2 at the Bytowne next weekend. Double bill?

I bought a clock for three bucks at Hartman's. The tick-tock is kind of comforting. At the store I ran into Ben, who I hadn't seen in awhile. He's sub teaching a high school class.