Neener's Travel Blog

The last  assignment  in my writing course was a memoir/narrative.  I honestly had such a difficult time choosing an event in my life to write about.  There was so much to choose from, but at the same time I couldn't think of anything worth putting into a story that people would want to read.  So I picked the most recent, emotionally charged event in my life.  In September I went to Edmonton Expo with a few of my very best friends. And this is the tale of what happened (cut down to approximately 800 words...it started out at 1300, and that still didn't include all the details...).  (Shout out to Alex for his pro editing skills - you da bomb diggity.) Meeting Clara                 This was it - I was going down.  My body was swaying and my vision was going dark.  It had gotten to be too much and I was seriously going to pass out.      ...

This year I'm taking a course called WRITE 298: Creative Non-Fiction Writing.  It's my favourite course this semester because I essentially get to write blog posts for school and so all the assignments are FUN.  Yes, I am describing school work as fun.  That's how great it is. So, throughout the year (it's a full year course, wonderfully enough), I'll be sharing some of my writings.  Here's our first assignment: a description of place.  Despite the short time my DTS outreach group spent in Kolkata, that city still stands out vividly in my mind - perhaps more vividly than other place I've been.  So, even though I haven't been there in a year and a half, and have hardly any pictures to look back on, it was easy to remember and write about. The Fabric of India The first glimpses of the city are overwhelming, and I’d almost be glad for the barrier of the taxi window between me and this new place, if it wasn’t for the stuffiness of the incense-choked ...

Starting over can be messy.  That’s exactly how I would describe my 2015 so far – messy.  Already this year has held a massive amount of heartbreak and change for me.  As I look back on all that’s passed, that’s really the first thing to come to mind.  How messy.  I have really made a mess of things. Life doesn’t really seem to care how much I may have going in my life at once (and I will tell you right now, that I always have a lot going on – probably at least 1.5-2 times as much as is healthy for a normal person).  Life doesn’t care – in fact it seems to enjoy constantly throwing more and more things at me.  Very often those things come completely out of the blue.  Because being prepared for something would be cheating.  As life threw new things at me, decisions needed to be made.  And as more and more things were thrown, my decision making ability decreased.  Rapidly.  Until it seemed that nearly every decision I m...