Sweet Day

Thursday night, I emceed the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association's launch of Read Alberta Magazines Month. They gave me a t-shirt, a microphone and free reign for two and a half hours. It was guh-lorious. Something about putting a mic in my hand makes funny stuff just surge into my head...and out of my mouth.

I woke up Friday morning and my book – which has felt like an undigested lump in my gut since the end of Banff – became crystal clear. Then Dana the Artist called to add more encouragement to the pile. And then I went to see Life Coach Cathy, who helped me clarify something really exciting.

You know my extroversion/creativity challenge? LCC thinks it's more about having a forum for my voice. That it wasn't necessarily being around a bunch of people that thrilled me Thursday night. It was having a microphone and a performance opportunity. That the act of verbally expressing myself opened the creative flow within me, and boom, the next morning my book came clear.

Maybe I need a radio show. Or a podcast. David Sedaris launched his writing career with weekly radio essays. And Dana thinks I need a column somewhere. A national column. Maybe I can blend the two ideas somehow...

Anyhow. My Fabulous Friday kept on a-rockin' when I put on my sneakers and went for a run. Not five minutes into it, I got an Big Ass Inspired Idea, the seed of which came from this woman, who took the early shift of emceedom on Thursday night.

And then, I ran past the World's Most Awesome Old Man. If the lead singer of AC/DC was 70 years old, this is what he'd look like. Pure white pageboy haircut, topped with the newsboy hat. Massive bushy 'stache. Super loud Burmuda shorts. Old man sneakers with white socks pulled way up. I'm talking hottie. He was seriously rocking out to his Walkman, groovin' along the pathway. When I passed him, he checked me out, pursing his lips and nodding at me in rhythm. If his nod had a sound effect, it would be, "Hawwwwwlriiiiight."