Oh, hey there.

It's been a busy summer in some ways, quiet in others.  That's how I usually roll, but this year it feels like the hours that normally go into a day aren't there because my mind's a little foggier than normal.  I guess years of poor sleep habits have their way of catching up to you.  A lot has been the same for me since I moved to Halifax in October 2012: work during the weekdays, unwinding during the downtime.  It's all status quo lately, but I'm trying to figure out where the spare time goes, what I want for the next little while, and how I need to do it.  I'm still trying to figure out the answer, but interesting things manage to break the routine enough to keep me entertained.

What's been going on with me lately?

• I went to the St. Vincent show on July 7; I don't really go out to see live music as much as I want to, but I figured that since I had a little more money than usual this month (thank you, extra payday), I might as well.  Halifax has a lively music and cultural scene, but for current and widely-known bands, the eastern terminus of Canada is usually Montreal.  Annie Clark is a fantastic musician, and it's such a treat that the Halifax Jazz Fest was able to land her at this point in her career.  The opening act, The Heavy Blinkers, also played a magical set that night.

• Halifax Pride was in late July.   I got some shots of the parade and the main stage show; these events capped off a busy, busy time of year for a lot of people I know in the city, and the week is as much about education, cultural expression, and raising awareness of socio-political issues as it is about celebration.

• I'm tackling a stack of my unread books and taking advantage of the amazing resource that is the Halifax Public Libraries system; this seems to have helped unlock that case of writer's block I've suffered for a while.  I really enjoyed the new Miriam Toews novel (All My Puny Sorrows), and I just finished a short story anthology that had some authors I plan on investigating further.

August is still mostly uncharted aside from the usual routine, but I have a quick trip out of the city coming up in the near future, a series of maternity photos to edit, e-mails to write, directions to explore, and decisions (minor and major) to make.

If I can keep this blog updated regularly without it getting bogged down with complaints and platitudes, that's enough of a victory.