I was eager and willing to learn French, but my first class was so upsetting I never returned to it, unfortunately. Defeated by my own frustration, I was down and out - but not for long! I got back up and carried on with English, even though at times it felt as if it was not my first language. I really can empathize with immigrants who have to learn English - it's not a easy language!!!

I finally got to study King Lear at a local highschool in the evenings, when I had more energy. Writing the papers was hard, but overall the subject was fascinating to learn, and fortunately Ken helped me over some rough spots. I managed to get through the year and decided to take on two courses a week. I was still somewhat resentful I didn't get this stuff during the five years I spent in vocational school, but proving to myself I could do it helped me move on. 

Learning French was my next big challenge!

Having a baby has its challenges, and I think my profanity vocabulary grew that day! The responsibility of raising a child was daunting, but Alex was a joy to hold and behold... You're never really prepared for what's ahead, but I soon learned to take things one day at a time and enjoy the rollercoaster ride of parenthood. 

When I started my high school night class I was five months pregnant, but because I was thin normally, I didn't look much bigger until December. I really didn't want the other students to know I was preggers so I tried to disguise my plumpness with big clothes. The last few weeks of my class were tricky, but I made it through til the Christmas holidays, then I had Alex on the 27th of December. I went back to my class about two weeks later, and nobody knew I'd just had a baby!

When I started my high school night class I was five months pregnant, but because I was thin normally, I didn't look much bigger until December. I really didn't want the other students to know I was preggers so I tried to disguise my plumpness with big clothes. The last few weeks of my class were tricky, but I made it through til the Christmas holidays, then I had Alex on the 27th of December. I went back to my class about two weeks later, and nobody knew I'd just had a baby!

I will be posting four pages a week of my second book, with all the word balloons in place. This is from my preview book I presented at TCAF last month. I'll try not to be redundant with the comments I made on the pages I've already posted, but I've done sixty pages so far and I'm curently working on forty more to add to this book. There will be more editing that needs to be done, so if anyone wishes to make suggestions, by all means feel free to do so!

One of the things I miss about Toronto is the snow - ironically that was one of the reasons why we left. You really don't know what you'll miss til you don't have it. A snowflake is a beautiful thing until there are too many of them!! One of the things my McLuhan studies have taught me is that the way you learn about something is to take it away. What is the effect when a new technology apears then disappears? We get used to something when we have it all the time but when it's gone, it becomes precious, as McLuhan observed:

"When the globe becomes a single electronic web, with all its languages and cultures recorded on a single tribal drum, the fixed point of view of print becomes irrelevant - however precious."

Hi everyone!

Sorry I missed a few weeks of posting, but I'm in travel mode and I'll be in Ontario till the end of July - living the nomad life. This picture of me is at TCAF, and the energy there was amazing! Every year it just gets bigger with more artists and more interested people of all ages and backgrounds who are there absorbing all the creativity. 

I loved being part of this event and having interesting conversations with the people stopping by my booth. A BIG thanks to everyone at the show, and to my booth-bunny Ken (my biggest fan!) who's always supportive of my artistic pursuits, and also to Emily who helped me out.

I hope to keep on track with posting pages from my second book, at least once a week. Cheers for now - Joan :^)