Completing The Quest

Taking the Ring to Mordor It is a quest of epic proportions, taking the Ring of Power to Mordor to cast it into the fires of Mt. Doom. Just the kind of quest I need. For my second trip to New Zealand, on a quest to come “full circle”on the healing journey I’d begun there […]

A girl’s story

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” -Maya Angelou Once upon a time, there was a girl who was given a heart to call her own. It was the prettiest thing she had ever seen: large and bright and made of something like glass. She was very happy and she […]

Rethinking Remembrance: Ottawa Shooting Afterthoughts

The cop car that just blasted up the street outside my office window must have been going over 200 km an hour, and even as I reflect on this, the phone rings urgently: “Something is happening downtown. I don’t know what but it’s something very serious.” As my colleague speaks, more sirens, police trucks this time, blaze […]

So This Is Canada: 12 Unguarded Observations of a Returning Canadian

Reverse culture shock is an interesting beast. It’s been six weeks that I’ve been back in Canada after living in Japan for four years, and I am in a weird headspace. People ask how the adjustment is going; it is certainly bewildering. I feel that I have not actually adjusted a single bit, but that I have […]

Notes From The Afterlife

I have been absent from this place for a good long while, and some of you may have thought I’ve dropped of the face of the earth, which wouldn’t be strictly false. I’ve gone on a journey of sorts, one I can never return from. A journey to the afterlife. The life after Japan, that […]

Cutting Off My Womanhood

I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. The other day, after no small amount of anticipation and deliberation, I cut off my womanhood. Thankfully, while the cutting off of one’s manhood likely conjures images of a gruesome and likely incredibly painful procedure, the cutting off of one’s womanhood is far more enjoyable, often […]

You Are What You Play… Or Are You? – Experimenting With Morality In Video Games

The lock clicks open and the door opens softly. I withdraw my lock pick and slide inside undetected, one with the shadows. He’s in here somewhere. It’s past midnight and he should be sleeping. There are no voices, no movements save my own muffled footsteps. I remind myself not to get distracted by the chest […]