dholokov

I haven't been around much, but work made me take the remainder of my 2004 vacation so I've got this week and some of next with nothing to do. Sadly, I am sick sick sick. The constant tiredness could be caffeine withdrawal, but I have, at various times, fever, sneezing, and a cough so bad that I have actually been hacking up bile - yeeeech! (I didn't think that was possible). I have some errands to run later in the week and I'd really like to give my room a good clean, so I'd better get better soon.

I am going to say that i watched most the Conservative party convention on CPAC because I didn't want to go outside, but I would've tried to watch it anyway. It was mostly very dull, not because they're boring, but because their high-tech voting keypads kept malfunctioning. My biggest thought on the procceedings -
Any objective pollster will tell you that you that a pro-life party cannot win a federal election in Canada. But even though the conservatives did pass a motion not to introduce any abortion legislation, it passed by only FIVE per cent. Four and a half out of ten conservative party delegates would rather take a stand against abortion rights than win an election. And the 55 majority included a lot of delegates from ridings that won't be sending Conservative MPs to Ottawa.

So it looks like the best short story of 2004 or 2005 (depending on how you count) is What You Pawn I Will Redeem by Sherman Alexie (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven). Of the three editors' choices of the O. Henry Awards 2005, it was the only one also to be included as a selection in Best American Short Stories, 2005. I recommend it highly and think it is a deserving choice.