Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

My mother is 74, yet she still works four days a week, walks her dog two to three times a day, and prepares some of the most labor-intensive holidays dishes this side of the Imperial Palace. Today, for instance, I offered to lend a hand and spent a couple of hours carefully arranging mussels and…

When my mother suggested I head down to the garage to look through the antique suitcase sitting beneath my father’s old workbench, little did I expect to uncover the veritable treasure trove of trash sitting within. Among the numerous long-forgotten items I discovered: The universal translator I made the year I went trick-or-treating as Captain…

    In yesterday’s entry, I was discussing some of the quaint English figures of speech that one can incorporate into every day conversation as a means of sounding a little more native. A 19th century upper-class native, but native nevertheless. I say - corking kippers, wot? Growing up in an Italian household, I was…

After a Wednesday of heavy-duty eating, I took the Thursday to relax and recuperate.  Well, part of Thursday anyway because, by last night, I was back at it again in a different venue but following a very similar agenda: eat, drink, repeat.  We celebrated Christmas at my sister-in-law’s along with the rest of the Tam…

Well, it would seem as if we got out of Vancouver just in time as, by all reports, the city has been blasted by another storm that has made getting around almost impossible.  “Christmas is cancelled,”my writing partner matter-of-factly informed me  Lawren, meanwhile, reports that his car is stuck, essentially trapping him at our house…

“My keys!”cried Fondy in frustration. “I can’t find my keys.” She suddenly left off her bag rooting to throw me an accusatory look. “Do YOU know where my keys are?” I shrugged and, in my best Scooby Doo, muttered: “Ruuunuhnuuuh.” She, of course, needed the keys to get into the car so that we could…

Travel day! As you read this, I’m in the air, crossing the country enroute to my holiday destination: sunny Montreal. Either that or cooling my heels in the airport. Whichever the case, I’ll be on the go pretty much all day today with no way of knowing when and if I’ll have computer access and…

Yesterday, we were blitzed by a snowstorm that caused congestion, closures, and cancellations throughout the city. Being a native Montrealer, I grew up with the stuff so am unfazed by things like three foot snowdrifts. Unfortunately, however, nine years in Vancouver has made me soft and unprepared for the inclement weather. How unprepared? Well, how…

  Success! I was snowed in today and so, with no distractions (with the exception of the Denver Broncos’ glorious late season collapse that has set up an all-the-marbles showdown with the red-hot San Diego Chargers in San Diego next week), I was able to concentrate on my still-untitled short story today. I’ve been ping-ponging…

“Did you know,”said Rob, “that Applebee’s and Chili’s are two completely different restaurants?” In fact, I had long suspected that they were the same restaurant serving the same menu under different names, so Rob’s revelation was downright shocking. This interesting fact was one of many my fellow producer picked up over the course of his…

Well, a disappointingly unproductive day on all fronts. I got distracted dealing with an issue that should have been put to bed long ago and, frankly, never recovered. I tried to work on the short story and, really, what a difference a day makes. Whereas, yesterday, I was feeling quite good about it and making…