Éric has had an eclectic career which ranges from casino dealer to canal boat captain to radio station DJ. Since 2009, he’s worked as a desktop publisher for the federal government. During his off time, he works as a freelance typesetter for various Canadian-based authors and publishers, roasts gourmet flavoured coffee, runs several pen-and-paper role-playing games, writes, and helps run JenEric-Designs.ca (Home of the TravellingTARDIS.com).
He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his author wife, daughter, and son.
Hello Fellow geeks and nerds,
Tomorrow is Ottawa Comiccon Winter Edition 2025. It’s at the EY Centre and I hear the train goes there, starting on Saturday.
Come see us at booth A605 and A607
We’ll have coffee, crochet, and books.
Hope to see you there!
Éric
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2021 film The Age of Tony (The Last Train to Christmas).
The story was fascinating and well set up, however the ending wasn’t great. They tried to find a middle ground between sappy Christmas movie and real life grit. It didn’t work at all.
Score: 0.5
Like most Christmas Carol style stories, the main character was a complete ass at the beginning and grows as the story moves along. The main problem with the likability of the rest of the cast is that we have no idea what happened to them, or if they even exist.
Score: 0.5
Excellent and wonderfully played. I was confused as to why every member of the family had different accents but maybe that’s a British thing.
Score: 0.5
The filmmakers did an amazing job at matching the style of cinematography from each decade.
The same can be said about the music, and although it was a little overdone at times, it was well done.
Score: 1
The ending kills any fun there was in the movie. It’s sentimental in all the wrong ways and I haven’t been as pissed off about an ending since the director’s cut of The Butterfly Effect (not that the cinema ending was any better).
All the adults agreed that the ending was terrible and the kids didn’t like any part of it.
Score: 0
This is a Christmas movie for those who don’t like joyful movies. It’s depressing and has one of the worst endings I’ve been forced to experience. The acting, music, and cinematography are fantastic, but they don’t save the film from being overly sad and downright horrifying if you think about it too hard.
Final Score: 2.5 Stars out of 5
Hello Friends, Fans, and Family;
It’s been an interesting couple of years for my health. I last talked about it in July 2024.
In short, I’ve been dealing with:
I am doing exercises and stretches to help avoid pain. It still there in my arms but it’s manageable. I sometimes get pain in my neck that radiates down, but I double up my exercises and it usually goes away within a week.
This is the big one. I’m currently taking Amitriptyline to try and prevent the migraines. So far I’ve been on it for two months with an escalating dose, and it hasn’t done much beyond make me sleepy and have terrible dry mouth. If this doesn’t work, there are other drug options.
I am starting to identify my triggers better. I know the following will trigger me:
Stress doesn’t seem to make the migraine worse but it does make the side effects worse. I had a really stressful day in December and for the next two weeks the muscles in my hips hurt like they were on fire. It’s caused by the migraine, the brain, and the two causing muscles to tense too far (probably what happened to my arms.)
I see my doctor on Wednesday and we’ll see what happens. I think this is a long haul.
I have restarted my allergy shots and one week hasn’t cured me yet. I’ll be taking them weekly for 22 weeks. My allergist’s office prefers that I do the shots elsewhere so I’m thinking of going to an Appletree near my house on my lunch break.
As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I am Autistic and have ADHD. This explains a lot about how I burn out and how drained I feel in certain situations. It, with the migraines, explains a lot of why I feel like crap at certain times.
I’m not sure how this interacts with my other health issues but I’m sure that they interact and make things more complicated.
I have taken an asthma test and I am scheduled for a sleep test this summer. Hopefully these will be eliminated as concerns.
Despite everything on this list, I feel better than I have in years. With my doctor’s help and hopefully finding the right thing to help with my migraines I should be even better by next year.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
A few years ago I started looking into getting diagnosed with ADHD and/or Autism.
Last year I was diagnosed by a quick online service with Inattentive ADHD. I found out afterward that most employers and insurance companies don’t accept the results of this sort of testing.
I decided that I wanted to know and got tested properly. As you can guess from the title I was diagnosed as Autistic. I’m considered level 1 which isn’t a cool RPG system but just means that I need little to no support in day to day life. (Until recently it was called Asperger’s after a Nazi-Eugenicist).
I was also diagnosed as ADHD mixed type, suspected Dysgraphia, and Rejection sensitive dysphoria.
It’s been almost a month and I’m still processing what it means. Currently, I’m relieved to be able to look back at times where I thought I was broken and understand that I wasn’t. So much of my life makes more sense now that I know.
The more I learn about Autism and ADHD, the more I feel better about myself. I’ve spent so long being told I was lazy, unreasonable, not applying myself, melodramatic, picky, annoying, or just weird. Over forty years of being told things like that, it starts to become part of your own inner monologue. My whole life, I’d wonder why certain things were so hard for me and those were the only answers. Now I have a better one, and I need to start being kinder to myself.
It’s a disability, and I’m starting to understand how it affects me and my life.
The big take away, for now, is understanding that I’m not broken but I am disabled.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
Hello Movie Lovers,
This year I seem to have watched, and reviewed, 51 films. Below is a list of them in descending star order. Within each catergory, they are in alphabetical order.
I got the idea to make shadowbox out of the cover image of our books, and I thought it would be fun for you to have access as well!
Materials:
Paper (or cardstock)
Colour printer
Scissors
Exacto knife
Cutting board
Tape (or glue)
Patience
Instructions:
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2005 film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The influences of World War Two are felt throughout the story and it adds a certain grounding that is missing from some fantasy films. As much as there are some things that bother me about the story, it is extremely well-crafted.
Score: 1
When I first watched it, I disliked the boys but rewatching it, I see the struggles they have both in family and in a world that expects them to do nothing.
The rest of the cast was great, and despite not being a huge fan of the voice of the lion, it isn’t as bad as I remember.
One thing that really bothered me was the stereotype of “beauty is good and ugly is bad”. They went out of their way to make all the good guys look pretty and all the villains, except the witch, ugly.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue is mostly from the book and I’m really glad they removed some of the sexist language. The banter between the characters was nice and family-like.
Score: 1
The special effects, sets, and camera work hold up extremely well for a twenty-year-old movie. The clothing and armour are fantastic and it’s easy to forget that the animals are CGI.
The music is epic and really sucks you into the story.
Score: 1
Jen and I had seen the movie a few times already and knew we liked it. It was really cool to watch the kids watch it. They both liked it but said it was a little scary.
Score: 1
A classic story done extremely well. The acting, music, and special effects hold up twenty years later.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5
Hello my friends, Family, and Fans;
Typing in 2025 feels like I’m writting some far off date not the actual year. Not sure I’m in love with the future as it is but let’s concentrate on the things that we can control.
This year, I’m going to be extra ambitious with my resolutions. (Quick reminder, my resolutions are goals that are meant to push me.)
I have a basic outline and I’m going to start re-reading the first four to get back into it. It’s kind of exciting to be working on the penultimate book in the series.
I’m not sure what I’m writing this year, but I will try to get a 1000 word chapter out each month. This is going to be the twelfth year I do it.
I wrote a song for Elizabeth 4 and set up the chords, but between the colds and the medical issues, I didn’t get really good at it. I’m going to do my best to get good enough to record it.
Last year I crushed my reading challenge and I’m hoping I can do the same this year. 12 might not sound ambitious but it is.
Three years ago for Christmas I got a Magical Cafe book nook. Over the three years I’ve made it to page 17 of 40ish I think. There’s so much painting and gluing and it’s really hard. This year, my sister in-law took pity and got me another one that doesn’t need the paint or the glue. Maybe this will help build my confidence.
I also got an epic Van Gogh’s Starry Night LEGO set. It has a lot of pieces.
2024 was a busy year and now that I’m feeling better, I have more time that isn’t just for recovering. I’m having trouble taking that time for me and not feeling bad about it. It’s not selfish to read, it’s not selfish to watch a show on my own, it’s not selfish to do things for me. I know that, but I’m having trouble shutting up the little voice in my head.
I have an idea what it’s going to be, so this should be easy.
I have this idea for a series of short cozy mysteries. The hope is to make them around 40 thousand words and just have fun. It would also give me the chance to play around with self-publishing. The idea would be to write this after Elizabeth 5 before I jump right into the final book.
This one scares me, but I want to do a joint book release* with Jen this summer. (By the way you should totally check out her cover reveal for Winging It!)
*More details in a future post.
I have learned a lot about my body and mind this year, and I know I have a lot of work, both to improve my health and to accept what and who I am. More details in a future post.
I hope that everyone has a productive, healthy, and good 2025.
Éric
