UltraJulia

Last week my apartment building held it’s annual fire alarm testing. Not especially noteworthy, except they also came into each unit to test the smoke alarm as well. They do that on a semi-annual basis, which is nice. So imagine my surprise this afternoon when I start hearing this strange beeping sound in my apartment. A beeping that sounded like, wait for it, the “the battery’s dying in my smoke detector” beep. Yep, that’s right, even though the dudes came into my place to test it out, they didn’t even bother either changing the battery for me (considering how much I pay in rent, it’s the least they could do), or even leaving a note that says I might want to check the battery.

Sheesh.

Luckily I had an extra D battery sitting around so I could change it, but still, how annoying.

Today was feeling downright tropical here in the Big Smoke, as it was 27 C with a massive humidex that made it feel like 38 or 39 C. And that was without the sun out. It came out at one point for about a half hour this morning, and I nearly fainted from the heat! Nearly drowned, is more like it.

And it finally started to rain this afternoon, and there’s now a nice cool breeze coming in to my apartment, so it’s all good. Of course with the rain it means that I can’t go outside and play tennis, go for a walk or do anything like that. I debated going to the movies to see Inception, but I figured everyone else would have the same idea, so I decided to wait another week.
I decided to get back to some homework that’s been sitting on my desk for a few weeks, which is an online copywriting class that I’m taking. I’ve been working my way through the modules sporadically over the last couple of months, and have been enjoying myself immensely. I was working my way sporadically thru them because as well as working full-time, I was also taking a night class that was rather exhausting (it’s one that will still help with the copywriting too, as it was a grammar class for writers & editors, so it’s all good.)
I ended up powering my way through 2.5 modules of the copywriting, which is awesome. I’ve got 6 left to do, and I should probably catch up on my exercises too, but I really am just excited about getting through the material, you know? I’m supposed to be building up a sales letter as I work my way through the modules, but I just can’t for now. I figure I’ll do it at the end (I know, not the way they want me to do it, but it’ll have to work for me — besides, I figure I’m not the first one to do this.)
I’ve always considered myself a pretty good writer, so this has been an interesting stretch for me since I’ve spent the last 10 years working as a technical writer. I’m used to being very economical in my writing, getting down to the point and explaining things. Copywriting is quite the opposite of that, in terms of writing, although in terms of writing process, it’s very similar to technical writing. There’s a lot of “focus on the reader (prospect)” type of ideas in both, as you’ve got to be able to tailor the writing project to the reader, whether they’re an end user trying to figure out how to send and email, or a prospect who’s learning more about the product you’re selling. You’ve got to know who’s on the other end of your writing. Very cool stuff.
The biggest difference of course, is the output itself, in terms of both size and length, as well as vocabulary and voice. I won’t bore you with more about all that, but needless to say, I am having fun. (I must be, as I see that this post is well over 500 words. I don’t usually write that much about anything on this blog these days. ha!)
How did you spend your rainy day? (provided it was rainy chez toi, of course.)

This weekend we’ve been having some fabulous weather, with lots of sunshine and heat (but not too much, you know?) Today was another glorious day, with a high of 30C, all blue sky and a slight breeze. Optimal conditions for being outside, IMHO.

But I had to do some housework and general house-stuff (grocery planning and the like), which totally blew. SO, I decided to split the difference and did half this morning and then the other half now. I split the housework with this:

Nice, huh? There’s no way I could spend the entire day cooped up inside doing housework.