Katie Leggitt

I watched almost the entirety of Michael Cohen's testimony today.  It was kind of the perfect thing to watch to de-stress and relax.  It was possibly the opposite experience for Cohen, but kind of hard to tell really.  I managed to do a load of laundry and deal with the intensely cluttered kitchen table that I've been ignoring for the last 2 months. Day 2 of my 3 day vacation has been exactly what I'd wanted.  Yesterday I bought a VCR and set myself up to watch a whole bunch of old home videos except I realized I do not actually have any.  At least not here, I must have left them in Montreal.  I do however have a few tapes from my theatre school days that are almost 20 years old now.  It was a riot to watch my first monologue performance and to see the short-haired version of myself dance with total glee in another video.  I was watching her, this energized, pixie-cut young woman roll her hips and make funny faces and I remember feeling confident while doing it.  It was

I am so totally sick of this Winter. Congrats, Winnie, you won.  You made yourself known and WE GET IT.  YOU'RE GOOD AT YOUR JOB.  WE ARE NOT WORTHY.  Now go away and please let the warm weather return. I remember sipping smoothies in a tank top in early March not that long ago.  Perhaps that was unusual, now that I think of it, but geez I miss those times. Been thinking about stories and how we develop as storytellers.  Kids are growing up with YouTube, which has a very different way of telling stories than traditional television does.  I think my earliest memory of creating a story was when I couldn't fall asleep, I'd walk my fingers up either side of my belly like people, and they would meet each other, and fall in love.  I can't figure out why I don't write romance novels for chrisssssake!!!  That's probably my calling isn't it.  These two people would be out walking at a park, that had a hill and they would cross paths with each other, start t

There's a monster in my head. He lives in there, and he wants me dead. He tells me I'm no good, He tells me I'm a queer, He tells me things to make me Want to disappear. There's a monster in my head. And she's always lying to me. She tells me I'm too fat to live And that my face is so ugly. There's a monster in my head And you tell me to go get help I wonder if you knew how long It's been since this is all I've felt. There's a monster in my head And maybe there's one in you too, Let's sit down and chat awhile And put those monsters to bed.

I debated cats and cars today with my 18-month old nephew/cousin.  My cousin's kid.  Feels like a nephew. I have the pleasure of hanging out with him twice a week and it's been a joy to watch him interact with the world.  My sister and brother's kids are 10 years and older now, so it's been a minute since I spent this much time with a toddler.  He's learning two languages at home so I've begun studying his vocabulary and I think he calls things that move "meow."  He definitely identifies cats as "meows," but also calls cars meows too, which I think is hilarious.  We sat by the front window today and meowed at cars this afternoon.  I'd remind him that they were indeed cars, however the clown in me enjoyed the sounds we were making altogether. That's the most joyful part- letting loose and getting goofy with a very dedicated audience member.  I don't get up on stage anymore so it's nice to make someone giggle uncontrollabl

Here are some terrible ideas for kid's series: -Jujubes take over the candy industry and fire all the other candy. -A documentary about the mice that live in your cupboards. -A social media app that literally traps people in your phone. -Reptiles at a dinner party -52 x 22' of a single fern, slowly growing. -Crafts, come to life -Baseball: fans vs. all-stars -Things that can fit inside a keg -Upside-down paintings; the new way to hang art -Burger's Bobs -When sleeping bags strike -Errol the elliptical eel... a show about proper grammar! -Barbie, Uncensored -Who's your daddy?  A heritage docuseries -A show about clowns that features many extreme closeups of live action clowns.  Clowns. -Stephanie's shoe show by the seashore -Super Cali Fragile Mystic (<-----PROOF OF CONCEPT, SORRY) -Seinfeld, but for kids!

Goals.  What of em? It's weird to be approaching 40 and feeling like I've accomplished a lot of what I set out to do in my youth.  I feel like middle age puberty is hitting and now I have to face my future, wrinkles and all, with a new set of goals. I feel old as fuck.  Let's just get that out of the way and proceed with even more honesty. I'm satisfied with my life.  I think I did 'er well so far, and now I have to re-evaluate where I'm at in terms of hopes and dreams for the futche.  Fewtch. I could say I want babies and a husband.  I could say I want a house, and a porch, and a fence that doesn't have to be white picket, but that will be high enough to hide me from my neighbours g-damnit. I could say those things, and maybe somewhere in me I do want them, but it's not what comes to mind.  I'm still focused on career goals, creative goals, and life dream goals.  Publishing goals.  I want to publish shit.  Quality, shit.  Good stuff.  Thin

So it's turning out to be less and less consecutive days of writing, but happy to be jotting some thoughts down nonetheless, and am determined to do it another 60 times to get to 100.  Learned a bit about literary agents today, that was helpful.  Turns out you need a completed manuscript to submit before even having a chance at getting one!  Huh!  Who knew?  Makes a lot of sense.  So I guess I should finish something now. We have an assignment in my publishing class to write a query letter, novel synopsis and 1-3 chapters of a middle grade or YA novel.  I'm revisiting something I started writing several years ago about a group of kids that get up to no good one summer.  I've started so many projects but once I hit a couple thousand words I'm like... well that's all I can think of for now so I guess I'll just wait til another bout of inspiration comes, and then it just doesn't. But I like this story I have, and I like the idea I have for it, I just don&

How could I forget Radiohead? I feel like a bad teen of the 90s. Radiohead kept me level-headed throughout my late teens, helped me fall asleep and calm my nerves when they got too frayed. The Unkle song featuring Thom Yorke, Rabbit in your Headlights , was part of my favourite mix VHS of music videos that I loved from that era.  It makes me wish I was more of a pack rat than I am, I wish I had held onto those tapes, filled with my favourite music. When I was 19 I bought a pair of tickets to see Radiohead play a huge outdoor show.  I gave a ticket to a close friend who was moving to Oregon that same summer, and we got separated just before RH took the stage, and I spent the concert on my own, which maybe was just the way it was meant to be watched.  There is something isolating about Radiohead's music, maybe it's the languid tunes or the haunting voice of Thom Yorke, I remember enjoying the show but still dismayed that I'd lost track of my friend.  This was pre-ce

Sang a single line from Stone Temple Pilots' Plush to my dog and she lost interest immediately. STP was one of those bands I heard about at a younger age because my sister was into them.  But then the radio overplayed them (I listened to 99.9 THE BUZZ) and I also lost interest.  They were a great band, and Scott Weiland, for all his demons, was a genius no doubt. Still having trouble narrowing my teens down to a single song.  It's a task I must accept but to do it right I have to gather up my memories and summarize them with a blanket song so as to acknowledge each and every facet. Looking at my list from the other night, there's still so much more I left out.  I omitted Pearl Jam entirely, and I'd say I've been the most devoted fan to them than any other band.  I saw them live twice. Violent Femmes, PJ Harvey, Live (yes, Live), NIN, Wallflowers, Hole, a shit tonne of others.. I am really stuck.  The one song that keeps coming to mind though is Bush's Gl

I've been getting into my former teen headspace. I was definitely cooler then than I am now, and I just have to accept that.  I know it was mostly hormones, but I felt everything more vividly then.  Love, anger, music, it was made more intense by my lack of life experience and my determined attitude towards it.  Friends, school events, shows, and the budding internet connections were at the forefront of my 15 year old life.  Walks in the rain and postering my walls with Hit Parade posters topped the list of my favourite things to do.  Filled, to the brim, with as much knowledge as I could possibly emit, I had a confidence that was timely and unlike anything I've felt since. I suppose that's an issue of time.  The more time you have on earth, the more crap has to get filtered by your brain, before it seeps into your ego.  I think my filter has gotten a little weak, though I hear it gets a lot stronger the older you get.  That's nice.  I look forward to giving les

I'm fascinated, and totally terrified by sinkholes. There's a story I'm trying to write involving one, and I'm using it because it's so fantastical (and so rare) that it kind of creates a buffer between the survivors and the "sinkers." Many years ago I dealt with a very sad death of a student.  I was involved in the grief counseling among his peers and the school memorial service thereafter.  It's a terrible event, and one that luckily many kids evade but death is a very real part of our existence and kids are not immune to its effects. This death had a profound effect on my life, and it is still something I draw upon when thinking of childhood.  Most kids may experience the loss of a family pet or a grandparent, but rarely of someone so close to them. The absence - the empty desk, the missing laughter, the shoes that kicked a soccer ball that linger behind.. it's a weighted space that no longer exists but yet is present. Kids are resilie

We have an assignment for one of my writing classes to bring a song next week that really captures our adolescence, something that meant a lot to us in our youth, around 14-16 years old. I'm hoping we'll be able to listen and write so in preparation for that here are my top 11 song from my teens: -Bush - Glycerine -Portishead - All Mine -Bjork - Army of Me -Silverchair - Freak -Deftones - Be Quiet and Drive -Weezer - The Sweater Song/Anything from the Blue album -Offspring - Self-Esteem/Come out and Play/Bad Habit -Smashing Pumpkins - Zero/Bullet With Butterfly Wings -Green Day - All By Myself, lol -Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box (Also, the entire Unplugged album..) -Moist - Tangerine And then a little later -Slipknot - Sic -Kitty - Brackish (Spit album) Other memorable favourites: Geggy Tah's Whoever you are, Tripping Daisy's I got a Girl... god so many... Beck's Loser, Korn, ugh the list goes on.  How can I narrow it down to one?  It'll probab

Wuh-oh... this Spotify playlist kicked off with an LCD Soundsystem tune and you know what that means... deep thoughts to come. I've been in school since September, contemplating who I am as a creator and it's been an eye-opening experience.  This time last year, I was working with a writer to hone a couple of animated shorts scripts of mine and now I'm putting pitch documents and bibles together, and I can hardly believe it all. But that's part of the problem. I can't believe it all. I went into this program thinking it would open the creative tap and I would have nothing but solid gold pouring forth.  It would be easy, it would be fruitful, and I would not have to worry about how to build my career. The tap is open, but I'm finding a lot of rusty water is spilling into my cup.  But I feel as responsible for the rust as I do for the water.. is this analogy making sense? Hot Chip's on next- perfect segway. Part of my growth since moving to Toron

I was thinking about words today, and words that sound silly.  Pickle is a damn silly word, and apparently it's a popular in kid's media. Twinkle is pretty ridic too, when you think about it.  Twinkle.  Like, it means something lovely but it's one of those words where the more you say it, the more it loses its meaning. Someone had a question about potatoes today (I work at Organic Garage).  The sign said Yukon, but that bags said PEI.  This was very confusing, and so I went to get help from the produce dude, and I opened with a "someone has a potato question."  And he responded with "a potato question, eh."  And it just felt very silly. Potato.  It's such a perfect word to describe what it is.  Potatoes are silly AF.  Now, if you dare, you throw two silly words together, and you've got something magical.  Twinkling Potatoes.  Right?  Potatoes never twinkle!  But I bet they'd love to!  It makes me imagine what goes on in the grocer

What did I learn about writing today? I thought a lot about "that book" I want to write.  I thought about its perfect title and the subsequent perfect pages that would follow it.  It would be tongue-in-cheek and enticing.  I debated between the use of a subtitle and the inevitable cliche that brings. Now I'm sneezing.  I'm still undecided on the matter, but will hope that I can begin tackling the loose outline I created for it.  It's like it never dawned on me before that writing a book takes so much fucking work.  I think I expected to spew it out one weekend, like it would be easy and the flow nearly unstoppable.  This exercise is showing me that yeah dude, it takes a fuck tonne of dedication and self-discipline to write and to write regularly, especially if you want to produce an actual thing that's not just a brain-dump. So I'm grateful so far.  I can't even call this writing except for a written organization of my nightly thoughts as I con

1 third!  Done! Ish! I brought my little cousin to a drop-in centre today and we both played with homemade play dough for an hour.  It brought me back to my youth immediately... The smell, the texture, the way my hands felt dry after, it was glorious. The drop-in centre is stacked with toys of all sorts, but I must commend them on their selection of play dough accessories. There were moulds, there were kid-sized wooden rolling pins and even the tube pusher that exacts spaghetti and things of that type.  The open play thing is big with tykes.  Allowing their imagination to roam, open play is said to be the best option for toys.  Blocks are a good example, where you get to build whatever the heck you like, without a necessary pattern to create.  The creativity and the freedom that goes into this type of toy is where it's at.  No prescribed outcome, just you, creating, making, doing.  Little 3 year old ran around the room claiming there was a big monster in the playhouse the