Sunday 14 November 2010

Feet, Fems and Fancy Phones

The word of the week is empty.

Nov 8 -  My Left Foot

Some things will never make it into this blog, most of them very personal things that many of you already know about and some things that just aren’t appropriate( or interesting enough )for the world to know about. I’ve considered closing off this blog, if I could figure out a way to transfer it in its entirety )and posting it solely in the closed group I’ve created elsewhere... we’ll see if that happens. Again, as I’ve said, this is a Journal as much as it is a source of news for friends / family as well as being a place to keep my writing skills sharp... or at least from atrophying.

Hopefully my left foot won’t atrophy either; I managed to trip over my laptop power cable last week, and bent several of my toes back WAY further than they should go. It’s been painful to walk on( duh )and there’s some lingering numbness. I checked with the doctor down at the walk-in clinic today, and while nothing seems broken, he said that it may be a month or two before it’s fully healed. The lesson? Wear socks or slippers all the time if you’re klutzy, as it keeps your toes together in case you trip up...

Nov 9 – No Vacay Days

Yeah, work dragged for me today – surprising, as I thought it would yesterday, so there you are: you never know when life will grab your brain and squeeze. It wasn’t so bad, really, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I have a good crew though; they saw I wasn’t in good shape and took pains to try to cheer me up, which I really appreciated. It makes all the difference when you work with the right people; after all, you’re spending 40 hours a week with them most times, so if you all get along then the week flies by fast. For various reasons, I’m no longer taking a vacation day a week this month to use up my vacation time more quickly before year-end. At this point, I’d rather be working and busy than at home more.

Nov 10 – New Phone 4me

I ‘slept in’ a little today until 7:30am, which was good as I was up until 1-ish for various reasons. Turned out to be a fairly sunny day until mid-afternoon; I spent a good part of that inside making phone calls as I wanted to cancel a few monthly payments for additional insurance and the like that I’ve been carrying for a while now. Now that my parents have finally found their footing, I can cut back on my preparedness in case I was suddenly out of the picture for whatever reason – here in BC, a simple Power of Attorney on file( but not active )is all that is needed instead of a will, for someone like myself without substantial property or investment holdings( yet! ).




One of those calls was to Telus, to broker a deal for a new phone. Yes, after weighing the options and dithering for a few weeks( since my 3-year contract for my LG Shine is up this month )I decided that the LG IQ was the phone for me. This video review( see above! )of the phone cinched it for me, along with the feature set – I plan on adding SPB’s Windows Mobile Shell to the phone should make it a killer replacement. Sure, it’s not Android, but I don’t plan on doing TOO much with it while I wait for the mobile tablet market to shake itself down in the next two years( coincidentally the length of my new Telus contract – sigh ). I got a great deal for my voice / data plan with a lot of options thrown in for not a lot per month, so that makes me happy. Sitting over at the Mountain Bean for a few hours, I simply enjoyed the Me Time I had there and thinking about how much progress tablets will make over the Samsung Galaxy Tab by the time 2013 and my contract starts to wrap up again. Friggin' contracts...

Nov 11 – John Candy Smiles

Today wandered around rather lost; I didn’t end up going anywhere, as I had no plans – it’s a day off. I did this and that, gamed a little, read a little, wrote a little, spent more than a little time under the sun-lamp( s’bright! )and generally tried not to look at the clock. I did catch all of Only The Lonely with John Candy and Ally Sheedy, which had some eerie parallels to my current life in it – strange how that happens with TV movies, no? Later in the day I also commented on a lovely photo Mike posted to FBook – windows peering out of an ivied wall. Somehow a poem popped into my head as I looked at the image, and I quickly scribed it into words on-screen... with only a little editing. My mind words on wondrous ways sometimes, and I need to learn to give myself more time to listen TO myself. And not worry o’ermuch.

Nov 12 РBusy Day, Blas̩ Night

Dang days keep disappearing on me; today was no different. At least I don’t have to worry about two branches worth of crazy-making now, which makes most days at work bearable... or at least manageable. The cold, early-dark rainy days of this week took a break this afternoon, so we were treated to some hours of sunshine that lifted everyone’s mood, it seems – t’was nice to see! My own mood threatened to waver all over the map though, so I took a firm hand and simply concentrated on work, which was easy today – it was so busy that I stood at the counter for nigh over nine hours straight. I left the branch in good hands and to happy smiles from my staff for staying the course without complaint, though I felt wretched inside – probably something I ate. Yep. I’m not sure where the evening went, but I flaked out after spot-napping through an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, which is on every weeknight at 11pm, so I try not to miss it, even if I’m tired. Sleep was dreamless, and distant.

Nov 13 – Stardust and Dragons

Well, apparently I needed sleep, as I woke up close to 10am – that never happens any more, save on the weekends( someone usually calls from work anyway ). Not today though, which was nice. I posted some questions about various things for a few hours on various websites, then popped an HD-DVD( yes, I lost that battle )of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust in for a nice few hours. Later, I popped over to The Mountain Bean, where I happily talked shop with the manager about strategies for keeping the place hopping in the winter – for some reason they listen to my advice there, which I trade for the occasional cookie. Yum! In the evening, I watched another movie, one I hadn’t yet seen: How To Train Your Dragon. It was fantastic! The story moved fluidly the whole way through, the characters were diverse and interesting, the writing was upbeat and funny in many parts... overall it was a great 90 minutes, well spent! I’d definitely watch it again, and since I bought the Blu-Ray combo-pak, I’ll be able to in Hi-Def... once I get around to purchasing a Blue-Ray player, that is. Not going to be anytime soon, I think, as I don’t want to pay an average of thirty bucks a movie – who the hell would, to create a ‘new’ library of movies they already own? Sheesh.

Nov 14 - Meh

It’s a fairly frustrating place I’m in this week, figuring out a lot of things. I find it horribly amusing that when one problem is no longer an issue( ie. parents retirement )then another one looms suddenly out of the fog just as large and just as stressful – there’s balance for you. I’d kick Fate in the shins if I knew where to look, I swear. I’m taking stock of things, looking to branch out my interests and generally get on with Doing, rather than thinking – thinking’s just making me sullen and angry this week, which isn’t me. Not having much of a social life isn’t helping either – now that I have some time, I’m looking to join a few clubs, see a few places and generally get out more than I have in the last few years. Whee. My mood’s all over the place; good thing I have a lot of practice in emotional control or I’d be a mess. As it stands, I’m posting the blog around dinnertime – I really don’t care what I do the rest of the evening, as I’m feeling very, very down in general. My thoughts are grim, my mood twinned to the dark fingers of the forest poking through the fog all around my mountain home. My future seems to be chained by my past choices, and in all that I can take no comfort in that doing what was necessary has still led me to the solitary path I have been walking for a long, long time.

Meh. Guess I need to become more interesting... no tattoos though.

Update 11pm: A long phone call with my sister( luv ya sis! )put some( not all )things in perspective - simplification helps, as I tend to analyze possibility and causality branches to the nth degree. Which combined with my lack of experience in some matters means I end up spinning in recursive loops. K.I.S.S folks ... and no, I'm not being ironic. I need sleep to let my brain heal and emotions level.

Wow, a dull week that flew by. Maybe things will pick up for me in January. And thanks, Samuel. :-)