Sunday 22 September 2013

Maps, Mortality and Mail Arrivals

The word of the week is succinct.

Sept 16 - Who, me?

Something cool happened today: I got a personal message from one of the publishers of Babylon 5 books, people to whom I've given a decent chunk of change to over the years for some of their fantastic publications. One of the editors there had been referred to me by none other than Claudia Christian, regarding one of the videos I took at Phoenix Comicon 2013 of that worthy lady's seminar, which you can see below:


The editor was interested to know if I still had the original recording, which would be of higher quality. Of course I answered that I did, as I keep everything given the decent storage space I built here on my home PC. After a brief back-and-forth, I learned that they wanted to use the recording in an upcoming project of theirs. Tickled, I quickly acquiesced to their request for my help. My unasked-for reward will be a free copy of that mystery project, which I think is more than compensation enough as I'll have contributed a small part to it myself.

Which is a pretty cool thing for a Babylon 5 fan, I think.


Sept 17 - Escaping Escapism

One can't escape escapism, ironically.

It's very popular nowadays, with many problems people try to leave behind when they get home from a long day. Some escape through television, others through various hobbies and some through other means best left unmentioned here. Yet the people with more imagination escape to places they find within the pages of a book. For many people, escapism is the only way they can deal with their problems.

I've mentioned the topic before in my blog a few times. It's something that I know I've struggled with here and there over the years, as it's been much easier to run away from a particular problem into a fantasy world rather than formulate a strategy to deal with it.


However, like anything in life, you should try to learn from what your problems are. For me, reading as much as I did, I realize that in many of the stories I read there was no escape for the protagonists: they had to deal with their problems, which were a lot bigger ones than mine have been. Not to belittle my own issues, but they do tend to pale when there's total universal destruction weighing in the balance.

I still escape from time to time, but it's of my own choosing and for some time now, I haven't done so just to leave a problem behind. More like gain a little space to think about a solution, which I think is a lot healthier.


Sept 18 - The answer is… 42 - maps!

Maps are awesome

They can do a lot more than just let you know where you are. Tons of information can be packed into maps, representing in a visual manner different types of data that you wouldn't be able to conceptualize if it were just presented in printed form. I'm currently working on a map for my novel and I have quickly come to realize that I'm no cartographer, but I'll still do my best nonetheless.

A recent video on YouTube called "42 Amazing Maps" has gone viral, thanks to the enthusiasm of the presenter and the vivid detail of his material, the aforementioned maps in question. Have a gander at what he has to say and marvel at the mappy visuals he presents:



Sept 19 - Immortality?

Who doesn't want to live forever?

If Google has their way, it seems that everyone will be able to. That's kind of mind-boggling, to be quite honest, as humans have been grappling with their mortality first long as we've been around.

Some folk believe that a brief life lived well is best, while others think that we should all get a crack at having more than a century on average to do things. I happen to come down on the latter fence's side, as I believe there's a lot to be experienced in this universe, too much for us not to try to reach out for it all. Especially given that humans are currently limited to a brief lifespan spent on a single planet - that's not really fair, is it?


What would it be like I wonder, if we were all still around 1000 years from now? Will humanity have achieved the Singularity state, left Earth and journeyed to the stars?

There are so many questions that I have and so many things that I'd like to see, so much that can't be done in a single human lifetime on this planet. I'm hoping that myself personally or a close analogue of me will still be around to find out, if Google's project pans out successfully within my lifetime.

That's pretty exciting.


Sept 20 - New Wheels?

The invention of the wheel changed the world.

Since that fateful day so long ago, we've tried to reinvent it over and over again. So much so that the very phrase that embodies the reinvention of the wheel has come to mean "Why fix something that's not broken?"

Well, for one thing, a tire is a type wheel and those definitely could use some improvement, as they tend to explode when things penetrate them. New technologies and materials have meant that the run-flat tire is now morphing into solid tires - again a technology from my much-beloved game of Car Wars from the 1980s. Just goes to show that I was ahead of the game( pardon the pun )again, I guess.


I like Hankook's new take on the idea of an airless tire; it gives me a sense of safety when I think about it. I've had too many flat tires over the years, including one run of no less than five on a family vacation to Florida many years ago. Having solid tires only makes sense in a world full of sharp pointy things.


Sept 21 - B5 At 20 arrives

A very special book arrived in the mail today - I'm so excited!

Babylon 5  at Twenty is a massive coffee-table book measuring a full square foot in size. It's filled with an incredible number of high-quality photos and information culled from hard-to-find sources, many of which have not been seen in any form of publication until now.

It arrived in a shiny purple package - snazzy! And SO COOL!

I think it's a fitting companion to my experience in Arizona this past May in 2013. It's a physical documentation of the journey of my favorite television experience, Babylon 5, since its inception 20 years ago until today. I'll planning to be frugal in reading through it, turning only a few pages per day in order to prolong my first read of this amazing collector's item that I was privileged to be able to purchase at an affordable price - that's saying a lot considering my current budget.

Given that I don't have a lot of collectibles( or the urge to build said collection ) than it is all the more noteworthy that I purchase something like this to keep for many decades to come; it's archival-quality pages will be just as fresh twenty years from now as they are today.

Would that I can say the same thing about myself then; we'll see, won't we?


Sept 22 - Up in Arms

My arms have been aching on and off for the last few weeks, but good news: my right arm's muscle tear seems to be healing, if somewhat slowly. I am again quite thankful that I'm not on the floor at work hauling printers and chairs and desks every day, which has allowed my arm to slowly heal. I'm still unable to play video games or type for more than 15 min. of the time, but at least my arms don't ache at the end of the day very much compared to how they did just a year ago. I'm hoping that in another year, I'll be able to go back to using them as normal and not have to worry about every move I make with them when it comes to any kind of weight or extended usage. I'm just glad that they're still attached and usable.


A related note, I'm also surprised by how much time domestic chores take up of a day. It's quite a lot, even living in an apartment, without having to tend to the needs of a lawn or garden or even a vehicle. There's still quite a few minutes of the day that get eaten up by chores and having thought about it, I'm again grateful to have both the dishwasher and access to a laundry in the building on the same floor. These time-savers do eat up some minutes, but I shudder to think what it would be like if I had to travel to do laundry or wash the number dishes we use on a daily basis.

In the end, it's all about what we do with our time and for me, it's becoming more and more precious these days. Sometimes we have to think about the mundane to appreciate that it's not all that there is in our lives, that the necessary paves the way for the extraordinary.

It's been a long week, with some low points, but now it's the end of the weekend - and the end of summer - and I think I have a handle on things. See you all next week.