The word of the week is prevaricate.
Dec 4 - Interim Report
Things are going okay this week.
As my physical annoyances slowly
fade, my mental faculties are getting more energy back, kind of like switching power
from Shields to Engines when you're playing a Star Wars space simulation...
which is an image I like.
Not having to deal with a pile of
minor day-to-day frustrations, both physical and mental, means that there's
energy for my my subconscious writer to mull over the edits for my book. It's
surprising how much energy that takes, especially when you sit down to write to
and your muse just shrugs, saying "Sorry, you've been too distracted for
me to do much of anything; try to get more rest."
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| Steady... steady... |
Now that the end of 2017 is approaching,
there's not much more I can do this year until I really get the ball rolling
with my book's edits - it's only been in fits and starts the last few months,
and that's nowhere good enough to get the job done in a timely fashion.
On the other hand, having a
stress-fre day job has been the perfect mental as well as( partial )physical
relief that I needed for the last long while, though I can't say that I'll be
sad to see the last of the mail cross my desk of a morning in 2018 sometime.
It's been nice, but I'm certainly ready for more of a challenge at my day job,
with commeasurably better pay.
Who knows? In five years I may be
turning down book contracts unless they pay me at least one I'm earning
now every month... or even more, hopefully.
Aim high.
Dec 5 – Omega Class!
Back in March of this year, I
meantioned Spacedock, a YouTube channel who specializes in examining
scifi spacecraft as though they are showing an informational video to
familiarize you with the vehicle. The example I gave at the time was for a
Super Star Destroyer from Star Wars, but after browsing through the channel
playlist this week, I discovered gem - a Babylon 5 entry! Enjoy:
Dec 6 – Liquid Television RETURNS - Sorta
Well, call me flabbergasted!
I never expected to see the return of
such a far-out show as Liquid Television, at least not in any form that
I wouldn't have to purchase on DVD or Blu-Ray - there's no way such a show
would make it onto NetFlix or similar streaming services, given how racy and
radical the animation is even now:
For those of you who don't know, Liquid
Television was a cutting-edge of animation put on by the then-not-sucky MTV
channel and consisted of several different shows bundled together under the LT
banner. Everyone of them is worth watching for all aspects: the writing, the
voice acting and the animation are like nothing you've seen before or since. I especially recommend watching Aeon Flux and The Maxx in sequence as they're available!
Incredibly, every one of the
27 episodes that ran from 1991-1994 on MTV are now available online at Archive.org for free, which is the perfect price point for my budget
right now.
Why aren't you watching it already?
Dec 7 – Star Wars next week...
The Last Jedi opens in a week, and I'm... kinda excited?
After the letdown that was The
Force Awakens, I'm a little hesitant to go whole-hog-fanboy over the next
Star Wars film, though the advance buzz is that it's incredible - I heard the
same thing from the advance screeners for TFA and I'm going to reserve
judgment until I see it for myself in a few more weeks.
Hopefully, I can avoid most spoilers
while I wait for the theaters to become less jam-packed; the whole
jam-in-with-other-fans experiences and something that I want anymore, as I'd
rather enjoy the entire film instead of getting parts of it drowned out from
the crowd cheering or other such distractions.
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| I've been waiting ALL YEAR to use this animation! So cool! |
I'm also hoping that the storyline
won't be a rehash of any of the previous films, which as a writer I would find
rather disappointing. But hey, there's a good chance that given the volume of
criticism TFA received for its rehash of the very first Star Wars was
released in 1977, that the writers took it to heart to make sure the story with
something original and worthwhile while still servicing the Star Wars universe.
I'll let you know when I see the few
weeks, probably on or a little after Christmas
Dec 8 – Extra Rest
I took today off.
It was planned a few weeks ago, when
I discovered that I HAD to take a vacation day before the end of 2017 or lose
the hours - tough choice, right?
With this Friday off, combined with
my regular EDO's( Earned Days Off )plus the various holidays this month,
I'll have one 5-day work-week, three four-day work-weeks, and best of all: a
two-day work-week right after Christmas.
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| Good advice I should heed more often in 2018... |
A good thing too, as I'm really
struggling right now to function on that 5th day physically. Also as of today,
my left wrist has decided to send shooting pains up my arm, to tell me that
supporting myself on my cane( at least on my left side )isn't going to be an
option for a while - yay.
Which is fine, because also as of
today, I've managed to walk around the house as well as to and from the pool
this morning without any pain, just tightness. In fact, the swimming this
morning at 7am went really well, my second session this week and it seems to
loosen things up without more than some complaining twinges and no outright
pain to speak of by the end of the day - all good signs.
I'm cautiously optimistic that my
core muscles will follow suit, as long as I'm exercising at least twice a week
for the next few months at the pool in the mornings. The gentle stretching and
exercise should do me a world of good.
Dec 9 – De-lighted Boats!
While my lady and I didn't watch the
annual Lighted Truck Parade here in Victoria this year, we did take the
time to see some lighted boats!
After decorating our own boat with a
number of AA-powered light strings, we headed down to the Harrison Yacht Pond before
5pm to join members of the VMSS( Victoria Model Sailing Society )for
their annual Lighted Boat Parade!
It was damn cold, but there were
several dozen people there when we arrived and a half dozen boats already on
the pond. After gingerly floating our own Haulin' Trawler, we let it float more
or less unpowered for a bit as it was somewhat top-heavy; turns out we needed
to remove some weights, which balanced things out. Tippy boats in a pond are
bad for their electrical components.
Our own boat looked pretty darn good,
and even came complete with a lighted snowman, Frosty, steering the ship:
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| Doesn't she look great? |
Other boats there included the famed
alligator, who was clutching Santa in its jaws( no photo, sadly, as he left
almost as we arrived )as well as a few smaller boats and a massive barge
full of Christmas cheer:
Here's a closeup of the barge, without the onboard lights - tinfoil made it magical:
We were there for less than an hour
before we called it an evening; the humid chill rolling in off the ocean was
just too much to take for longer than that, even wrapped up as we were. Fun as
heck, though, and next year I'll remember to rig the ship with a speaker
to play Christmas tunes on the water!
Dec 10 – Sold!
YES!
After a gentle day spent with my lady
that started with breakfast at a new local spot called Bitchin Biscuits(
THEY HAVE AMAZING BISCUITS AND SAUSAGE GRAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) along with a
few hours of boardgames( including a new one called Labyrinth - fun tile-based maze solving )we called it quits
around 1pm so we can each get a few things done.
In the course of the afternoon, I
answered some e-mails from a gentleman in Australia who is interested in my
Crossbows & Catapults item lot for sale on eBay this past week. To my surprise,
the $200+ cost to ship the sent to him wasn't off-putting, and close to
dinnertime, I received this notice:
After a little bit of cheering and
fist-pumping into the air, I exchanged a few more e-mails with him and will be
sending out the package in the morning to ensure it arrives shortly before
Christmas in Australia.
This is a big relief, as even with
three pays this month, it was going to be a tight financially until the end
of the year for myself my sister. As this is the last of any 'big ticket' items that I still have, 2018 won't see me sending anything else out
like this; any new income for me is going to have to be derived either from a
better government position( soon!!! )or in early spring, when my
Glowforge business gets off the ground to start making some money.
Right now, I'm just really happy that
someone wanted to give my C&C set a home badly enough to pay nearly 10x's
what I paid for it in the mid-90's - I hope they get many more years of fun out
of it!
Looking at my calendar for December,
there's not much on there: my work party was last week, and this week there's a
smaller boat-club party, but nothing else socially apart for my critique group
in a week and probably a family get-together on Christmas Day. The rest of the
time is my own to use and I plan on working solidly in my spare time to get a
good foothold on my book edits going into 2018.
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