Bosses, Birthdays and Boredom

The word of the week is celebration.

July 11 - We Know What I Like

People tend to run in circles( especially if one leg is a little short )kind of like the new Google+ which the jury is still out on. Like attracts like, as they say... and the same seems to go for both those I call friends and those I admire. Take, for example, Neil Gaiman's blog: he regularly updates it with his many globe-hopping activities that involve many friends of his. Who are also people I admire: authors Mark Evanier, Terry Pratchett, Harlan Ellison, TV writer JMS( Babylon 5 ), Chris Hardwick( of the Nerdist Podcast )and even TV show host Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show. All people whose work I enjoy and admire... and happen to know each other fairly well enough to talk regularly of each others work. Like minds, you think? Love it:

July 12 - Hateful Boss Laughs

After a busy day off around the house, I headed out early for an evening out at the movies with a local friend. We stopped at the A&W at the Tillicum Mall for some dinner, where we were hit on by no less than two separate groups of girls... too bad the age gap for all was such we could easily have been their fathers. It was cute though; points to them for flattery and trying, as it cheered me up for the rest of the night. The movie was Horrible Bosses, with Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey and other notable names; I gave it an 8/10, as the comedy was spot-on and the performance by Jennifer Aniston was totally off her expected characters. I really liked it and had quite a few laughs, especially as I can relate given my current job status.

July 13 - Tired of noisy tires

The 'new' 2006 Mazda 5 micro-van has been a joy to drive around for the last few months. It's spacious, well-equipped, easy to drive and has a power sunroof plus perfect A/C for the heat that has yet to show up this summer. Only one thing bothers me about it: tire noise. The tires on the car have worn unevenly, due to a known problem with the 5's factory wheel alignment. If you turn to the left ever so slightly, the road hum is glaringly loud at any regular speed. I'm looking at replacing all four tires this fall and have been researching the best choices at TireRack.com, which has amazing tools for looking at what tires best suit your needs AND will fit your car. Not to mention the thousands of reviews by actual owners who may often have the exact same vehicle as you - a great site that's been really helpful in making my choice; I'm going Continental, folks!

July 14 - Pirates in Victoria!

Here's something I wish had been around in Niagara when I was a kid: Pirate boat rides on a real pirate ship! There's a tour company here in Victoria BC called Pirate Adventures, which books groups of kids and parents onto hours-long rides on the local waterways. They dress up like pirates and sail the waters with adventures on board the whole time. It's a great idea, which apparently doesn't stop for mere rain - pirates are supposed to be tough, right? Anyway, I really like the idea... but as I'm neither a kid anymore nor have any, it's a moot point. Damn cool though; sure beats the now-defunct diving pirate show at Canada's Wonderland - that got old real fast.

July 15 - Finishing Farscape

The cloudy, rainy weather really moved in today, which was fine by me as I'd much rather that than have my brains baked by the blazing unadulterated heatwave that has gripped the rest of the continent; go Victoria! It was an insanely busy day though, so I left in the late afternoon feeling very tired and very achy in my joints - not a good sign in the summer. I spent my evening trying to resuscitate my old iPhone without success so that I could give it to my sister; I still have hope that I'll be able to do so with a little persistence. I finished off the Farscape TV series tonight as well, with mixed feelings: I loved the show, especially the way the characters were written... but it ended on a sudden 'shocker' along the lines of The Sopranos. Good thing that the fan demand to get The Peacekeeper Wars made worked, as that managed to wrap things up really nicely; more good sci-fi TV series should be so lucky. Next up on my TV list is Fringe, Season One... huzzah!

July 16 - Happy Me-Day, I'm 38. Is that old?

It's a good thing I have family here in BC, as today was a fairly solitary birthday - Facebook aside, of course as I received dozens of happy messages from many friends. Thanks. :-) No, I refer to just 'going out' for my birthday... and though lunch at Original Joe's here in Langford was really delicious, that was it for the day. Once you begin to approach your middle years, birthdays tend to mark time more than being occasions - but shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't each year be a milestone for accomplishments and accumulated wisdom? Plans for the evening fell through, so I wound up watching the entire Harry Potter series on HD-DVD for the rest of the night. Not that that was terrible, mind you, as I'd only seen the first two films up to this point( of the five total in the HD boxed set I picked up as a $25 special in 2007 ). No, it had nothing to do with the lines from the Tragically Hip song 38 years old: apart from the title, it was just cold and foggy outside. No real answers as I fell asleep to the sounds of wizards battling in my head...

This is an afternoon in July ?  Sure beats a heatwave though!

July 17 - A whole weekend off...

A bit of a lazy day, which was nice. I didn't end up sleeping in, as the insane woman upstairs insists on walking around like she's driving nails with her heels. I finished watching the last of the Harry Potter films that I own, The Order Of The Phoenix. It was fairly good, for all my not having read the books - I'll have to pick up the series at the bargain bookstore soon. The rest of the day went by fairly fast, as I worked on various things including some new voice samples for the Russian design team creating their next Babylon 5 game. Voice acting is rather difficult, as you have to invest so much emotion into your lines while maintaining accuracy. And that's just in your regular voice; trying to do accents or other timbres is really, really hard to get right consistently. So I spent some hours doing that all day with the door closed, to my amusement. Later in the night I spent time online with my NWN pals exploring a new area one of them created for our shared world; it was great fun, especially as everyone seems so taken with the character of Nichneven that I so love to play. A great end to the day.

This week's blog seemed to write itself, strangely. Amazing what a weekend off can do to your muse, especially when you're not fretting over the monthly budget as I usually am. Lovely.