Games, Gifts and Gauls

The word of the week is convalescence.

December 24 - Rags to Riches

It's always been inspiring to me to hear stories about how people have picked themselves up from nothing and made themselves a success in life. Not that I've come from an impoverished background by any means as a child, but I can definitely identify in the last fifteen years with people who have had to struggle to attain what they wanted in life. My own situation right now is rather tenuous and I'm looking at some hard, hard choices in the next few months if things don't improve. So keeping in mind that some people only found success through adversity is definitely what I need to hear right now.

Read about Twenty Inspiring Rags-To-Riches stories here. Take a guess as to which one I identify with the most of all of them. Hint: it's not about the money.

 

December 25 - A Quiet Christmas

I'm still feeling very tired while recovering from my battle with pneumonia these last few weeks. Today I just spent putting about the apartment, shuffling papers and reading books under my sunlight-lamp. My sister was away as of late afternoon, out with some friends for the evening. I don't begrudge her that at all, as I think it's fabulous that she has such a big social circle here. Me, not so much… but then I've always gone for quality over quantity, I'm content with that.

My place doesn't QUITE look like this...

I didn't mind being alone for half the day. It's not much of a Christmas this year, as my dad's working all this week until Friday and so we're not doing 'Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day' because of that. To be honest, I'd probably sleep through a good part of it. I'm still exhausted and have VERY little energy to do much during the day; it's all I can do to job search and work on resumes and cover letters. There's half a hundred things I'd LIKE to be doing, but the days tick away with very little else getting done due to my lack of focusing ability… at times I can feel my concentration slipping away and I just fall over into an impromptu nap. It's frustrating, but at least I'm not missing work while I've been recuperating these last few weeks…

December 26 - No Boxing Day Crazy for me!

I perused all the sales flyers this year, as I always do, and very, very little that piqued my interest… and not just because I can't afford a much at all right now.

No, there's other factors at play. For one, I don't NEED anything. Sure, a new PC or bigger, fancier TV would be nice, but that's just my inner tech g33k speaking; I have a great TV and PC and many other gadgets that work just fine, thanks. The thrill of the hunt has also waned for me; I know the cost will have to be paid, in various ways, for far longer than the thrill lasts. 

So I contented myself with going out later in the week( not today, are you nuts? )and getting several Blu-Rays for myself at Best Buy for a deep discount. I picked up Super 8( 70's nostalgia! )and The Man With No Name Trilogy of Sergio Leone's films starring Clint Eastwood, which I've always loved. Nothing much else appealed to me, especially for the prices that I thought were still too high for recent movie releases. On the bright side, I saw that all three seasons of Arrested Development were on sale for $9.99 each, which I hope will entice more people to watch that wonderful show. New episodes are coming in 2013!

I did spend a few hours in the evening at an 'online' christmas party with my NWN friends. We ran a short adventure and hung out in a holiday-themed special area designed just for the occasion, complete with the gifting of presents! Guess what my long-lived character Nich got? Have a look:

Sure, it's the same gift as last year, but this time it's PERMANENT!

 

December 27 - Family and F.lux

As I'd mentioned, my family did Christmas Dinner today at my parent's place on Bear Mountain. It was rather low-key, with my sister taking over the making of said dinner deliciousness and doing a fantastic job of it! We watched several animated Christmas TV specials that my mom had recorded this past month, including Merry Madagascar which definitely made me laugh. It was a great time spent with my family just relaxing and enjoying one another's company, which really is what the holidays are all about. As a bonus, my sister spent quite a lot of time cuddling her cat, whom my parents have been taking care of for her as our place in the city doesn't allow pets. It's a great arrangement for him, as he has a balcony and ever-present retirees to take care of him. My sister does miss her cat a lot, though.

The fireplace is off... but there's a fire log on the TV! zzZz

I also discovered a neat little program for the PC today called F.lux - a play on the word 'Lux' or lighting. I've found that as the day goes on and turns into night, I have to constantly adjust the brightness on my screen so that my eyes aren't seared by levels that are fine when the sun's shining in the windows but is WAY too high a brightness level for typing at night. It's a little annoying to have to do this every day, so I was thrilled to find f.lux, which is free! You just set it for your location and what type of lighting levels / colour temperatures you prefer, then it does the rest automatically. It's been great so far, a nice little Christmas bonus!

December 28 - An Interview... sort of?

Wow! One of the emails I sent out earlier this week came BACK as a response! The local community center here in Cook St Village said that they'd be pleased to have me in today to answer any questions I had about their posting for an Admin Manager at the end of the day today. So I put myself together and went down there in the late afternoon to talk to the Board VP about the job. She was very nice…. but very busy. I only managed to get in a few minutes of questions before other matters called her away from her office, leaving me to fend for myself until I realized she was going to be busy until well after the place closed for the day. I was pleasant and hung around for a little bit to make a good impression, but then I excused myself and headed home, wondering how all that might turn into a call for an interview. I hope it does, as it's the first positive response I've had in almost a year of looking…

On the bright side, my 'personal' business cards arrived today from VistaPrint! They look amazing: all black with sharply-defined text, VERY professional-looking. I'm all set to network with people and do more than a few walk-in introductions in January, to help get me over the no-callback slump of the last six months. Now, when asked for my card, I'll be all set!

December 29 - Asterix!

 

As I've mentioned in a previous blog entry,  Asterix The Gaul was a formative influence on me as I was growing up. Its sharp sense of humour and engaging stories made it a perfect read for me in my early years and the fact that there were dozens of full-colour comic softcovers to read kept me entertained quite satisfactorily. 

Most of the characters who appear in the series. Oh, the NAMES they have!

Many other people must love Asterix as well, as there was a recent article on io9.com espousing the many good qualities of the long-lived characters and the world they inhabit. In fact, a group of neurosurgeons recently compiled a cheeky study of all the hundreds of head injuries that occur in the Asterix comics. It's worth a read for their conclusion alone!

December 30 - Games

A lot of today was spent fiddling around with my PC's games, after tossing a lot of game boxes I'd been hanging onto earlier today in a 30-minute burst of energy that didn't last. Seeing as my Amiga didn’t sell despite being listed on eBay three times, I've packed it away again - at least until the next auction, whenever that is. One of these days I'll be able to tidy and organize my things the way I've been meaning to… call it an early 2013 resolution.

I have at least twice as many games as this. Minus the boxes, now ...

No, what I did was move a lot of games around on my PC to make space, after installing an 'extra' drive I've had in another linux-based PC that's not being used. This allowed me to move a ton of stuff 'around' on the PC to clear up some room; it's an odd truism that no matter how much space you have, stuff always expands to fill it. At least now I have room to install a ton of games that I've had hanging around on the shelves for a few years, though some of them will need tweaking in order to run under Windows7. I'll also have to MAKE the time to play them, as my habit with my games is to play them for a few hours and forget about them again for months, even years, at a time. Even NWN has been seeing a LOT less playtime in 2012; maybe 2013 will be the Year Of the Game for me?

Nah. I'd rather 2013 was my Year Of The Novel. Now THAT's worth making some room for!

I'm feeling almost normal again, except for the lack of energy, but that's normal from what my doctor told me. It will be at least a month before I am 'back' to my old self again, so I'm taking it easy and not pushing myself to do much each day. The coughing's completely gone now and all I have left to heal are the muscles in and around my right side, which complain whenever I pick up anything more than a paperback book. Seeing as my tendonitis does the same thing now and again of late, I'm not doing any lifting of any sort for a while. It's rest and recovery from the pneumonia for most of January, with job-searching and, I hope, interviews in the meantime.

Shoppers, Sickness and Still Searching

The word of the week is convalescence.

December 17 - No calls

Still no bites from employers. But I'm still game.

Every day I'm searching the job ads, picking out ones that fit my skills( to various degrees )then customizing a cover letter and resume to send out the same day. I've become fairly good at both, targeting my applications to various positions and ensuring I have a good shot at being noticed by the hiring managers, whose names I make every effort to find out before I send in the application - again, to help me get noticed.

Statistically speaking, I should get a call soon, after sending out close to a hundred applications since the early spring.

Yet there's more I need to do: I need to get out.

I've had some 'personal business cards' made up from VistaPrint.ca and they should arrive the first week of January. Now that I can talk again without coughing, I'll be hitting the pavement with a list of local companies in hand, culled from the Yellow Pages, to try my hand in person. Cards and resumes and my personable self are what's going to be seen in the coming month, as I try to get a foot in the door and get hired for 2013.

Wish me luck.

December 18 - Is The Matrix Real?

It looks like the Wachowskis might have had the right idea after all.

A recent scientific theory is causing a stir, as it purports that we are all living in a giant computer simulation. As in, the ENTIRE universe is a massive computer program.

That's a BIG simulation ...

No, I'm not kidding. As hard to believe as it sounds, there are good reasons that may bear out this theory. For one, we may actually BE the only intelligent life in the universe, as our distant descendants want to see just what WE get up to inside their simulation. For another, parallel universes may just be parallel simulations being run. The theory has several ways it might be proven, once the technical bugs are worked out. After all, the theory of relativity was only recently given a boost when an experiment proved that time actually DOES slow down the faster one travels. Who knows what else is possible, given the advance of science?

Better start ordering your cool trenchcoats and sunglasses now.

December 19 - Old games are new again on my phone!

Here and there I've mentioned how much I love new technology, especially my SIII phone. It's a pocket computer that can do SO much more than just be a phone… like, say, allow me to play retro games on the go. Both of which I picked up this week for the incredible outlay of 99 cents each - what a double deal!

Such as R-Type, an arcade shooter from the 80's that I just can't put down, despite not getting past the first level in all these years. One day I WILL conquer the game, though by that time I'll likely be playing it inside my head on wetware. We'll see. In the meantime, you can try your hand at the free online flash version and see how well you do!

The other game is also one I've not managed to make much headway with, but is also incredibly addicting: Another World( aka Out Of This World ). This game blew me away with its rotoscoped graphics when it was released in 1991 for the Amiga. It was completely unlike anything that had come before it: a graphical adventure with no on-screen display, meaning the player was totally immersed in the game as it played out. The into sequence alone is mesmerizing and holds up twenty years later for its simplicity and atmosphere, check it out:

December 20 - HOW small is that new place of yours?

Right now I'm living in a two-bedroom apartment, approximately nine hundred square feet with one bathroom, a kitchen and a combined dining / living room. It's enough to be comfortable in and though there's not a lot of storage, I don't feel cramped.

But what if two people had to live in a place less than a third that size?

That's the idea behind the 220-sq-ft 'micro-apartments' that are being built in San Francisco right now. Several hundred of the tiny units are being constructed under the watchful eye of the city, as places where people who can't afford the sky-high condo prices in the area can still afford and thus live independently. 

Myself, I would find the space tight for one person, but then again I do still have a fair bit of 'stuff' on hand that someone with a more minimalist lifestyle can do without.

Perhaps if I set the place up with wall-to-wall bookshelves, it would work for me… and act as extra insulation( sound and thermal )to boot. I suppose it would depend on the price, too; if owning a place that size was less than rent per month, it'd be a no-brainer.

December 21 - The World Didn't End? Surprise, surprise…

So much for doomsday.

Unsurprisingly, the world kept going about its business today, despite the many dire predictions about the end of the Mayan calendar… as some interpreted it.

Now it goes back to predicting the NEXT end of the world, which I'm sure we'll hear about sooner or later.

Personally, I think that if the world DOES end, it won't be anything predictable. My money's on aliens, but I won't be more specific than that; given the range of things that could happen, I think that the future will get here in its own time, good or bad.

In the meantime, the human race will need to grow up a fair bit.

December 22 - The Hobbit!

I finally got out today to see The Hobbit at an afternoon showing. I used my free Scene points to get a free ticket to the UltraAVX screen, which was in 3D and in the new 48fps format. I really liked the crisp detail that the higher framerate gave the film; the clarity was quite similar to the way my TV at home is set to up the framerate of different types of media to reduce judder and smooth the picture. I found it quite watchable.

Sitting through the movie itself was a pleasure. For the most part Peter Jackson stuck to the book, which was both good and bad in parts. The movie takes about an hour to get moving and feels slow up to that point, introducing us to the many characters. For those who have read the book( who out there hasn't? )it feels like you're hanging around the Shire a little too long, anxious to get started. Once the ball gets rolling, it's mainly a smooth ride, though some parts of the story have been altered to give a different narrative flow. I won't spoil any of the parts, but I found myself at odds a half-dozen times when the film deviated from the book, though admittedly not in ways that made me cry out in horror.

Two thoughts stuck with me as I left the film: there was a LOT of falling… and if the theatrical release was close to three hours long, what the heck is going to be the length of the Extended Version ???

The thoughts were almost enough to drive me to drink… and if I did decide to, I'd want to be at the Green Dragon Pub which recently opened in New Zealand, in The Shire!

December 23 - Out for a spell

Today I actually got out for a bit, going over to the Starbucks at the Chapters downtown on Douglas St. It wasn't all that crowded; busy, sure, but my sister and I found primo seats by the fireplace to sip our bevvys and relax for a spell. Having stopped at the Bay Centre mall ever-so-briefly on the way, I was shocked at how 'thin' the crowds were… I had expected an elbow-jogging crush of bodies plugging the place up as people tried to finish off their lists - apparently not.

That got me to thinking: why wasn't it crazy-crowded?

Perhaps more people are shopping online( and early! )just to avoid that very thing; the ease and convenience of to-your-door delivery means the enochlophobics among us don't have to suffer any more in busy public places. Shop from your cozy home!

I also hope that it shows a rising trend among western culture: that the rampant consumerism is slowing down and perhaps even fading back, in the face of the recession of the last few years. More than a few people I know have mentioned that this year is a quieter year for them, with less emphasis on material things and more on family and friends.

Isn't that what it's supposed to be about anyway?

Dec 24 late update: After another week of not going anywhere or doing much, I'm feeling somewhat like myself again, albeit with a total lack of energy. My coughing's almost stopped and I can breathe normally, but the pain in my right chest is still very much there, especially when I move my arm. I saw my doctor again this morning for a checkup and he confirmed that I've torn several muscles in my chest. It will be another three or four weeks before I lose the pain completely and be back to my old self again, pneumonia-free. Until then, it's yet more rest and convalescing… in between brief sorties for job-searching.

Hacking coughs, Hobbits and Hope

The word of the week is infectious.

December 10 - Turns out I AM very sick …

Today I managed to get an early appointment with my doctor, who confirmed that my coughing isn't of the typical seasonal sort.

I have pneumonia, a fairly advanced case, at that. Not good.

It's a first for me. In addition to the stuff-in-one's-lungs bit,  I've managed to strain / tear the muscles on the inside of my right chest, so that it really, really hurts to cough. My doctor's put me on a course of massive antibiotics and we hope that will clear it up. Cough syrup didn't make a dent in the coughs themselves, but some Tylenol3 seems to have made a dent in their frequency. 

It's serious and I need to focus ALL my remaining energy on recovering.

I feel rotten and it's put a hitch in my plans to seek work face-to-face this week, as I can't speak without coughing. I had to skip a potluck party this past weekend and it's a good thing I did, as I have to impose a no-travel housebound rule on myself this week.

Hopefully it WILL pay not to get out of bed for a few days.

December 11 - What Character Am I?

Over the years when I've played DnD characters, I've tended to play rogues in the main, along with clerics and rangers. Wizards never really appealed to me, as the mechanics of spell use meant never having the right spell memorized or the right scroll on hand. The addition of sorcerers to the game meant a shift in this situation, but again you quickly went through your available power and were down to a drawn dagger to defend yourself with; this didn't appeal to me either.

So it was a surprise to me when I filled out this online questionnaire asking What DnD Character Are You? to learn that I am… a wizard? See for yourself:

Neutral Good Human Wizard/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)
Ability Scores: Strength- 12 Dexterity- 11 Constitution- 11
Intelligence- 15
Wisdom- 17
Charisma- 15

It takes about twenty minutes to fill out the questions and I did so to the best of my abilities… surprising, in the end, to learn I should have played wizards all along.

December 12 - DNA on the cheap? And B5!

Science is wonderful, some days. Expensive though… but things always get less so as research advances. Such is the case with DNA analysis: it used to be if you wanted to get your genetic profile worked out, you'd fork over tens of thousands to a lab, IF they could do it in the first place. Which they couldn't, twenty years ago.

Now you can pay $100 to a place like 23andMe.com to get a complete genetic workup done, allowing you to do such things as trace your ancestry and know your genetic predispositions towards inherited health risks. Isn't science amazing? I think I'll spring for it later this year… once I get a job, that is.

On a side note, the 20th anniversary of Babylon 5 is being celebrated in Phoenix in May 2013. It looks like most of the surviving cast are going to be there, along with a LOT of other talent from other fields. I've not been to a convention in the USA since 1998, so I think it's about time… but I'm VERY hesitant to book anything, as right now I don't even know how I'd pay for it, let along what I'll be doing in May 2013.

Hopefully working.

December 13 - Trying to recover…

This week has seen me do nothing but stay inside with the drapes shut, to keep in the heat and stop the drafts from the 1970's-era windows that radiate cold. It's been dull… but:

I spent a couple of nights at my parents, where it's much warmer and supposedly quieter which would help my recovery, but last night was an exception. For the first time in many months apparently, the people upstairs had a LOUD party from 12am-2am, which is when the cops finally showed up. The lack of sleep did not help my recovery one bit and I went home today, just in case the morons decide to do it again. Standing in the hall feeling faint, listening to whoever was in there yelling and playing their guitar while other people chased each other around the place, I felt sick. Sick that some people can have so little regard for others that they don't care a shred that their life choices affect others so directly. As someone who's compassionate and empathetic, I can't fathom that there are those who would rather watch the world burn than help put it out… or worse yet, pose for a picture for their friends with the flames. One can only hope that karma catches up with them quickly, in this case.

I went home the next morning.

December 14 - The Hobbit… not.

I had planned on going to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for the midnight screening tonight, but being sick has put a kybosh on that long-anticipated thrill. I'll probably go see it next weekend, hopefully not by myself; the last time I tried to organize a movie night, it flopped big time, so I'll leave it be for a while especially at this very busy holiday time of year.

I'm a BIG detailed poster - click me!

What about The Hobbit being split into three films though? How do I feel about that?

In a word: awesome!

I'd MUCH rather that as much material from the book make it to the screen as possible. I've seen arguments that The Hobbit is 'just a children's book' but I disagree; it's a complete tale in and of itself and shouldn't be shoehorned into a two-hour version, as Hollywood is wont to do. I'm SO happy that Peter Jackson agrees and has made a trilogy out of the film; I think that his experience on the LOTR films has allowed him to do full justice to The Hobbit and I can't wait to see it in theatres. Hopefully this weekend.

December 15 - Rituals and habits

There's a comfort in doing the same thing each day, of a having a pattern to parts of your life that makes you smile. For the last six months, I've tried to develop a few patterns to bring myself a sense of stability in the face of the unknown. Goodness knows that I haven't had much stability for long since coming to Victoria and for years before that… though there was the other kind of stability that's so bad: a directionless wander that sees your days vanish into a pit of intent, of things Meant To Do but never done. But I won't go there; one of the reasons I came to BC was to change things for the better.

Back to rituals, then.

At various points of my time here in BC, things fell easily into daily patterns. When I was living in Langford, it was more difficult, as work kept intruding on my life and eventually forced me to leave rather than live a waking nightmare with no home life.

When I was writing my novel, it was MUCH easier to form a daily ritual. Rise in the morning, search for jobs, work on my contest entries, put down some more thoughts on The Novel, then get to work ON the writing process after lunch until tea time, when we usually called it for the day. Watch some Kung-Fu Panda or Penguins of Madagascar( depending on the month )and go for a walk. Have dinner, work on the novel outline, play some games or read, then bed. And repeat. It was a wonderful, creative time that had no interruptions save the idiots upstairs( and those I simply left behind by going upstairs to the SkyLounge )and those I made for myself.

I may never have that again, at least not until I retire. In twenty or thirty years.

December 16 - Hope

It's been a rather down week for me.

I've applied for a dozen jobs, any one of which I could be satisfied doing and some I could even grow into a career. If they'll just call me, that is… so far, zilch.

But I have to keep trying, doing my best to present myself as an excellent candidate. I haven't had any leads from networking, so I'm forced mainly to apply for jobs that are advertised along with many other people. Being ill for the last month has really socked my plans to get out and discover jobs, which seems to be the only way I'll be able to make headway. Things will start to come to a head after January, when funds dry up.

Still, I have to keep a positive outlook on things. While I don't have my health( right now ), my situation is mainly that of not enough cashflow. I could be facing things a helluva lot worse than that, like this young woman, who will likely not live to ring in 2013. Her story was one that put my own problems in perspective, which is exactly what she wanted to do with her remaining time: to inspire others. The only thing holding back me, is ME, and if things aren't working out they way they are, it's time to change. Which is also a hard thing to do, but then again I don't want to have to backtrack in my life; I want to move forward, despite the setbacks I'm facing, and try to make a go of success.

See you all next week.