The word of the week is graduate !
May 21 - BURGER DEAL!
Oooh, a discovery today! While I despise karaoke, I found out that a local dive( "restaurant" )called Soprano's has a special EVERY Monday night that just can't be beat: $5.00 for a burger, beer AND fries. Yes, that's right: a 'complete' meal for FIVE BUCKS. My sister and I checked it out for dinner tonight after a long day. The place is literally a hole( well, door... )in the wall. Inside, it reminded me of The Lion Tavern in Port Dalhousie: a bar that someone put together out of leftovers from other bars, painted brown every other year and replaced the TV's showing sports games when they burned out. I was surprisingly comfortable there, but perhaps that's because it was mostly empty. Also, the burgers were HUGE and tasty, probably due to the 'extra' bacon and cheese we each had( adding $6.00 to the total ). The beer was a house draft that went down well and the fries were both plentiful and tasty, in good portions. In the end we were both stuffed and the bill came to $17.50 after taxes... least expensive dinner and drink I've ever had. While we won't be back any time soon, we WILL be back, as a deal this good can't be passed up too often before it's gone. Unbelievably, they made CraveOnline's Top Ten Canadian Sports Bars… which is why I won't frequent the place, as sports bars AND karaoke together make my brain ache.
May 22 - Voices
Yes, voice acting is still on my 'career' horizon; again, it's something that doesn't have a built-in age limit to it. Heck, Stan Lee is STILL narrating things! So far, I've discovered that the best part about voice acting is getting to work with OTHER voice actors. When you line up a whole bunch of top voice acting talent like Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen at a convention - it's magic! Especially when they're reading the ENTIRE script to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope!
May 23 - Creative Thinking
You can put in all the hard work you want, but if you have the imagination of a doorstop, then you're going to plateau sooner or later. On the other hand, creative folks often lack the nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic that Gets Things done; I fall into this category some days as it can just seem like too much. Even so, I do manage to get a fair piece of my mundane day-to-day challenges finished. These past two weeks of moving have seen a lot completed domestically, but creatively it's been a bust, especially thanks to my friggin' arms - burning cables do not a comfy typist make. But I AM persevering and typing a little every day... even when my creativity ebbs low. One way to help get the creative juices flowing, to paraphrase an old metaphor, is to think outside the box. Five Embodied Metaphors That actually Foster Creative Thinking looks at five phrases you've probably heard a hundred times each, REALLY looks at them, to extract the useful truth that often hides in such simple things.
May 24 - What a difference a week makes: Degree?
When I last spoke to my adviser at Brock, she said she'd get back to me "in a week or so" - a month ago. I had been putting the thought of finishing my degree on the back burner as I said last blog post, so I was surprised to get a call today from her. She said she had some news…
I have already qualified for my English degree, she said to me.
Stunned, I gabbled out something like "That's nice. Really?" and tried to get my brain into gear to listen to her. Apparently since I'd last attended Brock back in the day( circa the year 2000 )they had eliminated( in 2011 )the language requirement, which is the only thing I was lacking. Current degree requirements were all met, she said; all I needed to do was to apply to graduate this fall… for a mere $35 and I didn't have to attend, if I couldn't.
May 21 - BURGER DEAL!
Oooh, a discovery today! While I despise karaoke, I found out that a local dive( "restaurant" )called Soprano's has a special EVERY Monday night that just can't be beat: $5.00 for a burger, beer AND fries. Yes, that's right: a 'complete' meal for FIVE BUCKS. My sister and I checked it out for dinner tonight after a long day. The place is literally a hole( well, door... )in the wall. Inside, it reminded me of The Lion Tavern in Port Dalhousie: a bar that someone put together out of leftovers from other bars, painted brown every other year and replaced the TV's showing sports games when they burned out. I was surprisingly comfortable there, but perhaps that's because it was mostly empty. Also, the burgers were HUGE and tasty, probably due to the 'extra' bacon and cheese we each had( adding $6.00 to the total ). The beer was a house draft that went down well and the fries were both plentiful and tasty, in good portions. In the end we were both stuffed and the bill came to $17.50 after taxes... least expensive dinner and drink I've ever had. While we won't be back any time soon, we WILL be back, as a deal this good can't be passed up too often before it's gone. Unbelievably, they made CraveOnline's Top Ten Canadian Sports Bars… which is why I won't frequent the place, as sports bars AND karaoke together make my brain ache.
May 22 - Voices
Yes, voice acting is still on my 'career' horizon; again, it's something that doesn't have a built-in age limit to it. Heck, Stan Lee is STILL narrating things! So far, I've discovered that the best part about voice acting is getting to work with OTHER voice actors. When you line up a whole bunch of top voice acting talent like Billy West, Tara Strong, Maurice LaMarche, John DiMaggio, Kevin Conroy, Jess Harnell and Rob Paulsen at a convention - it's magic! Especially when they're reading the ENTIRE script to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope!
May 23 - Creative Thinking
You can put in all the hard work you want, but if you have the imagination of a doorstop, then you're going to plateau sooner or later. On the other hand, creative folks often lack the nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic that Gets Things done; I fall into this category some days as it can just seem like too much. Even so, I do manage to get a fair piece of my mundane day-to-day challenges finished. These past two weeks of moving have seen a lot completed domestically, but creatively it's been a bust, especially thanks to my friggin' arms - burning cables do not a comfy typist make. But I AM persevering and typing a little every day... even when my creativity ebbs low. One way to help get the creative juices flowing, to paraphrase an old metaphor, is to think outside the box. Five Embodied Metaphors That actually Foster Creative Thinking looks at five phrases you've probably heard a hundred times each, REALLY looks at them, to extract the useful truth that often hides in such simple things.
May 24 - What a difference a week makes: Degree?
When I last spoke to my adviser at Brock, she said she'd get back to me "in a week or so" - a month ago. I had been putting the thought of finishing my degree on the back burner as I said last blog post, so I was surprised to get a call today from her. She said she had some news…
I have already qualified for my English degree, she said to me.
Stunned, I gabbled out something like "That's nice. Really?" and tried to get my brain into gear to listen to her. Apparently since I'd last attended Brock back in the day( circa the year 2000 )they had eliminated( in 2011 )the language requirement, which is the only thing I was lacking. Current degree requirements were all met, she said; all I needed to do was to apply to graduate this fall… for a mere $35 and I didn't have to attend, if I couldn't.
.
.
My smile nearly split my face all morning. I'm going to be a university graduate, at last!
Take that, naysayers… good things DO come to those who wait. Or procrastinate while attending the School Of Life. With that thought, here's Neil Gaiman giving an AMAZING speech to new graduates; HE never graduated( or went )to university either! :-)
May 25 - My feet and the street
Walking is going to be a big part of my daily activities for the next few months, at least until I can get access to an outside locker to store my bike at. I live within 30 minutes walk of almost everything I need here, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to be in the Fairfield / Cook St area. I refuse to take public transit for several reasons, in the main because I am cheap and my feet can get me most anywhere given that the weather here is excellent for walking almost every day. Once I get my bike relocated I can venture further afield, but again walking will easily take me to what I need close by; a bike will just make it faster and right now I don't need speed, I need exercise daily.
Today I walked almost ten kilometers, to get to various places - I have to plan ahead a bit, which I like anyway. I've been diligently using Endomondo to track my walks, so that i can get a solid grasp on how MUCH walking I'm doing in a week or month. One thing that's frustrating is that my phone( HTC Desire HD )tends to stutter when playing music while doing other things( like running Endomondo )so that's been a struggle - taking five minutes at the start of every walk to set up Endomondo and music and wait for the GPS to lock makes me wonder about when I should next upgrade my phone( when my novel is done sounds good! ). Still, just HAVING a phone that can do so much is wonderful as it cuts down on all the gadgets in one's pockets - so I'll learn to adjust to things, for now. Though I do covet the new Samsung Galaxy III...
May 26 - Yoga?
Eurgh. I couldn't fall asleep easily last night for some reason, probably due to the lingering excitement about my degree - still! So with barely six hours of sleep behind me, the kids above me pounded out of bed well before 7 am - yippee. They kept running and pounding and dropping things, so I dragged myself to the front room and endured it for an hour with earplugs, then headphones. Just when I couldn't take it anymore, my sister suggested I join her for yoga up in the Skylounge( as I am calling it ). I've never done yoga before in my life and while it was relaxing, the pain in my arms kept me from fully embracing it - for now. I can see it becoming a fairly regular part of my life, as I badly need to both relax AND improve my flexibility.
For the rest of the day I battled a simmering anger, which I knew was wrong but my lack of sleep kept me from dispelling totally; even a furtive nap didn't help. So I went back up to the Skylounge and wrote for a few hours, alone but for a few passing birds in a place with NOBODY on the floor above and with a view of the city, mountains and sky there at a glance. It was glorious. Soon, I will have worked out how to easily get some internet connections up there on the cheap; right now I am talking to Shaw about their EXO WiFi service, which would see FREE wifi for all the neighbourhood Shaw customers 24/7 if I can wrangle it. That'd make me very happy too!
May 27 - Being Elsewhere
The joys of living with kids… I feel like the ones in the apartment above are my own, since I'm up when they're up. I listen to them run around the place, drop things, jump off couches… touching, really. But since I can't take so much joy so early in the mornings, well before 7am, I am planning on being up and elsewhere well before then. Probably the SkyLounge, with a portable breakfast of some kind and my ASUS tablet so I can get some writing done instead of focusing on the various ways that I don't like being woken rudely.
My smile nearly split my face all morning. I'm going to be a university graduate, at last!
Take that, naysayers… good things DO come to those who wait. Or procrastinate while attending the School Of Life. With that thought, here's Neil Gaiman giving an AMAZING speech to new graduates; HE never graduated( or went )to university either! :-)
May 25 - My feet and the street
Walking is going to be a big part of my daily activities for the next few months, at least until I can get access to an outside locker to store my bike at. I live within 30 minutes walk of almost everything I need here, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to be in the Fairfield / Cook St area. I refuse to take public transit for several reasons, in the main because I am cheap and my feet can get me most anywhere given that the weather here is excellent for walking almost every day. Once I get my bike relocated I can venture further afield, but again walking will easily take me to what I need close by; a bike will just make it faster and right now I don't need speed, I need exercise daily.
Today I walked almost ten kilometers, to get to various places - I have to plan ahead a bit, which I like anyway. I've been diligently using Endomondo to track my walks, so that i can get a solid grasp on how MUCH walking I'm doing in a week or month. One thing that's frustrating is that my phone( HTC Desire HD )tends to stutter when playing music while doing other things( like running Endomondo )so that's been a struggle - taking five minutes at the start of every walk to set up Endomondo and music and wait for the GPS to lock makes me wonder about when I should next upgrade my phone( when my novel is done sounds good! ). Still, just HAVING a phone that can do so much is wonderful as it cuts down on all the gadgets in one's pockets - so I'll learn to adjust to things, for now. Though I do covet the new Samsung Galaxy III...
May 26 - Yoga?
Eurgh. I couldn't fall asleep easily last night for some reason, probably due to the lingering excitement about my degree - still! So with barely six hours of sleep behind me, the kids above me pounded out of bed well before 7 am - yippee. They kept running and pounding and dropping things, so I dragged myself to the front room and endured it for an hour with earplugs, then headphones. Just when I couldn't take it anymore, my sister suggested I join her for yoga up in the Skylounge( as I am calling it ). I've never done yoga before in my life and while it was relaxing, the pain in my arms kept me from fully embracing it - for now. I can see it becoming a fairly regular part of my life, as I badly need to both relax AND improve my flexibility.
For the rest of the day I battled a simmering anger, which I knew was wrong but my lack of sleep kept me from dispelling totally; even a furtive nap didn't help. So I went back up to the Skylounge and wrote for a few hours, alone but for a few passing birds in a place with NOBODY on the floor above and with a view of the city, mountains and sky there at a glance. It was glorious. Soon, I will have worked out how to easily get some internet connections up there on the cheap; right now I am talking to Shaw about their EXO WiFi service, which would see FREE wifi for all the neighbourhood Shaw customers 24/7 if I can wrangle it. That'd make me very happy too!
May 27 - Being Elsewhere
The joys of living with kids… I feel like the ones in the apartment above are my own, since I'm up when they're up. I listen to them run around the place, drop things, jump off couches… touching, really. But since I can't take so much joy so early in the mornings, well before 7am, I am planning on being up and elsewhere well before then. Probably the SkyLounge, with a portable breakfast of some kind and my ASUS tablet so I can get some writing done instead of focusing on the various ways that I don't like being woken rudely.
.
Since this was the second day in a row I'd had less than 6 hours sleep, I felt bleary-eyed and lethargic all day; even a short walk didn’t help. I didn't game online, I didn't do much around the place save read and take a much-extended nap during a quiet period above - boring, but that's all I had in me. The evening was more exciting, in a way, as I watched The Goonies( got it for $4.00, new! )with my sister for a nostalgia kick. What was GREAT tonight was that I FINALLY got to see the brief deleted octopus scene as one of the bonus features! And boy, was it cheesy, but that's what I expected. I still loved it. After, I watched a stellar episode of The Simpsons entitled 'The Book Job' which by chance was ALL about the business of writing… AND it had NEIL GAIMAN in it! I'd say the universe today was trying to tell me something, not subtly either. My arms are feeling better with a week's worth of mostly-rest, so I'm going to try to type more than a few paragraphs this week and see how it goes. I'm not comfortable talking to my computer, despite what you'd think, so being able to sit and type in my own unique half-trained way is very appealing to me. Catch you next week!
Since this was the second day in a row I'd had less than 6 hours sleep, I felt bleary-eyed and lethargic all day; even a short walk didn’t help. I didn't game online, I didn't do much around the place save read and take a much-extended nap during a quiet period above - boring, but that's all I had in me. The evening was more exciting, in a way, as I watched The Goonies( got it for $4.00, new! )with my sister for a nostalgia kick. What was GREAT tonight was that I FINALLY got to see the brief deleted octopus scene as one of the bonus features! And boy, was it cheesy, but that's what I expected. I still loved it. After, I watched a stellar episode of The Simpsons entitled 'The Book Job' which by chance was ALL about the business of writing… AND it had NEIL GAIMAN in it! I'd say the universe today was trying to tell me something, not subtly either. My arms are feeling better with a week's worth of mostly-rest, so I'm going to try to type more than a few paragraphs this week and see how it goes. I'm not comfortable talking to my computer, despite what you'd think, so being able to sit and type in my own unique half-trained way is very appealing to me. Catch you next week!
We're fairly well settled in at the new place now, so this week I'll make some time to take some decent pics of the place. My sister's interior design skills have really made it seem like a home, I think you'll agree when you see the images!
