Clothes, Costumes and Crystals

The word of the week is febrile.

Oct 21 - Equilibrium

I'm sleeping better this week - noticeably so.

My improved diet is definitely having an effect on my daily energy levels and overall mood. It's all about balance and getting the food I need to have every single day has meant that I've been less exhausted after work and more able to fully rest at night. My sleep tracking program has shown that my percentage of 'deep sleep' has risen in the last week from an average low of 50% to the mid-60s and even into the 70s, which is a fantastic improvement overall, at least in the physical sense.

The physical will also reflect on the mental, which is the other half of the coin.

Right now, I'm doing very little outside of work and writing, as I've already said in this blog recently. This past week, I realized that I don't have a circle of close friends here in Victoria, at least not in the sense that I do in Niagara. I don't hang out with people on a regular basis, even once a week, but instead see people here and there at parties or the occasional guests that I have over for game night - which is about once a month or so.

It makes me ponder on sociability and how it's changed for me in middle-age.

Without going into the deep ramifications, what I've discovered so far is that my social circle has thinned since moving to Victoria, which comes as no surprise. I've maintained the links to everyone I knew in Niagara, but they are a lot more tenuous than they were when I could get together in person, especially on short notice, with my friends.

Now that it's just me( and my immediate family ) here in BC, and without regular social group, I found myself playing the role of the observer( and hence the implied author) in my own life. Which is not ideal, but it certainly leaves me a lot of time to devote to writing.

So I'd better be about it, shouldn't I?

Oct 22 - Showgirl No More

Something odd in the news caught my eye this week.

It was an article about Elizabeth Berkley, of all people, who I wouldn't normally say is on my attention radar. Yet there's an odd resonance with her story this week and my own.

The horrible reviews that her movie Showgirls received( and is still receiving to this day ) greatly affected her career. Her talents as an actress( which I'm not familiar with I have to say ) have been overshadowed by this single film for two decades now, hindering her hopes and dreams.

Yet she managed to rise above the scathing shadow of Showgirls recently by putting in an exemplary performance on Dancing with the Stars and so put the past behind her - she earned a perfect score from the judges and proved that she was still to be ranked among the top dancers in Hollywood.

I'm very happy for Ms. Berkley in that sense, as she has managed to shake something that has dogged her for many years - unfairly, as I see it now. Being pigeonholed by a single roll and underestimated while being capable of change must have been devastating, to have carried that for so many years would have been crushing too many.

Now she can move on with her life - just as I have been looking to do.

Oct 23 - AuthorQuest Revealed!

I guess I can't keep it to myself any longer: here's what my secret project is about…

For the last few months, I've been working on something that I hope will turn into a full novel that will be published and read by tens of thousands of people in the near future…

I'm talking about creating a new novel for the Dark Crystal universe.

Henson Productions has put out an open call for submissions for authors of all walks. They're looking for creative minds to tell more stories based in the universe that Jim Henson created when he and many other amazingly talented people brought the world of The Dark Crystal to life a few decades ago.

Luckily, I am a big fan of the movie; I have several hard-to-find books as resources for my incipient story and I had the pleasure of meeting other fans in Phoenix late last spring. There's a plethora of information now available at DarkCrystal.com, so I have a lot of great material to work with in shaping my story.

Yet I'm only half done and the deadline is fast approaching at the end of 2013.

With that in mind, I've been focusing more on completing my submission for The Dark Crystal that I have on editing my own draft, if only for the reason that there are far more immediate and tangible results waiting for me down the one pass and not the other - for now.

I'll have to keep the actual story itself under my hat until the contest is over with and the top five stories are posted on DarkCrystal.com for fans to vote on.

My goal is to be one of those top five! Stay tuned!

Oct 24 - Disney Halloween?

What would Halloween be without costumes?

For that matter, what with Disney be without costumes? I'm glad to see that some artists combine Disney in Halloween each year in interesting ways, as always bring something fresh to the table.

This year I point to the work of Isaiah Stephens, who has re-imagined a bevy of Disney beauties as different characters from various other franchises in fascinating ways. My particular favorite is this one, of Tinkerbell as the Bride from Kill Bill:

Part of what makes an artist's vision unique is finding the subtle ways that different subjects can be matched up. In Isaiah Stephens' case, his artistic eye is rather sharp as he's managed to capture the essence of both characters - in most cases - and translated that into a rich gallery for us to enjoy.

Oct 25 - Honor Harrington

I have a confession to make this week: I've started reading again - regularly.

Not that that's a bad thing, but it's taken me by surprise in that I've been fixated on one author's creation: the Honor Harrington military series by the prolific David Weber.

In early September, I noticed that the first book of the long-running series, On Basilisk Station was listed as free on the Amazon Kindle site - my favorite kind of price point! After I downloaded it and read a few chapters, I was hooked: it was exactly my kind of military space opera, with lots of action, memorable characters and dynamic plots with good pacing. I found myself quickly downloading the next book in the series( also for free! )and within a week I had read them both.

Soon after that I downloaded the next book… and the next. And the next. I was soon up to the seventh book in as many weeks and that's only with my reading the stories at night, on breaks at work or while I sat out having tea a few times during the week. It's been gratifying to know that my reading speed has not diminished during my hiatus from devouring novels and that I'm still able to finish them off without skimming at a pace that I'm used to. I could do a book a day if I put my mind to it and had 4 to 6 hours to devote solely to reading - I'm THAT quick when it comes to something that I enjoy and that isn't heavy going with lots of mental gymnastics and troublesome phraseology.

However, I have a book of my own to write and I've been making sure that when I read of late, it's only to relax and not to take the place of my own writing - tempting as that is correct.

For now, the Honor series of books is the perfect escape for me. It's exciting, able to be taken in digestible chunks and there's a LOT of books remaining. Wonderful!

Oct 26 - Fashionable, me?

I received an unexpected and wonderful gift today: clothes!

My wonderful sister dropped by briefly with a bag full of stylish things for me to wear, completely out of the blue. I was told simply that I was due for a wardrobe upgrade and she decided today was the day.

It should be noted that I buy close as often as I buy cars, that is to say almost never. My closet is not something that I consciously look to fill with new things but rather instead think of it only when something wears out to the point where a noticeable draft gets through the holes and so alerts me.

To have five new shirts to wear is an unimaginable luxury to me and I'm just thrilled with them, especially as they were a total surprise. The phrase that springs to mind is "The clothes make the man" and the reason that it sticks in my head of late is that I've paid very little attention to how I look, apart from my usual shaving and showering - it's always been the same clothes, in different combos, that I spend almost no time selecting in order to save energy for other things.

An outward appearance reflects the inner and for me that's been fairly utilitarian. I know that I've been blessed with decent looks and need little upkeep to be presentable, but when I don't spend the effort, it definitely shows. Especially now with my longer hair, but that's another story. I'll definitely be showing off my new fashions whenever I get the chance soon - something totally new to me and an area of myself I'll enjoy exploring.

Though I don't expect to turn into a clothes horse anytime soon

Oct 27 - Work, Home, No Problem

Today was a good day at work.

There was no crazy rush of people the whole time, though I didn't take my first break until four hours into my shift as it was very steady. I talked to quite a few folks, doing my job by matching their needs to various tech products that were on the floor for sale and generally being my genial self.

I'm not a natural salesperson, but I do have my honest integrity that I wear on my sleeve and that's usually enough to let me talk easily to people. I certainly wouldn't make a living if I was selling things on commission, but my current job means that I do well enough that I've yet to be brought to task for not living up to perform its expectations. Considering that I am making very little in terms of an hourly wage, working on commission might be better for me but that won't happen where I am right now and to be honest I don't want to make a living as a salesman.

What I do want to do is to do better at my job without spending excessive amounts of energy doing so. I need to find a mental switch to flip to see my job as a means to an end and not a drain on my resources that precludes devoting my best part of my energies in a day to my true passion: writing.

I'm a writer with a day job. While it doesn't pay my bills, it does pay and for now that will have to be enough while I continue to get my feet under me in various respects. I'm definitely looking for another job, yet I know that finding something measurably better is extremely difficult here in Victoria. Spending a year looking taught me that I need to make a more networked contacts in order to track down positions in the hidden job market if I want to make a decent hourly wage or salary.

Or I could land a publishing contract. The choice is mine: it all depends on how much harder I want to push myself and how much smarter I want to go about it.

My days off are for writing; that's the promise I made myself in October and so far it's been rather hit and miss. With the end of the year approaching, I can no longer devote energies to anything other than my writing and getting through my workplace. There's nothing else in my life right now.