The word of the week is succinct.
Sept 16 - Who, me?
Something cool happened today: I got a personal message from
one of the publishers of Babylon 5 books, people to whom I've given a decent
chunk of change to over the years for some of their fantastic publications. One
of the editors there had been referred to me by none other than Claudia Christian, regarding one of the videos I took at Phoenix Comicon 2013 of that worthy lady's
seminar, which you can see below:
The editor was interested to know if I still had the
original recording, which would be of higher quality. Of course I answered that
I did, as I keep everything given the decent storage space I built here on my home
PC. After a brief back-and-forth, I learned that they wanted to use the
recording in an upcoming project of theirs. Tickled, I quickly acquiesced to their
request for my help. My unasked-for reward will be a free copy of that mystery project,
which I think is more than compensation enough as I'll have contributed a small
part to it myself.
Which is a pretty cool thing for a Babylon 5 fan, I think.
Sept 17 - Escaping Escapism
One can't escape escapism, ironically.
It's very popular nowadays, with many problems people try to
leave behind when they get home from a long day. Some escape through
television, others through various hobbies and some through other means best
left unmentioned here. Yet the people with more imagination escape to places
they find within the pages of a book. For many people, escapism is the only way
they can deal with their problems.
I've mentioned the topic before in my blog a few times. It's
something that I know I've struggled with here and there over the years, as
it's been much easier to run away from a particular problem into a fantasy
world rather than formulate a strategy to deal with it.
However, like anything in life, you should try to learn from
what your problems are. For me, reading as much as I did, I realize that in
many of the stories I read there was no escape for the protagonists: they had to deal with their problems, which were a lot bigger ones than mine
have been. Not to belittle my own issues, but they do tend to pale when there's total universal destruction weighing in the balance.
I still escape from time to time, but it's of my own
choosing and for some time now, I haven't done so just to leave a problem
behind. More like gain a little space to think about a solution, which I think
is a lot healthier.
Sept 18 - The answer is… 42 - maps!
Maps are awesome
They can do a lot more than just let you know where you are.
Tons of information can be packed into maps, representing in a visual manner
different types of data that you wouldn't be able to conceptualize if it were
just presented in printed form. I'm currently working on a map for my novel and
I have quickly come to realize that I'm no cartographer, but I'll still do my best
nonetheless.
A recent video on YouTube called "42 Amazing Maps"
has gone viral, thanks to the enthusiasm of the presenter and the vivid detail
of his material, the aforementioned maps in question. Have a gander at what he
has to say and marvel at the mappy visuals he presents:
Sept 19 - Immortality?
Who doesn't want to live forever?
If Google has their way, it seems that everyone will be able
to. That's kind of mind-boggling, to be quite honest, as humans have been
grappling with their mortality first long as we've been around.
Some folk believe that a brief life lived well is best,
while others think that we should all get a crack at having more than a century
on average to do things. I happen to come down on the latter fence's side, as I
believe there's a lot to be experienced in this universe, too much for us not
to try to reach out for it all. Especially given that humans are currently
limited to a brief lifespan spent on a single planet - that's not really fair, is it?
What would it be like I wonder, if we were all still around
1000 years from now? Will humanity have achieved the Singularity state, left
Earth and journeyed to the stars?
There are so many questions that I have and so many things
that I'd like to see, so much that can't be done in a single human lifetime on
this planet. I'm hoping that myself personally or a close analogue of me will still
be around to find out, if Google's project pans out successfully within my
lifetime.
That's pretty exciting.
Sept 20 - New Wheels?
The invention of the wheel changed the world.
Since that fateful day so long ago, we've tried to reinvent
it over and over again. So much so that the very phrase that embodies the
reinvention of the wheel has come to mean "Why fix something that's not
broken?"
Well, for one thing, a tire is a type wheel and those
definitely could use some improvement, as they tend to explode when things penetrate
them. New technologies and materials have meant that the run-flat tire is now morphing
into solid tires - again a technology from my much-beloved game of Car Wars
from the 1980s. Just goes to show that I was ahead of the game( pardon the pun )again, I guess.
I like Hankook's new take on the idea of an airless tire; it gives me a sense of
safety when I think about it. I've had too many flat tires over the years,
including one run of no less than five on a family vacation to Florida many
years ago. Having solid tires only makes sense in a world full of sharp pointy things.
Sept 21 - B5 At 20 arrives
A very special book arrived in the mail today - I'm so
excited!
Babylon 5 at Twenty is
a massive coffee-table book measuring a full square foot in size. It's filled
with an incredible number of high-quality photos and information culled from hard-to-find
sources, many of which have not been seen in any form of publication until now.
 |
| It arrived in a shiny purple package - snazzy! And SO COOL! |
I think it's a fitting companion to my experience in Arizona
this past May in 2013. It's a physical documentation of the journey of my
favorite television experience, Babylon 5, since its inception 20 years ago
until today. I'll planning to be frugal in reading through it, turning only a few pages per
day in order to prolong my first read of this amazing collector's item that I
was privileged to be able to purchase at an affordable price - that's saying a
lot considering my current budget.
Given that I don't have a lot of
collectibles( or the urge to build said collection ) than it is all the more
noteworthy that I purchase something like this to keep for many decades to come;
it's archival-quality pages will be just as fresh twenty years from now as they are
today.
Would that I can say the same thing about myself then; we'll
see, won't we?
Sept 22 - Up in Arms
My arms have been aching on and off for the last few weeks,
but good news: my right arm's muscle tear seems to be healing, if somewhat slowly. I am
again quite thankful that I'm not on the floor at work hauling printers and chairs
and desks every day, which has allowed my arm to slowly heal. I'm still unable
to play video games or type for more than 15 min. of the time, but at least my
arms don't ache at the end of the day very much compared to how they did just a year
ago. I'm hoping that in another year, I'll be able to go back to using them as
normal and not have to worry about every move I make with them when it comes to
any kind of weight or extended usage. I'm just glad that they're still
attached and usable.
A related note, I'm also surprised by how much time
domestic chores take up of a day. It's quite a lot, even living in an
apartment, without having to tend to the needs of a lawn or garden or even a
vehicle. There's still quite a few minutes of the day that get eaten up by
chores and having thought about it, I'm again grateful to have both the dishwasher
and access to a laundry in the building on the same floor. These time-savers do
eat up some minutes, but I shudder to think what it would be like if I had to
travel to do laundry or wash the number dishes we use on a daily basis.
In the end, it's all about what we do with our time and for
me, it's becoming more and more precious these days. Sometimes we have to think about the mundane to appreciate that it's not all that there is in our lives, that the necessary paves the way for the extraordinary.
It's been a long week, with some low points, but now it's the end of the weekend - and the end of summer - and I think I have a handle on things. See you all next week.
