The word of the week is confluence.
Nov 18 - Beneficence
Weight and energy are intricately linked for me now in my
mind.
Right along with food, of course. The last two weeks I've
been eating more, and more often, with some solid results. My weight has stayed
rather steady and my energy levels have been a lot higher overall, along with
some much better( and consistent ) nights of restful sleep. Having a tracking program on my phone that lets me know that precisely really helps as well.
This has also had a positive effect on my mood, which has
become much more balanced and I've been able to step back from situations much
more easily rather than lose myself in the moment. Which is very helpful when
work or life pokes me in the eye, looking for an instant reaction, which I don't
want.
What I do want seems to be finding me, albeit slowly and at
strange times. As I've mentioned before, writing and working for all that I'm
doing right now, which makes it much easier to focus. I am looking for another
job, if only because my current one demands too much of my mental and physical
energies every day that I KNOW I have to put towards my writing instead if I want to
make that into something major.
For now, the winter months will be ones where I spend my
free time in my head, working on things that will bring my dreams of writing
for living much closer.
Those thoughts will keep me warm when it's cold outside.
Nov 19 - Buckling Down
The pace has been picking up for my Dark Crystal writing
project.
This week, I've made great strides in getting the general
outlines straightened out for my short piece. Getting the details right is
critical for my writing process, as it sets the framework for my mental images
to form properly and lets the themes of the story coalesce naturally as my
brain gets everything sorted out.
I'm very close to getting to the writing itself, as I can
feel the story forming, which is very exciting. Coming at things with the image
of the blank page never works for me; I just have to get all the little puzzle
pieces arranged in a pattern before I can start to assemble them into place.
Sometimes that means I get separate little stories, all part of a whole, while
other times a great story arc forms out of the pieces I've carefully laid out.
The next few weeks will be very exciting ones for me to
discover!
Nov 20 - Bad Bugs Bourgeoning
Regular flu shots may be only the tip of the medical iceberg
to come.
I've already have mine this year, but as I learned last
year, influenza can come in both a bacterial and viral form. In the case of a
bacterial influenza, antibiotics are the way to go, but a worrying trend in the
last decade has seen completely antibiotic-resistant bugs develop and start to spread
alarmingly across the world.
An article this week in Wired magazine explores just how
widespread the effects of these new bugs would be on our lives, well beyond
just making people sick. If antibiotics become ineffective due to their
overuse( as Alannis Morrisette famously croons about ) then
we will see a whole range of routine medical procedures become dangerous
undertakings, among many other things.
It's very worrying and I wonder how we'll manage this
looming health threat.
Nov 21 - Bouncing Brains
Work this week has been wonderfully different, for the most
part.
When I've not been pulled from the Tech Office onto the
floor to help( for various reasons ), it's been rather nice, as I'm getting a
feel for the job. Setting up computers, diagnosing problems and transferring
data from old systems to new ones are things that I feel very comfortable with.
Learning the procedures that are in place is a vital part of the job, as I have
to ensure that standards are always maintained. Nothing unusual there.
The fun part of the job is working with people on a daily
basis, where sales are only part of the job, instead of the all-consuming primary focus. It's
also rather nice not to have to heft heavy objects with my still-fussy wrists
day-to-day on top of dealing with the frustration of finding products for customers
while doing five different things at once... because there are too often too few people to
deal with the variable business volume.
If I could do this five days a week( once I'm properly
trained - again; this is the 4th dept in 9 months ) then I think I'd be content doing the job( for now )for what I'm being paid. I've
noticed that I'm smiling a lot more and that's transmitting to the people I
work with, keeping their stress levels down as well. Which means I can focus on writing.
Definitely a good thing.
Nov 22 - Bountiful Blessings
Two great pieces of news arrived today!
The first was that my sister has been offered ( and
accepted! )a permanent position at her government job today. This means that
instead of being on contract, she is now a full-time employee and thus her
income as part of our little shared household is secure.
Which means a LOT less worry for me in terms of my own job
not providing nearly as much income or security. With her income stream firmly
in place, we can plan more easily for the near future and worry less about how
each week will fall out financially. It's fantastic news and we're both very
happy about it!
On the same note, I received an unexpected cheque in the
mail today for a decent sum. As it turns out, my benefits have finally gone
through at my workplace after months of paper shuffling and delays. Which has
meant that my MSP premiums that I have been paying since the beginning of the
year have been adjusted to reflect my employment status, with the result that
half of each premium I paid every month was returned to me - huzzah! While it's
not an incredible sum of money, it's definitely welcome and goes to show that
good things do happen at the unlikeliest times and places.
The next surprise I'm hoping for? Getting a letter in the
mail for one of my stories!
Nov 23 - Bye-Bye, Biggest Bookstore
A sad note today for booklovers everywhere.
The World's Biggest Bookstore, located in Toronto, is
closing its doors in February 2014.
As a child, I loved the occasional visits we made to this
vast space full of books whenever my family made the trip to Toronto for the weekend.
Usually it was a stroll through the Eaton Centre, with a diversion to the newer
Atrium Place at the north end of the block… and just on the other side of that
was the World's Biggest Bookstore, where I could always find something new and
interesting to entertain my mind.
All things change and that in itself is generally a good thing. I
haven't been to the Biggest Bookstore in decades and its unlikely that I'll get
there before it stores are closed forever. I will have my memories though, seen
from the eyes of a young boy for whom the stacks of books towered well over his
head whenever he ran eagerly through the doors. Stretching almost as far as a boy could
see, the rows of bookshelves promised treasures hidden in plain sight, waiting
to be discovered. It was a wonderful, magical place.
That's a feeling I hope I'll never outgrow.
Nov 24 - Beautiful Blade Runner
If there's ever been an iconic vision of future, then
Stanley Kubrick's work is it.
The masterpiece that is Blade Runner came out back in the
summer of 1982 and has continued to influence generations of artists, writers,
filmmakers and many others when it comes to envisioning the future. I happen to
own four different versions of the movie, watching some of them from time to time and
marveling in the incredible cinematic experience that happens every time it's
on the screen.
Artist Anders Ramsell has animated Blade Runner by painting 12,597
different water color paintings and stringing them together into beautifully
fluid sequences. It's incredible, you feel like you're watching Blade Runner,
you get to hear Harrison Ford and follow the story but you're seeing it like
never before—in moving art.
It's been an interesting week, one of the more relaxing and
good-news-filled ones I can recall for quite some time. I'm eating better,
sleeping better and enjoying work FAR more while worrying LESS on a daily
basis. Which are ALL good things when it comes to being in the proper frame of
mind to be creative and WRITE. I'm looking forward to the next six weeks of
solid creativity as I complete my entry into the Dark Crystal AuthorQuest
contest… and try to get a handle on where my day job will end up taking me.
