Luck, Letters and the Love of the Game

The word of the week is salacious.

Jan 13 - Baker's Dozen Day

Thirteen's become a good number for me.

The many variations of the number seem to be showing up more and more in my life. 2013 was the year I took up a new job, printed up copies of my novel's second draft and sent them out, entered a major contest held by Jim Henson Co. and had quite an experience at the Phoenix AZ Comicon.

Today being Monday the 13th, it didn't occur to me that it might be an odd or unlucky day; not at all. Instead, I choose to take each day as it is and make the best of it - anticipating worry or trouble is a sure way to find it on the road you're traveling.

Also, I just enjoy finding the number 13 here and there every day, reveling in the unraveling of negative assumptions that people tend to place on the number.

There's lots of boom in this picture!

My evening was a fantastic one, as I led our writer's group in talking about writing weaponry. We had a large turnout of over a dozen folks and it was quite a lively evening chatting about the topic. The information I'd researched was well-received, with the flow of the discussion going all sorts of interesting places before I managed to lead the banter back to the handout outline I'd prepared. 

Amazingly, I finished exactly at the time I planned on and people still lingered to chat afterwards, which doesn't usually happen. Most everyone there said they enjoyed themselves, which is all I can hope for... and one newcomer said it was an amazing introduction to the group.

A pretty good wrap-up for a Monday, I'd say!

Jan 14 - The Hobbit Pt. 2

I went to see a movie tonight, the first one in many months.

My choice de jour was the second installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit film trilogy: The Desolation of Smaug. I had high hopes that this would be an improvement on the first film, for which I have rather mixed feelings and still maintain needs a good half-hour minimum trimmed from it, along with some other tweaks. SPOILER ALERT for the 2nd film, below!

A little side note here: even though I left for the theater a mere 20 min. before the film started, I made it in plenty of time, despite the large lines of the front… all thanks to technology. I purchased my ticket online while standing outside the theater, walked in past all the people to pick up my ticket and was on my way to my seat a mere handful of minutes after leaving my front door. I love mobile tech!!!

Back to the film, though. The acting was excellent, the scenery was wonderful, the costumes and CGI were all extremely well done - no complaints there. Even the addition of Evangeline Lily's character Tauriel to the story was acceptable, as she played the role with aplomb and just looks darn good as an elf - that's the one exception I'm willing to make.

The movie's biggest draw turned out to be its biggest flaw: Smaug.

The dragon's time on-screen was overplayed, a LOT. In the book, Bilbo's encounters with the dragon are brief, tension-filled battles of wit and the dwarves do not meet the dragon at all. In the movie however, there are long extended chase and combat scenes involving the dwarves and the dragon, not a moment of which appear in the book. I took it to indicate that it was simply Peter Jackson's way of extending the film to show off the marvelous CGI he'd paid for and to hear gravelly baritone of Benedict Cumberbach as Smaug.

Leaving the theater, I was seized by the urge to reread The Hobbit again when I got home, in part to cleanse my imagination of someone else's vision. While I still very much enjoy Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy of films, I will not be buying any of The Hobbit films until( if? )a much-needed director's cut surfaces somewhere. Considering that The Hobbit was one of the first fantasy books I ever read, I have to say that I'm extremely underwhelmed by what appeared on the screen, culminating in my rating it a simple 'Meh' overall - 3 out of 5.

Maybe the next reboot will change that; one can hope. 

Jan 15 - Spare Change?

Fear helped me write this small portion of this week's blog.

One thing I never saw when I was growing up in Niagara were street people; I can't recall running into any when I was growing up and only a very few in the decades afterwards. They simply weren't part of the local experience there and I associated a panhandling life with larger cities like Hamilton or Toronto.

Moving to Victoria, that all changed.

Street people are a fact of life here; you see them every day no matter where you go around the downtown core and quite often in busy areas outside of that main zone. Working for MMart, I quite often dealt with the less polite ones and those with more serious problems face-to-face, which educated me quickly on the difficulties that these challenged human beings endure every single day.

My fear was that I could all too easily become one of them.

Having lived so close to the edge financially and personally for so many years, I struggled inside every time I saw a street person here. I empathize deeply with them, knowing as a writer that behind every face was a story, choices made with consequences that resulted in the person I saw on the outside. Any major life failure on my part might have seen me sharing the streets with them all too easily. 

But what worried me far more would have been seeing my family in such a position.

That fear kept me up at night far too often here in Victoria, trying to make sense of things as I struggled with a soul-killing day job that could have seen me summarily fired for most any misstep. It was a huge source of stress for me, to keep my family cared for, while negotiating the corporate minefield and taking in a paycheck while searching for a way out of treading financial water and not being able to move forward with my own dreams.

Now that things are looking up both financially and personally, for myself and my family, I have to remind myself that it still comes down to the choices we make. Sometimes luck may factor into it, in terms of timing, but we still have to live with the consequences. Every time I see a street person here asking for spare change, I see myself so easily doing the same thing, had things gone only a little differently. I'm not sure that feeling will ever disappear completely.

I'm also not sure that it should.

Jan 16 - Well-Written!

After work today, I met a friend for coffee.

We hadn't caught up for quite some time in person, which is still my preferred way to do things in this day and age of instant social media. After a while, talk turned to my writing, talking about my Dark Crystal submission which I called up on my phone for them to read after a little while.

They read it in complete silence, totally absorbed.

This was a good sign, as nothing in the story seemed to jar them out of their fierce concentration and I took that as high praise. When they were done, we talked a little bit about what they liked about the story and as with quite a few other people, they praised my vivid descriptions along with the tight flow of the story. I was quite tickled to talk about the story, as I've had little feedback on it in general.

The other feedback I received was for my blog: huzzah!

It was fascinating to talk on that as well, given that few comments are ever left and I rarely - if ever - discuss my blog with people. As it turns out, my friend visits my blog regularly every week and said that of all the blogs they visit, they ONLY one they read every new entry on… is mine. Interestingly, they also find it hard to describe my blog. It's not a journal nor a diary, it's not a travelogue or a rant or a summary of my day to day activities - yet it still has a distinctive voice and gets people to read it. 

Incredibly, another friend told me this week by saying my blog was the ONLY piece of quality content they had found on Facebook this week - how cool is THAT to hear? Just to know that people enjoy reading my blog on a regular basis drives me to do the best job I can every single week to make it a good read. Some weeks, it's not as easy to be interesting… or even just to get the blog done. Other weeks, it's a joy to write.

I'll leave you, the reader, to decide which is which with each entry.

Jan 17 - Brave Letters

Today I wrote a letter I should've written six months ago.

It was to one of the stars of Babylon 5 that I had met in Phoenix last May. I don't write fan letters, or letters in general, so this was something rather special.

I had met this star the day after the B5 Reunion Evening, at which I had quite the life epiphany and so was feeling rather much on top of the world. When I got down to the main show floor and went to get their autograph - the ONLY autograph I got at the show - I was disappointed that we couldn't chat, even briefly, as they had lost their voice from talking so much over the weekend. 

How's that for timing?

All the same, the experience left me a little wanting for closure and during the entire time since, I've mulled over whether or not to write a letter. Quite honestly, I wasn't sure what to say.

Today, that letter just poured out of me. Of a sudden, the words finally coalesced in my mind and within half an hour - just like a similar experience for me in Phoenix - I had it finished, as perfect as I could have ever wished it to be. I'll be mailing it off this coming week... and so as not to tease you further, here's the last bit that I wrote:

PS - You may be wondering why am I including a $10 USD bill. On the last day of the Phoenix convention, I had just $20 USD left, despite having bought nothing from the vast Vendor's Hall as I was determined to get your autograph. It was the only one I wanted from the cast, so I went off to line up. Fortunately, there were not so many people waiting and I went up to meet you… only to discover I'd misread things: pictures were $30! Despite losing your voice, you obviously recognized my shamed confusion and graciously allowed me to still purchase a photo of my choice, for which I was immensely grateful. While I regretted being unable to speak with you, your actions spoke far more eloquently. For that simple kindness, again I thank you!

After writing the letter, I watched a movie I'd been putting off seeing.

Appropriately, it was Brave. I've been meaning to see this Disney film for some time, in the main because of the titular character, Meridia. Also because most everyone I've asked has said it's a fantastic film. I wasn't disappointed - it was excellent! Smart, sharply-written and with stunning CGI( the hair! ) It was a treat to watch and fairly moving in parts.

What had me grinning from ear to ear, though, was the uncanny similarities between the heroine and my own character, Nichneven. Both are strong-willed, capable women who don't fit into the moulds that their society has made for them… AND who set out to do something about it. To see the wonderful similarities between the two up on the screen was quite magical and in my mind, Nichneven may have found a sister she never knew she had.

That's a pretty cool thing to a storyteller like me.

Jan 18 - The Obvious

As a writer, I HAVE to be observant, for any good writing comes from noticing everything around you, big and small, to relate to your readers through your work. But sometimes things are right in front of you and you can't see them…

Case in point: my cycling jacket.

I've had the same jacket for over a decade. It's held up very well for a Canadian Tire special, with lots of features that were usually found on far more expensive jackets. Including two features that I've only recently discovered… well, actually discovered uses for, as I've never really wondered about them. Weird, that is.

On each of the wrists are little elastic loops, which I always thought you attached your gloves to keep them from falling off when you weren't wearing them. Lo and behold, I had a brainstorm a few weeks ago, oddly enough during a rainstorm: these loops actually went over your thumbs to keep the cuffs of the jacket tight up against your wrists and so keep out the rain.

Duh. I've no idea why didn't see that before. And the other thing: one of the zippers on the back actually opens up into a pocket, which you can place various things in - like wallets = to keep them dry. 

Kinda of obvious, that one as well. Yet until now, they've escaped my notice because I've not bothered to focus on them, just the jacket in general: put it on, take it off, keep it clean...

There's still some kind of clasp inside the pocket that I can't quite figure out. I'm determined to souse out its function now that I've reminded myself it's there again, without referring to the Internet. Figuring things out, however minor as they may be, is one of the purest pleasures in life.

As long as one actually notices them, of course.

Jan 19 - Fang33k Gaming

Seeing as I spent almost 12 hours at work today, more or less, I'll talk about something more interesting: fan-made games.

As some of you may be aware, many years ago I voiced a small part in a Babylon 5 videogame called I've Found Her. It was created by Space Dream Factory, a group of Russian programmers whose love of the television series was such that they devoted much of their own free time to creating a wonderful gaming experience.

Other fans have created amazing works as well in the videogame world. One such incredible creation comes from the mind of one bWWd, a huge fan of the Masters of The Universe. It's a fighting game, done with such incredible attention to detail that you'd think it was an official product from Hasbro, but you'd be wrong. Have a look at this amazing footage:

Downloading it and playing it is easy from this link - just be warned that if you play in full-screen there's no graceful way( yet )to exit the game, which I found out my amusement in my rush to experience the glory of battle in the He-Man universe.

In this connected world we live in, it's getting easier and easier to form communities of like-minded people. For g33ks, it's even easier, as we intimately understand the technology that is linking us all together on many levels. Being able to share one's passion, whatever the subject, is a very empowering thing, especially when it results in creations like the games I've mentioned above.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go battle a few evil creatures with my powersword…

In about six weeks, I'll find out about the Dark Crystal submission; I'm so excited! In the meantime, I have to buckle down and get other things done around here, including editing my novel's draft. I've managed to score a lot of cool tech toys this week by various strokes of luck, so that's kept me busy, but it's been worth it. Soon enough I'll update everyone on how the writing's going, along with the way Spring seems to be showing up early here; I love BC!