The word of the week is implacable.
May 23 – Steady On
Strange... as I place things in this blog, thinking
that I never have enough space( nor time )to write down everything
that's going through my mind of the week. My brain is always busy, churning out
comparisons, criticisms and conundrums each and every hour of every day. Over
the years, I've managed to impose a sort of order on the chaos, in that some
thoughts get written down for later cogitation wallet let others play in the
mud until they're exhausted.
It's a good mental construct, I think.
Getting through each week mentally is always
unique: some weeks are quite challenging and draining, while others are
energizing... it all depends on what factors are driving me day-to-day during
those dates.
Some weeks I want to hunker down and just ignore
the crazy going on around me, while other times I can barely climbed down from
the peak from which upon I'm viewing so much of the world( which is a
metaphor for too much time spent on the Internet ) which in turn sparked so
many more thoughts...
Given that I have a lot to do this year, my brain
has to be in the right kind of shape to deal with my daily work challenges
while still leaving enough unused fuel to burn for my creative endeavors of an
evening... and since I've been managing to control my anxiety daily fairly well
these last few months, I can focus far better.
That makes me happy - as well as balanced.
May 24 – The same Thing We Do Every Night...
What writer doesn't love a good plot?
I know I do, and the zany plans of the infamous
lab-mouse duo in Pinky And The
Brain always fascinated me: how can such crazy plans actually work, even in
concept?
There were quite a few episodes of the show, and
in many of them Brain almost got what he wanted: to take over the world, but
somehow it never actually worked out, in the end. I own the entire series on DVD and darned if I haven't wanted to watch it all again lately...
Keeping track of the plans was too much for my
brain however, and I can only recall a few of them, crazy as they were.
Thankfully, a kind soul over at io9.com has put together a complete list of all
94 wild schemes that were hatched. Some of my favourites are #'s 12, 29 and 55.
Now sing the theme song with me in your head...
May 25 – Why Laserdiscs?
Why, you ask, would I get into an old-tech hobby?
It's a good question, and there's more than a few
good answers as to the reasons I decided in late 2015 to find myself in
possession of some 20-year-old precursors to DVD's and a couple of
semi-working( argh! )players.
In the main, I dived in because of Babylon5, as
the CGI for the show frankly looks like crap on DVD, as they did a terrible job of transferring the video from the broadcast footage. It's very much like
watching television before HD, when people wearing striped suits would have
'crawling lines' all over them... it's hard to watch.
This lovely video explains almost all the major
factors( from a new collectors viewpoint )of why people might decide to
get into collecting laser disks. I found that it contained many of my own
reasons for starting this not-too-expensive( but could easily become so )hobby,
and it's worth watching:
May 26 – Simpsons Advice
What if Moe Sizlack gave a commencement
address at a college?
Interestingly, Hank Azaria did just that this
year, addressing his alma mater's graduating class of 2016 to give them some
pointers and life advice he's picked up while providing so many of the
memorable voices on The Simpsons, plus his other roles in Hollywood.
It's a great speech, and for me the parts that
rang true to my own journey were where Hank talks about 'taking your own time'
to find what works for you, and only you. I think it's a great speech,
enlivened by Hank having many of our fave friends from The Simpsons give
advice in character - give it a watch, it's worth it:
May 27 – Long Week
Dang, but this was a long short week.
Monday was the holiday Victoria Day, and so the week should
have felt shorter... but it didn't, as we're down a person at work on our team
and so when things are steady, they're actually busy. Which is fine most days,
but we'll see how the busy days actually stack up next week when the start of
the month rolls around and we're inundated with work to do.
Additionally, today I was invited to a meeting
where I found out that I'll be part of a major ongoing project at work for the
next six months. It seems that my computer skills as well as my other talents
were noticed by a few people when this project was put together and I'm going
to be helping along as part of my daily routine, which I'm extremely excited
about. It means that when the project is finished, a lot more information will
be accessible in more secure ways to clients and others( I can't go into
details here for a while yet )which will make life easier for everyone,
including the workers at the office.
Personally, it's a good thing that the days are
getting longer, in that I'm still waking up at 6 AM and evening sunsets are
moving closer to 9 PM, giving me a few 'extra' hours each day which I plan on
taking advantage of cumulatively in the coming months. Seeing as many factors
are coming together to give me the time I need to work on my writing, I'd be a
fool to ignore any advantage this would give me.
The long days of Summer are here...!
May 28 – Neverending Big Screen!
Today was a step back into my youth,
cinematically at least.
Myself, my lady and my sister all went to see The
Neverending Story on the big screen, as part of a Family Classics series
that Cineplex has been running on Saturdays March through June this year. I
wasn't that interested in most of the other titles, save today's - it's about
as perfect an 80's kid's fantasy movie as there is.
 |
| Some classics, some meh... |
When I originally saw the film, I immediately
connected to the character Sebastian, and I find it fascinating that now I no
longer do. Instead, I feel a far greater attachment to the movie itself as a
whole, in that it's a meta-reflection on the mutual support that fantasy and
reality give each other for human creativity.
Plus, Falcor's just so damn cool... luck
dragon!!!
 |
| Did you know this existed? I didn't, before strolling in Oak Bay today... |
A little bit of luck followed me out of the
theater, when at the end of our full day about town together, my lady and I went out to dinner
at the Old Spaghetti Factory. When the bill came after a lovely meal, I
handed over the gift card I had hanging around from last year and discovered
that instead of the five dollars I thought was on there, it was $25! Super gift
card surprise! Our meal cost us a total of $3.27, plus tip... quite a lucky
deal!
The small things in life can have the biggest impact. Yay!
May 29 – Volunteering!
It's been a long, long time... since I
volunteered.
Quite honestly, it's not something on my radar,
which makes me thing sometimes about what priorities and what I spend my time
on.
My thoughts have always been: if I'm earning
enough money for the time I spend working, have enough time to pursue my
passions / hobbies, spend enough time with my family and friends AND have time
left over, then I'll volunteer. Given the rather roller-coaster life-ride I've
had in the last 20 years, I'd say that's an understandable mindset to take.
For the World Partnership Walk, I arrived
by bus at Uvic a little before 10 AM, heading over to the audio tent
next to the main stage. Most everything had already been set up by that point
and a Jazzercise group was rocking the main lawn while I helped tweak the audio
setup.
Then the main event got started, with almost 1000
people present to make the 5 km walk today. It Was quite the crowd and there
was a lot going on for the next two hours, introducing many local Important
Folk, including several mayors and news personalities. I was kept busy
assisting my work friend who it asked for my help earlier in the week, ensuring
that audio levels were too loud for the crowd and that many minor related( and
often unrelated )tasks around the stage were accomplished. We had a break
for lunch when the majority of the crowd went for the Walk( which took about
an hour around the campus )then it was back to work as wards were given out
for the most funds raised by various groups: in total walk raised nearly
$150,000 CAN to help eliminate poverty worldwide this year - I got to handle
the giant cheques too, which was pretty cool.
The weather cooperated as well, with cool cloudy
overcast giving way to perfect sunshine and blue skies as the walk was
progressing. That meant it was a beautiful afternoon to see the rest of the
presentations, consisting of a dozen different cultural dance groups of all
ages and each was fantastic. After everything was finished, the show runners
came by to give their effusive thanks to my friend and I for making the show's
audio run flawlessly throughout, which made us both happy as it was the first
time either of us had run such a station by ourselves. A little bit of cleanup
in the bright sunshine later and I was on my way home by bus by 3 PM. I spent a
little bit of time down at Moka House reading some old New Wave science
fiction from the 60's while sipping tea - gloriously relaxing. Then it was a
little blogging and some more reading at a swift slide into a well-earned sleep
for the night...
Today was such a great way to end the weekend!
What else is there to say? Long week turns into
great weekend and sets up for a good run at the week to come. Nice! :-)
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