The word of the week is
contemplative.
Sept 4 –
Fair Part 2!
Today was our second day at the
Saanich Fair.
My girlfriend and I arrived a little
early so we could look around; though it was again rather a hot day, it wasn't
as bad as it was on Saturday and also wasn't nearly as crowded. We got a lot of pics of the setup, which was pretty cool, with a large pond to float the boats:
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| The water was cool and refreshing, too! |
By 5pm, most people had left the fair
and the VMSS folks started to take down the display area, though by 5:30pm most
of these folks have left as well. At the end, it was down to just two other
VMSS people, my girlfriend and I to finish up, with stacks of tables, chairs
and sundy items to load into two vehicles. We could have left as well, but
neither of us felt right now doing that, as the other two people were older
gentleman neither of whom were in peak physical form for weathering exercise in
the heat. We finished up by 6:30pm, managing to cram everything into a truck and
a van, then heading home ourselves across the mostly-empty parking fields after
waiting in line with many other patient vehicles to exit.
All in all, it was a more relaxed day
than Saturday. Next year though, if we do end up volunteering, we'll make a
point to ask for the morning shifts, or even just pass on the duty if enough
other people a party signed up... we'd like to see more of the Fair, especially
if the weather isn't nearly as oppressively hot.
Sep 5 – Shock
My good friend Chris died suddenly
today.
I have known Chris nearly as well as
I'd like, having only met him during my time at Staples back in 2012, but we clicked
right away. He was a friendly fellow, always willing to help and as it turns
out, we shared a love of boardgames as well as some mutual local friends, so it
was natural that we'd end up hanging out.
Chris was only in his early 30s when
he passed away today from a heart condition called pericarditis, which is an
inflammation of the heart lining suspected to be caused by a viral infection
such as a cold. I had no idea this could happen, and his sudden loss shocked
everyone who knew him.
I managed to write this today before
work, which I feel expresses much of the friendship I shared with Chris and
speaks to the character of the man I knew:
The world truly is a poorer place
without him, and we'll all have to find a way to cope.
Somehow.
Sep 6 – Ponderings
Losing a close friend really makes
you think about life.
Really, you should be thinking about
it all the time, but so many of us get wrapped up in the details of the everyday
that we don't stop often enough to appreciate what we truly have going for us. Thoughts on dying seldom enter into people's daily lives, yet we'll all die, someday.
We take too much for granted
- we've also all heard that.
I like to think that I've given more
thought to what I have going on in my life over the years than many, though I
don't pretend to be as introspective as the better philosophers throughout
history. I think about where I've been, where he and where I'm going, and all
the places that I've walked along that path.
I'm also incredibly grateful that
I've rarely walked it alone.
True, there are some aspects of your
life that you have to figure out for yourself: nobody's going to be able to fix
things for you as an adult.
It's the people in your life that are
the most important thing, those who by blood or circumstance or choice share
the path you walk, coming and going as you all meander along the ways that your
choices take you hither and dither. Knowing someone is the same as being
friends, associates aren't family and those we choose to share our lives with(
and they, us! )form the bedrock of our days. We assume that they'll always be
there, and that will always have time to catch up.
Never take the people in your life
for granted.
For myself, I take some comfort in
that I've left this blog as a record of part of my life( around 20% )which is
something, and I'm hoping to leave behind a good body of writing as well. I
also hope, should I depart earlier than expected, that the good memories I
made with many folks will linger on with them and provide comfort for many years
after I'm no longer around to crack puns.
Then again, I might set up an email
auto-pun generator.... hmmm.
Sept 7 – Why Game?
Why do I like boardgames, as opposed
to video games?
It's interesting question; I've
pulled back from online gaming in the last few years, a stark contrast to when
I first arrived here in Victoria 10 years ago. Back then, I didn't know anyone
here, so it made sense for me to continue gaming with my friends online in
Neverwinter Nights as well as my friends from back east on Xbox Live playing cooperative games like COD and the like.
Gradually, that changed as my NWN
group wound down and I lost interest in the first-person shooter games that
demanded too much of my time in order to keep my skills( which were merely
adequate )at levels needed to not drag down my teams. It just wasn't
interesting to me anymore, and slower-paced games online held little similar
interest for me, nor did MMO's like Warcraft or any of the others.
So that left boardgames, and
thankfully Victoria has a thriving community for such at places like the
Interactivity Cafe. But why do I play the games?
This article takes a look at the whys
rather nicely, including this particular bit:
Also noted in the article is the fact
that you're gaining face-to-face with people instead of through my computer
interface... or alone with your phone. Personally, I've installed dozens of
games on my previous phone, but only a few on my new one because I found that I
just don't play them unless I have nothing else to do such as when I'm on a
bus... but even then, I'd prefer to read.
Thus: I like boardgames because I can
play them with other people when we get together in the same room.
So simple, and yet so true.
Sept 8 – Jobs For Me?
I'm still trying.
This month I've applied for three
separate jobs within the government, doing my best to tailor my applications to
the positions to show my strengths and qualifications. I've had discussions
with several people about the positions to get their opinion on what the
highlight, and I'm feeling much better about my chances of making it through
the process then I did before the summer started.
It's crucial that I keep trying this
fall.
It may not seem like much, but even a
slightly better position would mean several hundred dollars more per paycheque,
which currently for me have most every dollar spoken for... not a healthy way
to live, but that's the way it is right now.
I'd hoped by now to be at least six
months into my new business, generating revenue from my Glowforge, but that
didn't happen, and neither did any of my job applications, so I'm here now and
having to deal with things as they are.
All I can do is keep trying to make
positive change in my finances, while reducing my stressing about same and
continuing to move forward with my writing projects.
Sept 9 – Moving Film
In the late afternoon, my lady and I
went to see a movie downtown.
We went to the old Vic Theatre, home
of the Victoria Film Festival, to see the lauded Japanese animated feature In This Corner Of The World. The film is a rarity in that it's completely
hand-animated, and it's just gorgeous visually:
The story follows the life of a young
Japanese girl as she grows up prior to WWII and then her experiences during the
war. It's moving and poignant, sweet and funny and tragic all at the right
moments and it doesn't leave you with a Hollywood ending but rather pondering
life's lessons and greater meanings.
It was the perfect thing for me to
see this week.
Sept 10 – Breaks
Today went by quickly, but well.
Breakfast in the morning with a
friend turned into a perfect lunch with my lady at Garrick's Head Pub: we were
the only ones on the patio outside, and there was a Spanish guitarist playing
nearby as part of the weekend market. The sun was shining and though we're in the
shade, it wasn't too shivery... and we both enjoyed just relaxing outside in
each other's company until the early afternoon.
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| I'm So glad I can eat their Sunday special again - YUM!!!! |
As well, the weather has finally
broken this week, with several overnight rain showers that have washed the haze
from the sky, along with cooperative winds that have kept the smoke from the
mainland's wildfires away. Both my sister and I have had steady headaches this
last week, but as of yesterday they've cleared up, which leads us to suspect
that they were in a large part related to the particulate matter in the air
clogging everything up around here.
It did make for some good pictures
though, like this picture of the moon from 6:30am on September 7th, which
turned out rather well I think:
All for now; I've a busy 5-day week ahead, and lots to do each evening for the rest of the fall...
As I mentioned last week, I'm feeling
pretty much back to normal, walking to work and home again in all things in
between without any leg twinges. My abdominals are only complaining a little
here and there, and so I'm looking to take up swimming in the mornings again
for at least two days each of the next few weeks. It should be both relaxing
and invigorating before work.
