Writing Woes, Wasted Weekends and Wrapups

The word of the week is pertinacious.

Jan 22 - Farewell, Earthsea

The losses continue: today Ursula K. LeGuin has passed.

An acclaimed Master of scifi and fantasy, LeGiun was one of the giants that writers hope to measure themselves against: genius coupled with skill, decades of experience, wit, wisdom and all the other ingredients mixed together to create an artist of words without compare. We'll not see her like again for a long time, if ever, and her life advice is worth paying attention to for its piercing insight.

Neil Gaiman presents lifetime achievement award to Ursula K. Le Guin at  2014 National Book Awards from National Book Foundation on Vimeo.

While I was introduced to her work early when my grade school class read A Wizard Of Earthsea( which I loved! )I must say I've not pushed myself to read much of her other work, including the seminal The Left Hand Of Darkness, one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.

When I think on why, it's clear now: I wasn't ready.

Having consumed so much scifi and fantasy as I have, I think I knew as I was doing so that there were certain works I'd wait to get to, like Left Hand, because I wanted to ensure I had the depth and breadth of understanding before tackling them. I recall reading Larry Niven's Ringworld when I was twelve, and only appreciating it on a visual / story level: cool stuff, but the book has so much MORE than that, even on a technical level.

This article from Tor.com is a brilliant goodbye to LeGuin, and well worth reading, as it shows her far-reaching influence on generations of writers, as well as many other folk. Because that's what giants do:

They cast long shadows where they walk.

Jan 23 – Debt Trap

When you're trying to stay afloat, it's grimly amusing to know you're not alone.

According to recent surveys, Canadians carry the second-highest gross-income-to-debt ratio in the Group of 20 Developed Nations, a worrying statistic because so many Canadians are walking a razor's edge of debt levels right now:

That's my wallet in the middle, most days

With interest rates hiked 1.5% last week, some people may not be able to cover their bills, when it comes to mortgages: "Property rich, house poor" as the saying goes, which makes me glad I'm not in that group right now.

Thankfully, in my own case, TD Bank managed to get their act together, though it took a few phone calls over the past few weeks to get things back to normal. My interest rate was preserved because of my good history AND my timing, which was my main concern: my payments actually fell by $12/month, which was great!

Now I just have to keep my nose clean for a few more years, looking for opportunities to increase my income so I can chip away at this debt-mountain on my back until it's the size of a big boulder, then a rock, then a pebble...

Persistence, patience and planning: for the future.

Jan 24 – Hero's Journey

My sister and I watched Moana on Monday night...

It was wonderful!

What struck me the most was its almost-pedantic adherence to J.J. Campbell's The Hero's Journey( see here for a definition ). While I've noticed it to various degrees in films for the last few years now that I know what to watch for, Moana is the first I've seen since that embodies it completely - this reviewer in particular nailed their observations along those lines.

Which spurred me to check YouTube for a few other animated examples, and that was when I came across this gem: a tongue-in-cheek sendup of The Hero's Journey in two minutes!

Have a watch, it's hilarious:




Jan 25 – Doomsday

Unsettling news today...

The Doomsday Clock was moved forward to 2.5 minutes to Midnight.

In case you're not familiar with the Clock, and what it represents, there's an excellent primer here, which looks at the various Major Problems facing humanity, including:

- Nuclear threats

- Climate change

- Biosecurity

- Bioterrorism

- Miscellaneous threats including cyber warfare and AI

As the graphic below shows, the clock is moved each year in January to reflect the current state of ALL threats to humanity. The furthest it has been from Midnight was in 1991, and the closest in 1953:

In looking at social media today, I was disheartened to see comments like this one, showing people have forgotten the reasons WHY the Clock is so important:

Which leads us to a classic quote, itself too often forgotten:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana

Jan 26 – *Achoo!*

Ah, nertz... I've caught a cold.

I'm glad I got my flu shot 2 months ago though, as this is the first time in almost five years that I still feel halfway human while sick; as the last few flu-season blog entries have shown, I've previously been down for the count( including pneumonia! )when I've fallen sick, and Christmas 2016 was when I lost 16 lbs of weight while EXTREMELY ill: never again!

Nevertheless, some people keep railing against flu shots, and vaccinations in general... and it boggles my mind some days. I grasp that they often have a poor understanding of the science involved, as well as other cognitive biases and probably just some plain old 'what we do not understand, we fear' issues. Not to mention WIDESPREAD misinformation via social media thanks to anti-vaxxer 'activists' who I think should be held responsible for the suffering( and associated costs )their rabid rantings have caused.

Get the facts on flu vaccines, not fiction

I'll post more on the topic next week, but for now it's time for me to dig in: chicken broth, plenty of fluids, an extra sweatshirt and hot baths / showers are all in the cards for me for the next few days to try and kick the bug's butts.

Good thing I laid in a good supply of Ultra Kleenexes earlier this month!

Jan 27 – Intimidation

I read an excellent post today by writer David Gerrold, one that helps to explain the WHY behind so much of the online venom behind those pushing the far-right agendas these days... and it's surprisingly simple. Here's a summary snippet:

The entire post is worth reading here, because of how it gets into the mindset of those who equate authority with fear and intimidation, then act accordingly. It's a mindset that I admit I have a hard time understanding, not only because it makes my mind feel dirty, but because I can't relate to the sort of person who would ACT that way to other human beings... though the word sociopath comes to mind, it's all too easy to fall into labels.

Time and again, I see people responding to my thoughtful, carefully-composed posts with venom, emotional diversions, memes and just plain dismissiveness of "You're wrong, so there!" which is the "Nyah, Nyah!" of the schoolyard bully.

We're better than that... or at least, humanity has to try to be.

This one's ruminating in my head, and likely I'll have more another day to say on it.

Jan 28 – Wrapping Things Up

Bleh.

I spent most of yesterday on the couch, watching Netflix, unable to concentrate much beyond that while wearing a rut in the carpet to the bathroom killing Kleenexes every ten minutes: it kept me moving, at least, so there's that.

Oh, Dreamworks: why the 4th-season mehs?

I used the opportunity to catch up on a few shows I've neglected, one of them being the fourth season of the new Voltron... which ended up being a little disappointing. Truth be told: the writing just didn't hold up: it made some big plot errors, missed several opportunities and felt just kinda... flat, give the building tension of the last three seasons. To give the show credit, the characters are solid and the animation excellent, but if the writing's not crisp, the rest unravels.

At work this past week, I also wrapped up the complete Dave the Barbarian  animated TV series from Disney, which was as excellent as I recalled: full of fun, puns and heroes on the run... from danger, because "they're the only ones we've got" - it's great that the series can be found on YouTube; though I managed to record a good number of them when it was broadcast to air( using my ATI All-in-Wonder card!!! )I didn't get them all, so there were about a dozen episodes that were 'new' to me, which was a treat! If you haven't seen it, go watch it now!

Speaking of treats: today my lovely lady took me out for a few hours at lunch, to set my cabin-fever to rest, as I haven't been out of the apartment since Thursday night. We had lunch at the nearby My Thai Cafe, seating ourselves next to the washroom so I could duck in as needed to vent my nasal annoyance - the food was delicious, what I could taste of it. We then whiled away a bit more time over in Oak Bay at Good Earth Coffee, where incredibly I managed a 4-2 victory ratio over my lady playing Hive; she complemented me on my improved skills, which really made my day! And, to top it all off, we took a brief walk during a lull in the heavy rain down the road to a local toy shop, where to my delight I found this:

WOW - so cool, and for LESS than the MSRP of $17.99!!!

I've always wanted a Terror Dog toy, so poicture me with a happy grin on my face, akin to a kid getting a lollipop after getting a needled at the doctor's office, and you'll know exactly how I felt today after picking this little set up for a mere $14.99 - cheap therapy!

And, smiles are good for the sick: "Laughter Is The Best Medicine" y'know!

Because I've got a cold, my heartrate's up a fair bit, and while I'm not monitoring it obsessively( only a few times a day, NOT hourly )I'm conscious of that knowledge being a source of anxiety: I'm telling myself that it's JUST a cold, that I'm doing WELL compared to previous sick-times, and that it will pass in a few days with effort and attention to self-care. I've too much to do in the next few months to start the year off on the wrong foot, so all my will is focused on Getting Better NOW: you wanna bet those bugs are in for a FIGHT!