Motivation, Magic and a Midnight Job

The word of the week is relief.

February 11 - Five Interests

I mentioned last week that I'm working on forming a company. As a matter of fact, I'm working on forming TWO companies: one of them has to do with the idea for an Internet service and the other has to do with a bicycling product. Not quite alone the lines of what Bender has in mind:

In addition to laying the groundwork for both of these future companies, I've been steadily grinding away at getting started in the freelance writing business. Which doesn't pay a lot but it would be a steady income which I can do now that I can use my computer easily with the voice recognition software working as it should have in the first place.

On top of those three areas, the idea of doing voice acting work is still rattling around in my head, as is working on my novel which I hope to keep plugging away at to really polish the third draft this spring. And the new job is the fifth thing on my little life list.

So that's Five Interesting Things to keep me occupied and VERY busy for the next few months. Hopefully at least one of those areas of focus will result in something tangible happening; I know I'll be putting all my energies into doing what I can instead of focusing on waiting for something to happen.

February 12 - Footwear?

For the first time in many years, I was out today shoe shopping. Weird, eh? I'm one of those people who only know it's time for new shoes when holes appear in a sole…

There was a going out of business sale at Athletes World downtown this week, with savings of up to 70% on everything in the store. Seeing as the last time I bought a pair of 'pure' running shoes was when they were also on sale, I figured this was a good chance to pick up a new pair to use as I work up to getting into running this spring.

As it turns out, I ended up getting two pairs of shoes: runners and a pair of casuals, which I've never really had before as style isn't usually something I buy in a shoe.

Looks quite gripping, eh?

The runners I picked up are great and are made by the same company that my old runners are. The shoes are the Shadow Genesis by Saucony, which have received rave reviews at BelieveInTheRun.com - what I particularly liked was the fact that they seem to be very long wearing shoes, which fits right in with my penchant for getting the absolute maximum life out of my footwear purchases.

I'm looking forward to trying these out now that the good weather is starting to appear here. Taking a run around the perimeter of Beacon Hill Park close by will be a pleasure in these great shoes and I should be able to get in about three or four runs a week at about 5 km each on their longest circuit.

February 13 - Holy Donuts!

I've often heard it said that Tim Horton's franchises are like having a license to print money. It's certainly true that few Timmy's have ever closed for a lack of business.

But what does it actually cost to start up and run a Tim Horton's franchise? Having worked there all those years ago, I was generally familiar with what was needed to run a store in terms of staff and product but I've never been able to find any numbers on what the real expenses were.

Just search over at Franchisedirect.com and you'll deal to find information on many of the franchises out there, including Tim Horton's. I was surprised to see that it's not as expensive as I'd expected to operate a store, but you're certainly going to need more than a small business loan in order to get started. I estimate that the return. For a franchise investment is about a decade, to where you've repaid all your initial costs and you really start to make money. This also assumes that you have more than one store, as that accelerates the process to where a decade really sees you making a great living from Canadians who just can't live without their coffee or donut.

Me, I've had my fill from years ago. 

February 14 - I GOT A CALL!

It seems I have a reason to love Valentine's Day this year after all!

While I was visiting with my parents in the afternoon today, my phone rang in the middle of watching Puss In Boots. I took the call in the other room: it was from Staples! They wanted me to come in tonight if possible for an interview!

Needless to say, I was ecstatic! This was the first phone call I've received from a prospective employer in over a year - 54 weeks, to be exact.

I went in around dinnertime to the store and had an interview with the assistant manager, who told me almost immediately that she liked me after we had talked for just a few minutes about my qualifications. She called in the store manager and a few minutes after that they told me they wanted to hire me for the night shift, which I had known about already from talking to the assistant manager during the call earlier today.

It seems that they need some temporary help for a few weeks while two out of their three night staffers, who work putting out stock, were out due to injuries. It was expressed to me that when those staffers were back, I would be switched to a daytime position in either the technology or general sales sections.

However you looked at it, it means I HAVE A JOB, at last! RED-LETTER DAY!

Now I can get my life moving again, at least financially.

February 15 - Back to work!

I forced myself to stay up until 3:30am, to prepare for the night shifts to come. I have done a few years of night shifts almost a decade ago, so I know what to do to prepare and how to stay awake while remaining able to function effectively.

I went in early tonight and got to work right away to make a good impression. As it turns out, my overnight coworker was incredibly easy to work with and there were no first-day-on-the-job jitters on my part. All of the skills from my days at The Office Place came back to me very quickly and I managed to maintain an excellent pace keeping up with my coworker to set a great pace for getting things done. Soon enough, it was as though I had been doing the job for weeks as I worked steadily through the morning hours to get stock out onto the floor, barely needing to ask where anything went as I adapted quickly to their store layout.

Indeed, in the morning my coworker told the store manager who was opening he was extremely impressed with the way I'd helped to get so much done, despite being unfamiliar with the store or their stock system. This was probably why the store manager quickly told me that he wanted me to work five nights a week for the next two weeks - full-time hours right off the bat! I start on Monday!

I went home tired but happy, having gone from being unemployed yesterday to having a full-time job today. It may not be a job that's going to quickly pay all my bills or get me a silly super-yacht, but I am certainly MUCH better off than I was yesterday and it's definitely better than asking for handouts. No question!

So I'm back among the employed, happily so.

February 16 - Living-room... Hoth?

Some really cool Star Wars news this week!

A really big geek decided to turn his living room into a diorama of the Battle Of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back… and it looks incredible!

I think of all the battles from all the Star Wars films, the Battle of Hoth is my favorite. It's gritty, fast-paced and just looks so cool with the AT-AT's attacking in the snow:

Those explosions ARE lit from within - nice job!

 

Check out the full story at i09.com where you can see a little bit more about what possessed this guy to re-create Hoth where his couch used to be.

Makes you wonder if someone out there right now is considering putting up a bunch of trees in their kitchen to give a place for Ewoks and the Empire to battle it out…

February 17 - Midnight Madness

Yesterday and today I stayed up as late as I could, well into the early morning hours in order to prepare myself for coming midnight shifts over the next two weeks.

It hasn't been easy, as I've been waking up every few hours as well as at the occasional thump that comes through the wall from the kitchen in the next-door apartment. I'll be leaving a very, very polite note for my neighbors in the morning, which I hope will mean that the occasional crashing drawer will be silenced soon.

Not my favourite game to play, sleep deprivation...

I'm not a big fan of midnight shifts, for the simple reason that they don't agree with my physiology: I'm not a night owl. There are many things to appreciate about working midnights, not the least of which is usually not having to deal with too many people, depending on the job that you're working. When I was working those graveyard shifts many years ago, I did enjoy the fact that there were far fewer distractions from getting your job done. However, I could only get my job done by staying awake and to do that I eventually had to go through two large pots of tea every night, which didn't do my stomach much good at the end.

It's going to be an interesting two weeks, coming up. When all is said and done, I should end up with a full-time job on day shifts that will pay the bills and hopefully have enough left over to get ahead a little month by month as I work on my Five Interesting Things that I mentioned at the beginning of this week's blog.

Any one of those things could take off and ironically mean that I may not need a day job. But, as any writer knows, you shouldn't quit your day job as most writers are lucky if they can just make a living doing what they love.

Which, really, most people would love to say about the passions in their lives. Right?

It's a little strange to be finishing this blog before midnight tonight, as that's usually the last thing I do before going to bed on a Sunday. Tonight however, I'll be up for at least another six hours until well after dawn in order to keep my new biological schedule ticking along. So I'll be doing a little reading, some writing and probably a lot of yawning with a little caffeine tossed in to keep my eyes open. It's going to be a very interesting week, I think, but I'm grateful despite being very tired already as it means that I'm employed. I'd have to say that's a pretty darn good Valentine's Day gift this year.

Belief, BYOB and Beaches

The word of the week is determination.

February 4 - Focus

There's a lot of things running through my head lately, most of which have to do with money. Money that I had, money that I've wasted and money that I'm trying to make.

Right now, I'm not bringing in any money. My family has repeatedly stated that while the situation isn't great, they're there for me for as needed until I can get my feet under me and support myself. My pride right now has been taking a beating, as you can imagine, but I'm determined to make something of myself even if nobody else out there is willing to take a chance on me - their loss. They missed out on hiring a NINJA!

There's too many distractions going on, which are easy to come by when your day is your own to make. I'm not a person to fritter away time uselessly and yet it seems that when I look back on each of the days for the last few months, very little concrete seems to have been accomplished by my books. Perhaps I'm being a little too hard on myself but I do know that I have to stop chasing fireflies around the room and instead pick just a few candles to light and focus on for the next few months. 

If I don't, then I'll just keep wandering around in the dark for too long.

February 5 - Striking out… on my own?

While I was job searching this week, I was also researching taking on my own job - as in, creating my own company to employ myself.

It's not so far-fetched, really. Considering the luck I've had so far in finding ANY job, why not make my own?

I'm not talking about freelancing as a writer here, by the way; that's going to happen alongside this company thing. No, what I've done is found a possible need and I'm going to fill it, as rapidly as possible, with myself as the sole person who can provide the service to various companies. At a price that's a deal for them and a modest, growing income for me.

I'm researching it this week and by next week, I should have a basic business plan in place. Fortunately, from what I can see, the startup costs will be minimal - I already have web space and can create a basic professional site myself without too much fuss. Getting the legal and contractual things into place will take longer, as that's more along the lines of what I need to research. There's many reasons to BYOB( be your own boss )not the least of which is discovering how to fill needs that other people haven't found ways to yet.

Stay tuned, it's exciting!

February 6 - Going rogue: Anime Pirate Captains

Speaking of striking out on your own…

Space Pirate: Captain Harlock is coming in Fall 2013.

This is a CGI film made by the director of Appleseed, based on an old anime series by the creator of the Star Blazers / Space Battleship Yamato show. Which just so happens to be a favourite corner of mine off the anime world. Check it out:

Now, I haven't yet seen most of the old Captain Harlock series, but I have started to watch it on Crackle.com for free. It's dated( 1977! )but it's still very watchable. I especially enjoy the many visual aspects it shares with Star Blazers, which was made at the same time by Leijii Mastsumoto. Space harpoons away!

February 7 - Fortress Idaho???

Speaking of filling a need…

Apparently some people feel that a return to the Middle Ages is nigh and want to live inside a literal fortress community:

Where's the fields to grow FOOD, people?

Myself, I think this is silly. It's a knee-jerk reaction to the various threats that a modern society faces: instead of FIXING the society, you retreat from it and lock the door.

It's the same as the gun control debate; it's a complex, long-term issue that needs to be addressed by all sides. You can't just take away the guns, because that gives the criminals free reign. You also just can't keep everyone armed, as that leads to the horrific incidents we see in the news from the USA almost daily. There's a middle ground, invisible to most right now, that needs to be found. And fast.

Nobody wants to live in a world of fortresses full of trigger-happy people.

February 8 - Wasteland2

Back in 1987, the original Wasteland game on the Apple IIe was a breakthrough: it took players head-first through the looking-glass into a world devastated by nuclear war… and dealing with the aftermath. Sure, it was extremely simplistic by today's standards, but it was a FUN world to explore and that was what mattered.

Click to read about the year 2087!

A successful recent Kickstarter campaign in 2012 has resulted in Wasteland2 getting underway for development and it's fairly well along in its progress. Check out the video below for some gameplay footage:

The video really captures the 'feel' of a post-apocalyptic world, I think. Dangerously dark, menacing and full of nasty things ready to shred your character's faces. It's fun in a modern 3D RPG-heavy way, which I love; running and gunning in a FPS is less and less interesting to me, as those games tend to be massively multiplayer and inhabited by people whose collective IQ is an inverse function of their reflexes : the fastest gun and dumbest commentary wins. What I want right now and for the foreseeable future is to really enjoy a game on my terms and not someone else's.

I'm excited to see Wasteland2 released by the end of 2013!

In the evening, I went to a party with some of the same friends that I had played magic with some few months ago. It was a little awkward, as the place we were at was formerly the home of two of said friends who had just broken up a few weeks ago. I had thought that there might be some animosity or stress, as the host and their former partner were both at the party but I was thankful to see that there were nothing but smiles all around; these were good people and we all had a great time. It was lovely to give my social circle a push yet again and to get out on a Friday night.

February 9 - Dictatorship

Today I started using Dragon Dictate again, after finally sorting out the microphone problems that I've been having even after I purchased a new headset. The Turtle Beach X12 I picked up a few months ago for a song on sale now works perfectly, after some fine – tuning that I did this month. I'm happy to say - literally - that the speed in recognition accuracy of the program is now at the point where I can substitute it for typing on a regular basis. It may weird my sister out a little as I talk to the computer for hours at a time each day, but I can already feel the difference that the rest has been making for my wrists. I'll  really be ramping up the speed once I learn just how well the program can keep up to me and I'll even tested in a few typing programs in the next little while, just to see.

The really exciting part will be to make the jump from simple dictation to voice command, where I'll be able to automate some functions of operating my computer, especially in the area document creation which is hard on hands as he uses a lot of mouse time. At some point I'll have to work in an office with a closed-door, so that I don't drive everyone nuts as I'm working. It's kind of like a one-sided voice conversation that you overhear when someone's talking on their phone nearby in public; apparently that's one of the easiest ways to drive total strangers nuts.

But that's for the future; for now, I'm just going to make the most of this finally–functioning tool at last.

February 10 - Winter?

Watching the news about the massive snow dump that happened this weekend on the East Coast, I can't but feel grateful yet again for living in Victoria.

I haven't seen more than a sprinkling of snow all winter here.

Growing up in Niagara, winter was always something one had to prepare for daily. Putting on your heavy clothes and stepping into your boots, then making the sometimes-slippery trek outside was always done with a little trepidation. Especially if multiple snowfalls had made roads and sidewalks into patchwork quilts of icy layers that caught at your feet and made you wish your car had snow tires that year.

I don't miss the cold or the wet or the white fun stuff that turned a 10 min. walk into a balance challenge while your nose was freezing. It's been enervating to spend this winter in particular here looking out my front window at the never changing Vista of green grass greeting me every morning. I can see why many people move to warmer climes and never look back, despite the things they leave behind.

If I could leave my worries behind as easily, I'd be on a beach somewhere right now.

This last week has been rather a bust, as I've had no real job leads and no traction when it comes to doing more than just applying. The idea of becoming a freelancer and / or starting my own company is really a lot less stressful than searching for job, when you think about it. Long hours of hard work at home on my own schedule seems to be far preferable to throwing my resumes away every time I send them out to employers. I'd rather end up with employers looking for me instead; that's a far more appealing picture, I think.

Friends, Film Clips and Flying Cars

The word of the week is generous.

January 28 - Flying Cars, at last!

For over twenty years now, I've been following the fortunes of Moller International, a small company based out of Calfornia. Why, you ask?

They make flying cars.

The Moller Skycar first came to my attention back in the early 1990's, when I was still reading Popular Mechanics. Their January 1991 issue covered the announcement of the Moller400 Skycar, a four-passenger vehicle that promised to finally bring the dream of the flying family car to the masses.

Twenty years later, it looks to finally be happening!

Delays - many to do with finances and more to do with technology just not being up to the needs of the design - have kept Moller from his dream. However, he's persevered and in the process learned a LOT about life-extension sciences, of all things: he realized that he needed to live LONGER if he was going to see his dream realized, as it seems to be now.

There's a lesson in that I can appreciate: be patient, follow your dreams and never give up. For half my life, I've waited to hear about the Skycar taking to the air; now, it's going to happen.

January 29 - Paperman

This came out today from Disney. To wit:

Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute.

In only a week, it's had 10 million views on YouTube. My sister said she thinks it's her favourite anything from Disney, which is saying a LOT.

As for me? Tears in my eyes, folks. Very moving.

January 30 - Incredible Tree Escapes

Today, for some reason, I had treehouses on my mind again.

Why is it that I keep imagining life in a tree?

Better than life AS a tree, maybe. I suppose that as a kid, I loved the idea of a 'secret fort' that you could escape to, that would have really cool things in it( like comics! )and be really cool in and of itself.

Now you see me...

The arboreal homes listed in this photo tour are extreme examples of cool, I think. Each one approaches the idea of a tree home differently, from execution to usage. I especially like the 'mirror' design, as that's taking the 'escape' mentality to a whole new level: if stress can't find you, then you're all set!

January 31 - We can see… thoughts?

Watch the video below and think about what you're seeing.

It's a breakthrough.

The Japanese researchers used a new technique to record the footage: a super-sensitive fluorescent probe that detects neuron activity. That lets us see neurons glowing when they're active—and the cascade of light you see in this video, first published in Current Biology, is the neuronal response of a zebrafish responding to the presence of its prey. In other words, you're seeing what the fish thinks when it sees its lunch.

Next step? Who knows. Yet we're on the road now to literally seeing how thought works.

That's mind-boggling!

February 1 - A Year Of Unemployment

One year ago today, I woke up in the morning with no job to go to.

It was an exhilharating feeling, one that I recall vividly as it meant I had a world of possiblities ahead of me for the rest of 2012, in addition to being able to sleep without my work phone going off at 3am for whatever stupid reason it was that day.

A year later, and I'm still jobless. But not hopeless.

I've finished a novel, wrote a second draft and submitted it to a publisher. Despite the fact that they declined it, I'm very, VERY proud to have accomplished that in my life. The first of many books, if I have my way.

The job situation, I admit, has me feeling a little lost. Working as hard as I have to get noticed without success can be demoralizing, but as I kept hearing over and over: FINDING a job is the hardest job you'll ever have. That's been so true for the last year.

Yet as I've mentioned, perhaps this is the universe telling me that a traditional job is no longer in the cards for me. That I should tap the deep well of writing skill that produced my novel and turn it towards making a living for myself freelancing.

It's a good idea, I think.

February 2 - Groundhog Day, again!

I assisted a friend in moving today, getting their small( compared to mine! )amount of things over to a new place within a surprisingly short period of time, only a few hours.

After that, I spent some time OUT, including a walk in the park under semi-sunny skies.

Toss in a few hours of Borderlands2, which I haven't played in many weeks, and it was a full day. I ended up icing and heating my wrists three times today, just to be safe.

That's a BIG poster!

But the evening was reserved for my yearly tradition: watching Groundhog Day!

What can I say? I love that film, my all-time fave bit of cinema, topping even the original Star Wars. Every time I watch Groundhog Day, it reveals new meanings to me, as I'm at a different place in my life with each new year. I can see the journey of the main character Phil as he struggles to recognize the need for change within himself and then try to find out HOW to make that change happen. The WHY of the change, well… that's always an interesting tack to look into.

All I know is that every year, I NEED to see this film. It's been a touchstone for me since I first saw it in 1995 and I know it always will be.

That's a very comforting thought right now.

February 3 - Helping Hands!

Most of today was spent coming to a friend's rescue… whoa!

Their move from yesterday went sour and they called me for help today to get their things out… with a window of about two hours. Yikes!

No way to get a truck with 2 hours notice on a Sunday!

Thankfully, they had a friend in me and I also had a friend who has a roomy car - as well as the day off. The two of us raced over to the new place and started shifting things outside, wearing stocking feet as the new landlord declined to put down a runner through the living room - he was a jerk as well as creepy, but we'll not go into that.

My parents showed up with THEIR van soon after and started loading the lighter things, then my friend's mom showed with HER car too. We had three loads done in short order, dropping them off at said mom's place and racing back to meet an arbitarty time deadline that would keep the landlord happy. We made it, too! All of this under semi-cloudy skies, but the rain held off until later, which was lucky.

When all was said and done, my friend's things were safely housed at their parent's place and a messy confrontation was avoided, along with a LOT of stress. Moral of the story: trust your gut instincts when it comes to renting, as they may be trying to tell you something important, like the landlord isn't playing with a full deck, despite being outwardly polite.

Days like today remind me that while I may have time on my hands, it's how I use it that counts. If it's in the service of others, well… that counts for a lot.

It's going to be a busy week, as I have a LOT of research to do for various jobs, including freelancing. Good thing I have the free time right now!