Life, Loss and Learning

The word of the week is absence.

Sept 30 - Positive Signs

Life's shaking itself out around here lately.

For me, it's just come down to my day job and writing - that's it. My sister has been finding her own way, creating a happy support path for herself that I don't have to parallel in order to keep both our heads above water. That's been a major relief to me as she seems to be manifesting the happiness that she needs in her life fairly easily and looks to be heading towards a bright future here in Victoria.

Which leaves me to do my own thing, whatever shape that will take. It seems likely that I'll be staying here in Cook Street Village, in the same building that I've come to adore for many reasons, its location and its residents among them. I can see myself getting the day job balanced with my writing ambitions, pushing myself above the ceiling in terms of training and becoming comfortable to the point where I leave for home with as much energy as I arrived at work with. Meaning that I can get a good few hours of writing done every day, in harmony with doing my job properly and enjoying it both, alongside having decent social life and just enjoying myself without any other burdens competing for my attention.

Eventually the transition will happen where my day job IS the writing, and I won't have to pay the bills any other way.

Oct 1 - ReBoot Returns!!!

Finally, some great news!

Almost twenty years after it went off the airwaves, the ground-breaking CGI cartoon ReBoot is coming back! Not just in-reruns either, but as a brand-new updated series, using current state-of-the-art technology and new characters - you can read the official Press Release here.

I'm very, very excited; I own the series on DVD( it's not all that easy to find )and it's eminently re-watchable, especially the third season which has some fantastic storytelling arc points. I first watched the show while I was attending university and fell in love with it immediately, not only because of its CGI graphics but the story BEHIND those pixels was quite compelling. Still is, when I think about it, really.

Oh, and Rainmaker is apparently working on a Ratchet and Clank film slated for a 2015 release; sweet!

Oct 2 - Loss of a friend

I found out from a friend that another friend has died this week, far too young.

That was shocking to hear. Even though I hadn't seen much of them since I'd left Niagara in 2007, they were still on my social radar and good people, to boot. A further shock was that they died from complications arising from what I'd had last year: pneumonia.

That's… scary, to think of what might have been. And sobering, to see it played out as an end someone else's life. To have had their family's dreams for their future cut short, to have them suddenly vanish from the lives of their friends and co-workers, to see all the plans and hopes and dreams just… stop.

Over the years, I've been well aware of my own mortality and that of others. There have been numerous close calls both for myself and people I know, where things could have gone horribly wrong and that would've been it. Even now, when the days are dull and dreary and things seem as though they'll never change for the better, I know that we only get one shot at doing things on this mortal coil and that's it. For good or bad, we are here to make the best of it and to never take for granted the time that were given to do so.

Once you are gone, the hope is that you will be missed and not be forgotten. I know that I make a point to remember those I've met and befriended who have passed on already as often as I can, for when I do, they live again, if only in my memories.

Be sure to tell those around you how much they mean to you today, in case tomorrow never comes.

Oct 3 - Life Envy

Some days it's hard to get focused.

There's a lot that can distract you from the now, as it's called: money, career, romance, family and half the hundred things that all dance around in your head, vying for your attention without pause.

Being who I am, I'm always thinking, always pondering the possible and mulling over the probable of what could be, what is and what was. For me, what could be sometimes gets confused with What Could Have Been and even What Should Have Been, neither of which is not really relevant to my life now.

Sure, I could be decades into a career, climbing ladders and punching cards towards the glimmer of success just outside my grasp. Or I could have already achieved success, to the point where I'm wondering what to do with my life as a next step. I could be a happy family man, content to support my wife and children with an unremarkable career that means a secure, steady paycheck.

But I am none of those things right now.

I'm a man who has journeyed far, standing at the top of the mountain pass with the cold winds behind him, looking down towards the valleys and hills and wondering where they will lead me next.

Green pastures? Desert lands? Surely it will be a road to places I've not imagined yet, but I'll keep putting 1 foot in front of the other to get myself there regardless. I'm the sort of person who doesn't give up but keeps on going in the certainty that the horizon will still be there whether or not I can see it at the present.

For me, that's what keeps me going. For now, that's all I need.

Oct 4 - No Pity

I'm of two minds when it comes to thinking about how the universe works.

On the one hand, I grew up believing the universe was a logical place, where what we  now mostly understand Make Things Happen. Gravity, atomic structure, physics and all the forces that science knows make the universe tick like a vast, unimaginably complicated clock from one millisecond to the next. That such a universe has a place for everyone and everything, big and small, in it's order and chaos both. And that such a place has no malice or beneficence implicit in its design; it just IS.

On the other hand, of late I've been leaning towards the 'Benevolent Universe' model. Mainly this is based on 'wants and needs' in terms of making one's world aware of what you want and/or need. Positive reinforces positive and conversely negative begets the same, so those who wear a smile on their face and in their heart will find such reflected back at them… and vice-versa.

It's been interesting to discover how the latter has worked on a daily basis, week to week as I attempt to focus on the positive things in life. The little coincidences that we may take for granted every day suddenly become much more significant in terms of noticing patterns and responses, given one's train of thought at the time. An interesting example of a need being met was several weeks ago, when the desk that we had been using for our backup PC had to be given back to its owner, who had suddenly  changed their mind about our using it. 

That very evening, I was walking home along Cook Street when I espied a small compact computer desk sitting by the roadside, looking lonely in the dark. It was in perfect condition and exactly what we needed for our space-challenged apartment, so I immediately took it home with me with a feeling of gratitude suffusing my mind. I could give other examples of things appearing when needed but I'll simply say that if you're not watching for them, you could walk right on by or even worse just take them for granted, which I try not to do.

I am however still waiting for a briefcase full of money to show up; I think about it every day. The odd part is, that's a want, not a need.

Sure would solve a few problems though, I have to admit.

Oct 5 - Praise

One thing I'm terrible at is giving out compliments.

However, the corollary to that is that I seem to attract quite a few of them - for which I'm quite grateful and humbled sometimes.

Today was an example of such; I was feeling rather down, so I went out to Moka House to try and lift my spirits with some tea and confectionery goodies. As I placed my order at the counter, the server pause and a smile brightened his face before he said "You know, I have to say that it's always a pleasure serving you as you're always so polite and never make it difficult with your order."

This is a BIG printable sheet - go ahead and pass it around!

It was so unexpected that I babbled some sort of pleasantry in response, then paid and waited off to the side feeling rather much happier than I had been moments before - such is the power of a compliment. Especially one that is unexpected and possibly even deserved, as I do try to make things easy for people who deal with me as much as possible.

Where I am weak is in giving OUT those kinds of compliments to people for jobs well done, among other things. I tend to live a lot in my head, giving a nod or smile in appreciation instead of actually saying something and that's not quite good enough, as this afternoon a few words proved that they can make a big difference in someone's day.

Be sure to give those words voice when they are deserved.

Oct 6 - Balancing isn't an act

Yesterday was my day off and today feels better because of it.

I managed to accomplish a lot yesterday, despite falling asleep exhausted on the couch for most of the morning. I'm still losing weight, not eating enough and not getting enough of the right things, such as protein, on a daily basis - that's going to change starting this week as I up my intake and adjust my diet.

It's all about balance, of finding the right mix of time and energy to devote to various tasks - personal, professional and domestic all. Yesterday I made real progress on revising my novel's third draft, getting the ball rolling quite nicely for a few hours. I also spent a few hours outside in the sunshine, sitting on the patio at Moka House reading a few science-fiction stories and letting my whole being... just be.

That's the best part about living where I am: there's a LOT I can do, right here in the heart of the city, that ISN'T about spending money - it's about spending time with myself, not at home, or at work.

That's restful.

It's a new month and a new week. I've less on my mind of late, which is a good thing all around as I have a LOT to do yet writing-wise in the next few months. In addition to getting on track at work. Until next week, then...

Challenges, Changes and Constants

The word of the week is obsolescence.

Sept 23 - Settling In For the Season

Now that the fall is here, things have settled down into a pattern somewhat.

Four or five days a week, I go to work and try to get some writing in at some point on those days. My days off, I generally catch up on other things and try to set aside a solid block of time to also get some writing in.

So far, that's being of limited success, as I've been very stressed and very tired for the last few months. With learning all the hundreds of details in Copy, along with the insanity of back-to-school, it's been very wearing on me. Add onto that getting the dozens of copies of my novel printed and distributed along with all the usual fun things that cause one's money to disappear and I've been rather occupied. Time is vanishing far too quickly right now.

On that related note, most people have by now got their copies of my novel's second draft. However, there's still over a dozen people who, for various known( and unknown )reasons, have yet to pay for their books( and thus pick them up to begin reading them ). It's a little frustrating to me as I've gone to great lengths to print the books out of my own pocket initially, at cost, and then arrange to have them sent out for as little cost as possible so that people can pick them up. I've got at least two dozen more people who would like copies of the draft but I have none left to give nor have I the funds to produce more, especially as I'm still waiting for some of those same funds to come back to me through the people who haven't paid yet. At some point I'll have to put my foot down and make their copies available to other people, as I can't wait indefinitely for someone to get around to sending me payment.

On the bright side, those folks who have received their novels and have read a good portion of them have been glowing in their feedback. I am always thrilled to hear people ask me things about my book and I believe that I will never grow tired of that feeling as an author.

Sept 24 - Failure

Why is it that silly things happen on my days off, when I want to get work done?

Like a RAID hard drive card controller failing - again. Ironic, as a RAID is supposed to allow for one drive of a pair failing without losing any of my precious data. In this case, the drives themselves are fine - it's the CARD that's controlling them which has died. It's under warranty, thankfully; heck, it didn't even make it a year before dying and I have an extended warranty for it on top of all that, which is useless now as it's non-transferable. So much for that aspect of trying to be prepared for data disaster.

Once the replacement arrives, I hope that I'll be able to just plug in the card and my drives will be back to normal. However, I'll be shopping for a new brand, as Rosewill's not cutting it in keeping my days off stress-free regarding my PC. 

Definitely not.

Sept 25 - Boardgames, New and Old

By now, you probably know that I am a Car Wars fan.

Yet it's probably been over a decade since I last played the game with anyone and even then it was one of the later versions. I'd almost given up hope that such a game would be re-released in any form, tabletop or even as software. But then I heard that Steve Jackson Games had put Car Wars on the table as part of a 2012 Kickstarter for another one of their games( the futuristic Ogre system ) to be re-released if Ogre was fully funded.

Mines, oil slicks and weapons fire: those were the days!

Thankfully, the Ogre Kickstarter smashed it's goal many times over, raising close to $1 million which definitely qualified for getting Car Wars re-released. After checking out a whole bunch of message boards, I discovered that until the new Ogre game is complete, there will be no funding for Car Wars, most likely putting it off until 2015 or so. But: the important part is that it's going to happen! And that makes me very pleased.

Now all I have to do is introduce my board gaming friends around here to the joys of vehicular combat…

Sept 26 - Future Rez

I just can't get small houses out of my head. It could be a mental bug; I'm not sure.

One of these days I'm going to trip across a plot of land here in Victoria and that will be it; all have to purchase it somehow and then figure out what tiny home I'm going to plop onto it to live in. Problem is, there's just so many of the darn things to choose from.

Apart from ones I've already mentioned in the blog, there's also student residence concepts to consider - at least the individual ones and not the gigantic blocks of cubbyholes stacked together that you may think of.

One interesting concept is the Tengbom Student Flat, which has some unique features, including the fact that it's made entirely out of wood. In keeping with the tiny home philosophy, everything that a person needs to live comfortably by themselves is contained within the structure. Sleeping area, eating area, bathroom, living area and some storage are all present in various forms. Space is as always at a premium and function seems to have been given priority, which is fine if you don't have much in the way of possessions.

Maybe I could put two of these together, to have space to keep MY stuff?

Sept 27 - Twilight Imperium

After a long day of work, gaming with your friends is a great way to unwind. Especially if you're taking over the galaxy!

While I was getting changed to go home today around dinnertime, I got a message from a fellow writer friend: what I like be the fourth in game of Twilight Imperium tonight? Of course I said yes and since their place was very close to my work, I was able to get there fairly quickly after they messaged me.

I'm the green player; appropriate, as I played a race of slimy bugs...

The only problem was, we didn't actually GET to the first( and only! )combat until midnight, 6 hours after we started playing. It's also similar to the vastly popular Settlers of Catan game, that I've not played enough of over the years. The majority of game time was spent expanding our respective little empires, planet by planet, as well as building up our forces as we prepared for contact with each other. I have to admit that I do enjoy that stage of the game, but it shouldn't take more than a few hours to complete, in my opinion.

Next time, I think I'll suggest that we streamline the building phase in order to get up to the combat phase fairly quickly. I think that's the most enjoyable part of the game, where one matches one's resources, wits, skill and luck against other players to see who comes out victorious in the end.

After all, the galaxy can only have one supreme ruler@

Sept 28 - Daze Off

Last week I neglected to mention that on Friday, I attended a wonderful comedy evening at the Royal Victoria Theatre. It featured the cast of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" doing improv for a few hours on stage:

Whose Live Anyway returns to Victoria with an all new show. Join Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff Davis and substituting for Chip Esten - Joel Murray (star of Dharma & Greg and Mad Men) for 90 minutes of hilarious improv comedy and song made up on your suggestions.

It had been many years, probably more a decade, since I attended any kind of comedy night and it was fantastic. I laughed longer and more heartily than I have in quite some time and really enjoyed the live aspect of the show, as only improv can provide. The audience was very enthusiastic and receptive, with several members been brought up onto the stage at various times who really added to the verisimilitude of the performance - in other words, the comedians got lucky in their choices. 

It was really great. :-)

Domestic chores and other catching up duties took up a too-large portion of my day today, along with a nap that turned into 90 min. of total exhaustion collapse on the couch. I didn't even hear the alarm I'd set go off; I slept right through it, which was unusual for me.

In the evening, I caught a ride to my end-of-summer workplace barbecue, hosted by the store's general manager. It was a relaxed and funny time with my coworkers, most of whom came out despite the rain and the distance to the manager's home - the offer free food probably has something to do with that. I was reminded yet again how extremely fortunate I am to have found a workplace with such wonderful people and such folk make the daily job stress much easier to bear, as I've said many times before. I did call it an early night due to my being rather tired and I was home again easily several hours before midnight.

Sept 29 - The Weather And Me

Today was a long day at work for me, mentally.

It's difficult for me sometimes, realizing that I'm starting over in the work world after 20 years. I have a ton of experience and I know a fair bit more than most people about various things, yet I'm still on the lowest rung of the company ladder. There's still far more for me to learn then I currently know and it's discouraging some days when I think about how I went from a position where I knew most every aspect of the job thoroughly to one where I'm constantly having to perform my job on the fly, with only partial knowledge of what I'm doing. 

That sort of thinking leads quite quickly to a mindset of being behind everyone else in life and I don't want to go there. I have things to do and I know that just having a job right now should be enough, considering where I was a year ago: unemployed. It's true that I'd like to be a lot more comfortable in my positional knowledge at work and like anyone I'd like to be earning more( especially compared to what I was making previously ) yet I have to focus on the many positive things about my workplace and not let my mental mumblings get the better of me.

Getting home tonight was rather interesting, as the winds had picked up substantially and along with them came quite a lot of driving rain. Although I had my full set of waterproof gear on, it was still an uncomfortable ride as my face was exposed and the direction of the prevailing winds made cycling very strenuous. There was a fair amount of debris on the road and since I wasn't able to wear my glasses, it was a constant challenge to be able to see things before I ran over them with my slippery bike tires. 

Fortunately I made it home without incident, despite a couple of serious wobbles, and I hope that evenings like this will be a rarity as the weather turns wetter and colder for the winter here. I'm also thankful that I'm not trying to ride my bike through snow and ice along the same route, which would frankly be impossible for me. 

Good thing I live where I do: in Victoria!

There's not much else to say about this week; my left arm's been bothering me while the right' s still healing at a steady pace, which is good. According to the forecast, it's going to rain all week long, which should be an excellent test of my gear and wet-weather cycling skills. See you all when the sun's shining again.

Maps, Mortality and Mail Arrivals

The word of the week is succinct.

Sept 16 - Who, me?

Something cool happened today: I got a personal message from one of the publishers of Babylon 5 books, people to whom I've given a decent chunk of change to over the years for some of their fantastic publications. One of the editors there had been referred to me by none other than Claudia Christian, regarding one of the videos I took at Phoenix Comicon 2013 of that worthy lady's seminar, which you can see below:

The editor was interested to know if I still had the original recording, which would be of higher quality. Of course I answered that I did, as I keep everything given the decent storage space I built here on my home PC. After a brief back-and-forth, I learned that they wanted to use the recording in an upcoming project of theirs. Tickled, I quickly acquiesced to their request for my help. My unasked-for reward will be a free copy of that mystery project, which I think is more than compensation enough as I'll have contributed a small part to it myself.

Which is a pretty cool thing for a Babylon 5 fan, I think.

Sept 17 - Escaping Escapism

One can't escape escapism, ironically.

It's very popular nowadays, with many problems people try to leave behind when they get home from a long day. Some escape through television, others through various hobbies and some through other means best left unmentioned here. Yet the people with more imagination escape to places they find within the pages of a book. For many people, escapism is the only way they can deal with their problems.

I've mentioned the topic before in my blog a few times. It's something that I know I've struggled with here and there over the years, as it's been much easier to run away from a particular problem into a fantasy world rather than formulate a strategy to deal with it.

However, like anything in life, you should try to learn from what your problems are. For me, reading as much as I did, I realize that in many of the stories I read there was no escape for the protagonists: they had to deal with their problems, which were a lot bigger ones than mine have been. Not to belittle my own issues, but they do tend to pale when there's total universal destruction weighing in the balance.

I still escape from time to time, but it's of my own choosing and for some time now, I haven't done so just to leave a problem behind. More like gain a little space to think about a solution, which I think is a lot healthier.

Sept 18 - The answer is… 42 - maps!

Maps are awesome

They can do a lot more than just let you know where you are. Tons of information can be packed into maps, representing in a visual manner different types of data that you wouldn't be able to conceptualize if it were just presented in printed form. I'm currently working on a map for my novel and I have quickly come to realize that I'm no cartographer, but I'll still do my best nonetheless.

A recent video on YouTube called "42 Amazing Maps" has gone viral, thanks to the enthusiasm of the presenter and the vivid detail of his material, the aforementioned maps in question. Have a gander at what he has to say and marvel at the mappy visuals he presents:

Sept 19 - Immortality?

Who doesn't want to live forever?

If Google has their way, it seems that everyone will be able to. That's kind of mind-boggling, to be quite honest, as humans have been grappling with their mortality first long as we've been around.

Some folk believe that a brief life lived well is best, while others think that we should all get a crack at having more than a century on average to do things. I happen to come down on the latter fence's side, as I believe there's a lot to be experienced in this universe, too much for us not to try to reach out for it all. Especially given that humans are currently limited to a brief lifespan spent on a single planet - that's not really fair, is it?

What would it be like I wonder, if we were all still around 1000 years from now? Will humanity have achieved the Singularity state, left Earth and journeyed to the stars?

There are so many questions that I have and so many things that I'd like to see, so much that can't be done in a single human lifetime on this planet. I'm hoping that myself personally or a close analogue of me will still be around to find out, if Google's project pans out successfully within my lifetime.

That's pretty exciting.

Sept 20 - New Wheels?

The invention of the wheel changed the world.

Since that fateful day so long ago, we've tried to reinvent it over and over again. So much so that the very phrase that embodies the reinvention of the wheel has come to mean "Why fix something that's not broken?"

Well, for one thing, a tire is a type wheel and those definitely could use some improvement, as they tend to explode when things penetrate them. New technologies and materials have meant that the run-flat tire is now morphing into solid tires - again a technology from my much-beloved game of Car Wars from the 1980s. Just goes to show that I was ahead of the game( pardon the pun )again, I guess.

I like Hankook's new take on the idea of an airless tire; it gives me a sense of safety when I think about it. I've had too many flat tires over the years, including one run of no less than five on a family vacation to Florida many years ago. Having solid tires only makes sense in a world full of sharp pointy things.

Sept 21 - B5 At 20 arrives

A very special book arrived in the mail today - I'm so excited!

Babylon 5  at Twenty is a massive coffee-table book measuring a full square foot in size. It's filled with an incredible number of high-quality photos and information culled from hard-to-find sources, many of which have not been seen in any form of publication until now.

It arrived in a shiny purple package - snazzy! And SO COOL!

I think it's a fitting companion to my experience in Arizona this past May in 2013. It's a physical documentation of the journey of my favorite television experience, Babylon 5, since its inception 20 years ago until today. I'll planning to be frugal in reading through it, turning only a few pages per day in order to prolong my first read of this amazing collector's item that I was privileged to be able to purchase at an affordable price - that's saying a lot considering my current budget.

Given that I don't have a lot of collectibles( or the urge to build said collection ) than it is all the more noteworthy that I purchase something like this to keep for many decades to come; it's archival-quality pages will be just as fresh twenty years from now as they are today.

Would that I can say the same thing about myself then; we'll see, won't we?

Sept 22 - Up in Arms

My arms have been aching on and off for the last few weeks, but good news: my right arm's muscle tear seems to be healing, if somewhat slowly. I am again quite thankful that I'm not on the floor at work hauling printers and chairs and desks every day, which has allowed my arm to slowly heal. I'm still unable to play video games or type for more than 15 min. of the time, but at least my arms don't ache at the end of the day very much compared to how they did just a year ago. I'm hoping that in another year, I'll be able to go back to using them as normal and not have to worry about every move I make with them when it comes to any kind of weight or extended usage. I'm just glad that they're still attached and usable.

A related note, I'm also surprised by how much time domestic chores take up of a day. It's quite a lot, even living in an apartment, without having to tend to the needs of a lawn or garden or even a vehicle. There's still quite a few minutes of the day that get eaten up by chores and having thought about it, I'm again grateful to have both the dishwasher and access to a laundry in the building on the same floor. These time-savers do eat up some minutes, but I shudder to think what it would be like if I had to travel to do laundry or wash the number dishes we use on a daily basis.

In the end, it's all about what we do with our time and for me, it's becoming more and more precious these days. Sometimes we have to think about the mundane to appreciate that it's not all that there is in our lives, that the necessary paves the way for the extraordinary.

It's been a long week, with some low points, but now it's the end of the weekend - and the end of summer - and I think I have a handle on things. See you all next week.

Memories, Mobility and Mutability

The word of the week is factotum.

Sept 9 - Tired Balance

I've noticed that first entry of every blog for the last while seems to be one where I give an update on how things are going in general for me, so I won't buck the trend this week either.

Life right now has narrowed down to the very basic: work, sleep, write. Toss in some socialization and there you have it; there's not much else to say. Though we've recently regained cable television, I've been watching very little and recording only some things, not nearly as much as I had in recent years - I don't know when I'll find time to watch those taped shows this year with all the work I have to do.

In terms of balance, my life has settled down somewhat from the emotional roller coasters I've been going through. I'm focusing extraordinarily hard at work in order to do a better job every single day than the previous shift, which drains my energy but I know will pay off once I get all of the thousand little details down into habits. In my previous jobs, it was those habits that allowed my unconscious mind freedom to play with ideas during the day while I went about my work day, as just that little bit of mental freedom was all I needed to get my creativity out when I got home.

Unfortunately, with the craziness of the last two weeks due to Back to School, I've been exhausted every single day when I got home. The most I've been able to do is collate the many notes I have on my book, as well as organizing ideas I've had spring up in the last six months. It's been very frustrating not to have the energy to focus on my writing, but I've got to come up with some plan to get in the hours I need every day or I'll find myself six months from now with only a few chapters of the third draft revised.

That's not acceptable to me.

Sept 10 - Underground cities?

I love the idea of underground cities; the idea just appeals to me.

There are numerous examples of such cities in Earth's history, with some of the largest being located in the Middle East. One such city is Kaymakli, which could hold at its peak thousands of residents living quite comfortably below the surface.

Definitely not the place to live if you like suntanning

In my novel, I used underground residences as part of a story point for one of my alien races. I came up with the concept of living below the surface as being a normal part of their life and went from there. While we as a human civilization have developed the need for living on the surface or a planet in order to cultivate crops and conduct our doings, there's no reason why that has to be the same template elsewhere in the universe.

For all we know, we are the aberrations and everyone else lives below grade.

Sept 11 - Memories

Some scars may never heal, and others may take time.

I'll be brief about today's remembrance, as it's been over a decade now and the emotions still run high for many concerning the attacks. Now that the construction is complete and the memorial is in place in New York City, I hope that the healing will begin.

I also hope that the lessons from the horrific tragedy will be learned someday. That the reasons for the attacks still linger just below the surface in many places in the world, meaning that understanding and acceptance are still quite far apart from the reality that Westerners live in currently.

Perhaps in the future all visit New York again, but I'm not sure that all visit the memorial. There's still a vivid image in my head of turning away from the lobby of the World Trade Center to stand by the fountain in the center and gazing up, so far up, at the towers that symbolized America's dominance of the world.

I never took the elevator up to the top to gaze out upon the city from that vantage point. Perhaps if I had, I might have a better understanding of what was lost. But I know that even if I did, and even if many people had made that same journey, most of them wouldn't have come away with a different understanding completely from my own. Simply just because of who we are.

It's that lack that still means we have a long way to go today.

Sept 12 - Laptops dying?

Less than five years ago, I bought a shiny new laptop.

It was the second new computer I've ever bought, having assembled everything up until that point from various parts I ordered save the one I purchased as a whole to play Neverwinter Nights… back in 2002. So needless to say, I was excited to get a brand-new machine to game with, especially one that just looked so cool - it had orange accents!

I even upgraded mine 6 months before it died - it was SO shiny...

It lasted barely 2 years before dying completely and utterly, beyond hope of repair.

Because it was a laptop, there was no easy solution to find, as the parts are not easily available from local stores. Unlike a desktop, you can't just swap out a bad power supply or get a new motherboard but instead have to order expensive parts more often than not directly from the manufacturer.

So reading this article today that laptops are better than ever just made me chuckle; there's no mention of how easy they are to repair compared to desktops but there's a whole lot of information about how everything is becoming far more mobile in today's world.

Which is ironic, as I'm typing this blog entry using voice recognition on software loaded on a very large and very un-portable desktop. Which I've customized quite extensively by adding tons of storage and other peripherals internally, for which there's lots of space - unlike in a laptop.

I'll still be thinking about getting a portable device in the future, but right now I'm quite happy with my desktop as it fits my needs perfectly. Other people may drive the market by choosing or portable devices, but I'll bet you that they'll be buying them more often than I'll be replacing my desktop -probably a factor of 3 to 1 or greater.

Those odds are in favor of the manufacturers, making them lots of money. Right?

Sept 13 - Andre Norton

Decades ago, I read a story by a Golden Age science fiction writer entitled Daybreak 2250 AD.

It was a post-apocalyptic novel and I loved it from the first. What I didn't realize was that the author had many more works in the same vein, which I wish I had followed up upon years ago.

Just LOOK at that cover! It makes me want to read it right now!

Back to the present day. On my Kindle e-reader last month, I was cruising various books to be had and came across a 'Megapack' collection from Andre Norton for a great price, so I grabbed it. Once I started reading it, I was entranced, as Norton's work has shown me she had a fascination with the future and the post-apocalyptic in particular. Many of her stories feature themes regarding ruined cities and discovering the past, both big things in my own psyche that I just can't get enough of. As well, she attracted a large female readership with her Witch World series, which I have had on my 'to-read' list for years now.

I'm really enjoying reading her work and I'll be digging around to find more books of hers in the local shops once I clear some room on my shelves here. It's nice to be able to have a substantial number of them on the Kindle already, as I can read them wherever and whenever I find the time, including breaks at work.

It just goes to show you that what you thought you knew isn't always correct and there's a lot more below the surface of many things in this world. I'm glad I discovered this fascinating detail about Andre Norton and I'll be enjoying her work for years to come, being terribly glad that the gap of years between us has been bridged by a common love of certain themes.

Isn't that kind of connection to the reader one that every writer hopes for?

Sept 14 - Swooshy Blimps

Dirigibles are making a comeback, in a sleek new package.

The Aeros Corporation's new blimp, called the Pelican, completed successful test flight just recently. This is an important milestone, as it means that their design may be shortly approved for commercial and military use. There are currently only a tiny handful of similar craft being used for work around the world and that's unfortunate, as such vehicles have many advantages over fixed-wing aircraft, the primary one being their ability to move cargo very very cheaply. If not very fast; generally their top speed is less than 50 KpH.

This is also shiny, but on several other levels.

Years ago, I played a game called Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games, which some of you may recall. There are many supplements for the game including one called Aeroduel, which had rules for aircraft and included designs for solid-skilled armoured dirigibles. Those designs in particular I always found fascinating, as they seemed like ships of the sky, bristling with guns as they slowly drifted across the land below... and like ships of the sea, occasionally falling prey to pirates:

I think that's a pretty cool image, and we may see something similar soon in the air, minus the guns.

Sept 15 - The Impermanence of Chalk

Today was about timing, or more accurately: bad timing.

The annual Victoria International Chalk Festival was being held this weekend, with artists coming from all over the world to showcase their work. Since I had the day off, I planned to head downtown and see the wonderful works, which I had done last year as well.

What I hadn't planned on where clouds rolling in the end dumping rain all over everything before I got there. Which left very little to see when I arrived in the afternoon. fortunately, there were some wonderful photos taken yesterday by local photographers, which you can see an example of below:

All this means is that I really have to pay more attention to what I'm doing during the day and look outside once in a while to see if the weather's decided to play a few tricks. In the case of this afternoon, the rain was a prelude to thunderstorms, which rattled windows a couple of times here - another rarity.

Despite being tired for most of the month so far, I've been maintaining my weight around hundred and fifty pounds for the last month, which I'm pleased about.it's not ideal weight, but it's a place to start from. Just like going from my current 'just enough' levels of energy to 'plenty for both working my day job and writing otherwise' levels, plus time for exercise and socializing. There's not much else on my agenda for the rest of the year, so I should be able to get everything organized as needed.