Strain, Silly Drivers and Strange Suppositions

The word of the week is eschew.

June 23 - Printed Perfection

Small victories are a key to life.

Case in point: my printer.

Why, you ask, is a printer important? Well, apart from the fact that you paid money for it, it can print things - silly question, really. I've used my Canon ip4500 for 7 years now to print all manner of things: photos, handouts for my writing group, parts of various drafts of my novel, maps… the list goes on. Yet for the last 6 months, my poor ip4500's been out of commission, taken down by a print head that gave up the ghost and leaving printouts with nasty lines all over them.

Now, I mention this because this is the EXACT situation that people coming into Staples often told me about. How they loved their old printer( it's a workhorse / great pictures / just bought a whole new pack of ink for it before it crapped out )and didn't want to replace it, but they had to, in the end. Toss old printer, buy new one, repeat in 2 to 5 years, give or take.  Keeps the manufacturers happy.

Flip lever, replace printhead. Why aren't they ALL made this way?

Back to me: I bought a Canon back in the day because the printheads are replaceable - now they're not, but for a long time they were. So you just replaced the printhead and not the entire printer, all with the flip of the lever… and a smaller zap to your wallet. Turns out though, that at $100 a printhead( even re-manufactured! )it's cheaper nowadays for me to replace the ip4500 than to effect a repair via eBay parts.

Which I would have, had not fate intervened. A customer a few weeks ago brought in their old ip4500 to Staples, found out it had an error that couldn't be fixed cheaply and so bought a new printer. Leaving said Canon malfunctioning  printer( identical to mine )behind to be recycled. 

With a perfectly-good printhead inside.

Needless to say, I'm quite happy with the result. A lot of careful cleaning, some testing and clickety-clack: I have a like-new inkjet printer again, all set to print out whatever I want it to.

Ironically, I won't be up to much for the next six months, but at least I know it's there when I need it.

Colour me happy!

June 24 - 400K words?

I've written a fair number of words in my life, when I think about it.

As I've mentioned before, this blog itself is well over half a million words now, after seven years of writing every week. My novel's third draft is almost 150,000 words and when I think about the other stories I've written over the years, you could probably put in another hundred thousand words or so, getting my total close to three quarters of a million words in the last 20 years or so.

Which is not a lot compared to Jamie Todd Rubin, who wrote 400,000 words in a single year.

It sounds impossible, but he documented the process for which he used Google Docs to keep an accurate account of what he was producing everyday. Given that he is a published science fiction writer and blogger, his methods obviously bear examining to see how I might learn from them.

One thing that I did notice is that he uses a noise-canceling headset to tune out his surroundings. It's something that I've considered over the years but rejected due to the cost: a good headset will easily run around $300 to $400, which is way out of my budget, unfortunately.

The key thing that Jamie mentions is to write every single day, something that I'm still not quite in the habit of. I do think on my writing and notate every day, but I don't yet have a set amount of time that I sit down to write to the exclusion of all else. I'm thinking that I may do this in the morning, before work, by getting up earlier and use the time to collate my notes so that I can be ready to write in the evenings after I'm home from work and simply have to put the pieces together, so to speak.

I'll be trying this out very soon, I think, and I'll let you know how it goes.

June 25 - Near Misses

I was almost run over today.

No, that sounds too tame, too brief. How about this:

A car screeched to a halt less than a foot away from me, going from 60kph to ZERO after the driver suddenly realized the light was red and people - including ME! - were crossing the street while other cars were also going the OTHER way.

It could have really ruined my day, and his.

Almost: I was a foot in FRONT of his bumper...

What happened was this: a large dump truck was turning left at the lights, around the corner where I was standing, waiting to cross. The truck blocked my view of traffic to my left, as well as blocking Silly Driver's view of the light, which had turned red while the truck finally got through its turn. The crossing light said 'Walk' and everyone stepped off the curbs… which is when Silly Driver realized that the empty curbside lane( the other lane was taken up by stopped cars; hint much? )should NOT have been used to speed his journey to work / school. He slammed on the brakes just in time, as I caught him in the corner of my eye, realizing his car was moving FAR too fast. A second of tire screeches and Silly Driver's car was sitting IN the intersection while I and the lady next to me shook ourselves and finished crossing; Silly Driver was ducking to pick up something from his passenger footwell and refused any eye contact.

 
No harm, no foul, right? All the same, I had a good bit of cold-sweat shakes for a brief minute once safely across and away from the road. It was THAT close and ALL I'd been able to think about as I stood staring at Silly Driver's bumper was how an accident would just ruin my brand-new pair of pants.

Weird, eh?

Ten years ago this cartoon came out... and we've learned little since.

It also got me thinking: what if I'd been hit and had to spend the summer( AGAIN! )in the hospital? Sure, I'd be covered by insurance( I have a fair bit for this sort of thing )but that's assuming I was only injured.

What if I'd been killed? A headsmack the wrong way off his windshield or the ground and that'd have been it; he wasn't going slowly, I'll remind you. I'd definitely have broken limbs and likely more.

If I'd bought the big one, then nobody would be around to write my stories. My second book would remain unwritten, as would the third and ALL the other stories I have sitting around in my head - especially the ones I don't know are there yet. Nothing would have been published and well, it'd be rather disappointing for me to stare at glumly from whatever afterlife you happen to believe in.

Plus, I'd be gone and a few people would miss me. More than a few, I like to believe, and I'd definitely miss being around, that's for sure. All you folks are great and I'm not ready to disappear just right now.

I'm choosing to take this as a sign that I Should Write My Books - Sooner, Not Later. I think that's a healthy way of looking at things, don't you?

Also, I'm going to be even MORE careful crossing the road, even in 'sleepy' Victoria!

June 26 - Proof of parallel universes?

Something I forgot to mention yesterday: a receipt.

Well, let me backtrack a little. One of the first things I do at work in the morning is to 'tape' the invoices I get, which means I pull out a quaint old-style printing calculator to add up all the bits on the invoice to ensure everything matches up and that the service provider hasn't made an error. Fairly simple.

Yet my first receipt of the day… wasn't. Have a look:

One of these totals is not like the other...

Now, since you're wondering what's weird about that receipt, let me fill you in.

It's the first receipt I did that day, simply adding two sums: 337.500 + 16.88, which gets you $354.38.

Only, the first time I did it, I got $356.88. Which is WRONG.

Very, very wrong. As in, the calculator SHOULD NOT have been able to give me that total.

Blinking, I zeroed the calculator and added the two sums again, getting the correct total of $354.38. I've NO idea why( or HOW )the calculator could screw up a simple addition. I checked a few more times and got the correct total of $354.38 each time, leaving me to wonder what had happened.

My theory: I'd just caught the edge of a parallel universe, where things are similar but different, enough so that small errors were still occurring and I'd caught the edge of one. Meaning that the accident I'd avoided this morning by the narrowest of margins had, in fact, caused me to be injured in other parallel lines whereas I was perfectly all right in this one… but experiencing echoes of the others.

I'm just going to go with that - because if you can't trust a calculator, well then, you're really screwed in this universe. AND I happen to like the way things turned out for me with a lack of injury this week.

One the same note, I had a minor and amusing conversation with a stranger on FBook today along the same lines. An artist had posted a picture to one of the groups I belong to, asking for an opinion as to which of the two paintings she'd created was better. I looked at the picture, then replied "The third one you haven't made yet." She replied to my comment with this:

Peter, how did you know I have to make another? Or was that a joke? I do have to make another though, it is funny that you would say that not knowing that I would. I have chills.

 

How did I know? I just… did. It's been a really weird week. What's next? The X-Men appearing in my kitchen?

If so, I could get rid of my can opener with Wolverine around…

June 27 - Eye Owies

My eyes failed me today.

More specifically, my week caught up to me by way of eyestrain.

Late in the afternoon today, I noticed that I was having trouble seeing my computer screen. I adjusted the lights on my desk and kept working, but a few hours before quitting time I was having real difficulties seeing at any distance and I had to take some frequent breaks in order to finish what was on my desk.

Once I got home, the problem was even worse: I couldn't read my cell phone at either at arms length or up close. My right eye ached and I immediately put a cool cloth over my eyes to rest for about half an hour, which seemed to help a little. I did some research on the big screen using my PC, looking up remedies for eyestrain, of which there are quite a few.

01100101 01111001 01100101 00001010 = eye

It was quite a surprise to me, as I've had no problems at all for the last month while working at my desk. My eyes are changing as I age though so I suppose it's inevitable that this should come about. It's also true that I haven't worked a desk job before where I had to focus my eyes at the same distance for hours at a time without any break intervals in between like wandering around a retail store or looking out at the lobby or through windows on a regular basis.

The rest of my evening was low-key, with little work being done on my novel save juggling ideas in my head. My sister and I watched most of the movie Sunshine, which I happen to like the concept of and in my opinion it was decently executed despite being a little dry overall.

Kind of like my eyes at the moment, when you think about it.

June 28 - Being Blind

I needed some inspiration this week and found it in an unlikely place.

Most of you may be familiar with the story of Helen Keller, the woman who lost her sight and hearing at 19 months old when she contracted meningitis. It's a story as inspiring as any I've heard, where someone trapped inside a cage of their own body fights to reach out and succeeds beyond anyone's imagination.

What I also wasn't aware of is that there's rare video of Helen Keller available now, thanks to the Internet and individuals determined to keep her inspiration alive. Below you'll find a video where Helen speaks about her greatest regret, which is something so simple that we all take for granted yet for her it was something she never mastered despite her incredible will and determination:

In the afternoon today, I installed a text-to-speech app called @Voice Aloud Reader on my phone. Essentially, you copy text from any source( via your phone )then paste it into @Voice and that is you and it reads it aloud - rather nicely too, I must say. There are numerous voices that you can download in various accents( free while in Beta, too! )and they sound very natural compared to voices available even a few years ago. I'm not an audiobook person, but this was a nice solution to what I hope is a temporary problem with my eyes, allowing me to 'read' a few more chapters in my current Kindle book while my eyes rest a bit.

Next up: getting the app to read MY OWN book aloud - yay!

June 29 - Second Day Off

Yesterday and today I did get some writing done on my second novel.

Admittedly, it wasn't nearly as much as I wanted to get done, given the discomfort I was in from my eyestrain. Using my voice recognition tools, I was able to write scene-by-scene summaries for several more chapters, which I'm doing in much more detail than I did for my first book. I think of these summaries as a much more detailed 'map' of where I want to go with each small part of the book; each summary is at least a paragraph or two in length and sets down some fairly precise ideas about what the scene is about. The outline that will result from these summaries will probably be 10,000 to 20,000 words in size, which is a small novella in itself and one that I can refine as I go along as needed.

Later in the afternoon I went to see my eye doctor, whose office is conveniently open seven days a week. He examined my eyes thoroughly and was pleased to tell me that there was no underlying condition that could be the cause of my eye difficulties this week. I was due for a checkup anyway, as it's been a year and a half since I was last in, so I was happy to hear that it was simple eyestrain that was the cause of my discomfort. He recommended that I purchase a prescription pair of computer glasses from a retailer( online or local ) to use it work in order to maximize the efficiency of my eyes need for focus at the short distance I'll be working at when using my computer daily.

This was pretty much what I had expected, but it was a relief to hear that there was no other difficulty detected. Given that my mother has Sjogren's Syndrome, which causes among other things very dry eyes, I'll be happy to simply scout out the best price for computer glasses in the next day or two and place an order. My preliminary searches today turned up a few candidates, though I was surprised to find out that there are very few Canadian retailers who deal with this specific type of prescription glasses despite the fact that tens of thousands of office workers must need new glasses every year.

To me, that sounds like a prescription for the business idea. Anyone want to start up an optical company?

That's all I have for you this week. Thank goodness I'm only working 4 days, thanks to Canada Day on Tuesday, which should give my eyes a break. I'll be following through with a LOT more regular eye-breaks at work; I CANNOT allow ANY eye issues to interfere with the completion of my second novel. It's just one more challenge to face of many on the path...

Roleplaying, Routines and Ruminations - plus a Rooftop

The word of the week is loquacious.

June 16 - Striding

At last, I seem to be hitting my stride at work.

All the invoices are making sense to me now, each morning when I checked my workload. 

The computer screen no longer seems like a mass of number-fields that I can lose my place in and have to remember 1000 things about all at once - only 100 or so now, which is still more than enough. My workflow is steadying itself, meaning that I can now much more easily envision what I have to do and when once I have a look at what my daily folder contains.

It's a good feeling, not being overwhelmed at the new job after only a month.

Already, there's talk of cross-training the various new hires, which makes an employee more valuable in that they can work in various different departments that need and cover for people who are off sick, naturally. All good signs pointing towards getting a permanent position in the office, I think.

Daily routine is also setting in, which isn't a bad thing. I can do whatever I want on my breaks and I usually choose to pop downstairs to sit in the sunshine in the atrium. I've been making excellent use of a pair of Bluetooth headphones, which I can also plug in at my desk, which is very convenient. I probably listen to more music in the last month than I have in the last year and I can feel my creativity resonating from the melody of notes massaging my brain through my years. An odd picture, but definitely truthful; I haven't written to music before but I'm finding this time around that it's very inspiring.

When every workday is a journey of musical discovery, it's hard not to smile.

June 17 - Kazowie!

After work today, I went all-out in getting all three scenes of my second book's first chapter sketched in.

It helps that the last few days I've been listening to 'epic music mixes' at work. Instead of just classical or relaxation / study music, I've specifically been listening to wonderfully inspiring scores from all forms of media. It's done wonders for my creative juices and I've already jotted down quite a few ideas that I've had as they've struck during the workday.

First chapters are critically important in a novel, as important as the ending and oftentimes even more so as they are what draws the reader into your story and piques their curiosity. The first three scenes that I've set as of tonight will do that in spades, I hope, bringing the readers of the first book directly into the story and plot lines of the second. Each scene flowed naturally from the first books concepts and having put them into words now, I can see that they most definitely work on several levels. 

The three scenes work well together to bring the reader into the timeframe of the new book via recognizable characters from the first novel and set up much of the conflict that will be present in the new novel's plot lines. Of which there are quite a few; as I've said already, it will be challenging to keep them all balanced and moving along. There's quite a lots to do and it's going to be a fascinating ride to take, even though I generally know where it's all going in the end.

June 18 - Shaking

We had an earthquake here, earlier this week!

It occurred at 1:37pm in the afternoon on Monday, precisely. I registered it as a heavy truck rumbling along the street outside, out of sight, and so paid it no mind. About 10 minutes later, someone else in the office said that a news site had registered the shaking as an earthquake just off the east coast of the city in the Haro Strait. I was rather surprised( and chagrined )that I hadn't recognized the shaking for what it was, having been through a few smaller earthquakes already in my time here on the West Coast. 

New studies have also pointed out that Victoria is prone to what are now being called 'slow earthquakes' which I had no idea existed. The things you learn after you've moved into a new city…

Ironically, we had just performed a fire drill that morning. The entire government building emptied out in an orderly fashion, close to 1,000 people proceeding along separate routes to assemble at different safe areas nearby. It was an enjoyable walk, literally in the park as that's where our assembly area was and it was much quieter once we left the ringing of the fire bells behind. In all seriousness though, it was an excellent way to remind everyone of the importance of training in the event of disaster, whatever that may be. Living in an earthquake zone may mean the next time those skills I've practiced will be needed will be necessary for my survival or for that of the people near me.

And, speaking of no warning given: here's Johnny Depp, everyone!

Today I found out that back in 2010, the Hollywood star was filming in London England when he received a letter from a local schoolgirl asking him to help her and her schoolmates in a 'mutiny against her schoolteachers' - which he actually responded to. Dressed in full Jack Sparrow regalia and in character, Depp descended on the school with a band of pirates, to the delight of the staff and students.  I thought it was a lovely gesture and the whole scene was captured in the video below:

June 19 - 360° of Awesome

As some of you know by now, I love Cosplay. So when I saw this, I had to share:

At Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney, Australia, people got an opportunity to look like superheroes thanks to a panoramic set up from Syfy Australia. The company brought their FanCam 360 to the event to promote the season two premiere of Defiance, and the circle of 360 degree cameras capture images a la The Matrix bullet time scenes. It’s practically made to create memorable photos and videos for cosplayers.

That's really pretty cool, to be able to see everyone's hard work in such a unique way. It makes me wonder what kind of costume I can come up with, but I have a little time. Or maybe in a few years someone will make a costume out of one of my characters.

Such was the case for one of my favorite authors, Timothy Zahn.

Timothy Zahn looks tickled!

One of the wonderful things about creating something for other people to enjoy is that those people can do their own amazing things with your creation. At a recent convention when two cosplayers showed up dressed as characters from Zahn's books. If this ever happened to me I think I would be thrilled beyond words, as it would mean that my books at meant something at a deep level to my readers, enough so that they would dress up as characters I had created. 

There are few forms of praise as highest that, I think, for any artist in any field.

June 20 - Sproinged

Today was the last day of spring.

Looking back, I can't say I've done much in an outdoorsy way since the beginning of the year. Apart from riding my bike to work, I don't spend much time outside, which always surprises me. I'm not a beach person, which means that despite living within walking distance of the beach at the south end of the island I haven't paid it very many visits at all. I much preferred the solitude and peace of the woods, albeit in a fairly bug-free area if I can at all help it, though again I'm not a hiker who feels that they have to conquer a minor mountain at least once a month in order to feel a sense of accomplishment in their life. 

For the most part, I'm content to enjoy nature as it is, admiring the views and playing back on the grass once in a while to see what shapes the clouds are choosing for that day. If I can at all getaway to the woods, that would be my choice, as I feel the most connection to nature when among the trees:

After work today, I spent another wonderful few hours on the patio at The Rooftop with a group of my new coworkers. The sun was shining, the weather was mild and the sky was a bright blue bereft of any intruding clouds. The conversations were fluid and at one point, I ended up pontificating( in a good way )about my two books. I've noticed that when I speak enthusiastically about my work, people lean closer and seem to drink in my words in large portions. I've noticed it a few times now and I'm incredibly grateful that I can so easily express my passion for my work to others and hold their interest with it. Translating that passion into my work itself will also help things along, as my emotional connection to what I'm creating will be apparent in the words that I set down.

That whole top of the building behind the flags is the Rooftop, with a beach volleyball court!

I really like the place, despite the lack of trees.

June 21 - Weekend off!

It's the first official day of summer and my first full weekend off in some time.

I'll skip over the housework and other things that I did the morning, because they're a tad mundane. Highlights were going out for breakfast with my parents and visiting the Moss Street Market where I found the freshest head of Romaine I've ever seen, for a bargain price - yummy Caesar salad galore!

Instead, I'll mention that I didn't work at Staples today. Again, I had marked off that I could work in the morning up until 5 PM but the management took it as 'Peter cannot work today at all, period.' Which is a touch annoying, as I have to work at least once every pay period in order to remain on their books.

Later in the day, I did drop by Staples to update my schedule for the next few weeks. It's an odd feeling walking in there now, as I feel much more like a visitor that an employee. It's akin to walking into a house used to live in where you're still welcome to visit but all the furniture's been re-arranged. All the same, I'm still keeping my options open by working one to two days every pay period and I'll continue to do so until my government job is turned into a permanent position. That will mean I'll have to study up, as I've mentioned, as I'll have to write a 'competition' for the various permanent positions that will be offered. From what I can tell, this won't be mind-bendingly difficult but I'll put my all into it all the same.

This is very meta: Leo's holding a DM screen...

Tonight was another gaming night, held again outside of town in a lovely country house. My group seems to be getting together every couple of weeks, which is fine, though the sessions are only 2 to 3 hours long at most in the evening. Considering I was used to day-long gaming sessions in University, where we often played from morning until only shortly before midnight, this doesn't seem to allow much time to get anything accomplished. However, I'm playing as much for the enjoyment as for anything else and did this the group is more than sufficient: the players are more than tolerant of ponds and generally all of very good humor, so there's much laughter every session. 

It's lovely.

June 22 - Drunk and Disorderly

Today was a pretty good second day in a row off. With a caveat.

A late breakfast over at Jam took up most of the morning, which in itself was good as my batteries were low and I needed some time to recharge. I did some writing in the early afternoon, a bit of housework which had gone too long undone and I thought about a nap, but decided against it for no particular reason other than it was a lovely day outside, too good to be wasted sleeping inside of the sun.

Heading on down to Moka house seemed like the natural thing to do, so I packed up my shiny new laptop, grabbed my headphones and scooted down the street. Sunshine and the temperature 23° made it perfect patio weather and I soon arrived, accompanied by my sister who was on her way down to the beach further on to spend the rest of her afternoon there. 

It felt a LOT like this outside today... perfect.

All was well.

Not for very long however, as a drunk showed up. A very belligerent, angry drunk.

Angry enough to be yelling at pretty much anyone who was nearby, which unfortunately included the friend that my sister had asked to meet her at Moka house to head down to the beach with. To make a long story short, the police were called and the drunk wandered off down the street without any physical altercation, thanks to the quick thinking of my sister's friend who occupied the fellows time in a genial and neutral manner until he got bored and wandered off. It was definitely the right decision, as in the end it took three police cruisers with as many officers blocking off a nearby street to subdue the drunk, who resisted with a shocking amount of violence despite the efforts of three officers. Thinking on how things could have gone down differently on a patio crowded with seniors and mothers with children, it made me wonder a few things about our society and people's place in it. About their choices and how they affect others.

In the case of the drunk, his choice was to be ruled by the alcohol. Now, before you say that it wasn't his choice and that he had no control over his addiction, I would point out that there are many methods available today to help alcoholics get a handle on their demons. Point in fact, I overheard the drunk say that he'd been sober for 12 years and today looks like the end of that positive future road he was on, coming to a screeching halt in the back of a police cruiser. The Sinclair Method is also a recent development, where a single pill consumed before any alcohol disconnects the centers of addiction in the body, resulting in the alcoholic no longer craving the next drink in a very real biological way.

But I digress. 

The choices that were made today led to a few minutes of entertainment for most of the people at Moka house, most of whom I should note looked curiously at the drunk in their midst but there was no mass exodus to give him room, despite his noise and what he was saying. A few others, myself included, looked ready to react on a hair-trigger should he take things to the next level and I was thankful to recognize that look of readiness in several other worthies nearby. Again, platitudes to my sister's friend for defusing the situation and for the police in arriving as quickly as they did, especially since the drunk was wandering in and out of traffic on the road as well as the other businesses nearby. It was luck and good decisions that meant nobody set him off and he was removed from the area before anything serious happened, though I imagine he will have bruises from his altercation with the police.

Choices. I chose to go to Moka House today and in doing so saw side of society that most people dismissed from their mind soon after the event occurred. People choose to accept the decisions of others, or to live their lives by the small bad decisions that seem right at the time yet lead you down a road that you don't recognize by the time it's too late. Choices mean that the wrong ones, or even the less worthy, will take you to places that you know you don't really belong in yet have no idea how to turn around and find a better path.

It's something to think about this week, as I go to and from my 9-to-5 job, entering in invoices and making small jokes with my coworkers to pass the time of the day. I'll be thinking about how easily I could have recognized a part of myself in that drunk today, a small part admittedly, of not making choices but simply letting myself wander through life, in and out of traffic, someone to be reduced to an entertaining story in somebody else's day. I'm sure there's a story there, but I'm not sure I want to pursue it further; it's not mine to tell.

That's a sobering thought.

Some minor things: my wrists have complained MUCH less this week, thankfully, as I'm using them minimally at work of a day. Same goes for my right knee: a lack of heavy lifting and daily bike rides have made it far less vocal, though I am missing the exercise somewhat. I've a lot to do each day from now until the end of the year though, so until then: enjoy your week!