Avatars, Anime and Apps

The word of the week is ruminate.

May 30 – App-B-Gone

Crash, crash, and crash again.

Sometimes, you don't realize how often checking FBook is as part of your day, when you suddenly can't do it anymore. Like when my phone's official FBook app decided to stop working completely after the latest update, as well as after an uninstall / reinstall.

Ah well. Made me look up alternatives, which is always fun.

After looking askance at more than a few apps that purported to 'do it better' than the official FBook app, I settled on one called Swipe, which hooks into FBook's mobile site to display information about your social account. From the reviews, it looked to be solid, regularly updated( with far fewer bugs than the official app )and most importantly, light on phone resources - unlike the official app.

Using it all this week, I was impressed enough to shell out a few dollars for the Pro version, which among its better features allows you to exclude keywords from your newsfeed. So Trump, Kayne West and all their ilk are now blissfully missing from most of my daily reading, which alone is worth the price of the app.

It makes me wonder how a huge, deep-pocket company like FBook can't manage to improve its bloated app while others can do so with seeming ease...

May 31 –  Korra

I've been a bit distracted the last few months, but in a good way.

Watching The Legend of Korra on NetFlix has been an eye-opener for me, in that I had no idea how good the series was. Airtight writing tied into fully developed characters and wonderfully laid-out plots awaited me when I finally got around to watching and I've had to limit myself to a few episodes every other day to avoid the dreaded phenomenon known as Netflix binge-watching.

Kudos to those responsible for making the show.

It takes a ton of hard work to create something truly worthwhile, and the irony is that the majority of that work goes unremarked by most who see the end result. For an animated television series, there are many components: the artwork, the animation, the voice acting and of course the writing that is the seed from which everything grows...

All these combined perfectly in Korra, and it shows. At no point did I wonder what was happening, what the characters wanted or whether I was interested in what was going on: the show swept me up with gently cradled hands and carried me along with the characters as they experienced the events unfolding.

Just some of the great characters in the show

I found it inspiring as a writer and for that reason alone, I'm glad that I've been watching as much of the shows I have these last few months. With my own inspiration flagging since last summer, it's been a real struggle to visualize the end results of my own creative efforts and seeing a masterpiece such as Korra helps me greatly to talk back into my own hard work that still lies ahead.

And I still have one more season of Korra to finish watching...!

June 1 – More Time

Looking at my calendar lately, it's pretty empty. I like it.

I've divested myself of most distractions, to better concentrate on what's important. Now that another month has rolled around, I'm ensuring that what ends up in the calendar are only vital things, like family and friends and little else. My writing group's activities seem to be self-supporting this year, 6 months in, and I'm looking to keep it that way. Even my critique group is only meeting once a month at this point and since I don't have any new material, there's little I can do to contribute apart from critically reviewing the work of the other members.

It's funny how when I look back, I needed to find time to do so many things yet never felt a sense of accomplishment when I managed to scratch a few things off my ever-growing To Do list. What I've done in the last six months is put many of those things on several smaller and more concise lists: Write Today, Do Now and Get Around To Later - just having three lists means I can better juggle everything overall and not feel a daily dissatisfaction and not getting so much done as I think I should.

It's been a difficult year so far in 2016, for myself and some family members.

My anxiety has, through daily effort, being got under control and I'm making progress towards being much healthier with regular exercise and decent eating. My sleep is still somewhat scattered, though I'm finding that by going to bed earlier and waking up around 6 AM is helping stabilize things for me.

Stability, I think, is my main goal for the rest of 2016.

To date I've managed to achieve mental stability and even a good deal of financial stability, though that's still got a long way to go until I can just watch my bank balance grow without eyeing it askance every day. Personally, I'm doing wonderfully well with my girlfriend and my family - for the most part - seem to be on an even keel though it's been difficult for my sister of late in some areas. But I'm there to help her, as are my parents, and were getting through things together.

My goal is to have a calm summer, full of writing and relaxation and not worrying about the future nearly as much so I can concentrate on enjoying the Now.

June 2 – Building Dreams

It's incredible what people can do when they put their mind to it.

That old saw of a phrase is exactly what popped into my head when I saw this pop up in one of the Dark Crystal FBook groups that I'm a part of:

This extremely talented person is putting together a screen-accurate cosplay of a Garthim from the movie by Jim Henson. It's staggering what he's already managed to accomplish in a few weeks and I think the final result will be essentially mind-blowing in its effect.

Did I mention that this is exactly what I wanted to create back when I was in grade 5?

Back then I didn't have these skills nor the resources to put together anything even remotely like this, plus the proper materials to create it were not widely available - the original suits were made out of fiberglass and weighed upwards of 60 pounds each, far too heavy for the kid to wear or even move.

Decades later, it's simply amazing to see my childhood dream come to life, albeit under another person's hands. All the same, I'll be watching closely to see what the final product's like, with an eye towards re-creating it for myself one day.

There are some costumes that you just have to wear, especially if there are childhood dream come true.

June 3 – Sim Easter Egg

What would my week be like without a bit of Neil Gaiman?

As one of my writing idols( along with Ray Bradbury, among many others )he's always managed to surprise me with his work, and today I discovered a piece of his I had no idea existed... because it was hidden inside a video game!

Back in 1994, the PC game Simcity 2000 was released. I'm pretty sure I have a copy of it, though I can't seem to find it among my collection now( which surprises me )and I had no clue that it contained some of Gaiman's early work!

Apparently, when you selected the library in the game, there is a menu that popped up, one of whose options was 'Ruminate' - when selected, up came a 1000-word whimsical piece about cities that Neil Gaiman had penned! Here's an excerpt:

It's wonderful glimpse into the fantastical world of his mind and I am quite grateful to have run across it in the wilds of the Internet. Even 20 years ago, it's clear that Gaiman's imagination could carry him to places that most others had not dreamt of... and that his ability to so clearly share his experience of those places is what makes him such a great writer.

All the more reason to better my own work!

June 4 – Heat Headache?

What glorious weather!

The temperature shot up today to the mid-20's, with clear skies and blazing sunshine heating up Vancouver Island from the early morning hours: lovely!

My sister and I joined my parents out for lunch at Nourish, a new Vegan restaurant, occupying a spacious century-old home located in swanky James Bay. We were seated inside at a bay window with the sashes open to let in the cool breezes, though I was still rather hot; I seem to be far more sensitive to temperature these days, and even just wearing a T-shirt with shorts was making me sweat today. We enjoyed our lunch together to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday, milestone that were all pleased that she's reach given the numerous medical troubles she's had over her lifetime, including a recent minor discovery that we hope will be mitigated in a few months’ time with proper care.

Unfortunately, my head began to throb just after lunch and I spent most of the afternoon in bed with a debilitating headache, nixing my plans to enjoy it outside on a patio as I did yesterday reading my copy of the Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer. A few Tylenol and some serious shut-eye managed to eliminate it by the evening however, and I was quite grateful not to waste the whole day.

In the evening, my girlfriend and I watched several episodes of the first season of Star Blazers, a series I've been eager to introduce her to as it was so formative to my own creative psyche and interest in sci-fi so many decades ago. I've mentioned it before and I will say again: this is what made me want to write Space Opera, and it still holds up today more than thirty years later.

June 5 – Even Hotter!

Holy summer-scorchers, Batman!

The temps here shot up to a blistering 28C today, but didn't feel higher as the humidity's dropped quite a bit. I was again thankful to be living in a ground floor apartment facing north and west that only gets direct sunlight on the front windows for a few hours each evening. Even that is mitigated essentially by an overhanging balcony and a very large tree by the roadside, which can raise the temperature significantly unless the front blinds get mostly pulled across.

All the same, I felt fairly relaxed and comfortable in my place with a fan going as I wrote and read for most of the afternoon. My girlfriend wasn't feeling well this morning( I think the lack of humidity was bothering her )and thus our plans for the day went by the wayside... but I'm hopeful she'll be better with some rest, which is worth taking the time for. 

I decided to test myself a little today, and went for a walk to get some groceries. With a hat, and water, and keeping to the shade as much as possible, I ambled about twenty minutes to the downtown Market on Yates, where I enjoyed the cool air from the refrigerated section until I was ready to head back home... which went without a hitch. The humidity is a startlingly low 30%, which means that yes, it is a dry heat that's settled onto the Island for today and tomorrow both.

So I'm thinking: test passed, I may sweat but I'm just fine walking around sensibly in the heat, as long as I stay out of the direct sun for any length of time... and as long as the humidity's low. I won't have to feel anxious about going out to enjoy the temperatures, as long as I'm smart about it - which is the way it should be, right? And it’s great that the sprinklers come on in the evening out the front, which helped cool things off nicely:

Sprinklers!

Getting the blog done early( by 8pm! )was nice, as it meant I could relax for a few more hours before bed and get some reading in. Since I now wake up regularly at 6am, I've been trying to hit the hay around 10pm, to get a little balance in there and make for a restful 7 hours of sleep. With less preying on my mind of late, I'm hoping that I'll be waking up far more refreshed in the mornings in the coming months, perhaps enough to get some writing in before work... who knows?

Thanks for dropping by. I'm afraid things aren't going to be as... exciting as they've been these last few months, what with trips to WA and ON and all that, but I'm pleased to say that it's probably for the best: I've got work to do and can't really afford too many distractions from that worthy goal... 

Walks, Well-Being and Wackiness

The word of the week is implacable.

May 23 – Steady On

Strange... as I place things in this blog, thinking that I never have enough space( nor time )to write down everything that's going through my mind of the week. My brain is always busy, churning out comparisons, criticisms and conundrums each and every hour of every day. Over the years, I've managed to impose a sort of order on the chaos, in that some thoughts get written down for later cogitation wallet let others play in the mud until they're exhausted.

It's a good mental construct, I think.

Getting through each week mentally is always unique: some weeks are quite challenging and draining, while others are energizing... it all depends on what factors are driving me day-to-day during those dates.

Some weeks I want to hunker down and just ignore the crazy going on around me, while other times I can barely climbed down from the peak from which upon I'm viewing so much of the world( which is a metaphor for too much time spent on the Internet ) which in turn sparked so many more thoughts...

Given that I have a lot to do this year, my brain has to be in the right kind of shape to deal with my daily work challenges while still leaving enough unused fuel to burn for my creative endeavors of an evening... and since I've been managing to control my anxiety daily fairly well these last few months, I can focus far better.

That makes me happy - as well as balanced.

May 24 – The same Thing We Do Every Night...

What writer doesn't love a good plot?

I know I do, and the zany plans of the infamous lab-mouse duo in Pinky And The Brain always fascinated me: how can such crazy plans actually work, even in concept?

There were quite a few episodes of the show, and in many of them Brain almost got what he wanted: to take over the world, but somehow it never actually worked out, in the end. I own the entire series on DVD and darned if I haven't wanted to watch it all again lately...

Keeping track of the plans was too much for my brain however, and I can only recall a few of them, crazy as they were. Thankfully, a kind soul over at io9.com has put together a complete list of all 94 wild schemes that were hatched. Some of my favourites are #'s 12, 29 and 55.

Now sing the theme song with me in your head...

May 25 – Why Laserdiscs?

Why, you ask, would I get into an old-tech hobby?

It's a good question, and there's more than a few good answers as to the reasons I decided in late 2015 to find myself in possession of some 20-year-old precursors to DVD's and a couple of semi-working( argh! )players.

In the main, I dived in because of Babylon5, as the CGI for the show frankly looks like crap on DVD, as they did a terrible job of transferring the video from the broadcast footage. It's very much like watching television before HD, when people wearing striped suits would have 'crawling lines' all over them... it's hard to watch.

This lovely video explains almost all the major factors( from a new collectors viewpoint )of why people might decide to get into collecting laser disks. I found that it contained many of my own reasons for starting this not-too-expensive( but could easily become so )hobby, and it's worth watching:

May 26 – Simpsons Advice

What if Moe Sizlack gave a commencement address at a college?

Interestingly, Hank Azaria did just that this year, addressing his alma mater's graduating class of 2016 to give them some pointers and life advice he's picked up while providing so many of the memorable voices on The Simpsons, plus his other roles in Hollywood.

It's a great speech, and for me the parts that rang true to my own journey were where Hank talks about 'taking your own time' to find what works for you, and only you. I think it's a great speech, enlivened by Hank having many of our fave friends from The Simpsons give advice in character - give it a watch, it's worth it:

May 27 – Long Week

Dang, but this was a long short week.

Monday was the holiday Victoria Day, and so the week should have felt shorter... but it didn't, as we're down a person at work on our team and so when things are steady, they're actually busy. Which is fine most days, but we'll see how the busy days actually stack up next week when the start of the month rolls around and we're inundated with work to do.

Additionally, today I was invited to a meeting where I found out that I'll be part of a major ongoing project at work for the next six months. It seems that my computer skills as well as my other talents were noticed by a few people when this project was put together and I'm going to be helping along as part of my daily routine, which I'm extremely excited about. It means that when the project is finished, a lot more information will be accessible in more secure ways to clients and others( I can't go into details here for a while yet )which will make life easier for everyone, including the workers at the office.

Personally, it's a good thing that the days are getting longer, in that I'm still waking up at 6 AM and evening sunsets are moving closer to 9 PM, giving me a few 'extra' hours each day which I plan on taking advantage of cumulatively in the coming months. Seeing as many factors are coming together to give me the time I need to work on my writing, I'd be a fool to ignore any advantage this would give me.

The long days of Summer are here...!

May 28 – Neverending Big Screen!

Today was a step back into my youth, cinematically at least.

Myself, my lady and my sister all went to see The Neverending Story on the big screen, as part of a Family Classics series that Cineplex has been running on Saturdays March through June this year. I wasn't that interested in most of the other titles, save today's - it's about as perfect an 80's kid's fantasy movie as there is.

Some classics, some meh...

When I originally saw the film, I immediately connected to the character Sebastian, and I find it fascinating that now I no longer do. Instead, I feel a far greater attachment to the movie itself as a whole, in that it's a meta-reflection on the mutual support that fantasy and reality give each other for human creativity.

Plus, Falcor's just so damn cool... luck dragon!!!

Did you know this existed? I didn't, before strolling in Oak Bay today...

A little bit of luck followed me out of the theater, when at the end of our full day about town together, my lady and I went out to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. When the bill came after a lovely meal, I handed over the gift card I had hanging around from last year and discovered that instead of the five dollars I thought was on there, it was $25! Super gift card surprise! Our meal cost us a total of $3.27, plus tip... quite a lucky deal!

The small things in life can have the biggest impact. Yay!

May 29 – Volunteering!

It's been a long, long time... since I volunteered.

Quite honestly, it's not something on my radar, which makes me thing sometimes about what priorities and what I spend my time on.

My thoughts have always been: if I'm earning enough money for the time I spend working, have enough time to pursue my passions / hobbies, spend enough time with my family and friends AND have time left over, then I'll volunteer. Given the rather roller-coaster life-ride I've had in the last 20 years, I'd say that's an understandable mindset to take.

For the World Partnership Walk, I arrived by bus at Uvic a little before 10 AM, heading over to the audio tent next to the main stage. Most everything had already been set up by that point and a Jazzercise group was rocking the main lawn while I helped tweak the audio setup.

Then the main event got started, with almost 1000 people present to make the 5 km walk today. It Was quite the crowd and there was a lot going on for the next two hours, introducing many local Important Folk, including several mayors and news personalities. I was kept busy assisting my work friend who it asked for my help earlier in the week, ensuring that audio levels were too loud for the crowd and that many minor related( and often unrelated )tasks around the stage were accomplished. We had a break for lunch when the majority of the crowd went for the Walk( which took about an hour around the campus )then it was back to work as wards were given out for the most funds raised by various groups: in total walk raised nearly $150,000 CAN to help eliminate poverty worldwide this year - I got to handle the giant cheques too, which was pretty cool.

The weather cooperated as well, with cool cloudy overcast giving way to perfect sunshine and blue skies as the walk was progressing. That meant it was a beautiful afternoon to see the rest of the presentations, consisting of a dozen different cultural dance groups of all ages and each was fantastic. After everything was finished, the show runners came by to give their effusive thanks to my friend and I for making the show's audio run flawlessly throughout, which made us both happy as it was the first time either of us had run such a station by ourselves. A little bit of cleanup in the bright sunshine later and I was on my way home by bus by 3 PM. I spent a little bit of time down at Moka House reading some old New Wave science fiction from the 60's while sipping tea - gloriously relaxing. Then it was a little blogging and some more reading at a swift slide into a well-earned sleep for the night...

Today was such a great way to end the weekend!

What else is there to say? Long week turns into great weekend and sets up for a good run at the week to come. Nice! :-)

Relaxing, Reorganizing and Raham's Reminiscing

The word of the week is whimsy.

May 16 – Four Years Already?

I moved into my current place four years ago this week.

Hard to believe, really, that I've shared this space with my sister for that long and we still get along so damn well. There's probably some sort of Guinness World Record in there somewhere, when I think about it, and I'm grateful for it. I can't imagine what it would be like trying to interview roommates, living with strangers or even friends to try and make or things work. For all of our differences, my sister has been the best roomie I could ever have asked for.

Living here has been interesting, and more than challenging a few times: crazy-loud upstairs neighbours, sleep deprivation, unemployment, a road full of motorcycles outside my front window, bouts of pneumonia and cellulitis and chronic wrist pain... I've dealt with all of these and more and I'm still here, still sane and( mostly )healthy.

Nothing stays the same forever; I know this well.

My current apartment, for all its warts, has been pretty good overall in terms of places that I've rented - the more recent two years far more than the first two years. Job stability and improved health helped balance that equation somewhat.

I find it interesting that I don't know where I'll be living four years from now. I'm almost certain that it won't be in this building, given my need for a more quiet locale to practice my writing craft( hear that, motorcycles? )in the future. Ideally, I'd like to have a place somewhere in the city, on a quiet suburban street well back from any main roads, hopefully without too many idiots in the immediate neighborhood.

Here's hoping!

May 17 – Rude Writing?

It was an odd critique group tonight, in that I didn't have anything to contribute of my own.

As I mentioned in last month's blog note, I've only finished half of Book 2, and last month I ran out of the current batch of first-draft chapters for critiquing.

On the bright side, it means that our critique nights are taking all that long, about 2 1/2 hours in total and we can get into more detail for each person's chapter under review since we have less overall material to go through of the night. We've been doing this now for over three years and I'm eager to start generating more new material for Book 2 in a few month’s time so that I can get feedback on it.

On a related note, we had a bit of skulduggery in our writing group today.

Thanks to the way Meetup.com is set up, anyone can join our group. Someone new did just that a week ago, then created a new Meetup meeting under the auspices of our writing group... without asking any of the administrators, or even having met any of the group members.

I understand this is the age of the electronic social group, but this behavior smacked to me of rudeness and also a form of hijack: it's was akin to a stranger showing up at a well-established local group meeting, handing out business cards for another meeting and then leaving immediately.

My fellow admin and I are going to handle this quietly, which I think is called for as it's not really a big deal but we don't want to set a problematic precedent. The next time this person creates a meeting, we're going to cancel it and immediately message them to the effect that if they want to use our membership, they should show up to a few meetings first; our writing group has been around a while and have certain standards to maintain with the use of the groups name, minor though that point is.

If they don't like that, they can form their own group. Easy enough.

May 18 – Move, Move Again?

Another sign that I should be moving on...

I learned today that work will likely be moving me to another department, still within the same office. I'll probably be doing one of a few familiar tasks, but not administration... which is a good thing, actually.

This time last year, when I was just doing invoices, I was able to listen to music all day long which I found inspiring to my creative side. It's perfect timing to be going back to that, in a way, as I need to spend this summer editing Book 1... and what better way to keep my creative juices bubbling all day then with inspiring music, just like last year?

I had it so good... and now it's no longer My Spot.

In the meantime, I've moved desk twice since I was turfed out of my 'corner condo' at the beginning of the month. As you can see from the pics above, I was gloriously ensconced in a corner spot of the office, with no glaring overhead lights and the sort of privacy that you get only after years in the same office.

Where I am now is likely to change again, as I get pushed over to the other side of the office were all the invoice folks live. Unfortunately, I'll only get two monitors( not the 3 currently enjoyed by the Admin team )and I'll be in a  space probably half the size of my current desk area... which will take some getting used to, I think.

But who knows? 3 to 6 months from now, I may be located at another office altogether, if one of my recent job applications bears fruit. A bump in pay is certainly worth some desk-size reduction, or other minor disruptions in one's daily worklife.

Change can be a good thing, especially if you're half-expecting it...

May 19 – Landing Life

I don't do sale flyers anymore.

It used to be that I'd seek out the occasional good deal on things Needed, or sometimes even things Wanted, by regularly visiting sites such as RedFlagDeals.com, NCIX.com, Newgg.ca and so forth. It was fun and interesting to see how good a deal one could get, before stock ran out or other factors came into play. Over the years, these sites have netted me many a good deal, but one thing has always remained the same: they involve spending money.

Given my current finances, it's just smarter not to even look.

If I keep things simple and avoid temptation of any kind, I think I'll do just fine. I'm not lacking in anything in my household by any stretch of imagination: I have more accumulated gadgets then I probably need, even after clearing out some of the more obsolete things last fall. By removing the temptation of "Hey, that looks cool, I could probably use that" from my vocabulary altogether, I'll be able to better concentrate on what Needs Doing for the rest of 2016, and ensure that I lower my anxiety levels by going very easy on my wallet.

Tonight I also attended a 'learning session' at the invitation of a family member, who thought that it might prove useful in my life as it has in theirs. This program is known internationally and has been around for several decades, with the distinction of costing a fair penny to get into while providing meaningful results for thousands of people needing focus in their lives.

Interestingly, while I was there for three hours listening to the speakers, my thoughts during the session all ran along the same lines: I don't need this in my life right now, as I have a pretty good idea of where I'm going and what I need to do to get there.

It was quite freeing to be able to sit there and listen, without feeling as though my life needed to be turned upside down in order to make it better. I felt grounded and relaxed, confident in the decisions I've made in the last couple of years to bring myself to the point where I am now and continue onwards with my life.

Good things are coming my way; some of them are already here.

May 20 – Long Weekend!

Thanks to good timing, today was my day off and combined with the holiday on Monday, I get a four-day Victoria Day weekend!

I made good use of it today, by doing a lot of cleanup with my papers. Usually around this time of year, I make a point of going through all of my old files and receipts to toss whatever's no longer relevant or useful or timely. I make sure to shred all the private documents and bills however; no sense in giving information to use by ID thieves these days.

It's a good feeling to get rid of a lot of the old to make room for the new. I especially enjoyed going through some of the folders and seeing things that triggered fond memories of days gone by, like this flyer from Rahams:

25 years on, it's still in my heart...

Raham's was my go-to place for RPG and boardgames in Grades 7 and 8, as well as throughout high school. It was located in downtown St. Catharines, in the basement of Raham's Office Supply, down a short set of stairs in the front of the store - I don't think I ever bought a single thing from the office supply store upstairs, in all the years that I went through their front door.

Downstairs was a wonderland.

They had it all, in the 80s and early 90s: RPG games, miniatures, boardgames and even computer games in their later years, including the Amiga system that would become my favorite personal computer of all time. It was a magnificent place to explore, even on a student's budget, as you could so many things of interest there and there was always something new coming in week to week. I was sad to see the store close in the 1990s and while a former employee opened up a spiritual successor store down the road, it was never the same. Rahams was where my imagination was given license to buy, a toy store for my purely creative side. 

It's sad that such a big part of my growing up hasn't a single mention anywhere to be found on the Internet today... save for today's entry.

In the evening tonight, my lady and I got a taste of the 2016 Victoria Kite Festival!

Tonight, after sunset from 9 to 11pm, there were night-flying kites galore! It was a cloudless night with a full moon and the lighting was just perfect, as you can see from this video:

There was a fair crowd out, despite the cool wind and it was simply magical there in the bright moonlight, with all the LED-lit kites in the sky floating high above:

May 21 – Busy Day, Relaxing Night

Today I continued organizing my papers from yesterday, and finished by midafternoon with a feeling of satisfaction for job well done.

I also seemed to have slightly injured myself - again.

Yesterday, while I was making changes to the A/V equipment under my TV, I was kneeling and standing a fair bit over the course of an hour. Apparently that stretching movement re-injured the muscle tear in my left leg, so that my thigh now burns painfully if I move it in certain ways or put too much weight on it.

So I'm possibly back to where I was last summer: not riding my bike. Argh.

It's a real bummer, as I was looking forward to getting out on my replacement bike this year, after spending the last nine months diligently not hurting myself to allow time to recover after last summer's painful experience. I can only hope it's a temporary setback.

In the evening, my lady and I went out to dinner and a movie.

We went to see The Jungle Book, a cgi tour-de-force with special effects by none other than WETA, who did all the work on Peter Jackson's Lord Of the Rings and Hobbit movies. The story, adapted by Disney from the classic story by Rudyard Kipling, was a solid entertaining 90 minutes from start to finish, with very few slow spots at all. The principal actor, a young unknown by the name of Neel Sethi, put in a solid performance throughout, with a few minor spots noticeable where he's acting to the green screen - quite forgivable in light of the rest of the pictures quality, I thought. Having Bill Murray voice the character of Baloo the bear was a pure delight...

May 22 – Soaring Skies!

Today, we flew some kites!

Well, actually we went to see quite a few kites in the sky, down at the Victoria International Kite Festival at nearby Clover Point. There were dozens of kites in the sky, small and large:

My girlfriend and I arrived there in the late morning, walking about 20 minutes from a quiet breakfast in Cook Street Village down to the ocean. We joined a fair crowd of folks walking along the shoreline paths of Dallas Road towards Clover Point, following the bright glimmering of colored kites in the sky ahead, then flying our own brilliant skysailer:

We stayed for a couple of hours, admiring the various kites appearing and disappearing in the skies around us as time went on. We left shortly after noon, just as a layer of cloud slid across the sun and dimmed the temperature a fair bit.

The rest of my afternoon was kind of quiet, which was exactly what I needed. I worked on my blog and catnapped here and there, while the day marched on outside. I did take time to meet my lady for dinner at Foo downtown, where we sat outside on the patio to enjoy the perfect late afternoon weather under the once-again sunny skies.

I caught a movie in the evening with my sister, choosing to watch Safety Not Guaranteed, a solid time-travel romantic movie from 2012. It's based on a classified ad that appeared in a CA paper in 1997 and quickly became a phenomenon, enough so that the movie almost felt familiar in some ways:

It was good in to a busy three days, leaving me in the great room to sleep in tomorrow, which is Victoria Day. Lately I've been waking up around 5 AM and having trouble getting back to sleep, but I'm trying to train myself out of it by going to bed a little bit later each night and with an ultimate goal of getting about seven hours sleep on average. That means staying up most nights until at least 11 PM and trying to sleep through until well past dawn's early light that manages to peep through my blackout curtains.

That's about all I have for this week. Looking ahead, it's just work, enjoy the summer with my lady, and edit Book 1... nothing else big planned, save getting more sleep. Doesn't sound all that exciting, but it sure does sound like I'll get a lot accomplished!