Spaceballs, Shrinkage and Sweet Silence

The word of the week is flippant.

Aug 18 - Being Busy

It's crunch time: I can feel my world shrinking.

Maybe that's a good thing, though I'm not sure I like it.

Focus, perhaps, is the best way to describe the feeling I'm experiencing nowadays. I've set so much aside in order to concentrate on just two things: my day job and my writing.

That's it.

All the little projects and other things on my to-do lists are languishing; I just don't have the time. There's a huge backlog of Must-See Movies and Have-To-Read Books that I simply won't be getting to this year. I need to spend my time creating my work, writing in my creative space in order to bring the very best out of me to show to other people.

My day job is also taking up a lot of my energy, though thankfully not draining my creative side of things. Expectations have been raised again and while I'm keeping up, it's not been easy and I work extremely hard all day long to not only complete my work but to do so without errors in a timely fashion. This entire week, I've managed to keep ahead of the quotas that have been set, but it's left me rather fatigued some days. You never know if you're going to have a batch of simple work or if it's going to be a whole raft of problems; such are the joys and you have to deal with some as best you can.

As well, my contract will be finished at the end of October, which is only two months away. I've been prepping for writing a 'Competition' which is how the government system works, apparently. I'll be competing against other applicants for a limited number of permanent positions, which as you can imagine I'll be working very hard to obtain one of. This job is far too important and is such a good fit for my writing lifestyle to do anything else; it'd be the height of foolishness to lose this opportunity to ensure my financial security long-term with the goal towards launching my writing career based on such stability.

So it's work, study, write and repeat for the next two months for me; wish me luck!

Aug 19 - Marvel-ous Movie!

After work today, I met a friend to hear what he thought about my novel!

Only… he didn't want to tell me right away. In fact, he said that he just wanted to meet me to tell me that he wanted to be sure that I wouldn't be offended if he told me exactly what he thought about the novel, once he was done reading it. If that was okay?

Ummm… yes?

I suppose there must have been a miscommunication of some kind, but I was definitely puzzled when I showed up all excited after work only to find out that I suddenly had some time on my hands before my movie started. Not being one to pass up said unexpected free time, I sought out a place to eat and ran across Old Vic Fish and Chips, where I had had some fabulous fish and chips( obviously )that I was able to turn into Fish and Poutine; yum!

It really hit the spot and left me feeling definitely more balanced after the head-shaking a little bit earlier regarding my novel. Then I went to the movie; can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint:

It was just as good the third time around; I don't believe that I've ever seen a movie while it's still in the theatres three times, so it's a record for me. Even though I know what was going to happen, it was a thoroughly fun and enjoyable experience for me the whole way through and from the laughter, the audience around me felt the same way. What I'm most pleased about though, is that we'll be getting MORE movies like GotG, if the box office take figures have anything to say about it. 

The people have spoken: the Smart Space Opera is in! 

Aug 20 - What's missing?

Why do planes have windows and small ones at that?

It's a valid question, because it's a major design challenge for aircraft engineers to put in windows that don't compromise the integrity of the airframe while still allowing passengers to see outside.

While I haven't taken a whole lot of flights in my lifetime, more than half the time I've asked for a window seat. The views are spectacular - when the sun's not shining in bright enough to blind you - but for the most part people ignore the view for the majority of the trip to read, work on their computer or chat up their fellow passengers.

So why should the aerospace engineers rack their brains to put in windows if passengers are going to ignore the view 95 percent of the time? It's a good question, one that an aerospace company has asked itself and come up with unique answer:

I think the concept is revolutionary, not just for cost-reduction but for the many other potentialities that the video above implies. It's important to note that this is just a preliminary concept, one that can be applied to other forms of transport as well, not just aircraft. Imagine what it would be like to travel on an underwater submarine whose walls appeared to be transparent for almost their entire surface, which would be impossible for any submersible in all but the shallowest waters.

Hopefully will see some of these vehicles appear in a few years and show us things we've never seen before.

Aug 21 - Fics

I write, but I don't write fanfiction.

Which is odd, because I'm a fan of quite a few things that I could write about. When I think about it though, I've never really felt the driving need to further explore somebody else's universe in order to satisfy my curiosity about any 'What If's…' regarding characters or plot that I felt might have been unresolved.

Well that's not quite true; I did write a story about this sea-beast once....

Sort of. The story was actually based on a creature depicted in the 2002 Disney movie Atlantis: the Leviathan. Something about the gigantic mechanical monstrosity touched a creative nerve in my head and I had to scratch it by writing a story about the Leviathan's origins which were only briefly touched on in the film.

I actually rather like the story that appeared from my head; you can read it here, if you like, along with three other stories that I've posted. The story about the Leviathan seems to be the most popular however, as I've had it added to people's favorites now and then over the years about a dozen times....

So you can see why I don't write fan fiction: there's really no future in it in terms of making a living with such tiny audiences. However, it does serve to home one's skills, attract like-minded writers and most importantly to entertain people who found their way to your story that you so painstakingly created.

However you gather an audience, it's the writer's job to tell a good story, in the end.

Aug 22 - Polly Need!

I'm in love… with a parrot.

The Parrot Zik, to be precise: a glorious pair of headphone tech that I now own and have in-hand as of late today. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, I've been looking for over a year for a pair of headphones with noise-canceling technology and this week the Parrot Zik went on sale at a Canadian online store for more than $100 off, which was my signal to take the plunge. Expensive as they are, I'm already convinced that I've got my money's worth: in terms of technology, they're top-notch and you can read an in-depth review here. The sound is incredible: listening to songs I've heard 100 times, I've heard subtleties and notes that I've never noticed before, which just blows me away completely. I'm no audiophile and not even a headphone aficionado, but this is a whole new level of listening for me.

More on the Zik later as I get some real-world experience with their capabilities in various environments; I'm extraordinarily excited by what I've already experienced just tonight in using them briefly and glimpsing the potential benefits they'll have for me.

In the evening I saw a movie in the local Beacon Hill Park: Spaceballs!

It was a free presentation, part of the Victoria B-Film Festival that ran this summer with a variety of films, most of which I honestly couldn't say I wanted to see. However, I've not actually seen the entirety of Spaceballs, despite its being in constant reruns on television; I just never managed to catch a full performance, I guess. John Candy as Barf was always a favorite of mine in the film.

A very big, inflatable screen!

Hundreds of people showed up to the event, covering every available bench and all the grassy space around the bandstand. It was definitely a family event, with all sorts of folks out for the evening as dusk fell and the movie started. I have to say it was a well-behaved crowd, with everyone focused on the movie and not a single person being disruptive; everyone was just enjoying the show.

Who would've thought Spaceballs would still be so popular after all this time?

Aug 23 - Love For A Living

How do you make time to do what you love?

All of us have to make a living, though some very few of us are able to do so by doing what we love. And there are endless articles about this; I should know, I've read more than a few of them. For one I've been able to glean of what the many authors have said, the old adage holds true: hard work, not luck, is what gets people places. The ability to recognize opportunity is also critical: all your hard work will be for nothing if you walk right past an open door without realizing it, which any entrepreneur has to develop a sixth sense for.

The phrase 'Finding Your Passion' also comes up a lot, which I'm not sure I quite agree with. As I mentioned above, finding out what drives you is important and focusing on using that to move yourself towards your goals will take you most of the way there if you don't give up. Not that I'm advocating beating a dead horse: if you're thinking of developing the Ultimate Typewriter, then you might want to reconsider your business plan.

All I want to do is to turn my writing into a living and not have it remain a hobby. I think that would be a waste of my talents and I'm going to drive hard in the next few years to ensure that I give myself the opportunity to make it happen; persistence and patience are also keys towards making dreams happen.

In the late afternoon, I went to Sooke for an evening of gaming.

Again, it was a wonderful time, albeit too brief at a mere three hours of game time at the table. Highlights of the game session were an attack by a pack of chimeras, which I thought rather apt as monsters( see the description ), as well as a rather amusing ice golem guarding a hidden door that one of the characters almost got their tongue stuck on; it was that kind of an evening. These kinds of game sessions are exactly what I need right now: pure fun, unrelated to work or writing where I can be creative in the company of fellow creative, intelligent folk who are all there to just enjoy themselves and be whatever( whoever? )they want to be.

Say, doesn't that sounds like a perfect formula for a workplace?

Aug 24 - The Sounds of Silence

Walking around wearing my Parrot today was informative: I smiled a lot.

Inside my apartment, the wireless signal is great from my PC; I have access to my music library with no issues. With the Active Noise Cancellation feature turned on, the outside world disappears and if I pause my music, the loudest noise was the beating of my own heart - very cool.

Listening to epic music videos is again a joy, unimpinged-upon by passing traffic or even the somewhat-solid footsteps of the lady living above us - she's hardly a patch on the preposterously-loud sound of the people who came before her, so that's hardly a comparison. All the same, with the Parrot Zik active, her footsteps drop below the level of conscious hearing with only moderate music playing through the Zik.

Outside, walking down to Cook St. Village, I listened to an audio book for the first time on my phone: the very same Legends of Drizzt that I mentioned last week. Normally, the noise of passing traffic overwhelms the words( and often the music too! )in my headphones, whether in-ear earbuds or when using my lighter Aluratek headphones.

Not the Parrot: passing traffic turns into mere whispers, including most motorcycles. Joy!

Obviously, there's potential danger: not paying attention to traffic and not being able to HEAR said traffic is a recipe for disaster I'll be keenly aware of. It also goes without saying that I won't be wearing the Parrot while cycling( I never listen to music on a bicycle anyway, it's foolish )either. It definitely allows me to focus on what I'm listening to without being overwhelmed by traffic noises, which is amazing. I love technology!!!

All in all, it was pretty good weekend; I was thrilled to get the Parrot Zik in the mail in time to really put them through their paces. Just being able to sit on my couch in front of my PC and type without gritting my teeth every time an under-mufflered vehicle rumbled by 50 feet away brought to a silly grin to my face for long stretches of time. At one point, something passed by at a such a loud level of noise that the cat snapped awake from a deep sleep; I barely heard it at all.

It's been extremely wearing, if you'll pardon the pun, to keep my creative output focused while tuning out background noise; even with music, it's hard to ignore extremely loud vehicles passing by and for that alone, the Parrot Zik's performance has been spectacular. I truly think that now I'll be able to get some quality writing done right in my apartment, on a regular basis. despite not having a dedicated office or other space that is well away from the noise of my surroundings. The Parrot Zik allows me to have that space wherever or whenever I want, within reason - joy, again!

I just wish I'd been able to write the things off as a business expense; I'm still working on that end of things. Still worth every penny, though!

I hope to finish off a batch of upcoming scenes for Book 2 this week, giving me at least ten scenes to write in the course of the next two weeks. Then I'll repeat the process, hopefully with less of a break this time; it's been three weeks since I last wrote a scene and my muse is getting VERY antsy...

Facades, Fragility and Fett

The word of the week is tangible.

Aug 11 - Losing Laughter

A bright light went out of the world today.

Robin Williams has died, some say by suicide, but the details don't matter: he's gone, at the young age of 65.

The news shocked me as little has for some time.

The effervescent and brilliant comedian seemed to be a mainstay of Hollywood, making movies that were not only entertaining but showcased his brilliant talent and love of making people laugh.

This isn't going to be a tribute post; there's plenty of those already on the Internet this week, showing just how much and how many lives Robin Williams touched with his talent and compassion. Many people are sharing their personal stories of how Williams touched their lives, for the better.

What I want to say is fairly simple, something that I feel is true of very few people who have come down through the ages and I know the sentiment is shared by millions the world around today. It is thus:

The world is truly a darker place without Robin Williams, by far.

We can all take some comfort in that he is left us a legacy of laughter in his massive body of work and that wherever he is now, he lives again every time that someone smiles at his antics. 


Aug 12 - Living

Reducing one's debts is always a good idea. I'm not alone if I say that mine could be much smaller, but actually getting the wherewithal to reduce them is quite challenging.

One guy who has a plan to go debt-free in a year is Geoffrey Westlock, a recent film school grad. He's taken paying off his debts to new extremes: he's taken up life as a nomad, living in a trailer in Calgary, with no fixed address( temporarily )and setting up in empty parking lots at night, rent-free. He's keeping a blog here of his experience as he's doing a bit of travelling around of late - and why not? He's got a mobile home, after all:

So far, it appears to be working and his expenses are almost nil. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that, however; I have too much invested in 'my stuff' to give it all up, much as it pains me to admit it. Sure, I could put a majority of it in storage, but then I'm just trading one kind of rent for another, really.

Interesting idea though; you never know what might work. 

Right now I'm getting by, picking at my debts steadily for the last few months now that my pay's back to a living wage. As I've said before, it's not a wage that will buy me a car, a house and a boat to sail on( not that I need any of those things anyway )but it's enough to start tipping the balance towards the black.

Seeing red for too many years isn't good for you.


Aug 13 - Website In A Night!

It's been a rough week for writing for me.

Not much has been coming through, at least in useful doses. Small glimpses, parts of scenes and other bits have shown up, but nothing that I can turn into another ten chapters, so it's been slow going.

So, tonight after work, I decided  to finish my website.

When I say finish, I mean "Take from a rough outline to a finished product" in a timeframe of six hours - and why not? My site isn't anything complicated and I wanted to see what I could accomplish by setting myself a solid, achievable goal for tonight. I sure as heck wasn't getting any good writing done.

Judge for yourself how it turned out, then go have a look:
 

K.I.S.S

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with how the site shaped up, especially given that it's just a 'placeholder' site until I can get something much fancier designed. It's there to be an information stop for people I give my 'Book Business Cards' to, to show them I'm serious and that I have a lot more completed than just some scraps of paper with scribbles on them. It's also a place for them to check in from time to time, to help build a following and get good word of mouth wherever possible.

Plus, it's another checkmark on my To Get Published list - yay!


Aug 14 - Fett

I'm on a Fett kick for some reason lately - Boba Fett, that is.

Whatever you want to call it, I'm moderately mad about Mandalorians this year and Boba Fett in particular. Perhaps it all started last year in Phoenix, when I had the chance to put on the iconic helmet while waiting in line for a latte:

( not officially endorsed by Starbucks USA )

There's just something about the badass bounty Hunter that appeals to me, but I can't quite put a finger on it. It's definitely not his cold-blooded attitude though, so while I'm a little confused where my Fett-fandom( Fett-ish? )has sprung from, I'm just going with it. Perhaps it will inform my writing work somehow, in some way I have yet to grasp; many my Muse is trying to tell me something?

All I know is that adding Fett to things instantly makes them cooler:
 

It turned out well, though I should have dusted before taking a pic...

Maybe in a few years I'll put together a costume and apply to join the Mandalorian Mercs, a highly-respected worldwide cosplay group. I met a few members while in AZ in 2013 and they seemed like a good bunch of folks, plus it would give me some people to hang out with at a con or two; not a bad thing at all.

Fett-ish, hmmm... not the best word for it. I'll work on that.


Aug 15 - Dropping Dropbox for Drive

I'm making a switch, though I don't really want to.

DropBox is being replaced by Google Drive for all my cloud files, because in three weeks my 2-year DropBox promo I received with my Samsung phone runs out. I'll go from over 50gb of storage to just 5gb, which is nowhere near enough space for my current needs.

Why the switch? Why not just pay DropBox to continue using their services?

For one simple reason: DropBox wants $110/year for 100gb of storage, while Google Drive is just $1.99 per month; you do the math. There's no real difference between the services in terms of speed or major features, so I can't stick with DropBox for any compelling reason; my wallet would catch fire, I suspect.

It's a shame, as I've enjoyed using DropBox, especially for its easy integration in my mobile data usage. Having access to ALL my documents, audio files and photos has been hugely freeing, but I'm not going to fork over a fair chunk of cash if I don't have to - that's that. 

Sorry DropBox: I've heard the siren song of Google and it sings sweetly to my bottom line... plus, DropBox's $109.99 is non-refundable - that's a no-brainer, duh! 

On a related note, my home PC is working perfectly again!

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I was having a terrible time: random crashes were causing me no end of headaches and I was worried that my main hard disk drive( SSD, actually )was failing. As it turns out, that wasn't the problem at all, as I discovered after patiently tracing the issues back to a simple source, with a simple fix. 

Can you guess what it was? Here's a hint:
 

Low cost, high frustration: bad cables, bad!

Would you believe a faulty drive cable( a $2.00 part )was causing the issues? Since I wasn't certain which one it was, I pulled all three and replaced them( lucky that I always keep spares! )with the result that my home PC's been running error-free for a week straight now. It's quite a relief, as I had visions of having to spend many hundreds of dollars replacing parts without any surety that the problems would go away.

It's a HUGE relief, that I know all my data is safe AND accessible again and that I can go away for the day to work without wondering if my home PC's going to reset itself in endless error-loops. I can run SETI@Home again, which is something I had to give up early in 2014 due to the constant crashes and errors; no good at all for submitting scientific data, you know.

Now maybe I can help find some alien signals; huzzah!


Aug 16 - On the Sixth Day, He Worked  

I had another shift at Staples today and it was... amusing.

Many of the people I used to work with have left; of those that remain, I've no illusions that most will be moving on soon as well. Leaving the same managers and a whole lot of new people to learn how to run things in the crazy morass of a retail outlet all over again.

It's funny to see how badly things are run, in a way, with my new 'outsider' perspective. A brief case in point: towards the end of my shift, the manager detailed me to help the resident tech with some computer work because he's way, way behind - simple enough. Then the same manager chastised me less than five minutes later for 'not being on the floor when it's obviously so busy!' - really?

Is that any way to run a business? Adding insult to injury, I was also told that I couldn't leave at my scheduled time 'because I was responsible for ensuring that all my co-workers had had their breaks' before I could go home.

Nope - that's the manager's responsibility, NOT mine. Just another sign of the cracks in the facade that I'm glad I'll be leaving behind at some point in the near future. Anyway. I found it funny for the most part and not stressful. 

That's good, because I saw the new Ninja Turtles film tonight and I needed my sense of humour to be fully available. 

An alternative TMNT vision - possibly better than the film?

While it wasn't bad, I don't think it's GOOD that I think the best thing about it was Megan Fox.

I mean, really - would you?

Now, I'm a fan from waaaaay back in the 1980's, with the silly cartoon TV series and all that. I've not read the original( or newer )comics in donkey's years, so I can't speak to them, but still: I'm a fan.

What I will say is that the film really nailed the personalities of the turtles, as one of the friends I went to see the movie with so aptly observed. No problems there. The Shredder, well... if 'overboard' had a posterboy, he'd be a contender; I thought he was plenty evil enough without what they did to him in the film. A positive note was Will Arnett playing Vern, April's co-worker / cameraman from Channel 6: a definite piece of inspired casting there and his understated acting was a very solid part of the movie.

Bringing us back to Megan Fox playing April O'Neil.

Don't get me wrong; I don't despise Ms. Fox for her acting abilities( unlike some )or her off-screen antics( as others do )and I'm not immune to the fact that she's good to look at.

That said, she didn't do a bad job, not at all. Her character wasn't one-dimensional or overdone, neither flaky nor hyper-feminine, not a fool nor a coward; really, she didn't do anything wrong. I liked her performance and thought she did well acting next to CGI creatures in an action-heavy flick, which is probably why Michael Bay picked her again after her work in Transformers.

I think the fact that I liked her in the part is what bothers me. I really wanted to see the original design of April O'Neil, yellow jumpsuit and all, come back to the films. Kind of like this:
 

Maybe April's Russian?

But that's nostalgia talking. We live in an age of reboots, with new films in a franchise coming at a steady pace every 4-7 years, depending on the studio and how badly they want to cash in - again.

How long do you think it'll be until they reboot the Ninja Turtles again?


Aug 17 - Bravo, Audio!
 
I picked up two freebies today: one TV show and a collection of audio books!

The television show is Johnny Bravo, which for some reason was running a 24-hour marathon today on one of my cable channels, oddly enough. For those of you who don't know, Johnny Bravo is animated cartoon series that debuted in 1997 and ran for seven years, being surprisingly good for most of its run. It follows the adventures of its namesake title character as he tries to navigate through a world far more complicated than he sees it and while he is lovable, he just can't quite get some things. Take a look:



The other freebie today is an audio book collection, which I really don't collect but I couldn't turn down as it was free - and still is for a week or two! It's 12 short stories written by RA Salvatore, set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons and titled The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories which follows the most famous Drow Elf with a good heart, Drizzt Do'urden:

Yes, you guessed it: Drizzt doesn't do smiles

What makes this particular audio collection special is that it is narrated by various g33ky celebrities, including Sean Astin, Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, Weird Al Yankovic and eight more, all of whom I'm looking forward to hearing tell the tales of Drizzt in their own unique voices. You can download the entire collection to play using the Audible app or PC software program here, but hurry as it won't be free for too much longer once the promotion is over.

Apart from that, I had a very solid day of simply catching up on various things, including sending feedback on a friend's 40,000 word novel that he wanted my opinion on. The fellow writer had put me onto a book called The Key: How to Write a Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth which explores famous golden-age author Joseph Campbell's insights into universal structure maps and how that can be applied to create powerful mythic stories. I found the book very interesting, in that while writing my own work I hit a majority of the mythical points that are present in many of the most endearing tales that are still around today.

That really pleased me, to know that while writing my first novel I was already unconsciously channeling the core precepts of mythic storytelling to reinforce my work. Having read The Key, I'm may apply a few more points to my work but I'm going to take a hands-off approach, as I seem to be doing just fine writing the way I am right now and I don't want to trip myself up by trying to kick off a checklist of points throughout my second and third books.


This weekend disappeared all too quickly; it's Sunday night again and I'm just finishing up the blog, wondering where the time all went but I do feel a certain sense of accomplishment nonetheless when I think of how my week went. Although work was very tiring and quite stressful at times, again I have to be thankful that I don't bring any of it home with me anymore or have to answer a ringing cell phone does all the problem in the middle of dinner or other personal time. My day jobs are exactly that now: they take place during daytime hours and once I had home, my time is my own. That's a fantastic feeling, I have to tell you and quite a change from where I was only a few years ago!

Summer Smartasses, Smoke and Soaps

The word of the week is exhilaration.

Aug 4 - Smoke and Mirrors

What would you do?

Around lunchtime today( I love Holiday Mondays! )I went down to my usual hangout Moka House to enjoy the sunshine and just relax. A lovely light breeze was wafting in all the beautiful summer smells from nearby: flowers, the hot scent of grass and green growing things all came in for everyone to enjoy.

Then the guy next to me lit up his e-cigarette.

I ignored it for the first 10 minutes, until the clouds of vapors that were obscuring the screen of my laptop became too frequent and too thick. I won't talk about the smell of the 'harmless' smoke which, from its particular odor, was likely alcohol-based instead of vegetable-based - yes, I do my research about things that I tend to encounter on a regular basis and that now includes e-cigarettes.

Why would this upset me, you ask? Aren't e-cigarettes said to be harmless, a much better choice than someone lighting up their smokes upwind?

Would you want to breathe deeply if this came at you?

Not quite. E-cigarettes are meant to be a transitional tool, by which someone who wants to quit smoking and doesn't want to go cold turkey or use a nicotine patch, can gradually wean themselves off their daily nicotine dose via e-cigarettes. However, the compounds that are combusted in these imperfectly-understood and currently unregulated devices are not harmless - not at all.

The reason I mention this is that after only five minutes, my nose and tongue started burning in reaction to the thick clouds of vapors that I was being enveloped in. I won't get into the issues of social acceptability of e-cigarettes here, save to say that unlike other forms of smoking, I have found that e-cigarette smokers have no compunctions about lighting up most places without asking anyone nearby if they mind. They simply pull out their devices and go at it, assuming that the clouds of 'harmless' smoke released are perfectly acceptable to spew onto everyone around them since they're not being produced from 'real' cigarettes.

I'm glad to see that many places in North America are banning e-cigarettes and I can't wait until that happens here. Just like I'm tired of having to hold my breath while walking to work half a dozen times to avoid the clouds of proven-to-be-deadly smoke released by regular smokers as I pass them, e-cigarette users should realize that their days are numbered as well.

Fortunately, I spent the late afternoon seeing Guardians Of the Galaxy a second time with a few friends from my gaming group and it was just as good for being seen again! The character I like the most was Rocket Raccoon, for his smartass remarks and the very human pathos of his origin story.

I may have to go and see it a third time this week!

And as an aside, if you aren't aware already: Bill Mantlo, creator of Rocket Raccoon( as well as many other memorable comic characters )hasn't worked in almost 20 years due to a severe brain injury he suffered. Read the article here and if you loved some of the characters he had a direct hand in creating, consider thanking him by sending a little moola his way - I'm sure any artist whose creations live in the hearts of their fans would love to know that karma CAN come back around full-circle.

Aug 5 - A Quarter Done!

Today I hit a milestone in writing Book Two!

By the end of the evening, my word count surpassed 30,000, meaning that in a little under five weeks I've written one-quarter the total word count of my first book's first draft. I'm very pleased with that, as it shows my productivity is quite high and that if I can maintain this pace, I'll be finished the first draft of Book Two by the end of 2014.

From here on in a gets harder, though, due to the complexities of the plot lines that I've created for the sequel to my first novel. Again, I wish I could tell you a few things, but I really don't want to spoil anything or give out hints that might be misconstrued.

Plots: this is QUITE the graphic and Death is apparently the most popular thing on it...

What I can tell you that there is a lot going on in this second book! I have at least six plot lines going simultaneously, continuing several threads from the first novel and expanding on a few other ideas while interweaving all of them together into a cohesive story. The first part of the book sets all this up and now I'm starting to get into the complicated task of juggling all the plotlines. I have to visit each often enough so that the reader doesn't feel lost, while ensuring that I don't give away too much of each plot line to early in the book as that might spoil a few things or even totally confuse the story.

My ability to listen to music at work daily has really informed my writing, I have to say. I've compiled a list of the songs that speak to be the most and this week I'll be attempting to put them all into a single playlist that I can listen to. While it's great that there are so many 'Epic Music Mixes' available on YouTube, there are enough songs in each that I don't particularly enjoy or have other qualities that don't mesh with my musical tastes as I see them for my book, that I really do need to create my own playlist. Being jarred out of my creative headspace by a screechy set of vocals or someone beating the hell out of a electric guitar isn't conducive to my Muse. Epic, orchestral music seems to work the best and I'll be compiling quite a few songs from the likes of Audiomachine, Two Steps From Hell and other bands with big sound but without any distracting vocals.

Who knew my Muse'd be writing to music in my head all day long?

Aug 6 - Soaps From Who?

One of my friends gave me a set of unique soaps today, as a gift from their travels, which I found very touching. They're perfect for a g33k like me - have a look:

 

Aren't those little Daleks just the cutest extermination machines?

To be honest, I never know what to do with these sorts of things. Do I take lots of pictures, put away one set and then use the other one I can no longer stand the suspense of not unwrapping them? Or do I carefully place them in a box so that they don't get scarred through the clear wrappings, as I've seen happen to many collectible soaps over the years?

Who knows? All I know is that I'm quite curious as to whether they're bigger on the inside!

Work-wise, things ended up being a bit stressful this week. Normally, there are only 1 or 2 'problems' in my day, where all the ducks don't line up in a row and the end result is More Work to do.

This week, I ended up having to deal with several dozen problems, generating a pile of letters and sundry related details. Resulting in a domino effect of carryovers from day to day that had me frazzled by the end of the week. I had to use my back massage for the first time in years to un-knot my shoulders from the accumulated stress, which admittedly was still about 10x's less than I experienced at MMart or, more recently, Staples.

All the same, I hope next week is a LOT calmer! 

Aug 7 - I can see clearly now...

Finally, they're here!

My two pairs of new glasses arrived in the mail today and I eagerly headed home from work to get them from the Post Office. It's been about 10 calendar days since I ordered them, which is pretty good considering they came from the States and through customs( no duty to pay, yay! ). Here's a picture of my current three pairs of glasses, including my long-suffering frames with one lens that tends to fall out every 10 min. or so despite my best efforts with thin strips of brown duct tape:

Two outta three ain't bad - literally!

I'm extraordinarily pleased with my purchase, which I made from Zenni Optical and that cost me less than $100 Canadian altogether including taxes, exchange and shipping. Considering that the lowest price I could get locally( with taxes )was more than $350 at Walmart, that's a hell of a savings, don't you think, even if I got $100 back from my benefits coverage? Additionally, Walmart couldn't add the features I truly wanted, such as the yellow tint for my computer glasses or an oleophobic coating for my main glasses, which repels fingerprints; how cool is that?

Buying glasses certainly has come a long way from the days when an entire paycheque would have to be set aside every few years in order for me to keep seeing properly. It means that while I am still going to be very careful with my glasses, I don't have to panic financially if something happens to my primary pair - I can just order another set at a quite acceptable cost without loss of quality. I'll be doing that in the next month or two, to get a backup pair of glasses as well as a dedicated pair of sunglasses that will have polarized lenses, as I've got used to them over the years.

I can definitely get used to these lower prices, too!

Aug 8 - CGI Star Wars?

As much as I love all things Star Wars, I'm not sold on this particular one - yet.

Star Wars: Rebels is a new animated CGI series coming this fall. It purports to follow the adventures of a series of rebels during the reign of the Empire, tweaking the noses of the Imperials in the usual Han Solo-ish fashion. Here's 7 minutes of the first episode:

Now, I know it's the first episode and all that, but it's a little… sloppy? Much akin to the short-lived animated series Droids from a few decades ago, this show doesn't seem quite sure of the audience it's aiming for: youth, teens, tweens, adults? Who, exactly, are they targeting?

It's a lot more sophisticated out there now, in a connected world with a wealth of social media to worry about. For a new show, I can understand the creators wanting to attract as broad an audience as possible… but you don't want to dumb down the show.

I liked a fair bit of what I saw; there were a few great moments in there - for characters and story both - to give me hope that the series will mature as it goes along, much like The Clone Wars did towards the end of the second season( and don't confuse it with the traditionally-animated 2003 series of the same name )which was great to see.

But hey: it's more new Star Wars on TV. That's never a bad thing!

Aug 9 - Aim for the legs!

Don't judge me; I'm a g3ek.

I made my first Lego purchase in almost 20 years today, which says quite a lot about my willpower in that I've resisted buying a whole bunch of cool Lego sets over the years despite that lovely company coming out with so many wonderful designs. It hasn't been easy!

Here's what I got from ToysRUs on the way home from my semi-weekly Staples shift:

Why this particular set?

Well, the Rebel Snowspeeder is, in my mind, my favorite Star Wars design( and toy )of all. It's compact, deadly and looks like it's just plain fun to fly; all big marks in my book. Plus, Luke Skywalker brought down an AT-AT in one using a just tow cable, which if you're up on Star Wars lore had never been done before, as the armoured walkers of the Empire had up until that point been considered almost unstoppable.

As a boy, I enjoyed playing with the snow speeder whenever I could and especially outside of the winter, where it zoomed around above the frozen landscapes of Hoth and crashed into same, fairly often. It was a great, tough toy that allowed me to have many adventures in my mind and this new Lego version, being much smaller( if quite a bit more fragile ) will have a place of honor on my display shelves.

Not that I have any display room at the moment in my place, being rather tight for space, but you get the idea. On the same note, check out this truly INCREDIBLE playset, created from scratch by an amazingly talented Star Wars fan - Post by Star Wars Plastic Playsets - here's a pic:

I highly recommend checking out the rest of the pics - I'm in awe of this person's skills and dedication in creating something truly inspiring to those who were at all disappointed with the Death Star toys that came out years ago.

If THAT kind of set had been available back then, I'd have saved for a year to buy it!

Aug 10 - Go Play Outside

This was a true day off for me!

By noon, I'd done everything around the apartment that needed doing and was itching to head outside; the weather was 'summer perfect' with sunshine and warm temperatures that begged to be experienced in shorts and sandals.

So I obliged.

I cycled down to Beacon Hill park, to take in a few hours of their free Concerts In the Park series, held at the bandshell there for anyone who wishes to attend. The band played musical hits from the 1920's and 1930's, so it was a fantastic aural experience and I have to say, the crowd was one of the most attentive that I've ever experienced:

A classy way to spend part of the day...

After that, I went on over to Moka House, to spend the rest of the afternoon on the patio. I'd just finished reading a friend's 40k-word story in the park( a mixed tale of Chinese invaders and werewolves, if you can believe it )and brought along a copy of the first eight chapters( eight!!! )of Book 2 to read as prep for doing outlines this week. I managed to get up to Chapter Four before I headed home, in the main because I kept getting distracted by all the viewing on the patio. Ah, summer...

I was also distracted by the foot of the guy next to me, who obviously had Restless Leg Syndrome. It's amazing how distracting that can be when you can't block it from your line of vision, unless you move. Which I did, several times; he had quite the case of it. Amusing, but distracting, as I said. I gave him a pass though, as he was reading a book.

My evening, just after dinnertime, was spent on a patio( again, huzzah! )at Garrick's Head Pub, meeting two friends of mine for dinner… and to pass along a copy of my novel. It was a very pleasant time, all told, on a busy pedestrian walkway on the heart of downtown. Most interesting passerby: the guy wearing a pink bandanna, talking into an upside-down cane in a carrying stentorian voice, having a conversation with a policeman in which he decried that he was disturbing the public peace with his simple phone call as he walked along.

I can't make this stuff up - seriously.

Back home, blog, read some of a copy of Hitchiker's Guide I was gifted with this week( sweet! )then abed with a smile; it was a great weekend!

That about sums it up: work, write, relax and repeat. Before you know it, summer will be a memory and the fall will be in full swing. I wonder if I'll attend any Halloween parties this year? We shall see!