The word of the week is relish.
June 15 – VACATION!
The
first paid day of my vacation was today!
Honestly,
I just set aside today to relax and decompress. It's been a busy( and at times quite trying! )last few weeks at work and having managed to
finagle 10 days total of vacation, at least one has to be a day of doing ‘nothing
of consequence’ in my books.
One
of the things I did do was to apply for another government position.
Whether
that's of consequence or not remains to be seen. What's strange about working
for the government is that ‘Movement is A Career’ and that's a mindset I've not
managed to wrap my brain around yet. One’s position is fairly well defined in
terms of job expectations but the position itself may change every few months
depending on the needs of the particular department.
For
folks in my position, which is admittedly fairly low on the career ladder, I
can be re-tasked at any time( within my abilities, however )depending on what
work needs doing and I’ll have little say in that: I will do what I’m told,
which is only to be expected if I'm not my own boss.
Moving
upwards and onwards is the name of the game and unlike traditional retail or
commercial business, you can apply for as many positions as you like in as many
ministries or departments as you like - locally or elsewhere. Obviously, you
want to apply for positions that you at least have a chance of getting,
depending on your qualifications and experience, but my mind is still boggled
by the sheer number of positions a come up regularly, at least internally.
There's a whole lot of shifting going on a regular basis: people come and go
after only a year( sometimes even less )
which makes it harder to keep a cohesive team together that works efficiently.
The
bottom line for me is: apply for positions with more responsibility and more
pay. In my department, I’ve been told quite often that my skills and experience
are in demand and that in no way should I stay in the position I am any longer
than I have to.
I’m
destined for better and brighter things, apparently; who might argue?
June 16 – Homeless Honesty?
Sometimes,
karma does work.
As
some of you may know, we have a large homeless population here in Victoria. It’s
due to a number of factors, including the climate, local laws and a variety of
other circumstances that cause homeless to see the city as a place of refuge or
even opportunity, depending on the person. By and large, the homeless are
polite, respectful and good people who are just down on their luck.
What
you don't hear about often is that luck turning around for any of them, which
is what I want to tell you about today.
Such
was the case for a homeless man in Langford, about a 20 minute drive North of
Victoria. He found a large amount of cash that had been lost by a local
resident and turned it into the police rather than keep it for himself. I can't
imagine how much more difficult it was for someone with no place to call their
own to do such a thing; I think that many a citizen with a home to go back to that
night would be hard-pressed to have done the same.
The
local community has been touched by the act and to date, more than twice the
amount of money that was turned in has been raised at a GoFundMe site to reward
the honesty of the man.
I
also hope that a selfless act like this will remind locals that the homeless
are each unique, people worthy of treating with respect if such is returned and
that there's always a reason, always a story behind what too many people take
for granted we they see homelessness a daily basis.
June 18 – Cell-Shaded Glory!
Not
much to say on this one except: whoa!
But
to segue back to the beginning of my thought: why has it taken so long to get
around to the merging of cartoons and video games?
Over
ten years ago, the computer graphics power existed to do a decent job of
letting polygons mimic the hand-drawn shapes of simpler cartoons. Robotech: Battlecry was released for the
PS2, with cell-shaded graphics that closely mimic the aesthetic of the Robotech
television series. It was the first game released that got it right: the suspension of disbelief was
complete and gamers felt as though they were actually playing the cartoon - the
experiment was successful! Have a look:
Yet
even today, when you look at this exhaustive list of every game released that
uses this technique, only a handful have come out after 2010. All the rest were
made for older systems and it seems to me a crying shame that more capable modern
hardware hasn't been harnessed to give cell-shaded games a comeback.
Well,
except for one:
Transformers Devastation looks to be the cell-shaded dream game that fans of giant robot
combat have been waiting for all these years. The screenshot above is only one
of dozens that you can see HERE - it looks gorgeous and for the aesthetic alone
I may pick it up( on sale, of course )
just to be able to gaze rapturously at the drool-worthy CGI cell-shading. To be sure, I'll also be holding onto my copy of Borderlands and Borderlands2 for a while!
There's also the nostalgia factor, which seems to be creeping into my posts of late, of being able to play the heroes( and villains too? )from my childhood.
One more reason to love gaming!
June 18 – Useful UPS?
Well,
looks like UPS joined the digital connected age, finally. Why
do I mention this? Is it important?
In
a word: yes!
At least, it is if you don’t want to wait home all day, as usual, hoping for a delivery. Or,
in my case, travel across town to get a package that’s somehow been
assigned to a far-off pickup location. That’s happened twice to me already, and there
was nothing I can do about it - until now.
 |
| It really seems like this, sometimes |
At
long last, UPS has introduced the MyChoice service, which allows customers with
pending deliveries to choose where and how they want the package to come into
their possession. With the advent of UPS Access Points( small businesses with limited package storage space )you can choose
the AP closest to your work or home and not have to worry about staying home
all day in order to receive a vital package. Or you can choose to still have
home delivery and actually get a six-hour delivery estimate window to help you plan to be home at the right time.
Long
story short, I was able to be home at the right time this week to receive the
package necessary for an event this weekend that my sister is running. It all
worked out rather well and I'm a lot less stressed about future deliveries made
via UPS, in that I won't have to cycle across town or even worse, get a vehicle
in order to transport any bulkier packages back to my home.
I
just find it bizarre that it took UPS this long to figure out that the Internet
could actually be useful on this matter and I hope that most other delivery
carriers figure it out soon too.
I
think we're all tired of waiting around.
June 18 – Peppermint? Pass!
My
writing didn't go to plan today.
Last
few days this week, I've managed to write almost a chapter a day for my second
book, all part of my plan to use my staycation time to advance my novel a fair
piece.
Today
however, my mother wasn't available for dictation and it was the evening before
I was able to do more than hunt and peck on the computer; creativity seem to
have deserted me despite my efforts. I worked somewhat on my chapter outline
but the scenes themselves wouldn't appear.
Sometimes
characters talk to me and other times there's nothing but silence. Today was
definitely a quiet day and I fumed a little inside at the unexpected lack of
progress.
Ironically,
in the evening I was blindsided by a scent, no less.
 |
| My new nemesis: Peppermint! |
My
sister was cleaning the bathroom as part of our weekly division of labor and
she use a diluted quantity of natural peppermint essential oil instead of
harsher chemicals. While I've smelled the sort of essential oil before, tonight
I had a pretty severe reaction to its overpowering odor.
I
grew lightheaded and nauseous, enough so that I had to spring open a window and
sit in front of it while a fan pumped fresh air in. It was a good 15 minutes
before I managed to regain enough equilibrium to stagger outside and take a
half-hour walk to feel somewhat normal again. It was quite shocking to me the
reaction I had, almost like being buried in 1 million Christmas candy canes and
understandably, my sister won't be using peppermint extract again anytime soon.
Candy
canes were never my favorite anyway.
June 19 – Perfection
My
lady and I spent the entire day together. It was… wonderful. Breakfast, walks in
the park, patios, model boating, conversation and quiet times: it was all the
perfect mix and often it felt like time was standing still. Over 12+ hours
spent solely in each other’s company and every minute was superbly sublime.
I
did a little reflection today as well, about writing and scifi in particular.
There
are many genres to writing, from horror to fantasy to mystery and all the other
sub genres: so many that you could write a story in each and still not be done
in a year’s time. Of
all the genres however, I prefer to write science fiction.
Yet why is that?
I've
thought about it on and off over the years, looking for reasons both personal
and practical yet not managing all of anything that really gelled for me. At
least, not until I found this gem by prolific author David Gerrold:
Writing science fiction isn't just a labor of love, it's a way of being. You get to go anywhere in time and space. You get to visit other dimensions and other possibilities. You even get to visit other IMpossibilities. A science fiction writer is a literary time lord.(All I need is the companion. Preferably a redhead, but I'm not picky.)As rewarding as it might be to write a TV script or make a movie, as financially rewarding as those efforts might be -- there's something special about a book or a story that has your name on it, no one else's. You get to take the credit, you get to take the blame. But it's you alone -- it's your voice, your credential, your mark on the universe.
You
can read the entirety of the post here, which mainly concerns itself with
Gerrold’s experience on ST:TNG and how it relates to where he is today as a
writer. It's a fascinating read and one that's validating of a writer's
personal choices leading to the future that they create for themselves.
I
don't think I could have written anything better than that.
June 21 – Long, Lovely Days
There
were some more writing goodness this afternoon.
A total of three scenes, or an entire chapter, made it onto the page today in
the space of about two hours, which is a new speed record for me. I do tend to
have shorter chapters in my books at around 3000 words or so, but today was a
terrific sign that my Muse is feeling creative and comfy with daily output.
I'll reach the nominal halfway point of my second book’s first draft in the
next few days and that is a magnificent milestone for both my Muse and I.
It's
also Father's Day today, for which I'm always grateful.
My
dad's a fantastic guy, and I feel so fortunate to have him here in BC. He is a
laid-back guy, with a solid core of loyalty and love that's never wavered for
an instant throughout my life. I've never, ever entertain the thought that he couldn't
be relied on to be there when we needed him, to view life with a sense of humor
and do his best to provide his family with the life they could be proud of.
I
could go on at length, but you get the idea: my dad’s a rare and special guy
and I'm humbled to know that many of my core values, mannerisms, bits of wisdom
and humor can all be traced back to his being there for me, always.
No
son could ask for more.
Tonight
is the summer solstice as well, and I spent it writing the blog. It’s still
light in the sky at 10pm as I write this blog, it's colour fading every time I
glance out the window to my right. I spent part of today with my lady and again
the time seemed to simply vanish - all too quickly, we both felt. The perfect
weather meant that a good part of that time was spent outside, running our
model boat or simply walking along the southern coastline of the city under
blue skies. The long summer nights here are not as warm as they are out East,
as the cool southerly breezes coming from across the waters chill things down,
though not so much that the bugs still don't come out to bite.
Only good things to say this
week? Pinch me, I must be dreaming. On second thought: no, please… if this is a
dream, I don’t want to wake up just yet… at least not until I know the endings
of my next two novels!
