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!

Fatigue, Farewells and Feathered Friends

The word of the week is intrinsic.

May 9 – Farewell, Chinook

After 17 years, we said goodbye to our little pal today.

To be honest, he wasn't doing so well, and neither were we because of that. As I've mentioned only a few times before, about two years ago, Chinook started waking us regularly at night to be fed, sometimes as many as four or five times despite our many efforts to discourage such behavior including staying up most of the night to literally keep putting them back in his pet bed every time he decided it was time to be fed. In the last 2 months, we managed to find some relief with the addition of a Feliway calming hormone dispenser, but he still woke us more often than not at the crack of dawn anyway - not good.

Examining the symptoms behind such behavior, we realized in late 2015 ago that he wasn't all there upstairs as much as he used to be and this, along with other age-related factors, was influencing his behavior. Losing his hearing, for example, made him yell louder in order for him to hear his own voice, we suspect. The same thing goes for feeling alone; even when we were home, he would often yowl as though wondering where we'd gone, even if we'd just stepped into the next room.

None of these behaviors were sustainable in the long run and neither my sister nor I were sleeping well for the last year, my sister in particular being the one that the cat most often asked for food in recent months.

When we took Chinook to the vets today for his final appointment, but that did confirm that the little guy's kidneys were in bad shape, far worse than when we had him checked a year ago while getting his teeth fixed up so he could eat better( he was steadily losing weight as of two years ago ). The vet said that it would have been impossible for Chinook to last another three months, and that the kidney condition explain why he was eating and drinking so much so often.

So it was time, and as hard as it was, we knew that his quality of life would have declined sharply from this point on. In some ways, it was as though Chinook knew today was his last hurrah: he behaved as energetically as a cat 10 years younger, chasing and playing with his toys all morning before we took him in, like he was expending the last of his energy to make us laugh and help us through today.

Sleep well, little guy, and visit us in our dreams: we will be doing the same.

May 10 – Rest and Recovery

I'm starting to think I'm not cut out for traveling, as it's so stressful.

Or maybe it's just that I'm still not handling my anxiety well enough, coupled with not being in better physical shape; the two factors can amplify one another, I think, if I'm overtired and overstressed like I was this past weekend.

Thankfully, all that came of it was a little fatigue, and a headache.

Now that my sister and I will be able to sleep uninterrupted through the night( passing emergency sirens or the occasional amplified-muffler jerk notwithstanding )we should both see an improvement in our health. For myself, it's going to take some time before I stop hearing cat yowls in my head when there are none, a psychological effect I've woken up to far too many times in the past.

Falling asleep early, and waking early, with light - especially during the day - seems to be the pattern for me of late. I'm trying to moderate it slightly, as I've been getting sleepy around 10pm... meaning I'm waking up around 6am, which coincides with the brightening dawn light. While I'm still groggy at that time, that's hopefully going to fade as I get more sleep-through-the-night rest in the next few weeks.

Falling asleep naturally case in point: tonight I was reading in bed, thinking about turning in around 10 PM... and the next thing I knew it was 1:30am and I'd woken, still fully-day-clothed with all the lights still on and the book I've been reading fallen on the bedsheet.

That's been rare for me of late, and I hope it's a sign that my bodies going to be quite good about conking out on a regular schedule once I start getting some solid sleep every night.

May 11 – Moving On?

My work doesn't need me. Well, to be clearer: they don't specifically need me.

I was moved out of my Corner Condo desk last week, to a new spot temporarily as part of a team restructuring which included losing my awesome team lead of the last year. The glare from the overhead lights is a bit much, and in a way I feel like I've been evicted from a home I loved. It's disconcerting, but it's also a familiar feeling: change.

It's time.

The positions I'm applying for are all steps up from my current level, all in the hopes that a few of them will sidle my way and discover that I'm a solid fit. All of them pay more than my current entry-level clerk job, and I'm crossing my fingers that they're located near the downtown core so I don't have to bus to work; biking would be fine, and good exercise too.

So I've been applying to more jobs lately and I have been in the last six months, helped by the fact that there seems to be more "better fits" for my skills and experience coming up in my GVT searches every week or so.

Working for the government, I've come to realize that the positions are looked at in one of two ways: you either keep upgrading yourself as far as you can based on your qualifications and skills, or you stay where you're comfortable for a long, long time.

Based on my skills, experience, needs and hopes for the future, I'm going full-on for the former: move on and move up, keep applying and keep trying.

I've been stuck in too few places for too long; time to climb!

May 12 – Cancellation Chaos?

Why don't watch television much anymore, today's news just made me shake my head and wonder about the future of the medium.

Today, ABC decided to cancel such amazing shows as Galavant, The Muppets, Castle, and Agent Carter... so that they can renew 'gems like Once Upon A Time, Big Brother and The Bachelor.

As a writer, I'll just say that there's no good writing on anything that was renewed, with the possible exception of Agents Of S.H.E.I.L.D. sure, I'm not watching much television of late, but I can appreciate the shocking difference between a well-written show and one that has as much thought put into it as someone blowing their nose and wiping it on a script before they submit it.

ABC: Keep the crap, scrap the good stuff... sheesh.

It's much the same on the other networks. Glancing at the renewal lists, CBS has greenlit shows like 2 Broke Girls( awful drek ), Amazing Race and numerous crime shows that all seem alike to me, personally. At least CBS has had the sense to keep New Girl alive, along with The Simpsons( meh )and NBC... well, they're still airing television shows, that's all I've really got to say about them.

In this day and age of independent channels, Internet streaming shows and the like, it's shocking to see a major network shoot itself in the foot like ABC has today. Dumping quality shows for reality television is a trend I'd hoped to see reversed a late, but apparently stupidity is alive and strong at the highest levels of the old guard.

Let's hope that the independents win, as they seem the most likely to bring smart, well-written shows to their audiences directly, without interference from above. You can check out all the shows canceled and renewed here, if it tickles your fancy - in the meantime, I'll be getting back to writing my book and ignoring TV-land for the most part... it's just too dumb lately.

May 13 – Lucky Me!

I just sailed through today.

It was the end of a long week, one that wasn't particularly wearing but tiring all the same due: coming back from ON, losing a pet... plus a few other things, including losing my camera on the flight home( and having it returned! )all added up.

Weirdly, today was Friday the 13th and a full moon, yet I didn't bat an eye.

I suppose I've become inured to the number 13, having included it in the title of my first novel... which kind of endears it to me: in a way, I've owned it, rather than the other way around.

I'm also not that superstitious. While a lot is happened to me in my life, for good and bad, I don't feel that there's some weird invisible hand guiding my destiny whether I want it to happen or not. Instead, I tend to go with the flow and see the best in things as much as I can, meaning that I don't ascribe the negative aspect to dates like today but just enjoy whatever comes along as much as possible.

Like today being Friday, with the weekend to look forward to after having a week of wonderful weather. Why worry about strange superstitions when there's so much else to do and enjoy?

Also, a friend of mine is launching the Kickstarter today for his storybook Jinx The Black Cat. It's the work of almost a decade of dedication from a talented artist, Mike Hogue, so go check him out and get a copy of Jinx's adventures!

  

May 14 – A Year Of Wonder

Today marks a special day in my life...

It's been a year since I started dating my girlfriend: a wonderful, amazing year that I'm humbly grateful for in every way.

If you'd asked me five years ago if I thought I'd ever meet someone like my lady, I would have given long odds against the chance, let alone odds on her wanting to date me. Thinking about it, maybe I should've bet against myself and made some money? Is that how it works?

To celebrate, I took her out to Ferris' Upstairs Oyster Bar for dinner. It's somewhere neither of us had been and I surprised her with the location, which went over well. The atmosphere was excellent: we were tucked into a corner table above the stairway entrance, perfect for conversation and away from most noisy nearby tables. Our dinners were delicious, the service was excellent and attentive and the chocolate truffles we had for dessert were perfect in portion and taste.

We finished off the evening by watching Babylon 5, having worked her way through most of the third season on DVD( which isn't available on laserdisc, sadly ). I still have to pinch myself sometimes, when I think about how she loves the show just as much as I do and how rare thing that is to have found in someone, let alone a person that I love.

What better way to celebrate being together, than to look to the stars?

May 15 – Contentment

What to do on a cloudy Sunday morning... how about birding?

My girlfriend suggested that we head down to Island View Beach today, to join a local group of birders as part of an introduction to the pastime. My mother's been an avid birder most of her life, though most of its being done from the windows of the houses she's lived in over the years due to her mobility issues.

Getting out into the fresh air and flat-glare of the cloudy sky was lovely, as there were many spring scents in the air from the flowering plants everywhere in the park. Even the sea-smell was pleasant: crisp and salty and reminiscent of vacation.

While I'm not all that into birding, it was a surprisingly fun outing, made a little easier by bringing along my 34xzoom camera to get close-ups of the birds that we spotted with the supplied binoculars. I especially liked how the guide explained some of the nuances of the birder's art, of how to search the edges of tree lines for birds as well as techniques to both spot and identify birds with binoculars.

It also renewed my appreciation for nature, in that I sometimes take it for granted that the trees and landscaped gardens I see when walking the streets of the city are the be-all and end-all of the natural world. It's humbling to actually get out into the wilder areas of Vancouver Island, away from the urban hubbub and to realize just how gloriously wondrous nature is on both the macro and micro scale.

In the evening, we both attended our friend Courtney's birthday party at the 5th  Street bar and Grill, a great way to end the weekend. Many of our friends were there and we had a great time for a few hours chatting back and forth about all sorts of things. Several couples are going on vacations to Hawaii and Jamaica respectively, so that's going to be fun to hear their stories once they return.

I'm full of food while I finish off this blog, fresh back from the birthday party. I've had a wonderfully satisfying weekend, much of which was spent with my gorgeous girlfriend and has done much to boost my spirits into the stratosphere. I'm ready to buckle down this week again and get into editing my book, so that I can wrap it up by Summers and and get back to work on finishing the second novel! 

PS - sometime this past week, my blog surpassed 50,000 hits - hurrah!