Patience, Projects and Perception

The word of the week is turmoil. 

March 5 - Soak Boats? 

When I get stressed, I used to be able to hop into the hottub in the basement; it was always ready at the right temperature and baked the bad away. How nice would it to be to have that comforting heat on the go? A company in the USA has created hottub-boats, which let you cruise around a lake in steamy style with a few friends or even solo! When I was living on Langford Lake, there was a 'mobile BBQ' platform that one homeowner puttered around the lake on with friends on weekends that I thought was pretty cool. This would have been a PERFECT compliment to that, I think… especially given that the 'fixed' hottub at that place I was renting broke down after only a few months. If the hottub was floating on a LAKE, it wouldn't have mattered if it was leaking water slowly or not!!! 

I hope my next place can have a hottub... or a jacuzzi tub. Anyway...

March 6 - Render The World? 

I mentioned that I scored a new video card for a great sub-$100 price a few weeks ago; it's been great and few of my games even come close to using most of its power. So I've been looking at other things that might harness the raw graphical horsepower sitting under the hood, so to speak; alas, only Nvidia cards can be used to do things like re-sizing videos faster( I didn't know or I might have held off buying this one, an ATI - sigh ). I did, however, find a very curious alpha program, a demo really, that in addition to using a LOT of graphical horsepower proposes something astonishing: it can render almost to scale the ENTIRE SURFACE OF A PLANET. Before you wonder why this is so mind-bending, consider Google Maps and Google Earth: they allow you to view our planet in excessive detail… but still draw on something that is already THERE. With Outerra, developers of games like Mass Effect can use the software to allow players to explore virtually limitless vistas of other planets almost on a 1:1 scale. So in effect, you CAN to wander in the mountains, the forests, anywhere you like, with NO invisible walls holding you back because the designers didn't actually build that part… 

March 7 - Still waiting? 

There's been no word from EI a month after I applied… despite their claim to process most applications within 28 days. I'm supposed to call this coming week to check on things, again, as well as checking on the Service Canada website( a few times a day ). It's frustrating, to say the very least. 

While I wait, I've been doing a lot of things, like cataloging some of my 2000 books. And going through my saved bookmarks; after editing and deleting the old / broken ones, would you believe I still have over 5000 bookmarks? That surprised me, as did FireFox when it garbled an update with the 'new' set of bookmarks that took me the rest of the night and most of the next day, on and off, to fix. Thankfully I didn't lose any of the newer sites from recent months and didn't have to re-install FireFox, but it's still a little wonky. Which simply teaches the lesson to back things up regularly( like I do )and prepare for the inevitable day when Things Go Wrong. So you don't tear out any hair. 

Ironically, this also helps when waiting for EI. 

March 8 - IKEA house? 

In a happier world, I would have been house-hunting for the last few years for a place to lay my head, obviously a smaller place as it would just be me and my small allotment of stuff. Given my lack of resources, it's not going to happen for a while, which is also fine: my main reason for wanting a place of my own is so that I don't have overly sensitive neighbours who complain about footsteps in the night while on the way to do one's business. Sheesh. 

I'm not alone in wanting a smaller place; quite a few people are seeing the advantages of having a home that is sized to YOUR needs, not that bank's idea of what someone should be buying. As with my previous blog entries about small-house companies like Tumbleweed Houses, it all depends on your budget and what sort of space needs you're willing to work with. I like the homes designed by IdeaBox, whose Activ model is furnished by IKEA for those who are really into that place of wonder; prefabs seem to fit the spot between mobile homes / RV's and traditional houses, in my opinion. Some smaller houses are still mobile, in that they can be moved from a property fairly easily if not permanently attached to a foundation. I find that flexibility appealing, as it would allow me to 'move' elsewhere without having to sell my treasured home. Unless I needed more space, in which case it would make sense to sell. Life's like that. 

March 9 - Project Kara? 

I've already spoken about video graphics above, but this deserves a special mention all its own: Project Kara from Quantic Dream. 

It's a tech demo from Sony that shows off the incredible power of the PS3 gaming console. The video shows what happens when an android is assembled in a futuristic factory… and doesn't want to be taken apart again. The incredible part is that the ENTIRE video was run solely on a PS3, meaning that this sort of technology could make it into in-game graphics, letting the player experience gameplay JUST like this - no more 'ooh, that was a pretty cutscene, but the game graphics are nowhere near that good' gripes. The emotion conveyed in this demo really pulls at you as well, have a look!

March 10 - Stressing?

It's growing in me again, the Stress Factor. Today it was worse, as I found out my plans to move nearby might not be possible until late in the summer; this means finding an alternate place has just become top priority. Which sucks, as things would have been MUCH simpler with Plan A, but as with all things: plan for the worst, hope for the best. Adding to the stress is EI dragging their feet and a lack of decent jobs for someone with my managerial skill set, so in effect I am floating in a limbo of my own frustrated desires for completion. Not good if I want to maintain my sanity, as well as my financial well-being. 

But that's life. It's still a LOT better than if I had stayed where I was at MMart, even in hindsight, so I have to keep reminding myself of that. And of the opportunities and possibilities that ARE opening to me now that I have my 'freedom' albeit one that has no income at present. I'm looking at several ideas of mine for self-employment, including freelancing, so I'll get those further fleshed out in the next several weeks as I wait for EI, KEEP looking for a job, and try to find a place to live that isn't Hell waiting in disguise… so the picture below is quite apt for my state of mind right now: 

March 11 - Borderline?

Borderlands, the game, has crept back into my life again this week and I've been quite enjoying it; as with many of my games, I never finished it originally. It's the quintessential buddy game, best played with friends and very, very rewarding. So much so that I had to rest my arms later today, they actually hurt from too much controller-gripping and mouse-use this week, which is unusual. 

Back in the day, I never owned an NES, which I've not really regretted in that I've owned so MANY other video game systems otherwise. That's meant that I never played Super Mario Brothers or quite a few other 'classic' games, so I've sort of made up the lack in finding them here and there as flash games online. Word this week reached me of a new mish-mash, made from the ground up to resemble an old NES title. It's called Mari0 and mixes Super Mario Brothers… and Portal! It's incredibly fun to play( on the PC or Mac or Linux )as it perfectly captures the old feel of the NES game while using the mechanics of Portal to give it a wholly new twist. Try it out, it's freeware!! 

Another rough weekend; it's hard maintaining a positive outlook in the face of such uncertainty, despite my own constant mental assurances that This Is The Right Path. I think it's being IN limbo that scares me the most; that I'm just passing through on the way to better things is what I have to keep reminding myself of.

Achievements, Anger and Animation

The word of the week is patience.

Feb 27 - Animation 

Growing up, I loved anything to do with animation. Disney and Don Bluth were just two of the giants that filled my childhood with fantastic visions and great adventures. Animation is the closest thing I know of to translating imagination directly into tangible form, to take ideas and make them appear magically for anyone to watch exactly as you want them to appear. Not being talented in that area, I make do with the rich imagery that words conjure in a reader's mind, yet I've always had a fascination with the world of animation.

A good friend of mine had the good fortune to become friends with one of the most talented animations of their generation: Michel Gagné. Anyone in the field of animation knows who Michel is, as his talent stands head, shoulders and knees above all others; it's just stunning to watch his work( search YouTube! ). Have a gander at his student film, fully rendered in colour with incredible effects when most of his peers struggled to animate a few frames in colour themselves. Breathtaking:



Feb 28 - Raspberry Pi( yes, there's no 'e' )

Computers are becoming ever-smaller and cheaper every year; I'll not bore with you the specifics, as Google can provide far more timely info for you than I can here. Instead, I'll just give an excellent recent example: the Raspberry Pi, produced here in Toronto and sold via a UK firm for just $35. It has 2 USB ports, an ethernet port, runs with any TV as a monitor and uses cheap SD cards as memory. It's akin to the early AppleII and C64 computers from the 80's, only a hundred times less expensive. Now anyone with lunch money can have access to a computer for whatever they wish to use it for, as it's easily programmable( not my bailiwick )and simple to use. Much like the OneLaptopPerChild and OneTabletPerChild programs, these devices are aimed at bringing computing to the masses, anywhere in the world. Amazing! 

Feb 29 - Novel Beginnings

February DID see me complete the first chapter of my novel, something that I am proud of despite the mental contortions I went through to decide where to start. I write a little of my novel every day, as well as expand the idea jar and sketch out more of the world and its characters so I can refer to the structure as I go along to ensure a cohesive whole. Parts of it are ready, waiting for me to fill in and flesh out when I get to them. Other areas are barest skeletons, where I am not quite sure what will fit and what won't, so likely I'll redo those a few times once I get other parts locked down.

I sometimes find my muse taking on a life of its own, seeing myself as an observer in the world in my head, privy to all that transpires as I rush frantically to write down the barest details to recall later as I write. This is the way my best work comes to me, I think: the characters take on a life of their own and I watch what they do with wide-eyed wonder. Having those moments makes the whole writing process worthwhile, as I feel like a privileged guest in a play first performed only for me… and then I have to be the one relating it as best I can second-hand to my readers. I can only hope I do what I saw in my head justice as I craft the words to their best effect…



March 1 - Having a life

One month since I left MMart and I can feel myself relaxing... but not too much, as I STILL haven't heard boo from EI. It's damn frustrating, biting my nails every day almost as I wait for someone in a government office to tell me that Yes, You DO Qualify for leaving a workplace that was killing you. Sure, I've planned to be off work for a few months at least while I job-search, but I am not the sort to sit around and think that lazy is the norm. I want to KNOW. So I continue to search for a job, while I wait.

Plus relax. I'm getting out for a solid walk every day, eating on a MUCH more regular schedule and just enjoying being able to choose the course of each of my days. Despite not much getting as much done as I think I should, I am still trying to get in time to read, relax and even nap( briefly )when I feel like it. With as little TV as possible, as that's just filler time as far as I'm concerned; I have hundreds of hours of TV shows on DVD that I've been converting( slowly... )that I'd rather watch than channel-surf. They represent the time that I've never had to just sit down and catch up over the last few years.

March 2 - More On Writing

The afternoon rain saw me sitting in James Bay Coffee and Books, where I met with several members of the local Victoria Writer's Group. We were there to discuss the mysteries of publishing with a local self-publisher who has helped dozens of authors realize their dreams of creating a tangible book from their hard work. Most of the questions were not directly related to fiction writers such as myself, but were more focused on the self-help and non-fiction authors. Yet seeing as this local publisher normally charges $150 an hour for consultations, her gracious offer to speak to anyone who came for the price of a tea was impossible to pass up.

What I've learned from today's meeting( and last week's )is that I am ahead of the game. I've given thought and planning to many aspects of my novel that do not occur to most writers, apparently. The discovery that my habits of thinking around a problem, researching things and planning ahead have already served to put me in the front of the pack of new authors working on their first novel is VERY heartening, to say the least. Having confirmation that my hard work being poured into my novel will NOT be in vain, that I will at least have a solid chance at getting my book out there, is steadying to me. In some ways, I am even more eager now than before to WRITE, as I can see many avenues and possibilities for getting my stories Out There and not seeing them languish in some unsold pile in the corner of a small book shop.

March 3 - A Day On The Town!

A windy but lovely day that I spent most of in Victoria, a total departure( literally )for me compared to my hermit-like habits of late. I waited in line for breakfast at The Blue Fox, a fantastic bistro restaurant whose food is beyond compare( check it out on Yelp! )and well-worth the wait in the wind. Yes, I was VERY windy today, but not so that going outside was a health hazard. After a leisurely semi-brunch, a friend and I went browsing along the shops of the downtown area... and I ended up at Russell Books, where I gave in to temptation and purchased a dozen used paperbacks, all of which I had never seen before and sorely wanted. For research, as many touched on parts of the world I am creating and refining for my novel. Research, yes, ahem. Once I had managed to tear myself away from the book shop, I finished up the day people watching in the afternoon at The Soda Shoppe, where I enjoyed a root beer as the world walked by; the place has an excellent view of the promenade in front of The Empress Hotel by the inner harbor. A lovely day.

Marred by a frustrating evening tonight playing games online, but I'll mention that later...



March 4 - Anger

Oh, how the foibles of emotion can grip you! I embarked on my usual day of gaming online with my friends, playing a pleasant hour and a bit of Borderlands with a friend( BL2 comes out in Sept, yay! )and then turning to Battlefield3... which was a mistake.

It sucked. Big time.

BF3 is the one game in my collection that (almost) drives me to smashing things with my controller; expensive things I can't afford to replace. Game after game today was a teeth-clenching anger-drenched experience, where I learned time and again that I was playing people who spent ALL their free time playing THIS game to become viciously efficient virtual killing machines.

For me, it's a short-fused line that I get dragged across, screaming in my head every time I die uselessly in the game at the hands of some UberGamer. I realize that in order to get NEAR as good as many of these BF3 gamers, I will have to dedicate some serious time to the game. To the exclusion of other games. And my writing. And my social life. Which I'm NOT willing to do. Nope.

My solution? Put the game away for the rest of the month. Go for an evening walk to clear my head and think of other things. Put on some Enya to relax and swallow down the bile that I'm Not Good Enough and I Was pwnd. Especially when I was separated from my group of friends / squadmates( cute message break here ):



I think that's what gets me; that in a very immediate, measurable way, I have been found wanting in an arena that I entered in order to enjoy myself and instead found continual frustration because my skillz aren't sharp enough to Keep Up. So I'll let the UberGamers fight each other and sit out for a while, rather than work up my blood pressure in a one-sided war with no real winners, despite the mocking glow of the online leaderboards. I'm better than that.

After putting together the blog, I managed to mellow out for the rest of the evening, which was VERY good in it's own way. I disappeared into a book and forgot all about the shallowness of online victory. Which was itself, a victory!

Lawrence, Laziness and Literary Love

The word of the week is vision.

Feb 20 - The Happiness Project and Research

One of my favourite book series of all is The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by the late Douglas Adams. It's irrelevant and ironic look at the way the universe works has always spoken to my own brand of humour. Yet what does it MEAN to be happy? Is it the laughter that bubbles up when I watch a funny program or read a funny book? Or is that just amusement? Is really being happy something that I am so unfamiliar with that I have to research it in order to try to have a hope of finding it?

Research can help though, if it leads to places like The Happiness Project, which is a site recounting the author's search for happiness. Apparently she found some answers after a year of searching and made it into a book. Which turned into a NY Times #1 Bestseller - food for thought for a hungry author such as myself. Reading through the site, there are a lot of quotes, proverbs and bits of advice... but few concrete answers. It seems the simplest things in life are the best bets to finding your own answers about being happy. Making lists of what makes YOU happy also helps narrow the field, and may also point you towards work that will be most fulfilling.

Just try not to end up discovering you are happy being miserable. :-)

Feb 21 - On Being Unemployed

So far, it's been three weeks since I left my job and as yet I have not found another. EI will likely be a few more weeks in deciding on whether I will qualify or not; I have a doctor's letter and am hopeful that I will be provided with a means to continue to search for the right job for the next few months.

The days seem shorter to me now, oddly. I've been out EVERY day this week, for coffee or errands or whatnot and I seem to get less accomplished of a day than when I was employed. I think it is because time was more precious to me months ago, when I had so little of it to enjoy. Now that ALL my time is free time, I am finding that nothing is taking priority and if something remains to be done, I can always do it the next day. Which is a trap, as each day blurs into the next without a set plan of action, as I am sure you all know. No, I am finding it hard to focus, to GET things done of a single day, when I know that the next day will still have the same number of free hours. It is a feeling I am not used to and need to come to an accommodation with, so that I do not lapse into a mindset so lazy that I wake of a morn and find that the day can pass without question far too easily.

Will that make me happy? I am certain it won't, as so little does of late that lasts. Carry on...

Feb 22 - Writing Group Meeting!

During the evening today, I attended a local writer's group meeting, the topic being publishing. It was downtown in Victoria, at an indoor atrium in a new building I've not had occasion to go into, until now. There were over a dozen people there, including a few published authors and several people who had self-published. I found out about the group while browsing the local Meetup.com Groups, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in meeting like-minded people locally to share common activities. Tonight's meeting went very well indeed; I learned a lot and was the person asking the most questions the entire night. One of the big, scary mysteries for an author is HOW to get their works OUT there, in ways that promote you AND have the real possibility of making you money. Self-publishing does not seem to be a viable route for me right now, as it tends to be very limited in distribution. Going online at a place like Amazon's Kindle Store makes more sense, as does serializing a story / set of stories online. In any case, I found the meeting to be thoroughly useful and met several like-minded writers there, including a Babylon 5 fan - by the name of Peter! How odd is that? So I'll be attending future meetings, in between looking for work and writing my own stories; I'm very happy to have found these folks in my own backyard.

Feb 23 - Growing pains?

Ouch! I am not the tallest person around, I know that; about average is how I'd peg my height, but given my body proportions I look just fine, thanks. Yet I was baffled to hear about men whose height was such an issue that they underwent radical surgery to increase it, similar to women whose bust sizes are not up to their wants. However, getting metal rods implanted in one's femurs sounds like FAR too much painful trouble to consider; I wonder if they ever thought about elevator shoes, or hanging out with shorter people? Have a gander and decide for yourselves:



Feb 24 - On the power of a story

Sometimes I wonder about the impact that fiction authors have on people's lives; we write stories about made-up things and try to convince readers to suspend their disbelief enough to care about the stories and characters. Most often our stories are a distraction from the daily lives of readers, albeit a welcome one and have no bearing on their success or failure in life. Yet sometimes it is this very distraction that is the thing a reader needs, when their lives are not happy and in some cases are about to end.

Such is the case of Nachu Bhatnaga, who is a terminally ill cancer patient who also It so happens that Bhatnagar adores The War That Came Early, Harry Turtledove's alternate history series. Nachu's best friend had the idea to contact Mr. Turtledove and see if he could procure an advance copy of his next book for Nachu, who only has a few months to live. See the results below for the answer to my question about the impact an author can have( light language warning NSFW ):

Feb 25 - Exercise? Just climb a mountain!

After a few kms-long walks every other day for the last few weeks, I decided today to step things up, literally: I climbed a mountain. Hiked, actually, for a total of 6km distance and a vertical climb of over 125m, all of it logged on my new trusty HTC Desire smartphone. Love those apps; I am using one called MapMyFitness which logs many details about a workout using the GPS. I can tell how fast I moved, view the route( including elevation ), calories burned... all sorts of things. This allows me to keep a record of what exercise I am getting, to see how MUCH I am doing to get fit, at least in terms of mobile exercise. It even has a nutrition function, so I can plug my daily diet into it and see how my intake compares to my exercise burn; I haven't used it yet, but it seems worthwhile. I had a really good time in the hour it took me to make it up the mountain path; the fresh air was great and the views from the top were spectacular. Have a look and feel free to zoom in, the detail's incredible:







Feb 26 - Finding your destiny

It may surprise you to know that I've not seen Lawrence Of Arabia before today, nor in fact ever caught it on television - ever. Tonight, not wanting to be bothered with the Oscars, I settled in instead with half an eye on the film and the rest on writing. Which soon went by the wayside as Lawrence drew me inevitably in with its rich performances and incredible imagery. Ironic that I disdained watching the Oscars for a film that won 7 of them. What drew me in was Lawrence's struggle with what he was becoming; it was incredible to see him embrace, then put at arm's length, the very things he was trying to achieve in Arabia in WWI. I think many of us struggle with what we want to do in life, as well as IF we can do it. For Lawrence, at least, he could also answer the third big question: did we make a difference? In his case, yes... and he would also have to live with the results. If you're curious as to how this modern-day hero lived, just Google Lawrence of Arabia - it's enough reading and food for thought to keep anyone busy awhile.

Another week gone and another headache to end it with; moving to BC reduced but did not eliminate that little pleasure. I also installed a new video card( a cheap deal I'll not bore you with after the last one had to be returned )and re-formatted my SSD so it's now twice as super-speedy as before. More than a few books have been dug through, many an afternoon tea has been sipped and overall it's been GREAT not to be a slave to the phone. Though I STILL answer before the third ring; that habit I may never be able to break...

Valentine's, Victory and Validation

The word of the week is validation.

Feb 13 - Car scams!

I learned something new today, or rather more about something I suspected to be rather commonplace in larger cities( or even smaller ones ): automotive insurance scams. I've seen automotive video recorders available for a while from various sites, for relatively low amounts of money, ridiculously low in face, when you consider the cost of losing a scam settlement. What are these frauds about, exactly? Well, in the main they involve scam artist drivers who force you to collide with their car, usually at low speed, then attempt to extort a settlement from you outside of insurance, threatening to call the police to report YOUR "poor driving" that caused the collision. In most cases of a rear collision, it is presumed to be the FOLLOWING vehicle's fault. There's quite a few common car-related insurance scams to watch out for, all of which would benefit from a recording camera being present. Be aware and alert as you drive( as always! )and have a look at one driver's experience below - he was VERY pleased he had a camera running that day:





Feb 14 - FORK IT and Calvin

Last week I wrote about how it is that I am single. Today is Valentine's Day and to be honest, I'm just ignoring the whole thing, rather than getting upset or otherwise worked up. I understand that for two people, it's a big day, and for others it's a day to celebrate their love for others... but frankly, it's always been a Hallmark Holiday for me, smack dab between Christmas and Easter. A good way to move chocolate, mushy cards and expensive dinner reservations.

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As to how it applies to me, I prefer to focus on the upbeat: I'm happily single, I'm happy to be me and I don't "need" anyone to complete that picture. If I felt like there was half of me missing, I'd feel pretty silly really... and that's a terribly heartsick way to go through life which has so much to offer everyone. Sure, I'd love to meet Someone Special someday, but look at that wording: Special. No way am I going to 'settle' for someone so as not to have an 'empty' home of my own; that way lies unhappiness for both people. Nope, instead I'll focus on my own happiness and not pretend that it can be found at the bottom of a chocolate heart or some other wildly out-of-tune fantasy.

Feb 15 - Brooding Kings

Some images speak to me, as some of you may have noticed from the ones I've posted to my Fbook account in the last few weeks( noticeably lacking are ones in poor taste or poorly drawn ). One image in particular that has always resonated with me is that of Conan The King, sitting brooding on his throne - no longer called a barbarian to his face, he wears a crown with a glower:
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This then, is the end of his journey? Having overcome unthinkable odds, fought battles that spawned a hundred legends and now his sword gathers dust, instead of the heads of his enemies? I've always thought of this as a metaphor for the hard-fought journey, for one who has always had to overcome what fights you step by step, with a goal that may not be in focus but comes suddenly after far too many battles... and doesn't sit well with you once you have it. Clarity, focus and determination should all come together to bring you to where you WANT to be... not where you THOUGHT you wanted to be at the start. Learning from the journey and adjusting your path is the measure of a person, not their strength or skills or stubbornness, for if a barbarian takes the throne without learning from their path, a barbarian is who they will still be, no matter how fine the crown or golden the throne.

Feb 16 - Facebook Validation

Yes, I tend to be a bit of a pack-rat, both with physical stuff and with my data; I've kept things tucked away on my PC from back in the early 90's. For good reason; apart from photos, I have some stories, important( to me )emails, as well as some journal entries. Twenty years back, I discovered that I had some mild validation issues, in that I yearned( unrealistically )for people to validate that I was doing, which is false: seeking external validation for what you do means you will NEVER be satisfied, despite success of any order. I overcame that and moved on... until Facebook arrived. When I found myself again at the mercy of validation, especially these last few weeks when I have been in front of my PC far more than normal of a day. Waiting for a little FBook notification to pop up stating that people have paid attention to my creative efforts... or not, which can make one a tad crestfallen. Yet is this what we have come to? Waiting for other people to notice that you're spending MORE time on Facebook? Having realized that, I've decided to do what I do regardless of the feedback, which really only validates one thing: that other people are spending too much time in front of their computers as well. Funny, that...

Feb 17 - Job Hunting

Yes, I have been looking for jobs every day for the last few weeks, with little to show for my efforts. Sure, there are Joe Jobs to take, but at this point I don't want to bag groceries or serve fast food - there may come a point where that is all that is available, but I am actively pursuing my network of contacts to find work other than what's listed as 'immediate' various places. One site I was told to check out was Indeed.ca, which indeed was a great place to find up-to-date job listings, moreso than places like Monster.ca or BCjobs.ca, which are where I've checked many times before.

It's interesting, being without a job for the first time in my life. I liken it to leaving school, in a way: you go from a place you've come to know VERY well and gotten used to, to then step outside your comfort zone and have to make decisions based on very little information. It's the fear of the unknown that rattles a lot of people; in my case, I KNEW with utter certainty that ANYTHING was better than the place where I was, so I took some comfort in that. Now I am looking to find a work BALANCE: a job where I can do well, perform to my ability levels and a little beyond... and leave it ALL at work at the end of the day, so I can be freer to pursue my real interests. I'll speak in the future about how much I've enjoyed reading Career Success Without A Real Job, whose cover catchphrase "The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations" practically lasered itself into my eyeballs when I saw it on the bookshelf. The section on writing in particular was fascinating; stay tuned!

Feb 18 - Honour and Gaming Beers

this afternoon I was out on the town; more specifically, I was at The Moon Under Water pub in downtown Victoria( more the outskirts, but what the hey ). I was there for my first meeting of a local Victoria gaming club, which actually consists of people who are in the business of creating video games - how cool is THAT? It was a local meet-and-greet, where everyone could talk a little shop and generally get to know people. I had a blast in the hours I was there, picking up some great job-seeking tips as well as meeting new people - exactly what I wanted to do! The beer headache even delayed itself until later; quite honestly I'm finding the less often I drink, the less I really enjoy it, headaches aside. But as for the group, it was a great experience and I'll definitely be at the next one in a month's time, barring a new job, of course.

Of the evening, I caught The Last Samurai on TV and after a few minutes couldn't change the channel; not that Tom Cruise is compelling, but I found the notions of honour and loyalty explored in the film very gripping. Also, the battle scenes were lavish and I found there was a distinct lack of 'Hollywood Heavy-Handedness' in the way the story was presented, apart from the conceit of having Cruise's western-warrior character as central to the story. Even that was forgivable, with the overall excellence of the film's total presentation. All these years and I had never bothered to see it; my bad!

Feb 19 - Family

Today's entry won't be about the six hours I spent playing BF3 online, despite the not-bad score levels with friends and a general lack of teeth-gnashing.

Instead, today is about family, rather appropriate seeing as tomorrow is Family Day in Ontario. In one's life, especially mine, family is the single most important thing on my list of Things That Are Important, by a wide margin. Success, money, material things... all those take a far place from family, from which we derive Self, Happiness, Love... and many other critical things in life.

Yet family is not forever. Today, I found out that a friend's parent is dying; they won't last the day, in fact. My friend's been overwrought, as another of his close family members is also in the midst of passing, so there's an ENORMOUS burden on them right now. Which is eased a little by the presence of other family members, who are there to support and nurture each other through these crisis's, which are inevitable: eventually, we will all be gone from this place. We have to make the most of the time we have here, to say all the things that should NOT remain unsaid, not to let barriers of indifference or intolerance or distance grow up thorny and untended between us. Family shapes us, cares for us, remembers our good deeds and forgives us our missteps and will carry on with us in our hearts after we are gone.

For that and many more reasons, I am hopeful that my friend will find the strength he needs in family, as well as friends, to make it through this heavy burden of time and emerge from it the better. It pains me there is little that I can do than offer my support, my love and my listening ear despite the distance... for really, in the end, what else can we do for each other, but this?

Well, I received my final pay from MMart this past Friday, so I'm done with that place - at least they didn't screw THAT up, thankfully, though almost 1/3 of it vanished in taxes. *sigh* Now I wait for EI to make up their minds, hopefully THIS week, while I search and relax and generally try to ENJOY my time off. For this week, that means getting out each day for some exercise!

Apps, Anger and Apartments

The word of the week is focus.

Feb 6 - Places To Live

For a while now, I've been apartment hunting in anticipation of moving out and moving on - it's been planned since the beginning since moving to Bear Mountain that I wouldn't be staying more than a year or so, if the timing worked out. So far, it's looking good for my leaving around( or before )April, as I'm not tied by a lease anymore to this place and can move as I please. Providing I FIND a place locally that I can afford and that isn't out in the boonies or under a dance club next to a rock-crushing operation. Luckily, a friend of mine here is looking for roommates and has a GREAT place just down the road, so I'm really hoping things work out soon and I can move just down the road. I've been wanting my independence( again )for some time now, so the other half of the puzzle is employment of some kind - more about that next week. For now, for those of you looking for places yourselves( in the near or further future )should check out Lifehacker's Apartment Hunting Checklist to avoid stepping into something that isn't the right fit for you.

Feb 7 - Signs and Portents

While I believe in the validity of many things in this world, two things that are not on my list are Astrology and Numerology, in terms of horoscopes and predictions pertaining to people's lives. Myself, I am a Cancer sign, which I've mostly avoided reading anything deeply into, though lately my frustration with my lack of relationships has led me to do further research into these areas. Ironically, I installed an app on my ASUS tablet called 'Know Yourself' which is numbers-based, and darn it if the thing hit a nearly 99% in what it had to say about my life. Turns out Cancers are the MOST complicated astrological / numerological sign to interpret - of course. There was a LOT in there, most of which I didn't have to stretch at all to apply to my life. While I don't read a lot of meaning into those results, it did get me to thinking about all the forces that affect our lives, seen and unseen, as well as the effects these things have on our many intertwined relationships over time. I'll leave you with a small snippet from Know Yourself, one which I found most compelling to me:

Your Life Path (sometimes called Destiny) is derived from your birth date. Your Life path is the road you are traveling. It reveals the opportunities and challenges you will face in life. Your Life Path number is the single most important information available in your Personality Chart!

You are the searcher and the seeker of the truth. You have a clear and compelling sense of yourself as a spiritual being . As a result, your life path is devoted to investigations into the unknown, and finding the answers to the mysteries of life.
 

With your abilities to learn, analyze, seek out answer's to life's important questions, you have the potential for enormous growth and success in life. By the time you reach middle age, you will radiate refinement and wisdom. Pythagoras loved the seven for its great spiritual potential.


That kind of direct insight to who and what I am is all part of the appeal, I think...

Feb 8 - Chainmail Chicks?

My creativity is returning in fits and starts over the last few weeks, so I've been trying to focus it into something fun that will let me get out some of those thoughts. Turns out that Motivational Pictures( actually de-Motivational pics! )were the perfect thing for me to turn to. There's a few dozen sites out there, but some limit you in their creative methods, so of them all I preferred to use Demotivationalpics.com in the main because it doesn't cut you off at three lines of text. Of all the pictures I've created this last week, my favourite was actually the first one I created, as it makes me laugh every time I see it:

It really embodies( ha... )my sense of humour and wit, I think.

Feb 9 - Why so angry? I dunno.

Today was an angry day for me today; I don't know why, specifically. Maybe my subconscious is TOO decompressed and I'm feeling empty inside, going from extreme pressure to extreme... nothing? I did a LOT of thinking as the day wore on, not dwelling on things but just TOO MANY thoughts racing through my head about all sorts of 'what ifs' that haven't come to pass. Twenty years since I left high school and I've ended up nowhere professionally. Personally, I'm alone, with no real relationships to speak of with any significant( or even insignificant )others. Yes, I AM glad that I've been able to keep my family healthy, despite the insanely monumental obstacles I've had to overcome, but today the price seemed almost too high.
 

So this may be a mild midlife crisis; here I sit, overwhelmed by the possibilities and crippled by some of my choices. Facing a future as uncertain as I ever did, yet from an opposite point of view: what I do now is MY choice, MY path that I take, MY FAULT if I fail to take advantage yet again of my strengths and instead let my ever-present inner demons whisper too loudly about how terrible things are for me... makes me want to rip off my ears. Well no, not really, but you get the point. One thing I did discover today is while having a support network is absolutely vital when you're feeling down, it does LITTLE for helping you find focus; only you can open that door, or even choose which one to head towards. Facing an endless hallway of unknown doors, I am badly tempted to head back down the stairs to the coffee shop to return to a comfort zone.

Except that the shop down the stairs is closed now, and will likely never re-open.


Feb 10 - Happy Birthday, Sis!!!

Today I'll talk about sisters, in that it's MY sister's birthday and I feel incredibly lucky to have her as my single sibling. We're the perfect Nuclear Family: an older brother to a younger sister and two parents. We've almost always got along, never fighting or sniping at each other, but rather supportive throughout all the stages of our childhood and into adulthood. This was always 'normal' to me and frankly it shocks me when I hear about how much other people's siblings were rotten to each other growing up( and some still are as adults ). Maybe the old phrase is true, that you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family. In my case, I've been blessed by whatever universal powers you care to name with friends AND family fantastic, with none more deserving of my appreciation than my sister - she's as lovely as they get in all the ways that count.

Happy birthday, sis. Love ya t'bits.

Feb 11 - Plants, Zombies and Angry Birds

Uh oh, I found a cheap game today on Steam for my PC... and I lost 3 hours playing it! Plants Vs. Zombies is the insanely addictive 'tower defense' game that came out in May 2009, on Steam( naturally ). It's all about defending your yard from invading zombie hordes with the assistance of friendly plants with specialized abilities. The game is drawn in a cartoony, cute style that is lovely to watch and uncomplicated. It's incredibly fun, moreso than I've found Angry Birds to be, as I keep stopping and starting playing that game, which I can't seem to get into. Today though, I found the trailer below - wow!




Feb 12 - Fun Choices

It is NOT a day off for me today; I'm not working, so today is simply mine. What pisses me off is when I'm playing games like Battlefield3 and I keep getting sideline in score, waxed and blasted and blown up by 'better' players. My lizard brain is screaming in outrage for me to even things up, but my higher senses are telling me that the reason WHY I am getting worked over is because those OTHER players dedicate a LOT more time to the game than I do. So there's a lesson there: do I waste more of my life dedicated to bettering myself in a game that has NO VALUE outside of the virtual world, in order to satisfy my base craving for a limited form of success? Or do I practice in games at odd hours, with less practiced foes, to increase my skills at a slower pace and so avoid the frustration that keeps me from ENJOYING the game in the first place? It's an obvious choice... but really, I should be writing, not playing games that too often of late make me gnash my teeth.

To cool off, I can do a lot of things - which I did today, going out with a friend and chilling at a coffee shop while people-watching. Then, of all things, a game of scrabble( lost but had fun )and a game of NWN( got lost but had fun )followed by writing this very blog( lost a few parts but had fun ). See the pattern? I finished off the night by sitting back and reading up on the latest adventures of Newt And John - go have a look, it's hilarious and FUN!! And it also perfectly sums up the terrible premiere of The Phantom Menace 3D I saw on Saturday at the late show... horrible. Another ten years at least before I try to see THAT movie again!

It's been rather a yo-yo for the last week; I'm feeling as though I've had TOO much of a change going from unbearable pressure to a lack of daily focus. It's hard to WANT to do something, anything, right now. I think I have to get back to being me, then figure out where that will lead me apart from the things I have to get done in the next few months, like moving and getting a job. Small steps on the path to help make the journey clearer as I go along.

Smiles, Sunshine and SSDs

The word of the week is freedom!!!!!!!

--> I will go on just a little a bit in this week's blog entry, not trying to repeat myself, but more to release all that's left of what I've been holding in for many years. Freedom.

Jan 30 - Rate My Employer!

An odd feeling, going into work today, knowing it was the LAST time I would be closing MY branch. I've been doing it for so long that it's second nature to me to go through the steps( at breakneck speed )to get out on time... but I was in no hurry today yet I finished on time - strange, since my mind wasn't really on it. No, I walked out into the night air feeling odd, like I was leaving my apartment for the last time and feeling as though that was a GOOD thing, that I was leaving noisy neighbours behind to move on to a better place.

When I got home, I browsed the web a bit, looking for new employers, checking THEM out first before deciding to commit to any jobs. I came across a site I WISH had existed when I first started with MMart back in the day: RateMyEmployer.ca - where honest reviews of employers give YOU the inside information about what it's like to work there. Unsurprisingly, MMart rated an average of 1.5 stars - they'll never be on ANY 'Top 100' lists in a positive light, but will definitely help define 'bottom of the barrel' when it comes to most aspects of a workplace. I'm glad to be quit of them and saddened once again that I took me as long as it did to get my Exit Plan into full gear and get gone!

Jan 31 - The Sendoff: MY LAST DAY AT MMART

As though the world knew I was leaving today, it showed up at the front door to the branch and waited for me to open - by myself. As much as I had hoped last Friday was the last busy day I would have to endure at MMart, today was almost as busy; at least I had help in the form of a trainee after 10am, which kept things from being totally bonkers( barely ). I wasn't actually able to get the process of handing over the branch started until well after 2pm, just a few hours before the end of my shift. Tons of signoff lists, initials and so forth to ensure everything was in order and accounted for before I left. I even sent in my own termination papers after calling a few departments at head office to be absolutely certain they were properly filled out and sent to the tight people. As it turns out, we finished everything necessary a little after 4pm... so after handing over my keys and my manager's phone, I left without a backwards glance as the sun came out of the clouds and lit my way home.

It felt indescribably good.

Feb 1st - FREEDOM ACHIEVED

Darn it, but I didn't sleep well last night; my subconscious was obviously wrestling with something and didn't want to let me sleep in - I woke at 6am for some reason and drifted in a half-doze for a few more hours until 8am.

The morning of my freedom from the tyranny of a job I despised, at the end:

Freedom starts today.
Even the weather agrees:
My future is bright!

You have to love it when the cloudy skies of your life literally part( see the pic below! )and ALL you can see is sunshine, because of YOU choosing a path to a better place.

I think the universe just patted me on the back today and smiled... :-)

And what did I do with my day today? Whatever I wanted to. It was fantastic!!!

Feb 2 - Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day( again )when people hope that a furry rodent will predict an early end to winter. This year, Phil predicted an EARLY spring - huzzah! Here in Victoria it’s been raining a LOT more than the white stuff, with the temp climbing into the low teens when the sun is out and hovering in the high single digits when it’s not. A few clouds here and there, along with definitely chilly nights... but I'd rather be here than anywhere else in Canada in regards to the weather last year!

As you may have also foreseen, I watched Groundhog Day in the evening tonight – that’s my tradition, and I like it. So do a lot of other people, as the writer of the movie mentions here. Also, there's a story about the weird time-loop that is the premise of the whole film: seems a bit was cut out that explained WHY it happened...

Feb 3 - Underworld Awakening in 3D

Off on a Friday, for the first time in years - brief vacations notwithstanding. I went out in the afternoon to see Underworld: Awakening in 3D IMAX at the Tillicum theatres; my buddy and I were one of only a dozen people there in the early afternoon, another advantage of NOT being confined to an evening or weekend show. It was like the theatre had been rented out to a select few; it certainly seemed MUCH louder without an audience to soak up the sound - holy subwoofer!

The movie itself was very dark visually; the story was all right( penned by my fave author / scriptwriter J. Michael Straczynski! )and the star of the film was of course the lovely Kate Beckinsale( who is but ten days younger than me! ). Svelte, sexy and sweetly savage, she always steals the show in my eyes with her velvet English accent delivering lines alongside a ton of kickass. Sure, it's a mindless romp... but nobody else could play the role of Selene as well as Kate has for three movies. I hope they don't make a fourth though. A trilogy is more than enough!

Of an evening, I fiddled around with a few things, in the main readying my PC for transferring the main drive to my new SSD that arrived today. I'm quite excited, as the 'hybrid' Seagate drive I currently have has failed to live up to my expectations of speed for a year. I'm eager to replace it with something that should be at LEAST five times faster, an SSD that I spotted a deal on last week( thanks RedFlagDeals! ): the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe. Incredibly, it's at the TOP of the performance charts at Tom's Hardware and I am STILL pinching myself that I got it for such a deal... less than a dollar a gig( before taxes and shipping, of course ): I've been waiting and watching EVERY day for a YEAR now for JUST such a deal to pop up, and I pounced when it did!

Feb 4 - Sunshine Weekend!

Saturday morning cartoons aren't what they used to be, so I skipped that and simply read a book in the lovely sunshine. I drove around for a bit, at a healthy lunch at the Jugo Juice in Victoria and people watched for a while. The day flew by as I stepped aside and let it happen, which is not at all lazy... mostly.

The evening was a bit frustrating, as I hadn't manage to convince my new SSD drive to show up to the party in working order. I tried a few methods over the course of the day, but ultimately had to leave it be - for now. I've learned NOT to hammer at a technical problem when I'm tired, so I turned instead to a TV movie that caught my eye: Serendipity, starring none other than a younger Kate Beckinsale - the irony of the title was not lost on me as I paused after finding it just starting on the TV. I enjoyed the movie more than I thought, for as such movies always do, it got me thinking about my own life path and the possible intersections I may have with the futures of others.

Fate, I know, DOES have a sense of humour. So I'll listen for its laugh: soon?

Feb 5 - EVERY day is my Sunday, for a while!

These slow days are very addictive; being able to call up a friend on THEIR day off, jump in the car and go hearkens back to my university days, when class ended and people headed out to enjoy their 'spare' time as they could. Today was like one of those days; a friend called to say he had his new car earlier than expected, so I popped over and we drove down to Cook St. Village to spend a few hours sipping beverages and people-watching. It was spectacularly relaxing, knowing that I was under no time pressure at all... and since the weather was lovely, so was the people-watching: lots to see!

Afternoon saw me finally get my Mushkin SSD working: a perfect copy of my Win7 PC setup hummed away as I ran some speed tests and fiddled happily with a few settings. After a few minor tweaks, the following results emerged:



It's FAST, folks! Programs load like lightning; I don't have to wait any more for a physical disk to grind it's way through the data I want. All I do now is point and click and get on with the work I want to do... and once I get a few more games installed, load times will be a thing of the past. Sure, it's half the size of the disk I had installed, but judicious placement of files on other, slower disks means that the meaty, ravenous speed of the SSD will chew through the programs I want with a vengeance. Definitely got my money's worth and a HELL of a deal at that!

I'll sleep well tonight, I think.

This week has seen me smile more than I have in the last three months, total. At least. I'm relaxing in stages, not so driven to cram relaxing into the time I have between shifts and totally unaware of any phone calls work-related. If I could have taken that damn work Blackberry into a field and gone all Office Space on it, I would have... but I had to settle for destroying it in my mind. A hundred times

Have a great week everyone! Smile!!!!

Pandas, Parties and a new (smart)Phone!

The word of the week is finality.

Jan 23 - So close, so close...

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm scared of the next few months. Just like I was scared when I had to move on with life after my parent's bankruptcy, and I was especially when I packed up my family and moved across the country to BC in late 2007.

Now I've purposefully made myself jobless, to remove myself from the soul-and-body killing stress of MMart. I wish I could have already had a new job to segue nicely into, but that just didn't happen despite my looking.

Yet I'm fine with that; I've planned accordingly to ensure that my finances can support me for a few months, or hopefully the best case scenario of EI kicking in for a few months will work out. Either way, I will have TIME OFF to get my head clear, my health stabilized and my creativity given the freedom it needs to get working on my writing again, at long last. My family is taken care of and I can finally focus just on ME this year - to find the path I WANT to walk, instead of letting NEED steer me into the darker places I've feared for so long. No more; now I will make my own light and begin to shine again.

Jan 24 - Quote Me!

Do you misuse quotes or worse, just misquote in general? I try to avoid using quotes, as I tend to feel that I'm trying to make myself seem smarter by quoting someone else. Being quietly proud of my own ability to spout wisdom when needed, I'd rather not have to depend on others to make myself seem intelligent. BUT, that doesn't mean you should ignore the wisdom of a good quote; far from it! The whole REASON people use quotes is because quotes ARE wisdom distilled; similar to truisms, quotes get a point across in as minimal a space as possible, with the source lending great weight to the point. Have a look at QuotationsBook.com as a starting place to find worthy quotes; the internet is FULL of sites that offer quotes, so you can spend as much time as you like adding to your wisdom with only a mouse-click.

Jan 25 - NEW SMARTPHONE ARRIVES!

Yes, I finally did it: I bought a new phone. Well, a new USED phone, but a lot newer than the one I've had since late 2007. It's the HTC Desire HD and I love it! I just couldn't wait for the price to drop on a new one from Telus and I did NOT want to sign a 2-year contract to get one for $0.00, so I sourced one on eBay that had ALL the trimmings and put in a bid. Which I WON for $200!! Considering that NEW HTC Desire HD's are going for $499.99 and even the used ones on eBay were averaging around $350 final sale prices, I did VERY well! More about the phone in a future blog entry, as I've been busy just installing apps( shared between my TF101 tablet! )and getting used to having a touchscreen smartphone again( since my pokey iPhone 3G died last year ). Check out the pic below for the size comparison, with a pen tossed in for reference:

If you're wondering how BIG all these smartphones are, there's a website that can compare them for you called Phone-Size.com - go have a look. I have to say that though the HTC Desire HD has a HUGE screen, it doesn't feel so large in the hand as to be awkward. I like the sizable real-estate, as I don't have to hold it too close to my face to see what I need to. It's just perfect!

Jan 26 - Anxiety Chest Pains, Explained

Back in November 1st 2011, I went to the hospital with chest pains. Thankfully, the doctors ruled out any cardiac issues, so I've been researching ever since as to what other causes there might be for my symptoms. I have now found it: ACP, which stands for Anxiety Chest Pains. Seems that these are related to stress / panic attacks, where the heart is worked too hard due to the release of adrenalin and it results in painful muscle spasms. Which can be VERY frightening to someone like myself who has never had chest pains prior to this.

Thankfully I've found that the research suggests if you reduce your stress, the chest pains will not reoccur - they are symptoms that manifest only during periods of extreme stress. So my decision to leave MMart has definitely helped, as has my conscious decisions NOT to stress at ALL over ANY work-related items in the last two months. I'm going to move onwards and get some solid exercise routines in, as well as exploring other stress-reducers such as meditation and related disciplines. Just writing my morning haiku has proven to be very effective in helping me focus for the day, to rid myself of thoughts that won't go away. I'll see how well I can focus these energies into creative projects in the next year too!

Jan 27 - The Last Busy Friday EVER


It was my LAST busy / insane / idiotically crazy day at work today. No more shall I have to run around at breakneck speed for over seven hours with a five minute break for lunch as people poured into the lobby with only one other new staff member to assist me... after two hours alone. No more will I juggle the phone that never stopped ringing or eyed the people sitting at the Tim Horton's twenty feet away with envy as they enjoyed their day( soon! ). Never again will I leave hours after I was supposed to, pushing through a lobby full of far too many customers for just two CSR's to serve in a 'fully staffed' branch - NO MORE.


For the next few months at least, my Fridays will be spent as I WANT them to be: relaxing, exercising, socializing, entertaining or anything else OTHER than working at a speed that would leave most ANYONE else shaking their heads. I'll probably spend at least ONE end of month Friday sitting in that SAME Tim Horton's window for a few hours, watching during the busiest time of the day and smiling as -I- sip a coffee, relaxing and enjoying MY day as I want it to be.


Jan 28 - Wastelander Panda

It's not often that I laugh while watching post-apocalyptic films that are serious, but I did for this one - once, at the beginning. Then it got good; check this article:

Wastelander Panda Gleefully Blends Pandas And Post-Apocalypse Action

Mike Thompson | 27 January 2012 2:50 pm

You know you're in for a good time when you've got a panda bear wandering the wasteland, swinging a machete.

Let's be honest about something: Pandas probably don't sit too high up on your list of who's going to survive the apocalypse. That may change after you watch this trailer for Wastelander Panda, which seems to be channelling Mad Max, Kung Fu Panda and The Book of Eli.

The trailer was created by Epic Films, an independent film group out of Australia. According to the company's description, this is the prologue for a TV series it's currently in the process of developing, but further details are pretty hard to find at the moment.

If this video featured a regular dude making his way through the wasteland, I'm not sure I'd be quite so entertained by it. Sure, the photography is lovely anyway, and the voice-over is nice, but the presence of an anthropomorphic panda bear is what really crafts the mystery that you want to investigate.

Source: Epic Films via Geeks Are Sexy

Wastelander Panda Prologue from Epic Films on Vimeo.

Jan 29 - (non-)Work Party II !!

Most of my morning today on my day off was spent finishing up my Departure Document, which is my 'sendoff' to MMart that's a dozen pages long. I've written it mainly for myself, so I can set down MOST of the things that have bothered me over the years into a single, cohesive document and so rid my mind of them - healthy, I think. I've been fairly objective about it, as there's no point in being bitter; all of the people who have caused me grief over the years have already left the company, so there's nobody left to spite.

The REAL highlight today was in the evening, when I went out to the Station House here in Langford for a PARTY. Seems everyone from work was VERY disappointed with the lackluster atmosphere of the company party last week and wanted to give me a REAL sendoff, so they organized everyone to meet tonight for some true celebrating - it really touched my heart to hear that!!!

The Station House was quiet tonight; I arrived around 7pm and waited a few minutes before the first people arrived. About an hour later everyone was there, less than a dozen all told but all there to have a good time among friends. Food was ordered, beer and Pink Pussycats were delivered and great conversation battled with odd reminiscences as we all sought to outdo each other in tales both gross and genuinely funny. People had to leave until at the last it was Sam, Courtney and myself closing down the place, along with the bar staff and the bar dog named Rutger. It was emotional for me, as these were people that really cared about me, enough so to spend a Sunday evening buying me drinks - thanks to my divorced Work Wife and my Beer Coach for a perfect, wonderful evening!!!

I thought about mentioning the Lego Man space triumph that happened this week, but everyone's probably heard about it by now. Very cool still; today was probably the latest blog update I've had that wasn't an early-AM Monday posting. Whew!

Two more days to go - as of 4:30pm PST on Jan 31st 2012, I will no longer work for MMart.


My future awaits.