Noise, NOC and New Chapters

The word of the week is tenacity.

Aug 6 - Having a Fit?

Not having a car is great! No worries about payments, insurance, repair bills, careless people with shopping carts or birds with bad bowels on sunny days. The careful choice of WHERE to live has really paid off and I'm enjoying every minute of it - while it lasts. I'm not fooling myself into believing that I'll NEVER need a car again( though the thought appeals to me ): car sharing and the occasional rental notwithstanding, life is about change and the pendulum may swing back towards the pedal again one day.

In the meantime, I still keep my eye on the car market, if only for the technology. I've mentioned before that the Honda Fit has always appealed to me, for its design looks as well as its technology. Just this summer a new version was announced: an ALL-ELECTRIC Fit! It's only being offered on lease in the USA at the moment and while the range is limited to 100km,. I wouldn't need to go further than that anyway. It's a very advanced car indeed, with lots of zip and next-generation regenerative brakes that act as cruise control even on downslopes, which is really efficient. In a few years, we may see them everywhere.

Aug 7 - Still Searching For Work

The job search continues its glacial pace. Today I spent a few hours in a workshop, defining my skill areas, interests and other Facets Of Me using the NOC system. NOC is the National Occupational Classification developed by the Canadian Federal Government to standardize job classifications, which helps in job searches - makes sense, right? I plugged in my data and came up with a list of 40 occupations, some of which I hadn't considered. Guess what Number Four on the list was?

Writer. *grin*

That was encouraging to see; I may well be on the right career track by writing my novel, though I don't bank on it paying any bills anytime soon. Getting a job to support my 'writing habit' has always seemed like the best course of action to me and as the tired writer's saying goes: "Don't quit your day job."

I didn't take the advice earlier this year yet I feel I'm the better for it - so is my writing!

Aug 8 - On Blogging

Sometimes I don't know what to write - for my blog, that is. Some of my days go by in a blur, others are masterworks of routine. Right now I'm really liking the routine days, as they tend to garner the best times for me to work on my novel and produce little in the way of blog fodder. In fact, the very best times seem to be between noon and four o'clock, as there's little noise either here in Victoria or at my mum's place in Langford. I'm not certain why, but it works and it's meant that for three of every four days we've tried, there's been good long uninterrupted stretches during this block of time to Get Writing Done. It's helped a lot to recognize this pattern and to take advantage of it, as the Creative Flow is easily interrupted by barking dogs, noisy kids or a host of other distractions. It's surprisingly difficult to hear the voices in my head or visualize a scene when someone's yelling at their dog to fetch outside.

But then if it were easy, everyone would be a writer, right?

Aug 9 - A Galaxy of Choice?

Okay, I won't go on about how I'm trying to make peace with my HTC Desire HD phone; suffice to say, we're looking at an early separation as soon as possible. I really want to jump ship and get a Samsung Galaxy III but there's no way in hell I'm going to sign another 3-year contract for a phone, even if the thing costs as much as a mid-range laptop( how's that for whacky? ). No, I'm going to wait until 2013 sometime until the carriers in North American get the NEXT version of the phone, the one with the QUAD-CORE CPU inside. I'll bet you didn't know that there was such a beast, did you? Right now the model that all the carriers are flogging is 'only' a dual-core CPU, which is fast but I'm one who's willing to wait for the better unit if I know it's coming. The rest of the world DOES have the SIII with 4 cores, so for now I'll just sit back and wrestle with my Desire( see what I did there? )until the 4-core appears.

Then it's all Galaxy, baby!

Aug 10 - Chapter 25

Oh, I WISH more of my writing days were like this one!

It was time to write Chapter 25 of my novel today, a chapter I've been looking forward to since I finalized the rough outline back in early 2012. It's a chapter that ties together several of the loose threads of the novel and was just damn fun to write; the words flew onto the page as fast as my thoughts could free them!

Speaking( dictating... )the novel has been VERY freeing, an experience I've come to really enjoy as it feels like I'm telling a slow-motion story in many ways. I can pick each word with care and the following ones seem to line up in my head, with each part of the scene falling neatly from my mind's eye into written form as I go along. It's a lovely, organic way to write and given the minimal outline I've prepared it gives me a lot of freedom to let each scene form on its own. So far, I've been extremely pleased with the results!

Just ten chapters left to go… roughly. :-)

Aug 11 - Hoverbikes for sale!

Ever since the speeder bike chase scene in The Return Of The Jedi, I've wanted a hoverbike. Funny thing, since I don't like motorcycles and heights aren't my thing either… but a personal flying machine has been the goal of many people ever since the Wright Brothers first flew a century ago.

Chris Malloy has been working on that dream for a while now and he's come up with a design( see the video above )that looks really viable. It's all the more impressive in that he's doing it on his own, without the backing of any major( or even minor )company; just him and his workshop. Which means that it will be a while before he gets it on the market; he's current; at only $75K of his $1.1 million dollar goal. Maybe he should thing about getting a Kickstarter project going for this; flying bikes are right up a tech geek's alley, I think!

Aug 12 - Old Men and Me

I don't ask for much. Not even respect, though that does find me in odd ways sometimes. No, all I ask is to be let alone to pursue my own interests; peace and quiet are part of that. I understand( VERY WELL )that living in a city means you have to deal with other people; I've learned that from an early age and done so with a fair amount of success. Or at least less failings than I've seen in others. I do feel that, really.

Today sorely tested me though; I was shaken out of bed a little after 7am by the pounding of little feet above me head. POUNDING, as in 'making no attempt to walk softly or not leave dents in the floor.' Which is the purview of kids, you know: kids will be kids. But the parents should know better, especially when the first words out of said parent's mouths when I met them were "Sorry about the kid's noise." So if you're AWARE that your children are… acoustically challenged, why not DO something about it?

I don't know. Ignorance is to blame, perhaps. I despise being the person who moderates MY noise not so as not to bother the kids above me but gets NOTHING in return save the desire to leave my home day after day to escape the audible hell beating it's way through the drumhead that is my ceiling. I've left several notes, pounding on the ceiling during the worst of the cavalcades( that were rattling ALL the glasses in my cupboards )and turned up my music, then put on headphones to try and work. Nothing has stopped the daily audio assault, though there have been some days when they have left for a few hours at a time. Once for most of a day; that was bliss.

I'm not an 'old man' as some people smilingly tell me. If I had the money, I'd buy said some people a ticket to fly out here and spend a week IN MY APARTMENT to see how much they enjoy it. Changing their sleep habits would be the first step, to wake between 6 and 7am and learning to leave for less noisy places( such as a park )for hours at a time would quickly become obvious choices if they wanted to keep their health intact. Or maybe it wouldn't bother them.

I don't know. Again. It's very wearing to move from my old noisy place to this one and not have a reduction in noise. To give others respect and not see it return also hurts; does one stoop to their level and so perpetuate the cycle of mutual ignorance through a breakdown in communications and compassion?

I don't know. All I do know is that I have to find a positive solution soon; I need the peace of mind.

I don't have much to add; I'm viciously tired and lack the energy to be angry any more at how simple ignorance can so impact a person's life. Not being able to do much about it also doesn't help; I'm not a vengeful person but tonight I hope to dream about sheep with large fangs invading the dreamspace above me.

Concerts, Cosplay and Crossing Platforms

The word of the week is immediacy.

July 30 - They built a 1:1 Noah's Ark?

Okay, okay… there's a lot of people out there who think the world's going to end in 2012. I'm not one of them, but I can understand the human need for reassurance in the face of the unknown.

One man and a team of five friends decided to make what was until now fiction a reality: Noah's Ark. In the Netherlands, no less. It took them five years and used a base of metal barges, but they've built a full-sized replica of the legendary Ark, complete with two fake animals of( almost )every kind. It's massive and looks very impressive sitting in the water, but for those who are worried about 2012's dire predictions, bad news: it's a museum, not a safe place to ride out the end of the world.

Too bad. Those plastic flamingos look like they'd be fun to party with as the waves crashed outside.

July 31 – ComiCon 2012 Cosplay

Being rather budgetarily constrained as I have been for a decade now, I've regretted( there's that word again )not being able to go to very many conventions over the years, like ComicCon. But here's the thing: one of the best parts of a con, the costumes, are very well-documented online! Sure, you can spend a lot of money in person on swag and( possibly )meet some cool people and celebrities, but when it comes to costumes there's a TON of great photographers at cons who post their work online.

Batgirl - The WebSeries!

This gallery in particular is impressive, as it looks to document EVERY costume that was present at the 2012 ComicCon in San Diego. Given that there were over 130,000 attendees this year, that's a LOT of costumes and the gallery reflects it. There's quite a few good costumes in there that represent a whole lot of hard work by cosplayers; besides the many lovely ladies showing off how in-shape they were, my favorite costumes were the pair of old-school Cylons and this woman-bird from the Cinema Makeup school - wow!

Oh and Galactus was there, but he wasn't hungry.

Aug 1 - 6 months

It's been six months since I voluntarily unemployed myself; this is the only time I'll mention it as I don't want to mark milestones for escaping my previous job. As I've said before, this is the first time in my life I've been unemployed and for it to last half a year is astonishing… and it's not all sleeping in late and lounging around. Between problems with my wrists / forearms, job searching, moving and writing my novel, it's been a very full half-year for me so far.

Thankfully I've been able to complete HALF my novel as of today; huzzah! I've set an ambitious goal to complete the other half by the end of August to motivate myself with a deadline, which again doesn't lead to long lazy days. I give a LOT of thought every day to my novel and plug that into my notes, which have evolved a lot in the last year. Once I get the first draft done, I can really concentrate on my job search, which has until now been rather fruitless given the unknown state of my arms; I can barely hold a glass of water for very long and writing is an exercise in frustration when trying to type for more than five minutes.

But I'm better for having left my old job, as I'd probably be dead from stress by now. I kid you not. I'd rather be unemployed and have my arms crippled than have continued the way things were. Indeed.

Aug 2 – Good news about my wrists!

Today I came back from the sports injury doctor with some not-terrible news: my wrists should return to normal usage and heal themselves if I manage them carefully.

In about 18-24 months, give or take. :-/

Which is good, as I now know I'm likely NOT crippled for life, as I've worried about for the last 6 months. But it's still making life difficult for what I want to do.

So that makes finishing my novel, writing the next one and having a day job somewhat challenging. I'll learn to write more easily with my voice, find some voice-over work and consider a job as a door greeter. Or a walking tour guide...

But all in all, I am relieved. For months it's been worrying me 24/7 that I may NEVER be able to return to the things I love to do: write, play video games and lift objects heavier than a glass of water. In that order. When you think about it, there's a whole lot we take for granted having two functional arms and if nothing else, this experience has taught me to be thankful to be able to lead a normal daily life.

Aug 3 - One-way trip to MARS??

Being a lover of science fiction( and fantasy too ), I'm not alone in having dreamed of walking the surface of other planets. Like a lot of people, Mars is our closest true planetary neighbour and it's red surface has been in our imaginations for centuries; the popularity of Burrough's John Carter Of Mars series for over a hundred years is proof that this is an enduring dream for many.

How badly would you want to go, though? Enough to make it a one-way trip? If so, then I've news for you: applications are starting for a colonization mission to Mars… without a return ticket. Yes indeed, there are people who want to get to Mars so badly that they're willing to bet their lives on it to the point where they've eschewed a ride home; literally, it's do or die. I have to admire their tenacity and spirit, as it's the same as all those space pioneers who have strapped themselves to piles of explosive rockets to be launched into space. But to step into a rocket knowing that you'll likely never be setting foot on earth again if things go as planned, well… I'd be hoping that I could survive long enough for the next rocket to arrive.

Aug 4 - Go for the eyes, Boo!

Hard to believe, but it's true: I've never really played any of the Baldur's Gate RPG game series.

There. I've said it. Heck, until this year, I've never owned a copy. Why, you ask? Simple: I wasn't able to plug hundreds of hours into gaming at the time, as I was in university at the time and things didn't go well from that point for many years following. I suppose I could have dug into the series around 2005 or so, but by then there were new things on my plate such as NWN… so it languished as a minor regret in the back of my mind. Even now, I haven't touched the $9.99 all-in-one super copy I purchased earlier this year.

But now there's news: Baldur's Gate is being re-released asa multi-player edition, cross-platform! That means that you can log in from your PC, iPad or Android phone and game with your friends from anywhere, at any time! Given the nature of the game, it should be simple to pop in an hour or two of gaming a week with your friends, something that I'm currently regretting( see? )the lack of. It's especially appealing as I won't be using my damaged arms with a game controller but instead can use my touch-screen tablet or the PC with a trackball… MUCH better, I think! I'm very excited, as I really want to finally experience the magic of Baldur's Gate and hear Minsk's famous line for the first time!

Aug 5 - Symphony Splash Day!

Ugh... after a midnight curtain call, I was wakened at 5:45am by numerous thuds above my head( kids knocking over things? )and couldn't get back to sleep. So I spent a bleary morning working on my blog and then hammering out a few scenes for my novel before noon, once my head had defuzzed slightly. I was still woozy on and off until well past lunch, when I finally caught a second wind.

In the early afternoon, I went to see the Victoria Symphony Splash, along with 40,000 other friends. It's an annual outdoor concert event held in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Victoria and the weather today was HOT, around 33 degrees with humidity so it really felt like summer. The sky was cloudless and the crowd's mood was fantastic: over 45,000 classical music lovers gathered together meant a minimum of fuss and drama, anywhere I looked. Everyone was smiling and happy to be there. I had a root beer ice-cream float, sat on a patio with some tea and generally people-watched all day long. Even watching the concert itself was wonderful, as I'd found a found spot along a walkway close to the floating stage where thousands of people passed by me. The sudden evening chill was a bit much and I called it a day during the intermission, also to avoid the mass exodus of the crowd... and to be quite honest, I was really feeling my lack of sleep.

It was definitely a good way to spend most of a Long Weekend Sunday!

For the last few weeks, I've been listening to podcasts on my phone( when it's not busy crashing ). In the main they've been The Nerdist Podcast, which I just love as I can relate to so MUCH of the content, especially the cultural references I grew up with. Cooler than that are the guests, who have included Felicia Day, and even author R.A. Salvatore, creator of Drizzt D'Ourden! It's been lovely and I'm sure the  silly grin on my face has drawn a few odd looks as I'm walking along, but I'm too busy enjoying the podcast to notice. And exercising, too; I'm averaging a 4km walk / day and aiming for more!

ComicCon, Clouds and Creating Chapters

The word of the week is metamorphose.

July 23 – Manga?

Ever since I first laid eyes on Star Blazers( based on ‘Space Battleship Yamato’ )in the late 70’s I’ve had an affinity for Japanese anime; it’s influence on western animation and storytelling has grown substantially since then. It’s a shame that I’ve only been able to watch a fraction of all the great anime that are out there. Worse, I’ve read even less of the wonderful manga that’s available too, series like One Piece or Full Metal Alchemist that have very deep( and often rather over-complicated )stories.

Just this week I’ve discovered a program called eManga on the Android Play site and installed it on my tablet. JOY! Unlike with many of the comic e-reader programs I’ve looked at, there’s THOUSANDS of free mangas out there, entire series scanned and made available to the world voluntarily by their creators. I don’t have the financial wherewithal to indulge in reading e-comics to the tune of thousands of dollars per year, but I CAN take the time to read some of the best manga out there for free. It’s made me love my ASUS Transformer tablet all over again. As many have said, tablets are the PERFECT device for reading books and comics on given their size and high-res colour screens. Lost sleep, here I come!

July 24 – Firefly was a decade ago? Wow.

This month of July 2012 saw the San Diego ComicCon happen yet again in that fair city without my attendance, a state of affairs I will have to change in the near future. Why, you ask? Because of things like the Firefly 10^th Anniversary Panel… so much sci-fi goodness in one room, I want to fall over. The love for this single-season show has stayed strong for over a decade now, similar to the feelings that fans have for Babylon5 but more intense, as Firefly had only one season compared to B5’s, well, five. If you enjoy sci-fi in any way, you owe it to yourself to see this FULL hour-long video. I suggest taking it in 15-minute bites, as there’s a lot of love and even tears flowing during it’s run – much like the show, actually. Enjoy, the video is one of the best on YouTube from the panel, as it’s FRONT ROW:

July 25 – Alien Worlds in my novel

In my novel, I am creating an alien world that is of my own imagination but also shares some similarities with locations on Earth. That’s because there are a LOT of places on our planet here that seem out of this world and I’m not just talking about places under the sea or in the heart of a volcano. An incredible example is the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, which is a salt flatland that turns into a perfect giant mirror every year when it becomes covered by a thin layer of water. Seeing the land and the sky merge into one is a transformative experience in many ways and the best part is that the temperature of the place isn’t scorching hot( but I would still wear sunscreen! ).

No, that's not Freddy Kruegar...

That is what I am trying to capture in my book: to give people the sense of an Other Place that they can see in their minds but still relate to… an utterly alien experience is not what I’m after, but rather one that you can easily step into from our world.

July 26 – Small is big news now!

It seems that the world is really waking up to smaller living spaces: Yahoo just published an article last week on the subject, though it’s inclusion of a tree house without a bed or kitchen is questionable( as I’ve come to expect from Yahoo! ). The article includes the house in Hong Kong owned by architect Gary Chang that I’ve mentioned in my blog before and that I still hold as the ‘gold standard’ for efficient use of small spaces. I’m still looking around for mine, not to mention saving for it, so the more I see comeout about small spaces to live in, the better I like it. Murray Leinster, sci-fi author, once postulated in his stories that it would have been more efficient to send midgets into space to save on fuel, air and other necessities for manned spaceflight. I think he would have liked to see how people these days are considering living smaller, though I’m not so sure he’d approve of these Japanese ‘coffin hotels’ that have become mainstream in that country. Sure, they look cozy, but they only fit one person – unless you’re undertall.

July 27 – Barking Me Crazy

Writing today was difficult, more than it has been for a while. While it wasn’t nearly as hot as it was a few days past, today was a Dog’s Day. A dog woke me barking well before 8am( and I’d gone to bed late, having been unable to fall asleep early, again )and the trend continued all day, with canines of various sizes all sharing their hatred of silence with zest. It always astounds me that people will tell children screaming in the commons outside to be silent but will let a pair of dogs yammer away just as loudly while telling other dog owners how cute they are. Given that DOZENS of apartments overlook the area close up, I can only conclude that their ignorance blinds them to how disruptive they are of other people’s days. To date, I’ve never had to ask a cat owner to please stop their pet from barking – silly, but true. 

In any case, I pieced together most of a chapter today despite being tired, miserable and constantly interrupted by animal audio, a chapter that I was actually astonished turned out so well. Goes to show if you persevere you can still produce something good despite the world trying to distract you.

July 28 - Aging

Wrecking my arms when I moved my sister’s things into storage this year was the start of a new and interesting stage of my life: age tolerance. By that, I’ve been discovering that, wonder of wonders, I’m not as young as I used to be. Pulled muscles ache for a lot longer than they used to and I’m definitely not able to sit awkwardly for very long if I don’t want those same muscles to complain when I move again.

But by far the most noticeable sign of aging is my eyesight, which hasn’t exactly been 20 / 20 since middle school( or even before, as I suspect ). The inevitable shift of my vision’s focal point has become far more noticeable this year and where I used to be able to eyeball something an inch from my eye, now I have to hold it three inches or more away to focus properly. I knew it was coming, but I’m oddly elated in that I’ve been researching the effects of age on people with myopia( nearsightedness )like me and for some, the condition is balanced out by the changes in the eye that favour focusing at a further distance. Some, mind you – not all. I’m going to look into it further( pun not intended )as I don’t want to develop presbyopia which is the worst of both worlds. Regular eye exams, here I come…

July 29 -  Cloud Atlas

There are not a whole lot of films I want to see in the coming year( or the next one, for that matter )but one of them is for SURE is Cloud Atlas. I am going to have to read the book( which came out in 2004 )but I’m not sure I want to before I see the movie; having six intertwined threads and many characters may be complicated but I don’t want to spoil the experience. And it’s going to be QUITE an experience, as the ( former )Wachowski Brothers Lana and Andy have teamed up with THIRD director Tom Twyker to make the film. They appeared in this RARE prelude to the trailer( when do directors comment on a TRAILER, anyway? )which is worth seeing before you see the SIX-MINUTE film trailer itself:

I haven’t slept well the last few weeks staying overnight at my parent’s condo to work on the novel, at least according to the sleep monitoring app I’ve been using for the last 6 months. I tend to fall asleep late and wake too early with the light creeping in from various places; my old room is not my new room anymore. I’ll be trying to remedy it this week as I tracked down the spots this morning when I was up early to spend a half-day( today )at my new place putting a few things onto eBay to clear up some space and put a few bucks have into my wallet.

It will take another month but I'm more than halfway done my novel. Less then twenty chapters remain until the first draft is done. I'll be spending a LOT of time at my parent's place as the work methodology there seems to be a winner for producing VERY solid work, despite the distractions that we're managing to work around every single day. If I can get more regular sleep I think the last half of  the book will really flow onto the page smoothly... like a dream held onto a little past waking, it will be amazing. Have at it!

Rango, Recurves and RUIN - The Movie

The word of the week is tangent.

July 16 - My Birthday Watch

Quiet birthdays are the norm now; no more parties, long nights staying out way too late swapping drinks with friends or howling at the moon. I never did the last bit, but for all the rest I think the time has passed. I don’t have a whole lot of people out here to go OUT with as it is, so maybe that’s for the best. I did go out to The Masters Lounge here at the Westin Bear Mountain for a Guinness and some nachos with my friend Kevin; the view was spectacular and the weather was perfect. Fred the Mosquito even showed up, making his rounds as the Island’s token Summer Mosquito; he didn’t stay long after I waved him away. All in all it was a lazy, relaxing birthday that I admit I did spend a few hours of writing a chapter( just this year, I swear! ).

Gifts are another birthday tradition that has also gone sliding into disuse: what do you get for someone who is reducing what they have every year because they don’t want to move it NEXT year? While I don’t have an answer for that, apart from perhaps updating my shop-once-in-a-decade wardrobe, I do like to pose a few ‘Neato!’ gift ideas to myself. Like the 7RON Watch. I don’t wear watches, not since the advent of cell phones anyway, but I’d make an exception in this case. Very. Very. Cool.

July 17 – Laptop vs. Tablet

For the last few weeks, I’ve been using both my ASUS TF101 tablet and a basic Win7 laptop to assist me in writing my novel. Displaying chapter information and backstory that I’ve written is critical to forming certain chapters cohesively and I’ve also wanted to see which of the two( laptop or tablet )would be better at the job. After 2 weeks, the answer is: neither.

The CQ62-ish laptop is crippled: it has only 2gigs ram, a single-core CPU and a pokey-slow hard drive, so it chugs trying to multitask - which the tablet excels at. However, the laptop DOES have a 15” screen compared to the tablet’s 10”, which makes reading reams of text much easier on the eyes at arm’s length. Surfing the internet is somewhat easier on the laptop, as I have access to all my bookmarks and many, MANY tabs for reference in Firefox. Not so on the ASUS tablet, which tends to see it’s browsers crash if I surf too quickly.

Which leads me to conclude that as with all tech, the inevitable thing is to spend a LOT more money to get a faster machine( laptop or tablet )that won’t have you gnashing your teeth waiting while you just try to get your work done. Spend less than $700 and you’re compromising your ability to work efficiently, where the laptop / tablet gets OUT of your way instead of blocking your creative flow. Might be worth it… once I find another $700 laying about. Christmas is coming, right?

July 18 - I may never fire a bow again?

While at my parent’s today, I realized I had overlooked two things on the wall when I moved a few months back: my sword and my bow. The sword was a birthday gift some twenty years ago, a simple Spanish knockoff meant only to look good on a wall – and it does. The bow however, is real: a lovely wooden recurve made by Browning that draws about 40 pounds, meant for target practice. I used to use it regularly for a few summers those same twenty years ago, when I practiced with a local archery group of the SCA. I was decent and scored well enough for my liking; I was a decent shot. And it was fun.

Looking at the bow today, I realized I hadn’t fired it in over a decade. It’s been kept unstrung, as it should, on my wall all these years, unused. The second thought that entered my head was that I may never fire it again due to the unknown damage to my arms still lingering from earlier this year.

That was a very sad thought.

July 19 - Chris Foss

Growing up in the seventies, I saw a lot of sci-fi art and none made a greater impression on me than the work of Chris Foss. His spaceships weren’t the gleaming cylinder-rockets of the Golden Age of sci-fi, nor were they the gritty-realistic grey boxes of Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica. No, the ships of Foss’s art pieces are of unusual shapes, with oddly defined details wherever you looked closely and coloured in the manner of tribal warpaint. They grabbed my imagination and shook it mightily to make stories and characters pop into my head with every picture: they were evocative and provocative and many other words that called creativity into being. Back then, it opened the doors in my mind to visualizing things as I wanted them to be, free of the constraints of following other well-worn paths. Today, seeing something so different tells me that there are LOTS of other ways of ‘defining’ sci-fi.

Thanks, Chis, for sharing your art with me. And the world.

July 20 - RUIN will become a movie!

Back in March of 2012, I wrote about a short CGI animated film I’d discovered called RUIN. Mix up flying killer robots, a motorcycle and nanotech in an apocalyptic world and you have a great 8-minute story. Good enough for someone to want to make a longer film, apparently! McG has purchasedthe film rights to RUIN and will be working with Wes Ball of Oddball Animation who created RUIN several years ago. If you haven’t seen it, have a look( and listen, the music is great! )again below:

RUIN from OddBall Animation on Vimeo.

July 21 - Rango

It was a slow Saturday today. I went over to the Moss St.Paint-In, which saw tens of thousands of people come out on a gorgeous sunny day to see hundreds of artists exhibiting their work all along the closed-off street near to where I live (and used to live on). I’m not much of an art expert, so I simply wandered and enjoyed the crowds enjoying the art, with the occasional piece catching my eye. If I’d had thousands of dollars in my pockets, I may have bought a piece or two for a few hundred… nothing really jumped out and spoke to my inner muse, though I didn’t manage to browse the whole 4km-long street.

After I managed to wrestle a migraine into submission, in the evening my family and I watched Rango, starring Johnny Depp. I thought it was a wonderful film that consistently( and intentionally )broke the Fourth Wall, which was awesome. The animation was breathtakingly detailed and there was SO MUCH to take in that I’ll have to watch it a second time… or a third. We rented the DVD( my first rental in a decade )from the local shop Pic-A-Flic, which stunned me with it’s variety and volume of choices! Dense racks of television, documentaries, movies and other media filled the place tight and the prices were right: Rango cost me a Toonie for two nights. I’ll be back again!

July 22 –What the blah?

Woof! Today went sideways somehow. My mom didn’t have a good night last night, so I stayed at my parent’s place all day today in case she needed someone nearby or had to go to the hospital – something we’re quite used to but I had hoped was going to happen less frequently in the future. As we were both rather tired, I decided to forgo resuming writing today and instead finished transferring my novel data so far into a program called Storybook. I added in chapters, scenes, characters and plot threads, which will allow me to visualize ALL aspects of the novel and see where I may be straying from a solid storyline or neglecting to mention an important character more than once. Right now the MOST important thing is to GET the chapters DONE though, so it’s going to be a solid slog for the next few weeks to lay down another dozen chapters for the next 1/3 of the book. Then I can spend a good few weeks wrapping up the final half-dozen chapters in a nice tight unit to complete the first draft by the end of August, I hope. The data entry and the blog took up the entirety of my day, along with periods of random unconsciousness. Blah.

It's been a three-day break from writing and I'm itching to get back to it this week, hopefully when my mom's feeling better. I'm also going to be putting some increased efforts into job-hunting, to try and find a better fir to my wants AND my needs. Knowing that I don't want to go backwards, I'll take going sideways for a bit job-wise if it means I can start to move forward by 2013. Yep!

Milestones, Maybe and Memories

The word of the week is content.

This is my 250th blog entry, quite a milestone for me. I've written an entry a week since late 2007 and if the average entry is around 2,500 words then I've put over 625,000 words in total into this blog. Amazing.

July 9 - Still searching for a job ...

After the last few months of fruitless job searching, I headed down to WorkBC today to see if I could get a different perspective on things. I've only had a few contacts with employers in the last few months and my EI is at the halfway point this month.

It's been especially frustrating with my arm issues; call it tendonitis or CTS or whatever the specialist in August finds it to be, it severely limits my job searches. I can't lift objects heavier than a glass of water with my left arm or type at any decent speed for long with either, so even the most basic of jobs is out for me at the moment. Not having any disability insurance irks me, but I want to get BETTER, not live with my arms the way they are for the REST OF MY LIFE. I have to believe things will improve.

The same way I have to believe I'll find a job that will be a good fit. I've started on that today with WorkBC and it's my hope that they can help me search in ways I've not thought of yet. They're rather experienced in this sort of thing and though I know they won't hand me things on a silver platter, I have to use every resource available to me. Before I end up just looking for a wage and stop seeing a future for myself in any form of employment. 

At least I can hope that my novel will open a few new doors to me when it's done…

July 10 - Simple pleasures

Before video games, kids had to find other ways to spend their time indoors instead of playing outside. I had a good selection of games as a kid, not all of them of the board-and-easily-lost-pieces variety. Apart from the rather fatal lawn darts, one of my favorite types of games( toys? )were water challenges like the Waterful Ring Toss. It could fascinate me for hours( a LONG time for a kid! )trying to get ALL the rings onto the pegs. I had a half-dozen of these things over the years and I don't think I managed to beat any of them more than once… by then my attention span had waned and I tried my luck with one of the other Waterfuls. Incredible how the addition of water to some simple plastic parts could amuse me.

July 11 - "Met You?"

Catchy pop tunes are nothing new… some get old fast, others bring a smile to your face when you hear them every now and then on the radio long after their debut. Carly Rae Jepson's hit tune 'Call Me Maybe' is one of those tunes, which has spawned many variants as people tweak the melody and lyrics. It was only a matter of time before a Star Wars mix came out, so enjoy:

July 12 - Castle Book!

Back in grade school, I loved our library. It was a big open-plan space that was defined by the bookshelves and tended by the well-bearded Mr. Edwards. I spent a lot of time in there, jockeying for a spot on one of the huge beanbag chairs or a rare turn on one of the monochrome IBM PC's that ran on floppy disks. I devoured books, as many as I could read in a day and I wanted more. Fantastic tales of faraway places were there at my fingertips and I adored every story I read, which conjured pictures in my mind far more real than the pre-CGI shows on television at the time could.

My most vivid memory of that library is when I found the book Castle, by David Macaulay. It is the simple story about the construction of a medieval castle detailed with beautiful illustrations that brought it to life. That book hooked me on all things medieval for life and I was tickled to find a lightly-loved softcover copy of the book this week at nearby Russel Books! The 1983 TV adaptation of the book is below as well, to give you an idea of the magic that Castle awakened in me:

July 13 – THUNDER! LIGHTNING! STORMS!

A view from Esquimalt towards Victoria's Downtown

I was woken today long before 7am by what I thought was CrazyLady upstairs, but turned out to be thunder! Storms here in Victoria are RARE and the clouds wandered around all day. Until late in the evening, when they RUSHED RIGHT AT MY WINDOW! I was watching the stormclouds to the south over Victoria, thrilling to the lightning that lit the dark masses every minute or so, when a bank of clouds starting moving. FAST. It streaked right towards us and then started to… roil. And turn. It must have hit the steady winds that blow around Mt. Finlayson because all of a sudden the clouds were rolling and the winds were churning around… just like when a TORNADO FORMS! Check out the video I managed to get with my so-so smartphone camera; it's in HD and you can see some of the details really clearly especially in the first two minutes:

July 14 - That Novel Feeling

Every day this week has seen a full chapter of my novel produced. It's been incredible to reach the 'teens' in terms of chapter numbers; I feel like the ball is REALLY rolling and I'm trying to stay ahead of it. I'm producing GOOD work; nowhere near what the final quality product will be but enough to keep at it day after day. I want to finish the summer with a finished first draft and what's been appearing on the page has been wonderful: I can feel the world I'm creating coming alive in my mind.

Which is great, because it's a BIG, complicated place. I have a lot of work to do on it still!

It's like building  a house, or filling just a room. Each thing has it's place and while it may appear to be a chaotic jumble at first, if you work at it things begin to get sorted out. Again, like a room full of stuff: you can rearrange things however you like until you're satisfied, even taking large parts of 'stuff' out until everything is balanced and it just feels… right.

I'm getting that feeling already with the 'mud' that I've been producing these last few weeks.

I like it.

July 15 -  BLOG MILESTONES x 2 !!

I've been writing this blog for close to five years now. It's been a journal, a place to express myself and a way for people to keep up with the things I'm up to. 

10,000 pageviews THIS WEEK! W00T!

Today marks the 250th Soronos blog entry. And tomorrow, my birthday, should see my 10,000th pageview. Amazing that BOTH of those milestones should arrive in the SAME WEEK! :-)

Years ago, I wrote a LOT about a LOT of things in my blog; I have a lot of interests and I like to share. I've seen my blog mature as time went on, becoming more focused and less wordy, if that's possible for a writer. These days I feel the need less to document every day, as I realize some days will be better than others. Other days will slip by unnoticed for various reasons, but some days, like today, are worth marking.

Here's to another 250 entries, that will see me go places and do things I'd never thought I'd write about. That's a heady feeling and I want to be able to go back to read my journey many years from now… which is why I'm writing things down NOW.

I've had a long, stretchy day, meaning that I've felt all over the place today. It's my last day before I turn 39 and that silly song '38 Years Old' is stuck in my head. I know I'm young, I know I have an uncertain future ahead of me... who doesn't? I'll be a year older tomorrow and looking back, I know how I got here but when I turn around, I can't see much of a clear path in the near future. The far future where I'm relaxing on a beach with a pair of bionic arms like Luke Skywalker, well... that's not for a while yet. Back to writing...

Particles, Possibilities and Progress

The word of the week is chapter.

July 2 - Novel progress

It's a new month and a new focus for me: my novel, naturally. The clock is ticking and I have all the pieces in place, now I have to assemble it into a working whole. With tons of backstory, a visual guide and a four-page synopsis, I am all set to turn everything into a series of linked chapters that will become the novel itself. I'm aiming to get as MANY chapters as I can done in the next 30-60 days, as I feel I should strike while the iron's hot, so to speak. Focusing ONLY on the writing will ensure that I get as close as possible to the core of the story and set it out in sequence as I see it in my head. Once I have most of a rough draft in place, I can finish it up this fall and then start the revision process.

 

By then, I'll most likely have run out of TIME to write, as I'll have been forced to find a day job. But I'll happily work during the day knowing that I can spend my evenings revising my novel, making it the best piece of work I can without obsessing over it. I hope that 2013 will see my novel make it out into the world in one form or another… but that's a subject for WELL after the first draft's completed.

July 3 - WE FOUND IT ???

I like science, moreso than most people think, despite my lack of skill beyond the simplest of mathematics. I used to collect Popular Science magazines years before the internet made pursuing science news much more interesting and efficient, though I know that PopSci barely scratched the surface of many discoveries. From my earliest days of reading, science fiction has been right at the top of my reading lists, so when today's news about the Higgs Boson leaked, I was quite excited - another of the building blocks of our universe may have been found! Well past midnight, I was hanging on the news from several sites… until the one chestnut showed up stating that the press conference had 'reduced' the news to 'just' 175 slides. At that point, I gave up and went to bed, to find THIS animated gem in the morning that neatly explained how important the Higgs Boson is to our understanding of Everything:

The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

July 4 - Weird Waking Dream!!!

Whoa! I was bounced out of bed( mentally )by the kids above today, so I walked over to A&W at the Bay Center to calm myself with a coupon-cheap breakfast; ahhh, the taste of savings. I was still tired, so later in the day as I was up in the SkyLounge reading Stephen King's ON WRITING, I decided to take a nap.

Boy, did THAT take an unexpected turn!

 

I dreamt a waking dream, that I was napping on the couch, there in the SkyLounge in the sunshine. Everything LOOKED like it should: bright and sunlit and retro-60's grandparent furniture… AND I COULDN'T WAKE UP! Every time I swung my feet to the left to 'get up' off the couch, they reset, like one of those many time-loop scenes in movies where people repeat their actions. It was unbelievable - I vividly recall trying DOZENS of times to GET OFF THAT COUCH. I WANTED to wake up, to stand up and go downstairs and make some tea. I just couldn't do it. Maybe I was too tired( 5.5 hrs sleep )and my subconscious wouldn't let go easily, I'm not sure. Eventually my internal timer went off and I woke in time( for real )to groggily make my way downstairs to see Kung Fu Panda, feeling a slight touch of doubt  that maybe I hadn't woken and made it off that floral-print couch after all…

Thanks, Stephen King - now even my nap-times have a touch of horror to them.

July 5 - Time Traveling The Web

Having been using the internet since it's earliest consumer days of slow modems and small monitors, I recall seeing many websites blossom and grow. While many more vanished into the digital ether. While I enjoy the current crop of millions of complicated websites, I also find myself from time to time yearning for the simpler days when websites were all hand-coded and simpler to navigate. Thanks to The Wayback Machine and Screenshots.com, I can still take a visual time-travel tour of what many websites looked like almost back to their very beginnings. It's a nostalgic tour, to be sure, but it's also important to remember where all this digital congestion CAME from, how we went from simple to overload, from Celeron to cell phone and soon beyond. Go take a trip back; you'll be surprised at what you dig up!

July 6 - Robots are people too?

When will the Age Of Robots arrive, I wonder, and in what form? Most predictions had them cleaning our homes by now… yet all we really have are Roombas. Where are the tireless helpers and companions to ease our daily burdens so we can focus more on improving the world for everyone? And what are the implications of trying to create such a world? Filmmaker Spike Jonze took a unique look at this in his short film "I'm Here" released on YouTube, which is most emphatically worth it's 30-minute length:

July 7 - Perfect Dictation

Today was a productive day for my novel: with my mother's help typing, I was able to produce an entire chapter in a single day. Being able to visualize the scenes in my mind's eye and just dictate the words as they flowed from observing the scene is a marvelous method of writing . It's how using voice recognition SHOULD be, instead of having to pause every two or three sentences to correct incredibly bad grammatical errors, which takes you right OUT of the mental visualizations. 'Producing Mud' as it is called, should happen when you're in the FLOW( as I mentioned in last week's blog ). When various distractions keep poking at you, your mind can't focus on the task of writing and it becomes a grind that's nowhere near the potential you can reach while writing distraction-free. It was very freeing today to be able to write like that while sparing my arms, to simple have the words appear as I spoke them from the order that I set them in first in my mind. At this rate, I should be able to produce almost a chapter a day, following the outline that I've been revising for the last few months and adding to it as I go along. Having twenty or so chapters of my novel by month's end will be enormously freeing!

July 8 - Who or What is Mr. Breakfast?

If it's breakfast, it has bacon - at least in my eyes. I like unique breakfasts too… and what's more unique than an animated film short where breakfast comes to life? Or at least, a man's soul takes on the form of breakfast… or something. Watch it and decide for yourself - thanks to Mike for sharing this one!

Dr Breakfast from pizzaforeveryone on Vimeo.

After coming back to my apartment Sunday night, I was pleased to find it a cool 72F degrees even with the windows closed - boding well for the warmer days of summer to come with no A/C!Too bad there's still excessive noise above; combine that with my wonky arms and I'm still better off working at my parent's place for the majority of this month. Creative productivity has been happening in spades!