Bears, Backache and Books

The word of the week is bearable.

Jan 6 - Easing Pressure

The knots in my back have eased a little bit this week.

Maybe it's a latent reaction to the time and effort I put in on my Dark Crystal submission, or perhaps it's just much of the same thing reacting to help busy works been, but I've been a little tense. Not overly so, but just enough to be uncomfortable for a few hours a day.

Thankfully it's nothing like the shoulder-ripping tension I suffered through my last job for years, so that overall it's actually a relief by comparison. The New Year's shaping up rather well, as I'm not worrying as much day-to-day about finances but instead concentrate on the things I want to do, instead of the things I have to do.

That's an excellent way of putting things into perspective, I think.

Jan 7 - Quaking In The Cold

I'm really glad I'm not living out east right now.

The massive cold wave, or Polar Vortex, that descended on North American this month brought record low temperatures not seen in decades to millions of people. Heating costs skyrocketed as energy output spiked to keep people from freezing and huge ice structures formed at Niagara Falls:

While it was no Day After Tomorrow event, the similarities are eerie and the sudden widespread cold caused another rare event: frostquakes. I've never heard one myself, despite living for decades in Ontario, so I'm a bit jealous… but nowhere near enough to move back on the off chance of hearing one. I'll stick with the earthquakes here in BC, which are interesting enough on their own.

On a related note, I highly recommend reading a funny article over at Wired Magazine regarding how the Empire failed in its attack on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back - it's quite amusing to see how the perspective is changed around by the author. Bonus: some of the comments are incredibly witty replies!

I'll leave you with this wonderful winter photo that someone put together of Star Wars toys, taken in natural lighting without any touchup - I wish I'd had a camera as a kid to take shots like these:

Jan 8 - Sci-Fi Best of Books 

Just a brief mention here about a fave subject of mine: reading.

As a boy, I read a lot, which many of you know already. Every one of those books helped form the person I am today, as well as my creative streak. My formative years were well-rounded when it came to reading, with many of the classical science fiction and fantasy books lining my shelves in one form or another. Not to mention the many others that I borrowed from the library too.

There is a fascinating article over at io9.com, asking people which science fiction classics are the best ones to read before the age of 18. I spent quite some time browsing through the comments that people posted in response and I was very pleased to see that I had read most of what was suggested before I had turned 18 myself. Although it's arbitrary age, I think it's accurate in terms of having read enough by then to definitely have a major effect in shaping a person.

Jan 9 - Anti-Vaxxers

There is a disturbing trend that's growing lately: anti-vaxxination.

It seems that the wondrous power of the Internet has been used for evil, or at least stupidity, when it comes to the ignorant spreading their opinions and not facts. Led led by former Playboy model Jenny McCarthy, the 'anti-vaxxers' as they're called, have been spreading a wave of misinformation and ignorance regarding the life-saving medical miracle known as vaccinations.

In a nutshell, vaccination means that people around the world no longer have to fear dying or being crippled from fast-spreading deadly diseases. In fact, dozens of the worst diseases have had vaccines created to fight them, which coupled with widespread use has seen the effects of said diseases dwindle so that millions no longer die each year from their effects.

And that report, I might add, has been widely and officially outed as fraudulent.

Yet for some reason, ill-informed people insist on spreading their non-fact-based opinions around on the Internet to the extent that thousands of parents have withheld vaccines from their children, many of those in the first world such as Canada and the USA. Their reasoning, if you can call it that, is based not on science but on misinformation spread by the likes of Jenny McCarthy… which puts the lives of thousands of children at risk.

It annoyed Penn and Teller enough to devote an episode of their show to it. WARNING: Explicit Language and some mild nudity at the end, to make their point about the absurdity of the anti-vaxxer stance...

I could go on at length about how much this idiotic stance irritates me, but I won't bore you with that here. Unfortunately, there's still no vaccine to prevent stupidity… and even if there WAS, anti-vaxxers would be against it.

 

How stupid is THAT?

Jan 10 - Just THINK!

Sometimes I wonder.

Not often, but I do feel concern sometimes about how EASY it is now with social media for people to see something, react to it and move on.

Myself, I'm skeptical of most things I see and half of what I read, which is good. I prefer to think about what I see and hear before I react, but I'm finding that this is not the way people are going right now.

See, Click to Like, and move on.

With that methodology, it's FAR too easy for someone to see something from a site like TheOnion.com, which posts satirical articles as 'fact' for their reader's enjoyment... and take it as literal fact. For example, there's this image that's floated around online the last few days:

It's from TheLightlyBraisedTurnip.com, which is a satirical site. That didn't stop people from spreading the pic around, with no links to where it came from and so breaking the chain of legitimacy quite easily to fool many people. Easy to do, in the age of Photoshop.

Think before you Link or Like.

Jan 11 - A New Duet?

Something new's caught my techie eye, and it's a Transformer.

Not the large roboty-kind, but rather a new offering from ASUS in the same line as my old Android tablet the TF101 - which is getting rather long in the tooth after 3 years or so.

Replacing the tablet with a laptop is not what I want to do, as I don't need something too powerful to lug around; I have a desktop for all my fancy / fast gaming needs. Nope, what I want is something to carry around with me, powerful enough to meet my immediate needs but not blow the budget on. Power it on, write or game or surf at need and then power it off again instantly; no wasted time. Is it possible?

Enter the Transformer Duet, a neat little tablet / laptop hybrid that can run BOTH Android AND Windows8 - how cool is that? Useful, too; I have several tasks I prefer to perform on one system or the other, so having both in one unit is great. 

As with all new tech, the Duet isn't cheap, but I'm hoping in a year or so I can pick one up for a reasonable price. I really don't want to lug a laptop around, as I've become rather used to the convenient, portable freedom that my old Transformer TF101 has given me.

Jan 12 - Little Things to Bear In Mind

Today I was the focus of a random act of kindness.

On my way to work this morning, I got outside to see someone had attached something to my bike's handlebars in the night:

I was totally flabbergasted… and delighted! For no particular reason, someone had decided that they would cheer me up with a tiny cute stuffed animal to greet me in the morning under gray rainclouds. I probably stared for at least half a minute before I took the bear out of the cup holder and checked him over. To my surprise, he wasn't a 'found' toy that someone had randomly discarded but instead was in perfect condition and not even damp from the weather under the walkway roof where I store my bike.

If things like this are what 2014 has in store for me, it's going to be a fantastic year!

My three days off this week turned into 1.5 days, what with helping my parents purchase their new cell phones Tuesday and getting called into work on Wednesday. I've the same thing scheduled for next week, so I hope I'll be able to relax a little more and get some writing done.

Change, Comments and Completion

The word of the week is transience.

Dec 30 - Finished early!

Today was a good day.

I submitted my piece for the Dark Crystal AuthorQuest contest today, a day before the deadline and just as I'd hoped: as complete and as polished as I could make it. I think it's some of my best work, despite the usual writer's nagging thoughts that nothing is ever finished and nothing is ever quite good enough unless you spend even more time writing it revising it . However, I know that would've just frayed the threads of my submission, so I had the sense to let it go once it felt… right. I've a few months to wait to see if I made the cut:

 

Late in the evening, I was finishing up the small additional writeups needed to enter on the submission page along with my 9500 word piece. One of the fields I had to fill in was 'What does The Dark Crystal Mean To Me?' - which is obviously a very personal question, to be answered in 50 words or less. Here's what I wrote:

Since first glimpsing The Dark Crystal on the screen as a boy of nine, the wondrous vision that Jim Henson, Brian Froud and so many others brought to life has stayed close to my heart. The film helped shape a mind that's never lost the love of a good tale. It taught me that we can tell stories of the human condition, without using humans, and still convey the deepest of meaning. I fall in love again each time I see the film... and feel like I'm visiting again with old friends, who've been waiting for me there all along.

After I put those words on the screen, I read them out loud to my sister… or at least, I tried to. Halfway through, I choked up and it took me a little while to be able to finish. Meaning that that the words that had come so easily were from my heart... and thus the truest I could have written.

Knowing that I'd submitted my best work, I went to bed happy and content.

Dec 31 - Naught for New Year's

It's been at least six years since I've been out for New Year's Eve.

That discovery surprised me tonight, as I was at home for the evening - as usual, as it turns out. Going back over my blog entries, I discovered that I had not once been out for New Year's Eve since arriving in BC.

Thinking back, I can't recall the last time that I was actually out to celebrate the change of the year. I can recall a few memorable New Year's Eve parties that I have attended over the years, but none of them seem like the most recent to my mind and quite honestly, I'm not sure that matters to me now. Honestly, I'd rather be at home then drowning in a sea of screaming people madly flushing away the night  - and the past year - with alcohol and regrets.

Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart ringing in 2014 in style!

For me, New Year's eve is the changing of the old in preparation for the new. It's when what's done is done and you shouldn't be dwelling on the past but instead be thinking about the future.

Which really is what New Year's is all about, right?

Jan 1, 2014 - Better

This should be a good year.

To be brief: I'm employed, my finances are on a( very slow )upswing and I'm looking to finish the third draft of my novel - finally. That last bit I know I've said before, but as we all know, life has a way of getting in the way of our plans. My focus this year is going to be my book, with a side of making my writing my primary income: freelancing seems to be the way to go and we'll see where that takes me. Certainly it'll be better than working for someone else being paid a pittance for my finite time on this planet.

I'm not much of one for making New Year's resolutions, as I believe that one should be doing things all year long, instead of leaping year to year, trying to stay ahead of what wasn't accomplished previously.

My wishes this year are for everyone to make it the best that you can, as it only comes by once.

Jan 2 - Pinball Revivial?

I loved arcades as a kid.

The blinking, beeping chaos of dozens of machines waiting to be played, the joy of discovery of a new game and even the incipient competition with one's friends all combined into a heady experience that I still recall with deep fondness.

But while the quarter-eating heydays of the local arcade have passed, they're not entirely dead. Many movie theatres, themselves 'relics' in the age of Netflix and Youtube, still have arcades tucked off to the side to entertain kids and adults alike while they're out at the movies.

Yet those arcades are diversions, not experiences, places where people fiddle away time rather than choose as a destination. True devoted fans of the arcade will travel far to find places where they can feel like they're spending time( and quarters ) and a worthwhile way.

One such a place is the Seattle Pinball Museum, where rolling silver balls slam around under blinking lights to rack up high scores and delightful smiles of players from all over. 

While I'll admit that I'm not a pinball aficionado, I do like to play pinball on my portable devices in preference to many other types of games and one of my all-time favorite video games was Devil's Crush on the TurboGrafx 16. For the time, the graphics were brilliant and colourful, the music was compelling and the gameplay was amazing close to arcade pinball physics. I never quite made it to a billion points, to battle with the final boss...

Great games never die nor fade away, but beep forevermore in the hearts of fans.

Jan 3 - My Doctor is Tom

Just a little here about Doctor Who from me to you.

Growing up, there is only one Doctor Who for me: Tom Baker, the man with the brilliant smile and the long colorful scarf. Plus a pocketful of Jelly Babies, amazing Companions and a robot dog as a pet.

Watching the series on TV Ontario( it was billed as educational TV !!! )as a boy in the 1970's and 80's, I built up a lot of my love of science fiction and rarely missed an episode. The fact that the effects were cheesy and the plots thin didn't matter to me; the scary villains being defeated by the brilliant Doctor time after time kept me coming back for more. I picked up more than a bit of his character's irreverent sense of humour and his whimsical dealings with danger:

Having seen the recent TV special 'The Day Of The Doctor' marking the 50th anniversary of the series, I was thrilled no end to see that Tom Baker had a cameo role as a mysterious figure who might even be a retired Doctor Who - if such a person could exist. Just recently I discovered that the actor has a lovely blog he keeps for his fans and I'm going to be checking in now and then I think, just to enjoy myself. He wrote a great year-end entry here.

Whoever he is and wherever he shows up, Tom Baker will always be the Doctor Who in my mind.

Jan 4 - Calling Digitally

Half my day was spent out with my parents, getting them into the modern era.

Of cell phones, that is. I headed out to Telus to get them a pair of HTC One phones, as slick and modern a smartphone as you could like these days, all for Zero Dollars on a new 2-year contract. Which is fine, as we've all been with Telus for donkey's years and aren't leaving yet.

The reason I mention this today is that like the new laptop, the cell phones are an unknown quantity to my parents. While they don't abhor technology, they see it differently than someone my age: everything has to be done in steps that are carefully written down. Whereas for those who have grown up with such things, tech tools and toys are to be fiddled with, played with and explored based on an understanding that goes deeper than pressing buttons.

I'm glad I know as much about technology as I do, but I'll admit I'm not riding the curve as much as I used to. The focus of my life is shifting away from the shiny silicon bleeding-edge that used to be all-consuming in its fascination for me. Still is, from time to time, but my mind's got other things to contend with than remembering which out of the latest crop of CPU's is the fastest / best bang-for-the buck.

Hear that ringing sound? It's the future calling - and it's not going anywhere. 

 

Jan 5 - Knotted

Usually I'm able to shrug off imposed stress, but not today, it seemed. By day's end, my concentration was shattered, my calm was crazed and I had a tension-stress lump the size of a grapefruit between my shoulders. I went home, had some dinner, listened to some music and just let everything release in the slow wave that an hour later had me feeling normal again. Which surprised me but then again, I keep reminding myself that no matter how bad a day I may have, it's still better than what I thought was a good day at my last job.

On a positive note, a brief Fbook comment I made today was replied to by one of the B5 stars that I admire greatly. They had posted an image, asking their fans what they were all doing for 2014, which I always like to see as I'm usually thinking ahead instead of looking over my shoulder like I used to. My comment was:

'Publish my first novel, be thankful and keep watching B5'

I made it while thinking about the new year ahead. To my delight, the star replied briefly, saying they were writing a novel this year too - how lovely! It really picked up my day and turned it around from the tensefest that I'd spent the last eight hours enduring. Which goes to show that you should never underestimate the power that a few kind words have to make a difference in someone's day, moreso than any shortsighted or unkind ones might.

I'll leave you with a little creativity, something I found this evening that brightened my mood and harken back to days that were somehow simpler and filled with fun:

The first five days of 2014 have been somewhat rocky. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year being a somewhat smoother ride, with some interesting bumps along the way to challenge me and keep me grounded. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?