Digital Discoveries, Dinky Digs and Dolls

The word of the week is renewal.

Nov 17 - Back To Normal

Not much happened this week, surprisingly.

I was back to work today and got through it all right, feeling only a touch tired by day’s end. Seeing as a good portion of my job on phones is relating information to people and advising them in a general way about policies and procedures, there's not a lot of mental gymnastics going on, which I appreciate. I certainly don't leave for home feeling like I've been put through a wringer, even on the busier days and that really helps to preserve my creative energies.

My writing group has become a familiar fixture in terms of sociability, meeting every few weeks on Monday nights like tonight. However, this evening I actually had off, as my critique group has decided to take a break for November and December and regroup in January. I'll be sending them sequential chapters from the first draft of Book 2, which makes sense considering the feedback I've been receiving on the third draft of Book 1: I want to ensure that I am continuing the story in the same footsteps and not missing anything vital from the reader's perspective.

So far, the feedback on the third draft has come in only from a few folk; out of the 13 copies I had printed, I've received detailed notes from only three people. It’s my hope that sometime early in the new year that I will start to get feedback from the rest of the folks I sent the book out to this past August.

Until then, I'll just keep plugging away at my writing – Muse permitting.

Nov 18 – INTO THE FIRE, AT LAST!

I never thought I'd see this day!

Beyond hope, a lost treasure from the past has appeared on the Internet! The playable Alpha demo of Into The Fire, the unreleased Babylon 5 space combat simulator from 1998, was posted publicly for download today!

I have a treasured mousepad with this image on it!

This game was supposed to be the ultimate space combat simulator of its day, created by the then much-vaunted Sierra Studios… who for the most trivial of reasons cancelled the game mere months before it was released. They went into a long decline after some bad decisions and only recently came back to the industry. It’s a sad story, made more so because the studio refused to sell the rights to the game long after it was no longer worth anyone's time to try to pick up where the designers had left off more than a decade ago and so the game vanished into history.

Until today. Have a look at what could have been:

I’ve downloaded the demo and have yet to install it, as I'm working through the instructions to ensure that I don't mess anything up: it’s an Alpha build and as such there's a few things to get straight before I can play it. However, it doesn't look to be too difficult to pull off and I'm itching to play a game that, to be honest, I never thought would ever be loaded on my computer.

How's that for wishes coming true?

Nov 19 – That’s … small!

This is perhaps the tiniest apartment I've ever seen.

Located in Paris, this apartment is less than 100 ft.² in size but it packs everything that a single person can need for life in the City Of Lights. Considering how costly living in Paris is, minimizing one's living expenses is vital to actually being able to enjoy life there.

Tiny apartment in Paris (8sqm only) from Kitoko Studio on Vimeo.

After watching the video, I did wonder why the apartment’s owner didn't have any shelves above head height on the bare walls, to make use of even that much spare space for storage. I would think that even with minimalist lifestyle, there would still be a need to have as much storage as possible, otherwise it would be more like living in a hotel room than one's own home. You can read more about the project from its designers here; I did pick up a few more tidbits, like the fact that if you live alone in a small apartment in Paris, the government will actually give you a not-inconsequential subsidy – not bad, for those who like their solitude and tiny apartments!

Too bad I don’t speak the language; to live in Paris, well… c’est tres bon, non?

Nov 20 – Fan Fest and Workshop Photos

Sorry about the delay.

I’ve finally put together two photo albums of my trip to New York last month and figured out what I wanted to do in order to share them. Here they are:

The Jim Henson Company NYC Workshop Tour 2014

The Dark Crystal Fan Festival at BAM NYC 2014

It's taken a little longer, because I wasn't sure what photo sharing service I wanted to use. I needed something that would allow me to easily upload pictures AND add descriptions to them, which you can't do with simple Dropbox links. I also couldn't link to the almost-identical FBook albums that I've created, as my privacy settings don't allow those to be viewed publicly.

In the end, I decided to go with Flickr, for several reasons: they offer 1 terabyte of free storage and the rights 12 pictures remain with me, the originator. For some time, I've been concerned that any photos I uploaded to photo sharing sites could possibly be used for commercial purposes without my consent, as that consent would be implied by the site’s Terms Of Use.

Flickr does make it quite clear about the photo rights remaining with their users by default and I was comfortable enough reading that to create the albums today. I might end up creating some more albums in the future, as the massive free space Flickr offers as well as the simple interface means I can share quite a few photos easily rather than trying to post them through Fbook or other, clunkier interfaces.

Enjoy the photos!

Nov 21 – Dollhouse, Phones and Clones

This was supposed to happen last week, as I was feeling rather unwell, I pushed things out until tonight. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself: I should mention that work today was rather slow. Our computer systems were being upgraded, meaning that save for myself and two other people answering phones, nobody else had access to the databases, so it was a skeleton crew in a mostly-empty office today. Our phone message indicated that we wouldn't be able to do much for callers, so we had a vastly reduced number of people actually ringing through and for the most part I dealt with mail today rather than people on the phone, which was a nice change of pace.

Heading home, I tidied up the place a little, as I was having company over tonight. A friend of mine wanted to introduce me to the underrated TV series Dollhouse, which as one of Joss Wheden’s works I'd of course heard of but not really had make it onto my radar.

Fortunately, my friend had noted this lack and as a fan of the series they insisted that I tried out for a few episodes while they sat nearby and tried not to explode with glee as they watch my reactions - positive ones, as it turned out. While I found that Dollhouse had some similarities to the earlier Alias series by J.J Abrams, these were only superficial and Dollhouse definitely has its own vibe. I'm quite excited to see what the rest of the season has in store and it looks like my Friday nights are going to be well-spent,as I also introduced my friend to The Clone Wars, much of which I haven't seen myself.

It's good to have friends like that, don't you think?

Nov 22 – Retail Workaday Redux

It was another day at my old job today - a really nice one, as it turned out.

Seeing as I missed last week’s Saturday shift due to my fun with sugar, today was my first full shift at Staples in over 2 months. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised when the day passed both easily and quickly, in large part due to the fact that I was extremely relaxed on the job compared to how I was in early 2014. The place was extremely busy for a few hours at a time, not unexpected for this time of year and as usual I managed to get all too little done apart from dealing with customers, but that was actually alright as I really enjoyed just interacting with people and garnered quite a few compliments today for my efforts.

 

This is probably having TOO much fun at work...

It really is strange in some ways to work in retail. Apart from my legs aching due to being on my feet for hours on end which I'm unaccustomed to now, not really giving a fwoof about meeting sales targets or goals set by others allows me to actually enjoy the job for all the positives that it can bring when one isn't stressing out about being let go for some silly reason. Not taking it seriously is one thing, but setting aside the inconsequential for the social is perhaps the best way I can describe how I feel about the position now. Working only a couple of times a month also has summoned to do with it: I am a little out of touch with things. While I'm an experienced employee, I am in no way pushing the envelope in terms of my job performance anymore - it's barely a second job that I'm keeping, for now.

I'm okay with that.

There was no gaming tonight with my Pathfinder group, so I spent a few hours visiting with my parents who came into town to help me run a few errands. It was great to catch up with some, reminding me of our early days here in Victoria when I'd spend a few hours with them every other day or so, having dinner or shopping for necessities or just being social. Now that I'm regularly employed and don't have to worry nearly as much about my family’s well-being, I hope that I'll be able to spend some more time with them on a regular basis, working around my busier schedule socially and professionally to make better use of my time to visit with them.

That's important to me; it always has been, really.

Nov 23 - A New Week Is Nigh

It's time to say goodbye - to my old phone, that is.

My sister has decided that she'd like to try out my old Samsung Galaxy S3, to see if it can meet her needs. I did warn her about its unusual hunger for batteries: with the main battery and a spare as well as a handy charger, she believed she can make it work for and it would be a substantial upgrade in hardware from her Samsung Galaxy S2 model, which is almost 4 years old by now. So for a little while this morning, I ‘scrubbed down’ my S3, removing almost 200 apps and resetting a lot of its functions; I didn't want to Factory Restore the phone, as that would have meant a lot of unnecessary updating as the unit still works just fine overall, apart from the known thirst for power - electrical, not political, thankfully.

I took the afternoon off to visit a friend on the other side of town, cycling into a rather brisk headwind and enjoying the exercise in the unexpected sunshine. We chatted on their patio, a pleasant spot off a secondary road, sharing our writing experiences and generally g33king out. Tea and low-sugar treats were enjoyed, laughs were exchanged and a good time was had by all, even after the sun dipped behind a building and things went all chilly fast-like.

It felt like this, really...

All in all, it was a good day off. I'm definitely feeling centered now, able to get through a workday without carrying anything with me into the evening or the weekends. I hope that any day now my Muse will stir, tapping me on the shoulder and tell me that it's time to seriously dig into writing again. It's been a very long dry spell these last few months, with little actual progress on my trilogy and once I hear my characters knocking at the doors inside my head, wanting to talk again.

That should be any day now.

 The week ahead looks to be a busy one, where I have something going on every evening after work - very unusual for me, especially as not a one of those things is writing-related. I should end up hitting the weekend at a run, hopefully to relax again!

Surprise, Stability and Sugar Shock

The word of the week is perseverance.

Nov 10 - Learning and Laughter

The new job’s going well.

Enough so, that I fear to bore you with the mundane details. Most days are very similar to each other, with only a few odd things here and there that happen to differentiate one from the next.

I did experience my first minor office politics today, mainly due to an extremely rare occurrence of an abusive caller haranguing the staff. As it turned out, I was the one who inadvertently gave them an unnecessary break, because I didn't have enough information and wanted to defuse the situation. My decision caused some friction between myself and another staff member, which was handled maturely by all involved and most of the ruffled feathers were smoothed out by the end of the day. It just goes to show that decisions made without the full information on a situation sometimes are the best ones and we have to learn from that.

My evening of the writing group more than made up for the day’s oddities, with some lively discussion amongst the members, of which there were several new faces, which I was glad to see. I ended up spending more hours afterwards with a friend over at the Integrity Café, talking about my first novel. My friend( who normally reads fantasy, not sci-fi ) was enthusiastic in delivering commentary about my book, of which they read almost ¾ as of tonight. It was well after midnight by the time I finally headed home, quite tired but elated over the by-far positive feedback I’d received, especially coming from someone who I know to be a talented writer in their own right. 

To hear my creations spoken of just as I’d hoped they’d be, hearing the nuances and directions mentioned that I hoped that readers would pick up on and run with, was immensely satisfying and enervating to me.

Now I have to carry over that magic to Books Two and Three!

Nov 11 - Remembrance

Silent crowds gather,
As cannons boom and thunder
Saluting the brave.

I was home today and went out to the Remembrance Day ceremonies downtown. As I walked towards the Inner Harbor area, a loud booming sound that could only be cannons grew louder as it echoed from the buildings.

A huge crowd had gathered by the legislature, sizable enough to spill over onto the closed roadways in front of the Empress Hotel and line the walkways of the harbor area. Off to the right, near the old ship docks, a trio of cannons blasted their salute into the crisp morning air:

Big booming sound, lots of detail

It was pleasing to see so many people taking the time out of their day to pay their respects to those who have given their ultimate towards maintaining the freedom of our way of life. It was especially gratifying in light of the events in Ottawa in the past week, as a show of solidarity among all Canadians against those who would use violence to try to divide us.

Nov 12 – Restful

Today was my second day off this week.

Until just this Monday past, I was unaware that I would be getting two days off in a row, thanks to my choice of an E.D.O.( Extra Day Off ) which is a policy available only to full-time government employees. In essence, I work a little extra each of my workdays, clocking in a little over eight hours a day and every two weeks, I can get a weekday off to do as I please. I'm not actually getting paid for it, as I'm putting in the time for each of the other nine workdays, but it amounts to the same thing.

Unknown to me, having chosen Tuesdays as my E.D.O. and that this Tuesday was a holiday, I would automatically have the next day off as my E.D.O. – bonus!

I did put the time yesterday and today to good use, getting a lot of things done around the apartment that had been lingering for some time in addition to some writing. As the weather was clear but cold, I spent some time outside, huddled up next to a heating element really; I was there for the sunshine, not the temperature gradient. 

As well, I had a bit of a surreal moment in the afternoon as I sat on the patio at Moka House. I was having difficulties connecting to Shaw’s local Wifi spot, enough so that for the first time I called their helpline to check if the hotspot itself was perhaps malfunctioning. Not a minute after I’d dialed, entered my info and was waiting on hold, I saw this truck pull up:

It was definitely one of those ‘surreal moments’ I experienced, where you wonder if you’re an observer in some other life, looking in on your own. The moment lasted until I saw the tech emerge from the truck, clutching not a toolbox, but a coffee mug and proceed to walk into Moka House for a refill.

Amusingly, my connection started working perfectly the instant he set foot on the patio...

Nov 13 – SWEET Disaster!

Sugar sent me to the hospital today - in the evening, actually. 

Late in the afternoon on my final break, I polished off a good-sized ‘red velvet’ cookie that I was given by coworker and then dug into a big juicy apple to carry me through to dinner. At lunch, I’d had half a chocolate quinoa cupcake and I was really enjoying my day because of those minor treats in addition to the apple.

Heading over to my parents place for the evening, I started feeling odd – not in a good way. My hands and feet were tingling, I felt nauseous as well as dizzy – somewhat the same as when I had food poisoning in NYC a few weeks ago, but different enough to be worrying as I’d never experienced these exact symptoms before. Fairly quickly I suspected that I’d had too much sugar and drank a steady amount of water for the next short while to dilute the buildup, but it didn’t help: I'd already spiked and crashed - extremely hard, as it turned out.

Me, tonight... scary!!!

Eventually, after managing to eat a small dinner, I still felt increasingly nauseous and weak, enough so that on the way home I asked to be taken to the hospital. I felt like I could faint or be sick at any time and moreso with every passing minute, like nothing I've ever felt before.

Once at the hospital( my second visit in two weeks, yay for frequent flyer miles! )the staff checked me out, including getting blood work. I sat quietly, sipping water and nibbling at a very basic salad for a few hours, grateful that my dad was there to keep my company. 

Gradually, I started to feel better, if not normal and by the time the doctor was able to see me around 10pm, I agreed with her assessment of a sugar overdose. She sent me home with the admonition to rest, eat lightly and to return if the symptoms returned – plus to not have ANY sugar for 48 hours. Thankfully, the doctor said my bloodwork was totally normal so there was nothing else there to point at, aside from the sweets. Though I’m not diabetic, this was the same as hyperglycemic shock, which I experienced all the symptoms of: nausea, fatigue and dizziness, as well as hunger, though to a much lesser degree.

The really, really strange part of the whole ordeal was that I didn’t believe I was ‘overloading’ myself with sugar today. Half a cupcake, a cookie and an apple in the space of three hours doesn’t in any way compare to the levels of sugar I’ve ingested in the past in the same timeframe… but it IS a lot more than I’ve had in the last 6 months, comparatively.

What it also is, is scary. 

Sugar and I are mortal enemies now, it seems… meaning that I’m going to have to watch my intake MUCH more carefully from now on.A good reason to re-examine my eating habits and nail down some good ones while tossing out the bad.

Nov 14 – Recovery

Staying home from work today seemed like a very good idea.

With sound reasoning: I was still feeling quite nauseous and weak from last evening’s debacle. I didn’t sleep well last night and that meant that most of today was a wash. I ate little portions of food often during the day, keeping myself hydrated and tossing in a few naps, not straying far from the couch. As the doctor wasn’t sure if I might have also started coming down with the flu yesterday( similar symptoms )I just played it safe and put my feet up all day.

Which gave me the chance to watch some westerns!

Specifically, I’ve not have the opportunity to watch a Blu-ray I picked up last year: Sergio Leone’s The Man With No Name trilogy! First off was For A Fistful of Dollars, which I enjoyed immensely in hi-def, followed by For A Few Dollars More and then most of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, which I’ve seen a few times over the years – but never in such glorious detail! It made the day speed by, when sleep didn’t suddenly grab me for catnaps here and there.

By evening, I was feeling mostly back to normal but still nauseous, so something’s still not right. While I’m not a hypochondriac, I think my subconscious is rather rattled by the whole thing: to be so adversely affected by such a relatively small amount of sugar really makes me boggle a bit. Add to that the thought of giving up cookies altogether and I can almost hear my inner child wailing.

Good thing I was able to take the day off to try to cheer him up. By my count, I worked two days this week and had three off with pay; not bad recompense for spending an evening in the hospital… though I’d rather not have had the last bit, when it comes down to it.

On the bright side, I now have the experience to add to my writer's toolbox - yay.

Nov 15 - Still Resting

As I spent much of the day at home, there’s not much to say about what I did today.

So, I’ll talk about a sci-fi freebie I was given instead!

About a year ago, I received an email from the good folks over at B5books.com, asking about a video I’d posted on my YouTube channel. It was one from my trip to Phoenix Comicon in 2013, where I’d recorded the marvelous Claudia Christian during a solo panel chat she gave:

Said folks at B5books.com: “We’d like permission to use your video for one of our upcoming projects. Believe it or not, it’s one of the only ones out there that’s of decent quality and of the entire length of the panel. We’ll give you a copy of the final project gratis as a thank-you.”

I was stunned that they’d contacted me and that I could contribute, in some small way, to a B5 project. I gave my permission, made a note to myself to check in with them later, and that was that. Or so I thought.

Today I received an email from B5books.com, telling me the project my video was a part of was being released after 6 months of hard work and BOY, it’s a big one! Have a look:

FREEBIE!!!

My video’s in there, alrighty! Plus my copy of the entire effort is on its way to me, free of charge, a $100 USD value( plus tax and shipping ). Free!

Definitely worth the time I took to record a few videos in Phoenix! I’ll be even better-prepared for my next convention, as my new OnePlus phone can take 4K videos and has the storage capacity to last all day!

Nov 16 – Final Day Of Rest

Things are somewhat back to normal for me as of now.

By this morning, I was feeling more like my old self, albeit still somewhat tired. It was definitely the right decision not to work yesterday at Staples, as my energy levels are still less than I am used to and for some reason I’m not hungry at the same times of day I used to be.

A phone call this morning had me going in unexpectedly to Staples from noon to 4pm today to help out, which I was glad to do after having to cancel my shift yesterday. I took the bus in, as there was no way I’d have had the energy to bike today, especially in the near-zero temperatures. It turned out to be an easy shift, not all that busy and made manifestly magnificent by the fact that the yearly inventory was taking place at the same time – I was able to say hello to practically everyone I hadn’t seen in months, which was really wonderful and made my day.

Back at home, I took it easy again, writing the blog in parts here and there over the course of the evening. I still don’t feel all that energetic, but I’m a far cry from the wobbly wunderkind of a few days ago, unsure of how I’d be feeling in the next ten minutes at the tick of the clock.

It’s been a weird week, one in which I’ve had almost five full days of rest yet I still feel tired after all’s been said and done. I wish I’d had the energy to do more writing than I managed before my sugar crash, but my brain’s not been capable of much along the creative lines in the latter part of the week. Now, I’m back to work for a full five days coming up, with nothing planned for the evenings save making a valiant effort to get back into writing Book Two… and to watch what I’m eating so very, very carefully!