Nerf, Nimrods and No TV

The word of the week is plenipotent.

August 31 – Evil is Stupid

What is it with humans?

For all the great things that we've accomplished, there always seems to be too many of us willing to toss it all of the window for no good reason.

The destruction this week of the Temple of Palmyra all too clearly illustrates my point. In an exercise of power thinly disguised as the ‘elimination of idolatry’ IS completely destroyed an ancient site, forever erasing it from the planet so that it now exists only in photographs.

They did this to create their own version of the world, physically removing evidence that contradicts their limited worldview. Creating their own history from the rubble of the true.

Top: Before IS - Below: After IS

It is willful acts of destruction like this that make me wonder about our civilization. About future generations knowing nothing about the consequence of the past because of the actions of a few, of history intentionally lost, distorted or even destroyed.

Of stupidity winning, all the name of 'true' belief.

September 1 – Cable’s Cut!

Well, that’s it: no more cable as of today.

A month ago, I finally located an Internet company that can provide service to Victoria BC. Last year, I became extremely frustrated when after searching through every single Internet provider in Canada, not a single one of them could offer their service as an alternative locally here to Shaw or Telus.

However, about three months ago, I learned about a local start up here in Victoria called Juce – finally! Their prices are perfect: $39.99 / month for the same speed as Shaw's mid-range Internet package, with the added benefit of no throttling at peak periods which is an issue with very crowded service providers like Shaw in larger cities.

Considering I've been paying a package price of $138.00 + tax / month with Shaw for phone, Internet and cable TV, it's long past the time when I should have downgraded but the lack of an alternative here in Victoria had stymied that move.

No longer. In giving up cable TV( the phone isn't really an issue, as I have a cell )there's going to be a lot less temptation to simply ‘relax’ in front of the boob tube, as I'll have to go looking for things to watch. It's fascinating how much less I want to watch a show if I have to go searching for episodes rather than simply seeing what's on TV at the moment and deciding if I want to spend the time to watch it.

Time is what it's all about, really. The fact that I'm paying over 70% less per month for Internet service is icing on the cake, but really what it's doing is making my daily choices simpler in terms of what I want to spend my time on.

September 2 – Cosplay Project 2016

I have a new project for the spring: a costume!

Not a Halloween costume, however, but rather a con costume, one that will probably take me at least four months to complete working a few hours here and there every week.

My girlfriend and I have decided that, budget pending, were going to attend Emerald City Con in Seattle in April 2016. As part of that somewhat short trip( Seattle's not that far away )we're going to do a pair of themed costumes from one of our favorite sci-fi movies: Aliens.

I'm going to be a Colonial Marine and she's going to be Ellen Ripley:

Key to both costumes will be the M41A pulse rifle props: the guns that the Marines and Ripley used to battle the aliens in the movie. I've decided that I'm not going to do half-assed flimsy props made out of paper or cardboard, nor am I going to spend many hundreds of dollars on a screen-accurate prop unnecessarily

Instead, I've lucked into a pair of Nerf Elite Retaliator toys on eBay, which according to my research can be fairly easily modified into almost perfect replicas of the M41-a guns. If I do it right, we'll even still shoot Nerf darts! Here's a video of someone who did a rough job of a conversion for almost no money; I'll be doing a much neater job on ours, possibly with working lights and sounds to simulate sound-accurate weapons fire:

In addition to the guns, will each have to work up our costumes. I'm still determining the most cost effective way to do my armor, which will probably involve paper templates and layers of a safe, fiberglass-like substance that I can work with inside the apartment with minimal ventilation. If worse comes to worse, I can simply create a one-use painted cardboard costume, knowing that the guns themselves will be the real stars of the show.

September 3 – MOTU was OK

Sometimes, despite our best effort, things don't work out.

Such was the case in 1987, when the live-action version of Masters of The Universe hit theaters. Having grown up with the animated TV series, I was extremely excited to see what MOTU would turn into on the big screen.

As I discovered, it was mostly a stinky disappointment.

Underwhelmed at the time, I have never bothered to watch the film again in all years since. However, now and again I will run across articles singing the praises of the film in terms of its pieces rather than the overall whole. In particular, Frank Langella as Skeletor and Meg Foster as Evil-Lynn rise above the material to deliver solid, memorable performances:

It's funny, there's quite a few films sire ever seen when I was younger that I wouldn't bother with ever viewing again, but taking about it today, MOTU doesn't fall under this category. As this recent article’s author observes, all the cast in the movie were sincere in their performances and that's came across quite clearly. For that reason alone, I think I'll give it another viewing soon, when I feel the need for some good old-fashioned 80s film love.

September 4 – Weighing In

Are people in BC healthier than other Canadians?

That seems to be the case in recent study that examined the health levels of Canadians living in Vancouver versus other cities in Canada.

The study concluded that if all Canadians were as healthy as those in the larger cities in BC, billions could be saved by the health industry. Interestingly, it appears that declining rates of tobacco use has meant that health problems due to obesity have overtaken those issues caused by smoking for the first time:

While cancers, heart disease and respiratory ailments from smoking once accounted for the biggest single chunk of avoidable costs, falling rates of tobacco use have changed that. Instead, the rising number of overweight Canadians has made diabetes and joint problems a greater burden.
"From an economic perspective, the impact of excess weight in Canada is now more substantial than that of tobacco smoking," says the report. "Our updated model suggests that in 2013, the annual economic burden attributable to excess weight in Canada was 25 per cent higher than that attributable to tobacco smoking ($23.3 billion versus $18.7 billion)."

I find it interesting that the study dovetails into my own long-held impression of the West Coast lifestyle of being more healthy in general than living in the eastern provinces or even the prairies. My few visits to Vancouver also confirm the impression of the city that puts great value on access to healthy lifestyle venues and general exercise. How ironic that my own bike riding days have fallen behind me, in that I can now walk to work in 15 minutes.

Meaning that I have to make more time to exercise in and of itself, rather than having it as a side benefit of simply getting to work and back on a daily basis.

September 5 – Sans Cable, Day 4

I thought I'd provide a short update to my first week.

It's really amusing to me how often in the last few days that I'd be sitting at home, thinking that a need to relax and I immediately reach for the TV remote. Not a book, or my computer, but the television was always the first thing I thought of.

Now that I can't do that, it's kind of scary how often it happened this week.

How much of my time was spent each week watching television that didn't really matter? Shows that, while certainly entertaining, did nothing to help me as a person or two further my desire to create a career for myself as a writer.

I still have a Netflix account, as well as accounts at several different streaming media sites such as Crackle.com, so I can get more than a few shows fairly quickly if I so wish.

More difficult part is finding shows that arch on these services. I may explore using a VPN to surf around the web based in the USA, but that's a bit tricky and to be honest I don't want to spend too much time looking for distractions, which is what watching TV is for me this year. I have a novel and a half left to complete, so whatever time I managed to gain in the day that's not being spent on television needs to go directly into that.

Now I just have to find the energy that I had from a few months ago…

September 6 – Buoyed By Success!

Today we finally got to test our creations!

Over a month ago, my girlfriend and I decided to create some ‘extras’ to use in the ceiling pond along with our Haulin’ Trawler RC boat. A few weeks ago, I posted pictures of the completed buoys, which were still awaiting our final decisions on how to string them out in the pond - important because we wanted to ensure they didn't foul any propellers while remaining stationary in the water and still allowing easy placement / retrieval.

Heading down to the pond today, we were amused to see that we were the only ones there, likely because of the overcast conditions( which cleared up just as we left several hours later, around noon ). We strung our initial 4-buoy string on plastic weed-whacker refill line( 30m of it, which won’t rot )along with some weights and put them into the water.

Everything worked perfectly!

The buoys floated at exactly the right height, while the line remained submerged well below any propellers thanks to the weights we had tied off to the suspension ropes attaching the buoys to the plastic refill line. The spacing between the buoys was also perfect, which I had judged by eye alone – go me!

We had a great time maneuvering are both around the buoys, which bobbled quite realistically in the ways we made and really stood out against the water in their fluorescent colours. The only downside was when another RC boater showed up with a speed boat and managed to smash directly into one of the boys, knocking off all three of the decorative tops we had glued on. Fortunately, they can be easily reattached with some hot glue, so really no harm done, though the other boater was quite embarrassed about the accident.

My lady and I are having fun being creative like this, enjoying the activities we're discovering together. RC boating is something we both thoroughly enjoy, as it's relaxing and, as a hobby, can be expanded any number of ways. We can even think about getting things like RC planes, though we’d have to drive out to designated RC airfields in the area if we end up getting a serious air vehicle. Myself, I might just pick up this little gem:

All in all, it was a really good day, with lots accomplished. Even the weather cooperated almost to the minute by not raining on us while we were sailing and the sun coming out for most of the afternoon. Even when we were out having dinner on the patio, the sun stayed out of the clouds until almost exactly when we were ready to settle the bill.

It doesn't get much better than that.

Yes indeedy, it was a better week than I'd though. Work was steady to slow, with no stress to speak of and I sailed right into the weekend with a smile. While I'm still working on a regular wake / sleep cycle, things are improving and I hope my energy levels will return to what they were shortly.

Books, Beverages and Being Better

The word of the week is stabilization.

August 24 – Lack Of Zip

It's been a few weeks since I've had any tea to drink.

Since I became ill on August 12, I haven't had any sort of caffeine to drink. This was at first because I simply wasn't sleeping for the first few days after contracting cellulitis: it didn't make any sense for me to try to stay awake when I was doing it anyway and had the potential to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

Once I was back to just resting, not going into work, it also made sense not to drink any tea because I was again falling asleep every few hours - no point in trying to stay up when I badly needed my rest.

There were few ‘withdrawl’ headaches in the first week, coming and going randomly here and there for a few hours as my body adjusted. Seeing as I was going to bed early and waking up late, my body clock naturally adjusted itself to when I needed to fall asleep and when I needed to wake up. While there are indeed some health benefits to drinking tea, overall I believe cutting back on it to minimal levels will do me more good in the long run then keeping up the levels that I've had for the last year or so at my current job.

Once I get back to work, I'll see if I need to have a tea in the morning or the afternoon. My habit of drinking a pot of tea throughout the day is going to be a thing of the past, I think, in that I seem to have adjusted to waking up in plenty of time for work while still getting tired at a reasonable hour well before midnight each night.

As my energy levels formalized in the next week or two, I hope that I won't need more than a cup or two of tea during the day at specific times to counteract my natural mid-afternoon need for a nap.

August 25 – Critique OK

The second time's the charm, I suppose, when it comes to critiques.

In today's case, I mustered the energy to attend my regular monthly critique group, a week late I have to admit. As far as exertion went, all I had to do was ride in the backseat out to Sooke and back in the evening, which turned out to be exactly how much energy I had left in me for the day.

One thing that I love about my critique group is the invigorating energy that gives me as a writer. The people that I meet with are wonderful, one and all, which makes critiquing their work all the simpler given that we have giving feedback to each other for a few years now and can relax when it comes to wondering if someone's being critical or just opinionated.

The energy comes from having someone critique my work who knows it very well, to the point where their questions are extremely specific to things like character motivation, plot details, history points and all the other things that you hope readers will pick up on and ask about. I can't emphasize enough how important getting critical feedback on this sort of thing is, so that my revisions can jump to the next level instead of circling around small edits and tiny fixes. Regularly adding big bricks to the structure makes all the difference.

So again tonight I got back home tired but energized: a bit of a contradiction but that's how it usually is when it comes to my critique group. Every month I can't wait to hear what they have to say about my latest passages for my second book, so that I can sit down and make my work even better for my readers in the next draft.

August 26 – Changing Times

Today’s my last day ‘free’ before I return to work.

It's been wonderful to be able to just rest for a few weeks. Not doing much of the day means that I felt no pressure to accomplish anything other than getting better, resting both my body and my mind to recover my equilibrium.

It is odd to have just been resting, reading and thinking of the day, with interruptions for meals and socializing with my parents. Heading out for small errands this week has been a nice change, getting back into the habit of doing instead of dawdling, so to speak.

Oddly, I've felt little urge to socialize electronically with anyone, in the main I think because I just want to rest and not exert any more energy than I have to. Years ago, I would have spent a good deal of my recovery time chatting with people online, back in the day when IRC( Internet Relay Chat )was king. Nothing like shooting the breeze with a bunch of people you've known for a while but never met to make you feel better when you're sick.

Nowadays, you can chat to strangers instantly with video on your device of choice.

One of the most popular services in use today is Chatroulette, where you’re paired up with random people the world over. While the potential for abuse in such a system is obvious, there’s also tremendous creative potential that is often overlooked, where users can randomly find wondrous and novel things when they log in… like a zombie shooter:

Such a project goes to show that the internet is an endlessly inventive place, where creative minds can go to both play and present their newest brainchild to the world. Neat stuff!

August 27 – Return To Work

After almost 3 weeks off, I returned to work today.

My coworkers were one and all glad to see me, commenting that while they had managed to keep things running decently enough without me, they had quickly come to appreciate how much I accomplished every day when I suddenly wasn't there to do the work.

It was gratifying to know that while my coworkers could pick up my workload during my absence, they were now fully aware of is actually how hard I work every day at my job. Each of them is a dedicated, bright and energetic employee as well, so hearing them uniformly praising my abilities was extraordinarily welcome during my return to the job.

Easing back into the daily routine today, I was quite grateful that for whatever reason it wasn't busy at all. There were quite a few lulls during my shift with very few calls, enabling myself and the team to easily accomplish our daily tasks by late afternoon. There were no problems to speak of and while I felt tired heading home, I wasn't exhausted.

According to my coworkers, I actually picked the perfect time to be sick( not that I had a choice ): things are slow as to the middle of the month and by returning to work now, I can help with the end of month rush that we always get and which can be overwhelming even for a full, experienced team like we have.

Next time, I'll try to be sick while not on my vacation.

August 28 – Two Good Days

I made it through my second day at work just fine.

Again, I was fortunate in that we weren't all that busy overall. By noon I had settled back into the swing of things, enjoying the flow of the familiar and the fact that I was doing something with my day that was both productive and payroll-effective.

It also helps that my workplace is much more efficient of late. We've added quite a few new staff in the last few months, growing by almost a third in total staff size. This is meant fewer irate callers, as our turnaround times have shrunk dramatically from late spring due to the diligent and dedicated hard work of everyone in our branch. This has the effect of reducing everyone's stress levels, as we're not having to deal with problems of the major kind but rather only the small gaffes that always occur due to communication or human error.

By days end today, I was again tired but content with how things have gone. I think I could become used to this sort of feeling, of doing my job properly without feeling rushed or overwhelmed by factors far beyond my control. Having a skilled, supportive and solid team around me means that we all that benefit - I know how rare a thing this is to combine with an overall office attitude that can only be described as happy and healthy.

Now that I’m almost back to being healthy, I can get right back to happy, too.

August 29 – Rain and Lego

It’s wet here again!

The clouds rolled in last night, accompanied by some rather high winds( 90+ kph! ) and drenched Vancouver Island. Since we badly needed it, nobody really minded. We’re due for another rainy evening tonight, so hopefully that will resuscitate some of the drought-stricken trees and other plants here that have been pushed to the edge for lack of water.

Speaking of droughts, I finally got around to seeing The Lego Movie tonight with my girlfriend, who couldn’t say enough good things about it, having already seen it. Talk about anticipation: I’ve only heard good things about the movie but never managed to make the time to see it, until today.

Everything was awesome!

Just like the movie’s theme song: the movie was fantastic fun, all the better because the quality of the CGI meant that it looked like the entire movie was hand-made using Lego bricks. The voice cast was excellent( with many big-name stars )perfectly cast, a solid if unremarkable storyline and a decent twist at the end that tied everything together.

But what really made the film special was that it was jam-packed with parody and satire. The g33k in me reveled in the continual parade of wonderful winks and nods at everything from historical figures to modern pop culture. I especially liked the regular references to all the different Lego toy lines over the decades, of which I owned more than a few and instantly recognized as they popped up on the screen.

My girlfriend and I had a great time watching the film, laughing together at all the amazingly awesome things packed into each minute of screen time. It was refreshing to be able to watch the film with someone who recognized just as many, if not more, of the references that proceeded to parade full-tilt over the course of those most enjoyable few hours.

August 30 – Satisfaction

Have I mentioned I own more than a few books?

By my estimate, I have around 2000 books altogether, counting fiction, non-fiction and sundry miscellaneous tomes stored both in my apartment and that my parents place. Of those books, I started several years ago to inventory them using the GoodReads app on my smart phone, but I stopped after about 300 or so because the app wasn't as well developed as I'd hoped: I had to manually enter quite a few covers and that slowed down the process.

Fast forward to this month and things have changed quite a bit.

While I was recuperating at my parents, I took a little time each day to continue to inventory the remainder of the books that I have stored there. By the time I was done, I had managed to get my count up to well over 500 books, all of which were properly accounted for in terms of title and cover using the most recent GoodReads app.

Why am I bothering to do this, you might ask?

The simple answer: I don't want to buy the same book twice and this is the easiest way for me to accomplish that goal. At least half a dozen times since moving to Vancouver Island, I walked into a used bookstore, seen a book that looked interesting and have it end up that I owned it in my collection already.

With the GoodReads app, it’s simplicity itself to scan a book into my Shelves using the camera on my smart phone. The app has a built-in barcode reader and can scan up to 100 books at a time in a batch, making it quite easy to add many books in one go. Apart from the time it takes for organizing the books into various categories, I've been quite pleased with my progress in inventory my collection and I should have it all completed in the next month or so without having to spend hours at a time laboriously entering ISBN code by hand.

Goodreads has many reasons to join, good ones especially for authors. For now, I'm working on the book ownership angle and I'll get to the rest as soon as I can...

I’d say I’m just about back to normal operations: I’m waking and falling asleep normally at my usual times, eating regularly and feeling generally able to get through my days as I would previous to my illness. The next 3 weeks are all 4-day weeks, thanks to Labour Day and my EDO days falling fortuitously on the calendar, so it should be status-quo as things go from now on.

Rest, More Rest and Recuperation

The word of the week is stupefaction.

August 17 – Wiped

I’m not getting any worse.

It’s a week of complete bedrest for me though, according to the doctors. My body’s used up a lot of energy fighting off the bacterial infection, so I’m to take it easy this week, not working or doing much of anything. I’m on some powerful daily antibiotics, so those also need time to do their job.

Fine by me.

Staying at my parent’s place has definitely helped, as it’s incredibly quiet compared to my downtown apartment. The loudest things here are neighbours occasionally being gabby a few yards over, or the wind in the trees picking up to where it’s noticeable. Even packs of motorcycles on the main road a few hundred feet away are reduced to background rumbles.

Yes, it’s restful indeed.

I’m doing little with my days, tired as I am: reading, resting and repeat, with doses of nap as needed. Not being on a schedule, or having things hanging over my head, is really helping my recovery. While I’m not too pleased that I ‘only’ managed to get 2 whole chapters of Book 2 written last week before the poop hit the fan, health-wise, I’m wise enough to know that was enough.

I won’t be pushing myself to do any writing this week. It’s a hard decision, but my energy’s low enough day to day that I can’t manage to juice up my brain enough to drive my Muse into action. I can feel things are on a hold mentally, so to speak, until I’m better, well-able to create on cue.

I’m fine with that too. I need the rest.

August 18 – G33kmeter=1000

If I had a lot of time on my hands, what would I do?

Asking myself that question this week, I had to wonder. What if I didn’t write a novel, or need to catch up on reading the 1000+ books on my To Read List, or the dozens of TV shows or hundreds of movies that I’ve yet to make the time to see?

What would I do with my down time?

Not having a house, I can’t easily slip into a basement workshop to take up hobbies such as woodworking or the like, or create cosplay costumes from the fount of my imagination. Nor do I have the leanings towards learning a musical instrument, taking up a sport… the list of ‘maybes’ and even more ‘mehs’ goes on apace, which I find interesting when I put my mind to the question.

Other folks don’t seem to have a problem filling their time with unique projects.

Take, for example, this fellow: he decided his PC needed a fully-functional control panel:

According to the posting, he didn’t know much about electronics or anything else that was needed for the project, yet he gamely threw himself into creating something from nothing. What I find most intriguing is that he could have performed almost ALL the functions of said control panel via his PC, but he felt the NEED to physically create an interface of his own design.

Bravo. I salute those who listen to their inner creativity!

I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed with what he ended up with. It reminds me of the projects I wanted to create as a kid: spaceship control panels with Real Working Switches and so forth, to power my own adventures of the imagination. Back then, I had only cardboard and markers to make things happen; neither my skills nor easily-affordable electronics were at hand for me.

I wonder if Panel Guy will take orders for a spaceship console I’ve always wanted…?

August 19 – No Big Hairy Deal

I haven’t shaved in more than a week now.

It’s a little weird, because I’m not used to feeling scruffy, in any way – yet here I am, all fuzzy-faced and feeling like a sea captain. Looking like one too, according to my lady.

I won’t be shaving for a while, either.

Looking back at last week, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly how I managed to get cellulitis on my face. After much thought( what else am I doing this week? )I came to the conclusion that after I last shaved, I didn’t moisturize or take a shower, as I usually do per my usual daily ablutions.

That, as they say, is all it took.

In the interim, while I recover, I’ve decided to simply forego shaving until I need to return to work. That said, I’ve realized that I’ve never actually tried to grow a beard: for the most part, it’s been contraindicated from the jobs I had at the time, in customer service.

So here’s me with a week’s worth of beard, plus my celluitus face on the right from last Sunday:

Like I said, pretty scruffy, eh? I knew it would come in grey, but I hadn’t expected so much of it to be white, with as little leavening on pepper as there is evident. As I don’t colour my hair, so I don’t colour my moustache, or beard in this case. I’d much rather just shave it off, which quite honestly is the best answer, as it’s easy enough to knock off a few decades with a well-wielded electric razor.

The only thing I might want to save it for is a costume…

August 20 – Planning Ahead

For some reason, costumes are on my mind this week.

Perhaps it’s because I have a little more time on my hand to think? I’m not sure, but I do think that it’s partly due to my wanting to get things done ahead of time before Halloween this year. Biting my nails while waiting for a last-minute costume piece to arrive isn’t really my thing.

Also, I broke my old phone, so Cobra Commander is out of the picture for the moment. Besides, I don’t like to repeat myself, year to year… there’s something to be said for trying something new. My costuming skills( plus available space, time and budget )tell me this year, I’m buying in…

So: superhero? Villain? Pirate? Monster? Historical figure? Hipster?

So far, this is the frontrunner...

I’ve had my eye caught by a few medieval costumes I’ve found online, as I’ve always had a soft spot for such( which some of you know from my time spent in the SCA long years back ). I still have some SCA garb in storage, but nothing that’s a ‘real’ costume… that takes time and effort and I’ve already done the ‘catch-as-can’ medieval knight a few years ago. I got rid of the helmet during the last move, as it was going funky, was quite heavy and I just didn’t want to wear it again after hauling it around for almost twenty years. I passed it on to an appreciative fellow and that’s that.

Besides, the darn thing was impossible to hear or see out of, and who wants that for parties?

We’ll see what I come up with in the next month or so. I’d rather not spend too much money, but I do want to get something unique AND of value for what I pay for it. Too many of the costumes I’ve seen this week are of questionable materials, which look good online but on closer inspection are tissue-thin or otherwise break if you look at them sideways. Such don’t bode well for wearing more than once; I’d like to look good and know that I can recycle a few pieces in the future, if needed…

I’m definitely not into one-Knight stands when it comes to costuming.

August 21 – On My feet Again, Sorta

Today I managed to get out and do a few things, for the first time this week.

First stop was my workplace, to pick up a few forms. I checked in with my co-workers, who assured me that I was missed and at the same time, not to push things until I am ready to come back, whenever that happens. As I became ill while on vacation, the forms are for ensuring that my ‘sick leave’ gets activated and my vacation time is put back into place for use later in the year.

Such things are one of the many reasons I love my current job, in addition to the wonderful people. Getting sick no longer means I am tossed to the wolves if it’s more than a day or two, for though my pay is lesser on Sick Leave, I’m still GETTING paid, as long as the right forms are in place.

After dropping into my work, I went to my banks( plural: old one and much better new one )to get a few more things done that I couldn’t do from home as easily. A few more stops here and there and then it was home to rest, as even a few hours out and about had worn me out.

Good thing I can nap whenever I need to, this week – and I’ve really needed to, every day.

It’s funny, but I’m having to remind myself daily that I have to rest, in order to get better. I don’t have any of the usual ‘sick’ symptoms: no stuffy nose, no bleary eyes… nothing that I’m used to staying home from work with.

I just get tired easily, despite resting for most of every day.

It’s disconcerting, so I ensure that I don’t try to exert myself in bursts of ‘good idea, do it!’ enthusiasm. The most strenuous thing I’ve done this week, apart from going out today, was to revisit and slightly reorganize some of my book collection that resides here at my parent’s place. We’re talking several hundred books, so I took my time over the course of several hours( with breaks )and when I was done, they were finally grouped as they should have been when they were first unpacked a long time ago: by genre.

Feeling of accomplishment? Check. Nap time? You betcha!

August 22 – Saturday Hurray!

I had a visitor today: my girlfriend!

She dropped by to take me out to breakfast, to a nice little place down the road called Adrienne’s – perfect, as it wasn’t crowded at all. I had my first tea in a week, careful not to overdo it in case my body didn’t know what to do with the caffeine, it’s actually been nice waking up naturally.

After a lovely and relaxed breakfast, we spent some time making buoys.

That’s right: buoys. Here’s a pic of before( left )and after( right ):

These are painted Styrofoam floats, meant to be strung on a weighted line and used in the model-boat pond whenever we go sailing the Haulin’ Trawler( soon, I hope! )again. Six of the buoys have provision for an LED light to be snapped into the circular base on top, allowing them to be used at night, which should be pretty cool.

While the paint dried, we relaxed over on the patio at the Beach House, in perfect temperatures under blue skies. I had another cup of tea while we watched people prep on the beach for a wedding, which seemed a little underwhelming in terms of props: just a trio of fake windows hanging from an unpainted beam, some chairs and a few small flower vases set atop log slices. I suppose they were going for simplicity…? 

My lady and I amused ourselves by seeing how the planners could have done things differently, as well as just enjoying the view out across the sea.

We ended our visit with dinner at the Olive Grove, a hidden gem just the other side of the highway nearby. We had the patio out back to ourselves for almost our entire meal, as it wasn’t busy. The staff were attentive, the food was delicious and in quantity and we had a great time together.

It was hard to say goodbye, but even my relaxed day had taken a lot out of me. I found myself nodding off well before 10pm, feeling worn out but not wiped, as I have for the last week or so.

It’s impressive what spending time with the right person can do to help one recover.

August 23 – Sloth, me?

It’s funny, but I don’t feel lazy, even with all this rest.

My days have progressed easily from when I wake to when I sleep, for which I’ve been grateful. There’s been no need to ‘keep tabs’ on things in my life, for I’ve naught which requires my constant attention; even FBook has taken a back burner, with the occasional check every few hours for interesting tidbits. I’ve quite enjoyed catching up on a bit of reading, or watching some shows on Netflix, but to be honest, I’ve not done as much of that as I have simply resting.

This morning, I hauled out my hammock to facilitate that in style.

It’s been a few years since I last used my hammock, not having had anywhere to put it since I moved into the city in early 2012: not even a balcony or side yard to speak of.

My parent’s place, on the other hand, has patio space galore, out the front and the side both: ideal for a hammock, especially one I can move around easily. This particular model, ideal for one person, has a folding frame and carrying bag that makes it portable, if not easily totable due to its size:

Relaxing on the patio, I felt more at ease than any day so far since last Sunday, when I had my last IV treatment. Phone at hand( just in case )with a few books( plus Calvin & Hobbes! )plus some critiques I’m re-reading for the next meeting, a glass of water and some snacks: I’m set.

Until I fall asleep mid-sentence, that is. Have to be careful my critique pages don’t blow away!

One good thing about being on a ‘rest cure’ is that I have time to write my blog. More than enough time, in fact – I popped in sentences all day long and by late evening had enough of my blog done that I could spend some more time with my girlfriend. Neither of us can get enough B5, so we worked our happy way through a few more episodes of Season 2, grinning all the while at little bits and remembered pleasures as we went.

A great way to end the weekend, and start out my week on a high note.

It’s been really great just being able to REST as needed. While I don’t yet feel recharged, I don’t have the punch-drunk going-to-keel-over-now feeling I had earlier in the week, when I didn’t know what time it was or if I needed to sleep. I’m happy to be waking up around my regular time in the morning now and getting tired about when I should, but that does seem to be varying the last few nights. I’ll have to ensure that I’m tired earlier, or go to bed earlier, to get my body clock back in proper tune for the work-week to come. At this point, I’ll likely be back to work at the end of this week, though I’ll play it by ear the next few days to see how I’m feeling, energy-level-wise.