The word of the week is resolute.
May 22 – Victoria Day
It was a good day for a walk in the
park.
The good weather has finally arrived
here on Vancouver Island, just in time for the Victoria Day weekend. While the
last few days have been all right, today was gorgeous, so my lady and I spent a
good portion of it outside just enjoying things.
After a fantastic walk in Beacon Hill Park,
which included turtles basking themselves on a log( see above )we went
for a drive down Dallas road to Trafalgar Park, which has a wonderful view
overlooking the Juan de Fuca Straight. It was there that we saw a beautiful sailing ship with unusual red sails heading west... and me without my camera! We raced back to my
place and grabbed my camera, then went back down to Dallas Road to capture
these perfect images:
I'm so lucky to be able to share such things with a lady as amazing as mine. Not to waste time playing mind games, or other silly relationship things that people sidetrack themselves with... but just to BE
myself around her, which is all that she wants.
Another magnificent Victoria Day!
May 23 – Italy?
Well, this is a heckuva deal...
A small town in Italy wants to pay Canadians nearly $3000 CAD to move there and become residents.. and who
wouldn't? Just have a look at the place:
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| Bormida, Italy |
Apparently the incentive is an
attempt to boost the town's population, as the place is in danger of being
completely abandoned:
It if was just myself, if I just had an Internet
connection and a steady income, I'd move there in a heartbeat for five or six
months, then return to Canada as that would still let me keep my Canadian privileges, like health care. It would also be the perfect writing retreat... and I'd be saving
thousands of dollars a month in expenses. Who cares if its remote?
Oh, what a dream that would be...
May 24 – Serve Story, not Ads!
What does it a good story
require?
Time.
Apart from good writing, of course,
any good story requires the right amount of time to tell them properly. Too
often, when it comes to TV or movies, stories are shoehorned into the time
available. Episodic TV is especially notorious for this, where audience attention spans
and commercials combined to chew up 1/3 of every hour's viewing, which doesn't
leave a lot of room for depth of narrative.
That's why I am excited to see how
well Netflix is doing lately: as an alternative to traditional television, they are able to
be far more flexible with the running times of their content:
I hope this signals the start of an
alternative viewing revolution, where viewers are given back control of what
they want to watch, and when. This will also free the story tellers, who no
longer must trim their stories - good stories, mind you - to fit the
medium, but rather tell them exactly as they were meant to be.
Glorious.
May 25 – Ant Love!
Well, this is great to see!
One of my favorite artists, Ant Lucia, whose
work hangs on my wall( see below )has found some major success since I
learned about him 5 years ago, from his take on Star Wars:
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| Ant Lucia's work, from my Phoenix AZ trip in 2013 - that's ALL I bought there! |
Since then, he's been extremely busy working as a designer and illustrator, and his hard work has paid off as DC has found
great success with his DC Bombshells designs:
I think he has a magnificent art style, and
I was happy to read that he's turned his passion into success, which is an
excellent indicator for any artist who might doubt their abilities. You can
find out more about him on his Facebook page, or have a browse through his DC
Spotlight article.
Today is also the 40th anniversary of the cinematic release of Star Wars!
While I was only a little kid back then, I still recall the magic of seeing Star Wars in the theatres... how big it was, how loud, and how joyful the story seemed to be... true cinema magic. I could wax eloquent here for pages and pages, but I won't, since so many other people have today - g33ks rule!
It changed movies, and pop culture in general... and it's space opera, which is my fave scifi genre, bar none. Hopeful, full of action and adventure: that's my kind of story.
Here's to another 40 years of Star Wars in the world.
May 26 – Resonating
Today was a rough day for me, mentally
and emotionally.
My second Land Mark phone call last night
didn't go well at all, causing me to spend the rest of last evening and most of
this morning deeply engrossed in my own churning thoughts. I probably appeared unusually
grumpy and overly focused to my coworkers today, as several of them went out of their
way to do things to cheer me up, which I appreciated.
However, by this afternoon I had
managed to expunge the negativity from my thoughts by writing down dozens of
questions that had been running through my head for the last week and moreso
since last night. The technique of externalization served me well to help me recognize
the process I was going through, and how to deal with it effectively.
It also helped me come to a wonderful
realization:
Sometimes, you must be struck to
resonate..
You hear the sound of your true self.
It also exposes flaws, to keep or
fix, as you need.
The thought reminded me of the Japanese art of
Kintsukuroi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, rather than be
discarded, as it's still useful and beautiful:
I'm pleased that I was able to turn
things around today, to take my anger at my inability to recognize and then make
sense of logical fallacies I was being presented with, then channel it into something else that was usable in a positive way.
There's more work to be done, but I
steering my own ship again, confident that I can sail whatever rough seas
might be ahead. Especially with the help of brilliant, caring people like my lady, who took time this evening to hear my mind and give her own thoughtful responses.
On life's journey, such splendid company is always welcome.
May 27 – Successful Saturday!
Sometimes your intentions do work
out; mine did, today.
After arising again at 5:05am,
thanks to some noisy crows outside( it's nesting season here and they're manically active )I decided to make use of my immediate wakefulness by getting an early start on
working on my book. I interspersed my creative efforts with things like breakfast,
laundry and a bit of cleaning so that I didn't overwork my brain and left room
for new thoughts.
By noon, I needed to get out of the
apartment, as it was a gorgeous day outside, so I decided to go for a walk and
find lunch somewhere quiet, not an easy task on a busy weekend of wonderful weather. My steps took me towards downtown and I soon found
myself at Sookjai, a Thai restaurant
that I haven't been to in over year, due to my stomach problems and mobility
issues. They have amazing food, served in big portions at excellent prices, and I
was glad I could again be a customer.
 |
| It's small, quiet, not overly bright and has comfy chairs... |
I was also the only one in the restaurant,
which I found odd at first but then I realized might be a fantastic
opportunity: I asked the waitress if Saturdays were normally quiet and she
replied they were indeed - aha!
After enjoying my lunch for a while,
I had a second realization: I hadn't heard a single motorcycle go by for
almost 45 minutes. I again asked the waitress if this was normal and she said
that she rarely hears motorbikes go by on Fort Street, as they prefer to travel down
Cook St. on their way to the Dallas Road area to cruise along the ocean - aha again!
I know all too well how many hundreds of motorcycles cruise along Cook
Street daily during the better weather, necessitating my need to escape from
that constant rumbling hell of noise when I'm trying to write - or even just
relax. To date, I've been editing my book in my bedroom on my bed with a laptop, as the
noise and distraction of the road outside the front room's windows is simply
too much to take even with headphones, drawn curtains and earplugs. Moving's
also not an option in this sky-high rental market.
 |
| Ponds: Exposed, frog-noisy and uncomfortable to sit in. |
I am now thinking that Sookjai can be
my new non-work / non-home writing space. The waitress confirmed that customers are quite welcome to come in to relax however they want, often bringing their laptops to use the free Wifi through ShawOpen. As long as they buy
food or drink, the restaurant is happy to accommodate during the slow daytime
on Saturdays...
Yes!!!
May 28 – More Writing
Since the Mufflerless Red Truck woke me at 5:30am today outside my window, I again had the opportunity to make an early
start to my day.
 |
| The earplugs, they do nothing... |
My creative muse was in fine form, and I spent
most of the morning happily editing my book, massaging the rough clay of the
words into shapes better suited to my latest thoughts of how the novel should
flow.
I also took time for noontime walk, to get some
air and clear my head to make space for more ideas, as I like to think of it.
Of late, I've been hesitant to do more than 7500 steps a day, as my leg's been
complaining, but paying diligent attention to how( and how long )I sit at work during the day appears to be paying
off. So too, does the complete lack of caffeine and alcohol of any kind: I wake
up with a clear head, and for the most part I've not been bothered by weather
changes, both of which are excellent signs of returning resilience.
The walks, though: so necessary for new creative
thought. Much like thinking in a shower, a slow walk along a quiet back street
lets my mind wander, free to make creative connections while getting my body
moving, forestalling any sleepy urges raised by staying still for too long at a
stretch - the ideas flow, and I write them down.
Good.
Back to writing for the evening, with an early day likely for tomorrow...
Back to writing for the evening, with an early day likely for tomorrow...
Another early blog entry this week. It's impressive what you can get done when you don't stretch yourself too thin( ummm...yeah )and focus your efforts. The next few months should be interesting, given the choices I've made this week, so stay tuned to see how thing develop.
