The word of the week is pertinacious.
Jan 22 - Farewell, Earthsea
The losses continue: today Ursula K. LeGuin has passed.
An acclaimed Master of scifi and fantasy, LeGiun
was one of the giants that writers hope to measure themselves against: genius
coupled with skill, decades of experience, wit, wisdom and all the other
ingredients mixed together to create an artist of words without compare. We'll
not see her like again for a long time, if ever, and her life advice is worth
paying attention to for its piercing insight.
Neil Gaiman presents lifetime achievement award to Ursula K. Le Guin at 2014 National Book Awards from National Book Foundation on Vimeo.
While I was introduced to her work early when my
grade school class read A Wizard Of Earthsea( which I loved! )I
must say I've not pushed myself to read much of her other work, including the
seminal The Left Hand Of Darkness, one of the greatest science fiction
novels ever written.
When I think on why, it's clear now: I wasn't
ready.
Having consumed so much scifi and fantasy as I
have, I think I knew as I was doing so that there were certain works I'd wait
to get to, like Left Hand, because I wanted to ensure I had the depth
and breadth of understanding before tackling them. I recall reading Larry Niven's
Ringworld when I was twelve, and only appreciating it on a visual /
story level: cool stuff, but the book has so much MORE than that, even on a
technical level.
This article from Tor.com is a brilliant goodbye
to LeGuin, and well worth reading, as it shows her far-reaching influence on
generations of writers, as well as many other folk. Because that's what giants
do:
They cast long shadows where they walk.
Jan 23 – Debt Trap
When you're trying to stay afloat,
it's grimly amusing to know you're not alone.
According to recent surveys,
Canadians carry the second-highest gross-income-to-debt ratio in the Group of
20 Developed Nations, a worrying statistic because so many Canadians are walking a razor's edge of debt levels right now:
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| That's my wallet in the middle, most days |
With interest rates hiked 1.5% last
week, some people may not be able to cover their bills, when it comes to
mortgages: "Property rich, house poor" as the saying goes, which
makes me glad I'm not in that group right now.
Thankfully, in my own case, TD Bank
managed to get their act together, though it took a few phone calls over the
past few weeks to get things back to normal. My interest rate was preserved
because of my good history AND my timing, which was my main concern: my
payments actually fell by $12/month, which was great!
Now I just have to keep my nose clean
for a few more years, looking for opportunities to increase my income so I can
chip away at this debt-mountain on my back until it's the size of a big
boulder, then a rock, then a pebble...
Persistence, patience and planning:
for the future.
Jan 24 – Hero's Journey
My sister and I watched Moana on
Monday night...
It was wonderful!
What struck me the most was its
almost-pedantic adherence to J.J. Campbell's The Hero's Journey( see here for a definition ). While I've noticed it to various degrees in films for
the last few years now that I know what to watch for, Moana is the first I've
seen since that embodies it completely - this reviewer in particular
nailed their observations along those lines.
Which spurred me to check YouTube for
a few other animated examples, and that was when I came across this gem: a
tongue-in-cheek sendup of The Hero's Journey in two minutes!
Have a watch, it's
hilarious:
Jan 25 – Doomsday
Jan 25 – Doomsday
Unsettling news today...
The Doomsday Clock was moved forward to 2.5
minutes to Midnight.
In case you're not familiar with the Clock, and
what it represents, there's an excellent primer here, which looks at the
various Major Problems facing humanity, including:
- Nuclear threats
- Climate change
- Biosecurity
- Bioterrorism
- Miscellaneous threats including cyber warfare
and AI
As the graphic below shows, the clock is moved
each year in January to reflect the current state of ALL threats to humanity.
The furthest it has been from Midnight was in 1991, and the closest in 1953:
In looking at social media today, I was
disheartened to see comments like this one, showing people have forgotten the
reasons WHY the Clock is so important:
Which leads us to a classic quote,
itself too often forgotten:
"Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santayana
Jan 26 – *Achoo!*
Ah, nertz... I've caught a cold.
I'm glad I got my flu shot 2 months ago though, as
this is the first time in almost five years that I still feel halfway human
while sick; as the last few flu-season blog entries have shown, I've previously
been down for the count( including
pneumonia! )when I've fallen sick, and Christmas 2016 was when I lost 16
lbs of weight while EXTREMELY ill: never again!
Nevertheless, some people keep
railing against flu shots, and vaccinations in general... and it boggles my
mind some days. I grasp that they often have a poor understanding of the
science involved, as well as other cognitive biases and probably just some
plain old 'what we do not understand, we fear' issues. Not to mention
WIDESPREAD misinformation via social media thanks to anti-vaxxer 'activists'
who I think should be held responsible for the suffering( and associated costs )their rabid rantings have caused.
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| Get the facts on flu vaccines, not fiction |
I'll post more on the topic next
week, but for now it's time for me to dig in: chicken broth, plenty of fluids,
an extra sweatshirt and hot baths / showers are all in the cards for me for the
next few days to try and kick the bug's butts.
Good thing I laid in a good supply of
Ultra Kleenexes earlier this month!
Jan 27 – Intimidation
I read an excellent post today by writer David Gerrold, one that helps to explain the WHY behind so much of the online
venom behind those pushing the far-right agendas these days... and it's
surprisingly simple. Here's a summary snippet:
The entire post is worth reading here, because of how it gets into the mindset of those who equate authority
with fear and intimidation, then act accordingly. It's a mindset that I admit I
have a hard time understanding, not only because it makes my mind feel dirty, but
because I can't relate to the sort of person who would ACT that way to other
human beings... though the word sociopath comes to mind, it's all too easy to
fall into labels.
Time and again, I see people
responding to my thoughtful, carefully-composed posts with venom, emotional
diversions, memes and just plain dismissiveness of "You're wrong, so
there!" which is the "Nyah, Nyah!" of the schoolyard bully.
We're better than that... or at
least, humanity has to try to be.
This one's ruminating in my head, and
likely I'll have more another day to say on it.
Jan 28 – Wrapping Things Up
Bleh.
I spent most of yesterday on the
couch, watching Netflix, unable to concentrate much beyond that while wearing a
rut in the carpet to the bathroom killing Kleenexes every ten minutes: it kept
me moving, at least, so there's that.
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| Oh, Dreamworks: why the 4th-season mehs? |
I used the opportunity to catch up on
a few shows I've neglected, one of them being the fourth season of the new Voltron...
which ended up being a little disappointing. Truth be told: the writing just
didn't hold up: it made some big plot errors, missed several opportunities and
felt just kinda... flat, give the building tension of the last
three seasons. To give the show credit, the characters are solid and the
animation excellent, but if the writing's not crisp, the rest unravels.
At work this past week, I also
wrapped up the complete Dave the Barbarian animated TV series from Disney, which was as excellent
as I recalled: full of fun, puns and heroes on the run... from danger, because
"they're the only ones we've got" - it's great that the series can be
found on YouTube; though I managed to record a good number of them when it was
broadcast to air( using my ATI All-in-Wonder card!!! )I didn't
get them all, so there were about a dozen episodes that were 'new' to me, which
was a treat! If you haven't seen it, go watch it now!
Speaking of treats: today my lovely
lady took me out for a few hours at lunch, to set my cabin-fever to rest, as I
haven't been out of the apartment since Thursday night. We had lunch at the
nearby My Thai Cafe, seating ourselves next to the washroom so I could duck in
as needed to vent my nasal annoyance - the food was delicious, what I could
taste of it. We then whiled away a bit more time over in Oak Bay at Good Earth
Coffee, where incredibly I managed a 4-2 victory ratio over my lady playing
Hive; she complemented me on my improved skills, which really made my day! And,
to top it all off, we took a brief walk during a lull in the heavy rain down
the road to a local toy shop, where to my delight I found this:
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| WOW - so cool, and for LESS than the MSRP of $17.99!!! |
I've always wanted a Terror Dog toy, so poicture me with a happy grin on my
face, akin to a kid getting a lollipop after getting a needled at the doctor's
office, and you'll know exactly how I felt today after picking this little set up for a mere $14.99 - cheap therapy!
And, smiles are good for the sick:
"Laughter Is The Best Medicine" y'know!
Because I've got a cold, my
heartrate's up a fair bit, and while I'm not monitoring it obsessively( only a few times a day, NOT hourly )I'm conscious of that
knowledge being a source of anxiety: I'm telling myself that it's JUST a cold,
that I'm doing WELL compared to previous sick-times, and that it will pass in a
few days with effort and attention to self-care. I've too much to do in the
next few months to start the year off on the wrong foot, so all my will is
focused on Getting Better NOW: you wanna bet those bugs are in for a FIGHT!
