Lightsabers, Living and March For Our Lives

The word of the week is dearth.

March 19 - Snapback

Sometimes - more often of late - I wonder what I'm accomplishing?

There's a mental image I use for this sort of thinking: a rubber band.

Much like life, you can stretch a rubber band to encompass all sorts of things, but not too many at a time: if you try that, some of those things are going to slip away.

Today, I felt like my rubber band was stretched too far, almost brittle. I wrote about it when I got home, which is an exercise I'm making myself do whenever these sorts of moods hit me: it's a form of externalization, and it does help. You can read what I wrote here, as I didn't feel it was worthwhile turning into a full post-section all by itself, but still worth mentioning as it's an honest reflection of what I'm feeling at this point in my life regarding my self-worth as tied to my work/career and my 'accomplishments' as such.

Treading water will keep you breathing, but you're going to get tired, and the shore doesn't get any closer while you're just surviving. Still, better to swim than float, because at least that way you get to choose a direction instead of being swepy along willy-nilly by the currents...

March 20 - Cosplay

While I didn't get out to the local con this year in Victoria, word has it that it was a spectacular success( and a crowded one too, glad I didn't go... )so we should see it again in 2019, as I've read the organizers have already booked space here. There was a nice

In the meantime, here's a brief glimpse of the happy-crazy crowds:

Capital City -

As well, Emerald City Comicon in Seattle is on my radar for a visit, maybe as early as next year - we'll see. In the meantime, there's plenty of imageryfrom 2018's convention, which has some excellent cosplay, one of my fave things about cons!

March 21 - Stephen and Stephen

The world lost Stephen Hawking last week, as I noted in my previous blog post: a giant of science, he will be long-remembered by the world for his contributions, as well as his indomitable spirit.

I'd also like to remember a smaller Steven, a friend I'd never met, who passed away March 7th 2017... and who deserves not to be forgotten. From my March 2017 posting:

He had cystic fibrosis, succumbing after a courageous battle to this vile disease only a few months after he was diagnosed around Christmas time. He was hopeful to last that a lung transplant would bring things around again, and to see him just vanish was utterly shocking.

I first met Steven online, playing Neverwinter Nights, around 11 years ago. I got to know him through his characters, one of whom, a warrior named Jade, spending quite a bit of time with my own character creation, Nichneven. Through our regular character interactions over the years, I came to count him as a friend.

I am saddened that I did not get to know Steven as well as I could have, though I was fortunate enough to become a FBook friend years ago. He always posted images of beautiful landscapes, had a fondness for funny memes, Star Wars and Star Trek, and from our too-few interactions had a lovely, contemplative soul. He also had an oddly endearing love of squirrels, as well as Disney's Tinkerbell.

I hope that wherever they are now, both Steven and Stephen get a chance to hang out; I think they'd like each other.

March 22 - Jabba's Sail Barge

Hasbro's trying something different: crowdfunding!

In an effort to appeal directly to Star Wars collectors, the newly-formed Haslabs has come up with a 'kickstarter' of sorts, to fund the creation of the largest Star Wars toy... er, 'collectible' ever created: the sail barge from The Return Of The Jedi! Check out this amazing set of images and video:

Click for details - it's stunning!

They're about 70 percent funded, with 3635 out of the 5000 backers needed to turn the sail barge into a reality as of today:

 While I'd love to have one for, um, display purposes, the $500 USD price tag is *way* out of my league, sadly. It's going to end up being one of those 'holy grail' collector pieces that everyone wants, but only a few manage to find as the years pass and one or two show up on eBay for exorbitant prices, just like all the Star Wars Lego toys. Some of those are going for ten times their original prices, depending on rarity and the market, which actually makes them a pretty good investment...

But only if you keep them unopened in the box, darn it!

March 23 - Biases

How biased are your sources of information?

It's shocking how many people take what their favourite media sources say for granted, to the point where they don't question the bias of stories they consume. This is often attributable to confirmation bias, where people tend to look for information that confirms their preexisting beliefs.

Just this week I ran across the handy chart below from this site, which is being regularly updated by its creator. It visually shows how biased various news sources are, which is quite handy to determine where on the Left/Right and Accurate/False scales each rests:

Click image for the VERY LARGE version to save for your reference!

Bonus: if you're using Chrome, you can use a handy-dandy plugin that will perform much the same function, via MediaBiasFactCheck.com to check out the biases of a source. That particular website is gold for pointing out to someone how solid( or not )their sources are, which may shake up their preconceptions and( hopefully )make them THINK about what they're saying.

As you always should.

March 24 - March For Our Lives

It was a huge day today in the USA for gun control activists!

The March For Our Lives turnout in Washington DC alone was estimated to be a million people, showing stunning support for the reform of gun laws in America:

Millions of people turned out elsewhere across the country:

The video coverage was equally massive, and the speeches were tragic, heartfelt and moving:

Support for gun reform has continued to build after the Parkland high school shootings, with many celebrities chiming in to lend their weight to the cause:

Hellboy's on their side!

Yet there continues to be strong opposition from gun-rights advocates, including the NRA, who have their own supporters, many of whom are nothing more than scum, who TRASH-TALK the Parkland survivors, or alter IMAGES of the teens to push lies to discredit their courageous stand. This is an image one such scumbag posted online, that I've blurred out because it makes me sick to see such viciousness directed at teenagers by cowardly grown men who love their guns more than the lives of the innocent:

I don't have the words for how disgusting this kind of image is...

I'm actively involved online in highlighting the efforts of those who are pushing for gun reform in the USA, because I believe they need every bit of support they can get. They're fighting against an organized, well-funded opposition who continue to do all they can to discredit, distract and defuse the efforts of the Parkland teens along with their supporters. I would love to see a safer, saner America in the near future, one I can visit with far less trepidation regarding random gun violence, like the victims of the LA shooting in late 2017: right now, anyone is vulnerable, and I don't feel like ending up a statistic.

I especially don't want anyone I love dying the same way.

Just like those who are marching this weekend for gun control in the USA.

March 25 - Luke's Lightsaber!

Well, this was a surprise!

Last week, my friend Kevin did me the kindness of visiting the Science World exhibit in Vancouver, where he took many photos of Luke Skywalker's original lightsaber which was on display:

Click to read the full-size image, the text is quite interesting!

Purchased by Ripley's in July 2017 for the princely sum of $450K USD, it has been traveling around for the last few months to drum up interest in Ripley's, which is fine by me, though there was no way I could get to Vancouver to see it.

Yet amazingly, the lightsaber traveled over to Langford THIS WEEKEND ONLY to go on display at the Save-On Foods, of all places:

I found out about it on FBook, of all places, as one of the local Victoria photographers, Doug Clement Photography, had snapped a few photos of the display( while he was in Vancouver, ironically )and mentioned in the captions it was coming HERE - huzzah! So today in the early-morning-ish, my lady and I headed to Langford, and were pleasantly surprised that here was NO lineup as of 9am! We walked right up to the display and had all the time I liked to take some of these amazing photos:

Click to enlarge, there's some great snaps in there!

I was pretty chuffed; as I told my lady, this was as close as I will likely ever get to Star Wars, in the way of what I saw on the screen being THERE right in front of me. It's like I reached into the fantasy world of the movie and plucked out this one iconic item, to place it under the lights to shine with the bright silver sheen of solid reality.

A pretty damned good day, I'd say!

I had a pretty decent weekend all in all, with my lady and I spending good chunks of Friday, Saturday AND Sunday together: always good for my state of mind, and hopefully hers as well! Going into this coming week, I've again got little on my plate save my usual projects, so it's again a slow burn towards some kind of success this spring!

And as a bonus, I've completed my blog WAY early, to spend the evening as needed: writing, relaxing, reading a few comics( crossovers are great - more on that next week )and give over the main living area to my sister to use so SHE can relax - it's all about balance...

Persistence, Physicist Passings and St. Patty's Day

The word of the week is gormless.

March 12 - Rinse and Re-Pete

Another "No thanks, we declined to choose you" email came today at work.

It was an especially damning one, as a trainer for my current office that I felt I was well-suited for and for which I'd carefully crafted my application letter.

Nope. Didn't even make it into an interview, thanks-so-much-for-applying... 

Despite the bone-deep weariness of yet another 'Nah...' in a year without a single interview, I've been here before, and I'm refusing to dwell on my 'failures'. Rather, I'm sticking out my chin and getting feedback on every Not You, Sorry response. Nobody's going to get me out of my current job except me, though I'm fighting the feeling that nobody cares about my current position either, at that.

That's a hard one some days: am I really capable of getting a new position, or just fooling myself, given my lack of specific skills and experience?

I do all of these...

It seems every day I am also reminded that things could be worse. I see people on the street here who are obviously having a rougher time of life than me, and still going on. I saw a severely disabled man in an impeccable suit putting one bad foot in front of the other, moving his canes with a curious grace to move through the sidewalk crowds, and I wondered how he dealt with his daily challenges... and if I would have it within me to show the face I saw today to the world.

I wondered if he's ever felt like he was just marking time, like I do?

March 13 - Watch this!

Ah, calculator watches... how I miss you.

Since I could first wear watches, I'd always wanted the high-tech ones, with all sorts of graphs and meters on their LCD faces. Once I'd got a bit older and realized that most of those watches were sports-centric timers, my interest turned to watches that were mini-computers, storing and manipulating data - cool!

Of all the watchmakers in the 1980's and early 90's, Casio was far and away the best at creating innovative watches. Incorporating calculators and data storage, they predated the rise of PDA's and much later smartphones, which is why I loved Casio so much. Here's a small sample of some of their watches from that era:

Top left was mine!

I had a few calculator watches, but my favourite by far( which I still have )is my Casio DBC-150 Databank, which has a TON of useful features that I used daily: a timer to multiple alarms to a segmented scheduler to storing phone numbers and a dozen others at least - here's a brief video going over some of those:

The functions of the Casio DBC150 meant I could keep most of what I needed of a day on my wrist while in school or working; the schedule and phone numbers were especially handy as I could store a combination of 150 of the two, hence the model name. There were more expensive versions that held far more numbers, or had touch-sensitive screens, but the DBC150 did all I needed until the era of full-colour PDA's... and even then, I still wore my trusty Casio well into the early 2000's.

That's a long time for a 'simple' calculator watch to last!

March 14 - Losing Hawking and Pi

Today's 'g33k holiday' of Pi Day took on a somber note with the loss of preeminent physicist Stephen Hawking, who passed at the age of 76.

Along with many others, I have long held him in the highest esteem for several reasons: his incomparable brilliance of intellect, his indominable will, and his sense of humour all spoke to me about the best of the human condition, of what we CAN be if we choose to be that way.

You likely already know about his intellect, on a par with the greatest of human minds such as Einstein and Newton, Hawking's brilliance showed at an early age, and only grew with time. It was undimmed by the progression of the disease that wasted his body away, ALS, which by all odds should have killed him in his mid-twenties. His determination to survive, along with excellent medical care and a good bit of luck in how the disease progressed meant he spent fifty years longer than anyone expected on this earth... for which humanity benefited. If you're not sure exactly what Hawking contributed, have a gander at this:

Yet it is the retaining of his remarkable sense of humor despite being trapped in a body no longer under his control that remains so astonishing, and inspiring, to me. His wit and enjoyment of life blazed like a star even from his wasted frame, and that is something I hold tightly to when my own dark days threaten to overwhelm me: to find the humour in life, no matter what, and to laugh when you want to cry. Also to Never Give Up:

It is with sincere thanks that we bid farewell to Dr. Stephen Hawking, who more than earned his place at this table of history:

March 15 - Are You Ready?

Years ago, I used to fall asleep reading.

Yet I haven't been able to for at least a decade or more, as the light I needed to see kept me awake; for a while now I've kept things low-key, using red lights and screen-colour filters on my devices to keep my biorhythms happy as bedtime neared.

Still, the need to fall asleep to a story has never left me, which is why last year I started to listen to audiobooks on Audible before bed. This has the advantage of letting me set a timer, and also gives my eyes a rest, as they've still been twinging of late after a long day - I've made an appointment with the eye doctor again this week.

For the last month, I've been listening to Ready Player One, narrated by Wil Wheaton, who does a great job. As a bonus, there's something about the tone and cadence of his voice that lulls me to sleep most nights, which helps.

This is my fave 'variant' RPO poster by far!

The movie adaptation of Ready Player One comes out in two weeks time, and I'm chomping at the bit to see it, as Steven Spielburg is directing: from all accounts, he's pulled out all the stops visually and the story closely adheres to the book. Unfortunately, given the 'nostalgic' nature of the story, there were a TON of licences that had to be secured from hundreds of intellectual properties, and a few were missed, of which Star Wars is the biggest omission. Apparently Disney just wasn't willing to play ball, which is their loss, especially given the furor with which the latest Star Wars films have caused from their 'new direction' taken.

SPOILERS BELOW: if you've already read RPO, then the video below won't spoil anything and it's SO DAMN GOOD, a homage to the 8-bit 80's set to music from the band Gunship, who'd I'd never heard of until now but will be checking out ASAP:

March 16 - Vomiting Cash?

Money's still tight for me in 2018, but I'm managing to stay afloat, with some help.

As I've already noted above, getting a better-paying position of just a few hundred dollars more a month would make ALL the difference to my finances, but that's been a year of banging my head on a plexiglass ceiling.

I suppose I could always go looking for Ambergris( whale vomit )on the beaches nearby, as I live only a short walk from the seashore, but that's a needle-in-the-haystack chance. I suppose if I spent the time I would be writing on the beach instead every morning and evening, I guess I'd improve my chances, but I'd be removing any chance of my actually finishing my novel.

Then again, at around $50,000 USD / kg, it would pay a lot more - hmmm.

This train of thought also led me to an older recurring thought I've had:

How much money IS there in the world, more or less? Answer: lots...

March 17 - Not-ComiCon

There's a comic convention in town, but I'm not going.

Capital City Comicon is taking place this weekend here in Victoria, but I'm not planning to attend, for a few reasons, first and foremost being cost: I need to save money, and even if I just attended for the $35 Saturday pass, what's the point of walking around in the crowds and window shopping without being to get any of the cool stuff? I was in much the same situation when I went to Arizona in 2013 on a shoestring budget so tight that I got back home with $2.00 to my name, with a week to go until my payday. I did budget $40 USD to buy something and I found some stellar Star Wars posters by Ant Lucua( signed! )so I didn't come home empty-handed... but I walked by so much cool stuff that I'd have loved to have, but couldn't bear to stop to examine further because it hurt to pass it by.

Secondly is health: I'm still not in any shape to spend a few hours on my feet, especially in a crowd: while my anxiety seems to have gone dormant, I'm in no hurry to test that, given the stress I'm still operating under right now.

Also at CCCC is, of course, cosplay. Which, to be honest, I can do a better job of seeing online thanks to the magic of social media than wandering around in person. I'd love to attend in-costume, but given that the only costume I have( my  Aliens USCM from 2 years ago )still isn't what I consider finished( and the rifle's malfunctioning, too )there's no point, as I'd just overheat - I don't want that.

Instead, I'll just dream about the costumes I might create at some balance-point in the future, like this one:

My dream cosplay - SOUNDWAVE!!!

Inspired by the above cosplay, I messed around online and stumbled across the perfect voice changer to make Soundwave's voice! Called RobotVox, this simple free Android app is the closest I've ever heard software come to synthesizing the unique wavetones of everyone's favourite Decepticon - cool!!!

Now all I need to do is get every other aspect of my life together so I can get to work on creating a costume to go with the voice - no sweat, right?

- - - 

In the late morning today, my lady and I met our friend Roz at the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, where we spent a nice few hours wandering around the lush greenery inside, marveling at the hundreds of insects roaming free. There were also turtles, parrots, beetles and even flamingos! Check out some of the amazing pictures:

See my FBook profile for the full album!

We then lunched at the excellent and eclectic Zanzibar Cafe nearby, which we'll be visiting again soon, to be sure, as they have a stunning rear outdoor patio - the place is a hidden gem!

In the late afternoon I spent a few hours at Sookjai, writing my blog, before heading out to the 5th-annual St. Patrick's Day Extravaganza at my co-worker Jen's place with my lovely lady Michelle. We arrived when it was quiet, spent a few hours chatting people up, including a rousing conversation about world economies, AI, UBI and similar high-level topics, then left as things got louder, as is our usual SOP.

March 18 - Uplift

Today was a 'Perk Peter Up' day, which I appreciated!

My lady and I started off with a late breakfast at the Hawk and Hen, which we've come to love as it's never crowded and the food is excellent. We then scooted north to wander around the Glendale Gardens, again with our friend Roz. I was particularly taken with the Japanese gardens and their bonsai trees, for the way tha nature is encouraged to grow within the greater plans of the gardens, but not trimmed to within an inch of its life like a traditional English garden would be:

Relaxing and zenlike...

As we'd had a late breakfast, we skipped lunch to head into town to meet with other members of Victoria Verse to talk poetry for a few hours inside the mostly-tranquil Atrium. I got to read my old winter poem The Snow Queen, which was well-received, and the others there shared some of their excellent work that I provided a few pithy comments on here and there; good times. My lady and I left a few hours later to kick back on the patio at Moxie's down the road, where to my delight I discovered they had Granville Island Maple Cream Ale on the menu, which I haven't been able to find in years locally! We chatted about all sorts of subjects under the sun, literally, just enjoying the semi-balmy weather as we had the patio to ourselves, and not wanting the day to end as the sun dipped lower...

I was SO happy to discover this again - delicious!

Mission successful: Peter was most definitely smiling by sunset!

It's a short 4-day workweek for me, and I'll be plugging away at editing my novel among other things, including( I hope! )having my GlowForge shipped to me. Tally-ho!