Musings, Mojo and Major Movie Time!

The word of the week is tenacity.

April 2 ­- Goldilocks and Ideal Self

This was a short week, with a holiday today and Friday off.

Good; I can use the rest.

Working all of last week on my novel submission to Baen( go me! )was a strain on my eyes, and while I took precautions like leavening my writing time with 20-20-20 breaks, my weaker right eye is still paining me today. But not terribly.

What's paining me more is... happiness?

I'm a motivated person, as many of you know, though I feel what I've accomplished in life to date to be small and unremarkable, at least in terms of the impact on others, as well as my own life; one glance at my finances makes a good example of the latter. Still, we're not just balance sheets: life's a lot more than that. Challenging yourself and staying motivated is key to getting a grip on life, which when you follow the Goldilocks Rule, starts to make sense:

Right now I'm not challenged at my day job( and I've received word it's going to be changing later this year, so that's worrisome... )but I've been using that 'lack of challenge' to my advantage by learning via YouTube at work while my hands are busy but my brain... isn't. I've gone from a mix more of entertaining myself( a process of relaxation )to a majority of educating myself about writing, as well as the science involved in my novels, which has kept my motivation up.

It's also been a case of worrying less, which is a challenge unto itself.

Yet I know it's a process, a series of small hills, rather than a trudge up an unending( and unyielding )mountain:

For now, I'm simplifying, just being, and seeing how the rest of 2018 shows up as I crest each new hill.

April 3 - In the Swim

My water routine seems to be working out.

Twice a week, I'm up early before work on Tuesdays and Fridays, to get to the swimming pool by the 7am open-time and in the water ASAP in case other people trickle in; I like having the place to myself, as it seems like it's my own private pool... if only for a brief time.

I just LOVE hottubs!

This week and last, I've been soaking my legs in the hottub for 5-7 minutes beforehand, to loosen up the muscles before I stretch, and it's been helping. I've managed to swim for about 20 minutes without pause, with good flexion and a nice, tired feeling at the end that tells me I've burned some solid calories while moving around.

Being sensitized to my own body as much as I am( thanks, 2017 anxiety... )means I can tell exactly when my muscles are tweaking / close to strain, and I back off the effort level for a minute, then go again. My goal is to make it a full 30 minutes of exercise at decent effort levels, though that's tricky since I have to factor in a shower, changing and getting to work... as well as fitting breakfast in there somewhere. Fortunately, the place with the best deal on breakfast also lets me phone in an order, so it's ready by the time I walk there from the pool; yes!

Once the current cardpass runs out in a few months, I'm considering getting a basic gym membership, as the pass went up to $80.00 / 20 visits, which at two visits / week is only 2.5 month’s worth.

Then again, I have a fitness bike just taking up space in my apartment... one that I'm loathe to get back on, should I suffer a repeat of the tendon injuries from 2016.

Maybe I'll just take things slow for now, and see how I feel by May.

April 4 - That One Thing...

Another note on happiness: it's all about quality.

A study by Harvard that's been going for 75 years( wow! )showed that when it comes to people being happy, the thing that matters most is love:

Now, I've read years ago that the threshold of financial happiness is around $75,000... but it's now around $83,000 AND that has nothing to do with being happy in life, just non-stressed about being able to pay your bills, buy some geegaws, and save for retirement. All of which I'd like to be able to do without getting tired from the continuous juggling.

Yet, I'm lucky in love, according to the Harvard study, as I have many quality relationships in my life when it comes to friends and family, as well as my remarkable girlfriend. There's a Ted Talk that goes into a little more detail about the Harvard study here, and it's worth the 12 minutes of your day to watch:

April 5 - Isaac Arthur

As mentioned above, I'm learning at work about science, specific to the concepts that I am using to write my novel trilogy.

YouTube is a big place to poke around in, but I'm incredibly grateful that I stumbled across Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur earlier this year. He's a math guy, so the numbers make for a solid foundation to build each of his videos upon... and given that he's been releasing one per week for a couple of years now, there's over a hundred available, varying in time from 20 to 60 minutes. Gold!

Here's an example of an early video of his, which is still crammed full of great information:

I highly recommend his channel, as the 'later' videos( circa 2016 )are fabulous, many with animations and data charts worth pausing on to soak in the full concepts and ideas. I'll be re-watching some of his videos in the next few weeks, this time taking some notes as time permits each day as the ideas coalesce...

Bonus: in the evening, I went out to my writing group's Meet N'Greet!

It's been months since I last attended a Meetup, and even that was our State of The Union meeting, so it doesn't count; the last one was in November, five months ago. So tonight was well overdue for me making an appearance, and I'm glad I did: the group took my initial comments about genre and ran with them! We had a lively discussion for an hour and a half, then things wound down nicely a little after 8pm; plenty of time for me to head home to get a few things done.

I was also pleased that I'd managed to sit upright in my chair for all that time with nary an abdominal twinge; my exercise and movement efforts are paying off!

April 6 - Ready Player One

Two years after reading the book, I got to see the movie today!

For those of you who don't know, here's a spoiler-free summary of RPO:

In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spends their days. In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone-the only limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense fortune and total control of the Oasis to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends-aka the High Five-are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS.

I went into the movie today with the understanding that there were some significant changes made from the book to the film, but I understood that some parts of the book( author Ernest Cline's first novel! )weren't well-suited to filming - this article goes into the details of why that was.

Did I enjoy the film? HECK yeah!

Was it good? Overall, with only one viewing, I'd give it a solid 8/10 for a fun ride through 80's nostalgia, a 9/10 for visual effects, a 7/10 for story... and a 5/10 for plot execution.

I'll explain that last score: it was... clumsy, which surprised me for a Spielberg film. There were many missed opportunities for character nuance, tidier plotlines and so forth, as the film simply barreled along to the end. It meant there were few slow spots, which was good, but I found myself wishing that things had been done somewhat tidier, which is the writer in me nitpicking( with good reason )on things.

Now, some people out there think the film is great, while others hate it... and I have to say, if I wasn't an 80's kid, I'd probably see it as just an OK action-VR-video-game film. But since I am who I am, I'll be seeing it at least one more time, in IMAX, to soak up the visuals, and definitely purchasing the film on Blue-Ray to pause saidsame visuals to savour all the easter eggs that I missed.

Which, in a movie whose central plot is about finding an easter egg, there's a TON of them!

April 7 - Complications...

It's never easy, or at least it seems that way some days.

Earlier this week, I received a reply to an email I'd sent to Glowforge, to make sure my unit was still being held in queue for delivery, once I figured out the details which included picking up from a USA address to save $425 USD in shipping to Canada. I mentioned as much in my email, and this was the response:

From the last sentence of his reply, what I take it to mean is that while I *can* have it shipped to the USA, I have to ensure I inspect it FULLY when picking it up in order for the warranty to be in effect. Meaning I have to call up the receiving company and ensure that I'll be allowed to do the testing, which will take about 30 minutes and some portion of their space - plus a power outlet.

It's not a huge problem... but it's one more consideration, on top of the estimated $400 I'll be paying in taxes / duties, according to my research this week.

Meaning my estimated payback, just for the cost of the Glowforge, will be about two years, based on a flat monthly income. Less, of course, if the business takes off later this year with some good local word-of-mouth and online website.

First though, I have to get it here intact.

April 8 - Comics!

As I wasn't feeling particularly well yesterday, I took it easy today. My girlfriend wasn't on top of the world either, so perhaps there's something going around, a spring bug? I'm hoping she feels better soon.

It could have been an incipient headache, or something I ate( dairy? )this week, but I was feeling a bit wiped, so just relaxing was key. Even a quick trip to the grocery store for some almond milk was an exercise in energy conservation and patience, as it was rather crowded. All I wanted was to get out of there ASAP... but I just kept calm and let the noises pass me by as I focused on just Getting It Done. Which worked!

I also read a few of the comics I'd picked up over the last few months, some of them crossovers( Ghostbusters / TMNT )and others unique( The Tick, BSG vs BSG ). I've rarely purchased a comic, or even a graphic novel, in the last twenty years, as I tend to simply read the word-balloons and take passing note of the artwork only as it serves to illustrate the story... which since comics are a highly visual medium, is a disservice to the artists. Still, that's how I'd read them.

Now, being aware of that, I'm taking more time to enjoy them, page by page. Today I ready BSG vs BSG #3( series written by the great Peter David, too! )the cover of which I was surprised to find out was done by none other than Adam Mojo Lebowitz of Babylon 5 fame! As a bonus, I'm connected with him on FBook, and we traded a few comments back and forth on the art as well as related subjects; how cool is that? Check out the cover in all its glory, courtesy of Mojo himself:

That's the fun part about social media: you can connect directly with people whose work you admire, and while bearing in mind not to pester them, you can engage with them regarding their work when they have time. One more reason for me to stick around FBook, despite the negativity it's been garnering of late.

I'm probably going to be there for the long haul, but with some changes: more on that soon.

Well, it's a full five-day week ahead, but I've got little scheduled other than what I choose to catch up on this week. I think, given my low-level eyestrain, that I'm going to keep it to reading, some light Netflix-watching, and staying in to save funds( it's also going to rain all week, not great go-for-a-walk weather ). Low-key is the watchword(s) for this week, while I kick whatever minor bug's bothering me.

Frugality, Fooling Fun and Finish Lines

The word of the week is paucity.

March 26 ­- What else?

I often, as part of my daily organizing, ask myself "What else?"

It's a mental habit, to see if I've forgotten to do anything, or to ensure I know what I'll be doing later on so I don't waste time if it's a busy day or week.

Apparently, that's a bad thing...

My takeaway from the article is that, indeed, I need to stop to celebrate my accomplishments... because if I don't, then there's no point in making them.

Food for thought: what else can I do to get to that point?

Oh, dang...

March 27 - The Temple Of Knowledge

What would it be like to live in a library?

As a kid, I loved the library: a trip downtown was always an opportunity to grab a half-dozen books to devour that week, along with a few new ones from my school library( which had beanbags, but they were almost always taken at recess )which was surprisingly well-stocked thanks to Mr. Edwards( with an awesome beard! )

I also wondered now and then what it would be like to grow up surrounded by books, to have all that knowledge and magic at your fingertips. Thanks to the wonders of animation, and the recollections of a wonderful childhood, we now have an answer to that question:

March 28 - Uncanny Andy?

CGI, for all its overuse in cinema, keeps getting better.

Real-time CGI, for example, has improved to the point where it's hard to tell if you're looking at a live person, or a motion-capture model. It's still not-quite-there, but certainly good enough to pass inspection by a casual viewer:

We first saw this incredible footage on Twitter thanks to eSports commenter Alex Mendez. It features Serkis reciting MacBeth’s “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” speech with a wide range of facial expressions. The footage—which, again, was created in real time—is nothing short of amazing, both because of how close it captures the nuance of Serkis’ performance, and also because it avoids the dreaded “dead eye” trap of motion capture. This behind-the-scenes video explains how and why this is such a literal game-changer.

That’s what you call the “canny alley.”

According to Unreal Engine, this “breakthrough digital human performance” was made possible by combining their real-time rendering with “3Lateral’s Meta Human Framework volumetric capture, reconstruction and compression technology.”

“The volumetric data was generated by capturing a series of high-quality, HFR images of Andy Serkis from multiple angles under controlled lighting. 3Lateral’s process involved various capture scenarios, some focused on geometry, some on appearance and others on motion. All of these inputs were applied to generate a digital representation of Andy Serkis, and to extract universal facial semantics that represent muscular contractions that make the performance so lifelike.”

As moviegoers well know, seeing Andy Serkis’ actual face is not necessary for some of his best performances, which is why we’re even more excited by what this means for creating realistic looking video game characters of different species, like 3Lateral’s Osiris Black, who here does Andy's speech again, only with more creepy:

March 29 - Frugal Forums

Tip: you can always be better at finances.

For those folks with less to throw around, like myself, it pays to hunt down good advice for stretching your dollars. I'm always looking for articles that give tips and tricks for where to shop, what to buy and what to try when it comes to making ends meet a little easier at the end of the month.

Turns out this kind of thing is really catching on of late, especially on Reddit, where a new forum has appeared with the unfortunate title of 'Poverty Finance' :

Since it's just started this week, the forum's going to be a while sorting itself out, but I've already found a few good bits of advice I hadn't heard before. It's heartening( yet disturbing )to know that there's more people out there like myself trying to make ends meet; I get depressed when constantly seeing articles like "How to invest your Million Dollars for Retirement Wisely" or "Should your Second Home be a Condo or Rental Income Property" and the like, leaving me feeling like an indebted piece of crap for not being wealthy and wise at my age.

Whatever. It is what it is, and I'll learn what I need to, to just get on with things.

March 30 - Eerie, IN

Geez, has it been 26 years...?

Back in the early 90's( Sept 1991, to be exact )a strange... no, eerie little show hit the airwaves: Eerie, Indiana. I tuned in simply because it was a name similar to a town in the USA the other side of nearby Lake Erie, also named Erie, and the premise sounded cool:

Last month, Nerdist ran an article that looked at the 7 best episodes ofthe show( which out of 13 + a Special, is a short list )that's worth checking out. To my delight, they also mentioned that the whole series is available on Amazon Prime in the USA, to which I have a subscription still, so guess what I'll be watching this coming week?

March 31 - Baen Books Contest        

Well, I did it...

I submitted my novel to a publisher today, though it was by an unexpected method.

Last week, I learned that US-based Baen Books, who publish more than a few of the authors I admire( like David Weber, Kevin J. Anderson and David Drake )is running a 'Slush Reading' contest in a month's time, where submitted manuscripts( sans author's names )are critiqued 'live' by a Baen editor, to live or die as written. Deadline? April 1st, no joke!

It's a rough way to find out if you're up to par as an author, but since the normal 'processing time' for a slush-submitted manuscript is 9-12 months, getting one's work looked at in a month, live or not, is worth the risk of getting it shredded.

So for the last ten days, I've been doing nothing BUT edit my novel, morning and night, to the point where my eyes started hurting tonight despite my precautions - but I was right on schedule! I finished up my last edits around dinner, re-worked my 800-word synopsis and tweaked my cover letter with the help of my amazing girlfriend, then submitted everything a little after 10pm tonight - HURRAH! 

I'm pleased with the way the edits turned out, especially the synopsis and cover letter, as those will serve well for future submissions. I'm taking the coming week off editing to give my eyes a chance to recover; while they're not feeling nearly as painful as they were three months ago, they are certainly ouch-level 4/10, which is well above 'uncomfortable' in my books - and I listen to those kind of complaints.

As for Baen, they'll be holding the 'Live Slush Session' in May 2018, and I'll update things here once that happens. Wish me and the other authors luck!

April 1st - Not Fooling Around

Not much save relaxing going on today, after editing all week long.

My lady and I spent the day out, which to both our surprise was pretty darn bustling-busy everywhere this Easter Sunday. It was exactly the relaxing I needed, with some solid conversational range, as well as some beverages:

Cheers to us, and to submitting my novel!

It's also April Fool's Day today, and it seems that plenty of companies have started embracing the spirit of the joke in the last couple of years, creating some really funny fake products. Such as:

My enjoyment of the beers this afternoon was to be shorter than I'd imagined: the weather's changed just today, and by the evening my head had started to hurt, which it hasn't done for a while... so I guess I'll have to be more careful about watching pressure changes when it comes to alcohol. So it goes... but at least the week ahead is a short one: only three working days, as tomorrow's a holiday for me AND I have Friday off. W00t!

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...