A Few Steps Behind

            I've never really been one for being up-to-date on the newest and latest. My parents somehow managed to teach me that if you wait for something, you find out if you really want it. Combine that with my (almost) infinite patience and you've got someone who is quite happy to wait for what he wants. Sometimes it’s worked for me, sometimes against.

            I think the first example of this would be Pogs. Do you remember those? They were little pieces of cardboard with pictures on them that you collected, traded and wagered in games involving flipping them with plastic (sometimes metal) Slammers. They became a huge thing when I was a kid, but I didn't get into them until just months before they were banned throughout the schools (because it was gambling, plus it was causing loads of fights and bullying).

            Next would have been Pokemon – the video game; I was never interested in the cards foe some reason. When the Pokemon games first came out, it was released on the Gameboy. Newer versions were released on the next handheld system, the Gameboy Color. I didn't get my own copy of the game until the Gameboy Advance came out, at which point I got a used Gameboy Color and Pokemon Gold Version (I wanted Yellow, but it was no longer made). It was also no longer “cool” to play Pokemon, though I didn't care about that one bit.

            Harry Potter was something that I wasn't quite as late to the party for. I believe the third book was released within a year of my parents giving me the first one for my birthday. Over the next year I read that book ten times, the later times being followed by the second book, then the second and third. That was the first time I was ever riding the crest of the wave, waiting for books four through seven to come out.

            The better side has revealed itself in more recent years. Dr Who is the perfect example. I only started watching the show last year. My reward? I haven’t had to wait for any of it! I was able to buy all seven seasons (I haven’t gotten into the older stuff yet) and watch at my leisure. The same went for The Big Bang Theory – when I started watching it, I had plenty of seasons ready and waiting for me to watch.

            On the flip side, of course, are the few interests I have gained that have (along with my wife’s less-patient influence) managed to get me waiting on the edge of my seat. The video game, Portal was so amazing that Portal 2 was the first thing I ever pre-ordered. Also, the Assassins’ Creed series that has me chomping at the bit as I wait for each new instalment. And we mustn't forget BBC’s Sherlock, which I just watched the first two episodes of the third season tonight and must now wait for the third episode to become available.

            Weighing these two styles of obtaining entertainment, I find that I prefer being late to the party. That way I save money (because prices drop the more you wait), I get larger portions of my chosen entertainment at once and I don’t already own everything so it isn't redundant when I get extended and collector’s editions of things. All I get for keeping up to date on the latest thing is I can talk about it with other people who keep up to date on it. Besides needing to avoid spoilers while cruising the internet, living a few steps in the past is much nicer.

            Better late than never is a very common saying. Perhaps it’s actually better to be late than on time.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Stream of Consciousness

            There’s a writing exercise called “Stream of Consciousness”. What you do is write down your thoughts as they come into your head. I was thinking it would make for an interesting blog post when I remembered how terrible I am at it.

            My first problem with writing a stream of consciousness is my typing speed. I can’t keep up with my brain. Being a writer, you’d think that I could write pretty fast – not so. I can only type twenty-five words per minute. Granted, that’s one handed and I can maintain that speed with either my left or right hand. Mathematically, that means I should be able to type fifty words per minute with both hands together, but no – two hands somehow drops my speed to twenty words per minute. As a frame of reference, office jobs usually require a minimum of fifty words per minute.

            The next problem for me is that I don’t actually think in words. At one point, in school, I was taught that there were two ways that people thought – either in pictures, or words. I immediately baulked at the idea because I didn't think in pictures and I knew that my thoughts needed to be translated into words before I could express them. Eventually I realised that there must be a third way of thinking (unless I was an anomaly) and, after giving it a large amount of consideration, I decided that I think in emotions. On top of that, I have several layers of thought constantly running through my head and only the one that seems most important at the time gets translated into words.

            Which brings me to my third and final problem with writing a stream of consciousness. Whenever I try to do one, my efforts to focus on what I'm thinking about inevitably focus on what I'm doing and becomes all about the exercise I'm trying to attempt. Here’s an example:

            Okay so I'm supposed to be doing a stream of consciousness thingy. I hate these things... so... what am I thinking about? Well, duh, I'm thinking about writing a stream of consciousness. As an example to the people who read my blog. Yeah I'm doing a really great job, I know, ‘cause all I can think about is what I'm supposed to be writing and, as a result, I'm writing nonsense about how I'm not writing what I should be writing because my brain refuses to switch topics.

            See what I mean? It just doesn't work for me. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting and fun exercise to try out. You should try it at some point, unless your brain is wired like mine (in which case, you have my pity) and you just keep getting caught up on what you’re doing. In that case, you should focus on writing things that don’t put your shy brain in the spotlight.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

And so it Begins

            This weekend was spent behind the Ringcrafts table at Tri-Con, an anime, comics and gaming convention. Not only was this show the first one of the year for us, this was the first year for this particular show – and I must say, wow! What a great start. If this show was an indicator of how well we’re going to do at shows this year, my wife and I may find ourselves with more chainmaille to make than we can keep up with.

            For a first year show, Tri-Con drew in an enormous crowd. So much so that it will most likely become an annual event – especially with all the press that showed up! It was wonderful to see a small event getting so much attention. This articledescribes it perfectly (and happens to mention yours truly). I can’t wait to see how this event grows over the years and I look forward to a time when I can say I was there from the beginning.

            As always, the fun of a show is followed by exhaustion, and heralds the time to look towards the next events coming up – the most exciting of which is Toronto ComiCon in March, which we were just accepted as vendors for. This is a show so big that I'm expecting the dealer’s room to be packed shoulder-to-shoulder, which is terrifying from my side of the table. With all the ideas I have and extra stock I’ll need, I expect to be very busy for a while.

            My brain tells me that I should be writing more, but I'm too tired. It’s time to go sleep off the effects that large groups of people have on introverts.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Life Under a Rock

            One of these days I'm going to sit down to write a blog and have no clue what to write. Although, to be fair, that describes almost every week. What I really mean is that I’ll have no clue and I’ll remain clueless so long that I’ll be left without a blog.

            I guess it would help a bit if I didn't live under a rock. If you consider that I rarely leave the house more than once a week, I don’t have access to TV (and wouldn't watch it if I did), I don’t listen to the radio and the only news I find out about is what filters to me through social media sites, it’s actually pretty impressive that I can find as much to talk about as I do.

            It might seem like an odd life choice to be so cut off from what are staples for most of society, but for me it comes naturally. I grew up without TV (it was replaced by my dad’s extensive movie collection) in a household that didn't even bother with newspapers. No one was interested enough for it to be worth it.

            Since the invention of the printing press, it has become more and more important for people to know what’s going on in the rest of the world. At first, it was just news being passed on, along with propaganda, but now it has evolved into entertainment. Because of that, news has become a series of one catastrophe after another – after all, the core of all entertainment is conflict. The end result is that the news is depressing and nothing is achieved by knowing it, so I figure I'm better off without it.

            I’ll admit that keeping on top of world (or even local) events is important for some people, but for me (and probably most people) it really doesn't matter. I know there are lots of things wrong with the world; I don’t need to be reminded. What will knowing about current events accomplish? I don’t have the time or resources to do anything about it. The best I can do is vote for a government that will do what they can (at which point I do research that negates the need to be constantly deluged with global issues).

            The result of this? I get to live a happier life. It could be argued that I'm uninformed, but, in this day and age, any time I need to know about something, I can just look it up. Personally, I think that living a happier life is more important than knowing about events I have no control over. I may be living under a rock, but it’s nice down here. Plus, I have the added bonus of being able to poke my head out to participate in the world whenever I want (which, admittedly, is not often).

            The moral of the story is, you can’t get stuck between a rock and a hard place if the rock is working for you. Come live under a rock and be happier. But not my rock. It’s occupied. Shoo.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Imagination

            Imagination is a wonderful thing. I can’t imagine a world without it – and in a world without it, I couldn't imagine anything at all. So, I find it strange that imagination is so often labeled as a childish thing; something we’re supposed to grow out of.

            I think that a lot of people never stop to think about how much we actually rely on imagination. The truth is, we would have nothing without it. We would be hunters/gatherers living in caves without tools – because the first tool was just a thing that someone imagined could be used for something else. Homes, too, are a product of imagination. Someone imagined a way to create their own shelter, then they built it. I don’t even need to mention all the technology we rely on.

            Even our languages – spoken and written – came from imagination. Someone imagined a certain combination of sounds could paint a picture of a person, place, thing, or action. Then someone did the same thing with squiggles in the dirt or paint on a cave wall. What creative people they were!

            I’ll admit there is a down-side to imagination, and that’s fear. We can imagine all kinds of terrible things far worse than what is actually out there. As an example, the other night I turned out the light before going to bed, but instead of getting straight into bed like I usually do, I crouched down beside the bed and was as silent as possible. Colleen, who was already in bed, knowing that I was in the room somewhere and that I enjoy scaring her periodically, was terrified. She was sure I was going to jump out at her, although I told her later (and got swatted for it) that I had no intention of doing so because I knew her imagination could scare her far more than I could.

            But that’s one negative point, and it actually branches into a positive one – entertainment! What would life be without entertainment and how could entertainment exist without imagination? Everything from the simplest game to books and movies required imagination to create. So unless someone does nothing but eat, sleep and work, their lives rely on imagination in some way.

            All things considered, I think that imagination is the most valuable thing we have. Imagine that. If imagination is childish, then I’m perfectly happy to stay a child forever. A world without imagination is a world that shouldn't exist.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

 

2013

            Woohoo! I actually managed to make it through a whole year of blogging every week. I didn't think I could do it – just goes to show what you can accomplish when you try.

            It’s been a good year, too, on all fronts. In the writing world, I finished writing my fourth book (my best one yet) and, while I didn't break into the publishing industry I managed to do something (almost) better – I learned how the industry works. Now I can enter the new year armed with the tools and knowledge I gained this year and, with any luck, I’ll be landing an agent fairly early in the year.

            As for the chainmaille business, Ringcrafts, this was the year that was to determine if we should bother continuing with it – and the answer was yes! It’s supposed to take a new business five years to overcome their initial start-up expenses and start making a profit and we managed it in two. This means we can go into next year with far more confidence.

            In addition, we now know a lot more about shows – we know where our products sell the best, we’re better at finding shows to go to and we have a good idea of how well we can keep our products in stock. This means more shows and an even better year than this one was.

            I hope your year was as good as ours was and hope next year is even better! Thank you all for your support (be it of writing, chainmaille or both) and see you (well, type to you) in 2014. Happy New Year!

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Evolution of a Family Christmas

            Writing this, I've just gotten home from the most unique family Christmas gathering I've ever been to, so I thought I’d share my experience with you.

            This was a family Christmas for my mom's side of the family (plus a wonderful woman my mother’s family had adopted as a grandmother because she had no family in the country), where I am the second oldest grandson. Over the years, I've watched many traditions and seen many changes. At first, we got together every Christmas Eve at my grandparents’ house. After the Christmas dinner (which was always fantastic), we’d go to the church service. When we returned to the house, we’d have our Christmas Pie – this is made with gifts for each person, on ribbons with their names, all wrapped up in a bundle by my grandmother. Everyone takes their ribbon, we all pull at the same time and the first gifts of the year burst out of the Pie.

            With the children occupied by the toys they just received, the Christmas Story was then read from the Bible. After that, the grandchildren were called upon to perform various musical pieces we had prepared. Then presents would be handed out – my grandfather would pull the presents from under the tree and hand them to a grandchild to deliver. Then everyone would unwrap presents at once. My grandmother always sewed pyjamas for the grandchildren, and the younger ones changed into them before going home that night.

            It was always a fun time, and the family slowly grew every couple years as new grandchildren were born. At some point, we stopped going to the church service because there were too many fidgety children. As my cousins grew older, the job of delivering presents passed down to them. After many years, my adopted great-grandmother passed away (after a full, 100 year life), so was no longer there with us.

            Then my grandparents moved to a condo, so the celebration moved to the homes of my parents, aunts and uncles, rotating each year. Much was different, but still we had our Christmas Pie, followed by the reading of the Christmas Story, music from the grandchildren, then gifts delivered by the grandchildren.

            One year, a friend of my aunt’s family joined us. I actually don’t know her story, but I believe she has no local family. She has been with us every year since and has been accepted as part of the family – she even gets a present in the Christmas Pie!

The family started slowly growing again as we grandchildren started dating. When a significant other came to the gathering, they were always welcomed with open arms (and my grandmother always managed to fit a present for them into the Pie). Of course, with dating age comes a certain amount of self-consciousness and less free time, so, one by one, the grandchildren stopped preparing music to perform. An effort was still made, but it was getting weaker each year.

            The next big change was when we had to move the date from Christmas Eve. As the grandchildren started to work, it became harder and harder to get the whole family together - especially once my mom was ordained as a minister and had her own Christmas eve services to perform. Still, we managed it. It wasn't the same day anymore, but it stayed the same celebration.

            This year saw another big change, followed by many complications. My grandparents moved to a retirement home and, shortly afterwards my grandfather began having health issues that have had him in and out of hospitals for the past several months. As he became less mobile, we planned to have our family Christmas at the retirement home – unfortunately, last week my grandfather had to return to the hospital.

            Did my family let that stop us? No. We had our Christmas dinner at the retirement home as planned, with twenty of us there! My grandmother, six aunts and uncles, six grandchildren, four significant others and three family friends with no local family to have Christmas with (and a partridge in a pear tree).

            After the dinner, we all packed up and went to the hospital with a Christmas dinner plate for my grandfather. We were able to take over a section of a closed cafeteria – which was lucky, because there wouldn't have been enough room for all of us in any of our houses. A few decorations were put up, my grandfather was wheeled down to us (my cousin draped tinsel over his wheelchair) and we opened our Christmas Pie (it was very big this year!). Then the Christmas Story was read. None of the grandchildren had prepared music, so we went on to the gifts – delivered (mostly) by my youngest cousins. After presents were opened, one of the family friends looked up carols on his smart phone for one of my cousins to play on the electric keyboard my parents had brought along, bringing the family’s traditional music to the evening as everyone joined in with the singing.

            It was truly wonderful to see how everything came together. I know that, by the time grandchildren have jobs, a lot of families have given up on getting together every year. Not so with my family – we didn't let a little thing like my grandfather being in the hospital get in the way of our Christmas traditions. I think this year’s family gathering will be one I’ll always remember, because it shows what lengths people will go to for something they feel is important.

            So, I’d like to wish you a very [this space represents whatever seasonal greeting you find least offensive] and I hope that your holiday season will be as great as it can be.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.