Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Face to Facebook
I'm under increasing pressure to join Facebook, if only to keep up with the times. Part of me dreads being that connected to people. Another part is afraid that I'll get on there and nobody will even notice or care. It's a strange dichotomy of emotion. We, as a culture, seem to thrive on attention. Our egos need to be fed with the positive regard of others. I see nothing wrong with this, in and of itself. However, some of us are also deeply private people who don't necessary want to share our everyday lives with a broad swath of the public (note the irony of my posting this sentiment on a blog). The tug-of-war between the need for social popularity and the fear of public disdain is a long standing struggle. Granted, most peoples' opinions of me are not a matter that I place a great deal of importance on these days. I'm long past my "insecure adolescent" phase and I'm happy to tell any critics to piss off and have a nice day. Still, sometimes if feels like the horror I endured in middle and high school (and it was horrible, believe me) is still lurking out there, barely restrained by a thin veneer of maturity and civility. When we open ourselves up to the scrutiny of others, we risk breaking through that most feeble of shields and being subjected to ridicule and humiliation. But I've come to realize that the rewards are worth the risk. Life without risk is empty and droll, after all. So, you can pretty much count on my joining the Collective fairly soon. After all, resistance if futile.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Big News
I have some fairly big news. It happened at the SCA event last weekend, but I've been down with a recurrence of the plague for the past few days, so haven't felt much like posting anything. At Court, I was offered a Protege' belt by Dame Fianna, which I accepted. Within the SCA, this is a fairly important thing and I was deeply honored. I can only hope to live up to the expectations that come along with wearing a Yellow Belt. I imagine I'll do ok, provided I don't die of the plague first.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I Has The Plague!
I've been sick as a dog for the past five days, thanks to a nasty viral infection that has taken up residence in my ears, my sinuses and my lungs. I was out of work Monday and Tuesday, went to the doctor, got medicine that screws me up just about as bad as the virus, dragged my ailing carcass out of the house for a miserable day of work on Wednesday, and am feeling just the slightest bit better today.
On a slightly ironic note, while I was home, I watched a movie that dealt with a deadly virus that decimated Scotland in the near future. It was called "Doomsday" and was a mix between The Road Warrior, Escape from New York, Resident Evil and other such "dark future" kind of movies. They stuck them all in a blender and the resulting goo was actually not bad.
There have been a lot of end of the world (or at least, of humanity) type stories floating around lately. I'm also reading a series by Terry Brooks that deals with a near future where our race is on the verge of extinction. It's got pretty much every type of disaster possible bringing humanity low. Ecological collapse, biological warfare run amok, nuclear terror and for the final blow, an invasion by demons and a secret enclave of ancient elves that may hold the key to humanity's last hope for survival. I have to give snaps to Brooks ability as a writer on this one. He manages to not only make the whole thing believable, but highly engrossing. The characters are vivid and the setting is fascinating in its stark and dismal portrait of a world lost to chaos.
Seeing all these stories makes me realize that my troubles are fleeting and insignificant compared to how bad things could be. We really have it pretty good, even with the economy being what it is right now. Our lives are filled with small annoyances, but for the most part, we get to be pretty comfortable and safe. We don't have to worry about fighting for survival every second of every day. We don't have to be hard, tough, bad-ass survivors. We just have to come to work when we are sick as a dog, knowing that in 8 hours, it will be over and we can go home, eat a nice supper and collapse in front of the tv for the rest of the evening. At least, that's my plan. The Apocolypse can bloody well wait.
On a slightly ironic note, while I was home, I watched a movie that dealt with a deadly virus that decimated Scotland in the near future. It was called "Doomsday" and was a mix between The Road Warrior, Escape from New York, Resident Evil and other such "dark future" kind of movies. They stuck them all in a blender and the resulting goo was actually not bad.
There have been a lot of end of the world (or at least, of humanity) type stories floating around lately. I'm also reading a series by Terry Brooks that deals with a near future where our race is on the verge of extinction. It's got pretty much every type of disaster possible bringing humanity low. Ecological collapse, biological warfare run amok, nuclear terror and for the final blow, an invasion by demons and a secret enclave of ancient elves that may hold the key to humanity's last hope for survival. I have to give snaps to Brooks ability as a writer on this one. He manages to not only make the whole thing believable, but highly engrossing. The characters are vivid and the setting is fascinating in its stark and dismal portrait of a world lost to chaos.
Seeing all these stories makes me realize that my troubles are fleeting and insignificant compared to how bad things could be. We really have it pretty good, even with the economy being what it is right now. Our lives are filled with small annoyances, but for the most part, we get to be pretty comfortable and safe. We don't have to worry about fighting for survival every second of every day. We don't have to be hard, tough, bad-ass survivors. We just have to come to work when we are sick as a dog, knowing that in 8 hours, it will be over and we can go home, eat a nice supper and collapse in front of the tv for the rest of the evening. At least, that's my plan. The Apocolypse can bloody well wait.
Monday, January 5, 2009
2008: the Aftermath
Well, the holidays are over. Much has happened over the past couple weeks. Yule, Christmas, New Years, Megan visiting her mother in NC, us visiting with my sister and assorted friends, we all got some cool swag, my job moved offices, I came down with a minor bronchial infection. It's been a bit of a whirlwind to close out 2008 and usher in a brand spankin' new calendar year.
One of the highlights was finally getting a bookshelf for my paperbacks that have been languishing in the garage for the past three years. I am most happy for them to be on proper display again. I'm rather proud of my collection, although it has diminished in size a bit over the years due to moving and other hardships.
Some of the other nice things we picked up include a new camera, a much nicer computer chair and a book of poetry that used to belong to my deceased grandfather (thanks, Mom!). We also got some less grandiose items, like new clothes, some dvds, Wii games, etc. Materially speaking, a pretty good haul.
In other news, we went to Huntsville for Monica's birthday, which was fun. We also had a good time in Knoxville meeting a couple of our rapier students and some of the other rapier people for lunch when we dropped Megan off with her mother. Good times all around.
Unfortunately, the holidays put a serious damper on our rapier practices. I think I've gained five pounds from sitting around on my butt and eating all that yummy holiday food. I feel heavy, lethargic and bloated. Not at all like my normal, dangerous self. Something I suppose we will have to remedy with hard work and determination in the days to come. After all, Gulf Wars is coming up and I'll be damned if I am going to get the crap beat out of me just because I was too lazy to practice leading up to it.
So, that is where things are right now. Work is still chaotic, home slightly less so, but everything seems to be sorting itself out all right. We have plans in the works, both in the SCA and mundanely that I'm fairly excited about. Whatever 2009 brings, it certainly won't be boring.
One of the highlights was finally getting a bookshelf for my paperbacks that have been languishing in the garage for the past three years. I am most happy for them to be on proper display again. I'm rather proud of my collection, although it has diminished in size a bit over the years due to moving and other hardships.
Some of the other nice things we picked up include a new camera, a much nicer computer chair and a book of poetry that used to belong to my deceased grandfather (thanks, Mom!). We also got some less grandiose items, like new clothes, some dvds, Wii games, etc. Materially speaking, a pretty good haul.
In other news, we went to Huntsville for Monica's birthday, which was fun. We also had a good time in Knoxville meeting a couple of our rapier students and some of the other rapier people for lunch when we dropped Megan off with her mother. Good times all around.
Unfortunately, the holidays put a serious damper on our rapier practices. I think I've gained five pounds from sitting around on my butt and eating all that yummy holiday food. I feel heavy, lethargic and bloated. Not at all like my normal, dangerous self. Something I suppose we will have to remedy with hard work and determination in the days to come. After all, Gulf Wars is coming up and I'll be damned if I am going to get the crap beat out of me just because I was too lazy to practice leading up to it.
So, that is where things are right now. Work is still chaotic, home slightly less so, but everything seems to be sorting itself out all right. We have plans in the works, both in the SCA and mundanely that I'm fairly excited about. Whatever 2009 brings, it certainly won't be boring.
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