Decompression time
Arrangements made with family in the dollar, Da is in good hands.
Me, I am going to go spend a day with friends,,, Decompression time.
Plan on being there way early, maybe get some writing time in without obtrusive Grizz trying to smother my face in drooling kitteh love like he has done non-stop since I arrived home. Love the little bugger, but when he has spent the entire day alone (mama and Zooms leave him behind during the day, he is the runt after all.) poor little guy is just so happy to see ANYBODY,,, It’s cute AND annoying, especially when I am trying to accomplish just one page of writing. Thats my focus, one page a day, no matter what. And it is working, so long as I can keep the fuzzball out of my face and off my keyboard.
Funny thing about that, My usual position is with my laptop on my outstretched legs, and that is when I can’t type for fur ball. If I leave the laptop on the desk, He will drape in my arms and buzz,(which is where he is, right now) but not get in my way. Only downside to that is, he weighs four pounds now and my arms get sore supporting him. Shoulders and wrists mostly, but sore is sore. And any Kat owner can tell you that Kats have the secret to gravity down pat (but ain’t talking’). A four pound kitten when buzzing in contentment, can weigh infinitely more, depending on your need to get up or level of functional needs.
But, tomorrow, (today, when this posts) I fully intend to be Dio without the stresses. I NEED this time. Without internet, just some friends, good times, good food and hopefully maybe possibly a little time on water with a kayak. Taking Serena with, and I may just start the day with a leisurely stroll around the bay that the camp is situated in. If I get there early enough, I could do the foggy bottom cruise with the Canadian Geese Flotilla, and thats always cool. Must be a thousand of the greasy poop factories there and when they move as a flock in the morning,,,, The babies will be big enough that picking them out will be difficult, and that means that the flock will not be as on edge as they were in the spring. They are so used to people, they don’t scatter far when you float among them. And you always know when a storm is coming because they do this line thing headed to cover. Not a spread out flock, just an orderly line headed to cover with determination.
This time last year, B and I did a little cruise in the kayaks. It rained on us three times and we were able to cruise in close to shore and see all kinds of wildlife. A Doe and her two fawns, nearly grown. A couple of Blue Heron, the geese of course, and all without being swamped by a ton of boats. The sound of the rain on the water creates a zen moment, and until you experience it,,, Words will never suffice; its a completely spiritual thing that words just can’t capture. I could really use another cruise like that this year.
This from a ‘writing prompt’
Only it wasn’t intended to be one, I am certain.
Just sometimes I get to reading someone else’s point of view, and my mind goes Zoomms-zowieeees over the horizon with the muse.
Creativity is IT. I create on a daily basis. I have to, or I start going stir crazy. It may only be making a small jig to make my life easier at the welding table. It may be making a Kayak on my front porch in the dead of winter. I may be sketching out an idea for a tattoo, or that next jig I need to make my next whatchamacallit. I even made jigs for making my kayaks so that all those little holes that needed drilled could be done uniformly and I not destroy a rather pricey piece of wood.
Like Sarah, much of my creativity is sourced from a scarcity background. We didn’t have much, but when it came down to it, we had EVERYTHING we needed and the rest was stuff we ‘created’ to fill the voids. If we wanted something, the options were to work our tails off to earn the money to buy it, or work out tails off creating it. Most of the furniture in our house was stuff that my dad made in the shed out back, using cast off lumber from where he worked. Everything laminated up to make larger wider boards for table tops, or thicker legs to support he gargantuan “built to withstand a truck accident” furniture he preferred making. Some of it was really fantastic as well, like his end tables made from the trunks of Cedar trees. Split a trunk in half and it may become a bench seat, or crosscut the trunk for a ‘rounder’ shape with wild edges and mount that to a thinner trunk, inverted to use the branches as legs, for the base.
I learned how to cast metals to make things in need of longevity or higher wear functions. I learned to work metals so that I could utilize those skills of casting even further. I picked up a touch of blacksmithing so that I could shape metal without need of the machines to turn or cut it, and that led me to learning more about welding, and improved my Arc type welding even more. Before I started mixing sound full time, I worked as (many things,,,) a mechanic, and one of the guys I worked with and myself would critique each others welds. That improved my welds even more.
I’ve even made jewelry (SHOCK!!!!) but I tend to be more pragmatic in my creativity and prefer utilitarian stuff. (I may wear a wedding band, when/if I marry, but thats about it. No ‘glitz’ in my world, not even a watch.)
And that leads me to my writing. One of the commenters over there mentions how he found out that writing is WORK, and that his notion that his first book would have him sleeping on a bed of gold was shattered quite quickly.
As for the work thing? Oh yes, its work. Skull work. Marketing work, research work. You name it, there is WORK to be had in this field. And just like the entertainment field, there are 300000 writers to every 100 Best sellers. In live music, I have seen some truly incredible talents, but they missed one key element. WORK. They didn’t push the envelope of the work things and while they could play circles around other well known artists, they didn’t have the drive to push there.
Now, I am not saying I am exceptional, Hell, my current history says that I am of that same caliber; talented, but no drive. And it may be that this is the case. I didn’t write Wings for the money (though I won’t deny that money was a factor.). I wrote wings because something said, If I didn’t it would eat at my very soul until my mind folded like a wet noodle. And since I went so far as to actually write the danged thing, why NOT publish it too.
The fact that I had no clue what I was getting into is obvious to anyone that sees the end result. The fact that I had no clue about marketing or advertising, or promotion of written word (I can ‘produce’ entertainment and do all the marketing and advertising for live shows and HAVE, but books are a whole new world to me.)
Yeah, that stuff is obviously missing from that book. And I may end up re-editing it later for better layout, and when I do, promotions and marketing will be better laid out as well. And of course, the sequel is still stewing: half in my head, and half on my external hard drive. (Patience Bruce, it’s coming. And your persistence gets you dibs as a proofreader!! Mwahahaha!!!!). And I am no where near done writing. Wings opened up a pandoras box of creativity that had been stifled by time and misperceptions. Mostly my own, but some.external (Friggin high school counselors need filleted, baked and served to pigs, in my opinion.) My learning curve is still on the low left side of the bell curve, climbing towards center, and I have no illusions that I need mentorship. I am also quite aware that current situations in my life have a priority, and what I can squeeze in will have to suffice. I read,,,, Oh lord how much I read. If one of my vicarious mentors suggest a book about writing books, I make the purchase and dive in. If someone suggests a different program to assist the writer, (Vellum is one, Scrivener another, etc etc). I check ‘em out and start another aspect of the learning process. Scrivener was the program that helped me finalize Wings to the point where I felt comfortable hitting that publish button. And it works even better in the Mac.
What hangs me up is that marketing thing. I DESPISE crowds (funny coming from a guy that used to mix live music for Tens of thousands.)(note that FOH “front of house’ is usually smack dab in the middle of the room and has a whole lot of floor space and only a a couple of peeps in it. AND, I was usually the monitor guy, behind the curtains, on stage left usually, full view of the band but not of the crowds.).And this is where I really need the mentoring (and no, I am not going through the get rich quick scammers that promise you’ll be a best selling author in 90 days if you pay them $XXX and subscribe to their program. Maybe they do handle a ton of promotion for you, but the whole thing stinks to high heaven as scam to me. )
So, I learn the ropes the hard way, and maybe thats for the best. Rougher on the knuckles, but then, I have a couple of Degrees from the School of Hard Knocks and University of Bloody Knuckles.
And I continue to create, every day, SOMETHING, and it matters not what. A paragraph for a book here, a jig for making a rudder assembly there, or a blog post three times a day (if I can). There will be something created by my hands and mind and the day they cease to happen, its a good bet my heart has ceased as well.
Ima chit somedays
Didn’t know I had an issue with things until yesterday eve, text messages between sisters.
Snapped on Eldest sis. Felt like a pre-emptive attack in self defense. I can be the Shit some days. (Note; I later apologized, but it was definitely a tactfully worded verbal assault .)
Took some time to step back and analyze my self/soul. And what I came up with was.
I’m fucking scared silly.
All the bullshit in the world reaching peak Clownworld status. The total failure that appears to be completely intentional of a superpower, so that it can devolve into a third world power (is that a thing?) watching local tyrants ride the wave of Covidiocy (the bug peaks before they crack down, but when they crack down, they double down on prior efforts. Just like a surfer trying to catch a wave.). Watching the IQ of the world losing altitude into potato levels.
And my Dad very nearly leaving my reality.
Yeah, I got scared. And hadn’t even realized HOW scared I was.
What isn’t clear is how scared I am of losing my dad. Or could it be having to face all of this with my dad in his current conditions. I think its more the latter function. Love my dad, but I know he’s tired and I won’t stand in his way if he decides ‘its time’.
I don’t leave wounded behind. Its hardwired in. And I know if shit went to Helena Handbasket right now,,,
And we are getting indicators, that may be the case.
I’m fucking scared silly.
So, now that I am aware of it, I can figure out what needs changed. First order of business is to get a second opinion on the urology thing. His heart thing seems well in order now, even though its still early in the game. But three weeks with a catheter in seems excessive to me. And that is what was told to him yesterday at the Urolgy docs. Is this a case of an enlarged prostate that needs time to settle down, or is there an underlying problem. And I have no clue what the doc said because that wave of covidiocy has reared its ugly head here and ONLY PATIENTS is the order of the day, again. (And I have alternate information about all of that, but its not relevant to this post)
Coffee is done, Kittehs fed, almost time to go play nurse before I go play welder, and somewhere in all the middles, try to figure how to ease my mind in a world gone mad.
More laters.
N’er thought I’d see
A sitting (p)Resident, fold like a cheap suit in a summer breeze.
Then ponder this thinking,,,
Conspiracy? RTWT and As a bitter mint to add to the palette, consider that Oblammy-o-boy purchased a rather nice set of digs not too far from the WH not long before the 12021 swear in of the FRAUD. Close enough for short range highly encrypted radio messaging. Maybe its a fluke, maybe there is something there. Who cares at this point right now, eh?
Well, As Kuntsler posits, there is no precedent in the 22nd for a presidents to retake the seat of power like that. Only that they can’t be elected for more than two terms, (and I would bet a case could be made that non-consecutive terms would ‘be acceptable’ under the color of the laws with the way things have been operating the last 9 months..
Smallest minority links to Larry Corriea with a lovely hide blistering repost on all those leftards that are trying to dump this back in DJTs lap. Aint none of them innocent, but this whole FUBAR is this Administrations Fuck-up Lock, stock, and barrel, And Larry points out ALL of the reasons WHY.
It’s Saturday, the world is doing crazy shit left and right and the hits just keep on coming in, and I can only worry about my Da and myself right now, because that is the extent of my control, to a point. I’ll keep watching, writing, and preparing for WCS while hoping for, maybe not the best, but at least not so fucked up as expected.
Gonna be a rocky ride no matter how this shit falls out.
And here we go again
Still moving into the Mac. Getting used to Safari, vs Firefox vs Brave vs Opera. Won’t use MS anything, and Chrome irritates the crap outta me. Seeing how Firefox has been compromised for all intents and purposes by Googlefu, I’ve been straying from the den with them. Brave seems like a good’un, and I am willing to play for awhile until I start seeing add promos on my phone, geared from my web searches. Been seeing that in Amazon while using FF.
Security is ‘an issue’, but since I am not using my Mac or phone for ‘other things’, I only worry about direct comms between peeps. Try as I might, meatspace is not really doable in many instances. Too much distance between. SO, we use coded words or entendre to pass info if so needed. If we can use encrypted comms, we do so. Speaking of which, I finally went and opened a proton mail account. Its in the sidebar for those with need. And, something you’ll want to keep in mind. Encryption only works between nodes, not at end sources. If ya wanna keep it private, get a PGP or similar and all parties need to create keys. And NEVER save anything in hard format in clear text. Keep it encrypted if you need to save something. Look at my pages, encryption is under GP4U. Cleopatra is a good open source program for PC’s and linux machines, I haven’t tried it with the Mac yet.
Now, back to work. Done playing with this new program for offline blogging.(the last one locked up after three posts demanding a payment plan I felt was way the hell out of reasonable.) Puddle-o-cats time in the house; too hot to play or do much besides sprawl as wide and flat as they can get on the coolest surfaces. Gotta suck wearing a furcoat 24/7 and not be able to sweat. But its good4me because it opens up time for me to get shit done where they aren’t trying to catch the flying fingers on the keyboard, or get underfoot to get attentions. My writing schedule is now zero dark to Dawn, and Kitteh siesta: about 5 hours total a day where I can work without meathooks in flesh, or ‘Oohhh TOYS!!!’ Assault on my typing hands.
Endarkenment
Still manning the watchtower though I’ve little to nothing to add of late.
But I gots ta thinking about some larger aspects of things while driving twixt here and Charleston last week.
I can’t say how many times I have read or referenced analogy of current events to the Fall of the Roman Empire. And I can’t say that the analogy is wrong, but I am starting to think its off. Just as Malthus was wrong in his day, and for much the same reason: ignoring technology and species resilience.
IMO if we are going to see an Great Endarkenment, we are already well into it. In my observations, literacy is the biggest sign of that. Not that most can’t read, but that they are showing loss of comprehension and serious lack of attention span. If it takes more than 140 characters to express an idea, you are likely to lose 95% of a potential audience. I can’t count how many times I have heard, “in twenty words or less, what’s your point?” or some generalization of such.
With loss of comprehension and attention span, the next victim is critical thinking. We already see lack of Critical thinking skills by the simple fact of so few questioning the Heglian Dialects being shoveled around this year. Even when the numbers are obviously being skewed to perpetuate a fallacy, it seems that no one wants to ‘rock the boat’ and so remain compliant and obedient.
Our forefathers must be so proud of what 200+ years have produced.
What I am seeing that does fit the Fall analogy is the population replacement that took place near the very end of the Roman empire. By the time it was a worthless shell, the population of Rome itself had almost no Roman bloodlknes left. They had outmigrated long before.
We are aeeing that happening now as people leave the outskirta of certain cities to warmer friendlier areas. Its not a diaspora, yet! Come November, I would not be surprised to see caravans leaving said cities, loaded with all manner of desperate and haunted people looking for anywhere NOT at war.
Because we are, ARE, at war. Most people are still in denial of that fact because the body count is still below 100 corpses. When that figure starts to approach 4 and 5 digits,,,,
We are at war for ideals, just like we were back in 1860-65. One side still holds values that may seem cliche and labeled as racist or whatever, but they still hold value to those people (note, I am one of them) and the other side see those same values as the ruin of humanity or some such crap. Where a person stands amongst those two sides is a simple matter of degrees, but its not hard to find the divide these days. Hell, its in your face almost 24/7 now.
I touch upon one course of future in my recent book. When I was writing it, I had no idea just how far or how rapidly we could descend to this stage. I would like to think a “Divorce ” amongst the states could be done amicably, but I am a realistic in my pessimism. A break up is inevitable. And it will be heated and bloody. If it becomes a permanent breakup with this continent housing several nations like Central Europe, or one side dominating the other and a new nation/potentially old nation taking the forefront; who flippin knows but the fickle fates and God.
But Grear Endarkenment; not so much. There may be a slow down in innovation (already there on most fronts) and there may be decades where many formerly first world countries are vying for third world status, but it won’t be the centuries of the Dark Ages. Our technology is to advanced and education to ubiquitous to allow much more than a couple decades of slowdown. The only way this world would see such dark ages again is if the madmen started launching multi-megaton nukes with great abandon, shattering any semblance of our global structure and reducing world population back to 15th century levels(or less). Recall I said our tech and species resilience are the two factors keeping the Endarkenment at bay.
I know; such a lovely topic for a Friday post. Apologies to all.
Anywhoos, some memes to fit some of the above points.
Better than expected.
Took Serena to the lake today for a test run on the new set up. Checks for performance changes and leaks in order. A new skirt to test as well.
Performance comes in MUCH better, she holds 4knots with bare inputs and an easy 5.5 with steady power pulls. Able to edge easier, with my weight forward she doesn’t want to slice off unpredictably, and setting blade as a keel rudder works like a charm. It took a couple tries to figure the correct placement of the paddle blade to make this work, but watching my bow wake, you can see the boat drift left by a wider wake on the right, and it doesn’t ‘turn’, just drifts aside. (easier to see that when you are on a glassy lake: one reason I chose to go in the early morning before the wind started chopping up the surface)
Having built up some confidence in the Arc, (gotta come up with a new name there) I tried a couple other techniques I hadn’t tried before. Edged turns, braced leans (super fun ) etc. Sweeps seem to work better too. Likely due to being more centered in the boat.
Started getting hot so found a convenient stump sticking out of the water and used it to practice some hip flicks and to check for leaks in my handiwork. Woot!!!!! Dry all around. Considering my Snapdragon skirt leaks during capsize and this new skirt did not, I consider the price well within reason. So now I have 5 skirts for 3 boats. (Well, technically 4, but the Feathercraft K1 is still out of service for repairs.) Of those skirts, the 3 I spent high dollars on are the worst for leaking. The Seals skirt may as well not be on, it leaks so bad nor will it hold up under a capsize: it implodes every-time. The two snapdragons are great when it comes to keeping splashes out but leak at the lip when submerged. Its not so bad as to be a worry of sinking, but is irritating. The MountainSurf and Appalachian Extreme are bulletproof above or below, AND able to be pulled with one hand unlike the SDs, which wanna wrestle going on and coming off.
Anywhoooz, I had fun and added to my growing knowledge of boat building, hydrodynamics, and self-limitations (that last is a bar that keeps getting moved up.) I refuse to let the world direct my aimless path of self-improvement, so to all the haters in the world burning police stations and trying to make “A better world”: Y’all need to get off the pot and start looking inside yourselves to see where YOU can improve. The world does just fine without your damned socialist inputs.
Dio's Workshop 