Hello everyone. It has certainly been another interesting week. When last we met in Frankenstone, I was heading off to a birthday party. That was quite an interesting occasion. The food and company were both excellent. I've also taken a nice elderly lady named Geneva out for a trip to Symposium Cafe. Come to think of it, I've been there about three times this week not counting walking there with my mobility instructor. That first lesson went quite well. She thinks I've pretty much mastered the route and I only ended up adding one additional landmark to my Trekker Breeze.
Sadly, while my life is going quite well, Sandy has had a few unfortunate occurrences happen to him. These culminated in his apartment being robbed a couple of weeks ago. He lost quite a bit and it has absolutely shaken him. Whoever would rob an impoverished helpless older blind man like Sandy frankly deserves to burn alive. I'd certainly put my cane to some rather unorthodox use if I encountered whoever was responsible. Whenever I manage to get any joy at all into his life, something always seems to happen to counteract my efforts. At times, I feel like I've stepped into the book of Job. Thank God for people like John Morgan. He came over to lend a hand and we've at least managed to get him out of the utter depth of despair he was in. His whole collection of CDs, clothes, and even his blank tapes were stolen. I got him some more tapes today and he was able to record his first sets of instructions on how to do things with his computer, or "lessons" as he calls them. We'll finally start to get a sense of how effective a teacher I am soon. I have no idea why he seems to catch all the rotten luck like this. It really does make me wonder if there's such a thing as being cursed. Still, I'm far from ready to give up on him. He'll have at least a couple of friends who'll stand with him through all this crap.
This is the first of doubtless many blog entries written on my balcony table which I picked up and helped assemble today. It's a perfect fit leaving plenty of room on the balcony. Dad and I picked it up this morning. I spent quite a lot of the afternoon out on it. Slowly,it's beginning to chill this evening but I'm still comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt out here. You can hear birds thankfully in the distance, cars, and occasionally, some people. Hopefully, I'm not intruding on anyone else's peace. All my gear is working perfectly out here including the Internet connection.
Things have calmed down a little and should remain so for the week. I have a couple of outings including the last cession of the Truth Project group I've been participating in tomorrow evening. I also have my second mobility lesson on Friday. We'll be concentrating on getting around the mall this time. My profession of faith is this Sunday. I feel like I'm finally achieving some sort of equilibrium. I hope it lasts. In case of another blackout, I picked up one of those crank radios. It was on sale and I've been meaning to get one for a while. This way, I'll have something portable to listen to in an emergency which doesn't require me to wear headphones or need batteries.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Very Welcome Changes
Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since I've updated this blog of mine. I've started this entry on a somewhat cool feeling Sunday morning. You can smell rain in the air which must have fallen earlier. In a little over an hour, I'll be off to church. This evening, I have what I believe is the last of the membership classes I've been taking. The different perspectives on things and questions raised by my fellow attendees have been very welcome stimulation on these Sunday evenings. I'll be making what they call a profession of faith in church and will be a full member after that takes place. It's good to have found a community to belong to. That public ceremony will actually feel meaningful to me. It's a step along a path I've chosen and followed of my own accord. Unlike so many other milestones I've reached, I won't be alone this time. It's not the end of a journey and parting of ways like when I graduated from university. Nor do I have the sense of being utterly burnt out after finally finishing work on my Personal Power guide for blind owners of accessible computers. This time, it's about having reached an important point on a life-long path. I've found an actual physical community where it really matters to me how things turn out and what decisions are taken.
Recently, I attended a conference in London Ontario along with other interested church members concerning the adoption of a new confession of faith. The Belhar confession deals with the issue of racial diversity and discrimination. The conference was clearly organized by people strongly in favour of adopting this confession. I read the document after attending the multi-ethnic conference last year. Personally, I too would strongly support its adoption. It's a very well written document from the South African churches which originally arose out of the idiotic racial segregation taking place in that country. However, they certainly don't have a monopoly on such baseless discrimination. It didn't all vanish when Mr. Mandela was freed. Hiving it stated categorically in our articles of faith that we oppose segregation and injustice is a good thing. Drawing from my own experience as a former community leader, it just plain makes sense from another angle. There are clearly large segments of the church who feel that they haven't been taken as seriously and been given the respect afforded to the white originators of the denomination. Having this confession ratified would send a clear and long overdue signal to them that they are both listened to and valued members even if it is being adopted over twenty years too late to have done maximum good. I honestly can't see what harm it would do anybody to adopt this confession but I'm no theological expert. Whatever happens, I know that my own church certainly lives out the principle of inclusiveness.
On the social front, it looks like I've finally made at least a little progress. Rose has started coming over for walks and visits. She's a very talented woman. When she gets going about science, hang on for dear life. She knows her stuff and has come up with the best theory I've ever come across about how the supernatural is possible. Thank God I've always enjoyed science fiction and techno thrillers. That's the only reason I was able to follow her at all. She's unemployed and recovering from a back injury. That gives her the time to visit me. I seem to make a good sounding board for her. It'll never get beyond friendship. We disagree about quite a bit. However, she's an extremely interesting and engaging new friend.
To add to that, I've had my first group of four guests over. Shane, Chrissie, Angel and Sue were able to join me Friday evening for a wonderful dinner. They enjoyed my potatoes and brought some delicious hamburgers and potato salad. It felt terrific to actually have them over to talk to and hang out with for the evening. There wasn't any rush or agenda. Over the past while, I've gotten to know Shane a bit more. We've gone out a couple of time for drinks. Life has at last lost that lonely empty quality. It's wonderful to have finally broken that "see you next Sunday" barrier.
Mobility lessons are going to start again for me. Harp al is going to be my instructor this time. I had her before in Oakville. Hopefully, what I learn this time will stick better. Harp al did as good a job teaching me to get to Ron's in Oakville as anybody could have. However, I couldn't make use of that route soon or often enough once I had learned it. Within about three months, I couldn't have gone there to save my life. This time, I'll stick to places that I can walk to. One of the first things we'll do is go on the route I've almost mastered from my apartment to Symposium Cafe at the Meadowvale Town Centre. I want to see if she notices anything or has any comments which her training and experience predisposes her to which the people who have been helping me learn the route may not have. Other routes I hope to master include going to my parents' house, the church, the bank, and perhaps learning some of the interior of the town centre that would be easily reachable from the Symposium entrance. That may even be too ambitious an agenda for this first Summer here. I'm presuming I'll see her once per week unless I'm away or she's on vacation.
It's now Wednesday morning. Grocery Gateway has just delivered my groceries for the next while. Unfortunately, I neglected to order some minniolas this time and ordered a very small quantity of very small potatoes. Still having potatoes from the last order and plenty of rice, the mistake with potatoes may not even matter at all. I'll miss the oranges though. Timing is everything. I have lots of other fruit for now. There was only one substitution this time. I could actually recognize everything I ordered without needing my bar code scanner.
I don't usually take this damned long to update my blog. I actually meant to write an entry soon after I went to that conference. Writing hasn't gone well at all over the past while. I barely got an article for my church newsletter done on time and don't at all consider it on a par with my better writing. It seems to have gone over well from what I've heard from people so far though. That's something I guess. Heather seems to have boundless creative energy. She's already working on the second chapter of her part of the project. That's despite having a full time job. She's even entering a three-day novel writing contest. The thought of trying to write a whole damned novel in three days is something akin to downright painful even when writing is going well for me. She has a lot more faith in me than I do at the moment. Thankfully, it looks like I'll have plenty else happening this Summer. June is certainly pockmarked with reminders in Calendar Magic. That program is finally getting some regular use.
I've heard quite a few very moving and interesting documentaries and podcasts over the past while. I really ought to get better at updating this blog more regularly so they get included. I love it even better if I had people to share this sort of thing with regularly. However, nobody seems to have the time or inclination to listen. In all good conscience, I should be at least tweeting about these audio gems as I come across them. I just can't get into Twitter and never know quite what to say in 140 characters or less. Hopefully, one day, I'll come across a special lady who actually values that important aspect of my life. You'd think there'd be someone suitable out there. I guess there are plenty of sports-loving men out there who dearly wish their wives would take an interest in watching their games of choice. One thing I heard was an episode of Babylon 5 which I somehow missed before. It was called Comes The Inquisitor. It was the twenty-first episode of the third season. It dealt with issues of how we can come to believe we're chosen and what can happen when that goes astray. How do we truly know we're the right people in the right place at the right time? In case anybody actually follows through and decides to take it in, I won't spoil the brilliant haunting ending. It's a perfect example of why there's still hope for humanity. There's so much depth in that series but it approaches key moral and life issues with such engaging style. Educators ought to use it in secondary school classes. For anybody contemplating political or leadership roles, it should be mandatory viewing. Another really moving story was a BBC Radio4 documentary called The Travelling Electric Chair. It featured the granddaughter of a black man called Willie McGee who was put to death for sexually assaulting a white woman. She talked to a number of people who either had memories of or were relatives to people involved in the tragic incident. The case stretched over six years and involved people in the early civil rights movement. Right up until the very end, Willie maintained that the sexual encounter he had with this white married woman was consensual. The prosecution claimed that he had threatened her with a knife he was carrying. Both of the participants are now dead so there's no way to actually know for certain. People in the area have put this divisive incident behind them and it was hard for Linda to find people willing to talk with her about her grandfather. I really felt for her. She wasn't out to hurt anybody. She just wanted to know the truth as far as that was possible. She had no malice toward anyone involved. You could hear that in her voice. She ended up talking to the son of the man who prosecuted Willie. He had to decide weather or not to share Willie's last words as told to him by his father. You could hear him weigh his thoughts about confidentiality against this young woman's simple desire to know something of her grandfather. I also found it interesting when she went to see the travelling electric chair which had killed Willie. She was surprised when it turned out to look like something you might sit in on your front porch and watch cars go by. Who would have thought?
As usual, From Our Own Correspondents was pretty nifty. There were a few episodes I hadn't gotten around to listening to. One reporter living in Germany told about how her little girl was afraid in their house and thought she saw ghosts. That's quite a problem over there. She was going to talk to a sculptor who was making stumbling blocks designed to remind people of all the Jews and other innocent people killed during the Nazi period. I guess they're also supposed to help the dead rest easier or something. Some day, all this input will result in more meaningful output into one of my projects. If I could find my in-crowd of people who were actually interested in more of the same stuff I was, that would certainly help in a number of ways. Stephen Hawking's special on the Discovery Channel was also quite a nifty show. In that instance, Rose had also seen it and I had the pleasure of having some discussion about it with someone who was actually interested in the same thing. Like I said before, Rose knows her science.
It's now Wednesday afternoon. Lunch has been eaten. Dishes have all been washed. The counter has been wiped clean. I'm enjoying a cup of chi tea as I resume writing this. During lunch, I listened to another BBC Radio podcast called Digital Planet. They're in South Africa during this world cup soccer thing. Soccer has always bored me to tears but technology and innovation certainly haven't. I just heard how cell phones, open source software and social media platforms are changing the lives of even poor and crime-ridden communities there. Pretty nifty stuff. Didn't think I'd hear from a guy who was just inches away from killing his mother only to be stopped by, as he says, the hand of God. Now, he's doing his part to help his community and is no longer paranoid. Another deep thread running through there is how important stories and narrative are to South Africans. Even people unable to type are becoming able to tell their stories online via You tube. I'm hoping for much the same thing initially for Sandy. I'll be working on teaching him to go to the voice chat rooms where he can start to get to know his fellow blind community members. He's growing more confident going to radio stations. That took a little longer than expected but I'm slowly learning what his pace is. In a couple of hours, I'll be going to Shane's birthday celebration. That ought to be interesting. I've only met one of his friends so far but he certainly seems like a thoughtful man. Tomorrow, I've got my mobility lesson in the afternoon. I'll probably try to get laundry done in the morning since there'll be some sort of repairs going on in the building Friday. Presuming the noise is confined mainly to the lobby and first floor, I may make yet another attempt at making progress with my writing and smashing through this damned writer's block. I'll also try and hook up with Sandy to hopefully get him to a point where he can go onto the chat rooms when he likes. My monthly cd of magazines has also arrived from the CNIB. I'll get to those over the next while.
Recently, I attended a conference in London Ontario along with other interested church members concerning the adoption of a new confession of faith. The Belhar confession deals with the issue of racial diversity and discrimination. The conference was clearly organized by people strongly in favour of adopting this confession. I read the document after attending the multi-ethnic conference last year. Personally, I too would strongly support its adoption. It's a very well written document from the South African churches which originally arose out of the idiotic racial segregation taking place in that country. However, they certainly don't have a monopoly on such baseless discrimination. It didn't all vanish when Mr. Mandela was freed. Hiving it stated categorically in our articles of faith that we oppose segregation and injustice is a good thing. Drawing from my own experience as a former community leader, it just plain makes sense from another angle. There are clearly large segments of the church who feel that they haven't been taken as seriously and been given the respect afforded to the white originators of the denomination. Having this confession ratified would send a clear and long overdue signal to them that they are both listened to and valued members even if it is being adopted over twenty years too late to have done maximum good. I honestly can't see what harm it would do anybody to adopt this confession but I'm no theological expert. Whatever happens, I know that my own church certainly lives out the principle of inclusiveness.
On the social front, it looks like I've finally made at least a little progress. Rose has started coming over for walks and visits. She's a very talented woman. When she gets going about science, hang on for dear life. She knows her stuff and has come up with the best theory I've ever come across about how the supernatural is possible. Thank God I've always enjoyed science fiction and techno thrillers. That's the only reason I was able to follow her at all. She's unemployed and recovering from a back injury. That gives her the time to visit me. I seem to make a good sounding board for her. It'll never get beyond friendship. We disagree about quite a bit. However, she's an extremely interesting and engaging new friend.
To add to that, I've had my first group of four guests over. Shane, Chrissie, Angel and Sue were able to join me Friday evening for a wonderful dinner. They enjoyed my potatoes and brought some delicious hamburgers and potato salad. It felt terrific to actually have them over to talk to and hang out with for the evening. There wasn't any rush or agenda. Over the past while, I've gotten to know Shane a bit more. We've gone out a couple of time for drinks. Life has at last lost that lonely empty quality. It's wonderful to have finally broken that "see you next Sunday" barrier.
Mobility lessons are going to start again for me. Harp al is going to be my instructor this time. I had her before in Oakville. Hopefully, what I learn this time will stick better. Harp al did as good a job teaching me to get to Ron's in Oakville as anybody could have. However, I couldn't make use of that route soon or often enough once I had learned it. Within about three months, I couldn't have gone there to save my life. This time, I'll stick to places that I can walk to. One of the first things we'll do is go on the route I've almost mastered from my apartment to Symposium Cafe at the Meadowvale Town Centre. I want to see if she notices anything or has any comments which her training and experience predisposes her to which the people who have been helping me learn the route may not have. Other routes I hope to master include going to my parents' house, the church, the bank, and perhaps learning some of the interior of the town centre that would be easily reachable from the Symposium entrance. That may even be too ambitious an agenda for this first Summer here. I'm presuming I'll see her once per week unless I'm away or she's on vacation.
It's now Wednesday morning. Grocery Gateway has just delivered my groceries for the next while. Unfortunately, I neglected to order some minniolas this time and ordered a very small quantity of very small potatoes. Still having potatoes from the last order and plenty of rice, the mistake with potatoes may not even matter at all. I'll miss the oranges though. Timing is everything. I have lots of other fruit for now. There was only one substitution this time. I could actually recognize everything I ordered without needing my bar code scanner.
I don't usually take this damned long to update my blog. I actually meant to write an entry soon after I went to that conference. Writing hasn't gone well at all over the past while. I barely got an article for my church newsletter done on time and don't at all consider it on a par with my better writing. It seems to have gone over well from what I've heard from people so far though. That's something I guess. Heather seems to have boundless creative energy. She's already working on the second chapter of her part of the project. That's despite having a full time job. She's even entering a three-day novel writing contest. The thought of trying to write a whole damned novel in three days is something akin to downright painful even when writing is going well for me. She has a lot more faith in me than I do at the moment. Thankfully, it looks like I'll have plenty else happening this Summer. June is certainly pockmarked with reminders in Calendar Magic. That program is finally getting some regular use.
I've heard quite a few very moving and interesting documentaries and podcasts over the past while. I really ought to get better at updating this blog more regularly so they get included. I love it even better if I had people to share this sort of thing with regularly. However, nobody seems to have the time or inclination to listen. In all good conscience, I should be at least tweeting about these audio gems as I come across them. I just can't get into Twitter and never know quite what to say in 140 characters or less. Hopefully, one day, I'll come across a special lady who actually values that important aspect of my life. You'd think there'd be someone suitable out there. I guess there are plenty of sports-loving men out there who dearly wish their wives would take an interest in watching their games of choice. One thing I heard was an episode of Babylon 5 which I somehow missed before. It was called Comes The Inquisitor. It was the twenty-first episode of the third season. It dealt with issues of how we can come to believe we're chosen and what can happen when that goes astray. How do we truly know we're the right people in the right place at the right time? In case anybody actually follows through and decides to take it in, I won't spoil the brilliant haunting ending. It's a perfect example of why there's still hope for humanity. There's so much depth in that series but it approaches key moral and life issues with such engaging style. Educators ought to use it in secondary school classes. For anybody contemplating political or leadership roles, it should be mandatory viewing. Another really moving story was a BBC Radio4 documentary called The Travelling Electric Chair. It featured the granddaughter of a black man called Willie McGee who was put to death for sexually assaulting a white woman. She talked to a number of people who either had memories of or were relatives to people involved in the tragic incident. The case stretched over six years and involved people in the early civil rights movement. Right up until the very end, Willie maintained that the sexual encounter he had with this white married woman was consensual. The prosecution claimed that he had threatened her with a knife he was carrying. Both of the participants are now dead so there's no way to actually know for certain. People in the area have put this divisive incident behind them and it was hard for Linda to find people willing to talk with her about her grandfather. I really felt for her. She wasn't out to hurt anybody. She just wanted to know the truth as far as that was possible. She had no malice toward anyone involved. You could hear that in her voice. She ended up talking to the son of the man who prosecuted Willie. He had to decide weather or not to share Willie's last words as told to him by his father. You could hear him weigh his thoughts about confidentiality against this young woman's simple desire to know something of her grandfather. I also found it interesting when she went to see the travelling electric chair which had killed Willie. She was surprised when it turned out to look like something you might sit in on your front porch and watch cars go by. Who would have thought?
As usual, From Our Own Correspondents was pretty nifty. There were a few episodes I hadn't gotten around to listening to. One reporter living in Germany told about how her little girl was afraid in their house and thought she saw ghosts. That's quite a problem over there. She was going to talk to a sculptor who was making stumbling blocks designed to remind people of all the Jews and other innocent people killed during the Nazi period. I guess they're also supposed to help the dead rest easier or something. Some day, all this input will result in more meaningful output into one of my projects. If I could find my in-crowd of people who were actually interested in more of the same stuff I was, that would certainly help in a number of ways. Stephen Hawking's special on the Discovery Channel was also quite a nifty show. In that instance, Rose had also seen it and I had the pleasure of having some discussion about it with someone who was actually interested in the same thing. Like I said before, Rose knows her science.
It's now Wednesday afternoon. Lunch has been eaten. Dishes have all been washed. The counter has been wiped clean. I'm enjoying a cup of chi tea as I resume writing this. During lunch, I listened to another BBC Radio podcast called Digital Planet. They're in South Africa during this world cup soccer thing. Soccer has always bored me to tears but technology and innovation certainly haven't. I just heard how cell phones, open source software and social media platforms are changing the lives of even poor and crime-ridden communities there. Pretty nifty stuff. Didn't think I'd hear from a guy who was just inches away from killing his mother only to be stopped by, as he says, the hand of God. Now, he's doing his part to help his community and is no longer paranoid. Another deep thread running through there is how important stories and narrative are to South Africans. Even people unable to type are becoming able to tell their stories online via You tube. I'm hoping for much the same thing initially for Sandy. I'll be working on teaching him to go to the voice chat rooms where he can start to get to know his fellow blind community members. He's growing more confident going to radio stations. That took a little longer than expected but I'm slowly learning what his pace is. In a couple of hours, I'll be going to Shane's birthday celebration. That ought to be interesting. I've only met one of his friends so far but he certainly seems like a thoughtful man. Tomorrow, I've got my mobility lesson in the afternoon. I'll probably try to get laundry done in the morning since there'll be some sort of repairs going on in the building Friday. Presuming the noise is confined mainly to the lobby and first floor, I may make yet another attempt at making progress with my writing and smashing through this damned writer's block. I'll also try and hook up with Sandy to hopefully get him to a point where he can go onto the chat rooms when he likes. My monthly cd of magazines has also arrived from the CNIB. I'll get to those over the next while.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Birthdays and Other New Starts
Hello everyone. It's a somewhat humid Sunday afternoon as I start this blog entry. My ride to church didn't materialize this morning. That's happened quite rarely with this church. They've been excellent about the whole transportation thing. Stood out there for just shy of half an hour enjoying the outdoors. I don't mind the humidity as much as a lot of people seem to. Had to use the AC a little yesterday when I got back from Ava's fourth birthday party just to take out some of the heat and stuffy ness. It seems to be quite a good little air conditioner. Nice to know it'll be there when I finally cave in and need it. Having been married to a woman who got all out of sorts in the heat and then lived with parents who liked the windows closed for most of the Summer, I'm pleased to at last be somewhere that I can actually enjoy the hot season for what it's supposed to be. I just hope my social life warms up a bit.
And what, you may wonder, did I decide to do while I thought I would have been in church? Elementary, my dear reader. I satisfied my long-standing curio city about how Hollywood chose to interpret Ann Rice's book Queen of the Damned. Deliciously unexpected and delightfully twisted of me, wasn't it? Admit it. You'd never have guessed in a million years. Sadly, any redemptive elements found in the book were summarily dismissed by the film. I might have known. My optimism has received a number of small kicks in various areas lately so why leave out that incurable hope that says not to entirely give up on those multi-million-dollar creations? Glad I waited until I got the descriptive file and didn't waste money on that one. Avatar was quite a nicely done movie but essentially, it was Dances With Wolves in another time period all over again. The acting was excellent as was the music. However, you'd think marines would be equipped with energy weapons or something other than machine guns by the time we explore other worlds. Laser weaponry is being worked on right now for crying out loud.
What other small kicks has Mike's legendary optimism received lately? The update for the Trekker finally arrived. I took it out for a test with Adam coming along in case things went cocky. It was a damned good thing I didn't just march out there alone. Things went pretty well until we went under Glen Erin. From that point on, it thought we were off-route. My landmarks eventually got us to the Meadow vale Town Centre but the routing instructions didn't ever catch up with us. What did work extremely well was my Blue Snowflake microphone and netbook as recording apparatus. Soon, there should be an update to the maps used by the Trekker Breeze. Mine must be at least a few years old now so that very well might be part of the problem. That new feature which searches for nearby points of interest will point you in the general direction but I wouldn't trust it unless I had no other choice or was in a different less urban area. It may route you to the Meadowvale Town Centre but don't expect it to get you to any of the store entrances on the outside of the mall. Later this week, I plan to go out with my father and give it a fair crack at redemption. An attempt to go to Symposium Cafe on my own didn't go so well either. I had originally wanted to just walk around the lake but a passing bicycle rider informed me of a bee's nest on the path. I didn't want to chance giving accidental offence by unwittingly tapping on their home so I change my plans and headed out to the mall. I actually remembered a little more of the route than I thought I would but the GPS didn't call out direction despite numerous resets. I needed to ask three people for help on the way there and was thankful that Peter, a custodian in my building, happened to be heading back and offered to take me back also after my drink. The fruit freezie was splendid as always. It would be so damned nice to actually have a girlfriend to enjoy those with.
As dubious luck would have it, what would have been my first gathering of new friends in my apartment fell apart on me. Chrissie and Angel had to go elsewhere despite their having picked Friday night to visit Sandy and I. I had been keenly looking forward to having them all here. It would have been an indication that my social life had at last truly taken a turn for the better. It would have meant a great deal to know that I had at last found a couple of ladies around my age who found me worth taking the time to hang out with. I know how busy life can get for sighted folk so I refuse to take it personally. Circumstances just didn't pan out this time. They gave us lots of notice so it's not like I ordered extra stuff that would go to waste or anything. I told you. "a couple of small kicks." Not a knockout blow. Even if this Summer does turn out to be a lonely one, I still consider myself well ahead of where I was not even three months ago. So much solitude while being near so many people is going to eat at me and will doubtless frustrate me to no end. There'll be countless times when I go to Symposium Cafe, try, and fail not to dwell on the fact that nobody else is sitting at my table. That won't stop me from going there. "Build it and they will come." the saying goes. I'm making both myself and my apartment as ready for friendly company as I can make them. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, they will come. Before I pass any long-standing judgements on how things are going to go here over the long haul, I'll keep doing what I'm doing for at least a year. That ought to give me at least enough of a baseline to start adjusting stuff to deal with whatever foundation for long-term happiness I've managed to build by then. Who knows? Perhaps, Plenty of Fish will even startle the wits out of me and cough up another interested special lady who happens to be close enough to actually get to know. That's one area where my optimism is truly starting to fade. It's been over a damned year now.
I haven't seem much of any of the new acquaintances I've made lately. Cesar came over for help with another essay. He gets a little better at it each time he writes one of those. I've pretty much given up looking for a shortcut for him. It'll just take more practice and exposure to proper sentence structure. Time, unlike company my own age, is something I generally happen to have. It certainly beets helping people I'll never meet. There's actually some friendship growing there. He's a good man with a whole lot on his plate. Lela and Fernando have been pretty busy also. I bumped into Fernando on his way to a dentist appointment. Now there's a trip I seriously don't envy anybody. For the most part, my teeth have been surprisingly good to me especially when you consider my love of sweets.
On Thursday, I joined John in Sandy's apartment and we managed to get a scanner working in tandem with Kurzweil1000 on Sandy's computer. At last, there's something simple I'll be able to teach him to do with his computer which ought to truly benefit him. That's one project for this coming week.
Another project has come up in the form of an old friend and reader of this humble blog. She wants to try a collaborative writing project with me. As far as story and such goes, I've been dry as a post for quite some time now. On that unexpectedly empty Friday night, she hooked up with me over Skype. We were pretty good friends in secondary school. I remember spending many happy lunch hours in the school cafeteria with her and the rest of our small group. It did me a whole lot of good to talk with her again. As usual, she's way to far away to hang out with and perfectly happy single. She sounds a whole lot like I remembered her sounding but different than I would have expected. A very pleasant person to talk to just as she always was. I won't say too much about our project until I'm firmly convinced it's going somewhere. She has somewhat more faith in my writing ability than I do at the moment. Enchantment's Twilight hasn't gone anywhere lately. Perhaps, working in a new universe with a thoughtful and intelligent partner will kick start my writing engine again. At this point, Summer is looking pretty empty unless I get something going. Short of shooting myself in the head to impart motive energy to my brain cells, I'll try damned near anything to shake off this creative paralysis. It's a nifty opportunity and it might even ultimately be published. If she's willing to give it a try with her busy schedule, I'll certainly do my best to hold up my end. I guess that's what it all comes down to. I just have to keep ready and open to whatever opportunities present themselves. Sooner or later, I have to believe it'll all lead somewhere less solitary but hopefully just as comfortable as where I am now.
Ava's fourth birthday party was this weekend. It seemed to go quite well. I brought my netbook and Blue Snowflake microphone along. The recording turned out quite well considering the unfavourable acoustics. I'll have a bit of a job editing the 108 minutes down to some of the highlights which recorded nicely. Goldwave and I are slowly becoming better acquainted but sound editing will never really be my art. Just hearing those kids run around the place was exhausting. Initially upset at the prospect of turning four, Ava ended up really enjoying the party with her friends. Amia wasn't left out as I thought she might have been either. They all enjoyed it. So did her Uncle Mike. I'll try to get more events recorded as she continues to grow up. She'll have more than pictures and I'll have a little more to work with than fading memories. I'll have to acquire more shirts with pockets. I found it ever so convenient to just stick the mic in there and have both hands free. Also, the cable leading to the netbook doesn't interfere with my cane at all when the pocket and netbook are on the left side. It's not stereo but I'll happily settle for very good omnidirectionarl mono recording.
It's now a very pleasant Monday morning. I had an excellent sleep. I've just enjoyed a couple of cinnamon crunches plus a bowl of pineapple for breakfast. Perfect when followed by the wonderfully aromatic hot cup of chai tea I've just polished off. Things feel very fresh and new today. Last evening, I indeed went to church as planned but ended up taking the first of the membership classes I had thought started somewhat later in May. So far, things are tracking with what I remember from the Oakville CRC church. It's been quite a while so these classes are a very welcome opportunity. Pastor Sam is keen for our group to get to know each other which, as you may imagine, suits me just fine. It's a good group with thoughtful people spanning all of life's ages. Last time I took membership classes, we were all around the same age so this ought to be even more interesting. If nothing else, it's something stimulating to end the next several weekends with. Very welcome indeed.
After returning from church, I thought I'd take a stroll on my balcony. My cane struck something unexpectedly soft and large. I stood still waiting for the squawk of some injured bird or animal but nothing came. Bending down, I discovered that either a small set of track pants or perhaps a heavy shirt lay at my feet. It must have blown or fallen off a balcony above me. I knocked on my neighbour Red's door to see if he knew where we were to take found objects in the building. He was busy cooking dinner and looking after one of their kids. Despite that, he was still up for sharing a couple of drinks and some very welcome conversation. He shared some wine with me and I brought over a beer which he seemed to enjoy. I got to know Marco a little. He's feeling a little under the weather but still enjoyed his father's cooking and was a very pleasant and polite young lad. Hopefully, he got a good sleep. I was able to inform Red of some of the places he might enjoy taking his family. I hope he manages to find work soon. He and his family are very conscientious hospitable folks who are eager to learn about Canada and its culture. I'll cheerfully do whatever I can to be of help to them. Events like last night's unexpected get-together do a great deal to brighten my outlook on the future here. There is a real chance for me to build a more robust social network for myself here. It'll just take time, patience, and the odd stray or mysterious article. Think I'll head down and check my non-electronic mailbox. Later, folks.
Not a whole lot is happening in the world according to the news I just heard at noon. Writing hasn't gone overly well this morning but the day's only half over. I have my balcony door open and there's a nice breeze coming in. Apparently, there may be some thunder more towards the evening. My father and I are planning to go on a walk tomorrow with the Trekker Breeze. Hopefully, we won't find ourselves wading through wet stuff.
And what, you may wonder, did I decide to do while I thought I would have been in church? Elementary, my dear reader. I satisfied my long-standing curio city about how Hollywood chose to interpret Ann Rice's book Queen of the Damned. Deliciously unexpected and delightfully twisted of me, wasn't it? Admit it. You'd never have guessed in a million years. Sadly, any redemptive elements found in the book were summarily dismissed by the film. I might have known. My optimism has received a number of small kicks in various areas lately so why leave out that incurable hope that says not to entirely give up on those multi-million-dollar creations? Glad I waited until I got the descriptive file and didn't waste money on that one. Avatar was quite a nicely done movie but essentially, it was Dances With Wolves in another time period all over again. The acting was excellent as was the music. However, you'd think marines would be equipped with energy weapons or something other than machine guns by the time we explore other worlds. Laser weaponry is being worked on right now for crying out loud.
What other small kicks has Mike's legendary optimism received lately? The update for the Trekker finally arrived. I took it out for a test with Adam coming along in case things went cocky. It was a damned good thing I didn't just march out there alone. Things went pretty well until we went under Glen Erin. From that point on, it thought we were off-route. My landmarks eventually got us to the Meadow vale Town Centre but the routing instructions didn't ever catch up with us. What did work extremely well was my Blue Snowflake microphone and netbook as recording apparatus. Soon, there should be an update to the maps used by the Trekker Breeze. Mine must be at least a few years old now so that very well might be part of the problem. That new feature which searches for nearby points of interest will point you in the general direction but I wouldn't trust it unless I had no other choice or was in a different less urban area. It may route you to the Meadowvale Town Centre but don't expect it to get you to any of the store entrances on the outside of the mall. Later this week, I plan to go out with my father and give it a fair crack at redemption. An attempt to go to Symposium Cafe on my own didn't go so well either. I had originally wanted to just walk around the lake but a passing bicycle rider informed me of a bee's nest on the path. I didn't want to chance giving accidental offence by unwittingly tapping on their home so I change my plans and headed out to the mall. I actually remembered a little more of the route than I thought I would but the GPS didn't call out direction despite numerous resets. I needed to ask three people for help on the way there and was thankful that Peter, a custodian in my building, happened to be heading back and offered to take me back also after my drink. The fruit freezie was splendid as always. It would be so damned nice to actually have a girlfriend to enjoy those with.
As dubious luck would have it, what would have been my first gathering of new friends in my apartment fell apart on me. Chrissie and Angel had to go elsewhere despite their having picked Friday night to visit Sandy and I. I had been keenly looking forward to having them all here. It would have been an indication that my social life had at last truly taken a turn for the better. It would have meant a great deal to know that I had at last found a couple of ladies around my age who found me worth taking the time to hang out with. I know how busy life can get for sighted folk so I refuse to take it personally. Circumstances just didn't pan out this time. They gave us lots of notice so it's not like I ordered extra stuff that would go to waste or anything. I told you. "a couple of small kicks." Not a knockout blow. Even if this Summer does turn out to be a lonely one, I still consider myself well ahead of where I was not even three months ago. So much solitude while being near so many people is going to eat at me and will doubtless frustrate me to no end. There'll be countless times when I go to Symposium Cafe, try, and fail not to dwell on the fact that nobody else is sitting at my table. That won't stop me from going there. "Build it and they will come." the saying goes. I'm making both myself and my apartment as ready for friendly company as I can make them. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, they will come. Before I pass any long-standing judgements on how things are going to go here over the long haul, I'll keep doing what I'm doing for at least a year. That ought to give me at least enough of a baseline to start adjusting stuff to deal with whatever foundation for long-term happiness I've managed to build by then. Who knows? Perhaps, Plenty of Fish will even startle the wits out of me and cough up another interested special lady who happens to be close enough to actually get to know. That's one area where my optimism is truly starting to fade. It's been over a damned year now.
I haven't seem much of any of the new acquaintances I've made lately. Cesar came over for help with another essay. He gets a little better at it each time he writes one of those. I've pretty much given up looking for a shortcut for him. It'll just take more practice and exposure to proper sentence structure. Time, unlike company my own age, is something I generally happen to have. It certainly beets helping people I'll never meet. There's actually some friendship growing there. He's a good man with a whole lot on his plate. Lela and Fernando have been pretty busy also. I bumped into Fernando on his way to a dentist appointment. Now there's a trip I seriously don't envy anybody. For the most part, my teeth have been surprisingly good to me especially when you consider my love of sweets.
On Thursday, I joined John in Sandy's apartment and we managed to get a scanner working in tandem with Kurzweil1000 on Sandy's computer. At last, there's something simple I'll be able to teach him to do with his computer which ought to truly benefit him. That's one project for this coming week.
Another project has come up in the form of an old friend and reader of this humble blog. She wants to try a collaborative writing project with me. As far as story and such goes, I've been dry as a post for quite some time now. On that unexpectedly empty Friday night, she hooked up with me over Skype. We were pretty good friends in secondary school. I remember spending many happy lunch hours in the school cafeteria with her and the rest of our small group. It did me a whole lot of good to talk with her again. As usual, she's way to far away to hang out with and perfectly happy single. She sounds a whole lot like I remembered her sounding but different than I would have expected. A very pleasant person to talk to just as she always was. I won't say too much about our project until I'm firmly convinced it's going somewhere. She has somewhat more faith in my writing ability than I do at the moment. Enchantment's Twilight hasn't gone anywhere lately. Perhaps, working in a new universe with a thoughtful and intelligent partner will kick start my writing engine again. At this point, Summer is looking pretty empty unless I get something going. Short of shooting myself in the head to impart motive energy to my brain cells, I'll try damned near anything to shake off this creative paralysis. It's a nifty opportunity and it might even ultimately be published. If she's willing to give it a try with her busy schedule, I'll certainly do my best to hold up my end. I guess that's what it all comes down to. I just have to keep ready and open to whatever opportunities present themselves. Sooner or later, I have to believe it'll all lead somewhere less solitary but hopefully just as comfortable as where I am now.
Ava's fourth birthday party was this weekend. It seemed to go quite well. I brought my netbook and Blue Snowflake microphone along. The recording turned out quite well considering the unfavourable acoustics. I'll have a bit of a job editing the 108 minutes down to some of the highlights which recorded nicely. Goldwave and I are slowly becoming better acquainted but sound editing will never really be my art. Just hearing those kids run around the place was exhausting. Initially upset at the prospect of turning four, Ava ended up really enjoying the party with her friends. Amia wasn't left out as I thought she might have been either. They all enjoyed it. So did her Uncle Mike. I'll try to get more events recorded as she continues to grow up. She'll have more than pictures and I'll have a little more to work with than fading memories. I'll have to acquire more shirts with pockets. I found it ever so convenient to just stick the mic in there and have both hands free. Also, the cable leading to the netbook doesn't interfere with my cane at all when the pocket and netbook are on the left side. It's not stereo but I'll happily settle for very good omnidirectionarl mono recording.
It's now a very pleasant Monday morning. I had an excellent sleep. I've just enjoyed a couple of cinnamon crunches plus a bowl of pineapple for breakfast. Perfect when followed by the wonderfully aromatic hot cup of chai tea I've just polished off. Things feel very fresh and new today. Last evening, I indeed went to church as planned but ended up taking the first of the membership classes I had thought started somewhat later in May. So far, things are tracking with what I remember from the Oakville CRC church. It's been quite a while so these classes are a very welcome opportunity. Pastor Sam is keen for our group to get to know each other which, as you may imagine, suits me just fine. It's a good group with thoughtful people spanning all of life's ages. Last time I took membership classes, we were all around the same age so this ought to be even more interesting. If nothing else, it's something stimulating to end the next several weekends with. Very welcome indeed.
After returning from church, I thought I'd take a stroll on my balcony. My cane struck something unexpectedly soft and large. I stood still waiting for the squawk of some injured bird or animal but nothing came. Bending down, I discovered that either a small set of track pants or perhaps a heavy shirt lay at my feet. It must have blown or fallen off a balcony above me. I knocked on my neighbour Red's door to see if he knew where we were to take found objects in the building. He was busy cooking dinner and looking after one of their kids. Despite that, he was still up for sharing a couple of drinks and some very welcome conversation. He shared some wine with me and I brought over a beer which he seemed to enjoy. I got to know Marco a little. He's feeling a little under the weather but still enjoyed his father's cooking and was a very pleasant and polite young lad. Hopefully, he got a good sleep. I was able to inform Red of some of the places he might enjoy taking his family. I hope he manages to find work soon. He and his family are very conscientious hospitable folks who are eager to learn about Canada and its culture. I'll cheerfully do whatever I can to be of help to them. Events like last night's unexpected get-together do a great deal to brighten my outlook on the future here. There is a real chance for me to build a more robust social network for myself here. It'll just take time, patience, and the odd stray or mysterious article. Think I'll head down and check my non-electronic mailbox. Later, folks.
Not a whole lot is happening in the world according to the news I just heard at noon. Writing hasn't gone overly well this morning but the day's only half over. I have my balcony door open and there's a nice breeze coming in. Apparently, there may be some thunder more towards the evening. My father and I are planning to go on a walk tomorrow with the Trekker Breeze. Hopefully, we won't find ourselves wading through wet stuff.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Friends, Fish and Past Days
Hello everyone. It's ben quite a good week. Steve's visit went quite well. It was fantastic to have such a good friend there to enjoy this place with. He got to meet my pastor as well as Sandy. Neither of us really had discovered anything of interest to the other in terms of software, music, etc. However, Steve enjoyed listening to A Study in Scarlet as dramatised by the BBC. He also enjoyed an interesting audio drama from the BBC called Alpha about a kind of assassin/priest who worked for the vaticon in the near future. He and I enjoy the kind of deep soul-searching questions raised by that excellent drama as well as by our lengthy and at times late conversations. One piece of software which interested him was Microsoft Security Essentials which I helped him obtain and install. It's a lot less troublesome than AVG has become when it comes to working with screen-readers.
Sandy also got to have his first experience with chatting on the Internet. That was a hoot. One flurtatious wild southerner mistook him for a lady. Sandy does have a high-pitched voice and has an unfortunately gender-nutral name to go with it. Put it through any kind of transmittion process and it's easy to make that mistake. Even still, it'll be a while before the jentleman lives that blunder down given his long-standing delight in sturring the pot where women are concerned. Hearing him get a kind of divinely engineered just desert was priceless.
Steve was divinely aided when he left for Toronto also. Pastor Sam had offered to drive Steve to the Go station when he came to visit us. Steve was originally just going to call a cab. However, I thought I'd check to see if Sam was actually available. It was a good thing he was. The ticket booth was closed and Sam was able to help Steve buy a ticket from one of those automatic machines in time to catch his train. HI found it interesting hearing those two have a good conversation; A new friend and one of my longest surviving friendships. They come at the world in such different ways. Steve's going to get images of windmills on his eye patches. That certainly sounds like it would look neat. Hope it turns out to suit him visually. Talk about meddling with what you don't understand.
Hopefully, when Steve next decides to stay a couple of days here, I'll be confident enough to take him around the lake or to Symposium Cafe. I'm gaining more confidence in doing that. Earlier this week, I went out on my own for the first time and managed to have a good walk from which I returned safely thanks to the Trekker Breeze. Dad and I just discovered that the route I recorded going to Symposium didn't record correctly so it'll have to be re-recorded next time we go there for lunch. I'm glad it was that specific instance of a route and not the software in general that was misbehaving. I'm still waiting for that update for the Breeze.
Friday was a big day. John Morgan came over and brought a terrific computer desk for Sandy. I basically spent the whole day in Sandy's appartment. John ended up assembling the desk all by himself despite many offers of assistance. I expected to be turning screws, holding boards in place, etc. That's how things usually happen with my father. I figured that with his experience with so many blind people, he would expect one or both of us to lend a hand and be able to explain what he needed done. Sandy and I ended up talking for most of that time which seemed to interest John while he worked. After the desk was all together, John had to leave. That was when my work began. I set up Sandy's computer in its new permanent home. Those speakers caused me some unexpected grief and I certainly gave myself a workout crawling and contorting under the desk connecting cables. Once things are permanently in place, they ought to be splendid though. The control puck makes adjusting the volume and base nice and easy. AFter things were set up, Sandy made dinner and we enjoyed some of the evening. I was quite tired and slept like a log last night. Haven't felt as productive and satisfied with what I got done in a day for quite some time. It's just one step at the start of a very long road. However, it's a pretty important step. Sandy has quite a bit to learn and I'm just beginning to discover how he likes to be taught.
Yesterday started with me going down to investigate a buzzing noise Sandy heard coming from his speakers. It turned out that he had jiggled the speaker cables and screwed up the contacts. Those jacks are pretty sensitive to that. Otherwise, he's got some superb speakers there. He's planning one more rearrangement which I anticipate might move those cables. After that, things ought to remain stationary and I'll likely never have to crawl under the desk and fiddle with those cables again. The only two pieces of hardware that I feel uncertain of my ability to help him set up are the monitor and printer. I've connected the monitor but have no way of knowing whether I got that right until somebody sighted takes a look at it. The printer is one of those combination jobs and I have no experience with them at all. I'd rather have someone who can see present when that gets set up. I still have reservations about how useful that contraption will end up being for him. It isn't immediately obvious where you'd put things like mail which needs to be scanned. Kurzweil1000 ought to be able to control pretty much any scanner but you have to be able to physically put stuff in and line it up.
Yesterday, I ended up finishing a very good psychological thriller called Equation For Evil. It was set in California. The subjects explored included why people commit acts of hate, racial identity, and the nature of society. The lead characters, a special agent and a psychologist, were both very well written. I felt bad when one of them didn't survive. The book leaves you hanging in the sense that you want to know how numerous characters get on with life after the story ends. I don't often turn to mysteries but that one passed a good bit of time very pleasantly.
I was going to try for a second walk around the lake yesterday afternoon. It was a nice day out there. Unfortunately, the Trekker Breeze didn't lock onto me even after ten minutes wandering out there. I didn't find the path around the lake but took a brief walk around a fenced area where there are benches and I suspect a pool in the centre of the area. I didn't want to lose my orientation so I headed back before that might have hapened. I spent a little time out on the balcony with my netbook. However, there's just no percentage, other than fresh air, of being out there by myself for any great length of time. That'll change once I get a balcony table set up out there. I'll then be able to set up my USB speakers and work far more comfortably. I can also position my Blue Snowflake microphone for some nice Summer time internet chats. Hopefully, I'll spend a good portion of this Summer with people who I come to know in person around here. I'd like to think that things are finally moving in that direction. However, just like yesterday turned out, I have to face the fact that people just won't always be around when I'm eagter to enjoy the outdoors or feel like companionship. To one extent, I'll always be forced to live more of an introvert's life than I'd like to. It just isn't easy finding people who are interested in sharing the kind of stimulating conversation, programs like DNTO on CBC Radio or From Our Own Corespondants on the BBC. I may never find a group of people my age who I can truly share life experience with in person rather than online despite all my efforts in that direction. I'm far from giving up hope but a little voice in my head is saying: "Be ready for that possibility." The only real way to do that is to make certain there are enough islands of companionship to break up the solitude. Easier said than done, but at least I have an actual shot at pulling that off here over the next five years or so.
Today is one such island. It's a soup lunch day at church. Another chance to get to know some good people a little better. Something which differenciates the weekend from the rest of the week. People who work all week must have no way to imagine how time can stretch out when there are no clear borders to break it up.
Soup lunch was great. I met some new people and touched base with some long-standing acquaintances. Sandra was one of them. Haven't run into her since a gathering at her place a number of weeks ago. She was unfortunately sick recently. However, because of that, she at last found time to enjoy Stranger Than Fiction. I had lent it to her a while ago thinking that it might appeal to her. I'm glad it was there when she wanted something to take her mind off being sick. It was there for me when I needed to distract myself from the failure of my marriage. I also got to see Julius, Angel, Shane, Sue, Carl, Rose, and a few other people. Coming back from this excellent outing, I called on Sandy and was in time to meet a couple of his good friends from Toronto. They come across as the kind of friends anyone would be fortunate to have and it's obvious how much they care for Sadny. It's no wonder he misses Toronto. He's fairly far from them here in Mississauga and a lot of them don't have cars. It was a pleasure meeting them. Apparently, more of Sandy's friends have recently contacted him again and may eventually make their presence more felt in his life. I can only hope so. It was certainly interesting meeting Tom and Liz.
It's after nine o'clock on sunday evening now. I've come back from the second-last of a series of evening programs our church had which concern how to make people who think and believe differently than us feel safe and welcome in church. The focus was on people who were gay and lesbian but a lot of things could well apply to any marginalised group. I hope that if and when an opportunity presents itself for me to make a positive difference for someone, I'm ready to put some of what I've learned into practice. As open-minded as I believe myself to be, there are doubtless people who would present challenges. I have very little natural patience for overly negative people. While I try to be patient with people for whoom verbal communication is difficult, I can doubtless use some exercise in that particular area also.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading down to do some work with Sandy on his keyboarding. I believe a worker from the CNIB is coming also and it might then be possible to take a crack at setting up that printer. At the very least, I'll find out whether the monitor is actually working. I'm almost positive it is, but there's that nagging little doubt. I should have thought of asking while Sandy's two sighted friends were present. oops. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get to a point where Sandy feels confident enough to start trying things on his own. It's looking more like he'll have to find some way of affording his own internet access. That's too expensive for me to take on. I've found a way for him to be able to listen to CNN over the Internet. However, he'll miss out on a lot of sports he likes. I don't know where he could find those online but haven't investigated that area much yet. I'm not interested in sports myself and am not the best person to do that. However, it would certainly make the prospect of giving up cable TV more bearable for Sandy. Sadly, it's going to come down to a hard choice like that for him. I believe the Internet will do him a tremendous lot of good. However, music and TV are pretty much all he's had to count on for quite some time now.
For supper tomorrow, I really ought to bite the bullet and grille the tilapia I've got in the fridge. I removed it from the freezer thinking I'd need more than I ended up using when Steve was visiting. There are four fillets. I thought I'd have had more guests over the past little while. The tilapia is very enjoyable. If one has to eat something a few times in a row, there are a great many worse things to be stuck eating. The fillets grilled quite nicely for Steve and I. There's no reason to think they won't come out delicious another time. Which spices to try out on the fish is something to consider. Garlic worked well and I would think oregano might. Not so certain about other spices like sage or rosemary. Sounds like a job for Google. Well, it's getting a tad late. I believe I'll post this and turn in for the night.
Sandy also got to have his first experience with chatting on the Internet. That was a hoot. One flurtatious wild southerner mistook him for a lady. Sandy does have a high-pitched voice and has an unfortunately gender-nutral name to go with it. Put it through any kind of transmittion process and it's easy to make that mistake. Even still, it'll be a while before the jentleman lives that blunder down given his long-standing delight in sturring the pot where women are concerned. Hearing him get a kind of divinely engineered just desert was priceless.
Steve was divinely aided when he left for Toronto also. Pastor Sam had offered to drive Steve to the Go station when he came to visit us. Steve was originally just going to call a cab. However, I thought I'd check to see if Sam was actually available. It was a good thing he was. The ticket booth was closed and Sam was able to help Steve buy a ticket from one of those automatic machines in time to catch his train. HI found it interesting hearing those two have a good conversation; A new friend and one of my longest surviving friendships. They come at the world in such different ways. Steve's going to get images of windmills on his eye patches. That certainly sounds like it would look neat. Hope it turns out to suit him visually. Talk about meddling with what you don't understand.
Hopefully, when Steve next decides to stay a couple of days here, I'll be confident enough to take him around the lake or to Symposium Cafe. I'm gaining more confidence in doing that. Earlier this week, I went out on my own for the first time and managed to have a good walk from which I returned safely thanks to the Trekker Breeze. Dad and I just discovered that the route I recorded going to Symposium didn't record correctly so it'll have to be re-recorded next time we go there for lunch. I'm glad it was that specific instance of a route and not the software in general that was misbehaving. I'm still waiting for that update for the Breeze.
Friday was a big day. John Morgan came over and brought a terrific computer desk for Sandy. I basically spent the whole day in Sandy's appartment. John ended up assembling the desk all by himself despite many offers of assistance. I expected to be turning screws, holding boards in place, etc. That's how things usually happen with my father. I figured that with his experience with so many blind people, he would expect one or both of us to lend a hand and be able to explain what he needed done. Sandy and I ended up talking for most of that time which seemed to interest John while he worked. After the desk was all together, John had to leave. That was when my work began. I set up Sandy's computer in its new permanent home. Those speakers caused me some unexpected grief and I certainly gave myself a workout crawling and contorting under the desk connecting cables. Once things are permanently in place, they ought to be splendid though. The control puck makes adjusting the volume and base nice and easy. AFter things were set up, Sandy made dinner and we enjoyed some of the evening. I was quite tired and slept like a log last night. Haven't felt as productive and satisfied with what I got done in a day for quite some time. It's just one step at the start of a very long road. However, it's a pretty important step. Sandy has quite a bit to learn and I'm just beginning to discover how he likes to be taught.
Yesterday started with me going down to investigate a buzzing noise Sandy heard coming from his speakers. It turned out that he had jiggled the speaker cables and screwed up the contacts. Those jacks are pretty sensitive to that. Otherwise, he's got some superb speakers there. He's planning one more rearrangement which I anticipate might move those cables. After that, things ought to remain stationary and I'll likely never have to crawl under the desk and fiddle with those cables again. The only two pieces of hardware that I feel uncertain of my ability to help him set up are the monitor and printer. I've connected the monitor but have no way of knowing whether I got that right until somebody sighted takes a look at it. The printer is one of those combination jobs and I have no experience with them at all. I'd rather have someone who can see present when that gets set up. I still have reservations about how useful that contraption will end up being for him. It isn't immediately obvious where you'd put things like mail which needs to be scanned. Kurzweil1000 ought to be able to control pretty much any scanner but you have to be able to physically put stuff in and line it up.
Yesterday, I ended up finishing a very good psychological thriller called Equation For Evil. It was set in California. The subjects explored included why people commit acts of hate, racial identity, and the nature of society. The lead characters, a special agent and a psychologist, were both very well written. I felt bad when one of them didn't survive. The book leaves you hanging in the sense that you want to know how numerous characters get on with life after the story ends. I don't often turn to mysteries but that one passed a good bit of time very pleasantly.
I was going to try for a second walk around the lake yesterday afternoon. It was a nice day out there. Unfortunately, the Trekker Breeze didn't lock onto me even after ten minutes wandering out there. I didn't find the path around the lake but took a brief walk around a fenced area where there are benches and I suspect a pool in the centre of the area. I didn't want to lose my orientation so I headed back before that might have hapened. I spent a little time out on the balcony with my netbook. However, there's just no percentage, other than fresh air, of being out there by myself for any great length of time. That'll change once I get a balcony table set up out there. I'll then be able to set up my USB speakers and work far more comfortably. I can also position my Blue Snowflake microphone for some nice Summer time internet chats. Hopefully, I'll spend a good portion of this Summer with people who I come to know in person around here. I'd like to think that things are finally moving in that direction. However, just like yesterday turned out, I have to face the fact that people just won't always be around when I'm eagter to enjoy the outdoors or feel like companionship. To one extent, I'll always be forced to live more of an introvert's life than I'd like to. It just isn't easy finding people who are interested in sharing the kind of stimulating conversation, programs like DNTO on CBC Radio or From Our Own Corespondants on the BBC. I may never find a group of people my age who I can truly share life experience with in person rather than online despite all my efforts in that direction. I'm far from giving up hope but a little voice in my head is saying: "Be ready for that possibility." The only real way to do that is to make certain there are enough islands of companionship to break up the solitude. Easier said than done, but at least I have an actual shot at pulling that off here over the next five years or so.
Today is one such island. It's a soup lunch day at church. Another chance to get to know some good people a little better. Something which differenciates the weekend from the rest of the week. People who work all week must have no way to imagine how time can stretch out when there are no clear borders to break it up.
Soup lunch was great. I met some new people and touched base with some long-standing acquaintances. Sandra was one of them. Haven't run into her since a gathering at her place a number of weeks ago. She was unfortunately sick recently. However, because of that, she at last found time to enjoy Stranger Than Fiction. I had lent it to her a while ago thinking that it might appeal to her. I'm glad it was there when she wanted something to take her mind off being sick. It was there for me when I needed to distract myself from the failure of my marriage. I also got to see Julius, Angel, Shane, Sue, Carl, Rose, and a few other people. Coming back from this excellent outing, I called on Sandy and was in time to meet a couple of his good friends from Toronto. They come across as the kind of friends anyone would be fortunate to have and it's obvious how much they care for Sadny. It's no wonder he misses Toronto. He's fairly far from them here in Mississauga and a lot of them don't have cars. It was a pleasure meeting them. Apparently, more of Sandy's friends have recently contacted him again and may eventually make their presence more felt in his life. I can only hope so. It was certainly interesting meeting Tom and Liz.
It's after nine o'clock on sunday evening now. I've come back from the second-last of a series of evening programs our church had which concern how to make people who think and believe differently than us feel safe and welcome in church. The focus was on people who were gay and lesbian but a lot of things could well apply to any marginalised group. I hope that if and when an opportunity presents itself for me to make a positive difference for someone, I'm ready to put some of what I've learned into practice. As open-minded as I believe myself to be, there are doubtless people who would present challenges. I have very little natural patience for overly negative people. While I try to be patient with people for whoom verbal communication is difficult, I can doubtless use some exercise in that particular area also.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading down to do some work with Sandy on his keyboarding. I believe a worker from the CNIB is coming also and it might then be possible to take a crack at setting up that printer. At the very least, I'll find out whether the monitor is actually working. I'm almost positive it is, but there's that nagging little doubt. I should have thought of asking while Sandy's two sighted friends were present. oops. Hopefully, it won't take too long to get to a point where Sandy feels confident enough to start trying things on his own. It's looking more like he'll have to find some way of affording his own internet access. That's too expensive for me to take on. I've found a way for him to be able to listen to CNN over the Internet. However, he'll miss out on a lot of sports he likes. I don't know where he could find those online but haven't investigated that area much yet. I'm not interested in sports myself and am not the best person to do that. However, it would certainly make the prospect of giving up cable TV more bearable for Sandy. Sadly, it's going to come down to a hard choice like that for him. I believe the Internet will do him a tremendous lot of good. However, music and TV are pretty much all he's had to count on for quite some time now.
For supper tomorrow, I really ought to bite the bullet and grille the tilapia I've got in the fridge. I removed it from the freezer thinking I'd need more than I ended up using when Steve was visiting. There are four fillets. I thought I'd have had more guests over the past little while. The tilapia is very enjoyable. If one has to eat something a few times in a row, there are a great many worse things to be stuck eating. The fillets grilled quite nicely for Steve and I. There's no reason to think they won't come out delicious another time. Which spices to try out on the fish is something to consider. Garlic worked well and I would think oregano might. Not so certain about other spices like sage or rosemary. Sounds like a job for Google. Well, it's getting a tad late. I believe I'll post this and turn in for the night.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
An Eventful Weekend
Hello everyone. It's been an interesting past while. On saturday, I hooked up with Mark and Wendy for a very good burger and fries with copious delightful conversation as my main condiment. They're doing quite well and it was good to spend a couple of hours in their company. As has happened a little more frequently these days, I dozed off during a chunk of the afternoon. It seems to happen even when I think I've gotten a good night's sleep. Sandy thinks it has to do with the change of weather and I suppose there could be something to that. I hope it doesn't last too long. I find it a tad disconcerting. That evening, I went down to visit Sandy and our new friend Cesar. He lives in a house which is part of the complex that includes my building. He's had an interesting life. His conversational English is quite good. He wants me to help him with his writing which I'm very happy to do. He's been helpful to Sandy regarding furnature. Sandy did an excellent job, despite not getting full instructions, cooking the pizza and fries we enjoyed. Yes, it's been a particularly heavy potato weekend. Good thing I never get tired of them. Thank goodness he can now use his oven in addition to the elements. The CNIB is at last going to bat for him in fine style. He's also found some more friends willing to help when he needs it. We've heard from Mr. Morgan who's getting recombobulated after returning from England. He's got quite a bit on his plate but I'm hopeful he can come round to see Sandy and I soon. Sandy is eager to get his computer set up in a better safer location than where we chose and start digging into learning the keyboard. That's when I can start helping him in the way I had originally figured I would rather than in the surprising ways I've tried up until now.
God certainly likes to throw some interesting curveballs my way. A couple of nights ago, I was awakened once again from a dead sleep by a fairly loud knocking which I thought came from my door or the wall of my bedroom. This has happened on a number of occasions since I've gotten here but hasn't been consistant. Until now, I had chalked it up to my dreaming. However, last night's episode involved at least six loud knocks that I was conscious of. The last way I wanted to meat my neighbours was after having done something to cause them grief but I was at the stage where I had to try to figure out whether I had in fact done this or merely been hearing things. I went to the apartment directly above mine where I met a shift worker who wouldn't have been disturbed whatsoever had a bomb gone off down here. Right adjacent to my apartment where I figured would be the only other likely place where anything I did might be noticed, I met a nice man who hadn't heard anything either. I'm always happy to meet good people and pleased that I haven't inadvertently disturbed their slumber. However, Sherlock Holmes's saying about the impossible, however unlikely, having to be the truth once more likely alternatives have been eliminated does tend to point to the unsettling conclusion that I imagined all those knocks. Of course, there also could have been hammering or knocks somewhere else in the building which carried through it to me. Still, the more I think about it, the less certain of their reality I become. At least I've now introduced myself to my vertical neighbour as well as my immediately horrizontal one. It's nice to have at least a minimal sense of who's close at hand. Thanks a bunch, Mr. Holmes. GRRRRRR!!! Hopefully, I won't be needing the modern day equivalent of Dr. Watson any time soon.
Yesterday, [monday], was grocery day again. I got pretty much everything I ordered this time. Only two minor substitutions of junkfood. Not bad at all. Everything's stowed nicely away. I know I dozed off during part of the day again. It would be damned annoying if I had anything I needed to get done. As it is, such short dozes are merely erksome to my sense of how a day ought to be lived. Rebellion against the effects of age? Perhaps. It just isn't what I'm used to. I wasn't awakened by any knocks in either sunday or last night. One acomplishment other than storing the groceries was editing Cesar's second essay. Doing that to a piece of writing about how happy he is to have met me certainly has a way of making yours truly acutely selfconscious. I'm very happy to have made a good and selfless man like him happy. He seems to be getting better with each attempt. I had to correct fewer sentence oddities and it was much easier to follow his train of thinking. Apparently, his wife wants some help with her English pronunciation. Doing things like that certainly makes me feel far more like I'm living a good and useful life. When days can go past without much consequence or interaction at all, it's easy to lose that sense of connectedness. I thank God for all the people I'm encountering here and through the church. I've felt so hung out to dry for so much of the time since Janene left me. That sense has retreated marvelously over my residency here. Over time as more people come to know me, I believe I'll have a more sustained positive impact.
Monday ended with an email from my friend Steve Murgaski. He's coming over to visit tomorrow and will be the very first guest to make use of the ability of my futon to turn into a bed rather than the couch that it normally is. It'll be damned good to spend some time with him again. I called my worker for Halton Housing to inform her of this as I've been instructed to in my leace. She sounds like a pretty conscientious woman. I think it's safe to say we'll get along well enough. It feels damned odd to have to do that before a friend stays over. Very unnatural. Presuming I ever get into a serious relationship again as I'd very much like to, it'll feel even more awkward meetting that condition. So much for spontenaity. They can't refuse me the right to have guests stay over but it almost feels like one is asking permittion rather than informing them of one's plans. I guess I'll get used to it over the years ahead. In all other respects, it's hard to imagine being in better circumstances as a single man. I can certainly deal with the odd sour note like that. I'm not going to have people stay overnight all that often in any case.
Things are as ready as they can be. I figured out how to transform the futon couch, tidied up, stocked the fridge with drinks and made damned certain there are icecubes aplenty. He couldn't have timed his visit better as I've just gotten my groceries. We'll have a couple days of excellent conversation, doubtless listen to some digital audio of interest from our respective collections, and very likely meet up with my parents for a meal out and to test my Trekker Breeze. No, dear reader. The update still hasn't arrived from the folks at Humanware. I figure that the longer they work on it, the better it'll be. I'm a patient man even if I'm dying of suspense to see what they've come up with for the little gadget. Until I kick the bucket, there's always tomorrow. My Snowflake microphone arrived today. It seems to be quite an excellent microphone. I still have to test it more with my netbook and may try doing a better audio tour of my apartment for Blindcooltech. I'd be able to record directly into mp3 using Goldwave. We'll see how that goes.
It's approaching eleven o'clock as I sit here at my desk. I have a nifty piece of instrumental music from the Lady in the Water soundtrack called Charades. It has a wonderful adventuresome feel and blends well with the forest soundscape generated by Aura. I feel tired and hope that tonight will be a restful one. Guess I'll post this entry and find out.
God certainly likes to throw some interesting curveballs my way. A couple of nights ago, I was awakened once again from a dead sleep by a fairly loud knocking which I thought came from my door or the wall of my bedroom. This has happened on a number of occasions since I've gotten here but hasn't been consistant. Until now, I had chalked it up to my dreaming. However, last night's episode involved at least six loud knocks that I was conscious of. The last way I wanted to meat my neighbours was after having done something to cause them grief but I was at the stage where I had to try to figure out whether I had in fact done this or merely been
Yesterday, [monday], was grocery day again. I got pretty much everything I ordered this time. Only two minor substitutions of junkfood. Not bad at all. Everything's stowed nicely away. I know I dozed off during part of the day again. It would be damned annoying if I had anything I needed to get done. As it is, such short dozes are merely erksome to my sense of how a day ought to be lived. Rebellion against the effects of age? Perhaps. It just isn't what I'm used to. I wasn't awakened by any knocks in either sunday or last night. One acomplishment other than storing the groceries was editing Cesar's second essay. Doing that to a piece of writing about how happy he is to have met me certainly has a way of making yours truly acutely selfconscious. I'm very happy to have made a good and selfless man like him happy. He seems to be getting better with each attempt. I had to correct fewer sentence oddities and it was much easier to follow his train of thinking. Apparently, his wife wants some help with her English pronunciation. Doing things like that certainly makes me feel far more like I'm living a good and useful life. When days can go past without much consequence or interaction at all, it's easy to lose that sense of connectedness. I thank God for all the people I'm encountering here and through the church. I've felt so hung out to dry for so much of the time since Janene left me. That sense has retreated marvelously over my residency here. Over time as more people come to know me, I believe I'll have a more sustained positive impact.
Monday ended with an email from my friend Steve Murgaski. He's coming over to visit tomorrow and will be the very first guest to make use of the ability of my futon to turn into a bed rather than the couch that it normally is. It'll be damned good to spend some time with him again. I called my worker for Halton Housing to inform her of this as I've been instructed to in my leace. She sounds like a pretty conscientious woman. I think it's safe to say we'll get along well enough. It feels damned odd to have to do that before a friend stays over. Very unnatural. Presuming I ever get into a serious relationship again as I'd very much like to, it'll feel even more awkward meetting that condition. So much for spontenaity. They can't refuse me the right to have guests stay over but it almost feels like one is asking permittion rather than informing them of one's plans. I guess I'll get used to it over the years ahead. In all other respects, it's hard to imagine being in better circumstances as a single man. I can certainly deal with the odd sour note like that. I'm not going to have people stay overnight all that often in any case.
Things are as ready as they can be. I figured out how to transform the futon couch, tidied up, stocked the fridge with drinks and made damned certain there are icecubes aplenty. He couldn't have timed his visit better as I've just gotten my groceries. We'll have a couple days of excellent conversation, doubtless listen to some digital audio of interest from our respective collections, and very likely meet up with my parents for a meal out and to test my Trekker Breeze. No, dear reader. The update still hasn't arrived from the folks at Humanware. I figure that the longer they work on it, the better it'll be. I'm a patient man even if I'm dying of suspense to see what they've come up with for the little gadget. Until I kick the bucket, there's always tomorrow. My Snowflake microphone arrived today. It seems to be quite an excellent microphone. I still have to test it more with my netbook and may try doing a better audio tour of my apartment for Blindcooltech. I'd be able to record directly into mp3 using Goldwave. We'll see how that goes.
It's approaching eleven o'clock as I sit here at my desk. I have a nifty piece of instrumental music from the Lady in the Water soundtrack called Charades. It has a wonderful adventuresome feel and blends well with the forest soundscape generated by Aura. I feel tired and hope that tonight will be a restful one. Guess I'll post this entry and find out.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A Happy Easter Weekend
Hello everyone. Compared to last Easter, this one is kicking some serious ass. My grandmother came over for a visit this weekend. It was fun to have her visit the apartment. She was impressed with all the gadgetry her financial gift allowed me to purchase as well as by the building in general. Now, she has some sense of what my living circumstances will be for the foreseeable future. Last year, right around now, I was enjoying another Easter weekend confident that I was well on my way to marrying Janene. I'll doubtless always think of her around Easter time. So much love, trust and respect built up over two years just tossed aside. So much opportunity for a future at least a little closer to the kind I had hoped for and still hope for eventually. I know I'll live an enjoyable life here. There'll be friends, social gatherings to go to, family close at hand, and provided I stay disciplined about it, no extreme financial worries. I definitely won't be starving any time soon. Once you've experienced love, however, even if it has ended in failure, there's just no going back. That sense of incompleteness and wasted potential for good just doesn't go away. It retretes for a while and then returns in force in all too frequent moments of silence and solitude. What does change for the better is one's ability to get past that and enjoy life's blessings. Tomorrow ought to be another excellent day. There's a lot going on at church including games night which I haven't attended in a while. Life does indeed move on. There are simply a lot of days where it does so all too slowly. But I get ahead of myself. I really meant to start with thursday.
On thursday, Dan came over with his family. Ava and Amia were getting into some nifty April Fools action. They had put toothpaste inside some Oreo cookies to fool Dan. I think he suspected something but went along anyhow. They brought a cake over for their grandfather who soon discovered that the cake was a cardboard box covered in icing and decorations. Everyone had a good laugh. Ava and Amia were as full of energy as ever. I think they overwelmed their great grandmother a tad. They got their Easter bunnies early as well as some rather different eggs. These were made of different colours of sidewalk chalk. They certainly got tried out on our driveway and seemed to please Ava and Amia. That night, we went to Score's for an excellent dinner.
Whenever my grandmother visits, you can bet there'll be at least one outing to a casino. This time, there were two. After an early rise and therefore quite relaxed morning, they came by the apartment to get me. I went in expecting to lose twenty dollars and this was precisely what transpired over a couple of hours. Chance favoured none of us that day. We went back to my parents' house for a rather ordinary lunch. I had been looking forward to a meal out either at the casino or perhaps a stop at Symposium when we walked there. As things turned out, neither of those occurred. Dad, my grandmother and I walked over there to show her my GPS in action and then simply turned right around heading back. Dad and I get along quite well but I find that I increasingly run into places like this where he just doesn't have the same view of what makes a day special. It would have been great to actually go in, have a drink and rest a bit. Dad just tends to always want to get home from things. In fairly short order, I should be able to get there myself and have at least one place where I can simply choose to stay if I like. One of the reasons I don't tend to gamble is so I have some spare money to enjoy hanging around a place like Symposium. It looks like it'll be a special spot for me for years to come. The first place I learned to get to safely where I made enough of a difference to be remembered by the staff there. It would have meant something to stop there so my grandmother could have gotten more of a sense of the place than just going up to the door. That just seems to be how things go though. It's one of the ways I feel increasingly divided from how my family does things. For most of my life, I've had to deal with the reality that I've nearly always been on someone else's schedule when travelling anywhere. I've had to leave an event when whoever took me there felt that it was time to go. That was one of the big reasons why New Year's Eeve parties with friends became so meaningful to me.
Mark and Wendy are two people who seem to have some sense of this sort of thing. I always enjoy visits and outings with them. They like to soke up whatever place we go to. I guess it's partly just that they're still in their thirties and my father isn't. Same with the church people I'm beginning to know. They're certainly a busy lot but still manage to truly enjoy a good time without there being an almost audible timer ticking down in their heads. A part of my sense of this has to be a product of the unusual circumstances society has seen fit to put me in where I have vastly more time at my disposal than most people but find it so hard to go to many places. I'm aware enough to have a sense of the kinds of experiences I could have but paradoxically can't enjoy alone.
At least in this immediate area, that will all start to change over the next while. I'm beginning to find new friends who seem interested in doing things with me who are astonishingly close enough to easily arrange this. It won't be an imposition to come and get me. Also, now that I've got a couple of the bus stops in my GPS, people can come to see me and I can get them safely back to my apartment. Admittedly, there will then be the bus schedule to contend with. Eventually, I may take yet another crack at getting better with bus routes. That's at least a couple of years off though. First comes everything within walking distance. Now that I'm here for what could be the rest of my life, it actually makes sense to put in the time.
Getting back to my apartment for the afternoon seemed like the best idea. Everyone else seemed ready to nap or rest anyhow. I figured I'd get a coke and go out onto my balcony for the afternoon. I brought out the netbook complete with lapdesk and speakers to test out how well it would all work while I didn't have an actual table out there. I went back to retrieve the full glass of coke classic I had poured and put ice in. That was where things took a turn for the worse. I misjudged where the glass was by a little and knocked it backwards on the corner of my desk where I had left it. The good fortune so conspiculusly absent at the casino stood me in miraculously good stead here. The torrent of coke was first thwarted by the paper towels I usually keep weighted down by the soapstone bear ready to deal with what are usually minor spills at my desk. These towels absorbed and slowed the coke in its headlong rush for the cable-rich area behind my desk. The Shamwow which I keep ready to hand also did an utterly astounding job here. Unless you face a circumstance like that, you'd just never believe how effective the things are. I spent around an hour I had looked forward to relaxing in cleaning up all that cola. Miraculously, I seem to have succeeded to the point where mom couldn't see any remaining for her to wipe up. Note to self; Next time, take the coke out first and stash it safely in a corner of the balcony out of the way. In dire need to relaxation at this point, I went out with a fresh coke and sat on a lawnchair. Sadly, I soon discovered that my lapdesk wouldn't work due to the arms of the lawnchair and the cable of my USB speakers was too short to have them rest on the balcony with the netbook on my lap. Before I spend any serious time out there, I'll need a set of patio furnature with enough weight so that wind won't blow it right off over the railing. I eventually got my small netbook case which doubles as a lapdesk. This doesn't allow for the speakers but at least rendered the netbook and WIFI adapter useable. The adapter worked splendidly in tandum with my new router giving me terrific Internet speed. I got CBC Radio1 streaming perfectly via Winamp and put up with the less than stellar sound of my netbook's built-in speakers while at last enjoying an ice cold Coke Classic. It'll be a great setup when I have a table to asemble everything on. As it was, I didn't stay out all that long. It's just a whole lot easier to enjoy oneself seeted in comfort in front of a desktop PC with Bose Companion3 speakers, plenty of room for a drink and nothing precariously pirched.
Later that evening, we went to Jim and Carol's for dinner. That was a very good meal. The cardboard cake made another levity-causing appearance. Before they started watching TV shows and playing cards, they brought me back to my apartment. I don't take an interest in either the particular shows they like or in card games. Both activities tend to somewhat inhibit conversation. My old friend Minney phoned so I spent some time out on the balcony while talking to her. She seems to be doing well but be very busy. I have some faint hope of her visiting within the year. I don't intend that to sound as crass as it might. She's just one of those people who never finds the time. Life sweeps her along as she tries hard to make ends meet. She's the only friend who I've kept in touch with from the Clearview church. Thank goodness I seem to be doing quite a lot better at the Meadowvale CRC in the friendship department. It makes a substantial difference.
Today was another very good day. I ended up breaking even at the casino so I effectively only lost twenty dollars. I'd have paid that to treet to a meal or go somewhere else on an outing with family so I don't mind that. We took my grandmother to Bright Ontario where she'll visit her sister Kay for a while. We had a good lunch there. She was happy to hear about my new apartment. Coming back to the apartment, I soon heard from Fernando. He had tried to call me from his balcony but another person on the ground was also talking to me so I didn't figure out that it was him and wasn't even certain until later that he spoke to me. However, I called him on the off chance that he had. That was fortuitous. He brought over some beef and chicken he had barbecued along with some salad. He's a splendid cook. I enjoyed an impromptu early dinner and treeted him to a couple of beers. It felt great to have him over for a good talk and a couple of drinks like that. Our conversation was pretty wide-ranging and most enjoyable. I look forward to many more such with him and his family. After Fernando left, I tidied up a little and then though to open my balcony door. It got quite windy this evening. Standing out there with so much air moving around was rather neat. I must confess to have been sorely tempted to get one of those Glad garbage bags and let it rore off propelled by one of the strong gusts. Of corse, such acts are sublime when contemplated but lose their lustour once perpetrated. I know I would have worried that the bag might have made someone else's day more difficult than necessary. Still, it doubtless would have sounded nifty.
On thursday, Dan came over with his family. Ava and Amia were getting into some nifty April Fools action. They had put toothpaste inside some Oreo cookies to fool Dan. I think he suspected something but went along anyhow. They brought a cake over for their grandfather who soon discovered that the cake was a cardboard box covered in icing and decorations. Everyone had a good laugh. Ava and Amia were as full of energy as ever. I think they overwelmed their great grandmother a tad. They got their Easter bunnies early as well as some rather different eggs. These were made of different colours of sidewalk chalk. They certainly got tried out on our driveway and seemed to please Ava and Amia. That night, we went to Score's for an excellent dinner.
Whenever my grandmother visits, you can bet there'll be at least one outing to a casino. This time, there were two. After an early rise and therefore quite relaxed morning, they came by the apartment to get me. I went in expecting to lose twenty dollars and this was precisely what transpired over a couple of hours. Chance favoured none of us that day. We went back to my parents' house for a rather ordinary lunch. I had been looking forward to a meal out either at the casino or perhaps a stop at Symposium when we walked there. As things turned out, neither of those occurred. Dad, my grandmother and I walked over there to show her my GPS in action and then simply turned right around heading back. Dad and I get along quite well but I find that I increasingly run into places like this where he just doesn't have the same view of what makes a day special. It would have been great to actually go in, have a drink and rest a bit. Dad just tends to always want to get home from things. In fairly short order, I should be able to get there myself and have at least one place where I can simply choose to stay if I like. One of the reasons I don't tend to gamble is so I have some spare money to enjoy hanging around a place like Symposium. It looks like it'll be a special spot for me for years to come. The first place I learned to get to safely where I made enough of a difference to be remembered by the staff there. It would have meant something to stop there so my grandmother could have gotten more of a sense of the place than just going up to the door. That just seems to be how things go though. It's one of the ways I feel increasingly divided from how my family does things. For most of my life, I've had to deal with the reality that I've nearly always been on someone else's schedule when travelling anywhere. I've had to leave an event when whoever took me there felt that it was time to go. That was one of the big reasons why New Year's Eeve parties with friends became so meaningful to me.
Mark and Wendy are two people who seem to have some sense of this sort of thing. I always enjoy visits and outings with them. They like to soke up whatever place we go to. I guess it's partly just that they're still in their thirties and my father isn't. Same with the church people I'm beginning to know. They're certainly a busy lot but still manage to truly enjoy a good time without there being an almost audible timer ticking down in their heads. A part of my sense of this has to be a product of the unusual circumstances society has seen fit to put me in where I have vastly more time at my disposal than most people but find it so hard to go to many places. I'm aware enough to have a sense of the kinds of experiences I could have but paradoxically can't enjoy alone.
At least in this immediate area, that will all start to change over the next while. I'm beginning to find new friends who seem interested in doing things with me who are astonishingly close enough to easily arrange this. It won't be an imposition to come and get me. Also, now that I've got a couple of the bus stops in my GPS, people can come to see me and I can get them safely back to my apartment. Admittedly, there will then be the bus schedule to contend with. Eventually, I may take yet another crack at getting better with bus routes. That's at least a couple of years off though. First comes everything within walking distance. Now that I'm here for what could be the rest of my life, it actually makes sense to put in the time.
Getting back to my apartment for the afternoon seemed like the best idea. Everyone else seemed ready to nap or rest anyhow. I figured I'd get a coke and go out onto my balcony for the afternoon. I brought out the netbook complete with lapdesk and speakers to test out how well it would all work while I didn't have an actual table out there. I went back to retrieve the full glass of coke classic I had poured and put ice in. That was where things took a turn for the worse. I misjudged where the glass was by a little and knocked it backwards on the corner of my desk where I had left it. The good fortune so conspiculusly absent at the casino stood me in miraculously good stead here. The torrent of coke was first thwarted by the paper towels I usually keep weighted down by the soapstone bear ready to deal with what are usually minor spills at my desk. These towels absorbed and slowed the coke in its headlong rush for the cable-rich area behind my desk. The Shamwow which I keep ready to hand also did an utterly astounding job here. Unless you face a circumstance like that, you'd just never believe how effective the things are. I spent around an hour I had looked forward to relaxing in cleaning up all that cola. Miraculously, I seem to have succeeded to the point where mom couldn't see any remaining for her to wipe up. Note to self; Next time, take the coke out first and stash it safely in a corner of the balcony out of the way. In dire need to relaxation at this point, I went out with a fresh coke and sat on a lawnchair. Sadly, I soon discovered that my lapdesk wouldn't work due to the arms of the lawnchair and the cable of my USB speakers was too short to have them rest on the balcony with the netbook on my lap. Before I spend any serious time out there, I'll need a set of patio furnature with enough weight so that wind won't blow it right off over the railing. I eventually got my small netbook case which doubles as a lapdesk. This doesn't allow for the speakers but at least rendered the netbook and WIFI adapter useable. The adapter worked splendidly in tandum with my new router giving me terrific Internet speed. I got CBC Radio1 streaming perfectly via Winamp and put up with the less than stellar sound of my netbook's built-in speakers while at last enjoying an ice cold Coke Classic. It'll be a great setup when I have a table to asemble everything on. As it was, I didn't stay out all that long. It's just a whole lot easier to enjoy oneself seeted in comfort in front of a desktop PC with Bose Companion3 speakers, plenty of room for a drink and nothing precariously pirched.
Later that evening, we went to Jim and Carol's for dinner. That was a very good meal. The cardboard cake made another levity-causing appearance. Before they started watching TV shows and playing cards, they brought me back to my apartment. I don't take an interest in either the particular shows they like or in card games. Both activities tend to somewhat inhibit conversation. My old friend Minney phoned so I spent some time out on the balcony while talking to her. She seems to be doing well but be very busy. I have some faint hope of her visiting within the year. I don't intend that to sound as crass as it might. She's just one of those people who never finds the time. Life sweeps her along as she tries hard to make ends meet. She's the only friend who I've kept in touch with from the Clearview church. Thank goodness I seem to be doing quite a lot better at the Meadowvale CRC in the friendship department. It makes a substantial difference.
Today was another very good day. I ended up breaking even at the casino so I effectively only lost twenty dollars. I'd have paid that to treet to a meal or go somewhere else on an outing with family so I don't mind that. We took my grandmother to Bright Ontario where she'll visit her sister Kay for a while. We had a good lunch there. She was happy to hear about my new apartment. Coming back to the apartment, I soon heard from Fernando. He had tried to call me from his balcony but another person on the ground was also talking to me so I didn't figure out that it was him and wasn't even certain until later that he spoke to me. However, I called him on the off chance that he had. That was fortuitous. He brought over some beef and chicken he had barbecued along with some salad. He's a splendid cook. I enjoyed an impromptu early dinner and treeted him to a couple of beers. It felt great to have him over for a good talk and a couple of drinks like that. Our conversation was pretty wide-ranging and most enjoyable. I look forward to many more such with him and his family. After Fernando left, I tidied up a little and then though to open my balcony door. It got quite windy this evening. Standing out there with so much air moving around was rather neat. I must confess to have been sorely tempted to get one of those Glad garbage bags and let it rore off propelled by one of the strong gusts. Of corse, such acts are sublime when contemplated but lose their lustour once perpetrated. I know I would have worried that the bag might have made someone else's day more difficult than necessary. Still, it doubtless would have sounded nifty.
Friday, March 26, 2010
life's improving tambour
Hello everyone. I guess it's been a couple of weeks. Time certainly proceeds apace here. There have been a couple of very enjoyable gatherings. Last friday evening, I went to one and made some roasted potatos which seemed to have been enjoyed. I'm still tinkering with the timing of those but have reached a point where I can count on them turning out well. It was good to get to know the people who attended the event better. The food was terrific. Mainly though, I enjoyed the conversation. I felt like I was in my element.
My futon, coffee table and two end tables arrived last week. Mark and Wendy came over and assembled the tables for me. It didn't take them long with the help of one of those diagrams. The futon didn't need much assembly and the delivery guys handled that. One of them bumped my desk on the way in and was surprised when my computer's voice suddenly began speaking. It seemed to break the ice wonderfully. I gave them a couple of softdrinks as they left. It was a marvelously warm day and I figured they could use them. The place feels so much more complete now. It makes a relaxing change to sit on that futon and enjoy music, podcasts, etc. The two tubchairs will get here some time over the next month or so. There are a number of people who I'm very much looking forward to inviting over for visits including a Spanish couple who I've become acquainted with who live in the building. I've seen Sandy a few times and have helped him move some stuff around in his apartment. He's have some ups and downs healthwise. However, he has at least been in contact with some more helpful people. They've managed to assemble the new furnature he recently got. It seems like he's pretty serious about making the best of life. There's still a kind of listlessness to him but it's no great surprise given what he's experienced. There's a lot more sunchine in him than when we first met though. He seems to think I've done him some real good already and we haven't really gotten to serious computer efforts yet. It'll alll some in due time though. I expect we'll be hearing from John Morgan soon. I wonder what he got up to in England. Some day, God willing, I'll go there with a special lady or one or more very good friends.
I'm still slowly proceeding through Stephen King's Duma Key. It's keeping me interested so far. Also, I've started going through a book called Brain Fuel which is filled with scientific facts about all sorts of foods and other things. I believe it will eventually cover more than chemistry and biological stuff. I still have quite a bit to go through. Browsing the CNIB digital library, I found another interesting-sounding book called Our True North Strange and Free. Apparently, that's got a bunch of strange stories and facts about Canada. Books like that are splendid for when you don't really feel like engaging with a story.
Tomorrow, I'll be taking another stab at trying to help improve the situation with the router my parents have. Dad's computer is just wizzing along on the information superhighway but nobody else is able to connect. Dad looked at some pretty negative reviews on Future Shop's site which may have given the key to solving the problem. Apparently, all the trouble might be resolved by updating the firmware in the router. We got it on sale just before Christmsa and I never would have figured he'd have to bother upgrading the firmware this soon. My own router seems to have come with the latest firmware already installed. Thankfully, it appears that D-link has made the updating process quite easy. Here's hoping that this step restores mom's ability to go online with her laptop.
Adam came over on wednesday. He arrived just as I was heading back upstairs with my laundry. We had a good visit and went to Monahan's in Oakville for wings. That certainly brought back some memories. The wings are more pricey now but thankfully, the taste hasn't changed. We'll doubtless head back over there on a monday to take advantage of their wing night. We hoped to play a game called Settlers 7 but found that my computer just wasn't up to it. The lack of a wide-screen monitor doesn't help its gaming capabilities. However, its CPU and outdated graphics card are larger issues. It will still be perfectly suitable for my own needs. Accessible games don't have nearly the same hardware requirements. Nor does any other software I'm likely to use. Fortunately, Hinterland turned out to be playable if a bit awkward due to not having a wide-screen perspective.
I'm taking it fairly easy today. Other than this blog entry, there are two weeks worth of groceries to order. It's that time once again. I'll have them come early next week. It has gotten quite cold here again. The weather people don't think that'll last too long. Hope they're right. I've never been fond of the cold. CSUN is happenning right now in the states. Still no word about either Trekker Breeze's update or of the Blio Reader. Their site is still up but I haven't had any news from them since sighning up for their news updates. I hope nothing has tangled them up. Regarding Dragontavern and Plenty of Fish, I'm toing equally dismally on each of these fronts. Seeing as I haven't yet sorted out my profile on POF, that's not too surprising. I also haven't kept up with the forums there and have to sink some time into all that soon. DRagon Tavern is another matter entirely. I've had a run of utterly dreadful luck. Poor Eldrex has been killed so many times now that I'm laybouring under a half-million-point XP debt. Every time I manage to chip away at it, another nasty fate befalls my brave adventurer as his controller, yours truly, takes one too many chances with his fate. What can I say? I find it good to have one area in life where decisions can be made and risks taken without fear of consequence.
It looks like I'll be seeing my two new Spanish friends Lila and Fernando tonight. We'll have drinks and some good conversation. It'll also be interesting to let them have a look at the various talking gadgets I have in here. Nice not to have another empty evening to look forward to. My grandmother will be coming late next week so she'll also get to see my apartment. I expect I'll be going on one or two family outings over the next while. The haircut I got recently seems to be a good one judging from the feedback I've gotten so far. All in all then, I'd say things were going pretty well. Think I'll end on that high note, whip up some hot chocolate and then look through the Grocery Gateway flyer which arrived in very timely fashion into my in-box.
My futon, coffee table and two end tables arrived last week. Mark and Wendy came over and assembled the tables for me. It didn't take them long with the help of one of those diagrams. The futon didn't need much assembly and the delivery guys handled that. One of them bumped my desk on the way in and was surprised when my computer's voice suddenly began speaking. It seemed to break the ice wonderfully. I gave them a couple of softdrinks as they left. It was a marvelously warm day and I figured they could use them. The place feels so much more complete now. It makes a relaxing change to sit on that futon and enjoy music, podcasts, etc. The two tubchairs will get here some time over the next month or so. There are a number of people who I'm very much looking forward to inviting over for visits including a Spanish couple who I've become acquainted with who live in the building. I've seen Sandy a few times and have helped him move some stuff around in his apartment. He's have some ups and downs healthwise. However, he has at least been in contact with some more helpful people. They've managed to assemble the new furnature he recently got. It seems like he's pretty serious about making the best of life. There's still a kind of listlessness to him but it's no great surprise given what he's experienced. There's a lot more sunchine in him than when we first met though. He seems to think I've done him some real good already and we haven't really gotten to serious computer efforts yet. It'll alll some in due time though. I expect we'll be hearing from John Morgan soon. I wonder what he got up to in England. Some day, God willing, I'll go there with a special lady or one or more very good friends.
I'm still slowly proceeding through Stephen King's Duma Key. It's keeping me interested so far. Also, I've started going through a book called Brain Fuel which is filled with scientific facts about all sorts of foods and other things. I believe it will eventually cover more than chemistry and biological stuff. I still have quite a bit to go through. Browsing the CNIB digital library, I found another interesting-sounding book called Our True North Strange and Free. Apparently, that's got a bunch of strange stories and facts about Canada. Books like that are splendid for when you don't really feel like engaging with a story.
Tomorrow, I'll be taking another stab at trying to help improve the situation with the router my parents have. Dad's computer is just wizzing along on the information superhighway but nobody else is able to connect. Dad looked at some pretty negative reviews on Future Shop's site which may have given the key to solving the problem. Apparently, all the trouble might be resolved by updating the firmware in the router. We got it on sale just before Christmsa and I never would have figured he'd have to bother upgrading the firmware this soon. My own router seems to have come with the latest firmware already installed. Thankfully, it appears that D-link has made the updating process quite easy. Here's hoping that this step restores mom's ability to go online with her laptop.
Adam came over on wednesday. He arrived just as I was heading back upstairs with my laundry. We had a good visit and went to Monahan's in Oakville for wings. That certainly brought back some memories. The wings are more pricey now but thankfully, the taste hasn't changed. We'll doubtless head back over there on a monday to take advantage of their wing night. We hoped to play a game called Settlers 7 but found that my computer just wasn't up to it. The lack of a wide-screen monitor doesn't help its gaming capabilities. However, its CPU and outdated graphics card are larger issues. It will still be perfectly suitable for my own needs. Accessible games don't have nearly the same hardware requirements. Nor does any other software I'm likely to use. Fortunately, Hinterland turned out to be playable if a bit awkward due to not having a wide-screen perspective.
I'm taking it fairly easy today. Other than this blog entry, there are two weeks worth of groceries to order. It's that time once again. I'll have them come early next week. It has gotten quite cold here again. The weather people don't think that'll last too long. Hope they're right. I've never been fond of the cold. CSUN is happenning right now in the states. Still no word about either Trekker Breeze's update or of the Blio Reader. Their site is still up but I haven't had any news from them since sighning up for their news updates. I hope nothing has tangled them up. Regarding Dragontavern and Plenty of Fish, I'm toing equally dismally on each of these fronts. Seeing as I haven't yet sorted out my profile on POF, that's not too surprising. I also haven't kept up with the forums there and have to sink some time into all that soon. DRagon Tavern is another matter entirely. I've had a run of utterly dreadful luck. Poor Eldrex has been killed so many times now that I'm laybouring under a half-million-point XP debt. Every time I manage to chip away at it, another nasty fate befalls my brave adventurer as his controller, yours truly, takes one too many chances with his fate. What can I say? I find it good to have one area in life where decisions can be made and risks taken without fear of consequence.
It looks like I'll be seeing my two new Spanish friends Lila and Fernando tonight. We'll have drinks and some good conversation. It'll also be interesting to let them have a look at the various talking gadgets I have in here. Nice not to have another empty evening to look forward to. My grandmother will be coming late next week so she'll also get to see my apartment. I expect I'll be going on one or two family outings over the next while. The haircut I got recently seems to be a good one judging from the feedback I've gotten so far. All in all then, I'd say things were going pretty well. Think I'll end on that high note, whip up some hot chocolate and then look through the Grocery Gateway flyer which arrived in very timely fashion into my in-box.
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