A Splendid saturday

Hello everyone. Today, the weather has finally permitted me to venture out of my comfortable lair. The heat wave wasn't fun last week but my air conditioner, cold drinks, the odd ice cream treat, and not having to venture out anywhere all conspired to stand me in good stead. I did go out to see my parents and Dan's family. Mom and dad's pool was actually warm enough for me for once. I had a good swim. Seeing Ava and Amia is always special. I'm hoping against hope that my insomnia has finally decided to leave for a while. Thursday was a very long day. I did two loads of laundry on what had to be the hottest day I could have picked. Stepping out into the corridor was like enterring ablast furnace. Still I god it done and had a couple brief chat with folks while I was down there.

I haven't gotten much done this week. Here's hoping once again that my writer's block also decides to back off soon. I'm managing to enjoy life for the most part but will only feel perfectly in balance when I start one of my projects moving forward again. Meanwhile, I keep looking for any opportunities to meet or talk to new people and listening to as much input as I can. One of the highlights took the form of a BBC radio drama about a family experiencing the events of July 7 2005. It was a very well done production and I hope they use it in their schools. It was the most moving thing I've heard in quite some time. Michael Walker always writes excellent radio dramas. His earlier work called Alpha looks at the intersection of religion and artificial intelligence and really provokes some interesting thoughts. Can't wait for his next one. Another highlight was the movie Unbreakable. I heard the described version of that and was quite impressed. All I need now is a girl friend to share this sort of thing with. I keep hearing this interesting stuff and then have nobody there to really talk about it with. So much just gets experienced and then lost. Everyone else is just too damned busy, too far away, or simply not interested. Were I some raving psychotic, I could understand. However, I think of myself is a pretty open-minded, level-headed, honest and fair sort of man. I don't have any hangups over appearances. You'd think there'd be a woman somewhere out there who was around my age, single, and would value what I bring to the table.

Today, I got up early again. Big surprise. I had a nifty chat with folks on Vipconduit. Gonna miss that community a little if I decide not to renew my membership in September. That hinges on what kind of a life I'm leading offline here. I'd much rather spend my money on people who I can actualy experience life with in person. Slowly, on days like today, I'm meeting more of my fellow physical community members. I walked twice around the lake today and ran into a lady who lives in my building. We had a good chat and exchanged contact information. That's a pretty rare occurance. She's a grandmother who lives in my building. Thankfully, she's got an English accent which she hasn't lost while living here so I actually have a halfway decent shot at recognising her voice from a distance or in a group. I've met so many people who sound too damned similar for easy identification but have no idea how tricky that is for me. Like a lot of folks, she certainly seems willing to help out. Hopefully, she'll be up for some interesting conversations. Just now, that kind of stimulation is what I need most. I'm taking pretty good care of myself in every other way. I feel like I've at least started that process of getting to know people. I met a number of other folks walking their dogs also. It's always fun to pat them but I'm just as glad as ever that I don't own one myself. Having grown up with a pet cat, I simply have no desire to be responsible for animals. That form of companionship just doesn't cut it for me. I need people who jenuinely care about me and who I in turn can care about and for. There are so many life experiences which are only enjoyed the most when they're shared ones.

Lately, as I've turned to the online world more for some semblance of company, I've found some solis there. There are some folks who just don't appreciate how circumstancially fortunate they've been in life to have found jobs matching their gifts. Blind people who have found that sort of success just can't seem to fathom how things simply don't work out for their less fortunate fellows despite best efforts. We're just not all superstars. I'd cheerfully shovel shit for a living if someone provided an opportunity with some degree of security. Just pay me enough to afford my own place and save a bit extra. Even unrewarded, I'll put in my best efforts to be as helpful a member of society as I can be. That should damned well count for more than it often seems to. I'd do much much more if I had the opportunity to which actually compensated me for such effort. Money's nice, but when you get right down to it, steady companionship of friends and, dare I hope, a special lady in life would be my ultimate reward. They say all things come to those who wait. I'm being as patient as humanly possible and will continue to be.
I talked to Rose for the first time in a little wile. She's had a bit of a rough week. Apparently, some idiot has accused her of taking advantage of me. I wonder if whoever it was has any conception of how good it can feel to actually be able to help someone during a time when you're feeling supremely unproductive and useless. She's pretty much the only member of the church who has taken the time to get to know me to the point where I can actually do some good. She's been completely honest with me. I have no false hope of us being any more than platonic friends. I would have cheerfully treeted a complete stranger to what I've treeted her to just to get out somewhere with an actual female friend who, unlike the rest of them, has time and inclination to make use of my gifts and time. For once, someone is taking me up on my willingness to help where I can. It's not like there are a whole flock of other people waiting to become involved with me as anything more than a charity case or someone who chats with me briefly on sundays. Though I still believe there's real hope for that over the long run, it's going to take all sorts of unnecessary time while everyone kills themselves racing through overly packed lives and I spend whole days doing next to nothing. Society certainly has a way of wasting human capital and killing or maiming kindness and altruism.

It's been a fantastic afternoon. I may come out again later this evening but the sun has begun to shine in an annoying way at the position on my balcony where I have stuff set up.
that always happens in the evening. I don't mind so much but it heats up my netbook and I'm a little concerned about that. I'm also expecting a delivery fairly shortly. Time to get this posted, pack up and head in after a wonderful day outside. There's church tomorrow. I haven't been in a couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to that. Catch you all later.

Thought I'd keep on going now that my delivery has arrived. I had ordered a Moshi talking alarm clock as well as a new cane holder. My old one needed "mending", as Rose says. Apparently, "sewing" is altogether a different activity deserving a different word due to scale of operation I guess. I like the new cane holder. It's better designed than my old one and ought to hold up nicely indeed. I had to engage in a bit of a battle with little Ms. Moshi though. The clock had trouble understanding that it was "sssssseven" rather than eleven PM. After finally scoring that verbal victory, I next discovered that you couldn't set the date vocally and had to use buttons. Thought I might get away without having to read the manual but I ended up needing it after all to inform her that it was july 10 2010 and not jan 1 2008. Having gotten that matter resolved, all that stood between me and success was getting Ms. Moshi to use degrees C rather than F. That also required the use of a button. Having at last said all the right words and touched her in all the right places, Ms. Moshi is Now behaving properly and will be ready with the scant but crucial information at her disposal when I need it.