Saturday Afternoon Ramblings

(timestamp - 2:00pm)

Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Afternoon Ramblings (from work). I'm your host, C-Train, and today we'll be discussing numerous topics that I will decide upon as I go. 3 Hours left at work and tons of time to talk, slow day in the paint business, as usual on a saturday in winter. Fun Fact: I managed to watch the entirety of Lawrence of Arabia on a Saturday last January. I can only remember snippets of it now, but it was pretty good. 

Random topic change, go! My sense of taste seems unusually heightened right now. I'm not entirely sure why...my nose is just as plugged as always (it's almost never not plugged to some degree) and the only real difference from what I've been doing recently is that I am currently drinking a Green Tea w/ Ginseng and Honey AriZona (As per the font on the can) Iced Tea. Maybe it's clearing up my cluttered mouth flavour receptors or something, but holy cow have I noticed tastes. Like, a banana, which I commonly enjoy, is suddenly so much more flavourful than I thought it was. It's tough to describe, really, though I guess it's mostly just an intensifying of flavours. All the flavours I expect are still there, they're just making themselves known, or rather, they've improved their stage presence. 

Speaking of presence, that's something I've thought about a decent amount but haven't made any posts on. It's something that everyone notices whether they are aware of it or not, and as its root implies, it's all about how one presents themselves. Some time ago I was casually discussing this topic (in the middle of a rush) with a coworker who was having some, mostly mental, issues with giving orders to those who worked under her. She kept saying how she was trying to be intimidating as motivation but, because of both her stature and general disposition, it wasn't exactly working as intended. Sure, being intimidating can be a motivator for others but some people, if only myself, consider intimidation to be a negative attribute. Yes, you can get others to do what you want but at what cost? More often than not they'll end up anywhere from disliking to pure-straight-hating you. So instead of an intimidating presence as a source of motivation, I suggest trying to have an inspiring presence. Keep things positive, be a source of encouragement and advice, make them want to be like you, inspire them to greatness, demand respect through your actions and work ethic.

...I lost the wind in that sail, I have no idea where I was going from there. So new topic because I'm apparently incapable of staying on one for more than a paragraph.

So I really need a haircut. It's getting kinda out of control...and by that I mean it's long enough that I can actively see it without using a mirror. So sometime this week I'm gonna march my way over to some barber shoppe and say something along the lines of "Do you take walk ins? 'Cause all my hair needs to be chopped off." Definitely, most definitely, gonna do that, yeah, motivation. Daily alarm reminder for that? I think yes! 

2-3 minutes later: Okay done. I've got a daily reminder at 11:00am every day forever until I get a haircut. Cool. Also beard trim, because I've been putting that off too, need to get meself a new-old look. I should actually just do that tonight...BRB, setting alarm. Okay, alarm set. Horay for technology! So many alarms, so few that I use daily but none I want to get rid of.  

Otay, new topic. So...stairs are crazy, huh? Little changes in elevation to aid in the ascention of what would otherwise be a steep slope. Probably invented/discovered by people who were trying to get places and realizing it was easier to clamber over rocks for leverage than just go straight at the slope. Related if I lived closer to them, I'd probably be more motivated to walk the "stairway to heaven" on Mission Hill, it'd be some solid excercise, I know 'cause they've nearly killed me before in highschool, and they (timestamp - 3:40) are an excellent example of how solid, horizontal surfaces with consistent height increments can help one ascend what would otherwise be a very steep slope. Gosh dang that stairway was discouraging to look up.

Alright, back to task now that the naturally occuring "ohcrapeveryoneshowedupatonce" panic rush is done. Sittin' back in the office, chillin' on my tablet, sippin' coffee 'cause that's how I roll on a saturday afternoon (and mildly tweaking out because CAFFEINE). Realizing that I still double-space after a period even though it was basically proven that it's pointless by xkcd, but will probably continue to do it forever because that's a habit I'll probably never break. Also realizing that when I blank for a second or two I tend to type "Face!"...which is odd, but possibly explainable though I'm not sure how/when it started. I'm not really gonna delve deep with this one, I just know that it happens. Also, why don't I do these blogs when I'm *not* at work. It probably has something to do with how I've got a bunch of stuff to occupy my time at home but much less so at work when it's slow. We'll go with that, seems most logical. Ah, logic, my old friend, how I love thee. 

(timestamp - 4:42) 

And with that, I guess I should be taking off to finish up my actual job. Crazy how time flies when you've got customers who you're familiar with that are friendly and chatty.

Cheers!

~Cam

Ramblings Beckon from Whence Snow Came

The hardest part of this blogging thing is figuring out a post title. Seriously. I'm at wits end for no good reason. Gah. Something about snow and work and rambling maybe? Let's see...uh...how about..."Ramblings: Work & Snow Mk.II" or maybe "Ramblings Beckon from Whence Snow Came" because it's effectively nonsense. Yeah, I like my nonsensical titles, especially for nonsensical blogrambles. That seems reasonable. BRB, entering title.

Mkay, done. Now down to business. Or buisness, 'cause that's fun to say. Buisness. Like, bweesness, the "W" sound makes it more fun.  Regardless, let's do this. That is to say, ramble.

Snow's pretty, but it's been literally snowing all day. This could make for a tricky walk home. Good thing I've got solid waterproof hiking boots for wintertown travel. I've had 'em for years and they've served me well. If/when they ever get to a point of unrecoverable ruin I fully intend to buy a new pair as close to them as I can. Semi-related, I need new runners/walkers/non-winters. My current ones laste me a good two years, which is a lot for me and shoes, but they're past the point of no return. I should check sporting goods stores, this seems like the time of year when they'd have runners on sale, what with the "only crazy people be running in this snow" situation. Mayhaps next week, but I'll probably forget, 'cause I totally forget these things. Heck, I barely remember what happened earlier in the paragraph.

Speaking of coherence when writing, I'm pretty sure that the previously stated "what did I just write?" syndrome I'm subject to is at least partially to blame for my "little to no structure" writing.  Also the occasional "Oh crap a customer" leading to a "what was I saying?" moment. Good thing I refer to these as ramblings, eh? Though I wouldn't mind trying my hand at some creative writing, but I tend to need something to trigger the inspiration. I've got a handful of entirely not-fleshed out tales in my head, but the fleshing out will take some doing. I should work on that...I say that about a lot of things, huh? Whelp, that's what I get for being a jack-of-all-trades.

*Yawn*...Whoa, just got hit with a wave of sleepitude. I guess I didn't get that much sleep last night, so it sort of makes sense. It was still a pretty intense wave of tired. Good thing I've only got ~3 hours left. Random note: I had a minor panic when my tilde button was NOT where I'm used to it being. I like using the tilde! It makes me look sophisticated or some such nonsense. I actually just find it aesthetically pleasing and like using it to say "approximately" though I'm not sure if that's the proper usage of it...I should look that up. BRB.

Okay back, apparently I use the tilde in the common informal way, which is widely accepted and understood. Good, I'm not just crazy. I mean, I'm definitely crazy but there's backing for my usage of the tilde. I feel justified. 

Unrelated topic, go! So I was recently reminiscing about times spent with the guild (Woo, I'm a geek!) and I came to the sudden but innevitable realization that I CAN reminisce about my guild. I've been playing World of Warcraft with the same people since at least 2008, possibly earlier. It's now 2016. That's a long time. Granted, we haven't played consistently throughout the years due to content droughts and burning out on virtual walls (mostly in the form of bosses we can't seem to beat), but there's a good 7-15 of us who have stuck together with little to no drama and being reasonable to each other. At this point we're probably just actually friends who get together through virtual means. I'm actually one of the younger members too, but I'm not sure how much that comes into play (answer: probably none). I'm also the token Canadian, because apparently that's a thing. Also I was the straight man of the guild, though I'm not sure how well I really pulled that role off (I'm not super confident in my comedic talents). I think I've mentioned in the past that we have crazy stories about each other that just compound into more ridiculous stories, and that still holds true, though they've been less prevalent as of late. Still there and fondly remembered, but we don't need the medium ton convey affection. Also a lot of those stories revolved around the drama makers, most of which we've weeded out by now, so there's just less to work with.

Dang, now I feel like writing on my gaming blog. I should also do that...maybe later, maybe right after this. Good thing my blogs are all tied to this one email, I can switch between them at will. Semi-related, after thinking about it, if/when talking to someone who shared my interests I'd probably have a lot more to respond to the "what's new" question everyone asks (my normal response is "not much, I'm not that exciting" or some such ilk). I could go on and on about these new things I've done and challenges accomplished and what I was working on finishing, and what actually happened when I tried these things, all of which happen in a virtual world (of warcraft, more often than not). This does happen occasionally when I'm with the right group of friends, though I'm probably the biggest MMO gamer of the group, so I'm still a little at odds with them (though the margin is much much slimmer than most other people).

ANYWHO, geekiness aside (though that encapsulates a lot of what I am currently and probably forever) I should probably try to avoid alienating my audience (HA! Audience...like more than a handful of people read this stuff) but unfortunately I've gotta end it there as I now only have 20 minutes left before the store's supposed to be closed (I've already done a bunch of the closing stuff, but you can't tell 'cause there's no timestamps in this thing...maybe I should do timestamps...I'll think about it.) So with that I bid thee farewell. Until next time!

Cheers

~Cam