Sunday Funday (But More Accurately Not Fun)

Hey guess what! I’m bored! On a Sunday in a paint store! Time to ramble!

 

…As a note, I should probably go into these with some sort of game plan. Also though, the most authentic rambling is the rambling I do when I don’t plan things. So, here we go.

 

 

Big gap in posts, largely due to general increase in being busy at work, which I have mixed feelings towards, and also general nothingness to talk about. I’m…not good at making up conversation. What I am good at is knowing too much about lots of things and being able to talk about them at length whenever they do come up in conversation. With this and my lack of speaking in general comes the air of being excessively neutral about most things (which is pretty accurate actually, I don’t tend to take sides without proper reasoning and proof…I could probably be a decent mediator) and that I’m not opinionated. These are only half-truths. On things that I don’t care about then yeah, I probably don’t have any sort of opinion on the subject, but things that I have a vested interest in I am quite opinionated about. Not to say I don’t think that the opinions of others are valid and don’t respect them, ’cause obviously they are and I do my best to not be obnoxious about basically anything. There are some exceptions to that though, the biggest being people who try to convince me that the earth is flat.

 

 

Why, in the world, at this point in time and the technology at our disposal, does anyone even remotely rational give it a second that that the earth might be flat? That’s probably the crux of it though, it’s the irrational people who believe that it’s just one huge flippin’ conspiracy to cover up that the earth is actually just a disk… I’m already working myself up about this, so I should probably avoid that topic, but let’s just start with some retaliation questions, like “if it’s just a disk why do time zones work?” And “how do you explain the frigid climates in both the north and the south?” what about “why are seasons different in the north and south hemisphere?” Or even “Gravity: If flat then how?”

 

 

Ugh, I need to not think about the ignorance of the masses… I’m getting all riled up.

 

 

So, several months have passed and things have happened in the world: Gorillaz released a new album (which I enjoy quite a bit), Nintendo is making the second biggest videogame comeback ever thanks to the switch and all the major titles that are being announced for it (the last one was also done by nintendo with the NES) and have recently hit an 8 year high in the stock market thanks to the Monster Hunter XX switch version announcement (which boosted its stocks by over 5%, increasing its market value by $2,200,000,000 in one day [I like using the whole numbers, bigger impact than “million” vs “billion”]) and made me exceptionally more glad that I managed to get my hands on a Switch (as I super love monster hunter), which are still notoriously hard to find in most places. Quick review: Freakin’ love it, it’s what everyone wanted the Wii U to be, compact, can be used on the go or on a TV, lots of couch multiplayer and controller options. Also “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” is rather phenominal and a huge step in the right direction (aka: away from the linear progression) while simultaneously going back to its roots.

 

 

I got side tracked… so things: I may or definitely did order basically a whole new computer tower assembly, most of which should be here in the next week or so, hopefully the rest of it gets shipped out soon, I want my new build ready for Stormblood (the next Final Fantasy 14 expansion, which officially launches June 20th but early access for preorders [which I did, natch] starts June 16th) which I am WAY TOO HYPED FOR. Like, so excited that I’m having difficulty playing the current game becase the new changes look so good. There’s not actually anything wrong…for the most part…with my current computer, but it’s been a while and my hardware is starting to show its age. Still faster than anything I deal with at work, and I think I just need to replace the RAM and some case fans to fix its current issue, but also shiny new processor and graphics card, also faster RAM…also more USB 3 options….and I may get a new mouse. My computer is the source of my hobbies, so keeping it relatively up to date is not uncommon. I’m excited, I really enjoy tinkering with and building compuers, s’a lot of fun. Also I can use my “old” computer as a recording computer, just need a cheapo monitor so I can watch keep track of stuff…I should do more of that, but I find it awkward to even attempt it due to not living alone. I’m not knocking having El Jordo as a roommate, he’s fine and probably the better roommate, but boy howdy I find my inhibitions about doing stuff in full swing when people are around, I’m way more open and willing to try things and get stuff done when I’m home alone, which is like 90% me not wanting to get in other people’s way and 10% me being shy.

 

 

Whelp, brain ran out of thoughts for the ramblings. Time to go do something else.

 

 

Cheers!

 

~Cam

Offseason Camblings, Part Fifth of Unknown: New Year, New Post, Same Old Me.

Ah, the day that should’ve been the STAT for us but isn’t because of the stupid “open sundays” decision that I’ve ranted enough about already. Were you expecting me to not post things due to being incredibly busy? What a foolish thing to think on a day where a lot of things are closed and we should be too. Here I sit, doing pretty much nothing but waiting for paint to dry (literally, though I’m not actively watching it do so, colour matches), not rushing anything because there is no need, everything’s “I’ll need this in like 3 days” so I’ve got time to let it dry naturally (which I prefer, less Alligatoring) which in turn gives me time to type things and ramblings.

 

Alright, “I’m bored” paragraph out of the way, onto the things. You know, the things, with the stuff. Me, rambling, etcetera, that sort of thing. Christmas came and went, enjoyable time spent with family, got lovely comforts, the highlights of which were all of them (Cozy Slippers, Viking Toque w/ attachable Beard, Big Ole Pillow), and they were all put to use nigh immediately. I’m currently wearing the Viking Toque sans Beard (I don’t wanna get paint in the beard, that’d be bad) and have been getting lots of compliments from the very few people who have been in to see it. Also as I got ill within a couple days of Christmas (the 28th, specifically, which was Cheesefest ’16 and I missed it, boo) I put the pillow through its paces by being bedridden for the entirety of a day. Slippers go on as soon as I get home and rarely come off. A bunch of practical, comfortable gifts that I enjoy quite thoroughly. Oh, and Grandma dun gud and gave us food. I love food. 

 

Speaking of food, my Dad’s got this whole “some people eat to live, others live to eat” thing he says rather frequently. I can see the sense in that, but I don’t think it’s quite that black and white. I love food. Experiencing new things, flavour explorations, finding and trying things I’ve never heard of, pushing my mouth to its flavourful limits. These things I love doing, it’s always fun even if I don’t like it in the end, it was worth it for the experience of learning that fact. Prime examples of that include my standing agreement with Dan that I will try any drink he wants me to, even though I will probably hate it and we both know this. The willingness to try is key. That being said, and reemphasizing the fact that I love doing that, I fully admit to being a very boring eater at home. Simplicity is key when it comes to feeding myself for daily nutrition. I regularly eat the same thing daily for a while before I start really craving something else and have to switch it up for the sake of mental wellbeing. I do still subscribe to a saying that I tweaked a while ago, “Variety is the spice of life, but consistency is the substance.” You can’t survive on spice alone, guys. A large chunk of this comes from the “I can’t be bothered to put in a lot of effort for myself” mindset I’ve got when it comes to cooking. I may have discussed this before, but I’m rather terrible at cooking for one. If I have someone to cook for it ends up much better/fancier that whatever I would’ve made myself. I’m just way better at doing things for people than I am for myself, not just with cooking. I need the external motivation/request, self-motivation and/or drive is something I lack quite noticeably and I have little to no idea how to fix that. I’ve heard in the past that I’m the type of person who just “needs someone to look after me,” but I think it’s rather the opposite, I need someone to look after. Then comes finding said person, which is a topic I’m about to avoid…. RIGHT NOW!

 

Like halfway through that paragraph I said something about “The willingness to try is key.” Let’s expand on this, starting with food but we’ll wander elsewhere. So there are people I know, quite a few of, and often younglings/children, who aren’t willing to try new foods. They’re positive they won’t like it, or think it’ll be yucky or they’ll find the texture weird, whatever. Basically what it comes down to is that they’re afraid it will be a bad experience. Sure, that’s understandable, trying something that you immediately hate is a pretty awful experience (looking at you, double salted Dutch Drops), and stays with you forever (staring you down, double salted Dutch Drops), and you will probably never try them again (glaring at you, double salted Dutch Drops). That being said, being too afraid to try anything will make you a very dull eater. Plain cheese pizza? May as well have just ordered cheesy bread. PB&J Sammich every day? To almost-quote Raymond Holt of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “It contains nearly all the nutrients your body needs, its contents have a long shelf life and it’s so simple a child can make it.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I love me some cheesy bread and PB&J sammys, but there’s so much more to pizza and sandwiches than those two can offer. There are vast pizza and sandwich worlds out there with so many varieties and so much to offer, it would be such a huge shame if all you ever ate was the same cheese pizza and PB&J sammich day in and day out. Those are just examples, but I think it gets the point across. So basically, the willingness to try is a type of courage. You know you may hate it and you may be afraid that you will initially, but you’ll take the risk anyway because you never know until you try. 

 

Slight deviation: Courage versus Fearlessness versus Recklessness. I don’t know how much people think about the distinction between them, but it comes up enough in my head that I’ve got a solid personal differentiation, and it may be in a dictionary or something but I’m not gonna go looking right now. Ready, Go! One who is Reckless jumps into most situations headlong without considering the consequences of his actions, often to the detriment of others. One who is Fearless recognizes the dangers of a situation but jumps in with no regard to his wellbeing. One who is Courageous is being afraid of doing something but doing it anyway, normally for the sake of others. There is a fairly fine line between Reckless and Fearless, but they’re different enough that they deserve their own descriptions. So yeah, that’s how I define those in my head. Just figured I’d throw that out there for no particular reason.

 

Side note, My two favorite compliments I’ve ever recieved are as follows, in order of time received: “You are a gentleman and a scholar” and “You’re probably the best hire I’ve been a part of; you’re fearless [with respect to talking to people], you’re not afraid to ask questions and you have no ego.” Just thought I’d throw that out there.

 

Topic Change: Round 2 of “Past and Present Favorites, Why and How; A Discussion of Entertainment and Appeal”

 

Ready, go! On the docket today is one of the very few console games I had limited access to as a kid (we weren’t big into that sort of thing as a family, it was only brought out when we were really sick), Wonderboy in Monster Land for the Sega Master System. This game has stuck with me even to this day, probably largely in part to how limited our play time, but also it was one of those games that I strove to beat as a kid. It was long, there was a lot to it (comparatively) and it was hard to beat. Basic premise was such: You are Wonderboy, the land is being terrorized by a dragon, you need to go find and beat it. It’s one of the earlier action-platform/RPG combos that I played, requiring some potentially very precise jumping and striking, with a strong gear-progression side to it requiring exploration and finding hidden lots of things. There were 4 types of gear upgrades, each with a specific and sometimes necessary purpose; Sword for increasing damage done, Shield for blocking projectiles, Armor to lessen damage done, and boots to increase jumping/platforming ability. It was very much an arcade-style game, as most/all were back then, having a timer that counted down to death and limited lives and no type of save system in place (be it password or otherwise) and requiring a good deal of luck and even more “play repeatedly until you know everything” knowledge.

 

 …crap, I’m gonna have to finish this at home. I do want to talk more about Wonderboy in Monsterland, but I’ve gotta close shop soon.

 

 Alright, now home w/ food and lapdesk (I recently bought a lapdesk to enhance couch-typing), and ready to go. 

 

So yeah, Wonderboy in Monsterland. The trick to its longevity was the lack of information it gave you upfront. You had to play and experiment, looking for hidden shops or bags of gold that spawned out of thin air in order to make progress or enhance performance, and there was a LOT of stuff to find. Some of the stores/doors gave hints to items that’d boost your abilities but most of the time you had to figure it out yourself. Which I did. Eventually. The worst culprit of this was the final dungeon area, where, if you find the right hidden door, you’re given a choice between a bell and a ruby. The bell tells you which way to go (it’s actually one of those repeating maze places, so that’s very useful), and the ruby weakens the dragon on the initial hit, taking its life down by like half which is SUPER useful since he hits like a truck and is the hardest fight in the game by quite a bit. This game took a long time to learn everything and the order in which to do it all, but that was like 90% of the appeal. Figuring out how to get things, making sure you found all the secrets, it’s a game that took time and skill (both of memory and action-platforming), increasing your power and ability along the way to cope with the challenges the game throws at you, requiring crazy things like float shoes, beating secret bosses, finding hidden dungeons, all sorts of other things. It was a fun game, and I beat it all of once. Got to the last boss a few times, but learning the route to be able to do it required dumb luck or using the bell, the former being unreliable at best and the latter meaning you went into the last fight at a major disadvantage. That fight basically required you to have the best stuff in the game in order to survive it, which also took some learning and doing. I think I loved it for the challenge, I’m definitely a sucker for that, which will be delved into elsewhen. Also it was colourful with unique enemies and distinct visual upgrades for new gear, which always helps keep it interesting. 

 

  …I lost my train of thought, also have to go get groceries, I may continue this one later, there was a lot more to the game than I first figured I’d talk about, including things like bosses and how you had to make sure you jumped over the key to get all the money they dropped and how there were like 3 bosses that you could fight repeatedly for extra money and the whole jumping on clouds to find hidden stuff…actually that about covers it. I really liked that game, but I don’t think it’ll have aged well. I may try to play it again for kicks and giggles (aka: nostalgia) at some point though.

 

Alright, that’s it for me, have a good ’in folks.

 

Cheers, ~Cam  

Offseason Camblings, Part Four: 'Tis the Season

Ah, Christmas times, when I forget to remember what people want and end up just getting them food or gift cards for Christmas. Actually, that’s not an entirely accurate statement, I actually didn’t get anyone any gift cards this year, or books. Books are things I was getting for the brothers pretty regularly but with Tanz in Aussieland and Jord just about to pull the trigger on building his computer, I figure I can safely get Tanz nothing ’cause I’m a jerk and Jord something computer related… Considering he does read these I probably shouldn’t have said anything but I’m pretty sure I already told him that I’ve got it, he’s planning on performing the build on Friday Night, so I’ll be on standby as technical support…and he may very well get the thing then and there. I’ll probably do some post-christmas shopping online looking for miscellaneous things I’ve been after that I constantly forget to remember to tell people. Stuff that I can’t even exactly remember right now because I just spent like 5–10 minutes reading random stuff on Reddit. Yes, it is slow enough to be doing both a new post and a delving into the depths of Reddit. 

 

Now for something completely different. Imma talk video game for a bit, so folk who don’t care can skip this paragraph. With that warning out of the way, now comes “Past and present favourites, why and how; a discussion of entertainment and appeal.” …I really like that title, I should make that a recurring things. Anyway, for the first instalment we’re gonna go way back, so far back that I doubt anyone will remember this. It’s one of my first gaming memories and it took place on an old Macintosh Apple computer, the type that used the big (in girth, not memory) floppy disks and used an old joystick. I can’t remember the name of the game in question right this second, so I’m gonna see if google knows what I’m talking about. … … … Alright, I’m like 90% sure that it was just called “Bruce Lee” and while I remember it playing in black and green I can’t seem to find any images online of it with that specific colour combination. *Shrug* Oh well. Anyway, it mostly consisted of running around, avoiding traps and kicking/avoiding enemies as you made your way through a series of increasingly difficult levels/maps/screens/boards, whatever you want to call them. It ended up looping around back to the start but it took a while to figure that out due primarily to the trial and error approach that the game forced you to take in order to progress. I did eventually get to the point where it looped around and after doing that a couple times I got bored of it and don’t recall ever touching it again. As far as I can tell, the primary appeal to me was to just see how far I could get while avoiding danger from all over the place, learning new things and figuring out how to overcome obstacles, it was all about besting the challenge laid before me. It was quite a while before I figured everything out, having to start back at the beginning after failing… I don’t recall if there was a lives system, I think there was but I’m not sure. Regardless, after I did eventually figure out everything and got back to the first screen I’m pretty sure there was either a sense of disappointment or bewilderment, resulting in me going through it again just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. After that was exhausted I was done with the game, I had proven that I could do it repeatedly, there was no need to do it any more. That being said, it could very easily have been what started my love of challenge in games, to overcome the obstacles laid before me and prove that I could do it leading me down the road to Dark Souls and Monster Hunter eventually, which are similarly action based games about overcoming challenges. I don’t know if that’s the oldest game I remember playing, but it’s definitely one that left an impression on me. It also might be the one that I was playing this one early friday morning in December/November when I declined delivering paper and my mom had to do it and I constantly feel super guilty about it when it pops into my head (which happens more frequently than I’d like), sorry mom, I was a dumb kid. 

 

…Well that happened, I could probably make that a regular thing, considering I barely remember it and I wrote a good chunk about it. But yeah, slow day in a paint store, I haven’t seen a customer in several hours, ’cause who the butt wants to buy paint right before Christmas? Nobody in their right mind, that’s who. After today I’m off ’til the 27th, which is nice, and I expect that day/week to be pretty well completely dead, so that’ll be a fun week, especially since Cheesefest ’16 is happening that week and for whatever reason I’ve been informed that I’m not allowed to ever miss a Cheesefest. Something about being my “brainchild” when all I said was “I wanna try a whole bunch of different cheeses some time, maybe get a bunch of people together to do it with”…which actually is pretty much exactly what it is, though with the added “pair them with wines” due to Ma not being able to enjoy cheese without wine, plus it turned out it’s pretty interesting to see how the combination of flavours works together. That being said, I still can’t stand alcohol so I tend to not partake in the wine part of cheesefest, but boy do I enjoy the cheeses. I’ve learned a decent amount about the pairings by proxy, but no personal experience. Hmm, come to think of it, Lish would probably enjoy that sort of thing, I wonder if she’d be interested, I should ask. I’ll probably forget to do that though, ’cause as soon as I finish typing these things they’re straight gone from my brain. It’s weird, people bring up things I’ve said in these posts and I just stare at them blankly, wheels in my head slowly turning trying to recall if I even said that. I think it’s probably ’cause these posts are so much like my actual thought pattern, and who actively remembers what they were thinking about 2–3 days ago? No one that I know, that’s for certain. 

 

Unrelated, the darkness has begun to recede as we pass by the solstice signifying both the official start of winter and the coming of light, that is to say the sunset will slowly start getting later, which is good ’cause It’s currently 5pm and super dark out there. Oh, speaking of evenings, a couple days ago, I wanna say Monday, it was like the perfect winter evening. Not too cold out so my face wasn’t freezing off, smell of wood smoke in the air signifiying the use of fireplaces and mentally representing comfort and warmth, a beautifully clear sky with stars and the moon making their presence known, I really enjoyed that walk home, I may have been a little hopped up on caffeine… regardless, it was a lovely evening and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I do love this time of you, and it’d be nice to have someone to share it with, hence blog post. I mean, I’m normally an intensely private person due to a combination of “why would anyone care about this dumb stuff” and “People frighten me (really/not really, I’m just super introverted)” but there are definitely times when I find myself wanting to share moments that strike me as either beautiful or exciting but lack people to share them with. I know I’m not a great communicator, and that’s something I want to work on, so that’s probably a big part of it and if we delve too deep I’m liable to lapse into unnecessary sadness, so we’re gonna go ahead and avoid that. Also I’ve gotta close soon, so I need to wrap this up anyway. 

 

Cheers, and Merry Christmas,

 

~Cam

Offseason Camblings, Part 3rd of ???

Round 3, type-type-typing away at nothing, watching the snow fall down softly while internally grumbling about knowing I’ll have to shovel it again before my shift is done. It’s a very snowy day, which leads me to believe I won’t see anyone today which is good for convincing the company to not be open on Sundays in the winter (which is an idea panned by everyone we’ve discussed it with) Hopefully they don’t keep this up much longer, it’s been really dumb, they’re definitely losing money on it. 

 

Enough whining, let the rambling commence! I still can’t figure out how to do a proper paragraph break without more editing than I’m happy with in this app, needing to copy and paste some html code every time I want to add some spacing is rather tedious and annoying, especially since it apparently didn’t keep the previously copied piece of code in the clipboard for…3 or 4 days. Bleh, oh well, I’ll just have to work around it. Side note: I need additional caffiene if I’m gonna stay awake for the next few hours. Time for some Earl Grey. *proceeds to make tea* Ah, I do love the smell of Mr. Gray in the…any time of day, really. 

 

Alright, so what to talk about now? I dunno, probably snow ’cause that’s very present right now. So snow, this soft fluffy frozen water that lightly floats down from the sky and coats the world in a layer of white, muffling sound and making walking more treacherous whilst perturbing those who have to remove it from walkways with shovels and ice melter. Mixed messages, sure, but I have mixed feelings about it. I love the look of it and the silence it brings is vastly different from other weathers, but as a guy who walks everywhere it makes life more hazardous and being a tall guy shovelling it has a tendency to aggravate my lower back. I’m probably doing it wrong, or not using the right type of shovel, but I don’t do it that often except at work.  I do prefer my Christmases to be covered in snow over not snow and just dead brownness, makes things cozier and gives us reason to stay indoors spending time with family. 

 

Speaking of, I’m SUPER BEHIND on my Christmas shopping. That’s a thing I’ll have to do in the next couple days (which I have off because my schedule’s weird [I blame exam time of a coworker]) so I guess it’s time to come up with ideas… in the next couple days and not online, ’cause I like surprises and for people to not actually know what I got them unless they specifically ask for them. Alright, mental note set, I’ll do that tomorrow/later.  

 

*Customer shows up, ruining plans of $0 day*

 

Drat, I was really hoping that I'd sell literally nothing today. Still at a net loss by quite a bit for having me even be here, so that's something. I've also already done two crosswords and a sudoku, and put away a bunch of paint and shovelled the sidewalk, so that says something too. I should work on those creative writing thingies I've got cookin'. I don't really have anything else to say about anything anyway. Nut much happens to me in the span of less than a week...or months...or years really. As I tell a lot of people, I'm not an exciting person. 

 

Anywho, I'm off for now. Cheers!

~Cam

Offseason Camblings, Part the Second of ???

Here we are, once again wandering down the dusty road of “so much time so little to do” as I hang out at work literally not doing anything* and having the sun reflect off the window DIRECTLY INTO MY EYE YOU JERK, STOP THAT.  Seriously, right straight to the face but I can’t have my back to the store so I’m just suffering through it. Bah, I’ve had worse, I can tough this out. Earl Grey will get me through, make me strong like oxen.

 

That reminds me… So here’s a fun fact, my default non-english accent has in recent years become Russian, and I have no idea why. It used to be French, ’cause that was really the only one I was decent at, but for whatever reason my Russian accent grew in power… which is phrased weirdly but surprisingly correct, leading to a “new default” situation. So now whenever I feel the need to express myself in a different accent (which happens pretty frequently, again, no idea why) out slips the Russian. I don’t even know if it’s good. I mean, I think it’s solid but that’s a similar quandary to the “do other people really exist?” quandary that people have been struggling with since conscious thought first emerged. I’m no philosopher though, so I don’t really give any of that too much thought. They’re just flashes in the so-called brain-pan, here for a second and then gone the next, just like most of the topics that I ramble about.

 

Unrelated, I’m gonna have to do a double check on whether or not breaks are showing up properly, I had to do some weird structure editing last time I posted with this app. That being said, I do prefer the formatting on this app over the official Blogger app. It’s a combination of “I can see more of my post” and “options are more readily available” and “I can type up drafts offline to any of my apparently 5 different blogs I’ve got.” Yes, I have 5 different ones. No, I haven’t really done anything on the other ones yet. One’s my defunct WoW blog, the other three are creative side projects that I haven’t even done anything official with yet, it’s all just up in drafts. Creative writing is much more different/challenging than just spewing brainw-ords and thinky-thoughts into paragraphs. You’ve gotta actually consider pacing and flow and explanations and reasons for doing things and types of motivations and how to convey stuff without just punching people in the face with exposition ’cause I don’t care for that nonsense personally.

 

——–Singular but very particular customer that takes up a lot of our time showed up——— 

 

What was I saying? Oh, right, creative writing. I’ve got a couple of creative irons in the fire, ready to burn a hole through my keyboard as I type up a storm in a burst of creativity strong enough to set my fingers ablaze. Side note, that sentence would probably translate very poorly into other languages, idioms and whatnot clogging it up so good…

 

 stares blankly into space

 

I entirely just lost any sort of train of thought that may have been happening. Dead stop, end of the line. I’ve hit a writing block while writing literally anything that pops into my head. That’s a serious case of “no thought” that just happened. Like, stopping a freight train in time to not hit the baby carriage that got stuck sort of dead stop, it was impressive just how much of a stop it came to. 

 

Anywho, I should wrap this up now, I’ve gotta do closing stuffs. Yay time-killing exercises!

 

Cheers!

 

~Cam 

Offseason Camblings, part 1 of ???

Hmmm, using a new app for this post and it seems to have…a not small number of options immediately available to me and is auto saving like every 10 seconds (which is nice). Unfortunately my old app I was using likes to shut down after like 20 seconds of being active since I updated to the latest iOS, so that was frustrating for like 5 minutes ’til I googled “app for blogger” and found this one. So far so good, it’s actually got a large typing section so I can follow my own progress more readily without having to scroll back up.

 

ANYWHO: So it’s now officially the slow season and I haven’t seen or talked to anyone in like an hour+ on a weekday. Could be due to rain, could be due to just slowness in general. Either way, time for typing. Speaking of, schedule shift incoming for me since we’ve been told we are now required to open on Sundays because a so-called “competitor” is also open on Sundays, which means I’m working Sundays through Wednesday/Thursdays now (it’s still a little up in the air, we’ll see how it pans out). Not the worst outcome but it was nice to have actual weekends off even if it was only for a couple of weeks. Oh, right, I made myself some sort of hot beverage, I should go actually fix it up and drink it.

 

Tea. It was tea, specifically Earl Grey (a common but understandable favorite). I do enjoy me some earl grey every once and again… or actually quite frequently, ’cause it’s definitely my go-to at work. If you are what you ingest then I’m like 50% tea at this point… and like 35% sandwiches (I do include burgers as a type of sandwich, ’cause they totally are). Huh? Oh, right, whatever I was rambling about. Topics I thought about discussing: “Am I the weirdest person I know”, “Thoughts on being a mind-reader”, “Why I cry” and other miscellaneous things. Respective short answers: “Yes but everyone’s the weirdest person they know (Thanks for that, Jord)”, “I don’t wanna read minds my own is weird enough”, “I don’t normally”. So that basically defeats the potential of those blog topics. So with that in mind I press onward, casually not knowing where this is going.

 

Unrelated, I think I need to find a job that pays better. I mean, this one’s alright what with the solid amounts of time I can allot to doing my own thang and the pay is alright as is evident by my saving steadily increasing…actually the job and pay is probably adequate for what it involves, but I’m actually just kinda getting sick of it. Paint isn’t really interesting and can just cause problems for painters which comes back to me even if I had nothing to do with it.  Like the times when I get yelled at for orders I literally wasn’t around for, that’s always a fun time… Frankly I’m mildly surprised at how long I’ve stuck it out, then I remember that job hunting is probably less fun and I’m not a big fan of change, at which point the surprise disappears as I go “Oh yeah, that sucked pretty bad.” So I’ll probably stick it out for a while, added bonus of friends and family getting my discount which is actually pretty nuts. I do like helping people, and I’ve learned more about paint and/or architectural coatings than I ever thought I would (what with the not thinking that paint is where I’d end up even if I didn’t have any idea where I’d end up).

 

Alright, so begrudging my work and lack of productivity aside, what’s new in the Camiverse? Honestly, not much. I live a very stable, consistent life that I enjoy so I’m not really looking to change it… which entirely counters the previous thought on wanting a different job… but I digress. I get up, I work, I go home, I pretend to be productive. Maybe I should actually decorate some Christmas-y stuffs this year, I entirely didn’t last year so that’d be a new thing. I mean there are now pictures on the walls so that’s a step in the “this place is actually lived in” direction. Heck, even if I just got some cozy LED Christmas lights to go around some windows…I dunno, just tossing ideas out there. Regardless, the first step I need to take towards being more than a hermit is getting an actual usable drivers license. I’ve gone 28 years without doing it so far, I guess it’s about time to get that part of supposedly being a person done. One of these days… At least I’m supposedly good company. I heard that from friends recently and that warmed my heart. I like that others like being around me.

 

 

——Round 2: Sunday Addition—–

 

 

Alright, so back after a three day break and working on a Sunday now. Currently half-way through the day and the only reason I didn’t start this up sooner is ’cause I had things that needed organizing/doing leftover from the saturday shift. That’s all done now though, so time for blogging. 

 

 

Current estimation of sales today: $0. Literally nothing. Well, that’s not completely true, one of our big companies that buys from us took some product but requires Purchase Order numbers on every bill and we won’t be getting that ’til at least tomorrow. So net daily sales for $0 currently, which is fun. If this keeps up over the next few weeks they may actually stop us from being open on Sundays. I’m even being good and having the OPEN sign on (I was contemplating not doing that but my obedient nature got the better of me…) and still no one. At least it’s a short shift, that helps alleviate the tedium. Anywho, less work talk seems good so let’s do that.

 

 

Alright, so what to talk about… Um… Let’s see… I guess I could talk about why I don’t really ever talk about more-different things. Short answer: I’m very consistent. Long answer: I’m a person who doesn’t like change in large quantities, so I tend to live a life that doesn’t change much, resulting in a lack of new things to talk about and a very consistent daily routine/life. I’m totally fine with that, personally, but that could just be apathy coming into play, I dunno for sure. What I do know is that I get very good at what I do, what with the doing it regularly for extended periods of time. Apparently I’ve got a lot of… I wanted to say latent talent but I’m not sure that’s exactly it.  I think it’s more of a an aptitude for learning and improving, like, I’m good at just focusing on one thing at a time for extended periods of time, which helps develop skills and knowledge at a fairly high rate. The problem is that when I get distracted from it I get distracted HARD, like I delve full bore into this shiny new thing and just go friggin’ nuts in exactly the same way, focusing on this one thing for quite a while until I can do it at least decently. Then a new thing comes along and I go chasing the shiny blue chicken again until I catch it, then another one comes by and I let that one I caught go in order to chase this new one. Ah, the shiny blue chicken analogy, thanks Raz and Q for that long running analogy… not that they’ll see this, but it’s the sentiment that counts. ANYWHO, yeah, good at focusing but getting distracted means re-focusing on a new thing and kind of entirely abandoning the previous thing. 

 

 

Well whatever, I’m pretty content, I’ve got good family and good friends even if I am a loner for the most part. Loner by choice though, which negates potential “loneliness” that I don’t really ever experience. I’m good at keeping myself occupied where a lot of others would be bored, which actually makes me really good at working by myself… I should try to get a job where I work by myself and/or with computers, I’d probably be very good at it. Note to self, start looking for something like that, I’m gettin’ kinda sick of retail. Alright, that’s enough for this post, time to geek out/write some FFXIV short story (which I guess is kinda fan-fiction? Boy howdy do I not like that term, it’s got a lot of stigma in my head). So yeah, catch ya later, probably next Sunday.

 

 

Cheers ~Cam

 

E: Formatting on the new app, had to figure out how to do the paragraph breaks properly…

The Big Ole Labour Daybour: Work Posting 'Cause bored.

Ah classic me, working on a stat with very little to do and no reason to really care. Not that I every really have a reason to care, I'm not a guy who cares much about things. People yes, things no. I worry very little, which is a great way to save myself some stress.  

Anywho, it's the first monday in September and I've got two less brothers in the country to show for it? Brostralia is a go, and my best wishes go with them. Being a person who doesn't really "miss" people in the standard sense, I'm mostly just excited for them. Now to spend a month living with just me and Bella (a dog) in my little suite. I'm looking forward to it, even if sudden scheduling has me working...a lot. Oh well, it's good for the survival (and more than survival) fund. I may even do some rearranging of furniture that I've been contemplating... though I need a better vacuum for cleaning before I decide to cover change where things are (and therefore both covering and exposing potentially poorly cleaned carpet). I should do that when I get home... I'm gonna set an alarm... ... ... Alright, alarm set. Man, I love smartphones. Tiny little surprisingly powerful computers that we keep on your persons pretty well constantly. So neat and useful to the point of "I'm pretty sure we're dependant on them." 

Anywho, an hour and a half left and I'm still not doing things at work. I get the occasional phone call and people are surprised that I answer thinking that we wouldn't be open, literally saying "I didn't think you'd be open!" This phrasing sort of vexes me, I mean, if you didn't think we'd be open then why'd you call? A better phrase to say would be something like "Oh good, you are open," implying that you were calling to see if we were. Meh, it's not like it really matters. 

Hrmm, contemplating starting up a creative writing blog when I just post tiny made up things, possibly story continuations or maybe completely random stuff. I think it could be good brain excersize. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the mental vomit that is my ramblings (I just spew it out, no real control or direction aside from into a specific container [aka: this blog] and it happens relatively infrequently...dangit I love/hate how accurate that description is), but something for a more...measured aspect of my brain could be a lot of fun. Though, to be honest, typing on this little keyboard is surpringly taxing... I may also want to get a laptop for typing purposes. Nothing major, just a little thing that handles...word processing...and...like maybe some usb audio input stuff for other projects. I'll keep an eye out for something that suits those needs. 

Unrelated: something that popped into my head just now that my family probably all knows. I'm a guy who eats to survive, yes, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating good food. I don't particularly care about what I'm eating when I'm by myself as long as it fills me up and has decent nutritional value. I don't sit down to have a meal, I just kinda grab something and go. However, I do have quite an appreciation for quality food, what with the chefdad and whatnot. I know how to tell good food from the bad (even if I'll still eat just about anything). There are some circles that call me the Garbage Cam, 'cause whatever food you'd've otherwise thrown out I will almost certainly eat. Fortunately I don't take any offense to that nickname, though I may want to be more discerning in what I eat... Meh, I keep it pretty balanced, I should be fine.

Oh, right, I was gonna get a fancy pen for drawing on my tablet...I should re-look into that. I'll add that to the label of my other alarm. Again with the "I should just be creative for a month straight to force habit" thing. I'll do that at some point, I'm just currently acquiring tools to make it easier, I'm no good at finger drawing (and drawing fingers [not 100% accurate but I'm a perfectionist]. I will say that even with my limited practice I have been doing I've noticed improvement in my linework. I need to work on EVERYTHING ELSE and I should probably do that thing where you use base shape skeletons ('cause boy howdy do I not use those, which may actually imply that I'm more creative than I think) so... yeah, practice. They say practice makes progress ('cause pobody's nerfect) so that's probably a good idea. Flip, I talk about how much I should do things that I'm not actually doing. I currently blame WoW:Legion, what with it having come out last week and me wanting to experience it and progress through it. Also the whole leadup to Brostralia involved being with family a bunch and while that's good it's rather impeding. Also also I've been working a lot and rarely want to actually do things when I'm off work. Speaking of, being at work gives me a surprising amount of motivation to do not-work things...it might be all the caffiene. I do drink a lot of tea at work when it's slow.

Alright, that's enough out of me. Happy Labour Day and whatnot, I'm out.

Cheers,

~Cam