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Two books down, can I finish the last 25% of a book from 2024?

January 19, 2025January 19, 2025greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

As I thought it would happen my interests wavered and I leapt ahead to read “Mercy of gods” by James S A Corey before tackling the last 120 pages of the Aliens Omnibus I was already reading. The Mercy book was good fun, wish there was a follow up ready to jump into right now. The problem of jumping on a new book series right away is the interminable wait for the next installment. Luckily it wasn’t a massive book at just over 400 pages, so I could skim it a second time once I have the second book in hand, provided this one takes off like The Expanse series did. I feel like they were building a lot in the background so that the action & intrigue could take off in book two onwards. I liked it a good deal. But now I’m right back where I was pre Christmas holidays, trying to stay focused enough to finish this damn Aliens novel. I have three more to read on my TBR list for 2025, plus two Dune novels. I just pre ordered the fourth Lady Astronaut book about Mars from Mary Robinette Kowal, due out in March. The title escapes me, as I ordered it the second I discovered it was coming this year. I have greatly enjoyed the other three books, two of them especially, and one other was perfectly fine, no complaints.

I’m hoping for a new release from John Scalzi, George RR Martin, Robert J Sawyer, or any number of other authors to round out this years list. Or, on the flip side to come across a new writer whose work I enjoy and can start to dig through their back catalogue. Like how I found Adrian Tchaikovsky, and his Void series, and the space faring spiders series. That was a lucky break. I know I should read more widely, about topics, and genres, but I don’t like it to feel like homework. Nothing kills the vibe surrounding a book, like it feeling like a book report, or an obligation. Ugh! Yuck.

*Added some Adrian Tchaikovsky to my library.*

I found some authors by reading D & D novels geared at adolescents that was fortuitous, as I really loved those books. Unfortunately I don’t see a fifth Fart Quest book on the horizon, nor another entry for the Adventourous D & D series whose titles escape me, unless I go look. ** Dungeon Academy** Well—well, according to google AI there was to be a Fart Quest book 5 out in November of 2024, but I can not locate any other corroborating evidence for that statement, so my initial feeling still stands. It provided no title, and no synopsis, so my guess is, it’s not really a concrete thing.

I have my finger on the button ready to purchase Scott Lynch’s next Locke Lamora, Gentlemen Bastards book should it ever achieve a release date. Now there’s a series I really enjoyed a great deal. The first three books were all excellent. I could read those again without too much hesitation. While a tad on the long side for me now, at around 600 pages each, they are engrossing, and very, very entertaining. Lots going on. Many surprises to be reckoned with. Fantastic. Praise worthy each one of them.

I do wish Yann Martel would write another fiction book, as I have loved everything of his I’ve come across. Life of Pi, Self, Beatrice and Virgil, The facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, What is Stephen Harper Reading? . All of them were very positive experiences. Plus he’s Canadian, just like Robert J Sawyer!

You know who else I wish would release more books, Gail Z Martin, her Chronicles of the Necromamcer series was amazing, I bought all four books in the series, plus two more from The Fallen king’s Cycle, but that one didn’t take off, as I never saw a third entry. Maybe it was a pseudonym she was writing under, and her other works fared better in the long run. I don’t really know.

*Gail Z Martin representing PAGES on my shelves.*

I was also captivated by Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy. It’s geared toward youth, but I still loved every word of it. I’m not above reading a fun book geared at the YA crowd. It was a very pleasant series to read.

That’s my time for today. Go read something just for fun. A sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter. Whatever it is, go explore and have some fun! Ciao Bella.

Book One finished for 2025.

January 12, 2025greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

*If you hate sleep, and never want to do so again read this book, it’s terrific.*

First out of the starting blocks is Annie Jacobsen’s “Nuclear War” a terrifying look at just what a nuclear world war three will entail. A deeply researched, and terribly captivating look at the death of the world. A fast paced train wreck that ends with us all either vapourised, pulverized, chemically choked to death, starved, or crushed. If you don’t want to sleep anymore let this book gnaw at your subconscious for a spell. A memorable waltz down the lane to our doom. Spectacular. I bought this in September expecting to read it in 2024, but I got hung up trying to get through some Alien’s anthologies, and just couldn’t get to it in time. Fresh start with 2025 though.

*The Alien book that I’m 75% finished. Fewer than 100 pages to go! Should be book two with an asterisk for 2025.*

I bought two of these Alien omnibus’ with a third single story line book to add into the mix. It was supposed to be an easy 5 story/book add-on to my 2024 reading list. I however stalled out after completing 1.75 of the first two stories in the first book. I had just watched Alien : Romulus and was on a real kick for that type of easy reading. But it started to wear on me, and I slacked off in November & December as far as reading is concerned. This *Should* be my book two for 2025, but I have a feeling the next item on today’s list might usurp that spot.

*From the duo whom brought us “***The Expans***e” series of novels.*

I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be heavily drawn to reading this new universe from the writing duo known as James S A Corey as my actual second book this year. Things it has going for it: hard cover book with large type (my eyes aren’t what they used to be). A brand new story I know nothing about. It’s hard science-fiction but snappily written from what I can tell, similar to the other ten books of theirs which I own, and have read, and thoroughly enjoyed, I might add. The book isn’t too thick, which even though I am so close to finishing the other novel, visually puts me off as a mental obstacle. I know, I’m weak. I get it. I don’t have the stick with it—ness of a 1,000 plus page tome like I used too. I’ve gravitated towards better written short science fiction, but that might be due to brain rewiring from Covid-19 infection(s) from years previous. Hard to nail down. Anyway, I ordered this book ages ago, once I found out about it. Unlike video games I will jump on a favored authors pre-order so that I get a nice surprise delivery months, or years, later out of the blue. Sometimes those release dates get bumped or shuffled and I don’t bother to keep up to date on them. I do note when the release date I last heard of passes by, if no book arrives though. I have wanted to pre-order a Scott Lynch book, for his court of gentlemenly bastards line (sic) I don’t recall off the top of my head what it actually was. But he’s been ill, or suffered familial issues and his next novel has had its release date jump by a number of years. I’ll keep an ear/eye out for that should it come out. I like his stuff a great deal. It’s all very reminiscent of George R R Martin and his final entry into the Song of Ice and Fire “Game of Thrones” series. Waiting on baited breath for that let me tell you.

*Three more Alien stories to read in two books.*

*Final two books in the Dune series to go*.

Then I will have atleast three more Alien’s based books to read, and two more Dune novels to round of this years to-be-read list. I will likely order more throughout the year as I hear of my favourite authors releasing stuff I’m interested in. I like to aim for twelve in a year, but I don’t always hit the mark. In some years I go well over, and last year I did 11.75. I was a mere 100 pages from successfully completing my challenge. And yet… I managed to clutch defeat from the arms of victory. Oh well.

I figured out I was forgetting Fart Quest book four from last years count, and a second Adrian Tchaikovsky book from very early January last year which I forgot about. So I was really close to hitting my twelve, I really was. Even after 41 days of travel to Florida!

I read a single self help type book which one of my brothers recommended to me last year too. Luckily it was short, about 150 pages or so type of short. Not overly clinical either. Felt more like a long opinion piece where none of the statistical data /research gets mentioned all that much. Psychologists I guess!?!

I wish I could release this tomorrow, but it would only count towards today. I’ve tried delayed releases before, and it messes with my daily writing streak by attributing posts to the incorrect day. So two posts today! A big day in Greatwall Studious blog news.

Two years, 730 days, and a whole bunch of minutes.

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Today is THE day. It’s here. We made it. Hurray! And it looks as though I am going to be busier than originally planned. So I will do a select few notes on the books I read, and enjoyed more than most.

Books on the tall left pile I read cover to cover, and those on the right were only partial reads as of this time.

***I’m still reading both System Collapse, and Lords of Uncreation at this time, I just haven’t finished yet due to travel, and a busier than expected work schedule.

I started the year off with Tom Segura’s book, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Short & sweet, I think I fi wished that in a day and a half. Not very thick, and reads like a funny conversation. The Fart Quest D&D books are always a pleasure to read. Childish and silly with lovely illustrations on many pages. A fun treat for me. Don Winslow’s books are cracker jack popped full of organized crime, murder, gangsters and Danny Ryan. Fast paced, exciting and I can’t wait to read the third and final installment. The Steel Remains was entertaining. I did at one point look into buying more of the series as I like Richard Morgan‘s work. I read two of his books this year, along with Mo Hayder, and Adrian Tchaikovsky too. I read an entire trilogy of a new to me author very early on this year, and it was decent. Had a lot of SA, and physical abuse of kids in it which I didn’t care for, but the writing was good. Those were written by N.K. Jemison.

All told I read 15 books cover to cover, and another 4 books were partial reads of 1/4 to 1/3 of the book in question. So I hit my 12 books in 12 months reading goal. I slowed right down as of September as I got busier with work, as I knew I would. I front end loaded the year pretty heavily to make up for my waning attention, and increased work schedule.

Also for this year in review I didn’t do anywhere near as much sculpting, wood working, or model building. I did one or two items in each category, but I don’t think I finished much. Perhaps next year. I did use my airbrush a fair bit this year to paint old sculpts, and board game pieces. That was a lot of repetition, but also fun to do.

No short stories were written that I can think of this year either. At least nothing comes to mind. I should check the website closer to New Year’s Eve for the official word count for the year. I do not believe that it will even come close to 100,000 words for the year. I just didn’t have that much jam this year. Also I don’t think I made any real progress on my illustrated children’s book either. Was just too busy during what is typically an 11 week long slow period. It was all go-go-go!

We had Covid in march of 2023 and that caused a 90 day reprieve on my exercise regimen to try and avoid long Covid symptoms. Also meant that my weight has remained in the 205-209lbs range for the majority of this year. I swam a lot, but did not ride my bike much, nor run, nor skateboard like I had hoped. I do need to sort something out on that front as I am unhappy with my current pear shape. I could do with being about 175lbs and reduce the belly by a wide margin. Eating and exercise. Simple solution, but oh so hard to implement. Ha. Habits to be build and enforced, just like the writing.

Big question looms. Do we go for a year three of the writing streak, or go until we forget or have more pressing matters to concern ourselves with? If I have another obsessive compulsive year of writing this blog then so be it. I’d blow a kazoo to celebrate if I could. Pfft! W00t-w00t!

Other things to reflect upon? Hmm. Great family vacation to Florida this year. Hadn’t gone anywhere since 2018 so we packed up and flew to Tampa, and then spent a week in Orlando/Kissimmee area. Did three theme parks for 11 of our 14 day trip. One beach day in Clearwater, and one visit to Disney Springs outdoor shopping centre. It was sweltering in Tampa, and rainy and 73°F in Orlando. Not too shabby. Warm enough to swim in the rain, or sit in the hot tub unbothered by it all. We essentially gave the month of November a miss by going away mid month. Strange, but very effective.

Great grandma is alive and kicking, heading towards her 96th birthday in January. Uncle Fred is still in the hospital trying to recoup enough to do another week of 3 Chemo treatments in a row. Otherwise we had the kids pick up a missed immunization that the Ministry notified us of, though they were way off with our youngest. Bit of a mix up there. I picked up a Tetanus shot as I have zero recollection of the last one I ever had. Was probably in high school, if not grade school before that. Good to have as I work with reclaimed wood and pull rusted nails every so often. Better safe than sorry.

I was busier with more work from fewer clients this year. The two micro breweries I usually get work from were very quiet this year. Perhaps in 2024? Maybe. My three biggest clients all did more work this year than usual. Well, two of three did lots more. Not going to complain about that! I lost one client to an acquisition to a large conglomerate that had it’s own in-house design team. No harm no foul there. Win some, lose some. Hard to complain when other clients pick up the slack and then some.

I’m sure more happened that I will remember in a couple of hours time. But that’s the gist of my year. Kids got bigger. Moved up in grades. Homework and extracurriculars abound. Taekwondo, dance, gymnastics, girl guides, and soon Ringette too. We’ve been busy if not over scheduled for children’s programming. Can’t say they didn’t get the chance to try lots of things.

New water softner, fixed water heater valve, and a fridge freezer we no longer use in order to keep the fridge running smoothly. Some how the AC unit has kept chugging along. We will see if that luck continues into 2024. I do see a new fridge in our futures if im being honest.

That’s my 2023 year in review. Ciao Bella!

Some folks just don’t dance.

January 28, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

You can have a wide open dance floor, loud music, drinks, food, and lots of good vibes and some folks just don’t dance along with you. Have to admit, it’s been a few years since I last had a good dance party session. I know I’ve danced at weddings over the last decade, but besides cutting a rug in my kitchen along with the kids, I haven’t danced in full view of the public in a very long time. I’m also fifty pounds heavier, and my knees and hips are older than ever before. I’m not a smooth on the dance floor as I once was. Tired, heavy and falling off the beat! Ha. Still had a good time though. The music wasn’t entirely my jam, but I can make do.

I would have to imagine there are a number of hangovers avoided today by those using edibles instead of alcohol. Buzzed with no morning after roughness, what more could you ask for? No dry mouth, or raw throat from smoking. Bladder less stressed because I’m not pounding five or six beers. Less time spent searching for, and using the washroom. I’m still a touch dehydrated, but that’s from dancing in a sweater as a fat-(ish) forty odd year old man, in a small room with ten other people. Drank some Gatorade on the short walk home, and I feel right as rain.

Big plus is that the majority of my friends were there, and we all live stumbling distance from the house we were partying in. Babysitters were in short supply for the evening, I’ll bet, due to how many shin-digs were going on. We’ve had this party on the calendar since early December. It was a shame my spouse couldn’t join me in the end, but for a shining moment I thought we’d actually go to a party together for a change. But her cough, and our lack of babysitters meant she opted to stay home. Her take home prize from the doctors office earlier in the week made her desire to go out wane considerably. Damn you doctors office bug!

On the positive side no hangover means I was up and at’em by 8:00am, and my wife can have a lie in, and chill without the kids being mental, or all up in her space. I don’t need 12-16 hours to get over a hangover. It’s a really great way to party. I endorse it as long as you can walk/taxi where you need to be. Don’t drive under the influence, not worth it. Also no throwing up, no pounding head ache, no gut rot, no need to go pee every half hour, no spins when trying to sleep, no night sweats, no dry mouth, it’s all pretty up & up compared to drinking. I’m a ten milli Tommy. That makes me feel good, but not out of control, or destined for the moon. Feet firmly planted on terrain firma, with my head in the clouds, but not in a totally blacked out menace to society kind of way. It’s nice, don’t have to worry about saying/doing anything stupid. Doesn’t make me aggressive, or melancholy, or feisty. Just a nice warm internal hug that makes me feel alright. The CBD also helps to alleviate those general aches and pains in my knee, hip, wrists, and lower back. That pain relief fuzzy coating makes the THC buzz just that much more like a warm hug. Glorious.

Anyway – Lazy Sunday is here! Shall we watch movies as a family. Play a board game? Or sit listening to the kids lose their minds playing Mine Craft. I’d like to watch more Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings trilogy if I had it my way. But that’s a long slog even for me, and I’m a fan of both series. I don’t watch the SW prequels, and I’m not as enamoured with episodes 7, 8, and 9. Rogue One however, I could watch twice in a row on most days. Far superior to all three prequels, and most of the last trilogy as well. It went off the rails as soon as The Force Awakens tried to rehash A New Hope. Lost cause. Andor was a slow burn, but added more than any of the last movies have done to the world building, and using non-Skywalker era characters. It was far more interesting. But I digress.

Can’t take the kids skiing or tobogganing due to the rain. Might need to find something constructive for them to do before they drive me crazy with Mine Craft tantrums. Where are the head phones! Not dry enough to scooter, or ride our bikes. Too rainy for ball hockey in the driveway. Maybe I should take them somewhere like a mall for an hour long walk about. I wouldn’t mind going to a Chapters/Indigo book store to find more reading material. I do have four books that I found out the other day from my TBR list, so maybe I’ll cool it on the book purchases right now. You know what I’d really like, another book like the New Horizons one, about the Pluto mission. I tried reading about the Mars Rover, but that comes across like a textbook slash technical manual. The Pluto mission was more cinematic and humanized. It was a terrific banger of a read. Makes me think of Apollo 13, and their scramble to fix issues off the cuff.

Have a great rainy Sunday January 28th, 2024. Ciao Bella!

Social Posts Going On A Run – Again.

January 27, 2024greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It’s the weirdest thing, every so often a post, or tweet will catch on and that will gather likes, followers, making the view count numbers all jump up. Over the last week my Twitter count has jumped by seventeen followers. I had had a hard ceiling of 58 followers for a very, very long time, and now I’m up to seventy five. Pitching the same content out into the ether as before, but suddenly gaining a tiny fraction of traction. Same here on my blog. I’ve gone on a follower count bump run over that same seven day period. Curious. I’m up over two hundred and fifty blog post followers here with WordPress/JetPack. I’m not exactly drawing “numbers” in the traditional sense for a celebrity or a brand/product, but for little ole me, it’s a noticeable jump. And I could not tell you what sparked it. I will say this, at least as far as Twitter is concerned. The new adds are mostly bots, and Cam girls, and the like. I don’t for one second believe that they are real people, or that I am getting famous. I play it up, because the idea of being a person whom gets a fat head, and begins to act like an influencer with 75 followers is hilarious to me. I also toy with calling them my henchmen. And using such limited notoriety to run for school parent council, or being an honouree to open a brand new local laundromat. Ribbon cutting for clout. Ha. Makes me giggle.

As far as I can tell it is still raining. I believe that is to continue until tomorrow or Monday. I started book #2 for this year. It is called “Transit” by Edmund Cooper. Written in 1964. It’s not a bad little book. After finishing the nearly 600 pages of the Adrian Tchaikovsky novel, last in the Trilogy, I wanted something self contained, and considerably shorter. Win on both fronts! I also went poking around my book shelves last night and found four books I haven’t read yet, and I will read from that bunch when I have a chance. I’m not doing the 12 for 12 challenge this year. But I do want to keep on reading, if/when possible. My To-Be-Read pile from all of my previous years of book collecting is substantial, and varied. Mind you I did get rid of quite a few from this TBR pile, because I knew I would never read them. I had tried Tad William’s and Erik something or other before, and found it distasteful. I also got ride of books I didn’t like even though I read all three parts of the trilogy. Now, would I like to read all the books in my collection? Yes, sure I would. If I never bought another new book, I could probably do it. But I follow a fair few authors whom are still releasing new works, so the likelihood of not reading anything new in favour of finishing what I already have is slim. Life comes at you fast, so you never do know.

I also got rid of two of the four Mo Hayder books I owned because they were so disappointing compared to the first two that I had read. Plus she, the author, is now dead and no new book was forthcoming to set it all right by course correcting. Can’t blame her because she’s dead.

In other news I took a few minutes to myself yesterday, away from paid work, to go into my garage and break down the change table for parts. Nuts and bolts went into a jar, the mdf went into my wood pile, and the change pad went up into storage. I think certain parts of the change table are real wood, and not particle board with veneer. So I kept those for random projects that sometimes present themselves. I still need to break down the sidewall portions, but I might need to find out a saw to do that as it didn’t just unscrew, or come apart with a few hard whacks with my palm. I still have our backyard bench in there taking up space, but it’s a keeper, and I can’t be busting that up. It was a project from my wife’s students and has sentimental value. Just reminds me they used my expensive stain like paint, and used the entire $40.00 can on one single bench. No wood grain to be seen. Was supposed to be a smokey blue grey wood grain, but now it’s just a solid wedgewood blue. D’oh! I had to laugh, once I stopped being annoyed. I didn’t even get my rollers or brushes back afterwards either. Nor my drop cloths. Donations to the human fund I suppose.

Well travelers, it’s been a morning, and I must be about my Saturday business. Ciao Bella.

It’s a strange feeling when you learn to let go.

December 24, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

It can be really challenging to let go, whether it’s things, stuff, accumulated junk, perceived slights, missed opportunities, whatever it may be. Knowing what you can comfortably give up, or get rid of and not have it gnaw at you is a hard won skill to have. Oh you are going to have the opposite to buyers remorse a few times when you start out. Misjudge what a thing means to you. But if you keep at it, and be as down to earth and real with yourself you’ll know exactly what you can, and cannot part with. Knowing your limitations is good. You can test it, expand it incrementally, but you have to know where that line is drawn so as to not hurt yourself (feelings – not physically). 20 year old me would lose his mind to hear about clearing out books, and clothes. I carted 24 or more 76L tote boxes of books and stuff around with me from move to move for years. Why? Because my stuff was what felt like home to me, not the location. We moved a fair bit in my youth, so people, friends, and locations don’t mean as much to me because we severed those connections (as I was so little) when we moved, so my home was my “things“. Materialistic much? Yeah. Gets real easy to fall into the must buy things trap. Surround myself with stuff to feel at home. But my situation is different now, as we’ve lived in the same house for 15 years. I’ve never stayed in one spot, let alone one house for that long. I feel like, for the first time, I’m putting roots down. It’s a strange realization. So I have to change. Have to heal. Let some of that shit go. Accept the parts that made me, well – me. But let go of some of that hurt. Don’t play the What if? game. Let it pass through you and be better afterward. That sounds glib. I’m no psychologist. I’d wager there is far more going on in the background than I can articulate. But understanding where your foibles stem from, looking at those circumstances with a critical eye, making adjustments to things that are harming you because of it, and trying to do better, is worth it. For me. Perhaps not for you.

Closets, drawers, dressers, book shelves, and my old wardrobe. Stuff I haven’t touched in ten years. A good portion of it can go. Serve someone else as you have served me. Let someone less fortunate go work their first office job with my old dress shirts/pants. Let some teen read those fat ass books because I sure as hell wasn’t going to read them. Whether it was a style of writing I couldn’t get into, the subject matter, or any number of other reasons. No good holding on to that stuff just to look like I have a library at home. I’m not holding on to 1,000 books I don’t plan on reading, enjoying, or being challenged by, just to qualify my horde as a library. Ridiculous. Better served to go to the community at large. I’ll read twitter on my phone, and the occasional article, but I read best with a physical book in my hands. That hasn’t changed, and I don’t think it will. But also, if I choose incorrectly and buy a book I don’t like, I don’t feel as though I HAVE to keep that book for the rest of my life. Subtle difference. I wish I could read faster/on demand so that I could utilize a library. But my mood towards a book, even one I’m loving is so volatile I can’t stick to reading one in 10-14 days, as a general rule.

This has been a weird one. To summarize. Deep cleaning is good. Letting go of some things you’ve held on to for unhealthy reasons is good. Understanding where your tendencies stem from is good. Using that to change your life/habits little by little for the better is good. You will over do it early in the process, and hurt yourself. Be as truthful as you can be to yourself, and start small. Also I read so inconsistently I can’t seem to utilize a library very well, and continue to buy books most years, though not in the volume I once did. I am also ok with putting a book down part way in if it doesn’t do anything for me. I can give those books to others. It’s ok to not like/love every single book I pick up. Statistically speaking that was an unlikely expectation in the first place.

Happy Christmas Eve, to all whom celebrate. We have more rain, fog and potential for freezing rain. Not much going on around here this Sunday December 24th, 2023.

Watching the new slate of consoles pass me by.

August 28, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

I am still heartily enjoying my Xbox 360, so have missed the Xbox One, Playstations 3, 4, and 5. I see the graphics get exponentially better, but the gameplay doesn’t seem to do anything for me. I liked in the room Co-OP as a kid, but am not the least bit drawn to online multiplayer, so the bulk of the last 10-15 years worth of gaming has whizzed by me without a care in the world. I’m not the demographic they are after. No problem. I do look longingly as things like the Nintendo Switch that still builds platformers, and single player self contained campaigns that don’t need DLC. I’m old now. I want the whole finished product in my hand at the time of purchase. The Switch lite is calling out to me. Just a little bit. But I know if I get one I’ll either spend just about every waking hour with it to the detriment of everything else in my life, or I’ll use it two or three times and put it away, where the batteries will corrode and ruin the whole thing inside of 18 months. There is no inbetween. I used to lose days at a time with Fable (1, 2 & 3), Diablo 3, Space Marines 40K, and a couple others. Having kids meant putting that stuff to bed so as not to be neglectful. But now my oldest is nearing double digits in age, I think the tech draw might make a come back. I just don’t know about the nearly $1,000.00 price tag for the unit, additional controllers, and an early stable of games to play. Disks and not downloads either. We can see the shenanigans going on with streaming, no way that Ish doesn’t burn the gamer crowd too. So physical media it will have to be.

I miss the old school platformer type games. I did enjoy Halo as a run & gun fps, but now it seems like everything is a sand box, or open world, or requires 100 hours to git güd. I’m not about that – son. I want to flow in, flow out of a saved game with ease, and not need to manage overly complicated skill trees, inventories, maps, directions, mission details and what not. I want to move from the left side of the screen to the right, bounce, jump, punch, or kick some shit, and carry on as the screen scrolls forward a bit. Like old school TMNT, or Double Dragon, or Fists of fury, Alex kid in shinobi world, pac man. Simple but fun. That’s not to say that I won’t enjoy a brief foray into something more complicated. I just know that if/when I do, I may get too distracted by it.

Oh well. Those are my Monday morning musings for today. Are you all looking forward to week nine of the summer break? Wow huh. Time flies! Although this one is just a little longer with the holiday Monday next week. What a strange, long, and short summer it has been. Work was consistent this summer. And I feel like there will be a good amount of projects coming in the fall aswell from other clients to finish the year strong. I don’t have any foresight into 2024 as of yet. But I feel as though this year will likely have been just as strong as 2022. Which is terrific. Amazing even.

Never did get out to see Oppenheimer, but I am reading “American Prometheus” upon which it was based, so that’s cool. Long form, indepth, and as nuanced as one could make it, I suppose. It’s good. I’m enjoying it. The question of his CP (Communist Party) affiliations takes up much of the beginning of the book. Sympathetic to the cause, certainly, an on the books die-hard member? I should think not. I’m interested in the time spent at Los Alamos. Those few years are what I’m interested in reading more about. The demon core tragedy took place at that time too. I read Robert J Sawyers Oppenheimer alternate history book last year and it was a fantastic read too. Very interesting. The whole physics, chemistry, & math wizz thing goes right over my head. But it’s interesting to see how others, much smarter than myself, synthesize, and iterate answers to such complex problems. By all accounts Oppenheimer was a great ideas man, not so good on the detailed follow through. I love that. Fascinating. To be able to understand the big picture well enough to know things will work, but not know those finer details down to the third decimal place, is astounding. Incredible. Like I said, those folks are much smarter than i am.

Was thinking of taking my oldest to see Barbie but that didn’t materialize. Then I had hoped to see the new animated TMNT movie with both kids in tow. But the youngest has expressed zero interest in the franchise, nor the ability to sit through 90 minutes of a movie she’s never seen before. Given how expensive everything is I don’t fancy spending almost $100.00 but for three 3D tickets plus food & snacks for her to NOT watch the film, or negatively impact the viewing experience for my eldest daughter or myself. Not cool. So now we wait for Bluray/DVD to get released and we can sit and watch it over and over on multiple occasions. I’m good with that.

All the best out there. Ciao Bella!

Keeping the minions occupied…

July 11, 2023July 11, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Is always a far more challenging task than anybody thinks it will be. You have to keep a balance in mind. If you go and do too many wild, crazy, zany expensive things up front the kids’ll expect that to continue through all nine weeks. So you gotta give them a lull, some down time in order to be feet in the air up a wall off their beds bored, and then pepper in a swim, a farm visit, a zoo trip, Wonderland visit, a movie in a proper theater, a play date with friends. Sounds mean, but if you do it all up front you get nothing but grief for the rest of the summer break. Eek out the extraordinary fun at a manageable pace. Keep the expectations for a typical day on a level you can handle. Will we go wake boarding, yes. But not so much that it becomes blasé. Just like cottage visits, beach visits, going to the gemstone mine, or visiting a national park. Go do it, but not with the expectation that this is an everyday occurence. That’s the gist of it.

Plus, he says, go read a book. Play with your toys, draw something, paint a picture, play in the back yard, ride your bikes, bounce a basketball, practice your serve and volley technique with a volley ball. Run some soccer drills, play catch, use your scooters, play a video game, watch one of the thousand movies we own. There is no shortage of things to do here at the house without also needing to drop serious coin on extraordinary outings. Go read!, especially go read. Between the four of us we own a libraries worth of texts. Fiction, science fiction, historical, romance, fantasy, horror, suspense, thriller, crime, sports related, space exploration, theocracy, communism, business admin, weather and geology, geography. Our interests are wide and varied. Humour, illustrated, technical manuals, wood working, you name it we have it or something adjacent to it by one or two steps.

Also, I think today is Tuesday. Only the second week in and losing track of time. Very peculiar sense to not know where you are in a given week. Calendars are your friends! Sleep in, stay up late, forget what day it is. What am I, fourteen again?

Things that I accomplished yesterday.

April 6, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

Can’t be resting on those laurels for long, so today we acknowledge what we’ve finished, and then we turn to face the front and keep on truckin’. I managed to finish book number eleven (11) of my twelve books in a calendar year challenge. Mo Hayder’s “Ritual”, which was… anticlimactic at best? A 400 plus page book about two or more adults who are unable to deal with loss, whether it was recent or from their childhood. And a sub plot about ghastly mutilation & murder. I thought there was going to be a bigger build up to pay off, but, eh! Not bad, not awful. I mean I finished it, and we all know I have no problem giving up on books part way in. But… a bit of a let down in the end. I think that is the third or fourth Mo Hayder book I’ve read. The others were far superior. This one was more melancholy than suspenseful. Tick it off the list. Book eleven is in the can! So I turn to another Richard Morgan book to complete the twelve. His 2008 novel “The Steel Remains”. More light hearted and humorous than “Black Man” or any of the Altered Carbon series. Let us hope it stays good so that I can complete my 12 book challenge. Although if I get enough pages between multiple unfinished books, I’d take the page count of what was read, add it up, and if it crosses 250, I’d call my challenge done. If I’m being honest. Cover to cover is the goal, but I’ll take partial credit for pages read in a pinch.

Second item on the list was to finally sit down and watch Sony Studios’ “Morbius”. Which felt much like “Venom”, in that it was ok. Obviously lower budget than standard MCU fare, but not horrendous. It wasn’t a Uli Boll film, so it wasn’t unwatchable. Slightly better than Venom 2, the Carnage one with Woody Harrelson. It even had one of the actors from Andor in it. I’ve had that dvd in my possession since Christmas, so I’m glad to finally take that off of my personal to do list. The kids had dance last night, and costume fittings, and dinner with Grandma, so I had an additional 90 minutes on my hands. Nearly three hours of free time to watch a movie, eat, finish my book, and shower in peace.

Also, I finished all the sanding on the Urn. Up to 800 grit with hand sanding using a rubber hand block. Buttery smooth. I used a torch to make the grain pop, and then needed to move through the grits again back up to 800 grit. No matter. Looks good. I’m happy with it. I even managed to get some Osmo finish on it, and buff it off with my polisher. Very nice! Today I want to add feet, and perhaps some spacers to stop the lid sliding around. We’ll see how we feel later on. But I can see the end of the tunnel on this one. Glad to put it behind me. I have since learned that the recipient is not sure if they want it anymore, so I may keep it for myself, for future use. I’m not afraid of that kind of preparation. Live and learn.

I have burgundy, yellow, emerald green, and this blue felt to choose from. Think HP House colours.

I’m also just about ready to rewash my resin kit in warm soapy water, to make sure all of the mould release is gone. I don’t want any part of this thing to peel or puckers or wear off prematurely. Given how much time and effort it takes to test fit, sand, and scribe lines, and fill holes, and pin together, and find work around for misshapen joints, I don’t fancy my expensive paints peeling off of it just hours after laying it down because I missed a spot.

So here we are, Thursday. Looking at the four day long weekend for Easter. By next Wednesday the temperatures supposed to reach above 20°C. That’s wild. I’d settle for three to five weeks at the 14°C range, and rains over night, and storms while we’re all sound asleep. As I understand Ottawa had an ice storm recently, with parts of the city without power. Yikes.

Oh in work related news, we managed to get just about all items off to the printers. Some items that require a third parties input were held up, but that’s honestly to be expected at this point. So yeah! Fantastic news. Ciao Bella!

There are six books which I read cover to cover in January.

February 1, 2023greatwallstudiosLeave a Comment

The books in question.

I read Mary Robinette Kowal’s “The spare man“, “Fart Quest Vol.4“, Tom Segura’s “I’d like to play alone“, The first two “Dungeon Academy” books, and then Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of memory“. With a partial read of Robert Evans’ “The kid stays in the picture“. A book I feel like I should go back to now that I have cleared my schedule for reading through until July 1st, 2023. But we’ll see. It repeats itself alot, with the gambling, drinking, and adultery themes. The names, and motion pictures change, but ultimately he’s retelling the same six stories over, and over again, with that Shake or slap an hysterical woman, old Hollywood charm. The girls are prizes to be claimed, and discarded at whim. Interesting, up to a point. Not my tempo. As it were.

I’m about the start in on the N. K Jemisin Broken Earth Trilogy, so I have high hopes! Please let them be good. It would be better if they were great, but I’ll gladly take good any day of the week. Exceptional would be amazing, but a good trilogy, with no filler feeling chapters is hard to come by. Is this the authors seminal work? What they’re known for? I don’t know. I didn’t do all that much research, but a few names I trust from previous high quality references to books gave this one a thumbs up, and it has won a prestigious Sci-fi award for the whole trilogy, book by book. So that’s gotta say something positive? Doesn’t it!?!

I should really go back and try to read more of the Carl Sagan book, but it came across like a text book, so I need to be in that sort of mind set. For education rather than entertainment. That was the difference between reading about the Pluto mission, versus the Mars rover stuff. One was *a story*, the other a technical play by play, like a parts list, and engineered drawings in exploded view. One I thoroughly enjoyed as it did contain lots of education information inside the story telling, the other I detested, and only got part way through before putting it away. My labouring over a text days are done. Philosophy, Sociology, Economics, even Business Admin textbooks were a chore at times, and I’m glad I don’t have to hack my way through those sorts of things anymore.

Also I do want to know how the Grapes of Wrath ends, but who-boy, that was an exercise in patience for colloquial speech patterns. Feels like it will mean something by the end, but gah! The idea of spending the next five months reading five pages at a time to just get to the end of it feels like a total waste of my time. Can it provide a great enough epiphany at the end to warrant such a slow, halting, and seemingly unending read? I don’t see it. Not from the 150 plus pages I have all ready read. Maybe the end packs the most whallop? I don’t know. Seems fool hardy to leave your whole message for the very end. But I’m no writer of an American Classic. So he’s gotta know what he’s doing.

Today is Wednesday, and I’m looking at being pretty busy today, and this evening. The kids have things to do every night of the week excepting Friday, and the weekends. One month in and I am exhausted, so who knows how the kids are coping. I know they enjoy it all. But, I think we need to narrow down some interests, as this is a bit much. I am grateful that I get to see the improvements from gymnastics, Taekwon-do, and their dance lessons. Had I still been working downtown for any number of breweries or agencies, I’d never get the chance to see this stuff. I get to see them tey it for the first time, work at it, conquer it, then build upon it. Rather lovely – at times. Anyway, great day to you all.

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