On Hiatus Again

I think I’m going to take this week off from blogging. I don’t feel I have anything interesting or funny to write about, and rather than complain about shit, I’m taking a break. Until then, watch this.

Happy Day After Earth Day

What did I do to celebrate Earth Day? Nothing. Although if I’d remembered to, I would have celebrated by watching this: George Carlin on ’saving the earth’. You may be offended, but try to look past that and listen to his bigger message, because there is a lot of truth in it. At least I find it truthy. Hey, this is my blog, not your blog, so screw y’all if you don’t agree!*

*I’m kidding. Please come back again soon.

Behold, a gateway to your own past, if you wish

Somewhere in my early teen years I became a Star Trek fan. It was no doubt due to the 4pm showings of The Next Generation on CFJC-TV, the local Kamloops CBC affiliate. From there I was introduced by my cousin and uncle to the exellency that is the Original Series, with its cheeseball special effects, hammy acting, and timely social commentary. Starting with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, I began a habit of seeing Star Trek movies in the theatre, and haven’t missed one since.

The last Trek movie, Nemesis, was a stinker. Its predecessor, Insurrection, was one of the worst Star Trek movies made. Those two films, and two television series that came after Deep Space Nine (a series I couldn’t get into - Star Trek is about visiting planets, not sitting in a space station), effectively killed Star Trek. One can only imagine other franchises being destroyed through saturation and bad ideas: picture a James Bond TV series, followed by a spin-off starring Denise Richards, and a movie where James Bond sits at a desk, and you can see how a pop culture icon would become stupid and uninteresting.

In a few weeks, a new Star Trek movie will premiere, using that catchy ‘reboot’ formula a lot of movies have fallen into lately. It has characters with the names I remember with love - Kirk, Spock, Bones - but none of the actors who made them famous. I’m going to see it in the theatre, because it’s the natural way of things, but I’m feeling a little apprehensive about seeing someone else try to be James Tiberius Kirk. The movie could be incredible but it still won’t seem right - whoever the hell that guy is, to me, he’s George Lazenby. On top of that, everything about the movie seems young, from the actors to the set design to (ugh) product placement. I will go to see it, I may be entertained, but I don’t believe it’ll feel like Star Trek. Even worse, if the kids like this new Star Trek, I’ll feel like the old guy who thinks VHS movies were the best things since sliced bread - I’ll be longing for the Trek I remember, confused by and isolated from the cool new Trek. Those darn kids don’t even know about The Corbomite Maneuver!

I should point out that my ladyfriend will be seeing this new Trek film with me, due to the role of Spock being portrayed by her dreamboat pretend boyfriend Zachary Quinto, which is remarkable in the fact that when I was in my early teens I would never have believed a girl would join me in watching a Star Trek movie.

You Bet Your Life

It’s rougly a month to my 31st birthday, which means it’s time to plan another Birthday Bet-A-Thon day at the races. It’s usually a time when I create a silly poster to promote the event and email it to anyone I can think of that might want to attend. I haven’t got a theme in mind for the poster yet, but I’ll have to get on it as soon as possible. It’s likely that I won’t do the event on the actual May long weekend, because in past experiences it seems most people plan to travel out of town at that time (we may even do so, if we both get time off). So if I actually get off my duff and spend a couple hours in Photoshop, readers who live in the Lower Mainland can expect their invitation soon.

People ask how the new job is going. It’s going well, I think. It took me until mid-this-week to finally settle in and not feel nervous. As I’ve said to just about anyone who asks, it is a lot different than other places I’ve worked, and I think it’s better in good ways. Sure, I miss working on games - there’s a certain ‘cool factor’ to it - but I don’t miss spending ten or twelve hours a week in meetings, I don’t miss justifying every colour or font choice to three different levels of management, and I don’t miss the ‘this is final - no wait, it’s not’ method of development. On the project I’m on, it’s been stated up front that things can and will change from month to month; no one’s fooling themselves by saying that once something’s in the software, it’s there to stay. It’s a different mindset that’s counter to the way video game development does things, and it’s still taking time for me to adjust. But I will, and I think it’s going to be an exciting way to do things.

Apologies

I’d just like to take a moment to apologize in advance to my ladyfriend for the copious amounts of high-definition hockey I’ll be watching over the next two months. Because it will be a lot.

Relatedly, please enjoy this commercial from the Boston Bruins.

That Time Again

Oh boy, it’s provincial election time.

Usually I like elections and politics, but the current provincial choices make me want to gag. Making things worse is the bombardment of television ads from both sides: we get to see fathead Gordon Campbell talk about how great life is because of him, and his cronies run attack ads making Carole James even more annoying than she usually is. The NDP will run ads talking about budget overruns, closed schools, and tearing up hospital workers’ contracts. Their union friends will run ads about the same things. And in the end Gordo will win another election and get to hobnob with his rich buddies when the Olympics roll around. I really don’t know who to vote for this time. I can’t stand either party’s leader, and BC politics is just based on who can make the taller heap of bullshit to stand on.

Anyhow, my first week of new jobbing is behind me. I think I’m starting to settle in and feel less nervous. I’ve said to many people how much different this job is than anything I’ve had before, from the work environment, the hours I’ll be working, project management, and even the actual productive work I do. I think it’s different in a good way, it’s just going to take some more time to really get used to it.

It’s the start of the long weekend, and we’re off to the interior to visit family. For some reason I get stressed out when it’s road trip time, even when it’s just somewhere relatively close. I used to love driving! Maybe since I’ve become a public transit user, driving for more than an hour isn’t the same anymore.