Brain Work

I found Blogger as an app, and was admittedly skeptical.  I have always done my blogs on a laptop with a nice 15.6 inch screen and a full-size keyboard. It was just the way it was done.
My curiosity was piqued though. We use smartphones and tablets for practically every job formerly done on old style desktop and laptop computers. Is it really such a leap to bang out a wordy document on a much smaller screen? Behold I am doing it, and it's not too bad. I can't imagine writing a whole book on a phone, but I am sure it could be done, especially if one did it in chunks, (I mean, who sits down and writes a whole book in one sitting anyhow?) I consider it a good work-out for the ol' bean. I can't let it get too complacent about the way we do things in this ever advancing world. Until the day I can fire whole sharp images and thoughts from my head out into the world, words are going to be the method of communication. I imagine one day being able to express an idea or thought so clearly there will be no chance of misunderstanding.  Private as they may be, I have had some dreams that are so profound, or have left such an emotional mark upon me that I would love to be able to share them exactly as they were presented to me.
Communication is supposed to keep doors open to us, but as it is an imperfect art, there are times it fails and does the complete opposite. I have many instances where an idea or thought was so clear and exacting in my own mind, but could I express it? Big fat negatory. I keep many of my "gem" thoughts walled away in the stone vault of my mind, as far away from my sometimes too quick and slippery yap. Some things are just too much trouble to express, so better to keep them for my own private "entertainment".  I will share this though, if I am doing a mindless task I do challenge my mind to tell me an interesting story, made up from bits and pieces of dreams, snippets of news stories, trivia and God-knows what else my mind has seen fit to hoard for later retrieval.  The latest saga I am telling myself had me doing research if I need to fill in a blank or make "my" story more authentic. Anyone who sees my search history would probably scratch their head, as it is a crazy hodge-podge.
Even now as I am writing this I am remembering a detail I want to clarify.
The mind is a wonderful thing, and if we feed it, rest it, and yes work it, it's amazing the yield we receive from it. It has been a challenge to type even this small piece, but it has been fodder for my mind to play with.  It may become a regular occurrence to do a post this way, or it may become another detail in my creativity.  Either way it's a win!

Here I Go Again...

I have been incredibly guilty of letting this blog slide for the simple excuse that I didn't think I could compose it from my otherwise awesome smartphone.  My laptop was acting up like the proverbial spoiled brat, and even with the knowledge I have garnered about cranky electronics, I could not for the life of me figure out what was causing it to act the way it was.  I finally admitted defeat when I could not access my income tax program--oops, I was late this year.  By defeat, I mean I took it to a true computer guru.  Turns out, one of my darling offspring probably spilled something on the keyboard, and fearing my potential wrath, thought it better to say nothing.  The thing was, though that even with the keyboard being unresponsive, every blank field would immediately fill with backspaces, prompting me to think there must be some dreaded virus lurking in the system, even though the anti-virus hadn't detected any on multiple scans and checks.

The upshot of the whole debacle was the keyboard was now non-functioning, and the backspace key was probably internally stuck down, so that was the only read coming through.  It's not perfect, but we have managed to get a work-around.  The internal keyboard for the laptop has been disconnected, and I now have to use a USB external keyboard for input.  No complaints here, as I got my taxes filed toot sweet after the laptop was returned to me, and now I am free to enjoy it for the many other fine features the geniuses of the smartphone world haven't quite been able to jam into those fine pieces of technology.  I admit.for the day to day stuff it's hard to beat my S8.  It's incredibly portable, has many cool uses, and keeps me entertained to boot.  When it comes time to sit down and bang out anything that requires typing more than a few sentences the laptop is hard to beat, plus there are many websites that are much more complete and easier to use on a full-size device like the laptop, as I found out recently with my workplace website.  The app covers the nuts and bolts, but the actual website--best viewed on the laptop--is truly all the bells and whistles.

I am hoping with this return to functionality, I will be more inspired to natter more at night as my blog suggests.  It looks like summer is finally coming to us after a long wait of rain, rain, and more rain, so that will just be more excuses to not be writing up a storm during the heat of the day.  I've got so many story ideas I have been telling myself in my head, that they are starting to get all mixed up together, so it's time to get them down electronically as well.    That's the plan, at least.     

I Despise Winter

I sit writing this as the thermometer reads -25 Celcius.  Too damn cold, for those of you not familiar with this method of temperature measurement.  I so wanted to start the year on a good note, but sadly, I have caved to the negative vibes the weather has thrown our way.  I live in a winter wonderland.  If you love skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, or hockey, this is the town for you.  As I have attested in a previous post, I DO love the town I live in, I just don't love the frigid temperatures that can set in. I do not enjoy putting on several layers of clothing just to be able to poke my head outside to take care of the business of life.  Once outside I have to contend with a vehicle that seems to hate the cold as much as I do.  Thanks to a new battery, it starts, but decidedly does so--under protest.  I can hear the engine growling for the first few kilometres, and I find myself sympathizing with the reluctant metal, plastic, and assorted fluids as they propel me and my frosty, trusty chariot to my various destinations. 

Winter annoys me, because it takes so much more time and effort to do the same things, that in summer, don't require a second thought.  I never have to worry about getting out of the driveway, as there is no white stuff building up in a random, nonsensical fashion.  Certainly, snow can be beautiful, on mountain tops, on trees... anywhere I don't have to walk on it, shovel it, or otherwise get around it. After it has been driven through, kicked around, or just been there too long, it looses it's charm real fast.  I can always tell which of my Facebook friends live where there is little to no snow, as I either get comments on my snow pictures, oh, so nice, pretty, or wow, or I see their posts with more of the same on the rare occasion they get it.  At this stage in the game, I am the one liking the countdowns to spring, summer, longer days, etc.  The last point brings me to another big reason why I dislike winter.  The long periods of darkness.  It's cold, it's snowing--oh, and let's now complete the trifecta with It's Dark By Late Afternoon.  A few years ago, I was realizing that this is indeed, a major contributor to my pessimistic attitude towards the season, when an observant person with whom I was conversing on the topic; pointed out that it was only downhill until the winter solstice, usually around December 21st.  It was a simple point, but one I now hold in the forefront of my mind whenever the dark and the gloom of it threaten to get to me.

The weather is something that we have no control over, just recently though I read on how the Danes make the most of their winters, by doing things that go with the season, making the most of life's little pleasures.  I have a list of weather forecasts for multiple cities around the globe.  I have a nice mix of places that are way warmer than my current location, but also a few that are almost always colder, such as Alert, and the South Pole research station.  I have cities near the Equator that never seem to deviate beyond a few degrees difference, and some that are squarely in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.  On a night like tonight, I will quietly envy Aden at 26 degrees, or Perth (Australia, not Scotland or Ontario!) at 29 degrees.  

I think I will need to put it on a to-do list to escape from winter in the Northern Hemisphere at least once in my lifetime.  Maybe, I have just about had enough of the cold, because Australia sounds pretty inviting right about now!