Writing and theololgy

How is it that characters can take over when you start writing? Everyone likes to think that it is a God-like position, writing a story. In my experience, there is no control to be had. I've written three fan fictions and am currently working on the fourth. I might get three or four paragraphs on paper (I still use pen and paper to get going. Composing at the keyboard isn't me. I am SO thankful for recycling.) before the characters take over and do their thing, and I'm just along for the ride.
This leaves me with a rather nagging and worrisome question. What if the Universe was created, and then just kind of had to go its own way? Let's take the existence of God as a given, for the time being, and further assume that he created all that we know, like an author writing a book. If the characters have taken over the whole endeavor, what is the end result going to look like?
When I am writing, things usually work themselves out. The people have defined characters that make them behave in certain predictable ways. I merely give them a situation at the start, and they then resolve it in their own way.
In a situation like this, are we capable of making the right decisions? Story plots are relatively simple compared to real life, and they tend to come only two or three at a time. Life comes at you all at once.
I just hope the Author of our story doesn't develop writer's block.

#$%^ machines

Okay, technology has it in for me today.
My e-mail server is out, and I have a lot of stuff that I do over e-mail. I really need the connection to be working properly, at least for the next two days. The Pastor was to get back to me so I can finish the bulletin to be printed on Wednesday. I've even resorted to unplugging from this computer and trying it on the laptop. No go, it is definitely the server.
Ever had days when you just can't seem to get anything to go right? Oh well, these things do sort themselves out, and with so many people now working via the Internet, these situations will arise.
It did point out to me the biggest advantage of the laptop thought. All of the connections are right there in front of you. You don't have to lie on you back working blindly at wires to get what you need. Not to mention that whole aspect of portability. Once we have the wireless router, I can work from anywhere in the apartment. Need a quiet moment, go to the bedroom.
Anyway, I hope the service provider gets things worked out by the end of the day. I have work to do. Until then, I play.

Mary's new home

I went and saw my mother-in-law's new place yesterday. Forgive me if I'm a little green with envy. It's a gorgeous apartment, with a lot of natural light and big, open spaces. It's large enough to move around in, without being too much for her to keep up.
I can so picture all of her favorite things in it. She can set herself up on the balcony on summer mornings, sipping her cup of coffee. She will enjoy the view and be comfortable. Evenings can be spent in comfort with a couple of friends and a pot of tea. She even has a spare room for when one of the ladies wants to stay over.
It will be so good to have her settled permanently. She deserves a happy home to come back to after a day of running errands with friends or for the church. It will be a nice place to visit her on Christmas Eve and other holidays. Conveniently, it lies halfway between Cathy' place in Cornwall and ours. She is in her favorite town, where she can get just about everything she needs within a ten minute walk.
If we could have afforded it, we would so have been in there. But then, the landlady is trying to keep it all senior citizens in there. There aren't enough places that older folks can afford these day, and you have to admit, seniors are a lot easier on the property. The apartment has all of the things that we wanted when we were looking, and has the advantage of being in my wife's home town.
Yes, I think my mother-in-law will be happy there for many, many years.

Where have I been lately?

I know it's been a while since I last posted. I've been spending most of my time writing and reading fan fiction. It's one of those computer applications that, once you start, it is very easy to get addicted.
On the other hand, it's a creative media as well. If you tend to get plot lines running through your head when watching a television show or movie, this is a good way to let them out. Apparently, a lot of people have this kind of affliction, because there are millions of stories available to read and review. In a lot of categories too.
Sandra has been rather upset with the amount of time I've been spending at the computer though. There are things that she would like to do as well, and we only have the one Internet connection. It would be nice to have two computers on-line. Then we could do some stuff together. Which would throw some of her friends for a bit of a loop. Our nicknames in the game site are very similar. We haven't been on at the same time since we moved.
Computers and the Internet were supposed to bring people together, but used in excess, they can get in the way of a relationship. It isn't unusual these days to have a couple in separate rooms of a house, chatting on their computes. That has to be the craziest thing. When we were in separate apartments, before we got married, we did that a lot. There are benefits to having only one computer on-line.

Say what?

I was just wondeing if maybe I'm a little more out of touch than I thought. You see, I was reading some stuff on a website the other day written by a guy who is eighteen. There was a lot of stuff there that I never would have dreamed of, never mind put into print in a public forum. Is it me, or are kids less concerned about quality and more about sheer volume?
My niece has pointed out a tendancy on my part towards "foggeyism". I do talk a lot about the way things were when I was in high school. I guess Jeff Foxworthy was right. You know you've reached adulthood when you're standing on a balcony during spring break in your boxers, shouting, "Keep it down, some of us have to get some sleep!"
Which implies by this time that I am old.
Today's kids generally don't seem to be able to speak without cursing every other word. The letter F gets a lot of air time these days. It used to just be few of the boys were like that. Now you just have to go through a mall, and it's coming out of the mouth of what would otherwise be a sweet young lady.
Speaking of which, nothing is a bigger turn off, girls, than a pretty young woman who ruins the effect by shoving a cigarette into her mouth. That goes for guys too. You can be rugged and handsome, but if your breath could knock down a small building...
Okay, I admit it, I'm old.

How we govern ourselves, to death.

I'm going to come right out and say it. I just don't get politics.
I've been keeping a loose eye on events happening south of the border, and I still don't get how things are done down there. As nearly as I can understand it, delegates from each party in each state get together and vote for a nominee. Who voted for the delegates in the first place? Who is going to determine that those delegates vote for the person that the people he or she represents really wants?
Of course, I have the same questions about the electoral college. In the last couple of presidential elections, I kept hearing about how Bush was getting more of the electoral college votes, but less than a third of the popular vote. In a two person race, is that really possible? If so, I have to question just how representative the electoral system is.
Then there is the whole business of voting machines. Come on, people! Why do you need a machine to vote. You get a piece of paper with the names of the candiates clearly printed, and put an X by the one you want. If you want something that counts faster, just make a scanner to read the marks on the paper ballots, like they used to do in school with multiple choice tests. It's pretty hard for a number 2 pencil to break down. If one of the candidates doesn't agree with the count, they can supervise a recount, along with a neutral party.
As with all things that human beings do, we have complicated the way we govern ourselves so much, we actually have to send people to university to explain it to the rest of us. I always thought it was supposed to be one citizen, one vote, and the most votes won. Isn't that the idea behind democracy?
Then again, here in Canada we have an equally absurd system, where there are multiple parties, each trying to pull the country in sixteen billion different ways. Even within the parties there is no unity of direction. People sometimes wonder why it takes so long to get anything done. It's like the old adage says, there are two things people should never see being made, hot dogs and laws. It makes both of them not fit for consumption.
To be honest, I would just as soon give the partisan system a pass. Candidates should have to stand on their own merits, propose legislation and then vote on it as the citizens he or she represents want. No more "party whips". That is democracy in it's truest form.
Lobby groups are another topic all together. Maybe another day.

The V-day invasion (of the mall)

Well, the big day is getting closer. It's V-day people, let's get into uniform and try to find intelligent ways to express our love this year. A Valentine's card and a quick peck on the cheek ain't gonna cut it guys.
And I am talking to my fellow males out there. We have earned a reputation for being pretty lame when it comes to the romance department anymore. The longer we are in a relationship, the faster that ability to woo the woman we chose starts to atrophy. It's like some kind of clinical disease that affects half of the population. There really ought to be a telethon to find a cure. Maybe if we got Julia Roberts and Kathryn-Zeta Jones to host it?
I'm partial to Meg Ryan myself.
But back to the topic at hand.
I'm trying to put together something nice for Sandra for Valentine's day. She has tournaments that she is hosting on a website that night, but I'm all for trying anyway. She puts up with so much from me. I'm lazy and a slob much of the time, and I don't spend enough time doing the things that I used to. Bubble baths and hour long massages, you get the idea. I used to do that for her all of the time.
At one time, we were regular visitors to an on-line chat room. She would tell the girls all about the things that I had done for her that night, and they would get jealous and ask how she got me so well trained. The guys used to yell at me to stop, that I was making them look bad.
It's high time I got back into the routine of doing little things like that again.
It is the smallest, daily things that mean the most too. Remember to say "I love you" before going out of the door. A quick shoulder massage while she's at the computer can go a long way too. Pulling out all of the stops on Valentine's Day, Christmas and her birthday (You do remember her birthday, don't you?) just doesn't cut it, bub. Women are like investments, it's for the long term, and if you want to see any kind of return, you have to check with them often.
I have just offended every female who reads this post. It's so hard comparing women to anything. If there is a way to put your foot in your mouth, a guy can find it just by opening his.
So, let's get ready to hit the romantic beaches gentlemen! Get your kit together, we launch at dawn of February 14th. There are no excuses this year, short of death or losing your job because you didn't take that business flight. Even then, get the gift and card now, just in case.

Insurance leads to technology questions

Sandra and I have an insurance policy on the contents of our apartment. I'm sure this is not unusual, but it does bring me to a very interesting thought though. Unfortunately, to get there, I have to deviate a little. Bear with me a moment.
Sandra was discussing our policy with a friend, who advised her to look closely at the policy, to be sure that we had "replacement value" as opposed to "cash value" stipulated on it. Other friends had lost everything in a fire, and what the insurance company gave them was cash to buy furniture at a depreciated rate from what they had owned. So we checked our policy, and we are fortunate enough to be covered to the maximum value to replace our furniture and belongings with "an equal style, model and usefulness as was previously purchased without deduction for depreciation."
This led to wondering if we had enough coverage, and how to go about claiming if there were an accident. So, for the better part of three weeks, Sandra and I went room by room doing an inventory. It turns out we have a lot of stuff. So, Sandra's friend lent us her digital camera to take pictures of everything. We keep a disc, the insurance company gets one, and a third goes to her mother's place when she is settled in.
Which brings me to the real point of my story. The memory card in the camera.
When we had taken all of the pictures we felt we needed, we went and got the data on the card transferred onto a compact disc. This thing fit into that tiny fifth pocket in the side of my jeans. It's smaller than a potato chip, but it holds more information than the computers that sent men to the moon. I got to thinking about how fast the industry has really been moving, and to be honest, the implications are mind boggling.
Does anyone out there remember floppy discs? I mean the ones that actually were floppy, great big, thin things, with warning stickers about magnets and heat and stuff. I think I have just technologically dated myself. The computer equivilent of cutting down a tree and counting rings is counting the number of data storage devices you remember that are no longer being used. Which makes me a canidated for the new Microsoft Jurrasic Park.
I once said that the internet was a repository for just about all of human knowledge. All of that knowledge is now on so many kinds of storage, I don't think it will ever be totally lost. It will just be a question of our being able to read it. Laptops don't even have a built in disc drive anymore. It's a cd or memory stick now. Apple even has come up with a slim computer that doesn't even seem to have space for a memory stick.
How do they put a hard drive into the thing?
Okay, now I'm just making my head hurt.

In time of need

A dear friend of mine is scared. Her father is dying and there is nothing really to be done about it. They have always been close. She sent an e-mail to a lot of us, letting us know what was going on.
The best I could do was offer my prayers, such as they are. I am not a deeply religious man, though I have been called spiritual. I wrote out Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd" for her, and let her know that she could talk to me when she is sad.
The odd thing is that I did all this for a young woman I met in an on-line chat room. She appealed to the big brother in me. I can't really be said to know her that well, just what she has shared with me in private chats by messenger. How is it that I get so involved in other people's lives without meaning to?
I've been adopting little sisters since I was in grade three. They come and go, but when they find themselves in trouble, they always know to come to my doorstep. I like to think that just being there is a comfort sometimes. It's what a big brother does. I might not hear from any of these people for years at a time, but when the need is there, so am I. It's not a bad way to live, to be truthful.
I think, if we all just gave a little bit more of ourselves, the world would be a much more comfortable place to live in. Once you are involved, there isn't time or room in your heart for hate, prejudice or fear of one another. Religions of all stripe have been trying for millenia to pound that into our heads. Is that the definition of spiritual as it has been applied to me?
All I know is, I mean to be here when I'm needed.

Me and my hats.

I wear a lot of hats. I'm a husband, son, brother, friend and neighbour. I'm also, counsellor, legal advisor, financial planner, administrative assistant and part time author.
Sometimes, I never know which hat I'm supposed to be wearing.
For example, last night, my best friend took me out for a cup of coffee. He was getting frustrated with a problem that his wife is having with her employer. It's got her very upset, just the whole situation. My friend wanted a quick piece of advice, just a little of something out of my legal advisor's hat.
It can be a little annoying sometimes, being a jack of all trades and paid employee at none. It's like I have a lot to offer, but nobody is willing to put a price on it. Oh well, at least it isn't going to waste. If you don't use it, you lose it.
Still, it would be nice to have a bit of a heads up when people need me to put on a hat. It could be a little embarassing to put on the chefs hat and need to be the counsellor. Eggs and teen angst don't mix!

Mother-in-law update

My mother-in-law may have a new apartment. She and Sandra's sister went to see it yesterday. It's a beautiful two bedroom place in a security building geared toward seniors. It has a lot of natural light, and the landlord take care of the garbage and recycling, so she won't even have to deal with that.
She sounded very excited about it when she phoned here. She was actually thinking about where she would put things. That's a good sign. Every other time she's seen a place, she's hemmed and hawed about it, and then decided against it for one reason or another.
The big sticking point with her on this place was the stairs. She didn't want anyone to think that she took this place because she didn't want me to visit. (I have trouble with stairs, and avoid them when I can.) I assured her that I could manage a couple of flights once a week for the sake of visiting with her. It's silly of her to put so much thought into my ability to access an apartment. As long as she's okay with the steps, that's all that matters.
It will be nice to see her in a good, safe and clean apartment though. I hate the idea of her staying someplace she doesn't like because the housing authority can't get off their butts and get one of the apartments ready for her. Besides, the housing units aren't nearly as nice as this place. Sandra and I actually saw this one being built.
Mary will have a nice river view from her balcony doors. She'll be able to go to see her friends, and sometimes have one stay overnight, once she gets a spare bed that is.
I've got my fingers crossed. If she passes this one up, I may have to pinch her.

Happy Birthday, Internet

It's hard to believe the internet is only twenty-five years old. Somehow, it seems like it's been around forever. Even before I ever laid hands on a computer, I'd heard about the web. Of course, in those days, it was knowledge in the abstract. Our community didn't get access to the internet unitl the late nineties.
This all hit home yesterday. I had been wanting to get a new avatar (yet another concept that is relatively new) for my facebook site. You just plug in the generalities of what you want, and up come hundreds of thousands of links. I don't think there is a single topic that hasn't been posted somewhere in cyber space. It's like the collective knowledge of the planet is at your fingertips.
The drawback to this is that a lot of younger kids don't feel the need to learn facts anymore. When they are asked to write an essay on a topic, they will go to the internet, get the information and then paste it together into a paper. They don't bother to read the important stuff and draw conclusions from it anymore, to actually get something out of the assignment. What happens on that fateful day when they find themselves in a place without internet access? (Though the odds of that are getting smaller and smaller each day.)
It is comforting to know that everything, good and bad, that mankind has ever created is out there somewhere though. As long as one server and a couple thousand hard drives are out there, the sum of human knowledge is almost impossible to lose. There might be gaps, but it will be mostly intact. One day, somebody will need that one obscure piece of our time to solve a critical problem, and it will be there with a little digging. It's like how the monks saved so much from being lost in the dark ages by keeping all of those books.
The funny thing is that those books, which formed the basis of the rebirth of civilization, can now be found on the internet!
Remember, when you upload anything, it's going into humanity's collective heritage.

Happiness is not a destination

A fellow blogger was discussing happiness. He was at a point in his life where he wasn't sure if he was on the path that he really wanted to be on, or where he really wanted to be. Mostly, he was just a little disillusioned with the travelling he does.
Some of us spend our whole lives searching for what or who will make us happy. Truth be told, we spend so much time in the search, sometimes we forget that it might be right under our noses.
My friend's problem (I've adopted him as a friend, he just hasn't realized that yet.) is that he isn't sure if he would be happier settled in one place than being on the go, looking for that next path of adventure just over the horizon. At some point, all of us ask that question. Whether we are the "homebody" never going more than fifty miles from where we were born, or the world traveller, always looking to the next voyage before the final one.
Happiness can be found wherever we are. That is the only place it can be found. If you are looking for it, just think about where you are, what you are learning about yourself and the place you find yourself in. Many a man has gone nuts thinking that paradise is over the next sand dune. As I told my friend, happiness isn't a place on a map. It is our hopes, dreams and memories. We take it with us, just as a tortoise takes its shell.
Go out and enjoy where you are. Let what you have to do take you where you are needed. When you want to come home, we'll have the table set and a warm fire on the hearth. We all have the same home. Life is just the journey we make to do what needs to be done until we finally make it back full circle.

Writing for fun, but no profit

I have discovered, through my oldest niece, the world of fan fiction. For those of you not familiar with it, it's a forum for people who like a given television show or movie to write their particular story ideas. People write Harry Potter stories, "alternate universe" stories, where things occur in a different way than the original author wrote it.
As you know, I'm a Kim Possible fan. When I read some of the stories that are in there, I just about went ape. Some of these people are really talented writers. A couple of stories really appealed to me, so I reviewed them. They also gave me a launching point for my own story.
I'm not just sure where this thing is going to go. I've started writing a thousand stories, and they all wound up in the recycle bin on the computer. They just seemed too lame. This time, using a cartoon show as a jumping off point, I don't have to create something from scratch. I just have to put the characters into a situation, and let them react normally. There in lies the beauty of fan fiction.
On the other hand, I feel like I have to be true to the characters as they were created. Many authors in fan fiction feel at home taking liberties with the behaviour of the characters, or the basic personality. I think I have to approach it from the point of view as if I were caring and feeding somebody else's pets. I'm responsible for what happens to them when the owner isn't looking.
Maybe there could be a manual for the care and maintenance of another person's intellectual creations. Of course, that would take away the fun "what if" nature of the medium.
Anyway, stay tuned, and I'll let you know how it turns out.