Summer ends on September 21st

This morning as I woke, at 5:30, I checked the weather app on my phone.  It read 4 degrees Celsius.  Which means overnight it could very well have hit zero.  This is technically still summer.

But the darkness and the impending cooler weather says otherwise.

Just two days ago, the temperature got up to 26 Celsius.  It was hot.  Not a wickedly stifling hot, but a nice hot that you can relax in outside in the shade.  The next day began with a temperature of 7.  I think it only reached 10.  Summer is not over yet.  It doesn’t technically arrive until the 21st of September.  I’m not backing down on that one at all.

The days are growing increasingly shorter as well.  This morning was a little bit harder to get out of bed.  I managed, even with it being dark outside at 5:30.  A month ago, while I was enjoying my two weeks off, the sun was shining at 5:30.  Although, I’d merely get up to use the bathroom, then immediately crawl back into bed.  That’s what one does when on holidays.  Now, back at work, the weather has taken a turn from the pleasurable warmth to something a tad more cooler.

On the different social media networks there’s already discussions of what to do for Halloween.  Which is over a month away.  I shouldn’t be too surprised, after all Christmas is celebrated with such vim and vigor in the preceding weeks before the December 25th arrival.

But I’m standing firm.  Until the 21st arrives, it’s still summer.  I don’t care if I have to wear a sweater, it’s still summer.

Dammit.

 

Autumn Trees

Yesterday, I took several photos from my balcony of the autumn trees.  The colours are coming out nicely, and it’s great to have so many trees around my place.  So here’s a few photos to help brighten up a Monday morning.

 

As one gets older

As you get older, you start to realize that the time goes by fast.  A day doesn’t take any time at all, and an hour may as well be a minute sometimes.

When I was younger, I remember times that I’d wish for the days to go by because I was going to go to Saskatoon to visit my grandparents for a week, and go to the Saskatoon Exhibition.  The time wasn’t going fast enough for my tastes.  Now, I try very hard to live each minute to the fullest.  No matter what I’m doing.  I could be reading or watching television or going for a walk or working at my desk.  Each minute that passes I take in stride, and try to make it as full filling for me.  Doing things for others is incredible work, but from time to time you have to be selfish.  And that means taking time for yourself.

Now, as I’m older, time flies by all too quickly.  One season into the next.  Summer, my favourite of the seasons (fall holds a close second) feels like it’s gone in a matter of minutes.  There are things in ones life that comes up that you look forward to, but there’s also today and the next day that we have to live through before getting to that special event.  Some days are enjoyable, some days are a drag, but each day should be approached with optimism.  Winter, on the other hand, doesn’t go by fast enough.

We can plan for each day that comes around, or we can take what comes and enjoy the small things.  When we try to slow things down so that each day rolls by as slowly as it did in our youth, then maybe we’ll grow more appreciative of not only the day itself, but of everything around us.  It’s a very “stop and smell the roses” kind of attitude, but it makes a lot of sense.  Don’t panic, things will always work out, especially if you can plug away and gain some progress.  Be determined, and be positive.  And if there are certain things you need help with, never be afraid to ask.

When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to be older.  Now that I am, I often long for simpler times when I was 12.  However, there would be a number of things I would not have experienced.

I know this has sounded like a rather cliche post, all positive vibes and such.  I guess I needed a little bit of that right now considering I’ll be moving to Humboldt in the next couple of weeks.  Which does lead into the next thing I’ve learned.  Each move is an opportunity.  Each new chapter is a chance to learn something new.  You just have to approach it with a good sense of self and a lot of determination.  Always be open and willing to change.  A lack of change can end up forcing one to end up in the same rut, which is the opposite of progress and even the antithesis of happiness.

 

Autumn sights

It rained yesterday, and it didn’t feel like a mid October rain, it felt more like a late spring or early summer rain.  Especially the smell after it finished.  But something else I noticed was how clean it seemed.  When I got home, I had to snap a few pictures.  Here’s what I saw in the late afternoon yesterday.

 

Monday Evening Ramblings

Before I actually get around to posting up Rocket Fox Chapter Nine (I will, I promise) I’ve had a few things on my mind lately.

Video games and cultural representation

I often hear the cry of how people can’t relate if there’s a person of a different colour on screen than the same old white dude (and yes, it’s almost always a white dude) in a video game.  Often, if there is a black/brown/red/yellow person on the screen, they aren’t made as a playable character, and they often have huge stereotypes.  Insulting stereotypes as a matter of fact.  I don’t include MMOs into this, because in an MMO, you have a costume creator, and you can make your character look however you want.  I’m talking single player games, for the most part.  But I guess there is that cultural aspect in video games that we don’t get to see different cultures and explore those realms.  For instance, any video game I pick up is most likely to take place in the United States.  As a Canadian, there is a very rare number of games that have a Canadian city that I know of off hand.  Deus Ex Human Revolution does have a futuristic version of Montreal in it, and Champions Online does have a Canadian zone, but that zone happens to be “The Great White North” (in it’s own a stereotype) and even the “native tribes” have been replaced with Sasquatches.  And the lone “Native American” in the Champions Online Canadian Zone happens to have a real white name.  It goes further than that, mind you, to other cultures.  For instance, we see a lot of representation from Asia, but bottom line those nations and culture include only China and Japan.  Maybe Korea.  There’s quite a few other nations in Asia and include Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, India and to an extent Pakistan.  Go further west, and you find lots of games represented in Europe, from fantasy right up to a plethora of World War II games.  But how many are in Africa that doesn’t star a white archaeologist from the United States or a white archaeologist adventurer from England?  Not many.  By my count, one.  Guild Wars: Nightfall was the only game that I know of that created an African style setting in their own world.  Even the NPCs were all people of colour.  I’d really like to see more of that, but sadly, I’m in the minority on that mark.  Maybe that’ll happen more in the future where we get to see video games taking place in a setting with the main hero/heroine being a person from that setting not just a white guy there to save the day.

Na Na Na Na Na Na – COMICS!

There’s been a lot of talk lately (some good, some bad) about the actions and reactions of some of the writers of DC Comics titles.  One of whom was Scott Lobdell.  I’m not gonna repeat it here, but he said a few rather unflattering things, especially about Native Americans, relating to the back story of Roy Harper/Speedy who is one of the characters in the book Red Hood and the Outlaws.  Now, I read RHatO when it first came out, and I found it to be a complete pile of trash.  The book didn’t appeal to me, the characters were all one dimensional, Jason Todd’s a douchebag, Starfire has none of the appeal from the old Teen Titans (sort of like they wiped her backstory and replaced it with something that was incredibly misogynistic) and Roy Harper is a dick.  Red Hood and the Outlaws is a complete waste of time, but it seems to sell and sell well because the lowest common denominator in readership keeps picking it up.  That book, along with Hawkman, Green Arrow and a couple of other titles were reasons why I was very close to just giving DC Comics a big “fuck you” and move on.  However, I realized that a personal boycott of DC would be detrimental to other, better books.  Don’t get me wrong, me on my own wouldn’t crush DC and make them see the error of their ways, but if there were enough then books like Batwoman, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Animal Man and Demon Knights would all suffer as well.  Those books are good books.  So my suggestion, keep buying those books.  They have really good stories (except for Wonder Woman supposedly now dating Superman -giving you the side eye, DC) with writers who really are good at their craft.  The others, not so much.  And don’t just wait for collected editions in trade paper back.  Buy the single issues, give them to friends and then buy the collections.  I did that recently with my Mike Grell and Chuck Dixon Green Arrow books as well as the Kevin Smith run.  Same with Spider-Girl from the M2 line and Vampi.  All those books are now being enjoyed by someone else, and I have a nifty trade sitting on my bookshelf.  Essentially, what I’m trying to say is boycotts don’t always work, because the good stuff has a tendency to suffer more than the crap.  Buy the stuff you like, avoid the stuff you hate, and pass on the stuff you like to others.

The leaves, they are a fallin’

With apologies to Bob Dylan for ripping off his song Times They Are A-Changin’, we are officially now into autumn.  I, however, have no intention of letting go of summer without a fight.  Autumn is wonderful and colourful, but it’s also a stark reminder of just what’s coming; winter.  Around here, winter is a harsh mistress.  Only the hardiest of people can survive this province with summers that scorch and winters that freeze.  Granted, autumn does mean that Halloween is not far away, and I shall hold onto that hope with bated breath.  I enjoy Halloween, because it’s filled with mystery and stories.  I shouldn’t complain too much about autumn, it is after all, when my writing bug gets bigger and bigger and happens to be the most productive for me, right on up into winter.  Which hopefully means that the end of book one of Rocket Fox and most of book two of Rocket Fox should be completed this autumn and winter.  Which may mean that sometime in the next year, both book one and book two will be ready for publication.

That’s it, that’s all, ’til next time…

…keep ’em flyin’!

 

Autumn is here… sort of

I went and took some photos today (which I’ll have posted to my flickr and my tumblr).  Today was the perfect day for it as well, so I thought I might get a few snaps of the trees turning colour.  But like the title says, it sort of feels like autumn.  Not really.  The weather is quite warm, with temperatures sitting in the mid teens (that’s Celsius for those unaware).  And while I saw a lot of turning leaves, I also saw a lot of green still out there.  The past few years, things have gotten quite miserable when October hits.  Here’s hoping that we get some decent weather.  For now, here’s a sampling of what I took today, if you’d like to check more, please visit my flickr account.

 

It’s raining, it’s pouring

Over the past week, that’s been the case in this area of the world.  Constant rain, not overly heavy, but just enough to make things wet and miserable.  The sun is out today, which makes for a more pleasant situation.

The unusual weather continues around this neck of the woods.  The past few days there’s been rain and slightly cooler temperatures, but nothing completely off.  A look at the national map from Environment Canada shows that across the country the temperatures vary from east to west, with Ontario and Quebec getting up to the mid teens and low twenties (that’s in Celsius).  But it’s one temperature in particular that worries me, as might be seen on this map.

While Whitehorse, Yukon is sitting at 1 Degree Celsius, it happens to be Prince George that is the one spot to have the negative temperature, sitting at -1Degree Celsius.  Fortunately, a look at the local forecast here in Outlook shows that we are looking for some nice weather over the next three days, which is good for the Thanksgiving Day long weekend.  I must admit, however, by Friday that temperature of 10 Celsius for a high and 0 Celsius for an overnight low does give me pause.  I’m still hoping that this warmer weather does continue on into November, however.

Stands to reason, though, that we’d go from temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius to ones closer to 10 to 15 Celsius.  This is the usual cycle here in Saskatchewan.

 

It’s October!

It's a cat! On a pumpkin! Dressed like a pilgrim! ...or a witch, your pick.

It’s October which means two things.

Well technically more than two things, but still, two things in the immediate future.  And one of those things does not involve cats.  Not exactly anyway.

October, for Canadians, is the month when Thanksgiving Day rolls around.  It’s Canada’s time to be thankful.

It’s also Halloween!  That time of year when spooky stories, ghosts and goblins, and all manner of frighteningly freaky things happen.  Plus candy, from what I remember.

Image via Wikipedia

Two years ago, I, along with Zodi, did 31 days of Ghosts.  Seeing how day one of October has passed, that won’t be happening this year.  But, I will share a ghost story from time to time.  Also, as I’ve posted already, there is a story in the works with a completely new world.  I’m working on the world building, and writing it up at the same time.  Eventually, I’ll also do a few character designs.  It’ll be different because it’s science fiction, and all the characters are anthropomorphous creations.  Actually, they are aliens on different planets whereby if foxes, wolves, jackals, lions, panthers, tigers and even dinosaurs had evolved and become the primary dominant species like humans on Earth.  Each of those species has their own name, which is derived from the genus and species of the creature, such as Vulpine or Lupine.  It will be serialized and there will be a pdf download of each part of the serial.  Below you can find handy links which lead to the world building so far.

Alright, so that was technically three things to tell you about.  Thanksgiving, Halloween, and writing.  With no mention of cats save for the picture at the top of the blog post.

Related articles

• World building: Slang terms of the Lupine System (taholtorf.wordpress.com)
• World Building: The Barrow’s Revenge (taholtorf.wordpress.com)

 

Autumn turns

I realized that a very important event passed without my notice.  Autumn came and went last week.  I call it important, because the moving of the seasons is just like turning the pages of a book.  Except, last week’s change of season really didn’t feel like a change of season at all.  The air was much more like summer than autumn, and the trees themselves are still green, the grass is lush.  The Farmer’s Almanac is actually predicting we could be in for an Indian Summer as well.  So, to usher in this passing day, some random things about autumn.

First, some poetry for thought:

Off to School
Fall comes again – a little lad
Goes trotting off to school,
To learn to count, and read and write,
And keep the Golden Rule.

Oh, teachers, in your hands is placed
A wondrous trust devine
Please help and guide this fresh young mind,
To climb the heights sublime.

A nation’s leader he may be –
A statesman, true and bold.
To fight the evil, vaunt the good,
He needs a heart of gold

Sometimes the tiny little tikes
Have talents unsurpassed;
To bring them out, and watch them grow
Is now your sacred task.

Author Unknown
Reprinted from Games and Readings by Marie Wankel

On this morning, it did start to feel a bit more like fall.  Though, the air was still warm, it had the look of fall.

Pink sunrise. Fifteen minutes after this was taken, the colour of the sky turned grey.

Leaves are turning colour. It looks like fall, but the air still feels warm like summer.

Orange, yellow and red leaves cover the ground. The grass is still green.

 

The last vestiges of light

I awoke this morning at 5:00 am like I usually do, but this morning I awoke with a sudden realization.  The darkness.

It was cloudy out, so that contributed to it.  It had been raining when I got home and had been cloudy most of the day.  Most mornings when it’s cloudy it’s at least a little light out as well.  This, however, is September 1st, with only three weeks of summer left.  We’ve had a pretty good run, with some very warm days.

The first indication that summer is slowly creeping away is the darkness.  Summer always means, for me at least, very early sunrises.  It makes it so much easier to crawl out of bed.  Not so much during the darkness of winter.

There is one solace, though.  Autumn has some of the most beautiful colours around here.  There’s also a plus that this fall is predicted to be a warm one.  Which we haven’t had in a while.  The past few years it’s always gone from sort of warm during summer to crisp and cool into fall, then straight into extreme cold.

Maybe this year we can get gradual cold with it never hitting extremity freezing temperatures.

I’ll miss the sun in the morning, but I’m safe in the knowledge that it won’t be gone forever.  Just another few more months and we’ll be back into spring.  There’s a lot to do between now and then after all.