Passions and Distractions

I believe this would be classified as a ‘lifestyle’ blog, though it wasn’t quite my intent at the time of starting. I mean, my first few posts in 2014 were about nothing at all. And I mean nothing. Then 2015 happened. And, well, I’ll let the posts speak for themselves. It wasn’t until mid-2015 when I started to feel like myself again, but that’s also when my posting became irregular and put to the wayside. But I want to start posting again. I want to start showing people that I’m good and will continue to be good. And so, fresh on the heels of last week’s post (which you can read here), I’ve decided to take my own advice and slow down for a bit. What I realized by doing that, and reading previous blog posts, is that I seem to have four (4) passions going on here.

Passion number one (1)

 

A very small selection of my Comic Books

I’m a dork. Through and through. In fact, my first few posts of 2014 highlight this. Although not exclusively (because dork-ish material is mentioned throughout my posts), entries such as:

The Expo Experience
An Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age
Time of Legends, An Age of War
The Superhero Effect
Why Do We Fall?

The Expo Series (Links to the entries can be found at the bottom of the post)

Europe, I Am In You! starts off with mention of Eek Fest

Why Stay?

Expo Ahead (I promised posts from the Expo, but, well, they aren’t coming. Sorry!!)

Passion number two (2)

Yoga Mat and Aikido Gi

Fitness seems to be up there too. Or lack of fitness. I mean, I start with good intentions but they never, ever, seem to amount to much at all. Those can be found in posts along the lines of:

The Martial Art of Peace
The Mats
Operation: Superhero
Orange Is The New Fit
For the Love of the Run
A Mindful Triathlon

Passion number three (3)

Notebook, Ink, Ink Well, and Bamboo Calligraphy Pen

Writing. I’ve alluded to it over and over (and I’m pretty sure I’ve stated it on more than one occasion). Writing is my career goal. I have two diplomas in Children’s Literature (from the wonderful folks at the Institute of Children's Literature) and wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve posted a few stories (links below), but the regular posts on this blog are in no way indicative of my skill as a writer. Nothing here is very polished at all. My writing posts can be found by clicking the links below:

The Page Turns
And She Still Got On That Train

Teddy Bear In The Locker (quite possibly my most polished story to date)

A Musical Interlude (if Teddy Bear In The Locker is the most polished, Gaining Music might be my go-to story… Tough choice…)

Wordsmithing - My Timeless Goal
A Story With a Life of its Own
Friends With Benefits. Writing Benefits.
A Whole New World

Passion number four (4)

A small collection of travel-related books

And finally, what seems to be my most written about topic: Travel. Sure, they may not be my most read blog posts, but they are the ones that I find the most fun to write. And if I’m having fun writing them, there has to be a passion there, right? You can find links to all my travel related posts by clicking on this link here:

The Wandering Jedi

I’ve also mentioned a new and upcoming trip in this post here, but by clicking on The Wandering Jedi, there’s links to all my strictly travel-related posts at the bottom.

Adding it all together

Adding it all together, you get a very disorganized blog. Four passions in one online corner. It’s a tad crowded, don’t you think? Well, that’s soon to be rectified. I’m looking to make a dedicated blog for at least one of those passions of mine. Not saying that it will take that passion away from this blog here, but I’m hoping to make those posts a bit more polished and thorough than what you’ll find here. After all, this is the Distracted Jedi. And distractions are kind of my stock in trade.

Sinceriously,

-Chad

I'm Going On An Adventure!

With Games-Workshop’s decision to kill off Warhammer Fantasy (one of my favourite games bar-none) and my reluctance to pick up the replacement game (Warhammer: Age of Sigmar) until they fix the rules everything, I needed to find a game to completely engross myself in and feed my epic fantasy cravings.

Enter Dungeons and Dragons.

I mentioned in this post back in January that I had never really played Dungeons and Dragons before. I’m sure to many people reading this that it comes as a complete shock and surprise. To practically everyone I know and talk to, they are absolutely stunned. No one can understand it. Really, it came down to schedule. When you work a job that had no real set hours, and shifts were always up in the air, how could you commit? I couldn’t. And so I never really got to experience playing a table-top RPG growing up.

The start for this game was a simple text message with a picture from a friend. Literally: “Pick a Class and Race.” No other explanation, no real follow up. That simple question started the story for me. What really adds to it, I think, is that of the 5 people we have playing the game, 3 of us are beginners. Basically learning everything from the ground up. It’s a great way to start, because it’s always nerve-racking being the only newbie to join ANYTHING.

We’ve had three sessions now and it’s pretty spectacular. Our characters are so very different from one another, it’s interesting seeing how they mesh together to form this group. And what I find fascinating is that the characters seem to take on a personality of their own regardless of how you’ve planned them. Much like writing. For example, I’m playing a Half Elf Bard by the name of Flynt. When I first envisioned him, I was thinking he’d be much like the nameless minstrel in my story Gaining Music. But instead, Flynt has turned out to be a bit of a dick. And quite lazy. He doesn’t like to make a lot of effort on things and he’s a bit distrustful of people and new situations. Odd for a bard that's supposed to be the charismatic entertainer. He also rolls poorly when it counts. I mean really, really poorly. For all his flaws, I’ve kind of grown attached to him and I do hope that he survives for a bit so that I can have some more roleplay opportunities.

And so, instead of packing and cleaning my place for the move, I’ve been focusing and thinking about our adventure in a fantastical realm that’s rife with story opportunities and hidden dangers. I can’t wait to head back there with friends, both old and new.

Sinceriously,

-Chad

A Whole New World

"I can show you the world; Shining, shimmering, splendid." -‘A Whole New World’ from Disney’s Aladdin

Before I can start writing my manuscript I have to have a solid idea on the world that my writing takes place in. And that means I have the exciting, yet daunting, task of creating a fictional world. I’m finding it to be quite more difficult to build a world that I did with coming up with certain characters.

It’s easy enough to come up with names of places and things. In fact, I have my world named with a few prominent cities/towns and landmarks. But it’s harder to realize it. For readers to feel that the world is real - that it matters - it has to be real to me, the writer. It has to be as real in mind as our own world.

Tolkien did brilliantly with developing Middle Earth. He wrote extensively on the history and cultures that pre-dated the events in The Lord of the Rings. And I’m talking thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings. That world was as real to him as our own and I can only hope to emulate that feel and detail.

That means creating ancient cultures and peoples, religions and politics, the how and why of magic, societal hierarchy (or lack thereof) and how it works… There’s much more to the task that coming up with place names and fancy descriptions of settings. To that end, I’ve picked up the D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide and am slowly reading through it taking notes.

For those who know me, and my interests, it may come as a surprise to learn that I’ve never actually really played a tabletop RPG. I’m more into the tabletop war-games myself. But I appreciate the effort and creativity involved in RPGs and would one day love to give it a try. But for now I’m using it as a valuable resource in making my world seem real.

Which details do you look for in stories that make the written world feel real to you? What allows you to escape reality for a while when you pick up a book? Let me know in the comments below! I’d love to know what I can add to my world that would make it just that much more believable.

Sinceriously,

-Chad

Summer - 2015

I’ve kind of been failing as a blogger lately. Unfortunately I haven’t had the energy or motivation to write much as of late. And aside from my attempts to have a bit of a social life, nothing worthy of note has really happened lately. But there are things coming up in the next few months that I am looking forward to!

It all starts today. May 20^th. My last shift with the Government of Canada for the year. It’s a bit of a bittersweet day for me. On one hand it’ll be nice to be able to get a bit more sleep than I have been getting, and a bit more free time to do some trip planning. However, it is also the end of my steady pay cheques for the year and saying good bye to friends until my next contract or I can get on permanently.

Next up is EekFest in St. Albert on May 30^th and 31^st. One of the two guests this year is Caity Lotz from Arrow. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, Arrow is one of my all time favourite shows and any time one of the cast members is at a convention it is a huge selling point for me. I’m looking forward to my photo-op and adding her signature to my growing collection.

Then the time has come to say good bye to family and friends for three weeks. June 2^nd is the departure date for Europe 2015. I can’t describe how much I’m looking forward to it. It is a much needed trip. When I first booked my flights back in February, I was very much running away from life and the cruel curveball that fate threw my way. But now this trip has turned into so much more. It’s something I’m doing for myself, and that is a huge step. You can ask anyone I know and chances are they will say that I very rarely do anything for me. I very much focus on other people. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, but if you focus on others too much, you lose yourself. That’s what happened to me. I lost myself and then when I lost someone I cared about deeply I had nothing to return to. Now I get to learn about me.

When I get back from adventuring in the giant world, I get to hunt for steady work. Wish me luck in this endeavor. It is very much going to be needed.

The last event of the summer, my friend Mandy and I are going to be doing Wanderlust 108 at the end of August. A 5km run, outdoor yoga and meditation. It’s another thing that I’m highly looking forward to. I’ve let my fitness and general wellbeing fall to the way side for far too long. It’s time to put ME first and I’m looking forward to the experience.

That’s the summer plans. Hopefully I’ll be able to fit some camping and fishing in as well. I said way back here that 2015 was going to be my year. Well, it looks like summer is mine to experience.

Sinceriously,

-Chad