Without Winter We Wouldn't Appreciate The Spring

   3)

          Without Winter We Wouldn't Appreciate The Spring

                           (no one enjoys the summer days like my cat)

  Spring equinox is on March 20th which means March is still very much a Lion and weeks away from becoming a lamb. For me no two months are greater turning points than September and March. One marks the slow turn into fall the other the quiet climb out of winter. 

  

  September has always been a transition time for me from my birthday being on Sept 2nd or school starting but in recent years September is often when major changes would occur from new jobs or moving to a different place. It always brought the fall winds of change. Good and bad. 

 Winter often seems to lock us in with cold and snow. So with Spring almost in the air, the feeling that sunshine days are ahead if we can just get through the final snow days. In March, 2010 I moved to Halifax and it felt like a renewal where so many things could be had and the frustration seemed to fade away. It lasted till September when work ran out and I had to spend the Fall & Winter in my home town. (I returned to Halifax in April 2011)

  Some people embrace the winter through skiing, hockey and playing in the snow. I am not one of them. I used to play hockey but not in years and skiing is something I haven't don't since 1999. I am an indoor cat. Although I do see it's cold hard beauty and I do really enjoy the month of December. The holidays are a time where friends and family gather and celebrate before the winter takes hold. 

   As a kid I enjoyed winter a lot playing in the snow was fun and it was supposed to be but that's because everything was fun back then. Even if it was just shovelling the snow around the well.

  Yet as much as I played in the snow I rather have all the snow out of the way to enjoy my summer pool time in the sun. You see the well?

  Winter is a lesson whether you learn it or not. That to get to the light & warmth of summer you have to withstand the dark & cold of winter. 

Songs I associate with Winter:

(because I heard them so much in those winters)

Brick - Ben Folds Five

You Learn - Alanis Morrisette

Name - Goo Goo Dolls

Songs I associate with Spring:

(for random reasons)

Wonderwall - Oasis

Live Forever - Oasis  

Heaven Is - Def Leppard 

THINGS I LEARNED THIS WINTER

90s era music still holds up.

Coffee is a good friend.

There is a limit to how time can be spent playing video games.

When you have too much time, you tend to waste it.

Twitter & Netflix will help you keep your sanity.

Orson Welles was the voice of Robin Masters on Magnum PI

Eric 

(March 1, 2015)

Gaining Stars In The Sky

2)
         

   Well I've finally started to watch David Lynch's "Twin Peaks". A show I only read about about back in the days when it originally ran. The only person I know who has watched this show is Le Presidio. (His wisdom has no end). "Twin Peaks" is one of those cult shows that comes and goes and in someways is only remembered by it's core fans. Seeing the future mayor of Portland (Portlandia) and a post Paul Atreides (Dune) as an eccentric FBI investigator makes for interesting viewing. The show is based in 1990 but it doesn't feel too retro, the show is too weird for that.  

  Strange thing is the show's main plot point is a murder that happened on Feb 24th 1990...I started randomly watching the show on Feb 27the 2015?  Do I have an alibi for the past 25 years? Where have I been?

  I did make my self laugh at one point trying to figure where I had seen one of the actresses (Laura Flynn Boyle) on the show, then it hit me she had played Wayne Campbell's girlfriend in Wayne's World she bought him the gun rack! One mystery solved!

               (The Twin Peaks / Wayne's World connection) 

 So why do good shows get cancelled? Ratings and cost must strike a balance for shows like "Twin Peaks" , "V", "Max Headroom" or even "Battlestar Galactica" to last beyond it's first seasons. The age of "Netflix" now brings back from the TV grave shows to binge watch like "Twin Peaks", "Firefly" and "Farscape".  Just have to buy the ticket and take the ride. 

 Speaking of Sci Fi shows that were cancelled early in its run "Star Trek" star Leonard Nimoy passed away, he had been of ill health recently. So now gone are DeForest Kelly, Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan the Enterprise is losing it's stars, looks like William Shatner or George Takei will out live them all. Nimoy was a Sci Fi and cultural icon who was still active in his last years (Ex: Star Trek 2008 and ComicCons). He may have passed into the Hollywood stars but his work will shine forever.

"I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humour, his talent, and his capacity to love."  - William Shatner- 


  Todays trending topics were the colour of a dress, a Russian opposition politician got shot and killed and we lost Spock.... to end this post...I'll quote Nimoy himself.

"A life is like a garden, Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory." - Leonard Nimoy -

Eric,  (Feb 27th 2015)

Hang on to the Nostalgia

#1 



"Becoming older than ten was the biggest mistake of my life."

    My first topic to try to handle is "nostalgia"...what is it?...

   My theory is that nostalgia is something you reach for but just can't hold. A little pocket of happiness you'd like to keep forever but it fades as quickly as it came. People will tell me to "live in the now" but that's very difficult considering "now" is rarely as pleasant as yesterday seemed.... Music was better, movies were funner, TV shows were... (ok, maybe TV is better now) 

  One thing I have noticed...is that I often find myself at odds with my situation when I find a good era in my life I'm sad that the moments won't last and when I'm in the low points I'm sad that the good times seems so far away. Why is balance is so hard to find?  It's why 90s music cheers me up and depresses me at the same time.... It's longing for a bygone era that gets further away with every song... Sure I can put in a CD of REM "Monster" or Oasis "Whats The Story Morning Glory" close my eyes and go back to 1995 for a little while...but I can't buy a ticket to go see those bands live in their time anymore....those moments have passed, the albums of the 90s are only echoes...  

  There is a flicker of hope though that holding on to those memories are what define you....
    Well the good thing about writing your own history or wikipedia page is that you can purposely forget places, people or events.....so maybe that's the key.... Even though I rarely enjoy the present...maybe I will enjoy today in 10,15 years from now.... Probably not though...although I do miss 2005 for what it's worth.....

 One things about finally getting to that age you always wanted to be is it's cost. You lose family members, friends and even pets that defined your world growing up....so finding an old toy or cassette can bring you back to those days where everything seemed perfect....when everything was Saturday Morning...  

  I can remember being a kid on my parents front steps watching the summer float by....watching the ocean blue reflect the summer skies..... 80s music playing in the back ground while I played with my 80s toys...having 80s adventures....    The 10 year old couldn't wait to grow up and be in the fun adventures he was having with his toys.....Well when he finally grew up he found out the 80s & 90s were gone... But the ideas and dreams flashing through his young mind are not...they are still waiting for the day when they can come true....

  
  So I have to make sure I don't let him down...every time I do a silly sketch or try creating something fun.... I have to remember to do it for that little kid who couldn't wait to get his chance at playing as a grown up......

        ....as much as I'd rather just go back to sitting on those front steps again......

Eric (Feb 25/2014)