Check-In: 2015-12-29 (Tuesday)

Body: Healthy (walking, lots of sleep)
Mind: Fascinated (documentaries)
Spirit: Relaxed (lots of family, helped with kittens)

Post-Christmas is going pretty well. It looks like there will be relatively little time in-between the festivities of Christmas and the festivities of New Year's and the weekend it occurs on. As a result, I'm just using these couple of days to rest and enjoy life. I'll start acting like a proper adult in 2016. :)

My attention is currently dominated by the WWII documentary World at War. It's a lot different watching war documentaries now than when I was younger. Young men tend to be fascinated by the trappings of war: how cool the flying fortresses are, how valiant the troops were. While that stuff is all still present for me, I think I have more context and imagination for the harsher realities, like the families that suffered, and the troops too. And how senseless it all was, thanks to a few blustering bullies (Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin). Stalin ended up on the allied side, sure, but he was cut from the same cloth.

I am sleeping a ton right now, which is very pleasant. I'm having a lot of bizarre dreams, including a couple of lucid dreams here and there, which I enjoy. I don't manage to stay lucid for very long, but the brief moments that I can, I quite enjoy the sensation, as it's like having your own magical theme park to explore.

I'll have to hit the AI pretty hard in the new year, but that should be fun.

Check-In: 2015-12-26 (Boxing Day)

Merry Christmas!

Body: Good (Feeling okay despite Christmas junk food, good sleeps)
Mind: Relaxed (rest, puzzle)
Spirit: Good (visiting family)

So that was a long break between check-ins, but it has been busy, what with the Christmas season, guests visiting on the weekend, parents visiting during the week, and popping by my friends' place to take care of some cats.

99% of what I've been doing all week has been restful, though I kept my brain active through conversation and working on a 1000 piece puzzle, which we managed to get done in four days. The puzzle has now been returned to its state of entropy so that it can be transported and inflicted on my aunt and uncle. :)

Actually, it was a fun holiday activity. We also did a bit of walking around downtown and visited a giant ice palace being built in Hawrelak Park. Mom and Dad are now on their way home.

The haul this year includes a huge amount of chocolate and candy, robot-foot-slippers, coasters that glow when you put cups on them, a coaster that turns into a puzzle, a book, a pony-based Christmas tree decoration, and various other things.

Check-In: 2015-12-17 (Thursday)

Been a while! I've had a crazy weekend and week.

Body: Good (yoga, walking, rest, good sleep)
Mind: Tired But Active (meditation, game meeting, TED talks)
Spirit: Excellent (being helpful, meditation, relaxation)

The past several days I first of all had a mediation seminar that involved lots of early mornings, and then I've been helping a friend out in small ways since he's been going through some surgery. The actual work involved has been extremely minor--sending a few emails, shovelling his walk for 5 min, that kind of thing--but even these small things have been a pleasant boost in the spirit category. We are social beings, and we have evolved in such a way that our brains reward us when we help each other.

I'm still catching up on sleep, but I am having a lot of success in doing so wisely. I've been getting tired early and I've been taking advantage of it. My sleeps have been both long and at relatively good times of night. I still feel like I'm paying off some sleep debt, but at least I am making my payments. This may also give me a good stable sleep pattern to continue with afterwards, which can be very helpful for getting things done.

My ribs are feeling better and better. I did a little yoga over the meditation weekend and my ribs didn't mind. In fact, they seemed to get better for having had a little exercise. So that's encouraging.

We had a really good game meeting on Tuesday night. Andrew has accomplished some really interesting feats in programming and Gerry and Andrew have done some neat things with the art. In the near future I'll need to step up and do some design again. Of course, priority is still the AI course which has been on hold for the last several days, though I'm going to take a stab at getting some done this afternoon.

I'll try to get back into the regular blogging habit again. I have no shortage of things to write about.

Check-In: 2015-12-09 (Wednesday)

Body: Healthy - walking, diet, rest
Mind: Smart - reading news, writing, French, Toastmasters, AI
Spirit: Spirited - concrete goal, French, Toastmasters, family, friends, end of Education Reports, music

Yes, I am returning to the Body / Mind / Spirit metric. I've decided to re-invigorate my check-ins by bringing imagination back into them.

I have also decided to avoid judgemental self-reviews. So I am switching away from a pass/fail/improve system to one that lists: a) how I am feeling, followed by b) what positive actions I have taken. I figure that feeling sick, for instance, isn't necessarily a failure--it may just mean I have a cold. But if I am taking positive action, then that's okay.

Similarly, I'm ending the Education Reports. Last week I became very demotivated, and I think the Education Report was contributing to that. It first of all made the pass/fail judgement much more concrete. It also had me focusing more on time than results.

After deciding to abandon the Education Report, my motivation returned, and I have since been doing better at educating myself again, because I now am educating myself for the intrinsic joy of learning and not for the extrinsic motivations of operant conditioning.

Also, my mom proposed a goal to me: finish the AI course before going to Victoria for the winter, so I could be free to pursue other interests. This is a triply-effective goal that I have cheerfully embraced. First, it sets a concrete, tangible target. Secondly, it places the AI course as a single focus, so I no longer feel like I'm juggling dozens of self-imposed expectations on myself. Thirdly, it provides an intrinsic reward: being free to move on to my next whimsical curiosity.

Since adopting this goal, I have finished the challenging chapter on probability in AI, and had fun doing so.

One last piece of positive news: I met with a doctor again to go over my bloodwork results and he agrees that I most likely pulled or irritated something in my ribcage while exercising. The symptoms are almost all gone now, so I will soon begin cautiously exercising my core again. I've already done a little but am being extra cautious.

Learning Goals: Week 49

Learning Goals: Week 49

According to the WEEKNUM function in Google Sheets, this week is #49 of 2015. I use this function in order to filter my target and tracking information for my charts.

In any case, I haven't yet managed to hit an unqualified success in a week, though there are some successes to be found.

For starters, I finally opened up the AI course again. I stopped at 1.5 hrs rather than pushing through to 2 hrs, but it was a really good stopping point. We'd just covered what happens in a Bayes Network when a single outcome has two probabilistic causes and were about to dive into a new topic, so it was a good place to pause.

One thing that is becoming apparent to me over the course of this experiment in self-education is that I do much better with classroom situations. I'm consistently hitting a good number of hours--including homework--in French class. For Toastmasters I'm not doing a ton outside of the meetings, but I am hitting the meetings consistently.

So I may have to face the reality that I'm not quite yet ready for self-management, and may need to arrange more situations where I have classes and/or managers and/or other social obligations if I want to really succeed.

Then again, I may need to more deeply consider what I perceive success to be. If the yoga instruction goes well in the spring and is able to provide me with a stable, modest income, I may be able to relax a bit and just study what suits my fancy rather that getting all official and guilt-ridden about it, as I have a tendency of doing.

In any case, here's the next set of goals. Total hours are again 16. I've boosted French to 5 hours because the amount of homework we've been getting has been going up. I may try to focus some of my Writing hours onto doing my next Toastmasters speech, because I should get on that. I really enjoyed the last one, and I have no shortage of topics to speak about.

Check-In: 2015-12-01 (Tuesday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, rest)
Sleep: PASS (stable hours, at least)
Mindfulness: PASS (some meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

I have to get the frequency of my check-ins back up again. I admit I've still been somewhat addicted to Fallout and it continues to impact my productivity. Though at least I'm beginning to manage my physical and mental health a little better, which typically precedes a period of increased productivity.

The main thing to continue tackling is sleep. I'm now reasonably stable in my sleep times, but I think I would be happier and better rested if I could get to sleep and wake up a couple hours earlier. So I'll see what I can do on that front.

I'm still resting my ribcage and it continues to feel better. The symptoms are now really mild and most of the time I don't even notice. I may soon start doing some gentle core workouts again, though I want to go cautiously because I'd hate to set myself back. This in turn will further help with my sleep issues and general esprit de corps.

Not that the spirit of my body has been suffering, exactly. I'm generally pretty cheerful. But I am feeling unproductive and that is causing me some anxiety. The situation isn't terrible--I did have some successes last week, such as doing some AI course work--but I very easily enter the following negative cycle:

1. For whatever reason, I start to feel overwhelmed.
2. This causes me to become demotivated, so I do less.
3. Doing less makes me feel more overwhelmed.
4. Loop.

The medium through which this loop churns is made up of feelings of guilt. I rapidly attack myself for being lazy, which then feeds the whole cycle.

In more positive news, it's looking more likely that I'm going to be making an attempt at teaching some yoga classes this spring. My kung fu club is getting a new space near the University here, and the new space should be a pleasant place to run some yoga classes. This gives me a little more to focus on, and a single, clear, actionable plan on how I'm going to start earning money again.

So that's something positive to look forward to.

Check-In: 2015-11-26

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, occasional misc exercise, rest)
Sleep: IMPROVE(D) (stabilizing...)
Mindfulness: PASS (meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, visiting with family, French, Toastmasters)

The check-ins are slowly creeping back into the pass/win category in the post-Fallout 4 apocalypse. My sleep is still oscillating between good healthy rest and staying up too late, but the morning routine is stabilizing, and slowly I should be able to get those bedtimes under control as a result. Still more work to go, though.

Diet has been solid for a while now. I've been eating quite a lot of vegetables, and thanks to mandarin orange season, eating fruit is really easy. They're nature's version of candy: pre-packaged, sugary, and convenient to snack on.

I'm still resting my core and continue to feel better as a result. I still have some discomfort in my ribcage now and again, but the overall symptoms are much reduced. So I'm going to keep this strategy going for a while before starting to re-introduce those core exercises. In the meantime, I'm still walking and doing the occasional random standing exercise, like kicks and leg stretches.

I've managed to incorporate a little bit of meditation recently as well, pulling my Mindfulness score up into a passing grade--and more importantly, it seems to help stabilize my emotions. I've noticed that meditation has been tricky since my thoughts are so turbulent, but that's pretty normal. I find when I meditate more regularly, the turbulence quiets down and I'm able to get deeper into the meditation. But that calming effect is the first stage.

I saw my family yesterday for lunch. They had a car appointment near the city so we met in Legal and then ate at a small diner in Morinville. Add to that the friends I visited with over the weekend and the socialization from French class and Toastmasters and it's a solid win in the socialization category.

Learning Goals

Learning Goals 2015-11-23

Another mixed result on the study goals this past week, though this is actually pretty impressive for the week after the Fallout 4 study-pocalypse. I did surprisingly well on the Writing and Game goals, and French and Toastmasters are easy wins since I only need to do some basic prep and show up.

Yoga was really low because I'm resting my xiphoid process (it still seems to be feeling better as a result). I do need to get some meditation done though, and I again found it difficult to fire up the AI course.

For the coming week, I'll take another stab at it. I'm lowing Yoga and putting it into Writing and Game in order to distribute the load a little better, at least until my ribs are feeling better.

The new chart is below. Overall goal target is still modest at 16 hours, but I'm hoping I'll get this project more on-track again this week and then I'll be able to start upping the hours again.

Check-In: 2015-11-21 (Saturday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, rest)
Sleep: IMPROVE(D) (stabilizing...)
Mindfulness: IMPROVE(D) (some meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, toastmasters, game team)

It's still steady-as-she-goes on the game addiction front. While my sleep and mindfulness still need more improvement, there has been progress, and the fact that the other categories are really solid helps.

I'm taking it a little easy lately on exercise because of the possibility of irritation of the xiphoid process, and it seems to be helping. Symptoms are down the last day or two, so that's promising. It's important to exercise, but also important to heal when necessary.

This weekend I'll be taking care of Amber and Jason's cats for a couple of meals, so that'll be good for the soul too--even though I still have a Zug scratch from a few days ago that itches a little.

Learning Targets

Well, it's Thursday and I have finally set out my educational plan for the week. Actually, I set up the targets on Tuesday and didn't get around to publishing them until now. On the plus side, I'm doing okay with them. The goals are modest but some of them are well under way--as of tonight I'll be a little over on my French target, and tomorrow evening I should be able to get the Game category in the bag too.

That just leaves AI, which is very doable, and Yoga, which may be my shortfall this week. I've been taking it easy a little bit, especially while still looking into the odd sensations in my innards. I'll be going into the medicentre for a follow-up on my more recent blood test to make sure all my enzymes are still looking reasonably stable.

I'm also going to be asking my doctor about the xiphoid process, which is cartilage at the base of the sternum. When I put my symptoms into Google, I found other people with very similar symptoms who had irritation of the xiphoid process. It would be good if that's what it is, because it's a relatively benign issue.

In any case, I need some mindfulness, so I'll be trying to score some meditation in the Yoga category over the next few days.

I'll send out my end-of-week report on Sunday so I can take the weekend for a little catch-up if need be.

Busy Day

Just a quick note: thanks to a water outage in my building, I decided to be away from the computer for the entire day. So I've had a busy time of Toastmasters, writing, and then more Toastmasters.

I'll put my education plan together for tomorrow, then report on it Saturday or Sunday. I might yet be able to get some hours invested, though it will have to be a modest plan for this week.

Check-In: 2015-11-17 (Tuesday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, moderate/low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, miscellaneous other exercise)
Sleep: IMPROVE (some improvement last night)
Mindfulness: IMPROVE
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting friends, corresponding with family, helping move kung fu)

In Fallout 4, there are various drugs (usually called "chems") that you can take for short-term bonuses, like being able to do more damage, resist damage, or be more charismatic. But every time you take a chem, there's a chance you'll get addicted and suffer side-effects whenever not using the chem.

Well, last week I shot myself up with a whole lot of Fallout 4, and I am definitely addicted. That addiction isn't too terrible right now, but will start to generate negative consequences if not managed. You can already see the dials sliding with two improve ratings.

Luckily, I have a lot of experience now with recovering from these kinds of addictions. Step one is to get the sleep and mindfulness under control. It's a lot easier to be motivated to deal with the world when you are healthy, and that makes it easier to work on useful tasks rather than just chasing the wasteland dragon all day (or giant mutant whale, as the case may be).

The good news is that my diet and socializing have been pretty good, actually, so my mood is fairly stable. Also, I was able to make some improvement even last night for getting my sleep hours back to a useful period of time.

I'm basically one sleep and one meditation away from being healthy again, and that'll help me get things back on track.

To that end, I'm going to work on pushing out the education targets tomorrow. They'll have to be quite modest, but that's okay. Modest victory is still victory, and nothing succeeds like success.

Status Update: Irradiated Kittens

I've been stumbling around in shock for the last few days, the image of the mushroom cloud seared into my mind. And everywhere I go, I see the devastation of the Great War, and the struggle for life to continue in its wake.

I found this cat outside of a shack that had some scavengers squatting in it. I'd found an actual working camera in a ruined subway station, so I decided to dust off the lens and get a quick photo. A reminder of a time before the War.

A couple of minutes later, he pounced on a bug the size of grape, not counting wings and legs. It was a mosquito. Many insects got a lot bigger since the bombs dropped. I don't understand the science, but I know that some of the new bugs are now so big that they would be able to eat the cat--or his owners.

Yes, I've been playing Fallout 4 a lot since it came out on Tuesday.

I had very high expectations and even higher hopes. They have all been exceeded. Fallout 4 borrows the best ideas from every RPG I've played in recent years. Let's walk through them in chronological order:

Splash Screen: The splash screen is beautiful. The camera pans slowly across the biggest symbols of the Fallout franchise: power armour, bobbleheads, workbenches. The tone is beautifully sad, with a touch of hope. I actually just watched it for a minute or two before hitting start, soaking up the tone.

Intro Story: The game transitions smoothly into a cinematic introduction to the setting, wonderfully sentimental for those familiar with the franchise while rapidly on-boarding anyone new. You then get some time to immerse yourself into life in this world. I will avoid story spoilers, but suffice it to say that the content isn't really anything new--one element is arguably hackneyed--but the execution is excellent. The fact you get to play through this introduction is a big part of it. The other part is that they keep the dialogue purposeful, introducing you to critical elements, setting the tone of peril and fear without turning the sequence into a dialogue-heavy slog.

Character Creation: The interface is very innovative, and I love the fact that they adopted so many good ideas from the Saints Row franchise. The "happy family" atmosphere that they added to the character creation gets a little over-the-top and cloying at points. On the other hand, they added atmosphere to the character creator. That alone is ground-breaking. Not a huge thing, but a new and valuable thing.

Entering the Wastes: Maybe an hour into the game, you finally emerge from the Vault you took shelter in to view the post-apocalyptic wasteland. I found my first few hours in the post-nuclear wasteland to be a little overwhelming and confusing. I have mixed opinions on this. On the one hand, this is something game designers should typically try to avoid. On the other hand, it mirrors your character's sense of being overwhelmed and confused. Actually, I think the thing I missed in the later conversations was a that the emotional impact of the starting sequence on my character seemed to fade quite a lot. But then again, I decided to help a small settlement rather than pursue the main plot at first, and those side plots can't have dialogue differences based on whether or not you *just* entered the wasteland or if you've been wandering it for months. I later encountered the main plotline and it felt really engaging again. Overall, Bethesda's writing gets better every game, and this is no exception.

Crafting: Possibly the biggest, most effective gameplay improvement in a Bethesda game. They like to scatter "junk" around the world, like coffee mugs and wrenches, just to create the sense that the world is real. But it was always just props. Sometimes they'd throw a collection quest at you (e.g. bring me 100 screwdrivers and I'll give you a screwdriver coat or something like that). But in Fallout 4, everything is now made of raw materials, and those raw materials are needed for crafting weapons, armour, and even entire communities! It now really feels like you're scavenging for parts in order to survive a hostile wasteland. So good!

Communities: Speaking of which, you are no longer just a lone adventurer, killing monsters and taking treasure. You can actually build up towns, providing them with farms, water supplies, electric generators, and defences. You can build houses and walls and place them how you like. It's incredibly powerful. I'm amazed they managed to provide this kind of functionality, as this is a big technological challenge for games. Usually customizability comes at a cost, like simplified worlds (e.g. Minecraft). I suppose there is one cost: my computer only runs on medium graphics settings, and it sometimes chugs to keep up--especially at dawn and dusk when the lighting effects are changing rapidly.

Progression: For non-gamers, progression is the sense that you start weak and get stronger over time. This is the experience points you earn and the new skills you unlock. So far, I've spent a significant amount of time studying the charts to figure out exactly what skills I need for the type of character I want to play. I may have made some mistakes, but they're mistakes that I can live with. For example, I am now not sure if the "Science" skill was a good choice. On the other hand, it let me build a really cool laser rifle, improve the armour pieces on my power armour (an unstoppable juggernaut that was the height of infantry technology before the Great War), and will even let me build superior power generators for towns later. So I'm still pretty happy to have the skill.

Time for me to hit the real-life wasteland of Edmonton to scavenge for some groceries and to get some exercise. I'm starting to feel like a Vault Dweller.

Learning Targets

Targets are modest this week. I've got company today (Monday) and part of tomorrow, and Fallout 4 is released this Wednesday (I think--I'm not exactly sure which midnight it becomes available).

Anyway, I will be reducing my targets to get some initial hours in on the game, but I don't want to squish my education entirely this week.

French classes and homework will be happening regardless, yoga will be important for health regardless, and I really want to make at least a little progress in AI and writing, so they're still on the list in some manner. Toastmasters is cancelled this week due to Remembrance Day. So the current total target is only 13.5 hours.

I could feel guilty for letting a game take precedence, but it's more honest to admit that there will be an impact. It's also not worth beating myself up about it--I think it's reasonable to just manage the impact rather than trying to deny it entirely. I do have friends who are taking time off work for it. This is my equivalent.

Check-In: 2015-11-09 (Monday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking)
Sleep: PASS (regular wake-up times, adequate hours)
Mindfulness: PASS (meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with many friends, visiting with family)

Had a good weekend. I went to Athabasca to visit family and friends. One the one hand, this is disruptive to routine, which makes hitting targets trickier. But on the other hand, this is disruptive to routine, which is great for mental health.

I'm still eating too much added sugar, though the home-made ice cream and fudge was worth it, as was the post-noodles candy-and-TV that's part of the Sunday tradition. But I did only buy a moderate amount of candy this week, and I ate a bit less of it than usual. I'm actually keen to get back to a healthier sugar intake now that the leftover candy of Halloween is starting to fade.

I went a bit short on walking a couple of times recently so I'll need to do some better exercise soon. But I'm keeping up with the recommended amounts by the Heart and Stroke Foundation so I'm managing. I'm at about the same level with sleep. I'm getting to bed a bit late, but I'm at least consistent and feeling an acceptable amount of energy during the day.

On Friday I had a really good meditation where I intentionally engaged my emotions. I didn't force my emotions, but rather just let them do their thing. I have a bit of a tendency to repress, especially when nervous, so I figure some exercise in letting them express would be good. Since I was just meditating and calm the emotions were generally positive, and the physical sensations were quite pleasant (I find that emotions have physical sensations that are difficult to describe). I think technically my Friday meditation was already recorded in my Saturday check-in, but my weekend wasn't well structured for mindfulness since I was on the road. But it's also easier to be in the moment when doing something non-routine. I guess to be fair I'll give myself a pass rather than a win, but I feel like it's a solid pass.

The real win was in the Love and Support category. I went to the Café Croissant at L'Alliance Française on Saturday morning and met some new people there while also practising my spoken French skills. I then visited Amber and Jason since Jason just got back from Calgary again. I then met my parents and some of my aunts and uncles for a late mini-Thanksgiving (my aunts were busy with Elections Canada so we didn't have Thanksgiving at the time). Then I met my friend Geoff for a chat at a pub, then met up with my parents again for a visit in the evening. On Sunday it was family breakfast and meeting Jim, Shane, and Dean for supper. So my social fuel tanks are pleasantly full.

This week is going to be a little unusual for my education targets. Jim is still in town as he's getting a ride out tomorrow, and on Wednesday a game called Fallout 4 his the street. I'll still have French classes and I really want to get some hours in to AI again, but I may have to accept some lower goals this time around. More on that later.

Education Report

Education Report 2015-11-07

Another week of mixed results.

On the positive side, I did very well with yoga and with the video game work. The yoga is especially interesting as, due to timing and health, I only did one actual exercise session, and the rest was either intention-based (attempted blood donation) or meditation. Yesterday I clocked an hour of meditation, with 30 minutes at the doctor's office in the waiting room, and 30 minutes in the evening before bed. In the Game category, we had a long meeting and I then spent some time on brainstorming and organizing to double my initial target.

On the down side, being under the weather on Thursday made me fall short on French, though I'm going to excuse that as a cold. Writing and Toastmasters fell short, though I at least did some outlining work on the writing side to at least be on the score board. But I think it's reasonable to apply those excess Game hours to the Writing category since they are both in the same universe, which gets me a lot closer. Falling short on Toastmasters is only a small slip-up, and sometime in the near future I'll probably overdo the goal when I write and practice my next speech.

So the main slip-up here was AI. I didn't get the time to work on it yesterday--the wait at the doctor's office was long, and I then had to prepare for company that evening.

So, like I said, a mixed report. Things to work on, things that went well.

Honestly, as I work on this plan, I find myself often asking the question, "What do I want to do?" That's the real question, and one I'll be contemplating a lot as I set targets in the next few weeks.

(Update: I just attended the Café Croissant this morning for an additional hour of French.)

P.S. I need a new name for this. "Education Report" is as dry and dusty as the baseboards behind my computer desk. Please post suggestions in the comments if you have any.

Check-In: 2015-11-06 (Friday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, but high added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking)
Sleep: PASS (regular sleep, steady wake-up times)
Mindfulness: PASS (a few minutes of meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, game meeting, toastmasters)

Today's report has a couple of marginal wins but wins none-the-less, and the passes are strong passes, not marginal. So it's a "steady as she goes" situation, which is totally acceptable.

I was really low-energy yesterday, with a scratchy throat again, and had a really hard time motivating myself to do anything. My original plan had been to go out to the clinic to get my test results, but instead stayed in to rest. I still got some game work done and did some meditation, so it wasn't a total write-off as far as my learning goals. I'm feeling much better today, so maybe the rest helped stave off a cold.

I'm going to head off to the clinic today, and this evening I'm going to have a few friends over to taste strange wine (I have a cucumber wine I've been dying to share). If I manage to get some AI training in-between I'll be able to have an imperfect but solid, "steady as she goes" education report this week.

I haven't been writing much in terms of word count, but I'm taking the opportunity to outline from scratch again. Since I haven't been working on my fiction for a while, I'm going to be a little more willing to do re-writes, which is a necessary part of the process.

Learning Targets

It's a new week, and new goals are in order.

I've had a bit of a poor start, since I ended up spending most of yesterday traipsing around after the blood donation that didn't happen, and then fell into laziness by the time I got home. So I'm going to shoot for a slightly more modest target of 20 hours this week.

I've added half an hour to French to give me time to do French homework. I've trimmed AI and Game down to two hours each in order to make more time for Writing while still giving them 1 - 2 solid sessions this week. I've cut Yoga back to 4 hours and given myself 1 hour of credit for the attempted blood donation.

This is about as far as I want to push NaNoWriMo at this point, though we'll see how the week goes.

For today, I'm going to see if I can start off with some Yoga and French.

Check-In: 2015-11-03 (Tuesday)

Back after a brief internet outage yesterday. :)

Diet: WIN! (fruit and vegetables, though lots of added sugar thanks to Halloween)
Exercise: WIN! (walking, yoga)
Sleep: WIN! (some ups and downs, but long sleep and good wake-up time this morning)
Mindfulness: WIN! (meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting friends, corresponding with family, attempted blood donation)

Wow. I didn't realize how good the scoreboard was looking until I wrote it up.

I do need to cut down on my Halloween candy consumption, I should try to get some more yoga in today, and I need to repeat last night's sleep to make sure I'm in a stable, healthy sleep habit. But things have gone quite well.

Yesterday I attempted to donate blood, but because of some still lingering question over my gall bladder they advised I not donate. So sometime in the next few days I will swing by the medicentre to get my ultrasound results. If everything looks good, I'll schedule another appointment. I'm still taking it as points under Love and Support as a generous gesture--not that I need those points for the win score, what with all the visiting I did over Halloween weekend.

The downsides will show up more on the education side, as I already have some catching up to do, but more on that later today when I present the weekly goals.

Education Report

Education Report 2015-10-31

Happy Halloween!

This week I have a lot more information for tracking my progress.

I did fall short in a couple of areas, which I ascribe to these main reasons:

1. This is my first week of tracking my progress. I've been developing some new habits, which got better over the week.
2. Halloween messed with my Friday and Saturday, meaning I couldn't quite catch up at the end.
3. I accidentally invested too much time into French and Toastmasters.

I also had enough "other" useful activities, such as time developing this chart and time studying economics and entrepreneurship. Taking this into account I'd only be about 3 hours short. Counting the extra French and Toastmasters time, this is only a 1 hr shortfall.

So there's certainly some improvement needed, but it was a decent try for the first week.

On Monday I'll put together a new plan, which will need to accommodate NaNoWriMo if I can swing it. I may need to have a moderate NaNoWriMo goal, though, so that I can keep working on the various subjects that are important to me.

Check-In: 2015-10-30 (Friday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking)
Sleep: PASS (regular hours)
Mindfulness: WIN! (meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (French, toastmaster, visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

I'm going to publish my education report tomorrow afternoon. I have a few hours to finish up and a Halloween event tonight which is disrupting my time a little.

I've been continuing the fruit and vegetable campaign. Sugar has been a little high but it's Halloween. I'll worry about that more next week, and my current intake is moderate, not out-of-control.

I've been wanting to get to yoga again but haven't managed to quite get there in the last couple of days. But I did get some meditation done, and a good amount of walking. I'm not sleeping super long, but I'm at least staying consistent. Maybe tomorrow night I'll get a longer sleep.

My second round of French classes started up last night. There's a couple of old faces and a couple of new ones. This afternoon I walked downtown to talk to one of the toastmasters--we just needed to follow up on the paperwork from my first speech to get credit for it. It was generous of him to take some time out of his day for that. I also dropped by Startup Edmonton to see what opportunities I have for engaging in the community. It seems like I won't be able to rent space there right off the bat, but it sounds like there's some really interesting community events, like hacker days and entrepreneurship workshops. So I'll have to look around a little more for spaces.

All in all, it's a good week. My habits are slowly building for getting more productive study time though this week might be a bit weak. At least it is now being quantified and can be corrected. I'm going to take some credit for the errands I ran today--looking into the Startup space legitimately counts as part of my self-education program. It's just a question of how to log the hours.

But I'll get into all of that tomorrow.

Check-In: 2015-10-28 (Wednesday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, low added sugar)
Exercise: WIN! (walking... so much walking, yoga)
Sleep: PASS (adequate sleep, stable wake-up times)
Mindfulness WIN! (meditation, yoga, general mindfulness)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, Toastmasters)

Good scores for today.

I've managed to improve my diet again, and did some yoga a couple of days ago. Last night I went to a concert next to Faculté St. Jean and decided, in a fit of madness, to walk. It was at least an hour and a half each way, making for an epic walk. I also received my Monarch Migration badge from Fitbit, which is earned by reaching 2500 total miles.

I've been sleeping reasonably well. Getting to bed a little earlier would help but the sleep I'm getting is sufficient, and I wake up at a fairly stable time these days. It helps to wake up to The Current, which usually has at least one interview that I want to listen to.

I've managed to get some actual meditation in, which is a nice feeling. I don't know why it's so hard to remember to take a minute to relax. You'd think that would be easy. But it's also easy to fall into the habit of wanting to keep my brain active non-stop.

I'm a little light on Love and Support, though I have been in contact with friends recently and family right at the moment. :) I will also be visiting friends tonight, so that should nicely top up the socialization fuel tanks.

I'm taking Learning off the list for now, since I have the weekly Education Reports now. It's a close race right now, but I'm still in the running. If I can get a few hours of studying in this afternoon I should still be on target for Friday.

Learning Targets

It's the start of a new week, I have a new plan, and I am optimistic.

Over the weekend, in a conversation with my family, I decided to set some more concrete goals for my education. Because pacing results is difficult--each "class" would need a unique set of hard-to-quantify goals--I'm going to try using time goals instead. This week, I am going to log my hours invested into different learning activities and aim to meet the following targets:

AI: 4 hours (all class or study time)
French: 4 hours (includes class time when they are running)
Toastmasters: 2 hours (1 hour preparation, 1 hour participation)
Writing: 4 hours (must be professional blog or fiction)
Game: 4 hours (can include meetings, learning to use Unity, etc.)
Yoga/Meditation: 5 hours (can include work on starting the business)

Total: 23 hours (not intentional, I swear)
Daily: 4.6 hours

Twenty hours is a totally reasonable target. Some people would argue it's too low. But I want to start this new program with some success, and I ought to be able to hit all of these. I may not, but at least I'll be able to see exactly how much I'm failing by. This also gives me some room for chores, errands, etc.

Check-In: 2015-10-26 (Monday)

Diet: PASS (fruit and vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking)
Sleep: WIN! (getting reasonable rest at reasonable times)
Mindfulness: PASS (general mindfulness)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)
Learning: PASS (rest / new approach)

I had a restful and social weekend this weekend. I had Sunday dinner with my friends Shane, Dean, and Jim. We have now started watching Twin Peaks as our Sunday TV, since I haven't seen it before and I keep hearing good things about it. Very unusual in its approach and very engaging. I'm enjoying it so far.

I'm managing to keep diet, exercise, and sleep on a reasonably even keel. Some improvements are needed to push them back in to solid wins across the board, but they are holding. I'm going to keep working on them, and I am optimistic that I'll be able to do well with them this week. We'll see.

The main area I want to work on it learning. This weekend I took a deliberate break, because I find that defining week days as work days and weekends as rest days is really successful. My failure in the last few weeks is to allow too many week days to be rest days. Sometimes I had a good reason, but I think I became a little too casual about it. Though the cold/sore throat I had did knock me down for a week or so, so I won't beat myself up about. Self-flagellation is rarely a solution to a problem.

The solution that I'm going to try is much more positive and reasonable, hopefully. I'm going to set some concrete goals for the education report so I can be a little more objective. This will hopefully result in concrete victories which will boost my spirits. I'm going to be moderate at first in the interest of getting some victories, and then I can ramp up the goals.

More on that in a post later today.

Education Report

Education Report 2015-10-24 (Saturday)

AI: PASS (only barely, but I did poke at this a bit)

French: WIN! (end of session one!)

Toastmasters: WIN! (could have done better, but good learning experience)

Writing: PASS (toastmasters)

Game: PASS (meeting with team)

A bit of improvement this week, which is a good sign given that this was election week and I had a medical test that disrupted a couple of mornings. Still much to improve, though.

Next week I'll definitely need to work on the AI course. I did take a quick look, though, and refreshed myself on where I was at. I also remembered that I was enjoying the course, which is key to getting back into it.

I'll have to be a bit careful with French. We have finished session one and will have a short break before session two. I may try to write a short essay in French this week just to keep in-practice, or maybe I'll go through my notes and review some of the new vocabulary. But I attended every session and did every homework assignment, which might be a first for me in any course ever. So I'm calling that a win.

In Toastmasters I didn't prepare enough for the meeting, so I'm calling my win based on the idea that: 1) everyone really enjoyed my introduction to the meeting, 2) I've learned a lot about what to do better next time. I'm going to sign up for the toastmaster role again in a few weeks so I can apply what I learned. Mistakes are valuable if you learn from them, and punishing if you just sit around feeling guilty about them. But I'm optimistic that I can turn this into learning. And people really did enjoy my introduction. So I'm calling that my writing credit for the week too.

We had a good discussion with the game team. The next step is mostly in other peoples' hands, though I'll make sure I do something useful this coming week. That might be a review of productivity tools like Trello to see if there's a good system we can use for tracking our documents and conversations. Email is good for some forms of communication but not ideal for others.

Because this is the first week where I'm taking a pass in all categories (even if it's a pretty slim margin on the AI course), the image I'm posting this week is a victory image. The photo is from a ride called Slotzilla in the Vegas downtown: you get to zipline above the crowds. It's a bit awkward (I spent a chunk of it going backwards), but a good rush. This week was exactly that: a bit awkward, but a good rush of some modest success.

Check-In: 2015-10-23 (Friday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit and veggies, relatively low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, miscellaneous exercise)
Sleep: WIN! (good sleep last night)
Mindfulness: PASS (general mindfulness)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)
Learning: WIN! (French, a little bit of AI, economics)

Since Jason is back in town, we were able to have a table-top gaming session with a bunch of friends, many of whom I haven't seen in a while. So that was good.

I woke up extra-early to prepare for my ultrasound yesterday morning, but the appointment was cancelled due to a sick technician and moved to today. As a result, I was really tired last night and got a great sleep. The scan is now done and I'll hopefully hear from my doctor in a little while. Or maybe I won't, if everything looks good--so maybe I should hope I don't hear from her? That's actually a poor practice, that we know from game design isn't good--failing to respond to input creates a lack of feedback, which makes players (or patients) worried that their controls have stopped working. Games have to message clearly to players that input has been received, and I would prefer if medicine worked the same way. Otherwise, the difference between "You're fine" and "Your paperwork vanished in the bureaucracy" looks the same.

Anyway, my symptoms are now so mild I'm not too concerned about it.

I managed to do some sorting of notes for classes today. Since I haven't worked on the AI class in a couple of weeks, diving right back in again is tricky, and my notes are a mess. So I'm going to get back into it by first reviewing and tidying my notes in order to remember what I've already covered. I did take a quick look at the video again, though, so I at least remember what we were talking about and some details of the exercise. It's mathy, which is challenging, but also a brain-muscle I haven't used in a while. Good stuff.

I'm meeting with the game design team tonight. We'll have to discuss what we're hoping to accomplish with the project in light of the challenges of being an independent game designer right now. That doesn't mean we're going to stop working on it, but we need to be realistic about our expectations, and we need to consider options for making it stand out from the crowd somehow.

I'll get my education report out a little later today, after the meeting. For now, I must dash.

Check-In: 2015-10-21 (Wednesday)

Diet: PASS (fruit and vegetable could be a little higher, added sugar could be lower)
Exercise: WIN! (walking, miscellaneous exercise)
Sleep: PASS (could be earlier, could be longer, but is currently adequate)
Mindfulness: PASS (could do more meditating, though general mindfulness is good)
Love and Support: WIN! (walking buddy back, corresponding with family, French, Toastmasters)
Learning: PASS (French, Toastmasters)

The theme of this check-in is relief. The election is finally over, so it'll be easier to remain calm on that front and get enthusiastic about my own projects again.

My health also seems better today. My sore throat is finally gone, my gall symptoms are barely noticeable, and I've felt much more motivated today than I have for about a week--even when compared to just yesterday.

I was a little unprepared for my role as toastmaster today, though I did okay. I will sign up for toastmaster again in a few weeks and give it another go; I think I'll be able to do a much better job next time.

Last night was the last French class for this session. It'll be starting up again on the 2nd I believe (I've already signed up for the next round). I've really been enjoying having classes to attend.

I will aim to have a better education report on Friday. If I'm not able to pull it together this time, I'll need to rethink my strategy and see if a change of plan is required, such as looking into Edmonton Startup again. I may look into it again anyway, just to get some space away from home that I can treat as a work/office area.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming up in November again. My friend Amber is going to participate and I think it would be wise for me to as well--provided I can still run my classes and other projects. But lately I have abandoned my fiction writing in favour of more practical skills, and it may be a mistake for me to do nothing in writing fiction prose. I'll have to see.

Anyway, I'm hoping my ability to motivate myself is going to improve again now that my health is recovered. I do enjoy life more when I'm enthusiastically pursuing my passions, as evidenced by how well today is going.

Education Report

Education Report 2015-10-17 (Saturday)

AI: IMPROVE

French: PASS

Toastmasters: PASS

Writing: PASS

Game: IMPROVE

Still a lot of work to do to get a solid education report. The main things are to put AI and Game back on the table.

In fairness, I'm holding off on the Game a bit right now because I need to meet with the rest of the group to talk about some of the advice I received from a former colleague named Zach who did the indie game thing as well recently.

Also, I have been mildly under the weather. The symptoms aren't bad, but it's enough that I'm finding my motivation flagging a little. My spirits are generally good, though, so I'm actually going to accept this week as reasonable, all things considered, and will look forward to hitting the books next week.

Check-In: 2015-10-17 (Saturday)

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, a bit high in added sugar but not terrible)
Exercise: PASS (walking, other miscellaneous exercise, rest)
Sleep: PASS (decent amounts, a tad late to bed but waking up rested at a good time)
Mindfulness: IMPROVE (could use some more meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (kung fu club, corresponding with family, French)
Learning: PASS (French, rest)

I've been a little under the weather this week, this time with a mildly sore throat. Symptoms are mild and I'm finding it a little hard to be motivated, but otherwise I'm feeling okay.

I've been paying attention to my diet again, and have increased the amount of green things and fruit substantially. I've been taking it easy with exercise, but I've been walking and even doing the odd chin-up or plank to supplement it.

I could use some good meditation time. It's hard to convince my brain to take 15 minutes now and again. This will take some practice. :)

My friend Jason is back in town this weekend, so I'll get my walking buddy back again. Otherwise, most of my social contact has been classes or texting.

Because of my low motivation, this wasn't the greatest week ever for learning objectives. Education Report to follow shortly will be unspectacular. On the plus side, the election will be over with soon, and if my health improves I should be able to do better next week.

Check-In: 2015-10-14 (Wednesday)

Diet: PASS (could increase fruit and vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, rest)
Sleep: WIN! (still recovering from sleep disruptions, but making good progress)
Mindfulness: PASS (general mindfulness, occasional meditation)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with parents, corresponding with friends)
Learning: WIN! (French, Toastmasters)

I visited my family over the last few days, partly to get my tires changed for the winter (I store them in my parents' garage) and partly just for the visit.

Unfortunately, I had a really bad sleep while I was there. The bed was comfortable but I just couldn't sleep, as though I'd chugged a pot of strong coffee just before lying down. I did my best to just meditate and relax, and I think I eked out a few hours--enough that I was able to function the next day. Still, I decided to be careful about getting a good rest last night, and succeeded, so I'm feeling a little better today.

I had another good Toastmasters meeting this afternoon, and won table topics yet again. Apparently I'm a really good spontaneous speaker these days, given that I'm batting about 0.75 with these things. So that's cool. They've asked me to be toastmaster for next week, so that should be fun.

French class last night was a surprise. They had a photo exhibition on the subject of climate change, so we got free wine and cheese and then chatted about climate change. It was fun to have a topic to discuss rather than just having arbitrary drills.

I'm going to take a selfish evening of entertainment tonight to just relax and enjoy life. Tomorrow I'll take stock of my goals for the week and see what I need to accomplish to have a reasonable education report on Friday.

Check-In: 2015-10-11 (Sunday)

Diet: PASS (could increase fruit, but doing pretty well--and fruit has just been purchased)
Exercise: WIN! (walking, stretching, resting)
Sleep: WIN! (major victory: good sleep last night)
Mindfulness: PASS (meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)

I'm still a little stiff from yoga on Friday, but I've been getting a bit more stretching and exercise anyway. Last night I had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, but I did have a "lights out" before midnight and spent the time resting and meditating. I woke up at a decent hour this morning and feel reasonably well-rested. This is a strong start to my campaign to regain a healthy sleep pattern.

I'll be visiting my family Monday and Tuesday, so that should boost the Love and Support category.

Otherwise, I'm taking a day to rest up, enjoy life, and let the cares of the world deal with themselves for a while.

Education Report

Education Report 2015-10-09 (Friday)

AI: IMPROVE
French: WIN!
Toastmasters: IMPROVE
Writing: WIN!
Game: IMPROVE

So the results of this week's report is the reason why I'm going to start doing these every Friday. As you can see, I've got some success but need a lot more if this self-university plan is going to succeed.

French is going quite well. I have not only been attending classes, but I've been doing homework and went to a cultural event (a cafe) last Saturday.

I've been writing quite prolifically, though it has mostly been related to election issues and miscellaneous thoughts. Still, practice is practice, and I've been doing quite a lot of it. I do need to pick up on my blog, however.

I think a lot of this is down to sleep habits, though. I was not rested properly on Wednesday morning so I wasn't able to pull myself together for Toastmasters, and it's hard to be motivated when you are often groggy during the day. The good news is I've overcome sleep problems before, so a bit of effort should get me back on track.

I'm really finding this blogging process useful for my lifestyle, so here's hoping this will lead to focus and improvements in my education. Despite the many areas to improve, I'm optimistic.

Check-In: 2015-10-05 (Monday)

Diet: PASS (see below)
Exercise: WIN! (walking, rest)
Sleep: WIN! (catching up on disrupted cycle)
Mindfulness: IMPROVE (need more meditation: on the plus side, improving perspective)
Love and Support: WIN! (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, social events)

Everything is a little disrupted thanks to the gall bladder issues recently. I've had my sleep cycle disrupted, which in turn has disrupted many of my other healthy habits. Also, I've been trying to avoid too much fat in my diet for a little while. The upshot is I think I ate less than I should have this past weekend, though this is now correcting itself. I got extra food from dinner with my friends last night, I've had a good breakfast today, and I'll make sure I get plenty of food for the rest of the day.

I'm giving myself a win under exercise. While I haven't been getting a ton of exercise, I've been walking and deliberately taking a rest for the sake of my innards. Taking a break when pride would demand otherwise is wise, and therefore deserves a win rating. No good hurting yourself over pride.

Eh, screw it. I'm giving myself a win under Sleep too. I normally would call it a pass, but since I'm recovering from a major sleep disruption, this is a really good trend and worth celebrating.

I haven't been meditating much, and I have found it hard to meditate when attempting it, mainly due to how stressed I'm feeling about this election and the rampant fear and manipulation surrounding it. On the plus side, I've identified this and actively worked to restore a positive, generous, and optimistic spirit. This has worked quite well.

Part of the reason this has worked well is social contact. I've had some good correspondence with my family, I saw my friends last night, and on Saturday I went to a cafe hosted by L'Alliance Francaise and a meeting at the kung fu club. This nice big uptick in social contact has been good for my head space.

How Master Yoda Is Changing The Way I Think About Elections

This election, I have gotten more political than in any other. The reason for this is simple: I am more worried in this election than in any other.

But as an avid fan of Star Wars--at least until Jar Jar ungraced the silver screen--I can’t pour my energy into something based on fear without taking a moment to pause and wonder if this is the right thing to do.

As the short green dude said: fear, anger, and aggression are the dark side.

Sure, I feel that my fears are well-founded, and I believe my actions are good for my country. But that’s exactly when the dark side is at its most seductive: it starts with fighting for good things that you believe in, then convinces you to hate what threatens what you believe in, then turns you against your friends and family. Soon, you are a twisted reflection of your former self, representing everything you used to hate.

So I have decided to radically change my approach, before I go too far down this dark path. I have decided that efforts predicated on fear are toxic, and that my actions must now be predicated on calm, informed, and even loving thoughts.

While I am being deliberately silly and talking about these things in the context of Star Wars, let me be serious for a moment: every religion on Earth professes a love for fellow humanity. Some followers lose this message, of course, as we’ve seen with groups like ISIS, but that’s exactly the point: the dark side, rooted foremost in fear, is exactly what causes an extremist to lose sight of the messages of love in favour of the messages of hate.

So let me first of all apologize to my conservative-leaning friends and family: your values are a part of Canada’s identity, and that is precious to me. In fact, I share almost all of them. Liberty, democracy, justice, courage, safety, and most of all, family. These are things I value dearly. I believe my recent fear-motivated efforts have made me say things that might make this unclear. So let me state it explicitly again: these values are also my values. These are the reasons I love Canada and Canadians.

Second of all, I am now going to promote things I do want out of this election, rather than things I don’t want. Hopefully many Canadians will agree with me:

1. Election Reform. First and foremost, I would like to see more positive politics. I feel like every election in this country gets more divisive and angry, and I think this is being caused by our election system: when we vote, the winner takes all, and the loser has no voice. Both Stephen Harper and Rachel Notley had less than 50% of the popular vote, but essentially 100% of the political power. This creates a lot of fear, fear leads to anger, and anger leads to ugly politics. So as a positive solution, let’s fix this. There are other systems we can consider that gives better representation by population. Regardless of who gets in, let’s work on making our elections healthier, and protect the voices of all Canadians.
2. Democratic Rights. One of the things I fear is the ability for the government to take away a citizen’s right to vote. Bill C-51 makes that possible, and it has some dangerous loop-holes. Now I’m not saying all this in order to encourage fear, but merely to point out a potential threat that we need to deal with rationally. I am 100% in favour of protecting our country from terrorists and dangerous extremists, but we need to ensure that democracy--the right to vote--is not threatened. We need to protect the right of citizens to retain their vote, lest a future government abuse that power. The positive thing to campaign for is, therefore, democratic rights. Democratic rights are something Canadians of all political stripes can agree are important.
3. Economics Endorsed By Economists. Running a country is complicated, and involves a lot more work than a handful of random promises. As a non-economist, I don’t know if spending 10 million dollars on veterans is a lot, a little, or a giant financial mistake. It would literally take me years of online research to answer this question. This means I need to trust people who do this for a living. Organizations like the World Bank, the OECD, the Bank of Canada, and the IMF have economic research that is world-wide and decades-old. They know what they are talking about, so it’s worth getting their opinion.
4. Informed Voters. I accept that I make mistakes. Sometimes I become passionate about an idea, only to later discover that the idea was wrong. In order to make sure I vote well in this election, I want to be informed, so I can avoid making a mistake. I also think it would be good for all Canadian voters to be informed, because that will help Canada make a good decision, which is good not just for Canadians, but for all people in the world.

So here is my rationale for siding with the Liberal Party, at least for the moment--and if you disagree, please exercise your democratically-protected freedom to speak, a right I will defend for you even if I disagree with you.

1. The Liberals promise to reform the election system. They aren’t endorsing a single solution yet, and that’s wise: this isn’t a change we want to make carelessly. It needs to involve all parties, and that’s what they’re promising to do.
2. The Liberals promise to close the loop-holes in Bill C-51. This won’t make Canada less secure, it will just make sure that your most precious right, the right to vote, is better protected.
3. The Liberal economic plan is endorsed by economists who have resumes that include the World Bank, the OECD, the Bank of Canada, and the IMF. Let me address concerns with this that both right-leaning and left-leaning Canadians may have:
1. Right-leaning Canadians may ask how it’s possible that an economic plan to take on debt could possibly be endorsed by leading economists. Isn’t debt the worst idea ever? As it turns out, no. Microsoft has debt. Apple has debt. Dow Chemical has debt. Debt is a useful financial tool used by businesses all the time. Bloated, unmanageable debt can be bad, yes. But world-class economists aren’t concerned about the debt outlined in the Liberal plan, so it’s okay--this is just a tool to make some wise investments that will get the economy back on track.
2. Left-leaning Canadians may ask if organizations like the World Bank and the IMF have common people’s interests at heart. Aren’t they just shills for big companies? As it turns out, no. Visit their websites. Every one of them is calling for more investment in the vulnerable people of the world. They support taking care of people who are vulnerable, because taking care of them gets them back into the economy. When you just let them suffer, they remain alienated from the economy and can’t contribute. Taking care of people isn’t just kind, it’s smart economics.
4. When I talked to a Liberal campaigner, he didn’t try to argue policy with me. He just suggested that I look at the party platforms online, and see which one sounded the most reasonable. This was a huge risk for him: for all he knew, I would side with a different party. But he didn’t just want my vote, he wanted my vote to be informed. And that’s the point here: I don’t care how you vote. I’ve given you my reasons for supporting the Liberals, but you might have a different opinion. I just want your vote to be informed.

To recap, let me again apologize for the fear that has gripped me recently. I apologize for anything hurtful or rude I may have said. Canada is a beautiful country, and Canadians are beautiful people.

As we go to the polls, let’s celebrate this most of all: we get to go to the polls.

And may the Force be with you, always.

Spending The Night In Emergency Is Good For The Soul

By Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (CCBRT Disability Hospital waiting room 1) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

First off: Don't worry, I am fine.

Now, the full story.

Starting around Wednesday and getting worse into Thursday, I felt a mild discomfort under my ribcage on the right side. It was especially noticeable when sitting, especially if I slouched.

I did a quick web search and the internet suggested it might be appendicitis, though fortunately I didn't have any other symptoms like fever or vomiting. Still, I decided not to take chances, and given that appendicitis can be dangerous even over night, I decided at around 11:00 pm on Thursday to go to Emergency.

The result is that my bloodwork and ECG came back normal, with a mild distortion in my bloodwork that potentially suggested a gall bladder issue. But the physician didn't feel that this was an urgent issue, recommended I avoid eating fatty meals for a while, and advised me to return to Emergency if I started to get fever, vomiting, or jaundice (because the area of discomfort is near the liver).

I initially turned down an ultrasound test, but I've since decided to play it safe and get one. I'll drop by the clinic on Monday to get one arranged.

But the result of this process was that I spent many hours over-night in a hospital waiting room and emergency ward, and I've decided that everyone should do this once in a while for the good of their soul. Because while I was there just as a precaution, some people were there with serious injuries. There was one moment where a stretcher rolled in with a woman crying as she followed it. A patient next to my bed in the emergency ward sounded like they were in significant pain and sometimes had laboured breathing.

There are two things I thought about for these hours:

1. How lucky I am to have good health.
2. How lucky I am to live in a country where hospitals just help you, no questions asked.

I went to Emergency for the sake of my body, but it turned out to be a wonderful treatment for my soul.

Check-In: 2015-09-29 (Tuesday)

Sorry for the long delay again. The last several days went by really quickly.

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, moderate added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking)
Sleep: PASS (regular and adequate sleep)
Mindfulness: PASS (general mindfulness and irregular meditation)
Love and Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family)
Learning: PASS (French, news)

The scores here are hitting a bit of a lull and that's being reflected in my mood, in that I'm feeling a little stressed out and down today. Though that may be partially due to my current frustrations with the market: I want to liquidate some stock and the prices keep dropping. In the long term, the stock market will be fine, it's just annoying that it's doing this right now.

That's risk I suppose.

But to focus on the positive, I'm heading out for French class shortly, I just did a little meditation and some very brief but nevertheless endorphin-releasing exercise, and had a good text-chat with my mom. If I can pay attention to the categories above and push one or two in to the win column, I'll probably be back to my chipper self by tomorrow. In fact, just what I've done in the last hour or so is already helping.

Jane McGonigal, who has popularized the idea of gamifying mental health and other real-world challenges, was on the CBC yesterday morning, and it was interesting hearing her take on things again. In particular, she uses more gamey elements like creating a "secret identity" and identifying "power-ups" and "monsters". The categories I list above are essentially my power-ups.

I think I'll play with these ideas a bit. Maybe I can bring in the vision board notion when dealing with the secret identity.

Back In Business

[ David Rose | Innovations in Capital Formation | www.singularityu.org ]

Three events occurred this week which have me thinking about business models.

The first was running across the above video, where David Rose talks about that the internet is doing to the way businesses get finances. It's well worth a look if you're curious. The short version is, it's getting easier and easier for new businesses to get starting capital.

The second was a visit to the website Jobbatical, where in about 2 minutes of browsing (literally), I ran across a job add for software QA in South Africa. The global job market is getting extremely connected.

The third was a conversation with a man named Shannon, an entrepreneur at a local web company called Mediashaker. Gerry, the environment artist on our game project, arranged the meeting to talk about jobs, careers, and related opportunities. But Shannon's perspective is that of an entrepreneur, and his advice was that people who run business don't really know anything special--they just try things.

All of this is adding up to me thinking a lot about businesses. In today's super-connected marketplace, it's reasonable for someone with a good idea, but not necessarily the right skills for that idea, to find the financing and talent required to turn the idea into a reality.

This isn't something I intend to do immediately, but it is something I'll be watching for during the next few months.

Check-In: 2015-09-25 (Friday)

Whoops! Though I had another check-in already this week.

Diet: WIN! (fruit, vegetables, and low added sugar)
Exercise: PASS (walking, some stretching and other exercise)
Sleep: PASS (getting reasonable sleep, could get a little more)
Mindfulness: PASS (meditation, general mindfulness throughout the day)
Love and Support: PASS (socially quiet, but correspondence with friends and family)
Learning: WIN! (research, French class, AI course, writing, Crash Course in economics)

Managed to get the fruit and vegetables back into the diet. I'm still working on sleep, but it's in a reasonable state.

I've been doing a lot of online research. Sadly, I've been a little distracted by the election, the most troubling part of which is the sudden surge of racism and media manipulation I've noticed on social media. But I'm making an effort to avoid getting caught up in that, and sticking to my much healthier intellectual diet of self-education. In particular, I've added Crash Course's economic videos as entertainment when I'm doing chores or taking a stretch break.

This weekend is the Edmonton Comic Expo, so there should be a fair bit of socializing.

Check-In: 2015-09-22 (Mardi)

Diet: WIN! (fruit and vegetables)
Exercise: WIN! (walking, spontaneous movement exercise)
Sleep: PASS (some hits, some misses--need consistent betimes yet)
Mindfulness: PASS (ongoing mindfulness)
Love & Support: PASS (visiting with friends, corresponding with family, game meeting)
Learning: WIN! (reading books, studying French)

Aujourd'hui, j'étudie the français. Hier, j'ai lu le livre, Le Deuxième Age De La Machine. Je regarde des vidéos d'information.

Je marche beaucoup et également exercer, mais j'ai besoin de plus de sommeil.

A bien tôt!

Yesterday I Went Downtown To Buy A Bag Of "Green Stuff"

Weekly News: 2015-09-19 (Saturday)

Yesterday, I picked these up from the Edmonton Public Library. These are my first experiments in 3D printing, which is one of the many technologies likely to dramatically change the world economy in the next few years.

This object was printed with moving parts. 3D printing is able to make things like spokes and sockets right on the print bed. No assembly required.

The plastic used at the library is PLA, which is apparently biodegradable and made from corn. This could become important when every household starts manufacturing hundreds of plastic tools, toys, and other objects.




These objects represent more than just a technological curiosity. New innovations in 3D printing are allowing for objects to be created out of multiple materials, and they are rapidly getting faster and cheaper. One company called 3D Systems claims they can manufacture plastic objects faster than injection moulding, the current cutting-edge for mass manufacturing.

These objects also represent what I've decided to do with the next few months of my life.

A big problem that I've encountered during my recent job hunt is the fact that I plan to go to Victoria for the winter (January and February). It's hard to apply for a job knowing that I plan to disappear in a few months.

At the same time, I've been diving into education in a big way, what with French classes, an AI course, and Toastmasters. Given what I've learned about how the economy is likely to be disrupted in the next few years, I feel it is strategically important to educate myself in critical areas like AI, programming, and communication.

The result is a plan I'm calling "Self-University". I've put together a tuition budget of about $16,000--which I can finance without risking financial security--as well as a list of objectives:

• Complete the Stanford AI course
• Continue French language training (complete 2 courses, counting the one I am in)
• Create a YouTube Channel and professional blog called A Point On The Wave
• Learn C# and continue to work on the game project with my friends
• Maintain my health and wellness (using this blog, Not Quite Ninja)

This budget gives me living expenses through to the end of March and buys me plane tickets to and from Victoria. I'll emerge with some programming skills, AI skills, and communication skills--a good start to making my skills valuable in a time of increasing automation. I'll also be able to turn A Point On The Wave into a portfolio piece, something this blog is not ideal for. And who knows, the game project may also start to pick up at that point.

Most importantly, I'll get to spend another great winter with Mark, Karen, and Luna while taking care of my health and learning lots of new things.

Life is, and will be, good.