From The Wyrmhole

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/02/11/shaking-things-up/

A little break with format here. I would normally start with the name of the article but it hasn’t been written. That's right, I am riffing this particular one actually, full disclosure, this is Take Two.  A number of hours ago, again full disclosure, its like 12:30 at night when I recorded this because it took me a few hours to recover from the technical fail that was Take One. Twenty minutes which culminated in, I must tell you, the most genuinely heartfelt summation of an opinion I think I've ever uttered into a microphone. And . . . and I, and I lost it.  I lost the whole recording.

My mistake, I believe was trying to use my iPad to do the recording because I noticed that most applications can only get about 15 minutes or so of audio and then weird things begin to happen. So now, the first natural question is ‘Why were you using your iPad? Why weren’t you  just sitting right here doing this?’ The answer to that is I was doing an experiment. It went like this: if you listen to last journal entry I discovered that I could dictate into the blog using the Google Apps doc in my phone. I was fascinated by that possibility, that potential. . . and I decide to

<speech flub, trying to recover>

Wow. I need to be able to speak clearly because I'm going to try a different version of that same experiment with this. Hopefully this will come back round and explain itself here in just a second.

Excuse me, now  I have to cough. One second . . .

I am also fighting just the slightest little bitty head cold. If you can hear it. Yes, so . .  it made more sense the first time I explained it. Its hard to have to go back and do it all over again but here it is. So when I discovered that the app could detect my voice and write the words out into the blog I thought ‘Oh, this is great! I can putter off and do other things and dictate the blog and then come back and quick edit, do some clean up and then do the recording.’ And that worked pretty well if you go back again to last instance you can hear the results of that. But then, I had to take it a step further. I couldn't stop there. I decided ‘What if I went ahead and did the recording first and then . . .  let Google Docs listen to that recording and type it out.*  

This is my head in my hands  . . . <explosion noise>

Right?! Right?!

I'll tell you what, my simple recordings of that particular experiment . . .worked!  It works. I'm gonna to do it again. Three minutes into this recording and I'm telling you right now when I'm done recording the next step is to set up my phone to do . . .to listen to this recording and type it into Google Docs where it will then have written my blog post for me.  I do the quick edit  . . . the recording is DONE and everything gets posted and we see how it works.  

Now, there's a couple of benefits to this that I’ve learned in the failed Take One. I am freer to speak in my natural, conversational voice.  I'm sure you've noticed by now in the twenty-some-odd posts that I've done . . . it sounds like I'm reading. And its ok  . . . but its it lacks some personality and it lacks some . . . I can't find the word that I want but I think . .  .some soul?  Maybe?  I don't I don't know if that's the right but . . . some heart  . . . that's . . . okay  . . . a little closer there.   And I say that because . . .  well I'm jumping ahead.

I do want to try to approach the the way that I approached it last time although I am heartbroken because the way it all came out in that take . . .  was so beautiful.  I was moved to myself.   I was just like, well, wow.  Well, you know, ok John what were you saying that was so moving? Well it was like this. I was in the middle of. . .The whole setting was like this.  I.  .I didn’t have any time. . . to do . . . I I went through the whole process of what I sit down to do to make the blog content.  And it goes like this:

I set aside some time. That's key. Its number one.  That said if I said a block of time that nobody can interrupt me so that I can just work on the content. Then I sit in front of Google Docs and I write out the article. And my writer's voice  . . .it's not the greatest.  I have never taken . . . I mean I’ve taken some writing courses but not like real seri(ous)  like NaNoWriMo people are WAAAY ahead of me.  Just because of what they do. And it's been years since I've taken any writing courses. So, you know, I can put words on pages. Not that they work or that makes any sense or whatever. Ok, so that was the process of writing a blog.  

And then, as you know, I go back and I try to read what I write and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I just try to do my best. Okay, so that's the process. And then theres all the WordPress-ing stuff and uploading of stuff and then it all gets online, ok?  I was reviewing that part and then I got to getting kind of philosophical about the blog and what it's about and what it does and it went like this . . .  I was realizing as I was talking into the audio  . . .by the way, I'm sure that I'm not going to lose it this time, of course, by not using the iPad.  By using my desktop. And it has the ability to kind of cache what I'm saying so something terrible goes wrong I can recover. So that's how I'm preventing that from happening again.

Yeah, I was realizing that listening to these blogs it's . . .I mean, kind of a duh statement but because it goes online it never really goes away. Now, that's not entirely true and this is something I’m adding now because I have had an entire podcast show that I once did, and I've explained this in the past, come offline and a lot of it get lost. I had the hard drive with all the backups for a long, long time and then there was a terrible . . .  I mean, the backup solutions just a few years ago were not as good as they are now. And sadly, I lost a majority of that content. So, it can disappear, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Now, again back-ups being what they are now and the idea that this website will exist in interations of backups means its easy to capture it all and then spread it all over the place is that it's never lost. You, the listener, may be hearing this from the original place I posted it or you may, in the future sometime, discover the raw files and be hearing it that way. Now,  that's where the conversation got interesting because it kind of dawned on me that . . . you know I haven't really nailed down what this blog is supposed to be other than sort of a form of expression. And it just occurred to me that this may be played back in a time when I'm no longer  . . . alive.  And it seems odd but I'm strangely okay with that. Because it doesn't go outside of my intended purpose. I still wanted to have these moments with whoever's listening and I don't need to know who that is. Its not important to me. I'd be nice . .  but I'm not requiring it, you know what I mean?

You know, as I do this in this moment, I am not aware, really, of anybody listening to any of these files. And I made peace with that when I started. I I deliberately wanted to follow my passion and so I needed to get out of my head the idea that I was building an audience. It literally is sort of a Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams,  “build it and they will come” kind of thing. Maybe they will, maybe they won't, I don't know and I'm not invested in that. So much as I'm invested in being genuinely welcoming and accepting of whoever you are and why-ever the reason being that you continue to listen to these. Yeah, Its open ended on purpose. There's no expectation. There's no contract or covenant between us, you know, I'm putting this out for you and then (message) and then you do with it as what you will.

Which is why I decided to do two versions: the written . . the print and the audio. Was because I also don't expect you to sign up for this whatever we're doing here and just resign it to be ‘well, its a, you know, its a podcast.’ So, you know, the first few posts of this blog kind of started in one particular format but then with the freedom of the technology I thought why stay. .  . why does it have to stay like that?  We’re only a month in. We  . . . we’re brand new. Its a newborn baby, you know. Its a month old. It can be whatever it can be, you know. So, that is why I'm putting so much of my energy and my effort into the delivery the way it is and I'm having a blast doing it. So, why not? Right?

And then back to the thought of. . . you know, these files may sit on a server somewhere for days. weeks, months, years and never get played. That's fine, but it does make me interested in you, the listener, wherever you are. Whenever you are. And what's going on in your world right now. I don't have any idea. That's amazing . . . that’s amazing! This technology lets us do this moment.

And then, okay, here we go. This is where it gets really like head-trippy. I remember thinking about that movie . . . I'm sure you probably have at this point too, if you are familiar with the pop culture of this time.  Recently there was a movie out called ‘Transcendence’ where Johnny Depp play a guy who was able to capture his essence in an upload and upload his being into (uh) computer networks and sort of become a Singularity that that represents. I never saw the movie. I don't know how it ends. I don't know . . . cause it got kind of weird in the trailer with like strange mystical mists of whatever. But, like yeah. The question being you, the listener, hearing me  . . what does my being represent to you right now? Am I dead?  Am I still living because you can hear me? What does that all really mean?  And I promise you have not had any psychotropic drugs. Ok? It was just a realization that all these volumes that I’ve put together; short, long, what have you are capturing something of me. And preserving it.  As long as it doesn't get deleted, which can happen. Is this kind of an immortality? Is this a direct, clear window back to . . . ? Like I don't know. What are you  . . what are you experiencing right now? I may never hear your answer but it's fascinating to me.

And you have to know that as pointless as all this may seem it is coming from a place of passion. And that is why I do it. Because I love the process of doing it. And because it produces something immediately that is a true expression of me. And I mean if we’ve got the technology to do that . . . A)  I don't know why more people aren't doing this.

And I'm not talking about  . . . yeah, let me clear up a point here because I remember going over this, again.  We've been doing something like this for many, many years. Since the advent of television or recorded audio,  its been like that, right? We’re used to, as a culture, we’re used to seeing long passed on entertainers in, you know, films and old recordings and in that way we still can connect . . . a little bit.   I don't know very many Diaries that perform that function. I don't how many single conversations perform that function. And, again, the technology has become, at least here America, so accessible and easy to get to.  

Often times it's just our own place in our heads that keep us from doing this.  I know a lot of people that be like “Why would you ever record your voice?  A) it sounds  . . . like crazy, and B) What would you say?” And, again, I have to go back to. . . its because I love the process.  That I let myself say nothing on purpose. Because its the fiddling of the stuff and the typing the blog in the running of the everything thats really sort of driving all this. The content, unfortunately, as important is it is, has . . . it sort of just kind of falls in.

But, I believe, sincerely that we all could avail ourselves to this, to some degree. Maybe its not meant for public. . . I mean, I'm very open with this. I'm fine with it just going out into anybody hearing it. Total strangers coming to this blog and listening to this. Great! I have no worries about that at all. Not a lot of people feel that way about their opinions, their thoughts, their whatever. They like it a little more close in. But that's a grand experiment, for me. And, sadly, I’m not quite getting to the big point that I made in the first version of this. But, I will wrap it up, again cuz this voice is about to go.  

And say I may never actually get to a happy place with this blog as to what it supposed to be. But you can be assured that the energy and effort that goes into it is completely 100% passion.  And ultimately I'm working up to being able to take this moment, everytime I open the mic and I speak to you, listener. And make it a moment for us. Just you and me, here. And I'd bring that much here to you and then you bring whatever you're bringing there, then.

And THAT’S what I'm trying to make. D-Does that . . .  Do you get that? We’ve connected. If only for a moment.

Anyway, now its time to see if the grand experiment of voice dictation actually works. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of editing and I went almost just as long this time. Well, a little shorter, but that's okay.

Thank you  . . .very much for playing any and all of these blog posts.  I think I done a pretty good job of explaining why they're there, what they’re for and yeah. We have a thing. As much as I don't know you or maybe I do. We’ve always got this.

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/02/09/lets-catch-up/

First of all, I want to start with an apology. You see, I've been gone for a little over a week and I didn't really prepare anyone for the gap in content. That is to say I didn't really expect to be offline this long. It's just that once I got it in my head to take a break I didn't really give myself a time limit.

So please accept this apology. I'm sorry for making you wait. And I'm sorry for not telling you that there would be this much of a break. I can't go back and fill that empty time with anything so the best I can do is to tell you that I will honestly try to give you more warning in the future.

It does occur to me that there may be gaps in between posts sometimes. I don't think there's enough content for daily posts all the time. Some days are just “typical days”.  Meaning nothing of any real significance happened. Mostly last week was just dealing with issues with my home and my family and my health.

Full disclosure, I actually spent quite a lot of time last week playing video games. I'm currently hooked on Skyrim. If you follow my other blog you know that I've been live streaming my game play for a few weeks now. I'm just so impressed with how rich and detailed the Elder Scrolls world is in this game. What was just a weekend pursuit has become a daily occurrence. I don't record every session; I save those for the weekend. If you're interested in seeing what I'm up to check out the right sidebar of this blog and you can see the most recent post that I put up on that.

Meanwhile, I've just a few more days until I need to go into the hospital. I'm not really worried as much as impatient. I'll be glad when the procedure is over and I can get my healing done with. I kind of feel like a bunch of things are on hold until that happens.

I'll tell you what has caught my interest today. I downloaded the Google Docs app for my smartphone. What's convenient about that is that I can use the voice dictation feature of my phone to write this blog. You see, I always write my drafts in Google Docs. So what I've done is opened this document on my computer and then used the app in my phone to dictate into the document. When the voice activation gets something wrong I reach over and correct it on my desktop screen. I can even walk away from my desk and continue to dictate into the doc to my phone. I would say 95% of the words on the screen have been dictated. I have to kind of laugh because I'm only going to turn around and reread these words into a microphone to be heard. But it seemed to save me quite a bit of time since I can be up doing other things while I've got fresh thoughts in my mind . In fact I'm making a cup of coffee as I speak.

I think I just really like to do things that seem to be Inception-like. Going meta on the meta, you know? Some might find that kind of behavior to be childish, but I like to think of it as a way of exploring possibility.  If a thing can be a thing unto itself I feel it has more weight, more power, more potential.  Kind of like a capacitor, storing potential energy until it makes contact with new path of expression. But, I digress.

Basically, things are clipping along just fine.  No real news to report, which makes this an uneventful update.  But I have to post something in order to avoid the impression of apathy.  I really do care about providing some sort of content.  I think really I just needed a week of “me time”. Now that I have had that I can get back to sharing with everyone.

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/01/30/what-a-week/

On Monday, I explained how my general health has been and what I’m heading into going forward.

On Tuesday, I had that Nuclear Stress Test of my heart. The main result was there are no blockages in my arteries and the heart muscle is in otherwise decent shape. That means no need to pursue any kinds of invasive surgery to correct a failure. Likely, my heart had just suffered from something viral and is taking its time to recover. So while I still have to continue with the heart meds (something I’ll probably always have to take to some degree) I’m generally improving. So that is good news!

Later that day, I spoke to a bariatric Surgeon about needing to remove a pre-cancerous chunk of my colon. This area was identified as a problem after it was biopsied during my colonoscopy in December. Its the section where the appendix connects to the Large Colon. And as it was explained to me, in order to remove it that whole piece of the colon needs to be removed. Which would leave only “clean” tissue to sew back together and allow to heal.

Now is a good time for me to be going ahead with this kind of procedure. I don’t have a day job to worry about needing time off and I’m young enough to not have to worry about an complicated recovery. This procedure will be done laparoscopically, meaning they don’t need slice me wide open. They just make a couple of incisions for the surgery tool and work “under the skin” to remove the offending tissue.

After the news, I took some time for myself to process the information and speak with family. If you've followed my Social Media over the years you know my Brother had Colon Cancer. He went through several procedures, including chemotherapy, before he was declared cancer-free. It feels like, while I don’t HAVE cancer, I AM doing something to prevent me from getting it. That is a good feeling.

Additionally, this is not my first laparoscopic surgery. A few years back, I ended up in the hospital emergency room with a repeating sharp pain in my side. It was my Gall Bladder and it was full of Gall Stones. It inflamed to the point of almost bursting and so emergency surgery was done to remove it that day. In total I was in the hospital for 5 days that time. A day or so for recovery and extra days to monitor a vitamin imbalance.

The surgeon told me this time I should be “in and out” of the hospital and able to recover at home. Which I appreciate, because finding care for the “fur kids” is going to seriously complicate matters. Its good to know that I won’t be “disabled” by recovery and I can just have some neighbors come by and check on me. And everything was cleared by my Cardiologist so there are no concerns about my heart function during this time.

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/01/26/preparing-for-news/

This week will likely follow a theme. That is because tomorrow morning I go in to Overlake Hospital Imaging Center to have a Nuclear Stress Test done on my heart. In doing research, I found that the Mayo Clinic website has a really good article to explain what this is and what it is for. So I will just link it there and if you are interested in those details you can click away.

But how did I get here? I think that is a more interesting story. Lets rewind time a bit and review the events that got me here. It started last July. I had begun to put on some weight and also to feel a bit more fatigued than usual. Now, I’ve been overweight for my entire adult life, but I had not suffered from too much discomfort from it. Its a common American struggle, you know?

But, when I noticed I was having trouble keeping up with my 15 lb dog as we walked, I started to get concerned. As a matter of fact, I remember one evening when, after dinner, I was having trouble breathing and I broke out in a sweat. I had thought, at the time, that maybe I was having a bout of food poisoning. I slept it off and the next day I did feel better, but the overall fatigue never really went away.

Now, I have to add that during this time I was not employed full time. In fact, I was merely working less than half a part time jobs worth of hours, helping my mother with her janitorial business. She had this business for years and it was her only direct income. I did most the heavy lifting and she did all the detailing and billing work. I point this out because I feel it is significant to understand that while I was not holding up a regular 9 to 5 job but I was engaged in daily physical labor for a guy my age.

At any rate, the end of that July Mom had a fall.. Her knees are totaled from all the walking her job demanded and she had become more off balance in recent months. Add to that a tendency to acquire infections and we’d have the occasional fall. This last fall, I didn’t even hear when it happened, but I discovered her in a fugue-like state with a banged up head on the floor of her bedroom. 911 was called. The short version of that tale was that she went into hospital, then assisted living (where she had another fall that broke her hip), then hospital, then rehab and finally back to assisted living.

So, clearly, I had been spending so much time assisting my Mom that I fully neglected my self.

Again, I have to review all of her happening in order to provide a backdrop on where I was this whole time. Which basically, was here at the Wyrmhole, living alone and without any income. I got on some county assistance, but without Mom around I began to really take notice on how unhealthy I was feeling. I remember one day in early October visiting with a neighbor and she has asked me if I’d been to a Doctor. I said no, being unemployed, I didn’t have any insurance and therefore no Doctor. After describing some of my recent symptoms, she took one look at me and called her own Doctor to get me an appointment. Well , it wasn’t long after that the need to get further health insurance assistance became clear.

The visit with that Doctor showed a couple things right away. I was Hyper-tense. I was experiencing High Blood pressure. I had an erratic pulse. AND I was fully diabetic. Clearly, I was going to need some treatments. But my insurance application was filed completely online and did not take this doctor into consideration, so I had to wait a couple more months to get the HMO and Primary Care Provider details filed correctly.

So, clearly, I had been spending so much time assisting my Mom that I fully neglected my self. having access to a Doctor now, it became easier to find out why certain things felt as they did. One night, still October, I believe. I had. . . an episode. I still don’t know what to call it really. I was just overcome with the sense of not being well. I had sat down for dinner and completely lost my appetite. Something felt off, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. I decided to ask my neighbor (the same one that connected me with her doctor) to take me to the local hospital. There, they took me into triage and treated me in case of a cardiac event. But I had not had one; that was the official diagnosis.

Still, the attending doctor did not like the state of my heart and referred me to see a Cardiologist. I’ve been seeing this heart doctor for a few months now and it was at the last visit that we decided to go ahead with this stress test. So, what is wrong with my heart? Well, we don’t fully know yet. What we do know is that I am not pumping out as much blood as I should be. That indicates a weakness in the heart muscle. I take a Beta Blocker called Carvedilol to help with the possible Arrhythmia AND Lisinopril, which aides with the Hypertension. Those meds are certainly helping keeping my heart stable.

But, we don’t fully know the extent of the systolic heart malfunction just yet. That is what tomorrows test is all about. I’ll get all the chambers of my heart functions mapped and evaluated. I should know more about what I’m facing later this week. But just when you think that is heavy enough, we haven’t even gone over the short list of other medical issues I’m dealing with, which are, in no particular order:

1) The new diabetes: I’m on 1000mg of Metformin on this per Meal. I’m also having to adjust to a new diet and lifestyle.

2) An upcoming Appendectomy: something found in a routine Colonoscopy last December needs coming out as a preemptive measure. I actually meet with the Surgeon tomorrow as well.

3) Sleep Apnea: I was actually diagnosed with this back in 2000 or so. The recently acquired medical insurance has helped get me updated and back on a regular course of Sleep Aid with an APAP machine. More on that in another post.

4) Lost teeth: this is going to sound gross, but a few of my teeth just started coming out around this same period of un-health. While I’ve never been as good as I should with my teeth, they could of at least had the courtesy to rot or break like normal mistreated teeth. It been more like they were just abandoning ship. This is why I have developed this slight lisp. I have been a sort of mush-mouth in years passed, but this is getting ridiculous.

I think that about covers is for my current medical issues. Again, my apologies if this is just too much information all at once. But I figured if I’m going to blog about these recent events I better get it all into one post for the sake of record keeping. Much of my other Social Media tells this story as its happening. Maybe I’ll develop some hashtags to group entries and build some pages around those things. We’ll see.

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/01/22/leaving-the-beaten-path/

I started off this blog intending on following all the assignments for a Blogging 101 course online.  I’m still reading the assignments and taking in what the lessons are conveying, but I think the “101-ness” of the course is starting to lose its appeal to me. This may seem like “giving-up” talk; I guess in a way it is.  But when you’ve travelled a path a few times, don’t you start to look for the branch off trails that you have not yet tread?

I’d like to look at this another way. Committing to the course was a great way to get things started with this blog.  We are now three weeks in.  The 101 course will be done soon.  I feel that if I combine these facts with the previous experience I already have that its ok to start thinking about how to blaze my own trail and get a better feel for what I’m trying to do. Its time to re-assess and contemplate on my next moves.

I’ve never been too concerned about building a large audience.  I get that I am my own voice in a sea of voices.  I mean, come on, this is the internet.  If anything, my desire is to build my own perfect time capsule.  I think a lot of us do this by connecting with family and friends and building close relationships.  While I certainly have all those things, I have to say I don’t avail them as much as most people do.  There are reasons for this. Some deliberate and others circumstantial. My point is that things like blogs and audio recordings are just as precious to me as images and video clips are to so many others.  And while nothing beats personal memories shared in real life, what makes them really precious is the retelling and resharing of them.

I often wish I had kept better records of the earlier years of my life.  Sometimes it seems like only the yucky stuff sticks around.  And having the ability to pull up some kind of chronological record seems like it could be useful. Imagine being able to look around a previous time frame and see some of the other amazing stuff that was also happening. Again, the internet, I know.  The point is to be able to key those moments to my own snapshots of life.

Which I guess is ultimately the point of this blog. This is my personal record.  It comes time stamped and now narrated be me.  Here I am.  Hi! Now what . . . .

You would think that the next step would be to record facts based on things around me relevant to right now.  If we are going with the perfect time capsule concept, it should not matter what I put in since it will be marked by the times and serve as a point of reference. That seems wise and prudent.  But I think this is what freaks out many people, including myself, about the internet when recording things even if its of posterity.  Some how the record also makes things seem more real and permanent.  And unforgetable.  But isn’t that the point?

Well it depends on what gets recorded, doesn’t it? If it all goes in, warts and all, how will it look in hindsight?  And, will the context be complementary or contrary to the actual moment? You can see how easy it is to get wrapped up in the “should I or shouldn’t I” of it all.  When I think about it now, it seems to me the best opportunity to put my favorite memories forward, even at the expense of true facts.  What is it they say about the writers of history?

Besides, what is really at stake here?  A look back at a time when a guy wanted to say some stuff. Right?  Or is it all an elaborate smoke screen of nothing? The ultimate misdirection!  Hey, lookee here! See me smiling?  Everything is fine and dandy! How are you?

As always, the honest truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Its a new blog and an opportunity to record this moment in time from my perspective.  But there stuff happening with my health, my finances my general quality of life that is just . . . .blech, at the moment,  And putting them down in the public for all to see and read and hear, well I don’t know anybody that is too terribly comfortable with that. But I will likely get around to some of that eventually, as comfort settles in.  Hell, it may come too suddenly and lands us firmly T.M.I. territory.  I’ll apologize now, if its all the same.

As of this post, the weekend is fast approaching.  I have made it a habit already of alternating between blogs; this being my weekday pursuit and my other blog being for the weekends.  So check out the happenings over at Quantum Xen, where these days it seems to be more about live streaming video games than anything else.  I have fun with that. And I hope your weekend is

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/01/21/re-invention-is-good/

Please ignore the irony of this being only the second post of the week. Given that Monday’s post was about procrastination, it seems I spoke too soon. Yesterday, I put off almost all responsibilities that did not have to do with the welfare of a living being (mostly we are talking my Dog and Cats, Westin, Smokie and Bandit) to dive into a matter _so completely_ trivial to survival that it delayed me on my blogging responsibilities (arguably, also not a survival activity).

That event was the announcement by Marvel Comics that its long standing narrative universes, Marvel Universe and Ultimate Marvel, are getting a “mash-up” with the upcoming Secret Wars launch this May.

I’ll stop and let that sink in.

I know this blog is still pretty new and we have not yet broached the various and sundry interests that I have. Quite honestly, I don’t see a better time to get into it than now. While the news I just recapped only affects a certain number of my acquaintances, its impact is still significant enough to disturb my “web of attention”. And, I will add, its resonance is consistent with other observations I have about other forms of media entertainment.

There really isn’t any better way to catch you up, my visitor, than just linking you to the best source of the information I’m discussing. Here is a convenient link to that announcement by Marvel right here.

Now, what does this mean to me? Well, I describe myself as “Comics Friendly”, and this is what I mean. In days of yore, I bought, read and collected many comics titles. I was not at the level of fandom as many others, but I did enjoy what I consumed. To give some context, this would have been in the mid-1980s. Many fans my age might consider this one of the high points in Comic Book history. I think my collection grew to about 400 individual issues. Not gigantic by a seasoned collectors standpoint, but enough to be a major consideration when planning to move somewhere.

As I grew older, my need for financial stability ate away at my comics collecting priorities and eventually my comics collection itself. But I held onto the interest and have tried to stay knowledgeable of goings on. It hasn’t always worked. Still, I find that other comics fans hold many personal values that are aligned mine. I continue to consider the comic fandoms culture part of my own. Its _kind of_ like having been part of a social club but having moved on. You still get the newsletter. And when big headlines happen you stop to look into what all the hubbub is about.

There is always a desire to go back and become more involved again. All the social tropes of collecting comics still have appeal to me. The visiting of the cool store. Chatting with other customers and geeking out over common interests. Whats not to like about that? And so when something like this announcement comes along its easy to see what almost everyone involved calls a “jumping on point”. A place where the overall narrative of a title or series of titles (in this case, potentially an entire publishing venture) welcomes new readers or readers like me that have been gone and can come back. I shouldn’t get into all the nuances of a jumping on point because there are several layers to them. But mostly, in my opinion, its a cash grab. An opportunity for the publishing house to bolster its revenue stream.

I realise the language I have chosen here has a bitter flavor; I’m not trying to talk down on this industry or its fandom. Its just that I’m older now and the very real business side of this otherwise fantasy pursuit tends to scream out at me. Let me elaborate. In High School, I remember being the kid that went to the comics shop _for_ a lot of my friends. I’d buy multiple copies of several recent issues, keep one for myself and collect cash for the other copies for my friends. Not really a business as much as a friendly service; I did my part to keep my pals interested in comics. There were quite a few of us. And I now realise that if I went to those lengths back then, there were probably thousands of kids just like me doing similar things. In short, all of us childhood fans are grown-ups now and together make up a good percentage of the Gross National Product.

So the way I see it, this is why there is a lot of media based on comics these days. We all dreamed of an Avengers movie one day. Now it has happened. Hell, there is a whole franchise planned for the next 6 years or more. But, the growing up of various fan bases will never end. There will always be a new generation of dollars . . ehem . .fans, to cater to . So, occasionally, the creators are going to need to crack open an industrial sized can of Febreeze on their product so that it can maintain its appeal.

In a lot of ways, this is also why entertainment has for years remade many of our favorite properties. There is new audience to “harvest”. When the old visuals or text or whatever medium that was used to deliver content initially has fallen out of favor, you can always shoot new footage, add a compelling soundtrack, start a marketing campaign and viola! You have renewed interest and revitalized cash flow.

It should not be considered a bad thing that millions of dollars are wrapped up in making and selling us our favorite stories. Personally, I think its a good thing. I don’t understand the fans that complain that “its not like it once was” while handing their hard earned cash or credit over to the proprietor of the content. And even those that choose NOT to purchase the revived content for the same reasons seem to me to some extent to be eschewing the propagation of a new fan base. We can’t keep telling the same old stories because _how_ we tell stories changes. The first time someone stood between the campfire and a wall the strictly oral tradition of storytelling was doomed. Storytelling evolves, just like we do.

<i><u>Editor's Note:</u> Epic fail on the video side, yet again. Sorry for getting any hopes up :-(</i>

We are back at the Blogging 101 assignments this week.  I’m wanting to do better than last week.  When the course turns to tweaking the functions of the various aspects of a Wordpress blog I feel like I’m really re-treading.  But today's assignment, which is to use a Prompt to create new content, isn’t sitting with me well, at least initially.

My first thought was, ok I’ll give it a shot.  There is a provided site with a bunch of prompts in a handy little widget. Great.  However, as I refreshed through one prompt after another I found I just wasn't connecting with any of the subject matter.  I think that is because my intended purpose of my blog was to have a place not just to visit, but to vent. A safe place to put my thoughts while also sharing openly.

Then <a href="https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/now-later/" target="_blank">I found a prompt that I think I can handle</a>.  It goes like this: “We all procrastinate. Website, magazine, knitting project, TV show, something else — what’s your favorite procrastination destination?” My first thought here is, “I have to pick one?”

Honestly, I’m highly distracted in general. Its a wonder I can keep blogging or creating content.  But here is a short list of the things that take up my time:

1) My iPad - Specifically any game that I am playing against someone with.  I play the Lords of Waterdeep IOS version of the popular board game with a buddy. I also still play Words with Friends against my brother.  Both of King’s Candy Crush games are often played and the IOS version of Criminal Case hidden object game give me a few extra point from the Facebook Flash version.

2) Which brings me to Facebook.  I practically live here. Is something a distraction if it takes up all your time? I guess if it keeps you from other important things, then yes.  But so much of social interaction happens there I can’t stay off.  I still even use pokes. And of course, the casual games, like Criminal Case mentioned earlier.

3) YouTube - I first started watching channels in 2013.  Last year, I began dabbling in LiveStreaming and Video Uploading, but my main interaction is still watching subscribed channels, particularly from Vloggers.  I feel like the vlogger lifestyle was predicted by media like The Truman Show and EdTV, but they left out a very important aspect which is self-editing.  Because it is so cheap and easy to record and upload content many creators are also their own editors which does a lot to change how the content is presented.  Its not always as intrusive or obnoxious as say Instagram or Twitter.  There is some real thought and consideration in some independent YouTube content.

Well, those are my top 3 anyway.  There is a whole list of TV shows and online content that I follow that its hard for me to classify as a distraction.  And to attempt to chose a favorite is nearly impossible.  As an example, here is a list of the current shows I am following:

12 Monkeys

Gotham

Sleepy Hollow

Agent Carter

Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.

The Flash

Arrow

Constantine

And those are just the ones that have new episodes airing this week.

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/blog/2015/01/15/bits-and-baubles/ Its been a wet and blustery day around The Wyrmhole.  Temperatures in my area have been hovering around in the 40s.  But today, the wind has kicked up and the rain dances between liquid and solid.  The weather forecast is for snow down to the 5000’ level, which means the top of Mt Si should be white again by morning.

But, listen to me try to wax on about the weather.  That’s always a sign that there isn’t much to talk about.  Or not much to share, anyway.

I DID have that website a friend of a friend needed help with earlier today.  We met at the local library where we used a study room to sit side-by-side and pour over all the technical considerations.  Basically the problem was this: One day a couple of years ago, the blog site just stopped working.  There was no error and no other explanation. Just a simple text output into the browser upon visiting its URL that read “No input file specified”.

And I guess it stayed that way for over a couple years while its owner had to deal with Life.  

So, we cracked open our best Google searches and checked all the files and settings and determined a couple things: 1) a crucial file had been injected with extra PHP code, causing the site to be compromised and 2) the hosting provider, upon detecting this insecure file, clamped down security on those files making them impossible to do _anything_, let alone function normally.

The first part of the discovery took the most time.  Checking every little aspect of the uploaded files, permissions and database configurations. Also, verifying that the state of the webserver itself was in good stead, before contacting technical support. That was the MAIN reason I was there; I speak Tech Support-ese.  

There are more than enough tales of tech support online that I don’t need to create a new one here.  I do have the experience of knowing what will be asked for and needed. Because I used to be the one on the other end of the line, helping customers find solutions or providing assistance for them. So, a good amount of time was saved by preparing all those answers before calling.  Its a skill that I wish I could find a way to monetize; being a “tech support interpreter”. 

We only had one flub; after waiting on hold for an indeterminate but lengthy time to speak to someone, the call got disconnected at our end right as the support agent picked up.  So, we had to call back and get back in the queue.  The second wait time wasn’t quite as long and we filled the time checking a few other things to eliminate some troubleshooting.  But in the end, we were informed that as long as we had removed the offending code the Security department could release the hold on the site. . . tomorrow.  Because they’d already gone home for the day.

So, we wrapped up our session and I am awaiting an update soon to find out if the site returns to an operational state. That would make me quite happy.  I’ve saved more than a few websites like this and it is always a thrill to see it all working again.

Meanwhile, I still have Blogging 101 course stuff to achieve.  Today was an assignment about adding Widgets.  I didn’t think I really needed any more, but then I cracked open the Widgets configuration and found a few to try out. Some new ones include:

Left Margin:

1) a new email subscription signup form. I replace the one I was going to use with FeedBurner. instead, I’m going with the Wordpress service for now. Eventually, I’ll move this to MailChimp for more customization

2) New Album Art graphic which links to the iTunes page for this Audio Journal.  I needed an excuse to put another graphic into the page layout before the Blogging University graphic, because the later had been showing up as the default thumbnail on some of my posts.  I’m hoping the Album Art becomes that default now instead.  We shall see.

Right Margin: 

1) I thought I should put some reference to my other blog in case a visitor has nothing else to look at.  So, I’ve added a Recent Posts feed from my Quantum Xen blog.  

2) I went ahead and connected my Facebook Page likes and subscribers so they can get some recognition here.

I also added on more feature, late last night.  I started up a Tumblr account. I know there are some places (like Reddit) where self promotion is frowned upon.  But I’ve seen enough content creators post only their own material on Tumblr that I thought “Why not?”  Wordpress already does the automatic sharing function.  I just have to figure out how to best format my posts to make the Tumblr versions look alright.

So anyway, that’s been my Thursday.  Tomorrow, I will be away from The Wyrmhole for a time while I consult with my Sleep Medicine specialists (a story for another time, probably late tomorrow). In the meantime, be well and as always thank you for taking this time to spend with me.  Will see you again soon!

Unintentional Break - a couple of unexpected days off

http://fromthewyrmhole.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/01152015-1.mp3Its been a couple days since the last post.  I knew eventually that we’d leave the “honeymoon” phase of expecting a Daily post and that Reality and Life would start to creep in.  It has happened to me before.  And if the pattern plays out like it has in the past, there will be recurring events that will try to disguise…