Monday, June 1, 2009

an excellent Sunday

It's not often that I write so many entries so close together. However, yesterday certainly deserves some comment. Church was very helpful in a couple of ways. The sermon was very timely. As our pastor went through numerous examples of how God puts us where we're most needed, it suddenly became clear to me that it was alright to set aside Enchantment's Twilight. Long-time readers will recall that I did this in creative frustration some time ago choosing to focus on short stories while I handled the overly ambitious mobility ajenda I had embarked on. Now that time is stretching before me endlessly again, I can appreciate Enchantment's Twilight for the life-long project that it likely is. There was never any way I could pull of the kind of complex overall vision I have for the game in a span of five years. It may very well take three or four times that long for me to even have the ghost of a chance of pulling it off alone presuming I did nothing else. Frankly, I don't have that kind of patience. I need to feel that I'm having some sort of impact on other people's lives or I lose the balance of conscience I work so hard to maintain. At last, I understand that God is alright with this. I can proceed with these short stories and whatever else is sent my way without feeling guilty for abandoning this grand vision of a magnum opus game I've been given. I simply have to trust that the life experience I need to proceed with that as well as the autobiographical book will be granted me or not as he sees fit.

The signs are pretty good that I'm going to live a life that at least is a bit more connected and less solitary. The barbecue at the church went quite well and I met a number of new people. Many of them seem to live fairly close or are related to people who do. A number of complete families spanning two or three generations use the church as a connection point. I never had much of a sense of that in the Oakville CRC. There's such a sense of up-beet energy in the place. After the lunch, a group of us went on a tour of Lake Wabacane which is a man-made lake right near the church. I'm not by inclination a nature buff but certainly appreciate it when it comes with a chance to socialise and observe people.

Yesterday ended with a dinner with some good family friends. The hamburgers were excellent and it was fun to catch up with the happenings in their lives. I got a fairly good night's sleep but not nearly as good as after Saturday. So far, today has been going pretty well.

I've started to try writing a short story about a chain of events which start with the spending of a single dollar. So far, that's going alright. I've also checked in with that new dating site for disabled people I've joined up with. I figured I'd use their blog facilities as a means of more extensively introducing myself through some of the stories in A Life of Word and Sound. They've already begun to draw some positive comments. I don't know how much I'll use the forums. They're not as intuitive to access. However, I plan to check out some other peoples' blogs and leave some comments if I deem any appropriate. I've also put a little more money into mp3fiesta.com so that I can grab the odd track which catches my fancy. Thank goodness they still have options which don't lock you in to a continuous cost. There are months and months where no new music is worth even downloading let alone buying. I need to be able to go right away and look up a song that strikes my fancy before I forget the name of it. Later on today, Che Martin is supposed to be releasing his version of Texas Holdem as well as Hearts. I don't have much inclination for Hearts but Texas Holdem is a card game I actually feel somewhat competent with. I'll definitely take it for a spin. Having something like that to pass some time with when writer's block strikes would be very good for me. I'm not partial to AllinPlay's other offerings although their version of Texas Holdem was also quite entertaining. Che's charging quite a bit less for access to one game by the sound of it which is perfect for me. Dad and I have started looking into starting an RDSP for me. I plan on saving some money up to contribute to it along with my parents. By the time I'm 49 and have to stop contributing to it, there ought to be enough set aside to make things a bit better for me from age 59 onwards. You can't withdraw money any earlier than that without incurring a penalty. It's good to be able to actually do that and take some responsibility for one's own future. Before now, there was seriously no way one could legally do that while on ODSP. They've also raised the yearly allowed money which can be received as gifts, donations or honorariums.

Well, that pretty much wraps things up. I just listened to a sad but interesting documentary podcast from the BBC called Anatomy of a Car Crash. All of the people involved in an acident were allowed to tell their stories and give comments on how it effected their lives. If I were a young driver, I would think hearing this show would be pretty sobering. It really brings home how the slightest moment of mistaken judgement or lapsed attention could involve anybody in something like that. Very grim stuff but well worth the listen.

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