(no subject)

I've had a number of interesting moments in my life of late. Perhaps more memorable due to everything else being so humdrum, but interesting nonetheless.

I caught a cold/cough/flu thing rather hard last weekend that I'm starting to slowly get over. Mental capacity and clarity was thankfully only diminished for a few days, though the energy levels are still sub-par. Not that they're ever all that high to begin with... Mostly I just have to carry around a lot more tissues than usual and have a random violent cough. But just like one; more of a throat clearing thing, I think. As I've been sick twice this year already, I have zero sick days left, so at least two of my days off this past week will be unpaid. It's a bummer, but at the same time, if you really think about having days for which you get paid to not come in to work, having any at all is rather keen.

I continue to play through Fire Emblem Three Kingdoms along with two other guys at work, which has been absolutely a blast, as we can all discuss the same plots, characters, etc. and the various ways we're going through the various routes. I've not had anyone go through a game the same time in a very long time, basically since my brother and I were sharing games at home. It's probably kept me playing through the game more than I would have. 240+ hours and counting on it, and I'm on the 2nd new game+, or 3rd go through. I really don't like this Edelgard route though, I have to say. One has to make too many morally questionable decisions and kill too many beloved characters for it to sit right with me. I can't wait to finish the slog and maybe go one last time through the Golden Deer route again. That one has the least horrible story line. And to cleanse the pallet in between, I've been replaying through the Batman Arkham games. I'm on Knight, but early on yet. It's ever so much fun to beat on fools, though Knight does make a number of new baddies that are a pain and completely throw off your groove. Who the hell electrifies themselves so you get damaged hitting them, I ask you?

The most interesting part of my recent months has been the various words I've had spoken over me from various people at church. Each one came from a complete stranger, and most of them had zero input from me, so I wasn't influencing their prayers in any particular direction. They've all been similar, but each one has touched a different aspect, which has been both cool, and rather odd. Specifically, I've had three different words now that God will be using me creatively. I am often very math-minded and logical, but also have an artistic side. Through the years I've dabbled at guitar, drawing, and writing. And in the past month or two, I've had each one of those three things -- music, writing, and art -- specifically mentioned as things that are going to be used by me in some way; more, that I would be improving in them. I like all of them, and have always wanted to be good enough to use them for something, but it's also disconcerting simply because I never really thought anything would come of them other than being occasional hobbies. Regardless, each of the words have been rather specific to me, and each one has had a sense of very soon-ness to them; a near immediacy, if you will.

I look forward to such things happening, but am quite uncertain as to how it could come about. I know God can, I just so rarely believe he will, which, honestly, comes out to be much the same when you look at it. I ever look to Gideon as an example when I ask God things. It's like, please, help me to be really sure it's you.

Writing thoughts

As much as I enjoy writing in my journal by hand at night, and though everyone is going small with phones and pads, there yet remains something to be said for the speed and efficacy of a good keyboard, be it on a laptop or desktop. My keyboard may not be the best quality on this laptop, but it is not cramped, and I can write ever so much faster here, as well as edit mistakes. It's much easier to write nearer to the speed at which I think, certainly. I've been hand writing for well over a decade now, but I still don't do so swiftly. I have write as I always have, small, and fairly precise. I always dreaded timed essays in school for that reason. I never could put enough down in the time allotted. Well, that, and I simply hate all essays with a fiery passion. But a good laptop, writing whatever I feel like writing? Terrific.

To be fair, the slower speed of writing by hand does allow my thoughts to coalesce a bit more into something slightly more coherent, though still a bit in the vein of stream of consciousness. I hate writing on phones. They are so imprecise and it's inevitable to make many mistakes, which then take a bit of time to correct. I've always been a stickler for presenting my thoughts and words as I intend them even in texts and messaging. For that reason, I tend to turn off even auto capitalizing and auto word correction on my phone. I want to emphasize what I want to emphasize, and structure my sentence as I want, in order to aptly convey my meaning, particularly when it comes to nuances. Also, most emojis are stupid. A few are useful, but if you have to use them to make yourself properly understood, then you need to learn how to better write. Using them as nuance in a statement, or to punctuate a feeling is a great idea, but otherwise, do we really need to return to hieroglyphics? Also, it's a bit difficult to translate into speech... Not going to go on a rant.

I'm all for brevity of thought and speech, but only if it aptly and truly conveys the entirety of the thought. Words, properly harnessed, can paint the most vivid of pictures all their own, and uses the reader's imagination to fit it all together. Man, now I want to go reread so many books. Also, I return to the thought of how much longer writing by hand takes. Looking at even this amount thus far that I have, it sure would have taken a long-ass time (long ass-time, as xkcd would say) to do by hand. I've slowly worked at, and improved upon, my cursive skills, which were practically non-existent all throughout school, but it is neither very fast, nor nearly as compact as my normal, so I don't often do so. I can barely imagine the days, only a few decades gone, when all children wrote cursive, and all essays and assignments were by hand. I hate essays as it is, and I only ever wrote them once, spell checked them, then turned them in. I wouldn't fancy having to rewrite them numerous times. Though t'would be cool to have a practiced hand at cursive. I slaver over calligraphy done well.

And now my brain is empty. Bed time.