Something funny I've discovered about this blog...

During the past few days I've come to learn a lot about my own blog.  F'rinstance, according to Google's statistics this site is getting many, many more visits than have been accounted for by the site's meter.  How many more?  Well, let's just say the actual hit count is now well over two million, if I've figured it right.

Wow.

There's a "tags" tab in the sidebar, containing the names of labels for posts given them.  But I've gone so crazy with labeling that there are too many to reasonably include in the sidebar!  So I spent the better part of an hour last night going through them all, picking out which ones to have show up.  The most important criteria was how many posts each label had.

It was... enlightening.  Some labels genuinely surprised me at how many times I had used them.  I won't say which but there was one in particular that I had to include, when otherwise I probably would not at this point in the blog's evolution.  But those posts are still there, and I'm not going back to delete them, so have fun figuring out which label I'm referring to.

And then there is the popular posts tab that is the default when you go to the blog.  For years now I've been telling everyone that there are three items that consistently draw the most traffic to this blog: ghost photographs, visiting a Seventh-Day Adventist church, and Popcorn Sutton (about his life but mostly about where to buy his moonshine).  Go figure.

Some didn't believe me when I said that.  But there's the proof!  Ghosts, visiting a church, and moonshine are the top three draws to The Knight Shift.  That ain't looking to change anytime soon.  Good lucky finding that moonshine!

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AAAAAANNNDDD... We're back!!

So... the blog has a new look.

Not all thanks to me, no doubt.  I had help.  Thanks/blame Brian Fesperman, "Weird" Ed Woody, Stephen Shumate and maybe a few others for encouraging me to keep my sanity during this process, especially just today as some serious kinks were worked out of the new template.

Please note that the redesign doesn't have the post's full text on the front page.  You have to click the "Read More" button on the right of each entry.  If I had known it would look this pretty, I would have done it like that a long time ago.

There's a responsive menu at the top of the page.  Play around with it, see what you find!

The sidebar is tabbed.  Which if you remember the previous sidebar, this one is also much easier to navigate around.

And certainly most obvious is the photo slideshow.  I'm going to do what I can to keep that updated in a timely fashion.  Looks beautiful, aye?

A little fine-tuning still to go, but otherwise The Knight Shift is officially re-skinned.  Hope you all enjoy it :-)

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Pardon our dust

Methinks it's time to change things up a bit around here.

Don't be surprised if this blog experiences some trauma during the next few days or so.  I've a hankering to get creative with templates and Photoshop.  Hope to have a new look ready to go soon :-)

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Help a friend with a missions trip to Guatemala!

To be honest, this is the kind of thing that I'm always leery of doing on this blog.  I really do wish that I could do what I can to help everyone but there's only so much time, and so little of me, to spare toward the effort.  However when such a wonderful longtime friend asked me to spread the word about what she'll soon be doing, I couldn't resist.  It's an honor to do whatever I can for her and this very worthwhile effort.

So it is that Destiny Edwards will soon be going on a missions trip to Guatemala, for the purpose of assisting those in need of food, shelter and educational supplies.  It's in coordination with a group called House of Hope Guatemala, which helps the people of that country and especially its children.

Right now Destiny is looking for physical supplies, such as crayons and pens and erasers.  But there is also a financial need for other materials, including food and other educational instruments.  To that end Destiny has set up a contributions page on GoFundMe for her trip.  The goal is to raise $1,500 but much more would be greatly appreciated.  Destiny leaves next month on her humanitarian journey: still plenty of time to make donations and help with her efforts.  I can vouch for her: she's one of the most dedicated and passionate people who I've ever known and she will absolutely make the most of and be extremely grateful for anything that can help out.

So pick up those pho... errr... click on that link and whip out the ol' magic plastic and do a good deed for those sweet kids in Guatemala!  She will appreciate it.  And I as your humble blogger and narrator will be thankful for it also :-)

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Blow-by-blow account of "We Are The World"

This past week was the thirtieth anniversary of the release of "We Are The World": the multi-multi-multi-talented collaboration of most of the biggest stars during the era.  It was a song to inspire relief from hunger in Africa.  Recording legend Quincy Jones miraculously corralled all of that musical force in the wee hours of the night right after the American Music Awards had wrapped.  The result?  Still a monument to pop culture at its best.

Something we'll probably never see the likes of again.

Rolling Stone has published an astounding account, practically moment-by-moment, of the night that Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Cindy Lauper, Willie Nelson and 40-some of their closest friends (who also had Dan Ackroyd among them, strangely) came together to record the song.  There is some really crazy material here.  My favorite is probably the heated argument, at 1 a.m., between Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles (several hours after Wonder escorted Charles to the restroom in a true "blind leading the blind" moment).  This was just about everybody who was major on the music scene at the time (except for Prince, whose conspicuous absence is remarked upon in the article).

Can you imagine something like this happening today?  We'd probably have Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Hozier, Lorde and maybe even "Weird Al" Yankovic along with dozens of others in the same studio.  Personally, I can't see that.  What can be said?  It was the Eighties.  This is a product of that era.  And one well worth remembering.

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Die in this game and you can never EVER play it again

Thank the Lord this isn't a Super Mario Brothers game.  Or a Fallout title.

So here's the conceit: if you die in Upsilon Circuit, you get perma-permadeath.  As in: you'll never play the game again.  Not because you won't want to play but because you literally can't play.  Ever again.  You get one life, one chance to make it through.  And that's it.  One shot at making it through to final screen.

And it won't be easy.

From the article at Kotaku:

The fantasy RPG plops specially selected players onto a single server and divides them into two teams of four. This means only eight players will ever be playing Upsilon Circuit at any given moment, and their adventures will likely come to swift, brutal ends. Sounds terrifying, right? Every move you make can literally be your last.

On top of that, the game will have a participatory audience watching live, something nearly as cool as the "one death ever" conceit. Here's how it works:

"Each Contestant explores the overworld and generated dungeons in search of the Dream Tech Crystals. They fight monsters, avoid traps, and compete with the opposing team."

"When the Contestant fights monsters or gets treasure, the EXP and other rewards go to the Audience. EXP is used collectively by the Audience to level up the Contestant's Skill Tree. Simply put, the Audience is part dungeon master, part strategist, and part judge & jury."

Sorta makes you wish Gary Gygax was still alive and making easy stuff like "Tomb of Horrors", aye?

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Time and mind

Who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows?
Only time... 

And who can say if your love grows,
As your heart chose?
Only time... 

-- Enya, "Only Time"

Manic-depression has a time dilation effect. There are periods when time slows to a snail's pace. There are others, like what I'm going through right now, when time goes by too fast.

Either results in the same thing. An oppressive sense that time and life itself is being wasted. That the harder I try to wrest control of time the more it flees away from me. I think, for me anyway, that is the source of a lot of the paranoid thoughts. My mind is either extrapolating situations and outcomes beyond rationality or it is deathly afraid of being "left behind" by the rest of you who have a normal perception of time. I'm too fast or too slow. Too young and too old, and sometimes both at once.

Maybe if time was not so inconstant for me, I could have had a normal life long ago...

Just some musings today while sitting at the keyboard, trying to collect thoughts through the walls of dark being as I struggle with problems regarding my book.

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The astounding eye-popping artwork of Cameron Hobbs

What's Your Mindset? by Cameron Hobbs, 2015

This is someone to keep an eye out for, because he's going to go far. Way, way far.  Cameron Hobbs is the son of a dear friend.  A little over two years ago she began posting some of Cameron's art on her Facebook page.  It was... well, a lot better than most kids at the age of 12 can do, that's for sure.  Not long after Cameron created a page devoted to his work.

I've been following his progress ever since.  And it has been nothing less than an absolute marvel to watch this young man grow and develop into an amazing artist.  His forte is comic book art, but as you can see from What's Your Mindset? above, his skill and imagination make him a force to be reckoned with across a myriad of genres.

It really would not be surprising to see Cameron working on a best-selling comic book/graphic novel in the next ten years.  And quite possibly much more than that.

Want to see more of Cameron's portfolio?  He's got a virtual gallery on Facebook.  And also be sure to check out the original Superhero Art to see what else he's been working on.  Who knows: you too might be wanting a print to hang on your own wall!

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I gotta get this out of my system...

$7.49 for a box of one-dozen original glazed.

What.  The &%$#.  Is WRONG.  With you.  Krispy Kreme. ?!?

In a different time and a better reality, those were something that all and sundry enjoyed to no end.  Not anymore.

They used to be a dollar a box.  And then two dollars.  Just a few short months ago it was five bucks and change.  Now it's closing in on eight dollars a dozen.

Donuts should not be luxury items.

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He lived long and prospered

"Of my friend, I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."

-- James T. Kirk, eulogizing Spock. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

 Leonard Nimoy

1931 ~ 2015

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The Big White-out of February '15

During last night and into early this morning, a huge swath of the state got blanketed with 4-8 inches of snow. Here's how it looked at my house around 7:30 this morning.

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Tammy wants to sing to you...

Behold her beautiful singing voice!

Been too long since I've posted any pics of Tammy.  I happened to catch her right in the midst of one of her yawns (which, it must be said, sound hilariously cute):

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Let her go? Queen Elsa arrested near Charleston for FROZEN weather

Disclaimer: I have yet to see Disney's Frozen, so I have no idea about how extensive Elsa's criminal activities go.  I'm assuming they are pretty pervasive, given how much I've heard it talked about by numerous children I've found myself around.

Just days after police in Harlan, Kentucky issued a warrant for her arrest, Queen Elsa was located this morning all the way in Hanahan: a small town near Charleston, South Carolina.  Hanahan police spotted Elsa freezing a fountain in broad daylight.  Police swooped in and arrested the Snow Queen before she could bring down the fury of a cold front threatening the area.

ABC News 4 is reporting that...

With more bitter cold heading to the Lowcountry this week, Hanahan police officers tried to do their part to stop the encroaching weather by arresting the Snow Queen.

Police Chief Mike Cochran and Officer Flor Reyes made the arrest.

In this case, police could not let her go after spotting her freezing a fountain in Hanahan. However, she was freed after a bond court hearing. Apparently the ice melted before the hearing, taking with it any evidence.

The ABC News 4 link has much more about Elsa's arrest, including several other photos among them pics of her getting her bond hearing.

No word on whether Elsa began singing "Let Me Go" after being handcuffed.

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I suppose nothing good lasts forever

The Walking Dead may have jumped the shark tonight.

I'm not the only one with that estimation.  Many others are expressing the same thing.

This show has gone political, and far too blatantly so.

This episode had one and only one purpose.  It was one scene.  A scene designed to throw something into the face of viewers.  And that's all that this episode was meant to do.

I don't care for that no matter what one's persuasion may be.  What I've enjoyed most of The Walking Dead is that it explores the human condition in the face of the most trying of circumstances, and it does so without regard to political perspectives.  That's what has made The Walking Dead such refreshing viewing.

Tonight The Walking Dead fell back into the gutter that is most of the rest of television.

Very disappointed.  Very.

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Movies I've Never Seen: First edition has Chris abiding THE BIG LEBOWSKI

This is the first installment of something that I've had in mind to do for a few years now.  I think this is going to be a fun new feature of The Knight Shift.

Here's the deal: my DVR is loaded... and I mean loaded... with movies that for some reason or another I've never watched before in my entire life.  They've just been sitting there, waiting for me to take the time to partake of them.  And as time goes by and especially as I find my knowledge of films has some significant gaps in it, I increasingly find myself wondering "what the heck's in there?"

So I'm finally going to see what these movies are about, and then share my thoughts about them here on this blog.  This is going to be an ongoing if irregular feature, but I'll try to do it at least once a month (the next few movies have already been selected.).

So without further ado, kicking it all off is a movie that a lot of people were abjectly shocked that I had never watched before...

The Big Lebowski (1998)

I had to watch this three times before I felt confident enough to write about it and even now, I'm wondering if I "get" it on a level comparable to that of others.

Now, I did enjoy The Big Lebowski.  It's a Coen Brothers film, with all of the quirkiness that I've come to expect of them.  No, more than that: it's their signature style all cranked up on high-octane crystal meth, and it makes for a hella fun ride.  But my biggest problem with The Big Lebowski is that there is not one character - other than Donny and The Stranger - who I felt any measure of sympathy or empathy for.

Take Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) f'rinstance.  The central character to this mad tale of mistaken identity, bowling, and absconding trophy wives.  I liked The Dude.  He is, as The Stranger puts it, a man for his time and place.  But I didn't particularly feel moved by him.  He's someone to watch, not to be become attached to.  Like a lab rat running around trying to navigate a maze... or doing its damndest to not be devoured by a rattlesnake.  That, to me, is The Dude: a slacker out of his league (though certainly not by his own free will) who finds himself a pawn in a larger game.  But that is all that he is to me: a pawn in a larger game.  Although just as in chess, the pawn that reaches the final row can become a greater piece... and that is what The Dude is in the end.  That's all that we know of him after that, what The Stranger tells us.  I like to think that The Dude finally grows up and becomes more than the person we've spent two hours watching in this mad manic adventure.

And then there is Walter (John Goodman).  Again, no real attachment to this character.  In some ways he's more pathetic than The Dude.  Stuck in the past, unable to move beyond his failed marriage.  Still trapped by his ex-wife.  Using his unresolved anger about the Vietnam War as a cover (barely) for his frustrations.  Am I supposed to feel anything for Walter?  I lost any possible sympathy for him when he whipped his piece out at the bowling alley and threatened poor Smokey.  And he was already blowing whatever goodwill he may have had with his torrent of F-bombs at Donny (Steve Buscemi).

Like I said, these aren't characters that I particularly "liked".  With two exceptions.  One of them is Donny, who is suffering all of this nonsense with an extreme amount of grace.  Donny seems to be the only one of this trio of bowling buddies who I had any sense of appreciation toward.  Which makes what happens to him later so tragic, even heartbreaking.

And then there's The Stranger (Sam Elliott, wonderful as always).  The character who I found myself relating to the most.  In large part it's because of his aversion to the harsh language throughout this movie (and in all sincerity, there is too much of it).  But even that is an aspect of a larger dimension to The Stranger.  He's the cypher, the framing device that puts the glorious mess of The Big Lebowski into proper perspective.  The Stranger is the keystone of the entire enterprise.  Without him as the bookends of this film, there is not much more than a barely-coherent mess populated by this Greek chorus of colorful if not likable characters.

This is not an enviable set of circumstances at all, from start to finish.  I mean, The Dude gets his head plunged into a toilet, fercryinoutloud.  And then his quest to replace his rug (it really tied the room together) runs afoul of hostage situations, drugged-up visions and ninja-esque nihilists.  Again, all involving more characters that I didn't have any sense of empathy toward.

Maybe that's part of the point of this movie.  It's to be witnessed, not to have any feelings of associating with.  It's to be enjoyed, not to necessarily be understood and much less embraced.  It's kinda like a comedy out of the Sixties.  Yes, this is the Coen Brothers paying homage to Blake Edwards, as only they can.

All of that said, I did enjoy The Big Lebowski.  A lot.  It is a Coen Brothers movie, and true to their style it's a work which is greater than the sum of its parts.  Taken apart and divvied-up, there is not much to really enjoy.  But mash all of those characters and situations together, and it's well-orchestrated hilarity flying past the retina in connected episodes of mayhem and Chandler-esque mystery.

So, I finally watched The Big Lebowski, and I find my knowledge of movies all the more enlightened for it.  I'm wondering if it's too early to put this film on the National Film Registry, as happened recently.  But maybe with more viewings I'll come to understand and appreciate that more.  And I do plan to watch it a few more times, at least.

Anyway, let's go bowling...

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Catherine Rose: Mother, genius, communications pioneer

Catherine Rose and her daughter Alexis

It is an honor and a privilege to be able to say that I have been able to count Catherine Rose among the friendships that I have made through this journey in life.  She and I were in high school together and shared many conversations back and forth from our swim meets.  Catherine is, literally, one of the most powerhouse intellects on the face of the Earth.  I thought that then about her and the past decade has only served to reinforce that estimation.

Catherine and her husband are blessed to be the parents of two beautiful daughters.  One of them, Alexis, was born with severe disabilities that prevent her from learning and communicating as other children her age.  It was something that led Catherine to take a position at Philips and their healthcare division.  In her time at Philips, Catherine has led the development of a system which could be used by Alexis and countless others to express thoughts and ideas that would otherwise be extremely difficult.  Catherine's technology, called LightAide, is now being employed throughout the world by people from all walks of life.  For her efforts, she and her team have been lauded with many awards from the healthcare and engineering communities.

I know of no other way to put it than this: Catherine Rose is the precisely right person to accomplish this magnificent task.  I can not possibly think of anyone else so gifted and given such an opportunity to share that gift with so many.

And now Catherine has been named among The Mighty!  That website has just posted an in-depth conversation with Catherine in regard to her family, LightAide, and how technology is providing a bridge across which we all may span together...

Rose noticed her daughter's attraction to lights and convinced her employer to build a teaching tool to help children with visual impairments learn. LightAide is now being used around the world by people of all ages, and, just as important, by their teachers and caregivers, who are beginning to realize their charges might have better cognitive abilities than previously thought.

"There's a whole lot of people who have vision, but they have low vision," Rose said. "They can't see as well in the light that we normally give them. But if we give them more light, then they may be able to use more vision."

Mash here for more of The Mighty's interview with Catherine.

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From inside the chrysalis

The realization has been growing in the past several weeks and months that I have not written much of the kind of serious material that I used to do.

Okay, not exactly true.  There have been dozens upon dozens of pages of written work that I have been producing, for the past nine months.  But it hasn't seen the light of day because it's all for the book I'm writing about having manic-depression.

(Well, that isn't exactly true either.  Every so often I'll play a game with my friends on Facebook, telling them that if my status gets so-and-so many "likes" that I'll post a sentence from my manuscript.  Sort-of my way of beta-testing the tone that the writing is in as I'm writing it.)

No, what I mean is: I haven't been writing any serious contemplations or musings on my blog in what seems like forever.  And I'm wondering why that is.  Especially because I've been told that those have been some of the posts that have consistently drawn a readership here.

Maybe it's because I'm changing as a person.  And I think that writing the book is the biggest reason.  Yes, it's taken up a lot of time and energy that would otherwise be spent blogging from my heart and soul.  But it's also compelling me to develop as a writer.

More than that: I'm metamorphosing as a person.

Dad's passing certainly figures into the equation.  It took a lot out of me.  It took out things that only now am I really beginning to recover from.  But I think that I'm coming away from it stronger as a person, and I know that Dad would appreciate it.

For those of you who have asked if I'm ever going to do "serious" stuff again here: yes.  Absolutely.  I have every intention of doing so.  But for now, I have to see where this goes.  Where God is taking me.  What He is making me into.  I'm inside a chrysalis and I have no idea what it is that I'm supposed to be when I emerge from it.  All I can do in the meantime is continue to grow and change and experience the delights of mere becoming.

More and more, the title I have in mind for my book is being more appropriate.  Four words.  Four syllables.  But those four words are packed with meaning.  And if (or "when" as my friends keep telling me) it is published, the final sentence is going to really slam home what manic-depression has done to my life.  But that may not be all a bad thing.  I'm still growing toward that as a person.  Which is going to make that last sentence as much a thing of wonder for me as I hope it will be for you.

In the meantime, I keep writing.  I keep evolving.  I keep being shaped and molded according to His will and not my own.  But I do think very much so that after seeing how far this goes, that I will come out of it a stronger person of the pen.  And I'm looking forward to writing more of that kind of stuff for y'all.

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