Posts

Showing posts from 2023

Christmas at Brookfield

Image
It almost looks as though the star leads to another place. Don't it?  Now we just need snow. WCM

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Image
Have a Merry Christmas and safe and happy holidays. Here are some pictures I hadn't had a chance to upload. Hope to post more often.  WCM

Happy Halloween! 2023

Image
A skeleton chilling at a hardware store and a cool cover for an outdoor lamp.  Happy Halloween! Enjoy these pictures. The decorations always get better, while keeping the same feel of the past. Pretty cool stuff. The Dunkin Donuts cup held up by the skeleton hand was pretty cool.  This was a pretty cool setup. It's usually just a waterfall decoration, but they must have put some dye in the water to make it like blood is pouring. The skeleton hands are a nice touch.  Just a bunch of the crew giving out candy. Hope you have a fun and safe trick or treat.  WCM 

Video Coming Soon

Image
  I'm planning a video for my YouTube channel. It's going to be about how I make a homemade eggnog latte. With inflation and prices going up at the local coffee shops, this should be welcome to a lot of people. And it tastes just as good to me as the major coffee shops. The picture in this post is my usual hazelnut coffee, with a little topping of whipped cream. I don't usually use the latter, but I had some and thought it would be cool.  Talk soon.  WCM 

Halloween Decorations at True Value

Image
More Halloween decorations at True Value. It looks to be skeletons around a bar. Pretty cool. Reminds me of when I was younger. Creativity was something that carried you on. Made you want to look further into it. The back story of the characters. The faces that were frozen solid in those latex masks. What were the circumstances that got that character or characters to that particular point in time?  Either way, maybe I'll think a bit more about this in another post. In the meantime enjoy this picture.  WCM

Pareidolia for Halloween

Image
Pareidolia. Where your mind sees a face or something familiar in random things.  Below are some snaps I took at work when I was getting changed to leave for the day. I was like: what the?  Zombie, or some other ghoul? I thought it was pretty freaky.  When I went to check it out I found out it was just a plastic bag full of suit uniforms. Crazy how the mind works. What did you see? 

Walgreens is Getting Ready for Halloween!

Image
Even Walgreens has fall and Halloween goods out.   

Pumpkin Spice Flavoring!

Image
Fall is almost here and that means Pumpkin Spice flavorings. Various supermarkets are preparing for the fall with this delightful coffee addition already. Enjoy these pics of some pumpkin goodness. I love this time of the year. Autumn is just around the corner and the air is getting cooler. Soon, fireplaces will be filling the air with their burning scents. And school will be starting. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of various pumpkin spice coffee creamers. My favorite brand is International Delights. But I can only have a few pumpkin spice coffees before I call it quits. But I still love it!   

Halloween Candy Is Starting

Image
Another place has their Halloween stuff popping up. This time candy at Acme supermarket. Enjoy the vibes in this pic. WCM 

Cresent Moon

Image
Just wanted to get this up. Another Pic. I want to catch on on a clear morning, or evening. But enjoy this for now. WCM

Get Rest

Friday. Posted Sunday.  Feeling better. I'm realizing why I was a mess from when I had started all this OT in the beginning. But then after a ton of Google searching (not the best thing to do sometimes, though it is less frightening than a couple years back I must say) I figured out it's most likely my rest. All work no play makes Will a dull boy? Well, that was a true statement, I guess. Lol heeeres Willy. Ahem. Um. Yeah.  But it's very important to take a rest. You can push limits, but you need your foundation. You need that base to build from.  My loosing interest in things all goes back to about the time I was getting very busy with the overtime and cutting the important rest. And even though I'm feeling better I'm not fooling myself. I need more before I expect anything significant. My lack of creativity, wanting to do the things I love. Just don't feel it at the moment.  So don't put yourself on hold. Live today.  WCM 

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is real. I've been getting anywhere from three to five hours of sleep for quite a while now. It's due to long hours and anxiety. Not being able to put down my phone and watching TV and the like -- which stems from anxiety and other things. Vicious circle.  I've read that anything under five is considered sleep deprivation for most. There are those who can work off of a low amount of sleep, but not many.  I've been trying to get this under control. I believe it to be one of the reasons I haven't been unable to do the things that I love. I just don't feel them, as I've mentioned in prior posts. Reading, writing, drawing, and editing videos are among the many other things.  I want to do these things, I just lack the energy or basic wanting to carry through.  Memory took a bit of a hit as well.  I'm going to try to remedy all this, but just wanted to say: get enough sleep. It's very important for a heck of a lot of things going on in yo

Moon Picture -- Was Close to Earth

Image
  Took a picture of the moon the other day. It wasn't too clear because I was moving, but I'm going to try again if I can catch it. It's amazing the things cellphones can do these days. This was also on a day when the moon was very close.  Talk soon.  WCM

A Little Taste of Christmas At Costco

Image
  Was at Costco the other day and came across this cheerful display. Getting close. Time is flying.  Try to slow it down a bit by looking around and admiring all that is good around you.  Today is a good day. Lower temps and the air quality is good.  Maybe I'll take a walk. Talk soon.  WCM 

Michael's Has Fall and Halloween Stuff Out!

Image
  I made it to Michael's today. I always love going. It sparks something in me; a creative feeling. And while they didn't have as far as Christmas stuff out, they did have Fall and even some Halloween items on the shelves.  I took pictures of the various decorations and goodies.  While a tad more bare than usual, they did have a fair amount of merchandise on the shelves.  A new thing as of late is the self-checkout counters. An omen of what is to come from the robots. My wife and I did wait for one of the cashiers. But we had to remind them of one of the coupons on the app. While the self-checkout machine might have pulled it up automatically. I can't be sure, because I didn't use one. But I'd say it would be very possible for that to be the case.  I remember I used to love to find those machines, so I didn't have to use a person with an attitude at the supermarket. Little did I know how far it would go? Because although it doesn't seem like a big deal just

Another Week

Saturday. Another week gone by. Crazy overtime. I slept a long time, but still feel like sleeping more. I'm going to take it easy this weekend. Maybe I'll go out and snap some pictures to explore for weird hidden things. Or maybe I'll hit Michael's and see if their holiday stuff is out yet (like it usually is getting to around this time of the year). Might be a bit early. Hmmm. Well, maybe we'll see. I saw the usual place that has the Spirit Halloween store pop up has a sign saying it's coming soon. Exciting.  I'm going to see what happens after my coffee. Well, my second coffee. Talk soon.  WCM 

Have To Force Myself

Alright. I have to force myself at this point. And I know that's not usually a wise idea. If you don't want to do something, don't do it. But I want to do this. That's the thing. And I love these things. Some place in my mind knows this, remembers this. Yearns? I guess you can say that. But a force almost palpable holds me back.  I used to be so creative. Now I get up and go to work. I run on automatic. I get those sparks, but they fizzle out. This isn't a give-up post. I'm not letting it go. These thoughts usually pass through my mind and then I move on and strive for more positive thoughts. But I needed something to write. And this was on my mind. So here it is.  I'm going to do what I'd done before with the posts. Just post. Anything I'm thinking. Analyze a bit, perhaps. And try to get some reviews out. Because who knows. I'd like to do many of these creative things for a living one day. But I have to reverse and go back a bit and retrace some

It's Been a While

It's been a while. A long while. Like has happened before. But I can't look at that and have to just keep moving forward and keep trying to post. Took some time off. Haven't been feeling myself. I have some more time and I definitely need it. Work has just been a lot lately.  Sometimes it's a great distraction. But sometimes I don't know.  Just wanted to get that out for now. Be back soon.  WCM 

Is AI better At Art Than Us?

I know time progresses, but knowing it is happening and actually seeing it in real time happening are two different things. I don't like it. All the time. I guess. In the sense of it moving too fast. Though, there are many pleasurable moments to distract from our limited moments here.    Something that's progressing rather quickly is Artificial Intelligence.   Can AI take over a human writer? No. I don't think so. Can they be good, or better, in some ways? Yes. Heck yes. I think the argument is akin to paper books and the Kindle (or any e-book reader, to certain degrees).   The e-book reader has fancy functions like holding more data (books). It can organize those books in easy-access folders and shelves. It can make reading more fun in some respects. And the biggest thing for me is the built-in dictionary. This is a big feature. Saves you from having to pick up a big clunky dictionary and search for a word which can be done in seconds on the device. Is it super

OT and the Never-ending Battle of the Absence of Creativity

I have been neglecting this, among other things creativity related. I had a post but did not put it up. Maybe it hit home and I didn't want to face it, or perhaps I just never got around to getting it on here. I don't know. I'm too tired. Overtime is been still a thing at the time of writing this. That is a part of my absence from here. Also, I haven't been feeling creative. There's that.  I was able to renew my video editor subscription for another year. I'm trying to get the energy up to start some new projects. It's just I start something and feel decent and then the flame goes out. Is there a breeze somewhere? Lips tightened and blowing in my direction? Or am I just thinking too much?  I'll see.  But for now, back to work.  See you next time.  WCM 

Overtime

Haven't been writing on here for a couple weeks I think. Overtime has been a part of my daily these past two weeks and unfortunately is a necessity at this time.  I'm getting used to it, so I'm going to try and post a few times if not every day.  I have, however, been working on my other writing. So that's a good thing. Outlining one of my novels that have taken so many turns and changes to the story it's not even funny. Well, maybe it is a bit funny.  I am fiddling with an older laptop and opened Chrome and saw my Blogger account pop up so I said you know there's no better time, right?  I want to post a review I've done. I notice those do better than most posts on here. But that's a different thing. The daily posts are just for practice and getting thoughts out. Mostly as a diary/thought pad. Or something.  Talk soon.  WCM 

Stay Positive

Not much to write. I'm tired, going home. I'm burnt out, but I could muster a little energy to get home. And am writing now. On train. Not too bad. Using my cell. Of course I had something thought out earlier today, but you know how that goes.  I'll be back later. Stay positive and keep pushing ahead.  WCM

Mondays

Mondays. What can I say. They are terrible. Especially when you have GERD and eat habanero sauce the day before. Oh, and don't take TUMS before you go to sleep. I think that's what it was.   Anyway.   Mondays. Yes. I despise them. As I tap the keys, a small reprieve from the thought of Monday, I still come back to it. It's just there. I have enough days that I can almost take every Monday from now until around September. I think. And I just might do that.   Maybe.   Some say they like to take Fridays off. But why? It's the day before the weekend. You know the next day brings a day off. Anticipation. Just one more day. Why wouldn't you want Monday.   Am I wrong? If you have the weekend off, why would you want Friday off?   May be just me. Let me know what you think. That's if you got this far in the post. If you did. Thank you.   Okay. Back to work. Real work. Not the work I'd like to be doing. Maybe one day.   Now where are those TUMS?   WCM

Make the Best of What You Got

  It's Friday again. Finally made it. It's hot. Spring coming in with an explosion. And the world keeps turning.  Reminds me of when I was a kid. The soap operas my Mom used to watch. Those were the good days. People tell you not to grow up, and "you'll see". And boy. Looking back on those days really makes me understand. Now when I tell my daughter the same thing, I can't help but think about those days and how my words will fall on deaf ears -- as the saying goes.  But such is life, no? Maybe. That's similar to the phrase I hate: "It is what it is." Just despise it. Because to me it's giving in. In a way. But today is Friday. And the weekend is ahead. So take it easy. Drink lots of fluids and make the best of what you got.  WCM

Intelligence Viewed From the Skewed Mind of an Individual

Am I a smart guy? No. Well. Maybe. I don't think I'm extraordinarily smart. I know how to do things, how to get around things and make tasks easier. Maybe that's smart. Maybe it's a slacker in some people's eyes. Whatever it is, that is the basis for creators and people who bring things to the eyes and ears of viewers and consumers. They want to see something that excites them, that they can enjoy and can't wait to enjoy. Maybe? Well, that's up to you. Personally I prefer YouTubers to the big networks and their shows.   Case in point. Ghost shows. I watch a few channels, maybe more, on YouTube and I enjoy them greatly. They get to the point, to various degrees. I was watching a ghost show on one of the Discovery channels and they kept showing the same thing over and over, commentary, then the clip again and again. Then they teased the next story, which was cut off and followed by a commercial. Then when you got back they had to build it all up again. Then fi

The realization of one's persistent goal and the release thereof

The middle of the week. Pushing up the hill. A few rocks come loose. And maybe a tuft of grass pushes my shoe back as I thrust higher and higher. At the top I look over at the other side. Exhausted. I look back, but it's dizzying. How did I do it? Looking forward again I close my eyes, take a deep breath, open my eyes. Let it out. Take a step forward.   And then I curl into a ball and roll down the other side into Friday.   WCM

A Coffee Day

Today is a coffee day. Some days I feel like it more than others. It's as though there is a portal inside my esophagus where the coffee flows and is transported to another dimension. Probably a multiverse where another version of me has had too much coffee. And now I know why. Because the coffee on the days I want more goes to myself in that other realm and fills me up there. So those days over there I only want maybe one carafe (about two to two and a half cups), or one cup. But here I want more and more.    Some of the coffee spills over the sides of the portal, because it's not totally flush against it's encasement. That coffee gets by and enriches my mind with knowledge passed down from generations of wise brewers who know why. They just know. And then my brain says. More. Please. So I have another carafe. Or two and a half more cups. To offer up to the multiverse. My other self is getting full of coffee. And what gets by the portal is satiating my "this-world"

Time Machine

Image
What to say? I skipped three days. Like a rock jumping cross a lake. Just like that. Plop plop plunk. It was a crazy three days. Wild. Got quite a bit done. Though, I felt bad not adding anything here. But such is life. Right?   Left.   And here we are. Another Monday. Another day. Another moment in time. When I'm more than I thought... No no no, wait. Let's not go back that far. But it's said that time travel has been figured out. To be honest, we've been doing it with our minds. Memories. Ole factory sense. The Wayback Machine. Oh yes. And the retro YouTube channels. Those old commercials really take me back. Then there is the scary logos. Gotta love those.   But we can relive memories to some degree through these tools. I'm sure there are other methods. Books and movies are also a great rewind. See how things were back in a certain time. And if done well, how they felt and the mood and essence of that history, as well.   Well.   By the time I post this this writi

Muse

My post yesterday was tame. Lame? Not like the spontaneous voice that sometimes comes to me when I'm doing the "practice". I hadn't really done the practice yesterday. Just picking things out of my head and placing them on screen and watching it form into something. It wasn't terrible. For a colloquial piece, I guess. And it formed this, which I am editing and adding to now.   But it got me remembering about muses and how some say a force or being comes to them, and when they show up--well, you know the rest. I can see what they mean. But it's not exactly the way they make it seem. You have an overall feeling for the muse. That mindset, that something different, overtakes you. A force? A spirit? Is the flow moving through your body to control you, to work with "the force". It can certainly feel that way sometimes. And the way people say they experience this is their interpretation of that muse thing that comes to them. It can make them a different pe

Milestones

Okay. So another day. I've been rushing through them. But not wishing them away, at least. For the most part.   I joke with people and say happy Thursday, because of the day off. Once they see what I mean... eh. Who cares lol. I am just typing now trying to think of what I want to write because I forgot what I wanted to write. Same usual. I had something I was thinking about but of course I wasn't by a computer or a method to write it down. I had my phone, but I was walking and in the streets of NYC and I try and pay attention. Morning anxiety, too. Rushing to work. Not as bad as it sounds. At least not like it used to be.   Things change. Times change. Some things don't. That can be good and bad. You must break free from thinking in a cage. Sometimes I can. But once things start to go in a certain direction, I want to revert to how I was thinking.   Small milestones allow some to make it to higher levels in this game of life or stay at the bottom and trying to get the timi

A Duality of Mixed Sauces

It’s Tuesday and I don’t know what to write. (Just kidding, I wrote this on Monday, just editing it now.) But I’m going to keep writing until something comes to mind, until something pops in my head with the force of a corpse hitting a fan, splattering blood and gristle everywhere, the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Yes, even up there. Splatters flicked in a line, one on top of the other as the fan blade spins. A big chunk slowly dislodges, then peels off the putrefying paint before sliding to one small section of its mass, holding on like a suction cup from a severed octopus tentacle and then finally plopping to the ground with a slimy slap.   The fan looks terrible, too. Not two. Just one.   It smells terrible now. Like a garbage dumpster that can be power washed but still smell like rotten chicken flesh and putrefying produce behind a restaurant. Avocado peals and all kinds of mixed sauces. The warmer weather isn’t helping much, either. It’s a meal for a groundhog, or whatever they

Opportunity

Ah Monday Morning—or afternoon, depending on when I post this. Well, Tuesday if you want to look at it from a different perspective. Friday is off for a lot of people. Not all. I used to be in that boat. Weekend work. Some like it because you get days during the week off. Or the night shift--depending on what part of the night--can work out to be beneficial to an individual who loves the nightlife. Either way. It’s still Monday. And all the things that go with a Monday are still here. Exhaustion. Maybe some anxiety. Depending on how much you miss the weened past.   Sitting down. In front of my computer. Coffee at my side. I’m here. So might as well get on with it. And I’m alive. I get to hit the keys another day. Get thoughts onto this site another day.   I was going to post something this past weekend, but just didn’t feel it. I felt as though I were in a viscus fluid at times, struggling to swim to the surface, but moving too slow to make any real movement. The gel threatening to suf

Finally Friday

Image
It's finally arrived. Hope you haven't been wishing life away. Enjoy this, though. It was a rough week. Then again, that's per perspective, purring like a little kitten when it works out in your favor. But when it doesn't, you see everything askew. Growling. Roaring. Shaking the ground. Just shift. Alt and delete? Only if you want to lock it. But stick around for a bit. It's Friday and you have the weekend ahead of you.   Of course, look at next Monday differently now. Look at it as another day. Opportunity. Life.   Right now think in the moment. If your weekend is work-free (day job free) then this is joyous. If you work on the weekend, then this is just another day. Perhaps it's like a Wednesday for you. Perspective. It’s still the weekend.   The weekends always hold a feeling, regardless. End of the week. Time between. Anticipation for a new week. Get things in order. Rest up.   Of course, you may want some entertainment. May I suggest my YouTube channels? I&

Wishing Your Life Away

Getting there. Inching forward. Every day. But we wish our days away when we wish for the workweek to end. When we wish to get by that obstacle that stands in the way of something more relaxing, something more of what we want to do. Sort of like going through a time machine that ages us, blanking out, thinking of nothing as we dredge through the rough, terrible day to get to the nectar, the good stuff. Is it worth it? Losing your life just to get to a point you think is going to be something more than it possibly will be?   Hey, that something can be great. I don't know. But most of the time it isn't what you thought it to be. Sometimes, like with the holidays, the days leading up to them are the most exciting. Think about that.   You’re mind says, maybe I’ll feel better then. You think about that moment from the point of view of someone who has no ailments, no worries. It’s then you’ll do that thing, or then when things will come together. Meanwhile you’re taking pressure off

Will We Know What Happened?

I wrote something yesterday because I had some extra gas in the tank. I should have taken that and kept roaring, but progress comes incrementally. That can be a saying. But not really. Because progress can come in great leaps and bounds, as well. Depends. Relative. Yada yada. We move on.   I was thinking about the writing "practice" I've been working on and thought it was funny that I'd be figuring this out (if you can call it that) when AI bots are coming out, when artificial intelligence will be able to write blog posts for you, or stories.   But they ain't got no soul. The AI bots I mean. Or do they? Sentient? Perhaps. Or you can use the sludge they produce and edit it for a post or story. Ugh. Still feels skeezy. Or skeevy. Or both. Either word will work. But I think until they get it perfected one will be able to tell if a real person wrote something or not. Or maybe they won't. Maybe everything will encroach us and take over our mind and as we sit there

Writer's Like the Sound of Keystrokes

Image
Okay. Let's put this to the test. More and more, each day, I'm going to try this when I least think it will work and see what takes shape. I think it will work--to some degree at least. This is what I plan to do:   When you have no wish to write, when you have nothing in your head, when you look at the Word icon, folder, blank screen, anything that pertains to writing. It could be your notepad, a pen/pencil. Blood on the wall. Okay. Don't go too far. Well, you need blood. So, if you're writing a long story and feel faint, use that as your guide to slow it down. You need about 60% of your blood--so take it easy.   Anyway. Pick it up, whatever it is. And just start typing anything. I mean anything. Just like anything. See? Anything. And keep typing. And don't stop. If you mess up, retype the correct word, over and over and over until you get it right, or if you don't then just forget it and keep typing. Don't look back, just let ideas come out, thoughts. Even

Practice What I Preach

Hard to make something up when you can't think about anything. Or maybe I don't want to. You me I. What is it? Am I trying to be in general, or is this talking to myself? Am I listening? If I was listening, I'd probably be a success by now. Unless what I'm saying is all garbage. Is what anyone says worth anything? Who knows? To the right person perhaps it is. I mean, think about it. Even words coming from those who have made it don't do anything for most people. You must have that extra thing that they don't disclose. Or have the drive they had when they used their technique. Maybe some have that at the time they put those techniques to the test. Does this even make sense? To some it may. Eh, who cares. Too much thinking on this. Just do it. Don't try to mimic. Just do what you're going to do. Or don't. That's up to you. But give it a try, at least. What do you have to lose? Unless you gave up everything on a whim and are giving yourself like si

Move Forward

Don't know if anything will come out of this session. I've just missed a Saturday, but I'm not worried too much about the weekends. As things pick up, I may have a fire under me to post more. I'm just not feeling creative lately. Only puffs of smoke coming from an engine that hasn't been used in quite a while. I'll have to change the oil and put some gas in there and see what happens. Of course, as is usually the case, I have ideas and want to put them down but make the mistake of not sitting down and putting them into my phone or laptop. So I lose those ideas. Or I remember the ideas but lose the momentum behind the thought of them when they took place. I even had a motivating picture I wanted to take to use for a post, but I didn't do it. This is something I need to correct on my path to creating again. And I'm not just creating to make more content, money, or other reasons. I'm doing it because when I used to create it was fun, it was a release, a