Tinted Nostalgia

I've been thinking a lot over the past couple of days about nostalgia and how it can tend to morph and become a falsehood. 

It all started when I saw a reel yesterday of someone with an old Sony Walkman. The same kind I had as a kid, as a matter of fact, the big yellow sports one. I started in the mode of, "Oh, I should get one of those, that would be nice to consume music like that again." 

But then I gave my head a shake.

The fact is, I never liked tapes, even in their heyday. I hated fast-forwarding, flipping tapes and untangling them when they inevitably unspooled. I was SO EXCITED when CDs hit the market because you could skip to songs, fast-forward in a moment, and the sound was so much better. Static isn't warmth, it's bad sound.

Cassettes do have a couple of strengths. You could leave a tape on the floor of your car for weeks and still be able to play them ok. CDs didn't have that durability. But in our modern age of streaming - and even MP3 players before that - both don't hold any durability or portability points. 

I often have to remind myself of these rose coloured glasses when I watch people working with vintage computers on YouTube. As much as I'd like to go buy an old Tandy 1000 on eBay to play all my favourite vintage games, I need to remind myself how slow and low-powered my old Tandy was. How I wanted nothing more than a computer that could show more than 16 colours or play something nicer than 8-bit sound. Not to mention, a PC that is 35+ years old is not going to just plug in and play. At least not consistently. 

I have access to DOSBox and the Internet; I don't need a 286. 

I suppose in times like these, when everything seems complex, expensive and dangerous, nostalgia gives us a break. But as was mentioned in a discussion at a party this weekend, times weren't better. We were just sheltered or forgot the bad parts. 

And don't even get me started on the three shelves of vinyl records I have collecting dust in my living room. 

Maybe it's best to just focus on the now, what we have and what we can make of it. It's certainly more affordable than paying $1000 for a dusty memory that never works. 

Unapologetically late

Well, following an intensely stressful week and the release of that stress on Friday, I got sick. Down in bed sick. So I missed Tuesday. And I missed yesterday. Today is good, right? 

Maybe the delay is a good one because it gives me a chance to comment on something that happened on Tuesday that I feel might pan out to be a pivotal historical moment. 

The last year (and in some ways, the last decade) has been defined by the incessant blumbering of the big orange man from down south, Donald Trump. He's graduated from harmful blowhard to existential crisis. At this particular moment in the shit storm, ol' Donny is trying to get his hands on Greenland, wants Canada and is ready to take on anyone but his fellow autocrats to get all the power he could ever want. 

A couple of months ago, the subject of our current Prime Minister, Mark Carney, came up in the family group chat. I said it on a whim that he's our generation's Winston Churchill. Maybe not the most popular guy, but absolutely the one person we need to lead our country through this moment. He's a man of deep knowledge, strategic thought and incomparable economic experience. 

That observation of Mr. Carney was borne out on Tuesday when he delivered a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It's interesting watching this back today because the speaker introducing him describes his election as one of the most pivotal moments in Canadian history. I don't think he realized that the pivotal moment was coming in the next 30 minutes. 

Perhaps you've seen the speech, or you're eagerly waiting for the end of this blog to go watch an economist speak for 30 minutes. So I won't go into too much detail, but Carney compares the current economic and diplomatic world to the way people behaved under Communist rule. He goes on to describe how the "middle powers" need to pivot, how Canada has already begun that pivot and what it means for the future. 

It's a bold speech. But it's one I'm glad to hear coming from the leader of the country I live in. Ever since the start of the pandemic, the conversation has increasingly turned towards changing how we run the world, a restructuring of the old order and a need to change the status quo. And as a millennial who has seen my retirement savings kicked down over and over again because of the US economy, whose ability to earn has degraded constantly since I graduated from high school - I'm ready for that change. 

I can't even sit here and pretend like I totally understand the new approach. Nor am I in any way capable of predicting its success. But given the choice between the status quo, being steered by a man with dictatorial aspirations and a mind progressing towards dementia, and a leader who has run two world banks and has among the best economic awareness of any world leader in history - well, Mark is my man on this one. 

And the best part? It seems to have got under ol' Donny's skin. And that's something to celebrate. 

Finally a Zelda post

 I've wanted to do a post about The Legend of Zelda games since I restarted blogging a couple of years ago. I beat the Switch remake of Link's Awakening last night after getting it for Christmas, so I suppose now is as good a time as any. 

The Legend of Zelda games have been a favourite of mine since A Link to the Past in the early 90's. In fact, my contact with this game would be the first of several times where I coerced someone into lending me not only the game but the actual console so I could play through it. I suppose that's why I'm not letting myself get too mad that my daughter lent my copy of Breath of the Wild to a friend. This is how we fall in love with these games. 

I played Ocarina of Time on a roommate's N64, Windwaker on a GameCube I borrowed from my job at the Movie Factory. You get the idea. Actually, the first Zelda game I played was Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. I rented it for a weekend, and it was the single hardest game I ever played. Never made it anywhere. 

And so that obsession has continued. I haven't played all of the mainline (or even all of the sideline games), far from it. But I do feel like I've played all the games that are at the core of the series. 

Playing Link's Awakening was a great reminder of what makes a Zelda game to me. Since it was designed by essentially the same people as Link to the Past in the same era, it captures many of those elements that are core to the game for me. Dungeons, hookshots, that thing you hit that turns orange or blue. 

Egg

In fact, I commented last night that despite the fact that the game doesn't have Zelda, Ganon, the Master Sword or the Triforce, it feels more like a Zelda game than the two Wild Era games, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Not that I'm throwing any shade at those games, they're amazing. But they kind of miss something in the puzzle/progression area. 

And then there's ocarinas. 

Obviously, Ocarina of Time is the most famous appearance of the instrument in the series, but Link's Awakening, Link to the Past, Majora's Mask and The Minish Cap also feature this instrument. The fam actually got me a Zelda brand ocarina for Xmas. Been trying to make some noise with it, but to be honest, I've been too busy playing Zelda to learn a new instrument lately. Maybe this summer, while I'm camping, I'll learn the Song of Time. Or Tingle's Tingler. 

No one seems to want to get me a Master Sword and Shield. Or a hookshot. 

So yeah. Another Zelda game crossed off the list. I need to go back and finish Skyward Sword. I have the Switch port, and I didn't really like the control scheme, so I gave up early on it. But I've got an exercise bike and a commitment to try and bike and play every night. So it's probably time to go back to that. Then I need to get on Echoes of Wisdom. Kayah brought it home last year, so I've played the first couple of dungeons but never wrapped the game. 

Then who knows from there? I've never played through the original game. The Oracle games look really fun, if very difficult. And of course, I'm always up to playing Link to the Past again, if only to show Kayah how good it is. Oh, and I've never played Majora's Mask, and that seems like a major oversight. 

What's your favourite Zelda game? Do you know what a Minish Cap is? 

Start with No

 One of the challenges of going through a self-improvement phase is sorting through all of the micro advice you get from everywhere. It gets easier as you go along, the more books you read or advice you follow, the more you see the patterns – the things that everyone recommends. Things like journalling, meditation, exercise and setting intention-type stuff. But there are those little “just remember this one little thing” that sometimes stick around.

The one that’s been sticking with me lately is “start with no.” That doesn’t mean say no to everything, but enter a negotiation with the mindset that you’re going to refuse the request, then go from there. Especially if it’s a request that’s not serving your goals or intentions.

It’s been an interesting experiment, to be sure. On one hand, it’s failed. When my family changed plans the week before Xmas, I tried to say no, I wouldn’t be there on Xmas Eve. But of course, The Navigator was only going to be there that night, so that no turned into a yes. But it came with the sacrifice of a different part of Christmas. No regrets, but there was give and take and a true negotiation.

I’ve had a few friends who have been very needy of my time lately, and I’ve had to make some “no” assertions to protect my time. My Telemiracle taping is less than 2 weeks awa,y and I’ve got my fundraiser at the end of the month to prepare for – I don’t have time for a lot of distractions this month.

Start with no has also been really good at work. When some coworkers try to steamroll my time or hog my attention when I have things to do, I start by saying, “No, not right now.” I’m sure they’re a bit disappointed, but at the end of the day, I’m here to get a job done. Not to sit around watching your cousin’s, mechanic’s, dad’s best friend from high school play a cut-rate version of Interstate Love Song.

There’s other advice that people are very insistent that works that I just can’t seem to wrap my head around or make any use of. My job coach was really pushing one on me before the holiday. Basically, she was saying that when I reach a moment of indecision, confusion, or even just change, I should stop and think, “perhaps I can…”. I haven’t found a good context for this one, and I haven’t found a lot of use from it. I wrote it on a sticky note and put it up at my desk. I’ll keep pondering it. But it just doesn’t seem to connect with me.

Some days, it all just seems overwhelming. I’ve read about a dozen self-help books and watched as many impactful videos over the last year. I’ve been to counselling, coaching, and just done a ton of work. It’s hard to keep it all organized, to keep all the balls in the air while trying to work towards something real. But I suppose that’s where it becomes a bit of a “life’s work” project.

Something I've found to be really fun to help me with this is sending myself time-delayed emails. I got my first one on Jan 1, and it was pretty revealing. I noted what I was working on and asked myself pointed questions about my progress. While it wasn't perfect, in fact far from it, I could see that I had made some progress, and it reminded me of the bits that I hadn't completed. In fact, some of those were wrapped up very quickly on the weekend once I remembered I needed to do them! 

Do you have any intentions or goals for the year? Have you ever sent yourself an email or letter to read later? Start with NO!