Category: personal

  • LGBTQ Identity and Me

    It’s currently Vancouver Pride weekend here, and that’s as good a time as any for self-reflection, especially with regards to self-identity and orientation. This article is entirely about me and how I see myself with regards to the LGBTQ labels, and no opinion about how I do (or do not) see other people should be…

  • Anxiety and Hunger

    Here’s a thing that I attribute to my anxiety, but perhaps other people (not suffering from anxiety) deal with it too. I’ll get engrossed in reading articles/playing games that time passes and I get hungry. Not “omfg, I’m going to die if I don’t eat”-hungry, but the pangs aren’t minor. Noticing them, bringing them into…

  • Boundaries and Abuse

    I’m going to start with a recent pair of conversations in my life, and use that as a jumping off point to talk about who gets to define what abuse is, and who gets to set boundaries. People in my local community may well recognise the people involved from their behaviour, and while backlash due…

  • Laundry and Anxiety

    I did laundry today. I can appreciate that this seems like a minor thing. ‘Seriously, Brian? Posting about doing laundry? Ffs…..’ My anxiety has been pretty bad the last couple of weeks. The threat of job loss hanging over my head, alongside dealing with incompetent and unprofessional HR staff (I know, I know, ‘HR staff’…

  • Medication

    The slightly bitter wetness on my lips, The sharp cold in my throat; All preceeds a warming glow In my centre. The numbness spreads, My mind calms. My medication; My saviour; My beer. Follow Brian on Twitter! [GARD]

  • Heroes of the Storm, and Statistics

    I’ve had a bit of writer’s block recently, so I thought I’d try writing on a lighter topic: Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm (HotS). I’ve been playing this game for several months now (just under 1000 games played so far), and I enjoy it a lot. Especially since Blizzard instituted some penalties for trolls, my ingame experience…

  • Vancouver is Neither Cold nor Unfriendly

    I’m an immigrant to this city, though I’m legally a citizen. I moved here in May 2006, and I knew precisely one person prior to my arrival (my brother, Christopher). I moved here from Ireland, a country known for gregarious socialising. In the years since moving here, I’ve encountered a wide variety of people, have…

  • Free Will: Illusion or Real? A Theist and Atheist View

    I will be presenting one half of a discussion on Free Will tomorrow evening (in Vancouver, BC, for non-local readers). I (and the other presenter) will be giving a short 15-min introduction to the topic, and then everyone will be breaking up into smaller discussion groups. If you’re interested in having positive (I hope) discussions…

  • Playing the Piano

    I’ve recently been thinking about relearning to play the piano, so I’ll be blogging about that a bit. If you have no interest in that, the posts in this series (they’ll have a ‘piano’ tag up top) are easily skipped.

  • He Abides

    Perhaps… Perhaps he has only glimpsed her… On the street. On the bus. Perhaps he knew her in a country far far away. Perhaps they frequently share a train carriage. Or he has seen her profile on a dating site. And he read it, and drank it in. The details that were not present were…