Orange cascade

 Whoops, made a bit of a mess this morning.

Was getting breakfast at work and the drink machine (one of those with a big plastic tank on top, some spinny thing inside to stir the drink and a push tap on front) did a dirty on me. I held the cup up to it and pushed on the dispenser, and the top of the dispenser popped off!

Had a min-fountain of juice, trying to plug the holes with my hands while calling for the staff. Must have been quite amusing - for people watching. Made a bit of a mess, I think lost about 2L of juice. Luckily I didn't have to pay for it, and one of the staff said they had issues with the machine earlier this morning.

Kitten's latest game

 We have two new kittens, and it's endless fun watching them play.

They're now old enough (and big enough) that they can climb onto stuff, so we have the ongoing training of where they can and can't climb. One of the places we're trying to train them not to climb onto is the dining table.

So of course, they find it a great game to climb up there, run across the top and jump off before we can tell them off! Cheeky little kittens!

Finally beat Cliff

 The title may be a little misleading if you're not a Pokemon Go player, but the short version is that there are the standard critters to catch, and also some enemies in the form of Team Rocket players to beat. It's set up slightly differently to how it goes down in the cartoon series, but the short version is that there are low level enemies referred to as "grunts", mid level ones referred to as leaders and big ones labled as Boss.

(There may be higher level ones, but i haven't encountered them yet).

In order to get to the Boss, one needs to first beat a few leaders - and the first few I was able to beat relatively easily. Today I was able to beat the last of them, after having battled a bunch of times and getting smushed into the ground each time.

It may only be a game, but nice to have a bit of sweet, sweet victory. 

Ditto!

 I've posted before that I started playing Pokemon Go a while back. A bit late to the party compared to all the other PoGo players who have been in it since it launched back in mid '16. I never watched the show, played the games or collected the cards but I've picked up a few bits of the lore.

One of the characters is called a Ditto, because it mimics the look of others. I'd caught one not long after I started playing but it was a really piddly little one. Then I got a challenge to catch one. I think that was maybe two months ago? So of course I didn't see another one.

Then about a month or so ago I got another challenge to catch a Ditto. Those two tasks were sitting there teasing me for weeks and weeks. It's not like I could go actively hunting for one. So it  was just a "wait and see".

Finally got one earlier today! Woooh, two tasks down with one catch! Admittedly, it was also another puny one, but I'll hang on to it in case there is a task to evolve one or trade one or something. They don't seem to come up too often.

Just about gave myself a heart attack!

 Earlier today I was driving home after work, windows down, not a care in the world. I looked in the rear view mirror to see what was behind me, went back to watching the road. So I knew there was nobody in the car with me. Suddenly, someone slaps me on the back of the head!

Lucky I tend to under-react, could have freaked out and swerved off the road or into a car or something! Didn't have any issues with the driving, but took me a moment to realise that it was a hat that hangs behind the drivers' seat on the hand grip which had started flapping around with the wind of the open windows and the peak was what had swatted the back of my head.

Had a bit of a laugh at myself, but for a moment - dang, nearly freaked out that there was someone skulking in the back of the car and I hadn't noticed them!

Happy two's-day!

Sorry, this is the internet. Had to make the lame joke, it's in the rules.

2nd day of 2nd month of 22nd year of 2000. Not going to stay awake until half past ten though (22:22 in 24 hour time).

Let's just claim we did. :D

Completed projects

Overall, not a bad weekend. Didn't do as much as I would have liked (still spending way too much time on my phone - need to work on that), but I did get two projects finished.

One was replacing the cigarette socket in the car. The old one had a plastic shroud on it which had decayed and caused the old one to fall out. Needed to make a new blanking plate as the new cigarette socket was smaller than the old hole. Managed to do that with the Dremel - the gift that keeps on giving. <3

The other was my current cross stitch project. The stitching is now complete, need to frame it and get it ready for display.  Can't say too much about this one yet, might be able to share some photos soon.

No progress on any other fronts, trying not to start any other projects yet until I can get a few others finished.

Gave in and joined the cult - five years after the fact

 I was never a big fan of it, I avoided it for half a decade but I've given in and started a Pokemon Go account.

Set it up early this morning, then took the doggos out for a walk. It's interesting how it's geared towards "quick rewards" for new players. It was just about giving me a new level for not falling over! Caught a Pokemon? Level up. Swiped a poke-stop? Level up. Went around the corner? Level up.

After one walk this morning:

• Covered 3.8km (about average for our dog walks)
• Took about an hour and 15 minutes (a touch slower, normally we go out for under an hour)
• Collected 43 different types of Pokemon
• Caught 73 individual Pokemon
• Hatched 2 eggs
• And dropped one Pokemon into a gym (which was promptly beaten up within a few hours)

Overall, it's about what I was expecting (my wife has been playing for years). Funnily enough, didn't see a single Rattata!

On the to-do list: learn how to manage inventory and how to pick which critters to keep.

Revisiting old movie

Currently re-watching Iron Man, which came out in 2008. I know it's a super hero fantasy movie and not based on reality. But the most unbelievable scene for me is the opening scene where they are riding in a deployed military vehicle which isn't chock full of random bags and gear.

Latest hobby - cross stitch

Here I go again, off chasing a new dream.

After many years of looking for and trying out different creative outlets, I'm giving cross stitching a go. I've tried writing (I like the idea of it, but have no passion so all my writing comes out flat), drawing (also like the idea of it, but don't practice enough to improve), music (both digital and on physical instruments - digital came out extremely simple and synthetic, physical I don't practice enough to play properly), making stop-motion video (with LEGO - fun product but requires a lot of time and effort), actual video (I suck in front of the camera and suck at convincing others to get in front of the camera) and artisanal stuff (woodworking, metal working, a touch of painting - all have the same issue: not enough funds for tools / supplies and more importantly no work space).

So now I'm giving cross stitching a try. It's something that (so far) has been relatively easy for me, but it's time consuming and requires patience so it can look impressive to others. I've only completed two small projects so far (cheap little all-included beginner kits) and I had fun putting them together. I currently have five ideas that I'd like to put together, but we'll see how I go.

Went shopping today for supplies and bought a quantity of string (sorry, the proper term is "floss") in a few colours. I have some patterns saved that I used some free on-line tools to go from digital design to pattern (may need to print them out). Next step is getting a hold of some cloth, without breaking the budget.

Like most of my projects, I just need to focus on doing a few smaller things first to improve my skill and get better rather than trying to go all-in on an overly complex single piece and then not finishing it. We'll see how I go! 

Geocaching

Went out today for my first geocache hunt. There aren't too many around where I am, but I was able to find my first two.

Currently planning to see if I can pick up a trackable traveller (they cost about $6 each, give or take depending on the type you get and where you get them from), and see if I can get it all the way out to a friend of mine who live in the USA.

We'll see how far into the hobby I get, money is always an issue and I tend to plan bigger than I can afford.

A good day

Today was a good day. Did practically zero paperwork - most of the day was physical work in the yard, working on trucks and changing tyres.

Much better than being stuck behind a computer all day. A bit sore now (and will probably be more sore in the morning) but it's a good sore, from getting things done with your hands.

Caving in the mine

Had some spare time today and we had a chance to go explore an old mine nearby.

Pretty dark so couldn't get any decent photos, but it was good fun. The mine was a little disapointing because it didn't go very far. I think the council blocked up some of the passageways to stop people going in too deep or falling down any shafts.

Very fun to explore, and a nice break from work.

Got my groove on

Tuesday night, managed to get down to Zumba as planned.

That means managed to get some good exercise on Saturday, good job on Monday and now a good workout at Zumba on Tuesday. Wednesday will be the hard one, as I may need to work late. But at the least I ought to jump onto the exercise bike for half an hour or so before dinner.

Looking good so far....

And... the flashes arrive

So I'm back in the game!

I ordered two Yongnuo YN-460 II flashes at the start of the month and they've arrived. Tested and working, I now need to get on with it and take more photos. I know the 460's are a "cheap and nasty" type flash but they are so cheap and easy to work with.

Well, I find them easy to work with. They will pretty much only work properly in Manual mode which is fine by me, but someone who wants to use Auto or one of the Creative modes then they would struggle with manual flashes.

On the Agenda: I want to get back into writing. Not sure why nor do I have too many ideas (I keep thinking I'm creative and then proving myself wrong) but every time I listen to Writing Excuses I get the urge to write more.

Extra! Extra!

Really starting to get back into film making. I missed not being involved over the last couple of years.

Now comes the hard part - finances. Working on the mines would take me away from film work, but would provide financial stability, assuming I'm not killed or injured. Film and theatre would make me happy (happier?)
but there are very, very few paying jobs in Perth.

If I can pick up a fairly flexible part-time or casual job that I can work around then that would keep me from sliding further down but wouldn't provide enough money to be financially stable (or viable).

There's a difference between living and surviving...

Idea

Since I've been gearing up a bit make more video content with my camera, I figure I may as well create another video clip for my so-called "music career".

I'm not actually creating any new music, but that'd be a simple way of practising using the camera with a specific goal to work towards. I want to make video clips for other people, but I need to make sure that I can produce reliably good video first. And that means practice.

I'll probably grab one of the songs from one of my albums that I've already published (despite pulling down my previous website) and use that.

As for ideas, the one I've got rattling around in my head at the moment is to get a dancer, dress them up like a ninja and have them dance around in the streets. In order to do this, I'll need to get someone who will agree to be the ninja, then get a suitable ninja-esque outfit. Simple black clothes with some black bmx armour ought to do it.

Legalities ... not too sure about the laws regarding going around in public dressed as a ninja. Might need to notify the local police station. Need to wear a high-vis vest. Having a camera out will help, so long as whoever is dressed as a ninja is mature enough to not act like an idiot - especially if the local constabulary show up.

Long day re-installing

Pulled the old hard drive out of the laptop and spent the last five odd hours re-installing everything.

Going down the list of all the different things that I need to re-install and it ain't fun. Oh well, the result should be worth it. This is being posted from Scribefire, an add-on for Firefox and everything seems to be going great.

For now...

Dead Tree books are dead

Well, I took the plunge and bought a Kobo Wireless.

And I am loving it so far!

It's quite a cute little device, smaller than I originally thought it was going to be. It refreshes the screen very quickly. If I hit "next page" before I finish reading the last line, I'll have time to finish reading the line before the screen goes black and the new text comes up around the same time that my eyes reach the top of the screen.

The e-ink screen is awesome, I'm loving the ability to read for hours on end without eye strain. I downloaded a few free ebooks a while back and tried reading them on my computer, but my eyes became sore and fatigued very quickly. I had to stop after about two hours. Using the internet, browsing and watching videos isn't as big a deal but reading large blocks of text for sustained periods of time is a real hassle.

There are a lot of cheap Chinese pretend readers floating around and I find it amusing that they advertise "yes, in colour - watch video and see photo" as a big selling point - which totally misses the point of an e-reader! TFT or LCD screens won't give you the "read for hours" ability that e-ink will.

Next on the list, get a case for it. The screen is (I assume) fragile and I want to protect it. It may have cost "only" $180, but it's still $180 I'd rather not lose due to something pressing against the screen...

Celebrating 300,000

This was kind of cool.

Got home the other day and looked down at the tacho on the car and it read exactly 300,000km's (that's just over 186,400 miles for those using Imperial).



It isn't the insane amount of distance covered that I found cool, just that it happened to land on 300,000 as I stopped at home. I knew it was going to change over soon, but it didn't occur to me to carry the camera around and pull over when it clicked to it's thirtyeth millenia.

But I'm glad that it came up when it did, so I ran inside and grabbed the camera. That's why the oil and battery lights are on - the engine is switched off (no, I wouldn't try and take a photo of the dash as I'm driving along!).