Seven hundred

 This'll be the 700th post on this blog. Woo! Or maybe not so woo, as I've been doing it for over 15 years, so that averages out to about 45 odd posts per year. But 3.75 posts per month sounds better, as that would imply about one per week.

The actual numbers are quite different, as nearly all my years are below average, with my lowest being 2014 when I only did five posts for the whole year. Not surprising considering what I was doing that year! My average is pushed up by two good years, 2008 and 2015 which both had over a hundred posts (101 and 116 respectively). Followed closely by 2009 (75) and 2007 (69, lol).

Is this good or bad? I don't think raw numbers really matter, as I could easily post 365 times a year by setting up an automatic script that publishes a randomly generated post each day but doesn't actually say anything. I like not feeling obligated to post "filler" posts to make up numbers.

To avoid this being a filler post (or worse, a maths post!) here's this weekends' project: get sunburnt! Actually, the project was help clean up the garden, the catalyst was not putting on sunscreen, so the result was burnt shoulders and back of neck. Dang.

This post brought to you by aloe vera gel, which I'm liberally applying to my sunburn in an effort to reduce the damage.

Liquid stone?

 I wonder if there is such a product as liquid stone?

Similar to plaster or cement, which can be mixed and poured at room temperature but not as crumbly. Cement is great for shoe-box size or larger projects, not so good for fiddly little watch or coin sized projects. Plaster is way too fragile, would just crumble.

Epoxy resin is pretty close - mix two liquids and pour, But it's too physically light, doesn't have that "mass" that I'd like. 3D printing is good because you can get all these weird shapes, but a decent printer that does small detail is big dollars. And again - lacks that solid feeling of weight in small projects.

There's a variety of different alloys available which melt at low temperatures, they're good for casting small one-off projects but "low temperature" is a relative term. Plus lead-free alloys are quite pricey - not just to buy, but also in postage. Aluminum would be good as it is easy to save a bunch of cans and off cuts to have "free" raw stock to melt down, but the gases to get the place hot enough to melt and building the furnace (and molds!) is a tad out of my price range.

A material that is a liquid at room temperature, that can be poured into a mold and ends up with the feel and density / mass of a rock or metal would be brilliant. There probably is such a product out there, and it'll be $100 per litre or something stupid.

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.

Guess what, it's "next year"

 Here we are in 2022! Still scattered around, still planning loads of things, still not getting things done. Dang. I still have that puppet idea rolling around in my head. Probably because it'd be relatively easy to do - up to a point. And then we hit a wall - what's the point? Having a puppet would make video creation easier - just record in real time. Much easier than digital animation, and way less effort than stop motion animation (trying to do stop-mo in a house with cats [plural] is an exercise in masochism). But there isn't much reason to be creating video content if I don't have something to say.

That might be the biggest holdback on some of my creative endeavors. I tried writing, drawing, animation and a video production over the years and the biggest issue I have is that I'm trying to create content for the sake of creating content. Not because I am trying to say something, or because I'm passionate about it. Most of "the greats" in the various art forms became great because they were both passionate and had something they wanted to say. There are many people who have fantastic technical skills on different art forms but who's projects are very "meh" because they're just ticking boxes.

I'd like to avoid ending up in that camp.

Laptop stand

 Made little laptop stand for my laptop.

I wanted one that was a fair bit taller than the standard ones you can get, plus I wanted to use up some leftover wood and paint that I had from older projects. I made all the measurements (except one!) and made a paper template to cut out the sides. Four screws, and it was assembled. I sealed it with some varnish prior to painting but didn't do the multiple coats with lots of sanding to make it all super smooth. Mainly I was looking at putting something together and using up the materials, and it effectively cost me zero dollars.

Can't beat free! Plus I got to make something.

Missed out

Currently there's verge collection going on here and loads of rubbish is being put out for the council to take away. Mixed in are a few nice bits as well.

Walking the dogs this morning I found what looks like a garage cleanout. Which included heaps of bits of timber - boards, off cuts, scraps and lots of spare bits. And they pretty much looked all new! Would love to have grabbed the lot (or at least the bigher ones), but we don't really have the space for it. It'll probably be gone by the time I'd gotten back there anyway. Sad... maybe next year.

Quarantine - Day 4

I was quite popular today, lots of messages and calls... from work.

Oh well, guess it's nice to be needed? No doubt I'll be back in the madness soon enough.

Had the usual temperature check, other than that and the work related calls, it's been very quiet. Have loads of ideas for projects that I'd like to make, though none of them are very practical so I doubt I'll ever do them. But I'm itching to have a play with the welder. First time I've ever seen an ad on Gumtree for someone giving away free scrap steel and I'm stuck here. Next time, maybe.

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! 

Three out of three, but...

The good news is the strings for the bass guitar arrived. And they're the right length! #Winning

However, I stuffed up with the nut (the little bit at the end of the fretboard which holds the strings up). The one I ordered is too short, so the strings rub against the frets, producing a most unpleasant sound. #NotWinning

I'll have to rip that nut off and order a new one, which probably won't arrive until after I head off interstate.

A bit disappointing, but should only be a minor hurdle (assuming I don't break anything getting the old nut off).

Proof of concept

Stage one complete. I believe I have all the resources I need in order to start Badly Drawn Cinema. I'm pretty surprised that name wasn't already in use, but searching for it with parentheses came back with two results.

Can I copyright #BadlyDrawnCinema? Probably, but it isn't worth the effort. I could register it as a company name but considering that my budget is ... um ... zero, then that makes it kind of hard.

Now comes the hard part, actually doing it.

Hooray!

I've been doing a bit of poking around today and -yay!- managed to unlock one of my old YouTube accounts. :)

I still can't get at the one with the LEGO video on it, but I'm not that fussed about that one.

I had been considering just creating a new channel, but I'd rather use an existing one. Especially since the videos I'm planning on making (maybe, fingers crossed!) won't be getting heaps of views.

We've yet to see if I'll be creating anything at all. In order to pull it off to a standard I'm happy with, I need to improve my drawing skills and (if possible) get a halfway decent microphone. That second one is not very likely at the moment (or anytime soon). But the process should be fairly simple... write out some short stories, record the dialogue, then draw some pictures.

Easy to write...

Computer Swappin'

Gah! Busy day.

Upgrading my video editing computer and in the process upgraded other computers as well. My old video editing computer became my new internet computer, so Ubuntu is running slick and fast now. "New" video editing computer however isn't doing so well. There are no new components, it's all second hand gear but it is much better than my old system (if I can get it to work).

Now I have a mess of components spare. Hmm, what else can I do with a computer...

New Year, New Lens

Picked up a 17-55mm f2.8 IS USM lens at the start of the year.

Haven't done much yet other than take a few test shots, but hopefully I'll get out there and be taking some shots in the next few days. And this year my goal is to be taking more photos of people. I already have plenty of photos of landscapes and the cats.

Also have another website to build, more details on that once it is nearer completion.

Last thing of note is that I'm more actively hunting for a job closer to home. I'm spending too much time and petrol on just getting to work, and work does not pay that much to begin with. So far, my plan to win millions in the lottery have not come to fruition. It may help if I actually bought tickets... I'll need to check and see if I have any rich elderly relatives in poor health....

Giving it a try

Today I tried a new feature for the website. I am seeing if I can get the current (latest) post on my blogger blog to show up on the front page. Yes, this can be done (I've already done it). I may even write up a bit of a tutorial on how to do it as well later on.

At any rate, the purpose of this update is to test the image function. Here's an image:



And here's alinks list:

• My music site
• My story site
• My main site (redundant in this case)
  

Whee! Now to see if it worked...

First podcast finished!

Sweet! I'm on a roll.

Okay, so the first podcast is in the can. Haven't put it up on the website since the host is having issues at the moment and the site is down. But that's okay because I haven't built the site yet!

So got the first one done on schedule (finish them on Sundays for a Monday publication) even though I had a bit of a learning curve with all the new software. I'm using three or four programs at the moment. No doubt I could do it with a single program if I paid for a good one, but I like using freeware.

In related news, dug out the old music I'd made under the Dj Pyro name back in the day and pulled the better ones (read: less bad) into a ten-track album. Of course, calling the album "Pyro" but putting it under my new stage name of Tsbytomd.

So it is all coming together nicely. I have an old friend who has offered to show me how to do midi sequencing and stuff so that should be good. I have a program (also freeware) to get started with and if i can pull some halfway decent stuff together then I'll be splashing out for a midi controller of some type. I have a few on my watchlist on eBay to see if I can pick one up cheapish, but I'm not holding my breathe.

Looking forward to getting started!

Aaaand … NaNo comes to a crashing halt

Well, I gave NaNoWriMo a half-hearted stab this year. I went to the first meet-up and managed to get 500 odd words done at the first write-in. And pretty much stopped after that.

I’m still trying to write, just shifted targets for a bit. I’m now starting (yet another) project - Fallen House. It’s going to be a bit of a crossover between a webcomic, a novel and a wikivella. It’ll be piggy-backing on the back of Orbital Cauldron for now, though I may give it its own domain at a later stage.

In anticipation of this, I’ve ordered a graphics tablet which will hopefully be arriving sometime next week. This will help with the “webcomic” part of it. I may use the Orbital Cauldron Wiki or the Loneverse wiki, but at the moment I am planning to keep it away from the Wiki model since that normally tends to make me dither.

So at this stage I am gearing up for this project, Loneverse still on the backburner and Orbital Cauldron still needs a bit of a tidy up to allow it to be promoted.

Now all I need to do is to get stuck into it and WRITE!!