I'm going to do something very unusual for me and attempt to review a couple of movies I've recently seen. It's unusual because I don't usually even watch movies, let alone have my thoughts together enough to actually write reviews of them.
If you're looking for indepth analyses of cinematographic techniques or ten-act Campbellian breakdowns, this won't be the place for it. I'm just not that into movies. I'm just going to write down what I thought of these movies.
For a start, they were both really terrible movies. The two movies I'm going to review are Dragon Lore: Curse of the Shadow (aka. Saga - Curse of the Shadow) and Age of the Dragons. I'll talk about the second one first.
Age of the Dragons is a retelling of Moby Dick. They don't even try to hide it - even the character names are the same. When we meet the protagonist, the first line of dialogue is "So - Ishmael, is it?" "You can call me that." Ahab, Queequeg, Starbuck, Stubb, Flask - if you're familiar with Moby Dick, then these names will be familiar. The only real differences are that the White Whale is actually a White Dragon and there is an introduced female character - in fact, the only female character - named Rachel. I'm pretty sure she's only there because you're not allowed to do a movie with an all-male cast any more. She was also, obviously, the focus of the inevitable romantic subplot, which seemed to exist only because there was a woman in the cast.
The Pequod was not a ship. Since dragons are not whales, Ahab did not need a boat to go hunting for it. Instead, the Pequod was a weird land-ship which rolled across the tundra on wheels. Yes - tundra. Most of the movie was set in snowy regions - perhaps ultimately due to the Dungeons and Dragons trope that white dragons are associated with cold. This dragon definitely breathed fire, though.
The movie was pretty hard to get through. It had the same overblown overdramatic dialogue as the original novel - in fact, I'm pretty sure there were some direct quotes - and there was a weird combination of overacting and underacting on the part of the cast. I'd say that the movie was as hard to watch as the book was to read, except that the movie was a little easier because it was shorter.
I would not recommend this movie unless you are a fan of both Moby Dick and the fantasy genre.
The other movie was better, but it still wasn't great.
This was a more generic fantasy movie - I'm pretty sure it was based on the Saga video game, though I've never played that game. The main characters are an elf bounty hunter, a human cleric (maybe a paladin) and a genre-breaking "nice" orc who was betrayed by his more evil comrade. The plot was fairly generic fantasy - stop the evil cult before they summon the god of death.
But it was solidly done. Because of my background I particularly notice the combat scenes, which were... let's say competent. There were a few spots where it looked incredibly faked - especially if you paid attention to the background characters, but that's hard to avoid unless you're Bob Anderson. In general the fight choreography came from the "make it fun and flashy" school, with many kicks and spins, rather than the "make it realistic" school.
The makeup and visual effects were actually not bad - except for the big evil god at the end, which totally looked rotoscoped. Badly rotoscoped. But the elf looked like an elf, and the orcs looked like orcs.
This was a much more fun bad movie than the other one. It wasn't of the quality of Dragonslayer or the Conan movies, but it wasn't hard to watch. I'd recommend it if you have an hour and a half to kill and you felt like a bit of mindless fantasy.
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Saturday, 26 December 2015
The Hidden Message of Triple Town
For a long time, Triple Town has been my go-to game for when I'm sitting on the bog. It's a fun and interesting little puzzle game.
The idea is that you have to build a town. The board is divided into a grid, and each turn you can put down a randomly-determined piece. When you put down three of the same piece in connected squares, they combine into the next-higher piece.
Three grass combine into a bush. Three bushes combine into a tree. Three trees combine into a hut. Three huts combine into a house. Three houses combine into a mansion. Three mansions combine into a castle. Three castles combine into a floating castle. In theory, you can get four floating castles to combine, but I've never been able to do that. Each piece you get is randomly determined, but the lower-order pieces are much more common than the higher-order ones. I've never got a piece higher than a hut. You can also occasionally get crystals, which are wild cards that you can use to combine with any two other pieces. You can also get bots, which you can use to destroy a single piece.
There are a few complications. Mostly, bears. Bears wander randomly around the board, blocking where you can put useful things. They come up in your random selection of pieces - so you have to put a bear on the board when you get one. Bears can only wander on blank spaces, so you can cut them off into specific areas of the board if you want to, and it's actually a really good idea to do so. You can also get ninja bears, which are like bears but they can jump about to any square on the board - they are not constrained in their movements like bears are. The bears look (a little disturbingly) like Pedobear.
There is only one way that bears will ever go away. If you block three or more bears into an area so that none of them will move, then they will all combine into a church. Yes - if you gather enough pedobears into a single area, they will become a church. That's the first hidden message.
So you might be asking - what happens when you combine three churches? Well, obviously, they become a cathedral. And if you combine three cathedrals? Well, they become a chest full of coins that you can use to buy the specific pieces that you want instead of getting a random selection. Yes - if you combine churches, you get money. That's the other hidden message.
The idea is that you have to build a town. The board is divided into a grid, and each turn you can put down a randomly-determined piece. When you put down three of the same piece in connected squares, they combine into the next-higher piece.
Three grass combine into a bush. Three bushes combine into a tree. Three trees combine into a hut. Three huts combine into a house. Three houses combine into a mansion. Three mansions combine into a castle. Three castles combine into a floating castle. In theory, you can get four floating castles to combine, but I've never been able to do that. Each piece you get is randomly determined, but the lower-order pieces are much more common than the higher-order ones. I've never got a piece higher than a hut. You can also occasionally get crystals, which are wild cards that you can use to combine with any two other pieces. You can also get bots, which you can use to destroy a single piece.
There are a few complications. Mostly, bears. Bears wander randomly around the board, blocking where you can put useful things. They come up in your random selection of pieces - so you have to put a bear on the board when you get one. Bears can only wander on blank spaces, so you can cut them off into specific areas of the board if you want to, and it's actually a really good idea to do so. You can also get ninja bears, which are like bears but they can jump about to any square on the board - they are not constrained in their movements like bears are. The bears look (a little disturbingly) like Pedobear.
There is only one way that bears will ever go away. If you block three or more bears into an area so that none of them will move, then they will all combine into a church. Yes - if you gather enough pedobears into a single area, they will become a church. That's the first hidden message.
So you might be asking - what happens when you combine three churches? Well, obviously, they become a cathedral. And if you combine three cathedrals? Well, they become a chest full of coins that you can use to buy the specific pieces that you want instead of getting a random selection. Yes - if you combine churches, you get money. That's the other hidden message.
Saturday, 5 December 2015
Shopping mall and flyover
So I had this weird dream before waking up this morning, and it's fading fast, so I'd better get it down quick.
I was going somewhere - I may have been shopping, but I wasn't carrying any bags - and I parked the car, but I couldn't remember where I left it. It was on the street somewhere rather than at a carpark. I realised that I was in the suburb where I grew up (Holt), but there was a lot of construction work going on.
I found a map, which showed the future layout of the area, and I realised that almost the entire suburb was being replaced. There was going to be a huge shopping mall, with public transit, and a huge flyover for the highway. Not sure what the highway was going to, unless there was a lot of new development out towards Uriarra.
At one point I remembered that I didn't live in this area any more, and the reason I was trying to find my car was so that I could go home to Waramanga, which is where I live in the waking world.
After wandering around for some time looking (unsuccessfully) for my car, I eventually sat down with someone who was taking surveys, and I was answering some fairly odd questions. I think he was from the company that was doing the development, but I can't remember any of the questions. I don't usually mind doing marketing surveys, but this one I think started to get a little intrusive. At one point he asked me something like "what are you doing in this area" and I cried "I'm trying to find my car so I can go home!"
At that point my friend Myk showed up and we had a bit of a chat. But he had to go because he had to get home in time to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who. I replied that the current season wasn't on Netflix yet, but it would be when the season finished, and we'd binge-watch it then. Which is true in the waking world. I overheard a number of other people mentioning that they had to go home to watch Doctor Who as well, so I assumed it was a season finale or something.
Around then was when I woke up. This was an interesting dream to me, for a couple of reasons. First, because I was able to remember it when I woke. I often dream, and my dreams are intricate and complicated, but I rarely remember them when I wake up. I usually dream most vividly in the mornings. I'll sometimes wake up at 7am or so, then go back to sleep for a while. This morning it was about three hours. This period of sleep is when I dream. I've speculated in the past that the ambient light has something to do with the vividness of my dreams.
Second, because it blended my current life with my past. I was making my way through Holt - the suburb where I grew up, from ages 6 to 16 - but I had to get home to Waramanga, which is where I live now. I spoke about watching Doctor Who on Netflix. It had a strong theme of "you can never really go home" - the idea that when you return to the places you knew as a child, it's changed so much from the way you remember it. It certainly had changed. I was able to trace on the map where the roads used to be, and in more than one case a part of the existing road had been retained, but renamed.
There was also the presence of Myk - now I will say here that Myk does occasionally feature in my dreams. More I think than most other friends of mine. But he always looks the same. Tall, slightly hunched over, wearing a long coat. This is not how he looks in the waking world.
Oddly, when I woke up, I checked Facebook and found a couple of interesting things in my News Feed. There was some really nice photos of Myk, and there was the list of Mr Fluffy houses which did indeed include the house in Holt where I grew up.
I was going somewhere - I may have been shopping, but I wasn't carrying any bags - and I parked the car, but I couldn't remember where I left it. It was on the street somewhere rather than at a carpark. I realised that I was in the suburb where I grew up (Holt), but there was a lot of construction work going on.
I found a map, which showed the future layout of the area, and I realised that almost the entire suburb was being replaced. There was going to be a huge shopping mall, with public transit, and a huge flyover for the highway. Not sure what the highway was going to, unless there was a lot of new development out towards Uriarra.
At one point I remembered that I didn't live in this area any more, and the reason I was trying to find my car was so that I could go home to Waramanga, which is where I live in the waking world.
After wandering around for some time looking (unsuccessfully) for my car, I eventually sat down with someone who was taking surveys, and I was answering some fairly odd questions. I think he was from the company that was doing the development, but I can't remember any of the questions. I don't usually mind doing marketing surveys, but this one I think started to get a little intrusive. At one point he asked me something like "what are you doing in this area" and I cried "I'm trying to find my car so I can go home!"
At that point my friend Myk showed up and we had a bit of a chat. But he had to go because he had to get home in time to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who. I replied that the current season wasn't on Netflix yet, but it would be when the season finished, and we'd binge-watch it then. Which is true in the waking world. I overheard a number of other people mentioning that they had to go home to watch Doctor Who as well, so I assumed it was a season finale or something.
Around then was when I woke up. This was an interesting dream to me, for a couple of reasons. First, because I was able to remember it when I woke. I often dream, and my dreams are intricate and complicated, but I rarely remember them when I wake up. I usually dream most vividly in the mornings. I'll sometimes wake up at 7am or so, then go back to sleep for a while. This morning it was about three hours. This period of sleep is when I dream. I've speculated in the past that the ambient light has something to do with the vividness of my dreams.
Second, because it blended my current life with my past. I was making my way through Holt - the suburb where I grew up, from ages 6 to 16 - but I had to get home to Waramanga, which is where I live now. I spoke about watching Doctor Who on Netflix. It had a strong theme of "you can never really go home" - the idea that when you return to the places you knew as a child, it's changed so much from the way you remember it. It certainly had changed. I was able to trace on the map where the roads used to be, and in more than one case a part of the existing road had been retained, but renamed.
There was also the presence of Myk - now I will say here that Myk does occasionally feature in my dreams. More I think than most other friends of mine. But he always looks the same. Tall, slightly hunched over, wearing a long coat. This is not how he looks in the waking world.
Oddly, when I woke up, I checked Facebook and found a couple of interesting things in my News Feed. There was some really nice photos of Myk, and there was the list of Mr Fluffy houses which did indeed include the house in Holt where I grew up.
Sunday, 29 November 2015
On Driving
It's been a week since I got back from holidays. Sorry to those people who were anticipating another holiday post.My holiday was not one of those that was filled with action and excitement and really wild things. I did some stuff - I got back. That's about it, really.
One thing that I will mention - I do rather like driving long distances. I think it's fun. And since I'm always listening to either music or podcasts, I don't get bored. So I've decided to look into becoming an Uber driver.
Except... I have a bit of a problem with that. To drive for Uber, you need to own a car that is less than 9 years old. I don't. I signed up by providing my email address and mobile phone number, and then I was asked to choose - from a list - the make and model of my car. The list did not include any models older than 9 years. So there was no way I could proceed from there. Now I'm getting emails from Uber reminding me to complete my background check so I can start driving as soon as possible.
I had heard that Uber provides finance for those who need a new car. I even found a page, thanks to a friend in a chatroom, which details the terms of the finance available. The instruction to apply said "just sign up, and tell us you need a new car!" There was no such option on the signup page. I looked at the finance page very carefully, and the very last sentence of the fine print at the very bottom of the page said "Finance not available in all locations".
I emailed them, asking whether finance was available. They replied within 24 hours, which was nice, telling me that no finance is available, but if I had a car that was less than 9 years old, I could start driving immediately!
So I think my plan to become an Uber driver has pretty much been scuppered. I would have to self-finance a new car, which at this point is probably not possible. I'd have to apply for a loan, and when they asked me how much I earn, I'd have to say "I don't know yet, but as soon as I get this loan I'll be able to tell you." And that's not really how it works.
Meanwhile, I guess I keep studying and keep applying for jobs. There aren't that many places looking for new hires over the Christmas period, but I'm sure there are some.
One thing that I will mention - I do rather like driving long distances. I think it's fun. And since I'm always listening to either music or podcasts, I don't get bored. So I've decided to look into becoming an Uber driver.
Except... I have a bit of a problem with that. To drive for Uber, you need to own a car that is less than 9 years old. I don't. I signed up by providing my email address and mobile phone number, and then I was asked to choose - from a list - the make and model of my car. The list did not include any models older than 9 years. So there was no way I could proceed from there. Now I'm getting emails from Uber reminding me to complete my background check so I can start driving as soon as possible.
I had heard that Uber provides finance for those who need a new car. I even found a page, thanks to a friend in a chatroom, which details the terms of the finance available. The instruction to apply said "just sign up, and tell us you need a new car!" There was no such option on the signup page. I looked at the finance page very carefully, and the very last sentence of the fine print at the very bottom of the page said "Finance not available in all locations".
I emailed them, asking whether finance was available. They replied within 24 hours, which was nice, telling me that no finance is available, but if I had a car that was less than 9 years old, I could start driving immediately!
So I think my plan to become an Uber driver has pretty much been scuppered. I would have to self-finance a new car, which at this point is probably not possible. I'd have to apply for a loan, and when they asked me how much I earn, I'd have to say "I don't know yet, but as soon as I get this loan I'll be able to tell you." And that's not really how it works.
Meanwhile, I guess I keep studying and keep applying for jobs. There aren't that many places looking for new hires over the Christmas period, but I'm sure there are some.
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Sharks! Rays!
I just got back from visiting the Irukandji Shark and Ray Encounters. It was definitely a highlight of the trip.
The place is basically a big barn in the middle of nowhere. Inside the barn there are a number of pools that house sharks and rays. You pay your money, you get led inside where you're given a wetsuit and crocs, and you get into the pools with the sharks and rays.
There is of course a guide. The place has a number of different species - mostly Port Jackson sharks, common stingrays, fiddler rays, eagle rays and a few other species, including a pair of tawny nurse sharks that were up to 3 metres long.
You do get to feed the animals - using sticks with clips on the end to hold bits of prawn and squid. The rays were very friendly - I'd say extremely friendly. They came right up and gave us hugs.
It's well-known that sharks have rough skins due to the shape of their scales. Smaller sharks are less rough, because their scales are smaller. Stingrays, however, have what appears to be an anti-bacterial mucus coating which makes them somewhat slimy to the touch. It was a little unnerving at first.
And yes, the common stingray is the species that killed Steve Irwin. Our guide had an informed opinion on that, which can be summed up as "not only was Irwin an idiot, but the guy who was with him was also an idiot".
First, Irwin approached the stingray from behind - both in its blind spot and where its defence mechanism is. When it was startled, it did the same thing it would do if it were ambushed by a shark - it struck up with its sting. It was a dumb thing to do. Second, the guy who was with him pulled the sting out. Stingray stings are barbed - like a broadhead arrow. Pulling the sting out ripped Irwin's flesh open and caused him to bleed out. It was another dumb thing to do.
The correct response when someone is stung by a stingray is to get them into very hot water if you can, and absolutely get them to a hospital so that the sting can be surgically removed.
I got no photos. Because, well, wet. We were literally in the water for most of the time we were there. I did get a keyring though.
The place is basically a big barn in the middle of nowhere. Inside the barn there are a number of pools that house sharks and rays. You pay your money, you get led inside where you're given a wetsuit and crocs, and you get into the pools with the sharks and rays.
There is of course a guide. The place has a number of different species - mostly Port Jackson sharks, common stingrays, fiddler rays, eagle rays and a few other species, including a pair of tawny nurse sharks that were up to 3 metres long.
You do get to feed the animals - using sticks with clips on the end to hold bits of prawn and squid. The rays were very friendly - I'd say extremely friendly. They came right up and gave us hugs.
It's well-known that sharks have rough skins due to the shape of their scales. Smaller sharks are less rough, because their scales are smaller. Stingrays, however, have what appears to be an anti-bacterial mucus coating which makes them somewhat slimy to the touch. It was a little unnerving at first.
And yes, the common stingray is the species that killed Steve Irwin. Our guide had an informed opinion on that, which can be summed up as "not only was Irwin an idiot, but the guy who was with him was also an idiot".
First, Irwin approached the stingray from behind - both in its blind spot and where its defence mechanism is. When it was startled, it did the same thing it would do if it were ambushed by a shark - it struck up with its sting. It was a dumb thing to do. Second, the guy who was with him pulled the sting out. Stingray stings are barbed - like a broadhead arrow. Pulling the sting out ripped Irwin's flesh open and caused him to bleed out. It was another dumb thing to do.
The correct response when someone is stung by a stingray is to get them into very hot water if you can, and absolutely get them to a hospital so that the sting can be surgically removed.
I got no photos. Because, well, wet. We were literally in the water for most of the time we were there. I did get a keyring though.
Monday, 16 November 2015
Dolphins!
Today has been a good day.
Since it seemed a shame to come to the coast and not get on a boat, Terri and I booked ourselves on a 90 minute dolphin-watching cruise in the bay. It was to leave at 1:30pm, so we had most of the morning to wander around the shopping district of Nelson Bay. Spoiler: there wasn't a lot. We had a look in a couple of shops that I've come to refer to as "everything shops", and I picked up a key ring. Which reminds me, I haven't told you about my key rings yet. That'll be for another post.
After stopping to have a smoothie at a juice bar, we made our way to the marina. We stood in a queue on the dock for quite a while before embarking, and the ship was about 5 minutes late departing.
For a while there we didn't think we'd actually see any dolphins when suddenly, there they were.
Now, I did have my good camera with me - I figured that having the zoom lens would be worth carrying it about, and I was right. There were a lot of people on the boat, and most of them were trying to get photos with their camera phones. Don't get me wrong - a camera phone is extremely useful, and sufficient for most purposes. But for this particular purpose, nope.
I got to the point where I was doing something that I've been meaning to teach myself to do anyway, which is to keep both eyes open when taking the shots. One eye looks through the viewfinder, while the other is free to take in the whole scene. With practice, I found that I could overlap the view from one eye with the view from the other, and choose which eye my brain paid attention to at any given moment. That made it quite a lot easier to catch those elusive shots where the dolphin only surfaced for a fraction of a second.
It was a pretty pleasant ride. It wasn't rough or particularly windy, and the rain that has been hanging around since we arrived in the area had pretty much gone completely away by the time we got onto the water.
Sunday, 15 November 2015
More Songs About Showers
I've already told you how much I hate shower curtains. This post is about the idea that is sometimes found in hotels known as the "wet room". It sounds filthy, but it isn't.
The Wet Room is where the floor of the shower is contiguous with the floor of the rest of the bathroom, and there is no distinction between the shower stall and everything else. The resort I'm staying in at the moment has some dividers up, but there is no door to the shower cubicle.
Also, the water pressure here is of the "I fear for the safety of my nipples" level. While this is quite nice to shower in - as long as I don't turn the showerhead to needles - it does mean that the water splashes all the way out of the shower cubicle.
This means that when I've finished my shower, the floor of the bathroom is awash. Unfortunately, it doesn't drain very well, which pretty much means that the floor is constantly wet. When I sit on toilet, I need to be very careful that my pants don't touch the floor, or they will be sitting in water. And sure, my pants are still slightly damp from not having had long enough in the dryer, but that's not the same thing.
Also, the sink is perfectly designed to splash me in the crotch when I turn the tap on.
Saturday, 14 November 2015
Not a short walk
Today we were pretty much taking it easy. Terri swam a kilometre in the hotel pool, and I took a walk to Nelson Bay to find an ATM. It was a nice walk, though longer than I'm used to. I thought it was going to be fairly quick, but it was 40min in each direction.
I found the tourist trap. It was full of tourists. I didn't expect this area to have a large tourist population, but there they were.
I took a few iPhone photos on the way - you can see these on my Facebook if you're interested. It seems that Facebook will now collect photos off your photo stream and compile them automagically into a collage. That was nice.
After that I had a bit of an adventure trying to get my clothes washed. See, it's been raining at home, and since we have to dry clothes on an actual clothesline because we don't have a dryer, we haven't been able to do any washing for a while, and I'd run out of t-shirts and pants. Well... mostly run out.
The resort where we're staying has laundry facilities, but they're coin-operated. This was the reason I needed to find an ATM this afternoon. But it turns out that the laundry is in a different building, and our door card doesn't work in the other building. Got that sorted out - they had to issue me a temporary card at Reception to allow me into the laundry. And it turned out that the laundry had the world's slowest dryer so I had to get my clothes out while they were still slightly damp and hang them on a rack in our room.
Dinner was at a little place called Marco's. It was slow, but it was a Saturday night and they were quite busy, so I forgive them for that. The awesome waitress gave us complementary olives while we were waiting, which was nice because neither of us had eaten since breakfast and we were both very hungry. I had pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta in a tomato sauce, and it was really nice. It wasn't spectacular, or innovative, but it was hearty and well-made. I figured that it wouldn't be at all difficult to do at home, especially if I made the pasta myself - which is something that I've been totally planning on doing for a while now.
Dessert was gelati from a literal guy-in-a-booth. Good gelati too. We'll probably go back to him a couple of times before the week is over.
I found the tourist trap. It was full of tourists. I didn't expect this area to have a large tourist population, but there they were.
I took a few iPhone photos on the way - you can see these on my Facebook if you're interested. It seems that Facebook will now collect photos off your photo stream and compile them automagically into a collage. That was nice.
After that I had a bit of an adventure trying to get my clothes washed. See, it's been raining at home, and since we have to dry clothes on an actual clothesline because we don't have a dryer, we haven't been able to do any washing for a while, and I'd run out of t-shirts and pants. Well... mostly run out.
The resort where we're staying has laundry facilities, but they're coin-operated. This was the reason I needed to find an ATM this afternoon. But it turns out that the laundry is in a different building, and our door card doesn't work in the other building. Got that sorted out - they had to issue me a temporary card at Reception to allow me into the laundry. And it turned out that the laundry had the world's slowest dryer so I had to get my clothes out while they were still slightly damp and hang them on a rack in our room.
Dinner was at a little place called Marco's. It was slow, but it was a Saturday night and they were quite busy, so I forgive them for that. The awesome waitress gave us complementary olives while we were waiting, which was nice because neither of us had eaten since breakfast and we were both very hungry. I had pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta in a tomato sauce, and it was really nice. It wasn't spectacular, or innovative, but it was hearty and well-made. I figured that it wouldn't be at all difficult to do at home, especially if I made the pasta myself - which is something that I've been totally planning on doing for a while now.
Dessert was gelati from a literal guy-in-a-booth. Good gelati too. We'll probably go back to him a couple of times before the week is over.
Friday, 13 November 2015
Road Trip!
There's Sydney traffic, then there's Sydney Peak Hour Traffic. Then there's Sydney Peak Hour Traffic in a Torrential Rainstorm, and that's a whole different kind of traffic.
The road trip only took about an hour and a half longer than originally anticipated. And at many points during the trip I thought of things to put in this blot post, only to have them all vanish from my brain the moment I started typing. Typical.
I'm in Shoal Bay. I assume it's nice, but I can't tell because it's nighttime and it's raining heavily.
There are a number of things that Terri has put on the list for doing, including a Shark and Ray Centre, which sounds exciting. I only know about this because I saw the sign as we were approaching. The rest of the week is going to be a bit of a surprise.
I've brought my good camera. It's been a while since I've used it - I think it was getting lonely. My iPhone camera is good for a lot of things, but for really good photos you can't go past a DSLR. I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago learning how shutter speed and aperture work and how to set them quickly. I also taught myself how to tweak photos in Aperture to make them look good. It'd be a shame for all that knowledge to go to waste. So expect some photos here over the next week.
The road trip only took about an hour and a half longer than originally anticipated. And at many points during the trip I thought of things to put in this blot post, only to have them all vanish from my brain the moment I started typing. Typical.
I'm in Shoal Bay. I assume it's nice, but I can't tell because it's nighttime and it's raining heavily.
There are a number of things that Terri has put on the list for doing, including a Shark and Ray Centre, which sounds exciting. I only know about this because I saw the sign as we were approaching. The rest of the week is going to be a bit of a surprise.
I've brought my good camera. It's been a while since I've used it - I think it was getting lonely. My iPhone camera is good for a lot of things, but for really good photos you can't go past a DSLR. I spent quite a bit of time a few years ago learning how shutter speed and aperture work and how to set them quickly. I also taught myself how to tweak photos in Aperture to make them look good. It'd be a shame for all that knowledge to go to waste. So expect some photos here over the next week.
Thursday, 5 November 2015
New blog
I'm moving all of my Oto Nightwood posts onto another blog. This blog will be reserved for personal observations and updates.
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Tonight's culinary experiment
Aloo paratha.
It's only when I looked at Wikipedia that I found out that this is supposed to be a breakfast dish. Never mind, we had it for dinner.
I'd describe it as a qualified success. It tasted pretty good. I assume that there's a knack for rolling out the dough so that the filling doesn't leak out. Perhaps I just needed to use more dough for each one. But like most recipes I've used, the quantities seemed wrong. I ran out of paratha long before I ran out of aloo.
If I was going to do this again, I'd probably make the potatoes a bit more curryish. Using a recipe from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, the potato is boiled and mashed with coriander, chilli, salt, pepper and lemon juice. I added a touch of turmeric, but it still didn't really have a strong flavour.
Before I found out that it is intended for breakfast, I figured that if I did it again I'd probably do it as a side dish with a good hearty vegetable curry. It might also work quite well with curried cube potato, wrapped like a dumpling rather than rolled like a pancake.
There's also a fair bit of cleaning up to do. But that's normal when you're working with flour and dough.
It's only when I looked at Wikipedia that I found out that this is supposed to be a breakfast dish. Never mind, we had it for dinner.
I'd describe it as a qualified success. It tasted pretty good. I assume that there's a knack for rolling out the dough so that the filling doesn't leak out. Perhaps I just needed to use more dough for each one. But like most recipes I've used, the quantities seemed wrong. I ran out of paratha long before I ran out of aloo.
If I was going to do this again, I'd probably make the potatoes a bit more curryish. Using a recipe from How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, the potato is boiled and mashed with coriander, chilli, salt, pepper and lemon juice. I added a touch of turmeric, but it still didn't really have a strong flavour.
Before I found out that it is intended for breakfast, I figured that if I did it again I'd probably do it as a side dish with a good hearty vegetable curry. It might also work quite well with curried cube potato, wrapped like a dumpling rather than rolled like a pancake.
There's also a fair bit of cleaning up to do. But that's normal when you're working with flour and dough.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
NetworkedBlogs
I've been working with this service to try and get my blog posts to show up on Facebook. This post can be ignored - it is a test only.
Tell The Nurse
Some of my readers may be aware that I am a regular donor of blood products at the Red Cross.
There are essentially three blood products that a member of the public can donate: whole blood, plasma, and platelets. Whole blood is easy - they stick a tube into your arm, collect some blood into a bag, then let you go. Then they take that away, test it for pathogens, separate it into its components, and use it.
Plasma and platelet donation is a little bit more tricky. For plasma, they collect your blood, centrifuge it to separate the plasma from the cells and collect the plasma into a bag. Then they mix the cells with a saline solution and anticoagulant and put them back into the body. This is all done by machine.
For platelets, the process is broadly similar. It differs in the details. For example, the draw-and-return cycle is faster. There are other differences, but they're minor.
I donated platelets yesterday - my second time. Most of the time with this sort of thing there's very little that can go wrong. Donating blood products is one of the safest ways in which you personally can help the community. But something did go wrong.
Shortly after the process started, I started to feel a tingling sensation in my lips. No worries, I thought, this was normal. I felt the same thing the first time I donated platelets. Slightly. At the end. This time it was strong, and almost immediate. Not having much of a clue, I let the process continue without telling the nurse. By the end of the procedure - which took about 80 minutes - I was feeling nauseated and light-headed. With two minutes left to go, I feebly gestured for the nurse.
I had had a reaction to the citrate in the anticoagulant. This is something that happens occasionally, but it would have been totally preventable if I'd summoned a nurse early on. Fortunately, it was not serious. They disconnected the line and lay me flat and I spent an additional twenty minutes metabolising the citrate before they let me go.
If I'd alerted the nurse to my situation early, instead of letting it go, then they could have decreased the amount of citrate the machine gave me and I wouldn't have felt anywhere near as bad as I ended up feeling. This is a lesson for next time, although next time I think I'll simply donate plasma rather than platelets.
There are essentially three blood products that a member of the public can donate: whole blood, plasma, and platelets. Whole blood is easy - they stick a tube into your arm, collect some blood into a bag, then let you go. Then they take that away, test it for pathogens, separate it into its components, and use it.
Plasma and platelet donation is a little bit more tricky. For plasma, they collect your blood, centrifuge it to separate the plasma from the cells and collect the plasma into a bag. Then they mix the cells with a saline solution and anticoagulant and put them back into the body. This is all done by machine.
For platelets, the process is broadly similar. It differs in the details. For example, the draw-and-return cycle is faster. There are other differences, but they're minor.
I donated platelets yesterday - my second time. Most of the time with this sort of thing there's very little that can go wrong. Donating blood products is one of the safest ways in which you personally can help the community. But something did go wrong.
Shortly after the process started, I started to feel a tingling sensation in my lips. No worries, I thought, this was normal. I felt the same thing the first time I donated platelets. Slightly. At the end. This time it was strong, and almost immediate. Not having much of a clue, I let the process continue without telling the nurse. By the end of the procedure - which took about 80 minutes - I was feeling nauseated and light-headed. With two minutes left to go, I feebly gestured for the nurse.
I had had a reaction to the citrate in the anticoagulant. This is something that happens occasionally, but it would have been totally preventable if I'd summoned a nurse early on. Fortunately, it was not serious. They disconnected the line and lay me flat and I spent an additional twenty minutes metabolising the citrate before they let me go.
If I'd alerted the nurse to my situation early, instead of letting it go, then they could have decreased the amount of citrate the machine gave me and I wouldn't have felt anywhere near as bad as I ended up feeling. This is a lesson for next time, although next time I think I'll simply donate plasma rather than platelets.
Friday, 10 July 2015
With Fire
Because it was a dream, I didn't think that clearing the verandah by pouring flammable liquid on it and setting it alight was a bad idea at all.
The flames started at the front, and slowly progressed around both sides of the house. I went inside to read a book while it was happening. It wasn't until some time had gone by that I realised that there were things on the verandah that might get burned, including washing hanging on the line on the right side of the house, when looking at it from the back. Frantically I tried to get it all in, but the line was too high and I couldn't reach all of it. It didn't matter though, because the fire burned itself out before it got that far.
On the other side of the house (the left side when looking from the back) there were several large spider webs, complete with large spiders, that did not get burned because the fire didn't make it that far. There was also a bottle of something alcoholic hanging by a window, but I can't remember the significance of that.
The flames started at the front, and slowly progressed around both sides of the house. I went inside to read a book while it was happening. It wasn't until some time had gone by that I realised that there were things on the verandah that might get burned, including washing hanging on the line on the right side of the house, when looking at it from the back. Frantically I tried to get it all in, but the line was too high and I couldn't reach all of it. It didn't matter though, because the fire burned itself out before it got that far.
On the other side of the house (the left side when looking from the back) there were several large spider webs, complete with large spiders, that did not get burned because the fire didn't make it that far. There was also a bottle of something alcoholic hanging by a window, but I can't remember the significance of that.
Wednesday, 8 July 2015
Upcoming D&D Posts
So my D&D group, which has been playing 5th edition for about a year, is shortly to be changing DMs and moving the campaign in a new direction. Some players are getting new characters, and I - up until now the DM - am becoming a player myself and have created a character.
The character will be creating a diary of his adventures. I'll post those entries here. I'll use a specific label for them - d&dgame, so if you're clever I expect you can create a filter for them if you really care to.
I expect that these diary postings will dominate this particular feed for a while.
The character will be creating a diary of his adventures. I'll post those entries here. I'll use a specific label for them - d&dgame, so if you're clever I expect you can create a filter for them if you really care to.
I expect that these diary postings will dominate this particular feed for a while.
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
The Scintillating Scotoma
Have you ever wondered whether you'll go blind or deaf first?
I'm pretty sure that I know that I'll go blind in my dotage, rather than deaf. And the reason is that I experience a thing called scintillating scotomas.
Basically, this is a distortion in my visual field. It appears, grows, moves slowly and goes away after maybe ten to twenty minutes. It's hard to describe exactly what it looks like, though I've described it as "wrigglies". It's not like the "floaters" that people sometimes experience - those are actual protein fragments in the eyeball, whereas my scotomas are still visible when I close my eyes. Wikipedia has a couple of artists' impressions of what it looks like, but none of them really reflect what I see. This is perhaps the closest:
"Scintillating scotoma" by Mikael Häggström.
Even this isn't really accurate, since the background image still shows distinctly through the distortion. When I experience it, it really does disrupt what I can see.
They become a problem when they cover the main part of my visual field. When this happens I can't really see anything properly - though it's because my vision is distorted rather than just seeing blackness. More often I can keep doing whatever I'm doing because the scotoma doesn't cover the primary area of visual acuity - it covers my peripheral vision, but not my central. In fact, you probably wouldn't even realise that I'm experiencing one if you were watching my behaviour at the time. Sometimes it covers just part of my central vision, and I have to look slightly sideways at things in order to see them properly.
Scintillating scotomas are usually associated with migraines - and when I was young, they were a sure sign of the onset of a headache. However, my headaches were never particularly serious, and these days I get the scotoma without a headache at all.
So far I've been lucky enough to not have it occur when I'm driving. However, the onset is gradual enough that I would certainly have time to pull over and stop if it did happen.
There's really no reason to think that it'll get worse as I get older. I just posted that as a hook to get you interested.
I'm pretty sure that I know that I'll go blind in my dotage, rather than deaf. And the reason is that I experience a thing called scintillating scotomas.
Basically, this is a distortion in my visual field. It appears, grows, moves slowly and goes away after maybe ten to twenty minutes. It's hard to describe exactly what it looks like, though I've described it as "wrigglies". It's not like the "floaters" that people sometimes experience - those are actual protein fragments in the eyeball, whereas my scotomas are still visible when I close my eyes. Wikipedia has a couple of artists' impressions of what it looks like, but none of them really reflect what I see. This is perhaps the closest:
"Scintillating scotoma" by Mikael Häggström.
Even this isn't really accurate, since the background image still shows distinctly through the distortion. When I experience it, it really does disrupt what I can see.
They become a problem when they cover the main part of my visual field. When this happens I can't really see anything properly - though it's because my vision is distorted rather than just seeing blackness. More often I can keep doing whatever I'm doing because the scotoma doesn't cover the primary area of visual acuity - it covers my peripheral vision, but not my central. In fact, you probably wouldn't even realise that I'm experiencing one if you were watching my behaviour at the time. Sometimes it covers just part of my central vision, and I have to look slightly sideways at things in order to see them properly.
Scintillating scotomas are usually associated with migraines - and when I was young, they were a sure sign of the onset of a headache. However, my headaches were never particularly serious, and these days I get the scotoma without a headache at all.
So far I've been lucky enough to not have it occur when I'm driving. However, the onset is gradual enough that I would certainly have time to pull over and stop if it did happen.
There's really no reason to think that it'll get worse as I get older. I just posted that as a hook to get you interested.
Friday, 12 June 2015
Narrow Bed
I often don't remember my dreams after I wake up. This morning was an exception. It was long and detailed.
I was going to a residential school at a university in a bay. My first task was to get there, so I had to look up a street that I could set into my GPS. I eventually found one which I knew led to an underground car park.
The trip was surprisingly short - where I was was only a short drive from where I wanted to be.
Of course, I was late. I couldn't get my choice of rooms, but a couple of friendly women let me room with them. They would take the double bed, and I could use the incredibly narrow single. Seriously, this bed was about a foot wide.
I tried to unpack, but realized that instead of a suitcase containing clothes and things I'd need, I only had a box that was packed for moving house. In other words, it was full of all the junk that was lying about my old place, and nothing that I actually needed.
Then I woke up.
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
In Defence of Top Stories
From time to time a post shows up in my Facebook News Feed which says something like "Facebook, stop filtering my newsfeed! Just show me all of my friends' posts in order! Blargghababll" (paraphrased).
You see, Facebook by default uses an algorithm to determine what to display in your News Feed - it's called Top Stories. No, it doesn't show you everything. Personally, I don't think that Top Stories is as bad as all that. Here's how it works.
For a start, Facebook assumes that you have a lot of friends. Personally, I have 193 friends, and I'm quite particular about who I add as a friend. I don't add someone if I don't know who they are, for example. Facebook also assumes that your friends engage with Facebook and post a fair bit. I also have Liked 361 Pages, and each of those pages will be posting as well. I don't think these numbers are too far of representative of the population as a whole - I know people who have less, and I know people who have a lot more. So let's make an assumption about the average Facebook user (note: this assumption may be wildly inaccurate, but I don't think that matters too muck for my argument)
Say I have 200 friends and 300 pages, and they each make an average of five posts per day. I think that's a reasonable assumption - in fact I think it's conservative. That's 2500 posts every 24 hours - a little more than 100 posts per hour, or one every six seconds. There's absolutely no way I can read all of that, even if I spend all day simply scrolling down my News Feed, which I don't. Nobody does. Hence, Facebook filters the list.
For a start, it shows me more posts from people and pages that I've engaged with in the past. This means people or pages whose posts I have Liked, Commented or Shared. People and pages I generally ignore don't get shown to me as often. I don't think that's wrong.
Secondly, it shows me more posts that have been engaged with by others. Again, this means posts that other Facebook users have Liked, Commented or Shared. These posts are obviously more popular, and it's likely that I'm going to want to see them too.
A lot of people seem to complain about how Facebook works without actually demonstrating any understanding of how Facebook works. There's also the security thing, but that's totally another topic. Some people seem to want Facebook to read their mind while not engaging with it in any meaningful way - specifically, not Liking, Commenting or Sharing the things that they like and want to see more of. Complaining about seeing peoples' food photos, when they choose to see them by going to Most Recent.
Oh, and you can also block games and ads that you don't want to see. That's another thing that people are constantly complaining about, apparently without realising that this problem is easy to fix.
You see, Facebook by default uses an algorithm to determine what to display in your News Feed - it's called Top Stories. No, it doesn't show you everything. Personally, I don't think that Top Stories is as bad as all that. Here's how it works.
For a start, Facebook assumes that you have a lot of friends. Personally, I have 193 friends, and I'm quite particular about who I add as a friend. I don't add someone if I don't know who they are, for example. Facebook also assumes that your friends engage with Facebook and post a fair bit. I also have Liked 361 Pages, and each of those pages will be posting as well. I don't think these numbers are too far of representative of the population as a whole - I know people who have less, and I know people who have a lot more. So let's make an assumption about the average Facebook user (note: this assumption may be wildly inaccurate, but I don't think that matters too muck for my argument)
Say I have 200 friends and 300 pages, and they each make an average of five posts per day. I think that's a reasonable assumption - in fact I think it's conservative. That's 2500 posts every 24 hours - a little more than 100 posts per hour, or one every six seconds. There's absolutely no way I can read all of that, even if I spend all day simply scrolling down my News Feed, which I don't. Nobody does. Hence, Facebook filters the list.
For a start, it shows me more posts from people and pages that I've engaged with in the past. This means people or pages whose posts I have Liked, Commented or Shared. People and pages I generally ignore don't get shown to me as often. I don't think that's wrong.
Secondly, it shows me more posts that have been engaged with by others. Again, this means posts that other Facebook users have Liked, Commented or Shared. These posts are obviously more popular, and it's likely that I'm going to want to see them too.
A lot of people seem to complain about how Facebook works without actually demonstrating any understanding of how Facebook works. There's also the security thing, but that's totally another topic. Some people seem to want Facebook to read their mind while not engaging with it in any meaningful way - specifically, not Liking, Commenting or Sharing the things that they like and want to see more of. Complaining about seeing peoples' food photos, when they choose to see them by going to Most Recent.
Oh, and you can also block games and ads that you don't want to see. That's another thing that people are constantly complaining about, apparently without realising that this problem is easy to fix.
Tuesday, 9 June 2015
Deknitting
I've never been really interested in puzzles. Apart from the odd crossword, word search or logic puzzle, the intricacies of cypher breaking or the kind of puzzles Martin Gardner used to write about never really got my interest.
Part of the problem is that I get tired very quickly of things that are too hard. It's the same with video games. I'll usually play games on an easy setting, because being repeatedly kicked in the head until I get it right doesn't strike me as being fun.
When I'm trying to figure out a puzzle, if I can't work it out within a few minutes, I give up and move on to something more interesting. But there is one exception.
I was a scout. I don't admit that very often - scouting for me was far from a consistently positive experience, but there is is. One of the very few things that scouting taught me that I thought was in any way worthwhile (apart from how to hate camping) was knots. I am very good at knots.
Where knots and puzzles cross over is when you want to try and untie knots. There's an old, old story about a thing called the Gordian Knot. The legend is a little involved, but basically the Gordian Knot was one that no-one could untie. Alexander the Great reportedly came along and cut it with his sword rather than try to untie it - that being amazing or something.
I reckon I could untie the Gordian Knot. I can untie anything, given enough time, so long as I can see what I am doing.
So when Terri asked me to unravel a dog coat she'd made a while ago - it was too big for badger - I was more than happy to.
Knitting is very interesting. And in fact it doesn't involve very many actual knots. There are some, but the bulk of knitting consists of a single length of wool that is wrapped and twisted around itself in specific repeating patterns. Usually, a block of knitting comes unravelled if you pull on one end. You have to untie the knot at the end that keeps it all together, but the rest just comes free.
Except... that knitted objects (except for scarfs) aren't simply one basic block of knitting. There are multiple pieces fastened together by stitches in sometimes quite elaborate ways. This particular dog coat consists of one main part which is a tube, plus sections around the neck hole and arm holes that were done in separate sections, and a pocket on the back with a button.
Furthermore, wool frays and twists, which in the end makes unravelling the whole thing quite a complex and interesting puzzle that I am quite enjoying getting to the end of.
Part of the problem is that I get tired very quickly of things that are too hard. It's the same with video games. I'll usually play games on an easy setting, because being repeatedly kicked in the head until I get it right doesn't strike me as being fun.
When I'm trying to figure out a puzzle, if I can't work it out within a few minutes, I give up and move on to something more interesting. But there is one exception.
I was a scout. I don't admit that very often - scouting for me was far from a consistently positive experience, but there is is. One of the very few things that scouting taught me that I thought was in any way worthwhile (apart from how to hate camping) was knots. I am very good at knots.
Where knots and puzzles cross over is when you want to try and untie knots. There's an old, old story about a thing called the Gordian Knot. The legend is a little involved, but basically the Gordian Knot was one that no-one could untie. Alexander the Great reportedly came along and cut it with his sword rather than try to untie it - that being amazing or something.
I reckon I could untie the Gordian Knot. I can untie anything, given enough time, so long as I can see what I am doing.
So when Terri asked me to unravel a dog coat she'd made a while ago - it was too big for badger - I was more than happy to.
Knitting is very interesting. And in fact it doesn't involve very many actual knots. There are some, but the bulk of knitting consists of a single length of wool that is wrapped and twisted around itself in specific repeating patterns. Usually, a block of knitting comes unravelled if you pull on one end. You have to untie the knot at the end that keeps it all together, but the rest just comes free.
Except... that knitted objects (except for scarfs) aren't simply one basic block of knitting. There are multiple pieces fastened together by stitches in sometimes quite elaborate ways. This particular dog coat consists of one main part which is a tube, plus sections around the neck hole and arm holes that were done in separate sections, and a pocket on the back with a button.
Furthermore, wool frays and twists, which in the end makes unravelling the whole thing quite a complex and interesting puzzle that I am quite enjoying getting to the end of.
Saturday, 6 June 2015
On Cooking
I've always rather enjoyed cooking, though most of the time I've only ever cooked for myself. However, with the change in my circumstances I have been needing to do more cooking for others as well. So it was with pleasure that Terri and I signed up for Hello Fresh.
The idea is that once a week, a box of groceries is delivered to your door. Each box contains three recipes and enough of the right ingredients to cook the recipes provided - three full meals. You can choose between a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian box, and between two- and four-person recipes. We're doing a vege box for 4 as we're cooking for my parents as well as for ourselves.
So far we've had some pretty good results. We've had two week's worth so far, which is six dishes. A couple of the first week's weren't that successful - we had zucchini fritters which didn't stick together because they weren't drained well enough. I know how to do that now. And we also had a tofu coconut stirfry that didn't work all that well either - it needed some acid to cut the stodginess (that's a technical term). I'd probably add a lot of lime juice if I tried it again.
Here are some of our successes.
This is a black bean and chilli chocolate soup:
The main ingredients were pumpkin and cabbage, and it was extremely good. This is the pot after four peoples' dinners had been taken from it. It actually went on to provide another four full meals. This was a case of the ingredients being well in excess of what was strictly required. I considered this dish my first real success.
Here is an eggplant ginger stir fry:
This was also quite delicious. Hello Fresh provides all ingredients except for things that should be part of every pantry like oil and salt. Here, the recipe called for 2 eggplants and 6 yellow squash - and the box gave us 3 eggplants and 5 yellow squash. And I didn't use one of the squash. Another thing is when at least one of the three recipes in the box calls for at least one clove of garlic, they provide a whole head. So we have excess garlic. Not that that's a problem. I do love garlic - it's one of my favourite ingredients.
This was tonight's dinner - warm lentil and blue cheese salad:
If I were a proper chef, I would have cleaned up the plate a little, but I'm not. This was the best yet. Next time I'd probably use a few less tomatoes, but I don't consider that a flaw. This dish was full of flavour - from the crispy potatoes on the base to the juicy tomatoes, to the bursts of blue cheese flavour through the spinach, lentil and red onion. It was absolutely delicious - I would definitely do this one again. If you're not a fan of blue cheese, you can just leave it off and it's still good.
The idea is that once a week, a box of groceries is delivered to your door. Each box contains three recipes and enough of the right ingredients to cook the recipes provided - three full meals. You can choose between a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian box, and between two- and four-person recipes. We're doing a vege box for 4 as we're cooking for my parents as well as for ourselves.
So far we've had some pretty good results. We've had two week's worth so far, which is six dishes. A couple of the first week's weren't that successful - we had zucchini fritters which didn't stick together because they weren't drained well enough. I know how to do that now. And we also had a tofu coconut stirfry that didn't work all that well either - it needed some acid to cut the stodginess (that's a technical term). I'd probably add a lot of lime juice if I tried it again.
Here are some of our successes.
This is a black bean and chilli chocolate soup:
The main ingredients were pumpkin and cabbage, and it was extremely good. This is the pot after four peoples' dinners had been taken from it. It actually went on to provide another four full meals. This was a case of the ingredients being well in excess of what was strictly required. I considered this dish my first real success.
Here is an eggplant ginger stir fry:
This was also quite delicious. Hello Fresh provides all ingredients except for things that should be part of every pantry like oil and salt. Here, the recipe called for 2 eggplants and 6 yellow squash - and the box gave us 3 eggplants and 5 yellow squash. And I didn't use one of the squash. Another thing is when at least one of the three recipes in the box calls for at least one clove of garlic, they provide a whole head. So we have excess garlic. Not that that's a problem. I do love garlic - it's one of my favourite ingredients.
This was tonight's dinner - warm lentil and blue cheese salad:
My son and his girlfriend are coming over for dinner on Sunday night, and the menu calls for pumpkin mac 'n' cheese. I expect that it will also be excellent. Though we are stretching a 4-person recipe to 6 people, so we'll probably need to think of some side dishes.
One slight issue happened this week. We got a vegetarian box but the non-vegetarian recipe cards. This wasn't a problem since all the recipes are available to download from the website.
I already have some cooking skills, so these recipes aren't particularly challenging for me. If you've never cooked before, or you want to learn, I expect that these recipes would be quite easy to accomplish. I heartily recommend this as a way to learn to cook. It also gives you an excuse to cook and something of an obligation - once you have the ingredients, you don't want them to go to waste, after all - which gives motivation.
This is an entirely unpaid endorsement.
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Highlights
Well, I've been back for a couple of days now, and I'd like to take a moment to highlight some particular moments that stick in my memory.
- The Somewhere Cafe
- Breakfast with Tessa in a tiny place opposite the Wangaratta railway station with 70s-era chairs and tables, and blankets for the people sitting outside
- The town that consisted almost entirely of antique shops
- Experiencing the Melbourne tram network
- Lord of the Fries
- Jellyfish at the aquarium
- Lions at the zoo
- SO MUCH FOOD at Missy's American Diner
- Walking up Chapel street, then back down again. Then back up again, then back down again. Twice.
- The Chapel Street Bazaar - they should film an entire Dr Who episode there
- PENGUINS!!!
- Snow on the way home
Sunday, 31 May 2015
Seagulls Are Bullies
The Little Penguin is the littlest penguin. They grow to about 30cm in height, and are distributed in colonies around the south of Australia and New Zealand. There is a large colony of them on Phillip Island, which is where I was today. Since the 1920s the nightly parade of penguins up the beach has been a tourist attraction. A tourist centre and boardwalk has been constructed so that people can come and watch the penguins while doing as little as possible to disturb their habitat.
So on a cold, wet and windy winter night, I made the drive to see the penguins on parade.
We got there early to make sure that we didn't miss a moment, but we nearly did anyway. The wind whipped cold rain into our faces, and the ranger told us that it was best to look in the direction that the wind was coming from. We almost missed the first brave little penguin make landfall.
It was such a tiny creature, and in the dark it might have been easy to miss. But as the penguin stumbled to shore, it was spotted by several observers. It stood for a moment on the shore, as though taking stock of where it was, then decided it was all too much and raced back for the sea, throwing itself into the waves as if to say "Nope! Too cold! Too windy!"
The action of the waves could not be denied, though, and it stumbled to the shore once more. Once more the wind got the better of it and it dove for the sea again. Finally on the third try the penguin made it across the beach and up into the dunes. I looked around to see how many of the people on the blustery shore had seen it, and almost no-one had. They were too busy hiding their faces from the icy rain and trying to stop their $5 plastic ponchos from blowing away.
It was almost another ten minutes before the next penguins came ashore. This time it was a raft of some fifteen or so little birds, and they were not nearly so hesitant. More penguins came ashore in small groups, all huddling together for warmth. After a while we started to hear them squawking at their fellows from their burrows in the dunes, encouraging the newcomers to join them where it was warm and safe.
After half an hour, many groups had come ashore, and the dunes were ringing with their calls loudly enough to be easily heard over the wind. We watched as two or three came ashore by themselves, without the safety of numbers. They seemed wary of the seagulls. I don't know if seagulls kill little penguins, but the penguins did not want to cross the beach while the gulls were there. Fortunately for the ones we saw, the gulls started arguing with each other, and the penguins crossed while they were distracted.
By this time we were sniffling and though we were wearing waterproof jackets, we were not wearing waterproof pants or shoes, so we were wet from the waist down, and cold. We started to return to the visitor centre along the boardwalk. Many penguins were scattered around in the dunes. Many more were still looking for a place to get out of the wind.
We saw one little guy come right up to the fence, as though to say "Hello, human!" We crouched to observe, but we were careful to remember that this was a wild bird. These penguins were not domesticated, or tame, and would bite our fingers if we stuck them through the fence. I got the distinct impression that it was waiting for us to do so. I suspect that we wouldn't have been the first, but we declined the penguin a taste of human.
It was unfortunate that though there were many signs on display prohibiting photography, and the rangers repeated "no photos or videos" constantly, some humans thought that the rules didn't apply to them and tried to get photos anyway. Photos weren't allowed, even without a flash. Animals that have been spooked by a flash in the past will still be spooked by the sight of a camera, even if there is no flash. And again, these are wild animals, and should be left alone as much as possible given that there was already a huge amount of human activity all around them. But camera flashes aren't something that a wild bird becomes readily accustomed to.
I was very happy that I can add this experience to my collection. I can now say that I have seen the penguins on Phillip Island. Sure, it would have been nicer without the wind and the rain, but the penguins didn't care, so why should I?
So on a cold, wet and windy winter night, I made the drive to see the penguins on parade.
We got there early to make sure that we didn't miss a moment, but we nearly did anyway. The wind whipped cold rain into our faces, and the ranger told us that it was best to look in the direction that the wind was coming from. We almost missed the first brave little penguin make landfall.
It was such a tiny creature, and in the dark it might have been easy to miss. But as the penguin stumbled to shore, it was spotted by several observers. It stood for a moment on the shore, as though taking stock of where it was, then decided it was all too much and raced back for the sea, throwing itself into the waves as if to say "Nope! Too cold! Too windy!"
The action of the waves could not be denied, though, and it stumbled to the shore once more. Once more the wind got the better of it and it dove for the sea again. Finally on the third try the penguin made it across the beach and up into the dunes. I looked around to see how many of the people on the blustery shore had seen it, and almost no-one had. They were too busy hiding their faces from the icy rain and trying to stop their $5 plastic ponchos from blowing away.
It was almost another ten minutes before the next penguins came ashore. This time it was a raft of some fifteen or so little birds, and they were not nearly so hesitant. More penguins came ashore in small groups, all huddling together for warmth. After a while we started to hear them squawking at their fellows from their burrows in the dunes, encouraging the newcomers to join them where it was warm and safe.
After half an hour, many groups had come ashore, and the dunes were ringing with their calls loudly enough to be easily heard over the wind. We watched as two or three came ashore by themselves, without the safety of numbers. They seemed wary of the seagulls. I don't know if seagulls kill little penguins, but the penguins did not want to cross the beach while the gulls were there. Fortunately for the ones we saw, the gulls started arguing with each other, and the penguins crossed while they were distracted.
By this time we were sniffling and though we were wearing waterproof jackets, we were not wearing waterproof pants or shoes, so we were wet from the waist down, and cold. We started to return to the visitor centre along the boardwalk. Many penguins were scattered around in the dunes. Many more were still looking for a place to get out of the wind.
We saw one little guy come right up to the fence, as though to say "Hello, human!" We crouched to observe, but we were careful to remember that this was a wild bird. These penguins were not domesticated, or tame, and would bite our fingers if we stuck them through the fence. I got the distinct impression that it was waiting for us to do so. I suspect that we wouldn't have been the first, but we declined the penguin a taste of human.
It was unfortunate that though there were many signs on display prohibiting photography, and the rangers repeated "no photos or videos" constantly, some humans thought that the rules didn't apply to them and tried to get photos anyway. Photos weren't allowed, even without a flash. Animals that have been spooked by a flash in the past will still be spooked by the sight of a camera, even if there is no flash. And again, these are wild animals, and should be left alone as much as possible given that there was already a huge amount of human activity all around them. But camera flashes aren't something that a wild bird becomes readily accustomed to.
I was very happy that I can add this experience to my collection. I can now say that I have seen the penguins on Phillip Island. Sure, it would have been nicer without the wind and the rain, but the penguins didn't care, so why should I?
Thursday, 28 May 2015
On Neuroplasticity
I did quite a lot today. It was a full day, and a good day. I went to the Aquarium and the Zoo, and took (according to my app) 19,213 steps. But that's not what I want to talk about.
In the evening I went to a lecture (? seminar?) by Dr Norman Doidge on neuroplasticity. Doidge is the author of two bestselling books - The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing.
For a start, I think that he does need to be a little bit more careful with his language. There were several aspects in which my skeptic friends would have winced. For example, he talked about using energy to heal the brain. There are certain segments of the population who, if they stopped there, would have come away with entirely the wrong impression. Those on the newage and spiritualist side of the fence would have felt that he was validating their favourite alternative healing modalities, while those on the skeptical side would have felt that he was validating the favourite alternative healing modalities of the other side. But he was in fact doing neither.
As I said, to get that impression you had to stop where he mentioned energy. Those who continued to listen to him speak would have heard him talk about how electrochemical energy in the brain is transformed into sound energy by the speaker's mouth and vocal chords, which is then picked up by the microphone, transformed back into electrical energy, then back into sound energy by the auditorium speakers, and finally transformed back into electrochemical energy in the ears and brain of the listener. None of which is rubbish.
He described one of his case studies in which an autistic boy was helped by listening to a certain kind of music. Again, if you'd stopped there you would have come away with entirely the wrong impression. What he was actually doing was using music that was filtered in certain specific ways to teach the boy to better filter his inputs so that they weren't so overwhelming. This was an example of using energy - sound energy in this case - to "heal" the brain. Or rather, demonstrate sustained improvement in the boy's engagement with others of his family.
His use of the word "healing" has a tendency to raise skeptical red flags, but in fact it is a perfectly cromulent word that has been appropriated by the newage crowd to describe what basically amounts to wishful thinking. But in effect the brain does heal itself. A major part of his lecture consisted of describing how the old outdated way of thinking about the brain - as a static organ that never changes or undergoes repair - is very slowly being replaced in clinical settings with the neuroplastic model.
Unfortunately at the end he went off the rails a little bit, when he answered an audience member's question about the technique of tapping. Regardless, it was a very interesting lecture, and his critique of the traditional view of the brain was pretty much spot on. But it was fairly clear where a large segment of the audience of some 700 people were coming from.
It was a good evening. I'm glad I went.
A large part of his books consists of case studies, which Oliver Sacks demonstrated is a great way of selling books. The danger is in the audience coming to the conclusion that the case studies are the science, rather than being simply data points.
In the evening I went to a lecture (? seminar?) by Dr Norman Doidge on neuroplasticity. Doidge is the author of two bestselling books - The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing.
For a start, I think that he does need to be a little bit more careful with his language. There were several aspects in which my skeptic friends would have winced. For example, he talked about using energy to heal the brain. There are certain segments of the population who, if they stopped there, would have come away with entirely the wrong impression. Those on the newage and spiritualist side of the fence would have felt that he was validating their favourite alternative healing modalities, while those on the skeptical side would have felt that he was validating the favourite alternative healing modalities of the other side. But he was in fact doing neither.
As I said, to get that impression you had to stop where he mentioned energy. Those who continued to listen to him speak would have heard him talk about how electrochemical energy in the brain is transformed into sound energy by the speaker's mouth and vocal chords, which is then picked up by the microphone, transformed back into electrical energy, then back into sound energy by the auditorium speakers, and finally transformed back into electrochemical energy in the ears and brain of the listener. None of which is rubbish.
He described one of his case studies in which an autistic boy was helped by listening to a certain kind of music. Again, if you'd stopped there you would have come away with entirely the wrong impression. What he was actually doing was using music that was filtered in certain specific ways to teach the boy to better filter his inputs so that they weren't so overwhelming. This was an example of using energy - sound energy in this case - to "heal" the brain. Or rather, demonstrate sustained improvement in the boy's engagement with others of his family.
His use of the word "healing" has a tendency to raise skeptical red flags, but in fact it is a perfectly cromulent word that has been appropriated by the newage crowd to describe what basically amounts to wishful thinking. But in effect the brain does heal itself. A major part of his lecture consisted of describing how the old outdated way of thinking about the brain - as a static organ that never changes or undergoes repair - is very slowly being replaced in clinical settings with the neuroplastic model.
Unfortunately at the end he went off the rails a little bit, when he answered an audience member's question about the technique of tapping. Regardless, it was a very interesting lecture, and his critique of the traditional view of the brain was pretty much spot on. But it was fairly clear where a large segment of the audience of some 700 people were coming from.
It was a good evening. I'm glad I went.
A large part of his books consists of case studies, which Oliver Sacks demonstrated is a great way of selling books. The danger is in the audience coming to the conclusion that the case studies are the science, rather than being simply data points.
A Huge Black and White Mural
So we made it to Melbourne proper. We are in a strange and slightly hipsterish hotel room in South Yarra with a huge black and white mural of what appears to be pop stars from the 1960s on one wall.
We stopped at Benalla on the way, and spent more time there than I expected. There was an interesting museum there. We were talking about how nice it was that we could go to some random museum in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Then I pointed out that in Victoria there is nowhere that is really nowhere. Just like in the UK there is nowhere that is really nowhere. Then we turned a corner and saw this:
Of course we had to stop and have coffee there.
There was a lovely art shop there, too. Lots of great things, but the most amazing things to me where these little collapsable castle-on-a-hill sculptures. I was so very tempted to get one. But then again, there were quite a few things in that particular shop that I was tempted to get.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the street art. Apparently it was a new thing in Benalla. There was a flyer in the museum about all the installations, but the only one we really got to see was this:
The drive from Benalla to Melbourne was long, straight and boring. I like driving, but I like driving in interesting places. I was musing along the way that this was the perfect sort of drive for auto-driving cars - the road was straight and uncomplicated, and every car was going in basically the same direction at the same speed. I just wanted to hand over control of the vehicle and settle back with a good book.
We arrived a little late in South Yarra, but we got as far as the Chapel St Bazaar - quite an amazing place. If you've never been there, I recommend spending more than the 20 minutes we had there.
Dinner was at the Oriental Tea House, which was fantastic. Can thoroughly recommend.
Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Aquarium. I like Aquaria.
We stopped at Benalla on the way, and spent more time there than I expected. There was an interesting museum there. We were talking about how nice it was that we could go to some random museum in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Then I pointed out that in Victoria there is nowhere that is really nowhere. Just like in the UK there is nowhere that is really nowhere. Then we turned a corner and saw this:
Of course we had to stop and have coffee there.
There was a lovely art shop there, too. Lots of great things, but the most amazing things to me where these little collapsable castle-on-a-hill sculptures. I was so very tempted to get one. But then again, there were quite a few things in that particular shop that I was tempted to get.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the street art. Apparently it was a new thing in Benalla. There was a flyer in the museum about all the installations, but the only one we really got to see was this:
The drive from Benalla to Melbourne was long, straight and boring. I like driving, but I like driving in interesting places. I was musing along the way that this was the perfect sort of drive for auto-driving cars - the road was straight and uncomplicated, and every car was going in basically the same direction at the same speed. I just wanted to hand over control of the vehicle and settle back with a good book.
We arrived a little late in South Yarra, but we got as far as the Chapel St Bazaar - quite an amazing place. If you've never been there, I recommend spending more than the 20 minutes we had there.
Dinner was at the Oriental Tea House, which was fantastic. Can thoroughly recommend.
Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Aquarium. I like Aquaria.
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Antiques
We spent today in regional Victoria - Wangaratta, Beechworth and Chiltern - which is a town that appears to consist almost entirely of antique shops. I don't actually have all that much to say about it. I bought a ring from the Salvos which was intended for my treasure chest (I'll tell you more about that when I get home), but it's quite nice and I might get used to just wearing it.
I've got to the point where I should be taking notes throughout he day on things that I want to blog about, because I keep honking of things, then forgetting them when it comes time to actually sit down and write them. For example, here's someone that I intended to say yesterday, but forgot:
It is really nice that there is actually a town in Australa called Tumbarumba. It's such a delightful name - it just tumbarumbles off the tongue.
On the drive down, we also learned of the name of the Road to Eldorado, but I forgot what it was.
Photo: Tree With Doors
On Shower Curtains
I hate shower curtains.
I hate the way they attack you when you're in the shower. Like a creepy dude at the bar, they seem to just want to be close to you.
I believe it's because the warm air in the shower cubicle rises, which means colder air must move into the space in order to equalise the pressure. Since the shower curtain is flexible, it comes in with the air.
In Dungeons and Dragons, there is a monster called a Trapper. It lurks in dungeons, camouflaging itself as a bit of floor like some sort of subterranean stingray. Then when some Intrepid Adventurer comes along and walks over it, it rises up to engulf them.
That's how I feel when I have a shower in a cubicle with a curtain. The smaller the cubicle, the more I feel like the curtain is trying to wrap itself around me.
I've found that it's possible to alleviate this a little bit by leaving a gap so air can get in around the curtain. That way the curtain isn't drawn in to the cubicle as much. It still is, but not as much. The problem here is that the incoming air is cold! What's the point of having a nice hot shower when there's a stream of cold air coming in around the shower curtain?
I hate shower curtains. In my house, I want a bathroom with a proper cubicle, with a proper screen.
Monday, 25 May 2015
In Which I Complain About Yawning
First day of holiday. It was a pretty boring drive, really. Unfortunately we didn't have time to take a really scenic route, so it was basically straight down the Hume Highway from Canberra to Wangaratta. Except that we detoured to stop for lunch in Cootamundra.
I don't see any reason to go back to Cootamundra. It's not a very interesting place. Wheat belt, small town, no real tourist attractions to speak of. We stopped to have lunch, but because it was just before 3pm, the first cafe we stopped for lunch at had closed its kitchen. We managed to eat at a different place across the street. I had fish and chips, which in retrospect was an odd choice for a town so far inland. The fish wasn't very good.
We were hoping to find some kind of back route to Wangaratta, but it turned out to be easier in the time we had just to go back to the highway at Gundagai and zoom straight on down.
So we're in the hotel at Wangaratta now. I don't really have much else to say. I took no photos - what was I going to take photos of anyway, the highway? We're planning on doing more things tomorrow and for the rest of the week, and I promise I'll take photos of those things.
While I did remember to get my good camera out before I left, I did not remember to grab the battery charger and spare battery. As I haven't used it in quite some time I do not expect that the battery in it has any charge, so it's going to be iPhone photos only for the whole trip. Which isn't bad, really. The iPhone has quite a good camera, though its lack of zoom is vexing.
I did notice on the way down here that there seems to be a campaign going at the moment about driver fatigue. There were signs up all over the highway saying things like "ARE YOU YAWNING?" Why yes, now that you mention it. I wish you hadn't.
I don't see any reason to go back to Cootamundra. It's not a very interesting place. Wheat belt, small town, no real tourist attractions to speak of. We stopped to have lunch, but because it was just before 3pm, the first cafe we stopped for lunch at had closed its kitchen. We managed to eat at a different place across the street. I had fish and chips, which in retrospect was an odd choice for a town so far inland. The fish wasn't very good.
We were hoping to find some kind of back route to Wangaratta, but it turned out to be easier in the time we had just to go back to the highway at Gundagai and zoom straight on down.
So we're in the hotel at Wangaratta now. I don't really have much else to say. I took no photos - what was I going to take photos of anyway, the highway? We're planning on doing more things tomorrow and for the rest of the week, and I promise I'll take photos of those things.
While I did remember to get my good camera out before I left, I did not remember to grab the battery charger and spare battery. As I haven't used it in quite some time I do not expect that the battery in it has any charge, so it's going to be iPhone photos only for the whole trip. Which isn't bad, really. The iPhone has quite a good camera, though its lack of zoom is vexing.
I did notice on the way down here that there seems to be a campaign going at the moment about driver fatigue. There were signs up all over the highway saying things like "ARE YOU YAWNING?" Why yes, now that you mention it. I wish you hadn't.
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Buying a house is hard
Buying a house, as they say, is hard.
I've been trying to buy a house for several months now. I haven't succeeded.
First, there was the fact that I already actually own a house. In fact, I own a quarter share of the 200-acre property in Michelago that I've been living in for the last ten years. That has become a bit of a problem. When I moved out of that house, I did so with the intention of moving into a place that I owned, with my girlfriend Terri and our dog Badger (aka. beloved overlord).
Getting the forms sorted out to submit to a bank to apply for a loan was in itself a nightmare, mostly because of that 200-acre property and the fact that over the years I've racked up quite a startling amount of credit card debt.
So I put a large amount of money down to clear that, and cancelled three cards completely. That made the bank happy. But as we didn't want to put a second mortgage down on the property, we had to find some other form of security for the loan. Fortunately my parents were awesome, and offered to pony up some security. So that was sorted out. However.
Turns out that the Michelago property was a sticking point. The bank had to account for that asset, and as I found out this week, they were unable to provide us with a loan such that the payments were affordable at my current salary.
We did have another broker lined up who had previously told us that they would be able to loan to us without this being a problem. But that's when something else went wrong.
I lost my job.
The fantastic, awesome employer that I'd been working with for the last five years made a decision that having an ICT person on staff was not going to be a part of their next five-year strategic plan. They have offered me a generous redundancy - a very generous redundancy - but a lender is never going to give me a home loan while I don't have a job.
So this means that we aren't going to get the townhouse that I'd very nearly bought. We'd got as far as signing the contract, and exchange was pending the bank giving us money. It was a quite nice townhouse too, in a very good location literally a few minutes from my parents' place. But that's not going to happen now.
My girlfriend and I have been living in my parents' spare bedroom since Easter, with the intention of moving into the new place when we could. My parents, as I said, are awesome, but we cannot trade on their goodwill forever. So it's time for Plan B.
Plan B is the "we need more time" plan. The process of buying a house has so far been plagued with bad timing - the worst example of which was finding out about the job just as we were putting the loan application form in with the bank.
Plan B consists of renting for 12 months while we get everything sorted out. First, it gives me time to find another job. I have savings that would last me six months if necessary - more if we stretched it. Those savings were going to go towards asset improvement on the house, but it is money that I have in the bank and can draw on if necessary.
Second, it gives me more time to become financially independent. For some time, I have voluntarily delegated my finances to another person and as a result I am now quite firmly entangled in the collective accounts of the people I've shared a house with for the last ten years. Separating myself from that is going to take some time. The plan ultimately is that I would sell back my quarter share of the property, but that's not a thing that is doable immediately.
So Terri and I have been looking at the rental market - which is in quite good shape right now. There are appropriate dog-friendly houses available for affordable rents, so that's good.
She and I are about to go away for a week to Melbourne and environs. Partly because she's registered for a neuroplasticity conference and partly because right now we need to simply throw everything, say fuck it, and have a holiday and a break from everything.
Once we return, I'm going to throw myself full-time into the job hunting, and she is going to look for a rental place. In practice, I'm probably going to go back to a help desk job while doing some PD in network admin or security so I can quickly move to a new and higher-paid position.
Times have been interesting, but I have Terri and Badger to help me see it through, and once I'm stable again I can return to the idea of actually buying a house.
Wish us luck.
I've been trying to buy a house for several months now. I haven't succeeded.
First, there was the fact that I already actually own a house. In fact, I own a quarter share of the 200-acre property in Michelago that I've been living in for the last ten years. That has become a bit of a problem. When I moved out of that house, I did so with the intention of moving into a place that I owned, with my girlfriend Terri and our dog Badger (aka. beloved overlord).
Getting the forms sorted out to submit to a bank to apply for a loan was in itself a nightmare, mostly because of that 200-acre property and the fact that over the years I've racked up quite a startling amount of credit card debt.
So I put a large amount of money down to clear that, and cancelled three cards completely. That made the bank happy. But as we didn't want to put a second mortgage down on the property, we had to find some other form of security for the loan. Fortunately my parents were awesome, and offered to pony up some security. So that was sorted out. However.
Turns out that the Michelago property was a sticking point. The bank had to account for that asset, and as I found out this week, they were unable to provide us with a loan such that the payments were affordable at my current salary.
We did have another broker lined up who had previously told us that they would be able to loan to us without this being a problem. But that's when something else went wrong.
I lost my job.
The fantastic, awesome employer that I'd been working with for the last five years made a decision that having an ICT person on staff was not going to be a part of their next five-year strategic plan. They have offered me a generous redundancy - a very generous redundancy - but a lender is never going to give me a home loan while I don't have a job.
So this means that we aren't going to get the townhouse that I'd very nearly bought. We'd got as far as signing the contract, and exchange was pending the bank giving us money. It was a quite nice townhouse too, in a very good location literally a few minutes from my parents' place. But that's not going to happen now.
My girlfriend and I have been living in my parents' spare bedroom since Easter, with the intention of moving into the new place when we could. My parents, as I said, are awesome, but we cannot trade on their goodwill forever. So it's time for Plan B.
Plan B is the "we need more time" plan. The process of buying a house has so far been plagued with bad timing - the worst example of which was finding out about the job just as we were putting the loan application form in with the bank.
Plan B consists of renting for 12 months while we get everything sorted out. First, it gives me time to find another job. I have savings that would last me six months if necessary - more if we stretched it. Those savings were going to go towards asset improvement on the house, but it is money that I have in the bank and can draw on if necessary.
Second, it gives me more time to become financially independent. For some time, I have voluntarily delegated my finances to another person and as a result I am now quite firmly entangled in the collective accounts of the people I've shared a house with for the last ten years. Separating myself from that is going to take some time. The plan ultimately is that I would sell back my quarter share of the property, but that's not a thing that is doable immediately.
So Terri and I have been looking at the rental market - which is in quite good shape right now. There are appropriate dog-friendly houses available for affordable rents, so that's good.
She and I are about to go away for a week to Melbourne and environs. Partly because she's registered for a neuroplasticity conference and partly because right now we need to simply throw everything, say fuck it, and have a holiday and a break from everything.
Once we return, I'm going to throw myself full-time into the job hunting, and she is going to look for a rental place. In practice, I'm probably going to go back to a help desk job while doing some PD in network admin or security so I can quickly move to a new and higher-paid position.
Times have been interesting, but I have Terri and Badger to help me see it through, and once I'm stable again I can return to the idea of actually buying a house.
Wish us luck.
Welcome
Hello world. I'm going to try blogging again. This will mostly be a personal blog, of interest mainly to those who know me. But we'll see what happens. My plan is to actually come and write regularly. But we'll see what happens.
I want to write. I think writing is fun. But I'm not very good at it. The more I write, the better at writing I will get. That's something that I want to do. So I'm going to try and do it.
I've had quite a few attempts at making regular blog posts. Most of those are still available on the internets if you know where to look for them, so I might end up reposting some of them if I like them enough.
Enough of that.
I want to write. I think writing is fun. But I'm not very good at it. The more I write, the better at writing I will get. That's something that I want to do. So I'm going to try and do it.
I've had quite a few attempts at making regular blog posts. Most of those are still available on the internets if you know where to look for them, so I might end up reposting some of them if I like them enough.
Enough of that.
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