Early Walk

03/13/2020

Got woken up by a full hard disk at 4am today so when that was sorted I went to take the dog for a walk.

I haven't been inspired by music in so long. I don't even listen on public transport any more. I'd sooner listen to the rain beating against the side of the bus, or half-overhear snippets of people's life or work drama.

I know exactly what it is; it means I'm about to get depressed. I always lose interest in the things I love when I'm getting depressed, but music is usually one of the things that helps me. Don't really know what to do without that.

We watched series one of Altered Carbon on Netflix last week, and enjoyed it very much. It's got sci-fi, conspiracy, the logical implementation of immortality in late-stage capitalism. Liked it a lot (it's not The Expanse, but I find that an emotional slog).

We just started series two and the recap basically renders the middle five episodes completely irrelevant. Which is disappointing.

Seagulls

03/08/2020

We get seagulls in the garden a lot, stamping to drum up worms. Sneaky little devils, but you can't argue with its efficacy.

Watch Netflix with subtitles enabled, almost 100% of the time. The only exception to this rule is standup comedy which it ruins by giving you the punchline before it's delivered.

splitkb Kyria

02/29/2020

I was too busy focussing on not messing up the build to take photos whilst I was working

Kyria Split Build pt 2

02/22/2020

Easily the most boring part of mechanical keyboards is lubing switches. It is, unfortunately, not optional. There are no shortcuts.

I started playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after finishing the main quest line of Pokémon Sword and watching Spirited Away. I'm now in Ultra Japanese Mode, and the choice was between Tales of Vesperia and Xenoblade 2. I went for Xenoblade because I have finished a Tales game and wanted something I haven't done before.

I'm about 7 hours into the game and the combat is a brilliant mix of random encounters, MMORPG, and Action RPG. In true Japanese form, it is still dropping new game mechanics on me. Also, in true Japanese form, the English voice acting is dreadful. Fortunately, you can download the Japanese voice pack and play with English subs. The final straw for me was when a character, purely deadpan, pronounced "hehehe" as "he. he. he". I can't listen to that sort of thing for 80 hours.

The fact that I'm even considering finishing an 80 hour game says as much as anything else. Usually 40 is my upper limit.

Smother

02/15/2020

Since Amelie died, Sudo has been the recipient of a large amount of redirected affection

Brighton Pavilion

02/14/2020

Never been to Brighton Mosque Pavilion before but I've always had a morbid curiosity about it

Kyria Split Build pt 1

02/14/2020

It's not a secret; I love keyboards. I love building them, I love talking about them, I love programming them

Apple's "Sign in with Apple" thing is the first thing of theirs I've used in a long time that is Apple-ish. When you use it, it pops up and asks you if you want to reveal your email, or have Apple issue you a burner email to use for this. That is exactly what I want from a service like this.

Fire

02/13/2020

Sometimes I just see a thing and it's a photo. I scared a guy, taking this photo

Pokémon Generation 8 is a delight

02/10/2020

I seriously can't believe how charming this game is

Ciara

02/10/2020

Jumped off the bus on my way into the office this morning as the sea was going crazy over the marina walls

When you buy a new iPhone, setting it up should just be a matter of turning it on and signing into your iCloud account, and everything is exactly the same. No signing into anything, no chicken-and-egg nonsense. Just get it done. I just gave you £1000, Apple. Don't make me regret that for the rest of the day.

Amelie

02/07/2020

We had to have Amelie put to sleep today. One of the most brutally difficult things we've ever had to decide to do, made even worse by the fact that she seemed fine a month or so ago.

If you’ve ever played Pokémon, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The guilt you feel when it’s time to bench your Pidgeot – the one who started with you as a humble level 4 Pidgey on Route 1 – because you know he can’t take you to the dizzy heights of the Indigo Plateau

I wasn't going to play Pokémon Sword. I couldn't finish Let's Go Pikachu because I just got bored out of my mind, and figured I was done with these games now. But Charlotte sent me this article and it reminded me that the enjoyment in a RPGs a lot of the time is in the imaginary relationships you create with the characters you encounter and it made me really want to play. Should be a good one to play alongside Jedi Fallen Order.

It's no longer exciting to read that there's a brand new version of a piece of software I use (yes, it was before, shut up). My first thought is now "what ridiculous subscription pricing model have they implemented?!".

Today's offender is Flexibits with Fantastical. This is a piece of software that I credit with single-handedly changing the way I organise and plan my day. It helped me to establish a fundamental culture of organisation of my time that I feel has made me a less frustrating person to deal with, overall.

That being said, £20 for a Mac license, and I think the same again for iOS was already a lot for a calendar. Now they want £5 a month! The fact that every piece of software I use wants a piece of my salary until either I die, or they decide to stop making it, is just ridiculous and totally unsustainable. No calendar is worth £5 a month. I can just get a diary and text Charlotte whenever I add something that affects her. This is getting out of control.

Badminton?

01/29/2020

Madlad-minton, more like.

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