June 2022 Entries


Thursday, 30th June, 2022

The end of the first half of 2022.

I’ve been sorting out the laptops for the local playgroup. They’re two Dell laptops which are OLD! One has a Core i3380…that was released in Q3 2010. It also only has 2 GB of RAM. The other laptop is more recent, and has more RAM. They were both running Windows 7 and the software for smart whiteboard they have won’t install on Windows 7. Upgrading to Windows 10 was quite the chore and had to make an external USB to install. Anyway, eventually all done for both, including endless windows updates and installed the software. I’m quite impressed with Windows 10 with 2GB of ram. I mentioned to installing Linux and my wife wasn’t sure that would be a good idea, but Windows seems fine for now so that’ll keep everyone happy.

I keep telling myself I need to write out what I want with my camera. I haven’t done it because I’m afraid I won’t be able to come to any conclusion. It’s too easy to jump to cameras and specs and models.

I’m still interested in the Lumix range - particularly the GX80/85 or the newer GX9. It’s super small, very well reviewed and some great lenses. It is micro 4/3rds sensor but includes in-body stabilisation, which is great for videos and long lengths. Being the micro-4/3s means you can get some good reach with small(er) lenses. The vertical EVF is weird on the GX9 - I suppose a bit like a TLR! The GX80 is really good value.

Then I jump over the Leica CL. Looks lovely and great lenses etc. But it’s super pricey.

However, I already have an APS-C camera with a bunch of lenses. The X-T2 is a bit bigger (maybe 100g or so than the others) and the lenses are slightly bigger too. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. Although it’s interesting I’m drawn to the smaller cameras. 🤔

And then there’s the M10…🤩

Wednesday, 29th June, 2022

So many things. Trying to sort out my parents finances, pensions, and mortgage. Almost buying cameras I don’t want but get a kick from doing so. Trying to fix ancient computers for the nursery. Not writing up DayOne journal of when the family were visiting and it’s getting further and further into the past. Adapting Leica/M mount lenses to my Fuji X-T2. Two months of photos to sort through.

😰

Monday, 27th June, 2022

It’s nice having people stay. I don’t get my time on the computer and whilst that’s probably good for me, my monkey brain likes its habits and starts getting antsy. It’s so easy getting trapped in stuff, and the worse part is probably thinking that you aren’t.

A real addiction must be hell.

On a lighter note, we got some lovely school photos. The tricky part is deciding who gets one and which size, because the pack came with a whole range. They don’t give you the digital file, which seems a little stingy after you’ve bought a load of them, but I’ll probably just take a photo of the photo and then that’ll do as a digital copy.

Sunday, 26th June, 2022

Nearly sold all the random junk on eBay, which is nice. Still have the old Apple monitor but it’s a pain to post so probably will just keep it for now. I don’t think the stand separates either so it’s really awkward.

It’s a way off but already debating if I’m taking the iPad or my laptop when we go on holiday. I bought the laptop as I got annoyed with the iPad. However, since I’ve simplified the iPad then I like the idea of taking it just to limit what I do online whilst on holiday. Another silly waste of time but there we go. I thought about doing “projects” on it but the reality is I don’t do it. Plus it’ll be very hot and I won’t want to be doing that.

The Fuji 50-230mm XC is a remarkable lens. It’s a “cheap, plastic” lens but really it’s a lightweight zoom which is crisp and sharp. It has stabilisation too. It’s a little slow at the far end, think f/6.7, but if you’re outdoors and as long as it’s not night, then it’s excellent. Then considering the price, it’s a must for anyone with a Fuji. Other than wanting a faster zoom, I really don’t need one. Mostly as I only occasionally use it and I’m not an avid bird watcher etc. Using it today made me question why I’m trying to switch from Fuji. I still like (want) the Leica 55-135mm APO TL because it’s super small and very well liked by many. But spending a fortune to switch is plain stupid. 🫠

I’ve had Lightroom Classic open on the computer for several days with a load of photos imported but waiting review. I really can’t be bothered sorting out photos. At best I’ll view them and delete terrible ones. I like film and scanned (by the lab) as I just take them as they come and go with the flow. I like Fuji’s jpegs out of camera, for the same reason. The idea of sitting down in the evening and going through the photos and editing them 😴

Maybe I need a Panasonic Lumix GX880 (with 15mm (30mm eq.) f/1.7) to hold off my Leica Q2 obession! (AND then I can change lenses 😲)

The colours of the Q seem to pop.

Saturday, 25th June, 2022

Took the M2 out today for the first time in a couple of months. My ColorPlus arrived this morning so it was good timing. Shot two rolls. I really like the 90mm, although I felt I was “shooting from the hip” with it today, so not sure how well focused or exposed the shots will be. I do enjoy using the lenses though. Does make me wish for a digital M Mount, so I get to use them more often. People adapter them to Fuji but I feel like it would be slow to focus as you have to use focus peaking or zooming in on the EVF (other than zone focusing which really only works outside with the 35mm). Part of the reason I went down the Leica CL was because its supposedly better for adapted glass, but I’ve not actually researched it properly to know. Maybe a few YouTube videos of people actually doing it should help.

This all makes me think I should determine what I like and want from using my cameras, and then finding a solution that helps that the most. Rather than jumping between $100 and $10,000 setups and everything between every hour.

But not now. It’s too late. 😴

Friday, 24th June, 2022

Added comments to this site from cusdis. It’s a lovely little commenting system, very easy to get started with, and the simple look of it works well anywhere.

Watched the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi last night. I enjoyed it, these mini series are high quality productions, and if you like the Star Wars universe then it’s pleasant to be in. Given the story is set between episode 3 and 4 of the films, you know who has to survive (because the storyline has already been set since 1977), but it still seems to leave big questions about why things do occur. I won’t be specific to prevent spoilers but I did ask myself “why are you doing this?” during it. It’s one of those situations where the answer is partially “well, if they did, then there’d be no story.”, so you just have to accept it and enjoy it for what it is.

The random things I’ve been selling on eBay has been going quite well. Most have sold, and I’ve received most of the money. Annoyingly, two packages’ tracking hasn’t updated and they should’ve arrived by now. I’m worried that these are also the two I just dropped in the post box vs. going to the post office or paying for collection. They were small and it saved hassle just going to the post box. However, now I wonder if that has somehow messed up the tracking as the bar code was never “initialised”? I guess I could message the buyers and ask them, then see if eBay customer services will do something. Or maybe it hasn’t arrived and something happened at that post box? Seems pretty unlikely, Royal Mail is generally well run and reliable. I’ll message the buyers and see what they say.

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s a day you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it. Thatcher

I’ve bid on some random compact cameras, like really low amounts, but now I think I should cancel my bids as I don’t really want junk, even if it is cheap. It’s fine but it’s just clutter and another thing to choose. Other than giving it to the kids to use, which might be fun…

My Colorplus films should be arriving soon. Hopefully they come tomorrow so I can at least use one whilst my parents are visiting for the weekend. It’s been a while since I used film and I can’t remember what I have in stock.

Every video or forum post I watch or read about a Leica CL always ends up with someone talking about the Q2 they got as well or instead or that they’ve moved to, and how so much better it is. They admit they lose the long end potential with the L mount CL, but otherwise say it’s so much better in every way. I’m sure they’re right. I’d happily take a Q2 but I don’t really want another choice though. Aside from paying for it, not sure I want to give up my camera and just go to the Q2. Although for years I had just the X100F. So that leads to keeping the Fuji too - coincidently there’s a lot of forum discussion around Fuji vs. Leica or Fuji + Leica. It’s not all in one direction though. Plenty of people praising Fuji - generally the value for money, the JPEG colour engine, auto-focus and nice styling. More recently the fact that APS-C is a core product line for Fujifilm. As any outside person would state to me, all this song and dance is really just about the fact I want a digital M mount. So shut up or save up.

Our neighbour’s lad plays the bagpipes and I can hear him practicing now. He’s pretty good. I wonder if he has been playing some other wind instrument first before moving to the bagpipes. It’s not the quietest of instruments.

Took the Fuji 18mm out (28 eq.). I couldn’t use it all the time.

Thursday, 23rd June, 2022

Jack wrote an interesting post today.. I was going to comment on his blog with this, but then I thought it would fit nicer here. Mostly for my own benefit to look back at it later on, but also because it’s how I feel about it. As it’s how I feel, it might not be the right answer for you. Also remember when there was this thing of replying to people via your own site? 👨

So Jack…:

I think there’s a difference between posting on social media and posting on your own website. One is like shouting at every car that drives by, the other is writing in a book that you leave on your front lawn and let people read it if they want.

You can still write in your book but keep it inside the house, either letting no-one read it or only certain people. That’s fine too. But by writing it and keeping it outside gives the opportunity for connections of value. Someone else who is actively looking for an answer may come across your book and find out that you have thoughts and commentary about the topic that they’re looking to answer. You might not have THE answer but it could trigger a conversation that leads to helping someone else out. Or at the very least you end up having an interesting conversation with someone about something you’re interested in.

I think writing it publicly puts this imaginary reader in your head which then encourages you to keep writing. Doing it in a private file removes this person and so you may lose interest in writing. The only benefit in the writing is for you but the fact of being public makes you keep doing it and therefore increases you’re own benefit. And being on your own website you’re not actively intruding on others, you’re just working with the garage door open.

This is what I find. I’ve really (and still do) enjoyed the daily blog style posts. I enjoy them for myself and I’ve never written so much in a long time. I do imagine someone else reading them and I imagine someone coming to my site each day with an interest to see what’s there today, so this encourages me to write things, and I get the mental benefit from the act of writing things. In reality, figuratively or literally!, no-one could visit my site, but that doesn’t change what I think. Because I never know (and I won’t install analytics as that’ll ruin it 😅), and even if it’s zero today maybe someone new will come along. I want to write these content and making it public makes me write it.

Finally, it’s nice to see “normal” life content. Social media is not normal life.

Back to my life ramblings… turns out it’ll be about £2.5k net to switch from Fuji to Leica CL with some lenses - the 18mm f/2.8, the 35mm summilux and the 55-135mm APO. Sort of want the 60mm lens too but think the 55-135 will be more useful. I don’t normally like zoom lenses but I do occasionally use my 50-230mm on the Fuji. The Leica is shorter but it is faster…but has no stabilisation…Another thing is that I really like the 35 mm equivalent, so 23mm, focal length. There is one for the Leica, an f/2 which is also very compact, but it’s not got the allure of the summilux. I suppose I could switch it out with the 18mm. Thinking about it now that’s probably the better option. Just that it’s my go to lens on the Fuji for indoors and the f/1.4 is useful. It’s all feeling like a poor decision, but if I wait until 11pm when I’m tired then I might change my mind and just order it all 😁

Wednesday, 22nd June, 2022

Spent way too much time looking at “cheap” compact cameras last night. Not even sure why I started - other than an excuse to buy more cameras. Concoct some scenario in my head that justifies it etc. Ended up believing that I need to replace my fuji gear with Leica CL and lenses. I still sort of think that now, even though it’s a dumb idea. It’s dumb from a financial perspective. I’ve yet (and maybe I should) work out what selling my fuji gear would be and then what the CL would cost with lenses. The camera is old, although slightly newer than my X-T2 by about 18 months or so. That doesn’t really matter, as the sensor is still good, still a 24 MP APS-C. Maybe the programming and autofocus and etc. etc. internal gubbins is out dated vs. a modern one. Plus do I really need all the magic of a new camera? Maybe in body stabilisation is nice for low light etc., but I’ve managed without it all these years. In fact I took many great photos on my Nikon D40, and that’s from 2006.

There’s a lot of value in the desire to use the camera, the ability to take it with you everywhere, and the simplicity of operation so you can focus on what’s important - the composition and the light.

Oh look, here I am justifying it to myself again. dammit. Doesn’t have a tilt screen and I do sometimes use it on my Fuji.

The whole APS-C Leica line us has been discontinued though. So no new TL lenses I guess. Maybe that doesn’t matter as it takes L-mount lenses, and I probably only need about 3. But buying into a dead system, just as it dies is probably not smart. Unless somehow it gets a cult following and used prices skyrocket. Or it slowly crashes over the next 6 years that Leica will be supporting CLs.

I do want a M mount system, but they’re very pricey, although I have two lenses already from my film camera. However, I am very unlikely to buy any more any time soon - maybe a plus, except when I want one then it’s £3k or something. I’m also not sure I want only manual focus cameras. I also have concerns over rangefinder alignment issues, marking/damaging it, and generally just carrying around a four thousand pound camera. Although when I take my film camera out, that’s a one thousand pound camera. More than twice that of my Fuji 😅 I have got used to that, and probably I’d get used to the M10. The worst part about buying an expensive camera is the day you buy it. Vs. The best part about buying a cheap one is the day I buy it.

I don’t want any other full frame camera as they’re too big, and the lenses are even bigger. APS-C is a nice middle ground. I should make a spreadsheet so I can see exactly how much this whim could set me back. Also I should look on Flickr at pictures.

Been so warm here today. 🌤

Jack’s link reminded/directed me of/to tumblr. Then I scrolled for 20 minutes 🤢

Tuesday, 21st June, 2022

I remembered about Amazon Photos last night - and how they offer free unlimited photo back up if you have prime. Might as well install it again and get it setup. The website/app is okay for looking at photos. It had people, memories, on this day and ability to create albums. These help me go back and appreciate older photos that I’d probably not look at.

I’m not satisfied that it’s the final answer but will be something. I looked at photoprism again and remembered the huge docker compose file to go through to install it. I’ve installed it in the past and did get it working, although then on an update it stopped and I just removed it. I should try it again.

I’ve installed Adobe Lightroom again. I’ve yet to open it. It’s a great program but I don’t want to edit all my photos and it feels like it’s more edit vs. Library. Although it has a very comprehensive set of library functionalities. Really the problem I’m trying to solve is to make it easier for us (and mostly my wife) to make a photo album at the end of the year. I’m thinking hit 3 ⭐️ or equivalent then just look through those and pick. The past method has been to go through all the folders and copy good photos to another folder then upload them all. Not terrible but it’s slow. I could be more ruthless when trimming photos so that later on there’s a smaller set. I do usually pick the best ones for my photos website (which is another folder on the computer), although historically I’ve not been good at keeping that up to date. I got better but now I think there’s a few months gap again.

Unfortunately I think the setup I had with Apple Photos was actually pretty good for what I wanted. Editing wasn’t the greatest but you could still do enough tweaks when necessary. Just a shame that the Mac mini ground to a halt once it had loaded all the photos into the library.

I’m not buying a Mac just for this…

Although I have thought that if we do remodel the kitchen, that an iMac would look nice in it as a family computer. If I want to avoid external devices (which I do) then I’d have to buy one with a custom SSD and that would be extortionate to be able to fit all the photos. There is always the option of adding from a network share but it would be slower. I could do a rotation system and move out old photos but then you lose the functionality of it. Or I pay for 2 TB of iCloud again and offload to the internet. Or I just find a small and neat looking external SSD and maybe one of those rear shelf things as plug it in.

This is all hypothetical and another part of me only wants to kids to know Linux so that they can enjoy their freedom. 👁‍🗨

Maybe I should watch some videos on library functions with Lightroom and just set it up.

It was fun looking at old photos and videos on Amazon last night. I did probably spend two hours doing so. “They grow up so quick!” 🥹

Monday, 20th June, 2022

I took a video with my camera of my daughter’s drama class over the weekend and finally got round to looking at it last night. After I’d installed the new PCI-e to USB card with front header and now the front USB ports work so it makes it easy to download from my SD card…anyway… the picture turned out reasonably well and the sound also. The only thing was the exposure. I’m going to see if I can correct it, but I think the highlights are well and truly blown so not sure I can get any detail back.

The convenience of a habit tracking app is that my phone is always with me. My notebook, however, rarely is. I suppose I shouldn’t fret about it and just go with the flow. The main point is that I do and reinforce the habits I want to build, not stress and faff over not ticking a box in a notebook. I not going to carry a notebook (and pen) with me at all times. I’m trying to track the time I go to bed, and encourage not being too late. This one is harder as I have neither phone nor notebook, but perhaps I should be recording when I go upstairs as that’s basically the same.

If I really want the paper grid view of Xs then I can always transcribe the digital habits into the tracker.

Went on a big eBay listing spree last night. Clear out some junk that I have which I never use. Old SSDs, keyboards, controllers, all sorts of bits and bobs. Nothing on its own is worth that much but all together it’s not insignificant. Of course, it has to sell, but surely at some price everything sells. The only hassle is posting it all. I still have the Apple monitor that I don’t really need, but that’s a big hassle to ship. Mostly as I never get a box big enough. I suppose I could try selling locally.

Trying out Simplenote for my personal notes. It does everything I need. I’m just paralysed by trying to define a process and file names and if I should use tags, and what should those tags be, etc. Just write stuff down 😵

Blog posts look much nicer with photos in them.

Ordered 12 months of Skoove for the piano. All these app courses have downsides but the progression aspect of it will keep me going. Seemed reasonable value anyway at £50 for the year. The good thing is I already spent the $600 back in 2014 to buy the piano. Plus I sold about £50 worth of stuff on ebay after fees and postage, so that works out nicely.

Sunday, 19th June, 2022

I’m about to sign up to a year of Skoove, as today is 50% off. I’ve not quite done it as I think it may just be my wish to play the piano vs. my desire to learn. I did a year of another app back in 2020-2021, and I probably did about 6 months out of that year, in two 3 month blocks. I did like it and got better at the app - now whether I got better at playing the piano is debatable. I can’t remember anything from doing that though and can’t play a song by heart. For a while I could remember a christmas piece - a very simple We three kings. I did learn that I liked playing classic music, which I didn’t expect.

So should I buy it? It’s about £50. Given yesterday I spent £25 on a PCI-e to USB 3 card for my computer as I don’t have many ports and I think the onboard motherboard USB 3 header doesn’t work, it seems like a lot better value. The big problem is will I use it? I’m all for getting away from the computer, so I should like it. However, will I just get bored after 2 weeks and then not bother? Probably/maybe…

If someone offered to buy it as a gift I’d say yes. Even if the alternative was they gave me £50.

I’m also worried as I’m going to be buying a rowing machine after our holiday, and that’s also a thing to take up time that I’ve promised myself I’ll do.

I suffer from wanting to do too many things, organising myself poorly, and agonising over tiny decisions that make no difference whichever way I choose.

Saturday, 18th June, 2022

Trying to setup my main site in Tiddlywiki. Generally it’s nice. Adding new content is so easy, and it does look quite nice out of the box. I’m still not sure about blogging with it. Tagging should be good but I can never decide if I’m doing a few high level category style tags or go all in with multiple ones. I lean towards a few high level categories, i.e. target one tag or maybe two per post. The only other thing is that bringing in old blog posts. The tiddlers have a creation date of when I make them, and tiddlywiki isn’t suited to editing these. It’s better to make a new property to assign a post date. This is what I did, but then that means I need to do that for every post I write.

Maybe not too bad, as I might take a day or two before I finish a post - although who cares if it’s out by one or two days. Tbh this isn’t a bad thing, but just looks a bit weird if there are lots of posts on one day. I suppose I could always just migrate old posts across one a day. Anyway, I’ve gone for the properties route. I use it for adding a one line summary to put into the Blog archives list.

I feel this is a half way house to a full static blog, vs. Wordpress. I hope it’s a good compromise, and encourages me to add to it. Particularly as it’ll end up being my main wiki too. I should get it in order (it’s pretty close) and then just move the domain.

eBay has a 80% sellers fees discount promo at the moment, could be a good time to sell the X-T2 and upgrade it to the X-T3. It does add a few things over the 2, although is it worth the extra? Tricky to say. I do like the extra jpeg colour adjustment settings it provides in camera. Maybe I’ll list mine and see what happens.

Daughter had a theatre club performance today which we got to go to - finally! It was more like watching a class vs. a show they put on. It was good fun. I took some photos and even a video of her singing. Not looked at it yet to see if it’s terrible or not. The 50mm was an ideal lens - a bit of reach but not too tight and the f/2 was good inside. Getting the right exposure was tricky and I think the videos will be bad. The dark surroundings and then the spotlights on their heads made it hard. Particularly as our daughter has blonde hair and was in the second row. Her head is very over-exposed. However, I didn’t have time to be fiddling around trying to sort that out,so see if I can fix it in post.

Using the camera to video vs. a phone was nice as I’d turned off the back screen so I could only look through the viewfinder. This meant I just held the camera but actually watched with my own eyes, not via the screen! Just occasionally checking that I had the framing right. Not quite sure what the protocol is, but no-one said anything or they didn’t notice. Perhaps they might if next time I come with an external mic and a f/2.8 zoom! (Not that I own any).

It reminded me that I like taking videos and we don’t have that many. We do take some with our phones but they’re not that interesting. I mean multiple videos that then get assembled together into the “we went to the beach” clip. I used to do it more, particularly when I got the GoPro. It took ages to make a short video. Easy to make a really long one, but no-one would watch it so trying to make it short and sweet was the hard part. It takes even longer than processing photos. I still have the GoPro but the battery doesn’t last that long. Maybe I should sell that. I was keeping it for the kids to play with but they’re rather have the phone or ipad as then they get to see it instantly. Heck, maybe I should just use the phone and then make a little clip with iMovie and export it to the server. I have a home movies plex library so we can watch them on the TV and family can see them too (also there’s the Apple Photo Stream for family).

Anyway, the audio visual combo you get with videos really captures the children, much more so than compared to photos. However, the physical manifestation of videos later is harder to do - and therefore they don’t really get looked at. At least photos on the fridge, or wall, or photo book get looked at again. I guess they’re on my computer, for when everyone has left home and I’m reminiscing.

Been curious about Joplin. I’m still undecided on personal, private notes. The Hobonichi seems like a good spot, particularly as it’s small and I can bring it most places. Just wondering about longer term info that I want. Whilst looking at Joplin (as I was wanting a note taking app that is on all devices and syncs and ideally is self-hosted), I remembered I’d setup 1Writer with WebDAV on my server. Last entry was 4th January 2022. I’d written in it about something to remember for next Christmas/new year. Now the question is how is writing that there going to be useful. Really I should write it in December 2022’s page or something, or if I’m in Logseq then add a link to a future date. Or make a new textfile called “Things to remember” or something. All this just reinforces the point that the app or writing daily notes is only half the battle. The other part is then being organised with it such that I can find useful things later.

I recall around late December talking about setting this 1Writer and WebDAV up. Thinking that a file for daily journal, a file for annual summary and maybe something else was the way to go. So one file for the daily unload, one for the highlights of that day, and then one for future reference or reminders to myself or something. Maybe with some headers, like people or places or events.

Whilst the 1Writer thing is nice, I use 1Writer for this site and so using it for something else means navigating away from the folder structure, and so a hassle. This can’t be write as people must use it for multiple things. Maybe I’ll look into that and see what others do. Anyway, the dedicated nature of a app for certain tasks is another reason why I’m liking the idea of Joplin. My simple iPad setup pretty much has one app per situation and maybe I should continue that. I’m not very good on the computer as there’s unlimited “apps” (the browser plus stuff) for everything, and so I do nothing. Now when I sit with the iPad (again outside in the garden with a nice cup of tea ☕️), I open up DayOne and write in the family journal about what we all did today, and things the kids did etc.

Joplin is free, and open source, so it’s not like it’s hard to use it. I’ll add it to my list of computer admin I have to do.

Friday, 17th June, 2022

We went to look at new kitchens this morning. So many choices of things. The design looked very nice, but nay cheap.

I’ve been tinkering around with a new tiddlywiki file in anticipation of replacing my main site with it. It feels like it could be perfect but when I look at it I’m still not sure. However, I still think I prefer it to a static site. I should probably just put it live and then tinker with it in situ as it’ll never be perfect and if I wait until it is then nothing will happen. I also have to remind myself that the purpose is to admire fish, not construct a fish tank. 🐡

I bought some washi tape and cutesy cat stickers with the hobonichi as I couldn’t resist. My wife asked if they’re a present for someone…lol

Thursday, 16th June, 2022

I was probably over enthusiastic about the hobo yesterday. It is still very nice but it’s not going to change me. I have to do that! Oh I was meant to write a letter for Father’s Day yesterday so I could post it in time. Oops! Maybe I’ll go to the shop near work and find a nice card.

When you buy something cheap and bad, the best you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it. When you buy something expensive and good, the worst you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it. — Source

Hello Leica.

X being done is like a lawn being mowed.

If I close my eyes whilst listening to Blue Monday ‘88 by New Order, I’m back at home with my mum wearing faded jeans doing the ironing listening to this on 11.

I updated the calendar in my hobonichi with important things from the family calendar. Added some habits to track in the yearly index and generally handled it. It’s not “started yet” being 1st July-31st Dec avec model. However, I’m not sure what I’d write in it. It feels like a planning tool vs. a logging tool. So I guess that’s what I should do…

Wednesday, 15th June, 2022

Another annoying thing with this DAC (well the computer and it together) is that Windows doesn’t seem to see it when it returns from sleeping. I have to unplug it and plug it back in again…ugh why. I wonder if I connect it via USB-C directly if that’ll help? Not sure why as all the other USB peripherals work after sleeping. Haven’t checked online to see if there’s some other setting or something to fix it.

Friend who got married back in April sent us some of the official photos from their wedding. Not really the greatest. I wasn’t going to say anything but my wife brought up that mine were much nicer - and she’s not one to compliment without warrant…often the other way around! “You didn’t take any nice ones this holiday.” I’m not being a photography snob, just some weren’t even in focus, or terrible framing, or not good moments. Whilst it’s easy to criticise, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the wedding photos, so I’m relaxed and there’s no consequence of poor photos - other than my own disappointment.

There is something to be said about film and manual cameras - you (well I certainly do) pay much more attention to the scene as I don’t get many chances.

The money from selling things is still burning a hole in my pocket, but rather than another camera or computer device etc. I think I’m going to buy the Concept 2 indoor rower (erg). I’ve wanted one forever and I should just get it. I’ll get rid of the bike trainer as I never want to use it as I cycle to work everyday. It was fine during lockdown but not now. I’d also like some diversity in exercise. I was excited that Amazon sell them and you can make use of their 0% installment payments (why give up cash now when I can give it up later!), except they don’t deliver to our address. I guess it’s a special delivery item and the wilds of Scotland aren’t important. Not a big deal, I can just get it from Concept2 directly for the same price. However, they only do discrete shipping dates, and the next one is too close to when we go on holiday. Probably it would be fine and arrive in time, but given the wilds of Scotland I don’t want to risk it. So I’ll just wait until we come back from holiday. Plus even if I did order it now, I’d not get any time to use it. I just hope it’s not a monthly dispatch they do. But if it is, then maybe gives me time to organise the garage where it’ll live.

The Hobonichi arrived today. Oh my! It is lovely. I never thought I could like a notebook so much, or understood why everyone raved about it. But now I understand. I also thought it was too small but when I put it in my pocket to go into the kitchen with it I realised it was the perfect size. It has so many sections that I’m overwhelmed and worried I’m going to “use it wrong”. However, I’ve been taking my time to look at each section and do a bit of chatting and googling about using one and now I see some good ways to use it. In my head it becomes the perfect life organisation notebook. I may be over exaggerating it and the honeymoon period is getting me all excited and it might go the way of many other items and projects. We’ll see.

I’ve used field notes in the past and whilst the size is convenient the plainess required some thought or prep. e.g. writing out calendars or whatever, which is perfectly doable, but the fact that the hobonichi comes prepopulated makes it very easy to jump into. I’m still not quite sure how much I should use it for work. I feel like work info will “ruin” it and I should keep it for personal life. But it’s not work vs. life it’s all life. I guess I can try it out and see how it goes. This half I have doesn’t start until July 1st, so I can think about it for a while. I hope it works as well as I’m thinking as it would be nice to get the full year one and use that.

Tuesday, 14th June, 2022

Had a weird error with my new DAC last night. I was playing Horzion Zero Dawn, or I was trying to and it immediately crashed if the DAC was plugged in. If I tried to open it, it wouldn’t open. If I unplugged the DAC, loaded the game and then as soon as I plugged the DAC back in, the game would immediately crash. It was very apparent it was the DAC. Luckily other people have had this issue and, being an older game, meant there were people who had also solved the problem. It was either USB 2 vs USB 1 mode or the frequency/bit rate the DAC was set to. In my case it was the frequency and bit rate. If I set it to 24 but and 96 kHz in Windows sound settings then everything worked fine. 🙄

One of my favourite places to write is sat outside in the garden at the the table with my iPad and a cup of tea ☕️. The fresh air, the susurration of the trees and bushes, the birds messing about, and warmth of the tea are all so relaxing and make it so easy just to write about whatever.

The cat mint in our garden has flowered and is a huge bee magnet. When the air is still, I can hear the buzzing of bees. They just love it.

The lack of trees in and around our garden means it gets the sun all day, but I do miss not having some trees.

Royal Mail emailed me saying my Hobinichi is arriving tomorrow. It reminded me that I was looking for somewhere to write personal things, which I state to myself but then do nothing about. Repeatedly. Just like how I’m going to sort out my main website. I suspect the fact I do nothing reflects the need for these things.

I’ve realised it’s been 3 days since I last did my one minute plank exercise routine. Now I keep remembering but thinking that right now isn’t a good time and I’ll do it later. It’s only a minute ffs why can’t you just do it. (Well I’m writing in here just now, so you know, maybe later).

I saw some software that a colleague at another company was using - ThinkCel. It’s such a management consultancy tool but it looks so useful. I’ve asked our IT if we can get it - can’t tell you how long I’ve wasted putting together a “quick” gantt schedule in PowerPoint for an ad-hoc discussion. Or I wanted a graph of some numbers from an email to make a point, but have to take it into Excel and blah blah blah. No doubt it’ll take 3 months for IT to process the request and I’ll have to build a business case and etc.

Every day I check youneedastereo.com to see what interesting things Phil has been up to, but :sad face: the wireless just crackles with the silence of the background cosmic radiation.

My desire for the M10 is fading. Mostly as I can’t justify the amount to myself.

A female blackbird is running around my chair picking up detritus for making a nest. Maybe this isn’t a great place for writing as all I do is sit here and watch the garden. 🏡

Monday, 13th June, 2022

Ah sold my Fuji lens. The guy bought it last night at 11pm, but I didn’t look at my emails until I was at work, so I won’t be able to post it today. Probably not a big deal but I think ebay will count that as being longer than I state. I don’t really like ebay but it’s the biggest marketplace and stuff sells. The used photography market isn’t that big here, least not anywhere that I’ve found - certainly not like Fred Miranda in the US. The question now is, should I buy something else 😁 I think I originally thought about the GRIII(x), at least when I was talking about selling this lens.

I looked at used X-T3 prices to see what an upgrade might be. They’re not exactly cheap. Think about £650. Although used prices of X-T2 seem to have increased since I bought mine, maybe looking at £400 (I bought mine for £360 inc. postage). So £250 to upgrade isn’t as bad as I initially thought, particularly as the X-T2 will have cost me nothing.

It took me a little bit to find out how much I did buy the X-T2 for. I search my email but there was nothing except the courier notification. I didn’t have the current wiki I have now when I bought it, so there was nothing in there. In fact I couldn’t even remember when I bought it. I knew I bought it from the talk photography forum, but they archive/delete older buy/sell posts so whilst I found my feedback with the link to the thread the original thread was gone. However, with the courier email, I knew the date and then I could look up on paypal to see how much I sent. However, without that email I wouldn’t have known as the paypal purchase didn’t include any information about what it was for, just who it was to. Made a note of it now in the wiki.

Does all that really matter? Not strictly, but it’s nice to know the effective cost of equipment. Although, I’m not sure I’ve captured everything (of interest) I have in the wiki.

The DAC arrived today. Installed the Windows driver and setup it up. The listing on eBay seemed very dodgy but it’s a brand new one and passes the online authenticity check, so good! Does it sound better? I think so. Everything sounds much more fuller. I have no idea how one describes sound but there’s more of it…🎧 I could do a side by side but for what? to prove it’s better. Maybe when I’m bored I will.

What I have been enjoying is digging out my old music collection on the server. I’d ripped all my CDs to FLAC and then I think I donated or sold my CDs. Maybe silly but that’s what I did. I didn’t have masses, maybe 30 ish. It’s funny looking back and listening to some old songs that I’ve not listened to for at least 10 years, if not coming up 20. As soon as they play I’m transported back to wherever I was when I bought it. The older ones I don’t quite remember where I bought it but I remember sippets of life when I used to listen to them. CDs that I’ve owned since ~1995. Now I wonder when I got my first CD player and what my first one was. I remember my CD rack I had, and a handful of CDs in it. Back then you’d get a CD for your birthday and that was the main present, especially if it was a double CD and cost nearly twice as much. I think I used to organise the CDs in a certain order as I recall whatever Now (that’s what I call music) being at the top on the rack.

I didn’t have to buy a lot of CDs as my mum had (still has I presume) hundreds and hundreds. She must’ve been buying them since the late 80s. I wonder what her first CD player was. She must’ve spent a lot of money on them. I do remember going into town with her and we’d go to Virgin or HMV, flick through rows and rows of CDs and she’d pick a couple out.

I feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of time that has past since then and how I remember so little of what we all did. I have so few photos, absolutely nothing written down and not much else to go by. I’ve thought about this before, but I should just try remembering things and writing them down then see what I can order. It’s one of those, go to your parents house, rummage around and pull out stuff that’s been put away and ask everyone what they remember of it.

Sunday, 12th June, 2022

Still thinking about the M10 option. Still seems a lot to spend though. I could wait…3 years…then it’ll be a little bit cheaper! Probably not, as it’s pretty much the sweet spot of most things, and is going to age well I think.

Busy day with the kids today. Did get a bit of quiet time to myself, but unless I’m organised I just waste it doing nothing in particular.

We bought some gin from Raven distillery for the school fair raffle thing. It’s a local brand. We ordered ages ago but because of the Jubilee they were very behind on schedule. Anyway, one of the main guys ended up hand delivering a bottle to our door as we were going to miss the school fair! (and then the shipped one arrived later that day 😅). Also it’s not raven, it’s Hrafn (you just say Raven 🐦).

Saturday, 11th June, 2022

Thinking about Leica M10(-P) again. They’re still expensive as hell. The weather is pleasant today, but there’s quite a wind. I thought I’d sit outside and write somewhat but the wind is a bit too chilly. Plus I’ve only mowed half the lawn and it’s hard to look at the rest without it nagging me for a trim.

My phone and iPad seem very slow to retrieve websites whilst on the wifi. Not sure if it’s DNS or the wifi itself. I did a dig on the pi-hole and it returned the address in 46 ms, so I don’t think it’s that. Maybe I just need to power cycle everything? I don’t notice it on other devices as they’re all wired but perhaps I can test it out on a laptop. My wife hasn’t said anything, so somehow just my devices? :/

I remember deliberating for a long time over a film Leica. Best part of a year I was on and off about getting one. Some models (M6) shot up in price over that time, but luckily the M2 stayed about the same…which was the one I wanted, or a M4, but I like my M2 now. When I did finally buy it, it was a little bit of a heat of the moment purchase (even though I’d been thinking about it for a year), as one appeared on a website and was a little cheaper than normal and looked in excellent condition.

The next month or so I was really stressed about buying it, and considered sending it back or selling it on. “How could I spend so much on this box!” It certainly took until I got my first roll of film back before I started to come to accept it. Now I’ll never sell it and keep it forever. The M10 is not quite the same, being digital, but I suspect I’d go through the same thought process. The M10 is quite a lot more than the M2 was though.

I’m pretty much like this about buying anything. The past 5 years I’ve been “upgrading my computer”. Only a few months ago did I actually do it.

Maybe reading this will help me. thanks Jack…😅

Friday, 10th June, 2022

Bought some colour film today. 6 boxes of Kodak Color Plus 200 (24 frames) - it was on sale for £6 each which is pretty much the cheapest colour film has been in ages. Only 24 frames but nevermind. A single portra 400 is £17.50. If I never buy any film, I’ll never be able to shoot it. I do like black and white but as it’s the summer time, it’s nice to make use of colour stocks - I also like colour too and the grain and look are unmatched. Color Plus isn’t the greatest but it’s not that bad.

I have taken some photos with my digital camera, although still haven’t even transferred them onto the computer let alone figured out how I’m processing them. I’ll just save them to folders on the server for now. Btu I’ve not really been in the mood to take many pictures, certainly not with film. Although nothing “special” has happened, which is why I’ve not even reached for film. This is a shame. Past 2 years I’d take it with me just going to the play park with the kids. Oh well.

Sort of thinking of setting up a static site for my main site. This is a reoccuring thing which ends in wasting 3-5 evenings looking at themes thinking I can just pick one and be happy with it. Turns out I can’t “just pick one and be happy with it”. Doesn’t stop me looking at all the same theme web sites again, hoping that something will be different this time.

I like this guy’s website/blog. Very simple style and format. Also has a daily element as well as main posts. It’s not quite clear what the daily entries are of - they seem to be links to other sites and a summary or copy/paste of the other site. Maybe just items of interest. I also like the archives by year in the footer. Very efficient use of the page. His site is powered by django but could easily be a static site, which is interesting why it’s a django site, but maybe because it has been for years and years - django pre-1.0.

I got a notification that my 2H 2022 Hobonichi has shipped. I’m intrigued to see what the paper is like, and the book as a whole. Not sure if I’m using it for work or for home or both? Both is unlikely as I’ll either forget to bring it back and forth or won’t really want to whilst cycling. I haven’t been writing in anything at home on a daily basis, so could be good for that, but that also risks just never being written in. I’ll see when it arrives.

Work was a bit meh today. In fact this whole week has been bleh. So good job it’s over, except now that it’s over I’ve realised I wasted a lot of time - well it wasn’t wasted, I was doing stuff that needed to be done, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. Although some of my todos have been on my list for 3 months now. I still want to do them but are they ever going to get done?

Speaking of frog eating, I did write up a little summary of May’s expenses. It’s funny how once you start doing something you realise that you didn’t exactly know what you wanted when you set out to do it. Least I found that. I’d thought a layout of the month’s expenses would be obvious but I’m not sure what I want. But I did something. Top ten expenses, excluding bills like mortgage, utilities etc, and groceries made the list more interesting to make. I did it on a wiki I have and was going to make it one page per month, but now I’m thinking it should just be one page. Or maybe it should be both. I could make a list of the top ten expenses of the year, and a running total of income vs. Expenses, something like that. I previously said I’d write it in a Field Notes I have so I could flick between the pages to compare months. This flicking is not really present online so that’s why I might duplicate the info (transcluding even). But maybe I just want a graph for the year, and the top ten list. Not quite sure. 🤔

With my filtering, the top ten purchases captured the essence of the month quite well. I didn’t compute it exactly, but those ten probably made up about 70-80% of the non-essential spend. We did buy some furniture and I bought a new GPU, so maybe months without those will be more interesting to look at. Although I feel that every month there are some “one offs” of some form or another…mostly me buying things…

I use Money Dashboard aggregator to collect transactions - now the UK banking system is required to provide APIs to your accounts, so that “fin-tech” companies can make new products. Okay they sell my transaction lists to people who’ll try and sell me credit cards etc. but it’s convienent and importantly safe. It’s a lot more practical than typing them into a plain text file or GNUCash or something. I can just assign categories on my phone (if it gets it wrong) and then look at the summary or download a CSV each month. I am wondering about downloading all the transactions and keeping in something for my future reference. Or at least some script or something to process the data for my top ten filtered and other items. It’s not a huge amount of effort but maybe useful later on. It’s not going to replace the hand written/typed effort as that is what actually gets me to think about it and realise what’s going on.

I feeling a bit anti-computer at the moment, and thinking “if I hadn’t just bought a new computer I could’ve got rid of mine”. Which is a bit silly as the computer is a useful device.

Wednesday, 8th June, 2022

I’d forgotten Obi-Wan was out. Only a few episodes right now so guess it’s the slow release method.

Messed about with my current dokuwiki setup, think it could work well. Also thinking that maybe I should just delete the other blog, as I don’t really care and it just wastes my time.

I keep getting reMarkable ads. I want one, but I don’t need one. I like buying notebooks, and with a reMarkable I’d “never need a notebook again”. It’s £358 for the cheapest options - pencil without eraser and no folio (probably lots on etsy for less). That’s not a light decision. I’d need to be sure I’d use it…a lot…I don’t even know why I’m talking about it. I don’t need it. The End.

Tuesday, 7th June, 2022

Not sure what to do. Want to do website stuff but also cba. I sat down at the computer first, which generally means I end up doing nothing. Still debating about using DayOne as private journal. The only thing I don’t like is that I can’t access it on a computer…now that I don’t have a mac. Not sure if this is a real issue or just an imaginary one.

I don’t know how to discover new music, without spending a lot of time. Although I found the best named playlist on Spotify. It’s called Scotify: The best new alternatives sounds from Scotland! Not necessarily any good but the name made me smile.

What am I talking about. Just play this year’s Eurovision songs. 💶🎶🎷

Monday, 6th June, 2022

Know all the memes. Interview with creator of know you memes.

Finally bought a DAC…went for the FiiO E10K TC. It was fairly cheap and gets good reviews, ideal to sit on my desktop and not get in the way. Perhaps it’ll be a pointless thing that I’ve bought, to go with many other things I’ve bought in the past that I didn’t really need.

Logged into my dokuwiki and poked about with it. Still thinking I’ll like using it, particularly as it can have private sections for stuff to fiddle about with. I should just rejig the one I have and then change the DNS but I can’t decide how to “lay it out”.

Sunday, 5th June, 2022

I still don’t like Wordpress as my “official” blog. I really just want plain text. However, I’m not sure I can be bothered with Hugo or another Jekyll etc. site. I partially thinking about Dokuwiki…it uses plain text files underneath. Seems silly to have two wikis though, however, it’s more structured - or requires more structure than Tiddlywiki. Which makes me think it’ll be a good format for a “main” site. It also has some good blog plugins that make it pretty normal with regards to blogging. I do also have a soft spot for it. It might also be good to have a wiki integrated with a blogging site again.

There are probably other plain text CMS out there, which I might look into. Although I know I like Dokuwiki so why bother spending time looking for something else? The only thing is the format isn’t as easy to customise. So it tends to look like all other Dokuwikis. That doesn’t really matter - I quite like the look of it. It’s not zero effort to set it up though, so it may not happen.

I was using the X-T2 at the beach today, and I do enjoy the ease of auto focus, auto everything. Taking photos is the secondary activity to whatever we’re doing and I don’t have time to fiddle and faff. I have my presets ready and everything configured. Makes me think an upgrade of this is a much better investment than some full frame, or unnamed manual focus digital rangefinder. I know I can do it, as I’ve taken the film cameras with me but I don’t always want to have to do it. I also like value for money.

Speaking of which, I’ve spent a while looking at DACs, or DAC/Amp combos for the computer. Watching the Jubilee concert on TV last night whilst looking at endless reviews and forums on the iPad. It’s hard to choose. Even get to the stage of thinking “do I even need to bother?” The answer can easily be no. I’m still watching he Sony NW-A45/55 models on ebay - although this week they seem to sell for even higher prices than last week. The one I missed during the day as I’d clicked on the wrong link was a real bargain…oh well. Not actually sure I’ll listen to music elsewhere that’s not just Spotify on my phone and then streamed to a Bluetooth speaker (e.g. on holiday) or my Bluetooth headphones, and so then a dedicated player is pointless. Also I could just load FLAC onto my phone, get some app and a dongle and do it that way - probably a much better way and given the price and scarcity of dedicated players suggests that is what everyone else is doing.

I have some Nectar points, and ebay vouchers, so I want to buy it there, but that just adds another constraint to choosing. Particularly when there’s a listing which is half the price of the others - so seems suspicious - yet lists exactly the model and specs, BUT the other listings are much cheaper than buying direct from the manufacturer and show the same picture and details…all suspect. Ugh. Another thing to waste hours on. ⏰

Saturday, 4th June, 2022

It’s lovely and sunny but the air temperature is only 14°C. However, that hasn’t stopped the kids from wanting the paddling pool. 🏊‍♂️

In an effort not to be 100% lazy, I’ve decided to do a 1 minute plank a day. Obviously my first thought was that I’d start it tomorrow not today. Then I realised that was stupid, so dropped to the floor whilst putting away laundry and did my minute. I was shaky but managed the minute. Anyway, given the amount of time I waste each day, I hope I can spare a single minute.

Choosing a DAC for the computer is seemingly an impossible task. Or at least I make it so. Read reviews, read forums, read reddit. Decent on one that’s reasonably priced and for sale in the UK. Then look into more on that particularly model: “oh no, you really don’t want to pick that. The singsong 500 DAC++B 22.AF is want you really want. Ok internet, let me see….twice the price, not available…something else. Okay back to the list…

The iFi Zen DAC V2 was the top one but, ugh, I don’t know now.

Is it silly to want a new Fuji camera so I can get classic negative, or the additional colour settings in camera. It might be my method for avoiding figuring out my new photo management system now that I’ve sold the mac. (Obviously today I’ve been thinking how nice it was to have all my photos on iCloud and see them on the iPad - but to be honest it’s hardly been a huge benefit and I’ve only used it occasionally). I think I should give photoprism another go and properly investigate it. I may install Lightroom but I liked the light-weight editing of Photos App.

The problem with the new Fuji cameras is that I don’t like the articulating screens that rotate around. I don’t want it out to the side of the camera when all I want is to tilt it up a bit. So that rules out the X-T4 and the XS one. X-Pro 3 is “cool” but I always want t the EVF, and it has an inferior EVF (but a superior OVF). So that leaves the X-T3, which has the extra colour settings but no classic negative. Then it’s the X-E4. That’s quite a nice little camera, but not ideal beyond primes and the EVF is a bit small. I do mostly just use primes, and maybe I’d enjoy it. I should look at used X-T3 prices and then see if it still makes any sense to upgrade the X-T2 (I suspect no).

My daughter has been using the typewriter to write our her stories she does. She likes it. Seeing the words on the paper immediately. It’s full of typos and missing spaces but that’s just the same as when I write on it!

I like Working Copy and 1Writer, it makes static sites on Git so much easier. However, going back and forth between the two is annoying. I do have Siri Shortcuts to pull and push but still somehow annoying. I wonder if there’s some other way to make it better. I end up just writing inside Working Copy as it saves switching.

Friday, 3rd June, 2022

A very busy day. Sold the mac mini on eBay which is nice. A little sad but it was a bit slow and I don’t need another computer. It did let me have quite a nice photos system which I now need to figure out. Haven’t really done anything yet on that.

Thursday, 2nd June, 2022

70 Years! 👸💂‍♀️

Still went to bed too late! Setting up the computer for my sister.

Want to run Lotus 1-2-3 again? This guy did.

I feel stressed this evening. Too many things to do, or I want to try and do too many things. There’s an ebay sellers fees discount promo this weekend, so I want to get the lens and mac mini on it. They’ve been listed on forums but there’s so little interest I need the wider net of eBay to shift them. The mac mini pricing is quite low, it sort of seems not worth bothering with. It’s also quite a nice complete set with the monitor and things. However, it’s just going to sit in a cupboard or somewhere and do nothing. Maybe the oldest kid will get it for their room…in about 5 years, in which time it’ll be ancient and I’m not sure I like that it doesn’t get the latest OS. I think they still do security updates but even still. Well I’ll see what happens with it.

I’ve finished sorting out my old computer for my sister, so that’s packed ready for my dad visiting tomorrow so he can take it back and she’ll get it when she returns from China later this month. However, I want to write a little note for her about it, and add more to it that “plug in these cables”. Not started that yet. I did print off some photos for her.

I did at least cut the lawn for my dad visiting tomorrow. Ready for his inspection 😅.

I’ll write the letter but then feel like I’ve not had time off today, and so want to mess about but it’s already 2210 and I should get to bed…🛌

I’ve not even started my DAC research either…well not properly, I’ve looked at a few sites several times over the past few days. There’s so much. I think I just want one box to plug my headphones into that makes them perform well. I’m looking for the 80:20 of sound improvement, figuring ~£100 should let me see a step up in quality at a good bang for buck ratio. Maybe £150 max. but really £100. Also don’t want a DAC and a separate amp, too much clutter.

Wednesday, 1st June, 2022

I finished Stranger Things last night, it meant that I stayed up too late to finish the last one. So end up being tired, so I should go to bed early tonight…right?

Simply put, the burden of converting a digital signal, all those 1s and 0s, into an analogue one will be lifted from the rest of your kit and taken on by a component specially designed to do the job. A bit like having someone do your tax return for you so you can focus on more important things like going to the pub. What Hi-Fi on DACs

I’ve been thinking about a Ricoh GR3 for a long time. But then I remembered, I really like the deal aspect of buying used cameras, so why not get the 2013 GR model? Because then I look at the specs of the GR3 and go: “oh but it would be really good to have xyz that it has, and surely I can’t live without those…”. But the reality is, it will just end up being another box that sits on the shelf and then the pain of choice will grow even more. I guess not buying it would stop that pain of choice (because having it as my only camera doesn’t make sense - I think only ever the X100 series could do that, because I’ve done it, and it sits quite centrally in the various dimensions I’d use to make a decision.). It actually turns out to be an annoying camera to search for on the used market. Not everyone labels it with the year and you have to be careful not to find another model that’s the wrong one. I’m not sure exactly which model shows up but generally if it’s significantly cheaper then it’s an older model that I don’t want. Maybe the difficulty of it is also a sign.

I wonder how all these signs I see come to be. Natural phenomena, like separation of beads through shaking, or Gaussian distributions, or the seemingly convenient outcome of multiple items at the same time.

My audio journey also continues. This one is terribly framed. I don’t even know what I’m trying to do. Well not entirely true, I want to listen to more music that I like. I generally terrible at remembering artists and song names, but I remember album covers from 20 years ago. Even album spines from the CD rack. I can picture a favourite CD of mine that my mum had, I can hear the music in my head, but I can’t describe it or sing or hum or replicate it in anyway and the album cover is hazy when I try and concentrate on what it was. Perhaps that really means I don’t remember it but I remember the feeling of listening to it.

I think this is another “perhaps physical is better after all”, like paper, and books, and photos, and seeing people in person.

I want to see more pictures of inside people’s houses. Is that weird? Like a picture of their lounge, or room they hang out in. To see all the little trinkets and pictures, and sundries they choose to keep. I think it’s fascinating. I want to see them, but I’m nervous of posting pictures of my house.

Back on audio, I don’t want a big CD or otherwise collection of music though. It’s too much stuff, so that means digital files, and remind me how that’s better than Spotify? I suppose I own it forever and can freely move it around between devices etc. I can see it in a list that’s not 40 million songs.

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