Saturday, April 17, 2021

Week in Brief

It's late on a Saturday night. The rain has already fallen, and it's a real cool one.

What better time than now to do a recap-type blog entry?

This week has been a strange one. I did not do much reading; at some level, I feel like that I have been ``read out'' for a while. More importantly, there was a different type of project to occupy me, and that is the building of a new PC for my mum. It felt like the right thing to do this time period, partly because of the exceeded tolerance level of re-seating the RAM chips every month or so due to corroding contacts, gradual loss of USB ports due to (you guessed it) more corroded contacts, the complete end-of-life of the Xubuntu operating system LTS release, generally super ancient hardware specifications, and partly because I wanted a different kind of thing to work on. All the oldness of the still sort-of working PC and generally reduced external connecting capability meant that we are starting on the other end of the bathtub curve.

It's been about 8+ years---the PC has had a good run. No regrets.

Throughout the process of figuring out what parts to get, to getting the parts themselves, to unwrapping and assembling, to operating system installation/set up, and finally to data migration and user integration, I found that time passed really fast. I mean, I knew the passage of night and day, but the sense of how the hours were passing was less clear, especially since I don't really eat lunch any more (I've been cheating with breakfast, and as such, my mass is increasing again; urgh).

I think I was genuinely having fun throughout the build process. That is a good thing I suppose, since it means that at some level, I still enjoy technical stuff.

I don't feel too bad for not doing ``enough'' reading for this week, nor did I feel too bad about not trying to ``complete'' Cyberpunk 2077---it just didn't seem to be that kind of week to me. I still got some good things done, and that is, for a lack of a better term, still good.

I wonder what the next week is going to bring to me.

Incidentally, this is the last day of the third month of my sabbatical. I am definitely more relaxed in comparison to the start, but I'm not sure if I'm truly well-relaxed yet. Thing is, there has been hints of rumours of the recent past catching up with me for some reason---I don't know what is transpiring, and am determined to not get involved in it. It isn't a true sabbatical if I cannot let go and move on, and it is important that I dictate my own terms in consultation with God, and not rely on someone else to dictate my headspace and time.

``This too, shall pass''---this sabbatical of mine isn't going to last forever; it's a sabbatical, not a retirement. The time limit for the sabbatical is one year, after which I will be embarking on the next leg of my journey, God willing, in a role that best glorifies God which makes use of all the talents that He has graced me with and the opportunities that He has provided me with to hone, display, and use them. Since my sabbatical has a definite time limit on it (nine months left from today), I am determined to not let the fleeting time in it be taken up by people who no longer matter as much to me as before.

Speaking of people who no longer matter as much to me as before, I learnt indirectly from a friend that Chara is no longer working at MusicGear. Well, it is to be expected, considering everything that happened; I wish her all the best on her pilgrimage to re-acquaint herself with God once more. My only otherwish is that she will still be in Singapore long enough that I can fulfil my last fulfillable promise to her---that I would invite her to my baptism ceremony when it comes.

When will it come? I'm thinking maybe within the upcoming year, but it will be by God's will, not mine.

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In other news, I just ran the hair clippers around my head with the number 2 guide comb to neaten the mess. Recall that the last time I went for a hair cut, it was a full head shave. Since I got the trimmer, it was possible for me to keep and maintain side-burns as well, just to see how I look like. Now, side-burns work terribly if I went for a head shave, and so I just decided to crop my own hair this time round.

The same trimmers were also great at neatening the fringe hair, as well as the bits of hair that grow around the ear. The idea was just to run the 6 mm setting on the trimmer about carefully on the edges to neaten them. The number 2 guide comb is at 1/4", which is very roughly 6 mm (it's really 6.35 mm, but that amount is too subtle). In theory, I could just use the hair clippers to do it, but they are less nimble than the trimmer, making it that much harder to manipulate the cutting blades to do the right cut without actually knicking myself in the skin.

Anyway, it's starting to get late, and somehow, I am feeling tired. I think I will turn in for the night.

Till the next update then.

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