This week, it was rough. Appraisal season is upon us, and so there were many sessions of discussing with my subordinates on what to put into their self-appraisal form just to ensure that when it was my turn at filling in comments that we were all singing the same tune and presenting the strongest and most honest appraisal we can put together.
That means lots of talking with folks.
There was also a big [external] meeting nearer the beginning of the week that we needed to handle. That went well.
To cap the week off, TGCO had its first in-person public performance since the COVID-19 lockdown at the National Day Celebration Dinner. Granted, it was just a small segment (about 2 pieces), but the fact that we, as a performing arts group, finally performed was a damn big deal. The group suffered some serious attrition when most of our 二胡 players effectively went on their own lives after the COVID-19 lockdown---those that got married did so, and got pregnant along the way, while those that were in school drifted back towards the orbit of solving their own academic challenges from 2 lost years of lockdown, while the retired decided to remain retired and not return. For this performance (and hopefully future ones too), we were joined by the 二胡 class students that Justinn were teaching as part of the TGCC CCG activities. The stage is no stranger to me, but to see a whole batch of newbie players getting all excited at their first on-stage performance (most of them adults trying out a new instrument) was a refreshing change of pace.
I think I scared them a little with the fact that I had been playing the 笛子 for thirty-something years, not to mention the little fact that one puny 梆笛 was sufficient to rise above the cacophony that 12+ 二胡 players could conjure up.
The performance was successful. We did play a piece that I composed back in 2016 when life was much more peaceful and my future was a little different, which was cool. It was definitely not the ``world premiere'' since we first played it back in 2019, an aeon ago. The other piece we played was an arrangement of 《茉莉花》 that was put together to allow the newbie 二胡 players to play with us.
I rested up for most of Sunday, staying away from church and other people---I've had my fill of people for quite a while. In fact, I have deliberately applied for leave for tomorrow just to ensure that I could stay isolated for a day more before I went off for three days of ``new manager course'' with strangers.
Oh, and then there's a Presidential Election after that come Friday, an election that is fast turning farcical the closer it is to the day itself. A three-corner fight among men who had been linked to the establishment in one way or another over the past decades, each trying to dissociate themselves sufficiently to convince the voting block that they were definitely not partisan, and at least one partaking in antics that seemed to suggest that this Presidential Election was being fought as a General Election, where the role of the President had more executive powers akin to Head of Government, as opposed to the constitutionally defined [ceremonial] Head of State (compare the chapter on the President against that of the Executive).
I suppose it is slightly less farcical from the last Presidential Election, which was at least somewhat more serious than the four-corner fight of the four Tans.
And I'll stop right there, since there is nothing inherently worthy about writing on this right now---there's always the danger that my opinions get taken as fact, and more insidiously, since it is technically ``published'' the moment I hit the post button on this blog entry, I am actually liable for getting censure, whether or not it is warranted.
And so, no thank you.
------
Halls of Torment---I finally completed all the 201 available achievements in the game. The last few were rough as they relied too heavily on what the RNG allows one to proc. After sinking 40+ hours into the game, I will admit that it is pretty fun. The content isn't stupid large varied, but I'll argue that it is a strong point instead of a weak one as at this moment---each of the characters plays fairly differently from each other, and I do find the damage/XP race thrilling in some ways.
But then, there's HoloCure, which is effectively Halls of Torment, but less grittier, and filled with well-known Hololive Production members as seen by both the holomems and through the eyes of a loving fandom. I can see this easily eating 100+ hours if I'm not careful.
But who said I wanted to be careful on this？
In other news, I've started on Control. It's basically a game loosely around the idea of The SCP Foundation. I'm not too deep into it yet, but early signs seem promising.
And with that, I'm done with this entry. I'm tired---will make good use of my day off to really rest up more.
Till the next time then.
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Friday, August 25, 2023
Stupid O'Clock Word Salad Time
Rough week? Much talking? De-escalation? Outcome hopeful, but never certain? Much paperwork? External? Internal? Sore throat? Food therapy? HoloCure? Time War? Grampire graduation? Shadow of the Tomb Raider completed? Upcoming performance? Upcoming training? Upcoming defogging leave? Deadlines? Newcomer? Contracts? Bad skin? Thinking dark-ish thoughts? Tiredness? Social empathy levels low? Appraisal? Reports? Performative work? Forever alone? Smog? Missing eyedrops? Packed shuttle bus? Non-weight loss? Broken light? Unstable weather? Bleeding? Bass flute? Cor anglais? Synthetic cor anglais reed? New book? Investigator? Random altar set ups? Clueless pedestrians? More clueless commuters? Extremely clueless cyclists? Cycling? Higher Eddington number? Effort? Heat? Time? Sweat? Pain? Stretch? Renewal? Uncontrollable outcomes? People? Night markets? Rich food? Wasabi peas? Nim jiom herbal candy? Ricola? Melted Vicks honey candy? Dentist? Confusion? Good presenter? Good grammarian? Good advice? Fancy Sushi? Fancy Steak? Missing cheap food? God? Driving? Greenwashing? Whitewashing? Gaslighting? Open communication? Gentleness in receiving/giving comments? Word salad? Stupid o'clock?
Who knows what else?
Who knows what else?
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Counter Tweaking 5×10 and Font Releases
I think by now, a theme be emerging, especially those who have been reading my blog entries.
I mentioned before on how I didn't manage to do the counter tweaking I did for my 7×13 font for my 5×10 font, and how I have no plans for it?
Well, I've gone done it.
I was not wrong before---tweaking the counter the same way that I did for my 7×13 font did look like crap because of the much smaller horizontal extent. The trick then was to be more careful in choice, and tweak no more than one of the junctions. As for b and d, I didn't even bother to do anything with them, which gives enough variation to make things look interesting and sufficiently different.
And speaking of tweaking, I finally decided to just release my pixel fonts for download at my personal domain. I've re-organised that ``computer stuff'' page a little, creating a new section for these pixel fonts, and putting my old console slim font in it as well.
Naturally, both the featured fonts have their associated glyph sheets, while I didn't bother for the console slim font because the code page that it supports (code page 858) isn't really well supported in not the [Linux] console. I did try to set it up as a Windows font the way I did for 5×10 and 7×13, but it was poor, so I've put it aside for now.
I think that's all I care to write about for now. I'm tired, even after having just taken a mid-lengthed break of nearly a week.
Till the next update then.
I mentioned before on how I didn't manage to do the counter tweaking I did for my 7×13 font for my 5×10 font, and how I have no plans for it?
Well, I've gone done it.
And speaking of tweaking, I finally decided to just release my pixel fonts for download at my personal domain. I've re-organised that ``computer stuff'' page a little, creating a new section for these pixel fonts, and putting my old console slim font in it as well.
Naturally, both the featured fonts have their associated glyph sheets, while I didn't bother for the console slim font because the code page that it supports (code page 858) isn't really well supported in not the [Linux] console. I did try to set it up as a Windows font the way I did for 5×10 and 7×13, but it was poor, so I've put it aside for now.
I think that's all I care to write about for now. I'm tired, even after having just taken a mid-lengthed break of nearly a week.
Till the next update then.
Saturday, August 12, 2023
Saturday...
Ah... Saturday.
I love Saturdays.
I love Saturdays because they are mostly the days where I actually get to relax, on leave or otherwise.
Generally speaking, I spend my Saturdays just sitting about the room, reading, playing some games, or rehearsing some music. If I'm slated to play for church service on that Sunday, then the Saturday before was often when I spent some time rehearsing the pieces, annotating [in pencil] on the score problematic areas that I need to pay closer attention to. That occurs often for Hymns of Praise for rhythm because for some reason, none of the eighth/sixteenth notes have connecting beams. This meant that the usual visual cues of how the rhythm look like are pretty wonky. Thankfully, there's 简谱 at the top, and it allowed me to ``cheat'' and grok the necessary rhythms as needed. As for The Wilds Songbook, the problematic areas proved to be some of the more unfamiliar interval progressions that seemingly defied what my inner music voice was telling me, where I ``knew'' that the next note should be this, but the score laughs at me with a ``Nope!'' and makes it that.
There's TGCO rehearsal in the evening, and I usually turn up about 30 min earlier to ``warm up'' outside of the music room, mostly because my 笛子 is literally powerful enough that warming up indoors while the other folks may want to do their warm up is not a good idea.
Well, I call it ``warm up'', but it really depends on my mood in terms of what I would play. Most times it was an actual warm up in the sense of playing etudes to set up my embouchure and limber up my fingers. Sometimes I would take the time to play through some repertoire pieces. Or maybe I would do like what I did earlier today, where I sight-read a new piece (《月夜》by 胡结续). There are also times where I just noodled on my 笛子 in a ``head empty no thoughts'' sort of way.
Today's rehearsal was fun in a couple of ways. We finally have something that resembles a proper 二胡 section, which is remarkable because our 二胡 section had been decimated when most of the regulars disappeared after COVID-19 (some got married, some developed different interests; it's the usual attrition issues that got accelerated by the pandemic nonsense). Granted, the section was made up of really new and really green players, it was definitely better than nothing. Hopefully this first performance gives them enough of an interest to stay around, level up their skills, and continue playing.
The other fun thing was that I finally had a reason to learn the E7 fingering on the concert flute. I mean, I have consistently used D7 on Aurelia before (it's basically the 5′ in 筒音 as 5͵ for when I'm playing the part of the 梆笛 while on concert flute), but have not really had the need to go for E7 until today (because I needed to play a 6′ in 筒音 as 5͵).
Of course Aurelia can have that note appear---she's a well-made Muramatsu flute after all. It's really more on my getting used to the specific embouchure, air stream direction, and the amount of force to push, transiting smoothly from the prior B6 to the E7.
And that's about all I want to talk about for now. The other thing that happened this day was more progression in Halls of Torment, but I suppose it's getting a little too repetitive to keep talking about that.
Till the next update then.
I love Saturdays.
I love Saturdays because they are mostly the days where I actually get to relax, on leave or otherwise.
Generally speaking, I spend my Saturdays just sitting about the room, reading, playing some games, or rehearsing some music. If I'm slated to play for church service on that Sunday, then the Saturday before was often when I spent some time rehearsing the pieces, annotating [in pencil] on the score problematic areas that I need to pay closer attention to. That occurs often for Hymns of Praise for rhythm because for some reason, none of the eighth/sixteenth notes have connecting beams. This meant that the usual visual cues of how the rhythm look like are pretty wonky. Thankfully, there's 简谱 at the top, and it allowed me to ``cheat'' and grok the necessary rhythms as needed. As for The Wilds Songbook, the problematic areas proved to be some of the more unfamiliar interval progressions that seemingly defied what my inner music voice was telling me, where I ``knew'' that the next note should be this, but the score laughs at me with a ``Nope!'' and makes it that.
There's TGCO rehearsal in the evening, and I usually turn up about 30 min earlier to ``warm up'' outside of the music room, mostly because my 笛子 is literally powerful enough that warming up indoors while the other folks may want to do their warm up is not a good idea.
Well, I call it ``warm up'', but it really depends on my mood in terms of what I would play. Most times it was an actual warm up in the sense of playing etudes to set up my embouchure and limber up my fingers. Sometimes I would take the time to play through some repertoire pieces. Or maybe I would do like what I did earlier today, where I sight-read a new piece (《月夜》by 胡结续). There are also times where I just noodled on my 笛子 in a ``head empty no thoughts'' sort of way.
Today's rehearsal was fun in a couple of ways. We finally have something that resembles a proper 二胡 section, which is remarkable because our 二胡 section had been decimated when most of the regulars disappeared after COVID-19 (some got married, some developed different interests; it's the usual attrition issues that got accelerated by the pandemic nonsense). Granted, the section was made up of really new and really green players, it was definitely better than nothing. Hopefully this first performance gives them enough of an interest to stay around, level up their skills, and continue playing.
The other fun thing was that I finally had a reason to learn the E7 fingering on the concert flute. I mean, I have consistently used D7 on Aurelia before (it's basically the 5′ in 筒音 as 5͵ for when I'm playing the part of the 梆笛 while on concert flute), but have not really had the need to go for E7 until today (because I needed to play a 6′ in 筒音 as 5͵).
Of course Aurelia can have that note appear---she's a well-made Muramatsu flute after all. It's really more on my getting used to the specific embouchure, air stream direction, and the amount of force to push, transiting smoothly from the prior B6 to the E7.
And that's about all I want to talk about for now. The other thing that happened this day was more progression in Halls of Torment, but I suppose it's getting a little too repetitive to keep talking about that.
Till the next update then.
Thursday, August 10, 2023
Counter Tweaking
Ah Thursday, the day after National Day, and when I'm [still] on leave.
What a day.
First off, after ranting past stupid o'clock and crashing out shortly after, I found myself awake at 1000hrs later in the morning. Some time was spent catching up on the ESA Summer 2023 VODs, before I worked a little bit more on my 7×13 bitmap font.
``MT, didn't you say last time you were basically done?''
So I did, sort of. There was one last tweak that I was considering, and it involved how the counters were presented in characters like abdgpq. If you looked closely at the [corrected] character map from the previous post, you'll find that the counters of such characters can be roughly described as having parallel lines connected up with the vertical spans where they exist, as opposed to a more rounded feel the way one might normally print it out.
It's a minor shift of literally two pixels, but I think it was important, partly because of how Atkinson Hyperlegible shows how such rounded off counters do present a clearer profile that can be more strongly differentiated from the capital equivalents. I did the change, tested it out, and liked what I saw:
It's subtle, but it does look much nicer and less synthetic. I am thinking about doing something similar for the 5×10 font, but smaller horizontal extent used to define the counter made the application of the same pixel trick did not work as well, if at all. So no plans for that for now.
Apart from tweaking my 7×13 font yet again, I also got more runs in for Halls of Torment, unlocking even more characters, and having enough progression in the meta that my toons do not generally die easily any more.
I also made some progression in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with the in-game progression estimate hitting 90%.
Hmm... I think that's about it for now. I'll probably go do one more run of Halls of Torment, then turn in for the night---I've got places I need to be tomorrow, and I really don't want to run around half-cocked/asleep.
Till the next update then.
What a day.
First off, after ranting past stupid o'clock and crashing out shortly after, I found myself awake at 1000hrs later in the morning. Some time was spent catching up on the ESA Summer 2023 VODs, before I worked a little bit more on my 7×13 bitmap font.
``MT, didn't you say last time you were basically done?''
So I did, sort of. There was one last tweak that I was considering, and it involved how the counters were presented in characters like abdgpq. If you looked closely at the [corrected] character map from the previous post, you'll find that the counters of such characters can be roughly described as having parallel lines connected up with the vertical spans where they exist, as opposed to a more rounded feel the way one might normally print it out.
It's a minor shift of literally two pixels, but I think it was important, partly because of how Atkinson Hyperlegible shows how such rounded off counters do present a clearer profile that can be more strongly differentiated from the capital equivalents. I did the change, tested it out, and liked what I saw:
Apart from tweaking my 7×13 font yet again, I also got more runs in for Halls of Torment, unlocking even more characters, and having enough progression in the meta that my toons do not generally die easily any more.
I also made some progression in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with the in-game progression estimate hitting 90%.
Hmm... I think that's about it for now. I'll probably go do one more run of Halls of Torment, then turn in for the night---I've got places I need to be tomorrow, and I really don't want to run around half-cocked/asleep.
Till the next update then.
Past Stupid O'Clock?
Okay, it's past stupid o'clock, but I'm annoyed, so I'm gonna vent.
Eileen-III runs Windows 11---this is an incontrovertible fact; the new CPU architecture demands an updated kernel that only Windows 11 provides, as long as I want to use Eileen-III to play games as opposed to doing work.
Windows 11, for some asinine reason, does not allow anyone to put the taskbar to the top of the screen.
I had used a workaround for this for quite a while (ExplorerPatcher). It's free, and relatively straightforward to use. It had a bit of funkiness to it (while the taskbar is indeed moved to the top, accessing the start menu brings it back to the bottom), but it got the job done.
That is, until the latest Windows 11 update clobbered the shit out of it.
It's a live issue as at now, and there doesn't seem to be a solution to it just yet.
I've switched over to StartAllBack, but really, who knows if these will still work in the future? It does solve the funkiness that ExplorerPatcher had, so I suppose this is a step up.
And that's it. It's almost 0400hrs in the morning, but I'm on leave, so I kind of don't really care.
Till the next update.
Eileen-III runs Windows 11---this is an incontrovertible fact; the new CPU architecture demands an updated kernel that only Windows 11 provides, as long as I want to use Eileen-III to play games as opposed to doing work.
Windows 11, for some asinine reason, does not allow anyone to put the taskbar to the top of the screen.
I had used a workaround for this for quite a while (ExplorerPatcher). It's free, and relatively straightforward to use. It had a bit of funkiness to it (while the taskbar is indeed moved to the top, accessing the start menu brings it back to the bottom), but it got the job done.
That is, until the latest Windows 11 update clobbered the shit out of it.
It's a live issue as at now, and there doesn't seem to be a solution to it just yet.
I've switched over to StartAllBack, but really, who knows if these will still work in the future? It does solve the funkiness that ExplorerPatcher had, so I suppose this is a step up.
And that's it. It's almost 0400hrs in the morning, but I'm on leave, so I kind of don't really care.
Till the next update.
Sunday, August 06, 2023
One Sixth-ish Through August
Okay, it's Sunday, and we're about halfway through the first third of the month.
Bram Moolenaar passed away just a few days ago. For the confused, he is the creator and maintainer of vim, my favourite text editor, though ironically it is not the one I use for writing blog/NaNoWriMo entries (I use Q10 for that). I didn't know him personally, and was therefore quite surprised to learn that he was 60+ years old and had passed away.
In my mind, he was always some middle-aged dude, like almost all imaginations I have of computer scientists/programmers. But then again, I'm middle-aged now, and this would naturally make them... much older now.
Mortality really does make one think.
I've not really feared death before, even before being saved. Then, death to me was just the ceasing of existence, and I was strangely fine with that. I would not deliberately seek my own death (suicide ideation notwithstanding), but if death were to come, I would probably just quietly go into the dark night.
Now after being saved, I know that my death is just leaving the mortal coil and heading into the presence of God. Still not much fear, perhaps having a little bit of hope in it instead, seeing that I would be in the presence of my Creator.
But until I am dead, I'm still here, and therefore I will try to make the best of my existence here. Many say that the advancement of the Kingdom is of the highest priority, and I do not deny that. But I do wonder if the direct and somewhat unsolicited approaches are indeed the right way to proceed.
It's a bit like being a super-fan of something---most people that one approaches won't really enjoy being bombarded with one's otaku-esque behaviour, no matter the subject matter. I suppose with the large reach of Christianity, the evangelical behaviour has been observed by the world at large for a couple of thousand years, and with it comes the larger [over-]reaction when being evangelised at in an unsolicited manner. I do not reject how some of my fellow Christians might choose to share the gospel, but I do not think it the best way to do so, as a personal preference.
I believe that salvation is important, but I also strongly believe that if it is God's Will for someone to be saved, that person will find their way to God in one form or another---any machinations that us human disciples can come up with pale in comparison. The best thing that we ought to do is to live as good examples of a person who has accepted Christ in their life, and to show the fruits of that salvation to act as a beacon to draw the unsaved to come forth on their own free will to hear and heed the gospel.
(sigh)
Anyway, I was thinking about the whole ``get married'' bit recently. And I really cannot convince myself it is a good idea. It's about putting too much of oneself into another in the form of trust. And to say that I have trust issues, is like saying that the Atlantic Ocean has some water.
How many times have my relationships failed due to the other party violating the trust that I had implicitly placed in her?
I'm getting old. I don't have that kind of intrepid nature like before; in short, I cannot afford to put myself out there again, just to be fucked over for one reason or another.
Okay, that's enough depressing shit. On to something slightly better.
Some time back, I mentioned about Vampire Survivors, Magic Survival, and HoloCure (the Steam release is happening on 2023-08-17). Thanks to a certain gaming Kirin's live stream, I learnt of a cool new twist to the genre: Halls of Torment. It is, as Fauna's video title suggests, a cross between Vampire Survivors and Diablo IV.
Now, I've not played any Diablo games after Diablo II, but after having tried out the awesome demo version, I agree wholeheartedly with Fauna. The way I would describe it would be a bite-sized mouse-click saving version of action-RPGs. Imagine Torchlight, Diablo, or Grim Dark, but with the individual acts kept to a duration of no more than 30 minutes, and with no need to click anything to auto-proc the auto-attacks and skills. There is still progression a la Vampire Surivors (thus technically making Halls of Torment a rogue-lite instead of a rogue-like the way Jupiter Hell is). The aesthetics is also much akin to the gothic style that these action-RPGs are like, and the boss fights are hard compared to what Vampire Survivors have.
All in all, a cool twist. I'm sure I'll have many hours of fun playing it.
Speaking of many hours, I'm about 79% through the Shadow of the Tomb Raider, according to the in-game counter. Shadow of the Tomb Raider has been scratching that exploration itch that I had been having for aa while. Maybe after I've completed this, I might really start on The Long Dark.
But we'll see.
I'm feeling tired now, so I guess I'll stop. Till the next update.
Bram Moolenaar passed away just a few days ago. For the confused, he is the creator and maintainer of vim, my favourite text editor, though ironically it is not the one I use for writing blog/NaNoWriMo entries (I use Q10 for that). I didn't know him personally, and was therefore quite surprised to learn that he was 60+ years old and had passed away.
In my mind, he was always some middle-aged dude, like almost all imaginations I have of computer scientists/programmers. But then again, I'm middle-aged now, and this would naturally make them... much older now.
Mortality really does make one think.
I've not really feared death before, even before being saved. Then, death to me was just the ceasing of existence, and I was strangely fine with that. I would not deliberately seek my own death (suicide ideation notwithstanding), but if death were to come, I would probably just quietly go into the dark night.
Now after being saved, I know that my death is just leaving the mortal coil and heading into the presence of God. Still not much fear, perhaps having a little bit of hope in it instead, seeing that I would be in the presence of my Creator.
But until I am dead, I'm still here, and therefore I will try to make the best of my existence here. Many say that the advancement of the Kingdom is of the highest priority, and I do not deny that. But I do wonder if the direct and somewhat unsolicited approaches are indeed the right way to proceed.
It's a bit like being a super-fan of something---most people that one approaches won't really enjoy being bombarded with one's otaku-esque behaviour, no matter the subject matter. I suppose with the large reach of Christianity, the evangelical behaviour has been observed by the world at large for a couple of thousand years, and with it comes the larger [over-]reaction when being evangelised at in an unsolicited manner. I do not reject how some of my fellow Christians might choose to share the gospel, but I do not think it the best way to do so, as a personal preference.
I believe that salvation is important, but I also strongly believe that if it is God's Will for someone to be saved, that person will find their way to God in one form or another---any machinations that us human disciples can come up with pale in comparison. The best thing that we ought to do is to live as good examples of a person who has accepted Christ in their life, and to show the fruits of that salvation to act as a beacon to draw the unsaved to come forth on their own free will to hear and heed the gospel.
(sigh)
Anyway, I was thinking about the whole ``get married'' bit recently. And I really cannot convince myself it is a good idea. It's about putting too much of oneself into another in the form of trust. And to say that I have trust issues, is like saying that the Atlantic Ocean has some water.
How many times have my relationships failed due to the other party violating the trust that I had implicitly placed in her?
I'm getting old. I don't have that kind of intrepid nature like before; in short, I cannot afford to put myself out there again, just to be fucked over for one reason or another.
Okay, that's enough depressing shit. On to something slightly better.
Some time back, I mentioned about Vampire Survivors, Magic Survival, and HoloCure (the Steam release is happening on 2023-08-17). Thanks to a certain gaming Kirin's live stream, I learnt of a cool new twist to the genre: Halls of Torment. It is, as Fauna's video title suggests, a cross between Vampire Survivors and Diablo IV.
Now, I've not played any Diablo games after Diablo II, but after having tried out the awesome demo version, I agree wholeheartedly with Fauna. The way I would describe it would be a bite-sized mouse-click saving version of action-RPGs. Imagine Torchlight, Diablo, or Grim Dark, but with the individual acts kept to a duration of no more than 30 minutes, and with no need to click anything to auto-proc the auto-attacks and skills. There is still progression a la Vampire Surivors (thus technically making Halls of Torment a rogue-lite instead of a rogue-like the way Jupiter Hell is). The aesthetics is also much akin to the gothic style that these action-RPGs are like, and the boss fights are hard compared to what Vampire Survivors have.
All in all, a cool twist. I'm sure I'll have many hours of fun playing it.
Speaking of many hours, I'm about 79% through the Shadow of the Tomb Raider, according to the in-game counter. Shadow of the Tomb Raider has been scratching that exploration itch that I had been having for aa while. Maybe after I've completed this, I might really start on The Long Dark.
But we'll see.
I'm feeling tired now, so I guess I'll stop. Till the next update.
Wednesday, August 02, 2023
The One About the 盐酥鸡
August: here we go!
I hate being right on things. So, remember this recent post on hero worship? Well, as if on cue, we have this little bit of news on Lizzo. Now, being sued doesn't imply guilt (that's for the courts to decide), but usually people do not sue another person unless there is some perception of grievance.
``MT, why are you picking on Lizzo?''
I'm not. She just happened to be a recent example. She's a media darling, with many from Flute Forum actively idolising her outright as a hero.
She's alright as a flute person. But it's okay to just appreciate it without going into hero worship.
But on to different things.
August is a month that promises lots of things. First up is an engineered long weekend starting from National Day. Then after that, actual courses/training on Manager 101.
Am I excited? ``Trepid'' might be a better word. It's definitely going to be a start of some rather harrowing work, what with my first annual appraisal exercise for the six under my charge. But it is something that needs to be done, and the we are doing important work; projects that need to be moved forward to ensure that we help with SIN city's future.
It is unfortunate [for me] that I'm just the most senior engineer among the group, and is therefore de facto manager/leader.
Work stuff aside, TGCO is likely to see its first performance in a long while. We're not as big as we were, possibly even smaller than our smallest so far as some of the married members start having children, so this performance is going to be a good morale booster.
I'm also starting to get the hang of the hymns that we are playing for worship service, and am slowly making my way to being a more regular player in the ensemble on Aurelia. I did mention to the coordinator of the possibility of bringing out Davie (my vertical bass flute) to play the tenor parts with the cellist whenever he may be available, and it would seem that it was likely to be in November.
The only caveat is that I need to brush up my ability to read the bass clef. I'm getting much better at it now, having to ``count'' only every time the pitch skips larger than a fourth or so. But that can be a rather interesting skill to develop.
There's also a pasar malam that is running along the street, and I am getting severely addicted to the 盐酥鸡 from one of the stalls. It's deep-fried chicken bits in light batter, dusted with sour plum powder, and paprika(?) powder.
Apart from that... I suppose there isn't anything else to talk about for the moment. And so, till the next time.
I hate being right on things. So, remember this recent post on hero worship? Well, as if on cue, we have this little bit of news on Lizzo. Now, being sued doesn't imply guilt (that's for the courts to decide), but usually people do not sue another person unless there is some perception of grievance.
``MT, why are you picking on Lizzo?''
I'm not. She just happened to be a recent example. She's a media darling, with many from Flute Forum actively idolising her outright as a hero.
She's alright as a flute person. But it's okay to just appreciate it without going into hero worship.
But on to different things.
August is a month that promises lots of things. First up is an engineered long weekend starting from National Day. Then after that, actual courses/training on Manager 101.
Am I excited? ``Trepid'' might be a better word. It's definitely going to be a start of some rather harrowing work, what with my first annual appraisal exercise for the six under my charge. But it is something that needs to be done, and the we are doing important work; projects that need to be moved forward to ensure that we help with SIN city's future.
It is unfortunate [for me] that I'm just the most senior engineer among the group, and is therefore de facto manager/leader.
Work stuff aside, TGCO is likely to see its first performance in a long while. We're not as big as we were, possibly even smaller than our smallest so far as some of the married members start having children, so this performance is going to be a good morale booster.
I'm also starting to get the hang of the hymns that we are playing for worship service, and am slowly making my way to being a more regular player in the ensemble on Aurelia. I did mention to the coordinator of the possibility of bringing out Davie (my vertical bass flute) to play the tenor parts with the cellist whenever he may be available, and it would seem that it was likely to be in November.
The only caveat is that I need to brush up my ability to read the bass clef. I'm getting much better at it now, having to ``count'' only every time the pitch skips larger than a fourth or so. But that can be a rather interesting skill to develop.
There's also a pasar malam that is running along the street, and I am getting severely addicted to the 盐酥鸡 from one of the stalls. It's deep-fried chicken bits in light batter, dusted with sour plum powder, and paprika(?) powder.
Apart from that... I suppose there isn't anything else to talk about for the moment. And so, till the next time.
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