It's now a Monday. I'm officially on leave for a week and a bit more; I might have mentioned that this leave is a long time coming. For too long I had been bearing the burden of knowledge that a manager is expected to bear, the so-called ``dark'' aspects of being a manager that only business school will teach [since they generally train quasi-psychopathic people who treat humans as ``resources''].
But that is not what I want to talk about today---that would be too damn depressing.
------
I did a long-ass cycle on Saturday on my new bicycle. It was a blast---the new bicycle's gears worked wonderfully, and I found myself reaching speeds in excess of 30 km/h on the flats. I did face one problem---my current bicycle pump had troubles with the new Presta valves on the new inner tubes of the bicycle, and I cannot figure out what's wrong. And so, I have made an appointment with the local distributor to have it sorted out.
Sunday, I went to run some errands, getting my meds and a replacement Nikka Whisky from the Barrel to replace the now-emptied Maker's Mark. The purpose of the break is to go round not completely sober, and this means using my titanium tipple from Snow Peak to drip feed high-proof alcohol into my blood stream.
I had a nice lunch at Five Guys, and had walked all about Plaza Singapura. The thought of getting a Steam Deck crossed my mind for the umpteenth time, but I never did get it---as I have to keep mentioning to myself, I did run an experiment before a long time ago with the Dingoo, a smaller and more portable gaming console; I never played on it enough, to the point that the battery was swollen and I had to dump it. A Steam Deck is likely to end up in the same fate, and that thing is not even that cheap (nor small either). Besides, I spend more time reading while commuting anyway; something about the ease of putting down a book as compared to a game.
I did think about getting a 3-octave range melodica from Yamaha, but decided against it since I have two new keyed bawu in the keys of F and G coming in. This is the second time that I'm trying to get keyed bawu, and hopefully the quality is better than the last one. In the previous case, the case itself was falling apart due to shitty pot metal for the zip (I'm thinking it's likely to be some kind of zinc-alloy that ended up with zinc pest and getting brittle as a result), while the ``pads'' (more like uncontrolled blobs of nonsensical epoxy(?)) failed in their sole job of sealing. Maybe this new batch of bawu will do the job and expand the palette of what I can play.
For what it's worth, the original bawu is a bad instrument in terms of [useful] range. It does sound nice, but the range is just... terrible. By extension, it also limits the type of music that it can play in a very strong way.
Today, I ran other errands, and went to solve a mystery that has been bugging me for a while: just what was in Jalan Besar Plaza, the shopping mall that I pass by every day when I'm on bus service 147. Answer: a lot of really cool industrial-centric stores, from lab testing equipment to various motors/hand tools like bench-top press, and a couple of the ``usual'' vocation-ish schools and massage places.
I also explored the TRIO building that was nearby, and noped out of it quickly due to how odd it was presenting itself---there was a cool-looking Cantonese restaurant in it that I might want to return at some point.
Beyond that, I slowly made my way towards Sim Lim Square, and meandered along the side roads for a little exploration.
Sim Lim Square itself was quite different from before. There were significantly more ``Indian Dance Club'' style karaoke/bars [that were likely to be alive once the night comes], and much fewer ``lifestyle'' stores that sold a variety of consumer electronics; gone also were the old stores that sold more server-like equipment---the rising costs of PC/server components due to the AI boom are really showing their ugly heads. It was still a nice walk through the place though.
After that, I walked along Serangoon Road towards City Square Mall for dinner, and yet more walking about, before finally making my way to the nearest bus service 147 bus-stop to head home.
All in all, it had been a nice three days so far. Of course I didn't talk about Friday, where I helped to run a booth at the AI Student Developer Conference, mostly because it was work related, and nothing of note happened---it was just the standard booth-running shenanigans of standing around for a long time, trying to be interesting/entertaining to the visitors, and rapidly refining the story that was told to ensure consistency and ease of paying attention to the visitors' responses as opposed to figuring out what to say. It's not my first rodeo for sure, and things came back to me fast. It was the first time that I could take the City Direct buses both to and from the the exhibition area that was at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre out at Marina Bay Sands.
I'm knackered, and after having hooked up my HHKB Pro 2 to write this post, I'll probably transcribe yet another piece from the song book that I had from a while back for my alto recorder.
Till the next update then.
Monday, May 25, 2026
Monday, May 18, 2026
Bombshell
First off, sorry for the malformed entry before. In my addled-ness, I forgot to run the raw text through my Blogger-Br tool that inserts the correct break HTML tags to provide the correct newlines.
Next, the bombshell that I had been holding onto at work has finally been detonated. And the fallout... I have no idea how bad it is going to be. Naturally, everyone's morale is in the shitter as expected, but it cannot be helped---with a bombshell as big as this one, there's no other way around it.
I can go on about my ``true thoughts'' about the situation, but it benefits no one and is likely to end up becoming a liability, so I shall refrain.
What happens next is anyone's guess. I'm just... very tired.
Exhausted in fact.
To bear the burden alone... it sucked, hard.
But such is life.
------
I've started on The X Files. All I can say is, why did it take me so long to go watch it?
Anyway, that's all I want to say for today. It's been a long day/week/quarter, and I need a break. Bad.
Till the next update.
Next, the bombshell that I had been holding onto at work has finally been detonated. And the fallout... I have no idea how bad it is going to be. Naturally, everyone's morale is in the shitter as expected, but it cannot be helped---with a bombshell as big as this one, there's no other way around it.
I can go on about my ``true thoughts'' about the situation, but it benefits no one and is likely to end up becoming a liability, so I shall refrain.
What happens next is anyone's guess. I'm just... very tired.
Exhausted in fact.
To bear the burden alone... it sucked, hard.
But such is life.
------
I've started on The X Files. All I can say is, why did it take me so long to go watch it?
Anyway, that's all I want to say for today. It's been a long day/week/quarter, and I need a break. Bad.
Till the next update.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Egalitarianism is a Dead End
Class separation and eventual struggle is inevitable as long as human societies are going at the size that they have been going at since the twentieth century.
And no, I'm no Marxist---this conclusion I came to is from mulling about this for a long while.
I have always been a fan of egalitarianism, that each person has their rights and ability to contribute with little sense of hierarchy, as much as practically possible. But this is an idealism of sorts, since the specific affinities that each person might have in their contribution and more relatedly, their ability to contribute to society in ``equivalent'' sorts of ways... is just a pipe dream.
The truth of the matter is that things almost always start out egalitarian, but as long as [material] resources and [relational] patronship exist, then class distinctions are inevitable as the massing of the resources and/or patronship changes the relative prestige/capability to contribute for each person in profound ways.
It is hard to claim that egalitarianism is the ultimate utopian ideal when one can clearly observe the effective difference that affinities of contribution create---is it really possible to equate the ability to command capital with the ability of someone who contributes labour to perform janitorial duty?
In that sense then, a society that thinks of egalitarianism as a utopian ideal is doomed to failure; this should not come as a surprise to anyone, except perhaps for the truly idealistic.
It is a very sobering thought, though it isn't exactly something truly new. We [as a society] have known that true left-wing approaches are doomed to failure, while true right-wing approaches may look good in the beginning, but all that they can promise is stasis as the highly authoritarian and conservative approach dominates. It's a lose-lose situation, and it is never really clear who can win in the end.
Of course we'll root for the ``good guys'', except in this case, who are the ``good guys''?
I have no incentive to foster rebellion---it's just an alcohol-induced thought about how the real world works. There is at least some light optimism in it all---if a substantial number of people believe and project their beliefs out to the world, a change may occur.
It would be interesting to see what happens along that particular path...
------
In other news, I've been working my way through the Fist of the North Star manga. It's... pretty cool story-wise and ultra-violence aside. That the strongest fist (``Hokuto Shingen'') draws strength from extreme sadness and anger of its practitioner is a great trope definer.
And I think that's about all I want to talk about. I'm a bit sloshed with alcohol to try and avoid thinking about the crazy nonsense that is work.
Till the next time.
And no, I'm no Marxist---this conclusion I came to is from mulling about this for a long while.
I have always been a fan of egalitarianism, that each person has their rights and ability to contribute with little sense of hierarchy, as much as practically possible. But this is an idealism of sorts, since the specific affinities that each person might have in their contribution and more relatedly, their ability to contribute to society in ``equivalent'' sorts of ways... is just a pipe dream.
The truth of the matter is that things almost always start out egalitarian, but as long as [material] resources and [relational] patronship exist, then class distinctions are inevitable as the massing of the resources and/or patronship changes the relative prestige/capability to contribute for each person in profound ways.
It is hard to claim that egalitarianism is the ultimate utopian ideal when one can clearly observe the effective difference that affinities of contribution create---is it really possible to equate the ability to command capital with the ability of someone who contributes labour to perform janitorial duty?
In that sense then, a society that thinks of egalitarianism as a utopian ideal is doomed to failure; this should not come as a surprise to anyone, except perhaps for the truly idealistic.
It is a very sobering thought, though it isn't exactly something truly new. We [as a society] have known that true left-wing approaches are doomed to failure, while true right-wing approaches may look good in the beginning, but all that they can promise is stasis as the highly authoritarian and conservative approach dominates. It's a lose-lose situation, and it is never really clear who can win in the end.
Of course we'll root for the ``good guys'', except in this case, who are the ``good guys''?
I have no incentive to foster rebellion---it's just an alcohol-induced thought about how the real world works. There is at least some light optimism in it all---if a substantial number of people believe and project their beliefs out to the world, a change may occur.
It would be interesting to see what happens along that particular path...
------
In other news, I've been working my way through the Fist of the North Star manga. It's... pretty cool story-wise and ultra-violence aside. That the strongest fist (``Hokuto Shingen'') draws strength from extreme sadness and anger of its practitioner is a great trope definer.
And I think that's about all I want to talk about. I'm a bit sloshed with alcohol to try and avoid thinking about the crazy nonsense that is work.
Till the next time.
Saturday, May 02, 2026
Yet Another Labour Day Weekend
So it's the Labour Day weekend.
I've always found it very strange that for SIN City, the union leaders are unabashedly the same folks who sit in parliament, which already has a reputation of being more corpo-friendly, whether or not it is justified. And somehow, that doesn't count as a form of conflict of interest.
But that's not the purpose of today---the whys and the hows of this funny situation can be found through the historical archives.
What I want to talk about today is the arrival of Pan's Musical Companion for Alto (Treble) Recorder and Other Melody Instruments: Medieval by Robin Alexander Lucas. Just a small note: if you are clicking on the URL to go to where I bought it (i.e. Waterstones), do note that they are very aggressive about stopping ``bots'' to the point that it can affect the UX pretty drastically.
Anyway, I learnt about this tome from this video from Sarah Jeffery. I figured that I probably should get some ``appropriate'' music for the recorder just so that I can do a bit more proper practice on that instrument, instead of trying to mangle my way through all the other types of music that I'm playing.
There is a problem with the book though---it opens landscape, and is sewn-bound. This means that having the book opened wide and stable enough to actually play from it [on a music stand] is just... not possible.
And so here I am, trying to re-typeset all 105 pieces so that I can shove the compendium into a clear folder and therefore actually be able to play them. Naturally, these are done in LilyPond.
But as I might have mentioned before, Eileen-III's keyboard is kind of sucky. Stuff on the right hand side don't operate in ways that are consistent---the numbers from 6 to 0 either don't show up, or end up being doubled, while the braces are almost always doubled, and the | and / are inconsistent.
I probably should trigger the warranty to replace the keyboard. But that means more downtime and other rather things...
That said, this meant that if I were to typeset all 105 pieces using Eileen-III's existing set up, I'd probably stab myself in my face repeatedly with a rusted pencil. And this is where it is time to bring out my favourite keyboard: HHKB Pro 2.
I had always wanted to use this keyboard with all my various laptops, but the ``normal'' way of putting the keyboard on top of the existing laptop keyboard doesn't work by virtue of the 60% size---the base plate is literally small enough to not span across the non-key parts of the keyboard.
That said, I find that having the HHKB Pro 2 sitting on my lap as I type, is just the perfect comfort level. Combining this position with having the ability to place the open book just in front of me and between Eileen-III meant that it was just that easy to look at the source material and touch-typeset the pieces straight into Frescobaldi.
I may just decide to lug my HHKB Pro 2 to the office just to flex against those who are showing off their ``fancy'' keyboards---mine is smaller, and has the Control key in the right place without any fancy mapping. That said, it's probably as dumb as I make it sound---I don't have any issues with the work laptop keyboard, and despite it being 60%, the HHKB Pro 2 is still sizeable enough that to lug it to and fro daily is just a non-starter, unless I upgrade my backpack to be even larger again.
In the old days, when my work machine was a desktop machine, and when I had a cubicle with enough storage, I could just leave my HHKB Pro 2 in the office. But with all the new space reduction nonsense that is in vogue, it becomes increasingly harder to do things like that.
Ah well.
I think that's all I want to talk about for now. Work is... tiring in all sorts of ways, and I really don't want to be thinking/talking about it unless absolutely necessary.
I suppose that this mini-rant is just an exercise in the use of the HHKB Pro 2, just to remember/enjoy the wonders of the keyboard layout and the Topre keys.
Relative to the Keychron stuff, the keys feel heavier, but without that crazy weird actuating ``click'' sound that comes from the Keychron.
Alright, that's about it for now. Happy Labour Day weekend I suppose, and till the next update.
I've always found it very strange that for SIN City, the union leaders are unabashedly the same folks who sit in parliament, which already has a reputation of being more corpo-friendly, whether or not it is justified. And somehow, that doesn't count as a form of conflict of interest.
But that's not the purpose of today---the whys and the hows of this funny situation can be found through the historical archives.
What I want to talk about today is the arrival of Pan's Musical Companion for Alto (Treble) Recorder and Other Melody Instruments: Medieval by Robin Alexander Lucas. Just a small note: if you are clicking on the URL to go to where I bought it (i.e. Waterstones), do note that they are very aggressive about stopping ``bots'' to the point that it can affect the UX pretty drastically.
Anyway, I learnt about this tome from this video from Sarah Jeffery. I figured that I probably should get some ``appropriate'' music for the recorder just so that I can do a bit more proper practice on that instrument, instead of trying to mangle my way through all the other types of music that I'm playing.
There is a problem with the book though---it opens landscape, and is sewn-bound. This means that having the book opened wide and stable enough to actually play from it [on a music stand] is just... not possible.
And so here I am, trying to re-typeset all 105 pieces so that I can shove the compendium into a clear folder and therefore actually be able to play them. Naturally, these are done in LilyPond.
But as I might have mentioned before, Eileen-III's keyboard is kind of sucky. Stuff on the right hand side don't operate in ways that are consistent---the numbers from 6 to 0 either don't show up, or end up being doubled, while the braces are almost always doubled, and the | and / are inconsistent.
I probably should trigger the warranty to replace the keyboard. But that means more downtime and other rather things...
That said, this meant that if I were to typeset all 105 pieces using Eileen-III's existing set up, I'd probably stab myself in my face repeatedly with a rusted pencil. And this is where it is time to bring out my favourite keyboard: HHKB Pro 2.
I had always wanted to use this keyboard with all my various laptops, but the ``normal'' way of putting the keyboard on top of the existing laptop keyboard doesn't work by virtue of the 60% size---the base plate is literally small enough to not span across the non-key parts of the keyboard.
That said, I find that having the HHKB Pro 2 sitting on my lap as I type, is just the perfect comfort level. Combining this position with having the ability to place the open book just in front of me and between Eileen-III meant that it was just that easy to look at the source material and touch-typeset the pieces straight into Frescobaldi.
I may just decide to lug my HHKB Pro 2 to the office just to flex against those who are showing off their ``fancy'' keyboards---mine is smaller, and has the Control key in the right place without any fancy mapping. That said, it's probably as dumb as I make it sound---I don't have any issues with the work laptop keyboard, and despite it being 60%, the HHKB Pro 2 is still sizeable enough that to lug it to and fro daily is just a non-starter, unless I upgrade my backpack to be even larger again.
In the old days, when my work machine was a desktop machine, and when I had a cubicle with enough storage, I could just leave my HHKB Pro 2 in the office. But with all the new space reduction nonsense that is in vogue, it becomes increasingly harder to do things like that.
Ah well.
I think that's all I want to talk about for now. Work is... tiring in all sorts of ways, and I really don't want to be thinking/talking about it unless absolutely necessary.
I suppose that this mini-rant is just an exercise in the use of the HHKB Pro 2, just to remember/enjoy the wonders of the keyboard layout and the Topre keys.
Relative to the Keychron stuff, the keys feel heavier, but without that crazy weird actuating ``click'' sound that comes from the Keychron.
Alright, that's about it for now. Happy Labour Day weekend I suppose, and till the next update.
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