Eirian-VI is Here!

Eirian-VI has arrived.

After about two weeks, my Kindle Colorsoft has finally made its way to SIN city, as have all the other things that I had purchased on either amazon.com or amazon.sg.

And lemme tell you, Eirian-VI is gorgeous.

So, using SCP Series 4 volume 1 as a sample, you can tell that the colours are there, and are fairly soft/subtle. While most people complain (and also have pictures!) about how the Colorsoft was ``blue-er'' than previous black and white Kindles, you can tell that it isn't so in this case---that's because I can tune the ``warmth'' slider to make it as red as I want to. To be fair, this is at warmth level 3 on colour level standard (as opposed to vivid), compared against to zero warmth change in Eirian-V.

Do I have complaints? Just one---colour is only available on ``native'' Kindle file types, which in this case is Mobi. I only realised it when I tried loading up a PDF that is scanned (and with colours), and it showed only the regular monochrome set up.

Is that a deal breaker? Not really... I am completely fine with reading most of my material in black and white anyway, and thanks to Calibre, conversion of the PDF to Mobi is but a click or two away.

Not ideal, but a perfectly serviceable solution.

That yellow line thing that many are complaining about? I do not see it, so it's fine.

And that's a wrap for now. Till the next update.

You Never Truly Realise How Much You are Loved

It's sad to know that one never really truly realises how much one is loved, even when they are dead.

``MT, getting all sentimental?''

Joke's on you---I'm always sentimental. This is literally the biggest oxymoron that makes up much of my character. I know that I can push through anything if I choose to do so, but time has just made me a little more selective on things that I choose to expend effort for. But this is a major digression and not the objective of today's rant.

The reason why one never truly realises how much one is loved, is due to how hardly anyone knows how to show that they love someone without being all weird and/or awkward. Or sometimes, as is the regular excuse from SIN city, it is a ``cultural thing'' to not show emotion, as any form of emotion is a demonstration of weakness.

Unfortunately for me, I never really grew up in an environment where I could emote properly. My folks never emoted, though there is no doubt that all my immediate family members would go through hell and back for each other.

We just never emoted with each other.

And that was one thing that I could never quite grasp when I was dating and meeting my date's folks, whether it was the first time, or the last. And that is also why I feel oddly uncomfortable when people start coming close to me the way normal people come close to others, you know, by talking.

And that is probably why I stay within my rebuilt walls, avoiding my inner peace from being ``disturbed'' by women whom I may have a chance to be a partner with for this life.

I would rather quietly hug someone tight to show them I love them, than to say the words ``I love you''. I would rather sit next to them in quiet content, physically close, than to gossip about what other people are doing. I would rather talk about the future with them, than to mull about my past and present.

I think many people know that about me, and thus they have all kept their distance as a form of respecting my preferences, all without saying anything out loud in acknowledgement. It only took me nearly forty years to realise and acknowledge this in public.

Of course, the alternate way of thinking about things is that no one really gives a shit about me, but somehow I do not think this to be true of those whom I have interacted with on a consistent basis. Inasmuch as they have affected my life through interacting with me, I'm sure that I have affected their lives (hopefully for the better) through my interacting with them.

But you'll hardly ever catch me going up to them and telling them ``I love you''. I just simply cannot do that.

I think the number of people whom I had ever done that in my life can be counted on a single hand.

That one time when I was really, exceptionally down, people from the woodwork started to pour out and remind me that in some small way, I'm still loved by them, even if we don't do many of the usual things that people who love another do.

Some people might think that MT has a commitment problem. I think they are both right and wrong. They are right in thinking that I have a commitment problem; they are wrong in thinking that it means I cannot commit.

If anything, I'm damn good at meeting my commitments. If I give my word, it will be an extreme circumstance in which I would have to break it.

Perhaps that is why I'm uncomfortable telling people I love them---the honesty's too much for me, and perhaps for the them who are receiving it from me.

And mayhaps the manner in which I deliver such heartfelt words is just sub-par from the absolute lack of practice on the whole.

If there's ever a resolution that I ought to be making, it will be to be more open about my feelings to others. I've started through affirming my appreciation (it's still awkward as fuck), but to those whom I love, maybe I should have the courage to tell them so, before it is too late.

------

In other news, I have decided to pull the trigger on the Kindle Colorsoft Signature, or as I would like to call it, Eirian-VI.

``But MT, you just got Eirian-V barely 2 years ago! Why are you wasting money?!''

Well, it's not like there was no precedent. I mean, Eirian-VI is going to come with colour, much like how Eirian-III had colour (as a tablet) compared to Eirian-II.

The purchase is through a forwarder (vPOST), so we'll see how it all turns out. I'm not expecting any trouble, but for these things, one never really knows.

The upcoming week is what I call ``i'm-forty-bitches'' week. It's a week where I choose to do things to mark the end of my fourth decade walking this earth, and the start of my fifth decade.

It's okay because I'm on leave.

I think that's about it for now. Till the next update then.

It's May

It's May.

April was one helluva month, for sure. Many things were moving, fast, and the weather was downright atrocious, leading to many a time where I was just left physically out of it.

And this month, May, is likely to be just as hectic, if not more so.

(sigh)

Damn I'm tired.

I did manage to finish up my LEGO Bugatti Chiron build, which was exciting. The detailing part of the build (second booklet) was just a smidgen more interesting than the base frame build (differential gearing, simulated gear box, and simulated W16 engine). I would take pictures, but just not today---am just tired.

After nearly four whole months, The Great Negotiator finally arrived. It's the BAHCO 87, a rather large adjustable wrench, 30 in long, and coming in at a mass of 5.7 kg.

``MT, why the hell do you need a large wrench like that?''

Well... it's ludicrous. It's the embodiment of ``speak softly but carry a big stick'', but put into a slightly more plausible context of being a Crazy Old Man Engineer. No one expects the satisfying ``thunk'' of a 5.7 kg single-piece high performance alloyed steel on a table over a rather mundane discussion; hence the epithet of The Great Negotiator. It is also a rather visceral demonstration of an engineer, and is thus why I got it, despite it costing quite a fair bit of money, and taking so long to make its way over.

I will attest to the quality of the build though---the tolerances are pretty tight for the size, with a full clamp of 0.0 mm on the span-scale having no room to slip a thin sheet of 80 gsm paper through.

------

My reading has taken me back to the era of the old WOWIO---an online storefront for digital graphic novels/comics, just at about the time the first Amazon Kindle was released. They released lots of free digital graphic novels/comics then, and it was only up till now that I have a chance to really read them. Many of the graphic novels stopped at issue #1, with their stories never completed, their artists being lost in the mist of time. But there were still some gems among them that I wished could have continued, like the Lullaby series.

Unfortunately, to get them working on Eirian-V required me using Ghostscript to remove the ``sponsored by'' pages---they were full page sized URLs that made turning pages on Eirian-V impossible due to Eirian-V relying completely on touch screen for all interactions as opposed to the external buttons from all the other Eirians before.

Ah well.

I'm abandoning Elden Ring even though I didn't complete the game---I think I've derived all the fun that I want out of it. That's probably the first and last Fromsoft game that I'll play this lifetime, mostly because I'm really getting to the point in life where I can't just sit there for hours on end just to ``git gud'' on a game.

I watched Kronii's playthrough of Blasphemous, and got interested in the game. It's yet another metroidvania, but it did not appear as punishing as [say] Hollow Knight nor as clunky as Feudal Alloy. I think it scratches that metroidvania itch adequately.

And then there's The Talos Principle II that I uh... need to complete. It's a puzzle solving game, so I think I was just puzzled out for a bit. I'll get back to it.

------

I think that's all I care to talk about for now. Till the next update, I suppose.

Maintenance...?

And so, this weekend is about to end.

It's the weekend of maintenance. Aurelia, Stella, and Picc are off to Windworks for COA; my bicycle went to B-Spokes for maintenance, and one of my longest run geocache needed some maintenance [from me] as well.

In theory, things would have been peachy by Saturday, but there was something innately wrong with the rear-shifter for my bicycle that necessitated my bringing it back today for rectification, which resulted in me having to skip out on church today.

``But MT, why must it be today? Couldn't it wait?''

No, not really. It was just after a major maintenance---had I waited for longer, it would have been a bigger mess than it really is now.

Sadly though, a new line of dead pixels have started showing up on Eirian-V. Why and how that happened, I have no idea. But as at now, it isn't completely annoying just yet, so I might just live with it; sort of like my Brother laser printer showing random low-toner density (I think the drum is kaput, but haven't had enough wherewithal to pull up the money to buy a replacement to test the hypothesis).

I also took the chance to use my air-blower to clear out the dust on Eileen-III, as well as my work laptop, something that I had been neglecting to do for about five months now.

Then of course, there is some self-maintenance. I finally chopped my hair down to the right length [of stupid short] with the hair clippers, and am relying on occlusive treatment to force the weepy and inflamed skin on my fingers and palms to calm down. I also replaced my toothbrush, which was at least two months overdue.

Mentally though... I think I might not have done well there. Feeling a little overwhelmed with the barrage of new ``fun'' that came in from the work side. It's not bad, it's just... a lot to take in at once. Not to mention the whole set of loss of spoons from being involved in two large gatherings of people.

I probably should just turn in earlier tonight, after re-packing my backpack to set it up for work, as opposed to errand-running mode.

Sorry this is a short entry---till the next time.

What I Did Yesterday-ish

Today marks the last day of the leave that I took to celebrate my birthday. I spent a large part of yesterday (birthday proper) just... walking about under air-conditioned settings. I had a wonderful lunch of fancy sushi at my favourite place, before heading down to Plaza Singapura to check out the Yamaha there (ended up buying a super long flute swab), before walking about Plaza Singapura itself where I found GameMartz which sold the Steam Deck (I didn't buy because I really don't play games on the move---I tend to read a hell lot more, hence the Eirian series, with the latest being Eirian-V).

I made my way to Esplanade after that, wondering on a whim to see if Kelvin was there in The Band World (he wasn't---Liyan was there, and I just went in and kaypoh-ed around the merchandise). I had tea-time Guinness with nachos out at Harry's@Esplanade Mall. The old library@esplanade was completely boarded off (as expected) due to its closure; near it was 《印映》, a visual arts exhibition by Hong Shu-ying that reflected upon 阿炳, the blind erhu player whose most famous piece was 《二泉映月》. Apparently he was also among the earliest to introduce 简谱 notation for writing down Chinese music, but this part is a little sketchy to me.

Before I started heading home, I caught Night Drives with ANNÉ running through their sound checks. The lead singer was Nicole ``Nikki'' Ann Chan, and while her stage dress was definitely eye-catching (white body-con Bardot-style with a really low back and high hemline, matched with white ankle boots), it was her voice that was the more captivating. Her lows had that smokey feel that is always wonderful to hear, and when she was singing high to the rapper (not a fan of, but that guy was decent for sure!), it was clear.

Very lovely. Too bad I didn't actually want to stay for their set at 1900hrs---I wanted to get my ass home before the home-going crowd started to flood the public transport.

------

SimplyGo---a name that will forever be tainted with the infamy that came from a forced adoption that got hastily retracted roughly two weeks after it was first pushed through as the only way forward for public transport.

I won't go into the details of the whole debacle, except to raise the obvious question: what is the end-game here? Will EZ-link cards be phased out after all, but in a much quieter fashion by stopping any new supply and force-converting each and every expired EZ-link card over to SimplyGo? Will SimplyGo be updated to not suck (actually show the balance on the fare card with a similar performance profile as EZ-link)?

The announcement is bereft of all that, which makes me wonder deeply about the possibilities...

------

In other news, I've finally made my way up the Altus Plateau, and have fought my way up to Mt. Gelmir in Elden Ring. It's definitely a much different feel from Limgrave, and damn the Death Blight status effect is horrible; the Scarlet Rot is nothing in comparison. Urgh.

Back in Minecraft, I finally added the top layer of the four round towers that are on the perimeter of my castle-build. I've also added the ``rammed earth walls'' to connect these towers. Soon I will start working on the habitable parts of the castle or something.

And I think that's about it for today. Till the next update.

Hot AF

To say that the past few days were hot in SIN city is like saying that the Atlantic Ocean had some water.

It was too hot. It was so hot that, it created yet another new record.

I'm currently on leave for the weekend, one that started on Friday, and will extend into Monday. It was mostly for a sort of reset for me, pre-planned as part of the overall strategy of taking more frequent short-ish breaks due to the self-imposed moratorium of not travelling around the world.

So far, I'm more than half way through Suzuka, and have started on a bit of the Grim Fandango. ONE just dropped chapter 142 for the One-Punch Man original web-comic, but I think I will re-read that entire series as part of exercising Eirian-V.

I've also played a little more Jupiter Hell here and there. It's not a bad game, by any measure, but it seems to have lost a bit of the magic that was from the old DoomRL that I played a stupid amount of before. Perhaps it was the change in the community---a mass migration towards Reddit, Discord, and Steam ``forums'' over the original official ChaosForge forums.

I don't like the new Reddit/Discord/Steam ``forums''. Apart from having to create new accounts (not that big a deal, realistically), these platforms are not owned by ChaosForge, and therefore when they go, they are gone. The form factors of these new quasi-social media set ups are also terrible for actual discussions, which is one of the more practical factors that make me refuse to join them.

Oh, I had left the forums since the beginning of last year. It was depressing to be a custodian of what was basically a dead place where only the bots hung out. Chaosforge is no longer the one-man labour of love of yesteryear---it is a commercial entity that is taking real investment, and having to deliver real results. I can't be a part of that, and so I'm gone. It was a good run with them, for me.

Anyway, that's too much depressing stuff. I'll just end here for now. Wanted to make a note of the hottest recorded period/day [so far].

Till the next update.

Physically Exhausted, but Mentally Fulfilled

I'm physically exhausted, but mentally fulfilled. There's something about physical exertions that help clear the mind.

Wangki swung by SIN city between 2023-03-09 and today to visit us former Illinites whom had once shared a moment in history co-existing in the same geographical region through a period of life that was both challenging and defining, before heading off to his next great adventure.

That great adventure is a story for him to tell---I will not rob him of that opportunity.

Meanwhile, I will just list down what we did over the past few days with little description:

• Ate at the Burger King at the airport;
• Drove from airport to hostel;
• Dinner with Joel out in Beach Rd (parking was a bitch as always);
• Visit to Tiong Bahru market and hawker centre for walk and breakfast;
• Met up with BC and ZD for lunch out in University Town;
• Climbed Bukit Timah Hill;
• Walked both Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, and Beauty World Centre;
• Visited the Singapore Zoo;
• Rehearsals at TGCO;
• After-rehearsal supper of prata;
• Lunch of sashimi, sushi, udon, and don;
• Touring of JEWEL.

It's abbreviated, but it sort of captures in broad strokes what we did.

...we walked, a lot. My sedentary lifestyle is catching up with me---I can keep up on the days themselves, but I am paying the price now with the tight muscles, and the delayed onset of soreness.

But damn is it the good kind of pain. I really should be doing more of these, and perhaps I will.

Lots of good conversation were made, as were new jokes, and some rather serious discussions about our present and our futures in general. When I finally sent Wangki off to the check-in counter (the line was too long, me being exhausted and having work tomorrow meant I just couldn't sit around to wait before being somewhat impaired for driving), I left feeling a little sad, not because it would be a long time before I met my friend and ex-roommate again, but that our lives are truly reaching the point where Things Were Getting Rather Serious.

I suppose that's what middle age does to one. Unavoidable.

------

Amazon has announced that it is basically terminating the ability to receive subscribed magazines and newspapers over the Kindle. It's a damn shame... considering that I juuuuuust bought Eirian-V specifically for this feature.

What am I to do for my dose of The Economist?

Till the next time, I suppose.

Eirian-V Has Arrived!

Feels a bit off sitting in the proverbial saddle, but hey, gotta keep on writing if you know what I mean. Morbidly this blog has a much higher chance of out-living me long after I am dead, and that sort of terrifies me.

Just a little.

To begin with, it is a happy belated birthday to me. Something about the long weekend over Chinese New Year just screams ``don't feel like writing'' to me in a way that was hard to ignore. That long weekend passed on by quite quickly, and I have nothing much to report, other than a delightful long walk with YT on Monday exploring a bit of the western neighbourhood that I had always wondered how it looked like, followed by a reclimbing the old faithful Bukit Timah Hill, and some well-wishers from the few who still remembered when it was the anniversary of my birth.

Moving on, I mentioned some time back about getting the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, and finally did. Eirian-V arrived in the last week of January, and I have been using it for nearly two weeks on the single charge, clocking about 1.5 hours of reading per day.

And it's ``only'' at 55% left, which is pretty cool, considering that I was reading the higher power draw situations of full-page manga spreads generated using kcc on some CBZ/CBR collections I have lying about. That extra 0.8" of screen space (6.0" vs 6.8"), combined with much thinner bevels in general meant a greatly increased view space for very little actual increase in dimensions of the device. In English, this means that I can still hold it single-handed, and wiggle my ring finger to advance the page, albeit with only my left hand since there are no dedicated ``page advance'' tactile buttons that allow ambidextrous use the way Eirian-IV had.

I think that's about it for now. It's just a short entry to show that I'm alive, and to mark the arrival of Eirian-V. Till the next update.