Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Happy 2nd anni to me and Squarespace

Yesterday I checked my Mint account to see how much money I don't have, and found out Squarespace have charged the annual fee for this hosting this very site. Because I am a super pro and awesome, I pay for the business tier which costs $216 dollars per year. I don’t exactly sell anything on here, but back when I signed up for Squarespace, the personal tier did not include unlimited pages and galleries, so I was forced to go with business. Maybe I should call and downgrade now that the base tier offers unlimited content hosting as well.

I’m quite happy and proud it’s already been two years since I’ve migrated over to Squarespace, from the combination of tumblr plus Flickr. I think Flickr is still going relatively strongly due to its legion of legacy users stemming from way back when, but tumblr, last I’ve heard, is not doing so well: parent company Verizon have sold it to the owners of Wordpress for essentially peanuts. I’m rather glad I jumped off that sinking ship, though I do still miss the community interactions that tumblr provided; Squarespace is a fairly standard website hosting service, and there isn’t any of the intensive linkage between “sites” like tumblr offers.

Good times, I would say. Instagram killed the tumblr star.

It was slightly out of character for me to switch from a free service to a paying one (and Squarespace wasn’t exactly the cheapest service, either), but I think two years ago I had a strong desire to bring the two separate threads under one slick and modern package. Tumblr wasn’t the best at showing photos at their maximum quality, so hosting full-size photos on Flickr was necessary. The linking back and forth was a bit tiring for the person who had to set it up: me, so to concentrate more on the actual content, the incentive to bring the wordy website and photo repository together at the same spot was strong.

Of course, Squarespace made it super easy to pick a template and get going, though the initial setup process (idiosyncratic to me) was a huge chore because I had to manually add everything from my tumblr and Flickr account. Words, photos, tags, metadata: all had to be entered for each individual content, dating way back to 2011. Tedious, to say the least.

Money is well spent if there’s utility to the thing you bought, so on that vein I shall continue to constantly push out new stuff on here to justify the $18 per month hosting cost. Here’s to many more ramblings, photographs, and stories.

Support physical books and art

Despite the amount of trees felled every year in order to produce them, I still can’t peel myself away from physical books. An Amazon Kindle would be so much easier and a more environmentally friendly way to consume books (digital copies are cheaper as well), but it lacks character and soul. The tactility I get from touching a book’s pages and the smell it gives out is a significant part to the overall joy of reading. Besides, I am a serial highlighter, and making markings on an actual book helps me retain information far better than sliding my finger over a Kindle screen.

There’s also something very zen about shelves full of properly lined books, giving off a suitable facsimile of being in a library right in my room. Libraries are awesome places that gives off endless vibes of learning and discovery; coupled with the inclination towards quiet and silence, it’s no wonder the library was one of my favorite places to hang out as a kid (our family was also quite poor, so there’s that, too.) These days as an adult I can afford my own books, and have created a small library of my own.

Physical books are cool, and I especially like it when the creators I follow comes out with these tangible works of art. The bulk of creative content - this website included - reside in the digital realm on the web, where cost of entry is superbly low. Compared to producing an actual book, and the material costs alone almost makes it not worth the effort; a problem particularly acute for photographers, where printing costs are exponentially more than simple words and paragraphs. I’ve printed a few photo books for personal use, and they are easily in the hundreds of dollar.

So I make a point to support creators who come out with physical books by actually buying them, because I understand how much effort and money goes into making it possible. In doing my little part, I hope to spur on the incentive for these creatives to keep making prints and books, that there is a sizable contingent who still love the unique experience of interacting with actual materials. Plus, it’s important to monetarily support your favorite authors and content makers anyways, most of whom are simple freelancers just looking to get by.

Due apologies to the environmentalists out there. I also keep the air-con at 68 degrees.

Buildings should have smoking rooms

Yesterday, work on campus was going just fine when the fire alarm sounded. More annoyed than any sort of panic, as is the wont these days when the alarm sounds, everybody in the library filed outside while the grown-ups figure out exactly what triggered the alarm. You’d think I’d be happy about the reprieve from actual work, but our office is a service point, and when we’re all outside waiting out an alarm, we are unable to fulfill our duties for the rest of the campus community.

Mind you it’s not out of an intense dedication to my job; I rather not deal with the backlog afterwards when we do get let back into the library building. Obviously my feelings would be different if the building was visibly smoking or on fire, but as it’s usually the case, yesterday was only a false alarm.

Set off by someone vaping in the restroom on the fourth floor. The library building is decidedly modern in that it lacks any physical pull triggers for fire emergencies: it’s entirely predicated on detectors, which ironically they have to crank up the sensitivity because a human is unable to intervene first. Many a times now we’ve had to evacuate the building due to precisely the same scenario: the vapors from a vape pen triggering the alarm. It’s quite annoying, I have to be honest.

Not that I am against vaping or smoking; we’re a university, so everyone for the most part is a proper adult. Therefore the decisions you make - like choosing to smoke - is entirely up to you, so long as the consequences is limited to you and only you. I am not in agreement with the wholesale ban of smoking/vaping on campus with no provisions for dedicated smoking areas; people are going to smoke regardless, and I think we should provide space for them to “safely” do so without bothering the general public.

This is where I think Asia and airports are ahead of the curve: spaces feature dedicated smoking rooms where people can do there business. Even the 7-Eleven I went to in Japan had a smoking room. By allowing space for such activities, you avoid the ignominy of smokers setting off fire alarms because they have to clandestinely vape in the bathroom. I think our library building should construct and designate rooms specifically for smoking and vaping, so the rest of us won’t be interrupted from our work and studies.

I can’t think of a better morning stroll than at a setting like this. Those two are doing it correctly.

I'm not getting the iPhone 11

For the first time in three years, I am not getting the new iPhone on launch day.

It’s not that I don’t want to: i’m obviously a massive fan of photography, and the addition of a new ultra-wide lens to the iPhone 11 Pro is a super enticing factor. Coupled that with the always improving camera logic and lens systems, the iPhone X I currently hold in my hands is looking somewhat pedestrian in comparison. Apple even solved my biggest complaint about iPhone cameras: that lack of long exposure function for shots in low light: there’s now a ‘Night Mode’ on the new iPhone.

However, the march of progress can gets utterly stopped by money sensibilities. If only I was back in my 20’s, but making the same amount of money as I do now: there wouldn’t even be any contemplations; I’d preordered the phone already.

Indeed, I have to take into consideration the monetary outlay whenever I upgrade to the latest iPhone. The monthly payments may remain the same - phone for phone, the iPhone 11 prices have not increased - but it’s easy to forget the one-time costs: the ridiculous upgrade fee the carriers charge (damn you, Verizon), and the tax bill for the entire price of the phone. It amounts to a not insignificant $200 dollars or so, and as it stands right now, I rather not spend that money just for the privilege of having a nicer camera system. In a vacuum, the iPhone X is still very competitive and outputs fine pictures for my needs.

I must note the irony that this is coming from the same person who owns a 911 GT3 and pays the hefty sums to keep it running every month. Well, how you’d think I come to be able to afford a Porsche? It isn’t from wontonly spending every amount of available cash.

I think I am going to wait for the next design evolution to the iPhone before I upgrade. Back when this current design language came out with the iPhone X, it was an absolute jewel of a thing; it’s such a beauty to hold that I even elected to go without a case. As per usual, the iPhone exterior hasn’t changed much at all going on its third year, save for the rear camera module (the three lens array on the iPhone 11 Pro is rather ugly, I have to say.) I shall wait for the next big step-change to make the switch.

In the meantime, I’ll pocket that bit of cash for a rainy day.

No donuts; because the rocks will ruin the paint, obviously.

Save the combustion

It’s the week of Frankfurt Motor Show, and just like the Geneva Motor Show earlier this spring, the buzzword is electrification. European automakers are scrambling to meet looming fleet emissions standards, and the most expedient way to offset the pollution from petrol and diesel engines is to produce many emissions-free electric cars. Major players like Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are investing billions, and it seems much of the industry is hell-bent on making this electric revolution happen, consumer demand be damned.

From a utility perspective, I have nothing against electric cars; I’d love to own one as a daily runabout. However, the electric car infrastructure remains highly inadequate, especially for apartment dwellers like me who lack the ability and space to charge a car “at home.” EV charging stations are nowhere near as ubiquitous as the age old gas equivalent, and the few charging spaces at work gets taken up by the super early birds.

As it stands, an electric vehicle is unfeasible for me, and I assume, a significant many other as well. What I’m seeing at auto show like Frankfurt and Geneva is heavy action on the supply side from manufacturers, but no movement on incentivizing the demand side of the equation. Tax rebates aren’t going to do anything for me with regards to the lack of charging ability.

From a thrill of driving perspective, I have everything against electric cars. The low decibel whirl of electric motors cannot compete with the melodic crescendo of my GT3’s naturally-aspirated flat-six that revs to 9,000 RPM. I fell in love with cars for their mechanicalness and the sweet noises those oily bits make, and electric vehicles represents the absolute antithesis. For sure, the accelerative forces of a Tesla Model S is something to behold, but car enthusiasm is far above and beyond simply pure straight-line speed.

In the past decade, there’s been a movement amongst car geeks to save the manuals, to preserve the manual gearbox option in interesting cars; maybe it’s time to start another movement: save the combustion.

Who needs a proper garage anyways. This owner of a Honda Beat in Japan doesn’t think so.

The passionate few

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what exactly is having a “passion” for something.

On a car forum I frequent, there used to be this guy who would make excellent photo threads of car events. Recently he seems to have disappeared, and the rest of us forum members have been wondering where he went. You don’t realize you take people for granted until the first big car event where there’s no photograph thread afterwards. Where did he go?

Through discussion with a mutual friend, it turns out he was tired of spending the massive amount of time editing pictures and making it into a proper forum post, only to receive tepid response from the forum gallery. Why put in all the effort when the reception feels so unappreciative?

First, I have to say it’s indeed super time consuming and tedious to put together a story thread with photos and words; for the person consuming the content it’ll likely be scrolled through in minutes, but for the person creating, it takes many, many hours. Each of my own photo stories take at least eight hours each to make, so I can sympathize with the amount of work that forum guy puts into his posts.

Second, we should all be more vocally and visibility appreciative when we enjoy reading/watching things made by other people. Absolutely nothing brightens a creative’s day more than positive feedback and people giving thanks for sharing. It may sound cliche but it truly makes it worth the effort.

But with that said, I have to disagree with that guy’s decision to stop making photo threads, simply because of the perceived lack of feedback. Is it really something you’re passionate about if you get discouraged by the actions and opinion of outsiders? For me, having and following a passion is strictly internal: it’s for me and nobody else. It’s the engine behind the power that keeps me home on a weekend working on a project, while others are out having fun. Not that I’m not having fun, because passion projects are fun.

Creating content for this website is and will always be something of a joy for me, and I don’t care if not a single person reads it (and I’m thankful for those who do.) So long as I myself am satisfied with the output, that’s perfectly good enough for me.

Maybe that forum poster lost his passion, which is okay, too.

Skydiving and staying present in the moment

Various schools of philosophy preaches the importance of being in the present, to have supreme concentration on the right here and right now.

Those of us who study and practice philosophy know that is far easier read than executed. The mind so easily wanders to either the future or the past; before you’re even done eating dinner, you’re already thinking about what to cook for breakfast tomorrow. The modern world full of distractions certainly compounds the distraction situation, with the smartphone ever attached to us, like an IV drip of a hospital patient.

Having mind and focus on the present is incredibly tough.

I recently heard of an example demonstrating precisely the mental state of being in the present. It has to do with skydiving, and the exact moment a skydiver is about to jump off the airplane. At that time, the area of focus shrinks down to the very point that only concerns with making the jump. The skydiver isn’t thinking about his mortgage payments or that argument he had with a coworker the previous day: his sole concentration is with accomplishing the mission of landing back on the ground, safe and alive.

That’s the exact feeling and mindset of being in the present that we can harness. To be so completely involved in what we’re currently doing that other thoughts can’t possibly enter the brain. Obviously, we shouldn’t need a pretend life-and-death scenario to draw that out of us. Skydiving can be just like any other thing we do on a daily basis, and therefore it’s absolutely possible to give that same amount of focus towards anything.

It takes practice, of course. A lifetime’s worth.

I’m just running in the 90’s.