Tiny Tea Dispatch #006

Published:

Apr 23, 2018, 02:00:00

Is it that time already?
Get your favorite hot drink, the new dispatch is in.

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The dispatch has taken the shape of a quarterly newsletter, I’ve only recently realised. Something to do with life cycles or seasonal events, I suspect.

The picture up here is a still from the movie ‘The Abyss’*. Following up on last year’s letter, I’ve gone full-blown watch nut and added 2 new watches to the collection. Including a blue re-issue of the classic ’Turtle’ that Ed Harris is wearing there.

Actually, I’m lying, there’s one more but I’m still assembling it. That’s right, I’m also dabbling in watch modding now. It’s great fun. I bought an old SKX and have to replace just about everything except for the case. It’ll be totally unique when it’s finished. That will bring the current state of the collection to 5 mechanical watches.

The Pebble is still running, by the way. It’ll probably hang on until the phone dies and I can’t re-install all the necessary software on a new phone.

Current state of the collection:
SKX007, SKX171 (replaced bezel), SRP773 (Turtle), SRP495 (Stargate II), Pebble, Unknown quartz

It’s early in the year to be looking back, but things have decidedly not been going smoothly. The hardest blow, some of you already know about. My sister took her own life in January and I don’t think any of us have really processed that yet. I can’t describe it very well what that’s been like. There’s so much left in the wake. A young son, friends, guilt, sadness, …
When life goes wrong, I turn my focus to the practical needs. But when I can’t really fix anything or have to rely on others too much, my brain can’t cope. It’s been a couple months of utter helplessness with occasional freak-outs and frustration. And of course it’s not even me that’s the worst off.
I have to stop myself thinking about it sometimes or I’ll just shut down. I don’t know how people keep pictures or devotional cards in sight in their homes.

Since my mother’s passing, I’ll have sudden realisations every now and then. A friend of mine told me he has the same thing. Part of it is gettting older and being confronted with events you’ll never get to share with those who’ve been with you for much of your life. I no longer have any close family. Extended family, sure, but no one who’s actually known me since I was a kid.
It’s not a bad thing in and of itself (I like to say I’m not a nostalgic person), it’s just very strange to be confronted with at 36 I think.

But the sun brings brighter days and I haven’t been wrapped in my own mind completely.
For one thing, I did my driving theory exam last week. Still need to take some driving lessons, but it’s a start.

Here’s some other things I’ve been occupying myself with:

Seen

Movies

Annihilation:
interesting but started to unravel towards the end for me
Mute:
I preferred Moon
The Shape of water:
I’m partial to monster movies and role reversal, so this was very enjoyable. Nice seeing someone like the main protagonist being presented as a ‘whole’ person for once.
Jupiter Rising:
I knew it was a mess, but it was supposed to be an entertaining mess. It wasn’t. I remain of the firm opinion that the Wachowskis only have made 2 good movies: The Matrix and Speed Racer.

Read

Uber and Self-Driving Cars Have More Than a ‘Trolley Problem’
I’m sick of everyone in AI and self-driving cars talking about the trolley problem.

The Enduring Appeal (and Folly) of Disease Eradication
Just imagine I have something insightful to say about hubris, rich people, privilege and such.

Standing desks ‘increase pain’ and slow down mental ability, study suggests
I prefer kitchen tables to desks, whether they be standing or other kinds.

No, Women’s Voices Are Not Easier to Understand Than Men’s Voices
With digital assistants and voice-command terminals becoming popular, this is a pretty important bias to be aware of.

Inside a hidden studio making intricate £50,000 watches
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to justify paying more than a couple hundred euros for a watch but I have a lot of admiration for watchmakers. I think I’d like to do this for a career change.

Heard

I remain partial to the many lofi hiphop/jazzy mix playlists on YouTube. Here’s one with snippets from Cowboy Bebop. And a video essay talking about the meaning of nothingness.

Made

Not much creative up on Instagram but I have been rounding up the metal tins I have collected over the years. There’s some really beautiful ones and a couple more I should post so the list is complete.

It’s not really news that Facebook and Google know all about you and can use/sell the data any which way they want. Think of that what you will, but I haven’t missed Fb since I effectively stopped using it last year. There’s not much reason for me to stay in that ecosystem any longer, so I’ve started removing the connections that were left, like clearing the Friends-list, pages and groups.

The end goal is still to delete the account completely but I haven’t figured out what to do about my sister’s page yet. I’m thinking of setting up a private memorial page on my server, since some people have expressed wanting to keep her pictures and posts.
Messenger is another story. That should still work without a profile. So I might keep that once I figured out how to transfer the contacts or connect to the folks I’m in chat with.

How are you doing? Any rays of sunshine? Are you making things, planning a big trip or watching anything good on TV/Netflix?
If things got you down, remember that corgis are cute, life is fleeting and don’t take advice from strangers on the internet.

See you, space cowboy…

Tiny Tea Dispatch #006

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