I've been enjoying the slow disconnection from everything. I'm not completely disconnected yet: free wifi hotspots are everywhere so I get online in the evenings and while waiting to check in or board...
But I've not been following along or catching up to scrollback or trying too hard to catch anyone :) just... Letting things flow and catching whatever comes my way.
Tomorrow will be completely disconnected (or so I hope) for a week. Wouldn't have believed it five years ago or maybe even two... But I am actually looking forward to this (with a few crucial exceptions where I hope email will tide me over).
Ahhhhh what is this
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 10:54 pmI'm switching my laptop from VMWare to VirtualBox (basically cloning the already working version from my desktop, which has things properly set up for email, etc) -- and ran into issues with networking. And at first I thought it was because I hadn't set up dnsmasq properly, or that it was this old issue with setting up dhcp that I vaguely remembered having to deal with the first time.
But after fixing all that, still nothing. And uh. It turns out the solution was to rename the interfaces from eth0/eth1 to eth4/eth5.
I have no idea what just happened, other than that my computers have decided that it's fun to mess with me.
(I think the main reason I'm leery of sysad stuff is that every time I come back to edit something, I have to basically start from scratch. I should try to figure out how to easily document my actions when I work on the sysadmin side of things, so I can find out what I just did, two months from now.
It's really easy for code, e.g., git status, git stash, but the same trial and error approach I do for code just leads to confusion when I try to remember what I just did when it comes to working on my system...)
(I'm beginning to think that the other reason I find sysadminning so hard is that I only rarely can figure out from the instructions which parameters are arbitrary, and which parameters must be based on values from your system. For instance, in:
VBoxManage dhcpserver add –netname (the internal network name e.g. intnet) –ip <your RFC 1918 address> (e.g. 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x)\
–netmask <your subnet mask> (e.g. 255.255.255.0) –lowerip <your lower IP range> (e.g. 192.168.1.2) –upperip <your upper IP range> (e.g. 192.168.1.254)
- --netname is arbitrary
- --ip is sort of arbitrary, but I thought it had to be based off an already assigned ip address
- -- netmask is always just 255.255.255.0 for my purposes
- --lowerip/--upperip are arbitrary, but since I was confused about --ip before...
Also in the GUI, there's an adapter IP and the DHCP server IP, and it's not clear whether the --ip is for the former or the latter. It turns out it's the former, but good heavens how do people know? I basically had to plug in reasonable-seeming values and restarting stuff to test, with the only feedback being that it either failed or succeeded, and no way of telling which of the inputs was the reason for the failure, or if it was none of those.
UGH. Not my favorite thing in the world.)
Day 5: Inspired by
misskat
Friday, May 3rd, 2013 01:20 amDone with red and green Staedtler Calligraph duo markers, on wove ivory Conqueror paper. Title is done in 3.5mm; text in 2mm.


Day 4: Dreamwidth diversity statement
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 11:18 pmFocus today is on letterforms and consistency across the entire text, with minimal flourishes or fancy layout. This is the second attempt where I've tried to keep my hand looser, first attempt was more sloppy.
Written using Brause nib 2mm with winsor & newton sepia on a light purple sheet of paper. (I think the purple might not be showing up very well though)

Ahhh so household water filters are finally cheap enough that we've decided to try installing one at home (it's still 15,000 pesos, the hell!). The guy who installed it showed me how it works. At one point, he turns on the purified water faucet, and lets it run, says that this is the drinkable water, I nod my head dutifully... and hide my intense cringe reaction over wasting the purified water.
This is sort of ridiculous because, while drinking water has often been inconvenient here, I've never had to worry about it being scarce.
When I was a kid, we used to fill these huge stock pots with water from the faucet, boil them to kill any bacteria, then keep them to the side for several hours to let any sediment settle before we could use them for drinking. This could be inconvenient and meant that we didn't take drinking water for granted, but it was never a matter of scarcity or worry. We had several of these huge pots, so in practice we just always made sure that we boiled a new batch of water when we were down to one or two. There was a bit of waste because you didn't want to drink the water at the bottom of the pot, and you had to be very careful when getting water near the bottom because you wouldn't want to stir up the sediment, but you know, it worked!
After that, and for a long time, we bought water in five-gallon containers, delivered weekly. Now that is very convenient, but the cost adds up, and you still have to keep track of when the water supply is running low and order new ones and wait for the new delivery....
And now it's coming out of the faucet. Granted, it's not the main faucet but drinking water. From the tap. ASDFHHH. I'm a bit weirded out by just how strong my reaction is. But ASDFGGFHFHHFHFHF.
30 day challenge: day 1 (and an offer)
Sunday, April 28th, 2013 02:10 amWhich made me realize that I must stop buying ink this is ridiculous!
...or I could just try to use them all up :)
Starting a 30-day challenge today. Will be boring drills at first, getting my hand back in. Both pointed pen and broad nib calligraphy count (though they are different disciplines. Shhhh)
Aim is to have at least one page a day. May be practice, may be a quote or stanza etc. I'll start with the alphabet to get my hand back in then move on to actual words.
I'd love to be able to write down your favorite quote, poem etc, so if you'd like me to try please comment with the exact words and I'll try to figure something out!
Here is day 1, done with a TWSBI mini 1.5 mm broad nib in Ruby (Pelikan Edelstein Ink collection)

Also, bonus, made this bookmark during the workshop:

Choice of words and arrangement are mine. Smudges also all mine. (You should've seen my hands ;-))
Travel: USA, Canada. All Conference, all the time
Friday, April 26th, 2013 10:18 pmIt all starts May 16 when I leave to go through Alaska with family (cruise, lol) for a week, and then a trip to the Canadian Rockies (because mountains, ice, beautiful amazing views, what's not to love :DD).
The amazing thing is that the timing is *perfect*. Two days after my family flies home, YAPC starts. And through sheer luck, that's also when we've scheduled the DW folks gathering this year. My People, man :)
Off to Boston for work/play (if you are local and interested, and haven't signed up for the Boston area hackathon yet, please do :D). I uh, hear tell there are lots of cool folks in Boston <3
Then OSBridge from June 18-21, and then back across the ocean for me :)
I'm excited! Looking forward to seeing people and doing stuff. (Conferences are an amazing jolt in the arm, I wonder if what we'll come up with by then... phew!)
So who's going to YAPC and OSBridge? And who's around in Boston / Portland (maybe Vancouver, depending on the date)?
RANDOM so random of a voice
Friday, April 12th, 2013 08:24 pmMas malambing kasi ako sa Filipino (more... soft? gentle? cuddly? when I'm speaking in Filipino)
And I'm feeling a bit asdfghhhhh I did not realize that was even going on. I mean of course the accent is different, but I didn't realize just how much that does actually affect tone ahaha.
Anyway, I recorded a couple short clips of myself speaking JUST BECAUSE:
Filipino:
English:
PS. Ugh at some point I'm going to have to figure out how to sound more mature. That day is not yet today, I can't deal with it right now but AT SOME POINT YEAH.
I am trying something new
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013 12:13 amSo far, I've attended a couple tech events which were okay.
I've started hooping, which has led me to discovering a group of people within that community who a) are interested in coding for fun b) are interested in the arduino c) know a local(!!!!) supplier for arduino/raspberry pi/suchlike. I'm terrified of hacking on electronics btw, but perhaps starting to inch towards interest with this group of people.
I've hooped in public, even. In front of strangers.
I've learned that a.) hooping will bruise and b.) how to bruise just a bit less.
I've been included in an ad for TV(??), among a group of ~ 20 strangers. (v. brief, anonymous crowd shot)
I've signed up for calligraphy classes for pointed nibs (ooops).
I'm considering doing a 30-day challenge. I considered 100-day, but I've upcoming travel which will interfere. Buuuut man. This saying yes is paying off
More hooping today!
Sunday, April 7th, 2013 11:17 pmSpent Saturday afternoon hooping with enthusiasts. So many things that they made look easy were hard, but so much fuuuun. I think I've found something I can love: simple enough to do for someone without grace or physical strength, but with enough depth that it's possible to just keep learning more and more tricks even after picking up the basics.
The fact that the people I met seem to be a pretty laid-back bunch is okay too. Nooooo shaming or strong focus on exercise leading to weight loss or anything that I'm trying to avoid from home. I mean yeah it's moving around and some people will lose weight by doing it, but that gets a nod as a side effect. Meanwhile most of the focus is on the actual mechanics of movement and how fascinating it is. I am enjoying it a lot.
Now I just need to find a clear space at home where I won't break things, and I'm all set for practice ;-)
Having the hoop twirl around your waist is reasonably easy and unlikely to break anything. It's things like the hoop moving around your hands, and passing it around, that's hard. Like this!
Now that guy is good so it looks easy, but the weight distribution of the hoop is awkward when just held. I lack the wrist / arm / bicep(!!!) strength to look anywhere near that good *rueful*. but I'll get there :DDDDD Somewhere there. In the approximate area of.
And have fun trying :)
(no subject)
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 12:26 pmBut someone linked me to a performance of Smooth Criminal by two guys on cellos (pretty cool), and I clicked through to the related playlist -- and accidentally discovered that apparently soft music without words works as background music for me.
It's really quite soothing.
ETA: hmm and now I'm tempted to delete all my songs and start over *g*
Cleaning up
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 11:02 amCame back from vacation with a bad case of the fixits. So far I've:
cleaned my closet
taken my inbox down from 50+ to 36 (it's a work in progress)
taken my flagged messages from 93 to 7 :D
increased my todo list by an indeterminate amount of small tasks >_>
fixed folders in apple mail to sync with gmail, especially making trash mapped to "all mail" (easier keyboard shortcut than archive)
unsubscribed from mailing lists I knew I'd never read
saved a copy of my irc logs from my server to my computer, where I can easily access them
cleaned out unimportant irc logs
set my irc logs to logrotate
figured out how to get Sublime Web Inspector to work
Seriously it's awesome. Live reload of styles and JS, when you edit them in the text editor! Potential for debugging in the text editor too! (I couldn't get breakpoints to work, but exceptions do. The trick, apparently, is to use cmd+shift+r to trigger the web inspector palette, rather than the normal palette under cmd+shift+p)
- nerved myself up to email customer service types thrice(!!)
setup my Fitbit (!!!) to track sleep / steps
Had a bit of trouble because it's not technically available in my country, so I couldn't get the app, and the process of setting up kept leading to dead ends because everything is helpfully geared towards getting you to download their app -- but figured it out in the end. Just need to make sure you're on the full website view, rather than the mobile view. After that things go a lot more smoothly
Now I just need Apple to get back to my email about an app which I downloaded as an HTML5 reference, that magically became a travel app when it tried to get me to update it, and I'll have wrapped up all loose ends from the week.
Hairdresser Mafia is OUT TO GET YOU
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 12:03 amAfuna> (the hairdresser mafia person just shot the mafia godfather person with a fake bullet. It was dramatic)
Afuna> (I thought you needed to know that piece of information)
idonotlikepeas> Hahahaha.
idonotlikepeas> Hairdresser mafia.
Afuna> do not laugh! it was very noble and and stuff
Afuna> mmmmm
idonotlikepeas> I'm imaging a whole squad of people enforcing specific hairstyles, lengths.
Afuna> yes. except his girlfriend thinks he was an underground cop
Afuna> hahahaha
Afuna> awesome image
Afuna> and awesome idea as well. NO ONE WOULD EVER GO OUT OF STYLE
idonotlikepeas> I'm gonna make him a coiffure he can't refuse.
PS. I don't remember what show / movie this is from and would appreciate knowing because it's bugging me now :(
Dubai / Abu Dhabi so far
Thursday, March 28th, 2013 12:14 pmOr no it's grand and all but it's a pretty arbitrary thing to celebrate and not all that onteresting. Overwhelmed and cranky and missing simple pleasures :/
On the plus side am with family + cousins instead of just immediate family, so we are getting a lot of bonding time together :)

