Blog

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

I don't know about you

Hello there! It sure is wonderful to see the dawn of another day and a new year. The COVID pandemic rages on, but I’m rather optimistic about 2022. I really wish to be able to travel to my beloved Asia again - sans the need to quarantine. We shall see. For now, the cold and rain of winter is the reality, and the routine of every day life.

It was nice to not have a routine from Christmas Eve onwards until New Year’s Day. Working in higher education grants me the privilege of having that week off every single year. My last day of work in 2021 was the 22nd of December, which is something to be smug about, honestly. I don’t have to work in tech-bro land to have this perk! Granted, I don’t get paid like I would be if I worked in tech.

So it was a splendid week of rest and relaxation. I slept about 10 hours every day, and then went about my business as slowly as possible. I spent an hour just to eat dinner! It’s incredibly nice to not have to rush through things or treat the mundane stuff as mere obstacles to get onto the fun stuff. Taking my sweet time to perform my morning grooming because I don’t have to rush to get to work on time is a small joy.

The Hawaiians and their “island time” are kind of geniuses.

Anyways, I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions because any changes I want to do, I don’t wait until the calendar flips to a new one. However, I did make one tiny but significant change to start 2022: I deleted twitter off my iPhone. I now have zero social media apps. No longer will I waste half an hour (at least) each morning and each night browsing through the feed in bed. It’s not a good use of time, and it’s not healthy towards my quality of sleep.

I wish us all a great 2022. Let’s get after it.

All you plebs

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of staring at the gorgeous Apple Pro Display XDR. So much so that I’ve yet to take my new M1 Max MacBook Pro out of clamshell mode. I’m sure I’ll eventually use the portability of the notebook in the future, fingers crossed. But for now, a large external display on a desk is far better for the eyes and ergonomics. And there is none better for the Mac platform than the $5,000 Pro Display XDR. It is worth every single penny.

All you plebs whinging about how Apple should produce a cheaper display (and yet somehow keep the local-dimming LEDs and HDR capabilities) because the Pro Display XDR is vastly unaffordable (no arguments from me there) should simply save up some more. The Pro Display XDR is the one you really want. Stop kidding yourselves.

It’s interesting how quickly I got used to the 32-inch size of the Apple display, even though it’s the largest monitor I’ve ever had. The thin bezels really mask how large the display surface is. An equivalently-sized monitor from another manufacturer feels bigger. Apple design sure knows how to make things exquisite! I remember my first ever HD television back in the day: a Sony 32-inch 1080p Bravia. The bezels on that were two inches thick, and it made the TV look absolutely huge, even though the pane size is the same as this Pro Display XDR I’m staring at right now.

Heck, a 27-inch iMac feels bigger. Because of the inch-thick bezels. Thine eyes play tricks upon thee.

If I had to wish for another display from Apple, I would actually say a larger Pro Display XDR. The price for one of those would be hilarious. Moot point, however: I intend to keep this one for at least 10 years. That’s the only way I can justify spending $5,000 on a display: amortized it over a very long period. Says the guy who switches to a new iPhone every year, but that’s a different topic…

The power of negativity

We got this new guy at work who is quite interesting. In the morning he greets everyone with “It’s going to be a long day”, after the typical salutations. I’ve come to call this the power of negativity. Can’t be disappointed at an arduous work day when that’s already your expectation going in! Perhaps the new guy is smart, rather than quirky. Realistic, rather than negative.

Joking aside, I’m not sure greeting someone that way is the best strategy. Unless of course it is understood by everyone that that particularly day is indeed going to be a rough one (the beginning of a new semester, perhaps). Otherwise, who wants to hear that negativity first thing in the morning? The rest of us head into the workday wishing for the exact opposite: a quiet, no drama day that quickly goes by so we can return to our regular life. Hearing someone say that it’s going to be a long day just isn’t pleasant.

You want people to have a positive feeling when they see you. I’m not sure this new guy of ours is doing that.

Not to say I entirely subscribe to the whole power of positivity thing. It’s more that I believe happiness is a choice. The treadmill never ends if you’re counting on something in the future to make you happy. I choose to (and try to) have a positive predisposition at all times. Because why put on additional mental stress, especially during the truly tough times? If I can’t be happy solving a hard problem at work, then I’m not going to find happiness on a weekend morning with plenty of free time.

A few days ago the new guy said his “it’s going to be a long day” greeting to our supervisor. He responded with, “No, it’s going to be a great day!”. Now that’s a supervisor I’m glad to work under.

Bang tan

One of the few regrets I have throughout this COVID-19 pandemic is missing the scheduled BTS concert at Levi’s Stadium back in April 2020. Not because of any fault on my part, obviously: the entire tour was rightfully cancelled. Live Nation held onto our money (interest free) for more than a year, hoping against hope that the tour would simply resume when circumstances allowed. Unfortunately, it was a not to be, and ultimately I got my money back.

There goes my opportunity of seeing the golden boys of South Korean music. With two additional years of popularity increase - assisted by a few English-language singles - the pent up demand for BTS is at a maximum. Which explains why getting tickets for their concert at SoFi Stadium down in Los Angeles, held earlier this month, was incredibly difficult. Wait many hours in the virtual queue only to not get a chance to purchase? That’s what happened to a friend.

I’ve heard similar experiences in getting tickets for TWICE’s upcoming North American tour. Lucky for me, I already saw them in concert back in 2019. I don’t have a great need to do it again.

Back to BTS: I have to say I really can’t get into their English-language songs. I don’t understand why they (and other Kpop groups) need to pander to our market and sing in English. The principle problem is that the rap line - J-Hope, Suga, and RM - can’t showcase their skills at all. The same trio that utterly electrified on a track like this is hopelessly wasted when BTS do songs in English. Difficult to rap in a language you only have elementary (at best) knowledge of, understandably.

BTS’s built their popularity singing and rapping in Korean. The rest of the world not able to understand the language was never a problem nor a barrier. Singing in English when only one member of the group can even speak it fluently just seems wrong to me. I feel the same way about Kpop artists releasing Japanese singles when no one (or very few) in the group can speak the language. Contrived. Forced. Money grab.

I’ll stick with BTS’ Korean discography, thank you.

Entirely shot on iPhone

It is a good weekend indeed when I accomplish everything I list out to do. Errands were done, a book was read, and the piano was practiced. While sometimes it is good to do absolutely nothing on weekends, I have to say it’s a nicer feeling come Sunday evening when the two days have been spent towards action. I guess that’s just how I am wired.

Now that I have my new MacBook Pro, I was finally able to put together my annual calendar (shoutout to the Apple Photos app and the Motif plugin). Made up of photographs I took throughout the year, the self-made calendar is what I give out to friends during Christmas. It isn’t exactly cheap at about $25 a copy (altogether), though cumulative speaking it is cheaper than buying individual gifts. Not that my friend group does that anyways. This year we’re doing a white elephant gift exchange, with a limit of $30.

It would be cruel, wouldn’t it, if I put my calendar into the white elephant pile. “Sorry guys, only one copy this year. Fight it out!”

After nearly a decade of making these calendars, this is the first year that every single photo was taken with an iPhone. The cameras in the iPhone 12 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro are simply that good. I bet if I didn’t explicitly tell my friends the pictures were from a smartphone, they would not suspect otherwise. Smartphone camera technology have come a tremendously long way indeed. All hail the gods of computational photography, bending the rules of physics.

Perhaps then I should sell my Sony A7R2 full-frame camera. I honestly have only used it once this year, and otherwise it’s sat on the shelf collecting dust. Are there a huge demand for used cameras due to the global chip shortage, similar to the used car market? I’ve read the waitlist for the newest Canon full-frame mirrorless camera is six months!

Yeah, probably not. Once I can properly travel again, I would prefer to take the Sony with me. For the truly beautiful and breathtaking stuff, I still want the “proper” camera. For now.

It's my birthday

Today is my birthday. For moment I had to do some calculations to remember I am turning 34 years of age. It seems since turning 30, you don’t really keep precise track of how old you are. The entire decade of your 30s is just one giant blob. Only when it’s time for the big 40 will there be another existential crisis and reckoning. Much like how turning 30 was.

No need to lament getting older; it’s part of the natural process. It sure beats the opposite: death. A bit morbid, yes, but that’s how I like to keep things in perspective. I’m immensely grateful for another full turn of the calendar.

10 years ago when I turned 24 I wrote that I would play for the next decade. Once I turn 34, I will settle down and get serious about being an adult. Well, here I am 10 years later, and all I can say is: don’t make goals and predictions that far out into the future. What does “settling down” even mean anyways? Domesticity is definitely not something I want nor ready for. I’ve only barely moved out of my parents’ house last year! I’m enjoying the single and alone life quite well at the moment.

I bought a whole plate of poké from Costco yesterday and ate it all by myself. Tell me if that’s not the dream.

Besides, these last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic definitely put the timeline (so to speak) on pause. It’s partly why I forgot how old I was turning today. What chance is there to properly celebrate birthdays when it isn’t safe to gather together? No matter how much we’ve improved or what skill we learned during these times, the coronavirus era is definitely lost years.

What I’m saying is: that pseudo pledge I made 10 years ago? Doesn’t count! Not yet, anyways: I need at least two years tacked on top. Cheers to many more returns.

Ergonomics and amortization

In my search to perfect (as much as possible) the ergonomic situation with my desk, the best thing I bought for that purpose actually costs very little. It’s a footrest, to elevate your feet for a better posture. With my chair set at the proper height (arms at 90 degree angle when typing), my feet are a bit dangly in relation to the floor. This $40 piece of memory foam solves that problem. It’s been an absolutely revelation since it arrived. I should have bought one way sooner.

A two-hour photo editing session with no discomfort whatsoever. What a joy.

I’m still debating whether or not to get a standing desk. I’ve got one of those at work and I try to stand as much as possible while there. So I figured that once I come home, it’s quite okay to sit the rest the time. But what about on weekends? It would be nice to alternate between sit and stand every now and then. However, I just spend nearly $9,000 on a monitor and a laptop, so I’m not in the mood to drop another thousand on the standing desk that I want.

That said, I’ve been using my current desk - the long discontinued IKEA Fredrik - for well over a decade. I fully expect any new desk I purchase will be used for at least that long. A thousand dollar amortized over that length of time isn’t all that much money from that perspective. That’s the same rationale I used for spending $5,000 on an Apple Pro Display XDR: I plan to keep and use it for at least 10 years.

Perhaps a standing desk will be coming soon. But first I need to get my piano situation sorted. I’ve been unable to practice because I gave my iPad to my father. The tablet is where I load lessons from Piano Marvel. Due to circumstances, my father needed an iPad quickly, so I let him have mine, thinking it would be easy enough to buy a plain iPad (not Air, not Pro, not anything) from the Apple Store. Unfortunately, the crazy supply chain is at it again: the cheapest iPad you can buy is backordered into the middle of January.

No (new) practicing until that time, which isn’t ideal for my progression, honestly.