These are the voyages...

This one is more for me to vent but I’m sure you may find some thoughts in common.

Cue Ko-Ko from the Mikado 🎶

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found,

I've got a little list — I've got a little list

Of society offenders who might well be underground,

And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!

My not exhaustive list:

• People who drive 10km below the speed limit

• People who don’t use indicators

• People who don’t look out for bike riders

• People who drive slowly then speed up on the amber light but you get the red

• Parents doing the school drop off who think it’s okay to double park

• Parents doing the school drop off who just stop and block a whole lane waiting for a park

• People who are looking for a street number and drive slowly then suddenly stop

• People who intentionally speed along another lane to avoid queuing and then expect to be let in

• People who pull up beside you in a non-existent lane trying to get ahead of you at traffic lights

• People who drive ahead instead of merging because they want to turn the corner just ahead, despite you indicating to turn

• People who won’t let you merge when you enter from a side road

• People who drive right behind you thinking it will make you go faster or get out of the way despite all lanes being full of traffic

• People who sit in the right lane just below the speed limit instead of leaving the lane for overtaking

• People driving slowly or towing caravans on the highway who speed up when an overtaking lane appears

He's got 'em on the list — he's got 'em on the list;

And they'll none of 'em be missed — they'll none of 'em be missed.

I like the cold for a variety of reasons. It gives respite from the humidity which seems to be increasingly present during the year. A big tick in its favour though is when it’s cold I shut my balcony door. I like fresh air so a preference will be to leave it open and turn a fan on when it’s warmer rather than resort to air-conditioning.

I live in an apartment building and there are other apartment buildings nearby so there’s often some sort of noise. Closing the balcony door blocks most of it and I can watch the tv at a normal volume. When it gets warmer I face the conundrum of either keeping it closed or opening it up and cranking the volume.

Weekends are the worst with an assortment of parties or even just people out on their balconies with friends having loud conversations. The concrete surrounding us definitely increases the noise, bouncing it off buildings and making it hard to work out where it’s coming from. Unless you can see a party on a balcony the culprit will often escape detection. As the nights become warmer there are more people out on balconies and so it goes on.

The warmer weather we’ve started to have lately as we move into Spring means my balcony door is open and the noise has started spilling in. The guy who thinks he can sing is a particular joy. Generally on a Friday night he starts belting out along with whatever music he is playing. Someone needs to take him aside and explain volume does not equal quality. The good thing though is he never goes later than 8:00pm. I’m not sure if he has his own self-imposed time limit or if it’s simply when he passes out asleep on the couch from the alcohol which has been fuelling his lyrics. Maybe a bit of both.

It’s all part of being in close proximity to others when you live in an apartment building surrounded by other apartment buildings. Generally I like the sounds of the city. Sometimes though, as we progress into summer and the humidity, I will begin to long for the cold. Being able to close out the world and cocoon in a warm space with no external noise creeping in. A pleasure to anticipate and look forward to as I contemplate how many layers of clothing I can leave off without the neighbours complaining about the weird guy wandering around exposing himself in his apartment.

I was reviewing a draft document today and after quiet restraint for at least the first two paragraphs I was reaching for my red pen. Yes, I still like to edit a long document the old fashioned way. Much to the despair of my teams. I digress though.

It was the use of the word ‘that’ which had me reaching for my pen. It’s a completely unnecessary word is my usual feedback and, if I’m in a mood for stronger feedback, a sign of lazy writing. “Try rephrasing it to say the same thing without the word that in the sentence” I often remark.

It’s not hard to rephrase something to ensure you don’t use it. A little punctuation, perhaps a semi colon, maybe an Oxford comma, even an Em Dash if you must. Anything but trying to save a few words by using the word that.

Easy it is. Try it sometime you should.

I’ll get down off my soap box and see myself out.

We have a Wednesday public holiday here so I decided to book Monday and Tuesday off as recreation leave to give myself a five day long weekend. I’m on day four and I did a lot of little things which collectively have made for a great day and put me in a nice relaxed mood.

My day went along the lines of:

Breakfast then coffee at home reading while the cat slept on my lap.

Into the car and down to my favourite local cafe and had another coffee and a chat to the owner for a bit.

Dropped into a local indie bookstore, Avid Reader, and bought a delightful book Be More Cat by Alison Davies.

Went a few doors further along to the newsagent and collected the latest Phantom comic. The owner puts them away for me so I don’t miss an issue.

Home to drop things off then back to the bus stop to head to lunch with a friend. The $32 two course lunch special at the Italian Kitchen was great value!

Walked home in gorgeous sunny 20°c weather.

Took my book and a thermos of tea down to the river and read for a while in the shade while it was still warm.

Home to play a little bit of Civ VI and then watch an episode of Northern Exposure. I’m slowly rewatching it again.

Now I’m on the balcony, glass of wine in hand and headphones on listening to some ‘80s music. The greatest decade for music and I’ll take no correspondence on the matter.

Sounds busy but it wasn’t and I’m feeling quite relaxed. I need more days like this.

If you have a cat you will have the same four phrases on repeat across the day.

1. I’ll feed you soon, calm down.

2. Did you inhale your food?

3. I just fed you, how can you want more.

4. Oh give it a rest, you’re not starving.

I was visiting a friend the other night and for different reasons we’re both a bit unsettled, personally and professionally, and hadn’t caught up in a while. 

We’d done the aimless flick around the streaming channels looking for something to watch and couldn’t settle on anything we both wanted to watch. 

Them: want to go for a random drive just so we can crank the music up loud?

Me: What are we, 19?

Them: I’m your age but inside I’m the teenager you met all those years ago, now shut up and get in the car.

We drove, we played the music loud.

We laughed, we played the music loud.

We talked about things bugging us, we played the music loud.

We improved our mood, we played the music loud.

Friends hey. We need them and sometimes we need them to play the music loud.

I’ve been playing the Civilisation games by Sid Meier since they were released. I like them and they let me focus on one thing and ignore everything else.

When you’re playing the game the time rolls on by, you’re playing a few turns and then it’s 9:00pm. It’s a case of just one more turn while I wait for the thing to finish, a district built or a unit moved and then it’s 10:00pm. Positioning things, setting something in motion, just another turn to see it come to fruition and then it’s 11:00pm.

I’m playing Civ VI at the moment. I’m usually a version behind until the latest goes on sale. Clicking on a turn, looking at the time, maybe just one more turn.

I bargain with myself and rationalise one more turn is okay as I will go to bed early tomorrow night.

Like Oliver Twist with his bowl out “Please sir, I want some more.”

A favourite thing to do on a Sunday morning is to make a coffee and then sit catching up on the part of my rss feed containing personal blogs. I love how you all take the time to share.

I love the personal touch not seen when a writer is aiming for the wider audience and has output to maintain. Some of you are prolific and I’m in awe of how you find the time while others write occasionally, your piece appearing in my feed like the glint of a hidden stone appearing in the bottom of the sieve when you’re fossicking for gold.

Personal blogs show the passion you have for your topic, how it gives them joy and wanting to share it with others. If it sparks joy in you it’s likely to spark joy in me simply because you shared it.

Some posts will be you working through a problem or wanting to tell everyone about your eureka moment. I can silently applaud you because you took the time to write about it and I’m grateful for it.

I’ll read some of the most thoughtful considered writing on your blog. When you give your own raw thinking on a topic I can almost see how you were processing your thoughts as you were writing. I deeply appreciate the way you share like this. 

Some of you share your views on software or technology you use, how it’s been useful to you, and why you chose it over something else. Often the examples given are much more useful and closer to my own use cases than anything a review from a mass market website can give. 

I like the way you’ll write about your recent holiday or the planning you’re doing for an upcoming one. I get to share your excitement and might even be adding the location to my very long bucket list of places to go.

You write about the highs and lows of life, you tell me about the important things happening with your family and friends. I can see how proud you are in their achievements. Sometimes there is sad news to share. If it helps to process your sadness or grief by writing about it the least I can do is read your words.

Don’t ever think writing about your pets is not interesting. I love hearing about the latest crazy stunt or how you’re working patiently with the rescue dog or cat you’re fostering to acclimatise them to a good life and ready to find a new home.

Your blogs also give me perspectives I need in my life. I’m a mid 50s white man. I call myself progressive, I lean left, somewhere between Labor and The Greens here in Australia. However, the very fact I’m a mid 50s white male means I don’t have the experiences many of you do, which you write about and share. For me, this is probably the most valuable thing from reading your blogs. 

It’s important to me, and everyone else reading your blog, to hear about things from different perspectives to our own and you should absolutely keep doing it. 

I really do love your personal blog.

I’ve been looking at alternatives to gmail as part of moving away from US companies aligning with or bending the knee to the orange grifter.

I have an original Google Apps account which means I now have a free Google  Workspace so there will be a cost associated with the change but it doesn’t bother me. I have multiple domains sitting in it so the greater concern is trying to retain the same functionality.

Despite being all things Apple, I’m reluctant to use iCloud email. The spam protection and search functionality have never been very good in my experience. If Apple invested a bit more in the product then maybe. Plus there’s the issue of the big donation to the grifter. 

Proton mail is an obvious choice a lot of privacy focussed people and websites recommend. My mail isn’t that secret though, I just don’t want it scraped for marketing purposes. I’ve ruled it out based on cost and not being a fan of the look of their products.

Was leaning towards Fastmail as it seems to tick all the boxes until I realised their servers are in the US despite being an Australian company. Is it a big enough sticking point to stop me changing? Something to think about as I take my daily walk around the neighbourhood.

As the cyclone hovered off the coast a week ago, I was careful with my device usage and kept the battery in each one fully charged.

I unplugged my computer because I’m of an age where as a child I was regularly told to unplug things when potential power surges might happen. It’s now deeply ingrained despite everything now being plugged into surge protected power boards and fuse boxes at home having much better safety switches ready to trip and protect everything.  

As a result of being cautious I spent very little time online. I checked the relevant warnings but didn’t doom scroll the news sites. I caught up on my rss feeds but didn’t scroll Mastodon or Bluesky endlessly. I didn’t open a browser to go down some rabbit hole of clicks. I did turn the Mac on and indulge in a longish game of Civilisation VI when things settled down.

I kept going all this week with the same approach, even though the cyclone had cleared and I returned to the office rather than WFH.

The news was still dominated by post cyclone clean up activity or reporting on the orange clown and his musky sidekick as the US slowly spirals down the drain. I don’t need a daily update on the level of madness.

It has been quite a good little break from online. I’m not going to call it a digital detox because it’s a ridiculously overused and overblown term.

I think it’s healthy to just step away from the constant barrage of news and information. I should do it more regularly and perhaps not wait for a tropical cyclone to be descending.