What I've been up to

in #life3 years ago

3D Productivity

WHAT I AM GETTING UP TO IN REAL LIFE


life update.png

Here is the update you didn't ask for :)

I actually love it when the markets are dipping like they are. Not because I am buying the dip or any of that cool stuff, but because I usually pick these times to stay away from the charts and do other things in life. This is just as well, since I do have a heck of a lot of stuff to get done in the 3D world.

First of all, I'd like to acknowledge the celestial event that is the Summer Solstice. Indeed, today is the longest day of the year. It's also marks the point at which the days start to get shorter. So even though it is the very beginning of summer, we are already starting to count down to the dark days of Winter, starting today.

It's also "Prime Day". It's the day the giant "evil" behemoth of online retail that is Amazon cuts prices across its line of products. 3rd Parties that sell on Amazon are also encouraged to do so. There is so much traffic on the website during Prime Day that it rivals Black Friday sales. In fact, it's so delicious for Amazon, that they've added a second day to Prime Day, so it's really "Prime Days" now. It's also quite a nice bonanza for Amazon affiliates that use links to get paid commission when someone buys a product through their link, and all the requirements are fulfilled. I've made a few pennies that way myself.

Anyway, here are some of the things I've been up to in 3D and some of my goals for this week.



Archival project/

As mentioned in a few posts here already, I'm archiving away most of my analog things that can be converted to digital form to preserve them, and to create some space. It's also in line with my ongoing strive towards minimalism. I have been working on the following:


Cassete tapes

Check out this post if you want more detail about what this project is and why I'm doing it. In short, I am converting all my old cassette tapes, of which I have many, into MP3 format and storing them all on one digital disk with online backup.

I am about one quarter of the way through that, even though I should be farther along. I've had some setbacks with this project, mainly regarding time and other things being more urgent. That's back on track now though. I reckon I can archive 10 tapes a day on the side while doing other things since I have the compact cassette player/recorder gizmo I acquired from Amazon for the project. I only hope the device doesn't break down before the project is done.

I've also decided to move the backup off SoundCloud to Archive.org. It turns out I'd have to pay a subscription fee for the amount of "playable minutes" I'm attempting to put on SoundCloud. That's unsustainable for me since I just want to use it as an archive. Archive.org on the other hand, as the name suggest, is completely free. This is the kind of stuff it was created for actually, but the only reason I hand't considered it before was because I wouldn't be able to embed the music here on Hive. However since my first post about this, with the embed and everything got exactly zero interaction (not surprisingly), I decided that this is probably not a viable content idea.

I already have quite a bit of stuff on Arcive.org. That's where I housed my files many years ago when I was podcasting. It was a little bit of a hack back in those days. Now we have free podcast hosting via the likes of Anchor, so that method is now obsolete.

tapes.jpeg

My goal is to get through this stash by the end of this week (Friday), and dispose of it. The proper branded ones may be sent to a charity shop that will take them. Apparently people still buy these things - beats me why. The rest, which are mainly re-recordings or playlists/mixtapes made by me or friends and family, will go to the bin.


Storage clear-out

My storage is pretty much my garage. Instead of parking my car in there for safety and projection from the elements, I park the car outdoors like everyone else in the neighbourhood. I also use the space for the same reason everyone in the neighbourhood does. There is a guy, however, whom I really envy, who uses his garage space as a workspace. Maybe one day.

Before I started the clear-out, the garage was full to the brim with a combination of valuable stuff, bulky DIY junk and cardboard boxes. Since the lockdowns started in 2020, we weren't allowed to use the refuse dumps and recycling centres I'd normally take things to. That changed recently so I have been taking advantage of it. The charity shops were also either closed, or not accepting donations given the circumstances. That has now also changed.

38C07A68-BDD4-4197-BA1C-CD28A692286A-720454AF-D2C7-4E57-9579-A15F0FEDBF47.JPG67F84383-7ED5-4F2F-A295-6F6D9D69E060-B71DD1F2-576B-4AA5-A83C-FF78E0EAC15B.JPG

D9715F9F-5EAF-4AE5-8343-30FA6B707B6D-5DD28DF2-C422-4851-9941-4500299304AD.JPG

4FC6B99C-6249-47D5-9920-193C0B20A0A5-BF9AEAA2-040A-4E39-A38D-EAF17CDDBDDE.JPG96A33D61-AAF9-4BF8-AB44-2CD71A2BC637-14703865-D621-4B14-97AC-AEA41FDA8C81.JPG

In the past two weeks alone, I have thrown away/recycled more stuff that ever before. I have also taken more trips to the charity shops than I ever have. I must say, it has been quite emotionally challenging. I got rid of some of the most sentimentally valuable things to me, like some toys and board games from my childhood that I had kept for so long.

To help with the sentimental attachment, in addition to harnessing my inner monk, I took photos of everything for memory sake. It sounds silly, but it really helped to finally say goodbye to these items of sentimental value that have been following me around for so many decades. It finally left space in storage for other things, and clears up my mental space too.


Analogue cameras

I thought I had either sold or given away all the valuable cameras I had, but during the storage clear-out mentioned above, I discovered some other ones that had been lurking under all my other stuff for a few years. I found some stunning Polaroid and Kodak classics. I had bought these at auction many years ago as part of a box of other vintage stuff. I used to buy these to resell online for profit. Good times.

kodamatic 950.JPG

I normally would have dusted these cameras off, find film for them and use them while creating videos for my photography channel. However, these days, I am just creating a quick video montage of the camera for memory sake and sending them off to charity. I no longer have the time to study these cameras to the required level to provide accurate information about them on eBay.

I still shoot analogue now and again, of course, so I've kept one of the Canon EOS 350 SLR. The reason being, it shares lenses with the digital Canon EOS cameras so I can adapt them to my little Canon M50 for digital photography and videos.


Slide film photos

I have a couple of boxes full of old slide film photographs that someone decided to sell and was included in a box I purchased at an auction a few years ago. I also bought a working slide viewer (projector), also included in the box. I had a quick look at the photos via the projector and I liked what I saw, so I kept them. I had been meaning to get the photos scanned and stored online somewhere in case the owner ever found them. The photographer was obviously some kind of travel enthusiast so the photos include scenes from different places around the world; Hong Kong, Jamaica, United States and so on.

I had planned to sell the slides in the boxes back then, but while doing research, I noticed it was much more lucrative to sell the slides individually or in smaller curated batches. Some of the slides, especially if they showed rare scenes that are not around anymore (such as the Twin Towers in NYC), sent for as much as £100 each!

Needless to day, I never go round to scanning the photos. I have actually since sold my high quality film scanner, so presently I don't actually have a means of scanning the slides. I have experimented with various scanning apps that utilise the smartphone camera to scan slides, but none of them have been satisfactory to me. I saw a DIY scanner someone made on YouTube, so I am not determined to try and make one myself too. I will no doubt post about that once I've done it.



Other stuff/

Apart from my ongoing dream of a minimalist lifestyle, I have also been doing some things more consistently that I'd always wanted to be consistent at. One thing I am consistent at doing is creating content. I had an epiphany to that effect; that is, I am now harnessing my content creating consistency powers to be consistent at those things I also want to be consistent at.


Piano

Finally, after purchasing my first piano keyboard so many years ago, I have started practicing properly and regularly. It is commonly believed that you can't really learn how to play the piano as an adult. I now know that to be untrue after reading a few books on the brain and Neuroplasticity. Sure, it is a lot easier as a child, but it is not "impossible" as an adult. This has been proven beyond any doubt by the countless people who have recorded their piano journey online for the world to see. Some of said people, who picked up the instrument after retirement, started learning over the age of 70!

piano.JPG

I have created an appropriately named channel on YouTube dedicated to my Piano Journey. The idea is to post weekly videos showing my progress, but I can also see myself talking about other things like piano related gear. It's a whole new world of content opened to me. I am actually really enjoying practicing to play the piano as well. It is very challenging, but I have a slight advantage that I talked about in my intro video if you're interested.


Strength, flexibility and mobility

Since 2020 my awareness to the importance of total physiological wellness has been very heightened. Being confined to a smaller space for so long meant many people could not get their regular exercise that they got by default while travelling from one place to the other for instance. Walking to the bus stop or train station, going up and down the stairs, carrying a couple of bags full of groceries, e.t.c, are all part of the regular background exercise people were unwittingly doing. Even going out socialising, especially if there's dancing involved, is a great bit of exercise.

photo1 3.jpg

A lot of us have hand a bit of a change in lifestyle involving much less ambient exercise. I have noticed a reduction in overall strength, endurance, flexibility and even mobility of late. My lower back is particularly less flexible that it used to be, which is probably due to sitting down on a chair in front of a computer for so many hours of the day. I am also not as physically strong as I used to be. I'm still stronger than most people I encounter, but compared to myself from 2019, there's no comparison. I tried to do pull-ups the other day and I could only manage 2 as opposed to about 15 (I'm heavy ok) before the pando started.

As such, I'm focusing my physical activities on regaining lost strength, flexibility and mobility. My goal is to be able to do 20 pull-ups relatively easily by the end of summer. Of course this will be aided by also dropping some kilograms, since that's being gradually going up yet again. There is no specific channel created for this though, but I'm sure I'll be here going on about it once I've achieved that :)


Podcast

Yes, I have started a podcast. It's not my first time, I have done at least two podcasts in the past, released on iTunes and other platform. It's currently an episode every fortnight and is currently anonymous so I won't share the link here.

I remember really enjoying podcasting back in the day, and it's the same now. It's kind of like talking to myself, but aloud. If I did that without a microphone, which I sometimes do, people would say I'm crazy haha.




Well, that's all for today folks. Like I said at the start, this is the update you didn't ask for. I don't expect anyone to actually read the whole thing, but if you did, I thank you for your time and interest.

Peace & Love,

Adé

Sort:  

Wow, you seem to be doing a lot with your time! I remember going through that process of becoming a minimalist, I really enjoyed decluttering my life bit by bit and felt a great sense of relief and control once I was done. I love the lifestyle and I feel a lot better now

I probably do too much, but I can't help it :)
Yes that feeling of relief is growing with every decluttering event.
Thanks for dropping by.

Good to see you are keeping busy. Have fun with the piano. I took lessons a few years back and could play a few tunes, but more recently I have issues with my right hand that make it harder as I cannot spread my fingers much.

I'm sure you will feel better when you clear out the cassettes and cameras. I ought to get rid of more clutter. I should be able to get back to charity shops soon to offload some.

Nice to see that picture from our Arlesey walk. Physical activity is very important and I hope we can do more walks and meetups like that soon.

Stay well.

!PIZZA

Nice to see that picture from our Arlesey walk.

Yay! Yes that was a good one. We should hopefully be able to do it again soon.

I hope your hand gets better. It's amazing how much we take for granted until we get injured or something happens that limits us in some way.

Unfortunately there may be no treatment for my condition, but I'll keep doing what I can. I still play guitar anyway.

I'm sorry to hear that. A very good friend of mine who used to perform on stage developed some kind of arthritis in her digits so she couldn't play anymore. It was quite devastating as you can imagine. She teaches music now, but it's not quite the same.

It's frustrating, but I am finding ways to work around it. Will keep playing as long as I can. It's just getting fun with the band I'm in.

Connect

Trade


@adetorrent! I sent you a slice of $PIZZA on behalf of @steevc.

Learn more about $PIZZA Token at hive.pizza (4/10)

Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!

Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!

Support Ecency
Vote for Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more