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Birthday Gadgets and Gizmos
I turned 36 at last! I am still surprised at being alive. This year, to celebrate I made my brother take me to the Ikano Power Center so I could check out Spotlight, a craft store that's like JoAnn's. I bought three pair of scissors and some rough elastic, and new embroidery needles (sizes 8 and 6!).
We wandered around looking for a jigsaw puzzle store, but then found the IT Hypermart, where I decided to check out the goods, and found they have the Sumsang A31 in stock, as well as Fitbits. I'd been looking at the Versa 2 (read an interesting review that it tracked sleep), but found that the Fitbit Infinite HR also does what I want, which is mostly to track my swimming, and also tracks sleep, and is MUCH cheaper. Since I wouldn't want the bells and whistles of the Versa 2 which include things like checking texts and paying (I am trying to be LESS connected, not more), I decided to go with the Infinite HR instead.
Samsung A31 feels:
- I find that since my old Samsung J7 is still functional and I can use it as a mini tablet, I should still be using it. But the A31 can do things like.... have multiple programs going at once without complaining. I also like having a middle button that works, even if it's a touch-screen thing and not something more tactile.
- So I'm still playing Merge Dragons on the old phone, and reading comics.
- I may have accidentally run down my mobile data reading comics on my new phone because the internet wi-fi kept crapping out. *cough*
- I did download Tappytoons on the A31, to start supporting the artists and writers of the manhwa I've been particularly enjoying. It takes up less data to read comics on it than it does on the pirate sites, so I'll be doing more of that as I can!
- A31 can also support MULTIPLE Bluetooth devices at once! So... I've been out with the Fitbit AND Gotcha. Have to set up MapMyWalk on it as well.
Fitbit feels:
- This thing can actualy auto-detect when I start swwimming, so it's nice to not have to log it.
- I'm not wild about wearing a watch all the time anymore (though there was a time in my teens where I wore the same watch 24/7 for at least two or three years), so this will take some getting used to. It IS nice to not have to look at my phone for the time though (my work computer is on Pacific time, so...)
- I'm also not wild about its occasional buzzing to get me out of the chair and get more steps in every hour or so. Let me sit still and hyperfocus at my desk, you!!! (this is an argument for not wearing it all the time, except I'm pretty sure if I did that then I'd just forget to wear it at the crucial times)
- It's also really interesting to watch this thing track my sleep?! I've taken those sleep tests before but they never tell you anything or give you results, so being able to just look at charts analysing how much deep vs light sleep I've been getting is really fascinating!
- And a bit creepy. I am trying not too think too much about it.
- This thing also made me check out my weight for the first time months. I for some reason though I was around 70kg, probably because I was 75kg for a really long time, and I still don't see myself as "thin". But it turns out I am 61kg! Which is a lot lighter than I thought. So basically I've been maintaining my weight since my major weight loss a couple years back.
- Anyway the last two times I went swimming, I did over 1000m each time, so I'm pretty happy about that. I think I would like to improve this 4m15s/100m rate that I'm swimming at, but I don't know how short of... moving my limbs faster, and I'm not that good.
So far so good, I'm hoping I'll be much more accountable to my exercise with this thing! CHARTS! So fun.
Sewing Things
- My dad's friend finally loaned me a step-down transformer that actually works. It's extremely powerful, so when I turn on the wall plug I can actually hear the current, which is... a bit frightening and I do not like it XD But it does mean I now have a working sewing machine! I'm going to try making some facemasks for myself and getting the hang of it.
- I also have a tiny cutting mat, just so I can use my rotary blade. It's not working out as smoothly as I hoped because it's.... too tiny lol
Writing Stuff
- I still can't write nonfiction worth jack
- I WAS working on a fanfic, but then the canon took a turn into a plot twist with metaphysics that create a lot of plot inconsistencies, character idiocies, and totally undermined the theme that it was promising at the beginning, so I'm super disappointed with it.
- That means at around 70k works I, uh, turned the fanfic into a novel of its own, with its own metaphysical system, so while it's still the same basic concept, in my attempt to fill in the worldbuilding, I introduced elements that quite by accident gave me foreshadowing for the plot twist
- This kept going until 128k and I just decided to end there because well, it just... a bunch of things I'd like to throw in can be done earlier in the novel I think?!
Anyway the point is I have a 128k-word novel draft with the words THE END.
We wandered around looking for a jigsaw puzzle store, but then found the IT Hypermart, where I decided to check out the goods, and found they have the Sumsang A31 in stock, as well as Fitbits. I'd been looking at the Versa 2 (read an interesting review that it tracked sleep), but found that the Fitbit Infinite HR also does what I want, which is mostly to track my swimming, and also tracks sleep, and is MUCH cheaper. Since I wouldn't want the bells and whistles of the Versa 2 which include things like checking texts and paying (I am trying to be LESS connected, not more), I decided to go with the Infinite HR instead.
Samsung A31 feels:
- I find that since my old Samsung J7 is still functional and I can use it as a mini tablet, I should still be using it. But the A31 can do things like.... have multiple programs going at once without complaining. I also like having a middle button that works, even if it's a touch-screen thing and not something more tactile.
- So I'm still playing Merge Dragons on the old phone, and reading comics.
- I may have accidentally run down my mobile data reading comics on my new phone because the internet wi-fi kept crapping out. *cough*
- I did download Tappytoons on the A31, to start supporting the artists and writers of the manhwa I've been particularly enjoying. It takes up less data to read comics on it than it does on the pirate sites, so I'll be doing more of that as I can!
- A31 can also support MULTIPLE Bluetooth devices at once! So... I've been out with the Fitbit AND Gotcha. Have to set up MapMyWalk on it as well.
Fitbit feels:
- This thing can actualy auto-detect when I start swwimming, so it's nice to not have to log it.
- I'm not wild about wearing a watch all the time anymore (though there was a time in my teens where I wore the same watch 24/7 for at least two or three years), so this will take some getting used to. It IS nice to not have to look at my phone for the time though (my work computer is on Pacific time, so...)
- I'm also not wild about its occasional buzzing to get me out of the chair and get more steps in every hour or so. Let me sit still and hyperfocus at my desk, you!!! (this is an argument for not wearing it all the time, except I'm pretty sure if I did that then I'd just forget to wear it at the crucial times)
- It's also really interesting to watch this thing track my sleep?! I've taken those sleep tests before but they never tell you anything or give you results, so being able to just look at charts analysing how much deep vs light sleep I've been getting is really fascinating!
- And a bit creepy. I am trying not too think too much about it.
- This thing also made me check out my weight for the first time months. I for some reason though I was around 70kg, probably because I was 75kg for a really long time, and I still don't see myself as "thin". But it turns out I am 61kg! Which is a lot lighter than I thought. So basically I've been maintaining my weight since my major weight loss a couple years back.
- Anyway the last two times I went swimming, I did over 1000m each time, so I'm pretty happy about that. I think I would like to improve this 4m15s/100m rate that I'm swimming at, but I don't know how short of... moving my limbs faster, and I'm not that good.
So far so good, I'm hoping I'll be much more accountable to my exercise with this thing! CHARTS! So fun.
Sewing Things
- My dad's friend finally loaned me a step-down transformer that actually works. It's extremely powerful, so when I turn on the wall plug I can actually hear the current, which is... a bit frightening and I do not like it XD But it does mean I now have a working sewing machine! I'm going to try making some facemasks for myself and getting the hang of it.
- I also have a tiny cutting mat, just so I can use my rotary blade. It's not working out as smoothly as I hoped because it's.... too tiny lol
Writing Stuff
- I still can't write nonfiction worth jack
- I WAS working on a fanfic, but then the canon took a turn into a plot twist with metaphysics that create a lot of plot inconsistencies, character idiocies, and totally undermined the theme that it was promising at the beginning, so I'm super disappointed with it.
- That means at around 70k works I, uh, turned the fanfic into a novel of its own, with its own metaphysical system, so while it's still the same basic concept, in my attempt to fill in the worldbuilding, I introduced elements that quite by accident gave me foreshadowing for the plot twist
- This kept going until 128k and I just decided to end there because well, it just... a bunch of things I'd like to throw in can be done earlier in the novel I think?!
Anyway the point is I have a 128k-word novel draft with the words THE END.
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Also, 128k is yes a novel. Go you!
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