First and foremost: I’m not begging. I am just merely informing. Whether you do any of these or none of all, that’s totally up to you. There are several ways to help support my projects but the one I “push” mostly is the option to support me with coffee.
For Christmas this year, I bought us a Nespresso VertuoPlus coffee machine. They’ve got these funny-looking capsules that are easy to use and a bit convenient, so the “buy me a coffee” option will be used for the coffee machine.
The coffee capsules I like are about AUD$1 each. The service I use doesn’t really let me take amounts of $1, so your $3 will get me about 3 of them. That’s like a day supply for me and my lovely husband.
If I feel like I’ve had enough caffeine, the rest of any support is used to make improvements to my projects. That can mean buying or updating/upgrading hardware and software, paying the hosting bill, or for other services.
You can use the Buy Me a Coffee support option by using the button below. If you do, please let me know and I’ll hook you up with some extra stuff. (I also have to asterisk that and say that an account here is required for those extras.)
I hope everybody is doing well. I’m having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, as expected. Being in Australia for Christmas is just something I can’t get used to. I wish I could, but it’s not the same with my American family.
I miss it being cold at this time of the year.
I am also sorry I haven’t been that active lately. Allergies and work (and a combination of the two) have been really kicking my butt.
Also, AU$899 is way too much for the AirPods Max. I would like some nice sound, but that’s way too steep. (Maybe I’ll change my mind once I hear the sound quality.)
Anyway, much love to you all. Thanks for reading. Also, thanks to whoever is sending me tips via Brave. I appreciate it a lot. It is paying for some of my hosting costs which is a nice little bonus. 🙂
Everybody take care of yourself. I’ll be recording either tomorrow or sometime next week. 🙂
One of the things that was supposed to happen today isn’t happening, but I don’t have to say that do I? The next podcast episode was supposed to come out today, but as far as I know that’s not going to happen. Honestly, I just haven’t been feeling it.
I haven’t been feeling well. Hay fever is in full swing and I am feeling horrible.
I’ll be in touch soon with some incredible* stuff. See you thing.
* may not actually be that incredible. And the picture of the person sneezing isn’t me.
I think over in the USA it’s officially Election Day. Regardless of what happens, I believe things are going to get really ugly. I’ve seen some general nastiness on both sides of the two-party fence and it gets a little too much. To combat this a little, I’ve decided to stay off social media for a while.
One of my morning rituals is to go through and check most of my social media and it’s a hard one to beat, but so far, so good! I have a general need to check on my family to see how they’re doing (and especially my friend who got an unfortunate case of the coronavirus). It’s been hard not to go to Facebook for that reason, but I am also more at ease with things right now. Instead of frustrated from reading people’s general stupidity, I am just sitting down and working on small bits and pieces of my website(s). There’s nothing too exciting to report there because it’s more about taking code out that I don’t need–something that’s way overdue.
Anyway, I can’t avoid the news and the inevitable forever. I, for one, think about half of Americans are afraid of change and the same half are incredibly stubborn, selfish, and they don’t care about people in general. I don’t understand how some people have no humanity or sympath for those having a hard time. That’s not the kind of America I want, but unfortunately, when you’re from Texas, that’s against the grain.
That’s all from me for now. That’s why I haven’t visited or posted to Twitter or Mastodon lately. I will be back of course! I just need to keep the stress level down, go to the post office and pick up my 10 boxes of incense, and drive my husband around who refuses to drive himself anywhere if he doesn’t have to. Have I mentioned that I hate driving? It’s a little hard to do when “civilisation” is about an hour away.
Oh, and if you’re American, and someone didn’t vote the same way you did, still be kind to them. Be compassionate (as much as possible). Even if things don’t go your way, you can still be a decent human being. The best of luck and let’s hope for the best. (Though I have a sinking feeling we’re in for four more years of pain.)
Hey! Just a quick update on the going-ons of my little website, podcast, and other projects.
Extra Life: Erase the Date
I’ve decided against doing it on a dedicated day because I don’t have my streaming assets created yet and well, honestly, I don’t have much time to myself past working and studying.
It will just be an ongoing thing and I won’t dedicate a date to it. I don’t feel bad doing this because I’ve got 0 donations to send them. You can check out the upcoming events that include Extra Life on my streaming schedule.
Podcasting: I’m Getting Bored
It looks like that I didn’t update my feed last Friday until Saturday afternoon. Shouldn’t make a difference. I was going to re-record it, but… yeah, too busy.
I’m also thinking about quitting my personal journal podcast. I’m pretty bored with it so I’m assuming you are too. My numbers are abysmal, but at the same time, I don’t do much to grow my numbers. I never have. I guess I could, but my life in a rural area plus COVID is not very exciting.
It feels a bit weird (and sad too) making something that has no audience.
Musical Projects: 2021?
Aiming for an upload in the next few months. It’ll be available to the people who have an account at Complicated Noise first.
I’m happy-ish how things are going with it, but I’m still a perfectionist when it comes to my music stuff.
Concluding
I’m just getting a bit tired. I’ve always said that I don’t care about my numbers, but well, there’s always that lingering feeling where you’re putting something out and having no audience. It’s a bit disheartening but I guess it might be a little nudge telling me to quit while I’m ahead. I don’t know. These things are just a thought. I do like being creative and I do like having the extra outlet(s) to rant, complain, whine, and create.
I’ve been planning to stream gameplay for a long time, then get to the date that it happens and realise that I’ve either scheduled it on a work day, scheduled it on a day where I have a lot of stuff to do, or scheduled it on a day that I am not going to be ready.
My Extra Life event has been moved to the next Saturday it was originally scheduled. Instead of doing it on the 7 November, I will be doing it on 14 November. The times have not changed. If you’d like to take a look at the time equivalents in the USA, you can check out my page on Extra Life.
Tonight’s scheduled gameplay stream is moved up three weeks. I have a lot of stuff happening in the next two weeks. I am also really struggling with my seasonal allergies at the moment so I’ve been fueled on Benadryl which makes me very sleepy when I take it.
My next planned podcast episode hasn’t been changed [yet], but it’s scheduled for 16 October anyway. I’m planning to record over a few days of the next three weeks.
November will be a lot less busy for me. I’ll be in Australia in December this year and have told them that I am available for work, so I’m sure they’ll take advantage of that.
I’ll see you guys around. I hope everybody’s doing well. I will be honest that I am a bit more down lately because I don’t have much quality time for myself. I’m going to try to get myself back into a good mental space.
Thanks for being here, as always. I appreciate it.
Update: I’ve had to cancel a dedicated day to do this. Sorry!
I thought I’d try something out. Maybe it’ll be a way for me to finally motivate myself to get my streaming channel on Twitch off the ground. I’m going to try to raise money for The Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by doing a streamed day of gameplay.
I think the official day is the 2nd of November, but I’m going to stream my gameplay on the 14th from 5 am until midnight. There’s still a chance that the date and time will change but I’ll still stream for 18 or so hours. I’ll be streaming on my slightly-unloved Twitch channel. Sorry, I’m way too old to stay up a full 24 hours. Haha.
Update: I’m no longer doing a dedicated day because my work and study schedule is just too cramped at the moment. I’ve always said that the date can’t be set in stone. Take a look at the streaming schedule on Complicated Noise for any planned events. Thanks!
My goal is to raise a minimum $100 USD for them. I think that’s a nice goal. If you’d like to help me reach that goal, go see me on Extra Life. As an incentive, I’m also attaching a promise to instill some bonuses to you on my website. If you donate, please let me know and I’ll get you set up with a few account goodies!
This fundraising opportunity is largely USA-based and know that sometimes the currency exchange to United States dollars isn’t that great (and attracts exchange fees, etc). If this is the case, please donate to a reputable charity in your country and in your own currency.
Thanks for supporting me (if you choose to). I am hoping to do some good in this world. I have always avoided fundraisers because I have this belief (or fear, really) that I won’t raise a single dollar.
I’ll see you then! I talk a little bit about this fundraising opportunity in my next podcast episode (which is available to those with an account here).
I’ve only got a few more days left here, then I can go back home. It’s a mixed bag of emotions because I like the little town I’m in and coming back isn’t going to be possible unless I want to work here permanently. I’ve talked to my husband about that possibility, but we’ll see what happens.
When I leave here, I get a bit sad. It’s a nice little town with nice views of mountains and it’s really leafy. It’s still considered rural, but it’s got supermarkets and a KFC, so it’s not so bad.
Did I mention that I ate 4 chicken burgers from KFC on Sunday? Yeah, I got really sick from it. I’m still feeling the effects from it today. (I ate them in a 4-5 hour period, but still…)
This is what I bought… I got coleslaw, fries, and mashed potatoes instead of the sides and drink. My gut is NOT happy.
I just need to stop making a pig out of myself. While I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that I’ve got some really terrible habits. My latest is drinking a lot of soda. This is US-level soda drinking. It’s just one a day, but I haven’t been this crazy since I moved here. It’s terrible.
I guess I’m gonna have to make some changes to this so-called diet when I get back.
Chat soon. I have quite a bit to do before I leave. 🙂
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that I am away from home for a few weeks. I’ve been incredibly busy but I’m taking a breather this weekend but let me tell you what I had to deal with when I arrived at my accommodation.
“I have a low battery. Hear my call for help!” — Smoke detector
On day one, I arrived, I came in to the sound of a smoke detector with a low battery. If you’ve ever heard a chirp every minute and didn’t know where it came from, it’s a low battery. It wasn’t too loud, but it was there and it was chirping a little too regularly for my liking.
I thought to myself well it won’t be so bad. I can handle this.
I couldn’t handle it. I had somewhere to be in about 30 minutes. I had no time to investigate. Hours later, I came back and thought that I’d go grab some 9 volt batteries because there were 2 smoke detectors: one in the hall and one in the living room and the one in the hall was chirping too. (May I add that this was right next to my bedroom door…)
The next day, after an hour, I said I couldn’t handle it anymore. I went out to the store to buy the batteries. I came back. I replaced the batteries in the two smoke detectors. Then I heard it again:
CHIRP!!!
Okay. I just replaced the battery. What the hell? I searched the whole house for smoke detectors and I couldn’t find any more of them. Again, CHIRP!!!!
The noise was coming from near my bedroom. There was a cabinet up near the ceiling where I thought the noise was coming from. It was then that I realised that the sound was coming in that general area. The cabinet was empty.
I think then I started going crazy because I could hear it, but couldn’t find an alarm anywhere. I then sent an email to the accommodation owners and simply said that the noise is driving me crazy and keeping me awake at night and I am not dealing with that for 3 weeks.
They sent a contractor who came by to check it out and then he realised what had happened. About a year ago, they did some renovating and covered up some kitchen cabinets and must have left a smoke detector in there. He asked how long I’d be there and I told him that it needed to be fixed. They tried to get it through the attic. Couldn’t do that. They ended up drilling a hole in the wall instead.
Anyway, it was fixed the day that I sent the email. Within hours actually. I am so thankful that it’s gone now.
But… how do you leave stuff on a shelf and cover it up with a wall?
I hope everyone reading this is doing well! Work’s been crazy, so I’ve had to take a little break. I’ve been having to wake up early and by the time I get home, I am so tired that I fall asleep, so I’ve been neglecting you fine people. But here I am at around 6:45 am (I’d just be leaving right about now on a work day). I am stuck in morning mode and probably will be for a while. About 95% of my shifts have been in the mornings instead of afternoons or nights.
I’m doing well though for the most part. Just perpetually tired and sore. My back is so sore lately. I bought a posture correcting back brace (not really a brace, but more like a little cloth thing to pull my shoulders back where they need to be). My back has been sore since I wore it. I think I am so slouched over now that it’s going to take some good old metal and screws to correct my terrible posture.
I guess being a computer nerd has that effect. I’ve always been that kind of person who looks down as they walk and since I’ve had a smart phone, it’s probably only gotten worse. I’m going to be studying through the pain today. I’ll deal with it somehow.
Other updates? Husband’s birthday is this weekend. He’s starting to show signs of agony because it’s the last year of his 30s. I reminded him, in my own little special way, that his husband has hit the 40 mark and he’s doing just fine.
I’m gonna do a bit of extra work on this website and record another new podcast episode this week since I won’t be able to record/edit/post after mid-August to mid-September.
I hope everybody’s doing well! Take care of yourself!
Happy Fourth of July, Americans. Good luck. You apparently need it. Lots of it. Don’t screw the country up next year, okay?
Now that’s out of the way, I just wanted to say a big hello to anybody who reads this.
I’ve had to fill in for missing staff at work, so I haven’t had much time to do anything considered “fun”. I don’t hate my job or anything like that, so to get paid for doing something I like doing is just a bonus.
My wedding anniversary is in a few days. We originally planned to go to Melbourne, but that’s been cancelled. I can’t risk going there and picking anything up, so we’re just going to do something around here tonight. I’m letting him sleep in today because the restaurant we’re heading to opens at 5 pm and I hate shopping. (He loves shopping and I find it incredibly boring.
This is two years of marriage for us. Amazing how time flies, right? Also, it’s just about the same when I was last in India. I was hoping to go this year, but I doubt that I’m going to do any international travel for a while. There are so many places I want to go since my income doesn’t suck anymore… but I can’t. My health is more important. I don’t want to risk getting myself and others sick. I depend on my husband to feed me. I’d starve without him.
That’s it. Just a simple little update. I hope everybody is doing well!
