Ponderings
Dec 31st
As MMIX slowly grinds to a halt, I return to this recurring stocktake of mine, taking the time to think back on the year’s happenings and reflect upon them.
It’s been another (rather) eventful year, with the second half of NIE rolling by – I didn’t do that well overall, probably should have put in more effort into it, but it was often really difficult getting motivated considering the nature of the course. Still, I managed to survive, and the second half of the year heralded the beginning of my teaching job proper. I’ve been studying for so long (with a 2.5-year period of army stagnation thrown in somewhere), starting work has actually been a breath of fresh air for me. I might not be making as much money as some of my peers, but it’s enough (for now), and I do enjoy my work, which is apparently relatively rare among working folk.
I’ve tried to try more new things this year – one example being my brief foray into DSLR photography. Although I gave it up in the end (thankfully with practically no monetary loss incurred), I did end up with a functional knowledge of how SLR cameras work, and the current GF1 is hardly a pushover in terms of optical capability, either.
Then there’s the engagement, of course, along with the purchase of the flat and the beginning of wedding preparations – but that’s an ongoing story, after all.
All in all, it seems to have been a pretty good year, perhaps the most fulfilling one I’ve had in quite some time. There are more challenges yet to come in the year ahead, but with God’s grace I’m pretty sure I’ll get by. It seems almost unfashionable to feel contented on this island nation of ours, but I think I really am!
Your handwriting as a font
Dec 27th
Just had some fun with fontcapture.com, creating a font from my handwriting. I’d stumbled upon the site quite some time ago, but was lazy to do the printing/scanning thing. I’ve recently been issued a new tablet PC for work, though, so that simplified the whole process quite a bit – I managed to come up with this within 5 minutes, I think.
I could probably spend some time adjusting the alignment of my written characters, but for a font I’m not planning to use too frequently, I can’t really be bothered. Still, fun stuff!
Project 365 once more
Dec 16th
I was just looking at the daily photos I’d taken back in 2007, and I think it might be time for another go in 2010. Sure, I often cheated when the day wasn’t particularly eventful, but the photo album still manages to evoke a wave of nostalgia in me (especially having left the UK for more than a year now). So what if some of the pictures were not strictly taken on a daily basis – isn’t it the spirit of the project that’s more important?
Besides, with the new camera and whatever meagre photography skills I’ve managed to acquire these few months, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to generate better filler than before!
Virtual garage sale
Dec 15th
I just sold an old camera for S$25. It’s not much, but the camera was just lying around anyway (my mum had bought it a few years ago, but it’s since been replaced by a better camera that I’d stopped using), so I really think of it as shelf space saved and money gained.
I really do enjoy selling my old stuff – aside from the obvious monetary benefits gained from stuff you were willing to dump anyway, it feels good to be part of the ‘reuse’ process, and contribute more to the environment than the Copenhagen talks are apparently doing.
I’m also trying to sell some old books and my laptop, which should (hopefully) net me more dough than the camera did, but I’m strangely psyched over this one little sale.
South Park shout-out on The Simpsons
Dec 14th
The Simpsons has been rather… lacklustre of late, but they do have some pretty amusing (random?) gags within the episodes – the most recent episode has a short bit where four of the kids are dressed up like South Park characters, paralleling the typical South Park bus stop scene. Hilarious!