Word of the week: Chok Dee – Good Luck

In my life: We had slightly better weather than last week, it was cold and rainy but we also had brief periods of sunshine which meant I could go for walks in the morning and didn’t feel quite so cooped up at home. I was watching a video that suggested having a set time in my mind for workouts and trying to be consistent so tried that this week. I told myself I had to go out for a walk by 7 if I didn’t have other workout plans for the day. Strangely that has helped me get out of the house even though the weather isn’t the best, I’m a few minutes late sometimes (7.10-7.15 instead of 7) but I managed a walk almost every day.

The one exception was Monday. My GP had suggested getting a flu shot in April considering my medical history so I had booked that for Monday morning. After a brief discussion with a doc, I got the shot and came back home. At first I was feeling okay but by 12 a terrible headache had set in so I took the rest of the day off. I hadn’t realised how knackered I was till I decided to take a nap after lunch and woke up at 6.

By Tuesday morning I felt I was back to normal, so usual work and workout activities continued. On Thursday I actually walked down to Kirribilli Lookout in the morning. Last weeks museum visit had taught me that Sydney Harbour is the world’s deepest natural harbour so I spent some time watching the ships in the harbour.

Also realised that what was once a long weekend walk now feels quite manageable and not strenuous enough. Maybe I should try the walk down to Waverton again and see how that goes.

Saturday started with gym (still going pretty well, my push up form is so much better) and then guitar. We learnt to read some of the notes and did some more improv again. I think I get frustrated with it because I don’t know the notes and can’t get my playing to match what is in my head - definitely need to practice more.

We walked down towards the train station after, in search of a new-to-us cafe and had a pie and a coffee at a St. Honore Bakery before spending some time at the North Sydney viewpoint and getting some groceries. We went to the op shop to find some pants for Sathya but couldn’t find any that worked.

I spent some time in the afternoon working on colour grading a time-lapse that I’d taken a while ago but realised that the I had accidentally recorded the video in HD instead Of 4K and the focus was slightly off. I still completed that and will put it up on a YouTube channel I’ve created for those experiments sometime this week.

I wanted to get some more videos to colour grade so went down to Milson’s Point Wharf at sunset. I got a Timelapse of the city and Luna Park and did some experiments but I had to cut my plans short as it started to drizzle.

On Sunday I woke up a bit late and caught up on chores. Then we went to Chatswood to get Sathya some new clothes. We had lunch at the Hawker Lane food court and came back home. I went up to the rooftop in the evening and took a time-lapse video of the city lights turning on at St. Leonard’s. Look for that to be posted as well after I try and colour grade it.

On my screens:

  1. The Next Prince (Thai, Queer, Ongoing): Fantastic, that budget has been well used, Nunew’s acting is absolutely brilliant - from the Unc unc scene to the plane scene to the bookstore scene. Loving all the little hints we are getting of Charan’s past as well.
  2. Foundation (S2, Sci-Fi, Apple TV): Getting a bit more coherent but still very confused about this.
  3. My Golden Blood (Thai, Queer, Supernatural, Ongoing): Knew it was coming having read the book, but that death hurt.

On my bookshelf: Got a little impatient and read the end of Sunrise at the Reaping to see how it goes. Now to read the middle. Spy fanfic rapid updates continue and other fandoms are as good as always.

I’m also really enjoying blog posts by Roman Fox on his photography process and his travel.

On my playlist: Was rewatching some old pilot trailers while waiting for a show’s trailer and came across this song by Victor Lundberg, a Swedish singer songwriter. Immediately subscribed to him on Spotify, the music is so soft and soothing.

I look into your eyes, I see we're out of time
I guess no one's to blame, nobody crossed the line
I guess we couldn't see, somehow we couldn't feel
Maybe we rose to fast, maybe we got to high

On my camera: A while back while reading up on astrophotography, I came across this composite photo of an exploding galaxy by Luke Tscharke which I loved. I was curious about the technique and searched a bit - it’s achieved by zooming while doing a long exposure. While I don’t have access to dark skies for this, I read that it would work with city lights so went to try that out this weekend and was quite happy with the first attempt results.

Thanks for tagging along!