Crashing my life on autopilot

My routine is fraying at its edges. I don’t much feel like getting out and about. Eat too much ramen. Take 20 minute showers. Sleep raggedly past midnight with the lights on. Most of all, my stroke makes it hard to learn, link, and improve my daily activities.

I now have a YouTube channel besides my own website, FreeLunch.my plus a few social media. I have books and merch for sale. Some apps to download, and even a JavaScript game on my site for time wasters. But it’s all a bit of a mess right now.

My life is on autopilot and every day I crash into something that goes bump in the night. I cry over lost followers. I compulsively check my visitor stats. I should hire a coach or an agent except I can’t afford one.

And I feel things are slipping away. Yesterday, I accidentally dropped the needle on a Mozart record instead of stowing the arm and I didn’t care. I just don’t have the strength for extra anymore. Later that night, I thought I would draw up some plans.

1. I will move my furniture around and put some things into storage, stow my bike downstairs by the piano, the nylon guitar and flute too
2. Run briefly every morning, try to wake up before dawn
3. Eat no more sweet foods
4. Only check my feeds and stats at 5pm, once daily
5. Put the LED strip on every night so it’s darker
6. Wear only one watch
7. Buy only one thing online per month
8. Shower 7 minutes a day
9. Watch more chess videos. May buy a better set on my birthday
10. Generally live more austere / simple

A simpler life…

Lately I seem to be downgrading. I happily wear a 50RM watch, compute on a 180RM Raspberry Pi, ride a bicycle or walk instead of driving. I run a low end Nokia phone and trim my hair at home. The economic tightness in Malaysia can be seen and felt everywhere. I’ve heard too many comments made on how others are getting by versus themselves, rather than the usual “you’re bad news 4-eyed boy -go back to bed”.

Having just completed and released ACIFS, my I Ching guidebook, as well as my b(ible) search, shtl, chi and yak notation, I’m quite free now to pursue fun side projects like Sekk and UncleWatchReviews. Because we no longer have rental income, I also have to start spending less.

I need to go on long walks once a week and eat out. Exercise daily. Practice my bamboo flute and build up tablatures for popular songs. On birthdays, to get myself something nice. If I can put away 300RM a month, I will have 3.6kRM a year. Yet, there isn’t much I have to buy or hope ever to attain. More later…

* * *

I have now saved almost 3kRM or $650. Browsing Shopee and Chrono24, I can’t find anything more I really want to buy. Being satisfied with practical, lower end possessions. I did get the moonphase dress watch I had previously been suspicious of, 3 years ago. Down to $14 this August, it was a steal.

Sekk is on course for release later this week. I simplified it as my mind was burdened and unable to code a good AI. Keeping it basic / zen is also enjoyable. Hope to release it on Board Game Geek.

* * *

Sekk is practically finished. The first board game I invented. Have to put in another half hour later tonight to tidy up. Tomorrow, I'll be going to the flea market to relax and get some walking in. Don't have much to spend over the next 4 weeks, just 200RM. Feel like entering an UpLink contest on water conservation.

It's past midnight and here is the weekend again. Putting in some donkey work on the JavaScript before I turn in. Will finish testing it tomorrow evening.

* * *

Sekk is done and I’ve officially retired from my labors. A new chapter in my life begins. What shall I write in it? Feeling tugged in disparate directions -the urgent press of many minds. Finding some joy in life is a priority, as is the calling of heaven.

Sekk: lowering the bar, raising the play...

Being oppressed and prevented, I have no choice but to redesign Sekk. Mainly the players' moves. Anything fancy is hard to code when you're stuffed with many hearts tugging every which way.

So my new plans are as below:

1. Man +5 / +2
2. Woman +2 / +5
3. Father +10 / +2
4. Mother +3 / +10
5. Create x2 / x3
6. Divert -5 / -5
7. Stop -15 / -2
8. Exchange -10 / -2

Each piece occupies a square and influences pieces around it horizontal, vertical, and /, or diagonally. When a square's value drops below 4 (just an example), a piece may be removed. Objective is the same tho, capture a central square and hold it against any remaining moves. I must remember to code in some score displays by each square.

Getting pretty late and I took my meds early. May work on these modifications tomorrow. More later...

* * *

The question now is whether to allow a stone to be placed more than once or if removed stones disappear forever.

ACIFS: my book fails at the last hurdle...

Knowing the final pages of ACIFS (A Correlated I-Ching For Seers) would be difficult, I rallied to finish as much as possible, completing 5 days' work within an hour. Alas, one page (6a / 5a) isn't described by the ABY at all. Absolutely no data to cheekily snook the Tao with and I can't very well just copy from my references.

The best information I dug up so far is that 6a / 5a both relate to gentleness. Perhaps also to the mind of the ABY's reader or God Himself. Anyhow, I stopped for the night as aches and pains came on through the air. The Enemy declaring a limited victory. Typing this is cathartic.

It's cool tonight after a brief rain. I'm enjoying my new box fan which is gentle and stylish. Not like traditional table fans. No a/c needed tonight. Also having fun with FreeBSD downstairs, and my new Pi 4 setup on my bedroom desk. Everyone needs possessions even if it's only friends and travel companions. People and relationships count as assets too.

Was thinking that maybe the remaining 2 hexagrams refer to Yin and Yang / darkness and light themselves? After all, the ABY is Mathematically correct. Will add more tomorrow...

* * *

Last night's sleep was good. Woke up fresh and ready to tackle the jobs I had put off yesterday. Finding the key events that fall on June / May 2013 or 2019 is proving more difficult than thought. Need to put in a solid hour after breakfast.

Late afternoon and I grew tired of searching the increasingly congested Internet for leads. Just put in as much of analysis as possible from my materials that grew out of the ABY from 2013 onwards. The full book is available for download / browsing on FreeLunch.my.

4-step rugby (football), one of my ideas…

Right now, I’m juggling a couple of projects and I want to soon make a video on a rugby variant I invented that improves on touch rugby.

Unlike Touch, there is no contact between players. There is also no break in game flow to roll or step over the ball on the ground. The overall rules are:

1. An obstructed player has 4 steps to outwit the defender. These count as 4 if they are consecutive “horizontal” steps. A player may move backwards or forwards as many steps as available. There is no ‘tackling’ from behind.
2. At the end of horizontal 4 steps, the ball must be passed, kicked, or thrown. Whoever catches or picks it up has possession. The ball may be thrown anywhere upfield, down or across.
3. If a fault or foul occurs, a modified scrum is formed to decide possession. Players make a circle holding hands with the ball in the centre, fought for by foot.

I’m still thinking whether a smaller foam football or a standard 5 ball is best. The latter being more durable though less accurate and manipulatable to throw. Perhaps the 5 is better, as it encourages athleticism. As for players a side, there should be 5 to 7 on a standard soccer-sized pitch or open space.

I also thought up a game for young players using an Aerobie foam football. 5-7 players aside. One begins by throwing the ball. The opposing team cries ‘Up’ at the best opportunity. Only after this, both teams’ players can start moving. After the ball is received or retrieved, all movement stops again until the throw followed by ‘Up’. There is no tackling, obstruction, or touching.

Computers: slave to the machines...

I own 4 PCs: an A4-5000 from 2013, a Raspberry Pi 4b, a Celeron netbook, and a pre-owned ThinkPad X250. I also have 2 low-end iPads. At one point, I thought of starting a home office, but things didn't work out. 

I mainly use the ThinkPad and iPad 10th gen on a daily basis. The Pi will go to our new house to be Dad's news and YouTube station. And I will be taking the old 2015 iPad on the road with no worries.

This month, August 2023, there is a prophecy:

“The light of diode ebbs. Charcoal stone brushes the steel block. The center of the desk is empty of the abacus. Cloth, rice paper, and plank flow in its place” 

I don't really know what it means. Could it be that regular computers become a thing of the past in the near future? Will we all have ChatGPT running our jobs from our smartphones, in the cloud?

Regardless, I prepared a small paper notebook. It has an elastic closure like Moleskines. In it I plan to write Chinese bamboo flute arrangements. My pencil, a Pilot Croquis sharpened on the steel file of my Leatherman Squirt. On the other end of my desk, a small station for stitching Casual Karate belts.

Hard to believe that electronics and IT jobs might no longer bring in the money, nor people ordering goods and services across borders. It applies to my life at the very least.

* * *

Eventually, I fixed my A4 PC with a new CR2032 battery. It now works (sleep / resume / cold boot) well again. Lacking a monitor and speakers, it's temporarily hooked up to the TV downstairs while I use the Pi as my main machine. Somehow the ThinkPad was cramping my workflow, giving me unproductive feelings.

We also shifted table fans. So Mom has my cute Hatari cyclone fan and I have a new Khind box fan. I now run 4 different OSs: FreeBSD, Raspbian, iPadOS, and Windows 10. Diversity is security. Have a few keyboards and mice spare -these always break eventually.

FreeBSD is a great, tight and light OS. Wonder how I did without it for so long. Still have to set up a proper desktop. I'm using Xorg's default TWM at the mo.