Ozmoot 2024 – Day 2 – Morning

Corey’s Fun and Spontaneous Textual Discussion Exercise with Corey Olsen

  • Do a close comparison of some passages
  • Passages picked at random
  • Random 1/4 chance
    • theme, character, language usage, special topic
  • Review a LOTR Passage
  • Choose a LOTR passe – D20
    • roll 6 = Book 2
  • 10 Chapters in Book 2
    • Chapter 3 The Ring goes South
    • Paragraph 36
  • ” The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil. With you and your faithful servant, Gandalf will go; for this shall be his great task, and maybe the end of his labours. “
  • Elrond starts with the number, but only has 7 mapped out
  • Emphasis on Gandalf,
  • Shall, Shall, But Gandalf gets a “will”
  • 2 have chosen to go with you from the start. One is Faithful Servant Sam and the second is Gandalf who has been working on this great task for a long time
  • Gandalf is going in service
  • Speaking in a register
  • Not symmetrical description of the two groups
    • Walkers not riders
    • But still paired
    • “The Nine walkers” is not an epic name
  • “The end of his Labours” will go over Sam’s head, but links things to the longer story.
  • Callback to the Labours of Hercules and similar myths
  • “set against” but not a symmetrical group
  • Company vs Fellowship. The Fellowship bit evolves during Book 2.
  • “Faithful servant” rather then just servant. Lots of recent betrayals
  • Now compare two passages
  • Book 6, Chapter 5, Paragraph 12
  • “In this house, lady. He was sorely hurt, but is now set again on the way to health. But I do not know–“
  • Spoken by the Warden of the House of Healing to Eowyn
  • An unexpected turn for Eowyn. She is trying to get out of the house and going over the head of the Warden
  • He is pushing back and saying Faramir might not be available. She cuts right though that and demands to see him
  • He is unlikely to really not know his condition
  • She is using her ( foreigner, royalty, female) position to intimidate him and cut him off.
  • Passage 2 from the hobbit, chapter 18
  • “No!” said Thorin. “There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!”
  • Thorin is living Eowyn’s dream
  • Thorin has gone back on his earlier bad actions. He knocks down the wall he has created and directly rallys his former enemies
  • It’s interesting that Eowyn is forbade a heroic death in the text where Theoden, Thorin, etc are granted it. Especially when so many of those seem redemptionary (theoden feels guilt for inaction under Wormtongue, Thorin for his greed in betreyal of the lake men)
  • “I honestly don’t think that we can really criticise her for being so reckless when Rohan and even broader society holds the heroic sacrifice to high in respect” – Cassidy Winter
  • The Battle has just been won, Bilbo did not participate in it. But Thorin is what you are has lasting and meaningful value
  • Eowyn is about to have a similar conversion after he conversation with Faramir
  • She embraces life and see a new way to make a contribution
  • Need to remember both are members of collectivist cultures. Less individualistic that modern western culture
  • “I think the big difference is that they had achieved their redemption and their death appears to be a reward of some kind. Her death is what she’s seeking as escape, rather than redemption”
  • Thorin’s death is part of he redemption arc, but if he had lived he would still have been redeemed. Although probably screwed up later
  • Contrast Boromir’s death is a important component of his arc
  • Thoeden’s death is at the end of his road, he would have died soon anyway. this is the death he would have chosen
  • Eowyn is still restless, whereas Thorin is at peace and has accepted what he has accomplished. But has moved away from what he originally wanted.
  • “Child of the kindly West” would not make any sense to original Hobbit readers
  • Exclamation mark at the end of “Farewell!” by Thorin could be read comically.
  • A benediction of a King on his deathbed
  • Especially since Bilbo had kinda Betrayed him just recently
  • Looking at the characters rather than the specific passages, both characters have long been pursuing a specific goal, and only find peace when they turn away from that goal. or rather, starting a new trajectory along the way that is very different to what they thought they wanted in the beginning
  • A Tolkien passage and compare to a non Tolkien passage
  • Leaf by Niggle
  • Passage about visitors and other duties preventing Niggle working hard enough his painting. Many Responsibilities that he must not neglect. eg his Garden
  • Tenson with all his friends and relatives coming to visit. Although he visited them during the Winter so it is reaonabily fair.
  • But he meets all his obligations. The Dilemma is all internal
  • All his friends see him as a good person (except maybe the garden) they don’t see that in his heart he just wants to do painting.
  • “Passages” is an interesting turn of phrase when describing a picture. It’s more typical for text.
  • Neglected Garden = Great Scholarship of Germanic Philology .
    Painting = LOTR
  • 2nd Passage is from Dune
  • Fewer people have read Dune than LEaf by Niggle, comparatively few rooms in which that would be true.
  • Scene at the end of the Feyd-Rautha’s fight in the Arena
  • He has arranged for a great spectacle but this didn’t happen because slave’s death was clean
  • Contrast been the attitude of Feyd and his opponent. The Atredies only has a single minimal chance to do something. Feyd doesn’t care about this person it’s just his small part of his plan
  • Social responsibility
  • Contrast Wants and desires
  • Parallel is between Niggle’s paining and Feyd’s ambition for brutal supremacy over the universe
  • Parallel they are both wasting time on fun projects rather than what they should be doing

The Little People and the Horn-Cry of Buckland with Lauren Brand

  • Dedicated this talk to her father
  • Climate change is not a comfortable topic
  • The Hobbits in LOTR is just getting on with their lives. But their world is in threat of change. And not in a good way. Lots of bad reports just in the Shire
  • Kubler-Ross Stages of Grief approach to seeing people’s “Climate Grief”
  • In the first Chapters of The Lord of the Rings
  • Denial
    • Sam and Ted’s discussion in the Green Dragon
    • “I won’t take Dragons now”
  • Anger
    • Frodo and Gandalf talk about the ring
    • I would have done away with it
  • Bargaining
    • Will you not take the Ring
  • Depression and Fear
    • This Ring, How on earth did it come to me
  • Acceptance
    • I cannot keep the right and stay here.
    • I should like to save the Ring if I could
    • as long as the Shire lies begind safe and comfortable
  • When the Hobbits get back to the Shire
  • Denial
    • Cottons hiding away
    • Hob Hayward going along with it
  • Anger
    • Criticise the system
    • Hob Hayward anger at the sneaks in the ranks
    • Bargaining
    • Robin Smallburrow tries to explain why he is a Shirrif
    • No way to resign position
  • Depression
    • Sam breaks down and cries at the sight of Hobbiton
  • Acceptance and Empowerment
    • Tooks shut off their borders and did Guerilla actions
    • Fredagar Bolgar join band of rebels
    • Will Whitford, Lobelia,
    • 4 Companions. Lots of things
  • Lessons from the Hobbits
    • Ignore they Nay sayers
    • Seek out information fom relaiable sources
    • Join with others
    • Share the burdon
    • Blow the horn and get angry
  • Recommended reading and viewing
    • The Lord of the Rings
    • The Big Switch by Saul Griffiths
    • The Fully Charged Show
  • Questions etc
    • ” Lobelia Sackville-Baggins as Gina Rineheart was not a comparison i expected to hear today “
    • Can grief make you stronger not weaker?
    • Nienna’s grieving
    • Peaceful vs Violent actions

Lamentations in a Troubled World with Trevor Bowen

  • The song of the Ents and Entwives
  • Growing apart by separate interests
  • Sadness for a lost relationship
  • Loss and separation without hope of reconciliation
  • The Lament for Boromir
  • People at movie screen booed at his first appearance
  • The heroic character is undone by his virtues
  • He escaped in the end in death. Died in state of grace
  • Aragorn composes a poem for him at the end
  • Technical details of Laments
  • Galadriel’s Lament corresponds to Catholic Lament
  • The Lament of the Roharim
  • Inspired by the “Lament of the Wanderer”
  • Theoden speaks some of the lines in the Movie. Contrasts himself with his great ancestor
  • Courage to do what is right even against unbeatable odds
  • Frodo’s Lament for Gandalf
  • an emotion mechanism to manage grief
  • A way to move forward and accept new challenges and responsibilities
  • List of various other Laments in Tolkien
  • Songs do lots within Tolkiens writing give the world a depth and history
  • List of Tolkien’s joys and sadness
  • Throughout the LOTR a profound melancholy pervades
  • Everything is worse than what came before
  • Lamenting the diminishment of the glorious past
  • The Long Defeat
  • How does Lament have meaning in our own lives?
  • Pandemic, Wars, instability, inflation, etc
  • Media brings it from places of war into our daily lives
  • Samwise “There is still some good in this world and it is worth fighting”
  • Question: What hope is there for Frodo and War Veterans?
  • Answer: Frodo had vision from the start (in house of Tom B) that he wouldn’t make it back fully.

Trust is Unbroken/Broken: A Troubador Struggle with Ilana Mushin and Phil Menzies

  • The Lay of Leithian
  • Finrod vs Sauron in songs of power
  • Just describes the song battle but doesn’t have any lyrics
  • Inspiration
  • Les Miserables – The confrontation
  • Pocahontas – Mine, Mine, Mine and Savages
  • Stray Gods (Role playing Musical)
  • Structure
    • Rythm 6/8 vs 4/4
    • Where to start/end
    • Mapping the songs
    • F# major vs G# minor
    • ebb and flow / tuf-o-war
    • Finrod – woodwinds
    • Sauron – brass and electric guitars
  • Listen for character themes and fall theme discussed yesterday
  • Song played here
Share

Ozmoot 2024 – Day 1

Note: These are my notes from the conference. Will contain poor spelling etc. Also my Elder Days knowledge is a little rough.

Greetings and Opening Remarks – Corey Olsen

  • 3 types of attendees. Onsite, remote and recorded. So must be disciplined with microphone usage
  • Use Microphones. Don’t forget they are always on.
  • Acknowledgement of country by Ilana
  • Around 70 attendees, including around 27 in person
  • If you are remote then please interact

Nothing is Evil in the Beginning – Panel Discussion with Corey Olen, Ilana Mushkin, Phil Menzines


  • This is a fairly central part of the legenderium.
  • See the Silm Film podcast. Who to do everything
    • Isn’t this just fan fiction?
    • Kinda of, but Tolkien sort of did the same thing. Eg addressing text from Beowulf via Hama in the LOTR
    • Sauron is kind of the protagonist
    • s1 – Valar
    • s2 – awakening of the Elves , arrival in Valinor
    • s3 – Fenor’s speech, kinslaying, rising of the Sun
    • s4 – Rescue of Midros
    • s5 – Arrival of Men
    • s6 – Beren , Sauron stiring up trouble in pre-Bree
    • Music being composed for it.
    • Castings including notifying actors they are cast
  • Why did Melkcor go bad?
    • Tolkien doesn’t really duplicate
    • Jilted lover an drawn towards the Simirils
    • Tried to duplicate with a bit of subtlety
    • Love something and desire to possess it is usually seen as bad
    • What Trajectory should we give to Melkor to show his journey
    • Going off on your own is often seen as a sign of going bad in Tolkien. Morgoth ticked that box too
    • Needs some more backstory than what we see in the book. Can’t make him evil right away, it must evolve
    • Halls of Mandos not very visual either.
    • Midpoint of season 1 is the destruction of the lamps. Melkor not being given enough credit for their creation
    • Story has to be parallel to what the music duplicates
    • Creating lamps and wating credit = Has own themes of the music and wants to manage them
    • Backstory of the Balrogs. Started with Glorious Angelic Wings. Melkor gets them to destroy the lamps and their wings get burt off. Now they only have shadow wings
    • “The Mythic Story of How Balrogs lost their Wings” is a highlight of Season 1
    • Melkor’s relationship with Sauron
    • Later we will echo Melkor’s fall with those the fall of other characters
      • What he tells himself vs what he tells other people.
    • Melkor Actor is Michael Fassbender. Has to be Hot
    • Mairon/Sauron is Simon Woods ( red hair is important)
  • Why did Mairon/Sauron go bad?
    • A Keen Student
    • When things get to a crisis in late Season 1 when wanted Manwai and Melkor’s split to feel big
    • Now Mairon has to cross a boundry to talk to Malkor, he has to really choose sides
    • Melkor understands and recruits him. Aula doesn’t see the problem
    • Early version when Ussay(s) goes over
  • Music by Phil Menzies
    • Themes for a “Fall”
    • Need themes for characters an also for things that would happen multiple times in the story. Used a little in the Oath of Feanor
    • Common in Tolkien: Someone thinks they are doing something that is good, but in reality is doing the opposite and are doing evil
    • Melkor Theme. Various versions as his character progresses
    • Corey says Phil’s music elevated Simfilm up a level and made it a bigger project
    • Mairon/Sauron theme is used for the Exploring the Rings podcast theme. Variation of Howard Shore’s Ring theme
  • Long time before the Valar work out the war needs to happen
  • “The War to Begin all Wars” episode title
  • Working through “how would we duplicate this” pushes us to answer a lot of the questions about what Tolkien sort of meant by things
  • “It is challenging casting mortal characters for a 20 year show”
  • Question. The show is a modern way of telling a story vs tolkien told the story in an old fashion way
    • There are a whole bunch of expectation on how modern miniseries work. Have been tempted to resist these expectations
    • Book of lost tales difference is even more. It is not something written by someone just like you
    • Tried to stay true to the essence of the story (although borrowed other versions of some parts that Tolkien wrote).
    • You couldn’t make a TV show is exactly the same as it’s is written. But making it work is part of the fun
  • Question: Is Melkors goal to create things fundimantally wrong?
    • The impulse to create is not evil in itself
    • Feanor is a good example (well at the start anyway)
    • Vardar’s rejection of Malkor. Duplicate as not liking his character (narcasis, bad vibes) not rejected due to fortelling
  • Question: Is redemption a thing?
    • Yes, some examples. Eg Boromir and Gandalf has hope for Saruman (he was in the first draft of LOTR). Ossay, Galadriel in some versions
  • Question: Character’s motivations fore they became evil. Is “Wants to make things easier, impatience” a thing. Other examples might be Gollum
    • Irony of that sort corruption. The thing they want isn’t a bad thing usually. But to get past obstacles in the say they do bad things and then fail to get their goal anyway.
    • Sharkey’s rule over the Shire has little order or even sold “rule”
    • Person who wants to be lord of light become lord of darkness
  • Question: Interaction between Gandalf’s ring Naria and the One ring
    • Going to be hard to do.
    • Elrond gets very defense that Sauron never touched them. But doesn’t mean they were a good idea
  • 12 season to get to the War of Wrath
  • One 3rd age problem to avoid. No palanteri
  • Question: Lots of feedback about Rings of Power. Has anthing in the rings of power inspired you vs those that you havn’t liked.
    • Obviously they stole from us. eg PTSD Galadriel
    • Must have Blood Splashed on her due the kinslaying
    • Various plans for Galadried in the future. He veres Saron but “No Rafts”
    • Can understand time compress and chronolgy shifting. Especially short-lived humans

Tengwar Calligraphy by Jenni Aldred

  • Much of LOTR writings are just english written in a different writing form. Transliterated not translated
  • Tengwar are based on phonetics doesn’t fit 100% with English. Can go either with pronunciation or actual spelling when you write them
  • Advantages and Disadvantages of each.
  • Workshop will use Orthographic or spelling mode
  • Table for characters
    • Lots of detail here that is too much to type. Explaining the tables of characters
    • Sindarin mode, Quenya mode or full mode. Exactly where Vowels are put
    • Sindarin mode works best for English
    • Examples to translate
    • “When you start being a tolkien expert, you get people emailing you for advice about their tattoos”
    • List of useful Tengwar resources
    • www.tecendil.com is a free online tool

Nature Relations of the Legendarium with Muhammed Alpaslan Tandirci

  • This area Heavily analysied in this past by other researchers
  • Wrote Masters Thesis (in Turkish) on this
  • Pre-history:
    • Divine intervention, Geological Transformation, Ecology of War
    • Melkor makes war on Nature as well as beings
  • Second Age
    • Deforestation and Ecology of Imperialism
    • Deforestation of Numenor reduced it’s power
  • The 3rd Age
    • Price of Enrichment and crafts – Dwarfs. Punished for disrupting the balance
    • The Great Plague and The Long Winter – Broke the power
    • Changes in Forests, Uncanny in the Waters
      • Both places are now associated with evil and Danger
      • In previous ages they were associated with Good
  • Conclusion
  • As the ages have progressed the impact on Nature has decreased
    • The laws of middle earth are less magical and more mortal as ages progress
  • Question – How would it work in the 4th age
    • A: Should improve due to Aragorn’s good policies. But things are less magical and getting close to our current world
  • Question: How are spiders represent
    • Answer: Spiders and wolves are seen as always
  • Question: How does forests being maintained vs natural affect things?
    • Answer: In most cases felling of trees does result in replanting.
  • Question: How popular is Tolkien in Turkey
    • Answer: Disappointed since the books nowhere near as popular as Harry Potter. Middle Earth seen as boring in comparison. People into history often like it. A very Niche interest.
    • Author is in Birmingham but hasn’t found as much Tolkien-related stuff as he had expect.
Share

Audiobooks – December 2023

The Grand Banks Café by Georges Simenon

After an ill-fated voyager a ship’s captain is killed and Maigret is asked by a friend of the accused to investigate. 3/5

How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation by E. D. Hirsch Jr

The author argues for better structured teaching to improve education and citizenship. Controversial but seems backed by evidence. 3/5

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell

A book about how Global Warming will make many areas unlivable & descriptions of recent heat events. Showing how the affects are here already. 4/5

How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero of Piracy by Stephen Witt.

The books follows a Music Exec, A CD Pirate and The Inventors of the mp3 though the overturning of the Music industry as music went online. 4/5

The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin

The story of the January 1888 blizzard that killed 2-500 people on the US Great Planes. A mix of personal stories and overviews of the storm. 4/5

The Little Book of Exoplanets by Joshua N. Winn

A great book on histories of discoveries, various techniques, types of planets, planetary formation, etc. Great introduction to the field for interested amateurs. 4/5

For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor

The 2nd Bobverse book. The Bobs try deal with Primitive Aliens, Hostile Advanced Aliens and Hostile humans. A fun listen 4/5

My Scoring System

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
Share

Donations 2023

Each year I do the majority of my Charity donations in early December, timed to be around my birthday.

I do a blog post about it to hopefully inspire others. See previous years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

All amounts are in $US unless otherwise stated.

General Charities

$800 to Givewell Top Charities fund . I’ve been donating to Givewell as my main “help the poor” charity since they have fairly low overheads and try and get the most impact from their donations. They also get good reviews for living up to these goals.

My employer matched this donation so total given to Givewell was $1600.

Software and Internet Infrastructure Projects

I was planning this year to donate $100 each to Software in the Public Interest and the Software Freedom Conservancy, unfortunately Paypal is currently blocking charity donations from Asia/Pacific so I was unable to donate to them. Adblockers on my browser might also be a factor.

Others content creators

Payments via Patreon

I signed up to Nebula in mid-2023 for $30/year and reduced my Patreon subscriptions a little. Below is current as of mid-December 2023

  • $2/month to The Prancing Pony Podcast who make a podcasts show about J R R Tolkien
  • $1/month to Zach Weinersmith who creates SMBC Comic and other stuff
  • $1/video to The Nerdwriter who does Youtube videos
  • $1/month to CGP Grey who does Youtube Videos
  • $1/month to City Beautiful who is creating videos about cities and city planning.
  • $1/month to Alt Shift X who creates Youtube videos
  • $1/month to RMTransit who does a Youtube channel on Transit.
  • $1/month to Quinn’s Ideas which is a Youtube Channel about Science Fiction (especially Dune)
  • $1/ month to Asianometry who creates Youtube videos, mainly on Economics and the semiconductor industry.
  • $1/month to CityNerd who Videos on Cities and Transportation
Share

AudioBooks – November 2023

Convoy escort commander by Sir Peter Gretton

A memoir of the author’s WW2 Naval service culminating commanding North Atlantic convey escort groups. Descriptions of shipboard life and battles. 3/5

Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart

A good autobiography of the actor’s personal and professional life. Lots of details of early life and career but more selective thereafter. Interesting throughout. 4/5

Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Apollo Moon Landings by Alan Shepard, Deke Slayton & Jay Barbree

A fairly standard account of Apollo but with Shepard and Slayton adding some extra first-person accounts and insights. Skip the tacked-on chapter from 2009. 3/5

Grinding It Out: The making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc

Autobiography of the McDonalds founder. The earliest bits of the book are probably the best but even later there are still a good mix of stories and advice. 3/5

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

A present-day nerd dies and is uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe. Feels a bit like Andy Weir. Recommended. 4/5

The Longest Minute: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 by Matthew J. Davenport

A detail account of the earthquake and fire, following participants and drawing our 100 years of sources and science. Great read. 4/5

My Scoring System

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
Share

Audiobooks – October 2023

Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar

Parking, it’s history and economics, land use and zoning. A fun, accessible book that might be good introduction to those new to the topic. 3/5

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

The source of the recent film. Comprehensive although not straying far from the subject and an easy read. 4/5

How 1954 changed History by Michael Flamm

A short series of lectures about major (mainly US) events during 1954 from medicine to politics to popular culture. A nice quick read. 3/5

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace

A combination memoir, company history and management advice book. Works well for all 3. 4/5

My Rating System

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
Share

Audiobooks – September 2023

When the heavens went on sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach by Ashlee Vance

Covers 4 rocket companies trying to follow SpaceX: Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Labs. Good overview companies and their founders. 4/5

A Crime in Holland by Georges Simenon

Inspector Maigret travels to the Netherlands to assist a French professor who is suspected of murder. He is hampered by language barriers & lack of jurisdiction. 3/5

The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA’s Visionary Leader George M. Low by Richard Jurek

The biography of a senior NASA administrator during the Apollo era. Interesting although a bit less technical than most NASA books 3/5

Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris

The story of five legendary Hollywood who joined the US military in World War 2 to make films for the armed services. Great book, definitely recommend. 4/5

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
Share

September 2023 Update

I thought I’d do an update on my current status and what I’m up to.

Work

Unfortunately I got made redundant from my job at Sharesies in March. This was part of company-wide layoffs that saw about 30% of all staff and 50% of my team get made redundant. I was very sorry to leave, it was a great company with great culture and I was working with a great team.

I’m still using their product for my share investments (mostly Smartshares Exchange Traded Funds) and I have a small number of shares/options in the company.

After a job search I started at a new company in April. It is a fairly large company with a complex internal system so I’ve spent the last 5 months getting my head around their internal systems and tools we have to use

My team is part of a global “follow the Sun” operations department so we get a handoff from the US when we start and handover to Ireland at the end of the day. Unfortunately timezones mean I start at around Noon and finish at 8pm and also have to work one in four weekends.

The new company has a pretty good culture, although since it is large there is a lot of corporate overhead. My first month was spent doing something like 40 training courses and that didn’t even cover much of my day-to-day.

Covid / Getting out

My job at Sharesies was 100% work from home so I only spent one week in the office the whole 18 months I was working there. My new job however is a fairly strict 50% in office so I go in 2 or 3 days each week. They do have free food in the office.

Outside of work I still mask on public transport and for most shopping trips. Currently the covid numbers are fairly low so I do about one cafe visit/week. I’ve also been going to Auckland Thursday Night Curry although my new shifts make this difficult.

New Zealand has eliminated all anti-covid measures (such as mask requirements) and we are currently between waves. However there are still a steady number of hospitalisations and deaths so I’m not in a hurry to increase my exposure, especially in places like the supermarket where there isn’t a lot of upside.

I haven’t yet caught covid, but I have caught a cold and persistent cough in mid- 2023.

Weight Loss and Exercise

Between July 2022 and March 2023 I was on a fairly strict diet to lose weight. I was consuming around 1000 Calories/day by just having a couple of small meals each day of potatoes, plus some cheat meals etc.

Peak was losing around 1kg/week but eventually the diet petered out with my new job etc. Overall I went from to 107kg to 79kg. But have put on around 6kg in the 6 months since. I might to a blog post at some point on my diet experience.

I also was using a rowing machine and doing lots of walking. This has been reduced since my new job and the cold winter of 2023.

I am planning to try and restart my diet and do more exercise.

Hobbies

Chess

I have not played any in-person Chess since late 2021. Unfortunately Chess is a high-risk activity for Covid. Lots of Kids and you are in a crowded room for hours at a time.

My new job also involves me working evenings so it will be difficult to play evening Club chess.

Tolkien

I am trying to get more involved with Tolkien Fandom. I’ve join The Tolkien Society and subscribed to their magazines. I’m trying to work though them as well as back issues.

I attended the Ausmoot conference Online in 2023 and I am considering attending in person to Ausmoot 2024. I took an Online course on the Silmarillion also listening to various podcasts.

Linux.conf.au

Unfortunately my regular Linux.conf.au conference was last held Online in 2022 and it looks like it will not be run in future. This means the Sysadmin Miniconf I’ve helped run since 2006 will probably not be held again.

Linux Australia has created the Everything Open as it’s new flagship conference. I didn’t attend in 2023, although I may in future.

Other

I’m still interested in Public Transport, especially Greater Auckland. I’m working on a new article or two on the subject although switching jobs has delayed things.

I’m still working to improve my programming skills

My proposed Business idea hasn’t progressed beyond the planning stages. I have things mapped out but the main gap is getting my programming skills up to being able to create a Django website to host it.

I’m still listening to Audiobooks and also doing around 30 minutes a day of reading books.

I’m still using Twitter but I’ve also joined the BlueSky Social (login required to see my account).

Share

Audiobooks – August 2023

America, Empire Of Liberty by David Reynolds

90 * 15 minute episodes covering US history. A fun listen although obviously not a huge amount of detail. 3/5

The Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon

When a perplexing murder occurs outside Paris, Inspector Maigret arrives at an isolated intersection marked only by two houses and a dingy garage. 3/5

Outlive꞉ The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

Lots of advice on how to extend your [healthy] years well above the average. Plenty of good advice even if you can’t follow it all. 3/5

Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin

The forth Earthsea Book, it follows Tenar (from The Tombs of Atuan) with Ged as a secondary character. Less fantasy and action than the previous books. But still interesting. 3/5

My Rating System

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
Share

Audiobooks – July 2023

Hollywood: The Oral History by Jeanine Basinger, Sam Wasson

Extracts from hundreds of Interviews by the American Film Institute. Great coverage of the Studio System especially. 4/5

Maigret and the Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon.

In the 6th Maigret Book. The leading citizens of a village are being attacked. Maigret must determine why and by whom. 3/5

Beyond Blue Skies: The Rocket Plane Programs That Led to the Space Age by Chris Petty

An account of the US Rocket Plane programs including the X-1 and X-15. Emphasizes the people, politics and stories 4/5

My Rating System

  • 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
  • 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
  • 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
  • 2/5 = Disappointing
  • 1/5 = Did not like at all
Share