• A Slight Update

    In case you’re wondering why I have a new layout – my blog was recently hacked/hijacked (not sure by who, or how – but some fuckers injected some code to redirect visitors to other sites. I’m not sure when it happened – but I think it’s probably due to some security issues and me using an old-ass outdated theme. I may or may not have fixed the problem – if you receive any warnings or get redirected please let me know.

    I spent a few hours today trying to locate the injected redirection code but thought it was more trouble than it’s worth – in the end I decided to just replace all the recently modified files with the default files from a fresh installation of wordpress. The security plugins on my blog are still detecting issues, so this weekend I’ll work on doing a full wipe and reset of this blog to make sure this place is free of any shenanigans. Don’t expect any new updates until I get the problem fixed. Hopefully it will be a walk in the park.

  • The Wait

    If there’s one thing I’ve learned after joining the mechanical keyboard community, it’s that you need a lot of patience for this hobby. If you think spending about an hour changing keycaps on your full-sized keyboard takes up a lot of time, think again. Even the amount of time you have to spend desoldering (not that I do it) a full-sized keyboard feels like a few seconds compared to the amount of time you spend waiting for parts to arrive.

    If you’re not ordering ready-made parts or a pre-made build online, expect waiting for months (and sometimes even years) for them to arrive. While I’m not an advocate for preordering (especially when it comes to video games), you don’t really have a choice in this hobby if you want to delve deeper into the custom scene. Sure, things take time to be manufactured and shipped – I understand it completely. That doesn’t make it any better though!

    It’s been a few months since I’ve put down some monies for my upcoming build and only one part of my build is on its way to my house (switches). I still have to wait for the board and keycaps. Once they’re in my possession, it’ll probably take less than half the day for me to assemble it. I can’t think of any other hobby that involves this much waiting. Maybe growing plants would be something similar. Even then, it doesn’t take as long as waiting for a group buy to deliver. But in the end, you’ll have something pretty to show off to other people.

    Fortunately, I already have some nice pre-built boards that I can enjoy in the meantime. I can’t imagine what my daily life would be like if I didn’t already have them to keep me satisfied. I probably wouldn’t enjoy writing as much as I do now.

    Sometimes I don’t use copy and paste when working just so I can spend more time typing.

    Also, I recently discovered Windows + M minimizes the window that is currently open. How cool is that? I’ve been using Alt + Space, N to minimize windows for years. And I learned this on accident.

    Anyway, I think patience is something I have. Sometimes I do wonder – if there was a fee for an accelerated option, would I take it?

    One of the best solutions to the problem I’ve heard is that you should keep buying stuff all year-long. Then you forget about what you’ve purchased and every time you receive a package in the mail, it’s a nice surprise. Unfortunately, I don’t have the funds to do that, yet.

  • Back and Forth

    The other day I was told off by my mom for shaking my legs. While it’s not something I do all the time, I realize I do it a lot when I’m listening to music with a good drum beat. My legs automatically bounce as though I’m the drummer of the song (even though I have no idea what I’m doing). It’s strange. Anyway, I wanted to figure out why it’s something that my mom has been against since I was a young boy. Turns out there’s a lot of history behind why leg shaking is considered a bad habit (I’m shaking my legs as I write this out, Dance Gavin Dance is playing through my earphones).

    In Asia, shaking your legs means you’re being idle and have nothing to do in India, while in Japan it’s something the poor people do (they call it the poorman’s leg). In Chinese culture, if you believe it, you’re shaking your wealth and prosperity away. I didn’t find any scientific reasons that were twisted into grandmother stories. But, for people who shake their leg constantly, it turns out that there’s something called Restless Leg Syndrome. Apparently people who suffer from it have difficulty sleeping (not me, of course). That reminded me of the time when I learned about attention deficit disorder (back in the day, we’d just get punished for not paying attention in class – not prescribed Adderall).

    Long story short, I haven’t stopped shaking my legs, but I’ve been more mindful about doing it around my mom since it bothers her. I mean, how do you stop yourself from moving your legs when you’re listening to this jam?

    If I could, I’d jump around all the time.

    I knew someone who used to shake their legs constantly. But it was an audible sound because it would make the chair squeak. Now that was annoying. Also, it made some other appendages bounce, which was distracting, to put it mildly. I stop shaking my legs if I notice that it’s distracting other people because I can be considerate at times.

    Anyway, Dance Gavin Dance’s Artificial Selection drops next week and I can’t wait.