A personal weblog.
A relative bought us movie tickets to see Avatar: Fire and Ash with them on Christmas Day. Since I have never seen the first two films, I thought it would be a good idea to catch up. So I subscribed to Disney+ for a month (and promptly cancelled) and finally watched Avatar and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water this week.
I just left an online community I've been participating in for the last five years. It started out on Slack at the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in late 2020 and later moved to Discord. I've been considering leaving for quite some time, but after an unpleasant interaction this morning it felt like the right time to move on.
As part of my responsibilities as a lay minister in my church, I help lead the youth age 12 to 17. We have weekly youth activities and yesterday we went Christmas caroling in a 55+ community in our neighborhood.
I probably spent too much on music today. I tend to do that on Bandcamp, especially when labels are having sales on their entire catalogs so I can buy multiple titles and save on shipping costs. “Hey, its supporting small and independent artists and labels,” I tell myself.
I never did fall back asleep last night. My soul was in too much turmoil. So I decided to watch a movie to distract me. I think there was a little divine intervention at work because the movie I picked was exactly what I needed.
I can’t sleep. Yesterday was rough. What was supposed to be a relaxing day off work before Thanksgiving was ruined by drama during a Twitch stream.
I don't even know who said it first, but it's a good axiom: the best things in life aren't things.
I got a haircut today at Great Clips. In my area, a standard haircut costs $21 before tip, but I had a $3-off coupon so it was $18 today. I usually tip $7 because that's the middle of the three suggested tip amounts. So today I paid $25 out the door.
I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner, but I am now blocking ads and trackers system-wide on my iPhone via AdGuard's public DNS. And anyone can set this up for free on their phones, PCs, or even their home routers.
Today I took a chance on buying a used early-1990s Pioneer HiFi system I saw listed in an online classified ad. CD player, dual cassette deck, and stereo receiver for in great cosmetic shape for $45.