Category: Technology

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momentous events More about me Technology

Dash cam

I love my privacy. I’m not the biggest fam of security cameras and Big Brother watching everything we do, so when Hubby organised a dash cam for my car I sighed, but agreed.

I was gym-bound one morning when I was surprised by a car, parked, right in the middle of the road. It was 4am, dark, and this section of road was remote – not even street lighting. And the single-lane-each-way with a large ute stradling the centre line, meant I couldn’t have passed even if I’d wanted to! So I slowed, stopped my car a few metres away, wound down my window and called out an offer of help.

A man emerged, explaining his engine wouldn’t start. (How did it stop while he was driving? I wondered. And why keep your headlights on? Wouldn’t that drain the battery further?)

He started walking toward me, while I suggested I call RACQ… but then he stopped, turned around and got back into his ute. “I’ll just check it again,” he said – then started his vehicle and drove off, passing me quite quickly.

Uneasy, I continued on my way. At home later that morning, Hubby was quick to check the dash cam footage. “He’d been stalking you,” he suspected. “He’d figured out your routine and was planning (something I don’t even want to type right now) but he saw the light on the dash cam and knew he was being recorded.”

And the policemen who he gave the footage to, agreed completely.

I’m quite fond of my dash cam now, I must admit.

Have a safe day yourself now, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes Life Technology

Constructing

I’ve been amazed by my son’s mind ever since he could communicate. He’d show me things and I’d marvel at how he viewed the world; so differently from me. And then once he could talk – which was later than most children due to his autism – I could admire his creativity still more.

He’s always had an affinity for technology. I remember him setting up the playstation, every plug into its correct place, without any hesitation. He was two years old. Which shouldn’t have surprised me, seeing as his seventh word (after ‘Daddy’, ‘Mummy’, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’) was ‘iPad’.

But I’m still surprised by the creations he makes. Like on Minecraft: check this out.

I took the photo for this blogpost, then he asked, “Would you like to see it in the daylight? It looks different there.”

Oh! Love him!

Anyway, I just thought I’d share this with you. Have a creative day yourself, dear Reader!

-KRidwyn

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#blogjune places to visit Reading teaching Technology Work Writing

#blogJune day11

One thing I’ve noticed about me recently- my eyesight is SHOCKING! I think I’ve just been doing so much staring at computer screens, I’ve done irreversible damage. Which is sad.

On the up-side, these glasses I bought at Rainbow Beach a few years ago might look a little strange (I think the orange-and-blue colour scheme screams ‘$15 chemist-bought reading glasses) but they’re SO easy to read with and they don’t cause headaches 🙂

Plus, I really rather like the colour orange!

Have a blessed day yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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family anecdotes Random thoughts Technology

32/52

I’ve blogged already this year about Ark. I haven’t played it since that post, but Miss14 has – and is ecstatic that she’s now tamed a griffin (several hours worth of work) and it’s in her own game, not one on a multi-player server.

Because the first one she’d tamed (note: seven HOURS of not-completing-homework and not-helping-around-the-house) had been on a multi-player server – and it had been stolen while she slept. The thief flew him around, and killed him. Big drama. Sigh.

But she’s happy now. And she’s started making videos, and that makes her happy too.

And this makes me happy.

[Lucky she’s up-to-date with her homework and the housework isn’t too onerous, is all I can say!]

Have a ‘happy’ week yourself, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

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my novel-in-progress random scribblings Random thoughts Scribblings teaching Technology Work Writing

Moving right along…

So now the musical’s over, I’ve been head down and getting stuck into the work I’d been (of necessity, mind you!) neglecting. Housework, gardening – oh, and my students’ assignment drafts too, don’t forget! I’ve also had enough head-space to actually ponder the commencement of writing again, would you believe? And I also found 15 minutes in there somewhere, last week, to FlowState… although what came out was embarrassingly pitiful and barely worth keeping, but writing is writing and a skill practiced is a skill improving, I always say. (Well, okay. I made that saying up just now. But it sounds significantly better with the word ‘always’ in it, don’t you think?)

What’s FlowState? You ask. Well, it’s a horrific tool which forces you to write by threatening to remove all your words.

Originally, you could set the timer for 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes. I preferred that. But with an update a year or so ago, they removed that functionality, leaving users with only a 15 minute option.

And the idea behind it is that you WRITE for 15 minutes. No hesitating, just writing. Adding word after word to the screen. Or else!

If you hesitate for longer than 5 seconds (from memory; I *think* it’s five but I’m too scared to check it and see) the words fade on the screen and when they’re gone, they’re gone forever.

You’re forced, you see; to write, and write non-stop, until the timer finishes, and the work is saved.

And believe me, you do NOT want to stop at 14 minutes and 55 seconds! I did that before, and lost literally hundreds of words. Yes, I cried. And yes, I also stopped using the app, my own solitary protest, for several months. But returned though, because it’s perfect to get the writing mojo happening (rather than the thinking mojo!) and the threat of losing work is enough to keep the fingers tapping keys 🙂

Anyway, so that’s what I’ve been doing.

That, and dreaming about publishing. If only Book 7 of my Justine Browning series would write itself!

 

Have a great week, dear Reader 🙂

– KRidwyn

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teaching Technology Work Writing

Why I love twitter

GenreCon finished yesterday. For those of you who aren’t Brisbane-based writers, GenreCon is *the* place to be if you’re a writer in South East Queensland. It’s a weekend choc-full of inspiration and lessons to learn; speakers and publishers, authors and agents and illustrators… I’m guessing.
I’ve never been. Sad; I know.

Unfortunately, the day job has always intervened; this year, again, no exception. I accept it; the fact that I am too busy in Term Four to attend doesn’t worry me much any more. Getting to GenreCon is about as likely as doing #NaNoWriMo… I won’t say ‘never’ but it’s pretty unlikely, truth be told.

So whenever I’ve seen news about GenreCon, I’ve skimmed over it. Then tragedy hit. A couple of random unrelated items I’d seen, clicked. One of my all-time fave authors tweeted about a newspaper headline I had just read. Then she posted a photo of her cuddling a koala.

What the? She’s here in Australia? Next thing I discover, she’s a keynote speaker at GenreCon. As in, the convention that is literally just down the road (okay, lots of kilometres, but it’s still the same road) from me – and I’m not there!!!

Sigh. Delilah S. Dawson is the reason I’m still writing.

She’s amazing.

I wish I could meet her; tell her in person how much of an effect one of her blogposts had on me.

Alas. Not to be. Not any time soon, anyway.

Which is exactly the reason why Twitter is my absolute favourite social network.

No, I couldn’t be at GenreCon in person. Yes, I missed out on an incredible opportunity… but that’s not to say I couldn’t attend; because I follow tweeps who were there.

And that’s almost the same kind of thing. I was able to follow what she said in her keynotes – because writers I follow tweeted about it.

 

 

 

 

And if that’s not a good enough reason to love twitter, I don’t know what is.

Have a great week, dear Reader!

-KRidwyn

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More about me Random thoughts Technology

‘What path are you on right now?’

That’s the text on my phone’s Lock Screen. (I said I’d write about this, a couple of weeks ago…)

It’s probably weird, I know.

But I leave that saying there as a reminder to me of the path I choose to walk, every minute of my life. The decisions I choose to make, which in return make me into the person I am choosing to be.

I feel as though I’m not explaining myself too well. Sorry. I’ll start again.

Hi. My name’s Ceridwyn, and I’m an addict.

Wha? Huh? What kind of a blog *is* this??!

Okay, so the word ‘addict’ has some pretty negative connotations, I know. I’m not addicted to drugs, if that’s what you were thinking.

But I have struggled with addictions in the past. Gambling was my worst, but as the years pass, the pull to play BlackJack diminishes. It probably helps that I don’t live anywhere near a casino, and that I’m just so gosh-darn-busy 99% of the time 🙂

But having that kind of addictive personality has meant that I’m aware of addictions when they pop up. Recently I noticed my over-partiality to playing the 2048 app on my phone; I was playing it to the detriment of doing other things; things I *should* have been doing. Solution: delete the app. Now it’s only on my iPad, which I use less regularly. Addiction circumvented. The path I realised I was heading down, was one I didn’t want to be on. So I changed my path, and was happier for being able to exercise some self-control.

The way I see things, there’s always a couple of paths before me, and my choice to take one or the other of these paths, will eventuate in either a ‘better’ version of me, the person I’d like to become, or a ‘worse’ version of me – one I’d prefer not to be.

So when I pick up my phone, I ask myself, ‘what’s the reason?’ “What path am I on right now? Am I about to go and do something needed on this phone, or am I really just bored and wanting to distract myself with Facebook or twitter? Is there a better choice I could be making – to go and play with my kids, do some of that housework I hate doing, or that job I’ve been putting off for simply ages?”

The ‘paths’ image also makes me think of the pathways in my brain. Dendrites firing, making pathways stronger. The more I’m on Facebook instead of drafting my latest manuscript, the stronger the ‘Facebook’ pathway and the weaker the ‘writing’ pathway becomes.

Am I stronger than that? Am I the master of my habits, or are my habits the master of me?

Just a few thoughts to leave you with today…

I hope it’s a fantastic one for you!

— KRidwyn

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More about me Technology

And on the topic of donkeys…

My phone’s Lock Screen shows the words ‘remember the donkey’.

Unusual, probably, but it’s a constant reminder: to be conscious of my decisions, of my actions.

You see, there’s a story in the Bible about a guy called Balaam. He’s riding his donkey one day, going to meet King Balak, when his donkey stops. So Balaam beats it, and it continues. Then it stops again, so he beats it again. Then a third time – and this time, the donkey talks to him. “Why are you beating me?” it asks. “Because you’ve made a fool of me,” replies Balaam. [Not ‘what on Earth? Why is my donkey suddenly talking?!’ – but maybe that’s just me…]

Then the angel of the LORD appears in front of them both, and explains that the donkey was turning aside each time because he (the angel) was blocking the way. The story continues, and it turns out that Balaam’s attitude towards doing what he’d been asked to do, was the wrong kind of attitude. Balaam continued, with the angel’s reminder in his ears to only do what God had asked him to do.

So those words ‘remember the donkey’ reminds me to check my own attitude. Am I doing what God is asking me to do, or am I doing only what *I* want me to do? I also think about a donkey’s character: it can be obedient, or obstinate. And I check: which one am I being? Obedient? Or obstinate, not doing what I know I should be doing?

What decision am I making in that instant I use my phone? To spend my time on social media? Or am I using my time more wisely than that?

Anyway, just a few thoughts this Monday morning. Next week, it’s my Lock Screen’s turn. And that one’s all about neurons and dendrites…

Here’s wishing you an excellent week, dear Reader!
— KRidwyn

 

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Blogging challenges Technology

Attempt: a daily blogging challenge!

I mentioned a few weeks back that I missed blogging with my online friends during #blog12daysxmas because I’d lost access to my blog.

Well, I’m still feeling a lack of blogging mojo, so I’ve decided to join in a daily blogging challenge. It’s one that’s been running for quite a few years now, with hundreds of participants worldwide: the April A to Z challenge.

The blogging happens each day of April except Sundays, and on each letter of the alphabet, starting at A and finishing on Z.

People write on whatever topic they like: some of the categories of blogs include animals; culinary; craft; gaming; memoir; photography; politics; science; and sports, to name but a few.

There’s also a theme, to be released by the organisers in the near future. I’m not sure what I’ll be writing on yet.

Whatever I end up with, I’m thinking it’ll be thematic. They’ll also be shortish posts, I’m thinking around the 150 word mark each. (edit post publishing: this post you’re reading is 140 words).

So that’s *my* April blogging sorted.

What do you think? If you’re a blogger, want to join me?

— KRidwyn

Categories
family anecdotes Random thoughts Technology

Idiocy sometimes helps

I learn Krav Maga. It’s a form of Martial Arts practiced by the Israeli Defense Forces. Hubby and I take classes every Saturday morning, and I love it. Not only for the fitness (because I *definitely* need that aspect of it!) but also for the self-confidence I now have that, should something happen, I can deal with the situation.

Unfortunately, the ol’ brain wasn’t working too well when confronted with a mother-gifted pot-bound plant the other weekend. It was stuck. As in, imagine a plant the size of a large Rottweiler, in a pot that would comfortably fit a Chihuahua. (Not that I’m advocating squashing animals into pots, here!) It was a problem. I needed to force that plant out – so (it being Saturday afternoon) I did what I’d been practicing and unthinkingly hammer-punched the edge of the pot base, trying to dislodge it.

Ouch! Instant pain brought me to my senses again. Note to self: a large, black, circular plastic pot does not feel the same, when hit, as a large, black, circular punching pad. Idiot. But it did provide me with resolution number one: don’t do that again!

So I ate left-handed for a couple of days.

I was also doing quite a lot of typing around that time, and noticed that I was straining my right hand further, due to the sheer number of times I was pressing ‘backspace’ at the top right of my keyboard. You see, I don’t type ‘properly’; I never have. My right hand is faster, so it kinda covers all the letters from r (top row) and f (middle) and v (bottom row) and my left just sits and presses a key every once in a while. So this brought about resolution number two: learn to type properly.

Thanks to the 100 free lessons provided by TypingClub, I now can. And I’m happy with that. That my stupidity could provide the impetus to do something that I’d been putting off for simply ages.

Thank God for lessons learned, hey? Even if they’re painful ones…

Have a great week, dear reader!

— KRidwyn