My husband showed me how to solder yesterday ! (although I only did the soldering for the piece we used to test whether our pinout was correct, he did the two final solder points so that it’s not as jank as my attempt)
I’ve been working on setting up proper terrarium lights with all the fancy bells and whistles - zigbee controlled, waterproof, and everything is covered so that my snake can’t meddle with it. Got one side of the terrarium done already so I’ll be working on the second one later today ^^
GDScript for the Godot game engine. I’m passable in Python and Lua for some basic things, but I’ve been obsessed with a game idea. I refuse to use AI for anything more than maybe prototyping, so I’m essentially learning what I need to as I go since I’m a one-man-band.
I’ve been learning how to take care of the exterior of a car better.
I got to a stage now where I can clean it without messing up the clear, polish out defects when necessary and protect it with a bit of sealant.
God I wish I had a garage. It would be so much easier.
If you guys are interested, the Forensic Detailing Channel on youtube is a gem. Jon has loads of experience, no BS sponsors at all, and he’s really chill.
Also I wish birds would stop shitting on my car!!! 😭
I’m a terrible drummer, but I’ve been getting out of my comfort zone and working on learning to produce full tracks. It’s been an adventure focusing on more of music than just hitting things with sticks.
Been teaching myself Taekwondo lately through YouTube. I started lifting weights and wanted to include martial arts to keep things interesting. I did Taekwondo when I was a kid but quit after getting to yellow belt because it was too difficult for me at the time. Now, I like the challenge.
I bought a 1964 Shasta Astrodome that I’m gutting and converting into an off-grid capable tiny home. It’s not a full restoration but I am keeping as much of it a close to original as possible.
I want to switch from taking pictures on a smartphone to using a small DSLR, which has brought me into a rabbit hole of photography. So, now I’m seriously considering taking up photography as a hobby and learning all there is to know about taking pictures.
Careful now. First couple hits of photography are cheap. Then you’ll want new lenses, and eventually find yourself becoming semi-pro to feed your new addiction.
Oh I am right behind you on this journey I think. I love hiking and have found myself taking more and more pictures when I do. The more pictures I take though, the more dissatisfied I am with my smartphone camera.
Just watched a very funny animated sketch about photography as a hobby and it sums up exactly all my fears about buying a camera.
interesting, I found that for landscapes, my phone was simply so much easier and roughly as good as my DSLR
I brought my DSLR on trips for high shutter speeds, zoom, and low light. taking wide photos during the day? just snap with the phone while the canoe is on your shoulders
I really like my old canon 700D. It wasn’t top of range 10 years ago when it came out, but it’s reliable. Ive kept my spending on it low-ish. Mostly focusing on macro photography. I’ve been thinking about getting a 400mm lens for it but I decided I really ought to do more with less, if I can.
I’ve gotten back into exercising. I’m starting to see some results in strength and endurance. I’m also a lot more physically tired because my body isn’t used to this kind of exercise.
FreeCAD. I have a 3D printer and it’s nice to make my own models for things. I learned a bit of Blender, but have found that’s a lot better for me just to edit existing STLs I find online. For making things from scratch FreeCAD gives me better tooling to make changes and iterate design, while also being a lot more easy to stay precise with measurements.
FreeCAD is so fun! I recently learned it because I finally found one use-case where 3d printing a part makes sense AND there isn’t any pre-made model available online. It was a tunnel to connect my snakes two terrariums and it needed to have very specific sizing, spacing and for aesthetics I wanted it to be hexagonal.
I really hope I find another reason to 3d print something soon. Because I don’t really have fun in 3d modeling things just for the sake of it haha
i recently finished my electronics engineering capstone project! it’s a scratch-built midi keyboard heavily inspired by the moog model D. i got a 93% :)
My wife and I recently went to Spain to stay with our friends and we just signed up for some Spanish classes at our local community college.
Off grid communication ,meshcore, reticulum
Rectuluml
Nope , https://reticulum.network/
I’ve been learning Irish for a few months now - incredibly difficult language but fascinating.
Also getting back into poetry and learning different techniques around writing. Not sure I always like some of the very rigid “rules” but it’s interesting to learn. I’ve never been particularly technical with my writing but it has opened my mind to trying new styles.
Been brushing up on mine too. :) What are you using? I had hit a wall but then came across the Sionnach app which is good but hitting a wall with it a bit too.
Nice! Are you Irish yourself? Yeah I started with Duolingo which I still use - I’ve looked at Sionnach but I don’t love the interface though I like the concept. I used duocards for a while too. I think they both have different methods of learning than Duolingo but neither quite has the easy, smooth interface yet! Also did a local online class for a couple of months but the teacher wasn’t very engaging unfortunately so I didn’t carry on 😭 I want to get some 1:1 tutoring at some stage, I think that’s the best way but obviously $$$ 🙄
I have a coworker and friend who is Irish (but not fluent in Irish) and I love getting to practice it with her and leaving her notes in the office in Irish haha. I think getting to use it is the key which is why I’d like a tutor. I’m Australian so no “need” for it here, I just enjoy it and find Ireland fascinating.
I am indeed. I’m honestly fascinated that an Australian would choose to learn Irish. Really cool tbh! What prompted you to pick it if you don’t mind me asking? There are a heap of resources in a thread I started a while back that might be of use to you. I’ll be going through them more deeply soon.
Just a heads up - the dialects are bananas. Like I used to be very comfortable having a conversation with a native speaker back in my youth but the Ulster Irish I find really, really difficult to understand. Partly accent, partly pronunciation.
One small example, the name Róisín in Connacht dialect is row-sheen (like row your boat) but for folks in Ulster it’s ro-sheen (like box). To me the fada on the o = “oh”. Not sure how it ended up like that but there you have it.
I hear you on Sionnach, but I liked that it’s open source / a community effort and spoken by natives. It ramps up very quickly is my only issue.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Kneecap is great.
Ooh fantastic, I will have a look through there for sure - go raibh maith agat!
So I am autistic and my interests tend to get quite stuck on one thing. I think mine started with Derry Girls lol which I needed the political context for so started reading books about the troubles. Then I heard Sinead O’Connors song Famine which is better than any history lesson I ever did at school and that led me to digging further into the history of Ireland!
One of the things that kept coming up was the erasure of the Irish language which really pissed me off 😡😅 I enjoy creative writing and learning different communication styles it’s all very close to my heart (I know I sound articulate here but I can struggle quite a bit with my verbal communication!). I don’t like the idea of people limiting that for others! I find the Irish language very interesting historically and it sounds so beautiful. I like the roots of words and phrases - even though I’m not religious haha and a lot of it is based around religion of course.
Things like tà bròn orm being the sadness is on me - as opposed to I AM sad really speak to me. The well wishes of the greetings/farewells. Slàinte - health, slàn - safely, etc.
I love learning the direct translations and deeper meanings behind the words. I think it’s a very poetic language.
The dialects absolutely 😅 Picked up on that through Duolingo giving different pronunciations for the same words!? Even different phrases!? Conas atà tú was what I knew for how are you but all of a sudden that was wrong and the answer they were looking for was Cad é mar atá tù? And some dialects still use mh = w for certain words whereas others don’t! Maidin mhaith - some say “ma” some say “wa”!?
Northern accent is brilliant but definitely harder to understand for a lot of people (my mum needs subtitles for Derry Girls 😅). All the accents are so lovely haha. Are you still living in Ireland yourself?
Of course I have seen and listen to kneecap! I love music that uses English/Irish interchangeably! Fun way to pick up on the language.
If you read all of this go raibh maith agat as léamh 😅
I have been trying to pick back up watercolor. I did a daily series last year and posted them on bluesky for a couple months before a depressive episode sapped my will to paint. I’m not very good, but when I can adequately muzzle my perfectionism and just have fun with it, I really enjoy it. Maybe one day I might even be good at it.
Does it matter if you are good as long as it brings you joy?
Nope. All it really does is make the fight against perfectionism easier.
Accepting
