So, this is possibly my first personal entry in a long time. The reason why is that I choose not to post things about my personal feelings on the Internet, due to the fact that I feel it’s not interesting enough to be part of a blog. The reason why I am this time, is that this is actually a potentially interesting topic to consider, regardless of how this entry turns out.

I’m considering writing a letter to my future-self, ten years from now. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing, but never got around to. Now, after watching How I Met Your Mother S05E10 – “The Window” for the second or third time, I’m thinking of writing a letter for real.

In the episode, Marshall rediscovers the letter he wrote  to himself 15 years ago, where his younger self included all the things he expected to happen by the time he was 30, and insulted himself in advance if he ever became a cold, unfeeling “suit” or businessman/lawyer.  After reading this Marshall decides to re-evaluate his current place in life, and what he’d become.

The aim of my letter is the same as any future-letter or time capsule, to help myself to think of the things I’m hoping to achieve in the next ten years, where I’ll be, and what I’ll be doing. It won’t be as aggressive as Marshall’s letter, nor will it be important that I complete everything, but I at least want to give myself some direction.

…Note to self, I must include “destroy a laptop with a sledgehammer”. This laptop trackpad is infuriating, constantly moving the cursor and breaking my sentences. <_<

Anyway, it seems like a good plan, but I’m a little concerned about writing something in my current state of mind, and how it will affect me as I’m writing it, reading it back to myself, and how I’ll feel reading it ten years from now. I don’t want to fill it with depressing thoughts, which is very likely to happen, and accuse myself of being a hopeless, depressed jerk/teenager when I read it again in the future. The other scenario is that reading something like that could undo whatever progress I’ve made since then, sending myself back into a depressed state.

So, I guess all I can really do is try to write as positive as I possibly can, and just try to list what I’m hoping to achieve, with no pressure on future-self. It should be good to give myself something to work towards, trying to keep my plans at least a little bit realistic. I hope I don’t expect too much, or think about the letter everyday for the next ten years and accuse myself for not making enough progress. Somehow I think that would interfere with the success of the exercise…

I’ll try writing it very soon, maybe before I leave for uni. Someone needs to remind me. I’m interested to see how it goes, it’s an interesting idea to me. Perhaps some of you would like to try it sometime as well, I think it’ll be worth it. Let me know what you think, whether you like the idea, and if you think about these sorts of things often. It’d be awesome if a whole bunch of people could write these letters, and list some of the things their past selves mentioned ten years earlier.

An Internet time capsule… good idea, yes?

Hey guys, it’s been ages since my last post, as usual. With Tafe preparations and assessments and such around, I haven’t had the time or free mind-resources available to write at all. So, here’s another one of those update-style entries seeing as it’s been a while.

I finished Tafe, which means I now have a Diploma of Information Technology. Not sure how well I’ve passed, but I completed the two final assessments, including the 200-page report to distinction level, and the other 9-day practical assessment easily enough, though I’m not sure how well I’ve passed, hopefully distinction as well. I made sure to install IPTBB on my demo web server, in an attempt to make the teacher think I’m awesome, and to get his support for the project. He seemed to like it, though no idea if he’ll use the software himself.

I’ve also been accepted into Griffith University in Brisbane, on the Nathan campus. I’ll be doing a Bachelor of Software Engineering over the next four years. I’m currently in the process of organising where I’ll be living. I’ve found one place where my friend is currrently living, run by some student accommodation group, where you only pay for the rent, and all utilities are included. That means I can run my servers constantly (Well, hopefully). Just gotta pay my bond, and see if I get the place before I move in mid-February before uni starts.

Since I finished Tafe and applied for uni, I’ve mostly just been sitting at home. I’ve got some casual work at a computer shop in Bellingen a couple of days a week, so I’ll have some experience on my resume when I need to apply for other work later. I’ve only worked two days so far, but it’s going ok.

I also saw TRON: Legacy in 3D last week with Dalton. I’d been waiting to see it for the last year, and it’s finally out. It was AWESOME. =D I didn’t get to see it in IMAX 3D as I’d hoped, but I guess there could be a slight chance that it’ll still be showing the next time I go up to Brisbane. I also read the prequel to TRON:Legacyin graphic novel form, TRON: Betrayal. It was kind of short, but interesting. It explains a bit more background information about the plot, such as the isomorphic algorithms, Flynn’s home life and family, and Clu’s betrayal. It’s worth the read.

Most of my time the past few weeks has actually been taken up playing a PSP game entitled Hatsune Miku Project Diva 2nd. It’s an awesome Japanese rhythm game based on the more popular songs created with the VOCALOID2 synthesiser. It’s a little difficult to start off, but ridiculously addictive and a lot of fun once you get into it. The gameplay is centered around the vocalist rather than the instruments, unlik e Guitar Hero or Rock Band. You play using the triangle, circle, cross, square and directional buttons, which fly onto the screen from multiple directions, making it more interesting and a little difficult at times. You also need to manage to not get distracted by the Vocaloid characters in video behind the notes you’re playing.

I’ve played around 36 hours now, finished the game on Hard, and finished half the songs on Extreme mode. The game allows you to use several vocaloid characters, and alter all the character models and outfits used in the videos. I’m still playing for that reason.

In case some of you haven’t heard about this, but there are actually Hatsune Miku live concerts in Japan that have been taking place at least since 2009, maybe before. They’re achieved by displaying a real-time hologram of Hatsune Miku and the other Vocaloid idols with a band playing behind them. It’s actually really awesome. I ended up getting the BD release of the 2010 concert a few weeks ago. =D You can look it up on youtube if you’re interested.

That’s about all I’ve got for you at the moment. In other news, I’ve acquired another 2TB hard drive for my fileserver, and another 640GB 2.5″ drive to use as an external. I’ve also finally begun using my lachytech.net domain, but I might write about that again when I actually finish adding the content. I also need to change the layout of this blog… Somehow I don’t think these images are going to display very well.

I’m also thinking of making an automated Twitter digest post every week, just in case I don’t end up writing anything. Let me know what you think.

I’m off now, ciao.

I think I’m slowly getting back into blogging again. My new Black★Rock Shooter figure arrived yesterday, exactly two weeks after it was shipped from Hobby Search in Japan. I pre-ordered the figma version, as it’s less expensive than the other figures (seeing as I’m a student and all, I’m mostly poor), and it’s more customisable than the other more expensive firgures. This one is 14cm in height and cost me ¥2946 (about $40 AUD) including shipping (with my 15% discount from Hobby Search), as opposed to the 29cm figures that cost upwards from $170 AUD. :O

Anyway, Black Rock Shooter is an original character and song developed using the Hatsune Miku voice synthesiser. What gets annoying is how many people think that BRS and Hatsune Miku are related or are from the same series, as they look similar in appearance. Other than sharing the same voice in the song, they have absolutely no relation to each other!  I’ll add the music video here, which was developed as a pilot for the upcoming (at the time) release of the OVA. If you’re not a fan of J-pop, you may like to ignore the song.

Finally, here is the new figure that I bought, Black Rock Shooter Figma version. I haven’t placed it in a particularly amazing pose, or customised it much, but this will do for now. The figure came with several options, including the Black Rock Cannon, Black Blade, five pairs of hands, three faces, two hairstyles (one with glowing eye), and two metal chains that are most likely for display only. I was also really surprised to see that it also came with a copy of the OVA on DVD.

Well that’s it for now, I might update this entry soon to include an image with her black katana if anyone’s interested. Let’s hope I can get back into writing blogs again.

Also,  I really need to find another theme for this blog now that I’m including videos and pictures more often, as there’s not enough space for anything. I don’t wnat to have to resize everything again… Let me know if you find a few decent ones. This blog will look weird until I change it, so help me out.

-Lachy.

This is my first blog in ages as well, I just haven’t felt like saying anything. …Which is why I haven’t. I’m interrupting my blog drought to show this interesting, partially useful USB device. A charging board (powered by an AC adapter, or two-three molex it looks like), that is used to power or charge 80 USB devices at once.  It costs 14800¥ ($191.47 AUD).

http://www.thanko.jp/product/pc/usb-80port.html/

How on earth would you be able to find 80 USB powered devices to use with it simultaneously!? :O You can’t use it as a massive USB hub for data RAIDs or anything like that, so you’re limited to powering and charging devices only. I can only think of about 10 devices that I could use personally. They would include (starting with ones I actually own, potential devices in italic):

1. USB Cup Warmer
2. USB Bamboo Fountain
3. USB Plasma Ball
4. DS Lite charging
5. Mobile charging (if I found a USB cable to use with it)
6. MP3 player
7. USB Beverage cooler
8. Camera
9. USB powered fan
10. USB mosquito repeller (if I ever got one to try)
11. USB toaster (if somebody made a real one)
12. USB hand warmer (if I ever got really cold)
    
13. USB electric blanket

That’s all I can think of. Those 13 devices would only use 13-15 USB ports (including devices that may use 10V (two USB ports) to power). What possible use could you have for 80? You could possibly use about 20 to power other people’s devices as well, but for personal use, I have no idea how you could use it to it’s full potential.

As awesome as it would be mounted to a wall, I don’t think I could ever use as many ports as it offers. Not in the one place anyway…

What do you guys think? Would you use something like this? Do you think you’d be able to get anywhere near 80 used ports? Also, the woman on the product page looks thoroughly impressed.

Hey guys, it’s been two months since my last entry. Sorry about that. I’ve been nowhere near the right state of mind to write anything, nor am I right now. I’m not even sure if I should have a blog at all.

This entry is nothing but a filler, to show that I’m still alive. I can barely remember what I wanted to write about before my absence. Here’s a short list:

• Alestorm
• Weekly updates

As it turns out, that’s all I can remember, I might write something a little more philosophical as well, like I used to do. Something about honesty always being the best policy. Just, don’t be surprised if it takes a while.

That’s all guys, ciao.