Domestic

So having one's own place has definitely been a good thing.  Own freedom to do what I want; furnishing the place to my own liking.  On the down side though, there is a fair bit of cooking, cleaning (cleaning after cooking), ironing, paying bills, tidying up.  It just seems endless in the amount of household duties which needs to get done.  Previously when I was at home, if I asked someone for a gadget there was a pretty high chance we would have it lying around the house....somewhere.  

Upon trying to assemble an Ikea chair and realising that I was not in possession of a a screwdriver, I decided to level up and buy a screwdriver set.  Over the year I have been here, I have slowly accumulated various gadgets which admittedly, I have only used on a few occasions.  I have now a voltage/battery tester, watch tooling kit, a dry box, thermometer, humidity meters.  

As with anything I have bought, things get older and need some fixing and restoring.  Although my father was rather handy, my rudimentary understanding of physics and chemistry has left me only to do the most basic of tasks, like changing a lightbulb or screwing in loose screw.  Recently I did have some problems with my coffee grinder (a very similar model to the Sunbeam EM0480), where the grind was way too coarse (couldn't even use it for French press).  I tried a few different things but to no avail.  When something I have stops working the way I expect, I quickly get disappointed in the product I have spent  my hard earned money on.  Fortunately, I wasn't the first to ever encounter this issue, so it was easy enough to find some materials on the Internet!  I was proud when I finally gave my grinder a good clean and fixed the grinder so now it produces a nice fine grind for my newly acquired coffee machine!

Nowadays, I even find myself discussing with other people where to get good washing powder, laundry bags and shopping for ingredients! I think I am truly becoming more domesticated.

Recently, I have been interested in some leather cleaning and polish products.  I do enjoy seeing my leather goods get a good clean (like my shoes) so hopefully get a chance to test out some of my new goodies (photos to come as well!).

Friends again

Another year has flown by.   For some reason I am surprised that I have not updated a single post for over one year.  That was the same reaction I had last year with every good intention of updating with much more regularity.  Hmm, I cannot even keep my own word!

I am not sure what it is - sheer laziness; better things to do; just plain busy.  But I am sure that I can come up with a thousand more excuses and reasons for neglecting the updates.  I remember that I used to enjoy writing - about the most random of things and that I did find it rather easy to express my thoughts more easily through just writing than talking.  Having someone special whom which I can be open with  means most of my daily downloads come in the form of verbal rather than written communications.

Being stoic typically does not lend itself well to making new friends, though it would be probably too extreme to classify myself as too socially awkward.  Also, of those who I am friends with, I admit I am not on the front foot when it comes to communicating and keeping in touch.  By no means is it that I do not care - actually far from it.  Personally am not the nosy type and don't want to come across as prying.  
In recent times, I have started re-engaging with friends which has been good - though now as many are scattered across different cities it does make it a little harder. Thankfully, technology has come a long way and has overcome so many obstacles!  In the last two months, I bumped into a few friends on the street - and while certainly a surprise, it was great to see them again.

So with a majority of the year gone, there is only a few months to change all of that - hopefully with a new format too. This time, with a memory getting as porous as a colander, hopefully writing things down will aid me when it comes to remembering events - both from what occurred and my feeling at the time.

Anyway, in keeping with my goal, a photo from the archives - Italy: