¡Gabz!

If I am to pick my top movie of 2022, that’s got to be TOPGUN: MAVERICK, hands down.

I grew up watching the original TOPGUN from 1986 over and over, obsessing over it almost. This new one, brought nostalgia, fun, and excitement.

Runner-up:

The Batman (2022)

For January 2023, I’ll do a photography challenge, for myself. Although I’ve done these before, it is always good to do these for both practice and to get out off my comfort zone in a way. I am always shooting photos, with my camera, with a 45mm lens (I believe the equivalent in full frame is 90mm). On this challenge, I intend to shoot on 17mm (35mm equivalent) for the whole month of January.

I think this is me trying to convince — or test —myself that I can shoot at this focal length too. Otherwise, I’ll sell the lens, lol. My comfort zone has always been the 45mm or 25mm (50mm equivalent).

We shall see.

Every Thursday, at work, we have an "Idea Board" meeting, it is literally us, four of us and two on the phone, in the hall, in front of a board. In these meetings, as the name suggests, we propose ideas, discuss them, plan upon them, etc. Anyone and everyone can submit an idea, and this is done by writing your idea, by hand, on a piece of paper, with some kind of template, with context, and the department, project owner, etc.

There are dozens of them, plastered all over the board. 

Sidenote: we have some kind of meter, next to the board, that counts/measures how many ideas have been submitted and implemented, and if we get to a certain amount of points/level, we get free catered food.

Anyways, dozens, and all with their unique handwriting. And today, for whatever reason, that was all I was focusing on, each unique handwriting. In my mind, I was like, "what typeface would that one be called?"

Which made me think if I were to name my handwriting as a typeface, what would that be? Gabz Sans?  I don't know.

Now, tell me, what's your typeface?

How many days post bird site closure until you don’t either miss it or think about it any longer? I wish I did not know the new owner, that I wouldn’t be listening – and reading – people talking about it as much, and maybe, just maybe I would still be using it in some way.

Also, how many days until Mastodon becomes normal? I feel like since forever I have been forcing myself to use it and interact there. Luckily, there is a fine community of people in the local timeline I can interact with so it is starting to become “normal”.

The one thing I noticed since quitting Twitter, is the lack of information I am getting, like news and stuff. I still do get some through Mastodon but it is very little. Some of the more geeky-like sites do have Instagram so I followed a few there.

I truly miss all the pixel art artists and indie game developers I used to follow. Follow their gaming development journey until the day I finally saw the game announced. I miss some of the Puerto Rican peoples I use to follow and interact with, although a lot of them, like almost everyone on Twitter, was complaining about something socially, but it was a way to stay in the know about what was happening on the Island. Some of them have moved to Mastodon but it is a very small portion and they rarely post.

There is a sense of loss and grievance in some way, I’m not gonna lie, as dramatic as that may sound, and I can’t seem to be able to shake it off.

How many days?

I guess time will tell.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk!

Having the Apple Watch ultra, aka Megazord, and though I love it, I do also have a few nitpicks.

First is the strap, I have the orange Alpine loopy thingamajigger. Love the color and the way it looks, but the fit, for me, is a little weird, it can be too tight or too loose. Too loose wasn’t a huge issue before, but this watch is chunky and slightly heavy — compared to the regular Apple Watch — so it moves a lot. I prefer to wear it tightly, that also means, it sits too close to my hand; thus, I take many accidental screenshots. And although I own many other Apple Watch bands, I don’t feel like using any of them. I do intend to buy a new one, sometime soon, hopefully.

The action button, I made the mistake of setting it up, so it’d start a specific workout. I have started many workouts, on accident. Sometimes, without realizing it until about 20 mins later.

The strap, I can tell, it’s not going to age well, unless I do stay on top of it and wash it regularly. I mean, it’s fabric.

And still, it is my favorite Apple Watch ever owned.

I love trips, trips are fun, but trips to the ER, nope.

Luna being Luna, yesterday, she was playing around in the kitchen, on a step stool, rearranging the Christmas decorations on the glass door. Somehow, she managed to trip over and to the floor and hurting her parts in the process. She cried a whined for a bit, but off she went. However, she got hurt enough that she didn’t want to go potty last night.

This morning, just the thought of going potty was enough to freak her out. Well, we call the pediatrician, and we were advices to go to the ER, as they didn’t have the necessary equipment, if needed, for her happenstance.

To the ER!!!!!!

So, they take an X-ray, to make sure it was fine, and it was, then they required her to go potty. Challenge, ugh, accepted. A few apple juices and popsicles later, she still would not want to go potty, she was way too scared. We tried everything. At one point, we gave her some our bracelets with the promise they would make her brave…

It took for Annie, to sort of kick me out saying, “go pick Marley from mom’s”. Which to Luna, being the big-hearted sister she is, expressed her wish to go as well. To which then we said, “well, if you go potty, you can come”.

And that was it, that was the encouragement she needed 😅 She went potty, we collected the sample the doctor needed, turned it and waited.

Luna, was so proud of herself, for going potty, and to her surprise, it did not hurt. Lady doctor comes around, congratulates Luna. Luna tells the doctor, “my parents gave me these bracelets, so I’d be brave”.

Long story short, she’s fine, everything is fine but spending about 4 hours in the ER, not fine.

This post was originally posted last year today, it showed up in my Day One app but not on my Micro.blog hosted site. Which means it was posted during my Ghost time 😉

This morning on my morning commute, like in every one, I was listening to a podcast radio show, Supernatural with Ashley Flowers.

Today’s episode, ALIEN: Ancient Aliens

> Fragments of a map from the 1500s sparked a theory that’s been going strong for decades. It holds that extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth for thousands of years, gifting humans with advanced tech far beyond our means. Today, we investigate the mysteries that make aliens seem almost plausible.

I don’t talk about this often, or rather, I don’t blog or have conversations online about this particular topic, perhaps because it has been beaten to death. But I am a sucker for all things aliens or theories on ancient technology and such. So, this episode was very fascinating to me. Then, something was addressed that blew my mind. Something I had never considered before or was brought up to my attention until now.

In the last five minutes;

> And speaking of Europe there’s something we need to address with the exception of Stonehenge all of these ancient alien theories revolve around non-European cultures as tons of actual experts have pointed out this reinforces the old imperialist idea that nonwhite cultures are inherently less capable like no one ever questions are the ancient Greeks built the Parthenon or how the Romans perfected aqueducts even hard core ancient alien theorist Hindu accepted yes the evidence is clear they did that themselves cultures in Africa or the Americas accomplish something similar the reaction is somehow there’s no way they could’ve figured that out on their own

Wow! They think so little of us not white people.

(And yes, I used Drafts’s new transcribe feature for this) 😎🎙

With Ellen's retirement, work is becoming increasingly overwhelming by the day. I guess it's finally sinking in. It was yesterday when I realized all the things that will and are becoming my responsibility, or at least what I think they will or taking upon myself because, there's no one else, I think. I am trying to be the person most people relied on, a person with 25-plus years of experience and lots of knowledge in the genetic purity world. I only have 3. So yeah, I am freaking out a little bit. 

I think what makes it a little worse this week is the fact that a lot of people are either on a business trip or vacation, so help is in short supply, plus there is all the other stuff I take care of, the stuff in my plate, which it becomes very overwhelming by the end of the year, like every year.

So here I am starting at my computer screen, trying to figure it out whilst trying to keep it all together, mentally. Typing my feelings away so I can get on with my day. Or at least try.

Usually, around this time of the year, I do an inventory of sorts, of my backpack. I call it, the State of the backpack 20XX edition or something like that. I have been meaning to go through and compose it. Here is the thing though, This year has been, well, it's been a year. *Especially** in the past 6 months, and mostly work-wise.

Therefore, my backpack has become the closest in your house, that you are scared of and you don't dare to open it anymore, *el-oh-el*. I don't even know what things I may have in there. I know for sure My camera is in there, and sometimes, my work computer and random stuff. Too much random stuff. Again, I don't even know anymore.

Recently though, I received a box, a Stitch-Fix box, and in this box, besides a few shirts and jeans, I also got boots and a backpack! There is nothing super-special about this backpack, it is called The North Face Vault Backpack.

Like I said, nothing special, no special pocketses or hidden things or fancy features but I love the color and its simplicity to be honest. For the past three years and then some, I have been using the 20L Peak Design Everyday Backpack, which is outstanding. If you know me, you know I am a backpack junkie, and the fact that I haven't bought anything else in over three years, that's saying something.

The Vault backpack has not replaced my Everyday one in any way – yet. So far I have been using it as a gym bag, the few times I had the chance to go to the gym right after work, which in reality won't be happening again. But it has made me realize that the Everyday Backpack, has become too much for my daily use. I mean, I love the look of it, the quality of it, and how easy is to store and access my camera with it but a lot of it is not necessarily super-practical for me, at this point. 

I may try, to experiment using this less-featured backpack and see how it fairs to my needs, carrying the camera with this one, might be an issue since there is no special compartment or some pocket that could double as a camera compartment. 

Maybe I could find a backpack that could be the happy spot between these two?

We shall see.

I know for sure I don't want to be carrying a ton of stuff anymore other that the necessary things.

Oh maybe, it just occurred to me as typing my thoughts away, I can use the less-featured one just for my daily working days. Then use my Everyday, for my off-work daily shenanigans, and just carry less shit in it.

See? it all works out.

Let me know what you all use, down in the comments.

Okay guys, until next time.

It is the day. The last day of November, and the last day of Ellen, the day I’ve been dreading. Oh! Well!

Besides that, it is cold, and it is snowing 🌨️

The commute wasn’t terrible, but not ideal. Fuck Elon, by the way. Two things you would rather not be thinking about whilst driving to work in these conditions are, I need new wipers and new set of tires 😶

Part of the road was pretty icy and slippery, but I managed.

> But your favorite bar is under new management, and whether you want to admit it or not, you know damn well what kind of bar they’re making it into. You need to think long and hard about whether you’re okay with that.

Source: Twitter, failure modes, and your favorite bar | Coyote Tracks

Back in the day, when I was much much younger, probably about 8 to 10 years old, my dad and I would go watch wrestling matches pretty regularly. We were both huge wrestling fans. I still kind of am, but don’t follow it as closely as I used to.

Anyways, on one event… Okay, there used to be this wrestler back then, called El Bronco. He was pretty big, not super-defined but a big guy. He, at the time, used to wear a mask. I was such a fan, that I made my dad buy me that mask, at that event.

Later that night, it was time for El Bronco to fight. He comes out, I’m excited, I am cheering, and with my mask on. Then, it is time for the rival, to come out. He comes out, music is playing and I immediately take my mask off. I was so sacred, that his rival would confuse me with El Bronco, 😅.

I, a skinny 8-year-old, get confused by a huge wrestler just by wearing the same mask.