What’s on your mind?

[rm5]

As I get older, I find that my willingness to celebrate Christmas has decreased dramatically. Maybe I'm too cynical for it now but my wife goes all out with the decorations and the tree and everything about it. I envy her being able to just engulf herself into it. It's kind of like the people who go nuts with decorating their houses for Halloween or even for the 4th of July.

I am perfectly fine traveling for Christmas, which I did this year obviously. I don’t feel the need to be sitting around opening gifts all day. However, I am lucky to have a loving, close, supportive family (and extended family) and we generally celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas together. Some of my relatives have joined us on this trip which has been lovely.

However, I very much understand that many families are not like this.

I guess to me, going all-in on decorating for any kind of holiday anymore takes away from the meaning of the holiday in the first place. When you spend all your time decorating the house and buying presents and baking a million cookies all in the span of 3 weeks, by the end of it, you're exhausted, broke and ready for everything to be done with.

I am personally not one for decorating or baking or anything during the holidays. I like things simple. My folks are more into all that, and I respect that. I just don’t participate.

Nor am I one for birthday parties. Nope. Either being the subject of one, or attending them. The one and only birthday party thrown for me was my ninth birthday, and that was because my parents wanted me to at least have the experience. I appreciate birthday wishes, but I don’t do anything special.

But I also don’t like attending them either. I find them very awkward. Maybe with the exception of a friend’s 70th birthday party at the beginning of December, which was great.

 

[goldmac2006]

Thank you. Believe me, I think taking a COVID test is a very good idea. I was sent to the hospital with it in 2022. Somehow managed to avoid subsequent infections—I still wear a mask in most indoor spaces.

I completely understand! Even when I’m in crowded tourist areas, like indoors in airports or tram stops, I make sure to wear my mask too. I’m really sorry to hear about your hospitalization due to coronavirus, but it’s inspiring to see how you’ve bounced back! After overcoming long Covid, you’ve gained incredible strength and resilience. Getting tested is a great step to ensure your symptoms are managed, and once you test negative, you’ll feel so much more confident about returning to your adventures and normalcy after the holiday season. Stay positive!

 

[rm5]

Halloween decorations never really existed over here a few years ago. Sadly they are now for some. Just more plastic landfill for people to waste their money on.

I don’t understand Halloween. It is honestly extremely cringy. Of course it has a historical background and such, but the modern interpretation makes no sense and is a massive waste of time.

Sorry to be so pessimistic, that’s not like me, but I seriously don’t get it.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Was watching my favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard, and when he was getting off the plane at the beginning, the seats looked soooooo much wider than they are today.

Hate flying because it is not comfortable and is a huge PITA.

I watched it the other night and quite enjoyed it. Had never seen it before. The seats in many planes now are too hard and too small. I am not tall and not chubby or fat so it must be very uncomfortable for those who are.

 

[rm5]

I completely understand! Even when I’m in crowded tourist areas, like indoors in airports or tram stops, I make sure to wear my mask too. I’m really sorry to hear about your hospitalization due to coronavirus, but it’s inspiring to see how you’ve bounced back! After overcoming long Covid, you’ve gained incredible strength and resilience. Getting tested is a great step to ensure your symptoms are managed, and once you test negative, you’ll feel so much more confident about returning to your adventures and normalcy after the holiday season. Stay positive!

Somehow I’ve managed to get through lots of things, especially when I was younger. Lately, I’ve been looking back a lot and trying to figure out how I’ve been able to get through the last nearly 20 years with so many health problems. Ultimately, I think it’s a lot of things. But the supportive family I’ve been blessed with is definitely the most influential thing, and gives me a sense of hope.

When things are hard early on, it makes subsequent periods seem incredibly easy. This year has not been great, honestly, for a variety of reasons. I needed to have surgery at the beginning of August. But in the grand scheme of things, a year like this would have been a dream when I was little.

Though one thing is certain, which is that this year, I have begun to feel a lot more comfortable talking about that earlier life. I visited a relative over the summer, and one day I sat down and asked her for the truth. Not that I’ve been fed lies per se, but I needed to hear from someone who’s not in my immediate family but was still very much there when I was young. And she gave me the most blunt, honest version from her point of view. It was inexplicably hard to hear. But it made me more confident.

With that confidence, I feel that people can understand a little bit better where I’m coming from. So I feel incredibly accomplished that I’ve been able to tell that story concretely (without being vague) to a few close friends.

 

[goldmac2006]

Somehow I’ve managed to get through lots of things, especially when I was younger. Lately, I’ve been looking back a lot and trying to figure out how I’ve been able to get through the last nearly 20 years with so many health problems. Ultimately, I think it’s a lot of things. But the supportive family I’ve been blessed with is definitely the most influential thing, and gives me a sense of hope.

When things are hard early on, it makes subsequent periods seem incredibly easy. This year has not been great, honestly, for a variety of reasons. I needed to have surgery at the beginning of August. But in the grand scheme of things, a year like this would have been a dream when I was little.

Though one thing is certain, which is that this year, I have begun to feel a lot more comfortable talking about that earlier life. With that, I feel that people can understand a little bit better where I’m coming from. So I feel incredibly accomplished that I’ve been able to tell that story concretely (without being vague) to a few close friends.

Glad to hear that! Even you still manage to take precautions as a young man going through various underlying conditions. I never caught COVID before but hearing all these stories about survivors of the pandemic and the virus itself is astounding to witness. Some young people after recovering from Covid did not have a good chance of surviving long haul illness where some even got damage to their lungs. 🫁 Two of my colleagues who had it before got these serious complications and I could not imagine the severity of it that they were going through. One had to undergo surgery to remove benign tumors off the lungs and also got emergency complications a week after returning from medical leave.

 

[GerritV]

08:30 AM - Just got back in from my daily 8K morning walk.
It was dark, silent, foggy and damp, minus 2°C, no wind. And it was great, I feel like reborn.
Feeling grateful for my health, and doing my best to keep it up.
Time for a savory breakfast ;-)

 

[Apple fanboy]

08:30 AM - Just got back in from my daily 8K morning walk.
It was dark, silent, foggy and damp, minus 2°C, no wind. And it was great, I feel like reborn.
Feeling grateful for my health, and doing my best to keep it up.
Time for a savory breakfast ;-)

It’s been foggy and misty here for days. Not seen the sun in best part of a week.
I find it an utterly depressing time of year.

The quality of light this December has been awful. Worse than normal I think.

Just can’t wait for a sunny day.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

It’s been foggy and misty here for days. Not seen the sun in best part of a week.
I find it an utterly depressing time of year.

The quality of light this December has been awful. Worse than normal I think.

Just can’t wait for a sunny day.

Agree re the exceptionally poor quality of the natural light this year; very depressing.

 

[rm5]

I will say, the lack of sunlight I have experienced in Europe (and short day length) is pretty much equal to that in Wisconsin. I don’t like it.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Agree re the exceptionally poor quality of the natural light this year; very depressing.

Depressing light at a depressing time of year.

Shot a few birds in the garden to try and improve my mood. But the ISO 8000 tells you how things there are looking (even with the aperture wide open).

Oh well. At least I enjoyed watching the for a bit.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Depressing light at a depressing time of year.

Agreed.

Shot a few birds in the garden to try and improve my mood. But the ISO 8000 tells you how things there are looking (even with the aperture wide open).

I hear you.

And sympathise.

Oh well. At least I enjoyed watching the for a bit.

Yes, I remember how my 800 asa film - and I had abandoned 400 asa are fine for cloudy summers and autumns but entirely inadequate for the challenging conditions of winter - was (to my shocked disbelief, for 800 asa was both semi-professional and rather expensive) utterly unequal to the dark dismal dreary conditions of shooting outdoors in an overcast November and December.

I crave the sight of daffodils.......

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Depressing light at a depressing time of year.

Shot a few birds in the garden to try and improve my mood. But the ISO 8000 tells you how things there are looking (even with the aperture wide open).

Oh well. At least I enjoyed watching the for a bit.

Ok, I did need to read that bit twice...

Try using native Black and White. It changes how you think about an image, and you can get some lovely mood shots.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Ok, I did need to read that bit twice...

Try using native Black and White. It changes how you think about an image, and you can get some lovely mood shots.

The denoise in LR does a reasonable job. Just posted one I edited in the POTD thread.

Birds and B&W don't really look good to my eye. Especially when the background is not all that. I feel like you need the colour.

 

[diggy33]

I'm taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam this morning, and I'm not feeling good about it at all. I'm older (48) and I've realized that my memorization and study habits are not what they used to be. I'm great with practical scenarios, but multiple choice has always been a downfall for me (I just dont test well). I've studied hours, taken practice exams, so I'm prepared as I can be...just dont think this will be the day for passing. Oh well, if I fail, just gotta refocus!!

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam this morning, and I'm not feeling good about it at all. I'm older (48) and I've realized that my memorization and study habits are not what they used to be. I'm great with practical scenarios, but multiple choice has always been a downfall for me (I just dont test well). I've studied hours, taken practice exams, so I'm prepared as I can be...just dont think this will be the day for passing. Oh well, if I fail, just gotta refocus!!

Good luck with it. I’ve not sat a test in decades. I’d not have a clue where to even start.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My ageing Mac Mini is on my mind. Photo editing is getting painful. Turning off one of my monitors and all other applications helps a bit.
But it’s from 2018 and really needs a replacement in 2025.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Also because I’m British my mind is also on the weather. It often is!

 

[rm5]

I'm taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam this morning, and I'm not feeling good about it at all. I'm older (48) and I've realized that my memorization and study habits are not what they used to be. I'm great with practical scenarios, but multiple choice has always been a downfall for me (I just dont test well). I've studied hours, taken practice exams, so I'm prepared as I can be...just dont think this will be the day for passing. Oh well, if I fail, just gotta refocus!!

I don’t do well on timed, multiple-choice tests either. My ACT scores were so bad I couldn’t use them to apply to colleges.

No experience taking tech exams like that. Best of luck!!

 

[diggy33]

I don’t do well on timed, multiple-choice tests either. My ACT scores were so bad I couldn’t use them to apply to colleges.

No experience taking tech exams like that. Best of luck!!

Surprised myself and passed! The practice exams were actually MUCH harder than the actual exam, so I think I was more prepared than I gave myself credit for.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Surprised myself and passed! The practice exams were actually MUCH harder than the actual exam, so I think I was more prepared than I gave myself credit for.

Well done. Now you can relax for the weekend.

 

[diggy33]

Well done. Now you can relax for the weekend.

Thanks! That is definitely now the plan!

 

[rm5]

Second full day I’ve been stuck in the Air BnB. I have not been out in two days. Last day in Vienna and I won’t have the chance to say goodbye to my extended family who joined us. All the rest of my folks are gathering at their hotel right now and then going out to dinner. My definition of misery on a trip if I ever had one. Sucks so bad.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I'm taking the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam this morning, and I'm not feeling good about it at all. I'm older (48) and I've realized that my memorization and study habits are not what they used to be. I'm great with practical scenarios, but multiple choice has always been a downfall for me (I just dont test well). I've studied hours, taken practice exams, so I'm prepared as I can be...just dont think this will be the day for passing. Oh well, if I fail, just gotta refocus!!

Best of luck.

Surprised myself and passed! The practice exams were actually MUCH harder than the actual exam, so I think I was more prepared than I gave myself credit for.

Bravo, very well done.

You should be proud of yourself.

Thanks! That is definitely now the plan!

Very glad to learn that things went well for you.

While it may not be easy taking tests (especially in formats that never suited you when you were younger) it is a brilliant idea (both personally and professionally) to keep challenging yourself, doing new things, learning - or, trying out or attempting to master - new skills; sometimes, you will find - to your surprised delight - that you may have an aptitude (and an interest in) something that might never have occurred to you to do, had you not ventured out and attempted it.

 

[goldmac2006]

Best of luck.

Bravo, very well done.

You should be proud of yourself.

Very glad to learn that things went well for you.

While it may not be easy taking tests (especially in formats that never suited you when you were younger) it is a brilliant idea (both personally and professionally) to keep challenging yourself, doing new things, learning - or, trying out or attempting to master - new skills; sometimes, you will find - to your surprised delight - that you may have an aptitude (and an interest in) something that might never have occurred to you to do, had you not ventured out and attempted it.

In my experience, obtaining various certifications, such as the Autodesk Certified User in Fusion, Microsoft Office, and IC3 Information Technology, significantly contributed to me securing a hybrid intern position at NASA. These certifications required computer-based exams that focused on technical skills. The Autodesk exams, for instance, involved CAD, automation, and drafting standards, while the MS Office exams covered document creation, slide decks, and spreadsheets. Among these, Excel was notably challenging despite being simplified, as it avoided complex financial and data science tasks, focusing instead on basic math and formatting essentials for general office jobs.

My IT certification was straightforward, addressing both hardware and software, including macOS and Windows troubleshooting, driver and printer installation, port identification, and digital citizenship skills. I already had firsthand experience with computers and Apple products prior to this so it felt like a breeze. Additionally, I hold a certificate in Starrett measuring tools, which is more specialized but valuable in certain trades.