Excursions

I have been pretty happy with Galaxy S22 that I recently purchased, and yet, I find it surprising that my friend’s circle chose it over iPhones everytime to click pictures. This choice is driven by Samsung’s preference to make the pictures look better, clearer over Apple’s to make them look close to real. People who understand photography will always prefer the latter, the most of the mainstream will prefer the former. No surprise, some unknown Android devices keep winning the blind smartphone camera challenges that tech reviewers carry out, like one Marques Brownlee does.

A tangential thought, what do you call the folks that are not experts? The non-reviewers. The enthusiasts. Or the nerds? These are the folks that form the majority market, ones that most companies target. I always struggle to find a term that isn’t derogatory to either side. I at times call them common folks, but it doesn’t sound right to me. Neither does “normal” — that makes the tech enthusiasts, the group I belong to, non-normal? Again, doesn’t sound right. I recently heard someone call this section “muggles”. Yuck! Have people even read the books?

Anyway, back to my device selection. I have been part of the Apple ecosystem for a long time. When I recently switched to Android with a OnePlus device, I was worried that I may miss the benefits of the ecosystem. Well, I did. But not enough to make me go back to the Apple devices. With a Galaxy smartphone now, I had a chance to get back to an ecosystem of sorts again. Samsung has over the years build a viable alternative for each Apple device. A shameless copy initially, now all of them have an identity of their own. One such device is Galaxy Watch 4 which is different from Apple Watch, yet equally powerful when paired with a Galaxy smartphone. For the past week, I have been enjoying how both these devices work together. Samsung’s strategy looks to be working.

This post was sent as an introduction for this week’s issue of my weekly newsletter. I have realized the updates I begin my newsletter with every week get lost once it is out. So I intend to publish these as individual posts also.

This week saw the schools and offices welcoming the students and employees in-person, and I realised I have entered the post-lockdown phase of the pandemic now. For a body and mind that has gotten used to the sluggish at-home routine, the rush-filled days are exhausting. I haven’t gotten used to this routine yet.

It isn’t as if I am working more. Rather, I must be working a lot less than what I was when I could focus more at home. For the majority of the times, that is. But the mere fact that I am at the office floors surrounded by the buzzing coworker space makes the stay tiring. I can see the same behaviour in my daughter. She was extremely pumped to join the school, and still is. However, even she is drained once she arrives home from the school. Well, her reason might be different – surrounded by friends new and old, she is bursting with energy. She has missed her classrooms. And the busy routine. There’s satisfaction on her tired face.

Is it all bad for me? Well, to be frank, not at all. I have enjoyed the company of coworkers in the last week. The way we work when we can interact face-to-face is very different from when it is all virtual. We take many decisions without planning and booking a time on the calendar; as a result, we close more discussions. The virtual mode of working restrained us through the need to over-plan. Over-schedule. It’s surprising how free I felt when I could simply walk to a person and talk.

Sure, the away-from-home routine has impacted my reading and writing habits, too. Well, to be frank, those habits are impacted for quite some time now. I need to get back, find a window to think in this hectic, unsteady life. It’s not new to me, but it’s funny how a couple of years at home has made me forget the office lifestyle. What was the work-life balance that we talked so much about, again?

Well, that’s a thought to ponder over some other time.

This post was sent as an introduction for this week’s issue of my weekly newsletter. I have realized the updates I begin my newsletter with every week get lost once it is out. So I intend to publish these as individual posts also.

My daughter has reached an age now where she lip syncs to songs, mostly pop, in front of the mirror. Of course, using the comb as a mic. Sigh! It’s going to be tricky to keep up.

I have been very keen on listening to Audiobooks recently. The moment I have some spare time, I am listening to the audiobooks. That does not bode well for my other interests. I also blame the brilliant collection of books I have been recommended🙃.

Whenever I wake my daughter up in the morning (thankfully, I don’t have to do it every day), she has this habit of pushing her face further deep into her pillow and just raising her one finger. It conveys just one more minute, Dad! It’s so adorable, and freshens me up every time she does that. And I play along as a dutiful father.

It doesn’t matter for how long she has been in the bed. She may have slept a good 10 hours of good night’s sleep, she still has her finger up when I go and wake her up. It is the sleep that she gets in the extra minute that’s dear to her.

We love this little game of ours. When I knowingly wake her up early, and she knowingly raises her finger up. When that minute is up, I act tough and pull her out of the bed. She knows I am acting. I know she knows. Both of us wear a smug smile on our faces.

Love is knowing your partner better than you know yourself! It was only yesterday when I quipped that am like Po. And I had this gift waiting for me.

Last week, my whole family, near and distant, got together for my cousin’s wedding, and it kept me completely exhausted throughout this week. The venue for the wedding was unfamiliar to me and I am never comfortable at such places. I can never settle into any routinue of sorts, messing up my eating and sleeping habits, and invariably my body. The journey with a train to and from the destination, though, was wonderful. I have always had a fascination for the train rides, especially ones overnight. To be a resident of a world on wheels for a few hours is welcome — it distances you from all your regular thoughts. Each station the train halts at exhibits a different personality, lays out its own unique beauty for the traveling strangers. The skies in the dawns remain beautiful, the vacant stations late at nights are equally mesmerising.

All said, notwithstanding the tiredness the event left me with, the train ride gave me enough memories to remember the two nights of the journey by. The week also saw me complete another of my #30day challenges. I am proud of this one, I learned so much. And I might have continued the challenge if it wasn’t for the hectic week. I will not, however, take photo-a-day as a challenge now. I want to make it regular, part of my blogging habit.

What #30day challenge should I sign up for next, then? Anyway, last week was a slow writing week in terms of number of posts. But in terms of number of words, I wrote more than what’s usual for me.

This is an introduction for this week’s issue of my weekly newsletter. I have realized the updates I begin my newsletter with every week get lost once it is out. So I intend to publish these as separate posts going ahead.

I replaced my glasses today after going through the tiring trouble of shopping for them. There is no other process for me that’s so meaningless. What’s the most important thing in a spectacle? The lenses. How much percentage of time do I spend on deciding on the lens? Not more than 5%.

And shopping for the eyeglass frame then is shopping for fashion, which I have no sense for. What I like, I am told, doesn’t look good on me. It’s either too big. Or too small. What I am told looks good, I am not comfortable wearing that. Tired, I purchase one from whatever remains. What are clothes for if not just for covering my body, my brain consoles my crying mind each time.

That’s how my shopping for a frame for my glasses goes. What is the frame for if not just for holding the lenses within.

I had to work late into the evening in the office today. What it means is I am left with a tired body and drained mind. I have to push all the tasks big and small, planned and unplanned to tomorrow now. Exhausted! 🥱

I have been busy tinkering with many things these last few days. I don’t like when this happens because I halt everything else. I don’t read — that invariably leads to me writing less. My routine is completely messed up. No early to bed and early to rise. I stay awake unnecessarily, and when I eventually sleep, it is with a mind full of thoughts, working on stuff yet undone. No surprise, the sleep is not peaceful.

I cozy up to all the bad habits. No control on eating or control on my smartphone usage. Every good habit that was picked up is forgotten again. Yikes!

I find it curious that being productive mars my health more often. I need to learn to shut myself down on time. Learn to say no to additional work, notwithstanding the fun I am having.