{maique}

This week I was back on the road. Closer to Turkey trip as well. A lot closer. When I looked at the calendar, it was already Thursday. Almost no time for TV, movies, podcasts, or reading. Also busy Saturday ahead, so this was posted very early this week. Sorry about that.

• 🌟 Weekend was good. We made it to my in-laws, were joined by one cousin only on Saturday, had the fireplace going all day long. It is getting colder here. Father-in-law building stuff with tinyMovieStar, mother-in-law keeping her busy with drawing, dancing, baking,… She is a very demanding granddaughter. On Sunday we were joined by a few more cousins, and brother-in-law-number-two & wife. Happy day. Since most of the closer family was there, the xMas present lottery was arranged, and I now know who I have to buy a present for. Kinda like a Secret Santa, without the secret part… I got my father-in-law. movieStar came up with the perfect gift already, I know what I’m getting him: a pair of headphones. He keeps watching annoying videos on his phone while we try to talk/watch cartoons on TV with the little one, so these will be a godsend! Thanks, movieStar.

• 🇹🇷 TurkeyTour preparation is ongoing. Thinking I might take missQ with me on the trip, it’s been a while since I’ve had a proper camera while traveling, and it should be dark enough to use one. It is trickier !!!!! Winter light would be better handled by it, I’m guessing. The other HUGE decision, of course, as always, is what watch to wear on this one. Feel like this subject always takes up an oddly long time to settle. I cannot pick one, and be done with it. Planes are booked. Hotels still need to be arranged, but it’s super extra mega low season, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

• 📷 On the road, for close to two days. Don’t really enjoy these anymore, not as much as I did. Away from the girls, can’t help but feeling guilty for leaving them without help. They manage, of course, but still… How things change! I wouldn’t give it a second thought before leaving town for a month, I even welcomed it, a few years ago. And now I can’t even enjoy a couple of days away. Adding insult to injury, this trip wasn’t even that far from Lisbon, we could have spent the night at home. We do get to eat a lot of awesome food, and I was even extra lucky and had wonderful beer waiting for me this time. The team is super nice, and we always end up having fun, on top of meeting really interesting people. We even had a picnic! But… no movieStars for two days. And the editing that comes from shooting over 2000 photos in two days? Yeah, that’s not too nice either.

• 🧂 Another, rather odd, thing needed shooting, this time for the paper. Luckily, this time around, it was close to my in-laws, and on a Saturday, when we’re already there. I’m writing this the night before, going tomorrow.

• ⭐️ I’ll often browse the Discovery timeline on Micro.blog, and come upon some great photo, or post. If it’s from someone I’m not following, I’ll obviously consider doing so. I then check their profile, trying to figure out the amount of posts I might find interesting. What I’m really doing though, is checking if they interact with other users. If there’s not a single reply over there, I’ll 99% not follow. Silly, sure, but I won’t.

• ⚓️ SimpleBits have a sale going (run!), so I just closed my eyes and got Ships Whistle. I love the studio, really like the fonts, and I’m sorry there’s not enough cash at the moment on my digital wallet to get the whole collection. Anyway, it’s done, and working. I once tried to get a physical item from their shop, but gave up when shipping costs were added to it, more than doubling the cost. Glad I finally got something from this wonderful company. I found myself editing CSS files on the go, while almost falling asleep during our days on the road, but I’m quite happy with the way things look. New toys, that’s what we need! Site name, longer post titles, footer, and H2. That’s where you can find the new font at the moment.

• 🖼 Follow up to the exhibition that opened a couple of weeks ago: there will be another show, with bigger prints, on a nicer gallery. Only 12 of the 70 photographers were invited to be a part of this one. Somehow my photo struck a chord. A new print, 120cm wide, will be made, and shown at this new venue.

• 📺 007: Road to a Million, the first couple of minutes only. I shouldn’t even have this here, but I want to get back to it, so itvwill act as a reminder. Hopefully. I got to watch another episode of Paolo fromTOKYO on YouTube, one of my favourite things to have on while editing photos. This time it was Day in the Life of a Japanese All-Night Izakaya Restaurant Worker. I love this Day in the Life series. We still have the new season of The Crown to watch, and have been unable to do it!

• 🍿 Spy. That was about it. And it didn’t even get my full attention, as I watched it while editing photos. We did watch Ratatouille as well, but that was a rerun, and we were playing and having dinner at the same time, so…

• 🎙️ Podcasts also took a back seat this week. Days on the road, with company, aren’t great for podcast listening. At home I didn’t get that much free time as well. I have HemisphericViews, Core Int, Underworld, Smartless, Hacked, and a couple of Portuguese ones on the list… When will I find the time?

• 📦 The Dropshare conundrum. I don’t use it that much, but would love to have it available for when I do need it. The price of the iOS version is ok, even the lifetime unlock, but I’m having trouble with the cost of the macOS app. I’d be stuck with an older version (that supports my OS version), and I find it expensive. Even with Black Friday’s promotion, and an extra discount for purchasing parity (really nice idea, btw). I guess it means I don’t really need it that much. Blaming numericcitizen for this one, he’s brought up Backblaze (10GB B2 Cloud Storage for free) and Dropshare this week. Still, incredible support from the developer, it took him two whole minutes to get back to me with a link for an older version of his app, one that works with Catalina. Decisions, decisions…

• 👾 Tik Tok. Decided to give it a go. It’s awfully addictive. That’s what I’m prepared to say at this point.