News Creep

Song: Soundtrack from Curse of Monkey Island

Mood: up and down, but around 6.5 now

Nightmares: 0

Ghosts: Swarm

Just a quick post tonight, it’s already pretty late.

I didn’t sleep all that well again last night but I kept myself busy again today. I haven’t run the printer for a couple of days (which is weird) but it’s because I’ve been spending a lot of time fiddling around with a design I’m working on. I have a lot of other things I want to print so I should probably print them while I’m working on this but nobody has ever accused me of being very smart.

I also tinkered with more electronics today and threw out more stuff. Some of it makes me think that in a parallel universe, I’m a hoarder. Consider this:

I’ve got a couple of drawers of plain old small-signal transistors, organized by type. So far, not a problem. Look over a bit, though, and there’s this:

I have no idea why I kept these or why I wasted batteries and labels (and likely J’s time, since she is the Keeper of the Label Maker). Who actually labels junk as “junk”?

I distinctly remember buying the transistors with the coloured stripes on them. I bought them at Radio Shack, probably between 1998 and 1990. They came in a pack of 20 and were just a bunch of random transistors with different part numbers. I saved up my allowance and thought I was all fancy-like when I bought it. As for the metal can transistors with mangled legs, when I was a kid I used to collect old radios and circuit boards to salvage parts; those transistors are from them. They’re even junkier than the ones with the stripes on them.

It rained today but it was still warm enough to open some windows. The air smelled wonderful, and I think I could hear the grass growing. Speaking of hearing things, today was another rough day as far as my jumpiness and sounds went.

I also need to back away from some of the news stuff again. A lot of it is bothering me and despite setting up little circles of what sites I go to, horrible news seems to be leaking in more often nowadays.

Tomorrow… I’m not sure what’s happening tomorrow. I need to get outside and

[I just remembered why I kept some of those metal can transistors. I have a very old and very worn electronics book by Forrest M Mims III that says if you cut the top off the metal cans and expose the silicon transistor junction without damaging it, you can use them as radiation detectors. I tried a few times back in the day but was never able to open one up without wrecking it. In my defence, all I had were tin snips and a hacksaw.]

check under the shed to make sure there aren’t any rabbits under there, then replace the damaged (chewed?) mesh to keep them out. Beyond that, I’m not sure.

Stay safe.