Day 3 - Contradictions

Back to the list

1. 'Complete' Fallout 4
2. 'Complete Homeworld 1 and 2 HD editions
3. Paint the remaining Raven Guard Warhammer 40k models
4. Hang around the Games Workshop store like a nerd
5. Go to 5 new museums or art galleries in Shanghai
6. Gym every other day
7. Plan teaching for the start of the new Semester. (TS unit, plus 1 week of Math + English)
8. EPIC gaming session in Diablo 3
9. Sort and take photos of Shanghai and other places
10. Take care of the wife I realise this isn't exactly the best way to say whatever I intended for this point. OOPS
11. BONUS: Trip to Hangzhou
12. DOUBLE BONUS: Keep this blog updated

Shanghai Poster Art Museum aka. The Propaganda Museum

Shanghai and China is a bunch of contradictions. One place this is shown from a recent historical perspective is the lovely and decidedly hidden Shangai Poster and Art Museum.

Can you see the sign?

You find it at the bottom of a residential tower, in the basement, and round a corner. And it is what many consider the best museum in Shanghai. Here is a repository of posters created for the masses and also for a overt political purpose. At first this was a grass roots, centralised expression of joy - or future joy - at the expected development of society by printers and intellectuals. Later work became directed by the state.

You might not be able to see it, but this is a poster celebrating democracy.

Here is where the contradiction is interesting. The work is shown in chronological order and as much as the style develops over time from the Shanghai Girls in the 1940s-50s towards the more utilitarian and 'proletarian' of the Cultural Revolution, the messages in the posters themselves change, revolve and eclipse each other. The poster about democracy is a good example, but another is the way in which the relationship of China and Russia are expressed. Or indeed, who are the imperialists? The US certainly, but not those in the US who are campaigning for equal rights (I imagine, until the civil rights situation improved, and then they were imperialists again).

I love these contradictions as much as they make me feel uneasy. In the end, it seems to me, that it shows quite how much of an experiment in governance Communism was. Those contradictions, those sudden changes of ideals, lack the depth of experience and thus were often struck down. Towards the end of the exhibit there is a poster which uses the face of Einstein and the quote "The only source of knowledge is experience." Maybe someone, somewhere, in authority realised this.

Just keep running, running-running.

I went to the gym today, to attempt my pledge to go every other day. In some ways this seems the lest likely of the list, as I can clearly see times when it wont be achieved. But I will try, from now. I hve waited until today to start as the last time I went I suffered from some pain and shortness of breath in my chest. It was nothing. But I thought a couple of days off was a good idea.

I completed 10k in 43 minutes and 16 seconds. Pretty happy with it! My best time was in the 42 minute bracket. But 43 minutes is great!

Day 2 - The Perils of Sleep

Some people, I am sure, are able to concentrate on little or no sleep. If you are one of these people I an glad and more than a little jealous. Maybe it is simply a matter of will that I lack, but for me, a poor night's sleep can be disastrous and extremely debilitating. This is the peril which faced me last night at 1 am. Despite being on holiday and seemingly free to choose my active hours, Sarah is not, and Sarah has to wake at 5:45 each morning. The result, well, a late start to the day's proceedings and a general sense of unsettledness.

The Day Today

Well in some ways despite the loss of the morning I have achieved many of the objectives I set out to do. The various domestic tasks were done or begun. I did a little bit of work, making the necessary arrangements for an author interview for my class. And I have visited the Shanghai Museum. Once this is done, I think some more quality Fallout time is in order!

The Shanghai Museum

I have visited the Shanghai Museum before. Last time I was here I wanted more. This time, less so. It almost sums up some of the cultural frustrations I have with China. There is lots of content, but the contextual understanding of each exhibit is almost entirely missing. You feel like the words in English next to an item should tell you more than just names and dynasties and that so-and-so was a "good calligraphist" (this is an actual quote). Something is missing, and I don't understand what.

That said, as a superficial immersion into historical Chinese culture I have seen nothing better. It is free, but there are limits to the numbers which can enter which in turn can cause long queues.

Despite my frustrations, I do think I enjoy this museum. The paintings along are worth the trip. There is something of the contradiction between simplicity and detail which really draws me in to the scene of many of the works. And for that I often found myself willing the timed lights to stay on a little longer so I could follow this brush-stroke slowly with my eyes to it's terminus.

 The Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow may have more of the similar... Domestic-work, work-work (hopefully the last I will need to do for a week or so), a museum and some gaming.

Day 1 - The Funny Thing Is...

...That I am not exactly sure what the point of doing this is!

Am I trying to internalise a bunch of things so they are once more ingrained/grooved in my mind and more easy for me to commit my time to? I mean, I feel like certain interests as I get older, are disconnected and more difficult to engage with. Could creating a plan for the free time I have now develop those grooves which will help me in the future focus on things I actually want to focus on?

Or is it an external thing? This is a blog after all, anyone, anywhere could read it and pass judgement. Someone could expect a post, and be disappointed when one does not appear either by missing some strange vicarious enjoyment he or she may have had or simply disappointment at my failure to complete something I set out on. Is this external pressure something good for me?

Finally, how about those pennies which come from the ads on this page? Honestly, I just enjoy seeing this trickle in for the once yearly "Yay! I made £2 again this year from blogging!" It's not this.

The Day Today

As a recap, here is THE LIST. In bold are things I worked on today.

1. 'Complete' Fallout 4
2. 'Complete Homeworld 1 and 2 HD editions
3. Paint the remaining Raven Guard Warhammer 40k models
4. Hang around the Games Workshop store like a nerd
5. Go to 5 new museums or art galleries in Shanghai
6. Gym every other day
7. Plan teaching for the start of the new Semester. (TS unit, plus 1 week of Math + English)
8. EPIC gaming session in Diablo 3
9. Sort and take photos of Shanghai and other places
10. Take care of the wife
11. BONUS: Trip to Hangzhou
12. DOUBLE BONUS: Keep this blog updated

I have three squads and a land speeder to complete for point 3. At the moment I am in the last hour or so of painting a tactical squad of Raven Guard space marines. If the last two sentences made no sense to you then fair enough, its pretty nerdy. Essentially what I am doing to painting very small models in surprisingly intricate detail and using painting techniques I have nowhere near mastered. I will keep posting pictures, and you can have a look at the links if you want to find out more.

The completed dudes.

Today, I painted some gray - which I mixed myself - on the models which were not completed (6) and then focused on one to get it done. Above is a picture of those which are finished. What do you think?

The other key thing I did from the list is play a bit of Fallout 4. A good Bethesda RPG. I've always played computer games. Though in recent times the enjoyment these have given me has reduced somewhat. I don't know why, maybe it's time to put such frivolities and time sinks behind me. But to hell with that. At least for now, I am going to sink days of my time in this one and Homeworld.

The Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first day of the holiday proper. I am going to see about going to the Shanghai Museum and getting some photographs taken of Shanghai (5 and 9). I will try and get some final things of the previous semester of school tied up (pre-7), as well as complete a bunch of domestic chores (pre-10).

Freizeitstress

Three weeks of holiday. YESSSS!

Tye, he never suffered from Freizeitstress.

And what am I going to do with it? NOTHING

Well, not nothing. Actually a punishing list of 'things I want to complete'.

And below is the list. My objective is to write a post approximately every day to update on progress. In doing so I will conquer my 'Freizeitstress' with a list. I will gain that sense of completion through Gamification. I will achieve through an imposed sense of collective judgement through publishing the details on the internet.

It all makes sense.

The List

1. 'Complete' Fallout 4
2. 'Complete Homeworld 1 and 2 HD editions
3. Paint the remaining Raven Guard Warhammer 40k models
4. Hang around the Games Workshop store like a nerd
5. Go to 5 new museums or art galleries in Shanghai
6. Gym every other day
7. Plan teaching for the start of the new Semester. (TS unit, plus 1 week of Math + English)
8. EPIC gaming session in Diablo 3
9. Sort and take photos of Shanghai and other places
10. Take care of the wife
11. BONUS: Trip to Hangzhou
12. DOUBLE BONUS: Keep this blog updated

So there you have it. Posts 

One solution to Office 365 Installation Problems

I have been tearing my hair out. I really have. I have two laptops, one everything worked fine. The other, a set of inexplicable, contradictory and generally strange problems were ensuring higher blood pressure and no workable word processing functionality.

Anyway, If you are getting an error with any part of the Install or fix process of Office 365 then there is one simple solution.

Ensure that 'automatically detect settings' is ticked in Internet Explorer. Follow the steps below taken from this link.

 

Office 365 desktop setup uses the Windows Installer Service to download installation packages (also known as MSI files) for installing updates. Office 365 desktop setup may fail to download future updates if the Automatically Detect Settings option is not selected in your Internet Explorer settings. To enable automatic setting detection, use the following steps:

In your browser, click the Tools icon, and then click Internet options.

In the Internet options dialog box, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN settings.

In the Local area network (LAN) settings dialog box, select the Automatically detect settings check box, and then click OK.

If you continue to experience problems with updates not downloading, you may need to update your proxy server address. To do this, in the Local area network (LAN) settings dialog box, under Proxy server, select Use a proxy server for your LAN, and then enter a valid proxy server address (you can get this from your administrator).

Fixed. I am too frustrated right now to go into this more. Safe to say. ARRRRGHHHHHHHH!

E8: The Maps You Need in Ireland

A gaping hole in my blog posts so far has been the lack of actual information that would be at all useful to someone wishing to do the same route I did. With that in mind and prompted by Elizabeth who commented on my previous post I will go some way to rectifying this. As always, thanks for reading. :-)

----

I used OSi maps for my hike, which can be found HERE.  These maps seemed - during my research - to be the only comprehensive maps that would cover the whole of the E8 route from Dursey to Dublin. A couple of comments, firstly they seemed a little expensive when I purchased them, all in I spent over €100 inc. shipping. Secondly they are not quite as accurate as you may be used to, with the Discovery Ireland series the best for walkers at a 1:50 scale, this might not be the 1:25 that you may be used to.

Above is a grid I found here that I have modified slightly to show the maps that cover the E8. I also found a more detailed version of the same thing (without my edits) here that may be better if you plan to print it off. The maps you need are the following.

• Discovery Series 84  
• Discovery Series 78     
• Discovery Series 68 
• Discovery Series 85 
• Discovery Series 81 
• Discovery Series 76 
• Discovery Series 74 
• Discovery Series 50
• Discovery Series 56 
• Discovery Series 80  
• Discovery Series 79  
• Discovery Series 75  
• Discovery Series 62 

Costing 7.57 each plus shipping.

Final comment. There is one very small section of the route that is not on the maps above, it is the link to get on to the Wicklow Way. It turned out to be a matter of 100-200 metres and I didn't want to spend the money on yet another map so assumed that I would be able to find my way. I didn't test it, but don't think it would have been a problem.

E8 Day 4: Kenmare to Killarney

The difference that a well tended path makes I cannot overstate. You see the photo above, this epitomised the first three days of walking on the Beara Way. Whilst it was beautiful the paths were very badly tended and signposted. When it rained, they became bogs. When it didn't, it had only just stopped raining so they were slippy without clear flat 'ledges' for your feet to safely follow. Now look at the picture below...

Yes, ok the weather there looks much better (it was! Actually, it was the best day's weather of the whole trip) but there is one important difference between the two pictures. There are wooden planks. These planks made much of Day 4's walking a dream; the comparison between the care given to the two paths was like night and day.

---

I woke up with full force of a cold that had been brewing for days. But starting clean and with a full hearty breakfast in me helped me get going, and by the end of the day I had walked away from ailment and left it behind (for the moment). A boring long slow incline on a straight country road began the hike. I was glad for this. The difficult terrain of previous days had given me a new found love for tarmac. It did go on though. And on. And on. And then, to my despair, DOWN, before rising to the top of a ridge of mountains and a more cobbled path which turned out to be the Old Kenmare Road.

I ate a snack at the top and proceeded into one of the most pleasant experiences of the expedition. The weather had cleared and warmed. I strolled lazily down a solid but old path, which was crossed a couple of times by a fast stream. Once at the bottom of a wide bowl with only one building in sight for miles around, I think I found one of the most peaceful places on earth. Yes all that I had walked through before was a ranging torrent of water and mud and cold, and ahead I was such to have more of it, but right then and now I was surrounded by quiet.

Things changed again. The old path became more distinct as I went along. Old, mossy dry-stone walls began to follow it. I could almost imagine being caught up by the horse drawn carriage of some local gentry as I began again to go up toward the final peaks of the day; the Eskhamunky Gap between mountains Cromagan and Stumpcommeen (All these spellings, I think, are incorrect). The picture at the start of the post is from this section, where the distinctive track became bog, but this wasn't a problem because of the blessed wooden planks that ensured a dry passage on to the woods of the Muckross Estate.

This was becoming an easy day. I put one foot in front of the other and I didn't slip, feel the cold of mud up to my ankles or indeed the pull as the earth desired to keep my boots! It was glorious! And on arriving to the Muckross Estate I knew that the going would be good from here on till the end of the day. The estate is a contrast of artificial English gardening in south-west Ireland. A real treat for the feet and a chance of scene for the eyes, but at the same time somewhat out of place. It has a forest, which in itself is a novelty where much of the other trees of Ireland were cut down for fuel at various points in it's history. And it finally has acres and acres of good grass and lawns. This second aspect announced the immanent approach to Mucross Hall, a 'modest' stately home, and a chance to rest with a green tea. I did so then proceeded onto my next night's accommodation in the Paddy's Palace hostel in Killarney where I would enjoy a day off.

As I lay in my bunk bed reflecting on how things had gone so far I just wished that I had more of the Kerry Way to walk on and not the uncertainty of a new path; would it be as maintained as the dream I had just traversed, or as wild and boggy as on Beara?