trisected

Tag: keyboards

  • Getting back onto writing

    It’s been some time since I’ve posted anything here, or anywhere else for that matter. I’ve been active running the Through The Roof programs, and in the range of work I do, I’ve been feeling my writing here is better suited for my journals. So I have been writing in my journals a lot more, and nothing really comes up here.

    But it doesn’t mean I don’t miss writing here. I think it was definitely enjoyable. I missed feeling free about what I was writing, until I started to get more people visiting the site, then I felt shy again. It’s strange because if you were going to meet me in real life, you might not think me shy at all. The difference being it would be in real life, and we would have a good exchange of words and stories. But this site, blog, post, it’s all open for everyone and I have no idea who really reads it. I just assume you read because you’re interested in my life in some way or form.

    In any case, I whipped my keyboards out once more, and got myself a fun setup to start working on.

    I’ve also started to look at Obsidian closer, if it would be a better non-distraction writing tool. It isn’t really, I think I hit the best one early in life, and it’s iA writer. It’s just the best and most appropriate pure words writing app. I hope they never change.

    On top of all of this, I started to turn on my old phones. Talking about phones like the iPhone SE2020, or my 17 year old Palm Treo that my dad passed to me when I was 17. It was a real trip trying to turn these things on again, and to start planning workflows around it.

    But was it the same as just writing? Nope. In fact, I think since putting this keyboard together an hour ago has been the most motivated I’ve felt in writing for the past 6 months. More than that, writing on this blog, with this stale layout comes the closest to what I feel writing on iA writer. Maybe I would change the font, just to match the experience exactly. It’s quite therapeutic to see the work finalised in that very technical looking font. It suits my writing brain.

    I’ll update about creativity here again soon. I’ll be needing to share about creativity as a whole some time soon, but I think as a comeback post, this is pretty okay.

    For the keyboard nerds, if there any left, this is my set up

    • Prime E RGB PCB
    • Prime E Frosted Case
    • Tropical Switches by Bolsa Supply
    • Cerakey Crazed Keycaps

    and this is what it looks like

  • Appreciating typing again

    It’s been a long time since I’ve played around with my keyboards. After getting a new mouse, a certain part of my person clicked again, and I found myself wanting to make some keyboards again.

    I remember my preferences, I remember the ways to get them. But honestly, I’m typing this post on my laptop again because it’s easiest. Yesterday I didn’t but sometimes, that convenience is key.

    I would love to be able to type on nice keyboards all day long, but there’s just a lot to manage, to organize.

    I’ve been looking at other keyboards once more, but man, I have so many already.

    It’s really fun to have to choose how to type again. It’s really wild.

  • Self Learning

    I left my finger without a band aid today, mainly because I was working from home, and I could keep my environment as clean as possible. This meant my finger could dry, and heal in a faster way. It looks pretty healed up, but I will save everyone from looking at the slice on my ring finger tip.

    I was pondering the point of self learning cars, and the idea of learning something individually. How do we ever come to the point of reflection, unless something happens to us somehow? There are moments when working with younger people that I wish they had ability to pause and reflect on the moment before acting. Humans are a lot less like computers, even though we rely so heavily on our warped sense of logic. We keep thinking we know better, or we can understand things logically. But in the end, its almost always emotional.

    Could we ever become emotionless?

    I don’t think I could ever.

    The way I’m typing right now is already testament to my enjoyment, the feeling of happiness using a keyboard different to my built in laptop keyboard. Also, I am happy to be liberated from writing on my phone from the past few days.

    Chasing my fleeting thought: I was considering getting a larger android phone for cheap again, just to work off my phone. But then I decided not to. Or maybe I would just save it in my wishlist once more.

    It’s such a weird dream to want to work off my phone. Perhaps leaning on an ideal of mobility; being ready to work anywhere at all times.

    The hard part is acknowledging there are some days where I really don’t want to work at all.

    Self learn that, if you could.

  • Making things up

    What a click bait title! O-M-G!

    But I think sometimes when I write here, or if I’m just talking about things that I like, sometimes it feels like I’m making things up. Not that I’m lying about things, but it feels as if there’s only that much that’s really going on. Maybe the feeling of how I feel on keyboard’s really isn’t all that detailed. Maybe that experience that I had isn’t that much to build on. Maybe it’s just a joke of some sort.

    But in so many ways, this whole culture of growing what we think ought to be shared becomes something that I end up standing by and agreeing with, as I do things like vlog, or make videos on YouTube. It’s just what we need to understand each other better.

    The opposite is if I just said, yeah you can type with any keyboard. Then there would be no fun to doing any or half of the things that I do on the channel.

    But I guess that’s the part, I’m trying to be real, and not to make up what I’m actually feeling. And that’s the part needs to be tempered every now and then. It helps to have friends that are real, to tell me if I’m being nonsensical in the things that I say. They help to balance me if I’m saying something just way too crazy, or laugh at me for being ridiculous. It’s a good break from myself so much of the time.

    Anyway, my youtube keyboard videos have been going up consistently, but a part of me really wishes I did more things for the other parts of my life. I deeply wanted to do that last month, but I just got too busy living it and chilling out. And now I’m in a new job, and things are moving on again. So it feels like its all moving along without me having a chance to try and build something.

    But we’ll see how things go. I’m keen to explore some other methods of getting footage, or editing. We’ll see how things go from there I guess.

  • Old Routines

    It’s been a really long time since I’ve used a fully split keyboard to type with. They’ve been blank, without keycaps, switches and just left alone. But I decided to restart some hobbies that I haven’t done for a long time for the sake of retraining my brain again. It’s not easy typing on full splits again, I think it’s really been a good year since putting them on to try and type a full post or paragraph of things, but here we are, typing on the Lily58.

    Lily58 with Rara Switches and SA Oblivion Keycaps

    I spent the day, literally day, going through all my switches, and closing up some of them that were unbuilt for too long. There was a period of time last year, where I was on the frakenswitch trial of making as many frankenswitch recipes as possible. And that ended up with me having bags of switch parts thrown around my keyboard cupboard. Normally, that wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but I think today, I just wanted to sort things out, so that I could start finishing up some boards.

    It was like a good part of my keyboard journey stopped abruptly last year, and this year I tried in bits and pieces to revive it. I feel like restarting it appropriately right now, but honestly, perhaps my approach to this hobby should be more measured this time, not jumping into huge purchases, but testing over and over and over again on multiple boards for the true best case scenario of each board or switch or combination.

    In any case, its not like I’ll have the capital to get into anything really big. I’ve got a few things at home to start saving for now, and I’m finding my pace in my new old job now. I didn’t manage to jump onto the YouTube train the way that I had hoped, but I have now two videos in edit library that I will get sorted hopefully before the month ends. I have 9 more days, or 8 actually, but yeah, hopefully I get something out by this week. That would be a great aim actually.

    I miss having time to sit down and type slowly, or learning a new board format (in this case relearning). A part of me enjoys the repetitive action of just lubing switches, or rearranging things. It’s a mental stretching exercise: something that’s not too tiring, but at the same time, it’s not exactly letting my brain go completely relaxed.

    I hope to write more again. I hope to do more keyboard stuff again. I started skating again last Friday, and sketching has kicked back in consistently for Saturday. Who knows, I really might be living the dream with my work pace balancing out totally by this year end!

  • Update Mid May

    It feels like I’m preparing to fulfill a group buy (feels like this https://rama.works/updates). These updates are a bunch of Keyboard ones, and also some life ones here and there.

    Some major updates:

    1. I’ve been using my GMK Noire for the past few weeks, and it’s been a dream. I understand the hype of the GMK keycap sets. It feels really nice, and there’s something about the sound of things. It’s just that super sweet mix of everything good in one, and it’s great.
    2. I’ve learnt that I can afford two slots of climbing in a week, and this is a mix of affording time, and money. That also means that keyboard things have been taking a bit, but I’ve been buying for the past two years, so even then, the items are still just arriving. But nonetheless, it’s another money suck that draws every time I go out.
    3. I’ve been looking at coding literally just in the last week. I’ve never shied away from doing a bit of coding here and there: obviously because I’m on my own website that I’m hosting under my own server. I’ve done my fair share of HTML back in the day, and I thought it would be fun to understand VIM and GIT and things like that. Trouble is: currently, it’s not that fun just yet.
    4. I’m currently in the middle of many busy periods, thus the lack of uploads, and just not being very present online. That’s because I have to be so present in real life right now, and that’s really kinda tough. I’ve got keyboards still not built since the end of last year, as a sign of how tight life has been. Yes, I mean I have some time to climb and all that, but that’s not really the same as setting out a good 4-6 hours to do a keyboard up the way I want it to be. I can squeeze out some easy keycap switches, but I usually need to change switches, clean out the board from excess lube or dust, then prime another set of switches or keycaps for the next haul. It takes time. And then editing, if I’m doing a video on top of that. It really takes passion, from all those YouTube keyboarders. The amount of time they take is insane. Props to all of them for doing that.
    5. I might be moving soon, and also I will be leaving my current company, as my contract ends. I have another application ready, but I’ll be out for a month before settling in properly. Wish me luck.

    That’s about it, I just really need some headspace, but honestly I’ve no idea what to talk about where anymore. I think my brain just got too spread out over everything.

  • Keyboard Days Like These

    I think I haven’t changed my keyboard in way too long.

    Now, I’m not doing a keyboard post in hope of boosting my blog site views or anything. Nor am I trying to get more content out of my keyboard obsession. I’m saying this furreal, because I felt that today, as I was typing away at work.

    I miss the feeling of tactiles on a keyboard. That nice snappiness to the keypresses, that tactility. Just so fun. I miss the Holy Pandas, and the other switches like those. That feeling of just hammering away, and not necessarily bottoming out because of the long stem, but just because it was the tactile snap that you could feel as you were typing. I miss that.

    Totally such a point of privilege.

    Also I think I’ve been typing on split keyboards too long. Either that or I sprained my fingers while doing my climbing the other day. Because there’s a certain stretch on the keys that just hurt a little bit. I mean what kind of a life am I living for me to even say that “I’ve been typing on long pole linears for too long, and too much on the splits too”. Like seriously, what have I become?

    Probably just another spoiled brat that thinks he knows evEryThINg about keyboards. I might actually know a lot though, but at least I bought keyboards with my own money and not my parents (other than the HHKB Hybrid).

    Hopefully I get to desolder my other keyboard and use my Holy Panda switches in the Rama U80-A, because I really like this keyboard and it feels really sick to type on this. I love it.

  • The Money Relationship

    My pay came in today, along with my keycaps that I had ordered from last July.

    I mean these are really nice keycaps.

    And I just recalled the process I had to take in order to plan the purchase for these keycaps. It didn’t take too long, it was a process of thinking “hey these keycaps are kinda cute” and “hey it ships kinda quick!”

    Quick shipping in keyboard terms usually means within 6 months, and these were supposed to be shipped last year end, but they only just arrived. In keyboard terms, this is also not too late, considering that it was within half a year. Usually keycaps take about 2-3 years to ship, and that’s those that are on time.

    In any case, the story is about the relationship with money that I have. I don’t usually consider saving, but the resources I have at hand to use. Sometimes these resources are also into resources that I receive on credit. I know that’s not a good idea, but sometimes I dig into it anyway.

    This way of thinking, and having this relationship with money usually lead a lot of people to question my judgment. But I reassure everyone constantly, it’s just that I really don’t see the point of having too much money in my hands that I will die not having used.

    I realised over time as well, the privileged life I have lived to be able to say that, and that’s why I do want to talk about how I think about it.

    Too often I’ve heard to flip side of the story, especially in Asian cultures, where we save money, or buy money based things, like insurances, stocks, lottery. In Singaporean Chinese culture specifically, it feels as if it’s the best if we spent the least amount of money for the most quantity of things. This results in huge orders of unnecessary things from Shopee, or an extremely large savings account with only one or two names for the dependents of that account.

    I see the point of it as storing the wealth for the next generations, but I also see a lot of hurt and brokenness. I see families broken apart because they feel that the money should be theirs. Or worst still, when they are told specifically that the money is not theirs.

    Theres money, but there are no humans left, the relationships are all broken.

    Both approaches are bad, because there could be better relationships to draw with money. And in the long run of it, I think this is something many people and cultures need to approach. Why do we work, and why do we want to draw a salary. Why do we think savings are better than spending. Why and what drives us for many of these things.

    I don’t want to make a positive judgment statement for either approaches, but I can tell you that right now, tonight, I am happy because I have my keycaps, and because my wife is also happy for me to receive these keycaps. Sure money spent helped me get these, but money saved wouldn’t have, that’s for sure.

    I’ll probably think different about this some time soon, so don’t worry. I’ll be alright one day. And maybe I’ll think different about that another time after that.

  • Trying to type with a very old and ancient keyboard

    I had read somewhere that the writers of old had really appreciated the pen, in the way that the speed of writing would play as a speed limit for an author’s thoughts. At that time, it was also thought that the typewriter would kill the author’s writing processes, and yet we progressed further to the computer. However, I am now writing on an extremely old keyboard, and my thoughts are only travelling as fast as my keyboard speed can go.

    The shift key does not work well, the enter key needs a lot of pushing. Basically, all the keys have some level of annoying press that I need to push through, before it decides to agree with me.

    I find the irony of writing in this process, as an artistic expression of one’s own approach to life – we intentionally go through the most difficult things, in order to have some sense of achievement from it. The keyboard enthusiast in me is screaming, in joy for the chance to type on such an old device, and in functional pain, from trouble of pressing repeatedly so many times to type things out.

    I will need to deep clean this board soon, to get a bit more consistency in function. Otherwise, my attempt at slowing my thoughts down will lead to just outright frustration all the day long.

  • New Keyboard Test Post

    I should have a standard set of things I write for a test post for a new keyboard. Or maybe I should just make things up as I go along.

    Currently writing on this: Prime E – a 40% Alice.

    I’m trying to get used to the typing, and sometimes writing numbers and symbols really make you get used to writing with a new board. This paragraph is coming along much faster than writing that one sentence just now, because I had to figure out where everything is.

    Also I’ve programmed my right spacebar as enter, and the left one as space, as how I would have for any other split board. But for the 40, man, this is a real pain in the ass.

    In any case, this keyboard was a good year in the making, because I had ordered the PCB last year, and literally spent the year thinking about which case to buy. And finally I saw a case that I’m pretty happy to work with.

    Right now, this keyboard really sounds just perfect *chef’s kiss*. Only slight regret is that I can’t bring this keyboard with me tomorrow for my holiday.

  • OPTIONS

    I was in a life funk of sorts over the past few weeks, and I struggled to try and get a sense of what I would like to do, or what I want to be, who I want to be. As part of this, I still did my daily journalling, writing here, and all that.

    Today I’ve been feeling better a bit, so I flipped back through my journal, and I found that I really enjoyed writing this week because of the range of pens and ink colors I’ve gotten to use:

    Muji, Muji, Energel, TWSBI, Pilot Metro, Pilot Metro, Platinum Preppy

    This looks somewhat crazy, but I swap between quite a few pens during the day too, along with my keyboards.

    I found that each color and the writing feel just changes how I feel about the things that I’m going through. I end up feeling happier a little bit, especially upon reflection.

    This leads me to also see that as much as I like and idealise the minimalist lifestyle, it’s not me. I realised that the past few weeks, I’ve dreaded looking through the writing that I was doing, and it was really because I kept having to deal with my same old boring colors. I basically put two grey colors on two of my pens, it made me feel really low and dull.

    The same for typing and keyboards: having a range of keyboards to type with really change the way that I feel.

    Strangely enough, for work, I’m happy to have a range of black T-shirts (maybe that’s the variation), and with my raw denim jeans, and I’m good to go. But I do feel the need to have other colors of white and other printed tees on my days off, on days when I’m just chilling.

    Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out more things about myself from my daily activities that I don’t really think so hard about.

  • The Daily: Artisans and another slump

    There are some things that I do that and I wonder if they’re insignificant. For example, yesterday, I added an artisan on my keyboard, and I was wondering if I should talk about it.

    Cute little artisan monitor

    In some sense, artisan keycaps are something I do wonder about a lot. If someone bought a mechanical keyboard just for their artisan keycaps, it feels like an overkill. It’s like attaching a bionic leg just for the sake of having another shoe on your feet. Extreme example, but an example nonetheless.

    In my self righteous claim of why I use a mechanical keyboard, I always revert to the keyboard being one for the typing purpose, and it should always be surrounding the experience of typing. But then again, that’s really just me, and maybe for a lot more people it’s the look of the keyboard above everything else.

    Keyboards aside, what’s up with yesterday’s crypto crash as well? Everything looked like it was hopeful for all of a day, but now… we’re looking at it sliding back down again. Ohwell.

  • Weekly Roundup 31 Oct – 6 Nov 2021

    How fast time flies especially when I’m not blogging! I was thinking about how I should jump back onto updates here, especially because there’s actually a lot that goes on. I mean, I did manage to daily blog for at least 50 days in a row. I really have a lot of random things going on in my life at one time.

    I had two orders come in that I was really excited about: Keyboards and Used Jeans. Orders from Amazon Japan, and from Yahoo Auctions Japan. I had won a full size RealForce Keyboard at a really good auctioned price, and then I won a nice pair of used Momotaro jeans. There are some parts that are so nice, and honestly, I see myself enjoying the things that I’ve gotten.

    This week also proved to be a bit more restful than expected. I got to join in a mural painting on Wednesday. It was great getting to do some painting outdoors, and just to talk to other people who weren’t my colleagues. Sometimes there’s really a lot of baggage that we keep on carrying, and I just gotta let go of it. It’s not good to hold on to it, and I need to help my friends brush their baggage away too.

    Books I’ve finished reading: The Great War by Ralph Kern. Sci-fi war book, interesting premise, and I’ve just finished Book 1 of 5. I will probably do the rest in the months to come.

    Books I’m still reading: Sanshiro. I lay in bed one of the mornings and decided to start the book afresh. Man there were so many good lines that I had missed. Natsume Soeseki is really such a great author, and has such good command of expression. I keep thinking about what the Japanese original piece would say, instead of the English translation that I’m currently on. I will get to the Japanese book soon, I’ve already bought the book, and it’s sitting on my bookshelf.

    Listening to: Yaeji and Oh Hyuk’s EP: 29 and Year after Year. It’s really such a jam. Really enjoying Yaeji’s rapping and vocals though, it’s very chill, and her phrasing is very interesting. Silk Sonic just released a new track too, and that’s really quite dope too. Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars is a really nice collab group. Such is the theme for this week’s music update I guess.

    Things I’ve been doing: Sashiko (Repairing embroidery) and Running. The sashiko thing has been on my mind since Kenjima (on YouTube) showed the embroidered Levi Jackets, and also the sashiko jeans. Such a nice vibe.

    Been running again because Clarice had started running, and asked me to train her. She got a really nice pair of running shoes, and I’m really stoked to train her in running. It means that I’m running 5 days out of the week too, but that’s good for me. I get some exercise, and I’ve been feeling a lot more positive in life.

    I do want to get back to daily blogging, because I think there was a space for that in my life. But I’m not sure which part of the day I want to try that on again, and I’m not sure if I can keep to it. But I’ll work on these weekly ones first and we’ll see how things go from there.

  • Keyboard Post: Marshmallow Switches

    Straight up one of my favourite switches I’ve ever bought, and one of my favourite switches that I can go to at almost any day and find myself really happy with whatever I’m typing with. It’s a switch that gets a great sound from it, and paired with any board, no matter how stiff or bouncy, I get really giddy with joy typing with it.

    Produced by ThicThock, the Marshmallow switch is exactly what it’s name suggests, its supposed to feel like you’re typing on marshmallows. That means that it’s kinda soft as you press down, but yet some what of a cushioning appears. This comes simply from the Progressive springs that ThicThock produces themselves.

    Their spring title is equally impressive, the Magically Progressive 68G springs. The 68G stands for 68grams of weight that is needed to bottom out the spring – bottom out meaning to completely compress the spring down. Usually there are two numbers, the actuation weight – the weight in which the mechanical switch leaf makes contact and actuates a keystroke or keypress; and the other number, which is the bottom out weight.

    Most of the time, these weights mean nothing until you start experimenting. If you notice that you accidentally press letters too much, it means that you probably are having switches that are too light for your preference. If you type in a way that you get tired of quite fast, then your switches might be too heavy for you. These things will only be known after testing, or trying out a range of boards.

    In any case, the Marshmallows are slightly on the heavy half of spring weights. The middle ground stands at about 62-64G of weight, and there are a number of switches within this weight range.

    There are other kinds of switches that one could experiment with, and these switches fall into the range called Linears, meaning it goes straight down without a tactile bump. Tactile bumps within a keypress give you a Tactile Switch, which means you are usually feeling the actuation close by. The last one is a clicky switch, meaning there is a mechanism that gives an immediate feedback when a switch is activated. This comes in two main parts: click jackets, or click bars.

    These are all Cherry MX Style switches of course, and maybe tomorrow or on another day when I’m rushing for a post, I’ll write about this in greater detail.

    Anyway, I typed this whole post on my Marshmallow switches. And they will probably stay in this board for a much longer time that they had before.

  • Which comes first? The Chicken, or the Egg?

    Or in my case, does the keycaps come first, or is it the keyboard?

    I’m legit stuck on which keycaps I should get, and honestly I wish there were other ways around it. I don’t want to get any more keyboards because I’ve already got a ton. But some of the keycap options are just so much cheaper because of the keyboard that comes with it. It’s kinda annoying, and I wish there were other ways to work around these things, but unfortunately for this keyboard hobby, it’s really not that simple to work around.

    I have some time to decide, but its not like there’s a real rush for it in the first place. Only the thought that if I don’t get this sorted now, its going to cost a lot more in a few more months. Or weeks.

    At least I’m staying far away from getting in debt again. I’m keeping everything in the black, and it’s really working out quite well.

    Or maybe I should get my IPPT done again and get some money there. And get fit too.

    In any case, the egg came first, in my opinion. lol.

  • Making this work

    So the past week I’ve had really long posts. It’s actually really fun to type because I’m typing on keyboards that I really like. But that’s not always the point. Or maybe it shouldn’t be. Like maybe I should be writing about something because it needs to make a strong point, or it needs to educate. Do I want the world to know that I only like typing because of the typing experiences on the keyboards I have?

    Maybe I do, and maybe that’s how I could be known. But I think the idea of how this will work is a bit more important.

    There is definitely some lethargy to get started some days. Like what is the title of what I should even call this? But there are days when I’m just flying through, and everything is rushing to get out of me.

    I try my best to manage this by being present, as I allow my brain to just write away. I try to just let my fingers enjoy the flow of the typing, and then for my ears to enjoy the sound of the typing. Then of course, there’s some flow state involved there, I think.

    I might want to try writing fiction, but honestly, I think that I need so much more effort for that, and I’m trying to keep this one low, and easy to hit, so that I can write everyday. The quality might suffer, but the quantity is so high.

    I guess I could try planning things out, and making it make sense properly. But once again, as I’ve said many times, I started this for me, and not for anyone else.

    So you know, I could just record how much I like typing on this keyboard, because I really do. I hate that I have to leave in a sec to get work done, because my work does not involve typing on this keyboard. Or at least not the work that I have to do today. I will come back and type for sure, after the work is done.

  • One thought away

    Maybe its yesterday’s long post on Steve Jobs that is making me think this, but I am currently thinking: Some of the world’s best ideas are just one thought away. It’s not that far. It’s just another step and we have to hit that step somehow.

    Daily blogging mixed in with typing on a RealForce board has really become a sort of therapy for me. I really enjoy typing, and it’s something I should embrace properly. I can have fun with it, and I should. I feel as if my thoughts are stuck with how my keyboard life ought to be, and the need to do things a certain way just to be part of the keyboard community. But it’s definitely not true, and I look forward to these daily occasions to type away, and just feel the keyboard underneath my fingers.

    Me being me, I keep looking at more and more options, which doesn’t really work out that well for my wallet. I keep looking more variations to test and play around on these things. It’s really quite an exciting process, expensive process.

    Maybe one day, these thoughts would be that thought that helps to change things up. And just maybe, I could track that on one of these many keyboards that I have right now.

  • Late Night, Last Minute

    I’ve been wanting to sit down all day. More than that, I’ve been wanting to type on this particular keyboard that I’m currently typing one for the whole day too. It’s a big keyboard, a full sized one, with the number pad and all that. I’ve not typed on any of these for the longest time, and personally, I think that it’s really huge. To add to it, it’s a JIS layout, which swaps around a bunch of the keys that regular keyboards use. Normally I, as with most of us, would be on an ANSI board.

    But today, tonight, I’m typing on a board that’s a few years old, and it’s also got some really nice clacks to it, as I’m typing. It’s Topre, a rubber dome electrocapacitive switch. It’s also got no OS Key, which makes me type in the strangest way. I am really used to having my Mac Command Key, but I’m just mouse clicking my copy and paste, and things like that.

    In any case, I’m still having fun typing on this. It’s quite fun, but not as fun as the HHKB. Maybe because of the layout, without the command key? Maybe because of the JIS and all the apostrophes are Shift + 7, and it took me like 30 seconds to find the plus sign. (Plus is Shift + Colon, and parenthesis is Shift + 8 and Shift + 9) Tonnes of relearning to do.

    But hey, I have this really nice noisy keyboard to type with, and its really fun. Its louder than the HHKB, and also takes some effort to press. But man, this is really sparking some interesting ideas in my head for future keyboard plans…

    Here’s to tomorrow’s Joel, who will figure out what to do about these keyboards somehow.

  • Daily Blogging is tough

    I have to keep thinking about what to say, and its just like on and on and on. LOL. I have a lot of things to talk about, but not everything is “blog worthy” I guess.

    And to make a post, I shall complain about blog-worthiness. It feels like there needs to be a point made, or something that I’ve reflected on one way or another. But honestly, it’s not really true. I could write about anything I want, because it’s a daily blog after all.

    So I shall just update that I’ve won two old boards on Yahoo Auctions Japan right now, and I’m just waiting for them to ship, and I’ll sort out all the shipping fees later. But wow, I am honestly quite excited for this journey down retro boards and all that.

    Wish me luck, and pray for my wallet. I have set caps, and thankfully I’m keeping to them. But just in case… hahaha…

  • Typing in Bed

    This sounds absolutely ludicrous, but after years, I am finally typing in bed again.

    It’s a thing because when I was much younger, say about 17, 18 years old, I used to love typing in bed, and just spilling my thoughts out. I would write an email newsletter to a range of friends and acquaintances. I would write on LiveJournal, this old blogsite that a lot of us had used back in the day. All these written on my white MacBook, and just rattling away on the built in keyboard.

    It was that where I really enjoyed the idea of typing, and soon after I purchased my Apple Magic Keyboard, so that I could type more and more. I would type from a distance, because I could. And this kept up through my army days as well. I would write on the weekends, and every now and then, just type away on my bed as I thought through things before I slept. It was a really relaxing way to end the day.

    There’s an imagery and scene in my head: view of the street below, with the orange yellow street lights that glowed through the rain trees. The flashes of the zebra crossing, and the cars driving past in sporadic intervals. And then of course, the white glow of the Apple Logo, mirrored against the window glass. Because I would be sitting there typing away, and hoping to make sense of my brain as I put it on an email. Or a post.

    I’m back writing in bed again, after over 10 years.

    Ok, that’s a dramatic statement.

    I’m back writing in bed again, after some time, because I’ve got a keyboard that fits nicely on my lap, and I’m writing on my iPad, as part of WordPress apps that allow it. I couldn’t do this for the past few years, because my white MacBook from my teens, became way too slow. My MacBook Pro from 2014 has also slowed down dramatically, but more because of a faulty battery that I cant deal with so much. And the iMacs that I have cant be carried to bed to type.

    But now, those technical difficulties are put away. More than that, I have a keyboard that is really of such an enjoyable quality, that I am encouraged to type more and more. Thus, this very long post about how I have a new keyboard. The night owl Joel, who loves to write and talk, has been reawakened!

    Stay tuned for a lot more consistent posts… I hope.

  • For the sake of it

    I used to write on my old blog years ago because I love the sound of the typing I made on the laptop. It sounds stupid then, but wow, what an opposite end of that I have now reached. I’m literally typing now just for the sound of what I’m feeling.

    I’m doing this for the sound of it, I’m doing it for the feels. I’m hammering away, and thinking of what I could possibly type about, just for me to type away on a keyboard. I’m typing with Marshmallow switches by the way, which have this really interesting typing feeling. There are a few videos going through it, but I had to wait some time before getting these switches.

    Just the sound of typing, and that process of thinking, and translating them immediately into words on screen. That’s really relaxing. At the same time, I also have my own preferences in how I do this for writing by hand. And I do have my different pens, inks, and papers. I do this for everything I have. I have specific jeans that I wear for certain days, I have coffees that I drink for a certain bolt of inspiration, I have a specific black T-Shirt that I wear just for days when I feel like I’m literally grinding at work (Uniqlo U Black Round Neck short sleeve T-Shirt).

    The way life is lived matters a lot to me, I guess. There’s no such thing as just doing something “for the sake of it”, or if there is, then the obligation behind that is something that I treasure a lot. I don’t think we should live lives that are done “for the sake of it”, because in a large way, our parents didn’t have us for the sake of just having another human being born into the world. Even if they would say it that way, I would imagine there’s a much larger reason than that. I also think that our ideas of society enforce specific reasoning why we think and act in a certain way, so nothing is really done just because.

    All these thoughts spawning out of me typing because I enjoy the feeling of typing; what a win. I’ve been thinking about typing for awhile. Not because I have anything specific that I want to say. But because I miss enjoying the feeling of just doing that something. It’s an enjoyment in that process of doing it. It’s never done for the sake of it, it’s done purposefully. It’s chosen. It’s needed. It’s what I want to do. It’s what makes me happy.

    I hope you’ve done something that makes you happy today, even if it’s just wearing your socks on the right leg first, then the left. That’s not just putting on socks for the sake of it, it’s your subconscious decision to choose your right leg over your left, and that makes you happy. Try it the other way round. You really might not be that happy, but you might appreciate the way you do it regularly after that.

  • Keyboard Thoughts: Why Type?

    I think that there’s a lot to say about this. But maybe I’ll put it forward in a way that I think makes sense to me.

    I’ve been on this whole keyboard tirade for the past few months. It’s slowing down now purely because I’m really maxing out my budget. I also only have one pair of hands, and that limits how much typing I can do in a day. This doesn’t mean that I’m not interested, but I’m just really slowing down to appreciate it a lot more.

    So why type? What’s the deal with typing and this whole approach to it that I would pour in so much cash, and time, and effort, just to make letters appear on screen? Is there a point to it, other than just plain aesthetics?

    For starters, being trained in design, I do not necessarily agree with the design choices that are presented by the majority of keyboard creators. Many use really standardized typefaces, and they sit blandly on the keycaps. Some do experiment, and they make you smile when you see the type face. One of these is Biip, and his keycap designs are always striking. They hold character.

    Also that RGB, yes yes no? Or maybe no no yes? That bright bar of rainbow colored light just shooting into my eyes. I must admit it has definitely grown on me, rather than me abstaining from it. I used to turn it off immediately when the underglow would start. The stark brightness that just doesn’t make sense. What’s the design problem that they were trying to solve? That dark tables needed lighting? The Apple keyboards had shine through and that works for us great, I think? But there it is, just sitting there, glowing now on the very keyboard I am typing on.

    So what’s the point? Hitting the keys on this chunky bulk, instead of the wireless light taps that we make on the modern keyboard attached to our laptops, or the bluetooth keyboards that are stuck magnetically to our tablet screens. What is the draw?

    I would say preference is the draw. Preference is this word referring to the hot mess of “I’ll do me, you’ll do you”. Preference dictates that gaudy colors shooting out as you type is okay, because that’s what you like. That’s you doing you. Preference means that I don’t have to stick with the shine-through of the Apple Keyboards. Preference is what makes it work.

    Preference pops up quite often in our lives. We have preferences in the way phones that we use. We have preferences in the colors and looks of the clothing that we put on. Preferences also lie between the choices of what kind of utensils, even though fine dining has its set rules. Preferences mean that for some of my meals, I would just like to have a cheese burger please. It means that for others, they would have a salad instead. This means to say that, in the way I am choosing to type, I am choosing to type based on the preference I have at the moment.

    This choice is arbitrary. I would like to say it is not logical. There is no logic to why someone would choose one keyboard preference over another, the same way why we have no “logic” to what clothes we choose to wear. We might have programmed a routine, but to assign a general color to the public sounds completely ridiculous. I am choosing to type with a NovelKey Cream switch, because I can, and I choose to. I like the sound it makes today. I might not feel this way tomorrow, but we can work it out then. I like the options that I can have with mechanical keyboards, and the world just feels better a little bit.

    Just like the expensive running shoes that I had bought to get me started on running, I feel the need to type a lot more when I have a nice keyboard beneath my fingertips. I feel the need to also be accurate, and to type really fast so that the noise of the clacks just ring into my ears. It just snaps so well.

    I have other sounds to liken it to, like the sound of skateboarding on tiled floors. The sound of rain when it hits a piece of cloth. The sound of coffee beans grinding in a hand grinder. The sound of a hi hat in a drum beat. The sound of rhythm, the sound of a beat. But this beat just taps its way around and on your fingers. There’s no need for fidgeting; you’re already letting your fingers dance on an exciting dance floor.

    Because of all that, my happy fingers would like to tell you, that this is why I type, and why I type on a mechanical keyboard.

  • Starting out 2021 with a Clack

    So! Here we are, at the start of another year. I think I wrote a lot more this year than in previous years, and it’s pretty nice. They even have some fancy updates for the WordPress stock templates, which is So Much Easier for me. I don’t like to think through these things about websites and all that much anymore. That being said, I think coding is still a pretty fun thing to get started with. Maybe it could be something that I get more into in the months to come.

    Or maybe I just get used to the things that I already have coming. I have built a few too many keyboards for someone who just got into the Mechanical Keyboard hobby in three months. If you are reading this, and you’re interested, hit me up on Instagram and we can make something happen.

    I’ve been writing little reviews of keyboard things on my discord channel, which is meant for other things but the only thing actually active is keyboard discussions. At this point, I would call it an unhealthy obsession, but that would be admitting that I have an issue with keyboards. The horrors of the truth are reasons why ignorance will always be bliss.

    Maybe I do read a bit too much about keyboards. I have honestly watched so many reviews and listened to so many typing tests that I can honestly tell you the sound profiles that I like. I can also tell you how I feel having been typing or trying to touch type for the past few months. I still hit my backspace with my ring finger instead of my pinky. And my letter B with my right hand instead of my left. The things you find out when you get into split keyboards.

    But I think one of the biggest learning points for me is really the way that life works. The “Needs” vs the “wants”. Things that are good to have, or things that are nice to have, and how all that plays for us in everyday life. Sometimes, we keep waiting, or hoping for the best things to appear, but the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is how The Best is something totally preferential.

    So this year starts with a clack, not a bang. It starts small, consistently, and builds itself around. Last year was such a year to find out about myself, and this year won’t be much different, I imagine. Life will remain somewhat mysterious for myself, and we will eventually get through it.

    Maybe I’ll post some pictures of my keyboard builds here. I currently have not posted them on social media for long, only for stories. The therapy of building a keyboard can really suck me away for hours on end.

    Another maybe, I might start writing stories to place here. I used to write on Medium, or on my own spaces. But maybe now, I’ll house them here, and maybe even do some graphics to go with. We’ll see how that goes.

    also subscribe to my youtube if you haven’t already.

    youtube.com/trisected

  • Keyboard Life Part 1

    I actually started a discord just for me to write about keyboards in. I feel like there’s way too much in my brains that goes on and on about keyboards all day long. I feel things like touch typing as important, I feel that the way we press things needs to be well experienced. That finger push that could make your day just that little bit happier, and maybe its all just placebo. But is it really, if I’ve spent so long on it? Just like how people spend so long looking at finance, and making a big deal out of paper that is noted. I’m just looking at an item that I need to make, and not trust some governmental agency to dictate its price for.

    What a world we live in, where mechanical keyboards in its true complexity has made my jam. What a world indeed.

    Major learning about keyboard life this week: an ergonomic split keyboard can include a lot more functionality than a full size keyboard. This is because most ergos have more specialization in their build.

    Today’s writing is brought to you by:
    Tokyo60, with Drop Invyr Holy Panda Switches, and SA 9009 Keycaps. The sound and pressing is really such a great feel. I am enjoying every bit of this post.