Hi, it’s me again. I’m back. Let’s talk about November, a month that admittedly has always been a bit difficult for me. This year it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, generally speaking. But that’s not to say I felt good throughout all of it, especially in the last two weeks. Without much else to mention, let’s just go ahead and talk about the second to last month of the year.

I thought I’d go through this month with something interesting to share, but sadly that really isn’t the case. But let’s talk about the usual things first. You might think that since it’s the middle of spring here, my allergies would be out of control. But that’s not the case at all, in fact I’ve only sneezed a few times and my congestion only seems to kick in sometimes. Compared to previous years where my allergies would try to kill me, I’d say that’s actually gone okay. As a whole, my health still is rather wonky and my body feels strange, but nothing that affects my daily activities thankfully. I still need to go to the doctor anyway to get checked, though I’m afraid I’ll be told I’m fine once again.

Next, let’s talk about work. Surprisingly, November was actually a very productive month and I got a lot done. The main project I worked on was basically creating some forms. I was given constant feedback on what had to be changed, and there were times where the form was a bit tangled, but despite all that I somehow managed to make it all work. I also had to make it so that the form results get sent to a spreadsheet. I also made some updates to our costumer support website, which took a bit of trial and error to get working correctly. I have continued to study Vue as well, though I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with it, my boss hasn’t yet told me. I still feel like a total beginner, but I’ll have to make it work somehow. And I’m still scared.

This month was also somehow full of birthdays, my brother turned 16 last Monday and my grandparents also had their birthday last week, and of course there was indeed a small party with family members. There was a lot of food, I’m telling you. Several of my cousins had their birthdays this month, which makes me wonder if they were all concieved during Valentine’s Day or something, hmm. I also went out with a friend at the start of the month, and we just did our usual things, we had drinks and talked a whole lot. So when it comes to social matters, it’s all going alright, although my online activity has been a bit slow as of late. That might change soon though, and I’ll touch on that at the end of this post.

When it comes to weirder things, I do have two situations to mention. The first one happened earlier this week, I took the bus back home as usual, but we very quickly realized the buttons for letting the bus driver know when to stop didn’t work at all. So the driver asked us to let him know when we wanted to get off, almost like taking a bus from the past or something. And mind you, these buses are completely new and they arrived just a few months ago. To think they’re already having issues… sigh. At some point, the bus driver turned off the electronic signs to deter people from getting on, though some people still did, so the driver had to explain to them that the bus had issues and we’d have to tell him to stop. I did make it home just fine though, but that sure was strange.

The other has to do with something I bought online. I’ve been a bit reckless when it comes to spending money, but for the last few months I’ve somehow managed to end up with quite a bit left over. So I figured I’d get some Japanese cell phones, two exclusive Sony Ericsson phones from the late 2000s to be exact. I had to change the proxy service since my usual wasn’t registered to accept taxes, which is now a legal requirement. They both cost about 10 bucks each, but the shipping ended up costing me way more. What I originally selected didn’t allow shipping items with lithium batteries, and the fees for removing them were a bit too expensive. So I had to switch to getting them shipped via DHL, which ended up costing me… 50 bucks. Honestly I don’t think it was worth it, but y’know, I didn’t want them to come without batteries. So here’s to hoping they arrive quickly, at least.

So yeah, in simple terms, November was a bit of a busy month, but it was manageable. I also got myself a couple of drinks, because why not. I like me some Asian tea places.

Here’s something else I did this month. You see, my cat’s been scratching herself a lot lately, and we always assumed it was related to the season. We were pretty worried, so we decided to take her to the vet, to see what could be going on. It wasn’t super easy getting her inside the cage, she hissed and tried to resist, but eventually we got her inside. After that, me and my grandma went to the vet, and it was empty, so we got inside almost instantly.

Basically, we were asked about my cat, including the name, age, what kind of food we gave her and of course, the symptoms. You would think that after being annoyed at the fact she was being caged in she’d misbehave, but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, she was super cooperative and didn’t have much of an issue getting checked by the vet. She was still very nervous and clearly didn’t like being there, but she sure behaves better than other cats I’ve seen.

In the end, she basically has a type of dermatitis that was caused by fleas, so we’ll have to put her on flea treatments for a few months, until at least March from what we were told. The vet then applied a shot that would reduce the scratching, and from what my grandparents told me today, it seems to be working pretty well. The flea thing that my mom brought just so happened to be one of the bad brands, since apparently it had been used for so long that the fleas and ticks developed a resistence to it. The little fuckers. In any case, she’ll get checked again tomorrow and we’ll then be told what to do next.

While November didn’t go too badly, I can’t say my mental state was in the best shape. Throughout the entirety of it, I often felt a bit down and kind of anxious. I always try to remind myself that things will be alright, but at the same time, I seem to ignore all that and I let the intrusive thoughts invade my mind. One of the things that has me a bit worried is that, well, things seem so uncertain right now. I don’t know what’ll happen at work if I don’t properly learn Vue, I don’t know if I’m making the right choices when it comes to what I’ll be doing in the future, I have zero clue if my body is really okay and sometimes I wonder if I’m even a good friend anymore. Everything feels rather disconnected and I’m having a hard time coming up with ideas on what to do next.

Normally, if I was in a bad point in my life, I’d just say fuck it and I’d probably kill myself. But thankfully I’m not in such a sensible spot at the moment, I have come to realize that maybe there is a point in living, even if things don’t always seem super clear. I don’t believe the answer is to just give up on life altogether, though there are times where it sure feels like the only option. I gave myself several goals this year and I don’t think I acheived any of them, and maybe that’s alright. I don’t think pressuring myself is really the way to get things done. My work ethic is all about doing things at my own pace, so things will be done when they have to be done. But I still believe I need to find a way to motivate myself and get back on track.

And once again, I decided that I do want to cut part of my online activity, at least until I feel a bit better. I deactivated my Instagram until week and my Discord during the weekend, I need some time for myself and think about many things that have been bothering me lately. My mind is tangled as hell, so I want to be rational and not do things like an idiot for once.

Oh, you can bet your ass I bought more useless things I don’t need. Let’s begin with the phones and other electronic gadgets. This time I’m categorizing them by device type, first let’s talk about smart devices:

1. Chromecast with Google TV HD (2022): The newest device I found, and one of two Google devices I own. This is a little Android dongle that plugs into your TV and allows you to watch streaming services and such. It does turn on, but I don’t have the remote to test it at the moment. It’s also a bit scuffed up, considering the price I paid though, I’d say I got a good deal. A funny fact is that the more expensive 4K version is codenamed Sabrina. Made in Thailand.
2. Motorola Moto G4 (2016): A mid range phone from nearly 10 years ago… sheesh. I had originally found one back in May, which didn’t work at all. This one had to be reflashed in order to get it running again. It does still have some issues, the battery is a bit wonky and the screen freaks out for no reason at times. I’d also like to get another back cover for it, if possible. But it does work now, which is what matters. Made in China.
3. Sony Xperia M (2013): A rather unremarkable mid range phone. It’s in decent shape, just the usual wear and tear that you might expect. Even the rubberized back cover is in good shape, which is pretty rare to see. Made in China.
4. iPhone 4 (2010): God, was this a pain to get working again. I had found a pair of these at a flea market for very cheap, one of them was activation locked, but the other one luckily wasn’t. I ended up taking the display from an iPhone 4S that didn’t work, which was quite the involved process to replace given how many parts you have to keep track of. But I did it, and I’m happy with the results, even if it isn’t perfect. I had one like this about a decade ago, and it began to fail for some reason. I’m just happy to finally have one of these again. Made in China.
5. Samsung GT-I5500L (2010): A tiny Android phone that goes by different names depending on where you live. You may know this as the Galaxy 5, 550, Europa or Corby Smartphone. It’s in alright shape, back cover aside. But the battery doesn’t last super long, and I had quite an annoying time trying to update this to Android 2.3. I got there eventually, and now it’s fully functional. Made in China.
6. iPhone 3GS (2009): And on the topic of iPhones, here’s another one, the direct predecessor to the iPhone 4. I already had one, but I wasn’t super happy with it because of my shoddy repairs. I ended up finding one in much better shape, which was only 8GB and the battery was bloated. I ended up replacing both the motherboard and the battery, and now it works like a charm. Made in China.

Next, the dumb phones:

1. Nokia 220 (2014): One of Nokia’s last phones prior to the Microsoft acqusition. It’s pretty scuffed up, but it does turn on. Really, practically every one of these I’ve been able to find is scratched up to hell, which is why I’m not super fond of glossy plastic. Made in China.
2. Samsung Star TV (2009): Believe it or not, the Samsung Star was one of their best selling phones from back then, it’s a rather basic touchscreen phone. What makes this particular version unique is the fact that it has a built-in digital TV tuner, and it was exclusive to South America. Aside from the missing charging port cover, it’s in good shape and it works perfectly, yes, even the TV tuner works. Made in South Korea.
3. Nokia 2330 (2009): A rather basic phone with not much going on. Well, it does have a camera but that’s as exciting as it gets. When I found it, the rubberized coating was peeling off, so I had to use some alcohol to remove it all. Works fine otherwise and it’s in good shape. Made in China.
4. Nokia 1112b (2006): The successor to the 1100 that I showed off back in September, with a more squared off design and with support for polyphonic ringtones, though it does away with the flashlight. This one is pretty well worn, but it works perfectly fine otherwise. Made in Mexico.
5. Motorola C236 (2004?): A very small and basic phone that I thought was dead at first, but it began to charge as soon as I found a charger that works with it. I did have to fix the display, as the connector didn’t seem to have enough pressure to make contact. The battery is super wonky too, but hey, at least it now works. It’s overall in okay shape, all things considered. Also made in Mexico.
6. Nokia 6560 (2003): You may recognize this phone from that one Arabic ringtone video that became a meme years ago, it’s similar to that one but it uses a different network type. It works, although it’s a bit worn down. Strangely, this phone comes from the US and it’s locked to AT&T Wireless, and it hasn’t been used since at least 2005, all of the texts are from around those dates. It seemingly belonged to a Latina who liked to party a lot, or at least that’s what the texts suggest. How it ended up at a random flea market in Chile is beyond me. Made in Brazil.
7. Sony Ericsson Z200 (2003): A cute clamshell phone. It’s seen better days and didn’t come with a battery. And the one I have discharges extremely quickly, but it was enough to get it to turn on and confirm that it does in fact work. Something cool about this phone is that it has a Yamaha FM synthesis chip, so the ringtones on this thing sound like Sega Genesis games. Made in Taiwan.
8. Nokia 2220 (2003): Yet another really basic phone from the early 2000s. Now, in the last post I mentioned how I ended up getting one of these to fix my 3320, which left me with parts for this other phone. As it happens, I found another one of these (in awful shape, might I add), but it turned on and charged just fine. So, I went ahead and cleaned it as best I could, swapped the shell and its keypad, and now it works perfectly. Made in Mexico.

And finally, two Motorola tablets:

1. Motorola ET1 Enterprise Tablet (2011): Now here’s a really weird one. This is a product from Motorola Solutions, one of two companies that resulted from Motorola’s split in 2011 (the other being Motorola Mobility, which is currently owned by Lenovo), focused on devices for businesses. As such, this Android tablet was not intended for consumers, rather, it was used in work environments like retail for keeping track of inventories for example. It’s heavy and rugged, as these business class devices typically are. I ended up getting another one for parts, just in case I needed to swap parts around… but I have no idea if it works, as I don’t have a charger at the moment. If I can get this running, I’d like to write a whole blog post about it. Made in China.
2. Motorola Xoom (2011): And here’s the other Motorola tablet from that year, this one predates the aforementioned split. Notable for being the first device to come with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the first version of Android made specifically for tablets. It’s in alright shape, with the expected wear and tear. Unfortunately, this doesn’t use USB for charging, instead using a proprietary cable… gee, thanks Motorola. It also came with its dock, which I likewise can’t test yet. Guess I’ll have to look for those cables… ugh. Made in China.

Next, the usual toy cars.

This is a vintage Milka cow plushie. It’s a bit sunfaded, but in overall pretty good shape. And next to it is a small sleepy Fuuka figure from Persona 3 Reload.

I’ve been looking for one of these for quite some time, this is one of those weird Zizzle iZ toys from McDonald’s. It is supposed to do something if you press the center button, but as expected, the batteries are fully depleted. I also had to paint the eyes with a black marker so that it looks good again. I love how goofy it looks.

And one of the big investments I made this month was a new game… Pokémon Legends Z-A for the Switch. It’s so different from other Pokémon games I’ve played, it all takes place within one city and there’s a heavy focus on combat. I haven’t gotten super far yet, but I’ve actually really enjoyed it so far. The music in this game is pretty good too.

This month I decided to give these a shot. These are “Peach Idol” Pingüinos, which as that might suggest, are peach flavored. I don’t eat these things very often, but these seemed interesting. I mean, they certainly look and smell nice. As for the taste, it’s a very artificial peach flavor, very similar to peach Pocky but way sweeter. A bit too sweet for my taste, but they’re not bad at all. These are limited edition, so this might be the only time I’ll get to taste them.

So, that was November, and now we’re one month closer to wrapping up what’s been a really strange year. I absolutely dread this holiday season, I never know what to get for the people I usually gift, which is to say my family and a friend of mine. I’ll figure it out, but it has to be soon because the stores aren’t as full during the early weeks of the month. I will continue to do my usual things, because really, what else could I do? I’ll also get my bike fixed soon so I can ride it again, I wanna get back to that as soon as I can.

As an announcement, I decided that I wanted to socialize again, so I made a new SpaceHey account. I still stand by what I’ve said about it in the past, but I wanted an outlet to socialize with people and Tumblr isn’t ideal for one to one communication. I’m still not super optimistic about online friends, but I haven’t fully given up on them just yet. I won’t keep my account active for very long, or at least I don’t plan to, but we’ll see what happens.

Finally, I also wanted to announce that my website is no longer in active development, and the incomplete sections will remain as such. I simply lack the motivation to work on this site and I don’t feel that excitement of working on these things anymore. Of course, the blog will continue to be updated, so please check on here at least once a month to see what I’m up to. So, for the time being, the website won’t be worked on.

Anyway, see you all in the next post.