If you go to the first page of this blog, you will notice something odd. There are some old posts (dating back to 2018) with a big gap leading back to 2022.

This is because I started pulling posts from my old blog. For the most part, I copied the old post as they appeared originally. This is despite the fact some of them make me cringe; some of them are terribly written.

Some posts won’t make it over here and will end up on the wiki, while others won’t make it at all. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to find some older posts still (from before the days of TAONAW) and add them as well.

I’m on a train heading to Pennsylvania. We were stuck in New Jersey for an hour or so. Some complications with the power lines involving balloons, a parade, and people with too much alcohol in their blood in honor of St. Patrick. The ride takes 3.5 hours as is, so I’ve had more than enough time to contemplate what’s on my mind.

It’s been busy at work. Not just the actual labor; there was a lot of mental effort. We have a finite amount of energy each day, and we tend to underestimate how much of it we spend on things we don’t fully grasp. It’s one thing to evaluate a 3-hour project in terms of time and money, but how do you evaluate it in terms of mental energy? You can’t bullet-point energy units, and it can be difficult to know when you stopped autopiloting and wandered into brainstorming land. Comparing the mental “cost” of one project to another is hard as well; we don’t have a catalog explaining that “all projects in X category cost Y energy bottles.”

When we’re sick, we go see a doctor, get medicine, and take a day off of work. But when we’re mentally depleted we shrug it off and keep going. Why is a “mental day” considered a privilege still for most people?

I’m far from being the first one to ask such questions, but I realize I owe myself to ask them more often. I’m just tired. A bit of a rest, a walk in the sun, good music - and I’m recharged. Good to go. Medicine for the mind.

Today I beat the Fire Bellowback in the Sigma vault in Horizon Zero Dawn. The boss’s weapon: stressful mash-button panic that makes me rage-quit a game and not pick it up for months, if at all. This time, I emerged victorious.

Games 🎮 can teach you life lessons. Hades, a game you have to try right now if you haven’t, (seriously, stop reading, buy and download it, and come back after you’ve died several times) is a masterpiece lesson in never giving up. I don’t think I would beat the Fireback if it wasn’t for the daddy issues in Hades (If you play it you’ll understand).

Facing fears is a lesson no game taught me better than Subnautica (turns out I have a phobia of being under seawater). A game about accepting death? Try What Remains of Edith Finch. Regrets and leaving a better world behind you for those you learn to care about? Try RDR2. In my opinion, the game succeeded where many movies failed.

That’s not to say there aren’t some terrible games out there (actually, I’m not a big fan of HZD, I think it has many issues), but even the bad ones can have some gold nuggets with things to teach you to become a better version of yourself.

When I was a teenager, my parents told me I’ll “grow out” of playing games when I’m older. I’m glad that’s one of the items on the “you won’t do or be X when your older” list, for sure. I don’t think I’ll ever stop playing games or cherish what they have to offer.

This morning I wrote some of my thoughts down in my notebook:

This will not make a whole lot of sense to most of you, but you might recognize some familiar items, like Micro.blog’s photo challenge and notes about my wiki and my blog.

S3 is the name I gave to a project of mine a year and a half ago. The idea there was to put more of my “stuff” out there for people to see: my photos, my writings, and my videos. For the most part, this is more of a hobby than a project, and that’s exactly what I was after changing above.

Here are the highlights, explained:

New vid that will do S3

This has been the idea for a while. Instead of struggling with doing a video (on what? quality? PeerTube, YouTube?) that may or may not be a personal recording (which I call “jvid” for journal video), just do one video weekly. I will explain what I did during the week with my blog, wiki, photos, and videos. There’s always something to talk about. At the same time, it gives me practice in recording and editing videos. There’s no reason not to record more personal matters as well - I will get into that below.

Always do the vid

This is the spine of the project. Without it, it’s a “slug” thing that sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Doing a vid every week means I have something to lean on, something that holds this together. For now, that’s the goal: just keep on going.

Just do it, experience will come

Don’t worry about blabbing too much (or too little), and don’t worry about what is said. That’s what editing is for. Did I make a mistake? Fine, I can repeat myself and flash it out in the editing process. I can even do an “uncensored” longer version for personal things (which I do for myself when I have a lot on my mind, hence “jvids”) and upload an edited “public” version. Then I can save the original - highly compressed - vid for storage. This way I’d feel even more natural and I won’t don’t need to worry about what I’m saying too much.

The next video I do should probably explain all of this again…

When I saw Hollie’s post about growing long hair, I thought it was a good idea to write about the “other side” of the story, as a person who maintains the shaved-head look. I aim for this to be a quick overview rather than detailed instructions. For this, I might use my wiki.

I started losing my hair when I was in my 20s. I went through a buzz-cut period, and when it was over, my curls never came back. It didn’t bother me too much; I was more comfortable with less hair to worry about anyway. No Rogaine for me.

Going to the barber stopped being a thing soon afterward. It didn’t make sense to go for a 10-minute 30-dollar buzz-cut I could do on my own. Over the years, I gained more practice and experience. Today I can shave my head with my eyes closed - literally - since I’m blind as a bat without my glasses which I need to take off for this.

Mornings

Every morning I wash my face and head with chilled water. I focus on the eyes (gently, no rubbing) and then bring water up over my scalp. I do this about 2 - 3 times. Besides waking me up, it also washes away the natural skin oils on the scalp. Our scalp produces much more oil than the rest of the skin, one of the reasons a shaved head always looks so shiny.

When I leave my apartment, I always have a head covering: a beanie for the winter or a military/army cap style hat for the summer. A hoodie/coat with a head cover also works well. I take the head covering off to get some sun on my noggin, but only briefly. Usually for short walks of no more than 10 minutes.

Shaving

Shaving is the main star of the show, isn’t it? I used a basic Remington trimmer for years but discovered a better alternative: a head shaver. I currently use a Pitbull Skull Shaver which I got as a gift, but it’s not the only one out there by any means.

Shaving takes me no more about 5 minutes with the Pitbull. The most important thing about head shavers (of similar models) is cleaning the shaving head. While not too complicated, this is a multi-step process I’d have to break down further at some point. Here’s a quick picture of the components set up in the sink:

The blades are the star-shaped parts at the bottom, with the guards laying upside down above. Once placed within the guards, the four razors go into the head’s front (upside down on the sink’s rim, next to the Skull shaver body), and are locked into place with the white plastic holder you can see next to the blades.

I clean the shaving head about twice a month. The blades cut the hair almost to dust, so I first open the head carefully over the toilet for the hair to fall down and then place the parts over a wet paper towel in the sink to catch the rest. I use pressurized canned air to clean the hairs in the groves. When I’m done and the head is assembled, I let the shaver run inside a shallow mixture of strong rubbing alcohol (over 90%) and water for about five minutes; this helps remove more hair and oil from the blades.

Cleaning the shaver like this allows me to use one shaving head for over 4 months. I shave my head twice to three times a week. With a price tag of $40 for a new shaving head, I give myself a haircut for a fraction of the price it would otherwise cost me at the barber.

Shower and soap

There’s this assumption that bald people don’t need to use shampoo because they have no hair. Not true. Most daily-usage shampoos (conditioners aside) are intended for scalps, not hair. I use shampoo (or Heads and shoulders when it’s dry). Sometimes face soap, which is gentler on the skin.

I shower after shaving my head to clean the hairs that are left, then shave the temples and above the ears with a razor. I also have a Nose/ear trimmer to finish off the pesky hairs above the ear, where using the razor is too dangerous. Don’t let the name of this trimmer make you uncomfortable. It’s very useful to catch hairs around your lips (if you have a mustache as I do) and eyebrows as well. It’s very affordable and worth every cent.

Ending thoughts

Sharing something as intimate as shaving on a blog feels somewhat odd. Even now, as I’m writing these words, I feel self-conscious. It’s important to share this information then as practice.

As well, there’s still baldness shaming going around. While this never bothered me and I always felt comfortable joking around, I know that for some, this is a sensitive issue. I hope this post helps somewhat.

Thanks for reading, and let me know if you’re interested in more details. I could expand on this process in my wiki.