Surprisingly hard to wax a fabric bag. It's simple - melt the wax and let the fabric absorb it. That's like saying driving is about grabbing the steering wheel, then pressing the accelerator and brake pedals. And using the clutch, in some cases.
Initially did what Youtube videos suggested: place the wax pastilles on the surface, followed by a sheet of baking paper on top, then a hot iron on the paper. Problem is the bag is not a completely flat surface, and heat moves surprisingly slowly in the tiny layer of air between the flat piece of paper and the curved surface of the bag.
Ended up melting the wax on a metal ashtray mounted on the aromatherapy tealight holder, pouring it on the bag, then using a hairdryer to spread it around. The hairdryer makes it absorb more evenly because it pushes around melted wax only when the fabric is saturated. I only have to ensure that each spot only has tiny drops of wax instead of a puddle so that the hairdryer doesn't blow it everywhere.
Some kind of handheld radiator would have worked better, but I don't have one.
So I have not gone out at all for the past week, not even to go downstairs to get the mail. Good thing I don't live alone. The only reason I have now for going out is to get fruits, but that's not urgent. I could order online but the prices are ridiculous - one shop on Qoo10 offering fresh veg and fruits is selling various items in S$2 packets, or S$17 for 10 packets, plus just under $6 for delivery if the order does not reach $40.
So assuming I order enough to get free delivery, at $1.70 per packet, what would I get?
300g of tomatoes? A little expensive.
500g of cabbage? That's not cheap.
Best of all, the item I'm most familiar with, bananas... at 3 pieces per packet. Even if they're the bigger types, 3 bananas for $2? WTF? I can easily get a big bunch for around $3 at my neighbourhood market, so that would be like 7-10 bananas. 3 bananas for $2 is like what you might find in places with temperate climates, not in the tropical zone.
Anyway, I've come to settle into a routine these days, beginning with a coffee and news at about 8-9am, breakfast/brunch at around 9-11am, a second coffee after, followed by a half-hour workout at about 12-1pm.
In the afternoon, random stuff, like for the last 3 days I've been waxing my bag for an hour or two. Games, either PC or mobile, follows the shower. Lunch is optional. Then more news and more games, maybe some work, then dinner at 5-7pm. Floss and teeth-brushing after that. Another shower is possible. More games, more news, get my robot cleaner to vacuum the house, followed by mouthwash and going to bed.
This is almost like a rehearsal for retirement.
24th April 2020
https://apnews.com/1283d176484e133f31080227bb15c5d1
A nation with unmatched power, brazen ambition and aspirations through the arc of history to be humanity’s “shining city upon a hill” cannot come up with enough simple cotton swabs despite the wartime manufacturing and supply powers assumed by President Donald Trump. The crisis turned doctors in the iconic American shining city, New York, into beggars with hands outstretched for ponchos because they couldn’t get proper medical gowns. “Rain ponchos!” laments tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen. “In 2020! In America!”
It’s turned a Massachusetts hospital executive into an under-the-radar road warrior, working up a deal through a friend of a friend of an employee who heard about a warehouse more than five hours away with masks. Two tractor-trailers disguised as grocery trucks picked them up, dodged interference from Homeland Security and took separate routes back in case one load got intercepted on highways through the northeast “pandemic alley.”
In a time of unprecedented crisis, the world looked up to the US for leadership, for a role model, and what did we see?
04th May 2020
It has been a while since I last went out beyond the recycling bin.
TPG's free data plan is finally going to expire for my SIM card, so I'm signing up for their S$10 plan until my M1 contract is up, then the plan is to probably go for Vivifi which is good for sharing data, though the coverage is unknown because Vivifi doesn't have many reviews.
Since the other numbers will be expected to stay in the office or at someone's home, the possibility that Vivifi has the same issue as TPG in that there is no coverage in tunnels doesn't affect me. Just wondering what other issues this telco could have, out of curiosity really, since there is no contractual obligation to stay.
Anyway the $10 monthly fee is great because I really like the huge amount of data they offer so that I don't get interrupted much when I'm at a corner of my home where the Wifi is weak, and it's only slightly more expensive than upsizing my data at M1. By my rough estimation, I will only pay a total of about $20 extra by the end of my M1 contract as compared to throwing away the TPG SIM and upsizing my M1 data by just a few GB a month.
06th May 2020
Almost done waxing my bag, then I'll need to touch up the details.
I wish this was taught in school.
07th May 2020
The spring onions seeds are sprouting in the pot where the mint used to grow. Let's see if they grow in the other pot.
08th May 2020
Finally done with waxing the bag and conditioned the leather straps. The waxed parts feel a little sticky but it should go away after some time. The canvas straps have too much wax though so they're now very stiff. Not really an issue, but I'm not doing it to the shoulder strap because that strap needs to be soft and doesn't need to be waterproof.
To be clear, I'm pretty sure this is not how people usually wax fabrics. What I am doing is basically soak and saturate the cloth in molten wax, then let it harden, so even if the wax isn't waterproof, which it is, the cloth is already saturated and hence cannot absorb any liquid.
A minor future concern is going to be letting it be exposed to heat sources. Beeswax becomes soft at 49 degrees C and melts at 62, so it is going to be fine under direct sun in any country, but it will have to avoid heaters, stoves and any flame.
Not that I can travel with it in the first place since its antiquated durable military design incorporated quartered metal cylinders at the bottom two corners to keep the base flat and cannot be crumpled, in order to protect any glass bottles the medic would have carried back in the day. It is a medic bag after all.
Another concern, one that has nothing to with wax, is that it is rather big.
Technically this took under two weeks because I have only been working on this sporadically for probably just over ten days.
Now I know how to handle it, and I will not be melting wax in chunks and pouring it on every time. Instead, you can control where the wax will be if you can simply tear off bits of wax, pressing it on the spot where you want it to be, and melting it with the hairdryer. Of course, large patches are easier to deal with using the pouring method.
Not sure if I will ever do this again though. Under what other circumstances would I need stiff waterproof cloth?
So the 1kg of excess wax will need to be stored somewhere.
Been working out since the beginning of the lockdown but totally neglected my shoulders and biceps, working on my triceps and neck instead. Changing that today.
Despite all the exercise 4-5 times a week, I have not lost any weight, likely due to my diet and absolute lack of any physical activity beyond the few hours I stay up during and after exercise.
Another recent notable event is a comment on 9GAG that has got 2934 upvotes so far.
Also made chicken hearts with dandan noodle sauce. Haven't tried it yet because they're supposed to marinate overnight in my fridge (cooked).
I did it wrong though, forgot to cut them into halves to drain as much blood as possible. Instead, I blanched them whole before removing the outer membranes by hand, then air-fried them till they were fully cooked. While frying, the loud popping noises reminded me that they were supposed to be drained first, so there was no choice but to soak them all in something with strong flavours. Initially thought I could split the kilo of hearts into a few different flavours.
Thermochromic dyes are being such a disappointment. There doesn't seem to be a good one that I can use.
https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/04/chinas-covid-19-diplomacy-is-backfiring-in-europe/
If China had not said anything and just sent out free equipment, the country would have definitely come up top by the end of this pandemic, despite all the complaints of the quality of the equipment being exported by Chinese manufacturers (probably why we're making them ourselves now). But no, Beijing wanted to go all the way and...
Beijing reveals itself to be no different from Washington. Of course, power politics has always been the name of the game. But China’s decision to play it publicly is an own-goal.
Does China suck at diplomacy or is it that the Europeans are just far more sophisticated due to their centuries of experience?
No ambitious power is altruistic, but seriously, is no one even trying to act nice now?
Yeah the spring onions sprouted in the other pot too. Once they get out of the soil, they grow fast!
