2020-05-21

It was cold for so long

Finally, i deleted this Instagram account, three years later. I haven't made enough good memories, and probably was for others weird to watch too. I learned about myself, and what i like or dislike. I did not expect this path, it was random, and neutral, with no disappointment. I will remember her as something fun. I feel ok about this, since it was not going to age well. Because i moved on in many ways.
Since yesterday, i have a full-size Raspberry Pi with 4 GB online, replacing my Pi Zero W from 2017 as a web server. In all these years, i had to code for an environment with not much space or resources. I had to be careful and efficient. It was a triage all the time, with so many lost opportunities. And still is, because without a fixed IP address, it can never really replace my virtual machine on AWS. But it will be fine for things with no constant traffic.
The sun is coming through the window, and giving me some warmth, after it was cold for so long. I liked winter when i was young, and building stuff with snow. But since more than two decades, there is no garden for me anymore. I'm learning to appreciate summer, and not having to turn on the heating. This reminds me how lucky i am to be alive. Although my mom now has more cleaning to do, because people are using the toilet more often.
2020-05-06

Remote Door Opening System

Somehow the door lock of the house got unusable, because an object prevented the key from entering the hole. Maybe someone put something into it, or it just got dirty by itself. Either way, i took a Pi Zero W and a MG996R Metal Gear Servo, developed the front end and back end, and eventually got my Remote Door Opening System up and running. I stuck another Raspberry Pi to the window as a WiFi extender, and from now on, a connected smartphone can enter the house simply by touching a button without using a traditional door key.
I bought the Pi Zero W sometime ago, and it did not have a GPIO header attached. To get all the soldering clean and right was not easy. But i did it, and i have recorded this on video too. I also have set up a computer fan at the side, so i'm not inhaling the soldering fumes. I demonstrated the function of the pins by sticking and running an electronic paper display on it. I like how i handled the problem by using technology. My experience in programming and the Raspberry Pi lets me combine software and hardware to make the real world a little bit more liveable. And by the way, we got the door lock working again.
2020-03-30

Selling used hard drives

In the past few days, i sold used hard drives on eBay. I have done this before, four years ago, when i upgraded from 4 to 8 TB. Hard drives are getting bigger, and storage needs have increased, thanks to my origami cranes. This time, i got rid of smaller sizes too. I used them to store either random files or important files in a cold storage situation for backup. Mostly automated by making use of rsync and unison. Two internal 1.5, one external 2, one internal 4, and one internal 8 TB drives were replaced by one 14 and one 16 TB drives, basically reducing the footprint.
I bought the 16 while on sale, even cheaper than the 14 TB drive. FYI, i prefer Seagate over WD. I have at least five copies of most things, and i check them regularly by hashing and comparing. This means my drives are barely used, and they can make someone else happy, probably for a long time. And no data leakage involved, because i use encryption. Since i was warmed up on eBay, i sold a self-made face mask too. I cut out the pattern and my mom sewed the Lycra elastane fabrics. It will not protect from viruses, but is appropriate for other circumstances.
My parents sacrificed their bodies for this country with no ROI, while others are hoarding, privileged and out of touch. I want to live somewhere by the sea, with fresh air, and a constant breeze. A place to raise a family. Two years ago, in mid 2018, i started to buy computer fans on Aliexpress. I use them for all kinds of applications, like air filtration, condensation reduction, and blowing air to my face. MacGyver certainly would be proud. Years ago, i opened some external hard drives, and now i use their power supplies to drive these fans. They may get noisier with age, but last like forever, especially if i clean them and add lubrication.
2020-02-04

Like in a Super Mario World

At the beginning of this month, i upgraded my Lightsail instance from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to 18.04 LTS. Before i did it on the production server, i tested the procedure on a snapshot. I actually created three instances in a row to try different choices, just to be sure not to break things. After the upgrade, i had to install some dependencies again, because they were removed during this operation, for example, Lets Encrypt and Perl modules. The final round took me about thirty minutes to finish, mostly depending on the performance of my virtual machine on AWS. By doing this, the amount of sleeping processes has been reduced by half, even undercutting my Raspberry Pi. It was a success, and feels speedier too.
My first week with a yoga mat was ambitious, with three times fifteen minutes a day, timed with a mechanical stopwatch. But losing almost one hour every day is not helpful, considering my parents barely sleep with all the work they have to do to keep the lights on. Once a day makes me happy enough, and hopefully keeps me fit. I'm probably not going to lose weight, because of muscle growth. I decided for a yoga mat made from TPE material, claiming to be free of toxic chemicals and good for the environment. And i enjoy my time on it.
The GIF image production has proven to run reliably. To get all parts synced, smooth and repeatable was hard, but i did it. From now on, it will be fast and easy. I am proud of it, almost as much as with my video editing robot. I can combine different motions, paths, and settings, basically enabling me to animate objects like in a Super Mario World. This is why i took a little dive into the past at the end of last month, and downloaded a huge collection of retro games as a reward. I installed the SameBoy Game Boy emulator, and prepared Tetris with a USB gamepad ready to play for my mom.
2020-01-08

Getting my first yoga mat

In late December 2019, i completed my Pro Pinball collection with Big Race USA and The Web. It took me a while, but my last piece was also the first in their video game series. After trying to get DOSBox to work with these old files, i found out that the Windows 95 version runs just fine on Windows 10 without the need to emulate DOS. The resolution is low, and not all control keys can be customized, but it is fun to see how it all began. And going through the tables from 1996 to 2000 is a journey in itself.
My first contact with yoga was on YouTube through a channel by Bärbel Miessner from Germany, around 2011. She took it to another level by making her tutorials outside, basically combining training and travel, with interesting backdrops for her instructions. It was nice to watch and i have not tried anything. About 9 years later, i discovered yoga videos by Adriene Mishler from Texas, and eventually Hwang Ahyoung from Korea. She really made me want to do this, although i don't understand Korean.
My weight is no longer 65 kg. Because in 2018, i ate too many baked goods, while i was out folding my origami cranes. But since then, i kept it stable at around 73 kg. I'm a little upset with this, because i did not consume so much food to get here. But i'm not moving my body a lot either. I think my stretch marks from being overweight look better now. Depending on viewing angle and light, they can look reddish, grayish or even shine. I already started to do something about the weight gain by involving my legs in exercises. And since today, i have a yoga mat, so i'm not only standing up, but can lay down too.
2019-12-31

About

The content of this post was written between 2017-04-23 and 2019-12-31. It was an introduction to this blog and no longer deserves to be linked at the top on every single page. People deserve change, and i deserve to not be pinned down to a simple summary. I'm more than these words:
Hi, i'm Ngai Chun Cheung, only genuine with stretch marks.
English is not my first language, but i'm getting there. I was born in Germany, 1986. My parents are working class, and i tried a different take on it. The internet feels like a well-known space to me, because i'm here since two decades. I have built since 1998 a lot of things in the web, and outside of it, in combination and separate. It made me learn to design all kind of stuff, to code in different languages, to run projects, to photograph, to make videos and much more.
For example, in 2003, i have put karaoke software with MIDI files together and sold it on self-burned CDs. One year later, in 2004, i even sold self-made display protection foils for iPAQ and Palm devices. With the money i earned through eBay, i rented more sophisticated webspace and kick-started my projects, which were financed by advertising later, to a point where i got my first dedicated server.
Just never enough. Because at some point, i burned out, created a great wall around me, and tried to rescue myself. I cut off all connections to people, except my parents. This is the period where i was since 2006 for eight years geography student at the University of Bonn. I was in a really depressive time, but then i have gone steps back, doing real life things, like origami. To get a little more distance from the bubble. Because the worst place i have ever been was in my own head.
In October 2013, i started to fold my trail of thousand origami cranes in Paris, and after five years, in August 2019, i folded more than 10.000 origami cranes, in cities such as Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bonn, London, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Utrecht, The Hague, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Edinburgh, Dublin, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Stockholm. Things are not always easy, they don't always make sense, it takes effort, try and error, and failing.
Overview:See some of my videos on YouTube here
Send email to ngaichun@cheung.me
2019-12-14

Jane Eyre

After having finished reading my first book in this decade, which was rather disappointing, i wanted it to end on a high note. And i have chosen another random book, to be fair to all the other 1932 titles in my Calibre library. I have speed read some parts again, but "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë is great. I was close to tears, to be honest. I can relate with thoughts of Jane, and i like her because of this. She is sweet, smart, and brave. Things went south when she decided to marry. But she is strong and kept going. I was happy with the end.
I have squeezed in new activities in this last part of the decade, so i'm not going to be disappointed with myself. In early October, i started to have a small crush again, which motivated me to automate my GIF image production even further, and inspired me to read books. I'm slowly getting the taste for it. And it helps that literature is mostly free, if you know where to look, and don't mind reading older stuff. I basically went down that rabbit hole again. But this time on Twitter, and not through YouTube.
Thanks to Kovid Goyal for making Calibre managing ebooks, and Mason Hartman for tweeting things like: "To love someone is to make yourself extremely vulnerable to their own outcomes. If what happens to them isn't intertwined with what happens to you on some deeply important level, I don't know how you can call that love." At the same time, she has a Twitter banner photo including a katana sword and The Simpsons.
In some way, she reminds me of Jane Eyre, or i just need to read more books, to find a more appropriate fictional character. Because she likes animals too. And talking about moths, i'm not Mr. Rochester either, for better or worse. I think i'm more like her, being lost in this world, and on a search. There is some energy coming from it, and i'm trying to process it, by creating things, as i always do.
2019-11-29

Done with words

Till some days ago, i have not read a single book in this soon ending decade. Maybe accidentally, but not finished for sure. I'm not into soccer either. More than ten years ago, i wrote at least two books. Since then, i was basically done with words. Less than a week ago, Amazon put the new Kindle on sale. I have always wanted one, though i'm not a reader. My mom and dad have one with no light. I like to see myself on the other side, and creating things from nothing, or transforming them from something else.
This year, they started putting LED lights into the basic model, which was previously an exclusive feature for expensive models. I just finished reading "Ancient Light" by John Banville. It was rather by chance than by choice, since the books are sorted alphabetically. A while ago, i got more than a thousand of them on my drive. It was a little bit salty and questionable. FYI, i want a relationship to be exclusive. I speed read some parts, as i'm not into the whole process. But i finished the book and it was ok.
I haven't played RollerCoaster Tycoon since at least 16 years. This is why i took the opportunity and bought RCT1 Deluxe and RCT2 Triple Thrill Pack on GOG, discounted at Black Friday. And while i'm at it, SimCity 3000 Unlimited too. All together DRM-free and for almost the price of one single title. They are part of my late childhood. Since these games are ancient, they may need some tweaking on modern computers. Thanks to OpenRCT2 for their open-source re-implementation and getting it to run smoothly.
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