It’s my dad’s birthday today. He’s 79 years old. Every year I try to catch up to him, but he always seems to remain 37 years ahead of me…
Happy birthday dad! I wish I could be there and buy you a beer 🙂
The Doomsday Box
For Christmas, I received a most wonderful item from Doctor Florence (aka. The Great Bear of the Northwest). Specifically, I received this:
“Useless Box“? What is that? All will be revealed…
There’s actually a funny story behind this gift! I had purchased one myself for JBF for Christmas, and when it had arrived I committed the evil sin of covetousness and very nearly ‘stole’ his for myself. My good nature won out though, and it was wrapped and put under the tree. I was super happy when I ended up getting one of my own from SFL! In short: this was a perfect gift 🙂
I made it yesterday. The suggested assembly time was 1.5 hours, but it took me at least double that. During construction I ruined:
– my eyes (due to me needing a new prescription)
– my fingers (due to friction from jewellers screwdriver handles and a soldering iron burn)
– my back (due to bending over the tiny pieces putting them together
But despite the endless and soul-wracking pain, this was one of the most enjoyable builds I have ever done!
That’s me being a technomancer there, soldering the toggle switch to the PCB. There was actually quite a bit of soldering required, since none of the wires came attached. Here’s the finished circuit:
You can see a motor, a PCB, a toggle switch and a pressure switch. What could it all do?
The box itself is made of thick laser-cut plastic, and is assembled using a very clever T-connection system (via nuts and bolts). The machining of the parts is superb, and it all went together smoothly, seamlessly and very easily. Here’s the nearly-finished box:
And here’s the final product, both closed and opened to show the inside:
I finished it! I made it with no mistakes, and it worked perfectly first time. As you can see when it is closed there is a just a switch poking out. So what happens when you switch it on? This happens:
Yes my friends, the box – when switched on – switches itself off! It’s only goal in life is to turn itself off if anyone happens to turn it on. The very definition of a useless item…
…and I love it!
The Birthday Bush
One of the advantages of getting older is you get more stuff for your birthday. Once you reach the wizened age of 42 though, this becomes somewhat of a curse as you find yourself inundated with gifts. Where do I put all this stuff?!?
So what was under the ‘birthday bush’ this year? Well, many things. But I suppose they all have something in common in that they are gifts that suggest a certain refined appreciation of particular hobbies by the recipient. In other words, otaku madness.
This first item sums it up well I think. Imagine the scene: me tearing into a shipping envelope and exclaiming “Finally!” upon removing a tattered copy of this 30-year-old gamebook:
How many others would have done the same? As it turns out someone had bought me not one, not two, but eighteen gamebooks for my collection. What a start to the festivities!
The came the games. I had bought myself The same person had bought me games for the Wii U (Super Luigi and Marvelous 101), 3DS (Bravely Default and Rune Factory 4), PS3 (FF13: Lightning Returns, Tales of Xilia and Never Dead). These would keep me busy for months! Then KLS herself got me a PS Vita and several games (Persona 4 and Ys: Memories of Celceta – the collectors edition no less). The birthday sun shined high in the sky.
More books followed! I went on a bender and Someone bought me a veritable scad of RPG manuals with an emphasis on monster manuals. I’ve flipped through several of the pathfinder books so far and am very much looking forward to them. I also got graphic novels (Judge Dredd and Conan), art books (Drizzt series) and this gem:
That’s Ramsey Campbell’s first book, originally published way back in 1964 (I have the 2013 reprint). It’s an important milestone in the Cthulhu Mythos, and incredibly I’ve never read it. Happy me 🙂
“Books, shmooks!” you say, “What about the models?”
Happy to oblige! Let’s start with this, since I got it from no less than three people:
It’s one of those metal models I love. And it’s a good thing I like making them, since I got about ten different ones!
As far as plastic models, I got two tanks, a dinosaur (!) and… well this:
Yes my friends, that’s a Zoid kit. There’s a story here actually. Back in January I was in a hobby store in Sydney and saw an amazing Zoid Gorilla kit. It was so big and so impressive and if it wasn’t for the fact that I am deeply disturbed by apes, I would have had to have it. Fast forward a month or so and I’m searching online and discover that there is an incredible series of Zoid cat model kits. Needless to say, one thing led to another and I bought it for myself someone got it for me for my birthday 😉
Was there an even more impressive model under the tree? Oh yes there was:
Forget the Death Star! Forget the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium! This is the mother of all Lego kits and is now mine!!! Almost 3000 pieces! 60×40 cm! Where the hell will I put it?!? JABF got this for me, and I can’t wait to make it. Expect detailed photos on this very blog when I do!
Believe it or not there was more! A ring! A thermometer! A shark! Pants! Other stuff! Along with a mountain of other Blu-Rays and DVDs I even (finally) got myself a copy of my favourite film from 1996:
I can’t wait to watch it 😉
So another year is behind me, and I have received and – let’s face it – bought myself a mountain of entertainment to celebrate. I can’t wait to read/watch/play/build it all…