Photo from Auckland West Coast…

In other news. I’ve been purposely unplugging / disconnecting from the Internet for much of the evening these days. For me, It does result in having a much clearer head if you shut off your devices and shut off the internet while leaving only your phone on in a minimal state (in ultra power saving mode) and having it available strictly only for Calls and TXT in cases of emergencies.

When I do connect to the Internet, I only try and connect with a purpose (I’ll have a list of what I need to do, be it banking, paying bills, shopping for any life’s necessities) then immediately unplugging / disconnecting once all that is done,

Yes, we are naturally curious creatures, and yes “Scrolling” (be it news sites, public discussion mediums, chats, etc) does have some benefit, but only up to a point, mainly to keep abreast with the world. But beyond that it becomes counter productive and I find that many people are locked in to this dopamine loop unable to put their devices down. (Yes, it looks like Big Tech have successfully captured the masses and become the irresistible opiate of the masses – by design of course.)

Yeah, we’re playing into the hands of the world’s power elites and I’m responding by pulling back.

Piazza at Hamilton Gardens. Little / short roadtrip to get out of Auckland for a while to collect my thoughts + a short hike at the North end of Hakarimata ranges. Trails appear to be rather quiet currently.

In other news. Yes, to confirm the stories on the grapevine, I did indeed purchased yet another rental property earlier this year. (Why people seem to be so fascinated at this, I wouldn’t know…)

Kaiate Falls (Lower).

Western Bay of Plenty district council page for Kaiate Falls

Autumnal colours.

There’s little I can do to fix the state of the state of humanity or the world as an individual. Can only ever hope to look after my little part of it and “bear witness” I suppose. I’ve said my piece, and shall hunker down, rest and “protect my fire” as it were.

Fed up with the quality of Web search these days, gradually switching over to use more ChatGPT, DeepSeek in order to at least point me in the right direction. That way, have been able to find what I need sooner.

With that said, I understand it’s not going to stay that way. In time AI chat will too get polluted in the same way as web search as the pressure to turn a profit increases.

Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) have emailed me (and purportedly other NZ resident customers as well) to advise they are closing our accounts.

The world is changing, people are changing. I don’t necessarily agree with (nor understand) the way the world is currently headed, but other than continuing to express my views and concerns to elect representatives, “chewing the fat” with friends and family over the challenges facing society, participating in public consultations held by any government agency, discussing civics in a broader setting and continuing to partake in civic discourse, I otherwise feel powerless to effect any change as an individual.

In a way, it feels like some sort of generalized regression or devolution is slowly creeping in to the human species, but can’t put my finger on the root of it. Closer to home, It just seems some kind of ‘strangeness’ is happening. E.g. Everytime I head out, chances are very good that I will witness at least one incident of people losing their shit in a public freakout. People obviously under the influence smashing things, public shouting matches between groups of people, physical assault along with other public disorder incidents. In truth, it is beginning to feel like scenes out of a zombie movie at times as obvious drug use continues to increasingly grip society.

As my uncle said to me, you can’t save the world and you know what? He is 100% right. Going to be hunkering down, closing up a bit, sticking to my knitting as it were, and focussing more on taking care of the people who matter the most in my life. (Engaging Some sort of self defense mode as it were).

I’ve tried (and I shall continue to try – through continuing to engage in the civic process over issues such as housing affordability, inequality, infrastructure, public health, transport, public safety, among other social issues), but the reality is, there’s little else I can do and anything I do in the overall scheme of things has little impact on the prevailing. Embrace human imperfection, I guess. Even if any fix for any given social issue may seem glaringly obvious.

I’m also anticipating in due course, I will probably eventually stop updating this site entirely. I’m seeing little point in continuing to write and spell out my thoughts here.

So I’ve discovered that I’m sugar alcohol (Artificial sweetener) intolerent. Seems this applies to almost any Artificial sweetener including sorbitol, xylitol, aspartame, and others I’ve so far tried. Even a small dose will mess with my system – Ends up giving me flu like symptoms such as headaches, nausea, including joint, muscle and body ache, Diarrhea (Though without the respiratory ailments typical of influenza or COVID).

Used to be able to declare that I had no specific dietary requirements or restrictions when asked (on a form or otherwise). These days are obviously now gone for me with the use of sugar alcohols becoming more prevalent and I just now have to take care to check the ingredients of anything I buy and consume.

“Night Glow” at Claudelands Event Centre, Hamilton for Balloons over Waikato…

Didn’t have a ticket (They’re Free to grab, but very limited in number), was passing through The Tron, so walked up and took some photos through the fence.

I haven’t been able to get my desire to travel (overseas for leisure) back since COVID-19 – Essentially the desire to do so completely disappeared over the COVID lock downs and it never recovered.

In a nutshell, the potential enjoyment derived in my mind / grey matter doesn’t yet exceed the potential hassle / stress / cost at the moment. Given that it’s now been 5 years and the itch still hasn’t returned, I think it would be fair to say it may not return for a very long time (at least not to the same level as it was prior to COVID-19)

If there is a “purpose” to the travel, be in for work, volunteering, or other opportunity (that is not purely for leisure), then perhaps I can tack on a “leisure” component afterwards, but until that comes, will leave it be.

Celestrial Dragon photo at the Latern Festival in Manukau Sports Bowl.

Plug in the USB adapter with your mouse into your Android’s phone’s USB port, power it off and then on again. Hopefully mouse will now be recognised and chances are you will be able to use your mouse to recover what you need from your Android device.

Applies to (my father’s) Oppo Reno8 5G lite

Main Entrance way of a property in Paerata rise.

Karangahake Gorge Tunnel Photo. The Rail Tunnel loop is one I’ve done plenty of times as a wind down walk after a bigger hike.

Quick shot of the still waters of Auckland Viaduct Harbour