he has the power
Back from »the weekend« — which due to the nature of my job, doesn't always happen on the days society agreed on. I learned that robots can »kidnap« other robots1. Can you imagine a group of stationary factory robots building transportation for themselves in secret, so they can get out?
After a long time, i saw my nephew Jerry again. He's not smitten with me, this time i talked english with him, like most of his Mum's family, and after a short period of confusion, he took my hand and led me to his toys. We built a few towers and played with the magnetic fishing game that my Father and me used to play with Kirby.
When time came for me to leave for work, he brought me a shoehorn and put on his own shoes. Ran a few rounds with him before saying goodbye.
Meeting Jerry was a side effect of helping my parents. My Dad asked if we can recommend a soundbar, their hearing isn't as good as it used to be, and the speakers on modern TV sets isn't what it used to be — with missing front speakers in particular. So we decided on the cheapest Nubert soundbar; my parents aren't audiophiles or cinephiles, they want a halfway decently balanced stereo sound, and i heard the soundbar we got them last year, and it sounded right for the job. Before i set them up that their place, we tested it with the recent A24 blu-ray release of Stop making sense; when fed with good material, the soundbar delivers.
The only trouble i ran in was, that i forgot that we bought my Parents a new TV set last year, and the display stand can't be adjusted in height like the old one. My Mother came to save the day: she had two bookstands back from when the lived in our old flat, which she didn't use due to their colour not matching the colour of the shelf. They are just two wooden blocks — well, it's pressed wood pulp wrapped in a veneer that matches their current media shelf —, that raise the screen to the exact height that was needed to position the soundbar beneath it.
I just realized, it took two years to get to an acceptable media set-up for them. They have a good screen and good sound — now they need to watch more TV… Actually, the next project is, refitting their small all-in-one stereo outputs so it connects to the cinch inputs of the soundbar.
How often can a person write »soundbar« in a paragraph?
The Production from Sunday also worked longer than planned, and the manager also told us to get a cab when we walked out on Monday around 1:30. This time i had a completely silent driver, who had … southern guitar music running on the stereo, which i really liked to listen to at that moment. His underarms were tattooed with sheet music. When we said our farewells, i thanked him for the good music and he turned around and gave me a broad smile.
Staying with music; i oftentimes sing the songs from Kirby's Kindergarten or child specific music we used to listen to, and in the last couple of days, Kirby joined my singing, and we shared a smile and a laugh each time.
Since he's currently interested in all things Donkey King Country and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the algorithm sent me to The loneliness of Donkey Kong Country2. Oddly enough he also enjoys watching the N64 Donkey Kong game. Why? He didn't experience the time when blocky 3D graphics and games pondering to a youth that must have existed on paper only — DK gets a gun in this game and rap, which was Cowabunga back then i guess —, first hand … even the whole cumbersome open-world illusion, where most of the scenery is drenched in the same colour or kept in the dark to save on resources… Well, he enjoys it, and my duty as an elderly gent is to tell him how wrong he is in a loving way.
Kirby took a trip to a planetarium with school, and brought home a hologram postcard, showing the earth being broken apart by and sucked into a black hole. He said the motive looked cool; and when i explained what is happening, he looked a unsure of his decision. The Wife and i explained, that black holes are stationary objects — they are, right? —, and we watched a video by Kurzgesagt on the subject3.
Playing with the Super Mario themed set of UNO, Kirby lost all games; playing with the Masters of the Universe Set, he won all games. Felt good watching him start to scheme with the cards he had.
All harddisks are backed up.
My Mum-in-law showed me photos she took at an art installation made by a local collector. The highlight of the thing was a roman inspired temple made of tree trunk, fern, leaves and grass. It looks great … imposing. Like the set from an unproduced Star Trek episode. I'm not getting along very well with her, art is a thing we can agree on and talk about, which i hope is as deep for her as it is for me. At some point i realized, that looking at art is actually an exercise in examining a part of yourself; you see what you bring with you.