(2023-10-09) Calming down
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I've had an extremely tense week. So tense I actually couldn't focus on any
constructive activities (except maybe writing another poem with a bit of a 
trolling mood — yes, I do write poems, mostly in Ukrainian, sometimes in 
English). I really feel like the most productive time of the year is 
effectively being stolen from me, which is very disappointing. That's why I 
had to postpone my new C replacement language challenge once again. 
Hopefully I'll finally be able to dedicate this week to it.

So far, the Orient RA-AA0001B has been performing brilliantly: in 8 days
after the regulation session, it was 6 seconds fast. If this behavior 
continues, it means +0.75 spd that can be projected onto +22.5 s/mo, which 
would mean a mech more accurate than my Casio W-800H which is 24 s/mo slow. 
I'm also *thinking* about ordering something of the Orient Tristar line, 
with the most accessible variant (where I live) being RA-AB0F12S (aka Orient 
Vega White). But still not sure whether or not I really need another 
non-hacking automatic watch when I already have a 7S26-based SNK809 that 
annoyed the heck outta me with its inaccuracy (I didn't try regulating it 
though because I didn't have proper tools back then). Maybe just out of 
curiosity on how F4902 compares to 7S26, I'll buy this Vega and try 
regulating both of them. But I still haven't made a decision about this: 
random shopping for stress relief is definitely not the way to go. Besides, 
I don't have a single complaint about the Kamasu.

I have ordered some stationery nevertheless: a desk organizer, two A6 pocket
notebooks, a bunch of cheap automatic pens and... an expensive pencil 
(Pininfarina Prima) with an extra Ethergraf tip. Still not sure whether or 
not it finds a good use in my scenarios, but yes, I'm really thinking of 
getting my lifestyle even more analogue than it is right now. It's not even 
about just power consumption reduction or Internet independency anymore, 
it's about the peace of mind. The very peace of mind which is really hard to 
preserve in this time and place without deliberate efforts to restrict the 
flow of outside information through your own brain cells. This means: ditch 
the news (and if you can't, and in our situation here I really can't, then 
restrict the time to read them), don't feel obliged to instantly respond to 
every message you've received (except the direct messages or mail from the 
people who actually put their trust in you — I think it is kinda immoral to 
break it, be it personal or business relationships), only reach out to 
public places (especially online) when you have something important to say 
or share yourself, not just consume the stream of data from those places, 
and learn to take advantage of information underconsumption by directing the 
released brain resources to something creative. And in my case, since I 
don't have a lot of possibilities to make music in my current living 
conditions, I can focus on writing instead.

This doesn't mean the Internet can't be useful for peace of mind though. Even
the "big Web", not only Gopher or Gemini. For instance, recently I had 
stumbled upon an article that described how Orient had established a new 
plant in Brazil (the city of Manaus) in the 1970s, and now that plant 
manufactures a lot of Orient watches that can't be found anywhere else in 
the world, and even have a different model code designation scheme. 
Apparently, the Tristar lineup still is a very big deal there, and the 
current Brazilian models of this lineup all start with the F49 code, which 
means the F4902 base movement or its variations. And the difference between 
what they have and what the rest of the world has in this lineup seems like 
night and day. And it looks like they are cheaper than the international 
models too, but only available locally. It's like JDM watches, but on the 
other side of the pricing scale. Another article on the same website 
described the history of Orient's 46 movement family, and how they became 
what they are today (F6xxx). This article also hinted about the further 
developments of more accurate F7 and F8 movement series, the latter having 
silicon balance/escapement parts and greater power reserve. It's only a 
matter of time when these movements are going to appear in more affordable 
watches. And it's always pleasant to see when the Japanese offer a piece of 
serious engineering and not just marketing, be it mechanical or quartz.

So, this is it. Calming down is important. And I don't even know yet when
I'll be able to return to the normal work process, but I really hope it will 
be this week.

--- Luxferre ---