It’s coming!
I've sorted through my trip photos, so it's just a matter of me sitting down to write the post. But I've been deliberately off-line busy lately!
I figured it was time to make a fit about not having a dedicated car park. So after these 3 months or so of (slightly) exaggerated sighs of "I have to go down to put money in the parkometer" to "I can't find a car park in the area", and also 2 cases of "Dad promised to give me a ride but then he forgot about it", I now have a lease for a car park. Just by our place is an... the best way to describe it is, an empty plot of land. It used to be a catholic school and a Nun residence (the word for it escapes me this moment). Part of the land has been used to build a new apartment complex, but a huge chunk of it is still an empty piece of land. Someone has ownership of it, and they made a car park out of it. It also serves as a used car dealership, and some car detailing service. I knew that the covered parking was fully rented out already, but it's really just a tent or a tarp over an area.
I managed to snag one of the last open-air spots, and I'm happy about it because no more doing rounds around the area looking for a parkometer spot. Do you know how much time it saves? As for costs, if I park in the long-hour parkometer, that involves a 3km walking distance from home, so Dad or Sis would have to come get me or give me a ride there. Assuming I park every day there, I'd have around $1000 of parking expense. If I find a parkometer spot near home which are mid-hour spots, it's roughly $2000 if I park every day. Now with this leased space, it's $2500 per month, no need to worry about looking for parking, and it's near enough to home that i don't need someone to give me a ride to get the car. Also, weekends, I'm free to just leave the car there and go by bus. The weekends of the past months had been a pain to always be "babysitting" the car and thinking if I'm going out, will I have enough time to come back and feed the parkometer. No more such worries now.
I've since completed that scarf I was working on with the loom. It was fun. I've started another scarf project and this one will take a little longer as it's larger and I'm trying to see if a pattern works. It's a combination of knits and purls, so hopefully it does come out as I'm imagining it. These knitting projects are intended as a way for me to not go always online in the evening after dinner and dog walk. I want to bring down my screen time. So far it seems to be working well enough.
I'm also setting up my ceramics brand. I'm not going to make a business out of it, but I'd still like to build a brand for social media presence. I'm just waiting to get more pieces out then I'll publicize it. It's all for fun, who knows what might happen further in the future. My friend even commented that it's obvious that I'm improving as my pieces are using less clay (thinner, more refined) and the edges are getting more neat. Though, I haven't actually done any new pieces lately, just been glazing (putting colour) on my existing pieces. Still have some 8 pieces to go and after this batch, I've got a couple more doggies to work on. I'm also going to have to start making proper notes and logs on the pieces I'm working on. I suddenly realize I need proper information on the pieces for in case I want to touch up (use the same colour or not). It's a whole process.
I figured it was time to make a fit about not having a dedicated car park. So after these 3 months or so of (slightly) exaggerated sighs of "I have to go down to put money in the parkometer" to "I can't find a car park in the area", and also 2 cases of "Dad promised to give me a ride but then he forgot about it", I now have a lease for a car park. Just by our place is an... the best way to describe it is, an empty plot of land. It used to be a catholic school and a Nun residence (the word for it escapes me this moment). Part of the land has been used to build a new apartment complex, but a huge chunk of it is still an empty piece of land. Someone has ownership of it, and they made a car park out of it. It also serves as a used car dealership, and some car detailing service. I knew that the covered parking was fully rented out already, but it's really just a tent or a tarp over an area.
I managed to snag one of the last open-air spots, and I'm happy about it because no more doing rounds around the area looking for a parkometer spot. Do you know how much time it saves? As for costs, if I park in the long-hour parkometer, that involves a 3km walking distance from home, so Dad or Sis would have to come get me or give me a ride there. Assuming I park every day there, I'd have around $1000 of parking expense. If I find a parkometer spot near home which are mid-hour spots, it's roughly $2000 if I park every day. Now with this leased space, it's $2500 per month, no need to worry about looking for parking, and it's near enough to home that i don't need someone to give me a ride to get the car. Also, weekends, I'm free to just leave the car there and go by bus. The weekends of the past months had been a pain to always be "babysitting" the car and thinking if I'm going out, will I have enough time to come back and feed the parkometer. No more such worries now.
I've since completed that scarf I was working on with the loom. It was fun. I've started another scarf project and this one will take a little longer as it's larger and I'm trying to see if a pattern works. It's a combination of knits and purls, so hopefully it does come out as I'm imagining it. These knitting projects are intended as a way for me to not go always online in the evening after dinner and dog walk. I want to bring down my screen time. So far it seems to be working well enough.
I'm also setting up my ceramics brand. I'm not going to make a business out of it, but I'd still like to build a brand for social media presence. I'm just waiting to get more pieces out then I'll publicize it. It's all for fun, who knows what might happen further in the future. My friend even commented that it's obvious that I'm improving as my pieces are using less clay (thinner, more refined) and the edges are getting more neat. Though, I haven't actually done any new pieces lately, just been glazing (putting colour) on my existing pieces. Still have some 8 pieces to go and after this batch, I've got a couple more doggies to work on. I'm also going to have to start making proper notes and logs on the pieces I'm working on. I suddenly realize I need proper information on the pieces for in case I want to touch up (use the same colour or not). It's a whole process.