(no subject)
Yesterday I sent the guys who sold my ocarina a message asking if they had an ETA or a tracking number. That was around midday. They replied within a few hours, saying it should have arrived by now, and if I didn't get it by the end of the week they'd give me a full refund. Then when I got home it was waiting for me; I think the postman had tried to deliver it sooner, found nobody in, and took it back to try again later. I know they were probably motivated in part by the risk of me giving negative feedback (which I wasn't threatening and wouldn't have done, but they couldn't know that), but it was still very generous of them. My annoyance at their not having sent a shipping confirmation email has vanished, and I'm happy to have supported them.
I'm also very happy with the ocarina itself. At first I thought the high notes sounded a bit feeble, but then I realised I just needed to blow harder than for the low notes. It makes a nice sound, it feels sturdy, it fits in my pocket or hangs around my neck. The range is almost two octaves, from A3 to F5. I'm not very good at playing it yet, but I'll improve. One minor annoyance is that on my (fairly quick) searches I haven't been able to find any Zelda sheet music for ocarina. The best I found was for clarinet in Bb, but everything seems to have a couple of notes which are just above my range. (And I assume it'll sound slightly weird since my ocarina is tuned in C, but I don't know much about that.)
On Sunday, Airsoc went to an airsoft site based in a disused shopping mall in Reading. I was really looking forward to it, but found it to be a little disappointing. Most of the fighting seemed to happen at chokepoints, where you just get a lot of people milling around unable to do anything without getting shot. Fighting across the main open part was fun, but the number of people involved meant little progress was made by either side. There was a play area (including ball pool) which I would have really liked to fight in, but it only came into play for the first game and I was assaulting it. (Double annoying: I was supposed to start off defending it, with defenders swapping sides when they died. But I was late joining, partly because I had to help sort out people with rental guns and partly because I took a long time to load all my mags, and they put me on the attacking side to begin with.) Also there was quite a lot of cheat-calling, which isn't pleasant to hear.
I think with smaller teams, it would have been a lot more fun. With no way to effectively guard every possible entrance to a large area, there would have been a lot more action. It's a tautology to say that on any site, teams being too large will diminish the fun. But I think CQB sites need to be a lot more careful than open sites, because it's so easy to get chokepoints. Of course, I've only played at four different sites, and the Grange is the only one I've been to more than once, so I can't speak with much authority.
We're going to the Grange this Sunday, which will make three times in one month for me. Over christmas I got an extended tightbore barrel for my P90, which I haven't been able to test properly yet: I couldn't see well enough at the mall or the crown court (in Bristol) to easily judge how consistent it was being. But it did chrono surprisingly low at the mall (less than normal, and tightbores are supposed to increase fps), and what I could see didn't look promising. So I'm somewhat resigned to the idea that it might have been a bad investment. But not a massively expensive one (less than £15), and at least I've still got the old one. I'll be able to find out at the Grange, where I can see better.
I don't think I'm working as hard as I should this term. My progress on my essay is slow, partly because I'm not properly utilising the blocks of time that I've set aside for it. Algebra is the only module for which we have to hand in assignments; so far only one is due, and I did it but forgot to give it in before the deadline. What's slightly worrying is I remembered less than five minutes late, when I was just heading into a lecture near where it needed to be handed in. I probably could have got it in without anyone noticing, but I decided I couldn't be bothered. I didn't even know at the time that only the best 4/5 count. Most of my other modules have problem sheets, but only metric spaces hands them out. I've done the first of those and some of the second, and barely looked at the third. The other problem sheets are only online, and I haven't downloaded any of them.
I'm also very happy with the ocarina itself. At first I thought the high notes sounded a bit feeble, but then I realised I just needed to blow harder than for the low notes. It makes a nice sound, it feels sturdy, it fits in my pocket or hangs around my neck. The range is almost two octaves, from A3 to F5. I'm not very good at playing it yet, but I'll improve. One minor annoyance is that on my (fairly quick) searches I haven't been able to find any Zelda sheet music for ocarina. The best I found was for clarinet in Bb, but everything seems to have a couple of notes which are just above my range. (And I assume it'll sound slightly weird since my ocarina is tuned in C, but I don't know much about that.)
On Sunday, Airsoc went to an airsoft site based in a disused shopping mall in Reading. I was really looking forward to it, but found it to be a little disappointing. Most of the fighting seemed to happen at chokepoints, where you just get a lot of people milling around unable to do anything without getting shot. Fighting across the main open part was fun, but the number of people involved meant little progress was made by either side. There was a play area (including ball pool) which I would have really liked to fight in, but it only came into play for the first game and I was assaulting it. (Double annoying: I was supposed to start off defending it, with defenders swapping sides when they died. But I was late joining, partly because I had to help sort out people with rental guns and partly because I took a long time to load all my mags, and they put me on the attacking side to begin with.) Also there was quite a lot of cheat-calling, which isn't pleasant to hear.
I think with smaller teams, it would have been a lot more fun. With no way to effectively guard every possible entrance to a large area, there would have been a lot more action. It's a tautology to say that on any site, teams being too large will diminish the fun. But I think CQB sites need to be a lot more careful than open sites, because it's so easy to get chokepoints. Of course, I've only played at four different sites, and the Grange is the only one I've been to more than once, so I can't speak with much authority.
We're going to the Grange this Sunday, which will make three times in one month for me. Over christmas I got an extended tightbore barrel for my P90, which I haven't been able to test properly yet: I couldn't see well enough at the mall or the crown court (in Bristol) to easily judge how consistent it was being. But it did chrono surprisingly low at the mall (less than normal, and tightbores are supposed to increase fps), and what I could see didn't look promising. So I'm somewhat resigned to the idea that it might have been a bad investment. But not a massively expensive one (less than £15), and at least I've still got the old one. I'll be able to find out at the Grange, where I can see better.
I don't think I'm working as hard as I should this term. My progress on my essay is slow, partly because I'm not properly utilising the blocks of time that I've set aside for it. Algebra is the only module for which we have to hand in assignments; so far only one is due, and I did it but forgot to give it in before the deadline. What's slightly worrying is I remembered less than five minutes late, when I was just heading into a lecture near where it needed to be handed in. I probably could have got it in without anyone noticing, but I decided I couldn't be bothered. I didn't even know at the time that only the best 4/5 count. Most of my other modules have problem sheets, but only metric spaces hands them out. I've done the first of those and some of the second, and barely looked at the third. The other problem sheets are only online, and I haven't downloaded any of them.