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How's your weekend going?
#GoodMorning. I've been up for 90 minutes already. I had a wonderful sleep, but at the wrong time.
Now, today will be my *long day*

I see Street Community Yard Sales going on, I'll *peek*. I wanted to drive my wife to Peggys Cove for a few photos and I forgot it was Saturday. We're not interested in crowds. I should have gone weekday.
We're just doing a scenic drive, Peggys Cove isn't the most scenic thing on the South Shore. Just the most promoted.
I'll be around

A very dirty van with solid back door (no window) The dirt is think on the van and someone has written this in the dirt: SINGLE WHITE VAN SEEKS SINGLE YELLOW SPONGE FOR DIRTY WEEKEND FUN
#goodmorning
in reply to Rasta

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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Morning mon ami, glad you got some decent rest!

Enjoy your day out, I love driving out to the coast, hopefully will manage a trip after the summer holidays have ended & the crowds have thinned out a bit 🤞

in reply to MaJ1 OLD

Rasta
Rasta
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Well, being retired, weekdays are my weekends. I didn't like weekend travel when I worked, and I think this goes back to childhood? We always drove the coast, both ways, all my relatives on one side were on the South Shore, all the other side on the Eastern Shore. All my wife's family. We'd always be driving on weekends. Pack Friday, unload when you arrive, brief Saturday, pack Sunday, fight trailers and boats and others back home. I won't do weekends willingly. I go when it's quiet
in reply to Rasta

Didactylos
Didactylos
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ten years ago when we retired we upended the week, with the weekend being when we stayed home and yielded the world to the weekenders
in reply to Didactylos

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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We used to do the same when herself got time off.
Atm it’s harder because of my reluctance to go out & about, but hopefully that will pass, I love travelling & visiting new places normally!
in reply to MaJ1 OLD

Rasta
Rasta
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I find traveling virtually to be just as fun. IE: I'm going on a day-run to test my vehicle, and will be taking photos of places you will never see, and if you visited, you'd never find in the guides and information available to tourists. But, local guide, knows all the *hot spots* and might not even share them all. But they now video everything, and blog everything, you will see more virtually than in person
in reply to Rasta

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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I know, I like to explore google Earth amongst other sources . It’s fun , but you don’t get the sounds & smells.
in reply to MaJ1 OLD

Rasta
Rasta
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You do in a descriptive video. I've been practising with AltText to learn to describe. Authors might find that easier but to common speech, I don't make full sentences, but to describe in depth is an art I want to learn.
And you get your smells, because I will tell you what it smells like. I should pull up a video and tag you to practise?
in reply to Rasta

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Aah, descriptive video. My cup of tea. I have a little something that may be of interest to you both around that topic, if you'll humour me? This is a link to a post I made on my other account about sound, how I perceive it, what it means to me as a blind person and how listening is just as good as seeing. mastodonmusic.social/@Onj/1104…
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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I agree, and so far in your posts, I've learned much more on this area, thank you. As an aside, before we had Smartphones that read to the blind and modern tools, I used to read for the blind. There's a lot of *nothing* at sea, months bouncing around. A blind girl in California rerouted her Free Mail for the Blind, to my ship, where we had no reading materials, and I'd record them on Cassette and mail them back to her. Did it for years with Voicespondance Club, big on Audio
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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When I get up *very early*, only night birds are active. We had a huge hurricane last Fall, FIONA took our trees. Now, in the middle of the night, I can hear the Ambulance returning to its station after overnight on call. The tires have a familiar steady din sound, as they have double wheels on each end of the rear axle, a sound I can't mistake for another. I hear it for miles now, coming and going. I mute some videos to lose that distraction. I'm going to do 1 for you soon
in reply to Rasta

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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I have to put ear plugs in at night, I’m a really light sleeper so the slightest sounds wake me up.

I do like laying in bed atm if I wake at dawn & just listen to the wildlife that’s started to come to the garden. Along with the sound of the water flowing into the pond its very soothing.

in reply to MaJ1 OLD

Rasta
Rasta
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I can't sleep, period, unless it's time. When it is, I hear nothing, you can move the house with me in it. After 4 hours, a cat can gag in the kitchen I am there before it dries. When I wake in the country at 2am, without lights, I watch the animals and stars in the dark. I'll download my camera and talk you through a few days ago later on
in reply to Rasta

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Wife and I sleep with a fan on. It masks out any background sounds of London, or noises in the house. No fan, bad sleep. When I go to a hotel, I have to find an alternate, or take a small portable fan with me. I'm away for gigs sometimes on my own, then I just use a radio station from a speaker by the bed, as I can sleep to music, but wife can't.
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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This may help you? I'm also troubled by sounds, I'll go deeper first. As a senior Marine Engineer, when you hear a strange sound, you must investigate, no matter what time, or where. Lives may depend on your snappy response and critical thinking. A bearing and turbine make a high-pitched whine. Motar Bombs and 3.50 inch guns make big booms, and diesels purr like kittens. I can sleep though those. But power off? fans die, and it's quiet. That wakes me instantly, I investigate

Andre Louis reshared this.

in reply to Rasta

Rasta
Rasta
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And as the ADHD keeps my mind too active to let me sleep, and on the other end is worry, about absolutely everything. If I stay in bed and don't get up, I'll begin to make myself sick from anxiety so I just get up. I found #BrownNoise that helps. You check this out?
mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/anam…
I use it to cancel thought noises too :P

Anamnesis — Relaxing Music Generator

Sustained sounds are peaceful, calming and inspirational.
mynoise.net
#brownnoise
in reply to Rasta

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Aah of course, yeah I have the MyNoise app on my phone. I forget about it all the time.
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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When Records were how we *streamed* LOL, I had Environmentals Albums, The sound of the surf (which you will enjoy when I find one) and the sounds of the birds.. And for my new baby, the sounds of the womb, which comforts newborns and young infants.
I've experimented or studied moods created by music. As a former DJ, playing music is the least of your worries, it's everything else, observing the crowd, finding and recording triggers, and sounds or songs that make people happy
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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Way back before Bluetooth was considered, I had a Pillow Speaker. We weren't allowed headphones on ship. The speaker was tiny but someone could hear it, found it, and there was a long cut cord under my pillow next day. Good for audio teaching cassettes.
in reply to Rasta

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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I think my issues with noise at night go back to when I was in Storage Mgmt & on 24/7 call (we had a rota so it was every 4 weeks which wasn’t too bad, unless 1 swapped) when you couldn’t really rest because you were always ½ listening out for the phone.
When I first started we had to actually go into the office! Then joy of joys we got a remote laptop 🥳 what a god send that was!
9/10 times it was trivial but more than once I’ve pulled a 20 hour day!
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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no no, thank you for listening.
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Aah yeah I was nervous as hell giving my first ever public speaking talk which was in 2016. After that, I realised 'hey I'm not too bad at this, I'll do this more often.' Got to really enjoy it, started my youtube channel in earnest at the end of 2017 and never looked back. That event pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me the speaker I am today.
in reply to Andre Louis

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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That first speaking event is here actually, and discusses accessibility and how blind people use off-the-shelf things like modern-day smart phones, computers and other tech: youtu.be/Q5pTfF-xFAU?a

Insights into accessibility – a conversation with musician Andre Louis

Geoff Stead of Cambridge English speaks to tech-fanatic musician Andre Louis about the accessibility features of our mainstream technologies.
YouTube
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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Public speaking can make you or break you. For purely personal reasons, I'd encourage anyone to join Toastmasters or similar, for the confidence and teaching it brings.
I was a natural. Rare but it also made me a good DJ, but I rarely speak, unless hosting something. I've instructed, presented, and been picked by more senior people, to speak on their behalf. I'm losing some cognitive ability (which scares me) but I always corrected work higher than my level. Natural Speaker
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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That's quite polished, without usual *word whispers* as we learned. Besides being trained also, I was an invigilator of Instructors. I'd sit in the back, pick up any nasty habits, off track or not following structure, just so you know, it's not just a personal opinion, but a profession observation of quality public speaking. You're content is long, I've not finished it, but you were 4-5 minutes in before you paused with an AH but not a stumble. Very natural flow, and content
in reply to Rasta

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Funny thing, I tried, on my own channel years later, to write notes/make a script for a video I was working on. It failed utterly. Deleted it, started over as I usually do with no script, worked perfectly.
I learnt that I do best when I start the camera rolling, say my bit, and get on with life.
Also, since I don't know how to edit videos, I had no redo's. It's straight-through or nothing at all. I have a habit of being able to put out even hour-long videos without starting again.
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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I don't like RE-do either but I will, many times. What I do, as has been my learning method all my life, is take notes. I'll have to add you to my notes to get you a descriptive video later. When I write a speech, or presentation, I don't read it, or even look at it. I memorized it when I first wrote it. Because of ADHD, any distraction, even a phone ring, and I'm lost. My students learned how to manipulate me, and I caught on and corrected it. Bullet Points only for timing
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Teehee :)
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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I like you too. 😂
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Oh don't mind me, I'm a very sarcastic Londoner, I gets it I does.
Unknown parent

Rasta
Rasta
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You can teach yourself good habits.
My recent breakthroughs go like this:
I never drank water. I do now. I learned this. In protest for price gouging, I gave up flavor drops to help water taste like something.
I cut hot chocolate for the same reason, doubled in price in one month, I no longer buy it.
and, in attempts to stop hurting every night (old joints) I have to go through full range of movement so I can walk properly. That stretch athon has put me in better shape
Unknown parent

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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I didn’t say I never do it, I think it was one of your photos that attracted me, and its rude not to praise peeps for good stuff .

See childhood conditioning overrides even anxiety .

Unknown parent

Rasta
Rasta
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Said by someone who obviously initiated contact because I don't even see followers until they speak. They can boost their little hearts out, but so can a BOT. When I talk with them, I follow them
in reply to Rasta

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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Aah I love water. Some people think it's tasteless, but it's not. The only tasteless thing is fizzy water. Not only is it tasteless, it's soulless and dystopian and evil. lol
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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Haha. I can't drink soda water or club soda, but I do like sparkling ones, as I do Sparkling wines and fizzy drinks. I don't like cold drinks. Just room temp is fine, or put them in the ocean to chill a minute or two
in reply to Rasta

MaJ1 OLD
MaJ1 OLD
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Room temp fizzy drinks! What an abomination unto Nuggan! #Discworld #GnuTerryPratchett

I’ll drink water at room temp, but if its fizzing then it needs ice, or at least to have come out of the fridge. Did they teach you nothin in the Navy 😂

I’m on the H2O at the mo because it’s far too hot for my late morning brew!

#gnuterrypratchett #discworld
in reply to MaJ1 OLD

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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I just can't drink room-temp water. It feels like I'm not quenching my thirst at all. Literally does nothing for me. I'm sure it would actually work, but psychologically, can't touch the stuff.
Unknown parent

Andre Louis
Andre Louis
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We have this gigantic fridge that I call Hagrid, it's taller than most tall people, and in the door is a water dispenser so I top that up and wait half an hour or so, very cold water. Lovely shtuff.
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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In the tropics, like Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands, while many had Ice tea, others among us found hot coffee to cool us as easily. And not shock your overly heated core
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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As a fun aside, to keep your mind from growing bored LOL , let me tell you about Ice Makers and Water Reservoirs? (As a professional engineer) We put plastic bags on our feet to go inside drinking water tanks to inspect them. Not to keep our dirty boots out of the drinking water, but to keep greasy residue in all pipes and water surfaces from staining our boots. Ice makers are dirtier than my toilet bowl. NO KIDDING. I don't know if I have photos, it was before digital times
in reply to Andre Louis

Rasta
Rasta
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Slime. Those water bottles some offices think are good to get for the coffee room. They spread the most colds, probably Covid and anything else going around. There's no chlorine like your tap water to kill bacteria, so it grows uncontrolled. One cough by the person replacing the jug will grow bacteria in the water. We manually clean ice machines. Those are filthy devices for use by professionals, not every bar or fountain tap. Serious health risks if dirty and not regulated
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