Tired

Friday is the day that I tend to spend editing my YouTube video for the week. And because I’m still editing on my phone, the whole process is still sooo painfulll… 😣 I really want to move to the editing software on my computer, but I need to learn how to use the damn thing first, and I haven’t had any time to do that yet. I was hoping to spend some time playing with it tonight after I finished editing my latest video, but that took wayyy longer than I expected, so of course now I’m just too tired to do anything 😔

N was out at drinks tonight at Central, so at least he was busy with other people, and not waiting around for me to finish my damn video!

Apparently Central was pretty busy tonight. You’d think there was no pandemic situation right now, based on how people are behaving. We’ve gotten a fresh new batch of cases in recent days, people coming back from overseas as well as local transmission cases 😔 So I’m starting to get antsy again… We’ve never gone into lockdown here in HK, and I’m grateful for that, but I don’t want things to deteriorate to a point where the government sees no choice but to finally impose one on the city 😔

Paid stuff and free stuff

Our anniversary is coming up and we are wondering if we should do a staycation somewhere in HK. It’s really popular at the moment since no one can travel, and people’s photos on social media are really tempting me…

The only problem is my new hobby. Or rather, the cost of my new hobby. I am torn between spending money on a hotel room for the weekend or on getting tech stuff 🤣 This wouldn’t have even been a choice in previous years!

I might do some research on what staycation deals are being offered at the moment. Surely hotels must still be offering some pretty good deals?? ☺️ If not, then tech gear it is, then 😂

I also started watching tutorials on how to use the free editing software that I downloaded onto my computer. I’m pretty comfortable using the editing app that I’ve been using on my phone, but you can imagine just how limited the features are on that compared to software on my computer. So not only do I have to learn how to do the really basic stuff, but I’d also like to learn the other features too that I just wasn’t able to do on my phone. I obviously need to take this one step at a time and learn the basics first! But once I get that down pat, then the editing process should definitely be much faster and I won’t have to stress about it each and every week 😅 And hopefully when I learn the more advanced features, my videos will also start to improve too! Fingers crossed! 🤞

I also filmed my next YouTube video today, so I would like this video to be edited entirely on my computer this time. It’ll be my first video filmed on my new camera, and it’ll be the first video edited on my computer. How exciting! 😁

In low power mode

I had one of those days where I just felt blah. I didn’t feel motivated to do anything, all I wanted was to just sit there and not do anything. Because I felt so blah, I dubbed today a ‘low power mode’ day, which meant I wasn’t going to do anything that required too much energy. My main goal today was to conserve.

But despite this, I still managed to write the script for my next YouTube video; I called my mum; I reviewed some Chinese and I had my Chinese lesson. That’s more than I expected to get through today! 👍

We sometimes usually have some pretty serious discussions during my Chinese lessons. We’ve talked about the HK protests, media bias, coronavirus. It’s pretty impressive that I can talk about these things in Chinese, even if Im communicating at a 7-year old level! 😂 I try not to use any English at all unless I just can’t find any way to express myself in Chinese. For example, if I don’t know the Chinese word for banana, I will describe it as a long, yellow fruit, and then she will tell me the Chinese word for it 😂 This is okay up to a point. When you want to start talking about abstract things: influence, threat, perspective etc, it starts getting harder to express yourself in alternative ways. And this is when I revert to English. And I learn new Chinese words 😊

And once I get through such a conversation, I always feel so motivated to continue to improve, to be able to express myself as an 8-year old, a 10-year old, and then hopefully a teenager 😊 But at the moment, I still feel like I’m in primary school 🤣

Finances and a possible tech bag 😱

I organised some of our finances today, woohoo! I can’t seem to get on top of our finances, so any little bit that I do moves us in the right direction 👍

We are still behind on our taxes, though. I really need to get that sorted ASAP. The only problem with that is that there is no incentive! We don’t get a tax refund. There is nothing to look forward to, apart from the satisfaction of knowing that you’re up-to-date with your taxes. And woop-de-doo to that 😂

I went to the Wan Chai Computer Centre again today 😂 I am now looking for my tech bag. Wth, man. Who would’ve thought that I’d ever be looking for a tech bag?!? 🤣 It’s so interesting how I have changed over the years! I am thinking of this bag:

This is the 6L version, and look how huge it already looks on me! 🤣 I am so smalll! There is no way I could go any bigger than this. Anything bigger and I could probably fit into the bag itself 🤣 The product reviews that I have seen talk about how you can wear them as a bum bag. Hahaha, not on me!

The 6L replaces the 5L in this range, and this store that I went to actually had both. I actually preferred the 5L, despite its slightly smaller size. And now that it’s the old version, maybe I can get it for slightly cheaper… But it is smaller… Hmmm… I don’t know, I have to think about it some more…

More tech stuff 😂

I helped my mum set up her voicemail today. It only took us about two hours 🤣🙄 I’m sure it’d be much easier in person, but we don’t have that luxury, with us living in HK at the moment. At least we have free video call options these days.

My mum has probably never used a computer in her life, so to suddenly be forced to learn how to use a smartphone is a pretty big technological leap for her. And as a senior, it is even more difficult to learn. So I try and be as patient as I can be, but it is so haaard sometimes! Especially when you know that setting up your voicemail usually only takes just a few minutes 🤣 🤣

I also started watching an introductory tutorial on the free editing software that I’ve downloaded. I’d like to edit my first video on it soon! I’d like to move onto editing on my computer as soon as possible, so I no longer have to edit on my phone. I really want to save time in the long run! I don’t think I’ll be able to learn the basics and edit my first video this week, so I might aim for next week. Plus I still have a few videos on my phone that I need to finish editing anyway, which is a few weeks’ worth of videos, so I still have time 😊

Turning into a techie!

It was raining quite heavily this morning, so I didn’t think I would be able to go out for a walk to test out my new camera today. But apparently the rain didn’t really want to stick around: about an hour later, the sun was out again and it never went away ☀️👍

I decided to go for a walk around the ferry piers at Central as well as Harbourfront, as there are quite a lot of photo opportunities around there. I took a ton of videos, of course, but not sure yet if I’ll turn them into a vlog or if they will just feature as pretty backgrounds in my next video.

I went at a really good time actually, in the late afternoon, and I stuck around until sundown, so I could also see how the camera would cope in low light conditions. It’s not the best, but still pretty good for a compact camera.

What I did realise, though, is that my regular handbag does not handle all the extra little things that I need to carry with me now if I want to be vlogging outside with my new nifty little setup. So when I got back home, I started looking at some product reviews of camera bags on YouTube. OMG I am turning into a techie! 🤪😱 This is insane! So now I need to think about what I want in a camera bag.

As a female, I would actually want a camera bag that doubles as a handbag. Does that even exist?? Is there enough of a market for such a bag?? One possible solution is that I just buy a bigger camera bag, and put all my other stuff in the other spaces in that bigger bag. Would that work? Any other women out there that have the same problem??

My new camera! 📷

I finally bought a new camera! It’s my first proper camera since the 2000s and I’m sooo excited! 😁 I wanted to use it today, but I needed to charge the battery, so I just had to make do with the camera on my phone 😆 I want to try it out tomorrow, but I don’t have any plans, so not sure where I’ll go…

We also walked from Causeway Bay to Wan Chai to go to the Wan Chai Computer Centre, which is about a 1km walk. This is a pretty decent walk, but this was after walking around Causeway Bay for around two hours already, so needless to say, I was pretty knackered by the time I got home. My feet are still throbbing now 🦶 And remember that it’s summer, so the heat was also draining me. Maybe I need to drink more water too, that might help.

I want to read the manual for my phone, but I don’t know if I have the energy to even do that!

But despite my tiredness, I’m still very excited! I can’t wait to try out my new camera 😁

Things didn’t go my way today

It was one of those days that really tested my patience.

Firstly, I remembered yesterday that my library books were due. But I remembered after midnight, so there was no way I could renew them online and I knew I had no choice but to go and return them today.

But when I got to the library, I found out that they have changed the opening times for some reason. They now only open from 1pm! Not sure what prompted this change. I can only assume it has something to do with the pandemic, as almost everything revolves around that these days 😒

And then when I went to go and edit my next YouTube video, I discover that there is a mismatch between my audio and video files. The audio was actually great, but I don’t know if I didn’t hit the record button or if I deleted the file, but the corresponding video file wasn’t there! O.M.G. So the final video ended up being around four minutes long, when it probably should’ve been closer to double that length. Sighhh… 😒 But I am learning one additional skill from all this video making: the ability to adapt and create the best thing that you can with what you have. Being creatively resourceful 🤣

But now I want that new Sony ZV-1 vlogging camera even more badly now!! 😩 I’m going to do some research online now to see if anyone has any good deals, and then we can go shopping tomorrow 😁

And then N came home early today with suspected food poisoning 😔 He slept for most of the afternoon, and luckily felt better when he finally woke up. At least he got it out of his system really quickly.

So not the best day, unfortunately 😔

I think I’m getting a bit TOO excited

OK, I have pretty much decided on my new camera: a Sony ZV-1 👍 It’ll actually be my first camera since maybe the 2000s. I don’t even remember when I last had a camera that wasn’t my phone, that’s how long it’s been! 😱

So now I can’t wait to buy it 😊 Hopefully there won’t be protesters around Causeway Bay on the weekend again and so the Sony store will actually be open 🤞 I feel like I’m entering a brand new era with my videography/vlogging and photography journey with this new camera. I might actually even create a vlog about it 😂

N and I haven’t really found a new tv show to watch after we finished Community, so while we’re searching for our new show, we’ve been watching product reviews on YouTube of the various cameras in the market at the moment! 😆 I don’t know why I keep watching review after review of the Sony ZV-1. It basically does everything that I need from a camera at this stage of my journey, so more reviews of the product isn’t going to change my mind 🤣

Can you tell I’m so excited?? 😁 I’m building it up in my mind to be this mega awesome camera, but then what if it doesn’t deliver? I need to stop getting all hyped up about it. It could end up being very anti-climactic… 😒

Things not working together

I went to bed at around 2am last night, so I was fully expecting to be getting up really late, especially since we have another public holiday today 😌

But no, my body had a different idea. And so did Kitty 🙄 She was hungry at around 6:45am and she let me know it 😒 I decided to get up and feed her, and then go back to sleep straight afterwards. But this time, my mind had a different idea. It wanted to wake up and do things. WTH, man. C’mon, mind and body. Just work together for me, will ya?!? 😩

So I watched a few YouTube videos on different cameras that may suit my needs. As I’ve mentioned before, my top priorities are portability, convenience and ease of use. Not just as a camera but also for vlogging. I want something that’s good enough to do both because I just want to carry one thing. I don’t need the fanciest gadget out there or the sharpest photos. I just need something that will do a pretty good job.

So after watching a bajillion videos on YouTube, I narrowed it down to two Sony point-and-shoot cameras: the ZV-1 or the RX100 VII. As N pointed out, the video capabilities is what I’m really focussed on, and that’s exactly what the ZV-1 does: it is primarily for vlogging. Taking photos is secondary, although its camera is still pretty good for a point and shoot. I’m going to watch a few more videos on the ZV-1, but I think I’ve pretty much made up my mind.

So we went to Causeway Bay (CWB) today to go to the Sony store there to check these cameras out. Unfortunately, though, we discovered that the protesters were also over in CWB today 😔 So the police had cordoned off the main road going through the area, clearly trying to drive people out of the area and discouraging people from loitering around.

And the Sony store is on this main road. Needless to say, they had already closed by the time we managed to get there. I was terribly disappointed as I really wanted to see their cameras today 😔

We decided not to check out the Wan Chai Computer Centre, as it too sits on the main road that the police have cordoned off, so they have probably shut their doors for the rest of the day too 😔

I was so looking forward to checking out my potential new camera, but I guess I just have to wait until the weekend. Hopefully the protesters don’t target CWB again on the weekend, and we can safely head over to the Sony store and hopefully, maybe, buy a camera 🤞

I should’ve researched where the protests were going to be today. I should’ve anticipated it, at least, given the significance of the date and the introduction of the new security law. And that it’s a public holiday today. Sighhh… I was too busy doing my research on cameras! 📸 😂