Well my sore throat/infection is teetering off now, after EIGHT DAYS of profuse fits of coughing and razor blade swallowing.

I suspect pollution was an exacerbating factor, as we've had brutal levels the last couple of weeks, on or above PM2.5 200, which passes into the worst category of 'very polluted'. This was pretty common some years ago but I guess they had some kind of clean up act at some point. The recent record cold snap is probably to blame, opening up more coal plants.

On the worst day, I think Thursday or Friday, fate decided I was getting off too easy.

Technical Suicide

On my way in a taxi, I opened the food app to order a coffee and... the app froze.

Nevermind, I'll restart. Huh, odd, I can't restart. I can't even lock my phone. Restart? Wait, what??

I can't even turn off my phone? I'm just stuck on this app front page! What's going o- oh, ok it restarted, phew.

Ok booting... booting still... black screen? Booting again...

And again...

And again.....

My phone, apparently, committed suicide that day. That was the last time I ever used that phone. It was stuck on an eternal reboot until it got extremely hot and ran out of battery. Honestly, no matter what internet solutions exist, it could do nothing but reboot. Not even a total wipe could work.

Travesty!

By sheer fortune I happened to transfer all the important photos to my backup drive barely 2 weeks earlier after 5 years of being careless about it, but I might have to get a professional to maybe crack the phone open and extract the videos. I dunno.

That was a rough day

In China, you are especially dependent on your phone. Without them, you are functionally dead to the world.

As my phone died in the taxi, I was unable to pay the guy. I couldn't order my coffee or any food, I couldn't clock in or out of work, and I certainly couldn't go home despite the multiple options: Bikes, taxis, buses, metros - All need a phone to access.

Well, I got my fiance to get me that coffee and she would get me a taxi later at home time. Fine.

Fate, however, decided this wasn't annoying enough. As I put my laptop down to start my class, it RESTARTED, for no reason other than to mess with me. What this meant was that desktop version of the 'Chinese Whatsapp', WeChat, logged out of my computer, which was my ONLY access to communicate with anybody.

I now had zero access to my fiance nor anybody else for that matter. I was completely cut off from civilisation if not for the lucky fact I happened to be at work. So I did begrudgingly have to ask for help by colleagues I don't know or like, and get them to add my fiance's wechat, ask her to contact me via other means. It worked out eventually but jeeze.

New Phone

I got the Samsung Galaxy s23+ on Saturday. I didn't like the more expensive 'ultra' model. Too big, too sharp edges, and a stupid stylus pen that rattles inside. fruck that.

Kinda annoying cause the 24 comes out in like a week, but I had little choice.

It's a neat phone. Basically an iPhone but without iOS. Reviews claim the camera is incredible but it doesn't seem any better than my 5 year old cheap Chinese phone. In fact, it seems a lot granier when I zoom in compared to what I'm used to.

Well Here's some crappy photos from my work to see the camera in action. If I find it better in some way later I might make a little collection of real pics.

This is some moss I have on my desk at work I try to keep alive. The macro abilities seem fairly limited compared to my old phone, but it does the job by phone standards I suppose. You can see details you'd otherwise miss, such as how each little prong of leaf curcls inwards. My guess is to create a shape conducive to water tension, keeping hold of moisture for longer and channeling it into the centre of each mossy clump. Cool.

This is a giant souffle.

This is from the video zoom into my laptop screen. Again, pretty much the same as my old phone, though maybe inferior I'm not sure. But at the very least you can see the individual LEDs of red, green and blue per pixel.

Here's a little video demonstrating the 'Super Slow Mo' mode. Best way I could depict it was via string vibrations. First one is inside a piano, second is a guitar chord (Open C tuning!)

I am a bit suspicious when I see this. If you look at the guitar chord in the second half, the higher strings - the silver, non-wound ones at the bottom of the screen - seem to be vibrating more slowly than the others. It should be the other way around.

As you get higher in pitch, there are more oscillations per second - That's what frequency is.

So why are they slower in the higher pitches? It is something like helicopter blades? They're not that much faster than lower strings. I dunno. I sense a conspiracy at Big Samsung.

Anyway,the main thing is that the phone feels great, and it's less than half the price of an iPhone while being basically better, or at worst 'on par' with some features.

None of which I realistically care about, but still.

Dealing with Loss

I dread to think what else I've lost deep within the old phone's ghost. I dread it so much that i've avoided thinking about it. I'm sure there's a bunch of money I've permanently lost access to, or contact with people, passwords I'll desperately need, deeply personal notes I've saved.

It's not the first time. I left an external drive out in the rain for 6 months (I thought I lost it somewhere in my home until I randomly found it OUTSIDE). It had photos from back in school days, all gone.

It is, in retrospect, a little sad, how much of my past is permanently lost to time and technology. Especially given my generally poor memory. But I am one of those old people who think we just don't need to be recording every single moment of our lives just because it feels remotely relevant at the time. Maybe it's a good thing to just let go sometimes.

One thing's for sure, I'm going to be taking less junk photos and junk screenshots of things this ti-

--- Argh! All my saved Simpsons screen recordings! Gone! Noooooo