just another all-over-the-place post

The three planet conjunction (involving Mercury, Jupiter and Mars) is happening this Sunday and Monday mornings. Given that the trio rises about an hour before sunrise, I have serious doubts that I'll see them. Then again, I saw Mercury barely 10 degrees above the horizon from my home twice over the past week, if that's any encouragement. So, I brought home the spotting scope my boss had kindly given away, in the hope that it might be of some help in photographing the conjunction. If the sky looks good, I might even attempt to stack video clips of objects taken on the camera, but first I need to find an adapter.

A major sunspot group just rotated around the sun's limb. Maybe I'll bring the scope back into the office on Monday for some solar observing. Time to unwrap that sheet of solar filter which I paid way too much for.

Hammered dulcimer lessons are going well, but I'm still having trouble with the roll after getting introduced to the technique at least four months ago. I can't go too fast without losing momentum to muscle tension, and I tend to stall in between notes.

There isn't much work around in the office lately. There's no doubt people are going on holidays. Part of ennui can be attributed to the yet unfinalised and imminent re-organisation. Nobody seems to know what's going on. Maybe they know more than they think they know, or they could be feigning ignorance. Anyway this phase of my life would fade away in 7 months' time, so I'm not deeply concerned. On the up side, I'm getting plenty of free time in the office. My computational number theory notes and peers make good company.

I realised that I lack confidence to bring my suspicions to conclusions in relationship matters. I'm not oblivious to going-ons around me. Events repeat themselves over and over, in different places, involving different persons, but they lead to the same outcomes. I can never articulate my interpretations with enough certainty and conviction. The signs are extremely obvious, but I tend to suppress gut feelings, choose to trivialise observations and believe the innocuous and plain. Perhaps experience confers confidence. gah...