Weekender #17

• Myna birb update: From what I have observed during the week, it seems that the Baby myna and Handsome are still hanging around together in the neighborhood, but their daily visits to my driveway occur less often. I’ve also observed them arriving separately at different times. Baby myna is getting bigger, but still has long, gangly legs and a short body.

  • The two mynas that took over the nook that Handsome and Shpeedy used to share, attempt to chase away both Handsome and Baby every chance they get. I’m always fearful that a fight will break out.

  • By the weekend, both Handsome and Baby myna were only seen once a day instead of multiple times a day.

  • I suspect that Handsome will soon send Baby myna packing to find its own territory. There’s too much competition in the neighborhood. I’ll be sad when Baby myna stops visiting though.

  • Handsome doesn’t currently seem to have a mate. I have no idea what happened to Shpeedy, but I’m certain Handsome will need to find another mate soon if he plans to stay in the neighborhood. Without a mate, it’s almost impossible for him to defend himself or a territory. It was very difficult for him to care for two mynas on his own. It’s no wonder he couldn’t keep his control over the territory without some help from a mate.

  • I’ve often wondered if birds feel sadness the way we do? Do they miss their offspring, or mates that have passed?

• I usually put up with YouTube ads since they support the creators of the videos I watch, but lately, YouTube seems extremely aggressive and shoves an ad in between every chapter break! The ads are not skippable, so it ends up being 2 minutes of content and two ads. I previously mentioned how you can use yout-ube.com to get past the non-skippable ads in a past Weekender. I finally decided to make a Shortcut for iOS and Keyboard Maestro action for macOS so I don’t have to manually modify the URL.

• I placed an order with Tayda Electronics for a set of guitar effect enclosures that will be drilled and powder coated to my specs. I continue to be amazed at how inexpensive manufacturing is in Asia. The powder coated enclosures were $6 and drilling $4.50 for each enclosure. I hope the dimensions I entered for the drilling templates were correct, or I’ll have some useless metal boxes when they arrive. I may try their UV printing service depending on how these turn out.

• Audra and I continue to watch Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+. We’re both enjoying the show and were surprised by the guest appearance of a character/voice actor in last week’s episode. No spoilers!

• Naomi Urasawa’s manga Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ！) is fantastic! I finished the 2nd volume this week. Set in Showa era Japan, the story follows Asa Asada, a strong willed girl living her elementary school life, when a deadly typhoon strikes the town she lives in and a mysterious creature appears. The story and art is very cinematic, which is expected from Urasawa. I look forward to the next volume.

• This week, The Linda Lindas, L.A.’s Asian and Latinx punk band was all over my social media feed. Their viral performance of Racist, sexist boy at the L.A. Public Library for Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month, blew folks away. If you were curious what the entire set was like, here’s the livestream of the entire performance

  • The background story on The Linda Lindas via Martin Wong’s blog.

  • If the sudden fame weren’t enough, they also landed a record deal with Epitaph Records too!

• This week’s tunes are from Morcheeba and their latest album Blackest Blue. I’ve always loved Skye Edwards vocals, and I’m glad that she and Ross Godfrey continue to make downtempo groovy music together. Listen: Apple Music | Spotify.