Weekly Status Update #34: Black No. 1

Due to personal circumstances, I took a leave of absence from blogging for a while. I’m back now though, but we can only wonder for how long 😉 In any case, a new weekly status-update featuring: working, gaming, crocheting, blogging and dyeing:

  • Working: So work has been nice for the last couple of months. I submitted to our main conference VIS (results are in the Sixth of June, fingers crossed! I am currently working on a journal publication with my medical partner in Leiden. Her contract ended recently and I will miss her dearly :'(. After that there may or may not be a VCBM submission. Productive times! Besides  this, I finally got around to writing the VCBM conference report on medvis.org. Pro-tip for future me: write those shortly after instead, because it takes major effort to recall what exactly happened there after.  Still the VIS conference report to write and then I am semi-caught up there. Someone mentioned the rainbow colormaps post in a Tweakers post and we had a veritable visitor avalanche just from that. Thank you commenter!
  • Gaming: I just finished Pillars of Eternity just in time for the launch of the Witcher 3. Go me! Somehow I went through almost the whole game and somehow missed the ability to enchant armor and shields…. In the end I caught up to their well-hidden features though and finished the game. I can highly recommend this game to fans of the former Infinity engine games such as Baldur’s Gate, Planescape Torment and Icewind Dale. The characters are maybe not all as memorable (there is no real Minsc and Boo), but the story and gameplay is still really amazing. 9.5/10, would play again! The Witcher 3 will be released in a couple of days, which is another great game to look forward to 🙂
  • Crocheting: I am not even sure this topic is of remote interest to the non-existing audience of this blog, but during my non-blogging months I managed to get a lot of crochet done. One of my favorites is this beaded wool crescent shawl:
    Mine Once More crescent
    Mine Once More crescent shawl

    On this picture it was still blocking (pinned down to dry after washing), but I’ve worn it several times since then. I really love how the black and red gradient of the wool matches the pattern changes. I am also working on a charity project currently. A sweet lady from belgium is collecting crocheted squares to turn them into comforting soft and cheerful blankets for Zorghuis Oostende.  Zorghuis Oostende is a small project for cancer patients who are battling the disease on their own, without close family to help take care of them.

  • Blogging: So yea, I got a little behind on the frequent blog-posting business due to personal circumstances. I got a suggestion from the inspirational blogger Charl Botha to give “micro-blogging-on-yer-own-blog” a try: short updates that can be written even more quickly than this weekly status update thing. Thanks!
  • Dyeing: Yes, the version with an e. After a decade of dyeing my hair dark brown, I am currently dyeing it pure black again. Dark brown is basically the No. 3 of hair dyes, while black is firmly seated at No. 1.  A good or bad idea? I will find out in an hour.  Time for an old classic meanwhile:

    Despite the unappealing lighting in this video, I assure you Peter Steele was an extremely attractive man and all the girls were dreaming that he would write this song about them :p

Thank you for reading and have a great week!

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