Hi Fret
I am coping but no more
Thanks for asking. There's a lot of schiit going down at the moment and I just want to turn it all off, but I can't. Warning - long post alert.
My son has pretty bad anxiety and is being assessed for autism also . First day back at school after Easter break today and he has been visibly getting more and more anxious leading up to this day. Poor lad, everything we say makes no difference . He needs professional help with this one along with many more school children I suspect. This pandemic really has had and continues to have a very big effect on their mental health. Sadly, I really do think it will have a long lasting effect for many.
I'm definitely in a low which I have learned to recognise well after all these years. Nothing is good, every day is a huge effort and I have to force myself to get enthusiastic about anything. Drinking is still going on at the weekend. I have managed to curtail it slightly to the point that I don't get out of control but I am still reliant on it - at least I can recognise that.
Work is busy as it always is at this time of year. You reap what you sow as the saying goes
Not done any messing with hifi recently. I haven't got the energy, time or inclination at the moment. The funny thing is I am quite happy with streaming through the Amazon fire stick in the back of our TV
I am still enjoying the music immensely and I don't even know the bit and sampling rate - it's simply "good enough". I enjoy finding new music with it. It's usually on not too loud and background music as we all talk over it and are doing other things. Music is definitely one of the biggest helpers with dealing with the stress of life and bollox that gets thrown at you.
My wife has Amazon Prime and we were getting Amazon music free on the firestick but then they started charging her and she cancelled it. Never told me until one day I searched for something to play and it wouldn't play it.
Went back to youtube for a while. I am not tech savvy at all (kids kno not to ask me anything) but I managed to work out how to cast youtube music from my samsung tablet to the firestick on the TV. I must say I was rather proud of myself and that has started to alleviate some of the fears I had about streaming and file based music. I never knew that youtube music was a different thing to the youtube video channel. Enjoying the music again and there's no subscription.
What this has taught me is that I really don't care that much about the replay equipment as long as it sounds good enough. I had got it in to my head that I was addicted to the kit and the music was coming second. This thought of mine has turned out to be complete bollox thankfully. Maybe I have saved myself just in time ?
All this diy with audio electronics has been in pursuit of the holy grail, you know, the end game where everything just sounds marvellous and perfect. I realise that it is not achievable and so why bother ? The constant tinkering and modifying just to eek out that last bit of detail that I had not heard before all seems to be a futile process when I can cast youtube music (don't know bit or sampling rates) to a firestick played back through my LG TV and be perfectly happy.
I read various audio forums, I suppose to just stop me thinking about painful things happening in life. I recently started to get wound up by most of the things I was reading. I don't look upon my way of doing audio as being better than anybody else's but I get annoyed when others do. The amount of bickering, trying to outdo others, forum politics, ulterior motives, shilling and the general talking of bollox really infantile at times.
I tried to ween myself off forums over the last week. Had some success. I haven't posted in over a week but that hasn't stopped me looking. Just like the drinking it is hard to give up but I will persevere.
My mostly diy system will get finished eventually I hope but I am through trying to eek out every little imaginary improvement. I know it works so just need to build final speakers and a big sideboard type thing to put all the electronics in (except sources which will sit on top). I am tired of it all to be completely honest. I just want to enjoy the music and forget about everything else
That will be a strange affair. I have been to a lot of funerals (it's a big family) but this is the first in a lockdown. We will all have to be distanced, no wake and definitely no hugging (I am a big believer in the power of hugs). Must take plenty of tissues.
). It took a four pack of larger to slug my mind enough to get back to sleep. This happens occasionally. Well I didn't just sit there staring in to space so I took the opportunity to research streaming devices 