Well 2020 did not play out how anyone had planned.
Many of you know that I started this year's blinky plan on the right track, placing my first pixel order for the year on Jan 1st and had them 11 days later. By end of March just as our first VIC lockdown began I had completed fitting out new roof props and even worked out all the permanent mounting solutions. By mid year I still had enough motivation to tackle completion of ordering and building 4 pixel column matrices and got them working in test mode.
But as the 2nd, more harsh lockdown happened and being trapped in my own home for so long sitting at the dining room table working from home, the desire to move to another computer to do hours of sequencing did not appeal to me at all. I then made the decision not to do a Halloween display so as to not encourage public gathering of people at our house. Whilst I feel it was the right decision in the end, it also sucked any motivation I had left to work on blinky at all. I tried to make up some more cables & power enclosures required for the now larger Christmas show, but when I ran into some teething issues, I finally decided to pull the pin and go dark for this year.
I've had mixed feelings about this decision. On one hand I felt a huge feeling of relief as I no longer had the stress of making sure I had everything built, tested, setup and then sequenced by Dec 1st or there abouts. Whilst blinky is usually my escape form the norm hobby throughout the year, lockdowns meant that I turned back to my DJing every week as my escape (side note, thanks to the regulars who tuned in most weeks!) This helped fill the void and refilled happiness levels each week.
But on the other hand, I have missed the actual installation of the lights, and missed not being able to see the results of the hours of work I put in at the start of the year come to light (literally). And seeing so many of our member's displays expanding, changing and new members wowing us with first year efforts has been a little hard to see from a far. But I certainly don't miss the last minute panic issues many have faced (I'm sure I'll be in that group next year!)
So I just wanted to say to everyone here, T H A N K Y O U.
You guys & gals have helped i'm sure not only me, but many people get through what has been a tough year to say the least. I log in everyday and say hi and it helps to know someone is on the other end of the line. I might not be a top chatter any more (I blame Derf cos apparently my work IT thinks his website is dodgy - it's not by the way you should go check it out!) so I've not been online as often the past month or so, and as I'm not invested in blinky this season I've stayed in the shadows when people have been asking for help and left it to the more active crew. But just knowing you are all here to help each other and just have a chat has helped me immensely to get through this year. Even if you do think mo volts is mo better
Wishing you all a successful finish to your blinky season, a safe and Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. #bringon2021
Hugs, DJ/Gra/Graham/Heyyoutherebehindthebushes
Many of you know that I started this year's blinky plan on the right track, placing my first pixel order for the year on Jan 1st and had them 11 days later. By end of March just as our first VIC lockdown began I had completed fitting out new roof props and even worked out all the permanent mounting solutions. By mid year I still had enough motivation to tackle completion of ordering and building 4 pixel column matrices and got them working in test mode.
But as the 2nd, more harsh lockdown happened and being trapped in my own home for so long sitting at the dining room table working from home, the desire to move to another computer to do hours of sequencing did not appeal to me at all. I then made the decision not to do a Halloween display so as to not encourage public gathering of people at our house. Whilst I feel it was the right decision in the end, it also sucked any motivation I had left to work on blinky at all. I tried to make up some more cables & power enclosures required for the now larger Christmas show, but when I ran into some teething issues, I finally decided to pull the pin and go dark for this year.
I've had mixed feelings about this decision. On one hand I felt a huge feeling of relief as I no longer had the stress of making sure I had everything built, tested, setup and then sequenced by Dec 1st or there abouts. Whilst blinky is usually my escape form the norm hobby throughout the year, lockdowns meant that I turned back to my DJing every week as my escape (side note, thanks to the regulars who tuned in most weeks!) This helped fill the void and refilled happiness levels each week.
But on the other hand, I have missed the actual installation of the lights, and missed not being able to see the results of the hours of work I put in at the start of the year come to light (literally). And seeing so many of our member's displays expanding, changing and new members wowing us with first year efforts has been a little hard to see from a far. But I certainly don't miss the last minute panic issues many have faced (I'm sure I'll be in that group next year!)
So I just wanted to say to everyone here, T H A N K Y O U.
You guys & gals have helped i'm sure not only me, but many people get through what has been a tough year to say the least. I log in everyday and say hi and it helps to know someone is on the other end of the line. I might not be a top chatter any more (I blame Derf cos apparently my work IT thinks his website is dodgy - it's not by the way you should go check it out!) so I've not been online as often the past month or so, and as I'm not invested in blinky this season I've stayed in the shadows when people have been asking for help and left it to the more active crew. But just knowing you are all here to help each other and just have a chat has helped me immensely to get through this year. Even if you do think mo volts is mo better
Wishing you all a successful finish to your blinky season, a safe and Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. #bringon2021
Hugs, DJ/Gra/Graham/Heyyoutherebehindthebushes