@ifixcoinops@retro.social
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ifixcoinops

@ifixcoinops@retro.social

Hello! I fix #pinball machines and #arcade games, and tell you all about it! I fix lots of other things too, and occasionally tell you about that. I also run one of the web's longest-surviving #textAdventure games, called Improbable Island, and I often write here on Fedi about decade-scale online community management stuff. Husband, dad, professional Thing Fixer and amateur woodworker in my early 40's, an #immigrant from the UK to the USA. Gun enthusiasts pls do not follow/interact.

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scanlime, to random
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oh gods some antivaxer I kicked off diode zone months ago sent me a longass email

ifixcoinops,
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@scanlime oh no you're not gonna read it are you

ifixcoinops,
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@scanlime wham, bam, slammed into the damn spam can

ifixcoinops, to random
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Alright so last night I said hey folks, I'm 40, dyspraxic as heck and can't draw, and it bothers me, pls recommend me a beginner-friendly course, and drawabox was recommended among others.

Started it today. Dude's telling how to draw smooth lines that don't wobble; use your whole arm not your wrist, practice each stroke first to build muscle memory, put your eyes on the end, do the whole thing in one constant motion at one constant speed and don't think until you're done with the line, I nod along and go alright and give it a try and ffs this is welding, this is literally MIG welding, it's also how you spray paint and clearcoat, it's how you brush polycrylic onto wood, and I've been drawing crappy wobbly lines my whole life because no bugger ever told me "Hey Dan why don't you try moving the pen like you're spraying lacquer onto a pinball playfield."

Still cannae draw, but at least I've figured out how to do straight smooth bloody lines with a pen, wish I'd put two and two together ten years ago

ifixcoinops,
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Suspect I'm gonna struggle with putting those lines together into shapes later on but so far so good

ifixcoinops,
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@vulgalour I'm not all that great at welding either tbh 😁

ifixcoinops,
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@skyguided Aye you know how you move your whole arm or even whole upper body to keep it moving smooth, same thing but you gotta go fast

ifixcoinops,
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This bloke has a very important skill and that is "Remembering how once upon a time you didn't know how to do this thing," and so few people have that skill.

Like, I use a drill with a loooooong screwdriver bit with several extensions so it's about as long as my forearm while I'm underneath a pinball playfield, and I don't drop screws into the Dark Nasty because I have this thing I do where I notch a screw head under the nail of my left index finger and put the driver tip in the screw with my right hand on the drill a metre away and move both arms together to the place where it goes, and to me that is an Incredibly Normal Thing To Do but when an apprentice wants to have a go it has to have each step illustrated

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli You done the ellipses one yet?

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli You're at the same place I am then

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli I did the superimposed lines one a couple more times than the course called for; figure it'll take me longer 'cause dyspraxia. But look at the difference between the first sheet and the fourth here

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli The long ones are bloody hard aren't they!

I'm doing some ellipses now and finding that the speed you go at is both more crucial and tricky to determine than with the lines, another complication is that if you move your hand the same rate then a smaller ellipse is done much quicker

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli hockey-stick learning curve here

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli the Wrong Way

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli I was going WAY too fast at first. Like I know the guy said fast = smooth so go fast, but mine were just all over the place until I got slowed down enough that I could track the pen tip as it moved and course-correct its path before touching down. And then I slowed down a hair too much and got wobbly lines. Definitely a very small sweet spot, and it seems to be different for each ellipse.

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli with the ghosted lines between two points I had best results with my eyes about two thirds of the way along the line, where did you have yours?

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli I had a hell of a time figuring out whether I should be keeping my ghosting choppy-hand-side off the page. And then I had a hell of a time keeping it off the page

ifixcoinops,
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@Shunra ah just spread a bit of bondo over the crevasse, job's a good 'un ;)

ifixcoinops,
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Day one of doing drawabox, what I've learned: drawing a smooth line is a heck because you know full well how to cut a smooth line with a knife, weld a smooth line with a welder, spray a smooth line from a rattle can and all those things are done from the shoulder because that makes sense, but the SECOND a pen gets into your hand your wrist gets all excited and goes "OH! I'M DOING WRITING NOW!" and wants to barge in and prance around like a cavorting billygoat even though it's absolutely not the right guy for the job

ifixcoinops,
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@koosli hmm yeah the edge is a Concern, dude never said what to do with that

ifixcoinops, to random
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Are we all just going along with calling facebook meta now or

ifixcoinops,
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"meta" is the word that people use for facebook when they want to impress facebook

ifixcoinops,
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@elithebearded 🍺👈😎👈 eyyyyyy

ifixcoinops,
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@nickwedig Me, 2013: I'm gonna google a thing real quick
google: yesssss, make our name synonymous with searching, this is great
Me, 2023: I go to duckduckgo when I wanna google stuff these days
google: no not like that
Me: You can google stuff in a lot of search engines
google: little help here, Escalator Company?

ifixcoinops, to random
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Wow drawabox.com just flat-out refuses to Firefox huh

Like, not even "Doesn't work," just absolutely doesn't load, spits the connection back, ptui

ifixcoinops,
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@hannah tbh that's what I need, I'm 40 and my 6-year-old draws better than I do so Absolute Basics is good

ifixcoinops,
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@hannah also I recognise you as a Good Drawer so any pointers you have that might be useful to a Dude With Dyspraxia starting from Absolute Zero are pointers that I will pay great attention to should you be so inclined

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