Image by socha

Hoo! One more to the big 1 and twin zeroes! I'll try to make that one special.

My machine's been running loud and a bit sluggish as of late, so I decided it was probably time to give it a good cleaning. It's been a good 4-5 years since I got this machine, and I haven't ever cleaned out the insides, so what you see here is an accumulation of 4-5 years worth of dust. I'm not a smoker, and the dog doesn't usually hang in my room, so it's more or less just pure, unadulterated dust.

Weapon of choice is good ol' compressed gas (aka compressed air). Ridiculously expensive (for me), this 3-pack set me back a good $33. There was a 4 pack for about the same price, but I'm not sure whether I'd ever get around to using more than one can. Singles were about as sketchy as the back alleys of New York, and I wasn't sure all of those were still full (though when I got home I realized that there's position for the nozzle to show whether it's been opened or not). 

If you blow up the image, you'll see that it's got a DO NOT SHAKE on it. Well, I stuck that pack in the bag, and as I walked (it's a messenger), the bag shakes. Plus it was a gosh darn warm day. Was terrified that the cans would explode and blow off the lower half of my body. Luckily nothing happened.

Also picked up these dust masks from a dollar store. Pack of 10 was only a $1! Anywho, I knew that cleaning out the innards of my machine would send plumes of dust billowing into the air, so I prepared myself. Cleaned it outside (my mom would kill me if I did it indoors). I can't tell if it helped or not, but I can say that I did have dust flying into my face, so I guess it did. Also, it makes these the 4th mask in my rather shoddy collection.

Action shot. I forgot to take photos of the before and after, and process of cleaning the machine, so here's something to make up for it. Cleaning a spare part that does something. Something. Anywho, the can is empty and the part is clean as a whistle. 

Cleaned most of the inside with the compressed gas. The can gets colder as you use up it up, and recommends using short bursts to prevent injury. I knew it'd get cold, but after a good 10-20 minutes of cleaning (I used it in bursts) I found frost and ice developing on the can. The paper towel I had it on froze to the can, but within minutes, the frost and ice would melt, leaving a puddle on the ground. Lastly, I cleaned the fans with damp cotton swabs. I used instructions from Life Hacker.

My morning tea. It's difficult to balance the steeper weight on the handle of the cup like that. The handle is rounded, and the bottom of the weight is flat. It's kind of like trying to stand on a ball. 

My breakfast. Onigiri and tea. Going to try and make these once I get the right kind of rice. For now, I pick them up at T&T, a large Asian supermarket chain for about $2 each. Pretty steep, so I'm going to try and make them on my own. Found a recipe here.

A drawing of mine. Recently saw a person on a forum using 'hippoclatamus', and using that, I came up with Hippoplactopus; a chimera-creature with the head of a platypus, the front body of a hippo and the backside of an octopus. Can't really think of what'd it'd use it's tentacles for, since it's head is so far from them, but let's just call it a fictional animal that makes no sense biologically.