pekt's recent activity
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Comment on What are your memorable airport stories? in ~transport
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2026) in ~health.mental
pekt LinkI've got a bit of a vent, as I've chatted about this with some friends but want to get it all out in one spot and figured maybe someone one here may have dealt with similar people before. Edit:...I've got a bit of a vent, as I've chatted about this with some friends but want to get it all out in one spot and figured maybe someone one here may have dealt with similar people before.
Edit: TLDR: dealt with some crappy tenants over the weekend who we found out trashed our house when we wouldn't agree to give them their security deposit back.
My wife and I decided to rent out our house as we needed to move states for her new job, and due to capital gains laws here if we sold our house we would be hit with some massive penalties. My wife did some advertising and found a family from Canada who had been living in SE Asia and were considering Malaysia as a potential long term residence location. They originally wanted a 6-month lease, but we explained to them that they weren't comfortable with that short of a lease, and so we all agreed on a 1-year lease with standard (for this country) terms. We did our best to be accommodating landlords and addressing anything that they encountered while getting settled in.
A few weeks ago they mentioned that they had their visa applications denied (not uncommon here, it can take a few appeals and the country isn't actually that strict on tourism visas as I know a few people who lived here on a tourism visa for years whenever they were in between work sponsorships or working for foreign companies), and they had something come up that would cause them to return to Canada so they would need to break their lease. They asked us if we would be willing to give them any of their security deposit back. After discussing it, my wife and I agreed that we would like to help them out as we would want our landlord to be understanding as well if something like this happened to us, but we'd have to see what we could do and let them know as much.
After a bit I checked in with them to see when they were leaving the country as we needed to coordinate going back to do a walk through. They said they wanted to know in writing how much we would give them back, so there wouldn't be any confusion. I explained to them that we couldn't give a number without seeing the property, and in the lease they signed it showed that they would forfeit their security deposit and pay a number of months of rent to allow us to find new tenants (leases here can be strict). We wouldn't try to pursue the remaining rent payments, and would be happy to work with them on giving some money back, but we couldn't commit to anything in advance.
We got a hand off date from them, and when we had to follow up about some specifics they mentioned they took a holiday to a popular destination in the country that is also incredibly expensive and would be back to do the walk through. On the day of we showed up at the agreed upon time and waited half an hour, and after texting them multiple times they let us know they'd actually had their visa expiring days before and left the country before their visa expired, and they didn't tell us this because we wouldn't "work out a deal to give them money back".
After getting our spare set of keys, we entered the property to find the place trashed, thankfully the actual property damage isn't major, but there was some absolute petty moves. To give you an idea of things that they did:
- the husband shaving and purposefully not washing his bed hairs down
- takeout food containers left on our counter tops with food rotting inside
- multiple toilets had dumps left in them
- lights left on in multiple rooms
- every trash/rubbish bin was full but had no bags placed in them (one of them was full of used diapers from their baby that were rotting)
- piles of dirty clothes
- things they stuck on the wall partially torn off (with damage to the paint and wall in some case) when the lease explicitly stated to not hang things off the walls
- the holes in the master bedroom wall from a mounted TV that was not patched up and was poorly done
- trash vaguely swept in to piles and then left in rooms
- trash left all over the outside of the property
I ended up spending ~6 hours with gloves and a mask on over the 2-day weekend waking up early before the family stuff we had planned since we were in town just picking up trash and sweeping stuff up. I filled ~25 bags of trash (10 large bags and ~15 smaller bags). We're having to get the house professionally deep cleaned and then having a contractor come to deal with all the areas that need addressed.
My wife and I are planning to put the house up for sale/rent again if we don't find a buyer at the price we want since it is a bit of a buyers market right now. We honestly want to be done with the house, it sucks as we had made renovations with the idea of it being a long term home. We had thought we may live in our current state for a year or two and then move back to that house to be near family, but it felt violating in a way to see our house in that state. Thankfully it was looking better with all the trash cleared out.To add the cherry on top, once we got back from a long drive with kids being a bit crazy we came home to find that our power had tripped, and our fridge had been off for ~2 days with a good chunk of our food having spoiled, including stuff we just bought that was on a good sale that is more expensive that we planned to use this week. My car door handle also broke for seemingly no reason this morning, and I've been slammed at work all day, so I took a break to type this out.
Thankfully, life is still good overall and sometimes things suck. Just been a crappy weekend and hopefully this next weekend we can have some family fun and move past this.
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Comment on Would you eat "Casu Marzu," Sardinia's famous maggot infested cheese? in ~food
pekt Link ParentCentury eggs are delicious, though I've found the taste can vary depending on the region they are produced in. The ones I had imported from China while living in the US were very strong while the...Century eggs are delicious, though I've found the taste can vary depending on the region they are produced in.
The ones I had imported from China while living in the US were very strong while the flavor of ones I've had produces locally in Malaysia have a less strong flavor.
Eating one by itself is a bit much, but eating them in a fried rice/porridge or in some vegetable dishes can work really well.
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Comment on Would you eat "Casu Marzu," Sardinia's famous maggot infested cheese? in ~food
pekt Link ParentI'd definitely try it, I'm open to try just about any food once.I'd definitely try it, I'm open to try just about any food once.
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Comment on ‘The Walking Dead’ renewed by Netflix in five-year, $500m co-exclusive deal with AMC Global in ~tv
pekt Link ParentThat honestly sounds fantastic. I love a good zombie story, and feel like this would be great. Reading your comment also made me realize that I don't think I've ever seen all of MASH beyond...That honestly sounds fantastic. I love a good zombie story, and feel like this would be great.
Reading your comment also made me realize that I don't think I've ever seen all of MASH beyond watching episodes with my dad occasionally, so it might be time I start slowly watching through that.
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Comment on US schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters in ~society
pekt Link ParentNot disagreeing at all, I thought about including a reference to a company like Palantir being one where you can point to it being an explicit Tolkien reference in my comment, but I was just...Not disagreeing at all, I thought about including a reference to a company like Palantir being one where you can point to it being an explicit Tolkien reference in my comment, but I was just focusing on "Mithril" which has gone on to be included in multiple different works inspired by Tolkien.
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Comment on US schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters in ~society
pekt Link ParentI feel like at this point people could include "Mithril" in the name of something without knowing it comes from Tolkien since Mithril is used in many other fantasy settings that were influenced by...I feel like at this point people could include "Mithril" in the name of something without knowing it comes from Tolkien since Mithril is used in many other fantasy settings that were influenced by his works or influenced by works that themselves influenced by his works.
After typing my above message I did a quick Google search for "mithril in fantasy" and found a thread on r/lotr that proved this does happen for some people now: https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/z8yiu8/tolkien_invented_mythril/
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Comment on Mojang has updated the system requirements for Minecraft: Java Edition, raising recommended system memory from 4GB to 16GB in ~games
pekt LinkI've been playing some Minecraft (with that being short ~10-15 minutes sessions occasionally), and am glad I've only been itching to play old versions of the game (beta 1.7.3 for the most part)...I've been playing some Minecraft (with that being short ~10-15 minutes sessions occasionally), and am glad I've only been itching to play old versions of the game (beta 1.7.3 for the most part) which has minimal system requirements.
I always figured I'd be able to build some budget systems in the ~4-5 years and play Minecraft with my kids. It looks like they may also play older versions unless the price of computers drops by the time I go to build computers for them
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Comment on Survey: The temperature in my room now is _____ and it feels _____ in ~talk
pekt Link ParentIn the "winter" my area gets to a low of ~23 and highs of ~32+ There's not really much of a difference and I usually joke with me friends that I get the seasons of hot, hotter, and rainy (monsoon)...In the "winter" my area gets to a low of ~23 and highs of ~32+
There's not really much of a difference and I usually joke with me friends that I get the seasons of hot, hotter, and rainy (monsoon) hot.
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Comment on Survey: The temperature in my room now is _____ and it feels _____ in ~talk
pekt Link30 C, it feels like ~35 C I've gotten used to the temperature here and as long as I have a fan on I don't tend to notice the heat that much besides accepting that if I do anything beyond sitting...30 C, it feels like ~35 C
I've gotten used to the temperature here and as long as I have a fan on I don't tend to notice the heat that much besides accepting that if I do anything beyond sitting in one spot I am going to start sweating.
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Comment on What are your favourite fragrances, and why? in ~talk
pekt LinkI enjoy holiday candles, it's amazing how smells connect to/bring up memories. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US and I miss some of the smells here. My kids think the candles just smell...I enjoy holiday candles, it's amazing how smells connect to/bring up memories. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the US and I miss some of the smells here. My kids think the candles just smell nice when I light up a balsam candle, but it always smells like winter and Christmas to me.
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Comment on What are you looking forward to? in ~talk
pekt LinkMy family is planning to go to Japan later in the year, which we've talked about doing for a long time. I'm hoping I can get tickets to watch Sumo in person while I'm there since I've been...My family is planning to go to Japan later in the year, which we've talked about doing for a long time. I'm hoping I can get tickets to watch Sumo in person while I'm there since I've been following the sport for years (though I've not been able to watch the end of the current tournament just yet due to being busy). My old boss mentioned not being able to get tickets when he went last year, as he wasn't willing to pay the reseller price, and I'll be in the same boat. I've heard with the current crop of top guys being very popular the tickets have been selling fast, so fingers crossed on my end. If I can't get the tickets in person I talked with my family about me getting some time to visit the sumo museum in the Ryogoku Kokugikan. My wife offered to find one of the sumo experience tours, and while they seem cool I'd rather save my money and get some merchandise and then come back at some point in the future to watch in person.
My wife and I have also been talking about having another kid potentially next year which would be very exciting. I've always wanted a big family, but the current economy had me conclude having a large family just wouldn't work for the quality of life I'd like to ensure my kids have.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
pekt LinkI've had a couple of weeks where I got sucked into a series of honestly not amazing but enjoyable books to read. I've noticed that I haven't started any large novels since finishing Malazan book...I've had a couple of weeks where I got sucked into a series of honestly not amazing but enjoyable books to read. I've noticed that I haven't started any large novels since finishing Malazan book of the Fallen, and it has been nice reading books where I'm not committing to a 3-4 weeks of my reading time to finish them.
Finished:
October Fall by Mark Loren and Boyd Craven Jr. is the first book in the October Fall series. This book is not a well written book, but I found it very enjoyable and quick to read after getting through the initial "first day" chapters as they explored the first day after the EMP happened from 6 different perspectives. The main group of survivors ended up in a conflict with a local family/group of petty criminals/drug manufacturers which ended fairly one sided.
November Feud by Mark Loren and Boyd Craven Jr. is the second book in the October Fall series. The first book ended in a way that made me want to see what happened next. This one was still enjoyable, but some of the book needed better editing. There were a few instances of minor spelling errors, and the most glaring incident was a character who seemed to think that Thanksgiving functioned the same as Christmas they mentioned their birthday being always on Thanksgiving and they would celebrate on the Friday after Christmas. Thanksgiving in the US is celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November, which means it can fall between November 22nd - 28th each year.
In the book they went up against a local wanna be biker gang that was taking advantage of the chaos caused by the EMP. The characters in the main group can be a mix of Gary Stus/Mary Sues, but I still found it fun to read and with its length it was only ~4+ hours to read and it is a book that I didn't need to think very hard about and could read in short bursts here and there.A Pail of Air by Fritz Leiber is an interesting short story where the Earth is plucked out of orbit by a rogue dark star and pulled along in to that star's orbit. Since the star gives no warmth the atmosphere itself freezes and a family ends up barricading themselves in a small area that they keep heated by burning coal. They then have to warm oxygen up to breath after scooping up solid oxygen in buckets. The science doesn't hold up from my brief look at it, but this isn't supposed to be a hard scifi story and is more about the idea of Earth being abducted from our solar system.
Progress made
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien - I've been thoroughly enjoying my time reading this. Every chance I get to sit down and read I find myself sucked in. I'm almost done with the Quenta Silmarillion, and then it's just a short sprint to the end of the work.
If I were to do one thing to make reading this a bit more enjoyable it would be having a separate physical map of Beleriand to reference while reading. I don't want to remove the map I have in my copy and I find myself flipping to it often. I thought about having one open on my phone, but when I read physical books I try to keep my phone away so I can just focus in.
I was also chatting with a friend and found out that the copy my dad gave me is a first edition second printing of the US publication which was a cool thing. The book is in create condition besides the dust cover having a lot of wear.
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A.W. Tozer I've made some progress here and plan to sit down finish this book here soon since it is a relatively short read.
DECEMBER BATTLES by Mark Loren and Boyd Craven Jr. is the third book in the October Fall series. I've found myself enjoying these books despite the obvious flaws in them, and while I normally jump between series the ending of each book and it's day by day format makes me curious what they are going to do in the next ~1-2 months the story takes place in. Since the EMP has now been over a month a lot of the easier pickings are going to start drying up, though of course the group is super organized and manages to find all kinds of useful things easily.
This book also revealed that the EMP was a coordinated attack by North Korea, China, and Cuba. With this book taking place in Florida they have started encountering Cuban forces who are attempting to occupy parts of the state.The Brothers War - read another couple of chapters as we had some time to talk about the last chapter for my book club. I feel like the further I get into Magic the Gathering (MTG) lore the more I am disappointed at MTG deciding to open up their whole multiverse thing to cash in on other IPs. Reading this made me wish I hadn't sold my small collection of Magic cards that I had before moving over here since I hadn't played with them in years and wanted to downsize since they fit in one of those small starter boxes + a couple of deck boxes. Reading these books makes me want to find some friends here to invest in a couple of budget cubes to play with.
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Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO | Teaser PV in ~anime
pekt Link ParentPicking things based on something arbitrary like that has become something I do a lot more of lately, and it's something I appreciate more as I get older. "I thought it looked cool" is just as...Picking things based on something arbitrary like that has become something I do a lot more of lately, and it's something I appreciate more as I get older. "I thought it looked cool" is just as good a reason to watch something as anything else
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Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO | Teaser PV in ~anime
pekt Link ParentI do appreciate the recommendation, for big franchises like this, I do usually like starting early on to see how things progress and evolve. I had started the original Mobile Suit Gundam awhile...I do appreciate the recommendation, for big franchises like this, I do usually like starting early on to see how things progress and evolve. I had started the original Mobile Suit Gundam awhile ago, but my first kid came around and I never looped back to finish it.
I may take your advice to dip my toes in. I have a couple of friends who are very into Gundam and they always figured I'd have picked it up by now
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Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO | Teaser PV in ~anime
pekt LinkWhenever I see a new Gundam series announced it makes me think it's finally time to dive in to the franchise, but then I remember how big it is and end up watching something more self-contained. I...Whenever I see a new Gundam series announced it makes me think it's finally time to dive in to the franchise, but then I remember how big it is and end up watching something more self-contained. I know you don't have to watch everything, but for series like this I usually like to start with the originals and watch through things in release order.
I still need to finally get around to finish Armored Trooper VOTOMS before I think about picking up another one, but I'm glad to see the series keep growing for when I one day start watching.
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Comment on Reddit will require you to be logged in to use old.reddit.com in ~tech
pekt LinkI had a friend who recently ran into this as he would occasionally go to certain Subreddits while at work and this got us talking about the quality of the site, specifically the algorithm they...I had a friend who recently ran into this as he would occasionally go to certain Subreddits while at work and this got us talking about the quality of the site, specifically the algorithm they use. I remember that Reddit's "hot" feed would show recent highly upvoted content from your subscribed Subreddits, now we both noticed that it just seem to show a random grouping of posts from some of the Subreddits, while others just don't show up at all. It also surfaces random posts from 1-2 weeks ago as "hot".
I feel like my Reddit usage can be somewhat cyclical, in that I'll have times when I use it a decent amount and then pull away. I'm definitely cutting it down again and plan to curb it more drastically by not browsing my front page except as a way to access my Subreddit lists when I want to go a specific sub.
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Comment on What self-help / personal development books did you find valuable? in ~books
pekt Link ParentIn a similar vien, we strongly encouraged all of our pledges to watch this video on why you should never talk to the police: https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eEIn a similar vien, we strongly encouraged all of our pledges to watch this video on why you should never talk to the police: https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE
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Comment on China is dealing with its own manosphere in ~life.men
pekt Link ParentI remember awhile ago seeing an article about an increasing number of Chinese men marry African women in the regionsi that China has their belt and roads initiatives at work.I remember awhile ago seeing an article about an increasing number of Chinese men marry African women in the regionsi that China has their belt and roads initiatives at work.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
pekt LinkSome decent reading over the last couple of weeks on my end. Finished: In Ashes Born by Nathan Lowell which is book 1 In the a Seekers Tale's series, which is part of the Golden Age of the Solar...Some decent reading over the last couple of weeks on my end.
Finished:
In Ashes Born by Nathan Lowell which is book 1 In the a Seekers Tale's series, which is part of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series. This book is a very enjoyable read, and really fits in the slice of life cozy scifi genre. I don't read much cozy fiction, and I know this series has some darker elements that occasionally surface, but it overall has a "believe the best in people" and a bit of competence-porn thrown in.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but I probably won't be revisiting the series for a little while until I want another palette cleanser.
Progress made
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien -I haven't had as much time to sit down and read my physical copy of this, but it is still very enjoyable. Men have recently shown up and seeing the first contact between the Elves (both Eldar and Avari) and Men has been interesting.
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine by A.W. Tozer I've only made a bit of progress on this. While I enjoy reading theological books, I do think it would be easier to read bigger chunks with a physical book. Not that I do find these works interesting, but there is that bit of "I could just as easily read X exciting book" with just a few taps.
October Fall by Mark Loren and Boyd Craven Jr. is the first book in the October Fall series and also started a shared writing which apparently is called the October Fall universe. These are EMP apocalyptic books set in Florida following people who are preppers as well as those who are reacting to the chaos following an EMP being detonated over the US. I enjoy post apocalyptic/apocalyptic fiction and I felt the urge to give this a try. This book is so far written okay, and I'm curious about the other books in the shared universe as from what I can tell other authors just picked an area to start writing in and there is some crossover between the different series.
I read One Second After by William R. Forstchen years ago which also follows an EMP attack over the US and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, and those books were eye-opening after I'd casually considered and read about being prepared for unfortunate circumstances in that they made me want to be more prepared in case of any kind of natural disaster (I think just having become a Dad also made me more aware of needing to give security to my family during crisis). While my family recently had a bit of a financial blow due to some life circumstances, once we get past this I'm planning on building back up our supplies that I let dwindle so we didn't need to move everything as we already had a lot to move. I don't have the resources or interest in going full doomsday prepper, but I would like to get to a point where I have enough supplies for at least 1 month in case anything were to happen.
I have two stories that spring to mind:
During the mid 2010's I was flying to a conference and had a layover somewhere or other. I plugged my phone into one of those centralized wall sockets and then pulled out a book to read while I waited. I had an older gentleman come up to me and strike up a conversation with me as he felt like he almost never sees people reading physical books these days. While we were chatting he mentioned he worked at Thomas Bros Maps the company that makes Thomas Guides which are physical maps used by emergency responders in certain cities in the US in case something were to happen to their electrical systems/the power grid.
Once it was time for my flight he handed me his business card and said to connect with him on LinkedIn and he would see if he could find an internship for me in his company that following summer as he had a great time chatting and they were often bringing on interns with my major. Sadly I lost his business card. I'm not sure how it fell it out but after the conference I wanted to connect with him and couldn't find it after I thought I put it in my bag.
To preface this second airport story: when we moved to Malaysia my wife was pregnant at the time and was also still nursing my oldest son. My sister-in-law had come over to the US to help us with the move back which ended up being a huge help. We also flew with my dog in cabin as we had registered her as an emotional support animal, which I do admit was a bit of a sham, but the cost of registering her was ~500-600 USD compared to the cheapest reliable pet transmit company charging ~4-5k USD and we didn't have that much money to spare to bring her with us. We also ran in to an issue with getting her approval paperwork from the vet which was a whole other story.
After a long ~16 hour flight to Singapore, we needed to transit in Changi Airport which is absolutely huge. My wife had been motion sick during the flight and hadn't been able to keep anything down and was feeling very weak, so my sister in law was helping her through the airport while I had our son in a baby chest carrier and carried 4 bags and pulled 2 suitcases while walking a medium sized muzzled dog with a bright pink diaper through the airport. Which was quite a site and I saw several people talking photos or recording me.
After we finally got to our gate the crew had no idea what to do with our dog as they had never seen someone try to fly with a dog in cabin before. They eventually let us on the plane, which led to some very angry confrontations with some of the Malay Muslims as dogs are viewed as a haram to many of the Muslims in the country, and they were incensed that a dog was allowed in the cabin. The cabin crew after ~10 minutes asked if we could put our dog in her crate, but I told them our crate was oversized luggage and since that is loaded first they'd need to unload almost all the luggage, put her in and then reload everything. They eventually switched all the Malays sitting near us with non Muslims and let us know that once we go to our destination we would need to wait in the plane until everyone else departed, and they brought our dog's crate to the plane so she could be placed in there as the country requires dogs entering to be in their crate. You would have thought they would have checked that before letting me on the plane. All of this ended up delaying the flight by almost 30 minutes which we felt bad about as this was a commuter airline that is known for its regular on time flights, but it was outside our control.
Thankfully after ~24 hours of travel we all arrived safely, and my wife was able to find some soothing food to settler her stomach. I am also fairly sure that was the first and last time my dog will fly, since we don't plan to move out of the country any time soon and after that headache I wouldn't want to bring her on another flight.