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Hobbies

• Bicycles
• Computers and I

My current hobbies mostly involve using the Internet, maintaining my website and fussing with my computer (see Computers and I). I also enjoy reading, writing and drawing – though I have not drawn in a few years due to losing interest in worldbuilding (see my Creative section for more).

For physical exercise I mostly do walking.

I only began using the Internet, and a computer, in 2001. Before that I was too nervous of them to try! The Internet is my sole lifeline to the outside world and my only means of interacting with other people (I have no friends my age or social life in the real world). I created my first website in September 2003 (see my About my website page).

My interests are hard to define (everything and nothing!), but there are a few things that are consistent. I tend to focus on several main interests and have many more in the background. I also get brief “infatuations” for some interests which fade after a while, and “bounce” from one interest to another, so I can’t seem to focus on anything for long – a continued frustration for me. (As of 2024 these are mainly coding my website – HTML and CSS – and learning the way of Apple!) When at home, I spend most of my day at my laptop and on my iPhone. (As computers have become the main focus of my life since 2001, my history with them is detailed below.)

A comment (now deleted) from a 2022 Reddit thread:

This person is all over the place. Constantly looking for a place to fit in. It would not have been difficult to make her turn to the other side and make a news story of it. They wouldn’t have even had to offer her money. She would have been happy with friendship. She seems to flip flop from one thing to the other. She was a Trump supporter and now she’s not. She was massively into protests and now isn’t. She had a go at cops and now she regrets it. She was into QAnon and now she’s not. I mean, that alone shows how deep she got. This person does not have a clue who she is. She’s just going with whatever narrative suits her at the time, and going at it hard. She’s been seeking a place to fit in and moves on when she doesn’t feel like she does anymore. She reminds me of a friend I have who just can’t stick to one thing very long. She gets bored and moves on. Their emotions at the time override their sense of logic. Right now, she thinks she’s found her peeps people (yet again). We’ll see how long this one lasts.

My thought when I read that is that it could describe me; I jump from one interest or belief to another, but can never stay with anything. I feel that inside I am a void looking to be filled, and have never yet managed to. I am in a state of flux a lot of the time, and it leads to much mental distress.

Another observation is that when I lose interest in an obsession, I want nothing more to do with it – I develop an intense aversion to it. I discard any associated physical objects that I have collected, and destroy most related creative work. (See 6/2/2026 Journal entry.)

Bicycles

I have been bicycling for a long time! Only as a casual cyclist, but for me it is a form of transport and exercise, and gives me a little more freedom as I can’t drive (I attained my licence in 1988, but lost my nerve and stopped driving afterwards, something I regret now). One certainly becomes acutely aware of weather, wind and road surface conditions! I am, however, not bicycling at all since my accident (see below).

My favorite type of bicycle is the basic road bike: nothing fancy, just a lightweight bike that I can get around on. To me it is the quintessential bike form. Mountain and hybrid bicycles are perhaps more practical for daily commuter use, but they are too heavy for me.

Some of the bicycles I have owned are pictured below. I do not have any photos of my second bicycle that was bought after the gold girl’s bike: it was a red women’s bicycle, bought secondhand by Dad for me in the late 1980s.

My first serious accident

Disaster literally struck me on Tuesday 12 May 2020, when I was cycling home from Chadstone SC as usual, and was hit by a car at a roundabout! It was my first serious accident. (See my May 2020 Journal for this also.)

Accident details:

• Location: roundabout at the intersection of Marma Road, Henty Street and Murrumbeena Crescent (Google Maps location)
• Time: around 12:30 p.m.
• I looked both ways and entered the roundabout. A car appeared on my left and kept coming; it slowed but did not stop and struck my bicycle on the left. I was flung forward and onto my left side, impacting the road surface. The female driver stopped and rendered assistance, phoning for an ambulance and police.
• An ambulance attended the scene; I was given a medical check. No immediately serious injuries, but I had numerous bruises and grazes on my left arm, hand, side, chin, and a hematoma on my left forehead. I was wearing my helmet as usual; the left foam rim impacted the road and pressed into my forehead, causing bruising and the hematoma.
• Two police officers attended and took details.
• I initially declined to visit an Emergency Department via the ambulance (my parents came and took me home in their car) but later that afternoon visited my GP who advised an ED visit, so I went to Sandringham Hospital, transported by my parents, where scans and tests were done. No concussion or fractures detected (I had a CT scan and chest x-ray done).
• My bicycle was damaged, the most obvious being a bent left pedal shaft, and wheels. On Thursday 21/5 it was taken to its place of purchase, 99 Bikes in Bentleigh, for assessment and repairs. I collected it on Saturday 30/5. It had been repaired and rode OK, but still has cosmetic damage – mainly scratches and the plastic cover for the right handlebar gear shift indicator is missing (perhaps popped off during the accident).

One of the worst parts was the sickening realization just before the impact was that I was going to be hit and could do nothing to escape. Also the sensation of falling and hitting the bitumen very hard.

After 4 weeks I was mostly healed. The most obvious injury was my forehead hematoma – literally golfball-sized and discolored (4 × 3 cm as the GP I saw about it on Monday 25/5 measured it) – but from Tuesday 26/5 it reduced dramatically. I also had a black eye below it from subcutaneous blood draining from the bruise, and resorted to wearing a beanie hat or headband when I went out to the shops! As things went, I got off relatively lightly – no fractures, spinal damage or concussion.

I did, however, lose much enthusiasm for bicycling a few months later, and as of this writing have not ridden since then. Don’t know if I ever will feel the urge to again.

Computers and I

• Tentative contacts
• My own computers
• Uses
• Apple devices
• My workstations
• Venturing onto the Internet

For most of my life – up to when I was 30 – I avoided computers, finding them mysterious and rather scarey devices; I felt intimidated by what seemed baffling technology. My contact with them before 2001 was sporadic.

Tentative contacts

The first experience with them I can remember was in 1985 at school, Kilvington, in Year 9. I still have a slip of paper stating that:

Suzanne McHale has completed two units of computing.

1. “The First Fleet Data Base,” a unit of work carried out in conjunction with studies in History on early Australia.
2. An introductory course in LOGO programming.

(Signed) P. Byrt

My memory of this course is vague at best; just a feeling of nervousness around the computers! (Though after reading through the Wikipedia page about LOGO, I have a dim memory of learning some of it.) A page from my 1984 Kilvonian magazine announces the aquisition of Apple computers! (Presumably Apple IIs.)

In Term 2 this year Kilvington acquired several new Apple computers, and it has been a pleasure to see the response of girls to their introduction. New creative possibilities have opened up with such activities as Word Processing and LOGO programming, and a variety of others are becoming possible as we acquire more software. Girls from Year 5 to Year 12 have had ‘hands-on’ experience in classes such as English, maths, chemistry, geography and business studies. In addition, we introduced a new Computer Studies course in Year 9. The lunchtime Computer Club flourished with girls carrying out a wide range of activities such as creative writing, programming, developing problem-solving skills, making crosswords and banners and using the Mouse for Computer graphics. Next year we expect to extend our activities and provide a resource for more subjects across the curriculum. In addition, Computer Studies will be introduced in Years 7 and 8 which will give us the opportunity to introduce an exciting range of topics.

Also a short entry from my sister is printed there!

To Dr Byrt,
I really enjoyed doing computer because it keeps me interested and I am understanding it more and more. Next year I would like to do word processing.
Yours sincerely,
Michele McHale 6

The first computer that Dad bought in 1986 was a Commodore 64, which had a tape drive and a monitor. High technology back then! I rather wish he had kept it, but he sold it long ago. We also attended some evening computing programming course in Brighton for a few weeks, but didn’t go very far with this. Dad liked gadgets, and upgraded to different computers from then on over the years.

The next computer experience for me was during my 1991 TAFE college Secretarial Studies course, where computer programs learned were Lotus, WordPerfect, Dbase and DOS. We also used a system called Wang for Word Processing course, which I remember as having green letters upon a black screen. After I completed the course I became a semi-recluse and didn’t go near computers for many years. Most of what I learned there is outdated now!

Dad continued to buy a new computer every few years, progressing from DOS to Windows 95 and so on. One PC he bought turned out to be a dud, so he got a pink iMac G3 on special when they came out – the original translucent colored editions that came out in 1998 (which I quite liked). He returned to Windows from XP onwards, and I have only ever used Windows (98, Windows Me, XP, Windows 7 and 8 to date). He began building his own after going back to Windows when the Mac expired (Apple products by then were increasingly unaffordable, sadly).

My own computers

My first computer was bought by Dad in September of 2001 from a Harvey Norman store. It was an IBM Aptiva, made in 1998. It came with Windows 98, 64 MB of memory and a 4.75 GB disk – okay to start with, but increasingly limited as I became more experienced. I have upgraded occasionally since then. Dad has subsequently built PC computers rather than buy them assembled from department stores. One day I would like to build my own!

I am no programmer or computer expert, but certainly am a lot more confident with them now. A lot of things I have learned via the seemingly endless frustrations of Windows errors – not a pleasant way to learn such things! I have had thoughts now and then about trying some form of Linux, but haven’t yet acted on this.

Dad upgraded from dial-up to ADSL internet in 2005, which improved our Internet experience vastly! Australia is still, however, dismally far behind many other countries when it comes to Internet speed, cost and coverage – no thanks to a clueless, technologically-illiterate government (which seems to be the norm for most politicians).

In August 2019 we, like everyone else over the last few years, had to be transferred onto the troubled National Broadband Network.

What I do on my computer: wander the Internet, download lots of things, code and manage my website, writing. (I was creating some digital art, but have entered an art drought since 2019 and have not done any drawing since then.) I have no games installed; I don’t feel much interest in them, though I enjoy looking at games graphics and artwork.

Uses

As of 28/5/2025, the devices I own and use are:

• 13-inch MacBook Air – Midnight (16 GB RAM/512 GB storage) as my main computer
• Peripherals: Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard
• iPhone 16 Plus 256 GB Teal

Apple devices

I received a 16 GB iPad 2 in 2012 for my birthday; my first Apple product – I have used Windows exclusively otherwise. Apple’s OS is nice to look at and works well, but is as restricted as the Windows OS, though less intrusive to use. The iPad was used for Internet surfing, reading, watching videos and so on, mainly when lying down (including during the night when I am unable to sleep, which is often!). It proved to be relatively trouble-free and it “just worked” – though it slowed a bit from operating system upgrades and age generally. The iPad 2 operating system updates ceased in 2016, however, and it could not be updated beyond iOS 9.3.5.. In 2025 I sold the iPad for the grand sum of $12 or so to CeX; it still worked but was so old and slow that it was not worth keeping.

For Christmas 2018, to my delight I was gifted with an iPad 6th generation! This was the Wi-Fi version with 32GB of storage, and was a major improvement on the iPad 2 (the latter still works fine, but is by now a bit slow). In late 2020, I later traded this in for the 8th generation version, colored rose gold with 128 GB of storage. On 5/11/2023 I traded the 8th generation in for the iPad (10th generation), colored blue with 256 GB of storage. This was traded in for the Generation 11/A16 model on 29/4/2025, blue again with 256 GB of storage. But I returned this on 3/5/2025 and became iPad-less for the first time since 2012; an iPad felt redundant in contrast to my iPhone and MacBook Air. But I found that I missed the iPad more than I though I would – it is a great “in-between” device for casual reading, web browsing and so on when in bed – so I ended up buying the same model on 7/5/2025! And I exchanged that for the iPad Air M3 device on 11/5/2025. And I exchanged that for the cellular version on 16/5/2025. But I decided this was excessive and more than I needed for an iPad, so I returned it on 27/5/2025.

In November 2021 I became the owner of an iPhone for their birthday (not the most recent model, but the iPhone 11) and also bought a SIM-only mobile phone plan from Vodafone, paying a monthly ongoing fee. Its color was a lovely green, and the screen size was just right – not too small or too big. It was the least expensive model (64 GB) but more recent and capable versions were just too pricey. A smartphone is extremely convenient, and a neccessity these days – much as a computer and Internet access have become neccessary just to function in modern society, whereas a couple of decades ago these were discretionary hobbies.

In July 2024 the iPhone 11 was showing its age and storage capacity was limited, so I was gifted a new iPhone 15, also in green! (30/7/2024 Journal entry.) A marvellous upgrade.

On 14 October 2024 I was gifted an Apple MacBook Air M3, Midnight Blue, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB storage! See my 14/10/2024 Journal entry onwards.

Apple’s digital ecosystem is better-integrated than Windows and hardware is better quality – as well as being beautiful objects in their own right – but their products are prohibitively expensive. I also dislike how “locked down” their software is to serious computer users and tinkerers (and Windows has, unfortunately, taken the same philosophy) – though as I get older, I just want to use the device and not spend a lot of time fussing and tinkering with its operating system. Despite these drawbacks, I am still increasingly preferring Apple (being indoctrinated into the “cult”!). The seamless integration of their ecosystem is a major convenience. Adjusting to the macOS way was difficult after spending all my computer life using Windows OS, but I managed to! And in 2025 I had entirely switched to Apple devices, having sold my last desktop PC (see below).

On 1 March 2025 I traded in my iPhone 15 for an iPhone 16, again in green! Well a green with a blue tinge – “Teal.” (1/3/2025 Journal entry.) And on 29/5/2025 I bought a iPhone 16 Plus in Teal and sold the iPhone 16 (related to my iPad indecision – see the linked Journal entry.)

My workstations

Venturing onto the Internet

Dad got dial-up Internet sometime in the late 1990s (can’t recall exactly when), but I avoided this too for a long time. I became increasingly curious about this “Internet thing,” though, and for whatever reason, this curiosity overcame my nervousness in 2001.

I first began using the Internet in June of 2001 (then aged 30), accessing it via the free public-access computers at my local library (which has broadband).

The first time I went, however, I had no idea how to use Internet Explorer (browser interfaces are not intuitive – or was it just me?) and sat there baffled for an hour before going home in frustration! Dad came with me the next day and helped get me started. Since then I have become an addict – the Internet is one of the best inventions ever and is my window to the world in my otherwise reclusive and rather isolated life. Although I have no friends my age in the real world I live in, I’ve talked to people from other countries on the Internet, and don’t feel quite so lonely – though I sometimes feel as though I am talking to disembodied ghosts!.

I have come in fairly late to the Internet/WWW (missing all the “fun stuff” as it evolved in the 1990s), but better late than never.

After visiting many sites I began to feel an increasing urge to make my own, and finally succumbed (for better or worse!). I initially started learning about HTML in September of 2003 (from a couple of children’s books!) – it had been an arcane mystery to me before. (And if I, a computer novice, can learn it, most people can! Unlike most programming languages, HTML – probably better defined as a formatting language – is relatively easy to understand.) I also managed to comprehend Cascading Style Sheets by the end of that year.

My first site, “Kosmonavtka,” was uploaded on 21 September 2003, on to a free account at the now-defunct Yahoo! Geocities. I had been thinking about creating a site for some months before then. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that you can create your own little world through your website and share it with others (unlike the real world, you can also control it). So this website is my universe – my interests and opinions. It has evolved, and changed quite a bit since I uploaded it (and continues to do so!). In September 2005 I was able to acquire my own domain name and hosting.

Friday, 6 February 2026 at 12:57:11 pm