En-compass-ing thoughts

If you could only hear the laugh track I hear!

Anyway, I saw a post on another blog I enjoy and realized that I, too, had backed the referenced Kickstarter. And that made me think of yet another fancy compass I've obtained. So, without further ado, let me speak of compasses. Compassi? What is the plural for compass? Meh, I don't care. Moving on...

The Sailor's Compass by Oceanus Brass

I keep saying I'm going to quit Kickstarter and I never do. Oceanus Brass is one of those Kickstarter creators that make it difficult, if not impossible, for me to ever truly quit. They do nautical-themed things. Doodads. Brass utility knives and sailing gear. They came out with a Kickstarter for their Sailor's Compass and the next thing I knew, I was backing it. Despite the pandemic madness, they sent out the compass pretty quickly. It's a neat little thing. I mean, it's a compass, so it's not like it fires lasers or cuts boxes, but it's a simple, beautiful, functional tool It looks a bit like the sort of ladies' compact my grandmother used to carry about. It's about two inches in diameter and has a glow insert for use in poor or no lighting. I keep it in my "Go Bag", mostly because I think it's too gorgeous to just sit on a shelf and collect dust.

Heirloom Dual Sapphire Titanium Compass

On the topic of gorgeous things, at some point not long after I got the Oceanus Brass compass, I was perusing CountyComm's website, as I am wont to do, and lo, among the new items, was the Heirloom Dual Sapphire Titanium Compass. I couldn't tell you why I succumbed, exactly. It could have been "retail therapy" due to isolation and madness from the COVID Pandemic. It could have been because this compass is just so damn gorgeous. It could have been both. Oh, I bet it was probably both. Anyway, I got one. This compass is about half the size of the Sailor's Compass. It looks mainly like a sort of fob one might have when wearing an old-fashioned waistcoat or vest. It looks a little like a small pocketwatch, to be honest. And I love those, so that might have been part of the appeal. Like the Sailor's Compass, the Heirloom Compass is a functional thing that's also beautiful. The north indicator on the needle glows in the dark, should one need to know north without lights, and it comes (came?) with a little leather sleeve to hold it. I have to admit that every now and again, I'll carry this compass around, even though I don't need one in an urban area. It's just a fun little bauble to carry around.

I suppose I'm good to find north, provided I'm away from strong magnets and the like. And, if anything, I've got some lovely things to talk about.

Stranger Things - the best 80s nostalgia

I just finished watching season 4 of "Stranger Things" and it left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling of weird nostalgia for the 80s (a decade I didn't especially enjoy when I lived through it).

I gather that Season 5 will conclude the series, though spin-offs are apparently still on the table. I hope that one of those spin-offs have Dustin and Steve off doing side adventures, 'cause those two are hilariously-awesome. I'd also take good time to watch the adventures of Max and Eleven doing whatever those two feel like doing. They should bring in Erika Sinclair in for maximum awesome, though.

All told, I have a number of hopes for season five of the show:

• More Max being awesome. I've decided that Sadie Sink's portrayal of Max Mayfield has made her my favorite character.
• More Steve and Dustin. For the most part, I'm inclined to think the male characters of "Stranger Things" get the short end of the stick in terms of meaty roles, but Joe Keery and Gaten Matarazzo have been given a gift from the writers with Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson.
• Give Maya Hawke's Robin Buckley a happy ending. Her character rocks. It's the 80s and not a good time for a girl to come out of the closet, so indulge in fantasy and give her a happy time, eh?
• I'm rooting for Caleb McLaughlin's Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield, but for the love of Cthulhu, I wish the writers woudl give McLaughlin more to do.
• On the topic of characters who need more to do... good lord. Finn Wolfhard's Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp's Will Byers, and Charlie Heaton's Jonathan Byers were nothing more than pointless oxygen consuption and wasted screen time in the last two seasons. I really hope the writers can come up with something for these characters to do that's useful. It was painful to watch Will Byers do his pining over Mike and it did little to move the plot forward. Jonathan Byers did exactly nothing of use in the season other than be a sort of love-interest for Natalia Dyer's Nancy Wheeler (who is SO FAR out of his league it's painful). And, while I feel bad for Finn Wolfhard. The character of Mike Wheeler has been sidelined to the point of being... uh... pointless for the last two seasons. The writers really need to think of something for the character to do other than be "heart".

I feel sad for the Hawkins, Indiana tourist board.