How To: Move

Moving is a precarious process that the majority of people with lives and things to do will have to go through at some point in their lives. That’s why it’s very important to not plan it out at all and to make as many mistakes as possible.

In order to move, one must first go to their local Wal-Mart (it must be Wal-Mart, no matter how far away the nearest one is) and buy $100 dollars’ worth of boxes (Not including tax). Start from the largest sizes and work your way down, being sure to not have a cart so your arms are constantly filled and your motor skills impaired.

Go back to the place where you are moving from, and crumple up any documents and papers you have to use as packing material. If you don’t have enough, go back out and purchase some. Then grab all of the things you own (make sure they are indeed your things) and place one in each box, then fill the boxes with the packing material and staple them shut.

Now go and rent the biggest trailer at the local trailer-renting place. Then decide you aren’t comfortable with the trailer and get a truck. Drive it back home and get a snack, (you’ve earned it). Watch TV for the rest of the day.

Get up early the next day and load all of the boxes carefully into the truck and close it, making sure things don’t move around too much when it’s moving. Drive the truck to the gas station and fill it up. Then remember you have no place to move to. Get a snack.

Things to do on a Rainy Saturday – Make a Chinese Chess Set

A while back (as discussed in this post) I became obsessed with finding a Chinese Chess set that would fit my needs. After failing to easily find one that I liked, I decided to spend a rainy (I’m not sure if it actually was, but I’m going with it) Saturday and make a very simple set on my own (using images from Wikipedia).
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I used a few simple materials

  • ¾ inch wooden cubes that I had laying around
  • Scotch tape
  • Printed Icons from Wikipedia (with one set color inverted)
  • A Saw, scissors, and possibly an X-acto Knife
  • A cheap suction table clamp
  • Sandpaper

A few of those items won’t even be necessary for most people; this can be easily modified for the type of set one wants.

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First I cut the pieces out (square pieces would be better, but the circle is more traditional) and taped them over the cubes, making sure the tape ran down the sides so it wouldn’t be easy to peel up. I did this on both sides of the cube. I placed the cubes in the clamp and sawed them in half roughly (I’m not very good with a saw, and I was impatient with this project). Then I took the pieces and rounded off the corners on some inexpensive sand paper, really just for aesthetic reasons. Afterwards I cut away any tape that was left up after the sanding.

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None of this was very difficult and I’m sure you could figure out what I did by just looking at the photos, but in the end I got a quite usable, if not very pretty, Chinese Chess set that I could use with a player who didn’t know Chinese characters. I then drew a simple board on a sheet of paper that I glued to a small piece of cardboard and cut out. Then, to cover the edges (again for aesthetic reasons really) I used white Duck Tape (as in the brand, not a misspelling of the product). I actually made the board incorrectly and forgot to include the river (making it a Korean Chess board, actually) but this I was able to fix with minimal problems.

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The set was great for introducing me and a few other people to the game while I waited to receive better sets. It now resides in Altoids tins in a magnetic “traditional” style set I got online so I can play with either characters or pictures.