I am back in Australia in exactly two weeks from today. It is eating me up inside that I have so many lights/parts waiting for me there. That thread on the big head light that Linus started has got me thinking. I have two of those and I want to mod them so bad. I really, really want to go to a hardware store and buy some chunks of copper! Also, that Convoy L2 host is in need of thrower loving attention. A Vinh Nguyen modded SC6330 and BTU Shocker are also waiting in the wings. Along with an SC52w and D40A-NW. Some Klarus and XinTD lights are also sitting at home, still packed, waiting to be opened up.
Where to start??!
On top of my head, I intend to sell off some unused/not needed lights. Also, meet up with family and friends that I have not seen for a year (been traveling the world for the past year). Not to mention to try and look for a job again.
In the mean time, I just bought a whole bunch of scuba gear (a new found hobby) which I will be leaving here in the Philippines for now. I will be coming back here to do more volunteering in late January or early February 2014 for six months, longer than my three month stint that I just finished last week. I also have to study for the Naui exam (scuba exam), attend a wedding in the weekend, prepare for a well deserved couple of days out of Manila with the girlfriend, before coming back to Manila, go to the Christmas party for the volunteer organisation and then chilling out for a bit before my flight.
Aaarghhh!!
Sorry gents. I just needed to put it out there. I guess I prefer this medium rather than Facebook. You guys are more understanding when it comes to torches. LoL.
Not yet back. Will be back on the 18th, landing in Melbourne at around 7am.
The course I am doing only allows me to become a certified diver. So no night diving. However, my instructor says that night diving with this certification is a bit of a grey area and dependent on the dive master you are diving with, if said dive master judges you to be competent enough to do a night dive, then he/she’ll let you do one. I don’t plan to do any night dives any time soon, so I wouldn’t want to buy a light now. Having said that though, there are times during my check-out dives that I thought a light would have been handy because the cloudy conditions made it dark down there.
I still need to buy a knife though. Just as long as I tell Customs about it when I move all my gear from Philippines to Australia, in theory, I should be totally fine.
I put these as missing because they were ordered quite early and have not arrived yet:
- 2*beam light diffusers (for D40A-NW) from FastTech
- 2*pairs of King Kong ICRs from FastTech
- soldering iron and miscellaneous things for soldering iron from FastTech
- XTAR SP2 charger from FastTech (ordered back in 22 October, before the XTAR fissue)
SC52W & Thrunite T10 from hkequipment.net (ordered D40A-NW after SC52W) turns out, when I was ordering them, they were already out of stock despite the site saying they had them. Found this out after an email enquiry today. Would have preferred a pro-active approach by them. Will be seeking a refund.
Not yet arrived:
SMD resistors, heatsinks from FastTech
I cannot do any sort of modding without the soldering iron. The one I have on hand does not have a fine tip and that is required when doing work on the drivers.
The chances of your batteries turning up from FT are virtually zilch. I have had about 6 orders refunded. If you had other parts in with the battery they will have all been sent back.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come back home and instead, continued on travelling…
It turns out, after a year of travelling, I come back home and for the very first time, I end up losing my luggage. Over 25 countries, flying into and out of some out there countries and with airlines that you sometimes have to think twice to make sure they’re legit, Jetstar manages to lose my luggage. Because of that, I am currently in the process of getting it sorted.
Add to this, going through a travel insurance claim for medical expenses I incurred over the last year, which thankfully, was minimal.
I also have to go through several job interviews as well. I have to also buy travelling gear again. Ok, let us not mention the 5-6 tickets I currently have with FastTech trying to get refunds or to get them to resend the items that I had ordered.
This leads to me, having to do all this by 31 Jan 2014. The date in which I head back to Philippines for 6 months to continue my voluntary work.
I’ll try to see if I can get anything done in the next 5 weeks. I really, really, REALLY want to work on the 75mm big head lights. I have already de-domed 3 XM-L2s (installed one in an OEM Big Head K8 light already) and one XP-G2. All of them itching to get into a Convoy L2 and those 75mm big heads I mentioned.
