Man, that hit close to home. I did the exact same thing with some data from 2019 and basically had to relearn how to process. The wildest part is I started noticing my overediting was actually making me miss faint details, like the integrated flux nebula around M45 was just gone because I was crushing the blacks so hard. What finally changed for me was stopping the comparison game, I kept looking at other people’s final images on Astrobin and chasing that look, but their data was different, their skies were darker, and they had way more integration time. Once I focused on just making my own histogram look balanced and trusting the natural signal, everything else fell into place. Also, turning off the screen stretch and working in linear mode for way longer than I was comfortable with, that was a game changer too. It’s honestly embarrassing how long I thought post processing was about making it pop instead of just revealing what was already there.

Man, that hurts to read because I did the exact same thing for way too long with a foam block. Found out the hard way when a customer pointed out a wavy spot in the sun that I thought was perfect.

The leather sagging thing is really about the core, cheap ones use bonded leather that's basically cardboard with a coating. Webbing's also way easier to clean if you work outdoors or sweat a lot, a quick hose-down and it's good.

Guess that graphene pad was more of a fancy space heater than a cooling solution. At least your drawer had the real hero waiting to save the day.

Wait, you actually made it three days on hostel WiFi in Lisbon? I would've lost my mind by hour two. I tried that once in Porto and ended up standing outside a McDonald's at midnight just to load a bus schedule. The free WiFi thing is such a trap, it's like the universe punishes you for being cheap. Ten euros for a SIM is basically the price of one tourist trap pastel de nata and a coffee, so that's a no brainer. I'm honestly impressed you didn't chuck your phone into the Tagus on day two.