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942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 09,January,2004 | The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell! Here is how you matched up against all the levels: Level Score urlLink Purgatory (Repenting Believers) Very Low urlLink Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) Very Low urlLink Level 2 (Lustful) Very High urlLink Level 3 (Gluttonous) Very High urlLink Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) High urlLink Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) Extreme urlLink Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) High urlLink Level 7 (Violent) High urlLink Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) Very High urlLink Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) High Take the urlLink Dante's Inferno Test |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 06,January,2004 | I got a response from the people who do Christopher's show. I'd posted a message on his forums asking for the epilogue to the show and I got it this morning in an email: Responding to life's changes is never easy. We have this idea about how we want our lives to go -- as if we really have control of what's coming down the pike. We tend to look at sudden change as setbacks because it wasn't what we had in mind. We want change as long as everything remains the same. We complain that we're not getting where we want to go, but have no intention of leaving where we are. And yet our very purpose here is to grow and effect change. Life hands us opportunity every day to make a difference. When we dismiss those opportunities - usually because of fear of the unknown - we feel hollow. That empty feeling turns to anger and before we know it, it's everybody else's fault that we're not moving forward, having the life we think we deserve. Life can be so rewarding but let's not confuse 'reward' with 'comfort'. Change is often uncomfortable but necessary to helping us re-prioritize, re-commit and redefine who we've been to leave room for the extraordinary life we thought we'd never get. Make change! You can do it! That's pretty damn inspiring. And true, to boot. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 06,January,2004 | It's the new year and I remain vaguely disconcerted. I'm not entirely sure what I want out of life but I grow more confident each day that passes that it isn't to be a systems administrator forever. I mean, I like what I do for the most part but I don't like that there isn't a reward to what I do in the end. Usually, it's a case of, 'Thanks for fixing that problem for me. Here's another one while you're here'. If there's no computers going wonky, I'm invisible. If there are, I'm on the hot seat. It is neither rewarding nor satisfying. Heather continues to provide inspiration for me. She quit her job in early December in order to concentrate on getting her candle-making business (Heather's Illuminables) off the ground. She didn't have any alternate employment lined up, yet she did it anyway. Now she's working as a receptionist at a church only a ten minute drive away (compared to an hour plus drive at her previous job) and has time to concentrate on that which is important to her. The difference between she and I in this case that prevents me from following him her path is that she has no outstanding bills (car payment, student loans, etc.) whereas I do. While I don't necessarily want to enter the exciting world of candle-making and selling, I want to do something creative. I want to work with my mind. I keep on talking about getting a Ph.D. and then doing nothing about it. I can do it. I can get the degree. But am I motivated enough about it? There are days where I am and days where I'm not. Today, clearly, is a day where I am. I just have to make sure that the days I am motivated are greatly outnumbering the days where I'm not. Taking a look at the current and past urlLink UM job postings gives me further impetus to pursue this. There are positions that I can fill at all three campuses. I don't mind a long drive if it's to a job I like. But even a walk across the street can be torture to get to a job I don't like. There are at least thirteen institutions of higher learning, both at the four-year and community college level, within an hour's drive of me where I can teach and do research. I guess what it boils down to is making decisions. Preparing for change. The signs have been there for a while but I have to let myself see them. I've been reading a lot of urlLink Stephen E. Ambrose's work recently. Today, while reading urlLink The Victors I came across the follow quote that's kind of sticking with me: [Talking about his sophomore year at college] Also that year, I took a course entitled 'Representative Americans' taught by Professor William B. Hesseltine. In his first lecture he announced that in this course we would not be writing term papers that summarized the conclusions of three or four books; instead, we would be doing original research on nineteenth-century Wisconsin politicians, professional and business leaders, for the purpose of putting together a dictionary of Wisconsin biography that would be deposited in the state historical society. We would, Hesseltine told us, be contributing to the world's knowledge. The words caught me up. I had never imagined I could do such a thing as contribute to the world's knowledge. Forty five years later, the phrase continues to resonate with me. It changed my life. At the conclusion of the lecture -- on George Washington -- I went up to him and asked how I could do what he did for a living. He laughed and said to stick around, he would show me. I went straight to the registrar's office and changed my major from premed to history. I have been at it ever since. One of two signs that came flashing into my face today. The other was from, of all people, urlLink Christopher Lowell . He's the interior designer on The Discovery Channel. I hope to find the little epilogue he did for his show today. This Ambrose quote embodies the kind of excitement I want to have about my job. Where I can contribute to the world's knowledge. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 04,January,2004 | Luck, happiness, etc. I'm sick. Bleah. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 25,February,2004 | There's a test for everything, it looks like. urlLink |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 20,February,2004 | I took this test to determine my regionalistic tendencies, but it only differentiates between Yankee and Dixie: urlLink http://www.chuckchamblee.com/dom/fun/yankee_dixie_quiz.htm It was fun but there should be categories for midwest, southwest, Great Lakes, etc. One of the questions does, in fact, have an answer which says 'Very common in Michigan'. 45% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 20,February,2004 | I finished urlLink The Devil in the White City last night. It was a good read; the story (stories, really) are well told and certainly hold the reader's interests. But. There's always a 'but', isn't there? The book is written in a more disjointed manner than I had hoped. When I read the blurb on the back it seemed as though the two men's stories were more deeply intertwined than they were. It begins by alternating chapters; first involving the 1893 Columbian World's Fair and it's planning, surrounding the chief planner and architect, urlLink Daniel Burnham , then the story of Herman Mudgett, alias H.H. Holmes, a doctor (who graduated from the U of Michigan Medical School, btw) who moved to Chicago to take advantage of the World's Fair and the innocent people, mostly young and single women, who flocked to Chicago. I had expected that Holmes' and Burnham's paths would have directly crossed or one would have somehow influenced the other's life. But this wasn't the case. Larson, the author, admits that they likely never met since they didn't travel in the same social circles. Larson could have written two seperate books, I think, with much better results. The 1893 Columbian Exposition was an amazing feat of engineering and human drive. The desire of the United States in general, and Chicago in particular, to outdo the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 was plain and simple. The urlLink Eiffel Tower was a marvel of the show and was what everyone spoke of. The desire to 'out-Eiffel Eiffel' was stated many times in the book. The tales told of the drive to get the Fair to Chicago, the desire of Burnham to make this the grandest fair ever seen -- to the point of hiring the finest architects in the world, including urlLink Charles McKim , urlLink Louis Sullivan , and urlLink Frederick Law Olmstead , the trials and tribulations of building The White City, so named because all of the important buildings were painted white and to differentiate it from the rest of Chicago, dirty from the coal smoke and the 'progress of industry', called 'The Black City', in time for the Fair to open, are more than enough to provide a fascinating read on their own. Likewise, the story of H.H. Holmes (née Herman Mudgett) was a fascinating one all by itself. Holmes was a man born in New England in 1861 and the archetype, or nearly so, of a predatory serial killer. He was a charming and personable gentleman, capable of wooing women with his guile and lies, and making men hate him because of that. He settled in Chicago, near Jackson Park, where the Fair would eventually be built. Through a web of lies, manipulation, and murder, he was able to build a structure which was a hotel to some and a chamber of death to others. That Holmes was able to go on for so long doing the things he was doing without raising the curiousity of the Chicago Police or causing the loved ones of the people who disappeared to suspect foul play any more than they did was amazing. It wasn't even an issue of the police thinking that something was wrong and not being able to figure out what was happening, as occurred a century later with urlLink Jeffrey Dahmer and the urlLink Green River Killer , it was total ignorance on their part. Holmes, in fact, was quite friendly with the police in the area. He got away with it for a long time before being arrested for insurance fraud. It is unknown how many he killed. At least nine, for sure but the true number is most likely much higher than that. One newspaper estimated it to be as much as 200 but this number is probably high. At any rate, it was more than enough to send him to the gallows. Larson's writing ability is very engaging and he tells a good story. But I wish it had been done in two separate books, or at least two separate parts of the same book. Each part could have flowed more smoothly, but mentions of what was happening 'on the other side' would have helped tie them together. Did I enjoy the book? Absolutely. Would I read it again, knowing what I know now? Yeah, probably so. This book is unlike any he's written up until now. But I would certainly also give his other books a chance, if the subject matter were as interesting to me as this was. urlLink Here's a link to a listing of his books. But use caution, since Amazon lumps him in with Erik Larsen, illustrator and others. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 17,February,2004 | Yes... I had a little meltdown over the last week but I'm better now. Not totally OK -- not that I'll ever be that -- but I'm better. And... just for the record: urlLink St. Valentine was a martyr of whom little is known. The most famous thing to happen on Valentine's Day is the urlLink Massacre in 1929. Happy artificial Hallmark Holidays. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 15,February,2004 | When I was little, I used to have a recurring 'daymare'. In it, I would be sliding down the bannister of a grand staircase. It was amazingly long and I would fly down it often. But suddenly, the bannister would turn into a knife edge razor. It wouldn't cut me in half, per se, but it would torment me as I slid down. You'd think I could have avoided this torment by not thinking about it. But you'd be wrong. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about it and obsessing about it. Sometimes I would have the first part of the dream without the second. Other times I'd have the whole thing. It didn't seem like there was a pattern to what happened when. In my adult life I have similar things happen. When something negative happens to me, I obsess about it. I go over in my mind all of the negative outcomes. Everything that can go bad, does. Even when there are good aspects, the bad and negative outweigh them. I feel like urlLink Chris Farley in urlLink Tommy Boy , where he's getting discouraged at not being able to sell brake pads to anyone because he sabotages his ability to do so. If you haven't seen the movie, you should. It was Chris Farley at his best. But here's the relevent dialogue. The setting is in a truck stop restaurant where Tommy and Richard (played by urlLink David Spade ) are trying to get something to eat but are being put off by Helen, the waitress: Tommy: Hey, What's your name? Waitress: Helen. Tommy: That's nice, you look like a Helen. Helen, were both in sales. Let me tell you why I suck as a sales man. Let's say I go into some guys office and let's say hes even remotely interested in buying something. Well then I get all excited I'm like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet. The pet is my possible sale. Oh , my pretty little pet, I love you. So I stoke it, and I pet it, and I massage it, hehe I love it, I love my little naughty pet, your naughty. Then I take my naughty pet and I go ( makes ripping noises as he tears apart the roll) Uuuuuuh. I killed it. I killed my sale. That's when I blow it. That's when people like us gotta forge ahead Helen, am I right? Helen: God you're sick.' Yeah... that's me. Jojo the idiot circus boy. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 14,February,2004 | To achieve a great goal, one must bring along duct tape. Add a fortune to your website or blog, click here. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 11,February,2004 | It ain't about Judy. Why Judy Why Of all the people in the world that I know You're the best place to go When I cry, when I cry I never asked for much before, not before Things are changed; I need more Tell me why, Judy, why? I never thought that she would say Say goodbye; but she did And now I wanna die. I wanna die I never thought that I would need, need a friend But I did, in the end Tell me why, Judy, why Oh, what a scene It's wrong for her to hang me up this way Oh, where you been? 'Cause it's so hard to make it through the day A man my age is very young, so I'm told Why do I feel so old? Tell me why, Judy, why? Oh, what a scene It's wrong for her to hang me up this way Oh, where you been? 'Cause it's so hard to make it through the day There's no tomorrow 'cause my dreams did not last So I live in the past Tell me why, Judy, why? |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 09,February,2004 | I finished urlLink The Victors last night. While it was a good read, it was a book I could have probably skipped without missing out much on Ambrose's quality. There are a lot of passages lifted from other books he's written. Notably urlLink Citizen Soldiers , urlLink Band of Brothers , and urlLink D-Day: June 6, 1944 . I wasn't upset about it; it's something that he admits in the book. And there's never anything wrong with rereading the extraordinary exploits of these incredible soldiers from all of the services on both sides of the battle. If I didn't like reading it I would have stopped. I would have probably said even less than I just did about the repetition were it not that I have read all three of the above books in the recent past. If I were trying to give someone a flavor for Stephen Ambrose and provide a well-written and fairly well-balanced account from the soldier's side as well as the general's of the war in Europe from early 1944 through the end, this would be the book I'd recommend. I still recommend it for Ambrose's discussions of Eisenhower's thinking and decision-making process. He was Ike's biographer and privvy to his writings during and after the war. There aren't many who knew General Eisenhower as well and intimately as Ambrose. The next book on the list is urlLink The Devil in the White City . This is a novel which intertwines the story of the urlLink 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and its architect, Daniel H. Burnham, with urlLink H.H. Holmes who was one of the first true serial killers. Holmes murdered between 27 and 200 people in and around Chicago during this time by posing as a doctor and operating The World's Fair Hotel, complete with crematorium and gas chamber, near the fairgrounds and employing his charm and disguise to lure his victims to their ultimate deaths. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 08,February,2004 | What's the world coming to? Welcome to Vicki, owner of the new blog ' urlLink Lint From My Pocket '. May your lint be plentiful and colorful. :) |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 08,February,2004 | If you don't read the strip Big Top by Rob Harrell, you should. urlLink Today's strip was funny and provided me with some memories as well as being thought provoking. In it, Kingston the Lion is taking Pete, a 10 year old boy who's growing up in the circus, to get some clothes. He asks the sales person if they have any Toughskins jeans. For those who don't know, Sears Toughskins were almost a rite of passage in the 1970s. They were probably the only article of clothing which would have been acceptable wear to attempt to survive an atomic weapon. I wore them a lot during my formative years. In 'husky' size, please. Anyway, the salesman sticks his nose up and informs Kingston that they don't carry those and why would he want them, anyway? Kingston replies that Pete wears the knees of his jeans out really fast because he's always outside running and jumping and climbing. Kingston asks the salesman what he might suggest as an alternative, to which the salesman replies 'Ritalin'. It occurred to me as I was reading this strip that I didn't even know if Toughskins were sold any more. Not surprising, since I've graduated on to more grownup clothes now. (Besides, they don't make Toughskins in my size, even 'superduper husky'. A perusal of the Sears website shows me that they sadly are not making them any more. In fact, the only reference to them appears to be the title of a urlLink Rodney Carrington CD , 'Growing Up Poor - Toughskins Jeans'. I got to thinking about why they don't sell them anymore. Is it because they're out of fashion? Is it because there are other similar and more affordable brands (which would be surprising, since they seemed to be worn typically by the poor kids)? Then the comic itself provided a tragic possibility: That today's children are so medicated with urlLink Ritalin and other similar drugs that they no longer wear the knees of their pants out by climbing around. Isn't that both sad and frightening? Did you know that Ritalin is identified by the urlLink DEA as a drug with a high abuse potential? The first APA Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-I), published in 1957, contained no mention of anything like attention deficit disorder. It was included in the DSM-III, published in 1980, for the first time in anything like its present form. I don't argue with the fact that there are disorders out there which cause attention deficit. For those people, I think that medication may be a possible solution. But I think there are a lot fewer people (read 'children') who suffer from this who are popping pills daily. Children are interesting creatures; they are the perfect prototypes for scientists. When they encounter something that interests them whether for the first time or the hundreth time, they devote their attention to it. If that thing is outside and is more interesting than what the teacher at the front of the room is saying, guess where they're going to be looking? That's not attention deficit, that's attention priority. Today's society is filled with more two-income families. There is little time for children to be children. Mom and dad are busy shuttling them between daycare, then to soccer practice, then to karate, then to violin lessons, then to whatever is next. They have nothing but structure in their lives. This is the antithesis of what being a child is about. They do these things because they are told to do them by their parents. And don't fool yourself: A parent saying 'Do you want to take soccer or basketball or karate?' isn't a choice. The child will do something, whether they want to or not. If little Timmy says, 'I don't want to do any of those things. I want to just play with my friends outside.' that is not an acceptable alternative. Timmy can't play with his friends outside because all of his friends are taking violin lessons or playing soccer or basketball. Timmy's parents have something to prove to all of the other parents in the subdivision: That Timmy is a better or more active or smarter kid than any other. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. She was there when we left for school -- for that matter, so was dad. He was a salesman who made his own schedule -- and she was there when we got home from school. No shuttling anywhere for us. I was asked if I wanted to try things out: Basketball at the elementary school. Cub scouts. Methodist Youth Fellowship. I gave them a try. I didn't stick with any of them except for MYF. That was fun. But there was no ultimatum given me when I didn't like it. There was no pressure on my parents to keep up with anyone or prove their kid was better or more active than anyone else's. I was a lucky kid. I grew up in urlLink the country . Well, it was the country when I was growing up in it. There's a Walmart in town now. What was the country is a bedroom community now. But growing up in the country was a good deal. There was plenty of open space and plenty of room to do as I pleased. There weren't many kids around who were my age so I didn't have a whole lot of friends. But that wasn't a bad thing. I read -- a lot . I played outside. I did have a few friends nearby who would come over and we'd do all sorts of things that were fun. And we wore the knees out of our Toughskins. Big Top is a really good comic and it has some really funny strips. But I had a hard time laughing about the message that today's strip sent. That's OK, though. It wasn't an offensive message or anything that's gonna make me want to write to the editor or anything. It was, in the end, a sad commentary on the way we treat our children today. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 06,February,2004 | First, you should read Heather's urlLink Feb 4th blog entry . Done? Good. Pretty good, eh? Yeah. She's a smart one, that Heather. Here's (most of) the email I sent her in response: Feb 4, 2004 Very thoughtful entry yesterday. Sometimes it's weird how similarly you and I think. I've had the same sorts of doubts for many years. You know I don't like the holidays, if not just for the lack-of-family issues but also for the crass overcommercialization of it all. There's little warmth to Christmas that isn't generated by advertising or retail sales or ulterior motives. I really hate that. I don't necessarily subscribe to the standard Christian views about everything and I know that December 25 isn't really Jesus' birthday. But I think that the basic uncommercialized *ideal* of Christmas -- to be thankful for what you have and your family and friends -- is a sound idea. But it isn't going to be espoused genuinely by anyone who isn't looking for something to sell. I like giving presents. Let's have a day that's just 'Present-Giving Day'. Kind of Boxing Day-ish but not so close to Christmas. Make it in January. Middle of the month. On a Friday. Give the kiddies a day off from school. Give them all the presents they can break. But during the Christmas season, no advertising of sales is allowed. No sappy pleas by Sally Struthers that play on our capitalist guilt to come and give a starving African child a sandwich. On December 24, 25, and 26, all we do is celebrate each other and ourselves and any gods we may believe in. Churches are closed except for four hours on December 25. Apart from that, it's all got to come from within. No sports, no American Idol stars singing Christmas carols. Just families staying in and playing games and talking and laughing and maybe even crying. But it all comes from within. Yes, I know I'm a cynical curmudgeon. But it'll still never happen because nearly 25% of this nation's economy is driven by two months in the winter. Carefully orchestrated and scheduled. Sally Struthers is waiting in her air-conditioned trailer in Kenya. Ruben Stoddard and Clay Aiken are standing in fake snow on a set in California. And Walmart is going to advertise yet another sale. I think I'll go up north and find some deep snowy woods and stand in the middle of them and listen to the silence. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 24,March,2004 | So I signed up for a new online 'game' that's been popping up all over, urlLink Nation States . It's a website created by the writer of the book urlLink Jennifer Government . My nation is urlLink The Most Serene Republic of Paz y Guerra . Visit it at your convenience... If you create your own nation, you may petition me to join my loose confederacy. After you pledge your fealty, of course. :) |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 23,March,2004 | Most regular patrons of this journal know that I am, at heart, a person with an unabiding love and passion for history. I can't get enough of the stuff. I do computers too but that's just because it's a gig that I can do to pay the bills. What I want to do for a living is history stuff. I went up last weekend to MSU with Sandy and her daughter Rin (recently returned -- damaged -- from Navy basic training) to go to the Michigan Stallion Expo. This is apparently one of the big horsie shows in the midwest. Sandy was going because she is on the Livingston County Sheriff's Mounted Patrol and had to log some time. Rin went because she was bored. I went so I could go to the MSU campus. I had stuff to do that wasn't horseplay. I went to the urlLink American Cultural Studies department to talk to the chairman and get some information but found out I'd missed him by ten minutes. That kinda sucked. But I did end up talking to the department secretary, Kathleen, who was very nice and probably helped me as much as the chairman would have, albeit in different ways. The cutoff date for applications is December 31 for the following school year so I've missed out on admission for this coming September. I did find out that I can take classes through the lifelong learning program and have them count to the degree, as long as I coordinate with the department what classes I'm taking. That's one of the great things about this program: Since there are so many facets of it, there are a zillion different classes that can be applied. I'm going to apply to the college and get a catalog and see what I can find. On another note, Vicki (of urlLink Lint From My Pocket fame) and I have decided to start a website to allow 'at-large' historians such as ourselves (in other words, history geeks who don't have a history job) to post papers they've written which are scholarly but may not have the depth or sponsorship for inclusion in a journal. Vicki and I are going to start out by putting up papers we wrote in college and go from there. Maybe a little discussion forum down the road. Anyway, that's coming up Real Soon Now. There won't be much to start with but we hope to advance confidently in the direction of our dream. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 22,March,2004 | 'He's got the physique of a comedian and the personality of a bodybuilder.' - Jeff -March 22, 2004; in my office. 'The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.' - James Nicoll -May 15, 1990; usenet group rec.arts.sf-lovers |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 05,March,2004 | I was catching up on my Dave Barry columns today while installing (for a second time) OS X on a G3. This is urlLink the column I was reading that prompts this entry. Before you click on the column to read the genius that is The Dave, click to this site: urlLink artcritical.com . Did you look at 'chair' ? That's the title, you know. chair. They want an amazing amount of money for chair. So much that one could go out and by a decent used car with it. This is an example of 'found art' which is to say, 'trash'. One person's trash is another person's treasure, they say. Or art. Don't get me wrong; I love art. A lot. I really do. I love the works of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Breugel, Van Gogh, Mark Rothko, Rockwell, Kandinsky, Warhol, Rodin, O'Keefe, Picasso, J.M. Whistler, and a host of others. I don't really 'get' some of the stuff by Kandinsky or Picasso but I appreciate it. I think that the reason I appreciate their work, as well as the works of hundreds of others, is that they have created . They've made something out of nothing and put effort into it. Kandinsky's urlLink abstractions are a little out there but they have motion and contrast. On the other side of the coin are the works of Mark Rothko, who's paintings are, at first glance, nearly monchromatic. When you look more deeply into them though, you see subtle variations of shade which make for a urlLink complex image . I really do appreciate that. But when a person finds a old busted up chair somewhere and sticks it in a corner and calls it 'art', that's where my understanding and appreciation fails me. I have friends who are artists. Heather, for example. Heather is a very talented artist. I have a beautiful drawing of a goldfish she did which hangs proudly on my wall. I look at it frequently, and appreciate it. Heather also is a chandler -- a maker of candles -- who is dedicated to her craft. She takes great pains at making sure her candles; indeed, everything she does, are made well and with care. I don't think it would ever occur to her to find an old busted-up chair on someone's trash heap and put it in a corner and call it art. I support the arts. I understand that not every piece of art is called 'art' by all. But the vast majority of people who create art do just that: They create. They make something out of nothing. They don't make nothing out of nothing. I'll close by sharing an idea I had a long time ago for a work of pseudo 'performance art'. A large wire trash can, the kind you see made of wire mesh but on a much larger scale, would be placed in the middle of a dark room. The can itself would be illuminated from above with a narrow-focus white spot. As people came into the room they would be invited to grab at random from one of several boxes around the room a piece of colored paper. They wouldn't be able to determine the color before they took it. Then they would be invited to crumple the paper up or fold it or do whatever with it and toss it into the basket. There would be a distance involved between the perimeter of the exhibit and the viewing/tossing area, so not every item would go into the basket. Some would fall around the outside of it. Many would go into it. From there, the basket would fill with brightly colored paper, always changing as it filled. Every so often, when it was overflowing, an image would be taken by a panoramic camera of the basket and the debris field around it. Then the basket would be emptied and the floor swept and the process would start again. Sure, it's wacky and odd but it is created art. In fact, it's created by hundreds of people. That's truly inspiring. I need to sit down after this. Anyone got chair? |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 02,March,2004 | I got this link from a friend and thought I'd share. This guy is amazing with what he can do. It isn't dirty or anything and still manages to be entertaining!! What's the world coming to?? urlLink http://old.hugi.is/fyndnar/maestro_1.wmv It's about 4 minutes long. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 02,March,2004 | I was talking to a friend yesterday about the travails of life -- insurance, relationships, work, kids and family, money, etc. We talked about how nice it would be to go back in time to be a kid again. Arbitrarily, I decided that 11 years old would be a nearly perfect time to go back. Two days as an eleven year old boy in late June of 1977; the year that I was eleven. That's the other part of the requirement, to go back in time as well. To be able to identify with being an eleven year old better. For my friend Vicki, it would have been 1984. Neither of us would have a clue how to live today if we suddenly became eleven, so it would be best to be in our own times. So, there we were: Vicki as an 11 year old girl in 1984 and Bob as an 11 year old boy in 1977. Late June. School's out and there's nothing to do but enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed. No worries about money or families or the state of the world. At eleven years old you get upset that the news is on, since that means the cartoons aren't. You live for urlLink The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights and you bug your parents to go see urlLink Star Wars over and over. Life, in hindsight, was truly good, at least for me. I know that there are a lot of eleven year old kids -- both in 2004 and 1977 -- for whom life is, and was, not truly good. They live in poverty and pain and I feel sadness and pity for them. But this is my life and my 11 year old self doesn't really know about them in any great depth. From there, I continued to refine this desire to retreat. I asked Vicki which she would prefer to do: Go back in time to her 11 year old self to live those two days with no knowledge of her 30 year old life but with full recall of the days' events. In this way the experience would be pure and genuine. She would be able to truly be a kid again and when she returned from her experience, those memories would be fresh in her mind and she would be able to keep them and treasure them for what they were. Or, I asked, would she like to go back and be a 30 year old in the body of an 11 year old? Where she would be able to look at her situation critically and do the things she really wanted to do? If she wanted to play with little Susie Smith down the street, who was her bestest friend from kindergarten but who moved to California when they were 12 and she hasn't heard from her since then, she can do that. There's no need to 'take chances'. She can appreciate the events of the days first hand and mold her experience as she wanted to. In order to simplify things I added the caveat that she wouldn't be able to change anything in her future, like telling her parents to 'buy Microsoft'. She would live the days as she pleased and when she came back she would have those memories intact. Vicki chose the first option. She chose to look at the world through the genuine eyes of an 11 year old and take those experiences back with her. That's totally valid and a good choice. For me, it wasn't really that easy of a choice. There certainly is the desire to have the pure and unadulterated memory fresh in my mind of eleven year old Bobby but there was an overwhelming desire to be able to go back and spend nearly every second of that time being my parents' son and my brother's brother again. To bask in that feeling of warmth and happiness and security. I suppose that it was a double edged sword, this idle exercise of 'what if?'. Because it made me realize that I miss my family quite a lot, even now. My brother Jim has been gone for 17 years now. For dad it's been eight years and mom, six. That's a long time to go and the memories, though still plentiful, begin to fade slowly, like a daguerreotype from the ninteenth century. The contrasts have begun to even out and the shadows are lighter. Would it be valuable to go back and be able to really burn those images in my mind? Or am I unable to separate the 38 year old me far enough away that I could perform this exercise for what it is? The conversation started out as a desire to escape from the issues of adulthood, yet I focus on them in my very desire to choose the most effective method of escaping it for a time. It was an odd and almost funny realization when it happened. But also sad in a way, that I have grown so far from the child that I once was and have always tried to stay close to on some level. So, because I want to never retreat too far from eleven year old Bobby, I too will choose to leave the 38 year old me here in the present and go out and play for a couple of days. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 27,April,2004 | The visit on Friday to MSU went very well. I met with the interim director of the ACS program, urlLink David Stowe . He's a very nice person and patiently answered all of my questions about the program. One of the best things about the program is how wide-open it is. There's only one required course in the entire track, urlLink ACS 881 , and everything else is decided between you and your advisor. In a nutshell, I have to start out at the Master's level, where I'll get an MA in ACS. From there, I'll go on the the Ph.D. The ACS Master is two tracks: 24 credit hours plus thesis or 30 credits without. I'll be opting for the 30 credit track, if only because I don't want to get bogged down with a thesis that ends up taking much longer to write than a semester. And the way I procrastinate, that would be the case. Also, the 30 credits route requires that some of the credits be in vocational designs involving management skills . Historic preservation is specifically mentioned. Even if they don't accept the credits I took (nearly 10 years ago now) at urlLink Eastern I can still do HP. How cool is that? From there, on to the Ph.D. program which is an additional 18 credits (I think...) plus dissertation. About six years, once I start the ball rolling. He was also happy to hear I've had experience teaching (Earth science, astronomy, physics) at the college level. He said they haven't had a problem placing students in grad assistantships up to this point and if funding stays constant, I should be able to get one. Rock. I was walking on clouds the rest of the day. It was also a really pretty day and the sun was out. Sandy had to keep hold of my shoelaces to keep me from floating off. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 20,April,2004 | She's on vacation again. Mai Tais and Yahtzee seem to always win out. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 09,April,2004 | I applied online to MSU via the urlLink Lifelong Education program and got my acceptance letter yesterday. It's really cool to have that to look forward to. They allow you to take any course you want to without actually having to go through the hassle of applying to the Graduate School and take the GRE and do all that stuff that goes along with it. In talking to Kathleen, the secretary of the urlLink American Cultural Studies program, I found that I can transfer these credits to the program when I finally get the application in and get accepted. Of course, I can't take all of my classes this way; that would be way too easy. But it's still easy to take them this way for as long as I can. Now I have to decide when to apply to the school. I could apply to the school now to get accepted for the 2005-06 year but I don't know if that would be more or less advantageous when I can take the classes through the Lifelong Education program. I should probably take the urlLink GRE at the very least, so I know my score. If I tank the test I can always take it later or wait. Since I can take several LE classes and still apply them to the program requirements, there isn't as much pressure to get accepted. But it would be good to have them out of the way and be able to concentrate on school. I realized something recently. My net take-home pay is about $36,000 per year. Maybe a touch more but that's close enough for my purposes. I can get graduate level student loans for up to $30,000 per year which are tax-free. In other words, I could get big loan and live off of it while I went to school and have the luxury of being able to concentrate soley on school and not have to worry about a job, apart from maybe a part time one somewhere. Hell, I could even get a 20 hour position here and keep my benefits and maybe end up making even more money than I do now. I know that this money would have to be repaid eventually but it would enable me to get a Ph.D. much faster than I would get one by taking night classes only. I'd be able to take several classes per semester, rather than the one or two I'd be able to take otherwise. According to urlLink salary.com the median salary for an assistant professor (the lowest tenure-track position) nationally is $61,247. Even the 25th percentile is still at $50,043, still more than I make now as a middle-level systems administrator. For urlLink Ann Arbor specifically, the numbers are better: $64,983 and $53,095 for median and 25th percentile, respectively. If I were to get my Ph.D. in two or three years by going full-time instead of four to six years by going part time, I can be making more money faster which would in turn offset the costs of getting the loans. I'm not making any rash decisions here, I'm simply laying out ideas to be pondered upon. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 06,April,2004 | You are a GRAMMAR GOD ! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. Congratulations and thank you! urlLink How grammatically sound are you? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla I take pride in my ability to communicate. While I don't dwell on each turn of a phrase or triple-check my spelling, I do try to make sure I show intelligence and care in how I come across with the written word. When you meet me face-to-face, that's when all bets are off. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 05,April,2004 | Snagged, as usual, from urlLink Eric . I don't have enough friends who take these tests so I have to rely on Eric to find them for me. You're the Pathfinder/Sojourner team! When you're not recharging your solar batteries, you're writing haiku and wishing NASA would call. urlLink Which Martian exploration vehicle are you ? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 05,April,2004 | Over in LiveJournal, they have these meme generators and little quizzes. Here's one I filched from urlLink Eric : What would your Anime life be like? by urlLink hearthlight Name: Gender: Your looks: Brooding eyes and a trenchcoat Your best friend: A sickeningly sweet schoolgirl Your powers: Energy blasts. Your beloved: You can't pick just one! Your occupation: Villain. Your ending: Moving and life affirming. Created with urlLink quill18 's urlLink MemeGen 3.0 ! |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 01,April,2004 | Almost forgot... AstroJeopardy is nearly complete. I have two categories left to give to Heather, both of which are pretty much finished save for the last question or two in each one, plus the Final Jeopardy question. That's gonna be the bitch. I'm open to suggestions. It's hell, being the God of All Things Trivia. :) |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 01,April,2004 | It's been an interesting day. First thing this morning, I got an email from a mostly anonymous reader of this page who noticed my diatribe on WAAM and the complaint about not being able to get hold of Ken Kelly, former afternoon drive jock for them. He supplied me with Ken's email address, which was WAY cool so I popped Ken an email this morning. I told him how much I missed his show and I was looking forward to his getting back on the air as soon as possible. He said he's been interviewing at various places, so that's a good thing. Ken's a rare person in today's radio: He speaks his mind, but not in a Howard Stern way; more of a slightly cynical urlLink Paul Harvey way. He's also quite intelligent and very funny. These are obviously things which don't mesh well with today's canned radio stations who import everything from somewhere else. If you ever want Ken's email address, email me and I'll let you know. I think it's OK to give out, since he was giving it out on his last days on the air there. But I don't want to put it here for worries that the spambots will cull it and start flooding his email with solicitations for V |/-\ G R /-\ and emails from urlLink Nigeria on behalf of Generallisimo Mombutu, late of the President's cabinet, who was assassinated in a mysterious car accident and left 85 million dollars in a Swiss account but with no way to get it out, unless Ken supplies them with his name, address, and bank account number. Anyway, that was pretty cool. I also was informed that I have to impliment a time tracking and urlLink trouble ticketing system here at work. I understand why but I don't necessarily have to like it and the reasons behind it. Damn blogspot doesn't have any way to make a post 'friends-only'. Wish it did. 'Nuff said. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 28,May,2004 | It hasn't been as detailed as I'd hoped for but it's been very interesting. To run down, the first week was great. It really whet my appetite for future things to come. The second week was, plainly put, a bust. The lecturer was two-dimensional and boring and I found it difficult to even follow the lecture. She sounded like -- indeed, was -- she was reading from a printed sheet. This week's class, the third, on Death in New Orleans, was quite interesting. One class left to go. I decided that I'll wait to write about it until the classes end. I had hoped to summarize each class, assuming that they were all going to be as information-heavy as the first one. This wasn't the case but that's an OK thing. I'll probably draw primarily from the first class when I write but touch on things learned from the other three. The first class is what got the ball rolling, anyway. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 25,May,2004 | How stupid do they think we are? WASHINGTON (AP) - The top U.S. military officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, will be replaced as part of a command restructuring that has been in the works for several months, administration officials said Tuesday. The Pentagon also suspended Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski from her command. I'm sure it's all totally coincidental that the commanding general of the Middle Eastern Command would be replaced, unannounced, right when all the crapola is hitting the fan and the President's approval rating is in the toilet. Newsflash: Command restructures are rare and well-announced. The higher you go, the rarer they are. And they're always held with a lot of notification because there are issues that have to be addressed down the command chain. When a general is relieved from command to go to a different post, there's always prior notice as to where he or she will be posted to: 'Brigadier General Sam Jones, commander of Fort Shilliwack for the last five years, will take over command of the 13th Mechanized Infantry Division, stationed in Öddlesbiddlebaddle, Germany. General Jones' change of command ceremony will occur on {a date that's three to six months in the future} and he will assume his command of the 13th on {above date plus two or three weeks} . We wish him well at his new posting.' See how that works? I could find NO information about General Sanchez' new posting, nor an announcement of his leaving. Until today, that is. There was some speculation in the past several weeks, since the news stories broke, but nothing about a command restructure. Of course they'll say that the announcement wasn't made due to security precautions but isn't that getting to be a bit old to use for an excuse? At least they actually did say they were suspending General Karpinski from her command. Ultimately, it boils down to this: General Karpinski's career is over. She has a big giant neon black check mark next to her name which will ensure that she's passed over for promotion and future 'cushy' commands. General Sanchez, being a Lt. General (three stars, vs. General Karpinski's one) will be allowed to step down to some Pentagon duty where he'll be on all sorts of exciting panels and committees for the rest of his career until his imminent retirement. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 17,May,2004 | Saturday started out as one of those average weekend days for me. I got up around 10 am and wondered if I should go back to bed since there wasn't much to do until later that afternoon, when Jen came over. There was a urlLink decent auction going on near the 'ol homestead and I, being the auction nut that I am, decided that would be worth going to. Of course I was also noticing that my back was aching at a higher level than it usually does but I was not going to let a little case of '90 year-old man-itis' stop me from collecting more junk. So I went over and hobbled around and did my auction thing, which was to add to my junk. I got a couple of good items, though. There was a urlLink kerosene heater that looked almost new for $5; a hoover vacuum for $5; three coolers, one of which is a metal Coleman for $6; and two old-fashioned scythes (for a friend of Sandy's who wants to put them in her garden) for $17; and a sleeping bag, the old fashioned canvas kind, for $1. I was in the bidding for a Ranger pickup until it hit $1000. It finally went for $1300 which was a pretty good deal. It was a '91 but it looked to be in great shape. Would have been a nice spare vehicle. So, anyhow, I got out of there for about $35 And everything I got (except the scythes, which I'm not keeping) is usable. I consider that a good auction experience. Plus, urlLink Braun and Helmer just are fun to go see in action. When I was little my dad used to take me to auctions and theirs were the ones I loved to go to most because Jerry Helmer is a stitch. So after the auction I went home and unloaded my stuff and got my book ( urlLink Ordinary Men -- review is coming up) and went to have some Chinese at the buffet next door. I try to make this my Saturday habit. I get up at 9 or 10, then shower and relax a little, then go over to the buffet with my book and eat and read for an hour or two. I enjoy just sitting there snacking and reading and drinking nice warm tea for a while. Some of the waitstaff seem to recognize me now, as they seat me in a booth and bring me the tea without asking. Makes a guy feel special. Cheers in a Chinese buffet setting. Kind of. After such a rigorous day I felt I needed a nap. It was three in the afternoon, after all, and I'd been up for nearly five hours. I couldn't be expected to function with this kind of stress. So I set the alarm for 4:00 and figured I'd have time to get up and start functioning before Jen got there. Except I wasn't planning on hitting the snooze button continuously until 4:40 when she did arrive. Jen took it in stride; she's seen my underwear before, as I've answered the door when she comes down in it before. It ain't sexual or anything, I wear boxer briefs and they're about as revealing as a swimsuit. Besides... it's Jen, for God's sake. She's resisted my manly wiles for these many years already. Boxer briefs aren't gonna get me any further. But I digress. I worked on her computer some, which wasn't going on at all. She'd been having this problem since a power outage at her parents' place a couple of weeks ago. I figured it was either the memory or the motherboard. When I looked further into it, I realized I didn't have the same memory as the system took, so I needed her to call Dell on it. She did and they thought it was the memory, too, after having her do a couple of things like taking the video card out and such. Long story short, she got new memory and now is humming right along. Hopefully she'll get the surge protector I've been after her to get for more than a year now. Then I lost my pants at poker. Good thing I was wearing the boxer briefs. Well, not literally 'lost my pants'. Rather, I didn't do well. It was Heather's birthday and we all went over to Kim's place and had dinner then settled in for a friendly game of urlLink Texas Hold-'em . Which is where the pantsing began. To be perfectly honest, I had crap the entire night. Twice I had a pair in-hand. Beyond that, it was usually seven-four off suit or something equally crappy. But Jen seemed to get the hang of it, in spite of having to consult the cheat sheet outlining the ranks of the hands. She really cleaned up, taking home pure profit. Of course, since I provided her buy-in money, she'd been running on pure profit since the first hand. It broke up around 1am, by which time I was on my third Jameson's and Coke, breaking my promise to myself to keep it to one plus beers. Three J&Cs and one beer. It should have been the reverse -- maybe I'd have done better. Not that I would have. The very mild inebriation I was experiencing wouldn't have prevented me from seeing the crap that was on the table, card-wise. Sunday was spent doing nothing but relaxing and getting gas for the car. I decided to take a drive around and relax. Sandy came back from Ohio early and decided to tag along. We stopped for dinner at urlLink Hometown Buffet , formerly the Old Country Buffet, and had a very filling dinner. Two people can eat well for $20. Not a bad deal. After dinner began The Great Search for Gas Below $2.00 per Gallon . Not quite as easy as you might think. We drove about fourty miles to find gas under this 'magical' price. Given that the national average for a gallon of gas went past $2 today, I'm happy I managed to find it. Three places were at $1.999 per gallon, all on Michigan Avenue. I stopped at a Citgo at Michigan in the Inkster area. I don't remember the cross-street but it doesn't matter as I'd bet they're up above $2 per gallon now. Gas prices seem to be rising nearly daily now as opposed to weekly like they were a few months ago. Sandy managed to get it for $1.939 in Ohio on her way home. Yes, I realize fully I burned far more in gas than I saved by looking for cheap gas. But I did it for other reasons: the thrill of the hunt, for one. I like to find the cheapest gas around. It gives me a sense of accomplishment. For another, I wanted to drive out to St. Hedwig's Cemetery over near Telegraph, between Ford Rd. and Joy. It's a cool cemetery on the Joy Rd. side with lots of sculpture and such and I want to photograph it, maybe next week. Also, it was just a really nice afternoon and evening and it was a good night for a drive. Sunny, cool, and the traffic was light. Yeah, so I spent a few dollars' worth of gas. It beat just sitting home alone in my boxer briefs, mourning the loss of my pants. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 14,May,2004 | urlLink I've set up a shortcut for the area surrounding Canton urlLink here . |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 13,May,2004 | Remember when I said I was going to write about the books I'd read? I wrote my review of The Devil in the White City in a urlLink February entry . It isn't like I've been slacking since then. I started reading Stephen Ambrose's urlLink Nothing Like it in the World which was the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad. This was a book that was out of both mine at Dr. Ambrose's usual realm. We're both military historians who specialize in World War II. (Except he did the writing and I did the reading) This book was an exercise in taking a break from writing about World War II for him. By his own admission, he wasn't used to writing without being able to interview the people who took part in what he was writing about. The transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869 so there aren't going to be very many people available for interviews. As a result there is less narrative-via-storytelling in this book. Ambrose relies on a narrative drawn from copious records stored in the archives of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. There are many of them: telegrams, letters to family and businessmen, cargo and shipping manifests, etc. But these aren't really recollections as much as they are lists and facts. With the exception of the personal letters to family, there are few diaries to draw information from. And it's a one-way street. You can't ask a letter home to expand on a comment made in passing. What was of little immediate importance in 1867 may be crucial to a larger puzzle in the 1990s when he was doing research for the book. It wasn't an easy read for me because I'm not as familiar with the background material. When I'm reading about D-Day, I already know about the larger picture; I've read dozens of books about the war in Europe and I'm aware of how the planning occurred and how it related to the war in general. But with this story, I had embarrassingly little prior knowledge so I found myself having to go back and reread passages to understand them better and to go to other sources to allow me to put these events in context. It was more like studying for an exam than it was reading for pleasure. It was still fun. I know a LOT more about the labor history of the middle ninteenth century now and I know a lot more about the people from that time. Up to this point, my knowledge was limited in scope to the Civil War and a little bit of side reading about the broad cultural aspects of the period. This book was widely criticized as being too one-sided and Ambrose was accused of plagarizing large passages of it. Someone of his stature and reputation cannot plagarize. His books are used as references for dozens of other books and any plagarism is going to be found quickly. In this case, I think there were probably examples of the same ideas found in other books being stated similarly. After all, there are only so many ways to convey an idea well. Sure, he could have quoted over and over, just to make sure but then the book becomes a string of quotations sewn together to make a new book. So I'm not at all behind the idea of his being a plagarizer. He was just too good an historian to do that. I did enjoy this book but I don't know that I'd be able to get into this same period of history, at least this topic of this period of history, enough that I could fill in background myself. It's a really interesting era, no doubt about that, but it doesn't captivate me the same ways that other topics and historical eras do. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 12,May,2004 | So, thanks to urlLink Heather I found out about a seminar seeries being offered at the urlLink U of M, Dearborn titled 'Graveyards 101'. Heather, knowing me as she does, knew that I would love to go to this lecture series. Of course, she was right. There are four lectures over the course of the next four Wednesdays. They'll be titled: May 12th 'Death and Dying in Pre-Modern Europe' May 19th 'Death in Vienna' May 26th 'The New Orleans Way of Death' June 2nd 'Images of Death in Comparative Perspective' There are several texts used in the course, today's concentrated on a book written by Philippe Aries, urlLink The Hour of Our Death Aries was not a historian in the trained sense. He was a lover of history. After his day job, he would go home and research and read history. This is one of his best books. I've read parts of it before, but I'm going to order it and read it cover to cover now. I've decided that I'll discuss the topic each class covers here. My thoughts and the ideas presented in class. I have to say that I came out of this class awhirl with ideas and concepts that I hadn't really been able to gel together before. I'll be interested to see where I go with them. More later. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 11,May,2004 | I'd fully intended to plug away at a new entry, one of depth and substance but that was before I decided to 'tweak' the look of the blog in general. That created a 'fix one thing, break two more' loop that lasted for quite a while. But finally it seems to be fixed, I managed to keep everything and I got a template that I more or less like. I wanted one that had the sidebar stuff on the left with the journal entries on the right but it looked messed up in IE every time, no matter what I did. It always looked OK in Netscape though. But I'm all about consistency across platforms, so I had to scrap that idea. It looks OK -- for now. I've also enabled comments, so feel free. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 22,June,2004 | Interesting... You are Sam the Eagle. You are patriotic and devoted. And extremely anal. HOBBIES: Patriotism, Being appalled at what everyone else is doing. FAVORITE MUSIC: The National Anthem of America FAVORITE MOVIE: 'An American In....America' LAST BOOK READ: 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Eagles are from America' QUOTE: 'Please stop that now! It's un-American!' urlLink What Muppet are you? brought to you by urlLink Quizilla |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 19,June,2004 | It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone - 'to relax,' I told myself. But I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, 'What is it exactly we are doing here?' Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, 'I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job.' This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. 'Honey,' I confessed, 'I've been thinking...' 'I know you've been thinking,' she said, 'and I want a divorce!' 'But Honey, surely it's not that serious.' 'It is serious,' she said, lower lip aquiver. 'You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have any money!' 'That's a faulty syllogism,' I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I'd had enough. 'I'm going to the library,' I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with NPR on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors... they didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. 'Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?' it asked. You probably recognise that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was Porky's . Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. Soon, I will be able to vote Republican. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 18,June,2004 | urlLink |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 17,June,2004 | I dream, everyone does. I don't frequently remember what I was dreaming, excepting in random and very foggy memory fragments. But this morning I had a dream that I actually remember in some detail: I was a member of a scientific team who were responsible for the development and launch of a probe to examine some sort of small object in space. I don't really remember what, specifically, but it wasn't huge. It seems like it was an asteroid or a comet. Anyway, the probe we were designing was very cool. It was a sphere at launch but once in space it broke into four wedges, like a quartered orange. Each wedge was responsible for different scientific measurements and had antennae and solar panels which deployed when it split up. It also had a very sophisticated thruster system, in that it was capable of countering external effects of Newton's urlLink Third Law . It was capable of precise movement in a single dimension and remain stable in the other two. There was even computer-modelled imagery in my dream, showing NASA-like urlLink simulations of the probe's mission. The funny thing was that part of the testing involved running piping and wiring through the interior of a urlLink 1961 Lincoln Continental . For some reason, this car had to be used for the experiment because if the urlLink suicide doors . Anyway, we had to move through the lab testing area by crawling through the car's interior. Unfortunately, I woke up at this time and never got to see the undoubted success of our awesome probe, developed with the assistance of the urlLink Lincoln-Mercury Corporation . I blame this dream on influence from a dream from another friend of mine who shall remain nameless but not blameless, and is known for his up-fucked imagery. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 15,June,2004 | There are days when I hate having to sit behind my desk working on some project that needs to be done the day before yesterday. Today is not one of those days. I ran across a web site that is not only funny, it's downright hilarious. It's a site that one Diana Goodman started up and it deals with people who are nearly insane. Or at least they appear to be so, judging from some of the crackheaded names they want to 'give' their children. Diana makes poignant comments (read 'bitingly sarcastic' ) about many of these postings, which almost all come from a baby name site. She mentions the site in her pages but I couldn't find it. Doesn't really matter so much, as the sentiment seems universal, judging from the responses garnered through the 15+ pages. Diana's site is here: urlLink Not Without My Handbag . Diana, if you ever read my humble blog, please tell me where you came up with your dotcom name. Actually, that begs another site with dotcom names in a similar vein. But this post is about Diana's site and I invite you to read a couple of excerpts that made me spit laugh, they were so funny (The part in regular text is the entry on the baby name web site, the italics are her response): What is a nature realated name for a boy? I am pregnant with a boy and I already have four girls. My girls are Summer Skies, Autumn Night, April Shower, and Spring Flower. Please help I am due in November. Star Light Star Light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, let this lady be a mental patient whose 'children' are actually straws she stole from the hospital cafeteria. My favorite name are: Xev Chiana Louise Nikita Gia Ravin Gavin Charles Bailey Tristan Michael Ares I want kids to entire the world unique. When they turn 18 can always change it. I hate name like Collette. She would get picked on. Kids are not always PG! Yeah, well I like names not stupid. Names actual exist. Pronoun, verb like too. Names suggest cruel, unusual. Fourth Amendment Constitution ban 'Nikita' for all but French assassins, bald Russian men. Friend, good! Fire, BAD! (Helpful reader and SciFi channel viewer Joan adds that Xev is a character from Lexx: 'She's a virgin love slave, in love with an animate dead assasin.' and Chiana is from Farscape: an 'escaped convict, genetically altered by her home planets government to be a nymphomaniac' and spread an STD across the universe. What does this say about Mama's ambitions for wee baby Xev Chiana? Do we really want to know?) The disclaimer is that I don't hate all of the names that are mentioned here. My own beautiful neice's name is McKenzie, a name which is bandied about frequently on these pages. But many (most) of the names are, indeed, a little (lot) odd (freakish). Go to Diana's site. Read. Laugh. Appreciate. Learn. Mock. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 14,June,2004 | Ouch. Sunburned neck. I always think about putting on sunscreen; I realize the dangers of urlLink skin cancer . My dad had skin cancers on his neck and hands which were, fortunately, treatable. But in the time when he was exposed to the sun continuously, people didn't wear sunscreens. Plus, he was fighting a war in sunny urlLink North Africa and Italy and didn't really have much time to think about slathering on some SPF. But I do resolve to be more active about putting some on rather than just thinking about it. Keeping some in the car might be a good idea. Duh. I love auctions. I'm almost addicted to them. My favoritest of auction companies is urlLink Braun and Helmer . Dad took me to them when I was very young and I thought that it was like a toyland of 'stuff'. Dad also taught me to wait for a good bargain all the time. So auctions seem to be a sort of raison d'etre for me to find a good bargain. Saturday I got a 32' Quasar TV for $110 and Sunday I got a garden tractor with a drag, mower deck, and front blade for $150. It's an older tractor, a Sears model, and it's been pretty well maintained. I went to the auction on Saturday with an idea towards getting one of those cool zero-radius-turn mowers but it went for $4000. There was a Ford 1910 (model #, not year) tractor that went for more than $7000. I'm convinced that I should be going into the tractor restoration business. There was even an old urlLink Farmall Cub tractor in really rough condition that ended up going for $1800. (The picture is a different tractor) In contrast, the auction yesterday had a beautiful urlLink 1972 Lincoln Continental with 57,000 original miles that only ended up going for $3250. When we went back to pick up the tractor, I found out that they pulled the car from the auction with the view that it was really worth more than that. I agree with that but it means that the seller has to start over again and start marketing it. I don't think he was totally happy about that but he didn't find out until the end of the auction. I think that one of the reasons I like auctions so much, other than to find way cool deals, is to sort of get a piece of the history of other people. I find myself wanting to be the caretaker of the things that people no longer want yet someone liked well enough to buy or make. There are items that we think are ugly today yet were considered high-fashion in their time. And we feel connections with the mundane. The guy who owned this tractor hadn't used it regularly for several years, as he'd bought a newer and bigger one. Yet, when it was wheeled out for the auction, his daughter was upset that he was getting rid of it, saying that she'd grown up with it. As an aside (aren't all of my blog entries asides, really?), I was upset with my sister for giving away the old Allis Chalmers tractor that I grew up with. It's the first thing I ever drove, the sound lulled me to sleep on many summer nights as my dad would mow into the darkness, it's a part of my childhood. Never mind that it was ancient, it was ours. It was mine. There are little knicknacks that are parts of our lives which are part of the 'background noise'. Things that are in our world for our entire lives and when they go away we feel their absence. A particular piece of furniture; an old table lamp; even the way a room is arranged. We get used to them and they become part of that noise. When they change, so changes the noise. It's different -- not quite right. It's a little out of tune. I guess that when I buy that little knicknack, I try to bring a sense of harmony into my own life and allow those who grow up with something and wonder what's happen to it to imagine that it's gone to a good home. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 09,June,2004 | I know I haven't blogged in more than forever but I have a really good excuse!! Yeah, I do... Ummm... My dog ate it. I dropped it in the mud and couldn't read it. No, really! No, really. I've been up to my shiny metal ass in work which has allowed me precious little free time to expound on life's humor. I'm taking a few minutes now while I run some utilities on another computer. Were it not for this need, precipitated by interesting and strange random freeze ups, I'd be back nose to the grindstone. Today's problem centers around getting this silly ticketing system to work. I have XP installed, patched, and firewalled; ASPemail installed but not tested; IIS installed and tested; and the Liberum Help Desk installed. That's the biggie right now: I can't get the stupid software to run. It's basically just .asp scripts which feed into an Access database. The problem is that I can't get to the helpdesk itself which is accessible via a web interface. It keeps telling me that it can't view XML input using XSL style sheets. Gah. After it finishes, I'm going back in. Wish me luck. BTW: Here's the message I'm getting, in case someone reads this who understands more than I: The XML page cannot be displayed. Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later. A name was started with an invalid character. Error processing resource 'file:///C:/Inetpub/... etc' -^ |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 28,July,2004 | I get an above number of spam emails compared to most people I know. Most of them are taken care of by filters I've set up. I've seen more than my share of ads for mortgage refinancing, Viagra and Cialis offers, stock tips, online casinos, and on and on. I also get scams which look like they come from legitimate sources. The kind where 'The Citi' has noticed that your accounts are being used in a suspicious manner and would you kindly enter your account information here (including the all-important check digit on the back) so they can verify that you are you and make sure that everything is cool with your credit card. At least until they get to your account themselves, after which you'll get a phone call from the *real* Citibank who will then proceed to tell you that someone's been using your account to buy Viagra and Cialis online and buying into online casinos. Today I got an interesting one pretending to be from eBay. It was an obvious scam email, if only for the fact that it wasn't actually addressed directly to me. I'm sure I was part of a large bcc group. It had the usual bad grammar and formatting -- the grammar was bad in the 'I'm 15 years old and hacking together a scam; I don't have time to pay attention in English class' way. Not the grammar that's used by people for whom English is not a first (or second) language. Allow me to share: WE have been trying to get members to update there accounts Your account has been Flagged as not updated. Protecting the security of your eBay auction account is our primary concern, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.Comments are welcomed! In order to update your account information, you need to complete the following ! If not, your account may Be CLOSED and errors may occur without notification If you have gotten this before you Must of failed to complete ALL FEILDS! Stunning, isn't it? But it's what information they ask you for that's the ballsy part: User ID Password Account type Seller Buyer First Name M.I. Last Name email email password address city state phone zip code Card Number Expiration Date social Security Number Atm Pin Date Of Birth Mothers Maiden Name Drivers lisence number Bank Account# Routing # Wow. They sure do want to make sure you are who you say you are. I'm sure that when they send this out again, with improvements, they'll also ask for a DNA sample and fingerprints. Well, I filled it out just for fun. Stuff like George W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C., etc. Shucks. The email account is shut off. I wonder if that means eBay is having a problem with their email servers? The email return address, urlLink something3434 @ yahoo.com is unknown to the intermediate mail gateway now, so I'm sure it's been shut off. I'll tell ya. Kids these days. If they put as much effort into video games as they did hacking, we'd be up to Final Fantasy XX now, instead of just X. They still wouldn't be able to read or write but they'd be off the internet and on the video game consoles. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 19,July,2004 | 'I could do it. I'm a really good camper. I can sleep on the ground. There are many, many good people who have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela' --Martha Stewart, in an ABC News interview, saying she could handle prison. See, now that's funny. Marvelous Martha has no clue what's coming down the pike for her. She's going into a work camp and thinks it's summer camp. I'm sure that the class of criminal she will be incarcerated alongside will be something less than serial killer-level but there's still going to be a struggle for power, just like there is in every enclosed environment. Humans are pack animals, with hierarchical structure. We're more sophisticated than wolves, in that we plot and plan and backstab our way to the top. Wolves just fight. Strongest wins. Maybe they're the sophisticated ones. Anway, Martha's in for a whole lot of 'fun' if she thinks it's gonna be a camping adventure. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 12,July,2004 | Blatently stolen from celtie. IMDB's Top 100 Best Movies of All Time generate this HTML for your own page at urlLink ObeytheFist.com Rank Movie Didn't See It/ Started It/ Finished It/ Hated It! 1 Godfather, The (1972) Finished It 2 Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) Finished It 3 Godfather: Part II, The (1974) Finished It 4 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) Finished It 5 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) Finished It 6 Casablanca (1942) 7 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) Finished It 8 Schindler's List (1993) Finished It 9 Shichinin no samurai (1954) 10 Star Wars (1977) Finished It 11 Citizen Kane (1941) Finished It 12 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Finished It 13 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Finished It 14 Rear Window (1954) 15 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Finished It 16 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Finished It 17 Memento (2000) 18 Usual Suspects, The (1995) Finished It 19 Pulp Fiction (1994) Finished It 20 North by Northwest (1959) Finished It 21 12 Angry Men (1957) Finished It 22 Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) 23 Psycho (1960) 24 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 25 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) 26 Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) Finished It 27 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Finished It 28 Goodfellas (1990) Started It 29 American Beauty (1999) 30 Vertigo (1958) Finished It 31 Sunset Blvd. (1950) 32 Matrix, The (1999) Finished It 33 Apocalypse Now (1979) Finished It 34 Pianist, The (2002) 35 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) 36 C'era una volta il West (1968) 37 Some Like It Hot (1959) 38 Third Man, The (1949) 39 Taxi Driver (1976) 40 Paths of Glory (1957) 41 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) 42 Fight Club (1999) 43 Boot, Das (1981) 44 Double Indemnity (1944) 45 L.A. Confidential (1997) 46 Chinatown (1974) 47 Singin' in the Rain (1952) Finished It 48 Maltese Falcon, The (1941) 49 M (1931) 50 Requiem for a Dream (2000) 51 Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957) Finished It 52 All About Eve (1950) 53 Se7en (1995) Finished It 54 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Finished It 55 Saving Private Ryan (1998) Finished It 56 Cidade de Deus (2002) 57 Raging Bull (1980) 58 Rashômon (1950) 59 Wizard of Oz, The (1939) Finished It 60 Sting, The (1973) Finished It 61 Alien (1979) Finished It 62 American History X (1998) 63 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 64 Léon (1994) 65 Vita è bella, La (1997) 66 Touch of Evil (1958) 67 Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) 68 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Finished It 69 Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) Finished It 70 Great Escape, The (1963) 71 Wo hu cang long (2000) 72 Reservoir Dogs (1992) Finished It 73 Clockwork Orange, A (1971) Finished It 74 Amadeus (1984) 75 Modern Times (1936) Started It 76 Ran (1985) 77 Annie Hall (1977) 78 Jaws (1975) Finished It 79 On the Waterfront (1954) 80 Braveheart (1995) Finished It 81 High Noon (1952) 82 Apartment, The (1960) 83 Fargo (1996) Finished It 84 Sixth Sense, The (1999) Finished It 85 Aliens (1986) Finished It 86 Shining, The (1980) Finished It 87 Strangers on a Train (1951) 88 Blade Runner (1982) Finished It 89 Metropolis (1927) 90 Duck Soup (1933) Finished It 91 Finding Nemo (2003) Started It 92 Donnie Darko (2001) 93 General, The (1927) 94 City Lights (1931) 95 Princess Bride, The (1987) Finished It 96 Toy Story 2 (1999) Finished It 97 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) Finished It 98 Great Dictator, The (1940) 99 Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957) 100 Lola rennt (1998) urlLink Which movies have you seen? |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 09,July,2004 | http://snipurl.com/7n0d 'This whole thing was inadvertent. It happened a long time ago at a files storage site in Denver,' a senior defense official, who asked not to be identified, said. How convenient. The things that happen to this administration just continue to amaze and stun me. 'We're only missing those files which are guaranteed to clear (or convict) the President. Shucks and darn. Sorry about that; that pesky film just crumbled.' |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 02,July,2004 | Ganked from Eric's blog: You are a WRDF--Wacky Rational Destructive Follower. This makes you a hacker. Your thirst for knowledge can be damaging to your possessions--you like to take things apart, even if you then forget to put them back together. You demand respect and, no matter how much you are respected, seldom feel it is adequate. You are tenacious, and will stick to a task long after weaker minds have given it up. Socially, you are awkward, and get into arguments and make people uncomfortable. One recommends counting to ten, holding back comments unless warranted, and listening more than speaking. Still, your no-holds-barred approach to socialization can be strangely endearing, as long as you are funny and self-deprecating. You feel misunderstood, and you probably are. Find out what your better personality is by urlLink going here . |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 10,August,2004 | So I'm pondering about converting from Blogger over to LiveJournal. It isn't an absolute done deal or anything but it's something that I'm thinking about more and more. There's much more granularity with LJ than there is with Blogger and that's what really appeals to me. I mean, I don't mind sharing with people; that's what I started the silly thing for in the first place. But sometimes issues crop up in my life that I'm not ready to tell the world in general about but maybe my local group of friends should know. Blogger just doesn't easily allow for that. The thing that keeps me here is the very lengthy history of blog that I've created already. I was looking for some sort of conversion utility but that doesn't seem to exist. So I choose now between: 1) Sticking with Blogger and dealing with the lack of granularity for posts. 2) Converting posts already made over by hand, one at a time, into LJ. 3) Just leaving Blogger here with a pointer to my new LJ home. Choice #2 seems like the only reasonable long-term answer at this point. Choice #1 is probably the least likely unless Blogger announces some amazing new changes. When they were bought out by the Google behemoth I thought this might occur. It has not. The third choice is really not feasible because Blogger deletes blogs which haven't been updated in some predetermined time period. And I don't want that. So, for now, I will continue to research. But in the long term, look for my new home over on LJ, which has existed for some time already but only has urlLink one entry . Comments are welcome. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 03,August,2004 | Said this: Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. When I first read it, I didn't believe it. But in doing some research as to the authenticity of it, I ran across previous verification of it from snopes. If it's at snopes, it's true. I know them only by reputation and I do know from personal experience that they confirm what they say. The link to the verification is urlLink here . I confess that when I read this I was surprised at how well it fits current events. I didn't think that Goering really had said this but it sounded like a quote that might be tracked down with some digging. When I saw that it had, indeed been said by him, I got a cold chill. Vote. Please. Follow your conscience, read the words above over and over, and follow your conscience. |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Nipped from urlLink Eric . urlLink What Kind of Geek are You? Name DOB Favourite Color Your IQ is quite high You are a computer geek Your strength is you can see in the dark Your weakness is alcohol You think normal people are aliens Normal people think that you are weird This QuickKwiz by urlLink owlsamantha - Taken 5492 Times. New - COOL Dating Tips and Romance Advice! |
942,103 | male | 38 | Technology | Virgo | 02,August,2004 | Category III - The Regular Jo(e) You are the quintessential standard conjured by the word 'Friend'. Only my friends can tell me what kind of friend I am. But it was an interesting exercise. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 29,February,2004 | Well, Friday night was the big fight night I'd been waiting for and unfortunately both our guys lost on decision. Andrew's one was a bit dodgy because he'd been knee'd in the head twice and I'm still not sure whether the rules allowed knees to the head. Pete was fighting a much more experienced fighter though he got in some good kicks that almost buckled his opponent's leg - he did steal the show by almost throwing his opponent out of the ring when they tied up! (The guys sitting behind me started calling for chair shots... haha) The quality of the fights was a step up from the last time I had been there, so it was pretty enjoyable - many of the fights were quite close and the final fight of the night turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax because it was stopped due to a cut sustained by one of the fighters. His opponent caught him with an awesome front kick that opened him up just above his eye, so the doctor called it off. Overall it was a pretty good night, my voice was hoarse after all the shouting though... Mey and I had a bit of a journey on the way home, we'd caught the train and we thought it was going to Liverpool but instead we ended up at Lidcombe! So then I caught a train to Penrith from there and she caught a train to Cabramatta and caught a cab home from there. Public transport in Sydney... gotta love it. Yesterday I went over to Mey's to reclaim my electric guitar (i.e. my baby), which has been sitting in her lounge room for ages because I thought I would be going back down to Melbourne and she was in need of some babysitting. After showing off my 'awesome guitar skills' (more like 'desperately in need of practice skills'), Mey and I watched this Indonesian flick, 'Ada apa dengan Cinta?' or 'What is it with Love?' that seemed to me like an Indonesian version of '10 things I hate about You' - even the lead actor looked like Heath Ledger (and not just 'cause of his haircut). Oh well, at least I got to practice my translation skills. Or rather I was sitting there catching the odd word here and there. 'Perempuan means woman!' 'Cinta means Love!' And so forth... After that Christine rocked up and the three of us watched the most confusing movie I've ever seen - it was this Korean horror movie called 'A Tale of Two Sisters.' (Korea's No.1 Horror Movie according to the VCD cover!) The three of us are still trying to figure out what it was all about, so I guess that pretty much describes the whole film. It wasn't that scary, but it didn't stop Mey from squirming in her seat even though she'd seen it already! My ride home was yet again another journey... I was waiting at Canley Vale station for a train going towards Parramatta / Blacktown but after waiting for an hour I realised there weren't any coming so I hopped onto a city-bound train and changed trains at Granville. Geez, I need a car... any sponsors? :P |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 26,February,2004 | I initially thought I wouldn't be writing a post in here today since I only woke up 3pm and obviously had only less than half the day left. However, today was probably as different a day from my normal routine as you'd get because I actually decided to skip training (hey, i felt crook when i woke up) and since it's Thursday, go SHOPPING! (Skipping training for shopping? God, what's next..?) I actually spotted some nice shirts on sale at Westfield yesterday so I decided to run down to Parramatta to grab them and basically have a break for today - my body appreciates the fact I actually had some proper sleep this morning. Still more to catch up on, though. I had a chicken fillet subway sandwich on the way to parramatta and I realised that something in it leaves an aftertaste like cigarettes... Any clues anyone? I'm remember experiencing it before, so it definitely wasn't a case of someone leaving ashes in the ingredients while smoking on duty! I remember now why I don't frequent shopping centres - they are dangerous to my wallet! Let's just say I bought more than just the shirts I saw yesterday. I rounded off my day by going grocery shopping at Coles in Penrith - now that doesn't really count as shopping twice in a day does it? But anyways Shihan gave me a buzz to make sure I was alright because I didn't come into training today and mentioned that he ran the class into the ground today - sounds like I wouldn't have survived the class! Good timing on my part I guess... Joel's random quote of the day: 'Don't be frustrated when you're surrounded by idiots - it makes it easier for people to recognise that you stand out from the crowd.' |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 24,February,2004 | Today was a nice change of pace, There was a possibility that I might have had to go work today, but I wasn't called to go in. *whew* Anyways, I spent basically the whole afternoon with Mey and Sheryl at Westfield Parramatta. We had a pre-lunch coffee and ended up sitting and chatting for a good 3 hours before we decided to move on! Lunch was basically the same thing and we stayed long past the cleaners had barricaded the seating area we were in at the food court. No I didn't panic, at least not much, haha. :P I retract my statement earlier this week about the weather becoming good - it's been shocking! Cold and wet, just like Melbourne... *grrr* At least it's not blazing hot anymore I guess. Karate was good, small class again so we worked lots of self-defense techniques and the last 15 minutes were killer with shadow-boxing interspersed with pushups, situps, and leg raises. Ever try punching when your arms are fatigued? It feels like you couldn't hurt a fly... |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 24,February,2004 | The past two days have seemed like one very long day... I've only had today to really think about things, so I guess this post will be a long one! I woke up at 5.30am yesterday to get a good start on the day, had to get in around 8.30am but I didn't want to chance being late because of late trains or whatever. In the end, I was 45mins too early, and my contact at NRMA HQ didn't show up till 9.00am. You do the math on how long I waited. I realised something while I was waiting in the lobby - one of the security guys there was the same guy who didn't let Christine into Minc! What a coincidence... well, maybe not really because Minc is right across the road. As expected it was a long day, with a host of problems I had to deal with (which I won't go into detail because there were just that many...) and I worked from 9am till 5.30pm non-stop. Again, so much for the job being simple! Ray (my cousin) it's all your fault! But yea, it's been good actually apart from the workload, never thought I'd do any IT work before. And according to Ray, I've done well because the client and his own engineer were happy with me so I guess maybe it's a sign for a promising future in IT? :P I was pretty beat after that, thoughts of skipping training flashed briefly into my mind but I'm glad I made the effort because it was a great class. There were only 4 of us so Shihan took a bit of a different approach to the class - he made us do all the cruel and unusual bag drills that I love so much, like lifting the punching bag onto your shoulder and throwing it onto the ground! (My feet are bruised from all the kicking as well, but that's another story in itself...) Shihan made me recite the dojo kun (dojo oath) and I am very embarrased to admit that I didn't know it by heart - it was a huge wake-up call for me really... for someone who loves his karate so much, how can I not know the very principles that it stands for? After that, Shihan gave us a little talk on the dojo kun and what it means to him, and I found it very profound because after the grueling physicality of the class he ended it on such a different note. I almost couldn't hold back the tears... it reminded me yet again of the depth that Shihan has. People tend to write him off as a brute because he's a very physical man (and Maori too), but let me tell you this - you don't get your 6th dan in karate or any other martial art for just for being a brute. Last night's class was a perfect example. Anyways, here is the dojo kun for those interested: http://www1.masutatsuoyama.com:850/dojokun.htm Today was pretty much the same as yesterday, but the pace wasn't as full on and I actually got to have lunch with Mey who was in the city to pick up her necklace. Well most of the issues have been resolved and I might go in tomorrow just to mop things up. It won't be too soon when I finish though - if I see another computer with Windows NT on it I will scream!! (But yes I will sooner than I can imagine most probably...) Made it to kickboxing class late because I got held up at work but the guys are looking sharp for Friday, they're gonna kick butt all over Belmore RSL!!! Oh, and I walked home in the rain. Luckily I had my raincoat. ;) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 22,February,2004 | Geez, just got back from the site where we deployed the PCs... apparently it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be, they were having complications with the roll-out of new hardware, which is why I was called at the last minute. Guess I should have figured it wasn't an easy job - I never get the easy stuff! :P Anyways, they want me on-site tomorrow too since it's the 1st day with all the new equipment so I must find out where I can can borrow some riot gear on short notice. I don't know how people take to having their computers not working! (Well, maybe I am exaggerating just a tad...) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 21,February,2004 | Today was a very slow day... just trying to survive the heat out here in Penrith, apparently it peaked at 39 degrees. *ugh* So yes I've been bumming on the net the whole day, I briefly considered going out to watch a movie but the heat deterred me from venturing out. Anyways, Ray (my cousin from Perth) called me up and asked me to do a last-minute job for him in the city - apparently he needs some PCs deployed so it's an early start for me tomorrow! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 20,February,2004 | Had a long day at the dojo today - got in early because a photographer from the Sydney Morning Herald came up to take photos of the kids' class. Shihan took us through a MONSTER first session mostly doing fitness and lots of fighting techniques. I couldn't bounce on the balls of my feet though (which is a typical karate thing to do when fighting) because of my freaking shin splints; actually I did bounce, but I just didn't leave the floor to minimise the pressure on the shins. Then he had us doing bagwork for 30mins during the second session and I was just wasted. I don't care who you are, but if you go flat out for a 3 minute round on a heavy bag you WILL be tired. Luckily the rest of the session was relatively easy going, concentrating on counter techniques - the highlight of my evening was when John was supposed to defend my spinning back kick and after jamming the kick our legs tied up and he ended up on the floor! I couldn't help but smile to myself. :) The train ride home was a bit uncomfortable because the train wasn't air-conditioned but I guess I dozed off now and then, which helped to shorten the ride a bit. As I was about to get off at Penrith this guy (who boarded the train with about 9 others at Mt Druitt) came over and started asking me about my iPod and he wanted to have a listen and I obliged, but obviously being wary if he tried to do a runner with it but he didn't. He gave me a friendly slap on the shoulder as we parted ways to indicate 'you're alright'. Maybe he initially thought he'd have a little fun with me I don't know - I find people to be generally nice if you are nice to them... this guy maybe crossed the boundaries a bit by 'invading my personal space' on the train, but he didn't do anything to cause me to break his legs. So yea, I guess that makes him alright too? |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 20,February,2004 | Our dojo website is finally up, still a beta though... and there's that goddamn typo!! *grrrr* have a gander at http://www.powerkarate.com.au |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 19,February,2004 | Today was pretty much more of the same old, except while waiting for the bus to get home from the dojo - this Chinese (as in from China) girl who was also waiting for the bus asked me the time. Somehow from there we ended up talking and I found out she stays pretty close by to where I used to stay in Surry Hills and that she goes to Wollongong Uni. No, I didn't get her number. I didn't even get her name. Does that make me strange? Some people seem to think so! I guess I regarded it as one of those fairly anonymous chats you have when you travel. Maybe I was just tired from training. God I hope I'm not gay. No, I'm just SHY dammit. :P |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 19,February,2004 | Mey did a whole new layout for my Blog - she's the best!! I love her to bits! Hehehe! Henceforth I proclaim, 'Should anyone endeavour to hurt my dearest friend Mey, they shall not know rest from my endless wrath!' or in plain english... 'I'll f**k them up!' ;) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 18,February,2004 | *Whew* It's been a long day! I left the house in Penrith to meet up with friends at Westfield Eastgardens for lunch and it took me 2½ hours to get there... (Yes, that included walking, train, AND bus. All I need to do now is take the ferry everyday and get the most out of my weekly travelpass.) I was getting pretty annoyed because I received a phone call from Melbourne just after I got to Westfield, asking where everything was in relation to the Iraqi project and everything - obviously in the back of my mind I'm thinking, 'Well, if someone had just bought my ticket as agreed I would have been there 2 weeks ago and sorted whatever needed sorting and everyone wouldn't have to go through this. AGAIN.' Anyways we stopped by a videogame store and Jenni (AKA Buffy Freak) spotted a Buffy game for PS2. Naturally, she wanted to buy it, despite the fact that she's leaving for HK in two days time and our protests... 'Buy it in HK! It'll be cheaper!' 'Don't buy it now! You won't even play it before you go!' which were obviously were in vain, since she ended up buying the darn thing anyway. Damn Buffy Freak. Well, she did buy this 'EyeToy' , which I won't go into detail about because I don't want to leave any incriminating evidence that I actually used the thing. Haha! :P Got to the dojo early today to help Shihan out with the front desk - he had sent Big John and Sensei Jon off to Rose Bay for the night just to have a change. He (Shihan) was still feeling a bit crook from something he ate on the weekend, apparently he was throwing up and stuff on Monday... never a good thing. However, Shihan being Shihan, his classes are always hard and I felt absolutely wrecked after training. He was a bit upset with John though, because the front desk was in a bit of a mess and I realised it too after going through stuff - things weren't where they were supposed to be and we had run out of insurance forms (which every member MUST sign if they are to be included in our insurance policy). So yea, while it was nothing that major, it was enough to be of concern. I told Shihan I'd be coming in earlier to training just to sort out stuff like that. Poor John is always wrecked from training being an Uchi Deshi so he doesn't get much time in the day just to relax, so I understand how he feels. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 17,February,2004 | Oh and guess what I found lying around the house? A copy of 'HTML for Dummies, 2nd Edition' - guess I don't have any excuses now for my lame Blog layout. Another thing to put on the to-do list... |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 16,February,2004 | Got up REALLY late today... around 2pm because I didn't sleep till 5am - a bit of a slow start to the day, but oh well... Anyways, I made my way down today for Kickboxing at 6pm and still experiencing pain in my shins from skipping, I didn't really have a chance to ask Doc yesterday but the discomfort's nothing too bad, just hoping I'm not compounding any sort of injury that might lead to a fracture... (Obviously, Sensei Rosie's broken shin from Japan is still on my mind!) Well, the highlight for today was when Tony was demonstrating how to do a proper low kick and ended up hurting John (not our 'Uchi Deshi' or live-in student John, but this other guy) through the pad. Tony delivered a standard Muay Thai shin kick to the pad - the result of which was John clutching his thigh in pain and falling over! I dunno, I guess it was one of those 'freak' or 'sweetspot' kicks that do a lot of damage even though they're not THAT hard. Tony (jokingly or not jokingly) said it's my fault since I was John's pad partner for the class so I'd already thrown some 200 kicks at him - he merely delivered the one that crumpled him. Oh well. Poor John. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 16,February,2004 | Damn, I'm going to have to learn some HTML to make this Blog look better... time to get off my butt. By the way, I'm quite impressed with MSN's audio conversation capabilities - apart from the inevitable lag, but I guess that's because I'm on dial-up as opposed to broadband. So yes, I've talked to an ex-classmate in London and an old friend in Brunei in the space of 24 hours for basically nothing, which isn't too shabby. It's cooler today as well, which is a good start for the week! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 16,February,2004 | This is my first post - I'm so excited. I hope it works. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 29,March,2004 | Damn, it's been a long weekend... I'll post more when I can actually reflect on it properly. I have a feeling this week isn't going to be much different so bedtime for now! *yawn* |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 23,March,2004 | Grrr, I have these two scratches on my face from sparring last night from someone's long uncut nails! Trust me bleeding all over your gi is not a nice thing to be doing. Well I've heard from my immigration agent that my residency application is nearing a result and I just handed in the last of the paperwork today - hopefully there'll be good news in the next few weeks! Also been busy with the dojo move, we were digging up all the crap out the back today and I started reacting to all the dust *agh* and I was starting to feel REAL crap. Time and drugs helped get me back into shape before training though. Kickboxing class tonight was pretty good - we're averaging about 20 people a class so it's pretty lively and has a good atmosphere. Oh, my partner for the night was the karate black belt who caught my eye some time back; she's started coming to kickboxing classes because she can't make the karate classes. Guess I'll be seeing more of her then... ;) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 21,March,2004 | There was a junior grading on this Friday and it was my turn to enter the sparring fresh against the junior belts and pressure them - i.e. give them a hiding. :P It is different to be on the giving end that's for sure. But it's made me realise one thing... I'm gonna go down fighting at the next grading, those black belts better watch out! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 17,March,2004 | Gosh, I dropped another kilo this week... what is going on? I've been training hard all the time and my weight's never dipped more than 2kg, and that's only because of fluid loss after training. This sudden weight loss is starting to concern me, hope I'm not killing myself slowly or something! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 15,March,2004 | I'd been feeling proud of myself over the weekend because of the amount of training I'd done in the week - today I had my first class with Shihan after a while and I was in a word, rooted. It was a small class and he had us on the bags doing 3 minute rounds and Shihan himself was holding a big pad. We were moving around between rounds and by the time I had got to Shihan I was exhausted, but he's got this way of making you go that BIT further - anyways without going into details, halfway through the round I was almost throwing up! (Anyone who's done anything physical beyond the point of exhaustion will know how that feels...) But yea everytime I go through a monster session like this, a lot of self-doubt enters my head... I dunno, maybe it keeps me grounded and doesn't let me get ahead of myself. *sigh* |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 12,March,2004 | Haven't been posting lately - very caught up with doing admin work at the dojo and training. In fact, probably training a little TOO hard. How does 300 pushups during a fitness class sound to everyone? I know, it's sick. Trust me, it wasn't voluntary. Anyways, I'm glad that my weight has dropped to a consistent 76.5kg now but that is probably more due to the fact that I've changed my eating habits somewhat. Now to work on building some muscle... |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 02,March,2004 | Yesterday was not a terribly good day for me - something I had eaten on the weekend was bothering me the whole day. I went to the dojo in the morning to train since I had my driving test in the afternoon (to get a NSW license because I still carry my Brunei license that doesn't have a photo). The karate day classes are funny; sometimes there'll be heaps of people and like yesterday, there was 3 of us. Not that small classes are a bad thing, but I find they lack the energy of a big group. It also makes it hard for the instructor to conduct a lively class with so few students (in my experience at least). It sure was in stark contrast to the group of 42 girls from Sydney Girls who came in after our class! (They're John's pet project - he approached the school and asked whether they could use a martial arts instructor.) Anyways, these girls elected to do martial arts as a subject and they come into the dojo every monday morning. That is just M-A-D! I wish I got to do martial arts in school... *place big sook here* When I got back to Penrith and made it to the RTA 20 minutes early for my appointment I got the feeling that something was wrong when I realised they had mis-spelled my surname on the booking sheet. When I brought this to their attention they asked me whether I had a birth certificate on hand because it is procedure to do so when correcting typos or whatever... since I didn't have it handy ('yea sure, I keep it in my back pocket so I can show people now and then') I drove back to get it since I had enough time before my appointment with the testing officer. When I got back they realised that my current license does not have a date of 1st issue on it (well, I renewed it recently so it was issued last year) and they asked me whether I had my 1st license handy... I mentioned that it had already been copied and was in their system so I didn't need to bring it - to which the answer was, 'Well i'm sure you were told you need to bring back all the identification you brought with you when you booked your license test, which includes your 1st license.' Hello, my ID wasn't even CHECKED when I booked my license test... I felt like kicking up a fuss but the weird feeling in my stomach and the general bad vibe I got in the RTA prevented me from doing so. Besides, I like to consider myself a patient person. Anyways, the testing officer wasn't too concerned with my documentation because she was concerned with who I was rather than the other nitpicky stuff - she said that stuff could be sorted out later after test. So we do the test and the result when I come back is a... FAIL, because I failed to come to a COMPLETE stop at an indicated stop sign on the road. Having driven for so long, you tend to take shortcuts when you do certain things on the road, such as not come to a complete stop but rather slow the car so that it is inching forwards, which makes it easier to get the damn thing moving again (I drive manuals, sue me) so you don't impede the 10 impatient bastards behind you honking like they're late for work the 5th time this week. Besides, you get good at spotting when there is NO traffic whatsoever. *sigh* So yes I had to book another license test for $40. I could have used that $40 to buy more shirts. Or at least my groceries for the week. Dammit. Today was much better though even though I'm still having trouble getting to sleep before 4am - I slept in till almost noon, which gave my body a much needed rest and leisurely got ready to go to training at 6pm. Training today was pretty good - I always enjoy kickboxing classes because I don't feel the pressure that comes with wearing a belt in karate. No one really minds if you're not giving 110% during class and you don't have the army-style discipline in karate that a lot of the pressure comes from (unless Shihan takes a kickboxing class, but that's a rarity these days). My usual partner during kickboxing is Martin, who's been teasing me lately about fighting John Halford a lot. Now you see, John Halford is an AWESOME karateka and kickboxer - he's never lost to another Australian in karate competition and his record is like 80 wins, 3 losses. I'm not sure about his kickboxing record, but he does hold a world title in some category under some organisation. He was fighting in the Nationals where I fought at last year and was in the open middleweight (brown / black belts), which he won for the 6th straight year, and I was in intermediate middleweight (yellow / green belts). I've since graded to brown belt in December and it doesn't take a genius to figure out whose division I'm in this year. The stuff he (Martin) says is quite amusing really. After I had gone through a sequence of some 160 kicks (blame Tony, our trainer), he said, 'That's it, Joel! John Halford's shaking in his boots now!' After class, Hector (who's Cuban and an Olympic judoka) decided to grapple a little with me - now I've only grappled in my life once before, and that was with Amir, who's Iranian and has been wrestling since he could barely walk. Obviously, Amir smacked me around on the mat that day, but I still managed to hold a bit of my own. Anyways, Amir and Hector grappled one day and he made Amir tap like a typewriter, or so I hear since I didn't witness it. Amir himself told me Hector was trying to kill him. (You tap out in wrestling / grappling when someone has you in a hold and you can't get out of it - it's usually accompanied by a lot of pain when force is applied!) I don't really know how to describe Hector - he's not very tall but he is a walking heap of muscle, his upper body would put most bodybuilders to shame. Think Ken Shamrock people... (http://www.webcom.com/collectr/wr/images/wpshamrockk.jpg) but bigger! So yes he's strong, but this guy has got impeccable technique. I swear he was wiping the floor with me but without using any strength. He's quick as hell too, I squirmed out of some of his holds but he'd just have me in another one before I could think! He nearly choked me out on the last one too. *cough cough* I should seriously start learning some stuff off this guy... Yes I feel good now after training; maybe it's the endorphin rush, maybe it's the fact I survived Hector, but I guess there really is nothing like a good training session to make the world alright again. :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 29,April,2004 | I had a roast chicken salad at McDonald's today and the salad was pretty fresh, better than at most places where salads are pre-made and all soggy with dressing... all up, not bad for $6 but I think it only satisfied my hunger pangs for a little over an hour. I guess that's Maccas for you. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 26,April,2004 | I've been out every night since Thursday - that makes it 4 nights in a row, which is something quite unusual for me! Anyways, I went to see Kill Bill (Vol.2) on Thursday since it was the first night of screening and I came out somewhat disappointed - it was quite different from the first film and there was hardly any swordplay (which for me was the highlight of the first one). And there wasn't even a flashback of a certain psychotic, ball and chain swinging, schoolgirl we all know and love. :( Friday night's training was cancelled because we had a social night at Moore Park. One of our students, Leigh, is the resident golf pro there and teaches at the driving range in the evenings, so we got together after his private lessons and swung a few. It's safe to say I was by far the worst at swinging the club, and it will take me another few thousand swings before I start to show any sort of consistency, but it sure does feel good when you get the mechanics right and the ball just sails away. I went down to the Annandale Hotel on Saturday afternoon to check out this guitar expo they were having, which was really just a performance featuring the instruments (no we couldn't touch them). I was a bit disappointed, but it was a good afternoon of music - they had Diesel come in to play a few numbers, and the guy hosting the event played a really mean guitar too. He's probably a session guitar player or something, he was changing styles at will (country, rock, jazz, you name it) and he sounded equally good in all of them. Watching a performance like that can either seriously inspire you or convince you to stop trying. Good thing for me I didn't decide to become a professional guitarist, because I would have probably given up then. :P I wandered around the city afterwards met a friend at Books Kinokuniya, who was on her way to meet up with her kendo clubmates to go watch Kill Bill (Vol. 2). I ended up tagging along and watching the movie the second time around made me appreciate it more - I guess Tarantino's films are like that, he uses a lot of subtlety and you can't really spot everything in only one sitting. Well, I'm waiting for the double DVD set to come out now. :) Last night I went to the W Hotel (situated just right by Harry's De Wheels) for Sham's last minute bday drinks, and the cafe / lounge there is just awesome! I've never been to a place quite like and it's got really good atmosphere - perfect place to sit around and chill with your friends. Sham is really amazing, she knows so many people and it always boggles the mind how she can keep up with everyone. She basically picked up where we left off our last conversation even though I last saw her probably 6 weeks ago now - I wish I had a memory like that. She introduced me to the guy she's currently dating and turns out the guy went to ADFA (Australia Defence Force Academy) and was an officer in the Air Force. I'm planning to enter the Air Force Reserves after I get my permanent residency so we had a good long chat about that - he thinks I can make it in without a problem, and I'm hoping he's right! I was also introduced to another of her friends, and it turned out we went to the same college in Singapore (I'm her senior by 4 years) and that she now hopes to do documentaries after she gets out of UNSW. What's even funnier is that her dad is involved in their church's media ministry in Singapore, which is exactly what I used to do back in Brunei. Well I left a bit early (11pm) and grabbed a De Wheels hotdog before I headed home, and I still had to catch the nightride because I missed the last train out of central - the bus took longer than usual as well since the driver was making stops along the way that weren't necessarily on the route to let people off. A woman started bitching about how it was incoveniencing her and the bus driver got up and started having a go at her (which I didn't realise at first since I was happily listening to my iPod), but I did catch the last bits which were, 'The ride is incovenient for everyone and I'm trying to do some people a favour, and if anyone has a problem with that you can get off the bus and catch a cab home. I'm trying to make sure people get home safely.' And the passengers cheered the driver. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 19,April,2004 | Didn't realise I haven't posted anything since Wednesday, so I shall briefly recap what's been happening since then. Thursday - Had a training session with Shihan and Michelle (who's also going to NZ) and it was a complete change from the day before, had lots of 'zip' and my technique was a lot better, especially on my front kicks. Shihan and I did a run down to the chemist to pick up some supplements to help with my energy levels and the healing process. Friday - Didn't do as well as on Thursday but training was quite different, lots of basics and little sparring. While on as physically demanding, it still is challenging fitness wise, actually I dare say even more so! Oh yea, and Shihan kicked me in the privates while demonstrating a technique. He didn't get me in the jewels, which usually makes you feel sick; instead, he got me on the top of my member and suddenly had this burning sensation I never quite felt there before. (I didn't feel any pain I guess I was in shock!) Thoughts rushed into my head like, 'I'm bleeding! MEDIC!!!' But yea my gi didn't turn red or anything, so it was all good. It was scary for like a minute or so while waiting for the burning to subside! After training Shihan and I went over to Chris' place for dinner - he's a close friend of Shihan's and also trains with us at the dojo. His mom was over so she cooked a big meal (typical greek, cooked for 3 but enough to feed 5-6 people!) and we watched a DVD after. It was 12am by the time we left so I crashed at Shihan's for the night. Saturday - Had a bit of a lazy morning, Chris came over to fix a leaky pipe in Shihan's bathroom and we sat around and chatted for a bit. I headed off about lunchtime back to Penrith and rested in the afternoon before going to Mey's bday thing at Darling Harbour. Made my way down to the city and took me ages to find parking, which redeemed public transport for me once again (despite its crapiness). I finally met Alan (as in fellow Bruneian, Alan) and despite what Mey and Sheryl seem to think, I don't see any sort of resemblance or qualities about him that mirror or resemble me in any way. Oh well, I did only just meet him so I guess I should reserve any final observations for now. The Shelbourne was... um, interesting I guess. The DJs weren't much good and it wasn't just my opinion from observing the looks of bewilderment on the faces of people on the dance floor as the RnB DJ transitioned from song to song. The retro DJ didn't fare much better, he wasn't even transitioning between songs. He was also greatly annoying me with his overuse of the technique of pulling down the music to let the crowd sing along. It works well when used on a song where the crowd's really hyped - but even then not on every chorus! *place murderous thoughts here* I guess the only saving grace the Shelbourne had was that it had cheap entry and it's a hotel, not a dedicated club. But still... Yes I'm really pedantic about music and how it's delivered - especially since I've organised dance parties and stuff before (and once upon a time live sound was my living). Did I mention the music was loud to the point where it was DANGEROUSLY loud? (I saw all the statistics flash in front of my eyes - max duration of exposure at 'x'dBs, 'x' hours.) I forgot my proplugs (special purpose earplugs) too, dammit. Sunday - Basically sat on my ass the whole day, didn't help that I had a cold and felt like crap, must have been all the smoke from the night before. At least I managed to get a decent sleep for once. Monday - Went to SAE (the college I graduated from) to pick up my degree certificate and as I was entering the front door, Lana (the so-hot receptionist) spotted me while coming back from her lunch break and called out my name. Now that's really funny because as I was walking in, I saw that she wasn't at the desk and I was thinking, 'Aw, she's not around!' :P Anyways, she graciously escorted me to the building adjacent to show me where Rene's (my ex-lecturer)temporary office is due to renovations. They're expanding the college and they've incorporated CGC (Computer Graphics College) into the building since buying it over last year. A shame really, because CGC had a great facility on William Street just 10 mins walk away. (SAE is just shit by comparison.) While waiting for Rene to be done with another student, Veit, one of my ex-classmates walks in and we did a bit of catching up and he went into a long bitch about the state of the audio industry in Australia and how there is basically no work. (I feel better now for working in IT because I know I'm definitely not missing out.) I collected my certificate shortly after and all I can say about it is... I'm not sure what to say really! It's perhaps the most sorry looking degree certificate I've ever seen, my Certificate IV one looks more impressive. Oh well, it is just a piece of paper after all, but what a sad one it is - SAE, you've outdone yourself this time. Onto training in the evening, and tonight I felt good. I was holding the big pad for John and usually he hurts me through it, but tonight I stood my ground and I even flustered him during the last round by hassling him constantly. He likes to keep his distance because of his reach advantage and I wasn't giving him any room... and boy, it felt good to be able to stand up to the stuff he puts out. :) I still have a ways to go in other areas, but that one small thing made my night. Shihan was happy with it too, said I even had that 'dead look in my eyes' or expressionless face that you strive to have. Reason for it is not to show your opponent anything and it sure as hell works. Hitting someone with everything you have and seeing them not even flinch sure takes the fighting spirit out of even the best of fighters. Time to ice those legs and get to bed. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 14,April,2004 | I can safely say today was my worst day of training in a long time... probably ever. I felt so frustrated and disheartened I was close to breaking down into tears - I don't know what was wrong with me today, I didn't have any 'zip' and even the simplest stuff took a lot of effort to do. On top of that, I fought like a complete amateur today, not like someone who's going to be competing in the open division of a full contact tournament. Shihan gave me a ride to the station like he always does and before I go we usually hug, but today he held me a little longer and said, 'It's okay buddy, you'll be strong - put today behind you and tomorrow will be a good day.' I started crying right there and then, partly because of my performance tonight but also realising how lucky I am to be able to see the soft side of him that so many people don't see. He is a hardcore instructor no doubt, but underneath all that hardness he only has the best of intentions for all of us. How privileged I am to train with this man. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 13,April,2004 | My weekend went something like this: Friday - Trained with Shihan for a solid 2 hours. Wiped me out for the next 3 days, easy. Saturday - Had lunch with my relatives, nothing too exciting. Ended up 'guarding the fort' with Shane (my cousin Carmina's boyfriend) while they went shopping! Oh well, they haven't spent any real time together as a family since Carmina's moved out. Sunday - Nothing of note, my body still hurt from all the sparring! Monday - I went out shopping for PC speakers and came home with 2 DVDs and 2 new PC games. I briefly contemplated going to see 'The Passion of the Christ', since it was Easter and all. But that changed once I got home and sat in front of my PC - damned tool of the devil!!! I guess I wanted to accomplish more with my free time, but my body was racked with bruises and pain from the whole week of fighting - I initially wanted to train with Shihan on Saturday and Sunday as well, but I realised in hindsight I would probably be coughing up blood and nursing bruised ribs. I wasn't really looking forward to training hard today coming off the long weekend, and Shihan didn't show because he got caught up with other things. John went through some stuff with me and I'm glad to say I'm picking up a lot of things from him. At this rate, I should be ready come Christchurch in June. :) Fighting is so much more a mental game than it is physical - John proved that to me by not showing any sign of even being flustered after I hit him with everything I had. Apparently I had winded him good, but he didn't show me... and boy, did I feel useless at the time! 8 1/2 weeks and counting to NZ - make it count, man. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 10,April,2004 | Day 6 - Had a one-on-one session again with Shihan, and I've noticed that he trains John and I differently. When he's training John he works John a lot, whereas with me Shihan actually trains himself as well. I guess it's because he's easing me into full-contact fighting again after a long break, and he wants to regain some fitness as well. Apart from that I feel a little strange training while the majority of Australia was on holiday today. For some reason I felt really isolated from the rest of the world today... Damn Easter and all the chocolate - I can't stop eating the stuff because it's everywhere!!! *argh* |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 08,April,2004 | Day 4 - Didn't have a real training session today since John headed back to Bathurst for the long weekend, but I did spar with Shihan for 3 rounds while waiting for some students to show up for private lessons. He wasn't going hard on my legs, but shit I'm finding it hard to walk straight! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 07,April,2004 | Day 3 of training - John showed me some tips in the afternoon before people showed up for classes, little things but very significant ones no doubt. I'm pretty grateful, my fighting needs to pick up 200% before I step out in NZ. I was all padded up for sparring tonight and I felt like the Michelin Man for a bit, but that only meant that John could basically use more or less full contact on me, and he put me on the floor with a huge knee to the ribs. It was a pretty good hit, I went down with an almighty 'ARGH!' that obviously had the others cringing... Shihan wants to me to come up for more sparring if I'm not working over the long Easter weekend - so much for having time to heal! Oh well, it will all pay off come June. Count on it. :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 06,April,2004 | I'm sitting with an ice pack on my leg as I type this... it's Day 2 of training for the tournament and we were going HARD. I haven't been hit that hard in a while, I almost threw up after getting knee'd and kicked in the gut by Shihan for not covering up - not to mention John was smashing my legs out from under me! Dammit I'm always so hesitant when I fight I realise and it's a mentality from my non-contact sparring days. I need to get rid of that. Like right now. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 05,April,2004 | Today was my first day back in training after being out for a week with the flu and I can definitely tell my fitness has dropped from where it was before we moved into the new dojo - after a few rounds of light contact sparring I could feel a stitch in my right side... :( Anyways, it's less than 3 months to the NZ tournament and Shihan has switched into tournament mode - he's told me to come up for extra training during the afternoons which I'll need for sure! Oh that and I need to get my visa for NZ organised, but what luck! Philippine passport holders are NOT required to pay the visa fee which is normally $110. (Of course Aussies don't need to concern themselves which such things.) Wow, for once in my life that passport actually had an advantage... sorry if i'm oozing bias against my nationality, but talk to me about it after you've been in my shoes! *end rant* |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 04,April,2004 | Hmm, just got back from watching the Shaolin Monks at the State Theatre perform and I feel a little disappointed... It was a good show don't get me wrong, but I suppose my expectations of what I was going to see were much higher - after all, the feats of the Shaolin Monks are nothing less than legendary. I guess what I consider legendary has changed somewhat in the past year. The fighting tonight was obviously staged and for someone who actually does fight for real it just looked uninteresting... I did appreciate the subtleties of the performance that a lot of people probably didn't pick up on though. I'd go into more detail but I shouldn't spoil for it other people. Go see it people you won't regret it... and keep your eyes on the young ones - they absolutely rock! :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 01,April,2004 | Dammit this bout of flu is pissing me off greatly... the worst thing is i can't get off my ass to train and that totally, absolutely SUCKS. I can't even be bothered to blog the very interesting but long weekend I had... *sigh* Oh well, I guess I will mention that it involved throwing knives (yes real ones) at a sheet of plywood with a man's outline drawn onto it. Ah, what a strange life I lead... :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 29,May,2004 | Hmm, I was reading urlLink this article and it prompted me to do a bit of investigation. After reading another article urlLink here , I'm pretty sure their observations are correct. I used to edit video for a living, so I know all too well that what you see on screen is never necessarily what it seems. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 28,May,2004 | Hmmm, spent the evening re-arranging my room after I decided I should put my computer desk together instead of leaving it lying in pieces - so now I have two desks in the tiny space that is my room... but funnily enough it now feels bigger! I guess it's because it doesn't look like a disaster area anymore - now I can get some work done in it instead of having to go to the library or something to sit down and write. :P |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 27,May,2004 | Well, after spending about half an hour on the phone and an hour at the Qantas Travel Centre in the city, I have finally re-booked my NZ flights and am now going to Perth on the 14th till 19th June. I had to pay $200 on top, but at least I didn't forfeit my original fare of $400. Now THAT would have been really annoying... Right now I'm sitting in the netcafe underneath McDonald's on George St trying to waste some time before I attend this launch of urlLink Maya 6 at Hoyts across the road. The software was used in the movie, 'The Day After Tomorrow' (and countless others), and we get a free screening of the aforementioned movie after the launch. Not bad, huh? :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 26,May,2004 | Tonight's training was a little... different. Sensei Graham was in town so he took the senior class and we did 1000 punches and 1000 kicks! (Yes it jolted me when he said it!) It wasn't so bad after all except I was getting a pretty good stitch on my right side. I was surprised I wasn't severely fatigued after, which I was expecting to be. After that the rest of the class he devoted to stretching, and I'm feeling pretty refreshed after it - good change after all the fighting training I'd been doing. :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 23,May,2004 | Well today was a good change in the way things have been going the last two weeks - I dragged myself out of bed to get down to the dojo to attend the first aid course we had organised for the weekend. The course was well run and concise, and fortunately it was shortened to a day's length instead of two full days as originally planned. So yes, I have half my weekend back! Still, I gotta complete my copy of the workbook and send it in for assessment before I'm awarded the certificate in senior first aid. I was ready to jump on public transport home and Shihan asked me whether I was going to the kickboxing show at Town Hall and since I was broke I had no intentions of going. Well, turns out Shihan was given 4 ringside tickets to it, and he gave me one! It didn't seem like he was going to go anyways so I guess he would have given away all of them if he could have. (They're $150 a pop by the way!) The night was pretty good - Town Hall is a great venue, but sadly they didn't pack the place, so the vibe was a bit dead. The undercard wasn't fantastic but the show definitely picked up towards the end with a war between the two lightweights Reindhard Badato (Australia) and Hiroshi Mizumachi (Japan). Badato was strong in the initial 3 rounds and busted up Mizumachi's nose to the point he was bleeding constantly. Mizumachididn't seem to be very aware of the rules either as he was penalised for using illegal moves on quite a few occasions. However, he seriously picked up some steam going into the final 2 rounds and gave Badato a serious run for his money - ultimately Badato won on unanimous points decision (I expected that considering Mizumachi was penalised earlier on), and the Japanese crowd sure wasn't happy! The main event was somewhat of an anti-climax as one of the fighters pulled out and was replaced by a relative unknown. Nathan 'Carnage' Corbett who is a multiple title holder made short work of his opponent in the 1st round by ripping a hook into the poor bastard's ribs. I have never seen someone in that much agony from a single punch before... he was just outclassed. Oh well, I took advantage of the opportunity to get an autograph and a picture as well, as you can see from my previous post. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 22,May,2004 | urlLink Jeremy, Nathan 'Carnage' Corbett, and Myself Hmm, just trying out the new 'Photoblogging' feature and it's cool and clunky at the same time - I guess experienced bloggers won't really appreciate the procedure involved but since the photos are being hosted for free it's something people can live with. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 22,May,2004 | Okay, it's been a week since I was supposed to get paid and I still haven't received anything - this after hassling both the recruiting company and my cousin (whose company uses them) who is the project manager of this god-damned project I'm working on. All I've discovered is there was some fuck up with the timesheets and no one can explain to me what happened or whose responsibility it was. Surely it can't be that hard to pay a measly salary to one resource when the whole project is worth multi-millions? Yes I know, it's all fucking bureaucracies and the number of hands that are involved. It still doesn't make me feel any better, especially after what an exceptionally FUCKED week I've been having, compounded by the fact that I'm broke. Today I caught a cold too, how nice. I'm just waiting for someone to try and mug me so I can beat the living hell out of them and break their mother-fucking legs. I seriously mean that. Then again with my luck, I'll be charged with battery and using excessive force not warranted by the threat. I really need to break something right now. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 20,May,2004 | Normally I don't post about sites I see, but this one is pretty funny. Even the tone deaf would appreciate urlLink this ... |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 19,May,2004 | I've been reflecting about my situation and I've come to the conclusion that not going to NZ disrupted my 'groove', so to speak. I've been bumping along fairly well the last few months - sure there have been rough spots here and there, but generally things have been good until I found out I couldn't go to NZ. Then things just all started falling apart for me. The conclusion that I've come to is that not going to NZ stripped away my main goal for the moment, so suddenly without something to work towards I've been a mess physically, mentally, and emotionally. I've also realised that I have a lack of goals I can directly work towards now, everything else is based around the approval of my permanent residency here. Once that's approved I'll come out with guns blazing, but for the time being I have to sit tight and wait. Too bad I'm broke because it's the perfect time to be on holiday. :P |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 17,May,2004 | It took me 2 hours and 40 minutes to get home today - must be a new record or something! I really need to move... *sigh* I also tried to ring up the recruiting agency this afternoon to chase up my fortnightly salary and they were closed for the day. Why? Because they're based in Adelaide and today it is a public holiday in SA. The gods must be displeased with me... but I haven't desecrated any temples/churches/mosques/synagogues recently! |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 16,May,2004 | Argh, tried to change my booking for my now redundant flight to NZ and the Qantas people took my instructor's name off instead of mine! *grrrr* (I found out after verifying my new booking code online.) Anyways, after calling them back and sorting it out we all have different booking codes now. So that means I can change my own flight without affecting the others, but I have to pay $200 to re-book my flight plus any extra difference in fare since it was one of them 'Red-E Deal' ones. Maybe I should just no-show like I said in my last post. *sigh* Oh well I did buy my ticket to see urlLink Steve Vai at Enmore Theatre on 27th July. Woo hoo! It's been 10 years since he's been to Oz so it should be a hell of a show. :) |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 16,May,2004 | It's been a shocker of a week - the following is a summation: 1. Had my leg seriously corked by John during sparring. I was in pain all the way home, and the leg is still corked now. That's all 6' 5' and 92kg of him below. 2. Found out I can't go to NZ for the tournament in June because of visa issues. 3. Realised the ticket was booked under special fare so it will cost heaps to re-book, might actually be worth just doing a no-show. 4. Missed a training session with Danny Green on Wednesday. 5. Didn't get paid on Friday like I was supposed to (great timing, I have $9 in the bank) so I had to call my dad to bail me out. 6. Withdrew money from an ATM on Saturday and had a seriously torn $20 note dispensed, even Maccas wouldn't take it! Apart from all the above was having to sit through public transport which was just rooted. It consistently took half an hour extra just to get anywhere, and considering the amount of travel I do... well, you do the math. Plus, I had the displeasure of breaking the news to Shihan about not being able to go to NZ. You could see the disappointment in his eyes, so much so that I'm probably more disappointed about him being disappointed than I am about missing out on the tournament. Oh well, I live to fight another day - quite literally in this case. |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 12,May,2004 | Today was one of those days... I thought I'd be able to get some sleep but I had to teach the morning class because John and Shihan were doing a course. So it's been my 4th day in a row on 4 hours of sleep and I definitely felt it. I went to my immigration agent to sort out my trip to NZ and he basically said don't bother because it will definitely delay the processing of my permanent residency. So obviously I'm not going to do THAT. Anyways a friend called up last minute asking for help to move because she had to move out by today (complications with the landlord), and as usual moving is never what you expect it to be. Plus public transport today was absolutely horrible and I ended up missing a training session with Danny Green (WBC Interim Middleweight Champion) at our dojo because of that. Oh well, better luck next time... |
2,876,684 | male | 24 | Technology | Scorpio | 09,May,2004 | I watched 'Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind' today and Jim Carey plays a character named Joel. It was weird for me because I've never heard my name used so much in the space of 2 hours before. Not your standard movie I might add, it was written by Charlie Kaufman - so if anyone's watched 'Adaptation', this film will probably remind you of it, at least in some aspects. |
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