August 31, 2005 at 9:31 am · Filed under Dreams, Thinking
The title is a side comment. I really do. I have this rosemary scented bodywash and after a shower the smell emanates through my apartment. It’s good to keep fresh rosemary on hand for smelling when you need a little pick me up. But really, my point today is to mention that I couldn’t fall asleep last night. I was expecting that as usually I would crash as soon as my head hit the pillow but I could not. My mind was racing. My thoughts were about dimensions. K this may be influenced by my bout with the sims, but what if we lead several lives? Not in the “I have multiple wives” sense, but if we were really able to switch our souls from one body to another where each body lived in different dimensions? Maybe my soul actually does this but my present body and mind is completely unaware of this :P Thinking about that, I wanted to switch dimensions to my other life where perhaps I would be hiking through a dense forest, instead of impatiently waiting for my body to fall asleep. I did manage to sleep though, always do. To some weird dreams but I cannot remember all of them. In one I left my apartment to wander around the neighborhood and there was a festival going on by the beach. I cursed myself for forgetting to attend the festival again this year (supposedly I did the same thing last summer) as I manoeuvred myself around drunks and revelers. I remember that as I walked through the streets, there was music playing, music that echoed from building to building and you could never get away from it. I think all it was was the guitar beat playing in the Graduate during the end “chase”… …in between the bits of Mrs. Robinson. Sometimes it became Simon and Garfunkels’ Cecilia. It was a weird dream, very surreal. I think I had a similar dream last summer, possibly when I missed the festival before.
Oh it’s hilarious, I’m still laughing at the short clipped played when I found my results of the “are you a baxter” quiz. My results: I’m a “Middle-Of-The-Road Minor Character”. The Are You Are Baxter? site has a quiz you can take to determine if you are, or how close you to being, a baxter. They define this as:
A guy/girl you “settle” for because you can’t be with the one you really love.
The Baxter is a movie coming out ….two days ago I think. Can’t seem to find Canadian showtimes though. If you can’t see the movie in your neighborhood, at least check out that site. It is beautifully designed.
Blogged by Techie Diva and then by Popgadget, this Telegraph article discusses the imbalance between male and female users of technology. They specifically mention that (in Britain), 96% of tracks are downloaded by men (I’m not sure where those are downloaded from). Now I can take the fact that yes, there are more gadget geeks then geekettes out there and men are often more willing to spend time figuring out how their technologies work. What I can’t handle is the manner in which they present these facts, as well as how companies are trying to market towards women. They make women appear incompetent and unpatient when it comes to technology. A few quotes:
Would you rip files at a high or low bit-rate? Do you prefer AAC, WMA or MP3? If you are completely baffled by these questions, you are probably a woman.
However, like HMV, electrical goods manufacturers seem determined to turn women on to cameras and computers. Apple launched a mini version of the iPod in pastel pink last summer, and this season’s desktop must-have is a Hello Kitty mouse.
“It’s easy for women to say they don’t understand and ask a man for help,” says Tom Stewart. “As the saying goes, boys play with toys, and girls play with boys.”
Gawd…could they make the dividing line even thicker? I guess the reasons why I might get impatient with technology are that its not always social, there are thick manuals, sharp edges and it fails to be associated with men. I never knew…
August 24, 2005 at 11:55 am · Filed under Site Specific
…that blogger had a small program you could download to your desktop and use to make blog updates. Something like an instant messaging client but when I say things they can be quickly published online. I guess the drawback of this would be that I don’t have to think as much about what I say before I say it :P But random thoughts…I’m listening to music on iTunes and I let unlimited amounts of anybody connect to my playlist. I was checking my preferences because I couldn’t remember what I had set my shared name to. Then I checked it again. And again. Can you believe it? I’m getting my need for attention satisfied by the number of people connected to my iTunes library.
I did a lot of face making into the mirror when I was a child. My face is relatively stretchy and fun to play with and that’s what I did. I just discovered the other day that making faces into a webcam is like the mirror x 1000. A number of the faces I can give credit to Jemma and Jacquie for teaching me - I wanted to make a GIF of me doing their “signature” faces. One thing led to another and suddenly I had made what you see below. This is for anybody who has ever had the patience to watch me make faces. Turn up your sound and then press PLAY. (BTW I don’t think this works using the Internet Explorer browser so if you want to watch it you’ll have to switch to Firefox :) It has been tested and does work with the Safari browser as well.)
You know what - it felt sooooo good to do this. I hope everybody gives it a try. If you do please send me a link to your video!
This little flash “experience” (??) called Fly Guy by Trevor Van Meter and some friends is so enjoyable. It reminds me of flying in dreams. Remember to go up, up, up and explore. This is a story with a great end. You can stop by some of the other things floating in the air and interact with them. Enjoy :)
Today the was the first day of reshelving duties and OH it was a big job. Nineteen items in total. Please follow this link to find out more of what you can do in your city. Click on the picture to see more photos from my adventure with co-Minister Phillip.
August 17, 2005 at 8:59 pm · Filed under Reflection
We should all have our own warning labels. They wouldn’t be pasted to our bodies but maybe convenient placed on visible areas of our packaging such as the interview suit warning label, one on the hot first date outfit and some at various levels in the home. My apartment buzzer might be pasted with Warning: the water she offers you is from the tap I’m thinking about what other labels I might have and it’s very different from considering what your faults or foibles are. It’s not necessarily listing “10 things you don’t like about yourself”. Looking for warnings is a unique form of self discovery. Warning: she WILL eat all the smarties from the trail mix before you Many of them are culturally based. I grew up in a certain kind of household and I’m meeting people who grew up in very different sometimes contrasting circumstances. It’s good to take stock of what might shock and then get over that. Warning: she will NEVER wait till Christmas morning to open presents If you read this, please leave a warning about yourself. Heh, I make it sound like there’s many people reading this - I know all 5 or 6 of you. But entertain me anyway. Warning: if you take her to the movie theatre, she will cry afterwards - regardless of the nature of the movie
August 16, 2005 at 10:11 pm · Filed under Reflection
Because it has been a lonely day, but not in a bad way. I did go into the lab, I enjoyed being around people, but I noticed being alone while waiting for the bus, while walking to the lab from the bus stop. I went to a yoga class at City Yoga which just opened on campus, it’s slow because that’s how campuses are during the summer… …I was the only one at the class. The show must go on and I was very grateful for it. It was a good opportunity to receive personal attention and correction. The class was just what I needed - still, I noticed how much harder it was to turn off the (as another instructor once called it) itty bitty shitty committee. I think having others around me during practice helps pull me out of my head, having people of all levels around helps me become more grounded and satisfied with what I am capable of that day. I think about it, and it is quite a contradiction to what I have felt a lot of my life. I have often assumed that if I run away from everyone I can isolate myself from judgment of myself and others, I wouldn’t have to worry about how I stood up against the rest of them. That couldn’t be father from the truth. I’m learning that the more I am alone, the more I judge, the more I think negatively. After yoga I had plans to see Broken Flowers with a few people. Plans fell apart and I ended up checking it out by myself. I think that in itself made me enjoy the movie more because I felt it was pretty much about loneliness. Or about letting oneself never enter meaningful relationships. I don’t really want to get into a review of the movie’s plot, but watch it and think, what is this saying about relationships and life. Is it pointing to a lonely man and saying, “look at him he’s sad”? Or is it accepting of his state, portraying that maybe that’s just the way it is and ended up. Since the movie my mind has gone off on several tangents, none of which I think I can clearly communicate. But in general, I’m thinking about: When is it good / bad to be alone? When can it be constructive? Destructive? Is there an “optimal”, healthy dependence a person can have on others? What kind of contact with others do I really need so that I don’t feel alone? I must be thinking about this alot because it is raining outside - which is the other great thing to happen today. After what seemed like weeks and weeks and weeks of sun and boring blue skies we finally got some clouds. It was just a little overcast before the movie, but pouring when I walked out of the theatre making my post-movie daze even more surreal.
Saturday the sky was blue like all other days. I hope it rains soon because my apartment is sauna hot. I decided to repot my one houseplant, William, as its current situation was quite tight.
I don’t think that I’ve mentioned it already, but I love the word “immediately”. I love when other people say it, it makes me giggle. I love it for its sense of present, its impatience, its motivation; it’s not waiting, it is getting right there with no go between, no delay. I love the fact that such an urgent word uses so many syllables. I should get back to work, immediately.
Not really but semi-reccuring dream would have me think so. Last night it was in the form of me waiting for a city bus that would take me London, England. I’m not sure whether I intended to take that bus to the airport, or take it all the way overseas. I know that I was waiting for a bus labelled “250 to LONDON, UK”. It was a holiday in my dream though, just like yesterday, so the buses were taking forever. While waiting I was getting really nervous about my trip and wanting to back out. I was thinking of all the people who would need to be informed about my dropping out. “I just don’t think it’s gonna happen”, I would say, “this bus is not going to come anytime soon”. I don’t think I had any bags with me, I never really do. Then someone comes along to see how my wait is going. As we are chatting I see the bus I am waiting for come along. I can’t interrupt whoever I’m talking to. The bus is there, but it is a 5 second jog away. I am so discouraged about going to London that I think, “I can’t make that, it’s too far”. The bus leaves. I’ve been having dreams like this more and more lately. Usually involved is: - some overseas destination, often London - nothing packed and sometimes no money; sometimes I panic and get a few things stuffed into a backpack - catching a bus or taxi, sometimes a train. There is never a flight to catch. I always think that I will using one of these land transportation methods the whole way there - anxiety and lots of it. Sometimes several buses or taxis come by but some force stops me from being able to catch them. Sometimes it’s me remembering that I forgot something, other times it is me not being able to move through my dream ether…it becomes thick like sap and I am just a planet stuck in some repetitive orbit. I don’t think I have ever ever reached my destination. I wonder if I moved overseas, would I start dreaming about what happens in the bus, taxi, or train?
I write here when I feel like writing and sharing something. There is not much of a theme happening, it is mostly mundane, but there might be something to enjoy. If you don’t mind excessive dot-dot-dotting, please read away.
