The Long Road

Archives: February 2004

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Twenty Four by Melpie

This is the time of year when we all need to take a moment, take a breath and send a great big birthday wish out to the (somewhat?) beloved author of this blog. Yes, that is correct … thai is now another year older (which makes him older than me now and I couldn’t be happier!) so, in celebration of this special day, I took the time out of my schedule to make a birthday greeting in which we could all share!

Now … this is an important birthday … it’s the last birthday before reaching the ever-so-dreaded mid-twenties (although, if you wanna be technical the mid-twenties probably span ages 24 – 26, but we’re just going to include one age in this one, 25) … the age 25 is a scary one and we must embrace all the years before that whole heartedly.

24 might seem old to some of us (I know I’m a little wary of gaining that age in just 10 short months) but there are many reasons to celebrate 24, so I’ve compiled a short list (I was originally going to make it a list of 24 .. but … really, I don’t have that long of an attention span). So here goes nothing:

24 … the number of beers in a case
24 … the number of hours in a day
24 … christmas eve
24 … that show on fox (it kinda goes with the 24 hours in a day, but we’ll ignore that)
24 … the ever important holiday weekend in may
24 … 2 dozen
24 … the number of fingers in a trio
24 … the number of candles on someone’s cake
24 … the number of tries it will take him to blow them out
24 … oh glorious 24!

So on behalf of everyone, happy birthday thai! Have a great day! And may all your birthday wishes come true!

Posted by Rayne @ 12:59 PM EST [Link] [7 comments]

Friday, February 27, 2004

Its interesting how the Internet Blogosphere (a word invented by not me) can create its own heroes. Two obvious examples are, of course, William Hung and Ghislain Raza. Seems like everyone starts by laughing at these guys and then cheering them on (perhaps so they could laugh more?), but I'm definately in it for the humour. Those two guys who with their unabashed passion and lack of talent obviously struck such a chord which sent ripples so far and wide that mainstream outlets turned them to waves. These aren't people who're carefully constructed to appeal to a mass audience but are so genuine in their efforts that they do anyways.

Would it be possible, then, to manufacture such an Internet hero? What if I were to make up a video of one of my friends approaching dozens of girls (who were in on it) in rapid succession and being shot down in seconds (in soul searing manners) but yet never failing in his enthusiasm and determination? If I put said video on my site, under some false context, and got as many people as I could to see it; would a hero be born? Would fan sites and video remixes pop up? Would marriage proposals pour in? I think so. Who wants to be my guinea pig?

Posted by Rayne @ 05:53 PM EST [Link] [5 comments]

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

They're why we don't fight against dolphins for control of the planet, we've got the thumbs, and they don't. I think we all take our thumbs for granted. Contrary to what some of you may believe, the thumb is the most important appendage we have. The thumb is used for everything from turning a door knob to putting on pants, writing, typing, cutting, anything, really, which involves holding an object. And physically being able to grasp an object is one of the essential parts of being human.

Of course, our thumbs also happen to be the most easily injured part of our bodies. And it’s not until you’ve hurt your thumb that you realize how truly useful it is. Just imagine getting anything from warm, dull pain to hot searing knives in your hand every time you…I dunno…put on gloves! Or being completely helpless when it comes to opening those little granola bar wrappers. Or tying double knots in your boots without using one of your thumbs. It’s terrible I tell you! Terrible!

So remember, when next you're sparring with someone keep your thumbs away from trouble because if your opponent happens to block your punch with a knee, all your daily activities are not only going to become difficult for a few weeks but downright painful.

In other news, after 2 months, I was getting tired of peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches for lunch so I got a PC peach and passion fruit jam on Sunday. The jam’s a bit more subtle and runny than its strawberry brethren and it’s got chunks of peach in it so the taste and texture are a wee bit off to go well with peanut butter but on a slice of fluffy Country Harvest Oat Bran it’s the best thing to happen to bread since the whole slicing revolution. And yeah, it hurts like a bitch to spread the jam but even more so to open the frelling jar.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:48 PM EST [Link] [22 comments]

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Not the skin care product.

It bugs me when people complain about something endlessly when they could so easily fix their problem by trying even just a bit. There are three steps to solving a problem. First, recognizing that there is a problem; second, identifying the cause; third, to do something about it! It is mindbendly irritating to hear someone who has identified both the problem and its source and yet stubbornly does nothing about it.

Sometimes you know you have a problem but you don't really care (meh, I'm a procrastinator), but if it bugs you enough to complain about it on an regular basis then shit man, go out there and at least try to fix it. No magical solution will drop onto your lap if you're just sitting around hoping for it to.

Often a solution can be starring you right in the face and yet you're too busy skulking in your own misery to even see it.

Here I am complaining about the complainers, maybe I should tell 'em straight up. It's rather difficult to write this in a general enough form so that it's not obvious who I'm taking about but if this sounds like it's about you, then either shut up or get your ass in gear.

Posted by Rayne @ 06:02 PM EST [Link] [12 comments]

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Internet searches are interesting in how varied they can be. Sometimes you have to be really general in order to find anything and sometimes you have to be very specific to get rid of all the other crap.

Try finding information on mixing drugs and alcohol. The very general search yields a slew of sites talking about drugs and alcohol in general. Add mixing to that and you get sites warning of how dangerous it is to mix things.

I then decided to search for the drug of interest and alcohol and that yielded more warnings. How boring. However, add 'experiences' to that search and you're set.

Ahhh Erowid. So many fun stories to tell. Two hours of reading just flew by.

Some things are really funny to me. Nutmeg? Seriously? Also, 1,4-butanediol?! I used that stuff to make elastomer at Woodbridge Foam. I can't imagine ingesting that stuff - it's a polyol!

Posted by Rayne @ 05:31 PM EST [Link] [12 comments]

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

A few things bug me about the way I write. Sometimes I'll come up with a few ways of saying something that I think are wonderful and I'll have to choose between them or somehow work both ways into the text without making it seem bloated. A lot of the time, I feel like what I'm trying to say can be done with one or two sentences and its just an incredibly huge chore to make the entry into 200 words. This is also why I seem to find lots of disconnects from one sentence to another. There tends to be not much in the way of "flow". My paragraphs feel very "jumpy", I hardly want to put in the effort to make things smoother. The best though, is when I have just one particular word or turn of phrase that I want to use and I spend hours thinking of and writing around it just so I can have some semblance of a thoughtful entry when really, the point was to have a few words up here that no one else would really appreciate.

I wish I were better at coming up with metaphors though. Everytime I read a particularly good metaphor I think "wow, this writer's good", for no reason other than the comparisons. They're especially usefull for describing how horrific something is. When Ballistic came out, it was like a dream come true; every critic out there seemed to try to top each other in ways to describe the atrocity of that film. When I first started paying attention to Tycho, I thought his entries were fantastic. The man had a fancy comparison for everything. In fact, I think that's what I like most about his writing, the metaphors; there're always a dozen or so colourful ones in every post. But then every once in a while the guy falls so in love with his turn of phrases that I have to read something 2 or 3 times to actually get what he's saying. Is that a failing on his part, or on mine?

I don't think that I'm a superb writer, and certainly not a bad one, somewhere in between sounds about right. There are some people though, it's like they've only ever read one thing in their lives and decided to become writers. This is somewhat forgiveable for webjournals but when it comes to fansites, I have no tolerance for it. Most of these sites are obviously run by a bunch of guys with no training on a volunteer basis but they should at least have some kind of editor who knows what they're doing. I mean, how can you take anyone seriously when they butcher a dead-simple phrase by saying "Enter in Capcom".

Errm...well, I guess that's it. All I REALLY wanted to do was point out that "Enter in Capcom" statement. Au Revoir!

Posted by Rayne @ 05:48 PM EST [Link] [1 Comment]

Monday, February 16, 2004

I think some people are too comfortable being naked around others (who may also be naked). Certainly, nudity has its time and place but some people think that's everywhere and all the time! Unless it's in an intimate setting I generally try to stay as un-naked as I can as long as possible. Some people...just seem way too comfortable with being naked around others (who may also be naked).

Really, that pointless previous paragraph was just a bloated way of saying I have some nudity stories to share. Here goes.

First off, that guy from Survivor. Hatch? First chance he gets, takes off all his clothes and goes swimming. Any challenge involving water, off come his clothes. I don't really understand how any of his tribe members can perform at their challenges with a large naked man swimming around beside them.

A couple of weekends ago I was at The Drink in London (I'll refrain from making the obvious Western-girl joke) and as luck would have it, they were running a contest for tickets to Daytona. The first round was, of course, a wet t-shirt contest. The girls did their thing, and "bonus points" were awarded for flashing the crowd, a couple of girls really got into it and began fondling each other under their shirts. Round 2 involved swinging at a pinata; each time you missed or connected without breaking something you lost an item of clothing. All of the girls either missed or didn't break anything. In the end, all of the girls gave in and the last girl standing was told to take off her top by the MC (a woman) and take a swing to move on to "the finals"; she did it. Third round involved girls dressed in bras licking whipped cream of their breasts. Some of them flashed the crowd and one girl went all out; she took off her bra and had another contestant and some guy (the DJ?) liking each of her breasts. The girls I was with didn't want to stay around for the finals. Was it the music? Anyways, I don't understand the whole getting-naked-in-front-of-strangers thing. Is it empowering to have a bunch of strangers, and probably some friends and classmates, treat you like an object? Is a ticket to Daytona THAT enticing? Someone please explain.

Last set of stories, nowhere near as sensational as the previous. These are all within the various physical activity establishments I go to. Some people just seem to roam the changerooms naked. Sometimes they have a towel but they're just holding it in their hands. Where's their modesty? Don't they realize that some of us don't necessarily want to see others walking around naked? I think I've already mentioned that I was once weighing myself (still only 142) and some old, naked man stood behind me waiting to use the scale. *shudders* A few days ago I saw two guys walk out of the shower and stood together under the dryer, drying themselves off. I don't know about you guys, but that seems AWEFULLY close to sharing a showerhead. just minus the wetness.

Posted by Rayne @ 05:26 PM EST [Link] [13 comments]

Friday, February 13, 2004

It is widely rumoured that the director of the upcoming Superman movie wants Beyonce Knowles as Lois Lane. Seems to me that the decision to cast her wouldn't be based at all on her acting abilities (what has she been in?) at all but because she's the current pop tart it girl.

First of all, I think a movie about iconic characters, like Superman, shouldn't have to rely on the name of the stars involved but on the brand recognition alone, like Spider-Man. When you cast someone for their star power it seems that you have to catter the movie to them, often to the detriment of the film.

Second, Lois is white and Beyonce is, well, black. Seems like a sensitive issue, someone's always calling someone else a racist when this is talked about. But the point of the matter is, Lois is white. She's been white for 60 years. Granted, Lois isn't a charecter that is defined by her colour like...say...Malcolm X, but I still think making her of another race would make her fundamentally different. You can't really talk about what it means to be (or be proud of being) white without getting into some difficult territory, but you CAN talk about what it means to be black, asian, latino, etc. And for Lois to be black would mean that she would be a very different person. Some people would have us believe that everyone is the same no matter what our skin colour, but that's just not true. Different races have different values, ethics, outlooks on their surroundings, customs, experiences, whatever. While I'm certainly not opposed to seeing more racial diversity in our media, I think it's blatantly ignorant to say that someone is racist if they think that colour does matter. And you can't simply trivialize someone's background and say that we're all interchangeable, because we're not.

So in conclusion, Lois is white!

Posted by Rayne @ 03:52 PM EST [Link] [17 comments]

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

There's something about fighting games that make them immensely satisfying. Not only do they offer gaming gratification from only minutes of play but there's also the pure joy of walking into an arcade throwing down two quarters and unleashing a jawdroppingly devastating set of moves on the stranger standing beside you. And the fact that you've financially hurt them (50cents!) is just icing on the cake!

I honestly don't find any other kind of games as fun and fulfilling as fighers. Pitting years of finely tuned muscle-memorized thumb twitches against others who've had the same amount of training...well, it's just fun to kick someone else's butt. Even against vastly superior opponents (like those 12 year old kids who only play games all day) who can make other well trained players degenerate into random mindless button mashing, the game can still be fun, if not educational. What other kind of games let you try out new strategies, openings, moves, and complete rematches every 60-or-so seconds?

The competitive aspect of fighting games is its most appealing; going toe to toe, thumb to thumb, quarter to quarter against other people and knowing that you can crush them if provoked is a great feeling. There's also the amazing high you get after a good streak of wins, you walk around sizing people up and thinking to yourself that you reduce any of these people to a whimpering, bloody pulp in 15 seconds flat...but only in a game, of course.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:48 PM EST [Link] [9 comments]

or was MSN Messenger unavailable for an unusually cruel period of time tonight?

Posted by Rayne @ 01:51 AM EST [Link] [9 comments]

Thursday, February 5, 2004

Here are two things that really drive me insane when people express them, usually anonymously on some Internet message board.

Firstly, is the "why don't you wait until it comes out to form an opinion of it" statements that come out of those posters who think that they're better than anyone else because they're standing on higher moral ground. It is perfectly alright and reasonable to form an opinion of something without having ever seen it. I don't have to go to walk into a public bathroom before knowing that it’s going to stink. I don't have to play Starcraft 2 before knowing that it will rock the world, to read a Chuck Austen comic before knowing it will be terrible, or to watch a Paul W. S. Anderson movie before knowing that it'll be uninspired, soulless hacking. Past work is the ultimate indicator of future productions, and if someone's only made garbage their whole careers then it is neither stupid nor short-sighted to expect more garbage from them.

Secondly, when it is someone’s job to report on rumours, you’re not outsmarting anybody by creating some rumour and having it reported. It’s the nature of the game; when you report on rumours, some are going to be true and others aren’t. You are not any smarter than the reporter and he isn’t any more gullible for reporting what he’s being told. He’s just doing his job.

Posted by Rayne @ 11:18 PM EST [Link] [6 comments]

Tuesday, February 3, 2004

1. Is Larry Wall's wife the mother of Perl?

2. There should be an epic romantic comedy set in MC called Girl With a Perl Earring.

Posted by Rayne @ 03:42 PM EST [Link] [3 comments]

Monday, February 2, 2004

I don't know how usefull karate will be in real life; I don't really see myself needing to physically kick someone's butt (though it is nice to know that I can (or will be able to) if I want to), but it's an interesting learning experience.

The best part is learning some very common sense things that you would never think about unless forced to think about it. For example, you should really always fight with your hands closed because loose fingers can get bent in directions they're not meant to be bent in. Or that you should equaly distribute your weight on both legs so that you don't have to change stances when you want to kick. In fact, trying to come up with a stance that is both comfortable and practical has been my challenge for the last few days. I spent several fruitful hours looking at fighting games and how the characters stand in them but have yet to find something to my liking.

The most fun part is the sparring. After getting over the flinching-reflex, You get to learn to look for open positions on your oponents as well as how to block in a more realistic situation (as opposed to katas). But oh the bruises!

Then there's also discovering that my joints are pretty fragile like when my shoulder was injured for a week in that arm wrestling match with that gi..erm..nevermind.

Posted by Rayne @ 04:06 PM EST [Link] [No Comments]

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