Noxious Ideas

Let's start creating content again!

2010-11-13T01:53:00.002Z

Just like the good old days when I'd post more than bi-annually! Also, this tests how good my phone is for such activities... Attached is me outside IBM's Hursley House, where I had a sweet internship this summer!

PS. Editing too. How very 2010. I am squinty in the photo it seems, but at least I'm not moving in this one!

PPS. Ok, editing in this app messes up all sense of proportion on the image - now removed. This has been fun, let's do it again sometime.

[Posted from my Android]

Visualisation Assignment Idea

2010-06-22T11:27:00.003+01:00

So on the Computer Science Degree at Durham, we do a submodule on visualisation - it covers techniques, best practises, etc for presenting data as accurately and informatively as possible. Each year there is a summative (ie: it counts towards the degree) assignment for students to undertake, for example: ours was to present several dimensions of obesity data from the NHS. I've had my own idea about a potential assignment that I would have loved to do (and may still give it a shot for giggles this summer).

Goal: Design and implement a visualisation to display the English names of colours based on their respective RGB or HSB values - Look here for inspiration.

You should:
- Produce at least two visualisations based on different dimensions of data.
- Make the visualisation dynamic or otherwise have some sort of user interactions.
- Write a report highlighting the visual principles used (and other standard assignment stuff).

Consider:
- How can Voronoi decomposition be applied to the colour naming problem? (Lyle's Hint: the colour names are the data points, and we want to find the point closest to any given colour value).

The beauty in this assignment is the range of interpretations possible - one person might do a simple 1D spectrum from violet to red with name roll overs, while another might create a 3D colour cube with the axis representing red, green and blue components with an interactive 'slice'. Someone else might go for a hybrid HSB colour wheel with central square thing like in the example link. Furthermore implementing a Voronoi Diagram would be interesting, and easy to spot bugs due to how obvious colour mismatch can be.

It also covers much of the taught content: multi-dimensional data, use of colour, Tufte principles of Visual Excellence as well as visualisation evaluation.

So yeah, that's the idea. This is something I would have wanted to do, and may still have a crack. =)

I've been quiet recently, but aware and watching

2009-12-18T23:38:00.004Z

Wait in a couple of airports for a couple of hours each, and things get done. For me, these things may have included:

- Played some Minesweeper on 'Advanced' mode
- Selected which episode of Firefly to watch (a lengthy process obviously)
- Watched said episode ("The Message")
- Booted up a Backtrack VM to check out what kind of wireless was about - just to see... Nothing hackery
- Listened to enough of my ipod to discover I have two version of Owls floating about on there
- Read first 6 Chapter of The Mythical Man-Month, a text that keeps coming up in our Software Engineering module.
- Actually PAID to use the internet (£1 for 10 minutes seemed reasonable at the time - and it was for legitimate reasons, to find out the arrival/departure time of my recently rescheduled connecting flight - blame the snow)
- Spend 3 minutes looking up important info, and the remaining 7 reading about a wedding night bed that tweets when it's being 'used'

All of this between chasing getting my next flight sorted out around developing delays and waiting for take-off... At least in January, it's one flight only, but with lots of trains - but I'll be with an experienced train goer then at least who can act as advisor and sherpa.

In other news, good to be back in Jersey, and even better to be having Christmas again!! Gotta love early housemate-Secret-Santa-gift-giving and epic Christmas meal times. How very rather exciting.

// VERY LATEST THING || All the doors in my house are different now, it's all a little unnerving \\

Bah ba baahhh baaaahhh

2009-08-01T22:49:00.005+01:00

Simply had to share this video, featuring Bobby "Here's a little song I wrote" McFerrin at the World Science Festival last month:

Additionally, I've been playing a lot of Jam Legend recently - think Guitar Hero online and on your keyboard, with a majorly upgraded social/competitive aspect. This website can easily consume a night away (and a winning technique is playing at crazy hours in the morning for epic points).

2009-05-20T11:18:00.003+01:00

Rememe'd!

(Using exhibits A, B and C)

Phases of Forgotten Being (or This is Right?)
You look like an angel
Noli manare, manare in memoria.
Come inside me and take a deep breath:
Can't touch this.

Big man, pig man,
I'm sticking with you.
You look so defeated lying there
Life inside the music box.

Mondays is for drinking.
I cut off my hair and went to sleep,
I write this alone on my bed,
I don't care that flowers grow for you and me.

I remember when the days were long
I don't have plans and schemes.
I got so much love,
I want you so hard.

// VERY LATEST THING || Exam time means free time means bloggery \\

My Work for This Morning:

2009-04-08T18:15:00.001+01:00

Screw AVL trees, I was much happier making one of these:

Which isn't as useless as it looks - While the outside looks like someone ripped my printer cable off, the inside is ACTUALLY what used to be a shiny flash drive (I would actually recommend the drive in it's original form, it was very small and very shiny). I'm hoping it's new look will confuse a few people :) If I was clever I would've taken pictures as I went, but you'll just have to settle for a few shots of my work area instead.

Yeah, I could've bought one, but that wouldn't be any fun! Also, by DIYing it I saved at least ~~a tenner~~ £15 and quadrupled the capacity to 8GB :D AND, because I used a USB extension cable, I get a matching lid :P

Another successful day where procrastination prevails.

// VERY LATEST THING || RFCs are 40 today! I wish I didn't know this. \\

Look Out For: Alice in Wonderland in 2010

2009-04-06T20:51:00.004+01:00

This is an exciting find: Tim Burton does Alice in Wonderland. Wiki says:

As reported in the March 2009 edition of D23 magazine, the movie will incorporate many characters and narrative elements from Carroll's books but is essentially a new story, Alice's return to Wonderland. Tim Burton states that "given what this story is, if Alice had this adventure as a little girl and now she’s going back all these years later, it’s a bit overgrown...[and there’s] a slightly haunted quality to Wonderland, even though it’s got strong elements of color." She is now 17 years old and someone "who doesn't quite fit into Victorian society and structure." This journey "becomes a rite of passage as she discovers her voice and herself."

Sounds like classic Burton. And of course, you've got good old Elfman doing the music. But the most exciting thing for me would be the cast. Playing Alice is Mia Wasikowska a bit of a newbie on the scene, but check out who she'll be working with:

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and his grubby Sweeney Todd co-star Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen,

Anne Hathaway plays the "cute but psycho" White Queen,

Matt Lucas - of course - will be Tweedledum and Tweedledee,

Mr. Fry as the Cheshire Cat(!!),

and Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar.

Oh and also Christopher 'Saruman' Lee:

as.... something. Wiki doesn't know. Something awesome though I'm guessing.

Very much looking forward to seeing how this one develops.

// VERY LATEST THING || Workity work work. Then fall asleep for a bit. Then give up and blog. \\

Current Trends

2009-04-02T18:34:00.005+01:00

I was just looking at the pictures of a Rather Inebriated Nightpicnic some of my future housemates have had recently, and even though I wasn't in attendance I felt proud and happy to know them and be apart of such a group. This sort of feeling has only happened with such an intensity one other time in my life, and that was in the 'Glory Days of the Grind' I like to call it.

Back then we were a group of 7 and regularly met in a coffee shop, The Daily Grind after school for coffee, pancakes and banter. Some weeks we went everyday, and it was awesome. It was just amazing to know such a small group of people so well, and these days I can't pass by the Grind without a bad case of nostalgia flaring up. It's a pretty difficult emotion to explain, the best I can do is probably a kind of brotherly and sisterly love. These times lasted for about 4 months before various 'complications' split things up a bit, such is the way things at that age went, but I still love all 6 of them.

But the times that were had were epic, and if I'm correct, by indication of my time with The Housemates thus far, the times ahead will be even more epic.

I'm genuinely excited.

// VERY LATEST THING || Today has been amazing. Sun, smiles, Coke. One day like this a year'd see me right. \\

Palindromic Hello World?

2009-03-27T00:39:00.001Z

/**
This is possible cheating.
(Also, it assumes brackets swap when flipped for the sake of prettyness,
otherwise you get something like "String[] arg" --> "gra ][gnirtS"
**/

public class HelloWorldPalindrome //
{
    public static void main(String[] args) //
    {
        System.out.println("Hello World"); // ;("dlroW olleH")nltnirp.tuo.metsyS
    }
    // (sgra []gnirtS)niam diov citats cilbup
}
// emordnilaPdlroWolleH ssalc cilbup

// VERY LATEST THING || Oh yes, I haz holidays. Can't you tell by the fact that I'm using the blog again? :P \\

Album cover

2009-02-26T23:44:00.002Z

Pick an artist name from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random, use the last few words of the last quotation on http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 for an album title, and the third image on http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days for an album cover.

// VERY LATEST THING || MMmmm, tastes memey \\

Reason to be excited about University #057

2009-02-24T19:33:00.003Z

Not only does our college Librarian have a copy of the graphical novel 'Watchmen' (soon to be epic film), but he also: a) has Facebook and b) has the iconic blood stained smiley face as his profile picture.

// VERY LATEST THING || Who's an empty little blog? Who is?? Yes you are you, empty bloggy you! \\

2009-02-07T19:39:00.002Z

To clarify: This post was a bit of an experiment, to see how you reacted to mind numbing stupidity. This text was lifted from a girl who has been adding all my friends on facebook; none of us know who she is, can't work it out and she doesn't respond to messages. What pains me most about this text is that she's clearly either written it all out exactly like this (wasn't that one of the signs of the impeding apocalypse?) or she's deliberately ran it though some sort of annoying chav-speak converter which adds random crappy phrases. Oh dear.

AS W3 GROW UP W3 L3ARN THT 3V3N DA 1 P3RSON THT WASNT SUPPOS3D 2 3VA L3T U DWN PROBABLY WILL U WILL AV3 UR H3ART BROK3N PROBABLY MOR3 THN ONC3 & ITS HARD3R 3V3RY TYM U WILL BR3AK H3ARTS 2 SO R3M3MB3R OW IT F3LT W3N URS WAZ BROK3N U WILL FIGHT WIF UR B3ST FRI3ND U WILL BLAM3 A N3W LOV3R 4 DA FINGS AN OLD 1 DID U WILL CRY CZ TYM IS PASSIN 2 FAST & U WILL 3V3NTUALLY LOOS3 SUM 1 U LV SO TAK3 2 MANY PICS LAFF 2 MUCH & LV LK U AV3 N3VA BN HURT CZ 3V3RY SIXTY S3CONDS U SP3ND UPS3T IS A MINUT3 U WILL N3VA G3T BK LV IS GIVIN HIM OR H3R DA POW3R 2 D3STROY U BUT TRUSTIN HIM OR H3R him or her NT 2 R3AL LV STORI3S N3VA AV3 HAPPY 3NDINGS CZ R3AL LV STORI3S N3VA 3ND U WILL NO UR IN LV W3N DA HARD3ST FING 2 SAY IS GD BY3 N3VA MAK3 SUM 1 UR 3V3RY FING CZ W3N TH3R3 GON3 U WILL AV3 NOTHIN AVIN DA LV OV UR LYF BR3AK UP WIF U & SAY W3 CAN STILL B FRI3NDS IS LK UR DOG DYIN & UR MUM SAYIN U CAN STILL K33P IT IF U CNT G3T SUM 1 OWT OV UR 3D MAY B TH3Y R SUPPOS3D 2 B TH3R3 W3N U RLY LV SUM 1 U R WILLIN 2 L3T THM GO & W3N TH3Y CUM BK THN THTS TUR3 LV CZ TUR3 LV IS WORTH DA WAIT N3VA GIV3 UP ON FINGS THT MAK3 U SMIL3 IT HURTS W3N U AV3 SUM 1 IN UR H3ART BUT U CNT AV3 THM IN UR ARMS DA GR83ST CHALL3NG3 IN LYF IS FINDIN SUM 1 WHO NOS ALL FLAWS DIFF3R3NC3S & MISTAK3S & STILL LVS U WIF 3V3RY FING TH3Y AV3 LV IS LK WAR 3ASY START HARD 2 3ND & IMPOSSIBL3 2 4 G3T DA B3ST & MOST B3AUTIFUL FINGS IN DA WORLD CNT B S33N OR 3V3N TOUCH3D & MOST B F3LT WIF UR H3ART N3VA BR3AK DA H3ART THT TRULY LVS U SO R3M3MB3R U AR3NT GOIN 2 B TH3R3 1ST OR LAST OR ONLY TH3Y AV3 LV3D B4 & WILL AG3N BUT IF TH3Y LV U NW WAT 3LS3 MATT3RS TH3Y AR3NT P3RF3CT U AR3NT 3ITH3R & DA 2 OV U N3VA WILL B BUT IF TH3Y CAN MAK3 U LAFF @ L3AST ONC3 CZ U 2 FINK TWIC3 & ADMITS 2 B3IN HUMAN & MAKIN MISTAK3S HOLD ON 2 THM & GIV3 DA MOST U CAN THEY WILL N3VA QUOT3 PO3TRY OR FINK OV U 3V3RY MOM3NT BUT TH3Y WILL GIV3 U A PART OV THM THT TH3Y NO U CAN BR3AK DNT HURT THM DNT CHANG3 THM DNT 3XP3CT MOR3 THN TH3Y CAN GIV3 SMIL3 W3N TH3Y MAK3 U HAPPY Y3LL W3N TH3Y MAK3 U MAD & MISS THM W3N TH3R3 NT TH3R3 N3VA HOLD TH3R3 HAND IF UR GOIN 2 BR3AK TH3R3 H3ART LV IS ONLY A CHAPT3R IN A GUYS LYF BUT 2 A GIRL ITS DA WHOL3 BOOK

Tw-insight

2009-02-05T15:51:00.005Z

Is it healthy to use twitter as an outlet for passive aggression or complaining? I would say the majority of my friend's tweets fall into these categories these days :S I guess it's better than bottling it up, and it has the advantage that not too many people have it, just other CompScis really. But of course then there's the disadvantage that it's sort of like shouting into a hole!

I like the PostSecret model far better - currently there is a board on our cobbles similar to the blog which students can submit to. I'll take anonymous, widely publicised comments over credited, unadvertised ones anyday. Having said that, it is nice to know what's going on with them on the inside occasionally, even if it's unpleasant.

// VERY LATEST THING || My notes pile is building up. Some time, I'll need to sit down and folder 'em up. \\

Throwing disc shaped objects

2009-02-01T14:33:00.007Z

Replyage.

I KNOW, how much of The Suck am I. Spare time up here in the hexagonal bubble frequently gets absorbed by sitting with people on the landing, discussing and planning houses, watching iplayer (and LOST!), so then I need to check the feeds when I'm on my own. and so any bloggery gets pushed just into the relegation zone of time management :)

Claire does frisbee too!!! Awesomeness :D It truly is the game of champions. I play for Trevs, cos it's fun and not as much of a commitment as uni level (ie: I don't need to walk miles to get to training) but god, it's still such a proper work out. To be good you've got to literally run away from whoever is marking you, and as some points can go on for 15 minutes sometimes, you need lots of energy. Yesterday I jogged back from training too, which is bonus exerciseness.

Oh, and I totally have a kit for frisbee :D There seems to be a tend with having ridiculous numbers on the back; selections include 0, pi, e, i, c, $, VI and other such geekery. Mine is: !? cos I'm awesome like that :P

Of course, frisbee helps with exercising in this [wrist raising gesture] way too, frisbee socials are epic. I've probably mentioned it before, but 3 pints CAN fit into an upturned frisbee, and there ARE team races to see who can finish one on frisbee nights. So overall a good balanced work out :P

We have a gym in college, but I never use it really..... I should! I did the opposite to Freddie in that I put on weight in term-time (a stone!?) and promptly lost some of it over Christmas. My body works in strange ways. I blame the numerous tasty puddings.

// VERY LATEST THING || Today, I have achieved absolutely nout \\

2009-01-29T23:22:00.000Z

if(work && !play)
{
Boy Lyle = null;
}

//All work and no play makes Lyle a null boy.

A List for your Leisure

2009-01-14T04:45:00.004Z

Don't you just love when you look behind a wardrobe or down the back of a sofa or in an old textbook/diary or wherever and you find something, an artifact from your past? I've effectively done the digital equivalent of that today when I rediscovered 43 Things.

This site (which was a LOT less web 2.0 back in the day) basically tracks what your life aspirations are, how you're progressing, and pats you on the back when you do one, as well as adding the social angle by showing how many other people have the same targets as you and allowing the users to share methods as to how others should go about checking things off.

But no more than 43 things at any one time, obviously.

So yeah! I literally stumbled across the site earlier, logged into my old account and had a peak at what I wanted out of life nearly three and a half years ago...

1. complete a really hard, long game 100%

OK, not a great start if you were looking for inspirational, life changing goals! I think I've kinda done this one now, if you count Metroid Prime 3 as sufficiently hard, cos getting all the upgrades sure took a long time.

2. buy a laptop

Check!

3. Be a better blogger

Checkish?

4. Become better at small-talk

Having survived up to several hours at a time during freshers week asking people the same 4 or 5 questions, I think we can tick this one too...

5. become a morning person.

Ahhhh, the winning streak ends ;P

6. live in a big city

I would possibly retract this one - choosing the small city over the big city was how I ended up at Durham.

7. Visit Japan

Incomplete, but still very much an aspiration.

8. overcome my shyness more often

I think the key words here were 'more often', which technically I have achieved, but there'll always be relapses won't there! I still can't call strangers out the blue (eg: for a job interview) very well though. So maybe not.

9. dream lucidly

Unfortunately not achieved. I did it once, put it on the list, but never since.

10. witness the end of IE

Ha, not quite yet :)

11. Have my own Domain Name

No, but why not? I have no good reason now. Might investigate next term.

12. own a replica model of the "Back to the Future" DeLorean Time-Machine

Fun idea, but still no.

13. Learn to say no.

Yes!

14. Change someone's life.

Hmm, I probably have in some small way. I'd like to hope something above the standard butterfly-effect level change anyway.

15. Take a holiday in space

Keep dreaming there mid-teen-Lyle :)

16. play with one of those £100 lightsabers (VROOOOOOM!)

No! I should do this one soon, they've got to be more common now the price has dropped.

17. Sleep under the stars

Nope. These days I would like to raise issues of hygiene and bugs.

18. Find the Receda Cube

Ahhhh, Perplex City! How I miss thee. Those were the days, back when Men were Men and Hands were Sock Puppeted.

19. Convert everyone I know to Firefox

Disappointingly, my parents *still* refuse! Have managed to convert a few at uni though... "Use this... Why? I'm a Computer Scientist! Don't ask questions!"

20. be important to someone

I think this one referred to when you've had a busy day, you log into MSN in the evening and some one immediately messages you saying they've been wanting to talk to you all day and share some mutually amazing news! I always liked that feeling.

21. be on time more

I thought this one would be solved once I learned how to drive, but really it just means I don't have any scapegoats to use! Walking to make 9 O'Clock lectures hasn't been smoothed out yet either.

22. learn to juggle

Nothing interesting here, no progress.

23. discover new music

I wrote this before I'd even hard of Regina! Crazy times :) I'd say I get a reasonably decent stream of fresh tuneage these days, either from other people's recommendations (especially at uni) or good old last.fm. Confidently completed.

24. get a job I love

TBC, but if working in the industry is as good as the subject, good times ahead.

25. sleep!

...He reads before glancing at the clock and seeing it's 4.20AM.

26. learn advanced IRC commands

I haven't logged onto IRC in literally years, so no progress. If we sub in other types of commands though, I've got lots better with good old cmd.exe, autohotkey, and I suppose I'm getting to put Java in there too,

27. understand religion

28. understand science!

Those two were intentionally incompletable, by definition. True understanding of religion I reckon must involve a higher plane of existence, and scientific knowledge is just so vast to understand it all.

29. buy some new clothes

Check. But could do with some more jeans/trousers, but t-shirt wise I'm fine :)

30. hack someones computer and open their cd drive and scare them

Lol, must do this at uni! I'd be so easy what with my landing being so cavalier with their door locking and computer passwords.

31. brush my teeth more often

Check.

32. talk about meaningful things on MSN

I suppose check, I still feel myself doing the same conversations over and over again though a bit.

33. get a decent sized DS games collection

Hmm, sort of? For the amount I play it's more than enough. I only game on special occasions really these days, which is a bit sad. Paradoxically.

34. meet Angelina Jolie

Still on the todo list...

35. own classic DVD boxsets like Star Wars, Black Adder or Monty Python

I still haven't got any of these! But I do have a Smiths voucher, so maybe I'll pop to town sometime and have a browse.

36. Learn to whistle with my fingers

37. stop biting my nails

Same answer for the above two: Not completely yet, but it's not as bad as it used to be :)

Yes I realise I didn't go all the way to 43, but to be fair, I did complete some goals. I think I may just update the list when I have a work-guiltless moment. Oh, and at least the list I found wasn't as confusing as they have been known to be.

// VERY LATEST THING || I have burned basically all my DVDs to external hard drive with a sweet UI: about 60 discs, ~300gb worth. \\

Cool News

2009-01-09T15:49:00.003Z

In the form that Last.fm seems to finally have changed the algorithm that determines music compatibility to be more forgiving on guys like me who have one big spike and then lots of other artists about the same level. Which is definitely me: Over one in seven of my played tracks is Ms Spektor :) But now I have High and Very High compatibilities all over the place and it makes me happy :)

// VERY LATEST THING || I can haz ripped dvd collection? \\

Me Right Now

2009-01-08T13:21:00.003Z

In the style of this el eye en kay.

// VERY LATEST THING || Diolch yn Fawr! \\

2009-01-04T02:53:00.003Z

Here's the plan: post some chocolate to someone randomly from the phone book, with a message informing them that it isn't poisonous and won't give them cancer. Hopefully it'll make someone's day.

Actually, better do a couple, don't want to accidentally hit any diabetics.

// VERY LATEST THING || In unrelated news, my nights of going to be at a reasonable time lasted all of one night. \\

Quotes that show the age of this book about computer networks:

2009-01-03T00:30:00.000Z

"Wireless networks come in many forms. Some universities are already installing antenna all over campus to allow students to sit under trees and consult the library's card catalogue."

"As electronic mail becomes more common, can electronic junk mail be far behind?"

"The new wide area service is called B-ISDN (Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network). It will offer on demand, live television from many sources, full motion multimedia electronic mail, CD-quality music, LAN interconnection, high-speed data transport for science and industry and many other services that have not yet even been thought of, all over the telephone line."

// VERY LATEST THING || Sleeping pattern fixed? 30.5 hours straight of awakeness currently, if I don't sleep now I never will. \\

2008-12-29T05:15:00.000Z

You guys are lucky. My new years resolution is to blog more. Shall we set an initial rate of 3+ per week and see how it goes? Mind you though, I shall not be badgered into comprising on the quality. Well.... the current quality level anyway.

Damn meme stole my sleeping time. Tomorrow, I'm going to go outside. And actually do some work. If I'm not going to fail Single Maths A I'm gonna need to read up on complex numbers and integration and all the other crap. Since when should elective (chosen) modules be so much harder than, you know, the course I'm actually on!? Programming is so much sweeter. I probably shouldn't complain though, this time last year I would've been whining about how writing practical reports is a rubbish, and a year before that how philosophy essays suck. Man do I miss philosophy..... I was talking with my girlfriend the other day about something philosophical..... Oh yeah, the mechanics and rules of time travel. PARADOX PLZ?

(Aside: As a rule, I don't talk about or even mention significant others in this blog, so consider this a rarity! This is due to incidents in the past that leads me to think mentioning them is bad luck; In the space of mentioning/announcing them they have unrelatedly dumped me before the next post on TWO separate occasions. Whether that says something about my posting frequency or my way with teh ladies I'll leave up to you. Sorry to rob you all of no doubt fascinating subject matter)

Hopefully by now, we've lost the readers who don't care. That just leaves the rest of you! I like you guys better than the others. Clearly, this post has no structure or goal, but you stick with it just to see what comes out anyway. And you're right to! Some of the best blogs I've read have been rambling streams of consciousness. OK, we've gone there: lets talk about Marina's blog. I don't want to be the big creepy stalker who turns up at your house and might stab you depending on how you react, but at the same time I cannot get over how amazingly she writes and how happy some of these posts make me, even though I hardly know her at all. And I'm not sure how she does it! She just seems to find new ways to bring refreshing concepts and ideas and it's genuinely inspiring. I just know one other girl who does that and that's Ms. Spektor, and I love her to bits. Anyway, point is, I hope you keep writing Marina and it makes you stupidly rich. Hmm, now I have to write a bit more on another subject so that that isn't at the end of the paragraph, cos that's easily spotable and I bet those bad people that left us at the beginning of the paragraph will skim to the end and try and get the gist of it all. But this is not for them! Ok that'll probably do, although the links are pretty eye catching I'd imagine.... But meh.

It's another long night it seems. Twice this week I've greeted my mum and/or dad when they get up for breakfast, it's not good. I don't think it's good anyway. One day, I didn't actually see the SUN, just slept straight though it's arch all the way from east to west. This may actually be bragging in some twisted way, which is even worse? I'd say meh again here but I've alreafy said that already. I'd quite like to do a blog where I don't repeat any words at all, sort of like what XKCD did; in their IRC channel, they ran a bot that logged everything said, and if you repeated anything already said by anyone you got muted for increasingly longer periods of time as your number of offences increased. God, I sound like a java program. I'm not in the mood to talk about work now though. Another post dear faithful readers (and I know you're faithful! Cos you've endured both ramblings and geek ramblings now. I like you EVEN MORE than the people above!!).

Ohh, Christmas is a good one. What did I get... An external hard drive, 500 gigs, happiness of happiness, I'll play with that tomorrow too me thinks. Also, a chilli plant to fill the vegetative hole in my room in Trevs, also a big red Frisbee (also to be played with, pending sunlight), also Lost badges and a weird levitation thingy (which I might take apart and use the big reflective bowl for more interesting things, hope you don't mind Rad?). I wonder what the most inappropriate thing I could write about now would be? Probably a list of pros and cons of all my ex-girlfriends, comparing them and going into all the gory details, using their real full names so it'd come up first when they're googled. Actually that's less inappropriate more heartless and cruel. To be inappropriate it'd have to be something that you, reader, find awkward to read about. You could tell me if you like, that could be interesting. What would be the most awkward thing I could talk to you about be? Go on, make me cringe. I'll end the blog here so you don't forget :)

// VERY LATEST THING || If no one replies I'll know I'm all alone in the blogosphere... \\

Blog Particip.............ation!

2008-12-29T02:40:00.003Z

Lyle had a cool meme, it's name was Guess the Lyric,
Try and guess artist or song or whichever you pick :D

Extra Bonus Hard Mode cos I thought the tracks that came up were too conventional: All give-away punctuation and line breaks have been removed!
Difficulties ranges from no markings right up to *!!!!!* for "If you didn't cheat on this one, our musical tastes/quirks are scarily simular"
Game over in a week, leave comments with your guesses if you dare. GO!

Love, love is a verb love is a doing word.

Yes there are two paths you can go by but in the long run there's still time to change the road you're on.

Fights and battles have begun revenge will surely come.

Beneath the stains of time the feelings disappear you are someone else I am still right here

In the airplane I didn't sleep I stayed up watching "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" in English. I loved it but didn't understand it. *!!!!!*

We are the vanquished foes of the metal we tried to win for why we do not know

You peer inside yourself, you take the things you like and try to love the things you took *!*

Do you really think I act wack cos I'm tellin' ya I'm serving the aces and it's game set and match *!*

He is more than a man he's a shiny golden god.

I just can't take this, I swear I told you the truth she couldn't scream while I held her close

I went to the store to get more fire... to start the war *!*

Tom came out in June to a crowded room, no one was shocked *!!*

But what if one of these days your heart will just stop ticking and they sorta just don't find you till your cubicle is reeking. *!!*

Music is my great-grand-daughter *!*

Here is the church and here is the steeple we sure are cute for two ugly people *!*

Think about your kitten that was hitten by that car think of how you never got to tell Mr. Whiskers goodbye *!!!!!*

Hi my name is Ray and on yesterday my daughter called me *!!!!!*

Just like Marie Antoinette a built-in remedy for Khrushchev and Kennedy

Hey he knows I wasn't cheatin' now you're gonna get beatin' *!!*

Is it too late to remind you how we were but not our last days of silence screaming blur

And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school

That's cool with me it's not my favourite but I'll do it for you

Oh I cut his hair myself one night a pair of dull scissors in the yellow light *!*

Always keep me under finger that's the spot where you might linger

You float like a feather in a beautiful world

He would always laugh and say "Remember when we used to play?"

Trust I seek and I find in you every day for us something new

Honey you're sparking something this fire in me I'm outta control I wanna rush headlong into this ecstasy

We're rascals, scoundrels, villans and knaves drink up me 'earties yo ho. *!!!*

Now you're a hero you managed to beat the whole damn ga-ame we're happy you made it but how're you gonna spend the rest of this da-ay? *!!!!!*

// VERY LATEST THING || ... \\

Useful for 'evil bidding'? HHMMM?

2008-12-23T02:47:00.004Z

Copy/pasteage:

Everyone,

If they say no, you end up alone. If you say nothing, you end up alone. What have you got to lose?

— anonymous

Hey Pascal, stick that in your pipe and wager on it.

// VERY LATEST THING || Lyle is home. Wanting to be in Trevs. Ish. \\

"How can it be the Bible when it's got Angelina Jolie in it?"

2008-11-27T12:18:00.002Z

The Bible, rewritten in increasingly awesome ways. The glossy magazine looks cool, but the manga (pictured) just looks epic. Check out some of the art.

It's also translated into cockney, performed by Lego, and as an audiobook with Samuel 'bad montherfucker' Jackson playing God (!!!). This kind of thing might annoy Christians by 'dumbing it down' or whatever, but the marketing potential for these sorts of endeavours are undeniably impressive.

// VERY LATEST THING || I'd change Jolie's water into wine, if you know what I mean... cos I'm not sure I do. \\

2008-11-25T13:55:00.007Z

Never before have I lived in such a Hive of Gossip!

- Angharad of B1

// VERY LATEST THING || Or 'Rad to her friends. Well, I call her that at least. \\

That's right ladies and gentlemen:

2008-11-23T09:58:00.003Z

Good times

2008-11-20T12:14:00.006Z

Winning post technique = Letting awesome thing build up until you feel the need the post them in a big list:

Chinese Democracy released in full on GnR MySpace. Listening to atm.
The woman who wants a webcam in her prosthetic eye sounds fairly awesome. Some very cool applications there... I'm thinking one blink photographs, a memory aid, augmented reality, online streaming maybe?? Actually, I've just remembered I have a augmented reality game on my phone... fun, if a little clunky and you look like a right loon in playing in public.
The following two awesome guitar hero related videos:

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Even if both turn out to be manufactured by some corporation hoping to cash in on viral marketing, they still get +10 points for originality.
BBC news leenks: Rats return to Hamlin, Pied Piper annoyed, Live steaming of BBC 1, 2 and the rest - if BBC3's is anything to go by, don't expect iplayer quality and I'd love to see how they're going to regulate the license fee on that one.

// VERY LATEST THING || Cool phrases I've heard since coming here: "different strokes for different folks" and all the ones in the "good times", "bad times" set - basically "* times" where * is an adjective. \\

Truest Face-stalked conversation of the day:

2008-11-11T16:44:00.002Z

"M is writing about the Group 14 Halides. The what?"
- T: Group what??
- M: 14. You would know them as group 4, T: carbon, silicon, germanium etc
- T: But but... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8/0 and then back to 1! The Halides are group 7!
- J: T, you know how it works. Every single year you study science you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie.

Amen to that.

// VERY LATEST THING || I typically take an hour to warm up to programming, and by that time the practical is all but over! Typical. \\

Da Na Na Naaaaaaa!

2008-11-09T18:14:00.003Z

So hey, this is awesome. Turn your iphone into a ocarina! I love it when developers create such creative software on things like 'just' a mic and a multi-touch screen.

SMule: Ocarina [Stairway]on Vimeo.

A possible purchase for all you people that a) have iphones and b) like music a bit? I'm sure there's a few dudes who fit that criteria kicking about...

// VERY LATEST THING || Is actually doing some real work for once. \\

Awesome Things About Being At Uni

2008-11-08T01:02:00.000Z

Only ever being a couple of doors away from friends.
Studying what I want to study.
Getting a FREE PDA!
Leaving the door open and saying Hi to people walking by.
Having your own private space which is yours alone.
Borrowing/lending DVDs, books, etc is easy when everyone lives so close together/close to the library.
The window view, looking out over the back college lawn.
If ever a conversation with someone new is getting stale, I can drop in the "So where are you from/I'm from Jersey" line to get things moving again ;)
2 words: Cancelled lectures.
Social visits without any shoes is the norm.
Sitting in a logic lecture: the guy on my left sorting out his Gmail on his PDA, the guy on my right checking the latest XKCD. I'm on SUCH the right course :)
There not being a square room anywhere in college. 6 walls is the new 4 walls.
Being networked to several dozen itunes libraries that are available for browsing whenever.
Having a library a couple of minutes away, that again is visitable in socks. Also, they stock graphical novels.
Being introduced to the wonders and skills of Ultimate Frisbee.
Learning at least 4 new card games.
A full English breakie every Sunday brunchtime.
When you realise that you actually care a fair bit about these random assortments of people that you see everyday.
Getting post! Seriously, send me something. Lyle Entwistle, Trevelyan College.
Bumping into people who're in the city from 'before'.

// VERY LATEST THING || By no means a comprehensive list either guys. \\

This is where I live.

2008-11-08T00:11:00.006Z

// VERY LATEST THING || Time up north goes so quick, you would not believe. \\

Most awesome thing I've learned today:

2008-10-28T22:56:00.003Z

Zac Efron AKA Troy from High School Musical played 'Young Simon' twice in Firefly, easily one of my top 3 TV shows!

So awesome.

Related notes, I thought HSM3 was the right side of fun. I was prepped to see it this evening by seeing the first 2 back to back over the weekend, but I definitely enjoyed this one more. The hardcore fans I saw it with were generally disillusioned by the less memorable songs, but at the time they were playing, I did keep thinking "Oh man, I'm gonna have to admit to people how much I liked this!" So yeah, good songs. Story didn't do any worse or better than I suspected, but that's not the point of seeing this film, which is really to see some fun characters doing fun things singing fun songs.

// VERY LATEST THING || ... \\

Here I am

2008-10-20T23:21:00.004+01:00

Hey there kids. Figured it was time for blogousness and blogosity. This must be the first time I've had a laptop and a generally genuinely uneventful evening with enough time to allow for a decent post. Pictures to follow though I guess, it's dark now and the camera on this lappy isn't too amazing atm, let alone my phone's!

So yeah, things are going fairly awesomely. Walking about, it still feels weird that this is university, I keep thinking "this should be harder than it is!" Not that the work load isn't up to scratch, on the contrary, it's consistently just beyond the boundary of my current understanding, which is great because it focuses me on 'getting it', a goal that is always just around the corner. So yeah, healthy education dudes.

I'm particularly excited when I hear something that I've read about the subject from a book or online, it reminds me why I've chosen this path. Talking of choosing, I get 2 option modules this year, and I settled on 'Single A' and 'Data analysis, Modelling and simulation' both from the maths department. Tbh, as I may have stated previously, I'd have really rather liked to do a spot of physics, but alas, the timetabling did not allow it, which is a pretty big flaw in the system really when an entire department is denied... but I'm still happy, they're good modules, and most of my work so far has been focused on them. They teach things slightly differently, almost like with a different spin to what I'm used to, and sometimes all it needs is that little jump from what's written on the board to what is in my maths books 380ish miles south of here. I Google Earthed it.

One more awesome thing before I leave the academics alone; all the freshers CompSciers were GIVEN PDA's for the year!! Complete with a home made program called Technology Enhanced Campus, which has the potential for awesome features like location info and maps, a record of where your friends running the program are located, and a message system, for stuff like automatically downloaded lecture notes/audio as soon as you enter the lecture hall. really awesomely exciting stuff, and I'm so chuffed to be a a guinea pig :D

Trevelyan is the shizz. Nothing more needs to be added to that statement. I have yet to meet someone here who isn't really nice, friendly and fun to talk to, out of the freshers, older students, the exec or the staff. 90% of the time spent in my room is with the door wide open, saying hey to people as they cruise on by... I'm on the B landing which is just above the bar and is fairly central, not to mention part of a great hexagon of connected landings, *plus* we have 2 working washing machines as of this morning, so traffic is understandably high. But it's still quiet at nights. I can't think of a better location, bar maybe E block which is right by the post room or one of the refurbished rooms, but they're quite far away from everything...

The landing people ('landies') are up to regular awesome Trev standard. There 2 shared rooms are inhabited by two pairs of awesome blokes and girls, which forms a great place for everyone else to meet. I've made friends with people of all walks of life so far, North, South, Wales, even Guernsey believe it or not. And of course it's ALWAYS lovely to meet someone from the old homestead, there's a second year Trev who's Mum teaches at Beauliea, and an ex-Hautliea boy on the CompSci course. Talking local and complaining about the milk and lack of pound notes here are key conversation pieces.

Durham as a city, as suspected, isn't too much of a change from St. Helier at all. A few new shops and a few missing (HECTORS and COFFEE SHOPS), but generally the same. they even have their own indoor market, which together with Woolies and a few fancy dress shops are essential student shopping points of interest. The river and cathedral and old cobbled roads are just lovely and picturesque.

Societies I'll probably do properly/sort of casually:
- Trev's Ultimate Frisbee
- Uni poker soc
- Alternative Music soc
- TAMPACS (Trevelyan Alternative Movie Plus Animated Cartoon Society)
- ...And maybe others if socialness prevails.

In conclusion, things are awesome, I'm happy, and am still looking forward to seeing all my old places and peeps in... a month or 2. Oh yes, pictures to follow both here and on the 'book.

// VERY LATEST THING || Freudian slipage! \\

INTJ's FTW!

2008-09-29T02:08:00.004+01:00

This bit of writing makes me wish I wrote this blog in a notebook in beautiful handwriting that I could hold and love like she describes.

I hope she gets into the college she wants from it. Definitely one of the more interesting people that have emailed me out of the blue and I've ended up helping with their homework :P

On a completely different note, I'm wondering today just how much of a historical record this blog will be to future generations. It'll make family history so much more interesting for you future-folk :) Think my kids will read it? Grand-kids? Even if it doesn't exist at this sub domain anymore, I've noticed that the Internet Archive has snagged it a couple of times, and I believe the goal is to preserve that for as forever as possible!

// VERY LATEST THING || Pretty much all just thinking about uni next week. So exciting guyz! \\

Hit and miss

2008-09-27T18:42:00.001+01:00

I'm beginning to suspect that maybe I'm not taking this whole going away to Uni thing as seriously as I should be, from a social point of view. I really just haven't thought about missing anyone while I'm over there, because they're all just a quick Facebook or IM away, and I'll be back in the island at the end of every term I expect and hope. But people are getting teary! Which is really sweet, I appreciate the depth of their emotions, and hope they aren't and weren't offended that I don't consider it that much of a great big finalé. I mean, they got off the island on Lost, and the show's still going on isn't it? :P

In fact, I've thought more about missing the places much more than the people so far... English milk is nothing compared to good old Jersey milk, even if it is half the price, and I'm a bit worried England is going to be slightly more hostile than our friendly island home... and of course the wonderful views, the dunes, Elizabeth castle and the bay, Corbiere, even Plemont (which I must go down to nest week, tomorrow maybe when the tides down). Plus, the atmosphere that Jersey has, it's difficult to describe, but it's warm and I wouldn't want to have grown up anywhere else.

Or maybe that's the point I'm missing. Maybe what makes a place a place is deeper than just the things that are there. King Street certainly isn't the same in the dead of night when no ones around. Maybe memories of a place are more based on experiences had there, which of course are very dependent on the company you share them with.I suppose the test is to either take everyone I know away with me (and see if I miss the landmarks), or to go back when the people that are hypothesized to 'make Jersey' have gone and see if it's not the same.

Anyway, stepping outside the argument, I highly expect my attitude will change once I'm up there and every thing and everyone is still all the way down at 49.2 latitude. Also on slightly more awesome note, I've just discovered google maps has finally got some decent Jersey images up! My house is the one with the red car on the drive :)

View Larger Map

// VERY LATEST THING || The 'hit' part came from Danny hitting the lamp post last night. but shh! No one's meant to know, and he left this morning for uni. lol \\

Observation:

2008-09-18T20:03:00.002+01:00

You can always tell the party animals by the state of their passports - if it's crumpled from being stuffed into a back pocket too much, a corner folded over and potentially even with some minor foam damage.

// VERY LATEST THING || Today I took apart our Dyson to see what was inside - you know, they ARE well designed \\

Did you know

2008-09-17T03:09:00.000+01:00

That out of all the readers, I like you the best, but shh, don't tell the others, they'll only get jealous.

Some thoughts and links for you!

Here's a game called light-Bot, which basically took that turtle drawing program I did in year 7 IT and gave it more programming and more gaminess. It's great fun! Exactly recreates the feeling of why I chose what I did for Durham.

I've been wikipedia surfing lot today! Everything from Nazi dinosaurs to lists of humorous and unusual units of measurement. I already knew about the attoparsec per microfortnight (= 1 inch per second) and the nanocentury (= nearly exactly pi seconds), and I can now add:
- the Warhol (1 of which = 15 minutes of fame)
- the Sheppey (= 7/8 miles, defined as "the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque")
- and the Helen (after Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships. Thus a beauty that launchs 1 ship has a value of 1 millihelen! Genius.)

Also, I was reminded today that I get to pick a couple of optional modules for Durham once I'm over there - I had completely forgotten about this, and am now delighted at the prospects of doing a little physics or engineering beside all the computing!

// VERY LATEST THING || ... \\

A Dream or Two

2008-09-12T13:39:00.004+01:00

Don't you just hate it when you dream you have or get something really good, wake up and it's (obviously) gone? This happened to me with ice-cream this morning. I was so psyched for some ice-cream :( But then I guess it's ok if dreams about homework and missing deadlines aren't real either.

On a semi-related note, one of my stranger dreams recently I've entitled 'CV meets Ghost in the Shell'. Connected Ventures is a company in the states that operated College Humor, Busted Tees, Vimeo and others. They have a REALLY big net presence; They frequently upload videos from inside the office, make their own sketches and loads of the employees have tumblr blogs. Ghost in the Shell is an anime which I've watched recently, about a future where androids and people made of total synthetic bodies with downloaded memories are completely normal. But yeah, the dream:

I'm in the CV offices, possibly being an intern? I'm being shown around by the gorgeous Amanda Ferri. We go to the next door building and we talk and all is fun.

(For a sandwich? Now would probably be a good time to mention that I actually am in love with Amanda. She's just such a little cutie! And so funny and wonderfully quirky, and she works in IT! Too bad there's always a catch eh?)

Then SUDDENLY: Rockets are fired into the CV office! Bits are flying everywhere, and the wonderfully designed interior is ruined. Luckily all the other staff were on their lunch break too, and everyone starts to climb the fire escape to investigate the damage. ON the way up, I'm explained some of the backstory as to why this could have happened.

(I can't remember exactly what the backstory was, but I think it had something to do with the vivid graffiti on the walls, so probably something political? It reminded me of the refugees in Ghost in the Shell anyway, and the rockets of the finale of the second series.)

At the top, everyone surveys the damage. Then MORE rockets fire in, and we need to escape! Someone (Amir I think!) finds an opportunity by taking off a little attachment thing off some flags and using it to zip line down a cable to the ground. We all prepare to get going.... and I wake up.

// VERY LATEST THING || MOST. LINKS. EVER. \\

Conversations, the best kind:

2008-08-31T21:56:00.000+01:00

With the person you barely know in the middle of King Street
Usually occurs when both parties don't avoid eye contact, and at least one person thinks a hello is in order. These are fun because usually there is a wide range of conversation topics, because you're mildly aware of what is happening with this person from Facebook browsing, but don't know any details whatsoever! So you can ask about that. And no one will hold anything against you if you get something wrong or get forgetful, because you last talked to them at.... that BBQ back in June. Or whatever. And when you run out of things to say: "Well, have a good one, see you around sometime!" and off you go down the street awaiting your next encounter.

With good, drunk friends
This works for exactly the opposite reason the above is good; if they're proper friends, you'll have discussed all the important things that are going on in each others lives by that point. That just leaves the here and now, and the drunken mind can be funny as hell to watch as it's let loose on the trivial. You're left with an inside-jokesque "Remember when Adam sang that song to us?! Haha :D"

Talking pure fantasy
...and keeping a straight face. It might start out with a slightly absurd comment, which isn't recognised and is taken intentionally completely seriously, and is retorted with one even more crazy. Examples: "I stab you in the head" "Oh yeah? Well I roundhouse kick you before you get close" "Ha! I use the force of your kick to fly into orbit, from where I nuke your ass." "Atomic energy!? that's nothing...." etc.

Quiet - not much said, but full of understanding
Only achievable with a close friend or lover. Maybe it's explaining a sensitive issue, or just conveying feelings. Usually involves all sorts of subtle communications like facial expressions, body language, tone, word emphasis. It's very satisfying to know you have someone you can communicate so naturally with.

Specialist ones, with a someone who just doesn't have a clue nearby.
This occurred countless times with cosmology last year for me! Jacob and I might be revising out loud in the common room which combination of quarks make up protons and neutrons, or the differences between general relativity and special relativity, and someone playing pool will come up and ask WTF we're on about! This isn't meant to be as pretentious as I'm making it sound like... It's just fun to have a 'thing' that only you and a few other understand. The same count happen with music tastes. And counterpoints! WTF are they guys?? :P More recently, I had an animated conversation with Chants about the latest Lost ARG that confounded and confused the other picnic-goers.

// VERY LATEST THING || I'm having a one-night-stand style job tomorrow, just for one day. S'better than nothing! \\

The Holiday

2008-08-31T13:09:00.006+01:00

Mother Ent found the following extract in her book she was reading when on holiday in Barcelona:

They wanted him to study in London, but he refused the university place he was offered there and went to Durham instead.
In Durham he experienced true bone-numbing coldness for the first time in his life. the freezing North Sea wind that came across the flat terrain cut through the layers of clothing with which he tried to protect himself as he cycled across town for a lecture. The rain was worse, icy cold, horizontal, and wetter than anything he had ever known; it slashed at his face, leaving him breathless and barely able to see the road in front of him. IT was on such a raw, freezing cold day that he met Mark.

I originally wanted to go to Imperial College London, but after seeing Durham choose there instead. Everything I've heard about the weather up there doesn't differ much from this prophesy either... I really MUST get into town and pick up some warm clothes in the next month.

// VERY LATEST THING || It saddens me to think that PAX is clearly bigger and more exciting that this years E3. WHY did it have to crapify?? \\

Reading Time with Pickle

2008-08-30T13:36:00.003+01:00

So I just realised it's actually quite fashionable to have your mum on Facebook. IMO anyway.

Some things I might post soon:
- A philosophical book extract
- A coincidental book extract
- A list of my favourite kinds of conversation
- My favourite internet celebrities and why
- Something about photosynth once I've made one?
- Ghost in the Shell, an anime I'm watching atm?
- Something not-going-to-Jersey-Live related?
- ALL of the above?

// VERY LATEST THING || I do actually feel quite busy; procrastination success! \\

Are Hew All Raht Ma Lover Eh?

2008-08-26T23:34:00.005+01:00

Everyone knows the Five Mile road isn't 5 miles long. So, turns out it's called as such after the Jèrriais word 'mielle', meaning dune! Of which there are five out there. I can't believe I was going to leave the island without knowing this fact.

// VERY LATEST THING || Spent lots of time walking the shore today, absorbing the island. \\

U FOOL U ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!!11!

2008-08-25T22:09:00.002+01:00

I really need to stop playing this game called Kongai. I almost literally played it all night yesterday. Today I slept pretty much all day. It's baaaaaaaad, but it is just so addictive. It's sort of Yu-Gi-Oh meets rock-paper-scissors meets World of Warcraft. And I know I'll be tempted back regularly with the promise of winning new cards through achievements elsewhere on the site. I feel like I should turn off my ad-blocker just so the creators get a little money back for their efforts, I'm THAT impressed :)

// VERY LATEST THING || I really don't have time for this either, lots (too many in many cases) of social things are happening recently! \\

The Fresh Prince - THE LOST VERSES

2008-08-17T15:42:00.002+01:00

Happy happy :)

2008-08-14T12:16:00.006+01:00

It's official! I have 5 A levels :) 4 A's in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and a B in Philosophy and Ethics! Oh, and technically a B in English for AS :) And on the strength of these, I'm into Trevelyan College in Durham Uni :)

I too was up until midnight to see if UCAS would change as some librarians had said, but when the hour came and went, the pressure was off a bit and I actually did some research, finding this, and promptly went to bed, but couldn't sleep properly at all... Although I did manage to distract my brain by trying to think up the longest word I could with the letters in alphabetical order (the best I could do was 'first' and 'begot' - the longest is 'Aegilops' apparently, which is a classification of grass).

the hardest part was just getting out of bed this morning. From then, turning the comp on and logging into UCAS was good, but I really wasn't expecting the details to be the first thing you see! So that was nice, sort of an "Oh, ok! There it is" moment. And then all that was to worry me driving up to good old DLS was how everyone else did... And the majority have done well! Most of my science buddies have got over and above what they wanted, and so have almost all of the boys doing law and history and the like. Haven't heard what things were like down as Beaulieu, but I'm sure those details will come to light as people get home and update Facebook :)

Can't wait to start it all in October :) It's so exciting!

// VERY LATEST THING || Happy happy :) \\

He'll grow out of it

2008-08-13T17:07:00.001+01:00

I actually feel kinda bad for Christopher Mintz-Plasse AKA McLovin, because he's pretty much gonna be playing the 'awkward, socially-challenged teenager that you love to laugh at' for as long as he can pull off the high school look. Case and point, the upcoming film Role Models, where his character is a live action role player... A mixture of Dungeons and Dragons and cosplay, both of which have a high nerd rep in general. I actually think cosplay is awesome, but then I'm not exactly target audience :)

He's currently filming for The Year One, a Pythonesque Biblical comedy with Jack Black. Which sounds awesome. Chris is playing Issac, son of Abraham, which to be honest could swing either way in the nerd typecast situation? I'm thinking it could be potentially:

Hey Issac, put down that abacus and come........ for a walk. Up this mountain. Oh and can you go get my sacrificial knife? I need it for something you're too socially inept to understand.

...Or something. OK, so I'm not going to be a writer :P But hopefully you get my point: 3 strikes and he's out.

NB: I'm not counting his voice-over role in 'How to Train Your Dragon', a Dreamworks animated flick for the kids, where his character Fishlegs is described as having allergies, is 'a bit of a wimp', and has a useless dragon as pet. But I'm assuming his 'brand' won't be as identifiable if it's not his face on screen.

// VERY LATEST THING || Arranged to buy an ipod today! A 2nd gen 8 gig shuffle which should last me at uni. \\

Awesomer and awesomer and awesomer and awesomer

2008-08-12T23:21:00.002+01:00

Good gawd do I love antifolk :) I'm currently downloading an album by a lovely little lady by the name of Phoebe Kreutz (Having paid for it. Actually, I haven't pirated music in a reasonably long while - Don't crucify me!). Awesome, funny, and sometimes sad lyrics. I preliminarily recommend All Summer Long and Oh, Elizabeth I (which can be streamed via the above linkage) to get a flavour. I wish I could stream 'em here successfully like you can on tumblr.

// VERY LATEST THING || Hooray for a debit card that works and ~£600 left over holiday money! For responsible use... a laptop probably :D \\

Kapow! Whack! Angst!

2008-08-08T00:08:00.000+01:00

Depressing thought of the day: I would actually really like a girlfriend right about now, and despite all the flimsy excuses (she's too cool/out of my league/not interested in me/all the above) which I usually work my way around over time, the simple fact is that this phase in my life is going to die in 2 months - not with a bang but a whimper.

// VERY LATEST THING || At least I'm not alone on this. \\

Science in moderation

2008-08-04T17:45:00.003+01:00

Tonight on Channel 4: The Genius of Charles Darwin hosted by Good Old Richard 'My Science could have your God anyday' Dawkins.

Kinda conflicted about this? On one hand it's good that people learn about evolution and how it works, and anything that honours a great scientist is OK by me. On t'other hand, Dawkins is by the sounds of it using this as an excuse to bash religion again, and promote his new book, which isn't cool at all. Particularly as I fear in the mind of the average believer the logic will go: If evolution is loved so much by Dawkins, the devil's worker, then it must be 100% against all religious faith just like the uber-atheist himself. Which of course isn't true at all...

I'm all for equal time between natural selection and the religious studies, but Channel 4 have picked one of the few presenters who will argue for pure science in the classroom and none of that damaging god nonsense - the one guy who will take the argument too far and put people off.

2008-08-04T17:38:00.003+01:00

Lyle loves Sink or Float by Aberdeen - cool opening line. What is more, they've put it up for free download off the above last.fm link. Hooray!

Eurotrip 08: 16 - Slaughterhouse Five

2008-08-04T09:15:00.002+01:00

11.15 - OK, I've got the time, I'll do Slaughterhouse Five finally :P I'll try and stay away from the stale "this is a good book, I liked it a lot"-type review as best I can. I did enjoy it though. It was perfect for reading on trains, because of it's non-linear storytelling, it's very stop start, and tbh you could quite easily skip a few chapters and still be able to follow successfully - you see, the main character is inexplicably 'unstuck in time'. This means that he jumps around his personal timeline constantly, living his life in a completely random order. Just his consciousness moves, much like Desmond's does in Lost (seeing why I read it now? :P), so one moment he can be giving a speech as a learned, well prepared public speaker, the next he can be drunk, uneducated boy wandering through occupied Europe in WWII, the next he could be light years away from Earth on the planet Tralfamadore having sex with a fellow abductee in an alien zoo - needless to say, he's lead an interesting life. But though some the aliens and time concepts are very sci-fi, it is at heart an anti-war novel, drawing from the authors own experience in Dresden, where he was a POW when in was bombed into the ground. The whole first chapter is from the author, explaining what's true and how he came to write this story - it's almost autobiographical, and makes the war parts more believable, because as a reader you know that it's secretly fact dressed up as fiction. Frequently, amongst all the third person-ness, there will be an occasional "and I was there, experiencing it along with Billy Pilgrim."
It was very poetic to be able to read about the Dresden that was as we passed through it on the train From Berlin to Prague, and see the skyline that captivated the author too as he arrived there 60 odd years ago.
I also particularly liked the idea of the Tralfamdorians, who see 4th dimensionally - to them, all time exists simultaneously, and looking at a copse is only to see someone in a particularly bad condition, and they're very much alive and healthy at another place in time. "So it goes" they say, when they hear of a death. They liken their perception like being able to see an entire mountain range, looking wherever they choose, while humans can only see out of a small tube aimed at a particular point of the scene, which is on fixed rails that moves at a fixed rate. It's an exciting concept :) Reminds me also of Jon from the awesome graphical novel 'Watchmen', which I'm sure I'll blog about again soon. I won't spoil anymore details, much as I'd like to, but instead I encourage you to read it for yourself, it's a very easy read - if you're in my area I'll lend it to you if you like :)

This post is part of Lyle's Adventures in Europe '08 Series. They were written on holiday, saved, and uploaded in sequence at a time similar to when it was composed; retroactive blogging I like to call it. All writings are posted with exactly 16 days delay.

Eurotrip 08: Day 16

2008-08-04T08:40:00.003+01:00

10.40 - Sorry about the lack of contact, I didn't see a plug until the Paris hotel room! We're currently in a cafe in Paris de Nord, having some breakfast, having checked out of the hotel and booked all our trains, the details of which deserve a mention in a bit. First, back to Amsterdam.
Jacob somehow lost his wallet! I'm such a trend setter eh? The likely story was that it's been stolen, because it was tucked away in a pouch on his bunk when he went to sleep, but when he woke it was lost, so that sucks a lot. I'd hope it wasn't 'Crazy Legs', our bunk buddy, she seemed like such a reputable woman. Anyway, the consequences are that Jacob and I now both rely on Liam as a Euro source, and we're having to be VERY conservative about our spending. Thank God the tickets we just reserved came to just under €10 in total.
So we arrived in Amsterdam already a little stressed and on edge, but reserving our place to Paris (which we sorted out as soon as we stopped) was smooth, thanks also to a 'lower numbered' customer giving us their ticket while they went off, probably to catch the very train they were trying to reserve. There ticket queues really take that long, even with planning long in advance.
My first impression of the city was in retrospect far dodgier than my impression when I was departing - you see, we pretty much stepped off straight into the red light district, which was all I'd ever known and associated with the city! The pattern generally went sex shop, tourist shop selling seedy t-shirts, cannabis coffee shop, and then maybe another kind of place that was different, but still gave off an air of 'dirty pleasures'. I'm very much not a hedonist, so safe to say I was fairly intimidated by this street. Once we were far enough south though, it all got very much like a normal European city, much to my relief - the 'look at us, we have prostitutes and drugs' souvenir shops still persisted and many of the pubs had to add further details to the no smoking signs and there was a hell of a lot of bikes, but other than that we could've easily been deep in Berlin or Bratislava. There was definitely more British people about too, which was nice, even just to hear passing in the street. Once I'd got a foot in civilisation again, I did feel better about having a look at the red light district again, and it really wasn't as bad as I first thought, the most surprising thing I saw on the second visit was seeing girls in the windows of brothels or whatever - it meant that either they were that desperate for work that they'd present themselves publicly in such a 'profession' despite the humiliation, or that to them and their society it was a perfectly acceptable job to have. I suspect because there were so many of them, the latter has to be the case, so that was a bit of a culture shock. Which is cool, that's a new one for me :)
I can't believe we're going to be home again in about 9 hours. It's so weird! It's gone so quickly, yet it seems we've been living this was for ever. I'll technically never have the old life I'm used to now school is finished, so this really has been a baptism of fire into a 'new way' a bit. Our train how really is going to be like running the gauntlet a bit too - In order to get to st. Malo in time for the ferry at 20.10, we have to make 2 changes at Le Mans and Rennes, each lasting 15 and 10 mins respectively before the next one leaves :S These are new stations, with new layouts to us, and we need to navigate it, and leave again in the shortest time we've ever had for connecting trains. Should be interesting to say the least! Then we arrive in st. Malo 50 mins before the boat leaves, which is also putting the pressure on a bit. We shall have see how it goes then eh?

Eurotrip 08: Day 15

2008-08-03T16:21:00.001+01:00

Eurotrip 08: 14 - Night Train

2008-08-02T16:20:00.002+01:00

18.20 - So we actually caught a night train properly! Although we would've kept the beds 'up' had our cabin mate, a lecturer from Singapore, not told us that they actually fold up into seats. Otherwise, that could've been mighty uncomfortable...! We have plenty of food and left over zlotych to spend in the dinner carriage. Should be ok for entertainment too, but probably not bloggage as previously promised because of low battery power (it's really been awful this holiday, I should get a new battery or even a new phone when I'm back.) and the seeming lack of plugs in our cabin, and I can't really leave it in the toilet. Sorry!

Anything tagged 'geekgasm' is OK by me.

2008-08-02T15:21:00.003+01:00

CERN Rap on Vimeo.

Surprisingly catchy? And relevant, there's less than a week left now before the LHC is up and running. Huzzah physics!

// VERY LATEST THING || Lyle needs a project to occupy him when he's not doing important things like procrastinating. \\

Plusgood

2008-08-02T13:20:00.006+01:00

So this is cool; George Orwell is doing a spot of retroblogging too! Orwell's diaries are going to be posted exactly 70 years after they were written by the man himself.

What impression of Orwell will emerge? From his domestic diaries (which start on 9th August), it may be a largely unknown Orwell, whose great curiosity is focused on plants, animals, woodwork, and – above all – how many eggs his chickens have laid. From his political diaries (from 7th September), it may be the Orwell whose political observations and critical thinking have enthralled and inspired generations since his death in 1950. Whether writing about the Spanish Civil War or sloe gin, geraniums or Germany, Orwell’s perceptive eye and rebellion against the ‘gramophone mind’ he so despised are obvious.

I'm looking forward to it to be honest. In case you missed it above, it all starts from the 9th, next Saturday.

// VERY LATEST THING || Between newspeak, 1337speak, lolcatian, pig latin and Nadsat, I can easily 'speak' more fictional 'languages' than I can real ones. \\

Eurotrip 08: Day 14

2008-08-02T10:05:00.000+01:00

12.05 - The absinthe was pretty sick..! And Liam did nearly die. Ish. The phrase 'Worst. Shot. Ever' was stated. That night we went out with some lovely finnish girls from the hostel that Liam met in one of his regular facebook sessions. Emma, Sara and Evelina, who sung and played instruments together or something. They were doing pretty much exactly the same as us, a trip about Europe before uni, and lots of the same places too, just in reverse order a bit to us, and they were just starting while we've practically finished. We also went with a 24 yo American civil engineering student, who was very fun :) Plenty to talk about with all of them too, what with all our countries being so different in the little details, but all of us still having a preknowledge of some things, like the Obama/Clinton primaries. The American called it a night relatively early, so that left the remaining 6 to talk (in remarkably good english) and have honey shots and listen to an ipod. They even let Liam borrow their charger, and now he's musically juiced up for the encroaching uber train :) We were at the same hostel, so we sat in our room when we came back for a bit - played drunken chess on the Beech Beauty, the boys won in about 8 moves...? I'll try and remember and record the game later. They had a bus to Aushwitz in the morning, that I really didn't think they'd make from my observations on the state of them and the time they went to bed, but they must have, because when we signed out earlier, they'd left us a little note, possibly with a finnish poem on it - we were trying to read them from Emma's book the night before in terribly bad finnish apparently. But yeah, that was crazy awesome of them! Should be fun to translate :)
Will probably blog much more today! Lots of travelling, lots of time to guilt myself into actually writing about Slaughterhouse Five. Maybe.

Eurotrip 08: Day 13

2008-08-01T16:45:00.001+01:00

18.45 - Sorry about the lack of blogging in the last 24 hours, by the time we did get off the train I was properly knackered, too much to think almost. I technically had the time to, so sorry about that, because the guys went to look around Auschwitz and I stayed in town to explore on my own. It's kind of difficult to explain why I didn't want to go, to be honest I'm not really consciously sure myself totally, I just was soulfully uncomfortable with the idea of visiting such a horror. I think it must've been the best use of the font 'Chiller' in the advertising I've ever seen. I was kept plenty busy anyway, Krakow has lots to see and do, and I saw enough to successfully get my bearings to navigate the other two out today, even without a compass :) I bought a chess set! It's lovely and big (but still carryable when folded up) and made of beech. The pieces are varied enough to tell them apart, they look 'as the pieces should', and they're weighted to give them a nice feel. I'm very happy with it :) Have played a couple of games against Jacob, and am undefeated. I'll tell you what too, if I'd whacked it out down old Budapest station, I reckon the old chaps would be intimidated a little bit, sized up against their tiny budget sets :) Since then I've also bought a jacket, of which I've needed a new one for a while, and a plain black log sleeved t-shirt which will be PERFECT for this massive game of midnight hide and seek on the sand dunes I might organise before uni.
Today we've just looked though the usual touristy bits 'n' bobs, including a castle, the river, a statue of an awesome dog, a burrito bar and a 'traditional' market.
Tonight we may try our absinthe samples finally, which we've been carrying since Berlin! It may only be 50 ml, but it is still 55% and blood red. Liam's is 80% and black - he's going to diiiiiie... Oh, and we've booked the long train back west for tomorrow; we're going via The Netherlands for a day and a night for yet another bonus country! That's 8 countries in total, all of which Jacob has a mini flag of for a souvenir. It's another overnighter, and will take 3 hours to get to Warsaw and then a further 16 to Amsterdam. There, we'll book the remaining trains to Paris and st. Malo, hopefully arriving before 8 and the ferry departure. Wow! It's really all gone so fast. I guess because we've moved around so much, it's been difficult to get our heels into the places so it feels more permanent - sort like perpetually travelling rather than the usual holiday spirit. But no matter, travelling has been awesome fun too :) But it's definitely time to be heading home, I miss loads of people (and my feed reader to a lesser extent :) I'm being cynical about security of public terminals, hence the minimal facebook activity). See you all soonish!

Eurotrip 08: Day 12

2008-07-31T02:40:00.001+01:00

4.40 - Morning, can't sleep much, more because I'm not in the mood rather than the conditions. I've just now thought of a great potential application for a phone - an alarm that goes off based on location to wake sleeping travellers. I've discovered this trip that my phone tells me exactly where I am in the local network, in some cities as precise as to which street. At the moment it reads 'okolice Goric', so it's also safe to say we're in Poland by now, as Hungary and Slovakia doesn't find a network with my SIM card from experience. But yes, an alarm that triggers when in a certain area would be a very interesting idea, probably only possible with the openness of Google's Android, their upcoming phone operating system. Possible other uses being reminders, eg "next time I'm near a corner shop, remind me to get some milk" or even security: "If the phone leaves area Y, lock down all keys and alert the authorities unless a password is successfully entered."

Eurotrip 08: 11 - Literature

2008-07-30T19:57:00.000+01:00

21.57 - Ok! On our way :) Although I fear we were too quick to jump on board, we're pretty much stuck in a 'normal' cabin rather than a sleeper. At least we have it to ourselves, and it's spacious enough really for all of us to lie down, if one of us (muggins 'ere) goes on the floor. Apart from our final destination, we really know nothing of what's going on; our fellow travelling Canadians are in another carriage, and we never left the platform at our connecting station, so we don't know what time we'll arrive. We were due at 6ish in the morning before the plans were changed, and I can't imagine it'd take much longer than originally planned, less than an hour's worth of travelling maybe. Anyway, it'll be cool, the loot from Budapest includes food and The Karamazov Brothers as mentioned previously! We found an Oxford Uni Press shop selling learning English books and a couple of bookshelves of classics, so entertainment once again is covered nicely. Ttfn kids, sleep well :)

Eurotrip 08: Day 11

2008-07-30T18:45:00.000+01:00

20.45 - Currently on a train to... Somewhere. But I'll get to that in a sec.

It rained today! Thank God. Another day in 40+ degrees and things would be getting pretty stress for me and my deodorant which is already straining a bit. And I don't mind wearing my awesome hoodie to stay dry one bit :) Spent the day out staying our welcome in coffee shops and buying loot and running beneath the awnings trying to save our loots. Trying to dry and to dry and to dry, but no good. But no matter :)
When we got to the crowded railway station, we... Kept our shoes on and sat down and had a coke and watched the board (which I love now, the flippy ones with departures and arrivals details). Only problem was our train wasn't up there, and it should've been. There wasn't even anything for the same time. We get a little worried, and Jacob and Liam run off to ask someone what's going on, while I'm left babysitting bags and slipping coke slowly and not playing chess :( Didn't even play once, but aw well. Turns out, after finding a couple of English groups also going to Krakow that our train isn't even arriving or something. So, we're all on this local train now, and the ticket collecting lady has just told us the details of the connections we need to get to get to Krakow... We're lucky there is so many of us in exactly the same situation, especially as some of them speak German decently enough to know what's happening. So yeah! Should be getting out in about 15 mins now, will blog again when we're safe and sound on route to Poland. We're all in good spirits despite it all, so don't worry :)

Eurotrip 08: 10 - Con

2008-07-29T19:40:00.000+01:00

21.40 - OK, the ONLY bad thing about Szimpla: the toilets were a bit gross. And the locks didn't work on the cubicles, and haven't for a while according to the door graffiti. Even so though, it's covered in stickers (!) which is cool. And Liam says they're great, so prob just me and my confined clean Jersey mind :)

Eurotrip 08: 10 - Szimply amazing

2008-07-29T18:20:00.001+01:00

20.20 - Sorry, our food arrived :) I'll fill you in on what's been happening:

Largely Unremarkable morning in Bratislava yesterday, the other two bought more clothes and we sat in the shade and I ate bananas.
Train was delayed by 20 minutes, which was a bit gay, especially as we were about an hour early. But it was cool in the station, lots of interesting people to watch, including a Lara Croft lookalike and some embarrassingly short shorts...

Train was quick as expected once it got going, although I was separated from the others in a hot cabin for a bit, but had good old pokemon to entertain :)

Here in Budapest, we wandered about to find a cash machine, then wandered about to find the underground, then wandered about several times to find a hostel. Lots of people were willing to point us to places, which made a good first impression, although other locals (usually shopkeepers) have spoilt that a bit now. We finally settled on Aboriginal Hostel, in a twin room with some top-and-tailingness. Despite this, I still feel really fortunate that we came here - it's made our city experience so far. The guy running it is really friendly and refreshingly English, and the rooms are a decent size, even if they're built for two. The prices aren't too bad either. Would recommend!

On the suggestion of a fellow guest (possibly?) we did yet more wandering, to find a specific place to entertain ourselves. Unlike in Bratislava, we were successful and believe me when I say it PAYED OFF. Szimpla has basically no advertising outside, and is located in down several side streets, and is silent from the outside. It really is a local gem. Inside, it is insanely cool. It's basically a whole block hollowed out and overlooking an old courtyard, which some awesome themed rooms - one is full of graffiti, another has monitors and other crazy stuff fixed to the walls, displaying a first person view of an acid trip; think a hundred colourful screensavers all interflowing into each other. And there were baths to sit in. And table football! Please, check out some photos! I wish I could've captured the music too, that really set the mood for the place. It was kind of chilled out, stimulating instrumentals, foreign language or completely alternatively styled cover versions, and other mixes using classic samples. I definitely heard Ghostbusters in there somewhere :) The DJ must've been a genius, to match the songs with the atmosphere, and to keep it coming without compromising quality. We agreed unanimously; it was the best club/bar we've even been in. Again, would recommend Szimpla to anyone going to Budapest :)

And today: lazily looking around the city, did the Basillica and the palace, and the usual touristy bridge with stalls and street performers, which entertained sufficiently cheaply. We also booked our ticket to Krakow for tomorrow night; our first night train! We have our own cabin to ourselves, so that should be awesome! :) While waiting for the number that matched our ticket to come up (it was *that* busy), I spotted 3 old chaps with chess boards set, ready to play unsuspecting tourists and win a few hundred Korona. I was REALLY tempted - I've brought a set myself, but Jacob is the only one who plays and he hasn't shared my enthusiasm thus far, so have been getting the chess itch a bit. If we've time and I have currency to use up before our train tomorrow night, I am so playing a game or two. They're probably WAY above my level, what with being about 3 times older than me and playing on familiar ground, but I'd like to think I'd put up a good fight - I watched one guy play, and he slammed the pieces down to intimidate the poor American facing him, and I was watching his moves and seeing that the dramatics were way over the top - I wouldn't be fooled. I'm well looking forward to it now actually, even if I lose I can say I've played, and it's the best way to improve your game and techniques, as well as sampling first hand a potentially new style that hasn't been tested before against your usual methods.

Eurotrip 08: Day 10

2008-07-29T12:40:00.001+01:00

14.40 - We're hungry in Hungry.

Eurotrip 08: 9 - Wandering

2008-07-28T11:30:00.001+01:00

13.30 - Another first last night - going to a cocktail bar with a girl dancing on a pedastal and pole. Not stripping obviously, we haven't good anywhere NEAR that seedy, but it was still a bit 'woah, this is just like in films'. Nothing else to note about last night really, was a bit rubbish - spent too much time looking for a particular place we'd seen info for in the hostal, before giving up and finding ourselves too far away from anywhere else of interest. So yeah, going out it Bratislava lived down to the lack of hype really :)

Eurotrip 08: Day 9

2008-07-28T10:40:00.001+01:00

12.40 - still boiling outside. I hope it's raining at home :) and it's a train day! Just a relatively short journey this time, so shouldn't be too bad, and we already have food and water for consumption on board.
Bought some shorts yesterday! I know, revolutionary :P I'm wearing them now. The other guys bought more, tshirts and trousers etc, probably spent as much as the accommodation, but I've been a little more... conservative? and is £3 really a reasonable price for underwear?? I thought it was too much personally, for such small material, but maybe I'm just not used to it, I'm not exactly an expert at buying clothes.

Eurotrip 08: Day 8

2008-07-27T12:20:00.001+01:00

14.20 - OK, turns out Budapest is the new Prague, so hold that thought for a bit longer :)
It is HOT here in Bratislava. 35 degrees at about 1.30! We've been wandering about the city mainly, going in completely the wrong direction for a bit (Lyle's Holiday Mistake #23), and got some shopping in and drank plenty of coke. Still have about 1300 SKK left, so about 40 quid, so will prob buy something before we leave the city, hopefully a compass! I'm really feeling the need for one for my navigation. Else, I'll just find a needle and a cork and make a floating one, Sayid-style :) That could be fun.
PS: I finished the book, I just cba right now to talk about it much, as good as it is.

Lazy

2008-07-26T15:24:00.002+01:00

Holy Blog Of Doom, Batman! I just opened mine eyes, and lo! I have not updated this since Hammertime was in the charts... You would not believe my anguish at my misdoings. Seriously!

I am so busy with an awfully big adventure, selling my soul to Google, just generally being an embarrassment to society in general, my day often feels wasted from lunchtime to well after sun-down. I am not growing up. But who cares.

I will try to remember I promised you I will write something that makes sense soon. You have my word! What do you mean you don't believe me?

// VERY LATEST THING || Although, I do have Eurotrip filler coming out of my ears :) \\

Eurotrip 08: Day 7

2008-07-26T07:30:00.001+01:00

9.30 - Just getting breakfast this morning, while it's free and substantial, something especially important on travel days I've found.
It's def time to move on from Prague - we've had a good idea of what it's all about by now, seen the crisp touristy center and the creamy fudge of cheap bars further out. Apparently 'Bratislava is the new Prague'... Well, I'll let you know :)

Eurotrip 08: 6 - Together

2008-07-25T22:00:00.001+01:00

00.00 - I've just remembered something in my absent wallet that's worth mentioning. It's half an admission's ticket for something, possibly the for the Odean, and whenever I see it or hold it I'm overcome with sentimentality, like something from a happy event or times. I wish I could remember what it's for, but it must have been too long ago. I suspect it'll be a first date or something... What's also got me thinking about old beaus is all the couples we see on the metro's, standing close, holding hands and looking into each other, leaning in to whisper... There's usually at least one per journey. There's also something labelled as 'kiss and ride' on the maps, and I cannot for the life of me work out wtf that means! Is it some kind of snogmobile? They're all away from the city centre (like a normal 'park and ride') so we've never actually travelled through one... Shall ask a local about it tomorrow.

Eurotrip 08: 6 - Quiet

2008-07-25T18:55:00.000+01:00

20.55 - Really quiet day today! The only time we left the hostel was to get tea, pretty much the only thing we've eaten all day, coming to a grand total of a few hundred crowns each. Atm, I'm quietly waiting to see if anyone'll play me at chess... I guess our last two nights in Prague have balanced.

Eurotrip 08: Day 6

2008-07-25T12:30:00.000+01:00

14.30 - Yeeah... We made a proper night of it last night :) Tried a good 4 or 5 cocktails in one place, and still had only spent about a tenner each...! And they were all lovely, although that might well be my tastebuds being knackered. I jumped off the bandwagon at the long island iced tea's, which was a wise move in the end - that's what tipped the others over the edge a bit. I'm so dumb too, I managed to loose my wallet at some point between leaving the last bar and getting into bed - I suspect it's in the taxi, that's where I would've fished for it in my pockets in among everything else I had acquired... Including some business cards for the MD of a property management company?? I remember the guy I think, but not getting the cards! Anyway yes, re: my lost wallet, the taxi place has put a radio out in case anyone finds it, and I've canceled the debit card just in case. I'll ring Mum in a sec and get her to transfer £600 (should be enough for the rest of the trip) into Jacob's account and I'll live off that. As disasters go, this is a very manageable one :) I *almost* got a bit stressed before, when the front desk wouldn't let me borrow their phone and the payphone down the road didn't want to play nicely and I had to go up and down 5 floors of stairs far too frequently and the sim cards in our phones weren't being friendly.... Almost :)

Eurotrip 08: 5 - People

2008-07-24T16:20:00.002+01:00

18.20 - Have sorted out the money now, thank god. I about have 2000 CZK out now which is about £80, not sure if I'll need any more although we're all getting a better feel of how much each note is worth. We're meeting so many lovely people! Last night there was Nicholas the Swede, stopping over here for a day on his way to Vienna for a dancing festival - didn't mention which style - I reckon he just meant usual rave or whatever, but J thinks more traditional ballet, and it could be either tbh. He was transparently shocked when we told him that there were just areas of London where you *do not go*, which isn't an unusual reaction coming from the Europe we've seen so far - yes there are the homeless and beggars, but they're more dirty than they are threatening. Many here actually have themselves sprawled down on all fours with hands out stretched, heads down, which is a little strange to walk past, but I guess that's exactly what they want you to feel so you do something about it. Anyway, yeah, I don't expect Nichola's Stockholm is any different.
Another nice person was a pretty 23yo yoga instructor in the train ticket queue this morning, who we talked to for a good half hour. She (we didn't ask her name! Should have... I'll call her Vancouver) was born in Prague, but moved to Berlin when the wall came down. At 3 she went to Vancouver, Canada, and must have grown up there because she spoke flawless English, with the usual mannerisms and accent you hear on MTV. She also spoke fluent Czech, which seemed to impress the locals behind us in the line who had been listening in to our conversation when it came to Vancouver's turn. She recommended several places to czech out (oh, the lolz!), including a 5 story club with a different music genre on each floor, which we hope to go to tonight! Also, a gallery (she's a photography buff) showcasing work by Salvador Dali which I hope we go and see tomorrow or something, the name rings some sort of bell that carries some significance, although I'm not totally sure where from... Possible Lucy M? From the way Vancouver described it it sounds like her sorta thing :)
On that note, I've been reminded today to read The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Dostoevsky, seeing all the books with Russian looking words being read on the metro. He's famous for his writing's, Liam's just informed me of the story of another of his books called The Double. But yeah, this book has "everything there was to know about life" in there according to the mental patient in the book I'm reading for the trip, Slaughterhouse Five. I could also talk about this for yet another half hour, but I'll save that for when I've finished, which won't be long now I expect. It's probably suitable entertainment to finish and review it on route to Bratislava in a couple of days. I am very much enjoying it so far, for both it's subtle details and for the overall premise and the writing style it creates, which will become a big part of the review probably :)

Eurotrip 08: 4 - Money

2008-07-23T22:55:00.003+01:00

0.55 - In our room, just opposite the train station on one of 3 underground lines that run through the city; several levels of simplicity better than Paris and Berlin. Money is a bit strange tonight, what with paying literally thousands of korona each for our room, and not quite having enough between us. And I've only been able to withdraw 400 CHK (~£13) due to my funds being available from the 8th - tomorrow - but technically right now. I owe Liam 1000 for my share of the room, and J 400 for the train pass and food. Thank god breakfast is included, and everything else seems to be reasonable priced.

Eurotrip 08: 4 - En route

2008-07-23T19:00:00.001+01:00

21.00 - Soon to be arriving in Prague! Turns out I didn't buy anything else major back in Berlin apart from a vial of absinthe, just because of it's legalness :) All the places we looked were grossly overpriced, and was def more the other two's 'style' than my own, but I didn't mind looking :) Turns out Czech is a lot harder than German... One word, 'prosim', can mean please, sorry (but only as in 'pardon'), or as half of 'excuse me'...

Eurotrip 08: Day 4

2008-07-23T10:00:00.003+01:00

12:00 - I'm on my own atm! But this time the splitting up was voluntarily - we went to the 'Fuckfashion' shop this morn, and I was so happy to buy 2 t shirts I didn't stop to check the sizes... Long story short, I've swapped an extra large Reservoir Dogs shirt for a blue medium Clockwork Orange one, so no major loss, apart from the €5 fee for being a dumb :) The other is a small Asteroids one, which should fit fiiine, and tbh even if it doesn't, I know plenty of people I could regift it to :) My time away also has the benefit (risk?) of forcing J and L to work together, because the complete fiasco that was last night meant Liam was giving J a bit of the cold shoulder? It was stressful because just after I finished the last post we discovered the train we wanted to catch for the last hop of our journey was done for the night, resulting in about half an hour of flapping around, finding alternatives, asking people that looked like they wouldn't stab us where to go, etc. In the end we gave up and succumbed to a taxi. But, all should be well betwix them now hopefully. :) More shopping to follow.

Eurotrip 08: 3 - Night

2008-07-22T22:55:00.003+01:00

00:55 - Interesting evening! We 'may' have eaten in a gay bar by ACCIDENT, it's up for debate; it was called Fellas, was full of men, had low lighting and the waitress had a knowing smile everytime she served us... :/ but no matter. Jacob says "on the plus side, the men WERE very attractive; 8/10"
Then we traveled hard to a beer garden called Golgatha, scarily through a dark park... Probably wasn't as good as the guidebook made it out to be, but it is Sunday evening I guess. Currently on the long tube 'home', and I'm sure I'll sleep well with all the walking and orienteering :)

Eurotrip 08: Day 3

2008-07-22T18:00:00.000+01:00

20:00 - Hello! I'm pleased to say it's actually difficult finding time to write posts, such is the busyness of our days :) Today we've basically been doing Berlin, got a good feel for it's vibe and seeing what there is to see - their parliament building, the Brandenburg gate, a tall TV broadcasting needle building (which we didn't go up - it was steep in more ways than one), and a nice manor garden. Quite cheap day! Have only really bought an underground train day pass, coffee and proper German hot dogs/a beer :) All that coming to about €25, while yesterday was €100 what with paying for our (excellent) room and train reservations for halfway across the continent. Last night we spotted an AWESOME t shirt shop about 3 mins down our road, in which I expect I'll use up most of the rest of the Euros tomorrow when it opens :) Atm, I'm waiting for J to finish with the pen so I can write a postcard back to the folks, and then we're out to experience the local bars around our district. My feet hurt too, prob too tight socks. Liam was brave enough to do everything sandaled, which I doubt he'll try again so readily... This is basically just random, not very interesting details, which is a perfect the to stop writing. Ah, postcard time now anyways.

Eurotrip 08: Day 2

2008-07-21T21:30:00.002+01:00

23.30 - Eventful day!! The first proper holiday day :) Last night we were seriously stressing out about travel, the bad train guy basically said there were no trains AT ALL leaving for the next few days due to some French holiday filling all the seats. Also, there was a scary drugged up twitchy guy just in front of us in the line who we had to keep half an eye on... So we went out, had a pizza and drinks, bitched a bit about customer service here and called it a night in a cheapy hotel near the station. First thing this morn; straight down the ticket office to see what could be done about... Anything really. We were prepared to ignore our passes and pay full fair to get even NEAR the German border, but luckily an awesome train man got us several connecting lines (via Brussels - Bonus country! J got chocolates).
The trains were sufficiently more fun today, now we have a plan for the near future :) Cards and Nintendo DS and Sudoku and more doing crash courses in German, which amused our fellow travelers I suspect :) Only other notable things to mention is Liam going to the loo when we SHOULD have been disembarking, and as a result stowed away (!!) to the next stop. But he survived, negotiated and 'made friends with Norwegian couples'-ed his way back to meet us from where we parted :) He's very social like that :) Oh, and also Germans are way cooler than the French :) and have a more fun language to speak. Auf Wiedersen.

Eurotrip 08: 1 - Plans

2008-07-20T14:55:00.002+01:00

16.55 - Nearly in Caen, discussing what we're gonna do in Berlin - Vas ist das!? Current must visits: the Brandenburg gate and the absinthe shop! (the guide says they have over 60 brands) We had a nice time in a bar at lunch in 'DDB'. Liam probably hasn't brought enough entertainment stuff, and is learning a little German/Czech, which will undoubtedly come in useful when we get there *eventually.*

Eurotrip 08: Day 1

2008-07-20T11:00:00.003+01:00

13:00 - We begin! Currently on the train to Dol de Bretagne, which we're all very excited about, apparently it's party central for northern France! [rolls eyes] We had to change our initial plans on the TGV to Paris because it was 'incompatible' with our passes... This does mess up our plans slightly, because we miss the Berlin train at 7 by about 30 minutes, so we'll hostel up en Paris and then make our way to Germany in the morning. Hopefully I won't have to ring the accomidation in Berlin to reschedule the room for tomorrow night, we'll see when we get to Paris...

Fatten the calfs Mom,

2008-07-20T10:59:00.000+01:00

Your eldest son returns having squandered all the money! And Lyle's Retroactive Europe Adventure will commence as soon as I fix the Bluetooth connection betwix the phone and compy. Sit tight!

Coming Up

2008-07-02T16:15:00.000+01:00

Ok boys and girls, just a note about what's coming up over the next month and a bit. In this strange time of transition towards being a 'proper' student, it's been decided that a couple of other Old Boys (wow) and I are off adventuring around Eastern Europe! :)

We leave on Friday, return the 19th, and will be using trains and the wonderful InterRail global passes to make our way around. The itinerary includes Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Krakow and Budapest. Naturally, I'm going to document the times had, but there are multiple methods possible. I'm going to avoid blogging live as I go, simply because I'm not sure if WAP (and thus making facebook notes) is free over there, and barring that the alternative is using public access terminals, which may cost, won't necessarily be regularly accessible, is a bit antisocial and is also potentially a security risk to my online accounts. Thus! I'll be writing blog posts into my phone, saving them as .txt docs, then when I'm home I'll upload them to the PC by the magics of Bluetooth, and then online.

In fact, I'm going to have some fun here; Uploading them all in one big mess might get it out the way for me, but makes it harder and bothersome for you readers to slog through. Thus! I'll post my entries in 'real time', just with a time delay - the 20th July will correspond to day 1, the 21st July to day 2, etc. Basically, Retroactive blogging! Should be an interesting experience, and all that's needed in the field is battery power, memory and time.

// VERY LATEST THING || Adventuring! Liam, the red mage, Jacob, the gunblader, Lyle, the airship pilot. \\

Spam folder

2008-07-02T16:05:00.001+01:00

Best euphemisms used to sell their products that totally exist and work as stated:

'love pistol'
'love wand'
'the kangaroo pounder'
'masculine muscle'
'weapon used to make love'
'little soldier'
'rooster of pleasure'
'man meat'
'strong royal python'

All the allusions to animals is a little disturbing...

And the the best overall wording awards goes to:

"Put some hot chocolate on your body and you will be real tasty"
"See Batdude and Throbin get it on as they fight crime and sex together"

W.T.F.

// VERY LATEST THING || Brawl's cool. Shame about the wait though :/ \\

Clearing out old draft posts, found this:

2008-07-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

In my opinion, THE best thing about the Lostpedia is venturing onto the '/theories' tab of articles, and the oncoming absurdity. Example:

Theory: The coffin Jack visits in the flashforward in Through the Looking Glass contains Vincent. DISCUSS.

- The casket contains Vincent.
- Vincent is small enough to fit into the short casket.
- Pets that survive tragedies are often propelled to celebrity status, hence his death making it into the newspaper.
COUNTER: If this were true, why was the funeral in such a run down neighborhood, and why did nobody attend?
- Vincent is neither a friend nor family of Jack.
COUNTER: The Funeral Director would not have asked "Friend or Family" if it were Vincent.
- Kate asking "Why would I go to the funeral?" highlights the absurdity of having a funeral for a dog.
- Indeed a man did die as the newspaper clipping shows. He was killed in the same event as Vincent. The appearance of Vincent is often a bad omen.
COUNTER: Why would they put a dog in a coffin if nobody was coming to the funeral anyway?? Besides, Walt would have come, unless he died also.

2008-06-23T16:50:00.002+01:00

OMFG! That was awesome :D I just received a text message and an email SIMULTANEOUSLY, and because they both have the same Zelda "Da na na naaaaaa" jingle, they were completely in sync with each other :D I'm gonna have to work out the odds for that happening, it's gotta be way over a thousand to one.

// VERY LATEST THING || I keep getting a guilty niggling at the back of my head telling me I should do some homework or something :) \\

Time to do what I want now :D

2008-06-20T20:55:00.005+01:00

Results of the quick, impartial, personal experiment:

Water from the control tap tastes sharper, and more refreshing.
Water from the test tap tastes overall cleaner, and sort of has a nice friendly 'fhwip' at the end.

In conclusion, water with light reflecting inside it of a wavelength related to it's temperature is not only awesome to look at, but also tasty :)

// VERY LATEST THING || I have a feeling this is gonna get on the nerves of both my friends complaining that I'm being too geeky, and the XKCD-style amusement scientist: "Only 2 options and no repeats!?" \\

Bruce's Philosophers Song

2008-06-20T17:39:00.003+01:00

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.

David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya
'Bout the raising of the wrist.
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed.

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.

Plato, they say, could stick it away--
Half a crate of whisky every day.

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle.
Hobbes was fond of his dram,

And René Descartes was a drunken fart.
'I drink, therefore I am.'

Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker,
But a bugger when he's pissed.

// VERY LATEST THING || Gaydar failure. \\

Wordle

2008-06-16T10:01:00.004+01:00

is a nice java applet that generates a word cloud from some input text. Here I've put in my entire blog to date - click for a higher resolution:

Wordle

Interestingly enough, if I don't omit common words, you get this. Go 'the' go!

// VERY LATEST THING || Nearly there boys, just a few more now \\

As it turns out the eye patch is A-OK

2008-06-10T20:21:00.004+01:00

I really want to see this guy, at one of these.

This post brought to you by PTAUSE (People That Are Unhelpful to Search Engines)

// VERY LATEST THING || My favorite formula out of all of these would be.... λ = h/mv \\

Linkage

2008-06-06T16:05:00.002+01:00

i am neurotic is interesting! People have such interesting little quirks. And yes, I have contributed my own :)

// VERY LATEST THING || Spontaneous Phys revision! Faraday's Law: induced emf = rate of change of flux linkage through a coil \\

Haiku for me, haiku for you.

2008-05-29T11:48:00.003+01:00

Can't sleep ==> Write Lost Haikus to benefit the online community! That's how my brain works.

I'll move the island.
But those guards look pretty strong...
Need zombie Eko.

So Jack's my brother!
I guess boring flashbacks are
Hereditary.

Jack's sweet. Sawyer's hot.
In situations like this:
Have your cake AND eat!

I just want to die.
Nothing I do can fix this.
We have to go back.

I used to have dreams...
I think you're looking for me?
I ALWAYS have plans.

Don't bleed to death Jack.
Leave me here with the redhead.
Cat fight on the beach?

Moreover, bonus poems based on film posters from my room:

Why is it 'heavy'?
Gravitational Problem?
Great Scott, future boy.

Red pill or blue pill?
Then, welcome to the real world.
No, you can't rechoose.

// VERY LATEST THING || Hmm... unfounded optimism re: the exams? Should really play it safe. \\

Post #168

2008-05-28T00:26:00.002+01:00

Tonight was interesting. Went to see my mum sing in her choir with a brass band, which was entertaining. But that was only a third of the interesting things to talk to you about tonight.

In front of me, I could hear them play and sing a pleasing variety of styles, and a surprising amount of film music by John Williams, which was cool because that included Harry Potter and Saving Private Ryan. I could see the synchronised feet tapping and page turning. I remembered what it was like to be next to my Mum in church when I was a kid, me singing as best I could, before getting distracted by someone or thing below our balcony, messing up a couple of words and having to look back at the OHP. My mum always sounded like the best voice in the church :) It was so nice just listening to her, going at it with such a passion of which I knew the source but couldn't understand. She sometimes went higher on the very last note of the hymns too, and still does whenever we sing happy birthday, which I love :) It makes me want to go to church with her again, to cherish the experience again before uni. I suppose this would be one of the things in my inch, by the way, for those interested.

To my left is my Dad, who I'm more similar to than sometimes I give credit to. What made me aware of this particularly tonight was him looking at me and telling me to check my mirror :) Every so often he'd look at me, and I'd snap my head to the top-left, as if to see what traffic was doing behind me, as if we were driving. And the beautiful thing is all we had to go by for this joke was the order in which we were sitting! Yet I knew exactly what that strange little mind was thinking of, simply because my mind is just a slightly stranger, littler version of his :)

To my right are my grandparents, married for 60+ years, holding hands and enjoying the performance. My Mum always says they make a great team, Nanny doing much of the talking and helping Granddad get up and take medication, who himself manages the remembering of things and driving, and even at over 85 has a brilliantly sharp sense of humour, despite it's slow delivery. And to be honest, they're an inspiration! 75% of their existence has been spent in each others company, through countless birthdays and celebrations, new fads and fashions, and only a entire world war. You don't have to listen to them for long to understand about just how different it was back when they were first falling in love. (As a side note, it's exciting from a scientists point of view; if so much technology can be invented in one lifetime, I can't WAIT to see what's available by the time I'm retire. Moore's Law FTW! I wonder if I'll still be blogging...) So yeah, they're a real inspiration to find someone I can operate with as a single unit through old age with, and what's more, have FUN while we do it, because they clearly are having a ball :)

// VERY LATEST THING || My new, much needed, wallpaper \\

Writing online about why geeks make better boyfriends is like posting letters to the blind:

2008-05-21T21:14:00.005+01:00

No matter what you write, you're addressing the wrong people.

See Artifacts A and B.

// VERY LATEST THING || I finished that Sudoku from the core 4 comprehension today :P Screw the warning! \\

This Is Not A Game

2008-05-21T20:41:00.004+01:00

Sometimes, I feel like I'm playing a grassroots ARG. Each new development continues the story on a bit more, fleshes out a character or two... and occasionally I can talk with the character and do something to change a particular story arc... But really the plots already been written. There's an end point, and there's nothing I can do or say to alter that outcome - the puppetmasters have been clever not to give us too much interaction.

I still enjoy it though, even if it's mostly lurking. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, there's always a puzzle to solve, and I'll be playing right up until the finale. I just wish there was someone else playing with me... Cos if ever I get to a puzzle I can't solve, the blur between what's real and what's in-game gets less fuzzy, and things just aren't as fun after that.

How to write an easy blog post in 4 easy steps:

2008-05-19T17:10:00.009+01:00

STEP 1: Find a blog meme used elsewhere.
STEP 2: Continue the meme yourself.
STEP 3: ??????
STEP 4: PROFIT! *

Thus I present to you: Songs that Remind Me of People and Why.

Anything by Lighthouse Family is Matt, simply because he frequently whacks them on using his flashy ipod controls when I'm getting a lift. And Through the Fire and the Flames sometimes, also this because of the Guitar Hero III link :)

I have a whole fricking playlist of Freddie-songs, mostly Queen and her own work, so I won't exhaust you with the list, but particularly Breakthru and Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (Oh, so NOW you get it! Well done :P). Lots of good memories, and manages to capture a bit of her spirit IMO :)

Ruby Tuesday - originally by the Stones, but I prefer a version by Franco Battiato - I always think of Lucy. She's the personification of the girl in my mind, for the independence and freedom of expression she possesses. Plus, WAY back in the day, we saw Children of Men (one of my favorites), and it was only her and I that thought it was so good. Ruby Tuesday is on the soundtrack.

I like to associate Muse's Invincible with Katy. It's got the sort of lyrics that would make you feel safe and secure and confident, and I like the thought of her listening to it and feeling awesome for being the awesome person she is :)

Ha! I'm the Only Gay Eskimo and Fuck Her Gently is Rory :D Another 'back in the day' one, I have fond memories in the Glory Days of the Grinders of him playing and singing these on an acoustic guitar to me with slightly misshapen lyrics that made it creepy and funny in equal quantities :) when he was being more serious, he'd play The Skies Above on Emma's piano... Perfectly :)

Chasing Cars is Rebecca. There was a really sweet, almost cheesily romantic time, when we lay on a trampoline and looked at the stars... Hence, If I lay here... etc. Since then, her and the song are forever linked.

Jonathan Coulton is AWESOME. That Spells DNA is Jacob. Simply because he's so good at Biology, and the song is surprisingly scientifically accurate :P

Elvis - Hound Dog - Mini. Battle of the Bands 2006 (?). Two pretty awfully played songs (sorry guys :P). Then out of nowhere, Hound Dog, miles better than before. Best song of the set :)

Interesting how there's no Regina songs in here... I guess the song picks itself in this sort of situation.

* This is using a meme about a meme - Ohh, how very meta!

// VERY LATEST THING || I'm gonna miss DLS. \\

Sudden thought

2008-05-17T15:56:00.004+01:00

If those red/blue glasses can make 2D images look 3D, could they also be used backwards to make a real 3D object appear 2 dimensional?

I'm serious. If you could only see one side of this object with the left 'red' eye and another with the right which is 'blue', couldn't they have coloured surfaces that when you overlap them the thing looks flat? ...You might have to hold it REALLY close to your face.... Hmm.

Actually, maybe you can't. I think I'm getting horizontal differences in vision mixed up with depth, because when you adjust the depth perception of your eyes, it does it for both of them simultaneously...

Nevermind. But at least this post lets you see my torrent of consciousness :P

My Week

2008-05-17T15:54:00.002+01:00

Inspired by.

// VERY LATEST THING || I should get up. \\

2008-05-11T15:13:00.003+01:00

EPIC.

This is great!

2008-05-06T22:43:00.005+01:00

So many people are blogging these days!

(OK, some more than others. Go you recent updaters, go!) Quite a little network is building up in my RSS reader :)

// VERY LATEST THING || I think I got away with it guys... \\

Noxious Ideas

Let's start creating content again!

Visualisation Assignment Idea

I've been quiet recently, but aware and watching

Bah ba baahhh baaaahhh

My Work for This Morning:

Look Out For: Alice in Wonderland in 2010

Current Trends

Palindromic Hello World?

Album cover

Reason to be excited about University #057

Tw-insight

Throwing disc shaped objects

A List for your Leisure

Cool News

Me Right Now

Quotes that show the age of this book about computer networks:

Blog Particip.............ation!

Useful for 'evil bidding'? HHMMM?

"How can it be the Bible when it's got Angelina Jolie in it?"

That's right ladies and gentlemen:

Good times

Truest Face-stalked conversation of the day:

Da Na Na Naaaaaaa!

Awesome Things About Being At Uni

This is where I live.

Most awesome thing I've learned today:

Here I am

INTJ's FTW!

Hit and miss

Observation:

Did you know

A Dream or Two

Conversations, the best kind:

The Holiday

Reading Time with Pickle

Are Hew All Raht Ma Lover Eh?

U FOOL U ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!!11!

The Fresh Prince - THE LOST VERSES

Happy happy :)

He'll grow out of it

Awesomer and awesomer and awesomer and awesomer

Kapow! Whack! Angst!

Science in moderation

Eurotrip 08: 16 - Slaughterhouse Five

Eurotrip 08: Day 16

Eurotrip 08: Day 15

Eurotrip 08: 14 - Night Train

Anything tagged 'geekgasm' is OK by me.

Plusgood

Eurotrip 08: Day 14

Eurotrip 08: Day 13

Eurotrip 08: Day 12

Eurotrip 08: 11 - Literature

Eurotrip 08: Day 11

Eurotrip 08: 10 - Con

Eurotrip 08: 10 - Szimply amazing

Eurotrip 08: Day 10

Eurotrip 08: 9 - Wandering

Eurotrip 08: Day 9

Eurotrip 08: Day 8

Lazy

Eurotrip 08: Day 7

Eurotrip 08: 6 - Together

Eurotrip 08: 6 - Quiet

Eurotrip 08: Day 6

Eurotrip 08: 5 - People

Eurotrip 08: 4 - Money

Eurotrip 08: 4 - En route

Eurotrip 08: Day 4

Eurotrip 08: 3 - Night

Eurotrip 08: Day 3

Eurotrip 08: Day 2

Eurotrip 08: 1 - Plans

Eurotrip 08: Day 1

Fatten the calfs Mom,

Coming Up

Spam folder

Clearing out old draft posts, found this:

Time to do what *I* want now :D

Time to do what I want now :D