About These Entries
You are reading Weblog Wannabe archived entries from the month of February 2005, written by Firda Beka.
The next archived entries are from March 2005 and the previous archived entries are from January 2005. Most recent entries can be found on the main page.
Site Credits
This weblog is powered by Movable Type. The entries are mostly the results of tireless web browsing with my best buddy, Mozilla Firefox. Site design is copyrighted by Firda Beka. That's me, not you.
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links for 2005-02-28 (0)
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Five out of the eleven (soon to be twelve since we’ve just got “Maria Full of Grace” on DVD) Oscar-nominated movies I’ve seen are on the list. Not bad, I guess.
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And she picked up the award herself! She’s such a good sport. And can you guess who won two Razzies for Fahrenheit 9/11? Hint: It’s not Michael Moore.
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If you live in the Western hemisphere, sign up to be one the 600,000,000 participants of the World Jump Day who will jump together at the same time in order to drive Planet Earth out of its current orbital rotation.
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The boy uses landmarks to find his way around, just like women do, and I know for sure he’s not gay. As for me, I like reading maps. Does that mean I navigate like men?
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The photos were taken by the French army. They’re pretty amazing. Remind me of the movie “A Very Long Engagement”.
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I’m stuck at level 3. The scarecrow is so hard to hit! But maybe my aiming is just bad. Either way, I’ll keep trying.
Snow T-Rex (4)
(Close-Up III, originally uploaded by firda.)
I finally got around to making my very first snow, um, creature, with a little (a lot of?) help from the boy, in the frontyard of the boy’s parents place last Saturday. We weren’t planning on making a snow T-Rex, but once we put the head up, it just looked like a dinosaur to me so we decided to just call it a T-Rex. We used Pepsi bottle caps for the eyes. That’s how T-Rex got his blue eyes. Some dramatic (or rather, overly dramatised) scenes involving the fierce snow T-Rex can be found in this photoset. Enjoy!
links for 2005-02-24 (5)
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If you received an email from the FBI’s Internet Fraud Complaint Center, don’t open the attachment. It’s a virus.
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I’ve never heard of any of these myths, but I find the myth about Marilyn Manson starring in ‘The Wonder Years’ kind of amusing.
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Last night was the full snow moon. I took some pictures without a tripod. Needless to say, they turned up blurry.
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I have to admit that I have no clue on which game any of these screenshots comes from. The boy might do well, though. He’s a gaming geek.
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This game might seem lame in the beginning, but as you go deeper into the tunnel, it’s getting harder and harder. I didn’t do very well. I think my highest score was 824.
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A quiz to try to tell the difference between the prose of a great writer and a commercial writer. I surprisingly scored 100%.(categories: literature quizzes)
Straight Outta Compton (1)
I don’t know if any of you has ever heard of the song Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. It’s a rap song. Not being a fan of rap music, I’ve never heard of that song until I came across Nina Gordon’s website. She has her own version of the song, and it’s definitely not rap. The lyrics of the song contains strong language, but the way Nina sang it makes you not mind the strong language at all. Anyway, while surfing around today I found the original video of Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (which was banned by MTV) but with Nina Gordon singing the song in the background. It seems weird, but somehow it works.
While you’re here, be sure to check out Nina Gordon’s rendition of Skid Row’s 18 and Life. It’s awesome! I never really liked the original version, but I love Nina’s version. Also check out the video of the Irish boyband Westlife’s Uptown Girl (originally sung by Billy Joel) but with the punk cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes singing in the background. It’s amusing to say the least.
links for 2005-02-23 (3)
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And he did it in order to get hired as a consultant by the online community site he attacked. Smart move? Not quite.
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A flash movie about some guy going crazy after getting blocked by some girl on IM. I’m glad the boy never blocked me in the 3-4 years we chatted online even though I did get all psycho on him sometimes.(categories: flash animations)
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Katamari Damacy is one of the silliest games I’ve ever seen the boy play, but dammit, I want that blue Katamari hat!
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A movie done in a comic book style. Looks interesting, but Keanu Reeves is in it and the boy won’t see any movie with Keanu Reeves in it. Hrm.
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A very cool online flash tool that enables you to draw with type/letters and then submit your drawing to the gallery. Will have to try this when I’m bored.
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Vote for your favourite flash animation, or just check out the 20 finalists. I would vote for #4, simply because the song keeps getting stuck in my head from time to time.(categories: flash animations)
We’re Open, But We’re Not! (4)
I’ve been seeing a lot of businesses here with a neon sign saying open when they’re really not. I wonder if it’s a Canadian thing. Either way, it’s slowly becoming one of my pet peeves.
And speaking of unisex beauty salons, the boy and I had a haircut together a couple of days ago at one of those First Choice Haircutters places. Oh the horror! It’s just that the girl who was giving me a haircut looked kind of nervous and she kept telling me, “It’s just hair, right? It’ll grow back.” How would you feel if you were in my situation? Would you get as worried as much as I did all through the ordeal? Worst still, I had to take off my glasses when she started cutting so I couldn’t see whether she was screwing up or not (I’m blind as a bat without my glasses). Was the haircut a total failure? You decide. No wonder the boy called me “Crazy Hair” this morning before he left for work. It looks a lot more boring now that I’ve combed it.
Oh, and the boy thinks I should post a link to my Illustration Friday entry here, so there you go. I’m such a wannabe. I could never be an illustrator for real. And be sure to check out the boy’s entry as well. It’s so heartbreaking.
links for 2005-02-22 (2)
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Now you know what to do if you’re not so satisfied with your sex life. Just eat more chocolate. Easy, eh?
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A Blogger account is no longer required to leave comments on Blogger-powered blogs (setting change required). Good news for comment spammers?
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Make your own bitmap font with this free online font editor. Give it a try. It could be fun. Or frustrating. Either way.
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This Shockwave 3D kaleidoscope is pretty fun to watch. It’s like whatever in it is trying to get you.(categories: shockwave kaleidoscopes)
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I like Tetris a lot. I really do. But this javascript Tetris really needs to be a little more challenging.
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Take this quiz to find out how good your British slang vocabulary is. I only got 5 out of 10 correct, and I pretty much guessed on all of them.
The Obligatory 5th Blogiversary Post (15)
I started blogging today 5 years ago. I didn’t have my own domain then. My weblog was hosted at freespeech.org (about the only free host with no ads I could find back then) and was powered by Blogger, which was the only free blogging tool available at that time (but on second thought, there was Pitas, but Blogger was cooler anyway). Jordan and Nikolai were among the first blogging friends I made. We might not be in touch as much as we used to, but hey, at least we still acknowledge each other’s existence.
I’ve been asked why I blogged in English instead of in my own native language, Bahasa Indonesia. The first reason is because I liked English language and I knew my English wasn’t too shabby so why not blogged in English. The second reason is, if I blogged in Bahasa Indonesia five years ago, I wouldn’t have any readers other than myself. I was about the only Indonesian weblogger I knew. Now I’m sure there are thousands of Indonesian webloggers out there. Will I start blogging in my own language? Well, I did make an attempt. I’m just not very good at updating it. In fact, I haven’t updated it since I started it. Maybe I’ll start updating it again soon. Maybe. If anyone would read it, that is.
Anyway, I spent part of today at the Waterloo Park with the man that I love whom I wouldn’t have met if not for my weblog. It was fun and I took a lot of pictures (warning: too much cuteness) while we were there. It was also snowing and so freezing cold, but it was worth it. I had a good day.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading this weblog faithfully over the years. Without you, I would’ve stopped blogging a long time ago. I enjoy blogging when I know that I have an audience. That’s why I like getting comments. :) And now I’d better post this entry because in less than 10 minutes, my blogiversary will be over!
links for 2005-02-20 (0)
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I thought being left-handed was really cool, until I read about all the disadvantages of being one. If you’re left-handed, please be careful!
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I wish something like this would happen to me. No one ever made a scrapbook devoted entirely to me and especially no one from the future.
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Select a trick from the drop-down menu and watch the flea doing the trick under the magnifying glass. It’s oddly entertaining.
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I would blog this news only for the title. Luckily, there is more to it than just the amusing title.
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It should be easy if you have good short-term memory. Unfortunately, my brain doesn’t come with such memory.
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Test your Oscar knowledge. I only got 4 out of 10 correct. But then again, I never really paid attention to the Oscars.
Curling Thursday (1)
Since I know you guys are dying to hear about how my curling-watching night went, here’s the scoop. First of all, I’m sure curling is an exciting sport to play and all, but it’s not really the most exciting thing in the world to watch. The amusing brush-the-ice thing can only keep you entertained for so long. In my case, it kept me amused for no more than 15 minutes. I spent the next 75 minutes trying to keep myself entertained by taking random pictures of people having fun sliding around, sweeping stones and brushing the ice. And they boy’s team didn’t even win!
Towards the end of the game, I was bored enough to try to chat up an elderly man sitting near me. It was either my question was too dumb (“Do you usually play here?”) or he didn’t hear me (the boy always says I need to speak up) but I was cheerfully ignored. My guess is it was the former because later I found out that he’s actually part of one of the teams playing for the local league. Oops. There's more inside →
links for 2005-02-18 (1)
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“Birmingham [UK] was found to have the highest number of men who fall asleep after sex.” The last two paragraphs are the kick.
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An article on the Bloggies and other weblog awards in the Online Journalism Review. Even my silly Award-O-Matic got a mention.
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“Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?” She’s maintaining her Canadian citizenship, of course.(categories: citizenship news)
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“Scientists at Stanford University have confirmed what Vlad Dracul knew all along: a refreshing dose of young blood can put the spring back into your step.”
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I scored 84% in the reflective and complex dimension, which means I tend to be open to new experiences, creative, intellectual, and enjoy trying new things. Do I?
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A new take on an old game. Well, it’s probably not new anymore. Still it’s interesting that it was created to promote a university, which is a serious institution.
Curling As A Sport (16)
The boy thinks that my weblog readers like me better when I’m blogging from Indonesia because now that I’m blogging from Canada, I get considerably less comments to my weblog posts. I wonder if it’s true. Hrm.
Speaking of the boy, I’m going to watch him curl tonight. No, not curl as in curling his hair (he doesn’t look good with curly hair). Curl, as in sports. Probably the dorkiest sport game I’ve ever known. Even the boy doesn’t think I would find it very exciting. He suggests me to bring a book and a lot of snack in case I get bored. I’m going to take a lot of pictures of the boy in action for sure, especially when he’s doing the highly amusing mop-the-floor brush-the-ice thing. Fun stuff.
And now I’m going to play some virtual curling to get in the mood for the game tonight. Trust me, the real thing is much dorkier than that.
links for 2005-02-17 (0)
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Am I the only one who finds this rather scary? But then again, both Madonna and The Darkness scare me for some reasons. The latter scares me more than the former.
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Filed under “videogames are evil”. No, scratch that. Make it “videogame addiction is evil”.
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This is better than the real thing. Not that the real thing is any good. Well, you know what I mean.
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I had fun trying to guess the title of the better-known songs. I didn’t do very well after the first one, though.
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Hrm, I’ll have to remember that here in Canada, men usually wait for women to offer their hands in a handshake. I didn’t know that.(categories: etiquette traditions)
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Float the ball to the exit (the swirley box) using the arrow keys. Cool yet frustrating game. I’m stuck at level
411.
The Flight of Three Feathers (3)
(The Flight of Three Feathers, originally uploaded by firda.)
I participated in the Illustration Friday for the first time yesterday. I wasn’t going to blog about it because my entry was really crappy and made with Photoshop to boot, but the boy (whose entry is much more interesting than mine) thought I should, so there you go. Let me know what you think about it. I kind of regret not saving the original, high-resolution version because I thought it didn’t worth it but oh well. I can always replicate the process easily if I want to.
links for 2005-02-15 (0)
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Compared to all the lives the tsunamis had taken, I wouldn’t call these relics priceless. Still it’s a somewhat fascinating news.
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“Twenty people who articulate the longings of the last 100 years, exemplifying courage, selflessness, exuberance, superhuman ability and amazing grace.”
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It’s the Great Gonzo’s Ridiculously Dangerous and Downright Foolish Stunt Game! Need I say more?
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Someone should put up a gallery of Canadian food. Just put anything on a bun and you can call it Canadian!
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Here’s some news for you, guys: you don’t need to look macho to be found attractive by women! Shock! Horror!
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Get your complete name analysis only by answering 5 questions. They got everything about my name wrong, except for the motto: “A bird in the eye is excruciatingly painful.”
Heart-shaped Chocolate Day (0)
(Happy Valentine’s Day, originally uploaded by firda.)
I wasn’t expecting to get anything for Valentine’s Day from the boy because, really, we already say “I love you” and show our love to each other every day, but look what I got! A lot of presents and a really sweet card! I feel so loved. I’m a lucky girl. :)
links for 2005-02-12 (0)
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My reactions are as fast as a bobbing bobcat. It also says that I need to have some coffee. Mmm, coffee. I don’t drink coffee.
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I love “Can You Find It?”, both the song and the video. “QU” is pretty cute, too. I wonder if the boy would buy the CD. *wink, wink* Yay, he will!
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A great way to explore photos in Flickr by colour. Came across a lot of wonderful shots through it.
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There’s something therapeutic about watching the life cycle of the mushrooms. My mushrooms last for 400 something generations.
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For those of you who have a gazillion Gmail invites to share but not enough friends to give them away.
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I’m going to take this quiz as soon as my headache subsides. Must. Eat. Somehing. Toast? Most probably. Okay, my medieval personality type is Melancholic. You?(categories: personality quizzes)
Burning Hot Feed (0)
I had been tinkering with my RSS feeds for, like, ever but I just couldn’t be satisfied with the results. I’ve finally found something that does exactly what I need: FeedBurner. It’s a one-feed-for-all type thing. No more headaches about feed formats and newsreader compatibility. In addition, FeedBurner enables me to keep track of the number of people who read my weblog through newsreaders. I’ve always wondered about it. It can’t be that many, but still I’m curious. I’m hoping to find out about it soon. I’m so excited!
Anyway, this is my FeedBurner feed. If you’re already subscribed to my old feed (any format), you should get redirected to it automagically. If that doesn’t happen, I would really appreciate it if you’d update the URL accordingly manually. Thanks, and let me know if you encounter any problem with my feed.
links for 2005-02-11 (1)
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People scare me sometimes. They really do. I can see the Swedes shaking their heads in disbelief.
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Remove all balls of the same colour by lining them up against each other in any direction. I’m currently stuck at level 13.
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Have you ever had blogging dreams? I have. I’ve even had CSS dreams. Those were the best. That’s how I got my design inspirations. Really.
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I was just wondering about it yesterday while watching the boy play Halo. Thought it would make a very boring movie. But then again, I’m not a gamer.
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A magazine article from 1961. It’s pretty prophetic, though a bit too optimistic. I don’t think many people have visited the moon and beyond, and we’re already in 2,005AD.
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Apparently, I think like a male and a female. It all depends on the situation, really. Whichever is more advantageous.
Del.icio.us to Movable Type (1)
I’ve been getting questions about how I integrated my del.icio.us links into my weblog. It’s really quite simple. I would write down every step here but after having a fever for two days, my brain is kind of wonky and I don’t really feel like writing something that’s already been written somewhere else so I’ll just direct you to these posts by Kevin Wen and Kristine which I’m sure will help you with your del.icio.us integration. If you have any question, feel free to post it in the comment and I’ll try to answer, as long as your question is not too heavy for my wonky brain.
links for 2005-02-10 (3)
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Check out my crappy painting or paint your own. I think anyone can do better than me.
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Enter a URL and see how the plant grows. My URL doesn’t make a very nice-looking plant, sadly. (Site currently down; check back later.)
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Can anyone figure out this game for me? I’m not really sure what I should bomb or why I should bomb anything.
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I don’t really like Toronto but I wouldn’t say I hate it. I’d probably like it better if I liked to shop but alas, I’d rather go hiking in the middle of nowhere than shop.
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I hope they don’t say that just to make us feel better about boiling the poor thing alive.
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I got 8/10 correct. I’ve always loved geography. And I wish I’d visited any of the places mentioned in the questions.
Cough Medicine Recommendations (6)
I know it may sound silly, but since this cold I’ve been having since Sunday has developed into a nasty coughing cold accompanied by annoying nasal congestions, I’m taking recommendations for non-prescription cough medicines that actually work for you and are available in North American drugstores, preferably Canadian ones. There are so many brands out there and they all claim to be the best and I just don’t know which one to pick.
FYI, I know that cough medicine is not very effective but I just need something to lighten the symptoms a little bit and make this cold I’m having somewhat bearable. I’d really appreciate your help.
links for 2005-02-09 (3)
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Determine if your left or right brain hemisphere is dominant. I’m definitely a right brainer.
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Apparently, being a right brainer is a good thing these days. That makes me feel better.
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I’m posting this mostly for the boy’s reference. It’s kind of funny, though.
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A website that helps you create a PDF file which can be printed and folded to create a paper CD case. Cool stuff.
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I don’t think I want to spend 31536000 seconds of my life watching people doing mundane things in a room.
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If you have good hand-eye coordination (unlike yours truly), you’ll do fine in this game.
Misery Loves Company (0)
I’m miserable when I’m sick. I really am. I’ve been sick since Sunday. It’s just a cold but my body doesn’t take cold virus too lightly. It just has to make me feel like dying. The worst part of it is I’ll more than likely be stuck with the damn virus for at least two weeks. You don’t recover very quickly when you have diabetic tendencies.
Anyway, we didn’t get to make a snowman last weekend because the boy had a cold, but we made it to the monthly book sale in Dunnville on Saturday. I got to pick up some supposedly expensive, seriously nerdy computer books (New Riders and McGraw-Hill/Osborne publications) for 2 dollars each, which made my day. And then we went back to the boy’s parents place and made some Risolles (both meat and vegetarian versions) to bring to the birthday party of one of the boy’s friends that night. The party was fun. We got to hang out with three very cute little kids who really liked balloons.
We received a lot of compliments for the Risolles we made which was said to be a big hit during the party. A friend of the boy — who used to be a chef — even ordered a couple dozens of them. Not sure when we’ll be able to deliver the order, though. Who said I couldn’t cook? Oh wait. I think it was me.
On Sunday, we went to this store in Simcoe that was having a closing/everything-must-go sale and I picked up a couple of t-shirts, one of which cost only 4 dollars. If anything, last weekend was all about good deals (I was going to say that it was all about getting sick since everyone seemed to be down with a cold, but I digress).
And now, back to feeling miserable.
links for 2005-02-08 (4)
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The boy and I spent more time than we’d care to admit trying to solve all these puzzles. We did make it to the end, but not without a lot of struggles.
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Cool game. Try not to hit the red squares and red circles and you’ll be fine. It’s not really that easy, though.
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Canada-based video game company is looking for a wide variety of people to use as face models for game characters. Interested?
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A headache-inducing version of Google. Not affiliated with Google.
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Can you guess the name of the video game from the audio clip? The boy got 15 out of 18 correct. What a nerd.
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“Bigger babies seem to have a greater risk of developing certain cancers as adults, a new study finds.” Were you a big baby?
Just a Reminder (2)
Today (February 3) is the last day for you to vote for your favourite weblogs in the Fifth Annual Weblog Awards a.k.a. The Bloggies™. Voting will close tonight at 10:00 PM EST. I would say vote for me, but I know that in your hearts of heart you already want to. ;)
Sadly, there’s still no prizes for the winner of the Best Asian Weblog, whoever it will be. And I didn’t see the note about the Webby Awards offering Bloggie™ finalists free entry into the Webbys’ Blog category until today when the registration has been closed for 6 days. Bummer. Not that I have any chance to win, but still, it worth 195 USD! Sigh. Oh well…
links for 2005-02-03 (1)
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Guess the movies these frames come from. I only answered 2 correctly. But then again, I only did it quickly.
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Scientist has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that will allow robots to feel lusty and could eventually lead to them reproducing.
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“You are metafilter.com. You’re involved in the community. You like to share with your friends. You’re into omphaloskepsis. You like pancakes and the color blue.” Um, okay.
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I already stopped watching Star Trek when Star Trek: The Next Generation came to an end.
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The only Valentine’s Day card I ever got (from guess who!) is an “I Choo Choo Choose You” card. I didn’t know it was from the Simpsons.
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It’s kind of like Bejewelled. Probably as addicting and a little more interesting.
Here Comes the Monkey! (1)
(Sock Monkey, originally uploaded by firda.)
This is the sock monkey I’ve been working on these last couple of days (and the reason I haven’t been posting any weblog entries until the afternoon). It’s not done yet but it will soon. You can insert stuff into Ms. Monkey’s hands and move the black eye pupils to whichever position you like (she’s having crossed-eyes in the picture). I really can’t wait to finish it so I could move on to the next project: a sock cat. Isn’t my life exciting?
Anyway, weblog entries will be rare and few here (if any) until Monday because the boy and I will be heading out of town this evening to the boy’s parents place. We’ll be staying there until Sunday with a limited internet access. I hope you’ll all have a fantastic weekend. Do something with the snow before it completely melts! I know we will. We’re going to make a snowman! Look forward to the pictures.
links for 2005-02-02 (2)
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Both the boy and I got Kip Dynamite. Probably because we met online. Still it’s kind of disturbing if you know Kip.
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The reason why some moments become lasting recollections while others just evaporate.
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If you have to watch it tonight, playing this game might make it more interesting.
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Learn how to shuffle a deck of cards with only one hand in 21 easy steps. Impress your friends. Or something.
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Playing this game is pretty much like playing 5-pin bowling to me: I could never throw it straight!
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An illustrated guide for my own reference because I’m a sewing dummy. Sorry if it doesn’t interest you.
Get Crafty (2)
So the boy and I have decided to go all crafty. We’re planning to participate in this month’s A Month of Softies. I bought a bunch of crafty stuff from the dollar store yesterday and later, after the boy came back from work, we went to Michaels — an arts and crafts store a.k.a. the most confusing store on earth — to buy things we’d need that I couldn’t find at the dollar store.
I really can’t remember the last time I sew so I thought I’d try my hand at making a sock monkey this morning as a warm-up. I thought it would be easy, but it’s not. It’s not overly hard, either. I guess I just have to try to get myself into the sewing of things (I’m so punny!) and it will all become so much easier.
I’ll be sure to post a picture whenever we come up with anything. Since we have equally weird sense of humour, don’t expect to see anything normal coming from us. Something similar to these Ugly Dolls is more likely. Well, I’d better go back to my sock monkey project. Later!
links for 2005-02-01 (2)
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I don’t think I want my Firefox to look like Internet Explorer, but to each his own and all that stuff.
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A gallery of odd and off-kilter street signs. User contributions are encouraged.
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We might have to check this site before our next visit to the Asian food market.
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Instructions for making a sock monkey toy. It looks easy. I should try to make one.
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I think the boy blogged about this game ages ago but I just found it again. My best spanking record: 253 miles per hour.
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I did much better in this quiz than in yesterday’s math quiz. 11 out of 11 correct. I rock!
Kitchen for Chicken? (0)
(Kitchen for Chicken?, originally uploaded by firda.)
And why Comic Sans? Because they can? Anyway, that thing in the picture is from a KFC in Simcoe. We had to wait for 25 minutes to get our order that Sunday night (Sunday night is probably KFC night for the people of Simcoe) so we decided to go to a supermarket to do a bit of grocery shopping to kill the time. As we were walking there, a man walked pass us while mumbling, “Is s/he good-looking?” (as I’m not really sure if he said she or he and I didn’t really feel like stopping the man and ask him about it) and I was like “Guh?” and the boy was like “I don’t know what it’s all about.” So I decided that he was one of those people who like to talk on the cellphone using the hands-free device while walking around. Either that or he was just one of those Simcoe’s crazies. Those are the only explanations I could think of.
Read all entries from January 2005 →