About These Entries
You are reading Weblog Wannabe archived entries from the month of March 2005, written by Firda Beka.
The next archived entries are from April 2005 and the previous archived entries are from February 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 2005-03-31 (2)
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Click the “Game” button on the left for the quiz. I’m a Scottish Terrier, a one-person dog. Sounds like me all right. :)
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“People could one day extend their lifespan by up to 30 years by taking a pill, a scientist has claimed.” That’s easy.
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And they call this news? Well, I guess the fact that they actually admit that they’re being slow is indeed news. Yes, I am bitter.
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Apparently, Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been called ‘the Japanese Richard Gere’. Can you see the resemblance?
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It’s a funny web comic which obviously is a parody of Alien vs. Predator. Thought the boy might enjoy it.
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It’s full of ASCII goodness. I’m not really a Beck fan but the boy is and that’s the only reason I’m blogging this. That, and the ASCII bit.
links for 2005-03-29 (1)
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A magnitude 8.7 quake shook Indonesia’s west coast, killing hundreds of people and spreading panic that another devastating tsunami was on the way.
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A 3m wave smashed into the Indonesian island of Simeulue, off the coast of Sumatra, causing extensive damage shortly after the earthquake.
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A list of the 12 strongest quakes since 1905. The Boxing Day quake is sitting at #4 and the recent quake at #7.
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New requests for international funding will not be needed after the latest quake as the December’s tsunami disaster was well-funded.
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A very relaxing game of eye/hand coordination. You’re actually playing music as you play the game. I could only make it to level 7.
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I’m a SECF (Sober Emotional Constructive Follower) which makes me a Hippie. Um, okay. Could be worse.
links for 2005-03-22 (3)
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“Researchers in Italy have found that eating chocolate could have an effect on blood pressure and control diabetes.” I knew it!
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British soul singer Joss Stone to replace Sarah Jessica Parker in Gap summer advertising campaign. About time.
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Bananas naturally divide into three perfect wedges. After watching the video, the boy picked up a banana to prove it, and it’s true!
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Enter a website address and watch it being bombarded with meteors, among other things. Fun for the whole family!
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Try to solve “the hardest riddle available on the internet”. I’m currently stuck at level 3. I suck.
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We still haven’t had any luck in finding a kitchen scale that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. This calculator has been a great help to me.
Last Day of Winter (0)
Last Saturday was, in theory, the last day of Winter. I was blindfolded and forced by the boy to pick a spot on the map of Southwestern Ontario to determine where we were going that day and my finger fell on the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. (It didn’t really happen that way but imagine how cool it would be if it did!)
The park was located near the town of Erin. We had lunch just outsite Erin and then made a stop in downtown Erin to check out a couple of bookstores and bought some chocolatey goodness before hitting the road again. There wasn’t really any sign on the main road leading to the park, so naturally, we got lost. We ended up in Belfountain Conservation Area, which would be an okayish place to get lost in if only it wasn’t wintertime.
To cut a long story short, we finally made it to the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park, and once again, it would be a great place to explore if only it wasn’t wintertime. There is supposed to be at least a river and a lake there, but we couldn’t see where the river or the lake was because most of the ground was covered with snow! We didn’t walk very far into the park because it was so windy and so freezing cold. I really can’t wait to go back there in Summer.
On our way back, we made a stop in a small antique shop in Alton, where I took some mirror photos, before heading towards home. We had supper in a Vietnamese restaurant in Guelph and didn’t leave the city until we checked out every single Blockbusters and Rogers Videos we could find.
When we got home, the apartment felt so insanely warm, which isn’t unusual. We changed into our jammies and spent the night watching Maria Full of Grace and Elephant — both are depressing movies — and went to bed after Saturday Night Live where Ashton Kutcher was hosting and his girlfriend Demi Moore showed up as an old lady.
Fin.
links for 2005-03-21 (0)
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A new study debunks the effectiveness of virginiy pledges as those who make the pledge are less likely to use condoms and seek treatment for STDs.
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If you’re not happy with your bust size, you might want to give it a try. As for me, I’m happy enough with chewing Dentyne.
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AFP claims that Google has used its headlines, news summaries and photographs without permission. Am I the only one thinking that AFP should’ve made their stuff “uncrawlable”?
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Poor turtle. I hope the whole publicity stunt won’t freak him out. I’m sure there are tonnes of turtles out there whose shells look similar to that.
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I’m no good at colour mixing so naturally my left brain won every time. My best score was 11 for left and 9 for right. Can you do better?
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Take this quiz to find out how good is your knowledge on dining etiquette throughout the world. I only got 6 out of 11 correct.
links for 2005-03-17 (11)
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Before he got famous for his children’s books, Dr. Seuss made short military-training cartoons for American soldiers and disturbing World War II propaganda films.
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Apparently, their “New Orleans” flavor roast chicken wings and chicken burgers products contains an industrial dye linked to cancer.
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If I had this adapter, I think I would do better in online games. I don’t have shaky fingers but I often do unintended multiple clicking, which this mouse adapter is able to filter out.
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If you play or used to play Nintendo 8-bit games, you might want be interested in this quiz. I wouldn’t even bother to try.(categories: videogames quizzes)
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I scored 64 in Indonesia and 103 in Canada. Big difference, eh? I might have answered some questions differently, though.
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I’m still struggling to get the damn monkey to the other side. Frustrating game, but I just can’t stop!
links for 2005-03-16 (0)
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I want this for my birthday. No, really. Even when it’s broken you can still use it as a cowboy hat.
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I wish I knew 14 people who’d be silly enough to work together to re-enact this flash animation.(categories: flash animations)
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No, it’s not Jim Morrison’s band. It’s a point and click puzzle game. If you like that kind of games, you’ll enjoy this. The ending is kind of lame, though.
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This one is just too weird to pass. I can understand the wife freaking out, though. I would if I were her.
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This game is brought to you by the same folks who brought you the Telescope Game (remember?). I’m currently stuck at level 6. Can’t see the goal there. Hmm.
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There are more overweight males living in Finland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Malta than in the United States.
If We Were in the Amazing Race… (1)
Troy and I have been coming up with lines to use on us in the scenes from the next episode of the Amazing Race if we were one of the teams participating in it.
- Troy and Firda get lost. “Where are we?” “Um, somewhere in the Amazon?”
- Troy and Firda can’t remember where they parked the car. “I’m pretty sure I parked the car here.” “Well, if you did, it must’ve been going for a ride by itself somewhere.”
- Troy hurts his wrist while Firda sprains her ankle. “My wrist is killing me…” *splat* “My ankle! I think I broke my ankle!!!”
- Troy and Firda get lost. Again. “Is this the turn?” “I don’t know. It’s not on the map.”
- Troy and Firda lose the clue. “Do you have the clue with you?” “I thought you had it with you!”
- Firda has a nervous breakdown while Troy is getting frustrated. “I can’t go on anymore! *cries*” “Stop it! You were the one who begged me to join!”
- Troy and Firda lose their backpacks. “Um, Troy. I think we left our backpacks in the cab.” “Oh, dammit. The cab’s gone!”
- Troy and Firda can’t decide which one of them to eat a dozen raw fish. “I don’t like fish. You do.” “Well, I do like fish, but not raw.”
- Firda enjoys a bowl of cow brain, intestine, and tripe dish in Indonesia while other team members are throwing up. “Man, this is so good! I want more! I missed Indonesian food.” “I’m so proud of you, baby!”
- Troy and Firda get lost, for the third time in the race. “Where’s the damn clue? We have passed the palace a dozen times already.” “Did you know that Monaco is the second smallest country in the world?”
I could go on and on but, well, you get the idea. Some couples just are not meant to be in the Amazing Race. But if we were, I think our label would be the dorky “Blogging Couple”.
links for 2005-03-15 (1)
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So if you want to live longer, move up to the mountains! I really wish I could, simply because I love the mountains. Maybe someday.
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How about you? I don’t drink alcohol so I can’t tell you. My preferred poisons are lemonade and apple cider. Yummy!
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I really hope they’re right. It would be nice to know that my university degree actually has some use to it.
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Make your own Dirkon paper camera. These cameras are popular in the 1970s in Communist Czechoslovakia.
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A brief selection, with songlyrics and mp3 files. I didn’t know that “There She Goes” and “Perfect Day” were all about heroin.
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It’s one of the few games that I managed to play until the last level. Shoot like crazy and you’ll do just fine.
And The Winner Is… Not Me! (7)
Every year (or at least since the Bloggies™ started being awarded during the SxSW), before the results of the Bloggies™ were out, I always got an email from Nikolai, asking me whom I’d like to receive the award for me if I won and what I’d like the award recipient to say on my behalf. I always wondered if he asked all the finalists those questions or only the winners. Now I know that he only asked the winners because he didn’t ask me any of those questions this year and, as expected, I didn’t win any Bloggies™.
I knew I had no chance in the Lifetime Achievement category since I’m nothing compared to the other finalists, and that the only chance I got to win the Best Asian Weblog category was if all Indonesian webloggers voted for me. Unfortunately, as I’m very well aware of, most Indonesian webloggers don’t even know I exist. If there was a category for the Least Known Bloggie Finalist in His/Her Country of Origin, I’d probably win that category every year. :) Also, I wasn’t being a very good weblogger all last year since I didn’t blog as much as I used to. But winning a Bloggie is not a big deal to me. At least not anymore. After all, the best thing that could happen to you for owning a weblog has happened to me: I met the love of my life! What could be better than that? ;)
Anyway, cliché as it may sound, it was an honour just to be nominated, especially in the Lifetime Achievement category (I’m still amazed!). Thank you to everyone who voted for me. You’re just too kind. Last but not least, congratulations to all the winners, and best of luck in winning more Bloggies™ in the coming years!
links for 2005-03-11 (2)
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I wish they’d mentioned how to get the said tunes out of your head. They probably haven’t found out about it yet.
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If stars are born with no more than 150 times the Sun’s mass then imagine how small the Sun is compared to other stars. But then again, the Sun is already about 5 billion years old. It’s probably lost a lot of its original mass already.
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“Nintendo released fresh details about its upcoming games console, codenamed Revolution, at a game developers conference.”(categories: videogames news)
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“The three robot teams are now trying to work out what went wrong.” Hehe. I wish I could give those robots a try.
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Use your mouse to move the stick figure away from the avalanche, but be sure to hit the red dots for extra points. I can’t seem to score higher than B-.
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It doesn’t get psycho until you get to level 2. I just can’t pass level 2. My brain doesn’t work that way.
links for 2005-03-10 (1)
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Some information about ducks I just would rather not know. It puts ducks in a completely different light. TMI, as some kids would say.
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Probably the best movie trailer I’ve ever seen. A movie trailer on movie trailers. Brilliant.
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Morrison looks so young and dorky in the 1964 black-and-white public relations film, shot at Florida State University.
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Get the MP3 of Ted Leo doing a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone”. It’s awesome!
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Build the blocks according to the blueprint. To move a block, click on a block and then click the space where you want it to be. Very addictive!
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Follow the bull with your mouse as closely as possible and you’ll do just fine. Well, at least you would if you could see the cursor. My highest score is 18,040.
links for 2005-03-09 (0)
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Why go to the gym when you can watch a comedy flick at home. It’s strange that they picked “Kingpin” as the funny movie to use in the research. I don’t remember that movie being laugh-out-loud funny.
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Friday the 13th sequel, that is. Though I’m more interested in the part about him being scheduled to direct the season finale of CSI.
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Those living in the southern hemisphere will be able to get a better view of the eclipse than those living in the northern hemisphere. Unfortunately.
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I think it’s a clever marketing trick to use Napoleon Dynamite to promote Robots. I saw Robots trailer a while ago and it looked interesting.
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Speaking of robots, visit this site and see if you can draw a robot by arranging letters. I made one yesterday. It looked weird but fun to make anyway.
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It took me a couple of hours to figure out this game, but it only took the boy less than an hour. Can you figure it out at all?(categories: javascript games)
Cold/Flu Season? (3)
I was just wondering, how many of you are down with something (cold/flu) right now? I know for a fact that the boy is one. He’s been sick since last weekend. It’s mostly a coughing cold and for the last couple of days, he’s been sounding like Barry White when he talks. I already had a pretty bad one early last month, complete with a two-day fever. I hope I won’t catch another from the boy. That would really suck. And I hope taking Echinacea and vitamin C would be enough to strengthen my immune system.
Speaking of coughs, am I the only one who thinks that Buckley’s tastes better than Robitussin? I like how Buckley’s doesn’t leave any taste in my mouth. Robitussin’s cherry flavour is just yucky! Anyway, both cough medicines didn’t really work all that great in my case. But then again, we’re talking about placebo effect here. I guess my expectations of the medicines were not high enough.
links for 2005-03-08 (0)
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Free high resolution digital stock photographs and reference images for either corporate or public use. Why didn’t I find out about this site earlier?
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Mine is Twinkie, and Fried Fruit Pie is not one of those I should marry. Oh well. A least the boy is not a Bridge Mix.
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Kip Dynamite’s homepage. Well, it might be a spoof but still it’s kind of funny. I just love Napoleon Dynamite.(categories: movies characters)
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If you’re into Lego, Star Wars, and videogames, this game is for you. I wonder if you get to build stuff in it.
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Another Movable Type 3.x plugin to reduce comment spam by ensuring that every comment has some level of human input. Will have to give it a try.(categories: movabletype plugins)
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It’s another one of those simple and addictive yet frustrating games. I’m currently stuck at level 7 and the background music is beginning to get to me.
links for 2005-03-07 (0)
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From Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg and a former Canadian foreign minister.
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Ever seen a refrigerator or a washing machine being shredded with a shredder? No? Well, this is your chance.
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A study shows that if a man has a ring finger that’s longer than his fourth finger, he is prone to be physically aggressive toward others.
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I’m sure I’ve blogged this a long, long time ago but it’s still funny. Hence worth a reblogging. Diabolus fecit, ut id facerem!
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Play curling, but instead of using a rock, you use a puppy. Fun stuff. And I won! Maybe I should join the boy’s curling team. Heh.
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My answers suggest I’m an Idealist (Spontaneous, Ideas, Hearts, Introvert). Not that I didn’t know it already.(categories: personality quizzes)
Blahness Post
You know, I really wish my life was as simple as it was 15 odd years ago. All I did was go to university and back home, five days a week and just lazying around on weekends. Nothing to worry about. I should’ve been worrying about grades, but I wasn’t. I never did have to study hard. I couldn’t be bothered with note-taking. Yet I graduated with a degree earlier than most of my peers. Man, university was so easy.
Yes, I really wish I was still in university and my mother was still alive. Life was so much easier then. Hell, I just wish my mother was still alive.
links for 2005-03-04 (4)
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Be sure to watch the video. It’s weird and funny. I wonder if it’s really John Cleese starring in it.
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I don’t know if this is really the best way to promote Burger King hamburger in Germany. It’s just too American!
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They’re building free software to allow anyone to search for and discover new planets, classify stars and learn new facts about known stars! How cool is that?
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“A mystery object near the centre of our galaxy is sending out powerful pulses of radio waves. It is unlike any known source.” Are aliens trying to contact us?
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I just spent more time than I care to admit playing this game only to end up at Round 7 with 40,500. Could’ve done better.
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You may have to wait for a couple of minutes for your turn to play but it’s well worth the wait. Catch stuff being thrown at you and throw it to the waste basket. I’m still trying to figure out how to throw stuff into the basket.
Sarah Slean Live at Starlight (1)
(Sarah Slean at Starlight Club, originally uploaded by firda.)
A couple of nights ago, a bunch of us went to see Sarah Slean live at the Starlight Club here in Waterloo. I only knew a couple of songs by Sarah Slean — not by heart — and the prospect of being in a room full of people going crazy over seeing their favourite artist performing live on stage kind of freaked me out (social anxiety disorder in effect) so I wasn’t really looking forward to going.
To coax myself into going, I tried to look at it from another point of view. I tried to look at it as a chance to do something I’d never done before: taking pictures of an artist performing live on stage. Thought it would be fun. So I went, took a lot of pictures (most of which are blurry and grainy, as you can see from the collage), and actually enjoyed the music.
Anyway, in order to get into the club, other than having a ticket, you had to show a photo ID. I didn’t have my passport handy and the only other photo ID I had was this ID card issued by the local government of the place I lived back in Indonesia. It was a poorly laminated piece of paper with a really bad, grimacing picture of me on it. I was worried the guy wouldn’t let me in, but I guess I was worrying for no reason. The guy was actually thrilled to se my ID card. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said. “I wouldn’t even try to figure out what it says. It’s awesome!” And he let me in. That guy really made my night. Even better, we got ourselves one of the front tables for coming in early!
Another person who made my night was Jorane (collage), a French-Canadian singer/songwriter who was opening for Sarah Slean. She was awesome. She sounds kind of like Tori Amos with a French accent and a cello. She kept smiling during her performance and I just couldn’t help but smiling back at her. I had to say that I enjoyed her performance better than I did Sarah Slean’s. I guess I appreciate singer/songwriters who perform without a band better.
Oh, and the crowd wasn’t half as scary as I’d expected them to be. In fact, they were so tame that the bouncer looked like he was about to die of boredom anytime soon. And that was the story of my very first clubbing experience. The end.
links for 2005-03-02 (3)
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It is just a concept, but still it would be interesting if someday everyone had a cloak of invisibility a la Harry Potter.
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Don’t sing “Happy Birthday” in public. It’s a copyright infringement. Boo. Note to the boy: Don’t sing me that song on my birthday.
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Rare tracks by Jens Lekman. I wouldn’t have heard of him if not for the boy. I like his songs. They’re funny.
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Apparently, I’m “Advanced”. I scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 66% Expert. Booyah!
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Not many things are cooler than Nintendo origami. Make your own Paper Mario! And speaking of Mario, I’m getting better at Mario Kart. Just thought I’d let you know.
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Collect all the gems by guiding the ball with the mirrors. Change the angle of the mirrors by clicking on them. Fun game, but I still can’t pass level 6. Frustrating!
The Piano Player (7)
(The Piano Player, originally uploaded by firda.)
This is my entry for this week’s Illustration Friday: Jazz (click to enlarge). I’ve never been good at drawing living creatures, or anything for that matter, and that’s my excuse for the piano player not looking very proportional. I just hope that he looks jazzy enough. And man, do I miss playing piano. My parents bought me a piano when I was in Grade 3. I took piano lessons for 7 years. I think I was the piano teacher’s least favourite pupil. I didn’t have a very good hand-eye coordination. Still don’t. But I liked to play. Anyway, my father sold my piano last year. He didn’t even ask me if it was okay. It was a sad day.
Read all entries from February 2005 →