Experiences

Before and after, part 2

After loading all I own in this world onto the mover’s truck, he drove off while I took a train (there just wasn’t enough space left in the truck for me to go along).  As a result I got there a little earlier than he did, and I took the time to snap a few shots of my new place – before the deluge of boxes and miscellany inundated it.  See below. 🙂

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Fast forward one hour later, and this was how it looked.

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And yes, I’m still going through and cleaning/organizing/unpacking everything.  Happily, at least half of of the boxes have been unpacked.  Of the remaining boxes/stuff, at least 2/3 of it consists of books that I don’t have shelves for yet.  The final 1/3 is lots of little random items and assorted paperwork that I really need to organize…

Humor

The Backstroke of the West

According to the blurb on YouTube, the reason for these horrible subtitles are because it was translated to Chinese and then back again into English.  I have no idea why… but the results are hilarious! 😀

Kind of reminds me of the pirated VCD’s we used to get in Indonesia – those often had numerous typos and the occasional “what-were-they-trying-to-say” sentences, but this particular one does take the cake. 🙂

Humor

Going through the old stuff

While packing, I discovered this old laptop:

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I have NO idea where I got it from or why I had it…

Running Windows 98 with a hard drive less than 1GB, and a whopping 48MB of RAM… by today’s standards, completely obsolete.  But it works fine!  Bootup and shutdown are snappy (heck, faster than my current Vista system) and the hardware all worked perfectly.

I’m hanging on to it still actually… if only for nostalgia. 😉

P.S. And that last picture is of a hard drive I had as well – one with a  humongous 500MB capacity. :p

Thoughts

*bangs head on wall*

I am a proud non-reader of books” says Kanye West.

Now, I don’t listen to his music, I’m no fan of rap or hip-hop (or heavy/death metal for that matter) though I understand that many others do enjoy listening to those genres of music.  I don’t have anything against Kanye West – I really don’t know much about him.  I just feel sorry for him, not knowing just how wonderful books can be.  It sounds like he’s never read a good book before (which is surprising given that his mother was an English professor).

I also find his statement somewhat hypocritical – you’re not a fan of books but you “kind of” wrote one (it was a collaborative effort and, given that the description of the “tome” states that some pages contain just a few words while some pages are completely blank, leads me to feel that it didn’t necessarily require a momentous effort on his part) and you want your fans to buy it?

I think my biggest issue with this is that I’m sure he’s got a huge fan base – many of them young children and teenagers, and I worry that his scorn of books will influence them negatively.  As it is, I already think that not enough people read, preferring instead to turn to TV, computer/console games, or the internet for entertainment. (not that there’s anything wrong with those as a form of entertainment – they are also a valid and fun way to pass time…as long as it’s done in moderation and not at the expense of other important things – like reading. 😉 )

What frustrates me is that many people now prefer information “bites”, a la twitter, or the quick 30-second infomercials on TV, or skimming through magazines…instead of picking up a real book and actually reading it.  Kanye’s “book” sounds like more of the same – easily digestible tidbits of “thoughts” that you can read once before moving on to the next hot topic.  Heck, apparently you also have blank pages you can use to rest eyes that have been oh-so-strained from the act of absorbing such brain-heavy dictums as “Get used to being used”.  Ponderous thoughts indeed.

I’m just hoping that not too many will interpret Kanye’s pride of being a “non-reader” as cool and strive to emulate him…

To end on a positive note, I leave you with a picture of that best of combinations – books and food! (image shamelessly taken from Cake Wrecks – a great site which is also where I stumbled across the link to the Reuters article that trigged this overly lengthy post..)

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Experiences

After…

I wrote a post previously on what my old room looked like BEFORE the move (actually added a couple more pictures to that gallery) and now here are the “after” pictures of my previous place.

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I think I did a pretty good job cleaning actually.  Stayed up all night long packing, and finished pretty much literally when the mover rang the doorbell.  While he started loading the van, I had time to do a quick dusting over of things, and even vaccuum so timing-wise, everything worked out pretty well. 🙂

Experiences

Weight-lifting equipment!

I had planned to post more last night but these days I really feel extremely drained by around 23:00 and just sitting down to relax is usually enough to knock me out… I used to be able to stay up so late! 🙁

Oh well… I’m going to be going back in time a little, to document the moving process now, so here goes!

The boxes below  do double-duty – they not only contain everything I own in this world, but they also serve as my exercise equipment.  Large, extremely cumbersome, and absolutely not ergonomic, they have nonetheless been providing me with quite a workout as I fill them up and carry them downstairs all on my lonesome.

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As you can see, they also multiply!

In case you’re wondering, they’re all different sizes and are covered with quite random text because I picked them up for free from a nearby clothing shop (uniqlo) and drugstore (sundrug).  These are boxes that are going to be thrown away so the folks at these shops are happy to give them away to anyone who’s willing to pick them up.  Considering that new boxes can cost $1-$2 dollars (100-200 JPY), it’s a good way to save some money 🙂

Thoughts

Ze internets – eet iz mine again!

Yes, I’m back online after nearly two weeks of no internet access.  Oddly enough, I missed it much less than I thought I would.  I guess partly because I was still able to check mail from my blackberry, and in a pinch also access it from work, the withdrawal wasn’t quite as painful as I had been anticipating.  But now I’m back online!  Which means… more posts to come soon 🙂

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For a larger version of that map of the internet, click HERE.

Experiences

Brief update

(from work again…)

Things are gradually getting unpacked though it’s reaching the point where I need shelves and tables so I can actually put things away.

LOTS of dishes have been washed – probably done more dish-washing in the last 3 days than I have in the past year. 😛

Also started (kinda) cooking and pics will follow when I have internets up and running (going to get a visit from the ISP this Saturday for inspection, so hopefully… by next week I’ll have the modem?)

On a down note though, I’m having problems with my awesome little Xacti CA6. 🙁

Not sure what happened – I used it to take pictures of my first “homecooked meal” 2 nights ago – then the next day the LCD display on the camera turned wonky when I powered it on.  The screen is split into two flickering displays, and the whole thing has a green/pink hue, kind of like a very bad television reception.  I’m not sure what to do with this right now and am going to try to see if I can find a repair shop somewhere.  Real bummer though, because this has been hands down my favorite camera ever…

Odd thing is – I think the camera is working (making normal sounds when I power it on, push the shutter button), just the display seems to have a bad connection somewhere…

Experiences

Quick update

Sneaking in another quick post from work since still no ‘Net access.  Not that I particularly miss it too much right now – less distraction while I focus on unpacking, cleaning, and putting things away.

In terms of progress – I finally have gas up and running which means I can now have hot showers again!  I’ve realised that I’ve become quite pampered since leaving Africa.  There, cold showers were the norm, but I think since Jakarta I’ve almost always had warm showers.  So… Thursday and Friday showers were a bit of a shock.  Heck of a way to wake up though, I’ll give you that. 😛

Aside from the gas being turned on, I now have a gas “conro”, or countertop grill/burner combo.  I think this is the one I got.  So I will be able to start cooking soon! 🙂

The remaining “big” appliances I need to get are a fridge, washing machine, and microwave oven.  Following that will be a bed at some point (still sleeping in a bundle of blankets on the tatami floor), shelves, table… lots more money to be spent. *sigh* 🙁

One “downside” to having one’s own place (at least in its current state, where things are just too messy to invite people over) is that it can get somewhat solitary.  I’ve always been a bit of a loner, but even when I was ensconced in my little room at my old place, there always were people there, even if I didn’t interact with them.  Here, it’s a different sort of solitary, and it’s bringing some negative emotions.

Ah well, perhaps the weather (raining solid for the past 3 days) has also contributed to my moodiness.  Pity I’m not like some people who can get a lift out of shopping, because I’ve been (and still will be) doing alot of that! 😛

Hehe, so much for a “quick” post – I’d better get back to work!