For thoughts so obscure they could only live on the internet.
Despite Will’s insistence that I draw penises, my inspiration came from a perceived mispronounciation of “autocracy” by Matt which was caught by Colin as “octocracy” (aka having eight legged cephalopod overlord rulers) that I just had to draw.
This is the result:
I used to draw a lot. Now I don’t so much anymore. I want to draw something, but don’t know what. If anyone reads this and submits a comment containing an idea of what to draw, I’ll draw it and share it in my next post.
@humantorch wins:
I love soma.fm’s Groove Salad more than Oprah Winfrey loves bacon.
I usually don’t wear a watch. I always have my cell phone with me (even if I don’t answer it, heh) and if not I’m always near a computer. After reading free Oxygen magazines I’ve determined that I should probably find out what my real heart rate is when I do cardio, since the machine downstairs is broken. It says that I’m at 70-90, but that’s more or less what a person’s resting heart rate is. Anyways, we went to Sport Chek at Beacon Hill and I picked up a Mio Shape watch.
Mio Shape
The box had a price sticker stating $149.99, but the computer at the till said $39.99, so I’m pretty sure I lucked out with this purchase. Not only does it have a heart rate monitor, but I can also track my calorie intake and expenditure, compare it to my target caloric intake, AND it tells time.
I’m looking forward to trying this out during my morning cardio routine tomorrow. In the meantime I’m reading the extensive health and fitness suggestion manual that came with the watch, and trying to determine if a resting heart rate of 56 is healthy or if I’m really a zombie.
— Edit August 24 —
Whohoo! The chart at the bottom of this heart rate page suggests that I am not a zombie and even lists me as “athlete”! While I still want to chalk up this reading as being tired right now and not having my coffee today, I’ll take what “truth” I can get from the internet.
Okay, so I still haven’t found a way to download these, but I’m convinced that magazines are just a medium upon which you can layer ads anyways. Thanks to @bluecifer for sharing the link to Mygazines. While it feels kind of wrong to read these without paying for it, I consider it the same as just standing in the grocery line and flipping through glossy pages of advertisments.
October 2008 edition of Oatmeal- I mean, Oxygen.
So far my favorite article is the one suggesting peanut butter in oatmeal. Okay so it’s prefaced with “you can even get crazy”, but who wants to be normal anyways.
— Edit: August 22 —
So, it looks like you now have to sign up to view any magazine.
It’s true! Your favorite handheld gaming system and social media application combined in DSTwitter (available for download!). Despite what the image shows, it is in English and you’re not obligated to have a chihuahua as an avatar. Glee!
I haven’t tried it out yet since I don’t have my USB SD reader, but soon. Thanks to my brothar for finding this, and @jonnay for downloading for me.
Jumping on the bandwagon with my other twitter buddies, I created a new avatar at FaceYourManga.com. Creating an anime avatar isn’t new, in fact there as a popular one back in 2003 I used, and I made an anime dress-up doll application for my CPSC 581 project (idea thieves…). This just happened to be the one that my other friends were using. I liked it because the choices weren’t too extensive, meaning that I didn’t waste a lot of time making it. And yes, all the female bodies were all this busty. I added glasses to not look so much like a harlot.
@dloo sent me this link to a timeline of internet memes via Twitter. I find this interesting since I love the changing landscape of internet and technology culture, and it also fills in the blanks for important memes I may have missed out on (hey, I was MUDding and chatting during my early days, then all-consumed by school afterwards). It’s fun to see that “Aeris Dies” is there, even though its source was Final Fantasy VII and not the internet. I guess it counts because I was one of the many people who searched (probably using Alta Vista or Dogpile) whether or not there was a way to revive her.
One thing I’d rather not see again is Hamster Dance. *shudder*
At work I sit right beside an air conditioner. It’s been great during the summer so far, especially since I work on the upper floor where the warmth likes to hang out. The only problem I’ve had with it is when it’s on, it blasts me so directly that turning it on and off constantly is only way to compromise the extremes of hot and cold.
View of distance of air conditioner to desk
I heard that my predecessor constructed a cardboard “deflector” to redirect the icy blast, so that is what I sought to do.
Tools for construction, from my handy dandy handbag
Armed with packing tape, scissors, a box cutter I found on the ground, a Fed-Ex box previously deemed useless, as well as my limited edition Sigg Geisha Grace drinking receptacle (thanks Tita Grace), I was ready to go.
Reinforced support, adjustable air permitter
I knew that on some days I would want more air flow than others, so I made an adjustable side-thingy that would alter the angle of the deflector. I also didn’t want to tape the whole thing to the air conditioner itself, so I created a reinforced support block (and by reinforced I mean I cut little triangles and taped them in place, as seen to the left of the above picture) for the deflector to rest on. Below is a side view of the finished product.
Side view
It took me about 20 minutes and half a box to make, and it worked well. Too well. I had to cut the height of the deflector slightly because it wasn’t letting enough air through. I thought about creating adjustable slits for air to flow through, but I think I’m going to leave that for Deflector 2.0.
A couple of weeks ago I purchased Square Enix’s “Song Summoner” iPod game, thinking that the combination of listening to music (I do it all the time) and and an RPG (I used to play them all the time) in a portable format would keep me occupied during commutes and waiting periods. Since the initial purchase, I haven’t completed a single battle, proving that the convergence of two great things does not necessarily a result of proportionate greatness. I thought it would be perfect for me, since I stopped playing RPGs because of the required investment of time in “levelling up” one’s characters. In Song Summoner, you create characters from songs on your iPod and listening to them frequently gives more strength. Sounds effortless, no? But the thing is, playing this game involves a lot of learning and adjustment, especially learning how to use the clickwheel to control gameplay.
In contrast, I’ve acquired Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS and am relishing the nostalgia. I don’t mind doing repetitive things because I want to see the treatment in the remake. It originally came out in 1991 (as Final Fantasy II), and as a nine-year old I had a lot of emotional involvement in this video game. Not only was it a game that caused tears (Palom and Porom’s sacrifice) but it brings back weekends with my brothers and cousins at my grandparents’ house and sacrificing watching Ducktales in the morning at the babysitter’s to play. I would draw the characters as I saw them in my mind during summer holidays. In the grade following, I would watch my brother continue to play even as there were newer games available. Now, as I play again I experience inward glee towards minutia like the how the placement of non-playable characters strikes familiarity. I look forward to seeing the old characters again as if it were a reuinion of friends. Yes, it’s very nerdy to say, but I’m shameless.
This is a very self-indulgent blog entry as there are really no lessons to learn from this and nothing to really teach other people. Maybe that the pleasure of reminiscing is very marketable nowadays? Maybe that if the iPod is great for listening to music and the Nintendo DS is great for playing games, a combination of the two (even in its genius) might not be appropriate?
In any case, I conclude this entry with a YouTube video. When my brother showed it to me I watched it four times straight.
“Rose, Tim, Andrew… supper time!”
“Not yet, I need to find a save point!”
P.S. If you’re playing Final Fantasy IV for Nintendo DS using an R4 card and get a white screen, you will have to update your kernel.
It's tough to think of a blurb for myself when I'm also on