Monthly Archives: October 2006

Spending Spree

★ Posted on at 10:47 pm ★

Feeling a little tired. Heh, sleeping late isn’t a terribly good idea.

Was at Jerome’s place last night doing my assignment that is due on Tuesday. Although it was a short stint, it was a productive one. Can never seem to do work at home, my computer has too much entertainment value to keep me on doing something mundane like an assignment. Heh. This is my second try sleeping at 4am, but the more successful version of it would be to have a 2 hour nap in the evening and stay up until 4 than it is to crash and burn until the same time. Made it through work today, but was slightly unresponsive towards the end of it all.

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Been on a spending spree of late, which feels quite therapeutic. Prior to this, was always looking at iPods and Dell laptops online. Ebay cured me. Heh. Acquired a second hand laptop (my old one died a few months back) for backup reasons. I still recall times when my PC would mysteriously stop working and all I had was my phone and all it provided me was MSN to the world. I had no way of searching on Google any troubleshooting tips. This “new” laptop is a 1.7kg Dell Latitude (I got this particular model for its weight and size, so that was portable), with a decently fast 1.2GHz Pentium 3 processor with 512MB of RAM. I originally intended to install Ubuntu Linux on it, but given that this machine is only meant for some surfing, web messaging and typing out assignments when I need it, it seems decently fast. Ebay has lots to offer, and if you are really wanting a good deal, patience usually gets you there. I’m impatient, so I just sniped the first decent deal I could find. No doubt I could have got this laptop cheaper than the price I paid, but I’d be waiting an extra few weeks for it.

In anticipation of getting the laptop, I got a wireless ADSL modem to go with it. The new modem is like a swiss army knife of a modem, allowing you to control uploads/downloads, have various settings for port forwarding, remote connections etc etc. Having had a frustrating time configuring my cousin’s wireless connection, this was considered a breeze. Borrowed one of my cousin’s unused wireless cards, went about installing it and setting up the modem for wireless networking. You learn something new everytime and in less than 5 minutes, I was surfing the internet from my bed. Heh.

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Also acquired a “new” lens off eBay (which I am yet to receive). It is a Sigma 70-200mm HSM APO lens. It’s a constant aperture lens, like the Nikon 70-200mm VR I have been lusting for. The two major differences are it comes without VR (vibration reduction or image stabilisation depending on how you look at it) and it also costs 1/3 as much. Heh, just hope this lens arrives in one piece and doesn’t suffer compatibility issues with my D70.

At times it would be nice to buy stuff first hand, and was readily going to spend nearly $1.5k on a new laptop from Dell. For less than that I got a laptop, a lens and a modem. I need to constantly remind myself that functionality matter more than form. I could have saved up for either a new laptop or a new lens, but for the amount I was going to spend, I don’t think I could have justified it very well. Heh, for now, I think I have satisfied my spending itch, as I’ve been wanting to buy something gadgety for the past 3 to 4 months. Quite happy so far. Heh.

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This is the time of new releases. Nikon’s 70-300mm VR lens is about to be available for sale, and I’d like to see reviews on how it performs. A new release of Ubuntu Linux is scheduled soon. If I didn’t play games, Ubuntu would have been a viable desktop operating system. You can get Linux versions of most of your Windows software, and the best thing is it’s free. For most stuff like web browsing and word processing, the experience would be familiar.

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Lastly, got a new PC for work. It’s to be setup on Monday. A dual core Pentium 4 and not the new Core 2 Duos or even an AMD X2 system *sigh*. Not as exciting as I’d hoped but an improvement over my current work computer none the less. Heh.

Cooking Frenzy

★ Posted on at 05:47 am ★

Been on a cooking frenzy again, pulling out my chopping board and dicing ingredients at mignight making chilli. I guess you could call it chilli, as derived from chilli con carne. My recipe was adapted from Jamie Oliver’s cookbook, which I followed to the letter a few years back. Heh, mine is probably a lot different, but here’s how it goes. You prepare some mince meat, garlic, onions, kidney beans, tomatoes and capsicum. All the veges except the beans need to be chopped finely (I used canned tomatoes as I was lazy). You prepare a pan with some oil, fry the garlic and onions, then the mince, then you add in the capsicum and tomatoes. Seasoning includes cumin, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook everything up a bit before adding the beans. Slowly simmer for a few minutes and let it stand. Best served the next day as dishes like this taste better once the meat has had time to absorb all the juices and flavours. Serve with taco and mozarella cheese.

taco

Also made 2 stacks of muffins. Still don’t get the sugar right (my muffins taste alright other than tasting like a sugar free muffin) and think I can add a tad more butter for a slightly more moist texture. The muffins look a little anemic, probably because the over wasn’t hot enough (still experimenting with the heat) but they otherwise taste quite dandy. Heh.

anemicmuffins

Nightfall

★ Posted on at 10:19 pm ★

It is Sunday night.

Taking cheap shots at my assignment, just jotting down answers that spring from my mind. It’s not terribly exciting, but it needs to be done. That’s how a lot of things seem like these days.

Feel like I’m missing those upbeat days. Tire too easily and my body is not cooperating. Used to be able to wake up before any alarms rang, on demand. Now I willingly let myself sleep and dream. Strange dreams of dilapidated houses that come with LCD screens. It’s like a quiet village with streams and lots of grass. It’s strange, how the grass seems extra green but the sky and rivers and everything else seems so parched out.

Not sure how my mind is responding to it at all. Not sure what I’m thinking at times. I tend to space out a lot these days.

My colleague is planning on taking up a course in psychology next year. She used to do it at Uni and never pursued it because work seemed like a more logical extension of life. Now she has a boyfriend who can partially pay for her course requirements. It is a big decision, and although she is unsure of it, it’s something exciting and worth sacrificing for. It makes me wonder. All my friends have aspirations, wanting to work in various fields of interest, progressing from career opportunity to another. Heh, even Vyanne dreams of working for a big investment firm and being somebody important.

Then I think about myself, and wonder what do I want. I wonder if it’s normal to lack ambition, or a drive to achieve things. I feel very egocentric, yet not at all. I feel very caught up in this materialistic world at times, and we do things because they are practical and ensure security plus comfort, and not because we want to. Maybe I’ve dared to dream about working overseas, seeing things. Then again, I feel timid at the sheer immensity of being in strange, exotic places.

I lack expression, direction and commitment. I don’t know who I am sometimes, easily pleased, yet frightfully demanding (in what sense you may wonder, you’d need to look through my thoughts). Heh, I want to be honest to everyone.

* * *

Picked up my flute. Haven’t played in a while. Downloaded some scales to practice, and a fingering chart. Mom requested I play at my brother’s wedding. Heh, not sure of that yet, but I will try. Some crazy part of me considered getting a saxophone. An alto sax maybe, something a little more mellow. Jazz is fascinating, if only I could keep timing and play. I want to play.