For the Firebird has arrived!
Well, kind of. The latest milestone build was 0.6.1, and it's still got some bugs and some unfinished features. But man, even at this stage of development, it's already very impressive. When it reaches the release stage, I'm willing to bet it's gonna blow IE out of the water.
My favourite feature? No more whack-a-mole!
So go on, love yourself a little: Go download this nifty application. It'll be the best thing you've ever done for your PC (and for yourself). ;)
10.9.03
7.9.03
I feel cheated.
For two weeks I've been trying to get a glimpse of Mars, but no dice. The weather's been so cloudy and smoky that I can't even see the moon! Even on the day that Mars was supposed to be nearest! And then a coupla days ago, I can finally see the moon. But guess what? That's right, no Mars to be seen.
This sucks.
This sucks.
25.8.03
What?! Not another one...!
Micro$oft just announced yet ANOTHER security flaw in Windows.
At the rate this is going, I'm seriously thinking of downgrading my home PC to Windows 98 SE... Or better yet, upgrading to linux.
'Course, I'll miss the games that I can play on Windows. And also the fact that linux doesn't have a decent port of QuickTime player, and considering that most trailers are in .mov format, this is quite a drag. (If anybody reading this knows of a decent linux app that plays .mov files, lemme know here. Cheers.).
Anyhoo, that's what you have dual-booting for, right? I've been telling myself that I'm gonna setup my PC for linux-readiness, but until now, I still haven't done so. Mostly because there still isn't a really easy way to do Windows-based things on a linux machine, even if you have a dual-boot system. The best, of course, is still rebooting.
Another peeve I have is that there's no package out there that allows you to write to your other OS's partition. Reading is fine (with explore2fs for reading my linux partition from windows and kernel-ntfs for windows from linux), but I still haven't found one that supports writing yet, even in root mode. Even though I did an smbmount with rw permissions and the proper mask set. Again, if anybody knows of something that does this (or if someone knows how to do it right so that it'll write as well, lemme know here. Thanks. :)).
And last, but not least, I still dunno how to get non-latin characters (read: chinese/jap/etc. characters) to display properly. Nor how to get non-latin input on linux. Which is why I still need to switch back to Windows at work now and again to do some work using Asian fonts.
Don't get me wrong, though. Despite all these things, I love using linux. It's fast and stable, which is more than what I can say for certain other OSs. :P
Anyhoo, until I've figured out how to do all these things without going back to Windows, I'll still keep using dual-boot.
Long live dual-boot! (What'll us on-the-fence-ers do without it? ;))
At the rate this is going, I'm seriously thinking of downgrading my home PC to Windows 98 SE... Or better yet, upgrading to linux.
'Course, I'll miss the games that I can play on Windows. And also the fact that linux doesn't have a decent port of QuickTime player, and considering that most trailers are in .mov format, this is quite a drag. (If anybody reading this knows of a decent linux app that plays .mov files, lemme know here. Cheers.).
Anyhoo, that's what you have dual-booting for, right? I've been telling myself that I'm gonna setup my PC for linux-readiness, but until now, I still haven't done so. Mostly because there still isn't a really easy way to do Windows-based things on a linux machine, even if you have a dual-boot system. The best, of course, is still rebooting.
Another peeve I have is that there's no package out there that allows you to write to your other OS's partition. Reading is fine (with explore2fs for reading my linux partition from windows and kernel-ntfs for windows from linux), but I still haven't found one that supports writing yet, even in root mode. Even though I did an smbmount with rw permissions and the proper mask set. Again, if anybody knows of something that does this (or if someone knows how to do it right so that it'll write as well, lemme know here. Thanks. :)).
And last, but not least, I still dunno how to get non-latin characters (read: chinese/jap/etc. characters) to display properly. Nor how to get non-latin input on linux. Which is why I still need to switch back to Windows at work now and again to do some work using Asian fonts.
Don't get me wrong, though. Despite all these things, I love using linux. It's fast and stable, which is more than what I can say for certain other OSs. :P
Anyhoo, until I've figured out how to do all these things without going back to Windows, I'll still keep using dual-boot.
Long live dual-boot! (What'll us on-the-fence-ers do without it? ;))
5.8.03
30 July 2003
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to me.
Well, someone should care...
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to me.
Well, someone should care...
24.5.03
Vivid dreams
Have you ever had a dream so real, that it stays with you for your whole life? The kind of dream that you can recall anytime you want, recalling every single detail, every single word, every single sensation, every single emotion? All the peoples, places & events?
* There was actually more here, but my connection died as I was posting it. I can't remember what I typed anymore, and it's probably best to leave it at that.
* There was actually more here, but my connection died as I was posting it. I can't remember what I typed anymore, and it's probably best to leave it at that.
20.3.03
It has begun...
Well, so Shrub ("little Bush", geddit?) has finally gone loco on Iraq.
So much for the efforts that a lot of people has made (NUS for Peace, Masturbate for Peace) to prevent it from happening.
Oh, well...
"May God have mercy on us all."
-- JFK, and many other US Presidents upon announcing that the US is going to war.
So much for the efforts that a lot of people has made (NUS for Peace, Masturbate for Peace) to prevent it from happening.
Oh, well...
"May God have mercy on us all."
-- JFK, and many other US Presidents upon announcing that the US is going to war.
28.2.03
Random Thoughts
man... you know, you realize something when you're still at work after most everybody has left and you have a FREE ticket to a party for that day.
a li'l background:
anyway, the story is, i was with my brother last sunday in orchard
we were walking towards heeren for dinner after visiting a relative at mt. elizabeth's hospital.
you know how they always have this open area for promotions and events and stuff next to heeren?
these people were doing it there, and i got accosted by the emcee :P
long story short, i got "coerced" into participating in a game (blow a baloon and see whose pop first), lost, but got a free ticket anyway :P
a li'l background:
anyway, the story is, i was with my brother last sunday in orchard
we were walking towards heeren for dinner after visiting a relative at mt. elizabeth's hospital.
you know how they always have this open area for promotions and events and stuff next to heeren?
these people were doing it there, and i got accosted by the emcee :P
long story short, i got "coerced" into participating in a game (blow a baloon and see whose pop first), lost, but got a free ticket anyway :P
24.2.03
The Verdict (Continued)
No late nights.
No watching movies until 6.00 a.m.
The only good thing is that you have a steady source of income.
No sitting in cafes sipping on a nice cuppa and enjoying the view.
No...
No watching movies until 6.00 a.m.
The only good thing is that you have a steady source of income.
No sitting in cafes sipping on a nice cuppa and enjoying the view.
No...
The Verdict
Ladies and gentlemen, the verdict is in: Working life officially SUCKS.
You don't have time to catch up with your friends, you don't have time to go out and enjoy yourself, you don't have time for you... In short, you don't have time to do shit!
I'm gonna stop now before I ramble on for another 30 pages.
Really.
I'm stopping now.
Right.
NOW.
That's it.
Stop it.
I said: STOP IT!
OK.
Starting from...
NOW!
You don't have time to catch up with your friends, you don't have time to go out and enjoy yourself, you don't have time for you... In short, you don't have time to do shit!
I'm gonna stop now before I ramble on for another 30 pages.
Really.
I'm stopping now.
Right.
NOW.
That's it.
Stop it.
I said: STOP IT!
OK.
Starting from...
NOW!
Courage in the Face of Death
"Naught broken save this body, lost but breath;
Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there
But only agony, and that has ending;
And the worst friend and enemy is but Death."
-- Unknown (taken from "Melt Down" a.k.a. "The Pegasus Forum", David Schofield)
Nice, huh? Found that in a book, and it's something that's got me thinking for a long time. It took me a while to realize the true meaning behind it, that it's about the courage to face death, and to accept it, with serenity, as a fact of life. As a man lives, so shall he one day die. Ashes to ashes, and all that.
Death is one of the things that people fear the most. The only other thing that people fear more is public speaking. (Ever heard someone say "I'd rather die than speak in front of all those people?"). When my grandparents died, they died with a smile on their lips. This is how I would want to die.
I've been following the news lately about Jessica Santillan, the 17-year-old Mexican-American who died recently because of a botched heart & lung transplant. It's really sad that such a bright young girl, who is so full of life has to die, with tubes sticking out of her frail body and (supposedly) one of the best team of doctors in the United States standing watch. Life's never fair, is it? But from what I can gather, she faced the possibility of dying calmly enough. She was scared, but she accepted it. If that's not courage, I don't know what is. After all, courage is not ignoring your fears, it is confronting it and facing it down. Accepting it, and embracing it. Now, that is true courage.
In Memoriam
Jessica Santillan
23 February 2003
www.4jhc.org
Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there
But only agony, and that has ending;
And the worst friend and enemy is but Death."
-- Unknown (taken from "Melt Down" a.k.a. "The Pegasus Forum", David Schofield)
Nice, huh? Found that in a book, and it's something that's got me thinking for a long time. It took me a while to realize the true meaning behind it, that it's about the courage to face death, and to accept it, with serenity, as a fact of life. As a man lives, so shall he one day die. Ashes to ashes, and all that.
Death is one of the things that people fear the most. The only other thing that people fear more is public speaking. (Ever heard someone say "I'd rather die than speak in front of all those people?"). When my grandparents died, they died with a smile on their lips. This is how I would want to die.
I've been following the news lately about Jessica Santillan, the 17-year-old Mexican-American who died recently because of a botched heart & lung transplant. It's really sad that such a bright young girl, who is so full of life has to die, with tubes sticking out of her frail body and (supposedly) one of the best team of doctors in the United States standing watch. Life's never fair, is it? But from what I can gather, she faced the possibility of dying calmly enough. She was scared, but she accepted it. If that's not courage, I don't know what is. After all, courage is not ignoring your fears, it is confronting it and facing it down. Accepting it, and embracing it. Now, that is true courage.
In Memoriam
Jessica Santillan
23 February 2003
www.4jhc.org
28.1.03
From the inside looking out (Part Deux)
*phew*
It's certainly been a while since I've updated this blog. Been absolutely bloody busy and knackered. Right now I'm still in the office (it's 2.14 a.m. when I wrote this), where I've been practically living in for the past few days. Heck, for the past bloody week, in fact. Some clients has pushed forward the deadline of a gigantic project and as a result me and the other programmers are stuck in the office working to get the damned thing up in time.
And the weather isn't helping, either. With the aircon being turned off after 6.00 p.m. and temperatures in the high thirties the past few days, you can sort of guess that I'm not exactly a very happy man right now.
Arrgh! I'll be SO glad when this whole thing is over.
I just hope that it doesn't drag into my vacation time that's coming up real soon. It'll be a REAL pain in the posterior then.
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't already, but, hey, if that really happened that would REALLY suck, now, wouldn't it?
In fact, the past few bloody weeks hasn't been really good for me. I wake up most mornings feeling absolutely knackered and wanting nothing more than just to crawl back into my nice, warm, cozy bed. In fact, thinking about it right now makes me feel really depressed. *sigh*
Oh well.... like someone said: "When life hands you a lemon make lemonade; and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you asked for in the first place"
(That was Bill McNeal from Newsradio who said that, by the way. Another useless trivia for you to store away until you get the chance to bring it up and impress your friends/a cute girl/guy/your girl/boyfriend's parents... which most probably will never happen anyway, but what the heck, eh?)
Ah well... back to slaving for big corporation again, like the good corporate serf that I am...
See you soon...
I hope...
If I'm still alive by then...
It's certainly been a while since I've updated this blog. Been absolutely bloody busy and knackered. Right now I'm still in the office (it's 2.14 a.m. when I wrote this), where I've been practically living in for the past few days. Heck, for the past bloody week, in fact. Some clients has pushed forward the deadline of a gigantic project and as a result me and the other programmers are stuck in the office working to get the damned thing up in time.
And the weather isn't helping, either. With the aircon being turned off after 6.00 p.m. and temperatures in the high thirties the past few days, you can sort of guess that I'm not exactly a very happy man right now.
Arrgh! I'll be SO glad when this whole thing is over.
I just hope that it doesn't drag into my vacation time that's coming up real soon. It'll be a REAL pain in the posterior then.
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't already, but, hey, if that really happened that would REALLY suck, now, wouldn't it?
In fact, the past few bloody weeks hasn't been really good for me. I wake up most mornings feeling absolutely knackered and wanting nothing more than just to crawl back into my nice, warm, cozy bed. In fact, thinking about it right now makes me feel really depressed. *sigh*
Oh well.... like someone said: "When life hands you a lemon make lemonade; and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you asked for in the first place"
(That was Bill McNeal from Newsradio who said that, by the way. Another useless trivia for you to store away until you get the chance to bring it up and impress your friends/a cute girl/guy/your girl/boyfriend's parents... which most probably will never happen anyway, but what the heck, eh?)
Ah well... back to slaving for big corporation again, like the good corporate serf that I am...
See you soon...
I hope...
If I'm still alive by then...
18.12.02
And still on the subject of rain...
Dancing Naked in the Rain
by Ralph Esposito
I danced in the rain the other night,
naked. Soft droplets cuddled my skin.
Perhaps I looked foolish, a childish sight,
reminiscent of a sixties love-in.
Aberration, disorder, or mental disease?
Freedom, fulfillment, journey or quest?
All of the above could fit me with ease.
Others will judge; they always know best.
I abandoned convention, not knowing why.
Was it some shadow setting me free?
There arose a command not to be shy,
to live instead with integrity.
What works in my life, others may scorn.
They'll decide standards, edicts, decree,
being stable and wise, normal, true-born.
If I live by their creed, then what of me?
by Ralph Esposito
I danced in the rain the other night,
naked. Soft droplets cuddled my skin.
Perhaps I looked foolish, a childish sight,
reminiscent of a sixties love-in.
Aberration, disorder, or mental disease?
Freedom, fulfillment, journey or quest?
All of the above could fit me with ease.
Others will judge; they always know best.
I abandoned convention, not knowing why.
Was it some shadow setting me free?
There arose a command not to be shy,
to live instead with integrity.
What works in my life, others may scorn.
They'll decide standards, edicts, decree,
being stable and wise, normal, true-born.
If I live by their creed, then what of me?
15.12.02
I HATE RAIN
"Rain, rain go away,
please come back some other day.
Rain, rain go away,
I want to come out and play."
-- a Nursery Rhyme
The last few weeks has had a depressing, bone-drenching, emotion-numbing, spirit-crushing amount of rain. Dark skies, hardly any sun, and the worst thing is that most of the time, the sun will shine as bright as anything in the morning, only to have the weather totally turn to absolute shit by lunchtime.
False hope is the worst, after all.
Only good thing so far is that the weather on the weekends have been quite fair by comparison. For the last two weekends the sun was shining all the way from Saturday morning till Sunday night. This weekend though, although the sun still shines, but there's always dark clouds hanging over the horizon, and there's the occasional half-hearted light rain.
*sigh*
Dammit. I really need to start getting a decent amount of sun before I get totally depressed.
That's why -- for now at least -- I hate rain.
With a vengeance.
please come back some other day.
Rain, rain go away,
I want to come out and play."
-- a Nursery Rhyme
The last few weeks has had a depressing, bone-drenching, emotion-numbing, spirit-crushing amount of rain. Dark skies, hardly any sun, and the worst thing is that most of the time, the sun will shine as bright as anything in the morning, only to have the weather totally turn to absolute shit by lunchtime.
False hope is the worst, after all.
Only good thing so far is that the weather on the weekends have been quite fair by comparison. For the last two weekends the sun was shining all the way from Saturday morning till Sunday night. This weekend though, although the sun still shines, but there's always dark clouds hanging over the horizon, and there's the occasional half-hearted light rain.
*sigh*
Dammit. I really need to start getting a decent amount of sun before I get totally depressed.
That's why -- for now at least -- I hate rain.
With a vengeance.
25.11.02
Life is funny
Work's been good so far. Haven't had much time to do anything else though. But the projects I've been working on recently is rather fun. Writing and designing games for mobile phones is something that really fits into my dreams.
When I first started off studying computing, I've wanted to become a game designer/programmer, but then I eventually dismissed it as just a young kid's fantasy. And now, I'm actually living my dream!
It's surprising how when you least expect it, when you give up on something, when you think: "Nah... that's never gonna happen.", life suddenly turns around and surprises you?
But of course, it works both ways, when you really want it, when you're absolutely optimistic about something, it never happens. Lady Luck just turns her shining face away from you. Life's funny that way, don't you think?
Anyhoo, although work's fine, i do have to deal with the occasional annoying, two-faced, fickle-minded, back-stabbing client. But other than that, it's pretty hunky dory, so I don't really have much to complain about. :)
Met a lot of really nice people from my talent school. They're all quite friendly, and we all hang out together quite a bit. So even if I won't be a big-time celebrity (in fact, not bloody likely :P), at least I would've made some really nice friends to hang out and have fun with.
Well... I guess that's about it for now. I'll try to update more often from now on. ("try" being the operative word of course).
Ciao!
When I first started off studying computing, I've wanted to become a game designer/programmer, but then I eventually dismissed it as just a young kid's fantasy. And now, I'm actually living my dream!
It's surprising how when you least expect it, when you give up on something, when you think: "Nah... that's never gonna happen.", life suddenly turns around and surprises you?
But of course, it works both ways, when you really want it, when you're absolutely optimistic about something, it never happens. Lady Luck just turns her shining face away from you. Life's funny that way, don't you think?
Anyhoo, although work's fine, i do have to deal with the occasional
Met a lot of really nice people from my talent school. They're all quite friendly, and we all hang out together quite a bit. So even if I won't be a big-time celebrity (in fact, not bloody likely :P), at least I would've made some really nice friends to hang out and have fun with.
Well... I guess that's about it for now. I'll try to update more often from now on. ("try" being the operative word of course).
Ciao!
13.11.02
The Silence
Found this at www.poems.org:
The Silence
Philip Schultz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for RJ
You always called late and drunk,
your voice luxurious with pain,
I, tightly wrapped in dreaming,
listening as if to a ghost.
Tonight a friend called to say your body
was found in your apartment, where
it had lain for days. You'd lost your job,
stopped writing, saw nobody for weeks.
Your heart, he said. Drink had destroyed you.
We met in a college town, first teaching jobs,
poems flowing from a grief we enshrined
with myth and alcohol. I envied the way
women looked at you, a bear blunt with rage,
tearing through an ever-darkening wood.
Once we traded poems like photos of women
whose beauty tested God's faith. 'Read this one
about how friendship among the young can't last,
it will rip your heart out of your chest!'
Once you called to say J was leaving,
the pain stuck in your throat like a razor blade.
A woman was calling me back to bed
so I said I'd call back. But I never did.
The deep forlorn smell of moss and pine
behind your stone house, you strumming
and singing Lorca, Vallejo, De Andrade,
as if each syllable tasted of blood,
as if you had all the time in the world. . .
You knew your angels loved you
but you also knew they would leave
someone they could not save.
The Silence
Philip Schultz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
for RJ
You always called late and drunk,
your voice luxurious with pain,
I, tightly wrapped in dreaming,
listening as if to a ghost.
Tonight a friend called to say your body
was found in your apartment, where
it had lain for days. You'd lost your job,
stopped writing, saw nobody for weeks.
Your heart, he said. Drink had destroyed you.
We met in a college town, first teaching jobs,
poems flowing from a grief we enshrined
with myth and alcohol. I envied the way
women looked at you, a bear blunt with rage,
tearing through an ever-darkening wood.
Once we traded poems like photos of women
whose beauty tested God's faith. 'Read this one
about how friendship among the young can't last,
it will rip your heart out of your chest!'
Once you called to say J was leaving,
the pain stuck in your throat like a razor blade.
A woman was calling me back to bed
so I said I'd call back. But I never did.
The deep forlorn smell of moss and pine
behind your stone house, you strumming
and singing Lorca, Vallejo, De Andrade,
as if each syllable tasted of blood,
as if you had all the time in the world. . .
You knew your angels loved you
but you also knew they would leave
someone they could not save.
28.10.02
From the inside looking out
Well, well, this is the first time I'm writing from my office.
It's been a week now since I started, and I'm still getting used to sleeping and waking like a normal human being.
Life's been good so far, but I miss the days when I can just lie around at home doing absolutely nothing on a weekday. :P So before I was on the outside looking in, and now I'm on the inside looking out, missing all the things I used to be able to do.
But hell, I can't complain. At least I've got a full-time job now, right? :)
Anyhoo, I better get back to work.
See ya!
It's been a week now since I started, and I'm still getting used to sleeping and waking like a normal human being.
Life's been good so far, but I miss the days when I can just lie around at home doing absolutely nothing on a weekday. :P So before I was on the outside looking in, and now I'm on the inside looking out, missing all the things I used to be able to do.
But hell, I can't complain. At least I've got a full-time job now, right? :)
Anyhoo, I better get back to work.
See ya!
20.10.02
The Wheel of Fortune
"The wheel of fortune turns,
round and round it goes.
Where it stops,
no one knows"
The Dead Zone, Episode 1, "Wheel of Fortune"
No, you smeg. Not that Wheel of Fortune. Not the one with Vanna White. :P
With all the luck that I've been getting lately, I've been thinking more and more about how life always has its ups and downs , and how things can't just be good all the time. After all, the wheel of fortune always turns round and round, and sometimes you'll be on top, other times you'll be down below. And I'm just wondering when it's my turn to be down again.
Call me a pessimist if you will, but I prefer to think that I'm a realist. There is absolutely NO WAY that a person can be lucky all the time. At one point or another a lucky streak will end. Lady Luck will move away. The Cornucopia will move on. And Fortuna will smile on someone else.
I just hope the fall won't hurt too much... :|
round and round it goes.
Where it stops,
no one knows"
The Dead Zone, Episode 1, "Wheel of Fortune"
No, you smeg. Not that Wheel of Fortune. Not the one with Vanna White. :P
With all the luck that I've been getting lately, I've been thinking more and more about how life always has its ups and downs , and how things can't just be good all the time. After all, the wheel of fortune always turns round and round, and sometimes you'll be on top, other times you'll be down below. And I'm just wondering when it's my turn to be down again.
Call me a pessimist if you will, but I prefer to think that I'm a realist. There is absolutely NO WAY that a person can be lucky all the time. At one point or another a lucky streak will end. Lady Luck will move away. The Cornucopia will move on. And Fortuna will smile on someone else.
I just hope the fall won't hurt too much... :|
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