30.9.07
'Wish
Nightwish have a new singer. All I can say is...
Tarja > Annette.
Now they're just another metal band with a female singer. Not necessarily, and it isn't, a bad thing, but they no longer have that operatic feel which made them special.
Tarja > Annette.
Now they're just another metal band with a female singer. Not necessarily, and it isn't, a bad thing, but they no longer have that operatic feel which made them special.
28.9.07
Name the Song
Boy, I haven't done this fill-in for a while...
My thoughts are captured
By the magical chants of the spirits,
But I cannot see them
With these dead eyes...
Lost I am in these dismal streams...
Lost I am forever in my life...
My thoughts are captured
By the magical chants of the spirits,
But I cannot see them
With these dead eyes...
Lost I am in these dismal streams...
Lost I am forever in my life...
26.9.07
Law Enforcement(ish) Dream
I've been having dreams again lately (Mr Prozac seems to be out of the system completely), but they either didn't leave any coherent memories to be recorded, or I had no wish of sharing them. Until the last night's one. Now, there isn't much to say about it, nor is it elaborately bizzare as some other I've had, but it's the best I can put here these days.
So I'll be short. I chased people who pretended to be policemen, for the reasons of conducting illegal activities, around Zagreb (didn't resemble any parts of Zagreb I know, but I had that dream certainty that it was Zagreb). I tried to bring these people to attention of the real police, but I couldn't find any. Really annoying, that, because our towns tend to have police on every corner. And, during one of my pursuits, I ended up misjumping and falling into a rose bush. Which had some sort of wooden-frame-and-rope fence around it. Which was the end of the dream.
Hm. Now that I've put it into writing, it sucks. Meh.
So I'll be short. I chased people who pretended to be policemen, for the reasons of conducting illegal activities, around Zagreb (didn't resemble any parts of Zagreb I know, but I had that dream certainty that it was Zagreb). I tried to bring these people to attention of the real police, but I couldn't find any. Really annoying, that, because our towns tend to have police on every corner. And, during one of my pursuits, I ended up misjumping and falling into a rose bush. Which had some sort of wooden-frame-and-rope fence around it. Which was the end of the dream.
Hm. Now that I've put it into writing, it sucks. Meh.
25.9.07
Not Long Now
I can refuse to count the days all I want, but it's Tuesday already...
24.9.07
Equinox
I celebrated. A single bottle of wine doesn't seem to be enough any more. Now, I'd pop another one, but my latest blood work keeps coming back to mind...
23.9.07
Cretinism in Market Research
Microsoft seems to be out to survey its users about everything and anything. First I got a mail last week asking me to rate their products that I use, and today, while I was using the Live Maps to show people where I've spent the previous week (Google Maps shows a horribly wrong place), a pop-up pops up asking me to take a survey about map sites in general and the Live one in particular. Silly me, I agreed.
It was mostly the usual thing. Which map sites you know about and use and what for, what do you think of this feature or that. One thing poked me in the eye, though... Now, I can understand that it's important for a company to know if their search site allows the users to 'easily find the information that [they are] looking for', or if it has 'ease of use/good layout and design' or 'accuracy and relevancy of search results'. When it comes to maps and areal photos, I can even understand 'fun and entertaining'. But among those I saw these two: 'gives me a sense of control and safety' and 'gives me a sense of enrichment and accomplishment'. That was the WTF moment.
Control and safety? Enrichment and accomplishment? What in the rotten carrot's name were they asking me about? A yoga class? A psychoactive substance? Or a map site? What the hell do these advertising types think, that users experience orgasms or have divinely-inspired visions when they visit search sites?
Carrot, I hate corp-speak... I hate buzzwords... And above all, I hate stupidity.
It was mostly the usual thing. Which map sites you know about and use and what for, what do you think of this feature or that. One thing poked me in the eye, though... Now, I can understand that it's important for a company to know if their search site allows the users to 'easily find the information that [they are] looking for', or if it has 'ease of use/good layout and design' or 'accuracy and relevancy of search results'. When it comes to maps and areal photos, I can even understand 'fun and entertaining'. But among those I saw these two: 'gives me a sense of control and safety' and 'gives me a sense of enrichment and accomplishment'. That was the WTF moment.
Control and safety? Enrichment and accomplishment? What in the rotten carrot's name were they asking me about? A yoga class? A psychoactive substance? Or a map site? What the hell do these advertising types think, that users experience orgasms or have divinely-inspired visions when they visit search sites?
Carrot, I hate corp-speak... I hate buzzwords... And above all, I hate stupidity.
22.9.07
Back Home
It's over.
It wasn't quite a hell, but it came close to it on a few occasions. The Wednesday reminded me of the good old rollercoaster days from two years ago.
It was a waste of money. A lot of money. Which would've been better spent on a toy. Or another weekend of drinking on a foreign country. Or mutual fund shares. Or anything else, really.
On the positive side... I've learned never, ever to do something like that again. I've learned the difference between real massages and those nice-smelling-grease rubs which are supposed to be relaxing/make one lose weight/lift one's soul onto a higher plane of existence/whatever. The difference isn't all that great, but the real massages do make me more relaxed (though only for five minutes or so), the grease rubs are... meh. I've learned that sauna doesn't relax me, it makes my head hurt (this should've been expected - if there's anything that makes my sinuses cause me pain, it's temperature changes). And finally, I've learned that this whole 'wellness' thing isn't really my... thing.
On the other hand, I'll definitely be getting a hydro-massage shower. Once I finally get to re-doing the bathroom...
In retrospect, I should've, if anywhere, gone to Pula, rented a board and a sail, and done some surfing (even though I don't remember how to do a turn any more). That was the whole idea of the refreshing of my windsurfing skills two years ago, to give me something to 'do' over summer holidays. But no, I had to be stupid and go 'somewhere else'. So I got a stressful week which will make the next one more stressful because I'll agonise over having wasted a third of my off-work time.
But oh, well. What's one slightly more wasted week in a wasted life?
It wasn't quite a hell, but it came close to it on a few occasions. The Wednesday reminded me of the good old rollercoaster days from two years ago.
It was a waste of money. A lot of money. Which would've been better spent on a toy. Or another weekend of drinking on a foreign country. Or mutual fund shares. Or anything else, really.
On the positive side... I've learned never, ever to do something like that again. I've learned the difference between real massages and those nice-smelling-grease rubs which are supposed to be relaxing/make one lose weight/lift one's soul onto a higher plane of existence/whatever. The difference isn't all that great, but the real massages do make me more relaxed (though only for five minutes or so), the grease rubs are... meh. I've learned that sauna doesn't relax me, it makes my head hurt (this should've been expected - if there's anything that makes my sinuses cause me pain, it's temperature changes). And finally, I've learned that this whole 'wellness' thing isn't really my... thing.
On the other hand, I'll definitely be getting a hydro-massage shower. Once I finally get to re-doing the bathroom...
In retrospect, I should've, if anywhere, gone to Pula, rented a board and a sail, and done some surfing (even though I don't remember how to do a turn any more). That was the whole idea of the refreshing of my windsurfing skills two years ago, to give me something to 'do' over summer holidays. But no, I had to be stupid and go 'somewhere else'. So I got a stressful week which will make the next one more stressful because I'll agonise over having wasted a third of my off-work time.
But oh, well. What's one slightly more wasted week in a wasted life?
18.9.07
Massage
I don't have much experience with massages - I've only been properly massaged once before. But... The thing I've just gotten back from wasn't a massage. It was rubbing-in of nice-smelling grease. I don't feel any better, my neck doesn't feel any more relaxed (I think it even hurts more than it used to because I spent an hour in two uncomfortable positions), and my back hurts (the same position issue). Thus far, this 'wellness' center (unnamed for the time being) gets a failing grade.
16.9.07
Holiday!
Why did I think seven days in a random, middle-of-nowhere (not that somewhere would've been better) place on the coast would be a good idea?
I want to go home.
I want to go home.
15.9.07
Faster than Arwen on a Horse
Just to prove a point I've made in the previous post, I decided to run from Bree to Rivendel, and time it. Unfortunately, along the way I met some wildlife which was much bigger than me, so I was 'defeated' shortly after crossing the Last Bridge. I'd say I got some 3/4 of the way in ~20 minutes. Another six or seven minutes would've seen me at my destination. So I suppose that means, considering your average human jogging speed, that Bree is five or six miles from Rivendel. Which, in turn, means that Eriador in LOTRO indeed is around 20 miles wide.
Yay for my ability to accurately estimate distances in virtual worlds...
Yay for my ability to accurately estimate distances in virtual worlds...
14.9.07
World of Middle-Earth
Finally, I said. Codemasters are letting people try The Lord of the Rings Online. Only for a week, true, but it's better than nothing.
So I go through the whole-day download (almost 7.5 GB of a client) and 30 minutes of installation. But hey, Middle Earth is far away, so I don't mind. I even got a friend to try it with me. It is, after all, a multiplayer game. It is, right?
Wrong. It's a WoW clone. Sure, it's prettier, and it's in Middle Earth, and the Tolkien fans can go visit all these famous places (if one disregards the fact that the entire Eriador seems to be 20 miles across, and that it doesn't look like anything anyone who's read the books would ever imagine). But it's still a single-player game that one plays online. Maybe one does sometimes include another person or three into one's questing and dungeon-crawling, and the crafting system does require cooperation, but it's a single-player game. And while I suppose the quests are, in the light of that, engaging, I don't see why anyone would want to pay the subscription for something one can get with a one-time purchase in an officially single-player package, and without lag and connection problems (I haven't seen any of those, but there are announcements announcing them).
In conclusion, this world did not need another World of Something, but it got one. One which isn't going to take any market share away from the 'original'. They had a chance to make something new, and they blew it. The appeal of 'Middle Earth' might be enough for some, it isn't for me. I'll keep going to Eve for my MMORPG needs, at least it's a real MMORPG.
Oh, and I think LOTRO broke my winsock. But I'd say a half of the blame for that is on Microsoft.
So I go through the whole-day download (almost 7.5 GB of a client) and 30 minutes of installation. But hey, Middle Earth is far away, so I don't mind. I even got a friend to try it with me. It is, after all, a multiplayer game. It is, right?
Wrong. It's a WoW clone. Sure, it's prettier, and it's in Middle Earth, and the Tolkien fans can go visit all these famous places (if one disregards the fact that the entire Eriador seems to be 20 miles across, and that it doesn't look like anything anyone who's read the books would ever imagine). But it's still a single-player game that one plays online. Maybe one does sometimes include another person or three into one's questing and dungeon-crawling, and the crafting system does require cooperation, but it's a single-player game. And while I suppose the quests are, in the light of that, engaging, I don't see why anyone would want to pay the subscription for something one can get with a one-time purchase in an officially single-player package, and without lag and connection problems (I haven't seen any of those, but there are announcements announcing them).
In conclusion, this world did not need another World of Something, but it got one. One which isn't going to take any market share away from the 'original'. They had a chance to make something new, and they blew it. The appeal of 'Middle Earth' might be enough for some, it isn't for me. I'll keep going to Eve for my MMORPG needs, at least it's a real MMORPG.
Oh, and I think LOTRO broke my winsock. But I'd say a half of the blame for that is on Microsoft.
10.9.07
Upses and Downses
Saturday - relaxed. Sunday - angry (the episode with legal software might have had something to do with it). Monday - relaxed. Wine works better than beer.
And the Lord of the Rings Online has a 7-day trial. Downloading in progress. I don't expect much, but it'll provide a welcome diversion.
And the Lord of the Rings Online has a 7-day trial. Downloading in progress. I don't expect much, but it'll provide a welcome diversion.
8.9.07
Holiday!
The weekend feels strangely... unrushed. It's not that I really expect to get any more rested over the following three weeks, and I'm sure not even a week at the coast will help with that, but... I feel unrushed. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I don't feel a need to squeeze as much leisure into it as I can. I suppose just that makes a little bit of difference.
6.9.07
Plinque - Plonque
A bit of rain... And a bit of beer... And a lot of me.
I think I've already written this somewhere. Probably more than once.
All my fears are really one. Only one. If I overcome it, and I must, I shall not go on to be happier, or more successful, or anything like that. The moment I overcome my one fear, I'll die. Because it is too late for anything else. There might've existed a time when it was not so, but that time is long gone.
I want to stop being afraid. I really do.
I think I've already written this somewhere. Probably more than once.
All my fears are really one. Only one. If I overcome it, and I must, I shall not go on to be happier, or more successful, or anything like that. The moment I overcome my one fear, I'll die. Because it is too late for anything else. There might've existed a time when it was not so, but that time is long gone.
I want to stop being afraid. I really do.
4.9.07
Shoes!
A pair of brown, and a pair of black. I'd feel like a real metrosexual if they weren't of the kind a real metro would rather die than to be seen in...
3.9.07
A Pink a Day Keeps...
I suppose this is what it feels like to be a hippy... Or at least, what it should feel like.
Well, I'm going on holiday the next week, and I've booked myself seven days at the Bluesun Alan Hotel in Starigrad-Paklenica, together with some sort of 'wellness' program. And there's a nice national park just above the place.
So why do I already feel like I don't want to go?
Well, I'm going on holiday the next week, and I've booked myself seven days at the Bluesun Alan Hotel in Starigrad-Paklenica, together with some sort of 'wellness' program. And there's a nice national park just above the place.
So why do I already feel like I don't want to go?
