laugardagur, febrúar 28, 2004
Who here hasn't always wondered what happens to eggs when you boil them too long? Well wonder no more, for I have the answer.
They explode.
All over the place.
They will literally cover your kitchen with little, black, crispy pieces of charred shell and tiny pieces of really, really hard yolk. Not that I just had this happen to me. Not that I started boiling eggs and then realized an hour later that I had left them boiling.
Not me.
Got my first issue of Scientific American yesterday. I was all excited when I saw it lying on what passes for our coffetable. Can you imagine my excitement when I picked it up, all ready to expand my mind with tales from the fringes of science, when the magazine fell apart in my hands. The stupid postal service had completely mangled my magazine. Sent a complaint to Scientific American, hope the give me a new issue.
Other than that, I've just been doing ma research. Had a little brainstorming session with John, where I think I managed to come up with at least two ideas which he hadn't thought of yet. And as an extra boost to my ego, the way he laid out the brainstorming session reflected an idea I had proposed the previous week (which John had expressed doubts about). Soooo, that went well.
I realized an interesting thing the other day. Since I moved here, I have actually managed to get to know some of my friends back home much more closely. I have a certain core of people I speak to at least a couple of times a week, sometimes every day. And a lot of times, it's at that hour of the day when people are feeling philosophical, or maybe a bit down, so we have interesting conversations. This is sort of the same as mamma and pabbi mentioned, about how interesting it is to get to see into their children's heads through this bloggy thingie.
Anyway, I'm gonna go to sleep, was awake all night.
Your head asplode!
They explode.
All over the place.
They will literally cover your kitchen with little, black, crispy pieces of charred shell and tiny pieces of really, really hard yolk. Not that I just had this happen to me. Not that I started boiling eggs and then realized an hour later that I had left them boiling.
Not me.
Got my first issue of Scientific American yesterday. I was all excited when I saw it lying on what passes for our coffetable. Can you imagine my excitement when I picked it up, all ready to expand my mind with tales from the fringes of science, when the magazine fell apart in my hands. The stupid postal service had completely mangled my magazine. Sent a complaint to Scientific American, hope the give me a new issue.
Other than that, I've just been doing ma research. Had a little brainstorming session with John, where I think I managed to come up with at least two ideas which he hadn't thought of yet. And as an extra boost to my ego, the way he laid out the brainstorming session reflected an idea I had proposed the previous week (which John had expressed doubts about). Soooo, that went well.
I realized an interesting thing the other day. Since I moved here, I have actually managed to get to know some of my friends back home much more closely. I have a certain core of people I speak to at least a couple of times a week, sometimes every day. And a lot of times, it's at that hour of the day when people are feeling philosophical, or maybe a bit down, so we have interesting conversations. This is sort of the same as mamma and pabbi mentioned, about how interesting it is to get to see into their children's heads through this bloggy thingie.
Anyway, I'm gonna go to sleep, was awake all night.
Your head asplode!
fimmtudagur, febrúar 26, 2004
Although I do get some kicks from writing in my blog, I figured out that one of the things that is probably not helping in my mood swings is the fact that I'm not writing anymore. I went over some of my old stuff, like the novel I was always gonna finish. Had about 120 pages of every-line-A4, which is pretty long, around 200 paperback pages, but as I read over it I realized it was a tad...childish. I had an almost uncontrollable urge to rewrite the whole thing then and there. Anyway, then I found another piece I had started on, but abandoned because I was leaving for the states. This was right after I had gotten a couple of books on writing and I was practising with exposition. Anyway, here's the piece:
Gourn would never have met the woman if he had not chosen to leave the safety of the byway. As it turned out it was much less a choice rather than an action of necessity. If he hadn’t veered his cargo hauler sharply off the byway the approaching speeder would have crashed into him, causing damage that Gourn did not feel like dealing with right now. He had enough other problems. However, the prospective damage a collision with a speeder would bring was nothing compared to what would have happened if the pursuing enforcer had collided with his modest cargo hauler. So, Gourn did the only thing possible in the situation. He left the controlled safety of the byway and braved the dangers of the deep.
Immediately, warning sounds filled the air. They were telling Gourn that he was doing something foolish. Gourn ignored them. He manouvered his ship off the byway, the guiding lights slowly but surely passing from his field of vision. The bridge of Gourn’s ship went from near darkness to pitch black. Gourn listened as his scanners beeped at him, telling him that he had been successful. The speeder had missed him as had the enforcer.
Those two had come from the deep, crossed the byway, and were headed back into the deep. Were they insane? And what was a Cheers enforcer doing here anyway? Gourn cursed the establishment as his ship labored to slow down and turn around. The sudden burst of energy needed to break the control of the byway had sent the cargo hauler coasting quite a distance. The guiding lights came back into his field of vision, casting a soft white glow into the bridge. Gourn peered his eyes slightly and set the engine to a slow but steady pace. He didn’t have enough fuel for another burst like that one. Breaking the control of the byway had nearly depleted his tanks and, although he didn’t need the fuel for the run, he did need it to dock. He estimated more than two hours before reaching the byway. Not good. Gourn had never been exposed to the deep before, but he had heard stories. And they were not pretty. However, the familiar glow of the guiding lights and the darkness of his bridge slowly calmed Gourn’s nerves, driving stories of terror from his mind.
Gourn’s last haul had been meager. He had barely been able to fill one of his four cargo bays with ore before running out of supplies. If he only had the credits to buy a diner, he could always stay afloat until his cargo bays were full. Gourn laughed ruefully. You could just as well hope for a star to grow back after a supernova. This haul would barely break even, covering the food and oxygen the expedition had cost him. Gourn silently cursed Cheers. Independent miners didn’t stand a chance.
Gourn had a simple solution for a rising temper. He reached over and flipped a switch, disengaging the inertial field. He undid the shoulder straps holding him in his seat and pushed gently away. Gourn relished the slightly queasy, yet undeniably welcome feeling of zero-g, as he floated up towards the center of his spacious bridge. This feeling soothed him like no other, allowing him to forget his griefs and cool down. If he had any say in it, he would never set foot in gravity again.
An alarm was set to wake him up before any course correction was made, allowing him to get to his command chair before inertia took over. Gourn breathed deeply and allowed himself to fall asleep.
So please, tell me what you think. Does it make you want to know more?
Gourn would never have met the woman if he had not chosen to leave the safety of the byway. As it turned out it was much less a choice rather than an action of necessity. If he hadn’t veered his cargo hauler sharply off the byway the approaching speeder would have crashed into him, causing damage that Gourn did not feel like dealing with right now. He had enough other problems. However, the prospective damage a collision with a speeder would bring was nothing compared to what would have happened if the pursuing enforcer had collided with his modest cargo hauler. So, Gourn did the only thing possible in the situation. He left the controlled safety of the byway and braved the dangers of the deep.
Immediately, warning sounds filled the air. They were telling Gourn that he was doing something foolish. Gourn ignored them. He manouvered his ship off the byway, the guiding lights slowly but surely passing from his field of vision. The bridge of Gourn’s ship went from near darkness to pitch black. Gourn listened as his scanners beeped at him, telling him that he had been successful. The speeder had missed him as had the enforcer.
Those two had come from the deep, crossed the byway, and were headed back into the deep. Were they insane? And what was a Cheers enforcer doing here anyway? Gourn cursed the establishment as his ship labored to slow down and turn around. The sudden burst of energy needed to break the control of the byway had sent the cargo hauler coasting quite a distance. The guiding lights came back into his field of vision, casting a soft white glow into the bridge. Gourn peered his eyes slightly and set the engine to a slow but steady pace. He didn’t have enough fuel for another burst like that one. Breaking the control of the byway had nearly depleted his tanks and, although he didn’t need the fuel for the run, he did need it to dock. He estimated more than two hours before reaching the byway. Not good. Gourn had never been exposed to the deep before, but he had heard stories. And they were not pretty. However, the familiar glow of the guiding lights and the darkness of his bridge slowly calmed Gourn’s nerves, driving stories of terror from his mind.
Gourn’s last haul had been meager. He had barely been able to fill one of his four cargo bays with ore before running out of supplies. If he only had the credits to buy a diner, he could always stay afloat until his cargo bays were full. Gourn laughed ruefully. You could just as well hope for a star to grow back after a supernova. This haul would barely break even, covering the food and oxygen the expedition had cost him. Gourn silently cursed Cheers. Independent miners didn’t stand a chance.
Gourn had a simple solution for a rising temper. He reached over and flipped a switch, disengaging the inertial field. He undid the shoulder straps holding him in his seat and pushed gently away. Gourn relished the slightly queasy, yet undeniably welcome feeling of zero-g, as he floated up towards the center of his spacious bridge. This feeling soothed him like no other, allowing him to forget his griefs and cool down. If he had any say in it, he would never set foot in gravity again.
An alarm was set to wake him up before any course correction was made, allowing him to get to his command chair before inertia took over. Gourn breathed deeply and allowed himself to fall asleep.
So please, tell me what you think. Does it make you want to know more?
miðvikudagur, febrúar 25, 2004
This SUCKS! :@
I've been hanging around for like HOURS, not being able to force myself to start anything. And then, finally I manage to decide on someting I need to be doing, manage to force myself to get going, set everything up, and access the web site I need to do it....but NOOOOO the website is down.
There might as well have reached a hand out of my screen, grabbed my hair and slammed my face down into the keyboard. Would have been just as effective.
Plus! my finger hurts....
Back to moping around, I guess....
I've been hanging around for like HOURS, not being able to force myself to start anything. And then, finally I manage to decide on someting I need to be doing, manage to force myself to get going, set everything up, and access the web site I need to do it....but NOOOOO the website is down.
There might as well have reached a hand out of my screen, grabbed my hair and slammed my face down into the keyboard. Would have been just as effective.
Plus! my finger hurts....
Back to moping around, I guess....
mánudagur, febrúar 23, 2004
It's funny how, when you're procrastinating and talking to someone on MSN, or watching Scrubs or something else as stupid, your unconscious mind is constantly working and once in a while it pops up with comments about yourself that have nothing to do with what you're actually doing or thinking about at the time.
Just a few minutes ago, I was talking to Svanur and I realized an interesting thing about myself.
I have a really hard time getting going on things that have to be done, but when I do get going, I almost always manage to keep my focus until it's done. Okok, that wasn't the revelation. This was.
When I really get going with things I almost always finish them more quickly than I expected. And that annoys me. Strange hunh? I guess the reason is that I've psyched myself up into having to spend (for example) the "whole weekend" working on a programming project, and when I finish saturday afternoon, I feel almost cheated out of the rest of the weekend. See, I like being "in the zone" and projects keep me there. So when they finish prematurely, I don't like it. And instead of beginning a new project right away, I go through the whole preparation phase of psyching myself up again. And that usually entails spending time hanging on the internet, chatting, watching tv shows, or picking my nose. So I guess I sort of just have to trick my mind into viewing everything as just part of a huge project, psyche myself up once and for all and get going with my life, right?
Sounds good...
Just a few minutes ago, I was talking to Svanur and I realized an interesting thing about myself.
I have a really hard time getting going on things that have to be done, but when I do get going, I almost always manage to keep my focus until it's done. Okok, that wasn't the revelation. This was.
When I really get going with things I almost always finish them more quickly than I expected. And that annoys me. Strange hunh? I guess the reason is that I've psyched myself up into having to spend (for example) the "whole weekend" working on a programming project, and when I finish saturday afternoon, I feel almost cheated out of the rest of the weekend. See, I like being "in the zone" and projects keep me there. So when they finish prematurely, I don't like it. And instead of beginning a new project right away, I go through the whole preparation phase of psyching myself up again. And that usually entails spending time hanging on the internet, chatting, watching tv shows, or picking my nose. So I guess I sort of just have to trick my mind into viewing everything as just part of a huge project, psyche myself up once and for all and get going with my life, right?
Sounds good...
Took a strange book quiz, and got a strange answer...I guess it's a teeny bit fitting...
You're Siddhartha!
by Hermann Hesse
You simply don't know what to believe, but you're willing to try
anything once. Western values, Eastern values, hedonism and minimalism, you've spent
some time in every camp. But you still don't have any idea what camp you belong in.
This makes you an individualist of the highest order, but also really lonely. It's
time to chill out under a tree. And realize that at least you believe in
ferries.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
sunnudagur, febrúar 22, 2004
I've read about 20 articles since friday (while watching tv-shows in between to maintain my sanity).
There's just too much to know out there. Each article mentions ca. 10 others that are intersting, along with mentioning names from literature, philosophy and media. On top of that, I also want to read my novels, write one of my own, learn a bunch of languages, get back into shape on my trumpet, get back into shape physically, write a couple of articles, learn to play a bunch of other instruments(guitar, piano), program a bunch of computer games and have a meaningful relationship.
...
And yet, I still find time to blog about it all.
...
As I was reading my articles and realizing that I was slowly understanding more and more of the concepts and often skimming parts of articles where they repeated stuff I had already read before, I also realized that at some point one has to stop reading and start doing (at least in the academic world as it is set up today). However, there are so many things in these articles that I would like to read more closely, and get to be an expert in. For example, just the whole field of logic. Even though I am a very logical guy, I am not really that proficient in using formal logic. And I would like to remedy that. My first impulse was to go online and find a book which would help me. Then all of a sudden I thought, "Fine, but will I ever actually read it?". I looked up at my bookshelf, full of really interesting books I have yet to read, and I figured...at this point, no I probably would not find time to read it. So then I thought, why is the academic world like this? Let's say I want to become an expert in this field I'm currently working in (I believe it's called Epistemology or Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, or something). To do that, I wouldn't really feel comfortable unless I was an expert in logic, and math, and a bunch of other things. Why can't I just spend my academic career becoming an EXPERT? You'd think that somebody who was total perspective over things, who has spent 100% of his time reading everything that is out there and understanding it all, would be more capable at figuring out new things, new connections. At the very least, he would never spend his time and energy researching something which had already been researched. At best he would be able to do what humans do best, take analogies from many different fields and possibly come up with something amazing.
In case you haven't noticed, this is just my OCD side rearing it's ugly head. I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Noble goal, right? I mean, there are only so many papers out there, right? I could get through them, if I managed my time, learned how to speed read, and got some incredibly rich person to take care of me for the rest of my life :D
Basically it boils down to one thing:
I hate having to stop.
I have no problem admitting to myself (or anyone else for that matter) that I don't know something. I have a problem admitting to myself that I don't have the time/resources to know more about it. Now somebody is going to say "So stop wasting your time watching tv-shows" Well, I don't believe it's wasted time. If I thought I was wasting time, I wouldn't do it. Trust me, there are a lot of tv-shows I think are a waste of time, and I don't watch them. I guess you could say that watching tv-shows is a hobby of mine, and everybody knows how important hobbies are.
I wish :
that I could download information straight into my brain and then let my subconscious work on while I do other things
that I had the power to change my corporeal body into any size and shape I so desired. Could you imagine being a bird for a day? Or hey, maybe I could understand women if I spent a month as one.
that I had a replicator that would make anything I needed for free
that I didn't have to worry about the future
that I had my own personal holodeck
that I could go without sleep and still be refreshed
that I could stop time without aging
There's just too much to know out there. Each article mentions ca. 10 others that are intersting, along with mentioning names from literature, philosophy and media. On top of that, I also want to read my novels, write one of my own, learn a bunch of languages, get back into shape on my trumpet, get back into shape physically, write a couple of articles, learn to play a bunch of other instruments(guitar, piano), program a bunch of computer games and have a meaningful relationship.
...
And yet, I still find time to blog about it all.
...
As I was reading my articles and realizing that I was slowly understanding more and more of the concepts and often skimming parts of articles where they repeated stuff I had already read before, I also realized that at some point one has to stop reading and start doing (at least in the academic world as it is set up today). However, there are so many things in these articles that I would like to read more closely, and get to be an expert in. For example, just the whole field of logic. Even though I am a very logical guy, I am not really that proficient in using formal logic. And I would like to remedy that. My first impulse was to go online and find a book which would help me. Then all of a sudden I thought, "Fine, but will I ever actually read it?". I looked up at my bookshelf, full of really interesting books I have yet to read, and I figured...at this point, no I probably would not find time to read it. So then I thought, why is the academic world like this? Let's say I want to become an expert in this field I'm currently working in (I believe it's called Epistemology or Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, or something). To do that, I wouldn't really feel comfortable unless I was an expert in logic, and math, and a bunch of other things. Why can't I just spend my academic career becoming an EXPERT? You'd think that somebody who was total perspective over things, who has spent 100% of his time reading everything that is out there and understanding it all, would be more capable at figuring out new things, new connections. At the very least, he would never spend his time and energy researching something which had already been researched. At best he would be able to do what humans do best, take analogies from many different fields and possibly come up with something amazing.
In case you haven't noticed, this is just my OCD side rearing it's ugly head. I WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING. Noble goal, right? I mean, there are only so many papers out there, right? I could get through them, if I managed my time, learned how to speed read, and got some incredibly rich person to take care of me for the rest of my life :D
Basically it boils down to one thing:
I hate having to stop.
I have no problem admitting to myself (or anyone else for that matter) that I don't know something. I have a problem admitting to myself that I don't have the time/resources to know more about it. Now somebody is going to say "So stop wasting your time watching tv-shows" Well, I don't believe it's wasted time. If I thought I was wasting time, I wouldn't do it. Trust me, there are a lot of tv-shows I think are a waste of time, and I don't watch them. I guess you could say that watching tv-shows is a hobby of mine, and everybody knows how important hobbies are.
I wish :
that I could download information straight into my brain and then let my subconscious work on while I do other things
that I had the power to change my corporeal body into any size and shape I so desired. Could you imagine being a bird for a day? Or hey, maybe I could understand women if I spent a month as one.
that I had a replicator that would make anything I needed for free
that I didn't have to worry about the future
that I had my own personal holodeck
that I could go without sleep and still be refreshed
that I could stop time without aging
fimmtudagur, febrúar 19, 2004
Even though I have already spent bunches of money, I still have a big list of things I need (as opposed to things I want, or want to need (or need to want? (hey recursive parentheses are cool(especially if you add a smiley to make things even more complicated:)))))
Good chair for my desk - The one I have really sucks. It's hard, and non-adjustable and tiny. But it was free :)
Coat rack - for all those clothes lying around that are not clean enough to go in the drawers, but not dirty enough to wash them just yet
Comfy sofa-chair - for my little reading corner I'm creating
Night table - for stuff
And then there are some things that I don't necessarily NEED, but would be really cool to have:
Tabletop watercooler - I noticed the other day how much more water I drank since I have my fridge next to and the water is always cool. This also means less drinking of other, less healthy, stuff.
Whiteboard - This would be soo cool, ultimately branding me as a geek to anyone entering my room. So many times I have had ideas and drawn them on paper, only to have the paper run out of space or the pencil break or something stupid. Having a whiteboard in my room, always handy, would be very cool. Also I could change it into a speaker with one of these.
I love my fridge. I love the fact that my fridge is full of food. It makes me feel a bit more...independent? grown-up? Does that make sense to anybody? I can now go and make myself a sandwich with turkey, cheese, onions, pickles, lettuce and mustard and it's ALL MINE! :) Boy am I losing it.
The only problem is, I don't have room for a gallon of milk (or water) so I have to keep it in the other fridge. And I suspect Binh of drinking my stuff. I'm running an experiment; I marked the level of the milk with a permanent marker. I'll check out the level tomorrow afternoon ;)
Svanur mentioned something about how watching tv-shows is like being stuck in a rut. You spend a whole lot of time staying in one rut (watching one show), only to finally get out of it and fall into another (some other show). I personally am proud of all the shows I've watched and the fact that I can have an intelligent conversation about each and every one of them. Narrative is what it's all about, boys and girls, and if tv-shows gives one his narrative fix, then I say that's just as good as reading or any other type of "narrative-in-a-box" media. In any case, watching all that stuff has made me who I am today, and since I actually am fond of myself, I think I gained a lot from it. And hey, if the rut you're in is interesting, who say's that's a bad thing?
Good chair for my desk - The one I have really sucks. It's hard, and non-adjustable and tiny. But it was free :)
Coat rack - for all those clothes lying around that are not clean enough to go in the drawers, but not dirty enough to wash them just yet
Comfy sofa-chair - for my little reading corner I'm creating
Night table - for stuff
And then there are some things that I don't necessarily NEED, but would be really cool to have:
Tabletop watercooler - I noticed the other day how much more water I drank since I have my fridge next to and the water is always cool. This also means less drinking of other, less healthy, stuff.
Whiteboard - This would be soo cool, ultimately branding me as a geek to anyone entering my room. So many times I have had ideas and drawn them on paper, only to have the paper run out of space or the pencil break or something stupid. Having a whiteboard in my room, always handy, would be very cool. Also I could change it into a speaker with one of these.
I love my fridge. I love the fact that my fridge is full of food. It makes me feel a bit more...independent? grown-up? Does that make sense to anybody? I can now go and make myself a sandwich with turkey, cheese, onions, pickles, lettuce and mustard and it's ALL MINE! :) Boy am I losing it.
The only problem is, I don't have room for a gallon of milk (or water) so I have to keep it in the other fridge. And I suspect Binh of drinking my stuff. I'm running an experiment; I marked the level of the milk with a permanent marker. I'll check out the level tomorrow afternoon ;)
Svanur mentioned something about how watching tv-shows is like being stuck in a rut. You spend a whole lot of time staying in one rut (watching one show), only to finally get out of it and fall into another (some other show). I personally am proud of all the shows I've watched and the fact that I can have an intelligent conversation about each and every one of them. Narrative is what it's all about, boys and girls, and if tv-shows gives one his narrative fix, then I say that's just as good as reading or any other type of "narrative-in-a-box" media. In any case, watching all that stuff has made me who I am today, and since I actually am fond of myself, I think I gained a lot from it. And hey, if the rut you're in is interesting, who say's that's a bad thing?
miðvikudagur, febrúar 18, 2004
Hey guys.
Boyohboy do I live an exciting life. Wheee... :| The most exciting thing that happened to me this week (so far, although I don't expect anything to top this) was doing my grocery shopping...ONLINE! Got it sent to my house for a mere $10 fee (although the guy brought it in the middle of an episode of 24, sheesh). Now all I need is to be able to program my fridge with my daily nutritional plan, have it synchronize with my computer, and order whatever is needed for this week for me. Now that would be awesome.
So have graduated from watching Alias (already caught up to the TV and the next episode isn't for 3 WEEKS! :'( ), and am now going through Smallville (while waiting for ER do finish downloading ). Okok, I have to...I MUST rant a little bit about Smallville.
[rant]
So Smallville is about young Superman. Fine. And he's got friends and a family who are all really perfect, really nice people. Fine. So the show starts out and it's as if the writers realized in the middle of things that having really nice and perfect people doesn't make for an intersting show. So instead of making these people act like real people, they give these nice perfect people a spattering of scenes where they turn into total jerks.
(Slightly)Exaggerated re-enactment:
Clark: Hey Lana, what's up?
Lana: (With a sickeningly sweet smile) Nothing much Clark.
Clark: Hey sorry I can't make our study date tonight.
Lana: (Tears off Clark's head and stuffs it down his bleeding neck) I don't even know you anymore, Clark.
Everything is a huge issue. There is no such thing as giving your (best)friend any measure of a benefit of the doubt. I know being a teenager is hard (been there) but comon! for kræsseik. And then in between acting all high-and-mighty they spout euphemisms and anecdotes about how trust between friends is all important and how "oh I'd love to be with you Clark, but there is just so much about you that you keep secret.." Hmm...
Clark tells his best friend about his secrets...and he won't tell THE WOMAN HE LOVES!! What kind of a message is this for the boys of this world? Keep up the "good ol' boys" attitude and keep the women out of it. In fact, keep the women where they're supposed to be. And hey, I could take that point to the extreme...Martha Kent gets a high paying corporate job, but she turns it down later because it's affecting her family yadayada and stays in the kitchen. The only "semi-independent" female character is a girl who is a freak and is out of everything socially, while the cute girl has absolutely no redeeming qualities and runs a coffe shop and in her free time spouts holier-than-thou anecdotes (and is the leading female character)
Clark makes a judgement call that ends with an accident that involves his parents. Ok, instead of dealing with it, he goes super-psycho and moves to metropolis on a crime spree. Yeeeeesss...no comment.
Anyway, the worst thing about this all, is that I'm still watching these shows ....
[/rant]
So one night the other day I had waaaayy to much caffeine and I couldn't concentrate and I couldn't sleep. So I lay in bed and started to think about my life, about everything that had happened. It wasn't that kind of thing where you look back and say "wow I had a great life" or "wow my life sucked". Just kind of a recap of everything that happened with no result. Kind of interesting. And then I started to think about how, if I were to meet some girl now, she wouldn't know about any of those things. She wouldn't know anything about what makes me, me. And that kind of makes me sad. I have really calmed down these past few years, I used to be really active in the party area, out all the time, really drunk and having loads of fun. And the people that know me best know that I can be lots of fun when I'm drunk. And the people that I will get to know in the future, probably won't get to see that side of me (seeing as getting hammered is not really on my schedule any more). I don't know...I guess I'm just afraid that any person who would be attracted to me now, would be attracted to the wrong me...while people I have known for years already know what I'm like. Oh well, maybe I'm rambling. This blog is definitely gonna get one comment which will say "but getting to know people is part of the excitement" Well...fleh...lost my muse.
Boyohboy do I live an exciting life. Wheee... :| The most exciting thing that happened to me this week (so far, although I don't expect anything to top this) was doing my grocery shopping...ONLINE! Got it sent to my house for a mere $10 fee (although the guy brought it in the middle of an episode of 24, sheesh). Now all I need is to be able to program my fridge with my daily nutritional plan, have it synchronize with my computer, and order whatever is needed for this week for me. Now that would be awesome.
So have graduated from watching Alias (already caught up to the TV and the next episode isn't for 3 WEEKS! :'( ), and am now going through Smallville (while waiting for ER do finish downloading ). Okok, I have to...I MUST rant a little bit about Smallville.
[rant]
So Smallville is about young Superman. Fine. And he's got friends and a family who are all really perfect, really nice people. Fine. So the show starts out and it's as if the writers realized in the middle of things that having really nice and perfect people doesn't make for an intersting show. So instead of making these people act like real people, they give these nice perfect people a spattering of scenes where they turn into total jerks.
(Slightly)Exaggerated re-enactment:
Clark: Hey Lana, what's up?
Lana: (With a sickeningly sweet smile) Nothing much Clark.
Clark: Hey sorry I can't make our study date tonight.
Lana: (Tears off Clark's head and stuffs it down his bleeding neck) I don't even know you anymore, Clark.
Everything is a huge issue. There is no such thing as giving your (best)friend any measure of a benefit of the doubt. I know being a teenager is hard (been there) but comon! for kræsseik. And then in between acting all high-and-mighty they spout euphemisms and anecdotes about how trust between friends is all important and how "oh I'd love to be with you Clark, but there is just so much about you that you keep secret.." Hmm...
Clark tells his best friend about his secrets...and he won't tell THE WOMAN HE LOVES!! What kind of a message is this for the boys of this world? Keep up the "good ol' boys" attitude and keep the women out of it. In fact, keep the women where they're supposed to be. And hey, I could take that point to the extreme...Martha Kent gets a high paying corporate job, but she turns it down later because it's affecting her family yadayada and stays in the kitchen. The only "semi-independent" female character is a girl who is a freak and is out of everything socially, while the cute girl has absolutely no redeeming qualities and runs a coffe shop and in her free time spouts holier-than-thou anecdotes (and is the leading female character)
Clark makes a judgement call that ends with an accident that involves his parents. Ok, instead of dealing with it, he goes super-psycho and moves to metropolis on a crime spree. Yeeeeesss...no comment.
Anyway, the worst thing about this all, is that I'm still watching these shows ....
[/rant]
So one night the other day I had waaaayy to much caffeine and I couldn't concentrate and I couldn't sleep. So I lay in bed and started to think about my life, about everything that had happened. It wasn't that kind of thing where you look back and say "wow I had a great life" or "wow my life sucked". Just kind of a recap of everything that happened with no result. Kind of interesting. And then I started to think about how, if I were to meet some girl now, she wouldn't know about any of those things. She wouldn't know anything about what makes me, me. And that kind of makes me sad. I have really calmed down these past few years, I used to be really active in the party area, out all the time, really drunk and having loads of fun. And the people that know me best know that I can be lots of fun when I'm drunk. And the people that I will get to know in the future, probably won't get to see that side of me (seeing as getting hammered is not really on my schedule any more). I don't know...I guess I'm just afraid that any person who would be attracted to me now, would be attracted to the wrong me...while people I have known for years already know what I'm like. Oh well, maybe I'm rambling. This blog is definitely gonna get one comment which will say "but getting to know people is part of the excitement" Well...fleh...lost my muse.
sunnudagur, febrúar 15, 2004
This is amazing. A press conference about the George Bush's military service. What's amazing is how the press sort of catches wind of something fishy and just attacks the guy answering questions. They just gut the poor guy :)
The internet rocks.
But it also sucks.
I found a website for online grocery shopping. They have practically everything, and incredible user support, ranging from understanding you grocery lists to doing weekly scheduled deliveries. Minimum delivery is $50 and that costs $10. For any delivery over $100 it only costs $5. Since each time I go shopping I always buy for about $50, and I do so maybe 2-3 a month...I figure I can spare $20 - $30 a month on the convenience of not having to worry about getting myself there and back. Me likee thiss.
So my assignment this week was to read about SNePS and CYC (I'll talk about them in detail on the other blog. No problem with that really, except for the fact that I found the MOTHERLODE of documents about SNePS. Probably about 300 articles, and all of them look interesting....:S
Went to Þóra's 50th birthday party, which was lots of fun. Had a few more beers than I had intended to, but nothing serious. They actually had this reeeeaally good dark beer, called Dunkles...tasted almost like Malt...mmmmm...
Met a bunch of very nice people, Þóra's friends and coworkers. Also met Kara (sp?) Carpy's(sp?) daughter, very cute, very nice girl :)
We stayed at the bar for about 4 hours, and then drove back to Þóra's place for an eftirpartý, where Peter and I spent 2 hours debating about what was the origin of the 4/4 and 3/4 rhythms in music. A very interesting topic, I've never really thought about it that deeply before. Like always, I'm a bit more aware of myself when I'm debating, and I'm always a bit worried that I'm being too overbearing or too self-righteous without knowing it, but I don't think Peter cared, or noticed...he was a bit drunk ;)
Freyja was very nice as usual...picked me up (with Hildur) and dropped me off at home the next morning. Thankyouthankyouthankyou Freyja mín, and Thankyouthankyouthankyou Þóra mín for making me a "down-free" bed :) Boyohboy I'm gonna have a full-time job just repaying these kindnesses over the years :)
Anyway, just plodding along life-wise. Got going working out last week, went every day to do at least some running (augh! my muskler :() and am feeling tons better just from that. Endorphines are so underrated. Gonna go check out some of the clubs this week, one Wushu (acrobatic kungfu), ballroom dancing, and badminton. The rock climbing doesn't start until march, and the snowboarding is full :(
I managed to do a project in computer graphics - which we had 2 weeks to do - in about 12 hours. Now, if I can just figure out how to keep my brain in that kind of intense, overdrive state the whole time....things would be veeeery different :)
But it also sucks.
I found a website for online grocery shopping. They have practically everything, and incredible user support, ranging from understanding you grocery lists to doing weekly scheduled deliveries. Minimum delivery is $50 and that costs $10. For any delivery over $100 it only costs $5. Since each time I go shopping I always buy for about $50, and I do so maybe 2-3 a month...I figure I can spare $20 - $30 a month on the convenience of not having to worry about getting myself there and back. Me likee thiss.
So my assignment this week was to read about SNePS and CYC (I'll talk about them in detail on the other blog. No problem with that really, except for the fact that I found the MOTHERLODE of documents about SNePS. Probably about 300 articles, and all of them look interesting....:S
Went to Þóra's 50th birthday party, which was lots of fun. Had a few more beers than I had intended to, but nothing serious. They actually had this reeeeaally good dark beer, called Dunkles...tasted almost like Malt...mmmmm...
Met a bunch of very nice people, Þóra's friends and coworkers. Also met Kara (sp?) Carpy's(sp?) daughter, very cute, very nice girl :)
We stayed at the bar for about 4 hours, and then drove back to Þóra's place for an eftirpartý, where Peter and I spent 2 hours debating about what was the origin of the 4/4 and 3/4 rhythms in music. A very interesting topic, I've never really thought about it that deeply before. Like always, I'm a bit more aware of myself when I'm debating, and I'm always a bit worried that I'm being too overbearing or too self-righteous without knowing it, but I don't think Peter cared, or noticed...he was a bit drunk ;)
Freyja was very nice as usual...picked me up (with Hildur) and dropped me off at home the next morning. Thankyouthankyouthankyou Freyja mín, and Thankyouthankyouthankyou Þóra mín for making me a "down-free" bed :) Boyohboy I'm gonna have a full-time job just repaying these kindnesses over the years :)
Anyway, just plodding along life-wise. Got going working out last week, went every day to do at least some running (augh! my muskler :() and am feeling tons better just from that. Endorphines are so underrated. Gonna go check out some of the clubs this week, one Wushu (acrobatic kungfu), ballroom dancing, and badminton. The rock climbing doesn't start until march, and the snowboarding is full :(
I managed to do a project in computer graphics - which we had 2 weeks to do - in about 12 hours. Now, if I can just figure out how to keep my brain in that kind of intense, overdrive state the whole time....things would be veeeery different :)
miðvikudagur, febrúar 11, 2004
Here we go again, allir saman nú (to the tune of Barcelona with Queen)
Insomniiiiaaaaaa, Insomniiiaaaaa.
Oh well, watchagonnado (when they come for you).
So my research is starting to come together bit by bit (as you can read about on my nerdy blog :)), and itlooks like this is gonna be lots of fun John Salasin is the guy I'm working the most with, funny guy. He's huge, in every sense of the word. He's got frizzy, curly, short sortof reddish hair, a huge nose and...well everything about him's big. And he always wears cowboy boots :) He speaks in this nasal, sort of guttural tone, not unpleasant though, and he speaks in a slow measured way. Obviously a very bright person. Also, he's against Bush. Let me iterate...a bright person. He introduced me to this website which held a competition for anti-bush commercials.
Got my webcam the other day, and set it up, so now everybody can see my stupid grin online instead of just imagining it :D Also got a package from thinkgeek.com sent. Caffeine.....CAFFEINE....'nuffsaid.
Have now worked out two days in a row, and picked up a brochure from the CRC. There sure is a lot to do on campus. I had no idea! Well, that's not true, I knew. Let me rephrase that. I had no motivation! Well now I do, and I'm gonna do lots of stuff, from snowboarding to badminton to rock climbing, wooohooo can't wait. I'm sure mamma is thriiiilled. :D
Insomniiiiaaaaaa, Insomniiiaaaaa.
Oh well, watchagonnado (when they come for you).
So my research is starting to come together bit by bit (as you can read about on my nerdy blog :)), and itlooks like this is gonna be lots of fun John Salasin is the guy I'm working the most with, funny guy. He's huge, in every sense of the word. He's got frizzy, curly, short sortof reddish hair, a huge nose and...well everything about him's big. And he always wears cowboy boots :) He speaks in this nasal, sort of guttural tone, not unpleasant though, and he speaks in a slow measured way. Obviously a very bright person. Also, he's against Bush. Let me iterate...a bright person. He introduced me to this website which held a competition for anti-bush commercials.
Got my webcam the other day, and set it up, so now everybody can see my stupid grin online instead of just imagining it :D Also got a package from thinkgeek.com sent. Caffeine.....CAFFEINE....'nuffsaid.
Have now worked out two days in a row, and picked up a brochure from the CRC. There sure is a lot to do on campus. I had no idea! Well, that's not true, I knew. Let me rephrase that. I had no motivation! Well now I do, and I'm gonna do lots of stuff, from snowboarding to badminton to rock climbing, wooohooo can't wait. I'm sure mamma is thriiiilled. :D
þriðjudagur, febrúar 10, 2004
sunnudagur, febrúar 08, 2004
The next Mind Map. This one didn't turn out so well I think, maybe I'll try to fix it up a bit. However, according to the Mind Map book, usually when you have trouble doing maps from articles, it's because the article itself is not structured well. The writer (Tony Buzan) actually sometimes uses Mind Maps as a technique to evaluate an article. So....Blame it on the article, not me :)
This map I did on an article named Reasoning with Narratives.
Nothing much else has happened here, I'm living the life of a hermit, creating a permanent butt mark in my desk chair. I just got my Mind Accelerator book, and am going to start using that this week, try to boost my reading speed.
I'll keep posting my mind maps here as soon as they're finished, hope it actually does help me study. In any case, drawing is fun :)
This map I did on an article named Reasoning with Narratives.
Nothing much else has happened here, I'm living the life of a hermit, creating a permanent butt mark in my desk chair. I just got my Mind Accelerator book, and am going to start using that this week, try to boost my reading speed.
I'll keep posting my mind maps here as soon as they're finished, hope it actually does help me study. In any case, drawing is fun :)
laugardagur, febrúar 07, 2004
Wow, 30 comments! What fun.
Although, probably 25 of them were by me and my family :p...but who cares :)
So, been doing some reading (duh), first I checked out the Mind Maps book. Before starting, I duly parked my sense of logic and scientific reasoning behind my ear so I could at least attempt to accept this book at face value and not get lost in analysing and criticizing everything that did not stand up to my standards of correctness. I think I managed that to a certain point, allowing myself to gather what I felt was important from the book and dismiss all the rest. Mainly, what bugs me about books like this is that they are attempting to appeal to the Wow! factor. "The infinite associative power of the brain!", this phrase was repeated at least 20 times, if not more. In addition to this, there are all sorts of unfounded statements and categorizations that are not rationalized. However, I did make an attempt to use the technique, I did the practice examples and I actually created my own first Mind Map from scratch for a paper I'm researching called "Deixis in Narrative" (I have no idea what that means :p) I was going to load a photo of the Mind Map onto my web server and show you, but the server is down at the moment. I do think that making this mind map helped me understand and better establish the article in my memory. The only problem is, I spent hours doing it. I'm too much of a perfectionist, even though my skills in the fine arts are not that great :)
I also started reading "How to practice the way to a meaningful life", by Dalai Lama. Hmm, I can understand the merit of his way, and the buddhist way...but I'm not really sure it's for me...nevertheless, I'm going to finish the book and definitely make an honest attempt at introducing this way of thinking into my life. However it did spark an interesting (and yet unsettling) line of though in my mind. Why does one get angry? Is it just a chemical reaction in the brain? Does that mean, since we can get angry over mere words, that we have been conditioned (by ourselves, parents, surroundings) to get angry over certain concepts? Can someone be conditioned from birth to feel no anger? Would such a person be a better person? Further, does this mean that one can be conditioned to feel no emotion whatsoever? Maybe emotion is an instability, a flaw in the creation of man. What does emotion have to do with the continuation of the human species? Love does not (according to base definitions) contribute, only lust, and per definition, lust is not an emotion but mereley another state of being, such as sleep. So if one is stripped of emotion, then the purpose of life can no longer be "happiness" (the ubiquitous answer to the proverbial question) for that is an emotion. Thus there is no purpose other than procreation? This would coincide with findings showing that the human body is not designed to last longer than 30 years, and that more men show traits of "aimlessness" than women (possibly supporting the theory that women have a drive to be mothers and stay mothers, ergo a single long-term goal, while men have a drive to sow their seeds, multiple short-term goals).
Whew! So you can see where my mind led me, down the rabbit hole and back again (I hope).
Now I see why some people are calling my blog "Personality crisis in the US" :)
Anyway, til hamingju Berglind mín (og Júlli) með trúlofunina :) Ég er óendanlega hamingjusamur fyrir ykkar hönd.
Although, probably 25 of them were by me and my family :p...but who cares :)
So, been doing some reading (duh), first I checked out the Mind Maps book. Before starting, I duly parked my sense of logic and scientific reasoning behind my ear so I could at least attempt to accept this book at face value and not get lost in analysing and criticizing everything that did not stand up to my standards of correctness. I think I managed that to a certain point, allowing myself to gather what I felt was important from the book and dismiss all the rest. Mainly, what bugs me about books like this is that they are attempting to appeal to the Wow! factor. "The infinite associative power of the brain!", this phrase was repeated at least 20 times, if not more. In addition to this, there are all sorts of unfounded statements and categorizations that are not rationalized. However, I did make an attempt to use the technique, I did the practice examples and I actually created my own first Mind Map from scratch for a paper I'm researching called "Deixis in Narrative" (I have no idea what that means :p) I was going to load a photo of the Mind Map onto my web server and show you, but the server is down at the moment. I do think that making this mind map helped me understand and better establish the article in my memory. The only problem is, I spent hours doing it. I'm too much of a perfectionist, even though my skills in the fine arts are not that great :)
I also started reading "How to practice the way to a meaningful life", by Dalai Lama. Hmm, I can understand the merit of his way, and the buddhist way...but I'm not really sure it's for me...nevertheless, I'm going to finish the book and definitely make an honest attempt at introducing this way of thinking into my life. However it did spark an interesting (and yet unsettling) line of though in my mind. Why does one get angry? Is it just a chemical reaction in the brain? Does that mean, since we can get angry over mere words, that we have been conditioned (by ourselves, parents, surroundings) to get angry over certain concepts? Can someone be conditioned from birth to feel no anger? Would such a person be a better person? Further, does this mean that one can be conditioned to feel no emotion whatsoever? Maybe emotion is an instability, a flaw in the creation of man. What does emotion have to do with the continuation of the human species? Love does not (according to base definitions) contribute, only lust, and per definition, lust is not an emotion but mereley another state of being, such as sleep. So if one is stripped of emotion, then the purpose of life can no longer be "happiness" (the ubiquitous answer to the proverbial question) for that is an emotion. Thus there is no purpose other than procreation? This would coincide with findings showing that the human body is not designed to last longer than 30 years, and that more men show traits of "aimlessness" than women (possibly supporting the theory that women have a drive to be mothers and stay mothers, ergo a single long-term goal, while men have a drive to sow their seeds, multiple short-term goals).
Whew! So you can see where my mind led me, down the rabbit hole and back again (I hope).
Now I see why some people are calling my blog "Personality crisis in the US" :)
Anyway, til hamingju Berglind mín (og Júlli) með trúlofunina :) Ég er óendanlega hamingjusamur fyrir ykkar hönd.
þriðjudagur, febrúar 03, 2004
Something strange is happening to my sleep cycle. I am now sleeping for about 2 - 4 hours every 12 hours. I made a decision a couple of days back to just sleep when I was tired and not to force myself to sleep if I were not. Ergo, not to conform unecessarily to the 8 hour chunk one is "supposed" to get. I also forced myself to fall asleep on my back with my arms by my sides, not on my side or my stomach. In every case, I have woken up in the same position. I think this must have some effect.
Over the next couple of months I'm going to be reading and practicing all sorts of relaxation techniques and meditation and this change is nothing but positive that those techniques will be successul and will have a beneficiary effect on my well-being. I told my friend Svanur about this stuff. He just shook his head (electronically, seeing he is in another continent) and said "Freysi's gone New Age". Well, maybe I have. If that's what it takes for me to feel content, get rid of my migraines, and be healthy, then so be it. ( I write as I stuff my face with pizza and drink coke ).
Mamma just sent me a bunch of reeeaally cool books, on the brain and headaches and synchronicity and the musicians mind. I can't wait to read them :D The nerdy blog is on it's way, I'm working on the setup as we speak (wherein "speak" is defined as the way in which we communicate using the blog-comment setup :p).
I've had a steady stream of packages arriving ever since I myself arrived. It's loads of fun :) And there are more to come! I have my processor fan/heatsink arriving today, my webcam next week, and two more shipments of books next week also, wúhúú!
And all my spare energy goes to Jóhann. Good luck.
Over the next couple of months I'm going to be reading and practicing all sorts of relaxation techniques and meditation and this change is nothing but positive that those techniques will be successul and will have a beneficiary effect on my well-being. I told my friend Svanur about this stuff. He just shook his head (electronically, seeing he is in another continent) and said "Freysi's gone New Age". Well, maybe I have. If that's what it takes for me to feel content, get rid of my migraines, and be healthy, then so be it. ( I write as I stuff my face with pizza and drink coke ).
Mamma just sent me a bunch of reeeaally cool books, on the brain and headaches and synchronicity and the musicians mind. I can't wait to read them :D The nerdy blog is on it's way, I'm working on the setup as we speak (wherein "speak" is defined as the way in which we communicate using the blog-comment setup :p).
I've had a steady stream of packages arriving ever since I myself arrived. It's loads of fun :) And there are more to come! I have my processor fan/heatsink arriving today, my webcam next week, and two more shipments of books next week also, wúhúú!
And all my spare energy goes to Jóhann. Good luck.
sunnudagur, febrúar 01, 2004
I just got the news that a friend of mine had an aneurysm.
I haven't heard much, just that he was working out last friday and fainted. Was unconscious for a couple minutes and after he woke up he had a headache and poor vision. They went to the hospital where the aneurysm was detected and he went into surgery the next morning. They determined that it was unsafe to remove it and sent him to Stockholm for more analysis. I haven't heard any more, but he and his family have set up a blogsite so we can follow the course of events. I added a link on the top of my list to the left. So check it out and leave a comment of support in his guestbook if you like, I'm sure they will appreciate it.
It's a cliché, but I'm gonna say it anyway...this kind of puts things into perspective...
I haven't heard much, just that he was working out last friday and fainted. Was unconscious for a couple minutes and after he woke up he had a headache and poor vision. They went to the hospital where the aneurysm was detected and he went into surgery the next morning. They determined that it was unsafe to remove it and sent him to Stockholm for more analysis. I haven't heard any more, but he and his family have set up a blogsite so we can follow the course of events. I added a link on the top of my list to the left. So check it out and leave a comment of support in his guestbook if you like, I'm sure they will appreciate it.
It's a cliché, but I'm gonna say it anyway...this kind of puts things into perspective...
