Pink castles

I can't believe that it's been three years since the Imaginary Friends last performed on a stage. That number has to be upped somehow. At any rate, things are looking good and I am hoping that this time around will be an improvement. The stuff sounded good in practice.

For those who'd like to get an earful or two of imo, head on over to the grounds at the University of Guam for Charter Day (March 10) between 13:30 and 14:30. You'll see the Imaginary Friends there.

Off to sleep again.

Song in my head: Jennifer Lopez, "Do It Well".

Walking backwards

Now I know what it's like to be carless.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia can only be felt in the future.

Put another way, notice that people very rarely say "Oh, I wish I could be eighteen." Actually they say "Oh, I wish I could be eighteen again." It is only when we leave behind what seems to be the most hardship-filled times of our lives do we really start to figure out how much better we have become because of them, and the many times we were actually contented.

If you put this another way, you could say that youth is wasted on the young. But I don't think that's true, either. Would it be fair to say that there are no youths out there who actually cherish the opportunity that they have? Alas, wisdom does come too late, because usually it is only later that we realize just how much we miss.

So what is the point in all of this? The point is, it is never too late to make your future self be nostalgic for this present time in your life. Give your future self something to miss and do something amazing!

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Survivor, "The Search is Over".

Running man

It was weird to see the Sun sink so low so quickly during a recent walk-jog I had. One minute, I was raising my head to see it, but then I looked down on my mobile phone. When I looked back up the ocean had almost swallowed it whole.

So technically, half my walk-jog was in the evening. ^_^

Song in my head: Simon Collins, "Unconditional". Now doesn't this guy sound like someone familiar? Why would that be...? ^_^

There are a couple of moving pieces.

In my web exploits today, I came across an article on a blog that is aiming to build their own working internet tablet. It was, of course, no small undertaking, especially for a blog that would attempt this for the first time. When I saw the picture of the rough prototype it struck me as a very no-nonsense design, which the editors contended they would try to make more "industrial".

When I went to the comments section, I came across a bystander who asked, "What are the hardware specs you have defined for the first beta?..." The answer from one of the team was, "we'll talk about the hardware once it's nailed down, there are a couple of moving pieces."

A couple of moving pieces.

Now it struck me that this was an excellent way to describe their device. It's very sensory; it's as if you were holding the device in your hands and as you move it around it makes clanking noises, indicating that the parts have not been nailed down. In essence, it gave an abstract quality of the device (the fact that its hardware specification has not been finalized) a physical dimension (that of the parts not being nailed down).

As I reflected on those words further, I realized that they offer some insight as to why I have so many projects. My life, as well as everyone's life, is always undergoing some major redesign. Everyone does have a couple of moving pieces. I'm beginning to see that my projects are a dramatization of these clanking noises. That is, if I were the TechCrunch Tablet prototype A, and you were to turn me over in your hands, you would hear the sound of Planet Run, of imo, of Kykonian and Samnite, and much more.

I think that it is a healthy thing to have a few moving parts. That way, when the specifications change, when the consumer wants a different functionality, only a few screws will need to be turned.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Abba, "Our Last Summer".

P.S. I will be going around the island tomorrow. (That is not a trivial feat, but neither is it profound.) Let me see if I could take some pictures of the effort.

Circumspect

I guess it does take a few years to notice any kind of pattern.

Today I finished writing Planet Run 2.5. As I think about it now, I remember that it was in early 2006 that version 2.0 came into being, as little more than paper cutouts, a borrowed chessboard, and an OpenOffice document. One broken leg, two years' worth of playtesting, and countless hours of ruminating on the matter later, the project is the closest it has ever been to completion. Is it true? Will Planet Run be my first ever completed project?

We'll see.

I also seem to have regained the ability to stay up past 2:00 am. I'm not glad at all, as it comes right at the point when I do not need it. I mean, where was this ability when I was trying to study for my exams this semester?

In other news, I still have not sent out any Christmas cards. I still am determined to send them, but perhaps I have to tweak the wording now a bit, seeing as how Christmas is almost over.

Thanks for reading. And a belated Merry Christmas.

Song in my head: Journey, "Any Way You Want It".

A selfish streak

I don't know why I thought this was the time to buy myself a Nintendo DS. Perhaps I've waited long enough, you know? I mean, the DSi is already selling here on Guam, so I thought I'd pounce.

When I prophesy that my Christmas season was going to be busy, even I did not realize just how busy I was going to get. People left and right were having parties, performances, and the like. A big disadvantage for this year is that the beginning of the Christmas season cut into Final Exams week. So I don't know just how poorly I did, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see the damage. This time around I know I am at fault, though, because I was supposed to have already learned the lessons last semester. And here I am, once again singing the alma mater song for a class I am not graduating with.

At the same time, though, I have a feeling that this time something will be different. It's not really a "good" feeling per se; I guess I'm just feeling a bit... expectant. I haven't felt that in a long time.

Hopefully I could get cracking on those Christmas cards.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: The Darkness, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love". I apologize if I already had put out this song, but I find it apropos in two levels. One is that it's one of the songs on the game Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS that I bought.

Shorn

I had a haircut today at that place people get a haircut when they're short on change but high on patience (and a nose that is difficult to offend). I've had my hair cut there almost exclusively this year, simply because I like the illusion that I am saving money, and also because it's close to the Plantation.

When I take a haircut, I make it a point to smile at myself in the mirror at least once in a while. I want to try on the emerging hair with the expression I would like to wear the most often. The stylist did not seem to notice, so I guess it was all right.

Then I had a thought: I'm gonna need a haircut again in a few months. I think that realization caught me because the stylist today was the same person who cut my hair the last time. And I think I was even wearing the same shirt. Why should I cut my hair? If it's going to grow back anyway, why even fight it? Stuff like growing hair... that's like entropy, man, nay, like the "kipple" in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. What's the use?

Of course, when I walked out of the double doors, the late afternoon wind ran between the strands of my now adequately-thinned hair and over my scalp. That's a feeling I haven't had in, well, a month.

So that's why.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Lenny Kravitz, "Are You Gonna Go My Way".

Random variable

Has anyone ever thought of just how poetic a name the "Jaws of Life" is? I mean, it's a device with a pair of jaws which seeks to prolong the life of victims trapped in twisted cars and whatnot.

Song in my head: Jack White and Alicia Keys, "Another Way to Die".

Special character

My mother has a habit of whipping out the Magic Mic and singing karaoke on random nights. Tonight was one of them. Naturally, after I ate dinner, I joined her for some of the songs, and we noticed an oddity: a song that I know as "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg was masquerading under the title "Lonely". We clearly saw the opening lines of the song "Longer", so I decided to select it, and thereby discovered a song we thought didn't exist in our magic mic.

The revelation brought to mind my very short stay in Saipan last weekend. A couple of brothers was driving me towards the hotel, and as we were talking story I realized that Saipan was filled with green stuff and buildings. If it wasn't being taken over by vegetation, it was the site of some commercial center or hotel or store.

It wasn't until someone asked me about it when I touched back down onto Guam that I realized that I didn't see any houses when I was there. Now that I think about it, I only traveled on two of the main roads of Saipan and most likely the houses are along the minor roads. But Saipan has a grand total of three main roads, and it didn't seem possible that I didn't see any places to stay there.

That, of course, warrants greater scrutiny. Perhaps when I take another trip there, I should stay at someone's house. But there is no denying it: Saipan was picturesque. However, I didn't think that I would ever say that a place was too "green". Perhaps I just got used to how gray Guam has become.

At least now I know what Kim sees whenever she hops there every week or so.

Thanks for reading.

Song in my head: Stevie Wonder, "Overjoyed".