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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Rain, rain go away 


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Originally uploaded by Yuek Hahn
Another reason I haven't been blogging much is that I've been painting. The house needed a touch up, so bit by bit I've been touching up the trim--scraping, priming and repainting. Then I decided to do the house itself. That may have been a mistake. Three sides of the house were okay but the south wall... well let's say that the south wall yielded up it's old paint with little coaxing. So now it's autumn, I've got exposed siding and the rains have started....

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

A time to write 

Well, how about this? I've got some time to kill and am somewhat inclined to blog. These days it seems like a rare combination. Let's see... of what shall I write?

Objectivist no more: There was an internet death in my life the week before last. Nick Otani was a fellow that I had "met" back when message boards were my craze. I qualify the "met" because, of course, I never spoke to the man in person. We conversed via the boards. Anyway, I had dropped out of his circle. First I started spending more online time reading blogs rather than message boards, then, when I went to China, I avoided his board lest one of his opinionated posts offend the Chinese authorities reading over my shoulder. So the other week, when I had lots of time to kill at work, I clicked on the link to his board and discovered in a post from his sister that he had died in April. I really had been away for a long time. I was saddened and wanted to make a memorial post. It was a bit hard to write. What could I say? "I'll miss him?" Well, yes, a bit, but obviously I hadn't missed him enough in the past half year to visit his board. "He's in a better place?" Well, he was proudly atheist. If my beliefs are correct, he--barring a last minute conversion--is not in a better place. And if his beliefs are correct, then he's just... not. In the end, I just said that I liked the guy and left it at that. The odds of someone actually reading it is slim, anyway. What an ephemeral thing, this internet.

Leave me here, Scotty: On a lighter note, I cruised by Sherri's blog the other day and saw that she had taken a quiz. It was a reincarnation quiz and her results showed her as being reincarnated as a Starfleet crewperson. Rather cool, I thought. This motivated my inner geek to try the quiz myself. I went through the process and I found myself scheduled to be reincarnated as... a Gypsy. (Actually, I'd prefer to be called a Rom, but what can I expect from you outsiders?) I was immensely pleased with that particular result. But then I had to take a step back. I prefer being a Roma nomad, living an itinerant life of relative poverty and great dance music, rather than being a crewman exploring the farthest reaches of the galaxy? I truly have changed since my younger days. Who would have thought?

Okay, I guess I didn't have that much time to kill...

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Monday, September 01, 2008

We had joy, we had fun 

Just wanted to acknowledge the end of the storyline for the strip For Better or For Worse. I've been a fan of the strip for a number of years, though I've actually stopped reading about a year and a half ago. In my opinion, the quality of the writing has gone downhill and it just wasn't as fun to read anymore. Still I think the strip ended on a nice note. Having Elizabeth rush to the hospital in a wedding gown to see her grandfather has a touch of zaniness that I enjoyed back in the good old days, as well as showcasing the compassion that has also been central to the strip. Thanks, Lynn Johnston, for the ride.

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