Wow

I've been getting into all the modification things you can do with personal homepages at google.com and such like. So early in the morning, after breakfast, and as I'm getting ready for another depressing day of searching for work, I get to scroll through RSS fed headlines and other curios. It allows me to stumble (in a very syndicated kind of way) upon things as cool as this...

I am amazed that someone actually went out and built a difference engine out of LEGO, it is absolutely staggering. And I find a sense of relief that, should a nuclear winter arrive disabling all electronic devices, we could all go out and scrounge up LEGO blocks and make calculation machines. The computer will prevail!

A Travelling Man's Sandals (Mandals?)

Here is a picture of the improbably used and unfortunately broken sandals that carried me around South East Asia for six whole months.

It is a memorial photo taken early this year when, god have mercy on me, I threw them out. I needed to. They were broken and only of sentimental value. And I had to move flats in London on the Tube and Bus. *Sigh*

They were amazing really. Hard wearing, comfortable and best-of-all well ventilated and un-smelly. And they just about had enough grip to get over even the most goat trodden tracks they call roads and paths round those parts.

But they couldn't to it without help. They were designed in the western world and sadly Heat (SEAsia's strongman) decided that Glue (Western's cheap fix it tool) was no match for it. And like Rock/Paper/Scissors - Heat always beats Glue.

Fortunately Heat is no match for cheap labour and the skilled, artisan-like, mr fix-its that travellers to places like Indonesia can easily afford. The upshot was that whenever they broke they were fixed. And some of the fix-it work is amazing. I mean if you look close you can also see why I got to calling them Frankensandals! Those stitches.

So here's to you my Mandals!

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This blog post has been brought to you by Picasa and Blogger. It was in no way influenced by alcohol. It was however written under the influence of a heady rush of excitement brought on by achieving broadband internet access at home. Go the net! 

Who would have thought?

The quince is everywhere!

 

Caché

The new flat is great.  About halfway through last week I got motivated to trek to Ikea and buy cheap shitty furniture that then took the rest of the week to assemble and think about painting.  But it is all done now save for a lamp, and a sofa bed (due to arrive within next 28 days - nothing in this country happens fast, especially banking and communications...

 

So anyway, with all the new furniture, a new level of comfort was afforded over the weekend, allowing us to eat dinner off a table and sit comfortably while reading a good book by the name of "The Time Travellers Wife" by A Niffenegger.  I'm not normally a fan of romance novels, but this is really very good.  If I were motivated I'd take the idea and write an rpg game based on the concept, but as we all know that ain't likely to happen anytime soon.

 

The area we live in is serviced with an independent cinema - this one.  I am exceptionally glad about this, especially as we are NOT going to get a TV anytime soon.  With this in mind we chose a movie to go and see this weekend, and it was Caché or Hidden as it was advertised in these English speaking parts.  We chose well, and after a very suspenseful 117 odd mins we surfaced into our street with a smile on our face for having an excellent wee cinema within walking distance.  I plan to go to many more films there over the next 12 months.  Incidentally, ironically, metaphorically, shit I don't know, but at least interestingly we surfaced from the film to observe that our local Blockbuster rental place was on fire.

 

The film has one scene that had at least one movie-goer announcing aloud "That's GRIM!"  It wasn't the headless forever-flapping chicken either...  For me it was an especially hard scene to watch as it made me remember vividly the buffalo sacrifice I endured in Indonesia.  I will write further about this.

 

Still jobless and this post is taking precious time away from my applications.  Till later.

Back in London

Got back to London last friday and have been busy making homely
preparations in the new 1bdrm flat we have taken on there. Quite fun,
but I'm getting sick of seeing the insides of £ stretchers and the
likes of Matalan & Ikea. Really should have got a fully furnished
flat...

Currently listening to Eminem on the iPod shuffle. It is quite
energetic, which is good cause it is 14:40 and all the heat of the day
(which didn't amount to much) is being sucked into the empty sky, and
with it my motivation to continue with the to-do list...

'time to really take these matters into my hands...'

So, with this in mind, I really should sign off now and leave the
proper update till the time the my broadband comes on line (would you
believe 2-3 weeks?). Till then I'll have to amuse myself with
knitting. And with my now >6' scarf finished, it'll have to be my
amazing investigation into "Knitting is Magic: a 3D sculpture of
knitting in 10x10 variously stitched green shapes". The photographic
essay may follow...

An Update

I'm in the UK. I'll be here, or at least somewhere in the northern
hemisphere, for the next 18 months. If that is not depressing enough
then, well, I'm unemployed.

www.stonesoup.co.nz/sidonia is dead! Why? I killed it a couple of
months ago. There was a red button and I pushed it. Stupid me.

I'm on a learning kick at the moment. I need to learn to occupy the
abundance of my unemployed time. I'll be learning Spanish soon, but
my current project is knitting. I'm 3' 8" through a tan and green
striped scarf. At 41 rows across that is a whopping 7000+ stitches.
And at my knitting rate, that is a whole bunch of time I've used up.

Have found a flat in London. Will move in on Friday, whereupon it
will be furnished with the finest things in life, but sadly no TV. As
a result I'm watching all I can while knitting to get my fill. Saw
the end of series one of 'Lost'. Loved it. I am currently hooked on
a new series here in the UK called 'Life on Mars'. Episode two
screened last night, which was far smoother than the necessarily
stilted introductory one. I want to watch more, though I may have to
wait for the DVD.

Afterwards I watched a self help video show parody (very funny),
Paxman's Night-something-or-other programme (one good question /
answer combo with Colin Powell) and a macabre autopsy programme which
seemed pointless, and hairless, with a strange looking German'ish
fellow knifing up a cadaver for a live studio audience in a "lookie
here as I play with a calcified artery" kind of way. And then they
pulled the "look at this naked and hairless (evidently male– look at
his penis!) model with pretty arterial systems painted on his skin".
One hell of a good way to make sure I don't ever donate my body to
science!

So at present I'm killing time. I'm in Devon, knitting and watching
telly. With the aim of furthering this fine pursuit, I thought I'd
resurrect a blog.

Welcome.

First Post

With an e-mail to blog system in place, no one will be able to stop me now!