Month: January 2004

Sometimes there is no reason to do things for the sake of doing things.
Other times it’s the only reason to do things.

I really hate my job this week.

oh and from the those who live in glasshouses idea…

finding out someone has blocked you on IM because you have a list of screen names you don’t tell anyone so you can see who is online…

no stones please 🙂

Playing Eve.
Burning a CD
Reading my Email
Surfing the Web.
Running AOL
3 Downloads and 3 uploads going.

No noticeable drop in computer performance 🙂

1997 my real love affair with music began. I knew who U2 were, how could I not? I knew their music but I didn’t actually own any of their albums. They had a new album coming out titled Pop, the first in a few years. There was a lot of excitement about it and I bought it on the day of release. I of course loved it, and I still do. It’s generally regarded as one of their weaker albums but I love it. So anyway since then I naturally made sure I own all of their albums. Listening to it often makes me a little nostalgic, I have lots of memories from that time which I associate with it.

So anyway that’s that.

I’m still thinking that I loved that movie and it’s going to reverb in me for a while. It actually made me want to be in Tokyo again just because it is so different and there is so much to see. I think aswell as everything else, we tried to do too much and were exhausted every day. I could spend some time there taking photos and wandering around and seeing the sites. Looks like my sister will be in Kyoto from June or so. Later in the year I may try and head out that way again. Ah plans.

Hong Kong for a week is also an option. There is a really good deal on at the moment, 5 nights in a 4 star hotel and return flights for £395. Well tempted by that. A couple of the lads have already signed up to it and a few more of us are thinking about it. We shall have to see. If the share thing works out like it’s suppose to, I could really enjoy a nice holiday in somewhere cool. Thinking on my own would be the best but if it does work out, there is no reason I cannot do two trips.

Willpower is sometimes easily exercisable, I just have to get into the habit and so far so good. A few lacking times but in general pretty good and I’m certainly eating a lot healthier on a week by week basis. 3 cans of coke a day down to 3 a week (and that was only because I was working late and being stressed…an excuse I know) isn’t a bad start. I have two healthy dinners in the fridge for during the week and I even got some oatmeal and rasins in. Not that I ever stop for breakfast, but I should try harder.

I need to buy a copy of UltraEdit for myself at home soonish and I need to sort out some Antivirus on a more permanent basis than a Norton trial. I quite like it so far tho, in particular the email scanning. Having said that, my email is scanned by my provider and that’s pretty damn good.

Man I had some really screwed up dreams last night. They are just a fluttering memory now but I remember waking up thinking they were very fucked up. I use to have a dream diary years and years ago. I’m not sure that they were really dreams rather than the dreams the mind goes off into just before sleep. I’m not sure I’d ever keep anything like that again (due in no small part to it would have to be first thing in the morning) but sometimes it would be interesting I think. I can always ask the V about my dreams, that’s usually good for a laugh.

Yeah ok, I’ve got to go back to it, so if you are planning on seeing Lost in Translation you should stop reading about now. I really love the ending. There was no happy ending, their lives had crossed and had such an impact in such a short time and then they just went on with their own lives. The penultimate scene was a work of magic.

Lost in Translation was excellent. I enjoyed the hell out of it and thought it did a great job of capturing the typical western person who speaks no Japanese being completly lost in Tokyo. Great cast, Bill Murray was excellent and Scarlett Johansson was a real revelation and so much sexier in the film than any of the photos do her justice. One to watch out for. It was also really cool being able to recognise places in Tokyo and Kyoto. This one is going to be bought on DVD.

One of the folks in work is due to visit the US soon. He’s been looking up details on the new passport requirements system etc etc. We were joking about this in the office and then talked a little more about it at lunch yesterday.

Several people had plans to visit the states this year. Two trips to NYC were in the pipeline. I had myself been hoping to get over there for a holiday. However the general feeling now is fuck that. While all of us don’t actually have to be finger printed upon arrival (due to being Irish or English or other EU citizens), there is quite a lot of thought that no-one wants to go and visit somewhere which is so inhospitable. There is also the thought (and this one doesn’t apply to me but it does to others) that no-one should have to go and get a new passport just for the sake of one country. I have a 10 year passport, it’s pretty recent (not that recent I have very very short hair in it) but if it was a couple of years older it would not have the required barcode and I’d have to change in a perfectly valid passport for new one and pay for the privilege.

America, so-called “land of the free”…maybe one day there will be some hospitality back but until then I suspect a little suffering in your tourist industry.

Listened to U2 Go Home 2001, live from Slane and watched bits and peices of it as I was playing Eve this evening. A couple of the Pop tracks they played are really good stuff so I’ve dug the album out to have a listen. For a couple of reasons, If you wear that Velvet Dress reminds me of a girl I use to know in Dublin that I had a crush on (yes another one to add to the list). It’s a bit of association I guess but it does…and I’ve not even heard it recently it was just thining of the album lead to the song, lead to herself.

I had loaded it into my discman with the intent of a late night walk to get some stuff from the shop and to give it a listen. As the very last two minutes of Alias came on, my flatmate walked in from a party and we got chatting and now I think it’s really too late to go out for a walk despite still thinking I want to.

Stuff
– shame the new Mini iPods were not anything like the under $100 rumours
– Moon base and men on Mars? Go for it…but how about fixing your home first?
– I need to unpack and organise my books and find O
– It’s amazing the demands for choclate and coke from the vending machine when I’m stressed and working late.
– I really don’t have anything else and am now going to bed.

And later still not much has been done. A little reading, Ellis’s Stormwatch and I finished watching Battle Royale II which was pretty shit 🙁

With a little luck I will have two new episode of Alias to watch tonight which would be great 🙂

Watching Alias now and it is great.

Quite an excellent article on blogs from the NYT. Well worth a read.

It’s late and I’m tired but I have go out. I need to go for a walk at the least and a couple of things from the shop would be good.

I have nothing much planned for this weekend. Tomorrow night, going to go and see Lost in Translation with Alex and a coupe of others and I’m looking forward to that but other than that there are no plans. I really don’t want to hang around the flat for the rest of the weekend but at the same time I can’t think of anything that I do actually want to do. Couple of thoughts towards pool tonight or maybe another cinema trip but not sure really.

I have a few other things sitting around to watch, so I may get to some of them. Still have to finish off Battle Royale II but really not felt the urge to go back to it. Maybe later today.

White Stripes Seven Nation Army has been running through my head for the past 24 hours, I remember even dreaming of the opening few bars. It’s really a great piece of work. Not really taken with anything else I’ve heard by them but I’d like to see this track live. Got a couple of bootlegs but nothing of any good quality. So I got the mp3 on repeat and it’s gonna get old soon but the beat is gonna stick for a while

Also still stuck on that bug. Not really been thinking about it, more so not thinking about it but it’s there all the time. It’s really confusing. It’s not one of those bugs that I’m not sure why it’s happening it’s one that every single thing tells me should not be happening. I was quite glad that it stumped a couple of others aswell. I’m sure that when we bring in some help for it (actually I should check my mail, I may have an answer already) it will be something so minor I’ll kick myself…it usually is.

Other than actual work it’s been a good week in work some other ways. Got a couple of problems resolved and realised a little something too. Had a few good calls

Eve (to bore you all) is going quite well. I have a nice new ship, fairly well kitted out and am making some decent money and training up my skill set. Still enjoying the hell out of it. Will be looking for some new challenges in it towards the end of the week I think.

Today was in some ways a really shitty day.
– I overslept and was late on one of the days I really didn’t need to be late on.
– I didn’t get out of work until 7 and had to give up on the bug I’d spent the past 3 hours working on.
– However I did discover my shares are worth some money 🙂
– I considered going to be when I got home at 8, I was really tired.
– Instead I watched 24 which was allright and am playing some Eve while watching Shangai Knights. The first one was funny, this one however is not.

Something strange has been happening to me the past couple of days. It does every now and again and I don’t really like it.
I’ve been having an on and off relationship with music. At times I have craved it and I’ve gone for what I’ve wanted and it’s not quite been enough. At other times I just don’t want to hear anything. Yesterday I even went to work without my discman…deliberately. It’s very strange.

Today it’s been a bit of Springsteen, disc two from the Essential collection. I was waking to the tube station after work and musing over Born in the USA. Then for a second it brought back such a clear feeling. I’m sure I have mentioned it before but Springsteen was one of the first artists I ever heard. It was the only album in my parents record collection which I would listen to. Born was of course the first track and today it took me back so clearly to sitting in the lounge beside the stereo listening to it on vinyl. It’s one of the things I love most about music, it can take you somewhere else.

Not quite back to craving music, soon I hope. This afternoon prompted by some love for Courtney Love on the V, I had to listen to a little Hole, it’s good stuff. Certainly helped some time pass.