But It's Pretty

So I caved and I got Vista.

You know what? I don't care. Opes Source, it's great, it's wonderful, it's free and beautiful and it's XGL, it's powerful, it's secure, and it doesn't like my Radeon so the OS that recognises it wins me.

And all MS Operating Systems I've tried in here have been smooth. And now this one utilises all 256MB of memory much better. So yeah, sorry Mr Shuttleworth, I'm using pure evil and until you make something that doesn't crash X.org every time I even try a Live disk, I'm using Vista.

And you know what, I like it. It works, and it's fast. Especially Sleep mode, which didn't work under XP. You want to see fast booting? It's running before my monitor has degaussed.

This isn't a major update. I reinstalled everything, I formatted, and I'm totally into this girl and can't get the courage to tell her I like her. But aren't I always? I spent a fun evening with Qian, and Dan came along. Other Qian threw her laptop in anger and destroyed it, and we got to look at it. But she cooked us food. Dan and I flew kites all afternoon, and we saw that dude who introduced us to kiting about a year ago. I'm sure the photos are on Flickr. I'll check. Oh, here it is.



Anyway, the lacklustre wind made me think there was something wrong with the kite, and this guy helped us and told me it was fine. He knew how to fly, he had talent.

Natasha's gone home, it was good to see her again. She saw the two beautiful monitors in cahoots, and sadly since then one has died. I'm tempted to go in and try to fix it, but Dan recommends against it.

Anyway, busy day tomorrow. I hope you are all well.

March On

For those of you following the RPM Challenge at all, and my participation, I completed my album late on February 28th, and had it sent off (after hours of fighting with Nero) at 7PM on the 1st of this month. This involved a furious dash to Battersea to catch the late post, but it was worthwhile. I hope it is enjoyed by the challenge people. In the end, it was nine tracks, just over thirty five minutes, and it's great. I wrote two songs at the last minute, but they still sounded good. And Beth liked the album, so I have my first fan.

I'm going to work on my next album soon, and change the style. I really liked my post-rock soundscape methods, but I need some more experience in traditional music before I attempt it again, with better results.

Natasha is here, and she's staying on my sofa downstairs. It's good to see her again, she is fun. We went to Sarah B's birthday tonight, and it was great. The food was very filling, but quite expensive. But we had a good time. On the way back, I had my first proper drag race (the one with Dan hardly counts, it was a Punto vs. a 106, it's like a toy car race). It was me and an N-reg Escort Estate on the lights on Roehampton Lane, and it wasn't initiated by stares or revving, it was just a case of us both wanting quite badly to be quicker.

Only one of us was. Don't mess with German cars, Henry.

I should do some proper blogging. Here goes:

I'm a Joost beta-tester now, and that comes with a few benefits. For one, I get to test the new Joost software before other people. Actually, it's just the one benefit. But it's a pretty nice one.

Joost is software from the makers of Skype that is P2P video streaming. Video streaming has been around a while, but it's always bandwidth heavy, and not many companies want to stream television to a wide audience. HomeChoice is one, and they have a good service, but it isn't popular. And while P2PTV isn't completely new, Joost brings a nice surprise with what they have offered me. I was happy with it the same way I was happy with Skype when I first saw it. I'm still in love with Skype.

It's not perfect. It didn't like going on to my secondary monitor very much. It caused a lot of skipping, and the program caused my whole computer to slow. But it didn't crash the thing, I just restarted and it was fine. Joost operates on channels, where it shows very short (3-4 minute) programs all centring around a theme. For instance, I was interested in watching the Fifth Gear channel, which reviewd cars in short segments (with Tiff Needle; he's such a good driver).

It skipped every so often. I doubt it's my computer, it's still pretty up to date. Maybe someone was downloading something, or maybe the connection just isn't as good to England yet. What I know of it is that it needs a lot of uploading bandwidth as well as downloading. That could be a limiting factor for many people. For those on a 1GB cap, you use your month's allowance within 10 hours of watching.

But what I saw was good, and I will watch it again soon.

It won't take the place of YouTube yet. That methodology is very client controlled, while Joost is still very much server controlled. Once it matures, I can see a massive market for it.

I had my hair cut today, it looks fantastic. I'm also out of money, so I'm living on a shoe-string budget for a while now. I need a job. Speaking of, I had an interview with Aeon on Sunday and the following Tuesday. I think they liked me, I'm not sure. I find out in 1-5 days.

I'm sleepy, and I need a quick drink. Goodnight blogland.

A Strange Month

I looked at my blog today, and it was the most beatiful colour. And I'm sad that I won't see that colour again.

February has been a strange month. The main aspect of it, of course, is that University has started once more, and I am ending my time with one final semester. The second most important factor is the RPM Challenge. I have already mentioned this before, but I have put a lot of effort in. Sadly, I have kinda ended this effort of late. I wrote four songs solidly, and then stopped. I don't know why, I ran out of inspiration. But I have a new song in my head, and I'm going to make it soon, maybe tonight.

It's also been strange for other reasons. I've been doing the lighting in a Pantomime for Mandi (Mimi). It's been fun learning to control follow-spots and getting cues right. I have done it for the last two nights, but I couldn't tonight, I was just shattered and couldn't move from the sofa.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I restarted my work as an extra. I was an extra in Wimbledon as most of you know, and now I am an extra in The Oxford Murders, a new film with John Hurt and Elijah Wood. It pays a third as much (£20 a day) but the food is much better, and the Assistant Director was the same one as Wimbledon. It was good fun. I wanted to shake John Hurt's hand as he was a very nice guy, but I didn't get to. I did chat quite a bit with Elijah (first name terms now). Dan and Emma came along and we all had a great time. We were told to wear geeky clothing, but I forgot and wore my normal clothes. It was reassuring to know that I was selected as one of the geekiest looking people there.

I received a Valentine's Day card from a mysterious source. It's my first one, I've never had one before, not since I was a child and didn't know what adult feelings were, and it made me feel rather special.

I also had a lovely dinner with Sarah M on Monday, the first one in months, and it was far too long. It's always a joy to see her, and she's as vibrant and healthy and beautiful as ever. Distance is always a curse. But I have relief in the knowledge that it will be less than a month until I see her again. It also pleases me to know that she enjoys seeing me too, because I can honestly say she is one of the most special people I know.

Qian gave me a new phone, which is a relief because I was expecting to get a new phone when my contract expired but I realised that if I left the country I would be stuck with a contract that I couldn't use. So I now have a Motorola A1200. I'm not going to stop using my Jasjar, I love it, but the signal around here with it is terrible. Plus, it's a nice new phone, I'm going to appreciate it for a bit. It has a better camera too.

Our toilet, for no reason, started bubbling today. I was just walking upstairs when we heard bubbling so perfect it sounded like it was from a movie sound effect clip. We watched the downstairs toilet bubble for ages, and I even filmed it. Maybe YouTube will appreciate it. It saved on us buying a fountain.

Erin's surprisingly weird but endlessly entertaining conversations always keep me going when I need it most. Thanks.



Very, very few of you will understand that picture. Maybe if you watch enough Daily Show and know a little Irish history you'll realise how wonderful it is.

Watching Cromartie High School with Carlos and Stacey was very fun, I hope to do something with them again in the future. I'm just so damn busy. Plus I have to finish my album.

Emma's great.

I have both of my 21" monitors working beautifully now. Consider my resolution: 3840 x 1440. Quasi out.

I Have Time

I promised you one before the close of January, and this is it. It won't be epic, but I'll fill you in on the important stuff:

It snowed. Remember a few posts ago when I said bring on snow? They did. And on seeing the white carpet covering London, I rushed to Southlands campus to join in the snowball fights and sledding. But everyone stayed in bed and no-one was there. So I drove to Richmond Park, where I found the most beautiful, large car park, with trees and untouched, virgin snow covering the dirt below. It just invited drifting and sliding, and I had such a fun time that I got very used to the control and hope to do it again soon. However, the police didn't enjoy it as much and told me that if they caught me doing it again they'd crush my car.

But that just added to the thrill. It was one of the best snow days ever. There was also a period of three days where I saw a different brand new Ferrari every single day. Maybe a dealer opened nearby. I might get one if I have a chance to later.

I also got a GPS Bluetooth thing for my phone. The dongle was £35, and it came with software for navigating, but the software wasn't very good. It needed to go online to download maps, it took ages, etc. Dan helped me get Tomtom software for it, and now it's absolutely perfect. I even made a little holder for the car. I also started shaving with traditional double-edged razors. Occasionally, it causes me great pain.

My monitor suddenly stopped working. My beautifully big 19" CRT monitor just went black and started clicking. In searching for replacements on eBay, I went one better with a 21" monitor, and bettered that by getting two of them. Sadly, after a long drive through London (navigated electronically), I picked them up and the guy didn't have any cables for them. These cables cost £25 from PC World and £15 from Maplins, and the monitors were only £37 for both, and I didn't see the point in spending nearly that just on cables. I decided to cut the cable from my old monitor, and solder on a new plug which I got for a pound at Maplins. I hadn't soldered in close to nine years, but I still managed it cleanly, and despite not getting any green on the first try, I fixed it perfectly, and made myself a new cable from almost nothing. And it was fun. I need to do it again for the other monitor, but one 21" for now is plenty. Come on, the resolution is 1920 x 1440.

I'm starting the RPM Challenge in 29 minutes. It's where you have to write and record an album in a month (February). I'm just going to go for it and make something beautiful in a short time. I recommend anyone with any musical interest to at least try. My solo band is called Gentle Glow. For now.

If all goes to plan, I will be seeing Sarah on the 12th, and I can't wait. If you're reading, Sarah, 12th is good. But I'll text you anyway.

That's my other January post. I told you. See you all next month.

Did Anyone Notice the Breeze?

January's a pretty poor month for blog update regularity. Sorry. I'll update again before the month is over, I hope.

There's a gust so strong my windows howl. I stare outside to see crime scene tape flickering in the wind while it blockades my neighbours. To be honest, it's a pretty grim night.

However, I am updating. Why I haven't said anything until now is kinda because I haven't had much to say. Since New Year (which almost had everyone die from crushing, and still no fireworks) I have been doing pretty much nothing. I bought some new clothes, and went shopping with both Emma and Dan to Kingston. I also watched a lot of TV, including most of Lost. Again.

This is because most people have been unavailable. Dan was away, Emma's in Wales, Kiana's partying in California and Sarah never comes to see me. Mizuki's been working in her room, so it's been me and the TV (and once the kite) to entertain myself. You know, despite putting on a tiny bit of weight, it was fun. I saw Becky quite a bit, she's been catching up with Lost as well. She's just at the good bit in Season 2.

I finally got my GPS system today. It works with my phone. I also saw Babel at the cinema with my father. It was excellent. It's been among a flurry of good films I've seen recently, including Crash and The Ring. I'd seen The Ring before though. I also started XBox gaming again. Need for Speed: Carbon is a great game, I have almost finished. The end guy is hard.

All of that digital entertainment has sadly messed up my sleeping pattern. I have been going to bed around 1PM everyday, and getting up close to 9PM. It ruins the day a bit, I managed to fix that today, and I got up 9AM, but I hope it lasts. I won't write all night, as that'd also ruin it, but I need to keep the blog up to date.

My advice, see Babel, and see all of his films too. Also, don't go to bed in the early afternoon and get up at night.