now I feel more at home..

now I know where to buy my socks from
(not that I've worn any since I got off the plane)

more posts

I'm definietly not just trying to write more posts and push the last one off the bottom of the screen... That would be shamefull...

Shopping spree, the Aftermath

ok, so its time to stand up (or sit cross legged) and face the music...and finish the shopping spree post... I decided to celebrate getting paid and successfully transfering money to the otherside of the world by buying 'stuff'. The spree technically started on wednsday when I ordered myself a shiny new Macbook pro (the middle size one), got an educational discount, so felt slightly righteous. Nevermind that I'm basically going to be using it at home cos the lab has bought me a new iMac (don't get me started on why they wouldn't just buy me a laptop).... anyhow... looking back now, that technically brings my new computer total to 2 so far (neither delivered yet).

Don't ask me what possessed me, perhaps I was just feeling a bit Mac heavy, perhaps I just felt like spending some more money, perhaps I was just in a reallllly good mood on saturday. Purely by chance (and a 10 minute taxi ride) I ended up at Sim Lim square: Geek mecca... 6 floors of technology shopping center.... (I should ask them to ban me). My last, biggest impulse buy for the week was a UMPC....

....ok, so I admit that I'm trying to use an acronym to disguise the fact that I went and bought myself another (albeit tiny tiny) laptop. Honestly, it is really tiny and kinda cute. It is small enough to fit into a modest sized handbag/manbag. It has touch screen you can twist round, then close the whole thing to make it into a writing tablet. In my defence it cost much less that a laptop (less than 1/4 of the price) and it is really cute... look, here's a picture of it sitting on my old laptop.

[Attempted justification continues] It is also v.light (less than 1kg), so to attempt to justify why I could need one, I created a scenario where I could carry it around at the weekends and sit in coffee shops blogging and writing things (which I've managed to do).

I admit that at most levels I just got it because it is small and cute and I like shiny new toys.... but still.....

I now have the slight problem that in a week or so I'll own 3 laptops and have a desktop 'puter at work, overkill even by my standards... I'm planning to retire my old laptop to the lab (so we can play music by our benches). Am still searching for other forms of atonement....

Quote of the day...

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

The quote is from Steve Jobs and was used in a bunch of old Apple adverts. I still like it.

....can't....move....

hmm... I really ache today.... guess that's a good sign

shopping spree continued (kind of)

OK, so should probably explain the shopping spree thing....
not sure I'm ready yet, but lets just say it involves new laptops
(plural)

I'm not Spartacus...

Have just been to see The Last Legion. Can't say I was wonderfully impressed, but as I'm sure it was amazingly well researched, here's what I've learned about the Roman Empire....
1. The Romans were the good guys (naturally) and were all actually English
(This fact is corroborated by the great TV series 'Rome')
2. They were defeated by the Goths, who were actually Scottish
3. Gandhi was Merlin (Ben Kingsley) and Merlin was Welsh and hung out with the Romans
4. Mr Darcy was actually a Roman centrion (Collin Firth)
5. Excalibur was actually Julius Caeser's Sword
6. Seriously, Merlin was Welsh...

Not a great film, but it passed the time and I wasn't bored. Was made a good deal better by Aishwarya Rai, a huge Bollywood actress, playing an Indian assassin. OK, so she is very very cute, but the tense flirtatious relationship she has with Collin Firth is great, at times has the same sulky, unspoken passion of Pride and Prejudice...

I am ten ninjas...

.....not really, but in an effort to find some hobbies and generally force myself to spend less time shopping. anyhow... I decided to take classes in Arnis, a philippeno martial art. The lesson was in the courtyard of a local community center, which was pretty warm. I discovered how much harder exercise is in 95% humidity when we started with some 'conditioning'. Running up around the complex, including up a hill was ok... sprinting up a huge flight of stairs outside was tougher, but I managed that bit ok. Also managed about 5 minutes of the situps and other excercises before I had to go and throw up.... Think I still need to acclimatize a little more.


The rest of the class was pretty good fun. Arnis is a pretty satisfying martial art, it doesn't have any real philosophical background, so there isn't any chi centering or breaking bricks. It is also one of the only systems where you start training with weapons (1-2 sticks to start with) first and empty handed combat comes once you've mastered everything else (1 stick, 2 sticks, 1-2 knives, combinations of the above). This was particularly fun and meant that after half an hour I was swinging a stick around and having fun. Perhaps it is a sign that I've watched to many movies, but I found my self occasionally making swoshing sounds when I swung the stick....

Still, it was v.good fun and I'm definietly going to continue....

For my own good will someone please come and take away my bank cards!
(will explain why tomorrow when I'm feeling less ashamed)

yum...

Have just been walking around the (kind of) local area... just had a great little malay snack from a street stall. I think it was called Mutu Bambu (bamboo cakes). little white rolls, a brown filling which tasked of caramel, sprinkled with coconut shavings... very nice. (will try and remember to take a camera with me next time, then I can take post pictures as well as vague descriptions...)