Archive for April, 2006

the musical Magic 8-Ball

April 23rd, 2006

Won't bother explain since Ash already did. Ok, just a quick one then. A series of questions. For each one, put amarok on shuffle and respond with the track that starts playing.

Incidentally, when I queue _all_ my tracks and put it on shuffle, it always comes up with tracks I never listen to [anymore]. Oh and since this quiz apparently revolves around songs I'll exclude instrumental tracks, only songs qualify.

Will I get far in life?
R. Kelly - Spendin money
Erm.. is R telling me I spend too much money? R tries to spend money to forget his babe, I don't see how that affects me tbh.

How do my friends see me?
Will Smith - Gettin Jiggy Wit It
Hm interesting choice, am I really perceived as some playboy? That I didn't see coming.

Where will I get married?
Christian Aguilera - Genie in a bottle
A more prudent question would be "if". No matter, let's focus on the song. Wth does it say anyway? I'm none the wiser on the venue.

What is my best friend's theme song?
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing compares to you
I wonder if Erik has neglected to tell me something..

What is the story of my life?
Whitney Houston - Didn't we almost have it all
Derm... I'm starting to have second thoughts about this quiz. Don't see how this song affects me in the least.

What was high school like?
Will Smith - Will 2k
Nnnno. The IB was *not* like that.

How can I get ahead in life?
Dr. Alban - Sing Hallelujah
That may actually be a worthwhile message, I'm pretty sure I could benefit from having a happier outlook on life.

What is the best thing about me?
Christian Aguilera - Beautiful
*sigh* So many questions where the song has no meaningful message and then we get here and it's completely unambiguous. Come to think of it, I couldn't answer the question rationally if I tried, so I'll just pass on this one.

How is today going to be?
Pet Shop Boys - Yesterday when I was mad
Yeah that really is a lot of help :rolleyes:

What is in store for this weekend?
Kelly Rowland - Beyond imagination
Well granted that the weekend is over in 4h I'll let Kelly off the hook.

What song describes my parents?
2 Pac - Can't C Me
This quiz idea is officially worthless.

My grandparents?
2 brothers on the 4th floor - Let me be free
Ah, Dutch goodness from the early 90s. Well I guess everyone wants to be free, so why not.

How is my life going?
Eros Ramazzotti - Canzone for lei
Ah, trust Eros to liberate me. The title goes "Sing to her" or for her or whatever, who cares. Since I don't get the lyrics, I got off easy on this one. Okay okay he doesn't want to split up with her or something, whatever, totally unrelated to me once again. Unless you're a poet and take her to be Norway or something in which case it's still completely wrong.

What song will they play at my funeral?
2 Pac - All eyes on you
I guess so, I'll be in the coffin. Geh, not what I had in mind.

How does the world see me?
Savage Garden - To the moon and back
Disconnected from the world?

Will I have a happy life?
Andrea Bocelli - Un nuovo giorno
A new day. The English caption actually says "The first day of my life". As regards the question, from my own estimates I would say yes. Since I don't know the lyrics, I'm just gonna enjoy the music and I'll see you in 4 minutes.

What do my friends really think of me?
Mariah Carey - I don't wanna cry
I don't get whether my friends don't want to cry when they see me or whether it's me who's crying.

Do people secretly lust after me?
Garou - Le monde est stone
This one's a toughie. First I tried to look up "stone" but since I can't find it, it seems to be the American influence, ie. it does mean stone. The world is stone. From reading the lyrics, that seems about right. "I look for the sun in the middle of the night" and whatnot. Regarding the question, I'm guessing that's a no.

How can I make myself happy?
Phil Collins - True colors
Simplistic advise, but I'll take it.

What should I do with my life?
Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (let's make lots of money)
Yeah I don't think that's what I'm gonna dedicate myself to.

Will I ever have children?
Unloco - Bruises
For reasons unknown to me, listening to the Matrix soundtrack really felt right back when I was in intense exam preparation periods, walking home from school at 10pm in a cold and dark December. It was like releasing stress or something. Anyway, this song tells me nothing.

What is some good advice?
Ricky Martin - Asi es la vida
I'm guessing but I'm gonna go with "Such is life". Running through the lyrics I don't understand, it seems that it's "difficult to love anew" but in the first verse he says "a birthday without promises", I'm gonna go with that.

What is my signature dancing song?
Brian McKnight - Back at one
I really do not see how that could be, I've never danced to this.

What do I think my current theme song is?
Alicia Keys - Heartburn
No I don't. This song stinks too.

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Whitney Houston - Miracle
Mkay, apparently people don't read me like a book then.

What type of men/women do I like?
Garou - Que l'amour est violent
"How love is cruel". What does that tell you? Nothing, thought so. Fortunately we're done now.

I think you've learnt more about my playlist (well most of those songs I haven't actually listened to in years, I just still have them cause I once liked them) than me.

getting around

April 23rd, 2006

If you've been reading this blog for a while and you're completely puzzled as to where the different places I talk about actually are, I've added a map to make it easier for you to keep track.

coffee demystified

April 22nd, 2006

Are you also one of those people who walk into a coffee shop and are slightly overwhelmed by all the different names they use in there? With wikipedia in hand, here is your guide to coffee...

  • espresso
    A flavourful coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under high pressure through finely ground coffee. Ie. the strong Italian coffee with no additions. Usually when you order this one, you get about 4 teaspoons of liquid. As we will see, it is the common factor for many of the variants below.
  • cappuccino
    A cappuccino is generally defined as 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk.
  • caffè latte
    A latte is prepared to the proportions of one third espresso and two-thirds steamed milk. Thus it has more milk than a cappuccino, and has a milder, milkier taste.
  • café au lait
    A French coffee drink prepared by mixing coffee and scalded (not steamed) milk. It is similar to Italian latte, but made with drip- or more popularly French press pot coffee instead of espresso and with scalded instead of steamed milk in 1:1 ratio.
  • macchiato
    Espresso with a tiny dollop of steamed milk. "Macchiato" simply means "marked" or "stained," and in the case of caffè macchiato, this means literally "espresso stained/marked with milk." Traditionally it is made with one shot of espresso, and significantly less milk or milk foam. However, some newer cafes tend to add steamed milk to the espresso in a 1:1 ratio, making it more like a miniature caffè latte.
  • mocha
    Normally, a latte blended with chocolate.

That should do it, those are the ones I most commonly see.

gender wars

April 20th, 2006

Funny how some things completely elude you for a long time, then you see something that makes you think about it and suddenly you're thinking funny how this never came to mind before. We've all seen drunks on the streets, right? But have you seen a lot of women drunks? Why not, why wouldn't they be? Today I did see one, lady in probably her 50s carrying a small radio playing the Beach Boys' Surfin USA, with a bottle of beer in her other hand, standing in the street. Finally some progress for the feminist movement, this must be good news. Then, like a stab in the chest, as I walk on I see two more drunks. Male. Just when I thought they had a win..

what you don't know can hurt you

April 19th, 2006

Apparently the university decided some road work had to be done and now getting to and from the various buildings has become a problem, depending on rainfall as well as where they decide to excavate next. Little did I think of this today as I was headed for the Educatorium. On the way, there was a section closed off due to road work, with metal fences preventing any traffic. Today the fences were open on both sides, so I decided to go right through it. It was just sand on the asphalt anyway, I didn't give it much though. Almost at the end of the supposedly closed off area (where people walked freely), there was a section of asphalt missing, filled with sand. The gap was probably 1m long and I assumed it was just a thin layer of asphalt missing. As I ride over it, I see my front wheel sink into the sand, turns out it was a bit deeper than I thought. I was going at a reasonable speed, so when my front wheel finally popped out onto the asphalt on the other side, I had pretty much lost control of where I was going. Somehow I ended up crashing right into the metal fence, making a lot of noise. It was really weird, I'd never had anything like this happen before. I did a quick status check of the bike and everything seemed fine. Except the chain had come off in the front and tangled up around the pedal, so dragging it back in place got my hand rather black with grease. Later I would discover something happened to the gears, cause they now skip without warning.

I had a similar accident a few years ago, similar in that once again I didn't see it coming. I was in a hurry to get to school before they close at 11pm, I think I needed a printout or something. It was fairly dark, I was going down a steep hill and then onto a gravel road which again turned downwards. On the gravel, I made a turn and skid. It may have been October, we had had snow, but it had melted. Little did I know that under the dust where I skid, there was a nice layer of ice and there's no way I could have seen it. I hit my head on the ground, started bleeding and I've been much more careful on the bike ever since.