My Internet Life
Well hello there, how are you doing today? Good? Then good.
Hopefully you have seen my video for Operation Unplugged and enjoyed my song. If you’re super duper interested – it can be bought off my bandcamp for $1 CDN. I’m not looking to make a lot of money but I think that’d be cool if SOMEONE out there bought it. Anyways, it’s that video that brings me to writing this blog. Maybe it was that video that brought you here – doubtful, but it’s a possibility. If you want to download the track and help me out – you can go here!
Image via Wikipedia
Image via CrunchBase
Looking back on that video – I wish I had made two versions, one with the intro and end bits, and one without. The one without would have just been my rap and that was that. I could show this video to my family and coworkers and stuff that I don’t really want involved in my online presence. Now that I’ve sent out that video to my parents, they’ve sent it to all my family, who are undoubtedly going to stumble upon this. I try quite hard to keep myself anonymous on the internet. I try not to connect my name to any of my accounts – twitter, this blog, etc. I have quite high privacy settings on my Facebook, I am unsearchable to anyone who isn’t a friend. All in all, I just don’t like having my name out there.
But now with this video, I can’t do that anymore. My parents know now I have this blog and a Twitter amongst other things, and not that that’s a bad thing, but these are places I go to write about without having to censor myself or what have you. I try to censor myself on Facebook and Twitter as is – just for professional reasons – you never know who might stumble across that. But this blog in particular is something I like to leave for ranting and raving about my life and what’s going on and what not. Where am I going to go to complain about stuff if I know the people I’m complaining about can read it? Isn’t that defeating the purpose? Do I have to set up another blog or something where I can go to post stuff and neglect this one (more so than I already do)?
In short, no. I am not going to set up anything else to have to censor myself here. Parents, if you’re reading this and don’t like what you read? Tough – don’t come to me about it, if I didn’t bring it up with you to deal with it, then I don’t want to deal with it. That’s that. So I’m going to try and keep this as a safe-haven for me. Seeing as not that many people come here anyways – it shouldn’t be a big deal.
I’m actually really starting to come around to using Twitter a lot more. Since I’ve upped my usage lately, I’ve been in contact with people all over that you wouldn’t normally come in contact with. I asked Matt Good a question one morning, I got a shout out from the host of Operation Unplugged about my video, I’ve contacted two studios in Vancouver, one would give me an internship once I’m done my degree, and the other would give me a tour of their space if I was ever in town. So that’s been really cool.
Anywho, in other news, Girlfriend got home from Europe on Saturday. It’s been quite nice having her around again. Living alone is definitely not something I enjoy too much. Her schedule is still really wonky – this is the first day she hasn’t slept for about 14 hours – so we’re still kind of adjusting. She went to bed at 8 tonight and I’ve been up playing video games and watching YouTube videos and writing this blog. We did have a long day out and about today just hanging out – so that was really nice. I’m gonna be cracking the whip on her a little harder too now that she’s home. Things need to be cleaned and put away in a more timely fashion and I’m just not going to let as much stuff slide as I usually do when she’s got school and stress and what have you. No more Mr.NiceGuy.
I suppose I need to take a photo of myself with my new glasses for here – since I still haven’t done that. I’m actually getting a new new pair sometime this week since the guy who cut my lenses did a terrible job, and the technician at the glasses store said they’d just re-do them entirely for me. So that’s really great, it just takes a while because I have such shitty eyes. I’d like to try my old ones on for a day and actually see if the new ones make a huge difference. Sometimes I wonder if they actually did anything or not. Except my new ones are cut in such a way that switching really gives me a bad headache.
Album art for Little Hell
I was streaming the new City and Colour album Little Hell today from some stream they sent out on a tweet, and I was actually really impressed with what D
allas has put out. I’ve kind of drifted away from C&C since I met him at the AOF meet and greet, but this new album is quite good. I’ve actually pre-ordered it twice – once in a hard-copy and once digitally (with 4 extra tracks) - I would have preferred just to do the digital, but I ordered the hard copy first. Oh well. I also just started listening to the new Matthew Good album – the few tracks I’ve heard so far are really good! The new Moby has yet to grow on me though…
So with June 1st starting as of right now – the day literally just turned over as I write this – I am going to be starting a 30 day challenge. I got this idea from Phillip Defranco – one of the most famous YouTubers, who I’m subscribed to. The idea is that you set a goal and focus on it for one month. At the end of that month you assess and move on from there. My Project30 is going to be packing a lunch for work. And I know it’s not a big goal or whatever, but I’m really starting to notice a dip in my spending money from buying stuff from the food court every time I go in to work. It’s at least $10 maybe $15 a day. I usually justify it by saying “it’s only one more hour of work” – but really, that’s $50 a week (at least) that I could be saving. I’m going to be trying some new recipe ideas and keep it more interesting than just ham and cheese sandwiches all day. I somehow managed to survive on that everyday in junior/high school, so I think I can do it again. At the beginning of each week – or whenever I have a day off, I’m going to make a whole bunch of sandwiches and have them in the freezer so I can just pull one or two out and bring them to work. I think I might do pasta’s and salads that I can microwave or keep cold too. I’m going to try and keep my progress updated here and do my best to stick to it!
I think that’s enough for one night, if you stuck through til the end of this, here’s that photo I promised! Hurray.
Related articles
- Iran Plans to Unplug Internet, Create Its Own (newser.com)
- Matt Good’s bittersweet symphony (canada.com)
- Social media case study: How ” nobodies ” become famous on the Internet by standing out using their outgoing personalities and their communicational skills: the Philip DeFranco case (ajmstudents.wordpress.com)
Some Cool Things!
So in lieu of the post below this – the Star Wars Trilogy in 2 minutes, with Lego! I bring you these! Something I saw yesterday that I want to get now. For no real reason what so ever.
It’s a Star Wars USB drive! So Awesome. They have Yoda, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Stormtroopers. Want.
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/tyme-machines-4gb-usb-drive-storm-trooper/10128249.aspx?path=e11ec037788f17c4e19ee34983fb8734en02
I came across a “Fake Science” site today. So basically the REAL answers to all your questions. Girlfriend might like this one.
Postmarked
Man, I feel bad. I rag on people all the time about not updating their blogs, and here I am, not updating mine. Sigh. It’s hard sometimes! I can understand. Also, there was really nothing that interesting happening in the news this past week. Yes I know you’re all going to say Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize, what do you think?!
Well I’ll let you know. I think he deserves it! He’s inspired a nation to turn around their country and a bunch of other crap. And honestly, who else would they give it to? Some random that no one cares about? Great. Another year Nobel goes on being an irrelevant part of society. But instead they picked Obama, so good on them!
“for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”
Need I remind you people that Al Gore won in 2007? I think Obama has the right and has accomplished enough to be in the same boat as some of these people, and its just a precursor for things to come. 
Thank god for a long weekend. Man it feels good. Yesterday was a busy day, the girlfriend and I had a splendid time downtown. Shopping and taking pictures. I got a roll of film developed (See flickr in the side) and some of those olympic mittens! Hurray. I feel so patriotic. I can’t wait to wear them. It’s kinda sad that gloves make me feel patriotic. Considering I’m not all that passionate about Canada to begin with. Oh well. There’s a lot of controversy over here about the olympics and building it on Native land, and the Bay making the Cowichan sweaters and now local Natives, and now there’s a law in progress against making noise and interrupting entertainment at the games. It’s directed at marketing and trying to prevent people from just handing out flyers and stuff which causes litter. But I think there are some underlying parts that prevent protesting or anything and would make it illegal. Read more here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/10/09/bc-anti-olympic-sign-law-bccla.html
So yesterday was a good day, we ended off the night watching a documentary called “Please Vote for Me.” It was about a 3rd grade class in China, who are participating in democracy! They’re voting for a new class monitor! It’s pretty funny to see the lengths that these kids go to: backstab, memorize speeches, debate, lie, bribe and all the other things regular politicians do. It was a really cute and funny movie that you should see if you have nothing better to do and like politics, or China, or anything! 
I think B and Geoffrey (her hippo) and I are going to have our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We were going to go to a potluck tonight, but we were just not in the mood to get out of sweatpants today after a long day of studying. We’re probably just going to get a chicken and have some mashed potatoes or something. Thanksgiving isn’t really a big deal to me like it is to some people. I did miss the food, having a turkey and mashed potatoes and all but these kind of occasions aren’t my thing. I’m not a very sentimental person to begin with. And there’s only so much you can do to make a thanksgiving dinner different from year to year. My parents do a good job and I think I did miss that, but it’s nothing overwhelming. I’ll survive. It’ll just make Christmas that much better when I do come home. (Yes you Calgary readers, I am coming home for Christmas).
This week coming up is going to suck for me. Two midterms and a tough Software Engineering assignment. So blah. Hopefully I’ll be able to live. I always say that, and I feel like there is never a reason that I would die. I just like to talk in hyperbole.
B’s friend from Lethbridge/Calgary came last week, and it was really neat to meet someone she talks so much about. It was also interesting to see into that part of her life. I really only know the part of my girlfriend from Victoria, I don’t think I’ll ever know what she used to be like when she was in her first years of university. And hearing her friend tell stories about people and see B laugh and smile around her made me happy to know her. And to know the girl she is now. I believe strongly in who you were makes you who you are. And whatever happened to her that made her who she is now, I don’t need to know that, because I know it’s who she is now that is the person I like.
I’m not sure what else to say. I’m going to post a music I’ve been listening to lately. And I think I need to beat Em with an awesome youtube video too!
Later days,
- J
Morning is a Great Time For Existentialism. Hell, It’s Always a Good Time for Existentialism.
I feel like the title of this post should be a Panic! At The Disco song title. It’s just long and obnoxious.
Anywho, Greetings Internet! How are you on this lovely Wednesday morning? I hope all is well wherever you are!
Surprisingly it’s only 9:15 in the morning, and I think I have something to write about, but not surprisingly, I was up @ 4:30 this morning. Sigh. But as bad as it may seem, it really wasn’t that bad. So, I shall explain. One thing you must know about my girlfriend before I share this story, is that she likes to ask questions. She is very curious and needs the answers to everything. Which can sometimes prove to be very frustrating. I’m thinking I’m going to have to buy her an encyclopedia soon. So for any question she asks, there is another 10 that will be asked after that. Which is what happened this morning. I think there’s more to it, but I can’t remember it all.
Laying in bed @ about 5:30, we somehow stumbled upon the topic of the Earth and how it was formed. So from what I know, there was Big Bang and over a couple thousand million years, enough dust collected, compacted, made the sun, then enough gravity from the sun caught something that became Earth. Yes, that is compressed and a compacted version of the scientific creation of the Earth. So with that out of the way, explaining how the world would be fucked if it stopped spinning because we’d lose our gravitational field and such. And how gravity works between two masses, a distance, and a gravitiational field (High School Physics Woo!)
I was then queried about space. “What is it? How does it work?” The best analogy that I could give was that it’s like a bathtub full of water. The bathtub represents a finite universe, and all the water is space. If you fill a small bucket with sand, and drop it in the tub, that’s Big Bang. Then when all the sand clumps together you have stars and planets, and all the water that is still floating around is space. I think that was a clear enough example. From that I was questioned about how big the universe was, and I couldn’t answer that without a diagram, so here it is. (It’s really big, so it doesn’t show up very well on here)
http://pixdaus.com/pics/mfgFtiqVlYHDnTqPSF.jpg
With that we stumbled into religion and evolution and Big Bang. It was hard to make clear that it happened over MILLIONS of years, but it was understood that from single cells we eventually got fish, and those fish grew feet and wings and became reptiles and birds, and from that we got mammals with fur, mammals became monkeys, and monkeys became man. Evolution in under 100 words. Man I am good. The following are two small examples of evolution.
This was quite the talk for what was now 6:00 am in the morning. I was impressed by her questions and creativity, this is one of the reasons why I enjoy spending time with her and love her so much. I think this is nessecary for both of us to get down somewhere so we can actually remember everything we talked about. And I think we need to start a fund to get her this encyclopedia. Donations?
Later Days,
-J
